Trialing project-based learning in a new EAP ESP course: A collaborative reflective practice of three college English teachers

Currently in many Chinese universities, the traditional College English course is facing the risk of being ‘marginalized’, replaced or even removed, and many hours previously allocated to the course are now being taken by EAP or ESP. At X University in northern China, a curriculum reform as such is taking place, as a result of which a new course has been created called ‘xue ke’ English. Despite the fact that ‘xue ke’ means subject literally, the course designer has made it clear that subject content is not the target, nor is the course the same as EAP or ESP. This curriculum initiative, while possibly having been justified with a rationale of some kind (e.g. to meet with changing social and/or academic needs of students and/or institutions), this is posing a great challenge for, as well as considerable pressure on, a number of College English teachers who have taught this single course for almost their entire teaching career. In such a context, three teachers formed a peer support group in Semester One this year, to work collaboratively co-tackling the challenge, and they chose Project-Based Learning (PBL) for the new course. This presentation will report on the implementation of this project, including the overall designing, operational procedure, and the teachers’ reflections. Based on discussion, pre-agreement was reached on the purpose and manner of collaboration as offering peer support for more effective teaching and learning and fulfilling and pleasant professional development. A WeChat group was set up as the chief platform for messaging, idea-sharing, and resource-exchanging. Physical meetings were supplementary, with sound agenda but flexible time, and venues. Mosoteach cloud class (lan mo yun ban ke) was established as a tool for virtual learning, employed both in and after class. Discussions were held at the beginning of the semester which determined only brief outlines for PBL implementation and allowed space for everyone to autonomously explore in their own way. Constant further discussions followed, which generated a great deal of opportunities for peer learning and lesson plan modifications. A reflective journal, in a greater or lesser detailed manner, was also kept by each teacher to record the journey of the collaboration. At the end of the semester, it was commonly recognized that, although challenges existed, the collaboration was overall a success and they were all willing to continue with it and endeavor to refine it to be a more professional and productive approach

CHORUS Deliverable 2.1: State of the Art on Multimedia Search Engines

Based on the information provided by European projects and national initiatives related to multimedia search as well as domains experts that participated in the CHORUS Think-thanks and workshops, this document reports on the state of the art related to multimedia content search from, a technical, and socio-economic perspective. The technical perspective includes an up to date view on content based indexing and retrieval technologies, multimedia search in the context of mobile devices and peer-to-peer networks, and an overview of current evaluation and benchmark inititiatives to measure the performance of multimedia search engines. From a socio-economic perspective we inventorize the impact and legal consequences of these technical advances and point out future directions of research

English for Academic Research

Colección de nueve capítulos teórico prácticos destinados al estudio de English for Academic Purposes e Inglés para Fines Específicos. Diseñado para estudiantes de postgrado y recomendado a su vez para investigadores y profesionales del campo de los negocios

Improvements in the effectiveness of information management in construction organisations

Managing information effectively is crucial for improving processes within organisations. To this end, a more holistic approach is required which aligns the organisations information and technology needs with its people, processes and business model. This should shift the emphasis from collaborating on individual projects to a long term view of how best to support an organisation s business strategy. It also shifts the emphasis from managing information (storing information to exploit it) to managing with information (harnessing information to gain competitive advantage across the organisation). This thesis is the culmination of a four year EngD research critically investigating improvements in the effectiveness of Information Management (IM) in construction industry based organisations. It begins with an introduction to the research, its aims and objectives, and then presents a detailed review of related literature about the subject matter and the methodology employed in conducting the research. The eight research tasks carried out using extensive, varied and appropriate methods including literature reviews, case studies, interviews, surveys and workshops are then explained based upon which a number of key recommendations are drawn. The findings define IM as distinct from Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) and provide a critical insight into IM in construction industry based organisations including its strategic drivers, key influencers and barriers. It further highlights the four components of a holistic approach to IM as: The Content Model - the nature and structure of the content including metadata; The Enterprise Model - operational structure of the company including its business processes and information dependent activities; Systems and Technology - the most appropriate technological solutions in light of the defined content and enterprise models; and Implementation and Change Management - support for people and managing the transition into improved ways of working. The findings show that a clear alignment between an organisations information needs and its operational processes is key to developing and implementing an effective IM strategy. It shows that a unified approach is more appropriate for organisations than a single approach as certain multi-dimensional context specific factors exist which influence the nature of each organisations needs and therefore most suitable solutions to address them. The findings also demonstrate the importance of metadata in integrating organisations and enabling a holistic IM Strategy. A standard IM framework is developed and validated which provides a structured and systematic approach for organisations seeking to develop suitable metadata standards to meet their needs. The holistic approach applied to a number of case studies provides novel insights into the use of metadata in information retrieval; the development of aligned information architecture and the creation of holistic strategies for improving knowledge sharing and innovation. The thesis concludes with a critical review of the research and a number of key recommendations for organisations, IM research and the wider construction industry. All the findings and insights have been and continue to be disseminated through a number of peer reviewed publications

Communicative language teaching in an EAP program: A study of international students\u27 English language acquisition

The development and implementation of effective second language teaching approaches for English as second language learners continues to receive increased attention in education research. This qualitative case study examined the role of communicative language teaching (CLT) in acquiring English as a second language and aims to provide an outlook on English second language learners\u27 views on perceived communicative teaching approaches; self-reported language improvement in reading, writing, speaking and listening; and forms of feedback preference. The findings of the study point to communicative language teaching approaches that are perceived to be valuable in developing English second language acquisition and confirm the significance of implementing CLT in English in second language training programs to facilitate learners to develop communicative competence

Final FLaReNet deliverable: Language Resources for the Future - The Future of Language Resources

Language Technologies (LT), together with their backbone, Language Resources (LR), provide an essential support to the challenge of Multilingualism and ICT of the future. The main task of language technologies is to bridge language barriers and to help creating a new environment where information flows smoothly across frontiers and languages, no matter the country, and the language, of origin. To achieve this goal, all players involved need to act as a community able to join forces on a set of shared priorities. However, until now the field of Language Resources and Technology has long suffered from an excess of individuality and fragmentation, with a lack of coherence concerning the priorities for the field, the direction to move, not to mention a common timeframe. The context encountered by the FLaReNet project was thus represented by an active field needing a coherence that can only be given by sharing common priorities and endeavours. FLaReNet has contributed to the creation of this coherence by gathering a wide community of experts and making them participate in the definition of an exhaustive set of recommendations

AXMEDIS 2008

The AXMEDIS International Conference series aims to explore all subjects and topics related to cross-media and digital-media content production, processing, management, standards, representation, sharing, protection and rights management, to address the latest developments and future trends of the technologies and their applications, impacts and exploitation. The AXMEDIS events offer venues for exchanging concepts, requirements, prototypes, research ideas, and findings which could contribute to academic research and also benefit business and industrial communities. In the Internet as well as in the digital era, cross-media production and distribution represent key developments and innovations that are fostered by emergent technologies to ensure better value for money while optimising productivity and market coverage