Toward a new understanding of ESL students in the composition classroom

The purpose of this Master\u27s thesis was to investigate the ways in which Composition teachers in U.S. English departments should revisit their teaching practices for native English speakers and the speakers of English as a second language likewise. The recent need for this shift in teaching practices was stressed in the thesis. Particularly, I examined how Composition teachers should reconfigure their teaching practices to redefine the standards of written English. The study aimed to demonstrate that a changing definition of the standards of written English impacted all the classroom participants, particularly diverse learners in various ways. Specifically, how a modified understanding of the students\u27 assessment practices affected diverse students was presented. Another aim was to demonstrate the importance of recognizing current pluralistic teaching environments in U.S. Composition classrooms. In order to accomplish this, the qualitative method was applied. The method relied heavily on a thorough survey of a recent Composition literature available today. Although a various range of literature was used, the study was mostly inspired by the most recent research by the two professors: Bruce Horner and Min-Zhan Lu. The main investigation of the thesis was viewed through the lens of translingual approach, which has been regarded as the most appropriate one in Composition classrooms today. The importance of recognizing this approach was that it acknowledged all the students\u27 language and cultural resources studying in the U.S. English departments. The study revealed that the shifting definition of the standards can be attributed to the social factor of globalization occurring all across the globe. Because of globalization, English has become the many national and subnational varieties that Composition teachers must recognize. Therefore, the primary conclusion is that the standards of written English have changed throughout time. In order to improve the quality of education in the Composition classroom, teachers should modify their practices to accommodate various learners

Treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis - recommendations of the Croatian Neurological Society

Untreated multiple sclerosis (MS) irretrievably leads to severe neurological impairment. In European health care systems, patient access to disease modifying therapies (DMT) is often confined to more advanced stages of the disease because of restrictions in reimbursement. A discrepancy in access to DMTs is evident between West and East European countries. In order to improve access to DMTs for people with MS (pwMS) living in Croatia, the Croatian Neurological Society issued new recommendations for the treatment of relapsing MS. The aim of this article is to present these recommendations. The recommendations for platform therapies are to start DMT as soon as the diagnosis is made. If poor prognostic criteria are present (≥9 T2 or FLAIR lesions on the initial brain and spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] or ≥3 T1 lesions with postcontrast enhancement on the initial brain and spinal cord MRI or Expanded Disability Status Scale after treatment of the initial relapse ≥3), high-efficacy DMT should be initiated. If pwMS experience ≥1 relapse or ≥3 new T2 lesions while on platform therapies, they should be switched to high-efficacy DMT. Further efforts should be made to enable early and unrestricted access to high-efficacy DMT with a freedom of choice of an appropriate therapy for expert physicians and pwMS. The improvement of access to DMT achieved by the implementation of national treatment guidelines in Croatia can serve as an example to national neurological societies from other Eastern European countries to persuade payers to enable early and unrestricted treatment of pwMS