Sociopragmatic Differences and Behaviors in the Use of WhatsApp in Virtual Classrooms at a Public College of Education in Ghana

This study sought to establish how tutors at Komenda College of Education engaged students in virtual classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employed a qualitative approach through the descriptive design. Data was 462 conversations between tutors and students through the WhatsApp messaging application. To ensure anonymity and confidentiality, all personal names and other details were removed. The study established that while tutors posted more messages than students, messages of the tutors were made up of instructions, commands and directions. Students addressed their tutors with high respect. Female students sent more and longer messages and utilized more emoticons than their male counterparts. Contracted and non-conventional forms of speech were very common in students’ WhatsApp chats with their tutors. Both the tutors and students used persuasive words (e.g. please, and kindly) as a way of gaining approval from the other party. Verbal fillers in the WhatsApp group chats performed two macro-functions: interpersonal and textual. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made.  First, institutions of higher learning should provide the instructional support to teachers and students on how to minimize or maximize their own speech differences while engaged in a virtual classroom. There should be pedagogical models in virtual classrooms that allow learners and facilitators to engage in more informal ways. Finally, for an effective online learning to take place, tutors and students should appropriately accommodate each other

RHETORICAL STRUCTURE OF ANNIVERSARY SPEECHES IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN GHANA: A CASE OF WESLEY GIRL'S HIGH SCHOOLS AND ST. AUGUSTINE’S COLLEGE IN THE CENTRAL REGION

The study presents a case study on the use of rhetoric in anniversary speeches of Heads of Wesley Girl’s Senior High School and St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast in the central region of Ghana.  Purposive sampling was used to sample ten (10) speeches out of twelve (12) speeches collected from the selected schools. The study employed qualitative content analysis and content analysis (these concepts are synonymous; hence no need to repeat as if they are entirely different) to analysis the data.  The results show that anniversary speeches of Heads of public Senior High Schools have a six-move structure, with moves two and three used by the schools to persuade the audience and promote the schools. It was also found that the schools used the material processes to show the audience that they are working institutions by indicating what they have achieved, what they are doing and what they will do. The study also revealed that testimonials are commonly used in promotional discourse and consist of a written or spoken statement of a known or unknown endorser who praises the virtues of a product or service

Adaptation of the Wound Healing Questionnaire universal-reporter outcome measure for use in global surgery trials (TALON-1 study): mixed-methods study and Rasch analysis

BackgroundThe Bluebelle Wound Healing Questionnaire (WHQ) is a universal-reporter outcome measure developed in the UK for remote detection of surgical-site infection after abdominal surgery. This study aimed to explore cross-cultural equivalence, acceptability, and content validity of the WHQ for use across low- and middle-income countries, and to make recommendations for its adaptation.MethodsThis was a mixed-methods study within a trial (SWAT) embedded in an international randomized trial, conducted according to best practice guidelines, and co-produced with community and patient partners (TALON-1). Structured interviews and focus groups were used to gather data regarding cross-cultural, cross-contextual equivalence of the individual items and scale, and conduct a translatability assessment. Translation was completed into five languages in accordance with Mapi recommendations. Next, data from a prospective cohort (SWAT) were interpreted using Rasch analysis to explore scaling and measurement properties of the WHQ. Finally, qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated using a modified, exploratory, instrumental design model.ResultsIn the qualitative phase, 10 structured interviews and six focus groups took place with a total of 47 investigators across six countries. Themes related to comprehension, response mapping, retrieval, and judgement were identified with rich cross-cultural insights. In the quantitative phase, an exploratory Rasch model was fitted to data from 537 patients (369 excluding extremes). Owing to the number of extreme (floor) values, the overall level of power was low. The single WHQ scale satisfied tests of unidimensionality, indicating validity of the ordinal total WHQ score. There was significant overall model misfit of five items (5, 9, 14, 15, 16) and local dependency in 11 item pairs. The person separation index was estimated as 0.48 suggesting weak discrimination between classes, whereas Cronbach's α was high at 0.86. Triangulation of qualitative data with the Rasch analysis supported recommendations for cross-cultural adaptation of the WHQ items 1 (redness), 3 (clear fluid), 7 (deep wound opening), 10 (pain), 11 (fever), 15 (antibiotics), 16 (debridement), 18 (drainage), and 19 (reoperation). Changes to three item response categories (1, not at all; 2, a little; 3, a lot) were adopted for symptom items 1 to 10, and two categories (0, no; 1, yes) for item 11 (fever).ConclusionThis study made recommendations for cross-cultural adaptation of the WHQ for use in global surgical research and practice, using co-produced mixed-methods data from three continents. Translations are now available for implementation into remote wound assessment pathways