INDIRECT WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK, REVISION, AND LEARNING

Corrective feedback, the necessity of providing it, and how it should be provided has been one of the hot topics in the area of ELT. Amid continuing controversies over whether providing feedback helps L2 learners improve their writing accuracy, many research studies have been undertaken to compare the relative effectiveness of different types of feedback. However, the difference between two types of indirect corrective feedback, namely indication and indication plus location, have not been properly examined yet. Motivated to narrow this gap, this study is designed to compare two groups of Iranian learners, each revising their papers based on one of the aforementioned options. For data analysis, a series of independent samples t tests were employed. The results revealed that the difference between the two groups in their reduction of errors from the original draft to the revision of each task followed a growing trend and became significant. Nonetheless, the difference in accuracy of new pieces of writing fell short of significance. Finally, it was found that error reduction in revision stage cannot be considered as learning. The results of the study, discussed in relation to that of others, implicate that the purpose for which feedback is provided is essential in determining the type of feedback; more explicit feedback is better for revising purposes while more implicit feedback is good for learning purposes

Unknown Vocabulary Items and Reading Comprehension Tests: Comparing With-assistance and Without-assistance Performance of Iranian Students

One common concern of Iranian students in taking final English exams is the existence of several unknown vocabulary items in reading comprehension section. Students often argue that not knowing the meanings of such items negatively affects their performance. The purpose of this study was to see if providing test takers with L1 equivalents of the unknown vocabulary items would affect/enhance their reading comprehension level. Two passages were selected, each containing six multiple-choice items. Following Day and Park’s (2005) categorization, the first two items aimed at literal, the second two involved reinterpretation, and the last two were inferencing type of comprehension items. Forty nine students took the test twice. The first time they answered the questions without asking for the meaning of the unknown word. During the second administration, they were allowed to ask for the meanings of the unknown vocabulary items. Statistical analyses of data showed that ‘telling’ L1 equivalents of the unknown items led to a statistically significant difference. Further analyses, however, revealed that teacher assistance had significant effects on students’ performance on inference questions but not on their performance on literal and reinterpretation items. The potential reasons for the findings are discussed first. The findings, then, are used to argue that the commonly-held view by the students is only partially valid

A prospective study examining the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and insomnia among male prisoners in Iran: the mediating effect of psychological distress and perceived stress

Given the high stress and unfriendly environment caused by imprisonment, prisoners are at risk of developing insomnia. It is important to understand potential intervention (in this case, mindfulness) in improving insomnia for this population. The present study investigated whether dispositional mindfulness can be beneficial in helping relieve insomnia among Iranian prisoners. It also investigated whether psychological distress and perceived stress are potential mediators. Male prisoners (N= 208) aged 39.08 years (SD =7.85) completed questionnaires and reported their demographic information and mind-fulness (at baseline); psychological distress and sleep quality (at 1 month after baseline assessment); sleep quality and insomnia (at 3 months after baseline assessment). The mediation models using 10,000 bootstrapping resamples showed that sleep quality and insomnia significantly improved when mindfulness increased. Moreover, psychological distress and stress partially mediated the aforementioned association between dispositional mindfulness and sleep quality/insomnia. Using mindfulness to improve sleep quality/insomnia may be a promising psychological intervention for prisoners

Regulatory network analysis of Epstein-Barr virus identifies functional modules and hub genes involved in infectious mononucleosis

© 2017, Springer-Verlag Wien.Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the most common cause of infectious mononucleosis (IM) and establishes lifetime infection associated with a variety of cancers and autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to develop an integrative gene regulatory network (GRN) approach and overlying gene expression data to identify the representative subnetworks for IM and EBV latent infection (LI). After identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in both IM and LI gene expression profiles, functional annotations were applied using gene ontology (GO) and BiNGO tools, and construction of GRNs, topological analysis and identification of modules were carried out using several plugins of Cytoscape. In parallel, a human-EBV GRN was generated using the Hu-Vir database for further analyses. Our analysis revealed that the majority of DEGs in both IM and LI were involved in cell-cycle and DNA repair processes. However, these genes showed a significant negative correlation in the IM and LI states. Furthermore, cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) – a hub gene with the highest centrality score – appeared to be the key player in cell cycle regulation in IM disease. The most significant functional modules in the IM and LI states were involved in the regulation of the cell cycle and apoptosis, respectively. Human-EBV network analysis revealed several direct targets of EBV proteins during IM disease. Our study provides an important first report on the response to IM/LI EBV infection in humans. An important aspect of our data was the upregulation of genes associated with cell cycle progression and proliferation

Integrated analysis of gene expression profiles reveals deregulation of the immune response genes during different phases of chronic hepatitis B infection

© 2017, Kowsar Corp.Background: The natural history of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection is divided into different phases including immune tolerance (IT), immune clearance (or immune active [IA]), inactive carrier (IC), and reactivation. Despite utilizing high-throughput data, the distinct immunological mechanisms of these phases have been insufficiently investigated. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine candidate disease-associated genes and significantly altered biological processes for each phase of CHB infection. Methods: The gene expression profiles of 83 CHB patients (22 IT, 50 IA, and 11 IC phases) were obtained from gene expression omnibus (GEO dataset: GSE65359) and analyzed by bioinformatics tools. Several plugins of Cytoscape software were used to construct protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks and measure their topological properties. Subsequently, functional annotation and signaling pathway enrichment were carried out using the database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery (DAVID) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG). Results: 449 and 452 deregulated genes were identified in IT-IA and IA-IC patients, respectively. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analyses showed that several immune response-associated genes and signaling pathways (i.e. cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, chemokine signaling pathway and T cell receptor signalling pathway) were upregulated in the IA phase, but downregulated in the IC phase. The LCK (encoding a tyrosine kinase) was determined as the most important hub gene of both constructed PPI networks. Furthermore, other immune response-associated genes such as CXCR3, VCAN, MYC, and STAT1 were found to be the important hub genes in clinical phases of CHB. Conclusions: The immune response-related pathways were found to be up and downregulated in the immune clearance phase and inactive carrier phase of CHB, respectively. The LCK hub gene might help the pathogenesis of different phases of CHB and serve as a therapeutic target for the treatment of hepatitis B virus

Depression, anxiety, and stress mediate the associations between internet gaming disorder, insomnia, and quality of life during the COVID-19 outbreak

Background: or many individuals, the COVID-19 outbreak has increased their psychological distress, changed their behaviors, and impacted their health. With more time spent indoors, many individuals have engaged in increased videogame playing. However, the associations between such behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak period is unclear. Objective: The present study examined the mediating role of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) in the association between internet gaming disorder (IGD) and two health outcomes (insomnia quality of life) among adolescents during this COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study comprising adolescents (N = 1512) aged 13–18 years (mean age = 15.51 years) was utilized to assess measures on insomnia, depression, anxiety, and stress, IGD, and quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: There were small to large significant relationships between the variables. Psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) served as a strong mediator in the association between IGD and insomnia and quality of life. IGD directly influenced insomnia and quality of life among the participants. Conclusions: IGD is associated with different psychosocial outcomes comprising multiple pathways. Parents need to pay special attention to how much time and how frequently their children play videogames. Parents may need to assist their children in coping with psychological distress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic period

A network analysis of the Internet Disorder Scale–Short Form (IDS9-SF): a large-scale cross-cultural study in Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

The Internet Disorder Scale–Short Form (IDS9-SF) is a validated instrument assessing internet disorder which modified the internet gaming disorder criteria proposed in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). However, the relationships between the nine items in the IDS9-SF are rarely investigated. The present study used network analysis to investigate the features of the IDS9-SF among three populations in Bangladesh, Iran, and Pakistan. Data were collected (N = 1901; 957 [50.3%] females; 666 [35.0%] Pakistani, 533 [28.1%] Bangladesh, and 702 [36.9%] Iranians) using an online survey platform (e.g., Google Forms). All the participants completed the IDS9-SF. The central-stability-coefficients of the nine IDS9-SF items were 0.71, 0.89, 0.96, 0.98, 0.98, 1.00, 0.67, 0.79, and 0.91, respectively. The node centrality was stable and interpretable in the network. The Network Comparison Test (NCT) showed that the network structure had no significant differences among Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Iranian participants (p-values = 0.172 to 0.371). Researchers may also use the IDS9-SF to estimate underlying internet addiction for their target participants and further explore and investigate the phenomenon related to internet addiction. Li Li, Mohammed A. Mamun, Firoj Al-Mamun, Irfan Ullah, Ismail Hosen, Syed Ahsan Zia, Ali Poorebrahim, Morteza Pourgholami, Chung-Ying Lin, Halley M. Pontes, Mark D. Griffiths & Amir H. Pakpou

Effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on Mental Health of Prisoners

Abstract Background and Aim: Prison and prisoners, because of difficulties and barriers they are facing, they are neglected parts of several branches of health context. In the field of mental health there are deficiencies of manuals and guidelines for prison. On the other hand the prevalence and the burden of mental disorders are higher in prisons than general population. The most conducted interventions in prisons is the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In the last three decades, there have been the third wave of cognitive therapies spreading all around the world. Mindfulness based interventions are several packages that are believed to be effective on wide domains of physical and mental health problems. This treatments are used for several population of prisoners around the world, including mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT). MBCT eventually was developed to treat people with several major depressive episodes. Literature has shown that MBCT is effective on mental and physical health. The aim of present study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness based cognitive therapy on mental health of prisoners. Methods: The present study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that was performed February 2019 to march 2020 on 140 prisoners of central prison of Rasht city. They allocated randomly in experimental or control groups. Experimental group received weekly sessions on MBCT for six weeks. The techniques in this group includes some meditation, relaxation and physical movements. On the other hand, control group received CBT alongside with the Exp group in the same time and duration. They received some cognitive techniques using some charts and handouts. Mental health of prisoners assessed with HADS, BDI, GHQ12, PSQI, MAAS and ISI questionnaires. Data was collected before the intervention, and 1 and 6 mounts after the intervention. Repeated Measures Analyses was conducted using SPSS 24. Results: data analyses had shown that the EXP group have greater outcomes in all mental health measures. Mean scores of anxiety, depression, general health, perceived stress, mindfulness score, sleep quality and insomnia severity improved after the intervention that demonstrates positive relation with education for prisoners. Conclusion: the results from this study indicates that the MBCT has promising effects on improving of mental health of prisoners. Because of importance of prisoner's mental health, MBCT could be used widely in prison settings. Keywords: Mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mental Health, MBCT, CB

Bilingualism, monoliteracy, and third language writing: A case from Turkish-Persian context in Iran

Studies on third language (L3) acquisition have shown that biliteracy has a facilitative effect on L3 writing. By comparing performances of bilinguals and monolinguals in subsequent language (English) writing, this study attempts to find whether being bilingual but not biliterate is of help to L3 writing. To this end, 52 Turk-Fars bilingual and 57 Fars monolingual females participated in the study. Data were collected through the participants’ compositions and think-aloud protocols. A series of Mann Whitney U tests were employed to compare the groups’ total writing scores and scores in different components of writing. The results of the study revealed that bilinguals performed better than monolinguals in total writing, organization, and mechanics. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in content, discourse, syntax, and vocabulary of their compositions. This indicates that being bilingual without necessarily being biliterate is of help to L3 writing. Moreover, it was found that English language was the most frequently used medium of thought while writing in English. The findings of this study indicate the need for developing localized bilingual education systems so that bilinguals can take maximum advantage of their background languages in the process of L3 learning