Exploration of some selected permanent in-service mathematics teachers on the life meaning of multiplying whole numbers using algorithms. This study was a qualitative research method which used an unguided interview as the primary source of data collection and to explore the views of in-service or practicing mathematics teachers on how they teach in the normal classroom setting, the topic, multiplication of whole numbers. In the study, in-service or practicing mathematics teachers’ views were solicited through the interview discussion and it was observed that, almost all the teachers use the Long Multiplication algorithm to teach multiplication of whole numbers. About 25% of the participants recalled using Groupings. The objectives were to find out the multiplication algorithm that in-service or practicing mathematics teachers use in teaching multiplication of whole numbers and review the understanding or the meaning in-service or practicing mathematics teachers make in using the algorithm. Findings shows that, almost 99% of the participants use the Long Multiplication algorithm with 78 and 50% using the Groupings and Repeated Addition respectively. On Area Model Meanwhile, these algorithms make no sense to both teachers in the public and private schools as well as their students. The teachers were introduced to the use Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) approach using the Area Model. It was observed that, none of the participants have ever seen, heard or use it before. Despite the fact that, on the average, each teacher has taught mathematics in the basic school at least 14 years. Further recommendations and suggestions put forward by these teachers included, the organization of workshop, in-service training for the in-service mathematics teachers. It was recommended that Mixed-Methods Explanatory Sequential research design be used for further studies to know the motivation or the interest level of in-service mathematics teachers in the use of Area Model multiplication of whole numbers.

Making the right choices in selecting food becomes one of the main reasons for having healthy body. The preference of food can have a major impact on the body and mental health as well as our environment. Organic foods often have more beneficial nutrients, such as antioxidants, than their conventionally-grown counterparts and people with allergies to foods, chemicals or preservatives often find their symptoms lessen or remove when they eat only organic foods. Realizing the potential of organic farming, The Mizoram Organic Farming Act, 2004 adopts areas for promoting and regulating organic farming in consonance with the National Organic Programme in Mizoram. The study is conducted using descriptive method, employing semi-structure interview. The present study aims to find out specific crop organic production clusters with necessary infrastructural and technical support received by Organic farmers in Mizoram. It also aims to find out the partnerships between farmers and organic businesses: Local enterprises and/or Farmer Production Companies. The study found out that Organic Farming in Mizoram has been implemented in various districts-Aizawl, Lunglei, Champhai, Kolasib, Serchhip and Mamit. The study also found that Agriculture Department, Government of Mizoram as Nodal Department is implementing Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER) through a lead agency i.e., Mission Organic Mizoram (MOM) providing and supporting schemes in Mizoram. This mission has selected specific organic crop such as Ginger, Turmeric and Mizo Chilli and Tea. Various training and workshop has been conducted for Organic Farmer. A variety of infrastructure has been provided to the farmers in accordance with their commodity.

Study habits forecast and contribute significantly the development and accomplishment of the students. A study habit tells how much a student wants to grab knowledge, how much he wanted to learn and grow and how much he wanted to succeeds. Therefore, it is important to understand students’ study habits so that the students have a fruitful prospect. The present study attempts to find out the study habits of Government Aizawl College using study habit inventory scale developed and constructed by Dr. M. Mukhopadhyay and Dr. D.N. Sansanwal. Mean, S.D and z-score was used to analyse the data. The results showed that majority of the Government Aizawl College students have average study habit.

The paper investigates the pedagogical implications of the interface between Literature in English and English Language as complimentary subjects in the enhancement of acquisition of proficiency in English and content knowledge of the two in Higher Education. The enquiry adopted constructivist paradigm and qualitative approach. A case study was a type of qualitative approach wherein the Department of Languages and Social Education (LASED) in the Faculty of Education and Department of Language and Linguistics (DELL) in the Faculty of Humanities became the case. Data was collected from year three and year four students in LASED and DELL who major in the two disciplines. It was also generated from the lecturers who teach the same disciplines in the same departments. Data collection tools used in this paper was open-ended guided conversational Face-To-Face Interviews (FFOIs) with the lecturers and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with students purposely sampled from the case departments. Castleberry and Amanda’s [1]. Thematic Analysis (TA) was used to analyse the data. Language in/for/with content theory, language and context as well as schema theories formed the basis for this study. The paper reveals that there are pedagogical implications in the interrelatedness of the two disciplines which can enhance acquisition of proficiency in English and content knowledge.

Studies worldwide have revealed that school administrators are key contributors to students’ academic performance by enhancing instructional supervision within schools. Notwithstanding this assertion in some countries academic performances have been found to be low despite this administrators’ contribution. For instance, in Kenya the average performance for the years 2010 to 2014, only 29% candidates scored above a mean score of 6.00 points. In Emuhaya and Vihiga Sub Counties 3535 (26%) and 2104 (15%) candidates respectively scored 6.00 and above points compared to Hamisi and Sabatia Sub-Counties’ with 3913 (28%) and 4275 (31%) candidates respectively between years 2009 and 2013. The objective of the study was to establish the contribution of school administrators to instructional supervision with focus on checking students’ progress records in the enhancement of academic performance. The study was guided by a conceptual framework in which the independent variable was the administrators’ contribution in form of checking students’ progress records and the dependent: variable students’ academic performance. The study established that administrators’ contribution to instructional supervision was low (Adjusted R² = 0.011). The study concluded that administrators’ contribution to instructional supervision was not significant and therefore, did not enhance students’ academic performance. The study recommended that administrators should increase their contribution to instructional supervision in order to enhance students’ academic performance. The study findings are of significance to school administrators, policy makers and other stakeholders with regard to enhancement of students’ academic performance by increasing instructional supervision.

Being polite is considered as an important symbol of human culture. For some, what distinguishes humans from other beings is that they can act in such a ‘civilized’ way through expressing politeness in different forms towards fellow humans. On the other hand, people may attack their addressees' faces intentionally. This gives rise to the phenomenon of impoliteness. Thus, this study adapts a model, developed by Culpeper, for the analysis of Trump-Clinton first presidential debate in an attempt to Identify the contextual factors that are employed in issuing impoliteness in the first presidential debate; find out the impoliteness plans implied by Trump and Clinton; and identify the impoliteness purposes employed by Trump and Clinton. 

Being theoretically Brechtian and politically Marxist, Badal Sircar revolutionized Bengal Theatre by means of his ‘Third Theatre’. He theorized it in his essays e.g. “The Third Theatre”, “The Changing Language of the Theatre”, “Voyages in the Theatre: IV Shri Ram Memorial Lecture.” et al. collected under the title, On Theatre, published by Seagull Books, Kolkata in 2009. This collection, especially the aforementioned essays attracted me most as I found that Sircar was not theorizing just for the sake of it. In 1971, Badal Sircar and his group Satabdi reached the crossroads, one proceeding along the path of conventional proscenium productions and the other approaching the Third Theatre. Sircar historically opted the second. The proximity of the spectators, the intensity of communication, the subtlety of projection and several such aspects, usually expected in a theatrical performance is absolutely unimportant in Third Theatre. On the contrary Badal Sircar preferred the fact that this theatre could reach the working people of villages and slums who would never have come to his Intimate Theatre in Kolkata. It has never been his intention, to do a play just to prove that any play can be produced in this form. This new theatre was not a matter of form to him, but that of a philosophy and therefore he always started from the content. His determination to move out of proscenium theatre is rooted in his conviction that common people, being aware of their surroundings, would bring about a radical change in society.       I would like to bring his productions and his theorizations, both concerning the Third Theatre on the same platform.

In terms of increasing professional competency, writing scientific articles is one of the efforts. As a condition for increasing the Indonesian vocational high school teacher's credit score, it is necessary to write scientific papers or scientific publications. The Ministry of State Apparatus and Bureaucracy Reform of the Republic of Indonesia regulates that t the elements and sub-elements of teacher activities whose credit score is assessed are: (a) scientific publications on the results of research or innovative ideas in the field of formal education; and; (b) publication of textbooks, enrichment books, and teacher guidelines. Therefore, the  community service team of the School of Humanities, Brawijaya University Indonesia collaborates with English Vocational Teacher Association hold continuous training and mentoring in the form of lectures and workshops until the teachers' success in completing their scientific articles and is considered worthy to be published in scientific journals.

The Shi'ah and Izala movements are two groups that are occasionally involved in crises that threaten peaceful coexistence of the Muslim community not only in Kebbi State but also in many parts of Nigeria. The crises between the members of the two groups in most cases occur because the formation of Izala almost took place simultaneously with the Iranian revolution of 1979. Therefore, majority of the Muslim youths who initially joined the Izala movement which was established in 1978, were at the same time very much impressed with the successful overthrow of the Shah of Iran and the establishment of an Islamic government by the Iranians. They therefore gradually started to focus their attention on Iran. Books and magazines were sent to them in large numbers which explained among others about Shi'ah and its ideology. Most of them were however ignorant of the doctrine of Shi'ah. Being aware of the Shi'ah ideology of the Iranians, the Izala preachers started to admonish the Muslims against the doctrine of the sect. They also warned that even though the Iranians succeeded in making a revolution under the banner of Islam, yet, it is against the Shari'ah to follow or support them because of their sacrilegious Shi'ah ideology. (Sheikh Abdurrahman) Other issues which in addition widen the scope of their differences include (from the part of the Shi'ah): permission  of mut’ah-fixed-term temporary marriage-which is not acceptable within the Sunni community; the abuse of many prominent Companions of the Prophet (SAW) including A'ishah (RA); organizing demonstrations for the sake of Ashura and International Quds day commemorations; etc. and (from the part of the Izala): regarding any Muslim who believes in all the above mentioned issues as a Shi'ah follower and a “Kafir”. They also made it as part of their fundamental duties in all their public preaching centres to explain about Shi'ah and its effects on the Muslim community. In view of the fact that crises between the two groups continue to occur from time to time because of these ideological differences, this paper intends to assess this strained relationship in Kebbi State in order to find possible solutions that will pave way for the two groups to live together in harmony, tolerance and peaceful co-existence.

In the study we found out that, despite the presence of many studies on digital diplomacy, twitter diplomacy as an independent phenomenon remains not fully understood. Politics on the Internet and social media always requires further research, because this is not a finished event-it is happening here and now. Technologies are developing, the influence of the Internet on politics is growing, new actors, new social networks, new methods of conducting "virtual politics" appear. Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of the news media. This study content analyzes how Trump tweeted about the news media as the Republican nominee during his first year in office. The findings revealed Trump's privilege of conservative media through praise, media appearance frames, mentions, and tweets, while demonizing public and non-conservative media through frames of attack and bias. In addition, Trump used the frames of the attack more as a president than a candidate. Finally, Trump's attack and bias frames generated more retweets and favorites than the others. Given Trump's influence, this framing can contribute powerfully to the news media's polarizing public perceptions.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has transformed traditional learning methods and strategies at different levels of education in many countries. Tanzania, has been struggling to integrate ICT in education but with relatively limited achievement recorded. This study aimed at exploring key achievement indicators towards ICT integration in Tanzania secondary schools. The study used a pen and paper self-administered questionnaire for data collection. Using a repeated cross-sectional survey, data were collected from 297 teachers from different secondary schools in Tanzania who participated in ICT skills training in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Data were analysed using a general-purpose statistical software package, Stata Version 11. Chi-square and logistic regression were performed to examine the association of variables and their predictive power respectively. Findings reveals that despite the existing challenges such as ICT infrastructure, high student-to-computer ratio, limited ICT knowledge and skills to teachers in learning and teaching, some schools have built and accord well with the process of ICT education at secondary level. Few teachers have acquired skills in using computer and Internet particularly in lessons preparation. Furthermore, findings indicate that at each school there is at least one teacher capable of using ICT devices. The study recommends that the effective grow into second world economy a continuous integration of ICT in secondary schools is inevitable.

This paper is set to compare feminism in India and Nigeria despite the differences in cultures and location and to find out why ubiquity exists despite the gaps aforementioned. The paper uses feminism as a theoretical framework; applying critical in-text analysis. The paper finds out that Indian feminists fight against cultural issues within patriarchal society such as inheritance laws and some practices like that of widow immolation known as Sati. And their movement was first initiated by men and then joined by women. On the other hand, feminism in Africa (Nigeria in particular) is a revolt against the men by women; especially addressing the dominance of men over women in areas of economics, literature, politics, education, domestic, among others. And the women fight, struggle to regain their freedom/independence in the different sectors they feel being marginalized. Since the dominance has been in existence for the time immemorial, it will be the duty of the government(s) to create policies that would address the issues of dominance in the societies and formulate syllabi that would change the societies’ perception about the personalities of women as being inferior to men in the educational institutions.

The paper explores a research based-appraised understanding and knowledge of the nature of the relationship between Literature in English and English Language as supposedly, close disciplines in relation to acquisition of proficiency in English and content knowledge of the two. The inquiry adopted the interpretivist/constructivist paradigm and qualitative approach. A case study was the type of qualitative approach wherein the Department of Languages and Social Education (LASED) in the Faculty of Education and Department of Language and Linguistics (DELL) in the Faculty of Humanities both at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) became the case. Data was collected from year three and year four students in LASED and DELL who major in the two disciplines. It was also generated from the lecturers who teach the same disciplines in the same departments. Data was collected through open-ended guided conversational Face-To-Face Interviews (FFOIs) with the lecturers and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with students purposely sampled from the case departments Castleberry and Amanda’s [1]. Thematic Analysis was used to analyse data. Language in/for/with language, Structuralism and schema theories formed the basis for this study. The study shows that there is inherent relationship between Literature in English and English Language as academic disciplines and such a relationship is pedagogical and can enhance acquisition of proficiency in English and content knowledge to learners especially those who major in the two disciplines.

Blended learning is emerging as a modern teaching approach of the school educational system in many countries. Moreover, blended learning in reading lessons from EFL high school students’ perceptions is a rather new field in the Mekong Delta- Vietnam. For these reasons, the study tried to reveal EFL high school students’ perceptions of benefits and challenges of blended learning in reading lessons. The study was conducted as a descriptive study under concurrent nested design in which thirty-six close-ended items are embedded within three open-ended items in the questionnaire. Sixty (60) high school students in grade 10 participated in the study. The findings showed that students achieved more benefits than faced challenges in blended reading lessons. Finally, the suggested pedagogical implications of blended learning in reading lessons from EFL high schools’ perceptions are contributed to the innovation of teaching reading lessons in the high school context in the Mekong Delta-Vietnam.

Contextual approach in learning known as Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) is a learning concept that helps teachers to relate teaching materials to students' real world situations. This research was conducted through a collaborative process between physics teachers, school principals and researchers. CAR is a problem solving activity that is characterized by cycles and is reflective starting from (1) planning (planning), (2) implementing actions (action), (3) collecting data (observing) and (4) analyzing data or information to focus on the extent of strengths or weaknesses. Data obtained showed that the Contextual learning strategies can increase students' motivation to study physics in class X Christian Private High School BNKP Gunungsitoli. This can be seen from the results of the learning motivation questionnaire where in the first cycle the level of student learning motivation reached 61.75% or sufficient category but in the second cycle the students’ motivation reached 82.5% or good category. It concludes that CTL increases the students’ motivation in physics subjects by applying contextual learning strategies, several actions must be taken as an effort to overcome weaknesses that occur during the learning process the action.

Margaret Thatcher is broadly presumed to have opined, conceivably on more than one event and maybe underhandedly. This at first shocking claim can be caught on in terms of a few critical progressions between radical Thatcherism. This article centers in this regard on the legacies of the neoliberal administration move foundations beneath Mrs. Thatcher in Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls. In addition, women in her plays are not just depicted as victims in a patriarchal society but as fighters and survivors. Churchill wrote her plays when Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister of England as such her plays depict the dilemmas and conflicts of women living in the late seventies and eighties under the rule of the “Iron Lady”. In essence, her plays explore issues surrounding gender. In addition, she also examined the complexities surrounding the relationships among family members, gender stereotyping and class struggles.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether mere contact between cultural groups or individuals among university students is enough to reduce prejudice amongst them. The study has shown that to reduce prejudice requires that people become more multicultural and more interactive in various activities. This has been supported by many research findings. The research students were 28 American University Students in the Gambia of diverse cultural backgrounds and the results suggest that multiculturalism in or multicultural orientations is a possible measure to overcome intercultural prejudice and reduce conflicts between different cultural groups. Data was collected through questionnaires and the results showed that living and studying together and doing activities together as students’ enhanced acceptance and mutual understanding amongst the students from different countries. This study invites further research in a larger scale in a diverse Gambian community to further test the hypothesis and for more generalizability.

With the advancement in Science and technology and the roles it plays in the development of a nation, it becomes important for students to enroll in Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) related courses. This study Investigated strategies for improving female senior secondary school chemistry students’ participation in Science, Technology and Mathematics in Delta State. In order to give direction to the study, two research questions were raised and one hypothesis formulated. The design used for this study is the descriptive survey research design. The sample for the study consist of 180 female students were randomly selected from the schools three schools in Delta Central Senatorial District. The instrument for Data collection was a questionnaire titled strategies for improving senior secondary school female chemistry. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of the mean, standard Deviation and one short sample t-test. The findings of the study includes: Parental involvement, Teachers, governmental involvement and elimination of socio-cultural factor as strategies will enhance female students participation in STM career; and is a significant difference in the mean scores of female chemistry students who agreed that parents, teachers, government and socio-cultural factor have roles to play in promoting female participation in STM education. It was therefore recommended that orientations and encouragement should be given to female chemistry students on the need for them to further their careers in Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) related course by all stakeholders.

The global effect of climate crises in the world at large became a call for concern among all nations-both strong and weak nations. International and regional communities have often times came together and are still conglomerating to ensure that their environment are safer and healthy for their citizens but the more they paid much attention to climate change, the more the problems generated from it lingered. As a result, climate refugees across globe have resulted to seeking refuge out of their countries to a safer and healthy environment other than allowing their unhealthy and unsafe environment to adversely endanger them. To attain this research work, the writers’ intention establish to their audience that in our environmentally changing world, migration is not caused only by reasons of migrants seeking better lives abroad but also to elope from climate crises which like tornado wreaking havoc to all climate refugees in the world inclusive Nigeria and Mexico as comparatively revealed respectively. This research work includes introduction and definitional concepts of climate change and refugees law, literature review of climate change and refugee protection laws, legal regime of climate change and refugee Protection, stratagem of Nigeria and Mexico Laws on Climate change and refugee Protection in line with International best standard practices, challenges of laws on climate change and refugee Protection, climate change and refugee protection laws in Nigeria and Mexico, recommendations and conclusion. Call in aid, the writers will strongly depend on relevant materials provided by renowned scholars and also utilise their secondary data collections.

Au Cameroun, l’Église est devenue un véritable acteur économique au service du développement. Le marché étant ouvert et prometteur, l’UEBC s’est, comme d’autres obédiences religieuses, investi dans les secteurs de l’éducation et de la santé. Se prévalant d’une mission historique dans ces secteurs, l’UEBC a du mal, une soixantaine d’années après le départ des missionnaires « blancs », à s’arrimer aux exigences du management et/ou de la gouvernance des organisations contemporaines, marquées par l’efficacité et l’efficience au service de la rentabilité sociale et économique. Ainsi donc, comment analyser les processus de désignation des dirigeants et les jeux d’acteurs à l’UEBC ? Autrement dit, qu’est-ce qui expliquent les querelles parfois violentes autour de la désignation du top management de l’UEBC alors que les textes et les procédures en la matière sont connus de tous les acteurs ? L’hypothèse qui soutend notre analyse est la suivante: les rôles sociaux influents que jouent certains acteurs individuels et collectifs dans la désignation du Directoire de l’UEBC plongent ladite organisation dans une profonde crise de gouvernance. Cet article propose une lecture qualitative des chamboulements au sein de l’UEBC.

The philosophy of Nigeria`s education is based on developing individuals into a sound and effective citizen, full integration of the individual into the community and providing equal access to educational opportunities for all Nigerian citizens at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels both inside and outside the formal system. Therefore, the transition between Universal Primary Educations to Universal Basic Education brought about various changes in educational system in Nigeria. In this regard, questionnaires instrument of data collection was distributed to the 40 senior lecturers of Umar Sulaiman Collage of education Gashua using stratify sampling technics and 37 questionnaires were return and are analyzed with chi-square test. The result shows that, the calculated value is 23.21, while the critical value (26.30) with 16 degree of freedom at α 0.05 level of significant. This mean the statement was accepted, the U.P.E graduates do better than that of U.B.E graduates in higher institution of learning, conclusion and recommendations were offered by the researcher best on the result at hand.

This was a descriptive study which investigated English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ and students’ perceptions of retell story as a post-reading activity in their teaching and learning at high school. The aims of the study were to find out the teachers’ perceptions about advantages and challenges of retell story and to figure out the students’ perceptions about benefits and difficulties of retell story in post-reading stage. This paper drew on data collected from questionnaire and focus-group interviews conducted with the students in grade 10 and from semi-structured interviews with the EFL high school teachers. These 03 teachers and 109 students were from a public high school at a city in the Mekong Delta. The findings revealed that both EFL high school teachers and students had positive perceptions about retell story activity. They perceived many advantages as well as some certain challenges when using retell story as a post-reading activity. Results and discussions for EFL teaching and learning in case applying retell story in post-reading stage were also presented in this study.

Rabbit, Run is a realistic novel written by American writer John Updike, which reflects the middle class life and social background of America during 1950s. And in this work, the author adds some reflections on arts, sex, religion and existentialism. The character “rabbit” is an anti-hero, whose six times of running reflects the idle and meaningless life of American middle class young men during that period. The paper will analyse the existentialism in the novel and endeavors of the modern people to build up self-identity.

Social history is a subfield of history. History probes happenings along with people. Hard Times: For These Times, better known as Hard Times was first published in 1854. It looks over English society and holds up to ridicule the social and economic circumstances of the time. For a writer of fiction accompanied by a deep understanding of history-local, particular, cultural as well as social, the hard contentions of make-believe narrative in addition to historicity of experience become apparent. Supposing and so-to- speak, both history and imaginative writing branch off and come together simultaneously. The more measured their dissociation in the artistic taste, the more complete their closeness in historical denotations. It is readily apparent in Charles John Huffam Dickens’ Hard Times, on a higher or lower plane. Unquestionably, the plot immersing the agriculture-cycles is really striking as well as genuine and when it is discerned not as an aesthetic structure alone but as an advance towards history, it flashes forward to the transformation of historiography in Spengler and Toynbee. Hard Times, which is a contentious novel becomes involved in matters, for instance, education along with industrialization. It puts forward moral beliefs and fairness questioning the presiding theories of the age.

This study aimed at finding out vocabulary strategies mostly used by students in SMK Negeri 1 Batu. This is a survey research with questionnaire adapted from Takac [1] as the instrument. The questionnaire consists of 20 close-ended statements. There are three categorization of reading strategies in the questionnaire that are Memory Strategies (MEM), Cognitive Strategies (COG), Metacognitive Strategies (MET) and last Determination Strategies (DET). The questionnaire was administered to 150 all majoring students. Microsoft Excel 2010 was used to calculate the mean obtained from the respondents. The finding of this study reveals that the students are high users of four vocabulary learning strategies. The percentage of memory strategies is 24.5%, cognitive strategies 6.5%, metacognitive strategies 17.4% and determination strategies 51.5%. From the four vocabulary learning strategies, determination strategies earned the highest mean among other reading strategy. The Researchers also found that reading strategy mostly used by students that achieve a highest score in English examination using determination strategies. The Researchers suggests the English teacher to keep supporting students to be aware of vocabulary learning strategy use and help students to improve their vocabulary. Furthermore, teacher can adjust the academic activities with the finding of this study to enhance educational achievement. For further Researchers, they can consider other characteristic background and factor that create different vocabulary learning strategy use.

The content and years of primary education differ around the world. Unfortunately, poor regions or countries that mismanage resources often receive low-quality education. Africa is a typical example. Quality education, however, is a tool that leads to the acquisition of relevant skills and knowledge required for sustainable development, achievable through formal and informal education. Science Education is the field concerned with sharing scientific knowledge and methods with people not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. It should transform the typical teacher-centered classroom lecture into discovery and problem-solving arena, thus encouraging creativity and originality. The country must actively engage students in finding problems and looking for solutions. However, this is not common in a typical Nigerian science classroom and has resulted in Nigeria being a country of dependence, a land of leading importers than producers. This paper, therefore, argues that for Nigeria to achieve sustainable development, the government must identify and address clear steps for performing the relevant focal points for sustainable development. The discussion suggests that some of the critical issues the country need to address to steer the country towards sustainable development include a holistic consideration of the place of the non-formal education, strengthening of science and entrepreneurship education and admission policies into relevant courses which will directly address the needs of the society.

The study analysed the effects of gender on the performance in Advanced Level Business Studies in rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe. The study employed a quantitative descriptive research design. The randomly selected sample of the study was made up of 105 respondents selected from five rural secondary schools in Mwenezi District in Masvingo Province. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Multiple regression analysis techniques were to analyse the data in the study. The research found that there was no significant relationship between gender and performance in Advanced Level Business Studies. However, it was found that the socio-economic background is what mostly affects the performance of female learners than their male counterparts. The study also established that poor performance by female learners in Advanced Level Business Studies is a result of poor parental support, absence of female Business Studies teachers to act as role models and inadequate study time since they are more occupied with household chores compared to male pupils. The major recommendations for rural secondary schools drawn from the analysis of the findings and literature were that parents and relatives should be educated to give female learners ample study time and that there should be a balance in terms of the number of male and female Business Studies teachers in schools to encourage female learners to do well in Business Studies and other business education learning areas.

In ELF learning and teaching, students’ hindrances in listening skills have been investigated and reported as a key factor to hinder students from listening comprehension. This study, therefore, uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches aimed to determine the relationship between vocabulary size and listening comprehension as well as their confidence when learning vocabulary before completing the part 4 of IELTS listening tests. In particular, the research was conducted with the participation of eighty-nine third-year students who were asked to complete a 10-question vocabulary test along with a 10-question listening test based on the IELTS Listening Test (part 4) before finishing a questionnaire to point out their hindrances during the listening test. At the end of the process, nine students were invited to participate in an interview in order to figure out their confidence in learning vocabulary prior to the listening test. The results suggest that the participants failed to recognize many of the sounds in the listening test while the fast speech rate caused them to miss the latter parts of the test. Meanwhile, although students also feel more confident when being taught vocabulary before listening, students should have long enough preparation time to show the significant difference. Finally, although some discrepancies can be seen in the results of the vocabulary test, there was no difference in the listening result.