Roland Sussex

The potential of using a mobile phone to access the internet for learning efl listening skills within a korean context

Interest in the use of a mobile phone to access the Internet for learning English in general, and listening skills in particular, has been increasing in Korea over the last few years. However, there has been only a small number of studies on this topic in Korea. The present paper investigates the potential of using a mobile phone to browse wireless application protocol (WAP) sites for the purpose of learning listening skills. The study focuses specifically on the attitudes of language learners toward using a mobile phone for this purpose. The study is based on input, interaction, output and sociocultural theories, as well as on collaborative, learner-centred, constructivist and task-based learning approaches. An experiment was carried out with a group of undergraduate students who had enrolled in a required intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) listening course at a Korean university. A WAP site was designed and used as the instrument for the experiment. This study found that the language learners expressed positive attitudes towards the use of the WAP site. It also found that the WAP site can be effective for learning listening skills and for student-centred and collaborative learning. Based on the findings, it is clear that WAP sites can be effective for learning listening skills, since they can enhance opportunities to learn language skills, and encourage language learners to participate actively in the learning process.

Pain language and gender differences when describing a past pain event.

ABSTRACT Pain is a largely subjective experience, and one which is difficult to convey to others, and relies significantly on language to be communicated. The language used to describe pain is therefore an important aspect of understanding and assessing anothers pain. A growing body of research has reported differences in the pain experienced by men and women. However, few studies have examined gender differences, where gender is understood in both the biological and the social sense, in the language used when reporting pain. The purpose of this descriptive and analytical study was to explore gender differences in the language used by articulate men and women when describing a recollected painful event. Two‐hundred and one students from an Australian university (35.32% males and 64.68% females) provided written descriptions of a past pain event. These descriptions were analysed using content analysis. Gender differences were identified in the words and patterns of language used, the focus of pain descriptions, and the reported emotional response to pain. Women were found to use more words (t = 4.87, p < 0.001), more McGill Pain Questionnaire descriptors (χ2 = 3.07, p < 0.05), more graphic language than men, and typically focused on the sensory aspects of their pain event. Men used fewer words, less descriptive language, and focused on events and emotions. Common themes were the functional limitations caused by pain, difficulty in describing pain, and the dual nature of pain. Clinical implications include the value of gathering free pain descriptions as part of assessment, and the use of written pain descriptions.

On-Line Lexical Resources for Language Learners: Assessment of Some Approaches to Word Definition

This paper reports a comparative evaluation of the Phrasal Definition format of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the Sentence Definition format of the Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary. Eighty-five intermediate to advanced learners of English as a Second Language saw single unfamiliar words and a definition in one or other format, with or without a usage example. Production and comprehension performance measures were found not to vary over the four information conditions, but at the end, subjects expressed strong preferences for having usage examples, and for the sentence format of definition. Results are discussed in terms of the need to develop rich tasks and measures for research on the design of lexical resources, especially to take advantage of the possibilities offered by on-line presentation of such resources.

Code-switching in Bangladesh

A survey of hybridization in proper names and commercial signs. CODE-SWITCHING is commonly seen as more typical of the spoken language. But there are some areas of language use, including business names (e.g. restaurants), where foreign proper names, common nouns and sometimes whole phrases are imported into the written language too. These constitute a more stable variety of code-switching than the spontaneous and more unpredictable code-switching in the spoken language.

Author Languages, Authoring Systems, and Their Relation to the Changing Focus of Computer-Aided Language Learning

Abstract The performance of Computer-Aided Language Learning (“CALL”) to date has been hampered by a lack of programming and software engineering expertise on the part of the language teachers who have become interested in developing CALL. Of the various computer-based software to aid the authoring process, author languages, author programs and author environments are presenting an increasing range of options for the language teacher who is not an expert programmer. However, these software tools are themselves not without limitations. A proper understanding of their actual and potential contribution to CALL serves to define more closely some of the current problems of CALL, and to plot its future development.

THE TEACHER‐LEARNER‐COMPUTER TRIANGLE IN CALL FRAMEWORKS FOR INTERACTION AND ADVICE

(1994). THE TEACHER‐LEARNER‐COMPUTER TRIANGLE IN CALL FRAMEWORKS FOR INTERACTION AND ADVICE. Computer Assisted Language Learning: Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 107-123.

Abstand, Ausbau, creativity and ludicity in Australian English

The social history of a language or variety, and its emergence, consolidation and stabiliza tion, allow us to combine the formal data of the language (principally its sound structure, grammar and lexis) with the external conditions in which they have evolved. The advance of Australian English in terms of its differentiation (Klosss abstand) and elaboration of roles (Klosss ausbau) pose problems of chronology, periodization, description and expla nation. This paper extends the conventional scope of abstand and ausbau to the analysis of the social history of Australian English. It argues that two factors are central to the emerging identification of Australian English: creativity, in the sense of morphological innovation, especially here in diminutives like reffo (‘refugee’) and pollie (‘politician’); and in ludicity, defined as a deep-rooted playfulness with language. While these character istics are only part of the overall dynamics of the social history of Australian English, the evidence is sufficiently extensive to warrant further investigation.

A TOOLS‐BASED ENVIRONMENT FOR DISCOVERY‐ORIENTED CALL: COGNITIVE, PEDAGOGICAL AND ERGONOMIC ISSUES FOR INTERACTIVE LEARNING

(1994). A TOOLS‐BASED ENVIRONMENT FOR DISCOVERY‐ORIENTED CALL: COGNITIVE, PEDAGOGICAL AND ERGONOMIC ISSUES FOR INTERACTIVE LEARNING. Computer Assisted Language Learning: Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 133-149.

Learning English as a second language: towards the “Mayday” intelligent educational system

Abstract The user of an Intelligent Educational System (IES) calls on computer-based tools to carry out learning activities: this interaction constitutes the Task Level (TL). A full IES should also be able to support a Discussion Level (DL) interaction with the learner, which comprises advice, guidance, reflection, evaluation, planning and other meta-level interactions that build on and refer to TL activities. If it proves possible to develop IESs in which the DL and TL interactions are to some extent decoupled , i.e. less than complete knowledge of TL events is used to support DL interactions, then the notoriously difficult task of developing full “intelligent tutors” may be avoided. To investigate such IESs we have chosen as the target domain “lexical expertise” in the learning of English as a Second Language (ESL). Learners use computer-based resources, such as dictionary, thesaurus and more specialized tools, as they undertake TL learning activities to promote their lexical expertise. We study how expert ESL teachers support a DL interaction with these learners as they work at the computer, with the aim of developing computer modules to support a somewhat-decoupled DL interaction. The IES would thus consist of the tools and resources used by the learner at the TL, plus the module that can provide some advice and guidance at the DL.

Disentangling disability in the fear avoidance model: more than pain interference alone.

To the Editor: We read with great interest the article by Pincus et al. We look forward to the practice and research developments that will likely ensue from their thorough consideration of the conceptualization and measurement of the fear and avoidance components of the Fear Avoidance model (FAM). We would like to add to this discussion by attempting to similarly “disentangle” the disability component of this model, and to highlight opportunities to improve its operationalization. Disability is often a poorly defined, understood, and measured concept. The current conceptualization of disability, as endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 2001, is provided by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The ICF defines disability as body function and structure impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions associated with the interaction between a health condition and contextual factors (ie, the environment and personal factors). This moves the experience of disability beyond being simply a direct consequence of pain, to being the result of a complex interaction between an individual and their context. The ICF has made a significant impact on the wider rehabilitation literature, has been endorsed by professional bodies such as the Institutes of Medicine, is being integrated into the OMERACT process and, is central to the first World Report on Disability, scheduled for release in June 2011. Accordingly, Waddell et al have recommended using the ICF as a basis for pain practice. The majority of research examining the FAM has focused on people with low back pain (LBP), with the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and to a lesser extent the Pain Disability Index (PDI), typically being used to measure disability. Upon close examination of these instruments, the stems and majority of items developed before the introduction of the ICF, tend to focus on the direct impact, or the interference, of pain when executing tasks or engaging in social roles. For example, the RMDQ focuses on whether activity performance is altered “because of the pain in my back.” In the ODI, the focus is on the degree to which “pain prevents” activity performance. And, in the PDI, the key issue is to what extent pain has “disrupted or prevented” activity performance. We would contend that, in terms of the ICF, these instruments are more reflective of pain interference rather than disability. In contrast, contemporary disability measures would instead strive to broadly capture problems with, frequency of, or ability to, execute tasks or engage in life situations. This is consistent with recent developments such as the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), which has recognized the importance, but distinctiveness, of pain interference from physical functioning and social participation. These established instruments seem most suited to capturing activity performance that is altered as a direct consequence of pain. They therefore may not be adequate to evaluate disability associated with fears about pain, reinjury, movement, exercise, or activity, as differentiated by Pincus et al. For example, a person with a profound fear of reinjury from household tasks (eg, vacuuming) and subsequent avoidance, might not necessarily endorse items on these instruments, as pain intensity per se is not impacting on performance (“it’s not the pain that’s stopping me, I just don’t want to do anything more to my spine”). Similarly, environmental (physical, social, or attitudinal) influences are unlikely to be adequately captured with these instruments, given their specific focus on the degree to which pain alone impacts performance. For example, disengagement from work may not be a direct consequence of living with LBP, but rather a product of an individual having pain, and of negative attitudes held by an employer toward workers with pain. Such a person may not have beliefs or fears triggering avoidance, however, they would present with greater disability clinically than these measures would indicate (“I’m ready to go back to work, my boss just won’t let me go back until I’m pain free”). These examples highlight the need for more comprehensive measures that are grounded in a modern conceptualization of disability. The ICF provides such a conceptualization, and one that is more comparable with the disability that clinicians and people in pain face each day (ie, disability associated with pain is rarely a simple and direct consequence of it). Furthermore, the universally agreed-upon language and classification system at the heart of the ICF serves as a Rosetta Stone to standardize the description of disability across disciplines and geographic regions. As such, the ICF framework is becoming the new currency for planning, executing, and communicating multidisciplinary assessment and treatment plans. Accordingly, while it has been possible to describe the content of these instruments using this universal language (ie, ICF categories), their inherent focus remains incongruent with the conceptualization of disability provided by this new framework. Tools, such as the ICF LBP Core Sets have been developed to guide the assessment of disability in clinical and research contexts (ie, what to measure). Using these tools to develop new disability measures that operationalize the ICF will enhance the clinical utility of research findings and ensure that pain researchers are not left behind as the world embraces this new standard. The RMDQ, ODI, and PDI have provided a firm platform from which to quantify disability during the development of the FAM. Their psychometric quality has been well demonstrated using classical test theory, and they remain the gold standard. However, the measurement of disability within the FAM, and therefore the operationalized conceptualization of disability, requires further consideration. Developing and using new measures that are grounded in a contemporary conceptualization of disability will assist researchers to refine the theory underpinning the FAM, and to elucidate the most salient and therapeutically modifiable components. Using modern test theory and computerized adaptive testing to do so will move them into a realm far beyond what was practical and possible when current “disability” instruments were produced. It seems high time to take another step along the (never-ending) path toward the Holy Grail. LETTER TO THE EDITOR