'Only connect': researchers and teachers in dialogue

This article responds to recent critiques of the usefulness of research findings to teaching, and the call for teachers to rely on their experiences and intuition. I discuss the fallibility of intuition and then examine the nature of research and of critical thinking and their importance for teachers and teacher education. I provide evidence of how research has been able to broaden and deepen our understanding of teaching and learning in ways that can be applied to both the classroom and to language teaching materials. I end by exploring the ways in which researchers and teachers in the area of second language teaching can continue to support each other: on initial teacher education programmes; through the materials made available to teachers; throughout continuing professional development; and through teacher research. Most importantly, I stress the value of maintaining a two-way dialogue between EFL teachers and researchers

Learners’ views of literature in EFL education from curricular and assessment perspectives

Literature has been gaining growing attention in second language (L2)/foreign language (FL) education globally. In a number of places such as Hong Kong, literature has recently been given greater emphasis in the L2/FL curricula. This article reports part of a large-scale study examining learners’ views of two English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) modules on literary genres recently incorporated in the EFL curriculum, namely short stories (ShS) and poems and songs (P&S), from curricular and assessment perspectives. A total of 1190 secondary school students in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire, yielding quantitative and qualitative data; the 2347 comments collected explained their perceptions from multiple angles. Overall, the participants held positive views of the ShS module being incorporated into the curriculum, but only neutral views of the P&S module. When considering assessment, the respondents demonstrated ambivalence towards the modules; they were mostly against these genres being examined and if unexamined, they were generally not interested in studying them

The employability of non-native-speaker teachers of EFL: A UK survey

The native speaker still has a privileged position in English language teaching, representing both the model speaker and the ideal teacher. Non-native-speaker teachers of English are often perceived as having a lower status than their native-speaking counterparts, and have been shown to face discriminatory attitudes when applying for teaching jobs. To date, research into the employment of non-native-speaker teachers has been carried out only in the United States; this study extends that research by providing data on the United Kingdom. Questionnaires were distributed to those responsible for recruitment at English language teaching institutions in the UK in order to investigate the extent to which employers regard being a native English speaker as an important criterion when making hiring decisions. 72.3% of the 90 respondents judged the 'native English speaker criterion' to be either moderately or very important. The conclusion that employers regard this criterion as important was shown to apply to the whole sample as well as to the separate groups of private language schools only and universities only. As a pre-interview criterion, the 'native English speaker criterion' thus excludes competent English language teachers from consideration in the recruitment process. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

"I Preferred to Take Another Activity From the Textbook": An Activity–Theoretical Study of Learning to Design Language Teaching Materials

Using activity theory, an offshoot of sociocultural theory, we examined how a group of preservice teachers (PSTs) of English in Chile learnt to design language teaching materials. Data from PSTs, teacher educators, and mentoring teachers shows how the conceptual tool of “teaching English as teaching the textbook” is appropriated by a group of PSTs and how their development of teacher agency is undermined by textbooks during their practicum—as well as showing the influential role of mentoring teachers and teacher educators in the appropriation of this conceptual tool. The study discusses the implications of how textbooks are used for English-as-a-foreign-language teacher education

The role of literature in instructed foreign language learning and teaching: An evidence-based survey

The resurgence in the use of literature in language teaching has been accompanied by an increasing number of research articles in this area. Research (in a number of second languages) has looked at the type of interactions and the type of language that arise from classroom discussions about literature, as well as at the views of teachers and learners. Importantly, the reactions that learners have to incorporating literature in their language lessons are linked to the type of approach and type of task that are used in the classroom. The paper surveys the existing research, as well as evidence from practitioners about approaches that are used and the range of works and authors that are taught. © 2008, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved

Negotiating the Challenges of Reading Literature: Teachers Reporting on their Practice

This paper discusses the teacher perspective on negotiating the challenges of teaching literature within the International Baccalaurate Diploma Programme, where literature is a compulsory element in studying a second language (Language B) at Higher level. Data was collected in three secondary schools teaching this programme in three different European countries. Thirty-two teachers involved in Foreign Language literature education in eight different languages were interviewed. Analysis showed that teachers negotiate these challenges in three main ways: text choice (based on a balance of accessibility and appeal of texts); organization of the reading (in and out of class, including the use of film) and reading aloud (either by the teacher or by the students)

The CXCR1 Axis: A Putative Therapeutic Cancer Stem Cell-Like Marker in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers in the United States. Not only is PDAC found at the late stages, but patients also present with or develop chemotherapy resistance at an elevated frequency. Left with limited options for treatment, researchers are investigating new options for these patients. One major area of interest is the sub-population of cells in the tumor called cancer stem cells (CSCs). These cells are known for having high resistance to chemotherapy, along with propagating and re-building the tumor after most non-CSCs have been therapeutically targeted. Previous studies have determined CXCR4, ALDH1, CD24, CD44, and CD133 as markers for CSC-like PDAC cells. In the present study, we investigate the closely related CXCR1 as another possible marker and therapeutic target for PDAC CSCs. CXCR1 is known for its role in inflammation and wound healing. The CXCR1 axis includes the ligands CXCL6 and IL-8, both of which promote the progression of cancer. Previously, Ginesteir et al. has shown targeting the CXCR1 axis in triple negative breast cancer reduced CSC-like phenotypes in vitro and in vivo. Investigations of CXCR1 in PDAC demonstrate IL-8 induces increased tumorsphere formation in vitro (Chen et al.), leading us to investigating CXCR1 in PDAC CSCs. We hypothesize that PDAC cells with high CXCR1 activity also exhibit increased CSC-like characteristics and targeting CXCR1 will reduce those characteristics. To investigate the role of CXCR1 in CSC-like phenotype of PDAC, we used the PDAC cell line CD18, along with its gemcitabine resistant (GemR) counterpart. We used the CXCR1/2 antagonist Navarixin at high enough concentrations to inhibit CXCR1. Using the previously found gemcitabine and navarixin IC50 concentrations for each parent cell line, we treated cells for 72 hours. Post-treatment, we analyzed the expression of several known CSC markers, CXCR1, and IL-8 through qRT-PCR and ELISA. We expected to see higher expression and activity of CXCR1 in cells with higher known CSC marker expression. We also anticipated that gemcitabine treatment would induce higher expression of CSC markers, whereas navarixin would exhibit lower expression. From our results, we see the beginning trends of gemcitabine treated cells having increased expression of the CSC markers and navarixin decreasing or not changing the expression levels. These results differ for IL-8, which undergoes an increase in expression when treated with both gemcitabine and navarixin, which may warrant further exploration into the role of ligands in CSC-like phenotypes. One possible explanation for this difference would be the regulation of IL-8 expression based on CXCR1 activity, as IL-8 interacts with CXCR1.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/surp2021/1040/thumbnail.jp

A versatile, automated and high-throughput drug screening platform for zebrafish embryos

Zebrafish provide a unique opportunity for drug screening in living animals, with the fast developing, transparent embryos allowing for relatively high-throughput, microscopy-based screens. However, the limited availability of rapid, flexible imaging and analysis platforms has limited the use of zebrafish in drug screens. We have developed an easy-to-use, customisable automated screening procedure suitable for high-throughput phenotype-based screens of live zebrafish. We utilised the WiScan® Hermes High Content Imaging System to rapidly acquire brightfield and fluorescent images of embryos, and the WiSoft® Athena Zebrafish Application for analysis, which harnesses an Artificial Intelligence-driven algorithm to automatically detect fish in brightfield images, identify anatomical structures, partition the animal into regions, and exclusively select the desired side-oriented fish. Our initial validation combined structural analysis with fluorescence images to enumerate GFP-tagged haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the tails of embryos, which correlated with manual counts. We further validated this system to assess the effects of genetic mutations and x-ray irradiation in high content using a wide range of assays. Further, we performed simultaneous analysis of multiple cell types using dual fluorophores in high throughput. In summary, we demonstrate a broadly applicable and rapidly customisable platform for high-content screening in zebrafish