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Unpacking the Possible Effects of Working Memory and English Proficiency on Nuclear Accent Perception and Production in Chilean Learners of English
Get PDFProsody is considered one of the most challenging aspects of second language (L2) speech acquisition. This study explores the role of working memory (WM) in the perception and production of English nuclear accent (NA) by L1 Spanish learners. It focuses on both default and non-default patterns of NA placement in English. Twenty-four participants from an English teacher education programme in Concepción, Chile—who had completed an English intonation course—took part in perception and production tests, a proficiency test, and a reading span task to assess WM. Results revealed that participants perceived default NA patterns more accurately, while their production was stronger for non-default patterns. An asymmetry between perception and production emerged, as no direct correlation between these skills was found. Proficiency showed weak positive correlations with most variables. In contrast, WM revealed weak negative correlations across several measures, suggesting that higher WM capacity may not enhance NA perception or production. These subtle trends challenge assumptions about the facilitating role of WM in L2 prosody and indicate the need for further research
Book Review: Language teachers identity and wellbeing, Anne Feryok (2024), 269 pp., £34.95, Paperback, ISBN: 978-1-800-41701-4, Multilingual Matters.
Get PDFIt is not hard to imagine that teachers face significant challenges, and in recent years, the relationship between teacher identity and wellbeing gained enormous momentum—and its impact on both personal corners and professional experiences—has garnered increasing attention. Teacher identity refers to how educators perceive themselves in their roles, shaped by their beliefs, values, and experiences. Wellbeing encompasses emotional, psychological, and social aspects of health, contentment, and fulfillment. As the demands of teaching continue to grow in complexity, understanding the dynamic interplay between these two factors becomes essential, not only for the growth of individual teachers but also for the quality of teacher education. For language teachers, the complexity of their identity and wellbeing are amplified by the need to balance personal, professional, and cultural roles. Language Teacher Identity and Wellbeing, edited by Anne Feryok, examines this critical intersection, exploring how the evolving identities of language teachers and their wellbeing influence each other across diverse cultural and institutional contexts. 
Knocking on the Doors of Perception: Neuroacoustics in Marketing and Tourism. A Comparative Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analyses
Get PDFThis research is the first comprehensive analysis to thoroughly examine the emerging discipline of neuroacoustics in marketing and tourism marketing. Neuroacoustics combines neuroscience and acoustics to fully understand the effect of these signals on humans' behavior and decision-making processes. Employing two systematic literature reviews and bibliometric analyses, this study provides a comparative examination of the neuroacoustics discipline within the marketing and tourism marketing domains. By bridging the existing gaps, such as the recognition of neuroacoustics as a discipline, tracing its academic evolution, and identifying emerging trends, this research underscores the interdisciplinary nature of neuroacoustics and its relevance in shaping managerial capabilities and strategic decision-making processes. 
An Analysis of Examples of Responsibility in the Performance of Ethical Doctors in the Abbasid Era (132-656 AH)
Get PDFMedical ethics encompasses the moral duties and responsibilities that doctors have toward their patients. When entering the medical profession, doctors are required to adhere to the ethical principles that guide their practice. One of the most crucial responsibilities of a doctor is their duty to their patients. Focusing on this ethical aspect forms the foundation for patient trust and enhances the overall treatment process. During the Abbasid era, as medical knowledge expanded, Muslim scholars placed significant emphasis on the ethical responsibilities of physicians. This topic was extensively explored in numerous texts. A key aspect of a doctor's responsibility is to provide care to all patients, irrespective of their ethnicity, culture, religion, social class, type of illness, or gender. Additionally, patience, precision, offering hope, and understanding the patient's situation were regarded as crucial elements of the responsibility of Muslim physicians. This research aims to explore the role of the ethical component of responsibility from the viewpoint of prominent Muslim doctors during the Abbasid era, employing a descriptive-analytical approach and utilizing library sources. The research showed that prominent Muslim doctors of the Abbasid era paid due attention to the principle of ethics in their work, along with the profession of medicine. A substantial portion of their written works is devoted to discussing ethics in this profession. The results of the survey show that medical ethics has been very important in Muslim medical texts. Doctors highly valued responsibility as a fundamental aspect of medical ethics during the Abbasid era. Ali bin Sahl Raban Tabari, Ali bin Ishaq Rahawi, Muhammad bin Zakariya Razi, Ali bin Abbas Ahwazi, Ibn Sina, and Seyyed Ismail Jorjani were among the most trusted and prominent doctors of their time, who placed great emphasis on this moral component and provided numerous examples of it in their works. Patience and attentiveness in patient examination, skill, and expertise in disease treatment, offering hope, and following up on patients are the most important examples of responsibility that can be traced in their works. 
The Use of Nudge as an Influencing Factor to Micro and Small Enterprises to Improve Risk Culture in the Federal District
Get PDFRisk management has always been a part of society. However, Brazil exhibits a high mortality rate among Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in their first years, which may indicate that they lack a well-implemented risk culture or are unfamiliar with this topic. This research aimed to find an effective Nudge used to induce a risk culture behavior in MSE. The present work investigated the potential influence of Nudge techniques, from behavioral economics, on the risk culture in MSE. As a methodology, action research was conducted using two applications of the same questionnaire, before and after the use of the Nudge technique, known as priming, in MSE and in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia. According to data from the Commercial Registry of the Federal District, there are approximately 158,416 micro and small enterprises in Brasilia. For the purposes of defining the sample, a 95% degree of confidence and a 5% margin of error were adopted. A total of 384 enterprises were selected as the sample for the survey. After completing all the stages, it was concluded that the use of nudge was effective in inducing micro and small enterprises to examine their risk culture in another Prisma. Only in cases in which the approach was not perceived, an average performance of 46.12% was obtained, indicating the efficiency of the technique. In the context of this study, initial findings suggest that micro and small enterprises can utilize priming techniques to enhance risk perception
Teachers’ perception on the role of storytelling in young learners’ EFL development
Get PDFThis paper investigates the perceptions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers on the role of storytelling in their classrooms. Using a quantitative research approach, teachers were given a 12-question survey that was adapted from Seng Swee Hoon Connie’s (2017) study. A quantitative approach was used and the data was gathered with a survey consisting of structured questions and it was implemented on 40 EFL teachers. The results highlighted storytelling as a strong tool that may enhance vocabulary, critical thinking, and EFL development as a whole. Teachers emphasize the ability of storytelling as a creative tool, and it may help students to better understand and communicate. However, implementational barriers such as limited time and insufficient resources can be counted as some of the obstacles to making use of storytelling. This study supports the importance of storytelling in EFL classrooms and its applications, not just as a teaching technique, but also as a way to make learning a meaningful and joyful journey. Applying storytelling and making use of its full potential may help to make the learners more engaged. Thus, we might need to prioritize storytelling in the curricula and provide teachers with the pieces of training to make it more effectively used. This could enrich the learners’ experience of language and make it more inspiring for both teachers and learners
Lantolf, Vygotsky, and Learning through and about Languages
Get PDFIn this essay I reflect on James P. Lantolf’s contributions to cultural-historical theory and second language learning. I begin with my personal subjectivity and experiences as a limited learner of additional languages beyond English. This anecdotal opening introduces the tension between formal learning in school and everyday immersion in a language system. I conclude that each is important, and that together they produce robust learning. I then review the terms of the immersion-vs-instruction approaches to learning additional languages, here with greater attention to theoretical points than my anecdotes provide. I next digress with attention to translanguaging, which calls into question the notion that there is necessarily an L1 to which other languages may be added. I then review the Marx-Hegel notion of dialectical thinking, central to Vygotsky’s thinking and informative in understanding language learning and cultural experiences. I finally review a troubling problem in educational writing, the tendency to trivialize complex concepts, focusing on how the Zone of Proximal Development has become conflated with instructional scaffolding. I conclude with brief thoughts about Lantolf’s contributions and how they have both been inspired by other people’s thinking, and in turn have enriched the understandings of those who engage with his scholarship
Bridging the Gap between EFL and ELF through Sociocultural Theory
Get PDFThe aim of this personal reflection is to revisit the major concepts that have informed my academic research in the area of applied linguistics and second language development, and show how my overall pedagogical approach has evolved, thanks to the contribution of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT). The main focus of this paper is on the phenomenon of language variation in English-as-a-lingua-franca (ELF) contexts, and especially its impact on the English of the classroom. In particular, I will consider the importance of embracing diversity in ELF, by adopting a post‐normative response to learners’ use of English, and explain how SCT and ELF studies may converge. For instance, this is possible when students are involved in authentic communication tasks, through web-mediated telecollaboration projects. I will conclude this paper by saying that approaching language variability with an open mind is necessary if we believe that ELT should be connected to the world outside the classroom and to the process of change that English is undergoing nowadays
Language Teacher Wellbeing, Mindfulness, and the Development of a Researcher Identity
Get PDFLanguage teacher identity (LTI) has been a significant and growing field of research in English language teaching (ELT) circles for some time, and the increasing pressure on English language teachers working in higher education to develop researcher identities is well acknowledged (Yuan, 2017). However, the importance of language teachers’ wellbeing and psychological responses to environmental tensions shaping their professional identities has only recently gained traction in the field and remains an underdeveloped area of investigation. Therefore, this paper reports a longitudinal narrative case study of the researcher identity development of Angelica, an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher working in the context of higher education in Japan. Using the dual lenses of language teacher identity and Vygotskian sociocultural theory (SCT) – we traced Angelica’s EFL researcher identity development focussing on her growth from a wellbeing perspective. The study revealed that Angelica’s researcher identity development was shaped by her perezhivanie – a key component of SCT, defined as “a unity of emotion and intellect” (Zhang et al., 2022, p.1) – which in turn was shaped by her mindfulness practices that contributed to her wellbeing. This paper concludes with implications for facilitating the researcher identity development of teachers working in the field of EFL
Investigating the intention of Iranian Consumers to advocate Luxury Brands: Considering the Role of Purchase intention and Purchase commitment
Get PDFToday, the luxury industry in our country continues to grow and accounts for a significant share of our economy. Therefore, in this research, consumers' willingness to advocate for these brands has been examined in relation to the variables of intention and commitment to purchase. The population of this study consists of consumers of the "Armani" and "Boss" brands in Tehran. Three hundred eighty-five people were selected through a multi-stage cluster sampling design. Therefore, based on the objective, the study is an applied work; based on its content, it is a descriptive-survey work. The results of the AMOS-based statistical analysis showed that the variables of personal factors, fashion innovation, fashion involvement, perceived brand value, fashion lifestyle, and social factors have a positive and significant effect on purchase intention. The results also showed that purchase intention has a positive and significant effect on purchase commitment. Finally, the results indicated that purchase commitment has a positive and significant effect on advocacy intentions. Keywords: Luxury Brand; Purchase Intention; Purchase Commitment; Brand Advocacy