Since the advent of new technology for learning, innovative language instructors have been constantly seeking new pedagogy to match the potential of technology-enhanced instruction. While previous ...studies have supported the adoption of technologies to facilitate language teaching and learning, research into enhancing English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' oral proficiency by creating an online learning community in a flipped classroom remains insufficient. Therefore, the current study examined the impact of an online learning community in a flipped classroom, specifically via mobile platforms, on EFL learners' oral proficiency and student perceptions. Fifty English-majored sophomores enrolled in two oral training classes at a four-year comprehensive university in central Taiwan participated in this study. A mixed method was employed to analyze multiple sources of data, including pre- and post-tests on oral reading and comprehension questions, a ＂Community of Inquiry＂ (CoI) questionnaire, and semi-structured focus-group interviews. The results from multiple sources indicated that the online learning community not only facilitated meaningful and positive collaboration but also significantly improved the participants' oral proficiency, thus leading to more active engagement in highly interactive learning activities, such as storytelling, dialogue collaboration, class discussion, and group presentations.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This prospective, longitudinal study explored changes in and modifiable factors associated with high self‐perceived burden to others (SPB) among a convenience sample of 276 dyads of terminally ill ...Taiwanese cancer patients and their family caregivers over patients’ last year of life. High SPB was evaluated by scores ≥20 on the Self‐Perceived Burden Scale. Modifiable factors of high SPB included factors related to both patients (i.e., symptom distress, functional dependence and coping capacity) and caregivers (i.e., caregiving burden, depressive symptoms and quality of life QOL). Modifiable factors of high SPB were identified by multivariate logistic regression modelling with the generalised estimating equation while controlling for demographic factors. We found that patients tended to experience high SPB if they had more symptom distress. In contrast, the likelihood of high SPB was significantly lower if patients had greater coping capacity and their caregivers reported better QOL. High SPB was not associated with patients’ functional dependence, caregivers’ caregiving burden and depressive‐symptom level while providing end‐of‐life (EOL) care, and time proximity to death. Healthcare professionals may alleviate terminally ill cancer patients’ high SPB at EOL through palliative care that adequately manages patients’ physical symptom distress, enhances patients’ coping capacity and improves family caregivers’ QOL.
Various studies have reported the physical and mental health benefits from exposure to "green" neighborhoods, such as proximity to neighborhoods with trees and vegetation. However, no studies have ...explicitly assessed the association between exposure to "green" surroundings and cognitive function in terms of student academic performance. This study investigated the association between the "greenness" of the area surrounding a Massachusetts public elementary school and the academic achievement of the school's student body based on standardized tests with an ecological setting. Researchers used the composite school-based performance scores generated by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to measure the percentage of 3rd-grade students (the first year of standardized testing for 8-9 years-old children in public school), who scored "Above Proficient" (AP) in English and Mathematics tests (Note: Individual student scores are not publically available). The MCAS results are comparable year to year thanks to an equating process. Researchers included test results from 2006 through 2012 in 905 public schools and adjusted for differences between schools in the final analysis according to race, gender, English as a second language (proxy for ethnicity and language facility), parent income, student-teacher ratio, and school attendance. Surrounding greenness of each school was measured using satellite images converted into the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in March, July and October of each year according to a 250-meter, 500-meter, 1,000-meter, and 2000-meter circular buffer around each school. Spatial Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) estimated the impacts of surrounding greenness on school-based performance. Overall the study results supported a relationship between the "greenness" of the school area and the school-wide academic performance. Interestingly, the results showed a consistently positive significant association between the greenness of the school in the Spring (when most Massachusetts students take the MCAS tests) and school-wide performance on both English and Math tests, even after adjustment for socio-economic factors and urban residency.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Instruction in English is a priority around the globe, but instructional methodologies have not always kept pace with the changing needs of students. To explore the benefits of the flipped classroom ...model for learners of English as a Foreign Language, the researchers used flipped learning and Wen's Output-driven/Input-enabled model to design a holistic oral training course that included extensive online written and verbal communication for the learning of a wide range of English idioms. The participants were 48 sophomore English majors in two required English oral training classes. A within-subjects research design exposed all participants to learning English idioms by flipped learning, using the LINE smartphone app, and by conventional instruction. A mixed research method was employed, using multiple sources of data collection, including pre- and post-tests on idioms, two questionnaires ("Perception of Flipped Learning Experience" and "Technology Acceptance Model"), the teachers' in-class observations, and semi-structured focus-group interviews. The results revealed that the theory-based flipped instruction using online written and oral interaction not only enhanced the participants' motivation, making them more active in using idioms in class, but also significantly improved their idiomatic knowledge, indicating that the flipped learning was successful in achieving the instructional goals of the class. The authors present insights into the impact of theory-based flipped learning on motivation and idiomatic acquisition; student impressions of the online platform used, LINE; and offer recommendations for practice.
Transcription factors (TFs) are sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins acting as critical regulators of gene expression. The Plant Promoter Analysis Navigator (PlantPAN; ...http://PlantPAN2.itps.ncku.edu.tw) provides an informative resource for detecting transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), corresponding TFs, and other important regulatory elements (CpG islands and tandem repeats) in a promoter or a set of plant promoters. Additionally, TFBSs, CpG islands, and tandem repeats in the conserve regions between similar gene promoters are also identified. The current PlantPAN release (version 2.0) contains 16 960 TFs and 1143 TF binding site matrices among 76 plant species. In addition to updating of the annotation information, adding experimentally verified TF matrices, and making improvements in the visualization of transcriptional regulatory networks, several new features and functions are incorporated. These features include: (i) comprehensive curation of TF information (response conditions, target genes, and sequence logos of binding motifs, etc.), (ii) co-expression profiles of TFs and their target genes under various conditions, (iii) protein-protein interactions among TFs and their co-factors, (iv) TF-target networks, and (v) downstream promoter elements. Furthermore, a dynamic transcriptional regulatory network under various conditions is provided in PlantPAN 2.0. The PlantPAN 2.0 is a systematic platform for plant promoter analysis and reconstructing transcriptional regulatory networks.
The authors conducted a worldwide survey to explore the experiences of higher education faculty who converted classes to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most respondents experienced ...much higher workloads and stress than in face-to-face classes. Previous experience with Online Distance Learning (ODL) predicted positive faculty response. Less than half used a school-provided LMS, instead using a wide range of other technologies. Respondents said they learned the need for adaptability and good planning, emphasizing doing what it takes to serve their students. There was high variability in most answers, indicating that the experiences of individual teachers ranged widely between positive and negative. The researchers provide recommendations based on the findings, including the need for better ODL instructional design training as part of long-term professional development for faculty and remembering the importance of all student higher education experiences, many of which are beyond the scope of the actual classes.
Summary
Despite intensive research on perceived overqualification, empirical evidence on overqualified employees' job search behavior remains relatively insufficient. Notably, no studies have ...explored the possible link between perceived overqualification and internal job searching behaviors. In the present study, we consider whether—and more importantly when—employees with high perception of overqualification search for internal and external job opportunities. Applying the ability–motivation–opportunity (AMO) framework, we propose and test a model that specifies how motivation and opportunity to move or stay activate differential effects in overqualifiers' job searching process. Results from two studies surveying employees in Taiwan (Study 1: N = 268; Study 2: N = 210) show that overqualifiers displayed greater intentions to leave the current job and, in turn, engaged in more external job search behaviors; this relation was strongest for those whose perceived ease of movement and proactive personality increased or person–organization (PO) fit decreased. Furthermore, overqualifiers displayed greater intentions to leave the current job and also increased their internal job search behaviors; this relation was strongest for those whose perceived ease of movement and PO fit increased. A series of supplemental analyses also lends support to our theorizing.
This qualitative study aims to explore how the production of language learning materials using spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) affords pre-service teachers multiliteracy development ...while also attempting to discover their perceptions toward adopting this emerging technology for future language teaching. Data from multiple sources was collected from pre-service English teachers enrolled in a TESOL graduate program in Taiwan, including video-recordings of the participants' presentations on their final SVVR projects and their self-generated VR teaching materials/artifacts, with two one-to-one semi-structured interviews further analyzed based on thematic analysis. The major findings demonstrate that through conducting the SVVR project, participants learned: (1) to compose multimodal lessons; (2) to concretize intangible contexts for learning; and (3) to use space as a mode for teaching and learning. The authors presented insights into affordance of SVVR material production for their multiliteracy development of engaging pre-service English teachers, as well as their perceptions with regard to this SVVR hands-on experience. Moreover, the authors offer recommendations for putting such experience into practice.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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