Investigating mediation styles of second language listener verbal reports

This study investigated verbal report styles for eliciting strategies data from second language listeners. It examined outcomes from three different mediation (prompting) styles, one style unprompted and the two others prompted, after the learners were first provided with low-prescriptive instructions on how to complete the report. Also, the unprompted style was additionally examined after the provision of more-prescriptive instructions to observe the effect of this greater learner guidance. Theoretically, the core of the study examined two competing cognitive perspectives on verbal reporting. One, from an information processing perspective, is that verbal reports elicit the best insight into individuals’ strategic processes when prompts are kept to a minimum. The other perspective, a constructivist one, advocates the use of prompts in the form of researcher questions, mainly to help guide the report. Seventeen Taiwanese EFL learners participated in the study, with data gathered from each through a verbal report followed by a semi-structured interview. It was found that researcher prompting was both strongly favored by the learners and clearly elicited the best data for second language listener strategies research. The results also indicated that unprompted reports were little more effective when preceded by more-prescriptive instructions.published_or_final_versio

Enhancing Control of the Abdominal Region to Address L2 English Learners’ Segmental Pronunciation Problems

In L2 English pronunciation instruction at the segmental level, anatomically the emphasis has been almost exclusively on the learners’ articulatory functions. However, an overlooked aspect of instruction is to also encourage learners, especially those with more syllable-based L1s, to use their abdominal region to assist them in pronouncing certain problematic sounds, particularly certain long vowel/diphthong sounds and voiced consonants. There appears to have been no research examining the effectiveness of such instruction incorporating abdominal control, so a study was conducted tracing the development of two learners, through case studies, when taught with this approach. The learners’ progress was observed and chronicled by the researcher, and also quantified through the use of a reading aloud test administered pre- and post-instruction. The study found that the learners progressed with many of the problematic sounds (some, as observed by the researcher, instantaneously once shown how to use their abdomen to say the sounds), although slightly less so with others. Further, some of these gains were maintained in a final, delayed administration of the reading aloud test. The findings from this study flag the usefulness of further investigating the method in future on a larger scale, preferably through an experimental study.Keywords: Enhanced abdominal control, English learners, Pronunciation instruction, Segmental sound

Art as Ammunition: The Weaponization of Rap Lyrics in Court

In 2017, data from the Nielsen Music Report revealed that for the very first time, R&B/Hip-Hop was the most popular genre in the United States. The genre\u27s popularity has continued to skyrocket, with Billboard reporting at the end of 2021 that R&B/Hip-Hop accounted for 27.7 percent of music consumption in America, followed by Rock at 20 percent. However, despite being the most prevalent genre in the United States, hip-hop music is still fundamentally misunderstood by White American society. One example of this lack of understanding is Billboard\u27s categories themselves: the company groups Hip-Hop and R&B together, two genres which, while they overlap in some regards, have their own unique histories and elements that distinguish them as separate categories of music. This grouping likely stems from the most striking similarity between these two genres: the fact that they were created, popularized, and are still mostly dominated by Black artists. By failing to learn the histories and intricacies of these two genres and instead grouping them into one category that represents Black music, Billboard exemplifies White American society\u27s refusal to give the same respect to historically Black genres as they do to historically White ones

Taiwanese high school EFL teachers’ perceptions of their listening instruction

In 2015 an English listening test was included in the Taiwan College Entrance Examination. This paper reports on a small-scale study looking at the related pedagogical practices of senior high school teachers in Taiwan. First, the paper provides an overview of the second language listening pedagogy research literature, which indicates that strategies instruction has been found to outperform a comprehension-based approach (where learners listen then answer comprehension questions) both in terms of listening comprehension and development of learner affective characteristics, such as confidence and motivation. The paper then reports on the study which gathered data from Taiwanese teachers through a questionnaire and interviews to investigate their perceptions of their listening instruction. The results of the study suggest; 1) the common use of a comprehension-based approach; 2) that teachers commonly encounter affective problems among their learners, and; 3) that teachers often have a rather rudimentary knowledge of how to remediate their learners’ comprehension and affective difficulties. The study provides useful initial insights into the state of listening instruction in Taiwan high schools, and suggests a possible need for strategies instruction.published_or_final_versio

Using a Communicative Approach in English Conversation Classes in Asia: Addressing some of the Challenges

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Reunion Day A Play for Television

This is the script for a play written by Peter Yeldham in 1961 and televised on the BBC in 1962. Although it is about an Anzac Day in Sydney, it was never shown on Australian television

Os crimes ambientais no município de Serra - ES : aç~oes e contradições dos agentes envolvidos

A questão ambiental tem assumido papel cada vez mais importante, tanto pelo constante avanço da urbanização sobre os recursos naturais e transformação das paisagens, quanto pela necessidade de sua preservação e conservação para garantia de um meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado. Sendo o município de Serra, parte deste contexto, o presente trabalho se propõe a analisar a questão dos crimes ambientais e de suas relações com os espaços públicos municipais, identificando os espaços de ocorrências e suas principais consequências socioambientais, como forma de contribuir para uma redefinição de políticas públicas e de valorização dos recursos e dos espaços públicos municipais. A metodologia utilizada, além da pesquisa bibliográfica, foi o levantamento de dados junto às Varas Criminais do Fórum do município de Serra, por meio de consulta aos livros de registro de ações penais referentes ao período de 2005 a 2015. Por meio deles foram localizados os números dos processos de denúncias de crimes ambientais oferecidas pelo Ministério Público ao Judiciário (Ações Penais), o que permitiu a identificação das características particulares das ocorrências pesquisadas, propiciando assim uma análise dos crimes ambientais registrados. Do universo de 166 ações penais identificadas e pesquisadas, no período estudado, os tipos de crimes contra o meio ambiente que mais se destacaram foram os praticados contra a fauna, com 65 ações penais, seguido pelos crimes de poluição com 49 ações, e em seguida, os crimes praticados contra a flora, com 46 ações penais. Os espaços públicos, destacando-se os espaços livres e os espaços vegetados, foram apontados como os mais atingidos pelas ações de danos ao meio ambiente, registrando os maiores números de ocorrênciasThe environmental issue has assumed an increasingly important role, both by the constant advance of urbanization on the natural resources and transformation of the landscapes, as well as by the need of its preservation and conservation to guarantee an environmentally balanced environment. Being the municipality of Serra, part of this context, this paper proposes to analyze the issue of environmental crimes and their relations with municipal public spaces, identifying the spaces of occurrences and their main socio-environmental consequences, as a way to contribute to a redefinition of public policies and of valorization of the resources and the municipal public spaces. The methodology used, besides the bibliographical research, was the data collection with the Criminal Courts of the Forum of the municipality of Serra, through consultation to the books of registry of criminal actions referring to the period from 2005 to 2015. By means of these were located the numbers of the processes of denunciations of environmental crimes offered by the Public Ministry to the Judiciary (Criminal Actions), which allowed the identification of the particular characteristics of the investigated occurrences, thus providing an analysis of registered environmental crimes. Of the universe of 166 criminal actions identified and investigated during the period studied, the most important types of crimes against the environment were those against the fauna, with 65 criminal actions, followed by pollution crimes with 49 actions, and then, Crimes against flora, with 46 criminal actions. Public spaces, highlighting free spaces and vegetated spaces, were identified as the most affected by actions to damage the environment, recording the highest number of occurrence

Identity and Ministry in Healthcare Chaplaincy: The liminality of the Church of England priest who continues to sing the Lord’s song in the strange land of the National Health Service

This thesis examines the dual identity of the Church of England priest employed as an NHS healthcare chaplain. In 1948, full-time NHS chaplains provided a Church of England ministry of liturgy and pastoral care. Their twenty-first century counterpart delivers existential spiritual or pastoral care. Though Church of England chaplains are licensed by the Church, their work is shaped by the NHS and the Trust which employs them. They are accountable to the Church and the NHS even though each promotes different values and serves different ends. Published literature alludes to the chaplain’s sense of marginalization from the Church and within the NHS. Interviews with twelve full-time NHS chaplains, who are Church of England priests, focused on how they interpreted their dual identity as priest and chaplain, and the impact the two institutions had on these identities. This I framed using the theoretical model, ‘communities of practice’. Analysis of these interviews confirmed that chaplains thought they were disconnected from the priorities and values of the Church. This they described as ‘marginalization’, a term which appears elsewhere in published literature sometimes interchangeable with ‘liminality’. I claim that liminality is not only conceptually different but makes a distinct contribution to understanding the work and identity of chaplain and priest. I argue the existence of liminal intelligence and its importance in the ministry of the chaplain. I maintain that ministerial priesthood needs to be faithful to its liminal credentials. These I trace back to the liminality of the cultic priesthood outlined in the Hebrew bible as well as the liminality of Jesus, his teaching and the communitas of the early Church. I propose that the role of the ministerial priest is not only about recalling the institutional Church to its liminal roots but that liminality is the essence of priesthood