English Case Study Research Articles

Service Awareness in Translation: A Case Study of English and Portuguese Translation of Mo Yan’s Fengru Feitun

“Service awareness” refers to translators’ clear understanding of who they are serving, how they are supposed to serve, and what they are serving for during the translation process. This paper, based on first-hand examples, examines Goldblatt’s English translation and Martins’ Portuguese translation of Mo Yan’s masterpiece Fengru feitun [Big Breasts and Wide Hips] from the perspective of “service awareness in translation”. The present paper finds that both the English translator and the Portuguese translator have good “service awareness” in their translations. Their “service awareness” is mainly reflected in the abridgments and rewritings of the source text at the structural, cultural, and lexical levels. These modifications have improved the readability of the translations. In other words, the translators have offered good “services” to their readers. This study analyzes the reasons behind the abridgements and rewrites.

Exploring the use of Strategies in Academic Writing: A Case Study of English as A Second Language (ESL) Writers

Exploring the use of Strategies in Academic Writing: A Case Study of English as A Second Language (ESL) Writers

Teaching L2 Speaking: A Case Study of English for Academic Purpose Teachers’ Cognition and Practices

Do teachers truly demonstrate their knowledge, beliefs, and feelings about teaching L2 speaking? It is an important question to consider because teachers' cognition functions as an important element that EAP instructors should not overlook. This intrinsic case study attempts to demonstrate the disparities between teachers' perceptions of teaching L2 speaking that are both congruent and incongruent. To supplement the study's goal, one EAP teacher was interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire in which she shared her beliefs about L2 speaking. Following that, one of her lessons was observed using an observation protocol to determine the extent to which her stated beliefs manifested or differed from her classroom practises. To reach the conclusion, patterns in this raw data were matched using thematic analysis. This case study revealed that the observed EAP instructor failed to reflect her perceptions in the classroom while facilitating L2 speaking, despite the fact that her beliefs were reflected in some instances while her class.

Strengthening community empowerment initiatives as a route to greater equity: an English case study

Strengthening community empowerment initiatives as a route to greater equity: an English case study

The Photovoice Project: Fostering Students' Autonomous, Collaborative, and Authentic Business/Engineering English Learning Experiences

This perspective article elaborates an instructional approach to business English learning utilizing a photovoice project as a strategy to promote a real-world learning encounter. In professional and vocational colleges, project-based learning (PBL) is an instructional strategy for promoting autonomous, collaborative, and authentic learning nuances. This article sheds light on how photovoice project fosters the students’ technical and business English learning experiences. The project empowers students to take charge of their learning, work collaboratively, and engage in real-world business context. This paper presents the concept of photovoice, learners’ autonomy and collaboration towards photovoice, authentic business English learning encounters, technology-integrated photovoice, project evaluation, and case studies on photovoice project. On top of that, language teachers can utilize project-based photovoice as a valuable tool for promoting innovative and engaging business English learning activities, thus providing students with contextual-based learning environment and preparing them for the real business world. It also brings several implications: 1) for vocational English teachers, implementing photovoice projects offers a powerful tool to create innovative and engaging learning activities, 2) for students, these projects provide a contextualized learning environment that prepares them for the real business world by developing practical language skills and industry-specific knowledge, and institutions will benefit by fostering an educational approach that bridges classroom learning with real-world applications, thereby enhancing the overall quality and relevance of their programs.

Language proficiency and diversity in students’ attitudes towards code-switching: a case study of English as a foreign language classrooms in Italian tertiary education

By relying on a mixed-method approach consisting of a combination of various quantitative and qualitative techniques of data collection and processing, this article delves into the attitudes towards code switching (CS), as expressed by students attending English language and English linguistics courses at two Italian universities. Data are retrieved by means of a questionnaire, submitted to 297 students in total and including both closed- and open-ended questions. Based on concepts such as those of conversational loci, or CS functions – namely academic, managerial and social, all well-rooted in the literature – this article also aims at establishing a link between students’ attitudes and their respective proficiency level in English according to the CEFR. Despite managing to establish that teacher CS is not felt to have a negative impact on their language skills, the data gathered reveal diverse attitudes, also in relation to the specific functions examined. In the conclusion, possible pedagogical implications of classroom CS are proposed and assessed.

Multiliteracies meet new methods: The case for digital writing in English education case study in G-7 countries.

Recently, globe has tried to transform populace activities to digital platform, wherefrom all stakeholders can attain their basic information. However, education sector cannot be excluded from this debate. Since, the pandemic mostly most economies have utilized digital transformation in different aspects of life, but digital education becomes more prominent. Therefore, this empirical research focuses on digital writing specifically to English education in G-7 economies between the time frame spanning from January 2000 to April 2022. This study considers urbanization, income, renewable energy, information & communication technology, renewable energy, English education, and pandemic as the key environmental determinants. To address the challenges posed by panel data, this study utilized an advanced set of estimators such as AMG stands for Augmented Mean Group. The estimate of urbanization and income per capita is positively significant, confirming that urbanization and economic development cannot protect the green economy by minimizing environmental pollution. Likewise, the estimated coefficient of English Education and internet use is negative and significant, implying that English Education and ICT can protect the green economy by reducing emissions. Conversely, renewable energy consumption (REC) is an element that can increase economic activity and therefore decline the environmental damages to secure a green economy. Likewise, the growth in cases of Covid-19 also reduces the usage of resources like land, water, and forests and subsequently decreases carbon emissions, promoting the green economy. The results also indicate that interaction term of English Education and ICT have adverse impact on Carbon emission (CO2). The outcomes suggest that internet usage (ICT) in English Education (EE) can deal efficiently with environmental issues for the green economy; therefore, EE and ICT should be part of green policies across the international level.

The Effect of Metacognitive Strategy Instruction on Listening Comprehension Performance, A Case Study of English – Majored Freshmen at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University, Viet Nam

The research was carried out with 50 university freshmen at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University (BVU) to find out how metacognitive strategy instruction motivates them to improve their listening comprehension. The researchers executed a qualitative action research method during twelve weeks, using a combination of the teachers and students’ diaries. Then semi-structured interviews in Vietnamese were purposefully administered to the participants and 1 observer by using individual-administered survey procedure. The findings in this paper indicate that metacognitive strategy instruction enhances learners’ listening comprehension performance and should be implemented in English communicative classes.

Service design for children and young people with common mental health problems: literature review, service mapping and collective case study.

The mental health of children/young people is a growing concern internationally. Numerous reports and reviews have consistently described United Kingdom children's mental health services as fragmented, variable, inaccessible and lacking an evidence base. Little is known about the effectiveness of, and implementation complexities associated with, service models for children/young people experiencing 'common' mental health problems like anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and self-harm. To develop a model for high-quality service design for children/young people experiencing common mental health problems by identifying available services, barriers and enablers to access, and the effectiveness, cost effectiveness and acceptability of such services. Evidence syntheses with primary research, using a sequential, mixed-methods design. Inter-related scoping and integrative reviews were conducted alongside a map of relevant services across England and Wales, followed by a collective case study of English and Welsh services. Global (systematic reviews); England and Wales (service map; case study). Literature reviews: relevant bibliographic databases and grey literature. Service map: online survey and offline desk research. Case study: 108 participants (41 children/young people, 26 parents, 41 staff) across nine case study sites. A single literature search informed both reviews. The service map was obtained from an online survey and internet searches. Case study sites were sampled from the service map; because of coronavirus disease 2019, case study data were collected remotely. 'Young co-researchers' assisted with case study data collection. The integrative review and case study data were synthesised using the 'weaving' approach of 'integration through narrative'. A service model typology was derived from the scoping review. The integrative review found effectiveness evidence for collaborative care, outreach approaches, brief intervention services and the 'availability, responsiveness and continuity' framework. There was cost-effectiveness evidence only for collaborative care. No service model appeared to be more acceptable than others. The service map identified 154 English and Welsh services. Three themes emerged from the case study data: 'pathways to support'; 'service engagement'; and 'learning and understanding'. The integrative review and case study data were synthesised into a coproduced model of high-quality service provision for children/young people experiencing common mental health problems. Defining 'service model' was a challenge. Some service initiatives were too new to have filtered through into the literature or service map. Coronavirus disease 2019 brought about a surge in remote/digital services which were under-represented in the literature. A dearth of relevant studies meant few cost-effectiveness conclusions could be drawn. There was no strong evidence to suggest any existing service model was better than another. Instead, we developed a coproduced, evidence-based model that incorporates the fundamental components necessary for high-quality children's mental health services and which has utility for policy, practice and research. Future work should focus on: the potential of our model to assist in designing, delivering and auditing children's mental health services; reasons for non-engagement in services; the cost effectiveness of different approaches in children's mental health; the advantages/disadvantages of digital/remote platforms in delivering services; understanding how and what the statutory sector might learn from the non-statutory sector regarding choice, personalisation and flexibility. This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42018106219. This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme (NIHR award ref: 17/09/08) and is published in full in Health and Social Care Delivery Research; Vol. 12, No. 13. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.

A Genre-Analysis of Complaint Letters: A Case Study of English and Arabic Language

The study purports to examine the generic structure of complaint letters among natives and non-natives of English. A corpus of 80 letters was collected from Algerian Arabic users, EFL learners as well as American and British native speakers of English. The researcher provided the participants with three complaint situations, and they were required to choose only one and write a complaint letter about it. Our analysis drew upon Swales (1990) and Bhatia’s (1993) approach to genre analysis to describe to move structure of such genre. The results revealed that complaint letters in Arabic and English adhere to the same generic structure composed of seven moves and fifteen steps. It was found that several factors, particularly culture, and the correspondents’ social rank significantly influence the overall structure of complaint letters.

Using social media to infer the diffusion of an urban contact dialect: A case study of Multicultural London English

AbstractSociolinguistic research has demonstrated that ‘urban contact dialects’ tend to diffuse beyond the speech communities in which they first emerge. However, no research has attempted to explore the distribution of these varieties across an entire nation nor isolate the social mechanisms that propel their spread. In this paper, we use a corpus of 1.8 billion geo‐tagged tweets to explore the spread of Multicultural London English (MLE) lexis across the United Kingdom. We find evidence for the diffusion of MLE lexis from East and North London into other ethnically and culturally diverse urban centres across England, particularly those in the South (e.g. Luton), but find lower frequencies of MLE lexis in the North of England (e.g. Manchester), and in Scotland and Wales. Concluding, we emphasise the role of demographic similarity in the diffusion of linguistic innovations by demonstrating that this variety originated in London and diffused into other urban areas in England through the social networks of Black and Asian users.

English-for-Specific-Purposes Lecturer in English-Medium-Instruction Environment – Maritime English Case Study

In this paper, the Maritime English lecturer's role is considered from the point of view of their ecologically sustainable development. This will be done according to the survey carried out with experienced and novice Maritime English lecturers. The survey examines the current role of a Maritime English lecturer and seeks to envisage the best course of their future development in an English-medium-instruction (EMI) environment. Thus, a questionnaire with appropriate questions for a group of respondent Maritime English lecturers was created and then distributed; next, the responses were analysed and the results’ overview elaborated; last, an attempt was made to model the Maritime English lecturer's optimum development according to the guidelines of ecological sustainability. The essential prerequisite was to consider the idea of an ecologically sustainable development process, its establishment and purpose, and how it can be overlaid onto the professional and pedagogical role of Maritime English lecturers to support their current role, but also to assist in their future development. The latter seems unavoidable due to changes in the maritime industry and requirements from the maritime educational sector.

Aesthetic communication as a nursing education trend: Case study of teaching professional English

A future medical practitioner is a holder of high moral qualities, possessing ethics and the method of aesthetic communication. A good command of aesthetic communication in nursing practice has a positive impact on achieving desired outcomes. The aim is to highlight the conceptual frame and the specificity of aesthetic communication for future nurses and how to implement it during the educational process. Analysis, synthesis, and systematization were used to shape the complex characteristics of developing aesthetic communication; comparative and descriptive methods were used to distinguish the effective features of aesthetic communication; the analytical method was applied to receive information about the theoretical and practical problems of developing aesthetic communication; and the Pearson test χ2 was used as a statistical method to compare and verify the obtained data. The research involved 90 students of the nursing faculty at Andrey Krupynsky Lviv Medical Academy in Ukraine, divided into experimental and comparison groups. The results showed a high level of aesthetic communication in the experimental group (42%), versus the comparison group (22%). Students’ academic performance improved in four language skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing competence. All students demonstrated significant improvement in speaking fluently due to the implementation of aesthetic communication exercises into the teaching process. Our suggested technique for teaching a basic course, “Professional English”, in combination with an optional course, “Aesthetic Communication,” works properly and should be implemented in other higher educational institutions, as good aesthetic communication skills are crucial in building a nurse-patient relationship.

Automated Scoring of Translations with BERT Models: Chinese and English Language Case Study

With the wide application of artificial intelligence represented by deep learning in natural language-processing tasks, the automated scoring of translations has also advanced and improved. This study aims to determine if the BERT-assist system can reliably assess translation quality and identify high-quality translations for potential recognition. It takes the Han Suyin International Translation Contest as a case study, which is a large-scale and influential translation contest in China, with a history of over 30 years. The experimental results show that the BERT-assist system is a reliable second rater for massive translations in terms of translation quality, as it can effectively sift out high-quality translations with a reliability of r = 0.9 or higher. Thus, the automated translation scoring system based on BERT can satisfactorily predict the ranking of translations according to translation quality and sift out high-quality translations potentially shortlisted for prizes.

Analysing sympathy from a contrastive pragmatic angle: a Chinese–English case study

Abstract In this study, we provide a replicable language-anchored framework for capturing expressions of sympathy in interaction, by contrasting Chinese and English sympathising behaviour. Our framework combines interaction ritual and speech acts, and it captures sympathising without associating it with one particular speech act from the outset. Methodologically, we follow a tripartite design: First we identify puzzlements which ritual sympathising can trigger for Chinese expatriates living in the US and American expatriates in China. We then conduct Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs) to identify conventions of sympathising in the two linguacultures. Finally, we interpret our expatriates’ puzzlement through the outcomes of the DCT analysis.

Student Engagement in Flipped English Classrooms: A Case Study of General English for Adults in an English Course in Jakarta

This research investigates the influence of flipped learning on the engagement of adult participants in non-formal English language programs, considering diverse language proficiency levels. Employing a comprehensive methodology involving observations, interviews, and surveys, the study assesses engagement indicators and captures participants' perspectives. The incorporation of pre-class materials emerges as a significant contributor, empowering students to anticipate and prepare for in-person sessions, thereby fostering confidence and active participation in class discussions. The integration of collaborative group work further enhances engagement by introducing diverse viewpoints. Survey findings align with observations and interviews, affirming the effectiveness of the flipped learning model in augmenting student engagement. The approach also positively impacts students' perceptions of English learning, encouraging a deeper exploration of its practical relevance. This study highlights the crucial role of flipped learning in fostering dynamic and meaningful student engagement, offering valuable insights for educators seeking to optimize their teaching methodologies. Acknowledging limitations in sample size and educational context, the research emphasizes the necessity for future studies in more diverse settings.

Nursing care for women with HELLP syndrome: a scoping review.

To map evidence on nursing care for women with HELLP syndrome. A scoping review with searches carried out in May 2023, independently, in the PubMed/MEDLINE, LILACS, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, CAPES Theses and Dissertations Catalog and Cochrane Library databases, correlating the descriptors HELLP Syndrome, Nursing Care and Obstetric Nursing and its synonyms, without delimitation of time and language. Selection was carried out by three researchers independently and resolved by consensus. Of the 129 studies, ten were selected, which made up the final sample. The studies date from 2004 to 2022, with a predominance of English language and clinical case studies. A greater occurrence of the syndrome was observed in second-time pregnant women in the second decade of life, with a gestational age from 32 weeks, which resulted in an emergency cesarean section, and all newborns were discharged accompanied by their mothers. Studies that described nursing diagnoses and focused on nursing care were retrieved. From the review, 39 nursing care were identified. This review pointed out the magnitude of the syndrome, however with a lack of studies.

Toward an artificial intelligence-based decision framework for developing adaptive e-learning systems to impact learners’ emotions

ABSTRACT Learners’ emotional states might change during the learning process, and unpredictable variations of a person’s emotions raise the demand for regular assessment of feelings during learning. In this paper, an AI-based decision framework is proposed and implemented for e-learning systems that identify suitable micro-brake activities based on the learner’s emotional state through an evolutionary genetic algorithm to change learner’s mood and increase learning performance. This proposed framework was tested using a case study of English as a second language learner during one semester. The students were divided into two groups of participants (each group containing twenty students, forming a total of 40 students). The results of this study demonstrated the importance of learners’ emotions in their learning performance and proved the effectiveness of our proposed framework and the success of the recommended micro-break activities chosen based on learners’ emotions and preferences. The findings of this study have important practical implications in designing adaptive e-learning systems and learning management systems such as Moodle. They also contribute to theoretical implications in the field of AI and learner emotions by suggesting a novel approach to identifying, categorizing, and offering a learning path that can cater to the needs of individual learners.

(Re-)exploring the normal modes of axisymmetric structures: An English church bell case study

The normal modes of axisymmetric structures are of interest to structural engineers, physicists and musical acousticians. Previously, some of the present authors have made studies of church bells, hand bells, elephant bells, various gongs and rings. Group theoretical arguments have been used, with considerable success, in classifying the normal modes of these structures and in understanding how “beats” arise from split degenerate doublets. It is now pointed out that further information can be obtained from group theory using a variety of additional arguments. In particular, it infers a basic distinction between “in-extensional” and “extensional” types of modes. In the present work, we concentrate on the case of an English church bell, as an example axisymmetric structure, whose normal modes were previously measured in a frequency range of up to about 10 kHz. In that earlier work, the results were analyzed with what was then considered a state-of-the-art finite-element package. We now repeat this exercise with a modern finite-element package to explore the differences between the types of modes and validate the Group theory observations. The agreement with experiment is much improved and some new level of understanding of the spectrum of the bell is achieved.

Bilingual Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training (BAbSANT): A Russian–English case study

AbstractBAbSANT (Bilingual Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training) is a novel, theoretically motivated approach to anomia therapy for bilingual persons with aphasia (BPWA). We report on a Russian-dominant, Russian–English BPWA, who was trained on abstract English and Russian words. We hypothesized both within- and cross-language generalization when the non-dominant language was trained, and only within-language generalization when the dominant language was trained. We also hypothesized that cross-language generalization is modulated by nonverbal cognitive control. Results revealed that when English abstract words were trained, within-language generalization to concrete words and cross-language generalization to Russian abstract words was observed, confirming our first hypothesis. However, our second hypothesis was not confirmed. When Russian was trained, direct effects of treatment and within- or cross-language generalization effects were not observed. Our third hypothesis was confirmed. Results from cognitive control tasks from this individual suggest a role of nonverbal cognitive control on cross-language treatment outcomes.