Search results for: English for occupational purposes

Authors: Stephanie Zuba-Bates

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Purpose: This qualitative research study explored the lived experience of people with functional movement disorder (FMD) including how it impacts their quality of life and participation in life activities. It aims to educate health care professionals about FMD from the perspective of those living with the disorder. Background: Functional movement disorder is characterized by abnormal motor movements including tremors, abnormal gait, paresis, and dystonia with no known underlying pathophysiological cause. Current research estimates that FMD may account for 2-20% of clients seen by neurologists. Getting a diagnosis of FMD is typically long and difficult. In addition, many healthcare professionals are unfamiliar with the disorder which may delay treatment. People living with FMD face great disruption in major areas of life including activities of daily living (ADLs), work, leisure, and community participation. OT practitioners have expertise in working with people with both physical disabilities as well as mental illness and this expertise has the potential to guide treatment and become part of the standard of care. In order for occupational therapists to provide these services, they must be aware of the disorder and must advocate for clients to be referred to OT services. In addition, referring physicians and other health professionals need to understand how having FMD impacts the daily functioning of people living with the disorder and how OT services can intervene to improve their quality of life. This study aimed to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the lived experience of individuals with FMD?; 2) How has FMD impacted their participation in major areas of life?; and, 3) What treatment have they found to be effective in improving their quality of life? Method: A naturalistic approach was used to collect qualitative data through semi-structured telephone interviews of five individuals living with FMD. Subjects were recruited from social media websites and resources for people with FMD. Data was analyzed for common themes among participants. Results: Common themes including the variability of symptoms of the disorder; challenges to receiving a diagnosis; frustrations with and distrust of health care professionals; the impact of FMD on the participant’s ability to perform daily activities; and, strategies for living with the symptoms of FMD. Conclusion: All of the participants in the study had to modify their daily activities, roles and routines as a result of the disorder. This is an area where occupational therapists may intervene to improve the quality of life of these individuals. Additionally, participants reported frustration with the medical community regarding the awareness of the disorder and how they were treated by medical professionals. Much more research and awareness of the disorder is in order.

Keywords: functional movement disorder, occupational therapy, participation, quality of life

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Authors: Gabriel Montague, Max Vilgalys, Catherine H. Crawford, Jorge Ortiz, Dava Newman

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There has never been so much publicly accessible atmospheric and environmental data. The possibilities of these data are exciting, but the sheer volume of available datasets represents a new challenge for researchers. The task of identifying and working with a new dataset has become more difficult with the amount and variety of available data. Datasets are often documented in ways that differ substantially from the common English used to describe the same topics. This presents a barrier not only for new scientists, but for researchers looking to find comparisons across multiple datasets or specialists from other disciplines hoping to collaborate. This paper proposes a method for addressing this obstacle: creating a knowledge graph to bridge the gap between everyday English language and the technical language surrounding these datasets. Knowledge graph generation is already a well-established field, although there are some unique challenges posed by working with Earth data. One is the sheer size of the databases – it would be infeasible to replicate or analyze all the data stored by an organization like The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) or the European Space Agency. Instead, this approach identifies topics from metadata available for datasets in NASA’s Earthdata database, which can then be used to directly request and access the raw data from NASA. By starting with a single metadata standard, this paper establishes an approach that can be generalized to different databases, but leaves the challenge of metadata harmonization for future work. Topics generated from the metadata are then linked to topics from a collection of English queries through a variety of standard and custom natural language processing (NLP) methods. The results from this method are then compared to a baseline of elastic search applied to the metadata. This comparison shows the benefits of the proposed knowledge graph system over existing methods, particularly in interpreting natural language queries and interpreting topics in metadata. For the research community, this work introduces an application of NLP to the ecological and environmental sciences, expanding the possibilities of how machine learning can be applied in this discipline. But perhaps more importantly, it establishes the foundation for a platform that can enable common English to access knowledge that previously required considerable effort and experience. By making this public data accessible to the full public, this work has the potential to transform environmental understanding, engagement, and action.

Keywords: earth metadata, knowledge graphs, natural language processing, question-answer systems

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Authors: Hanaa Sameen Ameen Bajilan

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Human rights should be protected and promoted without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, political philosophy, or sexual orientation, following our firm convictions. Thus, any infringement of these rights or disdain for; any use of violence against women undermines the principles and human values of equality and endangers the entire society, including its potential to live in peace and to make growth and development. This paper represents the condition of the new Iraqi women regarding issues such as the gender wage gap, education, health, and violence against women. The study aims to determine the impact of traditions and customs on the legal position of Iraqi women. First, it seeks to assess the effects of culture as a historical agency on the legal status of Iraqi women. Second, the influence of cultural developments in the later part of the twentieth century on Iraqi women's legal standing, and third, the importance of cultural variety as a progressive cultural component in women's legal position. Finally, the study highlights the representation of women in Iraq: Gender wage Gap, Women's liberation between culture and law, and the role of women within Iraqi society based on an Iraqi novel named (Orange Light) in Arabic: برتقالو ضو. in her book, the Iraqi writer Nadia Al-Abru succeeds in portraying the post-war society's devotion to the sexual, emotional and mental marginalization of women in terms of the value of attendance. Since the study of Iraqi women's literature in Arabic-English translation is a new avenue of research that contributes to all three areas, this investigation aims to establish critical lines of engagement between contemporary Iraqi women's literature in English translation and feminist translation conceptual frameworks, and this is accomplished by first focusing on why analyzing Iraqi women writers' novels in Arabic-English translation is a timeline of inquiry that contributes to existing and emerging knowledge fields concerning Iraqi women writers' contemporary critical contexts and scholarship on Arab women's literature in Arabic-English translation.

Keywords: women in İraq, equality, violence, gender wage gap, Nadia Al-Abru, (orange light), women's liberation, İraqi women's literature,

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Authors: Rose Shayeghi, Pejman Hosseinioun

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During the academic year of 2014-2015, a needs analysis was conducted in four major universities of Iran to assess the present and target situation academic language needs of undergraduate students of geology. Participants included undergraduate students (N = 102), graduate students (N = 47), subject-specific teachers (N = 12), and ESAP teachers (N = 20). Instrumentation included four needs analysis questionnaires, self-assessment and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that, despite some inconsistencies in participants’ perceptions, ‘reading subject specific texts’, ‘knowledge of general vocabulary’, ‘using bilingual technical dictionaries’, and ‘writing e-mails to teachers and field experts’ were perceived as either ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to students’ success by all the participants. Moreover, the findings revealed that undergraduate students’ General English Proficiency (GEP) level was generally lower than what is required in the EAP courses. The findings of the study can have implications for improving and renewing EAP courses under study.

Keywords: ESP, EAP, needs analysis, triangulation, geology

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Authors: Jordan Shuler

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The goal of this study is to determine whether real-time language translation benefits ESL learners by contributing to overall equity in the classroom. Equity will be measured quantitatively through assessment performance and qualitatively through student survey. Two separate sections of students studying the same course will receive identical curriculum: one group, the control, will be taught in English and the other group in English with real-time translation into the students' first languages. The professor will use Microsoft Translator during lectures, in-class discussions, and Q&A time. The college is committed to finding new ways of teaching and learning, as outlined in Strategy 2022. If this research finds a positive relationship between language translation and student academic success, the technology will surely be encouraged for adoption by all George Brown College faculty. With greater acceptance, this technology could influence equity and pedagogy in the larger educational community.

Keywords: ESL learners, equity, innovative teaching strategies, language translation

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Authors: Abdul Amir Hazbavi

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In recent years, there have been increasing requests in the field of translation studies to develop software facilitating the analysis of corpora. One of the specialized tools in that regard are Terminology Management Tools. Briefly explaining, Terminology Management Tools are applications developed to help create and store terminological data in the form which allows for a controlled use of the data. While it has a long history and an established ground in translation market in most parts of the globe, the Iranian translators and translation market still seem to be unaware or unfamiliar with Terminology Management Tools. In order to provide a preview on the perception and adoption of Terminology Management Tools by the Iranian translators, the present survey was carried out among 224 last-year undergraduate Iranian students of English translation at 10 different universities across the country. The study revealed a very low level of adoption and a very high level of willingness to get familiar with and learn about Terminology Management Tools by the Iranian translators.

Keywords: translation, translation technology, terminology management tools, terminology management survey

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Authors: Laura Naka

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The invention of computer writing programs has changed the way of teaching second language writing. This artificial intelligence engine can provide students with feedback on their essays, on their grammatical and spelling errors, convenient writing and editing tools to facilitate student’s writing process. However, it is not yet proved if this technology is helping students to improve their writing skills. There are several programs that are of great assistance for students concerning their writing skills. New technology provides students with different software programs which enable them to be more creative, to express their opinions and ideas in words, pictures and sounds, but at the end main and most correct feedback should be given by their teachers. No matter how new technology affects in writing skills, always comes from their teachers. This research will try to present some of the advantages and disadvantages that new technology has in writing process for students. The research takes place in the University of Gjakova ‘’Fehmi Agani’’ Faculty of Education-Preschool Program. The research aims to provide random sample response by using questionnaires and observation.

Keywords: English language learning, technology, academic writing, teaching L2.

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Authors: Mehmet Ozturk, Serdal Akyuz, Halit Turan

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By the evolving technology, the nature of the war has been changed since the beginning of the history. In the first generation war, the bayonet came to the fore in battlefields; successively; in the second-generation firepower; in the third generation maneuver. Today, in the fourth-generation, fighters, sides, and even fighters’ borders are unclear; consequently, lines of the battles have lost their significance. Furthermore, the actors in the battles can be state or non-state, military, paramilitary or civilian. In order to change the balance according to their interests, parties have utilized the urban areas as warfare. The main reason for using urban areas as a battlefield is the imbalance between parties. To balance the power strength, exploiting technological developments has utmost importance. There are many newly developed technologies for urban warfare such as change in the size of the unmanned aerial vehicle, increased usage of unmanned ground vehicles (especially in supply and evacuation purposes), systems showing the behind of the wall, simulations used for educational purposes. This study will focus on the technological equipment being used for urban warfare.

Keywords: urban warfare, unmanned ground vehicles, technological developments, nature of the war

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Authors: Pamela K. Coke, Heidi Frederiksen, Ann Sebald

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Over the past three years, the researchers have been tracking a rise in the number of teacher education candidates leaving the field before completing their university’s educator preparation program. At their institution, this rise is most pronounced in English Education. The purpose of this qualitative research study is to understand English Education teacher candidates' expectations in becoming prepared educators at each phase of their four phase teacher education program at one institution of higher education in the United States. Research questions include: To what extent do we find differences in teacher candidates' expectations of their teacher training program and student teaching experiences based upon undergraduate and graduate programs? Why do (or do not) teacher candidates persist in their teacher training program and student teaching experiences? How do dispositions develop through the course of the teacher training program? What supports do teacher candidates self-identify as needing at each phase of the teacher training program? Based upon participant interviews at each phase of the teacher education program, the researchers, all teacher educators, examine the extent to which English Education students feel prepared to student teach, focusing on preparation, persistence, and dispositions. The Colorado State University Center for Educator Preparation (CEP) provides students with information about teaching dispositions, or desired professional behaviors, throughout their education program. CEP focuses these dispositions around nine categories: Professional Behaviors, Initiative and Dependability, Tact and Judgment, Ethical Behavior and Integrity, Collegiality and Responsiveness, Effective Communicator, Desire to Improve Own Performance, Culturally Responsive, and Commitment to the Profession. Currently, in the first phase of a four phase study, initial results indicate participants expect their greatest joys will be working with and learning from students. They anticipate their greatest challenges will involve discipline and confidence. They predict they will persist in their program because they believe the country needs well-prepared teachers and they have a commitment to their professional growth. None of the participants thus far could imagine why they would leave the program. With regard to strongest and weakest dispositions, results are mixed. Some participants see Tact and Judgment as their strongest disposition; others see it as their weakest. All participants stated mentoring is a necessary support at every phase of the teacher preparation process. This study informs the way teacher educators train and evaluate teacher candidates, and has implications for the frequency and types of feedback students receive from mentors and supervisors. This research contributes to existing work on teacher retention, candidate persistence, and dispositional development.

Keywords: English education, dispositions, persistence, teacher preparation

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Authors: Benoit Atge, Alice Dhersin, Oscar Da Silva Cacao, Beatrice Martinez, Dominique Ducint, Catherine Verdun-Esquer, Isabelle Baldi, Mathieu Molimard, Antoine Villa, Mireille Canal-Raffin

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Introduction: Healthcare workers' exposure to antineoplastic drugs (AD) is a burning issue for occupational medicine practitioners. Biological monitoring of occupational exposure (BMOE) is an essential tool for assessing AD contamination of healthcare workers. In addition to BMOE, surface sampling is a useful tool in order to understand how workers get contaminated, to identify sources of environmental contamination, to verify the effectiveness of surface decontamination way and to ensure monitoring of these surfaces. The objective of this work was to develop a complete tool including a kit for surface sampling and a quantification analytical method for AD traces detection. The development was realized with the three following criteria: the kit capacity to sample in every professional environment (healthcare services, veterinaries, etc.), the detection of very low AD traces with a validated analytical method and the easiness of the sampling kit use regardless of the person in charge of sampling. Material and method: AD mostly used in term of quantity and frequency have been identified by an analysis of the literature and consumptions of different hospitals, veterinary services, and home care settings. The kind of adsorbent device, surface moistening solution and mix of solvents for the extraction of AD from the adsorbent device have been tested for a maximal yield. The AD quantification was achieved by an ultra high-performance liquid chromatography method coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Results: With their high frequencies of use and their good reflect of the diverse activities through healthcare, 15 AD (cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, doxorubicin, daunorubicin, epirubicin, 5-FU, dacarbazin, etoposide, pemetrexed, vincristine, cytarabine, methothrexate, paclitaxel, gemcitabine, mitomycin C) were selected. The analytical method was optimized and adapted to obtain high sensitivity with very low limits of quantification (25 to 5000ng/mL), equivalent or lowest that those previously published (for 13/15 AD). The sampling kit is easy to use, provided with a didactic support (online video and protocol paper). It showed its effectiveness without inter-individual variation (n=5/person; n= 5 persons; p=0,85; ANOVA) regardless of the person in charge of sampling. Conclusion: This validated tool (sampling kit + analytical method) is very sensitive, easy to use and very didactic in order to control the chemical risk brought by AD. Moreover, BMOE permits a focal prevention. Used in routine, this tool is available for every intervention of occupational health.

Keywords: surface contamination, sampling kit, analytical method, sensitivity

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Authors: Vidyarini Dwita, Rebecca Fanany

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This study will discuss the growth of the market for smartphone technology in Indonesia. This country, with the world’s fourth largest population, has a reputation as the social media capital of the world, and this reputation is largely justified. The penetration of social media is high in Indonesia which has one of the largest global markets. Most Indonesian users of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms access the sites from their mobile phones. Indonesia is expected to continue to be a major market for digital mobile devices, such as smartphone and tablets that can access the internet. The aim of this study to describe the way responses of Indonesian consumers to smartphone advertising using English and Indonesian will impact on their perceptions of the prestige and product image of the advertised items and thus influence consumer intention to purchase the item. Advertising for smartphones and similar products is intense and dynamic and often draws on the social attitudes of Indonesians with respect to linguistic and cultural content and especially appeals to their desire to be part of global mainstream culture. The study uses a qualitative method based on in-depth interviews with 30 participants. Content analysis is employed to analyse the responses of Indonesian consumers to smartphone advertising that uses English and Indonesian text. Its findings indicate that consumers’ impressions of English and Indonesian slogans influence their attitudes toward smartphones, suggesting that linguistic context plays a role in influencing consumer purchases.

Keywords: consumer purchases, marketing communication, product image, smartphone advertising, sociolinguistic

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Authors: Yozna Gurung

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This paper presents preliminary findings from an on-going study on the use of Internal State Terms (IST) in the production of narratives of Hindi-English bilinguals in an attempt to identify children at risk for Specific Language Impairment. Narratives were examined for macrostructure (story structure and story complexity) and internal state terms or mental state terms (IST/MST). 31 students generated stories based on six pictures that were matched for content and story structure in L1 (Hindi) and L2 (English) using a wordless picture narrative. From 30 sample population, 2 students are at risk of Specific Language Impairment, according to this study i.e 6.45%. They showed least development in story grammar as well as IST in both their languages.

Keywords: internal state terms, macrostructure, specific language impairment, wordless picture narrative

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Authors: Muhammad Sheeraz

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Literary responses to various forms of local and international oppressions can be found in all major Pakistani languages and their academic study is crucial to understand the local creative and critical mind. However, most of them have not yet received as much of scholarly attention as has the Anglophone Pakistani literature of this kind. One of the reasons for this indifference is that resistance literature is usually mistaken as incidental work produced in haste and thus not a serious subject or high art worthy of being considered critically. Literary criticism in the English language did not include this Urdu resistance literature because most of it has not yet been translated into English, and scholars proficient in Urdu and producing critical works in English have contented themselves to the critique of a few prominent writers of Urdu, for instance, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Saadat Hassan Manto. While there is no denying the fact that they hold a significant position in Pakistani literature, the tradition of resistance is in no way limited to them. Bringing to the limelight other resistant voices from Urdu fiction, this qualitative research employs Barbara Harlow’s framework of postcolonial resistance literature to explore the strategy of silencing as used in twenty three short stories written between the military regime of Zia ul Haq (1977-1988) in Pakistan. The study shows that the writers of these Urdu short stories have not only recorded various tools of silencing employed by the oppressors but also represented various kinds of silences that were observed in the society. Moreover, they have also depicted how this silencing was dealt with by the writers and intellectual of the time. Thus, in the light of the analysis, it can be safely said that Urdu resistance literature notices, recounts, and theorizes silencing and silences within the local sociopolitical condition.

Keywords: resistance literature, Urdu short fiction, Zia ul Haq, postcolonialism

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Authors: Amin Kaveh Boukani

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Foreign language learning is not straightforward and can be affected by numerous factors, among which personality features like tolerance of ambiguity (TA) are so well-known and important. Such characteristics yet can be affected by other factors like learning additional languages. The current investigation, thus, opted to explore the possible effect of linguistic background (being bilingual or trilingual) on the tolerance of ambiguity (TA) of Iranian EFL learners. Furthermore, the possible mediating effect of TA on multilingual learners' language performance (listening comprehension in this study) was expounded. This research involved 68 EFL learners (32 bilinguals, 29 trilinguals) with the age range of 19-29 doing their degrees in the Department of English Language and Literature of Urmia University. A set of questionnaires, including tolerance of ambiguity (Herman et. al., 2010) and linguistic background information (Modirkhameneh, 2005), as well as the IELTS listening comprehension test, were used for data collection purposes. The results of a set of independent samples t-test and mediation analysis (Hayes, 2022) showed that (1) linguistic background (being bilingual or trilingual) had a significant direct effect on EFL learners' TA, (2) Linguistic background had a significant direct influence on listening comprehension, (3) TA had a substantial direct influence on listening comprehension, and (4) TA moderated the influence of linguistic background on listening comprehension considerably. These results suggest that multilingualism may be considered as an advantageous asset for EFL learners and should be a prioritized characteristic in EFL instruction in multilingual contexts. Further pedagogical implications and suggestions for research are proposed in light of effective EFL instruction in multilingual contexts.

Keywords: tolerance of ambiguity, listening comprehension, multilingualism, bilingual, trilingual

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Authors: Orit Zeevy-Solovey

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Grammar has traditionally been taught for its own sake, emphasizing rules and drills. However, in recent years, more emphasis is given to communicative competence. Current research suggests that form-focused instruction is notably efficient when incorporated in a meaningful communicative context. It is maintained that writing tasks related to the students’ academic fields will encourage them to express themselves openly in topics that are close to their hearts, without feeling too uneasy about grammatical forms. The teacher can further reduce students’ apprehension of grammar by announcing that credit will be given for merely doing the task and that grammar mistakes will not affect the grade. Students’ linguistic errors can then be corrected by giving metalinguistic feedback which involves providing learners with some kind of explicit remark about the nature of the errors they have made. Research has also shown that learners’ developmental readiness is an important factor influencing the effectiveness of written corrective feedback. Larger effect sizes appear as the proficiency level is higher. The purposes of this paper are to demonstrate how grammar can be taught indirectly through writing tasks, and more specifically, how the use of metalinguistic written corrective feedback given to advanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students can raise their linguistic awareness. Since errors are not directly corrected, the students have to work out the corrections needed through exploring grammar books and websites. Longitudinal studies of metalinguistic written corrective feedback comparing the number of errors in students’ first and fourth compositions have shown a decrease in errors.

Keywords: EFL, linguistic awareness, metalinguistic corrective feedback, teaching grammar through writing

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Authors: Sannikumar Patel, Brian Nolan, Markus Hofmann, Philip Owende, Kunjan Patel

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Sentiment analysis and opinion mining have become emerging topics of research in recent years but most of the work is focused on data in the English language. A comprehensive research and analysis are essential which considers multiple languages, machine translation techniques, and different classifiers. This paper presents, a comparative analysis of different approaches for multilingual sentiment analysis. These approaches are divided into two parts: one using classification of text without language translation and second using the translation of testing data to a target language, such as English, before classification. The presented research and results are useful for understanding whether machine translation should be used for multilingual sentiment analysis or building language specific sentiment classification systems is a better approach. The effects of language translation techniques, features, and accuracy of various classifiers for multilingual sentiment analysis is also discussed in this study.

Keywords: cross-language analysis, machine learning, machine translation, sentiment analysis

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Authors: S. C. Lin, W. W. Cheng, M. S. Wu

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This study attempted to investigate the connection between teacher professional development program and students’ Learning. This study took Readers’ Theater Teaching Program (RTTP) for professional development as an example to inquiry how participants apply their new knowledge and skills learned from RTTP to their teaching practice and how the impact influence students learning. The goals of the RTTP included: 1) to enhance teachers RT content knowledge; 2) to implement RT instruction in teachers’ classrooms in response to their professional development. 2) to improve students’ ability of reading fluency in professional development teachers’ classrooms. This study was a two-year project. The researchers applied mixed methods to conduct this study including qualitative inquiry and one-group pretest-posttest experimental design. In the first year, this study focused on designing and implementing RTTP and evaluating participants’ satisfaction of RTTP, what they learned and how they applied it to design their English reading curriculum. In the second year, the study adopted quasi-experimental design approach and evaluated how participants RT instruction influenced their students’ learning, including English knowledge, skill, and attitudes. The participants in this study composed two junior high school English teachers and their students. Data were collected from a number of different sources including teaching observation, semi-structured interviews, teaching diary, teachers’ professional development portfolio, Pre/post RT content knowledge tests, teacher survey, and students’ reading fluency tests. To analyze the data, both qualitative and quantitative data analysis were used. Qualitative data analysis included three stages: organizing data, coding data, and analyzing and interpreting data. Quantitative data analysis included descriptive analysis. The results indicated that average percentage of correct on pre-tests in RT content knowledge assessment was 40.75% with two teachers ranging in prior knowledge from 35% to 46% in specific RT content. Post-test RT content scores ranged from 70% to 82% correct with an average score of 76.50%. That gives teachers an average gain of 35.75% in overall content knowledge as measured by these pre/post exams. Teachers’ pre-test scores were lowest in script writing and highest in performing. Script writing was also the content area that showed the highest gains in content knowledge. Moreover, participants hold a positive attitude toward RTTP. They recommended that the approach of professional learning community, which was applied in RTTP was benefit to their professional development. Participants also applied the new skills and knowledge which they learned from RTTP to their practices. The evidences from this study indicated that RT English instruction significantly influenced students’ reading fluency and classroom climate. The result indicated that all of the experimental group students had a big progress in reading fluency after RT instruction. The study also found out several obstacles. Suggestions were also made.

Keywords: teacher’s professional development, program evaluation, readers’ theater, english reading instruction, english reading fluency

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Authors: Qiong Hu, Ming Yue

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Language variation signals the newest usage of language community, which might become the developmental trend of that language. The personal pronoun we is prescribed as a plural pronoun in grammar, but its number value is more flexible in actual use. Based on the homemade Friends corpus, the present research explores the number value of the first person pronoun we in nowadays American spoken English. With consideration of the subjectivity of we, this paper used ‘we+ PCU (Perception-cognation-utterance) verbs’ collocations and ‘we+ plural categories’ as the parameters. Results from corpus data and manual annotation show that: 1) the overall frequency of we has been increasing; 2) we has been increasingly used with other plural categories, indicating a weakening of its plural reference; and 3) we has been increasingly used with PCU (perception-cognition-utterance) verbs of strong subjectivity, indicating a strengthening of its singular reference. All these seem to support our hypothesis that we is undergoing the process of further grammaticalization towards a singular reference, though future evidence is needed to attest the bold prediction.

Keywords: number, PCU verbs, personal pronoun we,

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Authors: B. Bricklin Zeff

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This research explores the development and application of a specialized chatbot tailored for a nursing English course, with a primary objective of augmenting student engagement through situational content and responsiveness to key expressions and vocabulary. Introducing the chatbot, elucidating its purpose, and outlining its functionality are crucial initial steps in the research study, as they provide a comprehensive foundation for understanding the design and objectives of the specialized chatbot developed for the nursing English course. These elements establish the context for subsequent evaluations and analyses, enabling a nuanced exploration of the chatbot's impact on student engagement and language learning within the nursing education domain. The subsequent exploration of the intricate language model development process underscores the fusion of scientific methodologies and artistic considerations in this application of artificial intelligence (AI). Tailored for educators and curriculum developers in nursing, practical principles extending beyond AI and education are considered. Some insights into leveraging technology for enhanced language learning in specialized fields are addressed, with potential applications of similar chatbots in other professional English courses. The overarching vision is to illuminate how AI can transform language learning, rendering it more interactive and contextually relevant. The presented chatbot is a tangible example, equipping educators with a practical tool to enhance their teaching practices. Methodologies employed in this research encompass surveys and discussions to gather feedback on the chatbot's usability, effectiveness, and potential improvements. The chatbot system was integrated into a nursing English course, facilitating the collection of valuable feedback from participants. Significant findings from the study underscore the chatbot's effectiveness in encouraging more verbal practice of target expressions and vocabulary necessary for performance in role-play assessment strategies. This outcome emphasizes the practical implications of integrating AI into language education in specialized fields. This research holds significance for educators and curriculum developers in the nursing field, offering insights into integrating technology for enhanced English language learning. The study's major findings contribute valuable perspectives on the practical impact of the chatbot on student interaction and verbal practice. Ultimately, the research sheds light on the transformative potential of AI in making language learning more interactive and contextually relevant, particularly within specialized domains like nursing.

Keywords: chatbot, nursing, pragmatics, role-play, AI

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Authors: Azubuike Ekwere

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The shallow and deep aquiferous horizons of the fractured and weathered crystalline basement Oban Massif of south-eastern Nigeria were studied during the dry and wet seasons. The criteria were ascertaining hydrochemistry relative to seasonal and spatial variations across the study area. Results indicate that concentrations of major cations and anions exhibit the order of abundance; Ca>Na>Mg>K and HCO3>SO4>Cl respectively, with minor variations across sampling seasons. Major elements Ca, Mg, Na and K were higher for the shallow aquifers than the deep aquifers across seasons. The major anions Cl, SO4, HCO3, and NO3 were higher for the deep aquifers compared to the shallow ones. Two water types were identified for both aquifer types: Ca-Mg-HCO3 and Ca-Na-Cl-SO4. Most of the parameters considered were within the international limits for drinking, domestic and irrigation purposes. Assessment by use of sodium absorption ratio (SAR), percent sodium (%Na) and the wilcox diagram reveals that the waters are suitable for irrigation purposes.

Keywords: shallow aquifer, deep aquifer, seasonal variation, hydrochemistry, Oban massif, Nigeria

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Authors: Melissa C. Monney

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Psychological testing has been of interest to researchers for many years as useful tools in assessing and diagnosing various disorders as well as to assist in understanding human behavior. However, for over 20 years now, researchers and laypersons alike have been interested in using them for other purposes, such as determining factors in employee selection, promotion, and even termination. In recent years, psychological assessments have been useful in facilitating workplace decision processing, regarding employee circulation within organizations. This literature review explores four of the most commonly used psychological tests in workplace environments, namely cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, integrity, and personality tests, as organizations have used these tests to assess different factors of human behavior as predictive measures of future employee behaviors. The findings suggest that while there is much controversy and debate regarding the validity and reliability of these tests in workplace settings as they were not originally designed for these purposes, the use of such assessments in the workplace has been useful in decreasing costs and employee turnover as well as increase job satisfaction by ensuring the right employees are selected for their roles.

Keywords: cognitive ability, personality testing, predictive validity, workplace behavior

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Authors: A. Bouzabata, A. Boukhari

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Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae), commonly known as turmeric, has a long history of traditional uses for culinary purposes as a spice and a food colorant. The present study aimed to document the ethnobotanical knowledge about Curcuma longa and to assess the variation in the herbalists’ experience in Northeastern Algeria. Data were collected by semi-structured questionnaires and direct interviews with 30 herbalists. Ethnobotanical indices, including the fidelity level (FL%), the relative frequency citation (RFC) and use value (UV) were determined by quantitative methods. Diversity in the knowledge was analyzed using univariate, non-parametric and multivariate statistical methods. Three main categories of uses were recorded for C. longa: for food, for medicine and for cosmetic purposes. As a medicine, turmeric was used for the treatment of gastrointestinal, dermatological and hepatic diseases. Medicinal and food uses were correlated with both forms of use (rhizome and powder). The age group did not influence the use. Multivariate analyses showed a significant variation in traditional knowledge, associated with the use value, origin, quality and efficacy of the drug. These findings suggested that the geographical origin of C. longa affected the use in Algeria.

Keywords: curcuma, indices, knowledge, variation

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Authors: Shivani Tiwari, Prathibha Karanth, B. Rajashekhar

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Impairments of syntactic morphology are often considered central in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). In English and related languages, deficits of tense-related grammatical morphology could serve as a clinical marker of SLI. Yet, cross-linguistic studies on SLI in the recent past suggest that the nature and severity of morphosyntactic deficits in children with SLI varies with the language being investigated. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the morphosyntactic deficits in a group of children with SLI who speak Kannada, a morphologically complex Dravidian language spoken in Indian subcontinent. A group of 15 children with SLI participated in this study. Two more groups of typical developing children (15 each) matched for language and age to children with SLI, were included as control participants. All participants were assessed for morphosyntactic comprehension and expression using standardized language test and a spontaneous speech task. Results of the study showed that children with SLI differed significantly from age-matched but not language-matched control group, on tasks of both comprehension and expression of morphosyntax. This finding is, however, in contrast with the reports of English-speaking children with SLI who are reported to be poorer than younger MLU-matched children on tasks of morphosyntax. The observed difference in impairments of morphosyntax in Kannada-speaking children with SLI from English-speaking children with SLI is explained based on the morphological richness theory. The theory predicts that children with SLI perform relatively better in morphologically rich language due to occurrence of their frequent and consistent features that mark the morphological markers. The authors, therefore, conclude that language-specific features do influence manifestation of the disorder in children with SLI.

Keywords: specific language impairment, morphosyntax, Kannada, manifestation

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Authors: Rama Krishna Supramanian, Marzuki Isahak, Noran Naqiah Hairi

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Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the highest recorded occupational diseases, despite being preventable. Hearing Conservation Program (HCP) is designed to protect workers hearing and prevent them from developing hearing impairment due to occupational noise exposures. However, there is still a lack of evidence regarding the effectiveness of this program. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a Hearing Conservation Program (HCP) in preventing or reducing audiometric threshold changes among vector control workers. This study adopts a cluster randomized controlled trial study design, with district health offices as the unit of randomization. Nine district health offices were randomly selected and 183 vector control workers were randomized to intervention or control group. The intervention included a safety and health policy, noise exposure assessment, noise control, distribution of appropriate hearing protection devices, training and education program and audiometric testing. The control group only underwent audiometric testing. Audiometric threshold changes observed in the intervention group showed improvement in the hearing threshold level for all frequencies except 500 Hz and 8000 Hz for the left ear. The hearing threshold changes range from 1.4 dB to 5.2 dB with largest improvement at higher frequencies mainly 4000 Hz and 6000 Hz. Meanwhile for the right ear, the mean hearing threshold level remained similar at 4000 Hz and 6000 Hz after 3 months of intervention. The Hearing Conservation Program (HCP) is effective in preserving the hearing of vector control workers involved in fogging activity as well as increasing their knowledge, attitude and practice towards noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).

Keywords: adult, hearing conservation program, noise-induced hearing loss, vector control worker

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Authors: Sakae Suzuki

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Although Japanese students study English for six years in secondary schools, they demonstrate little success with it when they enter higher education. Learners’ beliefs can predict the future behavior of students, so it may be effective to investigate how learners’ beliefs limit their success and how beliefs might be nudged in a positive direction. While many researchers still depend on a questionnaire called BALLI to reveal explicit beliefs, alternative approaches, especially those designed to reveal implicit beliefs, might be helpful for promoting learning. The present study seeks to identify beliefs with a discursive approach using visual metaphors and narratives. Employing a sociocultural framework, this study investigates how students’ beliefs are revealed by drawings of themselves and their surrounding environments and artifacts while they are engaged in language learning. Research questions are: (1) Can we identify beliefs through an analysis of students’ visual narratives? (2) What environments and artifacts can be found in students’ drawings, and what do they mean? (3) To what extent do students see language learning as a solitary, rather than a social, activity? Participants are university students majoring in science and technology in Japan. The questionnaire was administered to 70 entering students in April, 2014. Data included students drawings of themselves as learners of English as well as written descriptions of students’ backgrounds, English-learning experiences, and analogies and metaphors that they used in written descriptions of themselves as learners. Data will be analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Anticipated results include students’ perceptions of themselves as language learners, including their sense of agency, awareness of artifacts, and social contexts of language learning. Comments will be made on implications for teaching, as well as the use of visual narratives as research tools, and recommended further research.

Keywords: drawings, learners' beliefs, metaphors, BALLI

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Authors: Yidan Shao

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With the advancement of the economy, technology promotes online teaching, and learning has become one of the common features in the educational field. Meanwhile, the dramatic expansion of the online environment provides opportunities for more learners, including second language learners. A greater command of vocabulary improves students’ learning capacity, and word acquisition and development play a critical role in learning. Furthermore, the Word Wall is an effective tool to improve students’ knowledge of words, which works for a wide range of age groups. Therefore, this study is going to use the Word Wall as an intervention to examine whether it can bring some memorization changes in an online English language class for a second language learner based on the word morphology method. The participant will take ten courses in the experiment as it plans. The findings show that the Word Wall activity plays a slight role in improving word memorizing, but it does affect instant memorization. If longer periods and more comprehensive designs of research can be applied, it is expected to have more value.

Keywords: second language acquisition, word morphology, word memorization, the Word Wall

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Authors: Kafi Razzaq Ahmed

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Speaking fluently in a second language requires vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation skills. Teaching the English language entails teaching pronunciation. In professional literature, there have been a lot of attempts to integrate technology into improving the pronunciation of learners. The technique is also neglected in Kurdish contexts, Salahaddin University – Erbil included. Thus, the main aim of the research is to point out the efficiency of using video materials for both language teachers and learners within and beyond classroom learning and teaching environments to enhance student's pronunciation. To collect practical data, a research project has been designed. In subsequent research, a posttest will be administered after each lesson to 100 first-year students at Salahaddin University-Erbil English departments. All students will be taught the same material using different methods, one based on video materials and the other based on the traditional approach to teaching pronunciation. Finally, the results of both tests will be analyzed (also knowing the attitudes of both the teachers and the students about both lessons) to indicate the impact of using video in the process of teaching and learning pronunciation.

Keywords: video, pronunciation, teaching, learning

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Authors: Mohammad Sharifi Bohlouli, Elnaz Sharifi Bohlouli

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Turkish language with many dialects is native or official language of great number of people all around the world. The Qashqaie dialect of Turkish language is spoken by the Qashqaie tribe mostly scattered in the southern part of Iran. This paper aims at analyzing the tense system of this dialect to detect the type and number of tense and aspects available to its speakers. To collect a reliable data, a group of 50 old native speakers were randomly chosen as the informants and different techniques such as; Shuy et al interviews, selective listening ,and eavesdropping were used. The results of data analysis showed that the tense system in the Qashqaie dialect of Turkish language includes 3 absolute tenses, 6 aspectual, and 2 subjunctive ones. The interesting part of the study is that Qashqaie dialect enables its speakers to make a kind of aspectual opposition through verb structure which seems to be almost impossible through verb forms in any other nonturkish languages. For example in the following examples sentences 1&2 and 3&4 have the same translation In English although they are different in both meaning and structure. 1. Ali ensha yazirdi. 2. Ali ensha yazirmush. (Ali was writing a composition.) 3. Ali yadmishdi. 4. Ali yadmishimish. (Ali had slept.). The changes in the verb structure in Qashqaie dialect enables its speakers to say that whether the doer of the action remembers the process of doing the action or not. So, it presents a new aspectual opposition as Observed /nonobserved. The research findings reveal many other regularities and linguistic features that can be useful for linguists interested in Turkish in general and for those interested in tense and aspect and also they can be helpful for different pedagogical purposes including teaching and translating.

Keywords: qashqaie dialect, tense, aspect, linguistics, Turkish language

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Authors: Aanh Eduardo Dimate-Garcia, Diana Carolina Rodriguez-Romero, Edna Yuliana Gonzalez Rincon, Diana Marcela Pardo Lopez, Yessica Garibello Cubillos

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Musculoskeletal disorders (MD) are the new epidemic of chronic diseases, are multifactorial and affect the different productive sectors. Although there are multiple instruments to evaluate the static and dynamic load, the method of repetitive occupational action (OCRA) seems to be an attractive option. Objective: It is aimed to analyze the use of the OCRA method and the prevalence of MD in workers of various productive sectors according to the literature (2007-2018). Materials and Methods: A literature review (following the PRISMA statement) of studies aimed at assessing the level of biomechanical risk (OCRA) and the prevalence of MD in the databases Scielo, Science Direct, Scopus, ProQuest, Gale, PubMed, Lilacs and Ebsco was realized; 7 studies met the selection criteria; the majority are quantitative (cross section). Results: it was evidenced (gardening and flower-growers) in this review that 79% of the conditions related to the task require physical requirements and involve repetitive movements. In addition, of the high appearance of DM in the high-low back, upper and lower extremities that are produced by the frequency of the activities carried out (footwear production). Likewise, there was evidence of 'very high risks' of developing MD (salmon industry) and a medium index (OCRA) for repetitive movements that require special care (U-Assembly line). Conclusions: the review showed the limited use of the OCRA method for the detection of MD in workers from different sectors, and this method can be used for the detection of biomechanical risk and the appearance of MD.

Keywords: checklist, cumulative trauma disorders, musculoskeletal diseases, repetitive movements

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Authors: Edward Y. W. Chu

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This paper exemplifies how the political and educational considerations have shaped the heavy-handed MOI policy in Hong Kong after its handover to China in 1997. Its result, a significant degeneration of English standard among the non-elite students, will be reported based on a detailed analysis of the public exam statistics available and other empirical studies. The remedial action taken by the Education Bureau out of the economic and educational considerations will be reported with reference to the official documents. The political, economic and educational considerations exemplified in different stages of Mother-tongue MOI policy in Hong Kong are found to be influential in the MOI policy in other Asian countries as well. For example, out of rapid internationalization and marketization, there has been increasing adoption of English as the MOI in post-secondary institutions in China, Japan & South Korea. On the other hand, while colonial languages were firmly made as the MOI in former colonies such as Vietnam and India, they were greatly retrieved upon independence for political and educational reasons. Malaysia also followed the same pattern upon independence but re-introduced partial English MOI policy in late 90s hoping to capitalize favourable globalization benefits. The short-lived policy was abandoned in 2009 because of the perceived political threat of national identity as well as the lack of educational effectiveness. Based on the great majority of Asian countries studied, this paper argues that MOI policy in Asia is much more than an educational issue, and that there is a clear pattern of how decisions of MOI matters are made. Studying the history and development of MOI in Hong Kong and other Asian countries provides a unique angle to view of how Asian countries prepare for the political, economic and educational challenges nowadays.

Keywords: economics, Hong Kong, medium of instruction, politics

Procedia PDF Downloads 472