The Influence of Task Type on Perceived Fluency

In foreign language teaching it is necessary to employ a variety of tasks with a different degree of narrative structure to influence learners’ performance in anticipated ways, thus enhancing overall fluency as a significant aspect of successful communication. This study examines how different task types influence the perceived fluency of EFL learners. The obtained results confirm that the perception of speakers’ fluency varied across tasks. The worst perception of fluency was achieved in the task based on the formulation of unrelated utterances, that is, the most unstructured task led to the least fluent performance. A frequent introduction of new topics demands a great amount of attention. Therefore, in foreign language teaching emphasis should be laid on tasks including frequent introductions of new topics, due to the observed decrease in perceived fluency

Repetitions as a Communication Strategy: A Case Study

This extensive study examines repetitions in English (L2) which are considered as indicators of speech disfluency as well as a communication strategy. The participants of this study were 101 first-year undergraduate students of technical studies who received nine years of formal instruction of English. The results revealed that the speakers tend to repeat shorter speech fragments, that is, the absolute majority of all repetitions comprised up to one syllable. Consequently, even shorter repetitions generally provide sufficient additional time for linguistic planning or retrieving a particular linguistic unit. The former conclusion refers to both L1 and L2 repetitions. However, the comparison with the results obtained for L1 in a previous study confirmed that the speakers in L2 employ considerably more repetitions compared to L1. This points to the conclusion that repetitions as a communication strategy in L2 are used in order to give the speaker the opportunity to hold the floor, namely, it prevents breakdowns in communication. Even though repetitions are considered as forms of speech disfluency, they are indeed a resource learners can use in order to engage in a conversation despite their limited language resources

Risk factors for clopidogrel high on-treatment platelet reactivity in patients with carotid artery stenosis undergoing endarterectomy

Objectives: A considerable number of patients do not achieve an adequate response to clopidogrel. Our study aimed to evaluate genetic and non-genetic factors as possible risks for clopidogrel high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HTPR) in patients (n=112) with carotid artery stenosis undergoing endarterectomy (CEA). Methods: Using multiple-electrode impedance aggregometry (MEA) the antiplatelet effectiveness of clopidogrel was measured after 24 h, 7 and 30 days of clopidogrel treatment, which was introduced after elective CEA at a dose of 75 mg daily, for at least 30 days. Results: HTPR was observed among 25% patients after clopidogrel therapy for 30 days. Further analysis showed that 53.3% of patients carrying the CYP2C19*2 gene variant had clopidogrel-HTPR, while in the wild type group there were 14.6% (p lt 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified the CYP2C19*2 variant allele (OR 4.384; 95% CI 1.296-14.833, p=0.017) and high total cholesterol level (OR 2.090; 95% CI 1.263-3.459, p=0.004) as the only independent risk factors for clopidogrel-HTPR. Conclusion: The CYP2C19*2 gene variant and high total cholesterol level were major factors for clopidogrel-HTPR in patients with carotid artery stenosis undergoing CEA