Exploring the Nature of Language Anxiety: Experiences of NonNative EnglishSpeaking College Students in the United States

The thought of learning another language makes some people cringe, while others display neutral to positive reactions. To understand the complex experiences of students learning a new language, this study investigated the affective psychological development encompassing language anxiety (LA) among nonnative Englishspeaking college students in the United States (US). The purpose of this study was to identify LA, while keeping in mind that some of the LA experiences may be moderate to none, and to explore the nature of this phenomenon. Ten university students from nine different countries were interviewed concerning their experiences learning and functioning in English in the US. While only a few studies have reviewed the nature of LA encompassing the possible existence of facilitating LA, this study investigated both the positive and negative effects of anxiety on second language learning. The answer to the research question, How do college students in the US whose native languages are not English experience LA was pursued by using qualitative analyses. The results indicated a new construct of LA, identity frustration, and its relationships to the other LA constructs already specified in the literature. The study also suggested the timing when students cease to translate between the two languages to be the point where they experience a lower level of LA. In addition, four other themes emerged. They are culturerelated LA; the recursive nature of LA; relationships among selfexpectation, selfconfidence, and LA; and facilitating LA, termed euphoric language tension

Childhoods in Irish Writing

Childhood is a crucial stage of Irish life. It is the time in which essentials of Irish experience are nurtured, which will be developed later in abroader scope. Childhood is depicted as a universally important theme in all Irish writing, regardless of its artistic orientation towards traditional or countertraditional. In traditional writing, childhood is depicted in the interactions between people and society. Protagonists are glimpsed actively living in realistic surroundings, among lively people. On the other hand, in counter-traditional writing, which is an artistically created universe, reality is replaced by fictiveness. Over an author’s body of work there may be fixity and recurrence in protagonists and themes, to elucidate life’s structure in a whole artistic perspective. Regardlessof orientation, Irish writing invariably has influential roots in childhood, because childhood is where Irishness gains its essential foothold. This paper spotlights and elucidates childhood, investigating how it works as an influential element in forming protagonists in linkage with later life

Fostering Intercultural Competence: A Case of an Asynchronous Online Japanese Language and Culture Course

Analyzing cultural characteristics is a cognitively challenging task that allows learners to increase their open-mindedness and deepen their understanding of both local and global communities by utilizing online resources, especially when inperson interaction in classroom settings was impeded, resulting in an asynchronous online course. The purpose of this paper is to examine how intercultural competence, which can foster learners’ attitudes, could be encouraged in an asynchronous online environment for a Japanese foreign language course from empirical perspectives. The population was learners who possessed Intermediate and Advanced-level proficiency of Japanese. Learners’ outcomes were compared between an online asynchronous course using Deardorff’s (2006) Process Model of Intercultural Competence in the curriculum and a face-to-face class without using Deardorff’s model. The result of using Deardorff’s process model of Intercultural Competence in the curriculum, constructed based on “Understanding by Design,” which is comprised of 3 stages: (1) identifying desired results, (2) determining acceptable evidence, and (3) planning learning experiences and instruction (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005), suggested that learners could deepen their insights toward a target culture and society through multiple opportunities for learners to investigate the relationships among perspectives, practices and products

The economic regulation of the UK airport industry

The UK airport industry faced regulatory reform following the 1986 Airports Act. The regulatory reform not only included privatisation of the then nationalised British Airports Authority, but also changed the airports that used to be directly owned and managed by local authorities into autonomous pics. As a result, the industry includes four categories of institutional arrangement for the airports in the UK, i. e., (1) privatised airports with price regulation, (2) privatised airports without price regulation, (3) a local authority airport plc with price regulation, and (4) local authority airports plc without price regulation. The regulatory reform involves the imposition of price cap regulation on 'designated' airports' average airport charge levels. In this thesis focus is placed upon the predictions of outcome changes in this industry by the regulatory reform. The framework of the analyses is based on applied microeconomics, particularly on the theory of regulation. The predictions regarding the airport charges rebalancing effect and productive efficiency are accompanied by empirical analyses as to finding any performance changes. Predictions and empirical analyses were carried out mainly with regard to (1) allocative efficiency in price rebalancing and (2) technical efficiency in production. The price regulation's constraint form is the 'Average Revenue Approach' and some economists suggest this leads to efficiency distortion. 'Designated' airports' price cap constraint uses only the passenger numbers to 'average' the level of total airport charge revenue. The thesis shows that this approach would produce a different outcome from the general outcome predicted through a typical 'Average Revenue Approach' using both a simple model and interdependency demand model, followed by an empirical analysis using price ratio data. As to productive efficiency, after predictions of the outcome I used Data Envelopment Analysis to test efficiency scores in (A) the then nationalised British Airports Authority/privatised BAA as time series, and (B) private airports and local authority airports after the reform as a panel comparison

The Expression of Murine Double Minute 2 (MDM2) on Helicobacter pylori-Infected Intestinal Metaplasia and Gastric Cancer

The overexpression of murine double minute 2 (MDM2) is found in several human tumors, and increased expression of MDM2 inactivates the apoptotic and cell cycle arrest function of p53. Interleukin-16 (IL-16) is a pleiotrophic cytokine and the properties of IL-16 suggest that it involve in the pathophysiological process of chronic inflammatory diseases. In this study, we investigated the expression of MDM2 in intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer as well as the effect of H. pylori infection and IL-16 on epithelial cell proliferation and MDM2 expression in gastric cells in vitro. The expression of MDM2 on gastric biopsies was studied immunohistochemistry. AGS cells were incubated with a combination of IL-16 and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Gastric epithelial cell proliferation was studied by BrdU uptake and the expressions of MDM2 were studied by ELISA. There was no significant difference on the expression of MDM2 between with and without H. pylori infected chronic gastritis. In H. pylori infected gastric mucosa; the MDM2 expression was higher on intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer than chronic gastritis. IL-16 administration was increased MDM2 expression and cell proliferation on AGS cells, which was decreased by H. pylori infection. In conclusion, the expression of MDM2 in long-term H. pylori infected gastric mucosa may indicate a risk for carcinogenesis. IL-16 secretion in H. pylori infected mucosa is one of the factors for gastric cancer. The expression of MDM2 on mucosa can be a mediator for gastric cancer

Developing Global Engineers through Cooperative Education: The University of Cincinnati Japanese Language and Culture Model (2012)

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Decentralization of knowledge

Martin-Barbero highlights the transformation of education in the passage from an educational-system society to a learning society, and the displacements in the specificity of the place of learning, which reconfigure the hegemony and legitimacy of knowledge. Nowadays, media networks expose the multiplicity of circulation channels and the decentralization of knowledge towards a new communicative ecosystem, with challenges and interactions, that reinforce the importance of the communication space of knowledge sharing