Enhancing Communicative Competence Through Kurikulum Merdeka: Insights For English Language Educators

This study aims to enhancing communicative competence through the independent curriculum: insights for english language educators. This research is a literature review. Data collection techniques are documentation from journal sources and relevant literature such as Google Scholar. Data analysis with critical literature. research results of The Merdeka curriculum, which focuses on developing communicative competence in learning English, has significant potential in advancing students' language skills. By strengthening aspects of communication, both oral and written, this approach seeks to improve students' ability to interact and communicate effectively in various contexts. English educators have a central role in implementing this approach by providing opportunities for students to practice and deepen their understanding of English through real experiences. Thus, the Independent Curriculum offers a promising outlook for educators in developing students' communicative competencies that are relevant and competitive in the current global era

Conceptualising quality of life for older people with aphasia

Background: There is an increasing need in speech and language therapy for clinicians to provide intervention in the context of the broader life quality issues for people with aphasia. However, there is no descriptive research that is explicitly focused on quality of life (QoL) from the perspectives of older people with aphasia. Aims: The current study explores how older people with chronic aphasia who are living in the community describe their QoL in terms of what contributes to and detracts from the quality in their current and future lives. The study is descriptive in nature, and the purpose is to conceptualize the factors that influence QoL. Methods & Procedures: Thirty older participants (16 women, 14 men) with mild to moderate aphasic impairment took part. All participants had adequate communication skills to participate: demonstrating reliable yes/no response and moderate auditory comprehension ability. Participants were interviewed in their own homes using six brief unprompted open questions about QoL, in a structured interview. The first five questions were drawn from previous gerontological research (Farquhar, 1995), and a sixth question specifically targeting communication was added. Content analysis was used, identifying discrete units of data and then coding these into concepts and factors. Additional demographic information was collected, and participants’ mood on day of interviewing was assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (Sheikh & Yesavage, 1986). Outcomes & Results: Activities, verbal communication, people, and body functioning were the core factors in QoL for these participants, and they described how these factors both contributed quality in life as well as detracted from life quality. Other factors that influenced QoL included stroke, mobility, positive personal outlook, in/dependence, home and health. Whilst the findings are limited by the lack of probing of participants’ responses, the study does present preliminary evidence for what is important in QoL to older people with aphasia. Conclusions: Quality of life for older people with predominantly mild to moderate chronic aphasia who are living in the community is multifactorial in nature. Some factors lie within the remit of speech and language therapy, some lie beyond the professional role, but all are relevant for consideration in rehabilitation and community practice. Further qualitative research is implicated to better understand QoL with aphasia, using in-depth interviewing with a broader range of people with aphasia

Building Partnerships with E2L Families in Multicultural Classrooms

This research revolved around investigating educators’ perspectives on communication and relationship building between themselves and English as second language families. This qualitative study followed a narrative research design, incorporating semi-structured interviews, to uncover educators’ opinions and experiences of their interactions and communication with these families, and to report on the challenges and difficulties that were present. The participants of this study consisted of 5, currently employed, Registered Early Childhood Educators across Ontario. Data analysis revealed 4 prominent themes in relation to educators’ perspectives: factors impacting professional practice; how feelings and personal reflections influence professional outlook; respect for inclusion and cultural diversity; and the importance of communication to relationships. The main theme that resonated in both the data and literature included the topic of training and professional development opportunities available for educators to learn more about multicultural inclusion and teaching practices when it comes to incorporating diversity aspects of children and families in early learning environments. Further research examining these aspects in a larger context can gather more in-depth perspectives, in addition to evaluating if geographical locations of employment and years of experience are contributing factors to other educators in areas different than the ones that were reviewed in this study.https://source.sheridancollege.ca/fahcs_student_capstones_hbecl/1012/thumbnail.jp

Embodied Language Revitalization: Linking Uchinaaguchi, Okinawan Martial Arts, and Well-Being

Well-being is linked to native language use which in turn draws upon a variety of specialized knowledge systems. Such systems are known to include categorizations of the natural world, kinship terminology, or medicinal knowledge, but a key area that may be overlooked is that of lexical systems referring to physical human actions and interactions. While the most frequently used verbs and prepositions in endangered languages may be maintained or recorded, the specialized terminology associated with unique cultural and performing arts might remain unknown by non-practitioners, even if they are fluent native speakers. Using the example of karate and kubodo, two indigenous Okinawan martial arts, this research seeks to uncover the tremendous importance of documenting movement terminology associated with highly specialized physical cultural art forms. Drawing on Wenger's (2000) communities of practice concept and theories of embodied language (Buccino, Colagé, Gobbi & Bonaccorso, 2016; Streeck, Goodwin, & LeBaron, 2011), interview, participant observation, and survey data collected on martial arts-related Uchinaaguchi will be used to illustrate some uniquely Uchinaanchu conceptualizations of movement. Although such highly specialized vocabulary may seem to represent a little known “pocket domains” within various linguistic communities, it is in fact these culturally specific arts that serve to distinguish one society from all others. Thus, a vital part of the framework of each society's unique sociolinguistic outlook is embedded within culturally specific lexical systems of movement. Because elite practitioners of these arts represent a minority within a minority, recording their knowledge before it is lost is of paramount importance. Not least because of the further link between the practice of Okinawan martial arts and well-being, it is hoped that the beauty and utility of Uchinaaguchi documentation and reclamation in the Okinawan martial arts makes a strong argument for the importance of maintaining and preserving cultural arts-related movement concepts in all endangered languages. References Buccino, G., Colagé, I., Gobbi, N., & Bonaccorso, G. (2016). Grounding meaning in experience: A broad perspective on embodied language. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 29 (2016), 69-78 Streeck, J., Goodwin, C., & LeBaron, C. D. (2011). Embodied interaction: Language and body in the material world. New York: Cambridge University Press. Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization. 7(2). 225-246

Accounting for practice in an age of theory: Charles Taylor’s theory of social imaginaries

No abstract available

Specification: The Biggest Bottleneck in Formal Methods and Autonomy

Advancement of AI-enhanced control in autonomous systems stands on the shoulders of formal methods, which make possible the rigorous safety analysis autonomous systems require. An aircraft cannot operate autonomously unless it has design-time reasoning to ensure correct operation of the autopilot and runtime reasoning to ensure system health management, or the ability to detect and respond to off-nominal situations. Formal methods are highly dependent on the specifications over which they reason; there is no escaping the “garbage in, garbage out” reality. Specification is difficult, unglamorous, and arguably the biggest bottleneck facing verification and validation of aerospace, and other, autonomous systems. This VSTTE invited talk and paper examines the outlook for the practice of formal specification, and highlights the on-going challenges of specification, from design-time to runtime system health management. We exemplify these challenges for specifications in Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) though the focus is not limited to that specification language. We pose challenge questions for specification that will shape both the future of formal methods, and our ability to more automatically verify and validate autonomous systems of greater variety and scale. We call for further research into LTL Genesis

The Story of a Village: A Case Study in Strategic Planning at Enyinndakurom, Ankaful, Central Region, Ghana

The development of a strategic plan for an African village can seem a daunting task, especially if the village is one created from diverse beginnings and different cultural origins, where ethnicity, language and custom are not homogenous.  In this article the authors explore the outcomes of the traditional top down approach.  They contrast this with a collaborative approach, bottom up, and propose the use of management strategies more commonly found in an industrial environment.  Deploying a case study approach the development and implementation of a strategic plan for a post-leprosy rehabilitation village near Elmina in Ghana, West Africa is described and evaluated. Learned helplessness is often an outcome of intervention aid.  By approaching a project with a top down approach, the dependency of a community can become ingrained.  However a partnership approach with the villagers is hoped to engender a sense of ownership in the community, motivating optimism.  The authors believe that the possibility of engagement with the village is greatly strengthened using collaborative approach, and that this is key to a successful outcome. The concept, strategy and initial results as well as the ongoing sustainability of the strategy are described.  The underlying hypothesis is that by empowering an impoverished and disenfranchised community with tried and trusted, modern management methods, engagement as well as success can be achieved. 

Information Outlook, March 2007

Volume 11, Issue 3https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2007/1002/thumbnail.jp

Outlook Magazine, Autumn 2018

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/outlook/1205/thumbnail.jp

An investigation of the background, practice and intercultural communicative competence of part-time distance language tutors at the Open University

The Open University employs a large number of part-time teaching staff (Associate Lecturers, - AL ) who play a crucial role for student success acting at the interface between institution and students. They are the first and main contact for the students, give tutorials, mark assignments and provide individualized feedback. Despite their importance, relatively little scholarship is undertaken on the background and practice of these ALs which is what this study aimed to address. This scholarship project investigated the cohort of ALs in languages (n=292) to find out more about their backgrounds, tutorial practice, their intercultural experience and how this impacts on their teaching. The study used both quantitative (online survey) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) approaches for data collection and an established framework for the exploration of intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997). The findings overall reflect the position of part-time staff in languages - the majority of colleagues are female (76%), they have extensive teaching experience (many more than 15 years), have usually worked for other institutions apart from the Open University, and are not born in the UK (63%). One important finding was that the overall majority of the ALs had first-hand experience of living across cultures but that they had very limited opportunities to bring their intercultural experiences into their teaching practice. This resulted in the development of recommendations that the AL role in the languages curriculum should be reconsidered and enhanced. These recommendations will be implemented during the renewal of the curriculum and demonstrate how a scholarship investigation can impact on teaching practice and curriculum development