مطالب

This study was conducted with the objective of investigating the practice of teaching early reading comprehension. The study was carried out in sixty-six Grade 2 government primary schools found in SNNPR State in Gedeo zone,Ethiopia, in the academic year 2015. Sixty-six English language teachers were subjects of the study. The study employed mixed method, specifically QUANT-QUAL one. Data were collected using questionnaires, observation and interview. Sixty-six of the teachers (one teacher from each selected school) who were teaching English in Grade 2 completed the questionnaire. Ten of the teachers were observed while they were teaching reading to see how they were teaching reading and six of the teachers were interviewed. Data from questionnaires, classroom observations and interview were categorized and descriptively analyzed using frequency and percentage. The data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings revealed that teachers failed to implement the teaching of early reading according to the theories and principles of teaching early reading. Teachers were seen using inappropriate reading techniques and procedures in the mentioned grade level. The study also revealed that teachers are deficiently trained in phonological awareness, phonics instruction, comprehension, fluency and vocabulary.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the causal relationship between the structure and performance in the banking industry of Iran. In doing so, the data and information of public and private banks from 1996 to 2015 is examined using Toda-Yamamoto causality test (TY) and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) (the degree of market concentration) trend shows that over the last two decades, the degree of concentration has reduced. In other words, the structure of banking industry has moved away from monopoly conditions towards competitive markets. The degree of profitability and the ratio of net return on assets (ROA) are used for the performance of banking industry. According to the results, the banks' profitability rate has been increasing over the years under study. The results of Toda-Yamamoto causality test (TY) and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach also show that in the banking industry of Iran, both in the short term and long term, there is a one-way causal relationship from performance to structure. In other words, the structuralist theory of the banking industry of Iran is not approved and the Chicago School theory of the causal relationship between performance and structure cannot be rejected.