Improving teaching of paragraph writing through participatory action research

The purpose of this Participatory Action Research (PAR) study was to improve the teaching of paragraph writing in an English language class by involving the students in a systematic process of writing paragraphs, using the process writing approach by white & Arndt, 1991. The PAR study was conducted in a lower secondary class at a community based Engtish medium school, where English is taught as a second language (ESL).The methods of PAR happened in the four moments of Action Research (AR), namely; reflection, planning, action and observation adopted from the Spiral model of AR by Kemmis, Mc Taggart and Rettalick (2004). This AR model provided an experience and autonomy of constantly evaluating the teaching strategies and their implementation in the class. The data of the study was collected through classroom teaching sessions, observations, field notes and document analysis to obtain empirical evidences of the existing practices and insights. Moreover, focused group semi-structwed interviews with the students helped in the data generation. Also, a reflective journal was maintained throughout the study to acquire a rich vignette of the research study. The findings processed through data analysis by arranging the data systematically and breaking it into units through coding, in order to make meaning out of the data. The findings revealed that the teaching of paragraph writing was re-conceptualized and applied from the product writing approach to the process writing approach. Moreover, it emerged from the findings that feedback and evaluation acted as a cornerstone in teaching paragraph writing to the students. This study will be an addition to repertoire of knowledge generated by previous researchers and will be beneficial for all contexts, students, teachers and stakeholders who are associated to English writing especially as a Second language (ESL) or a Foreign language (EFL) across the glob

Heated and humidified high flow therapy (HHHFT) in extreme and very preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS): A retrospective cohort from a tertiary care setting in Pakistan

Objective: To determine the role of heated humidified high flow therapy (HHHFT) as primary respiratory support in spontaneously breathing moderate-late, very and extreme preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) at a tertiary care hospital from a developing country.Design: Retrospective cohort study.Setting: Neonatal intensive care unit of Indus Hospital and Health Network, Karachi, Pakistan.Patients: All preterm neonates with RDS and who received HHHFT as primary respiratory support were included retrospectively, while neonates with orofacial anomalies, congenital heart and lung diseases other than RDS, abdominal wall defects, encephalopathy, congenital pneumonia and received continuous positive airway pressure or invasive ventilation were excluded.Interventions: HHHFT as primary respiratory support for RDS.Main outcome measures: Effectiveness, duration, failure rate and complications of HHHFT as a primary respiratory support in moderate-late, very and extremely preterm neonates were evaluated.Results: The cohort included 138 neonates during a period of 12 months. The median gestational age was 32 weeks, and the median birth weight was 1607 g. Grade 1-2 RDS was seen in 97%, surfactant instillation was done in 10.8% and HHHFT was provided in all the neonates as primary respiratory support. The total duration of HHHFT support was 94% of neonates. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia and pneumothorax until discharge or death were observed in one neonate, haemodynamically significant Patent Ductus Artriosus (HsPDA) in two neonates and intraventricular haemorrhage Grade ≥2 in five neonates, while only one neonate died.Conclusion: This study appears to show that HHHFT is a simple, safe, efficient and cheap mode of primary respiratory support that can be given to spontaneously breathing moderate-late, very and extremely preterm neonates with RDS, especially in low- or middle-income countries