The ability of young learners to construct word meaning in context

This study examines young English readers’ ability to infer word meanings in context and to use metacognitive knowledge for constructing word meanings in relation to their reading performance. The participants were 61 fourth-grade students in the United States, comprising 24 monolingual English-speaking (ME) students and 37 English-as-a-second-language (L2) students; each group was also divided into strong and emergent readers in English. Participants were asked to read aloud paragraphs containing words unfamiliar to them in two different contextual conditions (i.e., explicit and implicit conditions), to guess the unfamiliar word meanings, and to tell a teacher how they arrived at the inferred meanings. Quantitative analyses found significant differences between strong and emergent readers in their oral fluency as well as in their ability to infer word meanings and articulate their use of metacognitive knowledge. Although significant differences were found in the ability to infer word meanings and the use of metacognitive reasoning between ME and L2 students, such differences disappeared after controlling for the size of students’ receptive vocabulary. Qualitative analyses also revealed differences in the kinds of knowledge and strategies that strong and emergent readers relied on when constructing the meaning of unknown words in both explicit and implicit contexts

Parental factors and early English education as a foreign language: A case study in Mainland China

As English has increasingly become associated with social and economic power in the context of globalization, there has been a growing concern regarding achievement gaps in English that appear to be correlated to learners’ socio-economic status (SES). The present study aims to examine how parents’ SES and their behaviors and beliefs about English education relate to their children’s English language learning, and how such relationships may differ across different grade levels. The participants were fourth, sixth and eighth grade students who had learned English from the third grade level (572 students in total) together with their parents in a medium-sized city in China. An extensive parental survey revealed that while parental beliefs about English education and their beliefs about their children’s success in acquiring English did not differ between different SES groups, their direct behaviors (such as providing direct assistance for their children to learn English) and their indirect behaviors (such as the home literacy environment and indirect modeling they provided) showed significant differences by the fourth grade level. Combined with the students’ learning outcome data, it was found that while the parents’ SES did not show much effect on their children’s listening and reading/writing performance during their elementary school years, it did indicate an effect on their speaking abilities at the fourth grade level, if not earlier. This paper suggests the importance of incorporating socio-economic dimensions in theorizing second and foreign language acquisition (SLA), which are largely missing in current major approaches in SLA

Second Language Learners\u27 Theories on the Use of English Articles: An Analysis of the Metalinguistic Knowledge Used by Japanese Students in Acquiring the English Article System.

Although it is well known that many second language (L2) learners have trouble using articles “properly,” the primary causes of their difficulties remain unclear. This study addresses this problem by examining the metalinguistic knowledge of the English article system that learners employ when selecting articles in a given situation. By doing this, the present study attempts to better understand the process of “making sense” of the English article system by learners who are at different stages in their interlanguage development. Eighty Japanese college students with varying levels of English proficiency participated in this study. Immediately after completing a fill-in-thearticle test, a structured interview was conducted to investigate the reasons for their article choices. The quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal a number of conceptual differences with regard to their considerations of the hearer’s knowledge, specific reference, and countability, which may account for learners’ errors in article use across different proficiency groups

Analysis of leukocyte rolling and migration--using inhibitors in the undisturbed microcirculation of the rat mesentery--on inflammatory stimulation.

AIM: Our aim was to develop a method of migration analysis using the undisturbed microcirculation of rat mesentery, and using the new method, analyze leukocyte migration in casein-induced inflammation. METHOD: Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were injected with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha, interleukin (IL)-1alpha, or casein intraperitoneally. Following this, the rats were sacrificed and the mesentery tissue removed was fixed and stained with Giemsa. The leukocytes were counted as a rolling index in the venules and as a migration index in the perivascular area. RESULTS: There was no relation between the diameter of venules and leukocyte migration. The time change curves of leukocyte activity in casein inflammation show about a 1 h difference between rolling and migration. From inhibitor experiments of casein-induced migration at 2 h, it has been suggested that selectin-related rolling is necessary. Platelet-activating factor (PAF) also appears partially involved. CONCLUSION: The improved undisturbed microcirculation method is helpful not only for rolling analysis but also in analysis of leukocyte migration. Casein inflammation analyzed using this method revealed that rolling is necessary and also suggested that partial involvement of PAF is necessary for pathogenesis of leukocyte extravasations

Task support system by displaying instructional video onto AR workspace

This paper presents an instructional support system based on aug-mented reality (AR). This system helps a user to work intuitively by overlaying visual information in the same way of a navigation system. In usual AR systems, the contents to be overlaid onto real space are created with 3D Computer Graphics. In most cases, such contents are newly created according to applications. However, there are many 2D videos that show how to take apart or build elec-tric appliances and PCs, how to cook, etc. Therefore, our system employs such existing 2D videos as instructional videos. By trans-forming an instructional video to display, according to the user’s view, and by overlaying the video onto the user’s view space, the proposed system intuitively provides the user with visual guidance. In order to avoid the problem that the display of the instructional video and the user’s view may be visually confused, we add var-ious visual effects to the instructional video, such as transparency and enhancement of contours. By dividing the instructional video into sections according to the operations to be carried out in order to complete a certain task, we ensure that the user can interactively move to the next step in the instructional video after a certain op-eration is completed. Therefore, the user can carry on with the task at his/her own pace. In the usability test, users evaluated the use of the instructional video in our system through two tasks: a task involving building blocks and an origami task. As a result, we found that a user’s visibility improves when the instructional video is transformed to display according to his/her view. Further, for the evaluation of visual effects, we can classify these effects according to the task and obtain the guideline for the use of our system as an instructional support system for performing various other tasks

Reactivation from latency displays HIV particle budding at plasma membrane, accompanying CD44 upregulation and recruitment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It has been accepted that HIV buds from the cell surface in T lymphocytes, whereas in macrophages it buds into intracellular endosomes. Recent studies, on the other hand, suggest that HIV preferentially buds from the cell surface even in monocytic cells. However, most studies are based on observations in acutely infected cells and little is known about HIV budding concomitant with reactivation from latency. Such studies would provide a better understanding of a reservoir for HIV.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed HIV budding in latently infected T lymphocytic and monocytic cell lines following TNF-α stimulation and examined the upregulation of host factors that may be involved in particle production. Electron microscopy analysis revealed that reactivation of latently infected J1.1 cells (latently infected Jurkat cells with HIV-1) and U1 cells (latently infected U937 cells with HIV-1) displayed HIV particle budding predominantly at the plasma membrane, a morphology that is similar to particle budding in acutely infected Jurkat and U937 cells. When mRNA expression levels were quantified by qRT-PCR, we found that particle production from reactivated J1.1 and U1 cells was accompanied by CD44 upregulation. This upregulation was similarly observed when Jurkat and U937 cells were acutely infected with HIV-1 but not when just stimulated with TNF-α, suggesting that CD44 upregulation was linked with HIV production but not with cell stimulation. The molecules in endocytic pathways such as CD63 and HRS were also upregulated when U1 cells were reactivated and U937 cells were acutely infected with HIV-1. Confocal microscopy revealed that these upregulated host molecules were recruited to and accumulated at the sites where mature particles were formed at the plasma membrane.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study indicates that HIV particles are budded at the plasma membrane upon reactivation from latency, a morphology that is similar to particle budding in acute infection. Our data also suggest that HIV expression may lead to the upregulation of certain host cell molecules that are recruited to sites of particle assembly, possibly coordinating particle production.</p

ショウチュウガクセイ ノ タメ ノ ニホンゴ ガクシュウゴ リスト シアン

本研究は、国立国語研究所が開発中の小学校・中学校の教科書コーパスを用いて、日本語学習児童生徒、および日本語を母語とする児童生徒が、教科学習を行うにあたり必要だと考えられる学習語のリストの作成を試みたものである。リストの作成は、基本的にCoxhead(2000)によって行われた英語における新学習語リスト(NAWL)の選出手順に従ったが、頻度だけでなく、日本語教育実践者による重要度の判断も加味し、最終的に1230語が選出された。ただ、このリストは現段階では試案としての位置づけである。今後、教育現場で使用してもらうことにより、妥当性や有効性の検討を行い、教科による特殊な意味や使い方などの情報を付加する必要があるのかなども吟味することで、質・量ともに、修正を重ねていく必要がある