Search results for: technical language
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 5776

Search results for: technical language

4186 Educational Practices and Brain Based Language Learning

Authors: Dur-E- Shahwar

Abstract:

Much attention has been given to ‘bridging the gap’ between neuroscience and educational practice. In order to gain a better understanding of the nature of this gap and of possibilities to enable the linking process, we have taken a boundary perspective on these two fields and the brain-based learning approach, focusing on boundary-spanning actors, boundary objects, and boundary work. In 26 semi-structured interviews, neuroscientists and education professionals were asked about their perceptions in regard to the gap between science and practice and the role they play in creating, managing, and disrupting this boundary. Neuroscientists and education professionals often hold conflicting views and expectations of both brain-based learning and of each other. This leads us to argue that there are increased prospects for a neuro-scientifically informed learning practice if science and practice work together as equal stakeholders in developing and implementing neuroscience research.

Keywords: language learning, explore, educational practices, mentalist, practice

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4185 Cut-Out Animation as an Technic and Development inside History Process

Authors: Armagan Gokcearslan

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The art of animation has developed very rapidly from the aspects of script, sound and music, motion, character design, techniques being used and technological tools being developed since the first years until today. Technical variety attracts a particular attention in the art of animation. Being perceived as a kind of illusion in the beginning; animations commonly used the Flash Sketch technique. Animations artists using the Flash Sketch technique created scenes by drawing them on a blackboard with chalk. The Flash Sketch technique was used by primary animation artists like Emile Cohl, Winsor McCay ande Blackton. And then tools like Magical Lantern, Thaumatrope, Phenakisticope, and Zeotrap were developed and started to be used intensely in the first years of the art of animation. Today, on the other hand, the art of animation is affected by developments in the computer technology. It is possible to create three-dimensional and two-dimensional animations with the help of various computer software. Cut-out technique is among the important techniques being used in the art of animation. Cut-out animation technique is based on the art of paper cutting. Examining cut-out animations; it is observed that they technically resemble the art of paper cutting. The art of paper cutting has a rooted history. It is possible to see the oldest samples of paper cutting in the People’s Republic of China in the period after the 2. century B.C. when the Chinese invented paper. The most popular artist using the cut-out animation technique is the German artist Lotte Reiniger. This study titled “Cut-out Animation as a Technic and Development Inside History Process” will embrace the art of paper cutting, the relationship between the art of paper cutting and cut-out animation, its development within the historical process, animation artists producing artworks in this field, important cut-out animations, and their technical properties.

Keywords: cut-out, paper art, animation, technic

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4184 The Effect Training Program on Mixed Contractions on Both the Maximum Force and Explosive Force of the Lower Limbs Conducted Study to the Football Players Under the Age of 17 Years-Tiaret, Algeria

Authors: Saidia Houari

Abstract:

The game of football is one of the global sports activities that have witnessed a remarkable development in recent years in the physical, technical, rhetorical and psychological aspects, so the modern play in different teams and international teams quickly and forcefully in the exact technical performance, and this is due to the interest of international coaches. The good training of the players during the youth stage at the level of various aspects to develop all the techniques that have a great effectiveness in competitions according to scientific methods studied. The muscle strength plays a very important role achieving the performance player during the game and it is clear the need for the player in many situations, especially when jumping to hit the ball head or the goal on the goal or long passes of different types and in the performance of various skills by force and speed appropriate to the possession of the ball or the control of the court of the court while overcoming the body weight during the game it is known that the stronger the muscles of the athlete and the reduced joints injuries, and the strength increases energy saving such as Latin phosphate and glycogen, and develop the player for a game football volitional qualities of the most important of courage, determination And self-confidence. There are also some skill movements that can not be performed without a certain level of strength, so the development of power may affect the effectiveness of the long-term training system.

Keywords: trainning program, maximum force and expolosive force, lowers limbs, under 17 years

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4183 Spanish Language Violence Corpus: An Analysis of Offensive Language in Twitter

Authors: Beatriz Botella-Gil, Patricio Martínez-Barco, Lea Canales

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The Internet and ICT are an integral element of and omnipresent in our daily lives. Technologies have changed the way we see the world and relate to it. The number of companies in the ICT sector is increasing every year, and there has also been an increase in the work that occurs online, from sending e-mails to the way companies promote themselves. In social life, ICT’s have gained momentum. Social networks are useful for keeping in contact with family or friends that live far away. This change in how we manage our relationships using electronic devices and social media has been experienced differently depending on the age of the person. According to currently available data, people are increasingly connected to social media and other forms of online communication. Therefore, it is no surprise that violent content has also made its way to digital media. One of the important reasons for this is the anonymity provided by social media, which causes a sense of impunity in the victim. Moreover, it is not uncommon to find derogatory comments, attacking a person’s physical appearance, hobbies, or beliefs. This is why it is necessary to develop artificial intelligence tools that allow us to keep track of violent comments that relate to violent events so that this type of violent online behavior can be deterred. The objective of our research is to create a guide for detecting and recording violent messages. Our annotation guide begins with a study on the problem of violent messages. First, we consider the characteristics that a message should contain for it to be categorized as violent. Second, the possibility of establishing different levels of aggressiveness. To download the corpus, we chose the social network Twitter for its ease of obtaining free messages. We chose two recent, highly visible violent cases that occurred in Spain. Both of them experienced a high degree of social media coverage and user comments. Our corpus has a total of 633 messages, manually tagged, according to the characteristics we considered important, such as, for example, the verbs used, the presence of exclamations or insults, and the presence of negations. We consider it necessary to create wordlists that are present in violent messages as indicators of violence, such as lists of negative verbs, insults, negative phrases. As a final step, we will use automatic learning systems to check the data obtained and the effectiveness of our guide.

Keywords: human language technologies, language modelling, offensive language detection, violent online content

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4182 The Audio-Visual and Syntactic Priming Effect on Specific Language Impairment and Gender in Modern Standard Arabic

Authors: Mohammad Al-Dawoody

Abstract:

This study aims at exploring if priming is affected by gender in Modern Standard Arabic and if it is restricted solely to subjects with no specific language impairment (SLI). The sample in this study consists of 74 subjects, between the ages of 11;1 and 11;10, distributed into (a) 2 SLI experimental groups of 38 subjects divided into two gender groups of 18 females and 20 males and (b) 2 non-SLI control groups of 36 subjects divided into two gender groups of 17 females and 19 males. Employing a mixed research design, the researcher conducted this study within the framework of the relevance theory (RT) whose main assumption is that human beings are endowed with a biological ability to magnify the relevance of the incoming stimuli. Each of the four groups was given two different priming stimuli: audio-visual priming (T1) and syntactic priming (T2). The results showed that the priming effect was sheer distinct among SLI participants especially when retrieving typical responses (TR) in T1 and T2 with slight superiority of males over females. The results also revealed that non-SLI females showed stronger original response (OR) priming in T1 than males and that non-SLI males in T2 excelled in OR priming than females. Furthermore, the results suggested that the audio-visual priming has a stronger effect on SLI females than non-SLI females and that syntactic priming seems to have the same effect on the two groups (non-SLI and SLI females). The conclusion is that the priming effect varies according to gender and is not confined merely to non-SLI subjects.

Keywords: specific language impairment, relevance theory, audio-visual priming, syntactic priming, modern standard Arabic

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4181 Drawing Building Blocks in Existing Neighborhoods: An Automated Pilot Tool for an Initial Approach Using GIS and Python

Authors: Konstantinos Pikos, Dimitrios Kaimaris

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Although designing building blocks is a procedure used by many planners around the world, there isn’t an automated tool that will help planners and designers achieve their goals with lesser effort. The difficulty of the subject lies in the repeating process of manually drawing lines, while not only it is mandatory to maintain the desirable offset but to also achieve a lesser impact to the existing building stock. In this paper, using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the Python programming language, an automated tool integrated into ArcGIS PRO, is being presented. Despite its simplistic enviroment and the lack of specialized building legislation due to the complex state of the field, a planner who is aware of such technical information can use the tool to draw an initial approach of the final building blocks in an area with pre-existing buildings in an attempt to organize the usually sprawling suburbs of a city or any continuously developing area. The tool uses ESRI’s ArcPy library to handle the spatial data, while interactions with the user is made throught Tkinter. The main process consists of a modification of building edgescoordinates, using NumPy library, in an effort to draw the line of best fit, so the user can get the optimal results per block’s side. Finally, after the tool runs successfully, a table of primary planning information is shown, such as the area of the building block and its coverage rate. Regardless of the primary stage of the tool’s development, it is a solid base where potential planners with programming skills could invest, so they can make the tool adapt to their individual needs. An example of the entire procedure in a test area is provided, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of the final results.

Keywords: arcPy, GIS, python, building blocks

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4180 Beliefs, Practices and Identity about Bilingualism: Korean-australian Immigrant Parents and Family Language Policies

Authors: Eun Kyong Park

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This study explores the relationships between immigrant parents’ beliefs about bilingualism, family literacy practices, and their children’s identity development in Sydney, Australia. This project examines how these parents’ ideological beliefs and knowledge are related to their provision of family literacy practices and management of the environment for their bilingual children based on family language policy (FLP). This is a follow-up study of the author’s prior thesis that presented Korean immigrant mothers’ beliefs and decision-making in support of their children’s bilingualism. It includes fathers’ perspectives within the participating families as a whole by foregrounding their perceptions of bilingual and identity development. It adopts a qualitative approach with twelve immigrant mothers and fathers living in a Korean-Australian community whose child attends one of the communities Korean language programs. This time, it includes introspective and self-evocative auto-ethnographic data. The initial data set collected from the first part of this study demonstrated the mothers provided rich, diverse, and specific family literacy activities for their children. These mothers selected specific practices to facilitate their child’s bilingual development at home. The second part of data has been collected over a three month period: 1) a focus group interview with mothers; 2) a brief self-report of fathers; 3) the researcher’s reflective diary. To analyze these multiple data, thematic analysis and coding were used to reveal the parents’ ideologies surrounding bilingualism and bilingual identities. It will highlight the complexity of language and literacy practices in the family domain interrelated with sociocultural factors. This project makes an original contribution to the field of bilingualism and FLP and a methodological contribution by introducing auto-ethnographic input of this community’s lived practices. This project will empower Korean-Australian immigrant families and other multilingual communities to reflect their beliefs and practices for their emerging bilingual children. It will also enable educators and policymakers to access authentic information about how bilingualism is practiced within these immigrant families in multiple ways and to help build the culturally appropriate partnership between home and school community.

Keywords: bilingualism, beliefs, identity, family language policy, Korean immigrant parents in Australia

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4179 Examining the Development of Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in L2 Learners' Writing after L2 Instruction

Authors: Khaled Barkaoui

Abstract:

Research on second-language (L2) learning tends to focus on comparing students with different levels of proficiency at one point in time. However, to understand L2 development, we need more longitudinal research. In this study, we adopt a longitudinal approach to examine changes in three indicators of L2 ability, complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF), as reflected in the writing of L2 learners when writing on different tasks before and after a period L2 instruction. Each of 85 Chinese learners of English at three levels of English language proficiency responded to two writing tasks (independent and integrated) before and after nine months of English-language study in China. Each essay (N= 276) was analyzed in terms of numerous CAF indices using both computer coding and human rating: number of words written, number of errors per 100 words, ratings of error severity, global syntactic complexity (MLS), complexity by coordination (T/S), complexity by subordination (C/T), clausal complexity (MLC), phrasal complexity (NP density), syntactic variety, lexical density, lexical variation, lexical sophistication, and lexical bundles. Results were then compared statistically across tasks, L2 proficiency levels, and time. Overall, task type had significant effects on fluency and some syntactic complexity indices (complexity by coordination, structural variety, clausal complexity, phrase complexity) and lexical density, sophistication, and bundles, but not accuracy. L2 proficiency had significant effects on fluency, accuracy, and lexical variation, but not syntactic complexity. Finally, fluency, frequency of errors, but not accuracy ratings, syntactic complexity indices (clausal complexity, global complexity, complexity by subordination, phrase complexity, structural variety) and lexical complexity (lexical density, variation, and sophistication) exhibited significant changes after instruction, particularly for the independent task. We discuss the findings and their implications for assessment, instruction, and research on CAF in the context of L2 writing.

Keywords: second language writing, Fluency, accuracy, complexity, longitudinal

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4178 AI-Based Techniques for Online Social Media Network Sentiment Analysis: A Methodical Review

Authors: A. M. John-Otumu, M. M. Rahman, O. C. Nwokonkwo, M. C. Onuoha

Abstract:

Online social media networks have long served as a primary arena for group conversations, gossip, text-based information sharing and distribution. The use of natural language processing techniques for text classification and unbiased decision-making has not been far-fetched. Proper classification of this textual information in a given context has also been very difficult. As a result, we decided to conduct a systematic review of previous literature on sentiment classification and AI-based techniques that have been used in order to gain a better understanding of the process of designing and developing a robust and more accurate sentiment classifier that can correctly classify social media textual information of a given context between hate speech and inverted compliments with a high level of accuracy by assessing different artificial intelligence techniques. We evaluated over 250 articles from digital sources like ScienceDirect, ACM, Google Scholar, and IEEE Xplore and whittled down the number of research to 31. Findings revealed that Deep learning approaches such as CNN, RNN, BERT, and LSTM outperformed various machine learning techniques in terms of performance accuracy. A large dataset is also necessary for developing a robust sentiment classifier and can be obtained from places like Twitter, movie reviews, Kaggle, SST, and SemEval Task4. Hybrid Deep Learning techniques like CNN+LSTM, CNN+GRU, CNN+BERT outperformed single Deep Learning techniques and machine learning techniques. Python programming language outperformed Java programming language in terms of sentiment analyzer development due to its simplicity and AI-based library functionalities. Based on some of the important findings from this study, we made a recommendation for future research.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, social network, text

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4177 [Keynote Talk]: A Blueprint for an Educational Trajectory: The Power of Discourse in Constructing “Naughty” and “Adorable” Kindergarten Students

Authors: Fernanda T. Orsati, Julie Causton

Abstract:

Discursive practices enacted by educators in kindergarten create a blueprint for how the educational trajectories of students with disabilities are constructed. This two-year ethnographic case study critically examine educators’ relationships with students considered to present challenging behaviors in one kindergarten classroom located in a predominantly White middle-class school district in the Northeast of the United States. Focusing on the language and practices used by one special education teacher and three teaching assistants, this paper analyzes how teacher responses to students’ behaviors constructs and positions students over one year of kindergarten education. Using a critical discourse analysis, it shows that educators understand students’ behaviors as a deficit and needing consequences. This study highlights how educators’ responses reflect students' individual characteristics including family background, socioeconomics and ability status. This paper offers in-depth analysis of two students’ stories, which evidenced that the language used by educators amplifies the social positioning of students within the classroom and creates a foundation for who they are constructed to be. Through exploring routine language and practices, this paper demonstrates that educators outlined a blueprint of kindergartners, which positioned students as learners in ways that became the ground for either a limited or a promising educational pathway for them.

Keywords: behavior, early education, special education, critical discourse analysis

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4176 Cultivation of High-value Patent from the Perspective of Knowledge Diffusion: A Case Study of the Power Semiconductor Field

Authors: Lin Qing

Abstract:

[Objective/Significance] The cultivation of high-value patents is the focus and difficulty of patent work, which is of great significance to the construction of a powerful country with intellectual property rights. This work should not only pay attention to the existing patent applications, but also start from the pre-application to explore the high-value technical solutions as the core of high-value patents. [Methods/processes] Comply with the principle of scientific and technological knowledge diffusion, this study studies the top academic conference papers and their cited patent applications, taking the power semiconductor field as an example, using facts date show the feasibility and rationality of mining technology solutions from high quality research results to foster high value patents, stating the actual benefits of these achievements to the industry, giving patent protection suggestions for Chinese applicants comparative with field situation. [Results/Conclusion] The research shows that the quality of citation applications of ISPSD papers is significantly higher than the field average level, and the ability of Chinese applicants to use patent protection related achievements needs to be improved. This study provides a practical and highly targeted reference idea for patent administrators and researchers, and also makes a positive exploration for the practice of the spirit of breaking the five rules.

Keywords: high-value patents cultivation, technical solutions, knowledge diffusion, top academic conference papers, intellectual property information analysis

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4175 Investigate and Compare the Characteristics of Entrepreneurship among Students in Senior Secondary Schools in the Academic

Authors: Khalil Aryanfar, Shahrzad Sanjari, Pariya Gholipor, Elmira Hafez

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The present study aimed to investigate and compare the characteristics of entrepreneurship among students in senior secondary schools in the academic year 2008-2009 in Tabriz city. Research employed survey method respectively. The study population consisted of all students in the senior branch of theoretical, technical, professional and vocational (1033 patients) were included. Sample size of 493 was calculated according to Morgan table. Sampling method was random cluster and stratified sampling. Data collected by researcher made questionnaire based on the theory of MC clleland (1963) and Brvkhavs (1980). These tools would indicators be for achievement, Independence, disposition, creativity, risk-taking, self-control, tolerance for ambiguity, team work approach in the future. To determine the psychometric properties of the questionnaire, content validity of the survey was approved by relevant experts. In addition, to estimate the internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated for 84% of total inventory. Collected data Using mean, standard deviation and were analyzed by ANOVA. The results showed that there is a significant difference between students' entrepreneurial potential fields of theoretical, technical, professional and vocational level (0/01).

Keywords: entrepreneurship, achievement motivation, risk taking, creativity, self-control, independence, tolerance of ambiguity, foresight

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4174 Modeling the Human Harbor: An Equity Project in New York City, New York USA

Authors: Lauren B. Birney

Abstract:

The envisioned long-term outcome of this three-year research, and implementation plan is for 1) teachers and students to design and build their own computational models of real-world environmental-human health phenomena occurring within the context of the “Human Harbor” and 2) project researchers to evaluate the degree to which these integrated Computer Science (CS) education experiences in New York City (NYC) public school classrooms (PreK-12) impact students’ computational-technical skill development, job readiness, career motivations, and measurable abilities to understand, articulate, and solve the underlying phenomena at the center of their models. This effort builds on the partnership’s successes over the past eight years in developing a benchmark Model of restoration-based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education for urban public schools and achieving relatively broad-based implementation in the nation’s largest public school system. The Billion Oyster Project Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (BOP-CCERS STEM + Computing) curriculum, teacher professional developments, and community engagement programs have reached more than 200 educators and 11,000 students at 124 schools, with 84 waterfront locations and Out of School of Time (OST) programs. The BOP-CCERS Partnership is poised to develop a more refined focus on integrating computer science across the STEM domains; teaching industry-aligned computational methods and tools; and explicitly preparing students from the city’s most under-resourced and underrepresented communities for upwardly mobile careers in NYC’s ever-expanding “digital economy,” in which jobs require computational thinking and an increasing percentage require discreet computer science technical skills. Project Objectives include the following: 1. Computational Thinking (CT) Integration: Integrate computational thinking core practices across existing middle/high school BOP-CCERS STEM curriculum as a means of scaffolding toward long term computer science and computational modeling outcomes. 2. Data Science and Data Analytics: Enabling Researchers to perform interviews with Teachers, students, community members, partners, stakeholders, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industry Professionals. Collaborative analysis and data collection were also performed. As a centerpiece, the BOP-CCERS partnership will expand to include a dedicated computer science education partner. New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), Computer Science for All (CS4ALL) NYC will serve as the dedicated Computer Science (CS) lead, advising the consortium on integration and curriculum development, working in tandem. The BOP-CCERS Model™ also validates that with appropriate application of technical infrastructure, intensive teacher professional developments, and curricular scaffolding, socially connected science learning can be mainstreamed in the nation’s largest urban public school system. This is evidenced and substantiated in the initial phases of BOP-CCERS™. The BOP-CCERS™ student curriculum and teacher professional development have been implemented in approximately 24% of NYC public middle schools, reaching more than 250 educators and 11,000 students directly. BOP-CCERS™ is a fully scalable and transferable educational model, adaptable to all American school districts. In all settings of the proposed Phase IV initiative, the primary beneficiary group will be underrepresented NYC public school students who live in high-poverty neighborhoods and are traditionally underrepresented in the STEM fields, including African Americans, Latinos, English language learners, and children from economically disadvantaged households. In particular, BOP-CCERS Phase IV will explicitly prepare underrepresented students for skilled positions within New York City’s expanding digital economy, computer science, computational information systems, and innovative technology sectors.

Keywords: computer science, data science, equity, diversity and inclusion, STEM education

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4173 Interface Problems in Construction Projects

Authors: Puti F. Marzuki, Adrianto Oktavianus, Almerinda Regina

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Interface problems among interacting parties in Indonesian construction projects have most often led to low productivity and completion delay. In the midst of this country’s needs to accelerate construction of public infrastructure providing connectivity among regions and supporting economic growth as well as better living quality, project delays have to be seriously addressed. This paper identifies potential causes factors of interface problems experienced by construction projects in Indonesia. Data are collected through a survey involving the main actors of six important public infrastructure construction projects including railway, LRT, sports stadiums, apartment, and education building construction projects. Five of these projects adopt the design-build project delivery method and one applies the design-bid-build scheme. Interface problems’ potential causes are categorized into contract, management, technical experience, coordination, financial, and environmental factors. Research results reveal that, especially in railway and LRT projects, potential causes of interface problems are mainly technical and managerial in nature. These relate to complex construction execution in highly congested areas. Meanwhile, coordination cause factors are mainly found in the education building construction project with loan from a foreign donor. All of the six projects have to resolve interface problems caused by incomplete or low-quality contract documents. This research also shows that the design-bid-build delivery method involving more parties in construction projects tends to induce more interface problem cause factors than the design-build scheme.

Keywords: cause factors, construction delays, project delivery method, contract documents

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4172 Neologisms and Word-Formation Processes in Board Game Rulebook Corpus: Preliminary Results

Authors: Athanasios Karasimos, Vasiliki Makri

Abstract:

This research focuses on the design and development of the first text Corpus based on Board Game Rulebooks (BGRC) with direct application on the morphological analysis of neologisms and tendencies in word-formation processes. Corpus linguistics is a dynamic field that examines language through the lens of vast collections of texts. These corpora consist of diverse written and spoken materials, ranging from literature and newspapers to transcripts of everyday conversations. By morphologically analyzing these extensive datasets, morphologists can gain valuable insights into how language functions and evolves, as these extensive datasets can reflect the byproducts of inflection, derivation, blending, clipping, compounding, and neology. This entails scrutinizing how words are created, modified, and combined to convey meaning in a corpus of challenging, creative, and straightforward texts that include rules, examples, tutorials, and tips. Board games teach players how to strategize, consider alternatives, and think flexibly, which are critical elements in language learning. Their rulebooks reflect not only their weight (complexity) but also the language properties of each genre and subgenre of these games. Board games are a captivating realm where strategy, competition, and creativity converge. Beyond the excitement of gameplay, board games also spark the art of word creation. Word games, like Scrabble, Codenames, Bananagrams, Wordcraft, Alice in the Wordland, Once uUpona Time, challenge players to construct words from a pool of letters, thus encouraging linguistic ingenuity and vocabulary expansion. These games foster a love for language, motivating players to unearth obscure words and devise clever combinations. On the other hand, the designers and creators produce rulebooks, where they include their joy of discovering the hidden potential of language, igniting the imagination, and playing with the beauty of words, making these games a delightful fusion of linguistic exploration and leisurely amusement. In this research, more than 150 rulebooks in English from all types of modern board games, either language-independent or language-dependent, are used to create the BGRC. A representative sample of each genre (family, party, worker placement, deckbuilding, dice, and chance games, strategy, eurogames, thematic, role-playing, among others) was selected based on the score from BoardGameGeek, the size of the texts and the level of complexity (weight) of the game. A morphological model with morphological networks, multi-word expressions, and word-creation mechanics based on the complexity of the textual structure, difficulty, and board game category will be presented. In enabling the identification of patterns, trends, and variations in word formation and other morphological processes, this research aspires to make avail of this creative yet strict text genre so as to (a) give invaluable insight into morphological creativity and innovation that (re)shape the lexicon of the English language and (b) test morphological theories. Overall, it is shown that corpus linguistics empowers us to explore the intricate tapestry of language, and morphology in particular, revealing its richness, flexibility, and adaptability in the ever-evolving landscape of human expression.

Keywords: board game rulebooks, corpus design, morphological innovations, neologisms, word-formation processes

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4171 Communicative Competence Is About Speaking a Lot: Teacher’s Voice on the Art of Developing Communicative Competence

Authors: Bernice Badal

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The South African English curriculum emphasizes the adoption of the Communicative Approach (CA) using Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) methodologies to develop English as a second language (ESL) learners’ communicative competence in contexts such as township schools in South Africa. However, studies indicate that the adoption of the approach largely remains a rhetoric. Poor English language proficiency among learners and poor student performance, which continues from the secondary to the tertiary phase, is widely attributed to a lack of English language proficiency in South Africa. Consequently, this qualitative study, using a mix of classroom observations and interviews, sought to investigate teacher knowledge of Communicative Competence and the methods and strategies ESL teachers used to develop their learners’ communicative competence. The success of learners’ ability to develop communicative competence in contexts such as township schools in South Africa is inseparable from materials, tasks, teacher knowledge and how they implement the approach in the classrooms. Accordingly, teacher knowledge of the theory and practical implications of the CLT approach is imperative for the negotiation of meaning and appropriate use of language in context in resource-impoverished areas like the township. Using a mix of interviews and observations as data sources, this qualitative study examined teachers’ definitions and knowledge of Communicative competence with a focus on how it influenced their classroom practices. The findings revealed that teachers were not familiar with the notion of communicative competence, the communication process, and the underpinnings of CLT. Teachers’ narratives indicated an awareness that there should be interactions and communication in the classroom, but a lack of theoretical understanding of the types of communication necessary scuttled their initiatives. Thus, conceptual deficiency influences teachers’ practices as they engage in classroom activities in a superficial manner or focus on stipulated learner activities prescribed by the CAPS document. This study, therefore, concluded that partial or limited conceptual and coherent understandings with ‘teacher-proof’ stipulations for classroom practice do not inspire teacher efficacy and mastery of prescribed approaches; thus, more efforts should be made by the Department of Basic Education to strengthen the existing Professional Development workshops to support teachers in improving their understandings and application of CLT for the development of Communicative competence in their learners. The findings of the study contribute to the field of teacher knowledge acquisition, teacher beliefs and practices and professional development in the context of second language teaching and learning with a recommendation that frameworks for the development of communicative competence with wider applicability in resource-poor environments be developed to support teacher understanding and application in classrooms.

Keywords: communicative competence, CLT, conceptual understanding of reforms, professional development

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4170 Integration of Immigrant Students into Local Education System

Authors: Suheyla Demi̇rkol Orak

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The requirement of inclusive education is one of the utmost important results of both regular and irregular immigration. The matter in the case of Syrian immigrants is even worse than the other immigrants cases in world history since a massive immigration wave has affected all world countries' socio-economic profiles. When Syrians immigrated from Syria all over the world, they aimed to survive and left behind the war, but surviving is not optional occasion without handling language-related problems. Humans exist and preserve their existence with their language. That is a matter of concern for the integration of Syrians into the hosting countries. Many countries are proceeding with various programs to integrate Syrians into the majority groups by either assimilation or adaptation policies. Turkey has got the lion's share of the Syrian immigration apple, and in the same vein with this situation, its language education system should be analyzed severely in order to come up with a perfect match program for the integration of Syrians. It aimed to generate an inclusive education model for catalyzing the integration process of immigrant Syrian students into the majority socio-economic group via overcoming the language barrier. The identity of the immigrants is prioritized. The study follows a narrative literature review, which aims to review and critique relevant literature and offers a new conceptualization derived from the previous literature. The study derives a critical localized bilingual education model. As the outcome of the narrative literature review, a bilingual education model which prioritized the identity of the target community was designed. In the present study, main bilingual education programs and most of the countries' bilingual education policies were reviewed critically and suggestions were listed for the Syrian immigrants dominantly in Turkey and suggested to be benefitted by the other countries through localizing the practices.

Keywords: bi/multilingual education, sheltered education, immigrants, glocalization, submersion program, immersion program

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4169 Discourse Analysis and Semiotic Researches: Using Michael Halliday's Sociosemiotic Theory

Authors: Deyu Yuan

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Discourse analysis as an interdisciplinary approach has more than 60-years-history since it was first named by Zellig Harris in 'Discourse Analysis' on Language in 1952. Ferdinand de Saussure differentiated the 'parole' from the 'langue' that established the principle of focusing on language but not speech. So the rising of discourse analysis can be seen as a discursive turn for the entire language research that closely related to the theory of Speech act. Critical discourse analysis becomes the mainstream of contemporary language research through drawing upon M. A. K. Halliday's socio-semiotic theory and Foucault, Barthes, Bourdieu's views on the sign, discourse, and ideology. So in contrast to general semiotics, social semiotics mainly focuses on parole and the application of semiotic theories to some applicable fields. The article attempts to discuss this applicable sociosemiotics and show the features of it that differ from the Saussurian and Peircian semiotics in four aspects: 1) the sign system is about meaning-generation resource in the social context; 2) the sign system conforms to social and cultural changes with the form of metaphor and connotation; 3) sociosemiotics concerns about five applicable principles including the personal authority principle, non-personal authority principle, consistency principle, model demonstration principle, the expertise principle to deepen specific communication; 4) the study of symbolic functions is targeted to the characteristics of ideational, interpersonal and interactional function in social communication process. Then the paper describes six features which characterize this sociosemiotics as applicable semiotics: social, systematic, usable interdisciplinary, dynamic, and multi-modal characteristics. Thirdly, the paper explores the multi-modal choices of sociosemiotics in the respects of genre, discourse, and style. Finally, the paper discusses the relationship between theory and practice in social semiotics and proposes a relatively comprehensive theoretical framework for social semiotics as applicable semiotics.

Keywords: discourse analysis, sociosemiotics, pragmatics, ideology

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4168 Support Systems for Vehicle Use

Authors: G. González, J. Ramírez, A. Rubiano

Abstract:

This article describes different patented systems for safe use in vehicles based on GPS technology, speed sensors, gyroscopes, maps, communication systems, and monitors, that inform the driver about traffic jam, obstruction in the road, speed limits, among others. Once the information is analyzed and contrasted to final propose new technical needs to be solved.

Keywords: GPS, information technology, telecommunications, communication networks, gyroscope, environmental pollution

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4167 Ideological Stance in Political Discourse: A Transitivity Analysis of Nawaz Sharif's Address at 71st UN Assembly

Authors: A. Nawaz

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The present study uses Halliday’s transitivity model to analyze and interpret ideological stance in PM Nawaz Sharif’s political discourse. His famous speech at the 71st UN assembly was analyzed qualitatively using clausal analysis approach to investigate the communicative functions of the linguistic choices made in the address. The study discovers that among the six process types under the transitivity model, material, relational and mental processes appear most frequently in the speech, making up almost 86% of the whole. Verbal processes rank 4th, whereas existential and behavioral are the least occurring processes covering only 2 and 1 percent respectively. The dominant use of material processes suggests that Nawaz Sharif and his government are the main actors working on several concrete projects to produce a sense of developmental progression and continuity. Using relational and mental processes the PM, along with establishing proximity with masses and especially Kashmiri, gives guarantees and promises. The linguistic analysis concludes Kashmir dispute as being the central theme of the address, since it covers more than half of the discourse. The address calls for a strong action instead of formal assurances and wishful thoughts. The study establishes that language structures can yield certain connotations and ideologies which are not overt for readers. This is in affirmation to the supposition that language form performs a communicative function and is not merely fortuitous.

Keywords: Hallidian perspective on language, implicit meanings, Nawaz Sharif, political ideologies, political speeches, transitivity, UN Assembly

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4166 Types of Motivation at a Rural University

Authors: Sandra Valdez-Hernández

Abstract:

Motivation is one of the most important factors when teaching language. Most institutions at least in Mexico, pay low attention to the types of motivation students have when they are studying English; however, considering the motivation they have, may lead to better understanding about their needs and purposes for learning English and the professors may understand and focus on their interests for making them persist in action through the course. This topic has been widely investigated in different countries, but more research needs to be done in Mexico to shed light on this area of potential impact. The aim of this research is to focus on the types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic, instrumental and integrative and the attitudes students have about English language to identify aspects that are alike to other contexts and research areas based on the theory of Dörnyei (2013) and Gardner (2001). It was carried out at a Mexican University in a small village in Quintana Roo. The potential implications, the findings as well as the limitations are presented.

Keywords: attides of motivation, factors of motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, instrumental and integrative motivation

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4165 A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Code-Switching Practices of ESL Students Outside EFL Classrooms

Authors: Shehroz Mukhtar, Maqsood Ahmed, Abdullah Mukhtar, Choudhry Shahid, Waqar Javaid

Abstract:

Code switching is a common phenomenon, generally observed in multilingual communities across the globe. A critical look at code switching literature reveals that mostly code switching has been studied in classroom in learning and teaching context while code switching outside classroom in settings such as café, hostel and so on have been the least explored areas. Current research investigated the reasons for code switching in the interactive practices of students and their perceptions regarding the same outside the classroom settings. This paper is the study of the common practice that prevails in the Universities of Sialkot that bilinguals mix two languages when they speak in different class room situations. In Pakistani classrooms where Multilingual are in abundance i.e. they can speak two or more than two languages at the same time, the code switching or language combination is very common. The teachers of Sialkot switch from one language to another consciously or unconsciously while teaching English in the class rooms. This phenomenon has not been explored in the Sialkot’s teaching context. In Sialkot private educational institutes does not encourage code-switching whereas the public or government institutes use it frequently. The crux of this research is to investigate and identify the importance of code switching by taking its users in consideration. Survey research method and survey questionnaire will be used to get exact data from teachers and students. We will try to highlight the functions and importance of code switching in foreign language classrooms of Sialkot and will explore why this trend is emerging in Sialkot.

Keywords: code switching, bilingual context, L1, L2

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4164 Using WebQuest for Developing English Reading Comprehension Skills for Preparatory Experimental School Students: Proposed Design

Authors: Sarah Hamdy Abd-Al Hamid Seyam

Abstract:

The research aimed investigating the effect of using web quest on developing English reading comprehension skills for preparatory experimental school students. The descriptive design was adopted in the study. The tools of the study are represented in: a checklist for the English reading comprehension skills and a test of the English reading comprehension skills for the first year preparatory experimental school students. Results of the study were discussed in relation to various factors that affect the learning process. Finally the research presented applicable contributions according to using web quest in teaching English as a foreign language generally and improving reading comprehension in particular.

Keywords: English as a second language, preparatory experimental schools, reading comprehension, WebQuest

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4163 Key External Causes of Poor Performance of Engineering and Technical Departments within Governmental Construction Projects in Saudi Arabia

Authors: Alaa A. Al-Harthi, Abdulrahman S. Bageis, Bingunath Ingirige

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Poor levels of performance and low productivity were highlighted by many previous studies as a major cause of failure in the Saudi construction industry. This paper provides recommendations to address key external indicators that led to poor levels of performance and low productivity in Engineering and Technical Departments (ETDs) within the Saudi governmental agencies. The ETDs are client’s representative on behalf of the Saudi Ministries. This paper represents a part of an investigation which contained external and internal challenges that led to occurrence of the research problem. The paper is focusing on the external challenges which contain 14 indicators. These 14 external indicators had been examined carefully through comprehensive review of the literature then have been tested through quantitative and qualitative methods. 400 questionnaires were distributed to dozens of different bodies. The actual response rate was 47% completed responses. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior practitioners from the Public Construction Sector. The finding showed that the 14 external indicators directly and/or indirectly influence the Public Construction Sector. It was noticed significantly that these indicators have prevented the ETDs from performing properly. It was also found that the 14 external indicators were constant with all kinds of Government Construction Projects in the Saudi context. Addressing the 14 external indicators requires to be planned over the long run which is responsible by relevant Saudi governmental authorities under the umbrella of the Saudi Council of Ministers. The study recommends that Project Management Office (PMO) should be considered in order to improve the performance of the ETDs.

Keywords: construction projects' performance, low engineering productivity, public construction sector

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4162 A Text Classification Approach Based on Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Techniques

Authors: Rim Messaoudi, Nogaye-Gueye Gning, François Azelart

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Automatic text classification applies mostly natural language processing (NLP) and other AI-guided techniques to automatically classify text in a faster and more accurate manner. This paper discusses the subject of using predictive maintenance to manage incident tickets inside the sociality. It focuses on proposing a tool that treats and analyses comments and notes written by administrators after resolving an incident ticket. The goal here is to increase the quality of these comments. Additionally, this tool is based on NLP and machine learning techniques to realize the textual analytics of the extracted data. This approach was tested using real data taken from the French National Railways (SNCF) company and was given a high-quality result.

Keywords: machine learning, text classification, NLP techniques, semantic representation

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4161 A Modest Proposal for Deep-Sixing Propositions in the Philosophy of Language

Authors: Patrick Duffley

Abstract:

Hanks (2021) identifies three Frege-inspired commitments concerning propositions that are widely shared across the philosophy of language: (1) propositions are the primary, inherent bearers of representational properties and truth-conditions; (2) propositions are neutral representations possessing a ‘content’ that is devoid of ‘force; (3) propositions can be entertained or expressed without being asserted. Hanks then argues that the postulate of neutral content must be abandoned, and the primary bearers of truth-evaluable representation must be identified as the token acts of assertoric predication that people perform when they are thinking or speaking about the world. Propositions are ‘types of acts of predication, which derive their representational features from their tokens.’ Their role is that of ‘classificatory devices that we use for the purposes of identifying and individuating mental states and speech acts,’ so that ‘to say that Russell believes that Mont Blanc is over 4000 meters high is to classify Russell’s mental state under a certain type, and thereby distinguish that mental state from others that Russell might possess.’ It is argued in this paper that there is no need to classify an utterance of 'Russell believes that Mont Blanc is over 4000 meters high' as a token of some higher-order utterance-type in order to identify what Russell believes; the meanings of the words themselves and the syntactico-semantic relations between them are sufficient. In our view what Hanks has accomplished in effect is to build a convincing argument for dispensing with propositions completely in the philosophy of language. By divesting propositions of the role of being the primary bearers of representational properties and truth-conditions and fittingly transferring this role to the token acts of predication that people perform when they are thinking or speaking about the world, he has situated truth in its proper place and obviated any need for abstractions like propositions to explain how language can express things that are true. This leaves propositions with the extremely modest role of classifying mental states and speech acts for the purposes of identifying and individuating them. It is demonstrated here however that there is no need whatsoever to posit such abstract entities to explain how people identify and individuate such states/acts. We therefore make the modest proposal that the term ‘proposition’ be stricken from the vocabulary of philosophers of language.

Keywords: propositions, truth-conditions, predication, Frege, truth-bearers

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4160 The Decline of Verb-Second in the History of English: Combining Historical and Theoretical Explanations for Change

Authors: Sophie Whittle

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Prior to present day, English syntax historically exhibited an inconsistent verb-second (V2) rule, which saw the verb move to the second position in the sentence following the fronting of a type of phrase. There was a high amount of variation throughout the history of English with regard to the ordering of subject and verb, and many explanations attempting to account for this variation have been documented in previous literature. However, these attempts have been contradictory, with many accounts positing the effect of previous syntactic changes as the main motivations behind the decline of V2. For instance, morphosyntactic changes, such as the loss of clitics and the loss of empty expletives, have been loosely connected to changes in frequency for the loss of V2. The questions surrounding the development of non-V2 in English have, therefore, yet to be answered. The current paper aims to bring together a number of explanations from different linguistic fields to determine the factors driving the changes in English V2. Using historical corpus-based methods, the study analyses both quantitatively and qualitatively the changes in frequency for the history of V2 in the Old, Middle, and Modern English periods to account for the variation in a range of sentential environments. These methods delve into the study of information structure, prosody and language contact to explain variation within different contexts. The analysis concludes that these factors, in addition to changes within the syntax, are responsible for the position of verb movement. The loss of V2 serves as an exemplar study within the field of historical linguistics, which combines a number of factors in explaining language change in general.

Keywords: corpora, English, language change, mixed-methods, syntax, verb-second

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4159 Bilingual Experience Influences Different Components of Cognitive Control: Evidence from fMRI Study

Authors: Xun Sun, Le Li, Ce Mo, Lei Mo, Ruiming Wang, Guosheng Ding

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Cognitive control plays a central role in information processing, which is comprised of various components including response suppression and inhibitory control. Response suppression is considered to inhibit the irrelevant response during the cognitive process; while inhibitory control to inhibit the irrelevant stimulus in the process of cognition. Both of them undertake distinct functions for the cognitive control, so as to enhance the performances in behavior. Among numerous factors on cognitive control, bilingual experience is a substantial and indispensible factor. It has been reported that bilingual experience can influence the neural activity of cognitive control as whole. However, it still remains unknown how the neural influences specifically present on the components of cognitive control imposed by bilingualism. In order to explore the further issue, the study applied fMRI, used anti-saccade paradigm and compared the cerebral activations between high and low proficient Chinese-English bilinguals. Meanwhile, the study provided experimental evidence for the brain plasticity of language, and offered necessary bases on the interplay between language and cognitive control. The results showed that response suppression recruited the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) in low proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, but the inferior patrietal lobe in high proficient Chinese-English bilinguals. Inhibitory control engaged the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) in low proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, yet the right insula cortex was more active in high proficient Chinese-English bilinguals during the process. These findings illustrate insights that bilingual experience has neural influences on different components of cognitive control. Compared with low proficient bilinguals, high proficient bilinguals turn to activate advanced neural areas for the processing of cognitive control. In addition, with the acquisition and accumulation of language, language experience takes effect on the brain plasticity and changes the neural basis of cognitive control.

Keywords: bilingual experience, cognitive control, inhibition control, response suppression

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4158 Culture of Argumentative Discourse Formation as an Inevitable Element of Professional Development of Foreign Language Teachers

Authors: Kuznetsova Tamara, Sametova Fauziya

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Modern period of educational development is characterized by various attempts in higher quality and effective result provision. Having acquired the modernized educational paradigm, our academic community placed the personality development through language and culture under the focus of primary research. The competency-based concept claims for professionally ready specialists who are capable of solving practical problems. In this sense, under the circumstances of the current development of Kazakhstani society, it is inevitable to form the ability to conduct argumentative discourse as the crucial element of intercultural communicative competence. This article particularly states the necessity of the culture of argumentative discourse formation presents theoretical background of its organization and aims at identifying important argumentative skills within educational process.

Keywords: argumentative discourse, teaching process, skills, competency

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4157 Evaluating Perceived Usability of ProxTalker App Using Arabic Standard Usability Scale: A Student's Perspective

Authors: S. AlBustan, B. AlGhannam

Abstract:

This oral presentation discusses a proposal for a study that evaluates the usability of an evidence based application named ProxTalker App. The significance of this study will inform administration and faculty staff at the Department of Communication Sciences Disorders (CDS), College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University whether the app is a suitable tool to use for CDS students. A case study will be used involving a sample of CDS students taking practicum and internship courses during the academic year 2018/2019. The study will follow a process used by previous study. The process of calculating SUS is well documented and will be followed. ProxTalker App is an alternative and augmentative tool that speech language pathologist (SLP) can use to customize boards for their clients. SLPs can customize different boards using this app for various activities. A board can be created by the SLP to improve and support receptive and expressive language. Using technology to support therapy can aid SLPs to integrate this ProxTalker App as part of their clients therapy. Supported tools, games and motivation are some advantages of incorporating apps during therapy sessions. A quantitative methodology will be used. It involves the utilization of a standard tool that was the was adapted to the Arabic language to accommodate native Arabic language users. The tool that will be utilized in this research is the Arabic Standard Usability Scale (A-SUS) questionnaire which is an adoption of System Usability Scale (SUS). Standard usability questionnaires are reliable, valid and their process is properly documented. This study builds upon the development of A-SUS, which is a psychometrically evaluated questionnaire that targets Arabic native speakers. Results of the usability will give preliminary indication of whether the ProxTalker App under investigation is appropriate to be integrated within the practicum and internship curriculum of CDS. The results of this study will inform the CDS department of this specific app is an appropriate tool to be used for our specific students within our environment because usability depends on the product, environment, and users.

Keywords: A-SUS, communication disorders practicum, evidence based app, Standard Usability Scale

Procedia PDF Downloads 156