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An Investigation of Reading Memory and Cognitive Strategies through Internet-Connected Smartphones on Pre-university Students’ EFL Reading Comprehension
Get PDFThe sources of knowledge have diversified and increased due to the widespread use of the Internet and smartphones. However, this diversity requires learners to know how to deal with and obtain knowledge and the extent of their credibility and usefulness. Subsequently, they must learn language learning strategies, including Memory Strategies (MSs) and Cognitive Strategies (CSs). This study scrutinizes the employment of reading MSs and CSs mediated by selected applications and tools of Internet-Connected Smartphones (ICSs) among Saudi undergraduates in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading context. The study followed a quasi-experimental research design with two groups. The data was collected through a questionnaire and an achievement test. While the control group used the traditional methods of learning, the experimental group utilized their ICSs to employ reading MSs and CSs in the online learning mode after they received the necessary training. The study showed that students improved their performance in Reading Comprehension (RC) and use of reading MSs and CSs compared to their peers in the control group. The researcher recommends conducting workshops to train students on effectively employing MSs and CSs through ICSs to learn EFL reading skills
An Interview with Brian MacWhinney on His Lifelong Commitment to Psychology and Language Learning Research
Get PDFDear Professor MacWhinney, many thanks for accepting our invitation for the interview.
Edward and Hassan: Let’s begin with some background. Could you please share with us your journey into the field of psycholinguistics? In other words, what sparked your original interest in this area of research in the first place? For example, were there any specific persons, experiences, or events that influenced your decision to pursue psycholinguistics/psychology, and how has your background in cognitive psychology shaped your approach to studying language acquisition and processing
Learning Chinese as a Second Language: Implications of the Character-Word Dual Function Model
Get PDFLearning new words is fundamental in both first and second-language reading. There are, however, divided opinions on the best instructional approaches. Two widely used approaches across languages are whole-word focus and word-constituent focus. The appropriateness of each approach has varied historically, even within a single language (e.g., the debate between whole-word instruction and phonics in English). In teaching Chinese, both approaches are applied but to different learner groups. Whole-word instruction predominates in teaching Chinese as a second language (L2), while instruction for Chinese children focuses more on character-level mappings. It may seem reasonable in L2 Chinese instructions to focus on direct mappings between Chinese words and their L1 equivalent words. However, this raises a question: Is whole-word instruction the most efficient approach in L2 Chinese instruction? Based on an analysis of the Chinese writing system, we proposed a Character-Word Dual Function model of Chinese and tested its application of a dual-focus approach on both characters and words in L2 Chinese classroom instruction. Empirical findings support the advantage of this new approach compared to conventional whole-word instruction. We discuss the alignment between our findings and the Unified Computational Model and its implications for word instruction across languages
Teacher Students' Views on the Anchoring of the Shoah into the Czech Normative Educational Curriculum
Get PDFThis paper presents ways and forms of anchoring the term Shoah in normative educational documents. The partial results of a research investigation are presented to find out the preconceptions of students of teaching in the field, including the phenomenon of the Shoah in the educational process. The quantitative research survey was conducted through a non-standardized, twenty-four-question questionnaire. The first eight were aimed at obtaining information about the respondents (e.g., year and form of study, study program, etc.). We presented the results as a comparison of partial results of research investigations, i.e., the research partial results and the results of a survey we conducted among practicing teachers. Based on the results of the questionnaire item concerning their opinion on the normative framing of the concept of the Shoah in Framework Educational Program for Primary Education, it can be stated that both groups of respondents would have welcomed it; however, a higher percentage of positive answers came from future teachers (55% versus 77.04%). We perceive the presented research as a first step towards a possible targeted intervention in the field of teacher training in possible work with the topic of the Shoah and its possible cross-cutting inclusion in the educational process. On the other hand, it must be stated that the young generation, i.e., student teachers, are aware of the necessity to apply the problems of the contemporary world to teaching, with or without the support of its curricular anchoring. 
Representation of Corporate Governance Information: Organization of Information as Constructs for Governance
Get PDFIn Information Science, multidisciplinary is understood as the initial level for the Association of disciplines from different Sciences, which, as a representation of knowledge, aims to foster a common achievement as we approach corporate governance. Treating the historical development of the term governance as a source of information to identify the specificity of the vocabulary, maintaining the literary guarantee, consolidates the formatting of the vocabulary itself, and may even derive connections by synonymy, homograph or polysemy. All these arguments for the study of governance information, preliminarily treated in a multidisciplinary way, can create paths to seek new connections and integrations, allowing the creation of an informational context that fosters the practice of the state of governance. The aim of this study is to create a conversational space on corporate governance to represent the formation of organized and correlated constructs from their properties and the informational flow in organizations. The literature reviews the terms, meaning, use, properties, and resignification of content applied to governance, considering the terminological specificity, literary guarantee, deductive method, and techniques related to terminological analysis for construct formation. The results revealed a domain model in the context of governance applied to a corporate governance situation for Value Added analysis. The conclusion presents defining an information representation model, composed of associated terms according to their properties and characteristics, extracted by coeval and chronological analysis of the use of the term governance, innovates Information Science in a multidisciplinary way, opening perspectives for its application in new social phenomena
Book Review: Handbook of research on perspectives in foreign language assessment, edited by Dinçay Köksal Çanakkale, Nurdan Kavaklı Ulutaş, Sezen Arslan Bandırma (2023). IGI Global, 418 pages, $243, ISBN13: 9781668456606
Get PDFIn recent academic research, foreign language assessment practices have received much focus. As a vital component of instructional efforts, assessment is essentially characterized as the tasks assigned to learners by teachers to evaluate their proficiency in learning or achievement, which is directly influenced by their learning experiences (Cheng et al., 2008). Handbook of Research on Perspectives in Foreign Language Assessment comprehensively covers a wide range of topics related to foreign language assessment
Lexical Bundles in the Discussions of Medical Sciences Articles: Frequencies, Syntactic Structures, and Discourse Functions
Get PDFLexical bundles (LBs) are frequent groups of words that appear repeatedly in different academic texts. A plethora of research has explored their distribution and usage in general, particularly in academic texts. However, to our knowledge, the extent of research investigating LBs in the discussion sections of Medical Research Articles (MRAs) is scant. The present study examined the diversity and density of four-word LBs in the discussions of 1400 MRAs. Four-word bundles totaling 413, including general and subject-bound LBs, were extracted using the freeware concordance software program AntConc and categorized based on their syntactic structures and discourse functions. The findings revealed that discussions structurally rely heavily on phrasal LBs (i.e., prepositional phrases and noun phrases) in general and subject-bound LBs compared to clausal bundles, which include VP-based and Clause-based LBs. Regarding functional categories, the general referential bundles with their subcategories were found to have the most considerable proportion in the medical RA genre. Given the importance of LBs in disciplinary writing and academic discourse, the findings could be instrumental in crafting suitable pedagogical materials and activities on general and subject-specific LBs for academic writing in English for Medical Purposes
Students’ Perceptions of Applying the GRASPS Framework from the Backward Design Model in Learning English as a Foreign Language
Get PDFThe present study investigates the students’ perceptions of applying performance tasks based on the GRASPS framework, exploring and seeking to explain the relationships between these tasks and English language learning. Data was collected over one semester in 14 public secondary schools in Ecuador, and it consisted of a questionnaire applied to 283 EFL students and two focus-group interviews with 12 EFL learners. After receiving a two-week workshop, sixteen Ecuadorian EFL teachers planned three units following the three stages based on the Backward Desing Model (Wiggings & McTigue, 2005); however, this study focuses on the students’ perceptions of the GRASPS framework. Overall, the students showed high levels of awareness of the benefits of developing performance tasks based on the GRASPS framework. The main benefits encountered by these students were improving English skills, fostering creativity, and autonomous and lifelong learning. Subsequently, the primary takeaway from this study proposes applying the GRASPS framework as a potential support for EFL learning. Theoretical and practical implications are presented, and further research suggestions are provided
Diane Larsen-Freeman: Seven Personal Vignettes of the Person and the Scholar
Get PDFThis personal account narrates seven instances in which the author encountered Diane Larsen-Freeman as a person and scholar, and how those two identities are integrated in her work. As in many scholarly lives, these meetings were virtual (through the medium of print), vicarious (observations from a distance during conferences and summer institutes), and face-to-face. The common thread running through all these experiences has been Diane's generosity, wisdom, and positive power as a human being, and how her scholarship has been permeated by that humanity
A DLF Case Study: The Dynamics of Writing Development in Adulthood
Get PDFThis longitudinal case study from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) perspective touches upon an under-researched issue: L1 development over the lifespan. Levinson (1978) predicts three stages in adulthood: early, mid and late, with a decline in late adulthood. We examine Diane Larsen-Freeman’s publications over a period of 50 years (from age 27 to 77) and trace seven complexity measures--three lexical (density, sophistication and diversity) and four syntactic (mean length of sentence, finite verb ratio, dependent clause per T-unit and complex nominals per clause)--to investigate whether early, middle, and late stages in adulthood occur as predicted. After employing common CDST methods to find out if there are significant peaks or interactions among the variables over time, we used a Hidden Markov time-series analysis to locate moments of self-organization, suggesting a new stage of development. The HMM shows a clear phase shift between middle and late adulthood when the writer was 63. Her vocabulary became more diversified, but her sentences were shorter, but not less complex. Therefore, we argue that this shift should not be seen as a decline in complexity but a shift in style as more precise words may lessen the need for more words