A Corpus Based Study on Malaysian ESL Learners’ Use of Phrasal Verbs in Narrative Compositions

The research investigated the use of phrasal verbs in two written tasks by Malaysian ESL learners. The data of the research was obtained from the EMAS (The English Language of Malaysian School Students) Corpus. The aim of the study was: (1) to investigate the distribution of phrasal verbs used in the students‟ writing, (2) to identify the types of phrasal verbs used, (3) to establish if the phrasal verbs used were accurate syntactically and semantically, and (4) to determine if any avoidance behaviour and simplification features were employed in relation to the use of phrasal verbs. The research design comprised a qualitative technique through discourse analysis supplemented with some descriptive statistics using the software Mono Conc Pro 2.2 (Barlow, 2003). The findings of the study showed that the total instances of frequency counts for all phrasal verbs used at Form 1 level were 309 compared to 677 instances at Form 4 level. This is an indicator that the students at the higher level were more capable of using phrasal verbs. Using Celce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman‟s (1999) classification of phrasal verbs (literal, aspectual, and idiomatic), it was found that idiomatic phrasal verbs were more difficult than the other types at both student levels. It was also seen that the most inaccurate phrasal verb structures at both Form 1 and Form 4 levels were in the tense form. The findings also showed that there was a highly positive progression in the number of phrasal verbs used semantically accurate. In fact, out of a total of 309 instances of phrasal verbs used at the Form 1 level, 92% were semantically accurate and 8% are inaccurate. Also, of 677 instances of phrasal verbs used at the Form 4 level, 95% were semantically accurate and 5% were inaccurate. The findings also showed that ESL learners had adopted ways to overcome their inadequacy in the use of phrasal verbs of the English language by using avoidance behaviour, simplification features and compensation strategies. In fact, since the total number of avoided phrasal verbs at the Form 4 level was less than that of the Form 1 level, it indicated that the proficiency level was an affecting factor in avoiding different types of phrasal verbs in the students‟ writing. In order to prevent the problems identified in the study regarding phrasal verb structures, and to further improve the teaching and learning of phrasal verbs among ESL learners, some recommendations are proposed

Analysis of The Basis for Induction and Maintenance of T Cell Responses in DNA Vaccination

This study is aimed at finding the role of dendritic cells in induction and maintenance of immune responses following DNA vaccination. For this purpose, two DNA vaccines were generated, one expressing full C5 cDNA (fifth complement of mice) and the other expressing just 1.6 kb of the 5' end of cDNA. Both vaccines express the epitope for recognition of the A18 T cell hybridoma and both induced C5 specific immune responses following i.m. inoculation of A/J mice. Three routes of entry i.e., (i.m.), abrasion (Scarification) of leg skin and abrasion of ear skin were chosen for inoculation with the DNA vaccine encoding the full C5 protein. Deep cervical lymph nodes were found to be the best targets following DNA inoculation of the ear. Kinetic analysis of these lymph nodes showed the highest T cell immune response 10 to 12 days following DNA vaccination. While all routes of vaccination led to C5 specific T cell responses with time, an early response was detected in cervical lymph nodes following vaccination in the ear. Isolation of dendritic cells from cervical lymph nodes following DNA vaccination allowed detection of C5 expression. C5 was actively expressed in a DC enriched population while the other cells in lymph node showed no expression. That suggested direct transfection of DCs following DNA vaccination. However, while DNA vaccination resulted in transfection of a small proportion of dendritic cells only, it led to general activation of all dendritic cells, providing optimal conditions for effective T cell activation. The sites, kinetics and extent of T cell activation following DNA vaccination was investigated in a transgenic model. It was demonstrated that T cell activation is initiated in the cervical draining lymph nodes and persisted for longer than 40 weeks although antigen expression was not demonstrable more than 12 weeks for keratinocytes and 2 weeks for dendritic cells. Crosspriming of dendritic cells by C5 expressed in keratinocytes did not occur unless keratinocyte death was induced by irradiation. About 2% of dendritic cells present in the draining lymph nodes were estimated to be transfected, both by confocal analysis of GFP expression and by functional titration assay. Notably, the construct used for the series of experiment described so far was shown to result in intra-cellular expression in mammalian cells, but not in secretion. A secretory C5 construct was constructed and it was shown that C5 specific antibodies have been detected only in the case of the secretory construct while the other constructs were unable to generate any antibodies

THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EGO IDENTITY, GOAL ORIENTATION AND AGE AMONG EFL LEARNERS

This study particularly aimed at investigating the relationships of ego identity, goal orientation and age of the students among EFL university students. Ego identity is the core element through psychological issues and it sets social and cognitive structure of individuality. Goal orientation is a sign of personal issue and considered as a kind of motivation that guides the learners to their future actions. Four universities were randomly sampled. Participants were 217 students of whom 158 were females and 59 were males. The students responded to scale of the EOM-EIS and AGQ. SPSS was run, using Cronbach's alpha and Pearson correlation coefficient were applied. The results revealed all four subscales of ego identity except for identity-foreclosure, had a significant relationship with total goal orientation and age of the students. The results also demonstrated that total goal orientation had a significant relationship with age of the learners. Consequently, ego identity, and goal orientation are influential in academic achievement of the students. The current study revealed that identity achievement plays an important role in the locus of identity formation and it could be more crucial in their academic courses than the other learners who were more concerned with the other subscales of ego identity. Students who were more inclined to mastery goals were more oriented to progress  Article visualizations

The Effect of Flipped Learning Model on EFL Learners' Academic Achievement, Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence

The aim of the study is to examine the effect of flipped learning model on EFL learners academic achievement, self-esteem and self-confidence. This is a quantitative qualitative study in which a mixed methods design is used for data collection procedure. The study sample includes two groups of intermediate English students who study in foreign language institutions. They are selected by purposive sampling method. This method of sampling allows the researcher to select students with two years of learning experience. In this study, the independent variable of the research is flipped learning model, as opposed to traditional learning approach, while the dependent variables are students academic achievement, self-esteem, and self-confidence. One sample pre-test and post-test design is used to collect quantitative data on academic achievement, self-esteem and self-confidence. In order to collect qualitative data, a semi-structured interview is administered to reveal the general attitudes of the students towards the benefits, difficulties and the solutions of the flipped classroom. The results indicate that flipped learning model has significant effect on EFL learners academic achievement, self-esteem and self-confidence. The researcher concludes that learners with high self-confidence and self-esteem will have a greater academic achievement, and flipped classroom can enhance language learning

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFL LEARNERS' ATTITUDE, SELF–EFFICACY AND THEIR WRITING ACHIEVEMENT

Writing ability as one of the most important aspect of language learning plays an important role in pedagogical settings. The present study attempted to investigate the relationships between writing skill and students’ personal attributes namely self-efficacy and attitude. To this purpose, 70 students were selected and participated in this study. The results of data analysis showed that both self-efficacy and attitude have positive correlations with writing ability and there were significant differences between those who have high self-efficacy and those who have low self-efficacy. Finally, the pedagogical implications of findings have been discussed.  Article visualizations

Comparative Effect of Presenting Vocabularies in Semantically Related and Unrelated Sets on Iranian EFL Learners’ short Term Retention

Teaching vocabulary in semantically related sets is common practice among EFL teachers. This research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary items through related and unrelated set to elementary Iranian EFL students. It investigated two types of clustering, semantically-related sets, semantically-unrelated sets, and their effectiveness in Persian -speaking learner’s retrieval at the end of each session. To this end, an experimental approach using two groups of participants (i.e. experimental and control) was employed. The experimental group was taught using related vocabulary instructional method while the control group was taught using unrelated clustering method. Then they were asked to complete a recall matched post-test immediately after the study phase to measure the impact of both techniques on learning. In analyzing the data, the statistical techniques of ANCOVA and T-test were utilized. Results of this matching test showed that participants recalled more words from the unrelated list than from the semantically related list. And words from the semantically related list were the least to be recalled by all participants. So, the results manifested that, while both techniques successfully help the learners to acquire new words, presenting words in unrelated sets seems to be more effective, and this represented the preference of semantically unrelated clustering over instructing words in related sets during short period of time. Keywords: vocabulary; EFL; semantically related sets; semantically unrelated set

THE IMPACT OF IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED ERROR CORRECTION ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNER’S MOTIVATION

Purpose: This research investigated the effect of immediate and delayed error correction on motivation of EFL learners to approve or disapprove the research hypothesis that, there is not any significant difference between three group of immediate correction, delayed Correction and control group.Methodology: This article was conducted by three groups of 30 subjects and in total, population of 90 learners. The errors committed by three groups of immediate correction, delayed Correction and control group were corrected in three different ways: immediately and with delay and with no special method, respectively. A motivation questionnaire and a language test were given to three groups in the first session of the term and the last session of the term to see the effect of different kind of error correction. The data of pre-test and post-test were analyzed by SPSS and one way ANOVA was used.Findings: The result provided evidence for reject of the hypothesis and immediate group performed better than delayed group and control group.Significance: This study is the first research investigating the effect of error correction time on motivation.  Article visualizations

Numerical Investigation of the Seismic Behavior of Unanchored Steel Tanks with an emphasis on the Uplift Phenomenon

Ground steel storage tanks are widely used in different industries. Regarding the significance of these structures, ensuring the proper performance of such structures in earthquakes needs evaluating their seismic performance. The present study examines the seismic behavior of an unanchored fluid storage system via ABAQUS after validation using an experimental model. Next, the uplift of the bottom sheet is studied using the accelerogram records of the 1940 El Centro and 1994 Northridge earthquakes. The overturning moment time history of the fluid storage system and the maximum overturning moments were obtained to identify their behavior. The results indicated that not bracing storage tanks leads to the uplift phenomenon. Finally, the maximum axial stress of the storage tank shell was compared with the values recommended in the design codes to control the buckling

Introducing teacher action research to language teachers: a new movement in language pedagogy

The main premise of this paper is to highlight the significance of teacher action research in language pedagogy as a tool for English teachers to ameliorate their teaching process. This study seeks to investigate two distinct objectives. First it aims to introduce three types of professional actions in teacher action research (TAR) to a group of English language teachers during pre-service and in-service TAR course program and learn its contributions to their professional development. Secondly, it aims at assessing and evaluating teachers' self-reported changes in knowledge and attitudes towards TAR through a retrospective pre-test. As for the second aim of the study, the researchers also seek to discover possible relationship(s) between variables such as teachers' level of education, their teaching experience, knowledge and attitudes towards TAR (both after and before being familiar with its concept and practice)

An Energy-Efficient Generic Accuracy Configurable Multiplier Based on Block-Level Voltage Overscaling

Voltage Overscaling (VOS) is one of the well-known techniques to increase the energy efficiency of arithmetic units. Also, it can provide significant lifetime improvements, while still meeting the accuracy requirements of inherently error-resilient applications. This paper proposes a generic accuracy-configurable multiplier that employs the VOS at a coarse-grained level (block-level) to reduce the control logic required for applying VOS and its associated overheads, thus enabling a high degree of trade-off between energy consumption and output quality. The proposed configurable Block-Level VOS-based (BL-VOS) multiplier relies on employing VOS in a multiplier composed of smaller blocks, where applying VOS in different blocks results in structures with various output accuracy levels. To evaluate the proposed concept, we implement 8-bit and 16-bit BL-VOS multipliers with various blocks width in a 15-nm FinFET technology. The results show that the proposed multiplier achieves up to 15% lower energy consumption and up to 21% higher output accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art VOS-based multipliers. Also, the effects of Process Variation (PV) and Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) induced delay on the proposed multiplier are investigated. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed multiplier is studied for two different image processing applications, in terms of quality and energy efficiency.Comment: This paper has been published in IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computin