Search results for: advanced placement world language and culture exams

Authors: Amina Abubakar

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English like any other language is rich by means of arbitrary, conventional, symbols which lend it to lot of inconsistencies in spelling, phonology, syntax, and morphology. The research examines the irregularities prevalent in the structure and meaning of some ‘er’ lexical items in English and its implication to vocabulary acquisition. It centers its investigation on the derivational suffix ‘er’, which changes the grammatical category of word. English language poses many challenges to Second Language Learners because of its irregularities, exceptions, and rules. One of the meaning of –er derivational suffix is someone or somebody who does something. This rule often confuses the learners when they meet with the exceptions in normal discourse. The need to investigate instances of such inconsistencies in the formation of –er words and the meanings given to such words by the students motivated this study. For this purpose, some senior secondary two (SS2) students in six randomly selected schools in the metropolis were provided a large number of alphabetically selected ‘er’ suffix ending words, The researcher opts for a test technique, which requires them to provide the meaning of the selected words with- er. The marking of the test was scored on the scale of 1-0, where correct formation of –er word and meaning is scored one while wrong formation and meaning is scored zero. The number of wrong and correct formations of –er words meaning were calculated using percentage. The result of this research shows that a large number of students made wrong generalization of the meaning of the selected -er ending words. This shows how enormous the inconsistencies are in English language and how are affect the learning of English. Findings from the study revealed that though students mastered the basic morphological rules but the errors are generally committed on those vocabulary items that are not frequently in use. The study arrives at this conclusion from the survey of their textbook and their spoken activities. Therefore, the researcher recommends that there should be effective reappraisal of language teaching through implementation of the designed curriculum to reflect on modern strategies of teaching language, identification, and incorporation of the exceptions in rigorous communicative activities in language teaching, language course books and tutorials, training and retraining of teachers on the strategies that conform to the new pedagogy.

Keywords: ESL(English as a second language), derivational morpheme, inflectional morpheme, suffixes

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Authors: Hameda Suwaed

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In today's world, knowledge and information are increasing in a way that no one can learn everything about every subject and the jobs that students will get after graduation may not yet exist. Therefore, teaching them just facts without teaching them how to use the facts in real life, how to work in a team and how to think critically is no longer enough. In Libya, a country characterized by using traditional methods of teaching, how can English language teachers train students to use such skills? And what type of activities and adaptations to classroom teaching methods will be necessary to do this? Using action research and classroom research gathered data, this study adjusts Heath's (2010) model of change that includes giving students clear directions, sufficient motivation and supportive environment. These steps were applied by encouraging students to participate actively in the classroom by using group work and variety of activities to train them how to find, interpret and use information. The findings of the study showed that following the suggested model can broaden students' perspectives on studying in their environment starting with their classroom and ending with their country. In conclusion, although this was a small scale study, the students' participation in the classroom shows that they gained self confidence in using practices such as group work, critical thinking, time management, creativity and how to present their ideas and accepting different opinions. What was remarkable is that most students were aware that is what we need in Libya nowadays.

Keywords: change, classroom practice, skills, Libya, group work

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Authors: Reena K., Mamatha H. G., Somshekarayya, P. Kumar

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Objectives: The annual proficiency testing of intermediate reference laboratories is conducted by the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) to assess the efficiency of the laboratories to correctly identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to determine its drug susceptibility pattern. The proficiency testing results from 2013 to 2017 were analyzed to determine laboratories that were consistent in reporting quality results and those that had difficulty in doing so. Methods: A panel of twenty cultures were sent out to each of these laboratories. The laboratories were expected to grow the cultures in their own laboratories, set up drug susceptibly testing by all the methods they were certified for and report the results within the stipulated time period. The turnaround time for reporting results, specificity, sensitivity positive and negative predictive values and efficiency of the laboratory in identifying the cultures were analyzed. Results: Most of the laboratories had reported their results within the stipulated time period. However, there was enormous delay in reporting results from few of the laboratories. This was mainly due to improper functioning of the biosafety level III laboratory. Only 40% of the laboratories had 100% efficiency in solid culture using Lowenstein Jensen medium. This was expected as a solid culture, and drug susceptibility testing is not used for diagnosing drug resistance. Rapid molecular methods such as Line probe assay and Genexpert are used to determine drug resistance. Automated liquid culture system such as the Mycobacterial growth indicator tube is used to determine prognosis of the patient while on treatment. It was observed that 90% of the laboratories had achieved 100% in the liquid culture method. Almost all laboratories had achieved 100% efficiency in the line probe assay method which is the method of choice for determining drug-resistant tuberculosis. Conclusion: Since the liquid culture and line probe assay technologies are routinely used for the detection of drug-resistant tuberculosis the laboratories exhibited higher level of efficiency as compared to solid culture and drug susceptibility testing which are rarely used. The infrastructure of the laboratory should be maintained properly so that samples can be processed safely and results could be declared on time.

Keywords: annual proficiency testing, drug susceptibility testing, intermediate reference laboratory, national reference laboratory

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Authors: Shaibu Baanni Azumah, William Adzawla

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Rice is an important staple crop, with current demand higher than the domestic supply in Ghana. This has led to a high and unfavourable import bill. Therefore, recent policies and interventions in the agricultural sub-sector aim at promoting various improved agricultural technologies in order to improve domestic production and reduce the importation of rice. In this study, we examined the effect of the adoption of Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology by rice farmers on the position of the production frontier. This involved 200 farmers selected through a multi stage sampling technique in the Northern region of Ghana. A Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model was fitted. The result showed that the adoption of UDP technology shifts the output frontier outward and also move the farmers closer to the frontier. Farmers were also operating under diminishing returns to scale which calls for redress. Other factors that significantly influenced rice production were farm size, labour, use of certified seeds and NPK fertilizer. Although there was an opportunity for improvement, the farmers were highly efficient (92%), compared to previous studies. Farmers’ efficiency was improved through increased education, household size, experience, access to credit, and lack of extension service provision by MoFA. The study recommends the revision of Ghana’s agricultural policy to include the UDP technology. Agricultural Extension officers of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) should be trained on the UDP technology to support IFDC’s drive to improve adoption by rice farmers. Rice farmers are also encouraged to expand their farm lands, improve plant population, and also increase the usage of fertilizer to improve yields. Mechanisms through which credit can be made easily accessible and effectively utilised should be identified and promoted.

Keywords: efficiency, rice farmers, stochastic frontier, UDP technology

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Authors: Liou Shyhnan, Chia Han Yang

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The study aims to investigate the promotion of innovation in the development of cultural and creative industries (CCI) and apply research on culture and creativity to this promotion. Using the research perspectives of culture and creativity as the starting points, this study has examined the challenges, trends, and opportunities that have emerged from the development of the CCI until the present. It is found that a definite context of cause and effect exist between them, and that a homologous theoretical basis can be used to understand and interpret them. Based on the characteristics of the aforementioned challenges and trends, this study has compiled two main theoretical systems for conducting research on culture and creativity: (i) reciprocal process between creativity and culture, and (ii) a mechanism for innovation involving multicultural convergence. Both theoretical systems were then used as the foundation to arrive at possible research propositions relating to the two developmental systems. This was respectively done through identification of the theoretical context through a literature review, and interviews and observations of actual case studies within Taiwan’s CCI. In so doing, the critical factors that can address the aforementioned challenges and trends were discovered. Our results indicated that, for reciprocal process between creativity and culture, we recognize that culture serves as creative resources in cultural and creative industries. According to shared consensus, culture provides symbolic meanings and emotional attachment for products and experiences offered by CCI. Besides, different cultures vary in their effects on creativity processes and standards, thus engendering distinctive preferences for and evaluations of the creative expressions and experiences of CCIs. In addition, we identify that creativity serves as the engine for driving the continuation and rebirth of cultures. Accounting for the core of culture, the employment of technology, design, and business facilitates the transformation and innovation mechanism for promoting culture continuity. In addition, with cultural centered, the digital technology, design thinking, and business model are critical constitutes of the innovation mechanism to promote the cultural continuity. Regarding cultural preservation and regeneration of local spaces and folk customs, we argue that the preservation and regeneration of local spaces and cultural cultures must embody the interactive experiences of present-day life. And cultural space and folk custom would regenerate with interact and experience in modern life. Regarding innovation mechanism for multicultural convergence, we propose that innovative stakeholders from different disciplines (e.g., creators, designers, engineers, and marketers) in CCIs rely on the establishment of a cocreation mechanism to promote interdisciplinary interaction. Furthermore, CCI development needs to develop a cocreation mechanism for enhancing the interdisciplinary collaboration among CCI innovation stakeholders. We further argue multicultural mixing would enhance innovation in developing CCI, and assuming an open and mutually enlightening attitude to enrich one another’s cultures in the multicultural exchanges under globalization will create diversity in homogenous CCIs. Finally, for promoting innovation in developing cultural and creative industries, we further propose a model for joint knowledge creation that can be established for enhancing the mutual reinforcement of theoretical and practical research on culture and creativity.

Keywords: culture and creativity, innovation, cultural and creative industries, cultural mixing

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Authors: Ann P. Daunic, Nancy Corbett

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Background and Significance: Researchers emphasize the role that motivation, self-esteem, and self-regulation play in children’s early adjustment to the school culture, including skills such as identifying their own feelings and understanding the feelings of others. As social-emotional growth, academic learning, and successful integration within culture and society are inextricably connected, the Social-Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF) curriculum was designed to integrate social-emotional learning (SEL) instruction within early literacy instruction (specifically, reading) for Kindergarten and first-grade students at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties. Storybook reading is a typically occurring activity in the primary grades; thus SELF provides an intervention that is both theoretically and practically sound. Methodology: The researchers will report on findings from the first two years of a three-year study funded by the US Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to evaluate the effects of the SELF curriculum versus “business as usual” (BAU). SELF promotes the development of self-regulation by incorporating instructional strategies that support children’s use of SEL related vocabulary, self-talk, and critical thinking. The curriculum consists of a carefully coordinated set of materials and pedagogy designed specifically for primary grade children at early risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties. SELF lessons (approximately 50 at each grade level) are organized around 17 SEL topics within five critical competencies. SELF combines whole-group (the first in each topic) and small-group lessons (the 2nd and 3rd in each topic) to maximize opportunities for teacher modeling and language interactions. The researchers hypothesize that SELF offers a feasible and substantial opportunity within the classroom setting to provide a small-group social-emotional learning intervention integrated with K-1 literacy-related instruction. Participating target students (N = 876) were identified by their teachers as potentially at risk for emotional or behavioral issues. These students were selected from 122 Kindergarten and 100 first grade classrooms across diverse school districts in a southern state in the US. To measure the effectiveness of the SELF intervention, the researchers asked teachers to complete assessments related to social-emotional learning and adjustment to the school culture. A social-emotional learning related vocabulary assessment was administered directly to target students receiving small-group instruction. Data were analyzed using a 3-level MANOVA model with full information maximum likelihood to estimate coefficients and test hypotheses. Major Findings: SELF had significant positive effects on vocabulary, knowledge, and skills associated with social-emotional competencies, as evidenced by results from the measures administered. Effect sizes ranged from 0.41 for group (SELF vs. BAU) differences in vocabulary development to 0.68 for group differences in SEL related knowledge. Conclusion: Findings from two years of data collection indicate that SELF improved outcomes related to social-emotional learning and adjustment to the school culture. This study thus supports the integration of SEL with literacy instruction as a feasible and effective strategy to improve outcomes for K-1 students at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties.

Keywords: Socio-cultural context for learning, social-emotional learning, social skills, vocabulary development

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Authors: Kairat Kurakbayev, Dina Gungor, Adil Ashirbekov, Assel Kambatyrova

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Kazakhstan, a post-Soviet economy located in the Central Asia, is making great efforts to internationalize its national system of education. The country is very ambitious in making the national economy internationally competitive and education has become one of the main pillars of the nation’s strategic development plan for 2030. This paper discusses the role of professional teacher development in upgrading the secondary education curriculum with the introduction of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in grades 10-11 grades. Having Kazakh as the state language and Russian as the official language, English bears a status of foreign language in the country. The development of trilingual education is very high on the agenda of the Ministry of Education and Science. It is planned that by 2019 STEM-related subjects – Biology, Chemistry, Computing and Physics – will be taught in EMI. Introducing English-medium education appears to be a very drastic reform and the teaching cadre is the key driver here. At the same time, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the teaching profession is still struggling to become attractive in the eyes of the local youth. Moreover, the quality of Kazakhstan’s secondary education is put in question by OECD national review reports. The paper presents a case study of the nation-wide professional development programme arranged for 5 010 school teachers so that they could be able to teach their content subjects in English starting from 2019 onwards. The study is based on the mixed methods research involving the data derived from the surveys and semi-structured interviews held with the programme participants, i.e. school teachers. The findings of the study imply the significance of the school teachers’ attitudes towards the top-down reform of trilingual education. The qualitative research data reveal the teachers’ beliefs about advantages and disadvantages of having their content subjects (e.g. Biology or Chemistry) taught in EMI. The study highlights teachers’ concerns about their professional readiness to implement the top-down reform of English-medium education and discusses possible risks of academic underperforming on the part of students whose English language proficiency is not advanced. This paper argues that for the effective implementation of the English-medium education in secondary schools, the state should adopt a comprehensive approach to upgrading the national academic system where teachers’ attitudes and beliefs play the key role in making the trilingual education policy effective. The study presents lessons for other national academic systems considering to transfer its secondary education to English as a medium of instruction.

Keywords: teacher education, teachers' beliefs, trilingual education, case study

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Authors: Abdullah Almulhim

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The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) was established in 2001 to develop International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that bring transparency, accountability, and efficiency to financial markets around the world. In addition, the IFRS provide a unified accounting language, which is especially important in the era of globalization. However, the establishment of a single set of high-quality international accounting standards is a matter of growing importance, as participants in the increasingly integrated world capital market demand comparability and transparency of financial reporting worldwide. Saudi Arabia became the 149th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 11 December 2005, which has increased the need to convert to IFRS. Currently, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) requires banks and insurance companies in Saudi Arabia to report under IFRS Standards. However, until the end of 2016, SOCPA standards were applied to all other companies, listed and unlisted. From 2017, listed Saudi companies would be required to report under IFRS Standards as adopted by SOCPA effective 2017. This paper is to investigate the expected benefits gained and highlight the challenges faced by adopting IFRS by the listed companies in the Saudi Stock Exchange. Questionnaires were used as the main method of data collection. They were distributed to listed companies in the Saudi Capital Market. Data obtained through the questionnaires have been imported into SPSS statistical software for analysis. The expected results of this study will show the benefits of adopting IFRS by Saudi Listed Companies. However, this study will investigate the challenges faced by adopting IFRS by the listed companies in the Saudi Arabian Stock Market. Findings will be discussed later upon completion of initial analysis.

Keywords: challenges, IAS, IFRS, opportunities, Saudi, SOCPA

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Authors: Marta Lisowska

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The growing trend of market specialization imposes upon translators the need for proficiency in the working knowledge of specialist discourse. The notion of specialization differs from a broad general category to a highly specialized narrow field. The specialised discourse is used in the channel of communication based upon distinctive features typical for communities of practice whose co-existence is codified and hermetically locked against outsiders. Consequently, any translator deprived of professional discourse competence and social skills is incapable of providing competent translation product from source language into target language. In this paper, we report on research that explores the pedagogical practices aiming to bridge the dichotomy between the professionals and the specialist translators, while accounting for the reality of the world of professional communities entered by undergraduates on two levels: the text-based generic, and the social one. Drawing from the functional social constructivist approach, seen here as situated learning, this paper reports on the case of English-Polish, Polish-English undergraduate BA Level LSP of law translation class run in line with the simulated classroom-based and the reality-based (apprenticeship) approach. This blended method serves the purpose of introducing the young trainees to the professional world. The research provides new insights into how the LSP translation undergraduates become legitimized through discursive and social participation and engagement. The undergraduates, situated peripherally at the outset, experience their own transformation towards becoming members of these professional groups. With subjective evaluation, the trainees take a stance on this dual mode class and development of their skills. Comparing and contrasting their own work done in line with two models of translation teaching: authentic and near-authentic, the undergraduates answer research questions devised by a questionnaire survey The responses take us closer to how students feel about their LSP translation competence development. The major findings show how the trainees perceive the benefits and hardships of their functional translation class. In terms of skills, they related to communication as the most enhanced one; they highly valued the fact of being ‘exposed’ to a variety of texts (cf. multi literalism), team work, learning how to schedule work, IT skills boost and the ability to learn how to work individually. Another finding indicates that students struggled most with specialized language, and co-working with other students. The short-term research shows the momentum when the undergraduate LSP translation trainees entered the path of transformation i.e. gained consciousness of ‘how it is’ to be a participant-translator of real-life communities of practice, gaining pragmatic dint of the social and linguistic skills understood here as discursive competence (text > genre > discourse > professional practice). The undergraduates need to be aware of the work they have to do and challenges they are to face before arriving at the expert level of professional translation competence.

Keywords: communities of practice in LSP translation teaching, learning LSP translation as situated experience, peripheral participation, professional discourse for LSP translation teaching, professional translation competence

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Authors: Aleksandra Majewska

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The article analyses the impact of Western sanctions on Russian rhythmic gymnastics since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The chronological presentation of events shows how international political tensions and economic sanctions have affected the organisation of competitions, training and the careers of athletes. The article outlines the key moments and decisions that have changed the landscape of Russian sport, including the decision to change the citizenship made by some gymnasts in order to continue competing in international competitions. Russia strongly opposes participation in competitions without its flag and anthem while maintaining the view that Russian gymnasts are crucial to the prestige of rhythmic gymnastics in the world. In response to the sanctions, Russia created its own rules for rhythmic gymnastics, according to which they now compete domestically. Furthermore, this sport in Russia is strongly linked to politics, which further emphasises its importance in the national and international context. The information collected derives from numerous interviews with Russian athletes, coaches and other people, which are available only in the Russian language. The findings highlight the significant difficulties Russian athletes have faced due to their isolation in the international arena and the adaptive strategies adopted by Russia in the face of these challenges. The article makes an important contribution to understanding the consequences of global politics on the world of sport and the fate of individual athletes.

Keywords: sport, gymnastics, war in Ukraine, sanctions

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Authors: Azza Habibullah

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The principal objective of this paper is to show the use of participatory culture in the parliamentarian campaign. The use of this method has always been non-popular amongst the parliamentarian candidates due to the amount of times and energy that they need to spent with the constituents. However, due to many parliamentarian corruption cases in the last five years period, some political party have been losing peoples trust. That political party trust lost had also affecting the parliamentarian candidates electability, so they invent some creative campaign method that involving their constituent with more intimates and friendly environment. In this paper, an observation is done to a parliamentarian candidate from Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (Prosperous Justice Party) in Bandung and Cimahi City area, West Java. This Parliamentraian candidate is known for her personal-approach campaign method such as a puppet show, hanging out with group of ex-bike gang leaders, and going fishing with the constituent. This paper will compare her method with other parliamentarian candidates from the same party as her that mostly use mainstream campaign method such as open speech, print media, an other one way campaign method. While the other parliamentarian candidates failed to reach the parliamentarian threshold, the participatory method had proven as an effective method.

Keywords: participatory culture, Indonesian parliamentary election, Prosperous Justice Party, electability

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Authors: Seyyed Mohammad Amin Mousavi Sagharchi, Alireza Mahmoudi Nasab, Tim Bakker

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Introduction: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is the most intelligent bacterium that existed in the world to our best knowledge. This bacterium can cause tuberculosis (TB) which is responsible for its spread speed and murder of millions of people around the world. MTB has the practical function to escape from anti-tuberculosis drugs (AT), for this purpose, it handles some mutations in the main genes and creates new patterns for inhibited genes. Method and materials: Researchers have their best tries to safely isolate MTB from the sputum specimens of 35 patients in some hospitals in the Tehran province and detect MTB by culture on Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium and microscopic examination. DNA was extracted from the established bacterial colony by enzymatic extraction method. It was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, reverse hybridization, and evaluation for detection of resistance genes; generally, researchers apply GenoType MTBDRplus assay. Results: Investigations of results declare us that 21 of the isolated specimens (about 60%) have mutation in rpoB gene, which resisted to rifampicin (most prevalence), and 8 of them (about 22.8%) have mutation in katG or inhA genes which resisted to isoniazid. Also, 4 of them (about 11.4%) don't have any mutation, and 2 of them (about 5.7%) have mutation in every three genes, which makes them resistant to the two drugs mentioned above. Conclusion: Rifampicin and isoniazid are two essential AT that using in the first line of treatment. Resistance in rpoB, and katG, and inhA genes related to mentioned drugs lead to ineffective treatment.

Keywords: mycobacterium tuberculosis, tuberculosis, drug resistance, isoniazid, rifampicin

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Authors: Andrew Nowlan

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During the Coronavirus pandemic, collaborative online international learning (COIL) emerged as an alternative to overseas sojourns. However, now that face-to-face classes have resumed and students are studying abroad, the rationale for doing COIL is not always clear amongst educators and students. Also, the logistics of COIL become increasingly complicated when participants involved in a potential collaboration have different second language (L2) learning goals. In this paper, the researcher will report on a study involving two bilingual, cross-cultural COIL courses between students at a university in Japan and those studying in North America, from April to December, 2022. The students in Japan were enrolled in an intercultural communication class in their L2 of English, while the students in Canada and the United States were studying intermediate Japanese as their L2. Based on a qualitative survey and journaling data received from 31 students in Japan, and employing a transcendental phenomenological research design, the researcher will highlight the students’ essence of experience during COIL. Essentially, students benefited from the experience through improved communicative competences and increased knowledge of the target culture, even when the L2 learning goals between institutions differed. Students also reported that the COIL experience was effective in preparation for actual study abroad, as opposed to a replacement for it, which challenges the existing literature. Both educators and administrators will be exposed to the perceptions of Japanese university students towards COIL, which could be generalized to other higher education contexts, including those in Southeast Asia. Readers will also be exposed to ideas for developing more effective pre-departure study abroad programs and domestic intercultural curriculum through COIL, even when L2 learning goals may differ between participants.

Keywords: collaborative online international learning, study abroad, phenomenology, EdTech, intercultural communication

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Authors: Asma Alsaleh, Kara Makara

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Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by difficulties with communication and interaction. Besides presenting challenges for the ASD individual, the condition can entail negative outcomes for those who care for them, most often mothers. While this issue has been studied substantially in Western society, less is known about how mothers in the Arab world are affected by raising an ASD child. This study sought to gain insights into this area by assessing quality of life and stress in mothers with (n = 25) and without (n = 25) ASD children in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) by using, respectively, the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) and the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF). Data pertaining to income and education were also attained to investigate how socioeconomic factors interact with the above-mentioned variables. The analysis revealed that total stress scores and scores on the individual subscales of the PSI-SF were significantly higher for the mothers with an ASD child compared to those without an ASD child, though the opposite was true of quality of life scores. Moreover, increased income was associated with increased quality of life and decreased stress. While there were not main effects of education, there were interactions between education, whether children were ASD or non-ASD, and the outcome variables. These results suggest that mothers of ASD children in an Arab culture are at increased risk of negative outcomes relative to mothers of typically developing children, and, therefore, this study may act as a foundation for the delivery of interventions to assist mothers in this position.

Keywords: autism, education, income, mothers, quality of life, stress

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Authors: S. Pesina, T. Solonchak

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Lexical invariants, being a sort of stereotypes within the frames of ordinary consciousness, are created by the members of a language community as a result of uniform division of reality. The invariant meaning is formed in person’s mind gradually in the course of different actualizations of secondary meanings in various contexts. We understand lexical the invariant as abstract language essence containing a set of semantic components. In one of its configurations it is the basis or all or a number of the meanings making up the semantic structure of the word.

Keywords: lexical invariant, invariant theories, polysemantic word, cognitive linguistics

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Authors: Harper Staples

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A necessary outcome of today’s contemporary globalised reality, current views of multilingualism hold that it no longer represents the exception, but rather the rule. As such, the simultaneous acquisition of multiple languages represents a common experience for many of today's students and therefore represents a key area of inquiry in the domain of foreign language learner identity. Second and multilingual language acquisition processes parallel each other in many ways; however, there are differences to be found in the ways in which a student may learn a third language. A multilingual repertoire will have to negotiate complex change as language competencies dynamically evolve; moreover, this process will vary according to the contextual factors attributed to a unique learner. A developing multilingual identity must, therefore, contend with an array of potential challenges specific to the individual in question. Despite an overarching recognition in the literature that pluri-language acquisition represents a unique field of inquiry within applied linguistic research, there is a paucity of empirical work which examines the ways in which individuals construct a sense of their own identity as multilingual speakers in such contexts of learning. This study explores this phenomenon via a mixed-methods, comparative case study approach at four school sites based in Finland, France, Wales, and England. It takes a strongly individual-in-context view, conceptualising each adolescent participant in dynamic terms in order to undertake a holistic exploration of the myriad factors that might impact upon, and indeed be impacted by, a learner's developing multilingual identity. Emerging themes of note thus far suggest that, beyond the expected divergences in the experience of multilinguality at the individual level, there are contradictions in the way in which adolescent students in each site 'claim' their plurilingualism. This can be argued to be linked to both meso and macro-level factors, including the foreign language curriculum and, more broadly, societal attitudes towards multilingualism. These diverse emergent identifications have implications not only for attainment in the foreign language but also for student well-being more generally.

Keywords: foreign language learning, student identity, multilingualism, educational psychology

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Authors: James G. Matthew, Seonmin Huh, Frank X. Bennett

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English for Specific Purposes, ESP, aims to equip learners with necessary English language skills. Many ESP programs address language skills for job performance, including reading job related documents and oral proficiency. Within ESP is English for occupational purposes, EOP, which centers around developing communicative competence for the globalized workplace. Many ESP and EOP courses lack the content needed to assist students to progress at work, resulting in the need to create lexical compilation for different professions. It is important to teach communicative competence and soft skills for real job-related problem situations and address the complexities of the real world to help students to be successful in their professions. ESP and EOP research is therefore trying to balance both profession-specific educational contents as well as international multi-disciplinary language skills for the globalized workforce. The current study will build upon the existing discussion by developing pedagogy to assist students in their career through developing a strong practical command of relevant English vocabulary. Our research question focuses on the pedagogy two professors incorporated in their English for employment courses. The current study is a qualitative case study on the modes of teaching delivery for EOP in South Korea. Two foreign professors teaching at two different universities in South Korea volunteered for the study to explore their teaching practices. Both professors’ curriculums included the components of employment-related concept vocabulary, business presentations, CV/resume and cover letter preparation, and job interview preparation. All the pre-made recorded video lectures, live online class sessions with students, teachers’ lesson plans, teachers’ class materials, students’ assignments, and midterm and finals video conferences were collected for data analysis. The study then focused on unpacking representative patterns in their teaching methods. The professors used their strengths as native speakers to extend the class discussion from narrow and restricted conversations to giving students broader opportunities to practice authentic English conversation. The methods of teaching utilized three main steps to extend the conversation. Firstly, students were taught concept vocabulary. Secondly, the vocabulary was then combined in speaking activities where students had to solve scenarios, and the students were required to expand on the given forms of words and language expressions. Lastly, the students had conversations in English, using the language learnt. The conversations observed in both classes were those of authentic, expanded English communication and this way of expanding concept vocabulary lessons into extended conversation is one representative pedagogical approach that both professors took. Extended English conversation, therefore, is crucial for EOP education.

Keywords: concept vocabulary, english as a foreign language, english for employment, extended conversation

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Authors: Zainab Zendana Shafii

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Lullabies have been broadly defined as songs that are sung to calm and soothe children. While this is true, this paper intends to show that lullabies exceed these functions. The paper, in exploring Nupe lullabies, examines the various functions that lullabies perform in terms of language development, cultural enrichment and also the retelling of history as it relates to the culture of the Nupe people of northern Nigeria. The theoretical framework used is the functionalist theory. This theory postulates that all cultural or social phenomena have a positive function and that all are indispensable. The functionalist theory is based on the premise that all aspects of a society—institutions, roles, norms, etc.—serve a purpose and that all are indispensable for the long-term survival of the society. To this end, this paper dissects the various lullabies in Nupeland with a view to exploring the meaning that these songs generate and why they are even sung at all. The qualitative research methodology has been used to gather materials.

Keywords: Nupe, lullabies, Nigeria, northern

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Authors: Kartik Thakore, Anna-Roza Tamas, Adam Cole

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The world health organization (WHO) reports that by 2030 more than 23.7 million deaths annually will be caused by Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs); with a 2008 economic impact of $3.76 T. Metabolic syndrome is a disorder of multiple metabolic risk factors strongly indicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases. Guided lifestyle intervention driven by live coaching has been shown to have a positive impact on metabolic risk factors. Individuals’ path to improved (decreased) metabolic risk factors are driven by personal motivation and personalized messages delivered by coaches and augmented by technology. Using interactions captured between 400 individuals and 3 coaches over a program period of 500 days, a preliminary model was designed. A novel real time event tracking system was created to track and classify clients based on their genetic profile, baseline questionnaires and usage of a mobile application with live coaching sessions. Classification of clients and coaches was done using a support vector machines application build on Apache Spark, Stanford Natural Language Processing Library (SNLPL) and decision-modeling.

Keywords: guided lifestyle intervention, metabolic risk factors, personal coaching, support vector machines application, Apache Spark, natural language processing

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Authors: Ankita Wadhawan, Parteek Kumar, Umesh Kumar

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Gesture is any body movement that expresses some attitude or any sentiment. Gestures as a sign language are used by deaf people for conveying messages which helps in eliminating the communication barrier between deaf people and normal persons. Nowadays, everybody is using mobile phone and computer as a very important gadget in their life. But there are some physically challenged people who are blind/deaf and the use of mobile phone or computer like device is very difficult for them. So, there is an immense need of a system which works on body gesture or sign language as input. In this research, Microsoft Kinect Sensor, SDK V2 and Hidden Markov Toolkit (HTK) are used to recognize the object, motion of object and human body joints through Touch less NUI (Natural User Interface) in real-time. The depth data collected from Microsoft Kinect has been used to recognize gestures of Indian Sign Language (ISL). The recorded clips are analyzed using depth, IR and skeletal data at different angles and positions. The proposed system has an average accuracy of 85%. The developed Touch less NUI provides an interface to recognize gestures and controls the cursor and click operation in computer just by waving hand gesture. This research will help deaf people to make use of mobile phones, computers and socialize among other persons in the society.

Keywords: gesture recognition, Indian sign language, Microsoft Kinect, natural user interface, sign language

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Authors: Maria De Albuquerque Bercot, Caio Gustavo Mesquita Angelo, Daniela Maria Moreira Siqueira, Augusto Assucena De Vasconcellos, Rodrigo Studart Correa

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Mining is an important socioeconomic activity in Brazil although it negatively impacts the environment. Mineral operations cause irreversible changes in topography, removal of vegetation and topsoil, habitat destruction, displacement of fauna, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, siltation of watercourses and have potential to enhance climate change. Due to the impacts and its pollution potential, mining activity in Brazil is legally subjected to environmental licensing. Unlicensed mining operations or operations that not abide to the terms of an obtained license are taken as environmental crimes in the country. This work reports a case analyzed in the Forensic Institute of the Brazilian Federal District Civil Police. The case consisted of detecting illegal aspects of sand exploitation from a licensed mine in Federal District, nearby Brasilia city. The fieldwork covered an area of roughly 6 ha, which was surveyed with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (PHANTOM 3 ADVANCED). The overflight with UAV took about 20 min, with maximum flight height of 100 m. 592 UAV georeferenced images were obtained and processed in a photogrammetric software (AGISOFT PHOTOSCAN 1.1.4), which generated a mosaic of geo-referenced images and a 3D model in less than six working hours. The 3D model was analyzed in a forensic software for accurate modeling and volumetric analysis. (MAPTEK I-SITE FORENSIC 2.2). To ensure the 3D model was a true representation of the mine site, coordinates of ten control points and reference measures were taken during fieldwork and compared to respective spatial data in the model. Finally, these spatial data were used for measuring mining area, excavation depth and volume of exploited sand. Results showed that mine holder had not complied with some terms and conditions stated in the granted license, such as sand exploration beyond authorized extension, depth and volume. Easiness, the accuracy and expedition of procedures used in this case highlight the employment of UAV imagery and computational photogrammetry as efficient tools for outdoor forensic exams, especially on environmental issues.

Keywords: computational photogrammetry, environmental monitoring, mining, UAV

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Authors: Vandana Dave, Neelam Kumari

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India, a fast growing global power, is climbing the ladder of success very swiftly and has been attracting the world’s attention in recent decades. But unfortunately in the modern society, women who constitute half the population of our country have been the victims of violence in different fields of life both physically, socially, mentally and economically. Women face a lot of societal pressure, gender based violence – including rape, domestic violence, dowry death, murder and sexual abuse. But none the less, it is not considered as a problem of serious concern. Among the issues related to women, domestic violence is one of the major issue in our society which is occurring within the safe confines of home at the hands of close family members and cuts across line of race, nationality, language, culture, economics, sexual orientation, physical ability and religion to affect women from all walks of life. It is not to be perceived as a law and order problem alone but it is a socio- cultural problem and it is directly affecting the family life, health of women and life of children. Structural imbalance of power, systematic gender based discrimination; inequality between women and men and other kind of subordination are the context and cause of violence against women. Understanding it as a major problem of our society, the present study was conducted to assess the status of women of Rohtak, district of Haryana. The present study is based on primary and secondary data, adopting feminist research methodology. Case study method was incorporated during the research. It was observed that violence varied according to different age groups of women, marital status, education status, economic status and sociodemography factors. The case studies depicted the inadequate justice system for the victims of domestic violence. The study also revealed that the victims failed to understand the judiciary system and considered themselves helpless and hopeless. The study indicates the need of women friendly justice system for the upliftment of the society.

Keywords: domestic violence, women, victim, justice

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Authors: Ayobami Solomon Popoola, Victor N. Enujiugha

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Production of soy-yogurt by fermentation of soymilk with lactic acid bacteria isolated from soymilk was studied. Soymilk was extracted from dehulled soybean seeds and pasteurized at 95 °C for 15 min. The soymilk was left to naturally ferment (temperature 40 °C; time 8 h) and lactic acid bacteria were isolated, screened and selected for yogurt production. Freshly prepared soymilk was pasteurized (95 °C, 15 min), inoculated with the lactic acid bacteria isolated (3% w/v starter culture) and incubated at 40 °C for 8 h. The yogurt produced was stored at 4 °C. Investigations were carried out with the aim of improving the sensory qualities and acceptability of soy yogurt. Commercial yogurt was used as a control. The percentage of soymilk inoculated was 70% of the broth. Soy-yoghurt samples produced were subsequently subjected to biochemical and microbiological assays which included total viable counts of fresh milk and soy-based yoghurt; proximate composition of functional soy-based yoghurt fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum; changes in pH, Titratable acidity, and lactic acid bacteria during a 14 day period of storage; as well as morphological and biochemical characteristics of lactic acid bacteria isolated. The results demonstrated that using Lactobacillus plantarum to inoculate soy milk for yogurt production takes about 8 h. The overall acceptability of the soy-based yogurt produced was not significantly different from that of the control sample. The use of isolate from soymilk had the added advantage of reducing the cost of yogurt starter culture, thereby making soy-yogurt, a good source of much desired good quality protein. However, more experiments are needed to improve the sensory qualities such as beany or astringent flavor and color.

Keywords: soy, soymilk, yoghurt, starter culture

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Authors: Justin P. Pool, Haruyo Yoshida

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This research focuses on the effects of creating an English as a foreign language curriculum that combines online learning and classroom teaching in a complementary manner. Through pre- and post-test results, teacher observation, and learner reflection, it will be shown that learners can benefit from online programs focusing on receptive skills if combined with a communicative classroom environment that encourages learners to develop their productive skills. Much research has lamented the fact that many modern mobile assisted language learning apps do not take advantage of the affordances of modern technology by focusing only on receptive skills rather than inviting learners to interact with one another and develop communities of practice. This research takes into account the realities of the state of such apps and focuses on how to best create a curriculum that complements apps which focus on receptive skills. The research involved 15 adult learners working for a business in Japan simultaneously engaging in 1) a commercial online English language learning application that focused on reading, listening, grammar, and vocabulary and 2) a 15-week class focused on communicative language teaching, presentation skills, and mitigation of error aversion tendencies. Participants of the study experienced large gains on a standardized test, increased motivation and willingness to communicate, and asserted that they felt more confident regarding English communication. Moreover, learners continued to study independently at higher rates after the study than they had before the onset of the program. This paper will include the details of the program, reveal the improvement in test scores, share learner reflections, and critically view current evaluation models for mobile assisted language learning applications.

Keywords: adult learners, communicative language teaching, mobile assisted language learning, motivation

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Authors: Wei Bin Shen

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Lou Gang world irrigation project heritage in Taihu Lake is a systematic irrigation project integrating water conservancy, ecology and culture. Through the methods of historical documents and field investigation, this paper deeply analyzes the formation history, connotation and value of Lou Gang polder system: Lou Gang heritage, describes in detail the relationship between Lou Gang polder system in Taihu Lake and the development and evolution of Huzhou City, and initially explores the protection and Utilization Strategies of Lou Gang water conservancy cultural heritage resources in Taihu Lake from the current situation.

Keywords: Lou Gang, protection strategy, urban evolution, waterconservancyculturalheritage

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Authors: George Kamil Kamal Abdelnor

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Every major educational institution has incorporated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles into its administrative, hiring, and pedagogical practices. Yet these DEI principles rarely incorporate explicit language or critical thinking about disability. Despite the fact that according to the World Health Organization, one in five people worldwide is disabled, making disabled people the larger minority group in the world, disability remains the neglected stepchild of DEI. Drawing on disability studies and crip theory frameworks, the underlying causes of this exclusion of disability from DEI, such as stigma, shame, invisible disabilities, institutionalization/segregation/delineation from family, and competing models and definitions of disability are examined. This paper explores both the ideological and practical shifts necessary to include disability in university DEI initiatives. It offers positive examples as well as conceptual frameworks such as 'divers ability' for so doing. Using Georgetown University’s 2020-2022 DEI initiatives as a case study, this paper describes how curricular infusion, accessibility, identity, community, and diversity administration infused one university’s DEI initiatives with concrete disability-inclusive measures. It concludes with a consideration of how the very framework of DEI itself might be challenged and transformed if disability were to be included.

Keywords: cognitive disability, cognitive diversity, disability, higher education disability, Standardized Index of Diversity of Disability (SIDD), differential and diversity in disability, 60+ population diversity, equity, inclusion, crip theory, accessibility

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Authors: Caterina Calicchio, Talia Sbardella

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The ability to move through geographical and symbolic spaces is key for building new nodes and social relationships. Especially in the framework of language learning, accepting and valuing diversity can help to create a constructive atmosphere of cooperation, innovation, and creativity. Thus, it is important to outline the stages of forming a learning community, focusing on the characteristics that can favor its development. It is known that elements like curiosity and motivation are significant for individual language learning; hence, the study attempts to investigate how factors like openness to diversity and cultural immersion could improve Italian learning and teaching. This paper aims to indicate the factors that could be significant for the development of a Learning Community by presenting a case study on a course on Italian as a second language for beginners: first, the theoretical matrices underlying social learning will be outlined. Secondly, a quantitative study will be described based on an adaptation of the openness to diversity and some insights psychometric scale questionnaire developed at the Umbra Institute. The questionnaire was delivered to 52 American college students with open-ended and closed-ended questions. Students were asked to specify their level of agreement to a set of statements on a six-point Likert scale ranging from (1) Strongly disagree to (6) Strongly agree. The data has been analyzed with a quantitative and qualitative method and has been represented in a pie chart and in a histogram. Moreover, mean and frequency have been calculated. The research findings demonstrate that openness to diversity and challenge enhances cross-cutting skills such as intercultural and communicative competence: through cultural immersion and the facility of speaking with locals, the participants have been able to develop their own Italian L2 language community. The goal is to share with the scientific community some insights to trace possible future lines of research.

Keywords: Italian as second language, language learning, learning community, openness to diversity

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Authors: Muhammad Fadli Muslimin

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Negeri Para Bedebah is known as one of the works of Tere Liye, an Indonesia author. In the literary works, the fiction as always tries to reflect the reality of the society where the author or the social groups lived in. The essential or nature of society is generally a reality while literary work is fiction and both of them are social fact. Negeri Para Bedebah is a novel fiction which is a social fact and which holds an important role in reality. It is more likely as the representation of social, economy and politic aspects in Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to reveal the world view of Tere Liye throughout novel Negeri Para Bedebah. By analyzing the object using genetic structuralism Lucien Goldmann which chiefly focuses on world view, it is stated that the literary work is an structure and it has homology with the structure in society. The structure of literary work is not chiefly homolog to the structure of society but homolog to the world view which is growing and developing inside the society. The methodological research used in this paper is a dialectic method which focuses on the starting and ending points lied in the literary text by paying attention to the coherent meanings. The result of this study is that Tere Liye shows us his world view about the structure of the society where he is living in, but one is an imaginative form of the world and the homology to the reality itself.

Keywords: homology, literary work, society, structure, world view

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Authors: Heba Salem

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This paper aims to share the researcher’s experience of using e-Portfolios as an assessment tool to follow up on students’ learning experiences and performance throughout the semester. It also aims at highlighting the importance of students’ self-reflection in the process of language learning. The paper begins by introducing the advanced media course, with its focus on listening and speaking skills, and introduces the students’ profiles. Then it explains the students’ role in the e-portfolio process as they are given the option to choose a listening text they studied throughout the semester and to choose a recorded oral production of their collection of artifacts throughout the semester. Students showcase and reflect on their progress in both listening comprehension and speaking. According to the research, re-listening to work given to them and to their production is a means of reflecting on both their progress and achievement. And choosing the work students want to showcase is a means to promote independent learning as well as self-expression. Students are encouraged to go back to the class learning outcomes in the process of choosing the work. In their reflections, students express how they met the specific learning outcome. While giving their presentations, students expressed how useful the experience of returning and going over what they covered to select one and going over their production as well. They also expressed how beneficial it was to listen to themselves and literally see their progress in both listening comprehension and speaking. Students also reported that they grasped more details from the texts than they did when first having it as an assignment, which coincided with one of the class learning outcomes. They also expressed the fact that they had more confidence speaking as well as they were able to use a variety of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions that students have accumulated. For illustration, this paper includes practical samples of students’ tasks and instructions as well as samples of their reflections. The results of students’ reflections coincide with what the research confirms about the effectiveness of the e-portfolios as a means of assessment. The employment of e-Portfolios has two-folded benefits; students are able to measure the achievement of the targeted learning outcomes, and teachers receive constructive feedback on their teaching methods.

Keywords: e-portfolios, assessment, self assessment, listening and speaking progress, foreign language, reflection, learning out comes, sharing experience

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Authors: Nune Ayvazyan

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Since the proclamation of monolingual foreign-language learning methods (the Berlitz Method in the early 20ᵗʰ century and the like), the dilemma has been to allow or not to allow learners’ mother tongue in the foreign-language learning process. The reason for not allowing learners’ mother tongue is reported to create a situation of immersion where students will only use the target language. It could be argued that this artificial monolingual situation is defective, mainly because there are very few real monolingual situations in the society. This is mainly due to the fact that societies are nowadays increasingly multilingual as plurilingual speakers are the norm rather than an exception. More recently, the use of learners’ mother tongue and translation has been put under the spotlight as valid foreign-language teaching tools. The logic dictates that if learners were permitted to use their mother tongue in the foreign-language learning process, that would not only be natural, but also would give them additional means of participation in class, which could eventually lead to learning. For example, when learners’ metalinguistic skills are poor in the target language, a question they might have could be asked in their mother tongue. Otherwise, that question might be left unasked. Attempts at empirically testing the role of translation as a didactic tool in foreign-language teaching are still very scant. In order to fill this void, this study looks into the interaction patterns between students in two kinds of English-learning classes: one with translation and the other in English only (immersion). The experiment was carried out with 61 students enrolled in a second-year university subject in English grammar in Spain. All the students underwent the two treatments, classes with translation and in English only, in order to see how they interacted under the different conditions. The analysis centered on four categories of interaction: teacher talk, teacher-initiated student interaction, student-initiated student-to-teacher interaction, and student-to-student interaction. Also, pre-experiment and post-experiment questionnaires and individual interviews gathered information about the students’ attitudes to translation. The findings show that translation elicited more student-initiated interaction than did the English-only classes, while the difference in teacher-initiated interactional turns was not statistically significant. Also, student-initiated participation was higher in comprehension-based activities (into L1) as opposed to production-based activities (into L2). As evidenced by the questionnaires, the students’ attitudes to translation were initially positive and mainly did not vary as a result of the experiment.

Keywords: foreign language, learning, mother tongue, translation

Procedia PDF Downloads 156