International Journal of Social Research and Innovation (IJSRI) is a multi-disciplinary research journal published by Villa College. The journal is currently in its 4th volume, and has in the past published a number of high quality research papers in diverse areas such as business, education, health, public policy, law, language, arts and culture. All papers in the journal are published after a rigorous peer-review process and stringent editorial scrutiny.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the editorial board of IJSRI is currently seeking high quality research papers related to the general theme of the current pandemic situation. As such, we wish to invite academics and researchers to submit their papers addressing the impact of COVID-19 on the Maldivian society - from various perspectives such as public health, education, business, economy, livelihood, employment, technology, law, public policy and governance. Authors are encouraged to focus their papers on identifying current research and thinking related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide impactful and creative solutions essential for a speedy recovery and normalisation.
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Sea level rise, statehood and artificial islands for environmentally displaced persons under international law:Future of the Maldives
Ahmed Adham Abdulla (Research Associate at the Institute for Research and Innovation of Villa College.)
Working towards effective feedback: Exploring students’ perceptions of feedback given for their Dhivehi Writing in Higher Secondary Education
Nazly Rashad and Maryam Nihaadh
Dhi-English: Influence of Dhivehi language features on the English narratives of Maldivian ESL learners
Zahra Mohamed
Social Media Use and Impact during Maldivian Travellers’ Holiday Planning
Ali Akram (finance management at the Maldives Airports) and Ahmed Shahid (Dean of Research at the Institute for Research and Innovation, Villa College)
Adaptive Capacity for Climate Change in Maldivian Rural Communities
Ibrahim Mohamed (Environmental Protection Agency of the Maldives), David King (College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Australia) and 3.Alison Cottrel (Centre for Disaster Studies, James Cook University, Australia)
Editorial Preface
This issue of the International Journal of Social Research and Innovation (IJSRI) has come to fruition at a defining moment in the recent Maldivian history. For the past 40 years, tourism and hospitality industry has been the driving force of the Maldivian economy. Despite Maldivian tourism and travel industry coming to a temporary halt with Covid-19, the low number of deaths and the control of infection to a few islands is an indicator of strong social and political leadership , adaptability and resilience. Even though, weaknesses in the health sector in remote islands became starkly prominent, social capital, community leadership and individual responsibility in supporting each other became clearly visible through financial and material contributions by individuals, and organisations to the health sector. Individual, community and Maldivian emigrant sharing of knowledge, skills and expertise was combined to strengthen the health infrastructure at a time of extreme need. Difficulty in online financial transactions had been a hindrance for micro-economic development in the isolated, rural islands. However, innovative practices in online shopping and online financial transactions became visible even in the remotest islands, as people moved away from cash transactions amidst fear of Covid-19 infection, supported by the above mentioned networks of expertise. These community-led initiatives are also mechanisms by which community resilience can be strengthened for climate change adaptation.
The articles in this issue of IJSRI are also a glimpse to the resilience of the Maldivian people against both natural and man-made disasters. As international tourist arrivals plummet, Ali Akram and Ahmed Shahid illustrate the role, the high level of technological connectivity and engagement in internet-based social media by Maldivians can be utilised to maximise sustainable, small scale, local tourism in inhabited islands by local entrepreneurs, providing a boutique, client oriented service to both local and international tourists.
The largest asset, Maldives has is its young population. Naazly Rashad and Maryam Nihaad’s paper on teacher and student feedback to improve writing in Dhivehi language classes in higher secondary education is a step forward for young people to learn collaboratively and to work together to assess own work, to seek support to improve work and to become independent learners. Zahra Mohamed’s paper on influence of Dhivehi on learning English as a Second Language illustrates the emerging capacity of Maldivian teachers and researchers to move to evidence based practice to inform learning and development.
Ibrahim Mohamed’s paper on adaptive capacity of rural island communities to climate change, indicate the importance for communities to be knowledge creators, observant to changes in their ecological environment and to develop objective adaptive capacity based on knowledge generated from living within unique habitats of coral reef ecosystems. Ahmed Adham Abdullah’s paper highlights the importance of political and legal leadership to secure the sovereignty of the Maldivian people, maintain statehood, and ensure Maldivians can exercise socio-economic rights to an economic zone of more than a million square kilometres of airspace and ocean, in the event of sea level rise and submergence of territorial boundaries.
As Covid-19 struck the world economies with devastating impact; importance of political autonomy, access to local and international resources and expertise; and resilience and adaptability of the Maldivian population became clearly evident. Working together, we can develop a modern and resilient economy; ensure equity in health and education provision; and fair distribution of wealth for inclusive growth and wellbeing of the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised. Dr. Mohamed Adil
Dr. Sheema Saeed
Dr. Ahmed Shahid
Editors of IJSRI, Villa College
Development and the Sacred: An Account of Reef Resource Management in the Maldives
Mizna Mohamed (ENDEVOR, Maldives), Nicole Gombay (Department of Geography, Université de Montréal, Canada), and John Pirker (School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, NZ)
Agents for Development: The Booming Youth Population in the Maldives
Aminath Afrah Rasheed (ENDEVOR), Mizna Mohamed (ENDEVOR), and Mohamed Inaz (VESHI)
Community Perspectives on Livelihood Practices and Development: Implications for Policy and Planning
Sheema Saeed, Mohamed Kamil, Hussain Rasheed, Shiyasa Rasheed and Hassan Najee
Book Review
Fathmath Najadha Abdulla
Editorial: Special Issue from National Research Conference 2018 on Development and Social Values
This issue is dedicated to three articles which were initially presented at the National Research Conference 2018, held at Villa College, Male’, Maldives on 30th June 2018. The organisers of the conference,Maldives Research Network, the research arm of ENDEVOR (Maldives) had worked closely with the Institute for Research and Innovation, Villa College, to facilitate the process of submitting the papers from the conference to IJSRI.
The authors of the published articles in this issue followed the same standards of review as any other submissions. The authors had nearly a year after the conference to work on the papers and underwent two rounds of rigorous blind peer review to make it to the pages of the present volume. Congratulations!
Islam is the prime source of support and guidance for Maldivians. Hence, bringing spirituality into discussions about development is timely since spirituality allows for sustainable mechanisms to use natural resources for human consumption. In the first article in this issue, Mizna Mohamed (ENDEVOR, Maldives), Nicole Gombay (Department of Geography, Université de Montréal, Canada) & John Pirker (School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, New Zealand) present an account of reef resource management in the Maldives, exploring the relevance of sacred beliefs in natural resource management. Based on a qualitative study conducted in the Maldives, the focus of the paper is on sacred beliefs that have guided the way Maldivian communities have used, managed and governed their reef resources. They advocate the readers to consider re-integrating the sacred into discussions and practices of natural resource management.
In the second paper, researchers from two NGOs based in the Maldives, challenge the notion that Maldivian youth feel, and are perceived to be, socially and economically disenfranchised and idle. Based on an ongoing qualitative research on everyday changes and everyday lives in Maldivian communities, this paper discusses the high level of youth engagement in community development and livelihood activities in a small island community in the central region of the Maldives.
In the third and final article, members of an NGO in Meedhoo, Addu atoll, Maldives – Nalafehi, present the challenges a small, remote island community face in integrating local community development initiatives and resources with regional and national environmental resources and policies to achieve community objectives for development of a sustainable ecosystem for future generations.
Finally, in the books reviews section, a review by Fathmath Najadha Abdulla of the book, “Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind” by Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov (2010), is included. Dr. Mohamed Adil
Dr. Sheema Saeed
Dr. Ahmed Shahid
Editors of IJSRI, Villa College
Effects of Supply Chain Practice, Competence and Concern on Supply Chain Performance: A study of Small and Medium Enterprises in India
Subburaj Alagarsamy
Factors That Influence Writing in English Language Classrooms: A Case Study of a Secondary School in the Maldives
Fathimath Ibna
Perceptions of Ageing Among Older Adults Living in Male’, Maldives and Implications for Provision of Support
Aishath Nazra
Under-preparedness of Teachers to Teach Life Skills Education in the National Curriculum
Hidaya Mohamed Zahir
Challenges in Regulating Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Small States: A Case Study of the Maldives
Abdul Hannan Waheed
It gives us great pleasure to deliver to you the first issue of the second volume of International Journal of Social Research and Innovation (IJSRI), published by Villa College, Maldives. We have established this journal to serve the needs of promising new researchers and other varied professionals and scholarly communities to publish research which provides insights into issues that are of concern to them, thus, broadening access to the discipline of social sciences research to a wider audience.
We use double blind peer review by two colleagues to support researchers. Through the peer review process we promote practice of theoretical sophistication and rigour in social sciences research. We are indebted to our peer reviewers who have provided extensive support to these emerging researchers. Their level of responsiveness is exemplary despite heavy academic workloads and tight deadlines within which they had to give feedback.
We are epistemologically inclusive, as can be seen in this first issue, and as we plan our second and subsequent issues. In this issue, five researchers new to the field of research publication share their research.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a large proportion of businesses worldwide. They are critical to developing countries like India where the wealth gap is immense. They provide jobs, skills and services to a large number of people. However, knowing how to improve productivity and drive down costs as well as ability to develop and manage supply chain practices are crucial to any SME’s long term survival. Subburaj Alagarsamy examines the dimensions of supply chain management components and their relationship to supply chain performance in SMEs of Madurai District of Tamil Nadu. Whilst supply chain concerns were rated most highly by the managers of these SMEs as significant for supply chain management, design of low-pollution production processes and low-pollution delivering processes are significant supply chain competencies rated highly by SMEs. This can positively support the district with development of green entrepreneurship and leadership in green business processes and technologies.
Modern higher education and employment demand fluency in writing in English. Fathimath Ibna utilises social cognitive theory and self-efficacy beliefs to analyse the processes through which inhibition to write emerges within secondary classrooms. Since self-efficacy affects children’s motivation, interest and level of attainment, she identifies strategies to develop a sense of competence and confidence in English language writing which children can transfer to other areas of learning within school and beyond.
Life Skills Education is emerging as a fundamental right of all children to prepare them to cope with the extraordinary changes the world is undergoing. Hidhaya Zahir questions the level of teacher preparedness to teach life skills while highlighting the importance of life skills education, as well as the challenges teachers face in implementing life skills curriculum.
Regulation and governance of higher education can be perplexing even for academics whose work is based on rigour, independence of thought and the search to push the boundaries of knowledge. Hannan Waheed’s paper on regulation of higher education in the Maldives examines the complexity of creating better, fairer, efficient and transparent systems of quality assurance in higher education, from the perspective of a small state with a newly emerging higher education sector.
We invite researchers from disciplines across social sciences to publish with us. We provide a supportive platform for researchers to publish research on challenging issues confronting our children, youth, adults, parents and communities in the modern era. Dr. Mohamed Adil
Dr. Sheema Saeed
Dr. Ahmed Shahid
Editors of IJSRI, Villa College
Does successful Action Research Merely Require a Culture of Reflective Practice or is There More to it?
Dheeba Moosa
Differentiated instruction: Is it in place?
Rahma Abdul Rahman
Discussion structure: Does it influence student participation and learning through online interactions with block mode students?
Fazeela Ibrahim
Eighth Grade Students’ Attitude Toward Algebra in Maldivian Schools
Abdul Sattar Gasim
Teaching Methodology: One of the Factors Affecting Academic Achievement of Secondary Grade Students
Mariyam Nihaadh
Dhivehi OCR: Character Recognition of Thaana Script using Machine-Generated Text and Tesseract OCR Engine
Ahmed Ibrahim
It gives us great pleasure to deliver to you the first issue of the first volume of International Journal of Social Research and Innovation (IJSRI), published by Villa College, Maldives. We have established this journal to serve the needs of promising new researchers and other varied professionals and scholarly communities to publish research which provides insights into issues that are of concern to them, thus, broadening access to the discipline of social sciences research to a wider audience.
We use double blind peer review by at least two colleagues to support researchers. Through the peer review process, we promote practice of theoretical sophistication and rigour in social sciences research. We are indebted to our peer reviewers who have provided extensive support to these emerging researchers. Their level of responsiveness is exemplary despite heavy academic workloads and tight deadlines within which they had to give feedback.
In this first issue of our Journal, we have included six articles covering a broad spectrum of topics and disciplines.Dheeba Moosa’s article explores the issue of whether a reflective culture is a necessary condition for sustaining action research in the Maldives. She draws on data gathered for a study conducted in the Maldives and supplemented by a discussion of literature on the appropriateness of AR in developing countries, and argues on the importance of carefully and critically considering the assumptions and practices within action research arena.Rahma Abdul Rahman explores the various experiences and dynamics of implementing differentiated instructions, from a pedagogical and practical point of view. She argues that to enhance differentiated instruction carried out in schools, teachers need to get the right professional development training. Fazeela Ibrahim’s paper investigates the influence of online and block mode learning on student participation and learning. She concludes that there is a significant increase in the level of participation in the new structure using online and block mode teaching. Abdul Sattar Gasim examines students’ attitude towards algebra using a quantitative study approach. He contends that there is evidence that the learners have a neutral attitude for the components of the attitude towards algebra in Maldivian schools. The last article, by Mariyam Nihaadh, explores the role of teaching methodology in impacting student achievement in secondary schools of Maldives. The findings revealed that students’ lack of motivation was the consequence of unvaried and ineffective methodologies adopted by most teachers in delivering the lessons. Overall, every article in this issue adds a significant amount of new knowledge and academic insights into the matters being investigated.
We invite researchers from disciplines across social sciences to publish with us. We provide a supportive platform for researchers to publish research on challenging issues confronting our children, youth, adults, parents and communities in the modern era. Dr. Mohamed Adil
Dr. Sheema Saeed
Dr. Ahmed Shahid
Editors of IJSRI, Villa College