Influence of Differentiated Instruction Workshop on Taiwanese Elementary School English Teachers’ Activity Design

This study discusses the influence of a differentiated instruction workshop on thirteen Taiwanese elementary school English teachers’ activity designs in English lesson plans. Theoretical concepts, lesson demonstration, and hands-on activities on differentiating instruction were provided in the workshops. These English teachers demonstrated the competence and skills in differentiated instruction by designing choices for class activities or homework. However, these English teachers lacked the competence in designing activities for deeper learning objectives, designing diverse instructional strategies or activities, and using simple English to explain the choices

Non-English Major Freshmen’s Perception and Practice of the Vocabulary Notebook as their Vocabulary Learning Strategy

Freshmen English is one of the compulsory courses in universities in Taiwan. Vocabulary notebooks are frequently advocated as a way for students to take control of their vocabulary learning (Fowle, 2002). This study focuses on the perception and practice of 157 freshmen, who were all non-English majors, of the vocabulary notebook as their vocabulary learning strategy. The major data in this study included vocabulary notebooks, self-evaluation of keeping vocabulary notebooks, and instructional PowerPoint files. The freshmen in this study had a positive attitude toward vocabulary notebooks, because vocabulary notebooks helped them learn English words and increase their word knowledge, particularly of word families. They used the vocabulary notebooks to review the lessons and prepare for the exams. One interesting finding was that participants in this study preferred making their vocabulary notebooks in hard copy on paper because they could easily carry the notebooks around and review the lessons. Moreover, of all the required elements of the vocabulary notebooks, the learners found that word families were the most useful, because they could memorize word families and use them to make sentences. Suggestions are provided for how to make vocabulary notebooks an effective vocabulary learning strategy

Influence of Discussion Prompts on Fostering Student Teachers’ Competence in Knowledge of English Instruction

This study analyzed questionnaire, pre-test, post-test, and online posts to explore influence of discussion prompts on the competence in English instruction of seven student teachers of elementary school EFL (English as a Foreign Language) in a practicum in Taiwan. This study reached the following conclusions. First, student teachers had good perceptions of the discussion prompts, particularly their effects on reflection on and relevance of English instruction. Secondly, student teachers had good perceptions of discussion prompts because of their clarity; however, they were not satisfied with inactive discussions among participants. Finally, participants’ education background and teaching experience affected their perceptions and learning via discussion prompts. A conceptual framework on effective implementations of discussion prompts was suggested

Analysis of Elementary School English Teachers’ Professional Dialogue as Their Professional Development

This qualitative study analyzed the professional dialogue among 67 English teachers at seven elementary schools in New Taipei City in Taiwan. Based on the analysis of the documentation, observation, and interviews, the study has two major findings. First, the knowledge and skills covered in the professional dialogues of English teachers concerned planning, implementing, and managing instruction. Second, English teachers regarded their professional dialogues as effective and goal-oriented. In order to make professional dialogues into job-embedded professional development for English teachers, they must be goal-oriented and carried out in an environment of care and trust. Moreover, professional dialogue can take the form of curriculum development and lesson planning in order to help English teachers construct their professional knowledge and competence through social interaction

Taiwanese EFL Teachers’ Perceptions and Designs of Contextualized Vocabulary and Grammar Instruction

This case study used documents, observations, and questionnaires to explore nineteen participants’ perception and designs of contextualized vocabulary and grammar instruction. This study has the following major findings. First, although the analysis of the questionnaires revealed that participants had better perceptions in learning and teaching vocabulary in context, they struggled in designing authentic contexts during the co-planning process. Participants’ status, teaching experience, and hours of English instruction affected their perceptions. Secondly, there was a lack of coherence of tasks and clear directions on completing the tasks based on the authentic language contexts. A model on contextualized vocabulary and grammar instruction was proposed for English teachers’ lesson planning and activity designs

Analysis of English Teachers’ Roles as Facilitators and Leading Strategies in a Professional Book Discussion Group

This study analyzes five elementary school English teachers’ roles as facilitators and their leading strategies in an English teachers’ learning community in a suburban elementary school in northwest Taiwan. Based on the thematic data analysis of interview, document and observation fieldnotes, this study has the following major findings. These participants aspired to be facilitators, but their lack of linguistic competence and leading strategies in the design and delivery of content made them more like sharers. Luckily, other participating teachers’ support and engagement helped them to be more like facilitators. Suggestions for effectively leading a teacher study group are provided

Facilitating Taiwanese Elementary School English Student Teachers’ Learning Through Text-Based Protocols

This study used online responses, observation fieldnotes, and interviews to analyze eight student teachers’ learning through text-based protocols on news analysis during their practicum, a core component for beginning teachers’ competence construction, in a language teacher education program in the northwest of Taiwan. This study revealed that student teachers regarded the text-based protocols as useful pedagogical tools, particularly offering a clear focus on reading and analyzing the news. Through face-to-face and Facebook discussions on 33 news reports, student teachers became familiar with the latest policies and trends on English education, constructed their pedagogical competence in English instructional strategies, and examined the gap between policies and practice on the co-teaching model. Suggestions on effective implementation of the text-based protocols on discussing education news are provided in terms of preparation of a variety of news or issues, selection of the appropriate text-based protocols, and integration of theories on news analysis and discussions

An online conserved SSR discovery through cross-species comparison

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) play important roles in gene regulation and genome evolution. Although there exist several online resources for SSR mining, most of them only extract general SSR patterns without providing functional information. Here, an online search tool, CG-SSR (Comparative Genomics SSR discovery), has been developed for discovering potential functional SSRs from vertebrate genomes through cross-species comparison. In addition to revealing SSR candidates in conserved regions among various species, it also combines accurate coordinate and functional genomics information. CG-SSR is the first comprehensive and efficient online tool for conserved SSR discovery

Inhibition of Serine Protease Activity Protects Against High Fat Diet-Induced Inflammation and Insulin Resistance.

Recent evidence suggests that enhanced protease-mediated inflammation may promote insulin resistance and result in diabetes. This study tested the hypothesis that serine protease plays a pivotal role in type 2 diabetes, and inhibition of serine protease activity prevents hyperglycemia in diabetic animals by modulating insulin signaling pathway. We conducted a single-center, cross-sectional study with 30 healthy controls and 57 patients with type 2 diabetes to compare plasma protease activities and inflammation marker between groups. Correlations of plasma total and serine protease activities with variables were calculated. In an in-vivo study, LDLR-/- mice were divided into normal chow diet, high-fat diet (HFD), and HFD with selective serine protease inhibition groups to examine the differences of obesity, blood glucose level, insulin resistance and serine protease activity among groups. Compared with controls, diabetic patients had significantly increased plasma total protease, serine protease activities, and also elevated inflammatory cytokines. Plasma serine protease activity was positively correlated with body mass index, hemoglobin A1c, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), tumor necrosis factor-α, and negatively with adiponectin concentration. In the animal study, administration of HFD progressively increased body weight, fasting glucose level, HOMA-IR, and upregulated serine protease activity. Furthermore, in-vivo serine protease inhibition significantly suppressed systemic inflammation, reduced fasting glucose level, and improved insulin resistance, and these effects probably mediated by modulating insulin receptor and cytokine expression in visceral adipose tissue. Our findings support the serine protease may play an important role in type 2 diabetes and suggest a rationale for a therapeutic strategy targeting serine protease for clinical prevention of type 2 diabetes