Investigating the learning transfer of genre features and conceptual knowledge from an academic literacy course to business studies: Exploring the potential of dynamic assessment

Academic literacy courses aim to enable higher education students to participate in their chosen academic fields as fully as possible. However, the extent to which these students transfer the academic skills taught in these courses to their chosen disciplines is still under-researched. This article reports on a study that investigated the potential of dynamic assessment (an assessment approach that blends instruction into assessment) in the transfer of genre features and conceptual knowledge among undergraduate business studies students in a UK public university. The data includes three students’ written assignments (N = nine), interviews (N = three) and business studies tutor (N = three) feedback. Drawing on Vygotskian sociocultural theory of learning and a genre theory based on Systemic Functional Linguistics, the data were analysed. The findings suggest that dynamic assessment may contribute to the transfer of genre features and conceptual knowledge to a new assessment context. Implications of this for academic literacy instruction and assessment design are presented

Construct validity of the Nepalese school leaving english reading test

There has been a steady interest in investigating the validity of language tests in the last decades. Despite numerous studies on construct validity in language testing, there are not many studies examining the construct validity of a reading test. This paper reports on a study that explored the construct validity of the English reading test in the Nepalese school leaving examination. Eight students were asked to take the test and think-aloud, followed by retrospective interviews. Additionally, seven experts were asked to make judgments regarding the skills tested by the test. The findings provide grounded insights into students’ response behaviors prompted by the reading tasks, and indicate some threats to the construct validity of the test. Additionally, the study reports a low level of agreement among the experts, and a big gap between the skills used by the students and the skills that the experts thought were being examined by the test

A systematic review of current knowledge of HIV epidemiology and of sexual behaviour in Nepal

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review information on HIV epidemiology and on sexual behaviour in Nepal with a view to identifying gaps in current knowledge. METHODS: Systematic review covering electronic databases, web-based information, personal contact with experts and hand searching of key journals. RESULTS: HIV-1 seroprevalence has been rising rapidly in association with high-risk behaviours, with current levels of 40% amongst the nation's injecting drug users and approaching 20% amongst Kathmandu's female commercial sex workers (FCSWs). HIV seroprevalence remains low in the general population (0.29% of 15–49 year olds). There are significant methodological limitations in many of the seroprevalence studies identified, and these estimates need to be treated with caution. There are extensive migration patterns both within the country and internationally which provide the potential for considerable sexual networking. However, studies of sexual behaviour have focused on FCSWs and the extent of sexual networks within the general population is largely unknown. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst some of the ingredients are present for an explosive HIV epidemic in Nepal, crucial knowledge on sexual behaviour in the general population is missing. Research on sexual networking is urgently required to guide HIV control in Nepal. There is also a need for further good-quality epidemiological studies of HIV seroprevalence

[Book review] From a Trickle to a Torrent: Education, Migration and Social Change in a Himalayan Valley of Nepal. By Geoff Childs and Namgyal Choedup

This is a book review of From a Trickle to a Torrent: Education, Migration and Social Change in a Himalayan Valley of Nepal by Geoff Childs and Namgyal Choedup. The interconnection between migration and education has been widely researched globally. However, few published studies have reported this phenomenon with regard to rural communities—particularly in the context of Nepal. Therefore, this book by Geoff Childs and Namgyal Choedup is a welcome contribution to the field. It documents outmigration for education as a complex flow and evolution of migration with potentially serious consequences, based on more than 20 years of anthropological multimethod research (using ethnographic and statistical data) in Nubri, a valley north of the Gorkha district, Nepal, bordering Tibet—a “Buddhist enclave” (p 5), as the authors note. The authors primarily draw on migration network theory to examine outmigration for education, weaving together aspects of social, economic, and cultural practices

Pearl millet response to drought: A review

The C4 grass pearl millet is one of the most drought tolerant cereals and is primarily grown in marginal areas where annual rainfall is low and intermittent. It was domesticated in sub-Saharan Africa, and several studies have found that it uses a combination of morphological and physiological traits to successfully resist drought. This review explores the short term and long-term responses of pearl millet that enables it to either tolerate, avoid, escape, or recover from drought stress. The response to short term drought reveals fine tuning of osmotic adjustment, stomatal conductance, and ROS scavenging ability, along with ABA and ethylene transduction. Equally important are longer term developmental plasticity in tillering, root development, leaf adaptations and flowering time that can both help avoid the worst water stress and recover some of the yield losses via asynchronous tiller production. We examine genes related to drought resistance that were identified through individual transcriptomic studies and through our combined analysis of previous studies. From the combined analysis, we found 94 genes that were differentially expressed in both vegetative and reproductive stages under drought stress. Among them is a tight cluster of genes that are directly related to biotic and abiotic stress, as well as carbon metabolism, and hormonal pathways. We suggest that knowledge of gene expression patterns in tiller buds, inflorescences and rooting tips will be important for understanding the growth responses of pearl millet and the trade-offs at play in the response of this crop to drought. Much remains to be learnt about how pearl millet’s unique combination of genetic and physiological mechanisms allow it to achieve such high drought tolerance, and the answers to be found may well be useful for crops other than just pearl millet

Nursing Posting for Medical Students

Nursing perspective is different from doctors. It is a known fact that doctorsand nurses must work together for the better patient care. It is veryimportant for doctors to know how nursing services are provided. Moreovera good communication and team work is an essence of present medicalservice. So, this attitude should be embedded in the medical education todecrease professional distance and increase mutual respect in future. PAHShas provided this opportunity as a nursing posting with a vision of holisticteaching of medical students and shaping a positive attitude towards allhealth care providers.Keywords: medical education, medical student, nursin

The EAP course design Quagmire – juggling the stakeholders’ perceived needs

This chapter explores perspectives of administrators, ESP teachers and MBA students in a Pakistani university on the English language needs of MBA students. It further tries to explore the strife caused by the administrative differences in opinion and outlook on the university’s system that restrain it from bringing much needed change in the curriculum. In doing so the chapter also looks for a way forward, that is, a way to meet the English language needs of MBA students despite the disparity in the three respective standpoints. It also offers implications of this study to other global EAP contexts

Multichannel parametrization of \pi N scattering amplitudes and extraction of resonance parameters

We present results of a new multichannel partial-wave analysis for \pi N scattering in the c.m. energy range 1080 to 2100 MeV. This work explicitly includes \eta N and K \Lambda channels and the single pion photoproduction channel. Resonance parameters were extracted by fitting partial-wave amplitudes from all considered channels using a multichannel parametrization that is consistent with S-matrix unitarity. The resonance parameters so obtained are compared to predictions of quark models