Positive Effects of Bilingualism: Divergent Thinking and Its Implications for Language Education

The issue of bilingualism has been widely explored in the past decades,showing that there are multiple positive effects of"additive bilingualism".Such positive factors are closely linked with children’s cognitive development and intelligence.This paper gives a detailed review on how bilingualism plays a role in children’s divergent thinking ability.Fully taking advantage of such positive effects in language education should be a significant part for bilingual education and foreign language programs.Thus,this paper further discusses the educational implications of these theoretic findings,suggesting that an additive bilingual environment should be cultivated through multiple ways of curriculum and program planning.     

决策树挖掘技术在手术诊断上的实现

在ID3算法基础上提出了基于卡方测试的前剪枝算法,并在Jbuilder2006系统下构建了一个基于决策树挖掘技术的可视化决策系统。该研究基于B/S架构的系统,通过浏览器自动将服务器上的Applet下载到客户端来访问系统,实现了医疗系统的手术诊断数据表的数据挖掘,所得到的实验结果与专家诊断结果基本吻合,取得了较好的实际应用效果。     

An Ethical Exercise for the Social Studies Classroom: The Trolley Dilemma

The Trolley Problem as defined in this paper is a series, or continuation, of increasingly difficult ethical riddles successfully implemented in a classroom environment to spur complex, critical thinking and dialogue. The activity is designed upon the scenario of a runaway train with different and challenging choices, segueing neatly into group discussions of ethics while limiting potential disruptions or controversies. It fits nicely with multiple standards, goals and/or outcomes and can be accommodated to multiple grade levels and courses. It is a powerful, yet easily implemented classroom exercise for educators to develop higher order thinking and dialogue for their students.     

A test of anxiety/uncertainty management theory: The intercultural adaptation context

Anxiety/Uncertainty Management theory, as formulated by Gudykunst and Hammer (1987a), proposes that intercultural adaptation outcomes are based on the two mediating dimensions of uncertainty reduction and anxiety reduction and sixteen secondary variables that systematically influence uncertainty and anxiety reduction. In this paper, the sixteen variables originally identified are categorized into four “fundamental factors”; (interpersonal saliencies, intergroup saliencies, communication message exchange, and host contact conditions). The present study examines this revised Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) theory of intercultural adaptation. A total of 291 international students at two universities in the United States participated in the study. The study found overall fit of the revised AUM theory vis‐a‐vis the two mediating factors of uncertainty and anxiety reduction, the importance of interpersonal saliencies for uncertainty reduction, and the importance of host contact conditions for facilitating feelings of comfort and reducing anxiety. Intergroup saliencies were significantly related to uncertainty reduction but not, contrary to expectation, to anxiety reduction. Communication message exchange (which consists of information gathering strategies and second language proficiency) was, again contrary to expectation, not significantly related to either uncertainty or anxiety reduction. Finally, cultural identity showed a small though significant negative relationship to intergroup saliencies, suggesting a stronger, ingroup identity was associated with increased uncertainty. The paper concludes by proffering explanations for the findings and suggestions for future research.     

A ‘whole-school/community development’ approach to preventing and countering bullying: the Erris Anti-Bullying Initiative (2009–2011)

This paper describes how a ‘whole-school/community development’ anti-bullying programme was designed, implemented and evaluated in an initiative in Erris, Co. Mayo, Ireland, involving local primary and post-primary schools and community groups. Students from seven participating schools (five primary, two post-primary) completed modified versions of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire both prior to and following programme implementation. Thereafter, there were reductions in students' reports of involvement in bully/victim problems and increases in their reports of feelings about bullying and countering bullying that were consistent with an anti-bullying ethos. The sizes of these effects were modest, in some cases perhaps due to the significantly low incidence of students' involvement in bully/victim problems prior to the programme. This model is in continued use in Erris, and in its further development it is intended to seek out opportunities to implement and evaluate it in other locations.     

Australian academics’ perspectives on quality and accountability

Abstract

Universities have been challenged as teaching as well as research institutions. On the one hand, universities have been required to teach more students and pay more attention to quality of teaching and educational programmes; on the other hand, there has been increasing focus on faculty research performance. This paper examines whether these are conflicting demands, or whether university faculty are able to fulfil these requirements simultaneously. In Norway, the number of university students almost doubled between 1987 and 1995. Norway is, therefore, a sound case to examine the impact of massification on university research.     

Effects of the WhyTry social skills program on students with emotional and/or behavioral problems in an alternative school

Social skills training (SST) is an evidence-based intervention to help increase social competence for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), but there is limited research that addresses SST for students identified as experiencing EBD at alternative campuses. A mixed methods design was utilized to examine SST at an alternative campus for students identified as experiencing EBD. Pre-intervention data were collected for students' attendance, grades, office disciplinary referrals, and behavioral rating scales, after which the WhyTry SST program (Moore 2008 Moore, C. 2008. The WhyTry Program, Salt Lake City, UT: WhyTry.  [Google Scholar], WhyTry, Salt Lake City, UT, USA) was implemented. Following the intervention, the same data were collected. Non-parametric statistics guided the quantitative analysis, because of the small population being studied. Differences from pre- to post-intervention were examined. Students exhibited significant differences from pre- to post-intervention in the number of office disciplinary referrals and several areas on the behavioral rating scales. Triangulation methods drove the qualitative data collection through observations, student interviews, and teacher interviews. Insight into motivation and perceptions was gained through the qualitative analysis.     

The reality of virtual worlds: pros and cons of their application to foreign language teaching

This article presents our experience of testing the OpenSim platform as a tool in teaching French to 108 tourism students at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, Spain). The article begins with some theoretical reflections on the behaviour of the student when using a virtual platform by means of an avatar, and with our observations of how this doubling of identity is actually the greatest asset of virtual worlds when we intend to apply them to teaching (1. Introduction). Then we move on to present our goals and method of work (2. Aims and methodology) and to analyse the development of the virtual space or sim, setting out the teaching strategies that were employed in each of the islands we created, and which correspond to reading comprehension, listening comprehension and written expression (3. Metaverse design). In order to assess the language learning results, we also devised tests throughout the experiment, which were repeated one month later. The assessment shows that the process of language acquisition is positive (4. Results analysis). Finally, we demonstrate that the rise of virtual worlds has been backed up by psycholinguistic factors, but at the same time their applicability and sustainability depend on technical aspects and very especially on theoretical and pedagogical tenets which are still to be drawn up (5. Conclusions).     

Black bodies,White rural spaces: disturbing practices of unbelonging for ‘refugee’ students

In global times, when the forced migration of refugees from war-torn countries like Sudan impacts the demography of once ethnically homogenous schooling spaces, I consider the need to better understand the geographical making of racism. This article explores the lived experience of two newly arrived Sudanese students studying at a rural high school in Australia. Using Foucaultian theory, and Foucault’s theories as they have been taken up by Judith Butler, I explore the production of educational exclusions at a rural school. I investigate the Sudanese students’ struggle for belonging against particular discourses of rural Whiteness. In the students’ rural schooling space, their Black bodies are highly visible and are discursively cast as ‘out of place’. I examine the way discourses of rural Whiteness produce schooling exclusions that implicate schools in the spatial regulation of unbelonging.     

Dynamic analysis of a high-speed train operating on a curved track with failed fasteners

A high-speed train-track coupling dynamic model is used to investigate the dynamic behavior of a high-speed train operating on a curved track with failed fasteners. The model considers a high-speed train consisting of eight vehicles coupled with a ballasted track. The vehicle is modeled as a multi-body system, and the rail is modeled with a Timoshenko beam resting on the discrete sleepers. The vehicle model considers the effect of the end connections of the neighboring vehicles on the dynamic behavior. The track model takes into account the lateral, vertical, and torsional deformations of the rails and the effect of the discrete sleeper support on the coupling dynamics of the vehicles and the track. The sleepers are assumed to move backward at a constant speed to simulate the vehicle running along the track at the same speed. The train model couples with the track model by using a Hertzian contact model for the wheel/rail normal force calculation, and the nonlinear creep theory by Shen et al. (1984) is used for wheel/rail tangent force calculation. In the analysis, a curved track of 7000-m radius with failed fasteners is selected, and the effects of train operational speed and the number of failed fasteners on the dynamic behaviors of the train and the track are investigated in detail. Furthermore, the wheel/rail forces and derailment coefficient and the wheelset loading reduction are analyzed when the high-speed train passes over the curved track with the different number of continuously failed fasteners at different operational speeds. Through the detailed numerical analysis, it is found that the high-speed train can operate normally on the curved track of 7000-m radius at the speeds of 200 km/h to 350 km/h.