Developing Critical Thinking and Communicative Fluency in the Business-English Classroom with the SWOT Analysis

　This paper proposes a clear working framework for the concept of critical thinking and discusses the rationale for its pedagogical implementation when applied to the SWOT activity in the business-English classroom. This paper specifically details a classroom procedure for introducing the SWOT activity in a practical business-English class where the focus is on fostering critical thinking, communicative fluency (herein conceptualized as meaningful, contextual, skills-based interaction), and the understanding of a basic knowledge of business practices. The paper concludes by highlighting the need to incorporate these elements in order to better equip learners for the increasingly globalized contexts of business in the future

English Loanwords in Japanese TV Ads

Historically speaking, linguistic borrowing is a common phenomenon in the evolution of a language. However, unlike countries where English was adopted as an institutional variety as a result of linguistic legacy, the English found in Japan - specifically in television advertising - is a particularly intriguing linguistic puzzle. Although most of the English one sees on products and garments is often incomprehensible, pointless, or simply rude, advertisers/copy writers do have the power to manipulate the English language and \u27engineer\u27 changes to satisfy their own utilitarian purposes

The f-vector of the descent polytope

For a positive integer n and a subset S of [n-1], the descent polytope DP_S is the set of points x_1, ..., x_n in the n-dimensional unit cube [0,1]^n such that x_i >= x_{i+1} for i in S and x_i <= x_{i+1} otherwise. First, we express the f-vector of DP_S as a sum over all subsets of [n-1]. Second, we use certain factorizations of the associated word over a two-letter alphabet to describe the f-vector. We show that the f-vector is maximized when the set S is the alternating set {1,3,5, ...}. We derive a generating function for the f-polynomial F_S(t) of DP_S, written as a formal power series in two non-commuting variables with coefficients in Z[t]. We also obtain the generating function for the Ehrhart polynomials of the descent polytopes.Comment: 14 pages; to appear in Discrete & Computational Geometr

The Significance of Nasal Carriage of Staphylococcus Aureus and the Incidence of Postoperative Wound Infection

Staphylococcus aureus infections are associated with considerable morbidity and, in certain situations, mortality. The association between the nasal carriage of S. aureus and subsequent infection has been comprehensively established in a variety of clinical settings, in particular, patients undergoing haemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), and in patients undergoing surgery. Postoperative wound infections are associated with a high degree of morbidity and represent an important medical issue. Until recently, eradication of S. aureus nasal carriage by various topical and systemic agents had proved unsuccessful. Mupirocin is a novel topical antibiotic with excellent antibacterial activity against staphylococci. Recent studies have demonstrated that intranasal administration of mupirocin is effective in eradicating the nasal carriage of S. aureus and in reducing the incidence of S. aureus infections in haemodialysis and CAPD patients. It has been suggested that sufficient evidence now exists to test the hypothesis that eradication of the carrier state in surgical patients preoperatively may reduce the incidence of S. aureus postoperative wound infections

Interculturality and Business English: Empowering Learners in Globalized Contexts of Communication

This paper offers a critical exploration of the enterprise of teaching and learning business English (English for business and the workplace) with specific reference to processes related to globalization. The discussion investigates the international contexts of business English textbooks commercially available worldwide and how they position themselves to target the perceived needs of students of business English. As a modus operandi, this paper proposes a coherent definition and conceptual framework of interculturality which is regarded as essential in order to underpin any discussion of, and approach to, teaching and learning business English in international contexts. The key intercultural skills related to this industry can be isolated as: relating and responding appropriately, and developing awareness, respect, and negotiation. These are broad skills that reflect and express a greater awareness of the inseparability of language and culture and delineate the need to prepare language learners adequately for intercultural capability (Bolten, 2017) in an increasingly multicultural world. This paper also draws upon data obtained from a questionnaire distributed to students on practical business English courses taught by the author. The results of the survey reveal that practical communication skills and a specific, specialized knowledge base in English are viewed as essential components of their Business English classes. The paper concludes by underscoring the need to empower learners with relevant skills to meet the challenges of evolving, dynamic, globalized contexts of business

Facilitating English Communication Skills and Interpersonal Competence through the Medium of Educational Drama

This article expands on previous studies relating to the pedagogical use of drama (educational drama) in the foreign language classroom. In the present article, in addition to the facilitation of English communication skills, particular reference is made to nurturing interpersonal competence. For the purpose of this case study, a one-act play (for four young females of university age) written by the author was used in one class session to explore the concept of friendship (the complexities of maintaining friendships between young, female students in their late teens and early twenties and managing conflict resolution) using both English (L2) and Japanese (L1). Through the implementation of educational drama as an active learning approach and key methodology (in keeping with the UNESCO directive for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development), this study suggests that there are real world (world building) benefits to teaching drama through English to Japanese female university students as a dynamic medium (engaging both verbal resources, and nonverbal communication resources such as emotions,tone of voice, movement and gesture) in order to encourage and motivate learners to cultivate linguistic, personal, and intercultural skills of benefit both within and beyond the classroom environment

Coping with Sales Call Anxiety and Its Effects on Protective Actions

We study how salespeople cope with sales call anxiety and find that two tactics ultimately reduce dysfunctional protective actions in selling interactions. That is, situation modification and attentional deployment both moderate the effects of felt physiological sensations and anxiety on protective actions

The Adaptive Consequences of Pride in Personal Selling

Study 1 investigates the beneficial effects of experiencing pride. Pride was found to have two different effects. First, it increases salespersons' performance-related motivations. Specifically, it promotes adaptive selling strategies, greater effort, and self-efficacy. Secondly, it positively affects organizational citizenship behaviors. Study 2 takes an emotion-process point of view and compares excessive pride (hubris) with positive pride. The results show that salespeople are capable of self-regulating the expression of these emotions via anticipated feelings of fear, shame, and regret. Salespeople in other words are affected by their emotions, but they also are capable of controlling them to their advantage

Exploring Emotional Competence: Its effects on coping, social capital, and performance of salespeople

We define emotional competence as a person’s domain-specific working model about how one can appropriately manage one’s emotions within interpersonal situations. Emotional competence is conceived as the integration of seven seemingly unrelated proficiencies: perspective taking, strategic self-presentation of emotions, helping targets of communication accept one’s genuine emotional reactions, lack of guilt when using emotions strategically, fostering self-authenticity, developing an ironic perspective, and incorporating one’s moral code into the self-regulation of emotions. A cluster analysis of responses to measures of the seven proficiencies by 220 salespeople revealed four distinct groups of people. The groups were defined by emotional competence syndromes consisting of combinations of different levels of the seven proficiencies. One group, the highly emotional competent, scored high on all seven proficiencies, a second group scored low on all seven. Two other groups resulted wherein one group was dominated by feelings of guilt in the use of emotions strategically, and the second was characterized by the inability to accept ambiguous and contradictory situations by assuming an ironic perspective. In a test of predictive validity, the highly emotional competent group, but not the others, coped effectively with envy and pride, achieved high social capital, and performed well

Social Consumer Neuroscience: Neurophysiological Measures of Advertising Effectiveness in a Social Context

The application of neurophysiological methods to study the effects of advertising on consumer purchase behavior has seen an enormous growth in recent years. However, little is known about the role social settings have on shaping the human brain during the processing of advertising stimuli. To address this issue, we first review previous key findings of neuroscience research on advertising effectiveness. Next, we discuss traditional advertising research into the effects social context has on the way consumers experience advertising messages and explain why marketers, who aim to predict advertising effectiveness, should place participants in social settings, in addition to the traditional ways of studying consumer brain responses to advertising in social isolation. This article contributes to the literature by offering advertising researchers a series of research agendas on the key indicators of advertising effectiveness (attention, emotion, memory, and preference). It aims to improve understanding of the impact social context has on consumers' neurophysiological responses to advertising messages