Improving listening comprehension skills relying on metacognitive strategies – Focus on vocabulary and specific l2 instruction

© 2016, Institute for Educational Research. All rights reserved. The present paper aims at investigating the application of an instructional method specifically focused on the expansion of metacognitive awareness and its effect on Serbian EFL students’ listening comprehension. The current study is a follow- up research of a similar study by Vandergrift and Tafaghodtari (2010). However, we sought to expand the previous research by investigating the relationship between the students’ current level of L2 (target language) vocabulary and listening test scores. Our study likewise differed in the sample of participants, the target language, teaching and testing material used, and the duration of the very experiment. To answer the proposed research questions we conducted an experiment with 57 Serbian secondary school EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners divided into experimental (n=27) and control group (n=30). The results of the pre- and post-tests of the two groups showed the beneficial effects of developing metacognitive strategies and the strong positive correlation between the level of vocabulary and listening comprehension. The paper underlines important pedagogical implications especially regarding the enhancement of metacognitive awareness and vocabulary proficiency of students in order to improve performance on listening comprehension tasks

New model of enterprises resource planning implementation planning process in manufacturing enterprises

This article presents new model of enterprises resource planning implementation planning process in manufacturing enterprises based on assessment of risk sources. This assessment was performed by applying analytic hierarchy process. Analytic hierarchy process method allows variation of relative importance of specific risk sources dependent on the section from which the risk source originates (organizational environment, technical issues, people issues, adoption process management, and external support). Survey was conducted on 85 manufacturing enterprises involved with an enterprises resource planning solution. Ranking of risk sources assessments returns most frequent risks of enterprises resource planning implementation success in manufacturing enterprises, and representative factors were isolated through factor analysis by risk source origin. Finally, results indicate that there are hidden causes of failed implementation, for example, risk source "top management training and education," from risk origin "adoption process management.

A method for metropolitan landscape characterization; case study Rotterdam

oai:spool.ac:article/7This paper presents a theoretical and methodological framework for a comprehensive landscape characterization, focussing on the largest and most complex urban realm: the metropolitan region. Landscape character has in recent years emerged as a new paradigm to understand, monitor and evaluate cultural landscapes undergoing change. The scope of characterization methods however, is by and large limited to the non-urban realm. In physical terms, the border between the urban and non-urban realms is becoming increasingly diffuse, particularly in metropolitan regions. Metropolitan regions thus conceptually challenge the scope of landscape characterization, as cities can also be understood to be in and of themselves a form of cultural landscape. Moreover, territories where urban and rural realms merge, result in new ‘hybrid’ types of space that fall outside existing characterization methods. The method developed and presented in this paper is aimed at producing a comprehensive landscape characterization tool for metropolitan regions in order to understand, evaluate and monitor their spatial form. The method developed combines elements from conventional landscape character assessment with urban morphology, mapping, and cluster analyses. The first version of the method was tested using the metropolitan region of Rotterdam and resulted in a preliminary categorization of thirty-six metropolitan landscape types. Twenty-four of the thirty-six types are defined as ‘hybrid’ or mixed landscape types, which occupy approximately 30% of the territory. Their make-up is determined by formal varying densities of topographic elements, land use categories, and heights. The hybrid landscape types that have emerged as a result of applying this method are of particular interest, as they were not recognized as a specific category by other classification methods. The extent and character of these landscapes is not yet fully understood and therefore not used in the landscape policy forming. The method also reveals a substantial disparity between the assumed threshold of city and countryside in the Rotterdam region, and the one that has resulted from this study. The distribution of hybrid landscape types also shows that patterns of dispersion, diffusion, periphery and fragmentation have exceeded what is considered the peri-urban area of Rotterdam in administrative and planning circles

A method for metropolitan landscape characterization; case study Rotterdam

This paper presents a theoretical and methodological framework for a comprehensive landscape characterization, focussing on the largest and most complex urban realm: the metropolitan region. Landscape character has in recent years emerged as a new paradigm to understand, monitor and evaluate cultural landscapes undergoing change. The scope of characterization methods however, is by and large limited to the non-urban realm. In physical terms, the border between the urban and non-urban realms is becoming increasingly diffuse, particularly in metropolitan regions.Metropolitan regions thus conceptually challenge the scope of landscape characterization, as cities can also be understood to be in and of themselves a form of cultural landscape. Moreover, territories where urban and rural realms merge, result in new ‘hybrid’ types of space that fall outside existing characterization methods. The method developed and presented in this paper is aimed at producing a comprehensive landscape characterization tool for metropolitan regions in order to understand, evaluate and monitor their spatial form. The method developed combines elements from conventional landscape character assessment with urban morphology, mapping, and cluster analyses.The first version of the method was tested using the metropolitan region of Rotterdam and resulted in a preliminary categorization of thirty-six metropolitan landscape types. Twenty-four of the thirty-six types are defined as ‘hybrid’ or mixed landscape types, which occupy approximately 30% of the territory. Their make-up is determined by formal varying densities of topographic elements, land use categories, and heights. The hybrid landscape types that have emerged as a result of applying this method are of particular interest, as they were not recognized as a specific category by other classification methods.The extent and character of these landscapes is not yet fully understood and therefore not used in the landscape policy forming. The method also reveals a substantial disparity between the assumed threshold of city and countryside in the Rotterdam region, and the one that has resulted from this study. The distribution of hybrid landscape types also shows that patterns of dispersion, diffusion, periphery and fragmentation have exceeded what is considered the peri-urban area of Rotterdam in administrative and planning circles

New model of enterprises resource planning implementation planning process in manufacturing enterprises

This article presents new model of enterprises resource planning implementation planning process in manufacturing enterprises based on assessment of risk sources. This assessment was performed by applying analytic hierarchy process. Analytic hierarchy process method allows variation of relative importance of specific risk sources dependent on the section from which the risk source originates (organizational environment, technical issues, people issues, adoption process management, and external support). Survey was conducted on 85 manufacturing enterprises involved with an enterprises resource planning solution. Ranking of risk sources assessments returns most frequent risks of enterprises resource planning implementation success in manufacturing enterprises, and representative factors were isolated through factor analysis by risk source origin. Finally, results indicate that there are hidden causes of failed implementation, for example, risk source "top management training and education," from risk origin "adoption process management.

Evaluation and ranking of insurance companies by combining TOPSIS and the interval fuzzy rough sets

Corporate and organizational performance assessment is an important activity for both the managers and other stakeholders, as it provides them with an asset to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses in relation to the competition, as well as guidelines for selecting appropriate measures to address the existing problems. The issue of criteria selection has been overcome through the literature review and the issue of criteria weights is handled by applying group decision making procedure. The procedure itself consists of using predefined linguistic expressions that are modelled by triangular fuzzy numbers and the aggregation of decision makers' opinion based on the rules of rough sets algebra. The values of the decision matrix are determined by prognosis method and they are described by crisp values. The proposed algorithm is tested on the insurance companies that operate in the Republic of Serbia

Short Overview of Some Assays for the Measurement of Antioxidant Activity of Natural Products and Their Relevance in Dermatology

Impaired systemic redox homeostasis is implicated in the onset and development of various diseases, including skin diseases. Therefore, continuous search for natural products with antiox-idant bioactivities applicable in biomedicine is attractive topic of general interest. Research ef-forts aiming to validate antioxidant potentials of natural products has led to the development of several assays based on various test principles. Hence, understanding the advantages and limita-tions of various assays is important for selection of assays useful to study antioxidant and relat-ed bioactivities of natural products of biomedical interest. This review paper gives a short over- view on some chemical and cellular bioassays used to estimate the antioxidant activity of chosen natural products together with a brief overview on the use of natural products with antioxidant activities as adjuvant medicinal remedies in dermatology