REFLECTIONS ON TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

REFLECTIONS ON TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING Rod EllisBristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters, 201

A CMC Approach to Teaching Phrasal-verbs to Iranian EFL Senior High School Students: The Case of Blended Learning

AbstractCMC has received a lot of ink in the literature related to L2 acquisition. It is generally agreed that one of the concerns of teaching English to Iranian society of EFL learners is whether blended learning is pedagogically effective. This study investigated the efficacy of teaching phrasal verbs via blended learning to Iranian EFL senior high school students. For this purpose, two groups of Iranian EFL students, 40 each, aged 15 to 20, were randomly selected from a population of 300 students at Iranian senior high school, in Shahrekord. The criterion for selection was Oxford Placement Test. The group called “e-class” was taught by the internet through CMC approach. While the second group; namely, control group received no internet feedback. At the end of treatment, which was a full term; the two groups were tested on a phrasal verbs test. The findings of this research revealed that the online tasks can motivate students to have an active role in the phrasal verbs learning

The God-human relationship in Octavia Butler’s “The Book of Martha”

This article explores the relationship between God and a posthuman representative of humanity in Octavia Butler’s “The Book of Martha” (2005). Using Daphne Hampson’s feminist post-Biblical ideas, the article argues that the story, as a sample of science fiction, exposes a posthumanist perspective where existence and subjectivity of human kind is defined based on a mutual, non-hierarchical relationship between human being and God. The article aims to explore the capacity of the story to embody a positive standpoint of science fiction towards the transformation of the human. This article suggests that “The Book of Martha,” reflecting this transformation together with an unothered perspective of the Godhuman relationship, illustrates the potential for a more humanitarian life on Earth. The relationship is investigated through an unorthodox theological perspective that confronts Christian norms, particularly the norms dealing with what is considered as true femininity. In this way, the story describes a fictional space in which the Christian concept of human as a fallen, condemned, and passive object before a ubiquitous Almighty is substituted with a non- Christian active concept of the human entity. This active representation is based on the recognition of a posthuman agency which is free from surrender to divine power. “The Book of Martha” is about the gradual awakening of a black woman who, in interaction with God as the source of goodness, becomes aware for the need to redefine an authentic sense of self beyond that of an obedient servant before a masculinized God. This article explores this awakening

La simplificación del texto o la simplificación de la tarea: cómo mejorar la comprensión auditiva

The present study was conducted to investigate the differences between using authentic and pedagogical materials. To run the study two groups were formed: one authentic (AMG) and one pedagogical (PMG). Using an IELTS listening section, 48 intermediate learners were chosen and divided into two groups. AMG participants were taught by three feature films and PMG learners were taught by pedagogical movies. Learners’ performance on the post-test revealed a significant gain for AMG. The results supported the use of authentic material provided that the task demand is reduced. Besides, AMG students demonstrated a great self-confidence in dealing with authentic situations.El presente estudio se realizó para investigar las diferencias entre el uso de materiales auténticos y pedagógicos. Para llevar a cabo el estudio el estudio se formaron dos grupos: uno auténtico (AMG) y pedagógico (PMG). Se usó una sección del IELTS, que se utilizó con una selección de 48 estudiantes de nivel intermedio divididos en dos grupos. Los participantes AMG se les pasó tres largometrajes y los alumnos PMG se les enseñaron películas pedagógicas. La respuesta de los estudiantes en el test final reveló un aumento significativo de los AMG. Los resultados apoyan el uso de material auténtico siempre que la demanda de la tarea se reduzca. Además, los estudiantes AMG demostraron una gran autoconfianza en sí mismo cuando se enfrentaban a situaciones reales

Automatic Detection of Emotions and Distress in Textual Data

Online data can be analyzed for many purposes, including the prediction of stock market, business, and political planning. Online data can also be used to develop systems for the automatic emotion detection and mental health assessment of users. These systems can be used as complementary measures in monitoring online forums by detecting users who are in need of attention. In this thesis, we first present a new approach for contextual emotion detection, i.e. emotion detection in short conversations. The approach is based on a neural feature extractor, composed of a recurrent neural network with an attention mechanism, followed by a final classifier, that can be neural or SVM-based. The results from our experiments showed that, by providing a higher and more robust performance, SVM can act as a better final classifier in comparison to a feed-forward neural network. We then extended our model for emotion detection, and created an ensemble approach for the task of distress detection from online data. This extended approach utilizes several attention-based neural sub-models to extract features and predict class probabilities, which are later used as input features to a Support Vector Machine (SVM) making the final classification. Our experiments show that using an ensemble approach which makes use different sub-models accessing diverse sources of information can improve classification in the absence of a large annotated dataset. The extended model was evaluated on two shared tasks, CLPsych and eRisk 2019, which aim at suicide risk assessment, and early risk detection of anorexia, respectively. The model ranked first in tasks A and C of CLPsych 2019 (with macro-average F1 scores of 0.481 and 0.268, respectively), and ranked first in the first task of eRisk 2019 in terms of F1 and latency-weighted F1 scores (0.71 and 0.69, respectively)

El efecto del uso de guiones de películas como alternativa a subtítulos: cómo mejorar la comprensión auditiva

This research was conducted to investigate the effect of using movie scripts on improving listening comprehension. Forty five intermediate learners were selected based on an IELTS test to carry out the study, and then they were divided into 3 groups: a Home Scripts Group (HSG), a Class Scripts Group (CSG), and a Non Scripts Group (NSG). Each group was required to transcribe a section of a movie entitled The Truman Show. The HSG had the scripts before starting to transcribe the section, the CSG received the scripts in the class, and the NSG received usual training without the scripts. Performance on the posttest revealed a significant difference among the groups with the best achievement for the CSG. More specifically, these differences indicated (a) using scripts may enhance L2 listening comprehension and (b) the most appropriate time of handing scripts to students seems to be after completion of the transcription task.Esta investigación se llevó a cabo para conocer el efecto del uso de guiones de cine en la mejora de la comprensión auditiva. Para ello fueron seleccionados sobre la base de un examen IELTS, 45 alumnos de nivel intermedio que se dividieron en 3 grupos: Inicio Scripts Group (HSG), Scripts Class Group (CSG), y no Scripts Group (NSG). Cada grupo estaba obligado a transcribir un fragmento de una película titulada The Truman Show. El grupo HSG tenía los guiones antes de empezar a transcribir la sección, el CSG recibió los guiones en clase, y el NSG recibió entrenamiento habitual sin los guiones. El rendimiento en el post-test reveló una diferencia significativa entre los grupos con el mejor logro para la CSG. Más específicamente, estas diferencias se indican (a) el uso de guiones pueden mejorar la comprensión auditiva de una L2 y (b) el momento más adecuado de entregar scripts parece ser después de la finalización de la tarea de transcripción

Clinical Course of 250 Pediatric Cases of Vesicoureteral Reflux in Zahedan, Southeast of Iran

introduction: Although the incidence of primary reflux is 0.1-1.3% in the general population, it is much higher (29-50%) in children with urinary tract infection (UTI). This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiologic characteristics and outcome of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) in Iranian children in Zahedan, southeast of Iran.Materials and Methods: In this historical cohort study, we reviewed all records of 250 patients diagnosed with VUR who were referred to a Pediatric Nephrology Clinic in Zahedan, Iran between April 2008 and September 2009 and were followed until June 2011. The diagnosis of VUR was made by convectional voiding cystourethgraphy (VCUG). Following the diagnosis, patients received prophylactic low-dose oral antibiotic and were followed by radionuclide cystography (RNC) for 18 months.Results: Of 250 patients with VUR, 153 (61.2%) were female with a mean age of 2.7 ±2.0 years at presentation. One hundred and thirty patients (52%) had unilateral VUR and 120 patients (48%) had bilateral VUR. In 54.4% of the patients, VUR was detected during the investigation for UTI and 13.2% had prenatal hydronephrosis. Voiding dysfunction was the most important condition with VUR (15.2%). Kidney ultrasound confirmed abnormal results in 73.2% of the patients.  Renal scaring secondary to VUR was detected in 85 (34%) patients at the time of VUR diagnosis.Conclusions: Our data showed that VUR was significantly higher in female children and the frequency of abnormal renal scan was significantly higher in children with high–grade VUR. Further studies may be needed to determine the risk factors and apply effective interventions to minimize the progression of renal damage.Keywords: Vesicoureteral reflux; Child; Zahedan

The Relationship between Faculty Members’ Perception of Organizational Culture Types and their Preferences for Instruction and Counselling in Iranian College of Education and Psychology

AbstractThe purpose of this research was to study the relationship between faculty members’ perception of organizational culture types and their preferences for instruction and counselling responsibilities in Shiraz, Tehran and Ahvaz both public and private Universities, Colleges of education and psychology. Statistical population of this study comprised of all Shiraz, Tehran and Ahvaz colleges of Education and Psychology faculty members. Using classified random sampling, 4 colleges were selected. In order to collect data two instruments were used in this study i.e. Counsellor Educator Task importance Instrument (CETII) (Orr, 2005) and Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) (Cameron & Quinn, 1999). Results indicated a significant effect of organizational culture types for scholarship and service responsibilities. Additionally, there was a significant organizational culture type×university type interaction effect for scholarship and teaching responsibilities. And a significant organizational culture types×Academic Rank interaction effect for teaching and service responsibilities as well. However, the results showed neither significant organizational culture type×university type interaction effect nor significant organizational culture type×years of service interaction effect for teachers’ counselling and instruction responsibilities

Relationship between Quality of Sleep and Mental Health among Students Living in Dormitories

Abstract: Introduction: This study was carried out to investigate the sleep quality and its relationship with mental health among students living in dormitories. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 277 students residing in dormitories of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected through stratified random sampling procedure. A demographic questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used for data collection. Chi-square, Spearman and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Results: The prevalence of sleep disturbance was 73.3% (68.1-78.5) in this sample and the prevalence of poor mental health was 34.4% (28.7-39. 9). The findings showed a significant relationship between quality of sleep and mental health (P<0.001). Conclusion: Our study displayed a significant relationship between quality of sleep and mental health. So interventionist programs are suggested to improve the sleep quality of students ant to prevent mental health disorders among students living in dormitories

A NEW ANOMALOUS TEXT DETECTION APPROACH USING UNSUPERVISED METHODS

Increasing size of text data in databases requires appropriate classification and analysis in order to acquire knowledge and improve the quality of decision-making in organizations. The process of discovering the hidden patterns in the data set, called data mining, requires access to quality data in order to receive a valid response from the system. Detecting and removing anomalous data is one of the pre-processing steps and cleaning data in this process. Methods for anomalous data detection are generally classified into three groups including supervised, semi-supervised, and unsupervised. This research tried to offer an unsupervised approach for spotting the anomalous data in text collections. In the proposed method, a combination of two approaches (i.e., clustering-based and distance-based) is used for detecting anomaly in the text data. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed approach, this method is applied on four labeled data sets. The accuracy of Na¨ıve Bayes classification algorithms and decision tree are compared before and after removal of anomalous data with the proposed method and some other methods such as Density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). Our proposed method shows that accuracy of more than 92.39% can be achieved. In general, the results revealed that in most cases the proposed method has a good performance