The structural sensitivity of elicited imitation as a measure of implicit grammatical knowledge

One of the major issues in SLA is developing language tests that could produce good measures of implicit knowledge. This study examines the validity of an English Elicited Imitation (EI) test as a measure of L2 implicit grammatical knowledge. Forty freshman university students in Turkey took a set of language tests: an EI test, two storytelling tasks, a picture description task, IELTS listening sample tests and a speaking test. Four English morphemes were chosen as the target structures: third person ‘-s’, plural ‘-s’, simple past ‘-ed’, and comparative ‘-er’. Results from a principal component analysis showed that all measures were loaded on a single component labelled as implicit knowledge. Significant correlations with varying magnitude were also recorded between learners’ EI scores for the target structures and their scores on other time-pressured measures: r = .63, r = .63, r = .65 and r = .43, for third person ‘-s’, simple past ‘-ed’, plural ‘-s’ and comparative ‘-er’, respectively. These findings suggest that the likelihood of EI measuring L2 implicit grammatical knowledge may vary depending on language structures. © 2020 EJAL & the Authors

İran bağlamında İngilizce Ortak İletişim Dili (ELF): görev yapan İngilizce öğretmenlerin tutumlarının incelemesi

There is a change in the status of English from a foreign language to a common language of communication among people with different mother languages. While the new profile of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has important implications for language teaching, it is not yet clear how far language teachers in different learning contexts have embraced them. The present study aims to address this issue by exploring the attitudes of in-service English language teachers towards different aspects of ELF in the underexplored context of Iran. Fifty-four Iranian teachers of English from three English language institutes participated in the study. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The participants expressed their attitudes towards different ELF-related pedagogical issues. Findings showed that teachers’ attitudes were multifarious ranging considerably in each domain. While the majority of the teachers favored native speakers’ norms in terms of teaching pronunciation, grammatical accuracy and the exclusive use of materials produced by native speakers, they displayed ELF-informed attitudes towards teaching multicultural awareness. Findings also showed divisions between participants’ attitudes towards the status of native speaker teachers and the use of nonnative materials in listening exams. The diverse attitudes of teachers towards ELF-related issues underscores the need for more fine-grained teaching training programs that are adjusted to instructors’ needs in different learning contexts.İngilizce, yabancı bir dil statüsünden ortak iletişim dili (ELF) statüsüne evrilmektedir. İngilizcenin yeni profilinin dil öğretimi için önemli önerileri olsa da, farklı öğrenme bağlamlarındaki İngilizce öğretmenlerince bu önerilerini ne kadar kabul gördüğü henüz belli değildir. Bu çalışma İran gibi konunun az araştırıldığı bir bağlamda eğitim veren İngilizce öğretmenlerinin ELF’ in farklı boyutlarına yönelik tutumlarını araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmaya İngilizce eğitim veren üç özel kurumdan elli dört İranlı İngilizce öğretmeni katılmıştır. Nitel ve nicel veriler bir anket ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler yoluyla toplanmıştır. Bulgular, öğretmenlerin ELF ilkelerine yönelik tutumlarının oldukça değişken olduğunu göstermiştir. Öğretmenlerin çoğunluğu telaffuz ve dil yapılarının öğretiminde anadili İngilizce olanların normlarının kullanılması gerektiğini ve anadili İngilizce olan kişiler tarafından üretilen materyallerin kullanımını tercih ettiklerini belirtmişlerdir. Fakat aynı zamanda, ELF tarafından önerilen çok kültürlü farkındalık öğretimini tercih etiklerini de ortaya koymuşlardır. Ayrıca bulgular katılımcıların anadili İngilizce olan öğretmenlerin tercih edilmesine dair tutumları ile dinleme sınavlarında anadili İngilizce olmayanlarca hazırlanan materyallerin kullanılması arasında keskin ayrımlar olduğunu göstermiştir. Öğretmenlerin ELF ile ilgili konulara yönelik değişken tutumları, eğitim ve öğretim programlarının farklı öğrenme bağlamlarındaki ihtiyaçlara göre ayarlanması gerektiğinin altını çizmektedir

Recast frequency and the acquisition of English articles in a computer-mediated context

This study examines the role of recast frequency and its effectiveness in the acquisition of English articles in a computer-mediated context. Sixty-one pre-intermediate university language learners in Turkey were randomly divided into four main groups: high frequency recast (HF), low frequency recast (LF), test control, and task control groups. The learners in the HF and LF recast groups completed five and two tasks, respectively, in a video-conferencing environment and received oral recasts on their incorrect use of English articles. Learners in the test control group only took the pre and posttests, and learners in the task control group completed five tasks without receiving feedback on the target structure. The outcome was measured through online picture description and error correction tasks. Findings showed that in the picture description task, learners in the HF group performed significantly better than those in the LF recast group and the control groups. In the error correction task, the results revealed a short-term advantage for learners in the HF group, which faded away in the delayed posttest. Significant correlations were also found between the recast frequency and learners’ score improvement in the immediate and delayed picture description tasks but not in the error correction tasks. These results suggest that recast quantity may play an important role in improving learners’ accuracy of their oral production

An Enumeration of Historical Accounts Selected to Facilitate the Teaching of Key Historical Concepts

The purpose of this study is to (1) ascertain from the literature a number of key core values basic to an understanding of American democracy and (2) to enumerate various counts from United States History, which could be used with elementary school pupils to develop an understanding of these core values

Management of personnel motivation in personnel policy and personnel security management

The article deals with a complex of issues related to the role of personnel motivation and stimulation of employees' activity in modern enterprises. The study of the process of personnel motivation management is carried out. The essence and system of motivation of the personnel in the organizations and its forms are revealed. Methods of staff motivation are considered. The necessity of improvement of stimulation of labor activity of employees in the personnel management system at the enterprises in Ukraine is substantiated

PEMBUATAN PEKTIN DARI KULIT MARKISA KUNING (Passiflora edulis flavicarpa) YANG DIMODIFIKASI

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis flavicarpa) peel, a waste from yellow passion  fruit industry could be utilized to extract pectin. The objectives of this study  were to extract and modify yellow passion fruit pectin from HMP (High Metoxyl Pectin) to LMP (Low Metoxyl Pectin) and compare characteristic both of them. This research was conducted in pectin extraction and then  modify pH of pectin used natrium hydroxide and chloric acid. The result of this research showed that modified pectin succeded to decrease degree of esterification from HMP to become LMP. Modified pectin had a brighter color or not too browny and no aroma. Function group analysis showed that shift in peaks in FTIR confimed a decrease of number methylated –COOH group. The resulting pectins also gelled by charge compensation with acid. It was found a new function group in modified pectin, which was of C=C (aromatic) group. The yield of pectin by extracting was 2,54 % and yiled of pectin after modifying was 94,73 %

Cherry plum (Prúnus cerasiféra) – source material and processed products

Cherry plums are one of the most common types of primary drupes and used in the production of juices, kompot, sweets, jams, confiture. In the catalog of plant varieties of Moldova there is no data on the species of cherry plum which can be used in production. Testing those varieties, from the point of view of agrobiology and chemical and technological characteristics, determines the direction of utilizing them in the secondary industry. Presently, there has appeared an interest in acids based on plants, which will allow to broaden their utility. This includes cherry plum, and will allow for these acids to be used in food products as natural acids (fruit nectar, berries and legumes, juices, sauces, condiments) in place of citric acid. From the varieties of cherry plum presented for testing there have been produced juices and puree (semi-produced from cherry plum) which was used to produce fruit based condiments and sauces. As well as providing tasting qualities, the cherry plum puree also confers acidity to the product. There were determined physicochemical indexes of fresh cherry plums and of their products, fabricated mostly in conformance with recipes and technologies used the food industry, but also with newly developed recipes. Recommendations of rational use of new types of cherry plum, cultivated on experimental plots of IP IŞPHTA, have also been developed, as well as the recommendations for stabilizing and expanding the sphere of use of cherry plums in the food industry

Developing BIOTEL: A Semi-Automated Spreadsheet for Estimating Telomere Length and Biological Age

Introduction: Telomere length (TL) is causally related to aging and several age-related diseases. Specifically, the abundance of short telomeres and the rate of telomere shortening are strong determinants of cell homeostasis. Thus, tools for analyzing and manipulating TL data can vastly improve research focused on aging. Aim: In this study, we developed a semi-automated worksheet, BIOTEL, to generate individual and group TL statistics and provide a crude estimation of biological age.Results: Data from the Telomere Length Database Project (TLDP) were implemented to the spreadsheet to produce TL statistics. 150 participants were included, and their age was from 21 to 82 years, and the sex distribution ratio was 52.3%: 47.7% (male: female). Initially, we analyzed the fluorescence intensities of telomeres that were measured on metaphase spread leukocytes using three-dimensional (3D) quantitative-fluorescent in situ hybridization (Q-FISH) procedures (3D DNA FISH) with a (C3TA2)3 peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe. Raw data of fluorescence intensities, demographic data and medical records from the participants were imported into the worksheet. Basic statistical analyses of TL data were provided through BIOTEL, including TL percentiles, specialized charts for TL distribution including the percentage of critically short telomeres (< 3,000 kilobases), individual telomere profiles, and graphs of biological age vs. chronological age.Conclusion: BIOTEL ver. 2.4 is a functional semi-automated worksheet that calculates a wide range of TL statistics, thus a useful tool with applications in research of telomeres and biological age estimation

Optimiziation of the quality of canned produce using high quality primary products with high biological value

Carrots are a high value raw material, that has nutritional, as well as biological value. It also provides a way to correct human nutritional state and to improve one's immunity to disease. Lately, Vitamin A deficiency has been considered World–wide problem number 3, right after the lack of energy and proteins in dietary intake. Taking into account the high biological activity of vitamin A, carrot selection based on a high carotene value remains a highly relevant problem. The consumption of products with health–improving natural ingredients is constantly rising in the world of healthy diets, and natural products from carrots can contribute to this. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the amount carotene in the root of the orange carrot plant sort, and to determine an assortment of canned carrot goods with high biological value based an carotene content. Presented are the results of the study of carrots cultivated in Moldova in 2013. An assortment of carotene containing canned goods, which can satisfy the daily need in β–carotene, has been identified

Areas of processing sugar corn hybrids of foreign and moldovan selection

Corn (Zea mays L.) is a multi-purpose high-output cereal. Sugar corn beans are used in making preserves when immature, before sugar isconverted into starch. Thirteen hybrids of sugar corn, that are cultivated in Moldova, were studied. They were grown on the testing fields in Bacioi, Chisinau, belonging tothe National Commission charged with the study of plants in year 2010-2011. The research has revealed the hybrids that are best suited for canning