The title of the book clearly embraces the main topics which are developed throughout the volume. In the first place, the authors introduce relevant and updated research related to pragmatics, particularly speech acts, together with pedagogical activities to enhance pragmatic development in the classroom. Secondly, they show the connection between the above-mentioned topics with a specific group of students, that of young second language learners (YLLs). In this sense, the book is unique in that it exclusively focuses on this specific population, adding to the scant research carried out with young learners (Schauer, 2019).
The eight chapters which make up this volume are grouped around three parts. Part 1 provides the background of terms which will be used throughout the book. In this sense, in Chapter 1 the authors first focus on the definition of pragmatics understood as the interplay between linguistic structures, context and speakers’ and hearers’ intentions and then they illustrate the components of pragmatic competence (i.e., pragmalinguistic, sociopragmatic and interactional competence). Chapter 2 is devoted to the discussion the realization of six well-researched speech acts in English: requests, apologies, refusals, greetings, compliments and compliment responses. Once the key concepts for understanding pragmatic research have been explained in the first two chapters, Chapter 3 introduces an updated account of how YLLs produce and perceive speech acts not only in English, but also in diverse L1s such as Catalan, Chinese, German or Spanish. In this vein, an overview of both longitudinal and cross-sectional research on production of speech acts by YLLs is provided, along with the presentation of studies on speech act perception by this particular group of students.
The pervasive issue of fake news spreading rapidly on online platforms. causing a concerning dissemination of misinformation. The influence of fake news has become a pressing social problem, shaping public opinion in important events such as elections. This research focuses on detecting and classifying fake news using the Random Forest algorithm by investigating the impact of feature extraction techniques on classification accuracy, this study specifically employs the TF-IDF method. For this purpose, we used 44,898 English-language articles from the ISOT fake news dataset. The dataset is cleaned using tokenization and stemming then split into 75% training and 25% testing. The TF-IDF vectorizer technique was applied to convert text into numeric as feature extraction. This study has implemented a Random Forest classifier to predict real and fake news. The proposed model contributes to overall classification precision by comparing it to the existing models. This fake news detection highlights the efficacy of the TF-IDF vectorizer and Random Forest combination which achieved an impressive accuracy rate of 99.0%. This contribution highlights an effective strategy for combating misinformation through precise text classification.
Technological advances have introduced English instructors to various ways of delivering successful online classes. Using an Interactive Response System (IRS) as a supporting tool is one of them. This qualitative study investigates the perceptions of foreign English language teachers in Thai universities regarding the use of IRS in online classes. The study involved 10 non-native English university teachers, 7 females and 3 males, aged 27 to 35, with 3 to 6 years of teaching experience in Thailand. They are affiliated with three different Thai universities. Data were gathered through multiple online interviews and observations via Zoom or Google Meet, tailored to each participant’s convenience. The data analysis was conducted using a robust content analysis approach. The findings of this study showed that educators integrated IRS tools to boost engagement, benefiting both students and instructors. Additionally, peer influence encouraged IRS adoption and enhanced teaching methods. IRS tools served various roles, ranging from assessment to promoting motivation and enhancing comprehension. The advantages of IRS tools included increased interactivity, competition, and engagement. They aided in monitoring student attentiveness and comprehension while fostering independent learning. Challenges such as unequal internet access, device limitations, technology literacy, fees, workload, and language barriers existed, along with concerns about potential cheating during IRS activities.
Abstract Introduction Cancer currently occurs in about 1 in 1000 pregnancies. Both active malignancy and pregnancy are individual risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE). The purpose of this systematic review/meta‐analysis was to evaluate the rate of VTE in pregnant patients with active malignancy compared with pregnant patients without malignancy. Material and methods Embase, Medline/PubMed, Cochrane Database, and clinicaltrial.gov were search by a trained librarian from inception until June 2021, and limited to English and French language human studies using keywords related to pregnancy, neoplasm, and thrombosis. This study was prospectively registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021245886). Title, abstract, and full‐text review was performed using the Covidence data management system. Two authors reviewed the studies independently. Of the 3821 articles screened, seven cohort studies were included that reported VTE rate in patients with active malignancy in pregnancy. Results A total of 5928 individuals had active malignancy and pregnancy. Active malignancy in pregnancy significantly increased the odds of a VTE (odds ratio [OR] 6.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.8–12.1). Specifically, patients with thyroid (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3–6.3), cervix (OR 6.6, 95% CI 2.4–18.0), or other gynecological (OR 10.6, 95% CI 4.4–25.8) cancers; Hodgkin's lymphoma (OR 8.7, 95% CI 3.3–23.4); or acute leukemia (OR 17.1, 95% CI 10.9–26.8) all had increased odds, whereas those with brain cancer (OR 6.1, 95% CI 0.4–98.2), breast cancer (OR 2.5, 95% CI 0.3–17.4), malignant melanoma (OR 5.5, 95% CI 0.3–88.1), or non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (OR 3.2, 95% CI 0.8–12.9) malignancies did not have statistically significant increased odds for VTE. No studies reported whether prophylactic anticoagulation was used during pregnancy in this population; nor did they report timing in pregnancy of the VTE. The absolute risk for VTE in those with active malignancy was 0.9% compared with 0.2% in those without active malignancy in pregnancy. Conclusions Pregnancy with active malignancy confers a significant increased risk for VTE compared with pregnancy alone. Given this finding, prophylactic anticoagulation during pregnancy and postpartum could be considered in this patient population. Data are underpowered to make firm recommendations per cancer type.
This study investigates the role of schema theory in translation and aims to gain knowledge that may progress AI-related domains through the simulation of cognition and AI. Schema theory hypothesizes that translators use mental frameworks (schemata) to organize and interpret information. In the context of translation, schemata play a crucial role in knowledge representation, affecting limitations made during the translation process. A cognitive approach is employed and qualitative methods are used in the analysis. A corpus is collected from the translation of a SL Arabic novel (Frankenstein in Baghdad by A. Saadawi) into TL English, covering domains and language pairs. The translation process is analyzed to identify cognitive patterns employed by the translator as they apply schemata to achieve cross-cultural renditions. Conclusions reveal that schema activation significantly impacts translation choices, influencing how the translator interprets and conveys meaning across languages. Cognitive patterns shed light on how cultural and linguistic factors influence the transfer of information between SL and TL. Additionally, the study uncovers variations in schema utilization across different translation tasks and the adaptability and flexibility of cognitive processes in response to varying contexts and linguistic challenges. By deepening our understanding of schema theory, this research contributes to the design, training, and assessment of AI algorithms. It also provides valuable insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying successful cross-linguistic communication and offers practical implications for translators engaged in intercultural exchange. Finally, this paper recommends that AI systems can drive advancements in MT and other AI-related fields of prior knowledge to produce accuracy and more closely with native speakers by using schema theory concepts.
Language and Literature, History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
The current paper is a small-scale study on the core elements of professional identity (PI) issues among English as a second language (ESL) teachers. The study highlights the significance of professional identity, and the compromise and transformation ESL teachers undergo during their careers. Qualitative exploratory research methodology is applied in the investigation involving five ESL teachers. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the potential factors that have impacted English teachers’ professional identity. The study revealed the impact of top-down policy implementation, the significance of professionalism, unstructured overseas educational setup, and workplace challenges on the professional identity of English teachers. The findings of the study highlighted several key areas that had a positive as well as a negative impact on the PI of ESL teachers. ESL teachers’ adherence to their individuality and teaching philosophy in spite of facing different challenges, time and teaching experience of ESL teachers, culturally diverse working environment, and teachers’ evaluation system emerged as positive factors in PI development. However, the study also drew special attention to ESL teachers’ PI primarily getting affected by the imposition of a central policy system on ESL teachers, ignoring ESL teachers’ voices without taking their feedback into consideration, lack of awareness to foster positive professional relationships among peers and working in the overseas broken educational system. The study concluded that ESL teachers need their independent professional space to utilize their teaching capabilities and share their experiences to have an influential professional identity. However, due to the small number of participants a larger study would be better in unfolding in detail the causes behind the professional identity crises of ESL teachers.
Husam M. Alawadh, Amerah Alabrah, Talha Meraj
et al.
Internet use resulted in people becoming more reliant on social media. Social media have become the main source of fake news or rumors. They spread uncertainty in each sector of the real world, whether in politics, sports, or celebrities’ lives—all are affected by the uncontrolled behavior of social media platforms. Intelligent methods used to control this fake news in various languages have already been much discussed and frequently proposed by researchers. However, Arabic grammar and language are a far more complex and crucial language to learn. Therefore, work on Arabic fake-news-based datasets and related studies is much needed to control the spread of fake news on social media and other Internet media. The current study uses a recently published dataset of Arabic fake news annotated by experts. Further, Arabic-language-based embeddings are given to machine learning (ML) classifiers, and the Arabic-language-based trained minibidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) is used to obtain the sentiments of Arabic grammar and feed a deep learning (DL) classifier. The holdout validation schemes are applied to both ML classifiers and mini-BERT-based deep neural classifiers. The results show a consistent improvement in the performance of mini-BERT-based classifiers, which outperformed ML classifiers, by increasing the training data. A comparison with previous Arabic fake news detection studies is shown where results of the current study show greater improvement.
Consuelo Vélez Álvarez, Natalia Sánchez Palacio, José Armando Vidarte Claros
Background: information and communication technologies have produced lifestyle changes, especially in physical activity. Therefore, it is important to promote the use of those resources through innovative processes to improve the quality of life. Objective: to analyze the scientific evidence on the information and communication technologies used for the promotion of physical activity. Method: a bibliographic search of publications in scientific journals between 2013 and 2019 was carried out. The descriptors technology, physical activity, innovation and their equivalences in English were used. The analyzed elements were title, abstract, publication year, language, country and publication source. From the complete text, the variables technology, population group, activities or strategies and results were analyzed. Results: 32 full articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. The most used technologies for the promotion of physical activity in the different groups were PPPs and mobile phones; the evidence concludes that their use generates adherence and contributes to life quality. Conclusion: the need for the use of information and communication technologies was evidenced, therefore, innovative physical activity practice in different populations is encouraged. The challenge for professionals who work on the area is to take such technologies and start their implementation.
Viridiana L. Benitez, Marissa Castellana, Christine E. Potter
Bilingual picture books have been growing in popularity, with caregivers, teachers, and researchers increasingly interested in understanding how picture books might be able to support the learning of words in two languages. In this study, we present the first evaluation of the quantity and quality of text contained within bilingual picture books in English and Spanish targeted to children ages 0–9 and available to parents in the United States. We focus specifically on a sample of codeswitching books (<i>N</i> = 45) which present text in one language embedded in another language. All books were transcribed and evaluated for (1) the number of words and utterances presented in each language; (2) the quality and complexity of text presented in each language; and (3) how switching occurred between the two languages. Results showed that although picture books in our sample presented predominantly English text and more complex English sentences, relatively more unique words were presented in Spanish. Furthermore, picture books in our sample presented frequent switching between languages, particularly within utterances. We suggest that bilingual picture books provide children with potentially enriching yet asymmetrical opportunities for learning in each language.
Introduction Varicocele (VC) is a common clinical disease in andrology. Among a number of ways for VC treatment, surgery is the most common one, but the measurable benefit of surgical repair was slight. A growing exploration of complementary therapies has been conducted in clinical research on acupuncture for VC, but there is no relevant systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for VC.Methods and analysis All relevant publications published from database inception through August 2022 will be searched in three English-language databases (Embase, CENTRAL, MEDLINE) and four Chinese-language databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and Wanfang Data). Randomised controlled trials in English and Chinese concerned with acupuncture for patients with VC will be included. The input clinical data will be processed by the Review Manager software (RevMan). The literature will be appraised with the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system (GRADE system) will be used to evaluate the quality of evidence.Ethics and dissemination This study is a secondary study based on clinical studies so it does not relate to any individual patient information or infringe the rights of participants. Hence no ethical approval is required. The results will be reported in peer-reviewed journals or disseminated at relevant conferences.PROSPERO registration number CRD42022316005.
The research explores the functional distribution of the term ‘feminist’ in the Sociology of Sport. To do this, new conceptual tools from Legitimation Code Theory's (LCT) dimension of Semantics are enacted. A 650, 000-word corpus from 100 published articles in peer reviewed, internationally ranked journals was compiled. Constructions with ‘feminist’ as both a noun and attributive adjective were identified. There were 2044 occurrences of ‘feminist’ with a distribution of 229 different constructions. ‘Feminist’ is a complex term, especially in its form as attributive adjective, and therefore, in LCT terms, represents relatively strong epistemic-semantic density (ESD+). Analyses of the term ‘feminist’ in the Sociology of Sport for axiological semantic density (ASD) are also conducted. Meanings tend to be either neutral or positive but not pejorative in connotation. The overall contribution of the paper is to make visible and unpack the complexity of the term ‘feminist’ explicitly and systematically to scaffold student learning. The dense packaging might hinder newcomers to the Sociology of Sport field from accessing these specific meanings or constructing them in their own writing.
This article discusses features of the implementation of linguistic norms in international treaties.The proposed study has a purpose to identify linguistic means present in international document texts, i.e. treaties that are to fix the agreement that parties achieve with a view to establishing relations and regulating them in future. The research material is 1000 texts of international treaties. The total amount of factual material analyzed is over 6000 pages. Our methodology is based on the works by domestic and foreign authors on general theory of speech activity, laws of perception and understanding of speech, and the peculiarities of the generation of a statement, translation theory, and international law. One of the most important means of expressing information in a text is its lexical composition. International treaties texts comprise different types of vocabulary (common, terminological, specialized, etc.) that performs text- and style forming functions. From the point of view of grammar, compiling international treaties involves using particular grammatical forms and categories, syntactic structures and types of phrases. The essence of international treaties texts implies the presence of special clichs of a business style. In the preparation and editing of international treaties, the adequate use of appropriate vocabulary and grammatical means leads to a reduction of ambiguities and discrepancies in the texts of these documents.
Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar, Semantics
The English pre-class language, as one of the educational languages, has a direct impact on realization of the objectives of a class. This paper gives a detailed analysis of the value of the English pre-class language, its related theoretical proof as well as its main characteristics, which proves the significance of the pre-class language.
Expressing modality in Appraisal is cordially expected to be prevalent in argumentative writings in that writers in the Engagement System set up negotiation or alternative points of views. Three conveniently selected student-writers� hortatory argumentative essays in English in which they were course-instructed in an accredited language institution were linguistically analyzed as to pinpoint their aptness to employ particular modality, furthermore to discuss the feasible resource factors on their employment. It was found out that they were prone to be lack of commitment as they delivered their stances, therefore attempting the readers to be engaged in an argumentative discourse to construe the meanings. Subsequently, they had difficulty in manipulating epistemic and deontic modality, owning mundane syntactic constructions and imparting limited device ranges. Therefore, applicably explicit genre-based instructions are in the need, bearing in mind the factual functions of modality in arguability of the utterances as well the resourceful linguistic features of modality.
RESUMO: Este artigo visa investigar a tradução em língua portuguesa de adjetivos atributivos em um trecho da obra em língua inglesa Heart of Darkness (CONRAD, 1994) em três estudos. O primeiro analisa as opções de tradução desse trecho em quatro traduções publicadas nos anos 1984, 1996, 2008 e 2011. O segundo examina o insumo da tradução automática desse mesmo trecho fornecido pelo Google Translate. O terceiro analisa textos-alvo produzidos em uma tarefa de pós-edição monolíngue, cujo texto-fonte foi esse mesmo trecho, por oito estudantes de uma disciplina de prática de tradução. Dessa maneira, integra-se uma análise do processo e do produto tradutórios para verificar padrões na tradução de grupos nominais com um, dois e três adjetivos atributivos presentes no trecho analisado. Para a realização desses estudos, utilizou-se parte do RETRAD (Corpus de (Re)Traduções), o qual foi complementado com o trecho traduzido automaticamente pelo Google Translate e com os textos pós-editados pelos estudantes. Os resultados apontam alguns padrões sintáticos e lexicais recorrentes nos grupos nominais com até dois adjetivos atributivos nas traduções publicadas, havendo, no caso de grupos nominais com mais de dois adjetivos, a inclusão de preposições e conjunções em português. Observou-se também uma maior variedade sintática e lexical nos grupos nominais com três ou mais adjetivos atributivos nas traduções publicadas. O fato que os estudantes fizeram poucas alterações nos textos-alvo pós-editados parece indicar que esses participantes não se sentem confiantes para produzir o texto-alvo sem consulta ao texto-fonte. Desse modo, é necessário incentivar o uso de corpora em sala de aula, expor aos estudantes as limitações de sistemas de tradução automática e as estratégias de solução de problemas, levando-os a refletir sobre os processos de tradução e de pós-edição. Isso contribuirá para o aumento da confiança desses estudantes em suas escolhas e para a produção de textos-alvo que representam a língua em uso.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: adjetivos atributivos; sistema de tradução automática; pós-edição monolíngue; linguística de corpus; pesquisa experimental.
ABSTRACT: This article aims at investigating the translation in Brazilian Portuguese of attributive adjectives in an excerpt from Heart of Darkness (CONRAD, 1994) in three studies. The first analyses the translation of the same excerpt in four translations published in 1984, 1996, 2008 and 2011. The second examines the machine-translated output from English into Portuguese of the same excerpt as provided by Google Translate. The third analyzes the target texts produced in a monolingual post-editing task performed by students of a translation practice subject. Thus, it integrates a process and product analysis to verify patterns of translating noun phrases with one, two and three attributive adjectives in the analyzed excerpt. For this study, part of Corpus de (Re)traduções (RETRAD) was used, which was complemented by the machine-translated output and students’ post-edited texts. Results point to recurrent syntactic and lexical patterns in the translation of noun phrases with up to two attributive adjectives in published translations, with the addition of prepositions and conjunctions in noun phrases with more than two adjectives. Greater syntactic and lexical variety is also found in the translations of noun phrases with three or more attributive adjectives in published translations. The fact that students made a few changes in the post-edited target texts seems to indicate that these participants do not feel confident to produce the target text without referring to the source text. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the use of corpora in translation classroom, to expose students to the limitations of machine translations systems and to problem-solving strategies, leading them to reflect on the translation and post-editing processes. This will contribute to increase students' confidence in their choices and to produce target texts that represent the language in use.
KEYWORDS: attributive adjectives; machine translation system; monolingual post-editing, corpus linguistics; experimental research.
As a result of the accountability requirements established in Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act (ESEA) legislation, English Learners (ELs) are expected to make progress in both content area academic achievement and English Language Proficiency (ELP). In Tennessee ELs progress is measured by administering WIDA-Access to assess English language proficiency, and Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) standardized assessments to measure content academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the performance levels of ELs who achieved the exit criteria on WIDA-Access state mandated English proficiency assessment and their subsequent performance on English Language Arts and Math TCAP assessments. Specifically, a comparison of EL’s achievement on TCAP was compared to the achievement on TCAP of non-ELs. Independent samples t-tests were performed on data from 302 elementary and middle school ELs and non-ELs that participated in WIDA-Access and TCAP assessments in 2015. Data analyses concluded that English Language Arts and Math TCAP scale scores were significantly different between ELs and non-ELs. Achievement levels in both English Language Arts TCAP and Math TCAP for ELs, who achieved the exit criteria on WIDA-Access, were lower than the achievement levels of non-ELs. Discussions of the findings in this study along with implications of using these assessments to measure ELs growth is provided in relation to the increased demands on measuring both the academic achievement and English language progress for ELs.
A presença das tecnologias digitais na sociedade atual influencia cada vez A presença das tecnologias digitais na sociedade atual influencia cada vez mais a nossa comunicação e novas linguagens são introduzidas em nosso cotidiano diariamente. Entretanto, notamos que as transformações ocorridas não aparecem de forma descontextualizada, mas são reflexos de processos anteriores, que se descontroem e se reconstroem de objetos e tecnologias passadas, similar a movimentos artísticos que se apropriam do anterior, buscando a criação de algo novo. Este artigo busca fazer um paralelo entre os movimentos Ready-made, Pop Art e o conceito de remidiação (BOLTER; GRUSIN, 2000) para repensarmos o contexto escolar, uma vez que entendemos que este se encontra em um processo de expansão de seus conceitos de ensino-aprendizagem. Para tanto discutimos sobre o(s) letramento(s) em tempos de comunicação digital, tecendo considerações sobre as possibilidades de utilização do conceito remidiação para o ensino de línguas, uma vez que entendemos que essa temática possibilita interdisciplinaridade com outras áreas do conhecimento contemporâneo.
English language, Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar
Most organizations today use two levels of security: Data security level (encryption) and Network security level (firewall) etc. Therefore, encryption plays a vital role in securing daily operations of organizations. Securing data at first level aims to hide data characteristics. So, different algorithms and methods are being researched and developed to cover this gap for securing different data types especially text messages and make it very difficult for unauthorized parties to break it. From these, the major no. of algorithms are specialized to encrypt English texts, but no one for Arabic language texts although there were many attempts to invent such algorithms. As a result, this research proposed a new encryption method to encrypt Arabic text by using the principle of integration to provide better security and increasing the complexity of guessing the correct keys and correct plain text. At the end, the results show that the new cryptosystem is inevitable to cryptanalysis attack.
Engineering machinery, tools, and implements, Mechanics of engineering. Applied mechanics
Based on the writer’s preliminary study, it was found that the students reading comprehension was not reach the standard score. This problem was caused by some factors, for examples; the way of teaching was not suitable with the material, the level of text difficulty was too “high”. Hence, the writer was interested in carrying out the research. It was administered at SMAN Binaan Khusus Dumai. The subject of the research was the second year students, and the object of this research was the Effect of applying Mind’s Eye strategy. The design of this research was Quasi-experimental design. In collecting the data, writer used test. The population of this research was all of the second year students. The writer used cluster random sampling by taking two classes as sample; XI IPS.1 consisted of 32 students as experimental group, and XI IPS.2 consisted of 32 students as control group. To analyze the data, the writer adopted independent sample t-test formula by using SPSS 20 version. Based on the data analysis, consideration Sig (2 tailed) t0= 0,00 is lower than Sig (2 tailed) Ttable= 0.05 It means Ha is accepted and H0 is rejected. So, it can be concluded that there is a significant difference of using mind’s eye strategy to improve students’ reading comprehension at SMAN Binaan Khusus Dumai.
Keywords: Minds’ Eye Strategy, Reading Comprehension.