Corrective Feedback During Communicate Tasks: Do Recasts, Clarification Requests and Explicit Correction Affect EFL Learners’ Second Language Acquisition Equally?

The quasi-experimental was conducted to investigate the beneficial effects of three different types of corrective feedback (CF), namely recast, prompt (i.e., clarification request), and explicit correction with metalinguistic information, on Iranian EFL learners’ learning of definite and indefinite articles. For the purpose of the study, 75 male elementary EFL learners, aged 18 to 24, comprising 4 intact classes in a public language institute in Iran participated in the study. The four classes were randomly assigned into three treatment groups and one control group. During the intervention, each experimental group engaged in doing communicative tasks (i.e., narrative type) for 3 sessions and the learners in each group were provided with one specific type of CF in response to their errors, while the control group only engaged in communicative tasks. The participants’ knowledge of articles was measured in pre-tests one week prior to the outset of intervention and in post-tests which were administered two weeks after the last treatment using an untimed grammaticality judgement task and a timed written picture description task. Results of repeated-measured ANOVA with subsequent ANOVA and post-hoc test on the untimed grammaticality judgement task and ANCOVA on timed picture description task with post hoc comparisons indicated that the treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group. Additionally, explicit correction with metalinguistic information group outperformed the other treatment groups and the control group in both measures of the study. The researcher concludes that CF contributes to improvement in the knowledge of usage and the ability to use the language and explicit CF with metalinguistic information which results in deep level of understanding and entails longer time-outs from interaction works better than recasts and clarification requests for elementary learners in the EFL context of Iran

Corrective Feedback During Communicate Tasks: Do Recasts, Clarification Requests and Explicit Correction Affect EFL Learners’ Second Language Acquisition Equally?

The quasi-experimental was conducted to investigate the beneficial effects of three different types of corrective feedback (CF), namely recast, prompt (i.e., clarification request), and explicit correction with metalinguistic information, on Iranian EFL learners’ learning of definite and indefinite articles. For the purpose of the study, 75 male elementary EFL learners, aged 18 to 24, comprising 4 intact classes in a public language institute in Iran participated in the study. The four classes were randomly assigned into three treatment groups and one control group. During the intervention, each experimental group engaged in doing communicative tasks (i.e., narrative type) for 3 sessions and the learners in each group were provided with one specific type of CF in response to their errors, while the control group only engaged in communicative tasks. The participants’ knowledge of articles was measured in pre-tests one week prior to the outset of intervention and in post-tests which were administered two weeks after the last treatment using an untimed grammaticality judgement task and a timed written picture description task. Results of repeated-measured ANOVA with subsequent ANOVA and post-hoc test on the untimed grammaticality judgement task and ANCOVA on timed picture description task with post hoc comparisons indicated that the treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group. Additionally, explicit correction with metalinguistic information group outperformed the other treatment groups and the control group in both measures of the study. The researcher concludes that CF contributes to improvement in the knowledge of usage and the ability to use the language and explicit CF with metalinguistic information which results in deep level of understanding and entails longer time-outs from interaction works better than recasts and clarification requests for elementary learners in the EFL context of Iran

Corrective Feedback During Communicate Tasks: Do Recasts, Clarification Requests and Explicit Correction Affect EFL Learners’ Second Language Acquisition Equally?

The quasi-experimental was conducted to investigate the beneficial effects of three different types of corrective feedback (CF), namely recast, prompt (i.e., clarification request), and explicit correction with metalinguistic information, on Iranian EFL learners’ learning of definite and indefinite articles. For the purpose of the study, 75 male elementary EFL learners, aged 18 to 24, comprising 4 intact classes in a public language institute in Iran participated in the study. The four classes were randomly assigned into three treatment groups and one control group. During the intervention, each experimental group engaged in doing communicative tasks (i.e., narrative type) for 3 sessions and the learners in each group were provided with one specific type of CF in response to their errors, while the control group only engaged in communicative tasks. The participants’ knowledge of articles was measured in pre-tests one week prior to the outset of intervention and in post-tests which were administered two weeks after the last treatment using an untimed grammaticality judgement task and a timed written picture description task. Results of repeated-measured ANOVA with subsequent ANOVA and post-hoc test on the untimed grammaticality judgement task and ANCOVA on timed picture description task with post hoc comparisons indicated that the treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group. Additionally, explicit correction with metalinguistic information group outperformed the other treatment groups and the control group in both measures of the study. The researcher concludes that CF contributes to improvement in the knowledge of usage and the ability to use the language and explicit CF with metalinguistic information which results in deep level of understanding and entails longer time-outs from interaction works better than recasts and clarification requests for elementary learners in the EFL context of Iran

Task-based Language Teaching and Focus on Form

This paper examines the role of focus on form in Task- based language teaching (TBLT). It discusses the importance of TBLT with regard to second language acquisition and language pedagogy. A brief review of the relevant literature with regard to communicative tasks and necessity of focus on form in TBLT will be provided and two important ways through which focus on form can be integrated into second language teaching will be introduced and discussed

Short time planning and allocation of cost saving in industrial microgrids

Industrial microgrids consist of many factories with distributed energy resources (DERs) and local electric loads that rely heavily on combined heat and power (CHP) systems. In this paper, a unit commitment (UC) for industrial microgrids is formulated to minimize the cost of generating electricity and heat via CHP systems and boilers. As each DER and boiler may have an individual owner, an approach is also presented to fairly allocate the cost saving among factories participating in the generation process. The proposed methods are implemented in an industrial microgrid consisting of 12 factories divided into three groups according to their levels of participations in the energy generation. Simulation results are analyzed to show the effectiveness of the proposed approaches

Evaluation of alveolar basement membrane function in the diabetes mellitus patients

چکیده: زمینه و هدف: افزایش ضخامت غشاء پایه آلوئولی در مبتلایان دیابت تیپ یک و دو همراه با درگیری عروق کوچک ریه در آتوپسی‌ها گزارش شده است. برای ارزیابی فونکسیون غشاء پایه آلوئولی از اندازه گیری ظرفیت انتقال گاز منواکسید کربن در ریه استفاده می‌شود. هدف این مطالعه بررسی ظرفیت انتشار منواکسید کربن ریه در بیماران مبتلا به دیابت می باشد. روش بررسی: در یک مطالعه توصیفی - تحلیلی ظرفیت انتشار منواکسید کربن ریه در 70 (55 زن و 15 مرد) بیمار مبتلا به دیابت بدون سابقه بیماری قلبی، ریوی، کلیوی، کم خونی و بدون شکایت از علایم تنفسی اندازه گیری شد. 55 زن و 15 مرد سالم با خصوصیات مشابه بیماران برای گروه کنترل انتخاب شدند. در گروه بیماران و کنترل که اسپیرومتری طبیعی داشتند. ظرفیت انتشار منواکسید کربن ریه بصورت متد یکبار تنفس انجام شد. داده ها با استفاده از آزمون آماری t-student تجزیه و تحلیل شد. یافته ها: میزان متوسط ظرفیت انتشار منواکسید کربن ریه در بیماران مبتلا به دیابت بدون علایم تنفسی و گروه کنترل به ترتیب 4/2±65/9 و 79/1±10/9 میلی مول بر دقیقه بر کیلو پاسکال بود (05/0P>). همچنین میزان ظرفیت اصلاح شده حجمی تبادل منواکسید کربن در ریه نسبت به گروه کنترل تفاوت معنی‌دار نداشت. نتیجه گیری: این مطالعه نشان دهنده عدم کاهش ظرفیت انتشار منواکسید کربن در ریه در بیماران دیابتی بدون علایم تنفسی است که نشان دهنده سلامت بستر آلوئول و کاپیلرهای ریه ای می باشد. با استناد به این مطالعه به نظر می رسد انسولین استنشاقی در بیماران دیابتی بدون عوارض عروقی بخوبی جذب شود

Intracanal Retention of Glass Fiber Posts

Objective: Fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) posts have recently become more popular for restoring endodontically treated teeth because of providing esthetics, better stress distribution and lower risk  of root fracture. Resistance against tensile forces dislodging the post from the root canal is a prerequisite for these posts. This study aimed to evaluate the tensile retention (strength) of intracanal glass fiber posts produced by three manufacturers.Methods: In this interventional study, the crowns of 30 sound human maxillary central incisors were cut at the cementoenamel junction and the roots were endodontically treated. Post space was prepared to a length of 10mm and the specimens were divided into three groups of 10. HtCo, Anthogyr and Svenskposts were used in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The posts were cemented with Panavia F2 resin cement according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Specimens were then immersed in water at 37°C for 30 days and were then subjected to 7500 thermal cycles between 5- 55°C. Intracanal tensile retention (strength) was measured at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA at p<0.05 level of significance.Results: The mean retention was 188.53 (15.43), 183.81 (16.37) and 192.19 (17.50) N in Htco, Anthogyr and Svensk posts, respectively. Statistical analyses showed no significant difference in this regard among groups (p=0.111).Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, retention of HtCo glass fiber posts in the root  canals was similar to that of two other posts

The Efficacy of Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Iranian Students with Autism Spectrum Disorderon Their Social Skills and Willingness to Communicate

AbstractObjectivesThis applied research is the first practical study of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Iran. We examined the effect of a well-designed foreign language learning setting in facilitation of social skills and willingness to communicate in children with ASD.Materials & MethodsA mixed-method research design was used. Using stratified sampling, a limited sample of 18 students were chosen from Kerman Province, southeastern Iran in 2014 categorized in three levels of ASD for each group of experimental and control; matched pairs were used to ensure homogeneity of participants in two groups. Each participant received 15 sessions with totaling 67 h of language learning. First 10 sessions were in the form of tutorials and the last 5 sessions were held in the form of paired classes with a peer. Before and after the sessions, caregivers and parents completed a questionnaire on students' social skills; the English instructor also rated participants' willingness to communicate.ResultsTeaching a foreign language had a positive main effect on social skills from caregivers’ and parents’ view compared to those of controls, significantly (P<0.05). From the instructor's view, there was additionally a significant improvement in the students with ASD’s willingness to communicate in classroom settings compared to the control group (P<0.05).ConclusionOptimum foreign language pedagogy for students with ASD is applied as an effective context enhancing children’s capabilities in social skills and willingness to communicate, provoked through a motivational foreign setting modulation in a novel environment. Suggestions on enhancing joint attention during the curriculum are provided

Sample Survey of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Associated Risk Factors in Isfahan, Iran

ABSTRACT Background: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to estimate the number of individuals with chronic bronchiti