Content Words Research Articles

The ideal versus the real: Mismatches in reading instruction for emergent bilinguals in secondary science classrooms

AbstractThe emphasis on language and literacy in science education research has urged science teachers to include reading as an integral part of learning science. However, in US secondary schools, the percentage of students reading under grade level is high, and emergent bilinguals (EBs) are significantly represented among this group. While researchers across disciplines have proposed a number of prescriptive reading practices in science classrooms tightly aligned with instructional standards, few scholars have closely examined the starting point of reading instruction in science classrooms, and even fewer have focused on actual instruction for EBs in these classrooms. This study examines the nature of existing reading practices in science classrooms, with a particular focus on EBs. Using a qualitative multiple case study method, this study found significant mismatches between actual classroom practices and the ideal prescriptions about science reading instruction portrayed in educational standards and research. This study also found that teachers were battling numerous obstacles to implementing research/standards‐based prescriptions. With the implications of science reading instruction for EBs' language and science content learning, this article will contribute to developing reading instruction and practices grounded in real classrooms and improving the instructional environment for reading‐inclusive science classrooms.

Automated free speech analysis reveals distinct markers of Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia

Dementia can disrupt how people experience and describe events as well as their own role in them. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) compromises the processing of entities expressed by nouns, while behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) entails a depersonalized perspective with increased third-person references. Yet, no study has examined whether these patterns can be captured in connected speech via natural language processing tools. To tackle such gaps, we asked 96 participants (32 AD patients, 32 bvFTD patients, 32 healthy controls) to narrate a typical day of their lives and calculated the proportion of nouns, verbs, and first- or third-person markers (via part-of-speech and morphological tagging). We also extracted objective properties (frequency, phonological neighborhood, length, semantic variability) from each content word. In our main study (with 21 AD patients, 21 bvFTD patients, and 21 healthy controls), we used inferential statistics and machine learning for group-level and subject-level discrimination. The above linguistic features were correlated with patients’ scores in tests of general cognitive status and executive functions. We found that, compared with HCs, (i) AD (but not bvFTD) patients produced significantly fewer nouns, (ii) bvFTD (but not AD) patients used significantly more third-person markers, and (iii) both patient groups produced more frequent words. Machine learning analyses showed that these features identified individuals with AD and bvFTD (AUC = 0.71). A generalizability test, with a model trained on the entire main study sample and tested on hold-out samples (11 AD patients, 11 bvFTD patients, 11 healthy controls), showed even better performance, with AUCs of 0.76 and 0.83 for AD and bvFTD, respectively. No linguistic feature was significantly correlated with cognitive test scores in either patient group. These results suggest that specific cognitive traits of each disorder can be captured automatically in connected speech, favoring interpretability for enhanced syndrome characterization, diagnosis, and monitoring.

Ethnic Media and the Mobilization of Identity

This paper studies the relationship between ethnic media, which produce content in a minority language, and the success of ethnic parties. I argue that, by embedding cultural traits in entertainment products, media outlets can shape the salience of group identity, which helps parties’ mobilization efforts. I test this argument in the case of the Basque Country where, in the late phase of the Franco regime, an independent radio station operated by local clergy promoted the revival of regional language. Using contemporary, archival, and survey data, I show that exposure to ethnic radio increased support for new radical independentist parties and that the effect is driven by formerly Spanish-speaking municipalities with low historical support for Basque nationalism. I also show that radio increased bilingualism in subsequent generations and contributed to the bundling of ethnic identity revival and radical political ideology during the democratic transition.

Gender Communication Differences on a Pediatric Provider Listserv.

Gender-based communication differences are described in educational online communities, but have not been rigorously evaluated in medical online communities. Understanding gender differences in communication may provide insight into gender disparities in the medical profession. Our objective was to describe gender differences in post frequency, content, and language styles on the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Hospital Medicine (SOHM) listserv. Posts were obtained from publicly available SOHM listserv archives. The first month of every quarter of 2019 and 2020 were reviewed. Two reviewers assigned a post topic (clinical, research, etc) and format (question vs statement) to all deidentified original posts (K = 1.0 topic, 0.89 format). Six trained reviewers assigned language styles (intraclass coefficient = 0.73, indicating good agreement). We analyzed 1592 posts: 287 original posts and 1305 responses. Frequency: Women authored 50% of posts. The 9 most frequent posters (7 men, 2 women) accounted for 19.5% of posts. Content: Men's posts had more words than women's (132.51 vs 112.3, P ≤ .01). Men were more likely to post about health policy and research (P < .001). Men were more likely to post statements compared with women (39% vs 21%, P < .001). Style: Men's posts were more likely to be coded adversarial (12.3% vs 5.5%, P < .001) authoritative (12.2% vs 6.5%, P < .001) or self-amplifying (6.5% vs 3.6%, P < .001). Women contribute disproportionately fewer posts to the American Academy of Pediatrics SOHM listserv compared with their percentage in the subspecialty. We noted significant gender differences in language style and content, which may impact career development and online community inclusion.

The impact of alcohol on affiliative verbal behavior: Asystematic review and meta-analysis.

Language is a fundamental aspect of human social behavior that is linked to many rewarding social experiences, such as social bonding. Potential effects of alcohol on affiliative language may therefore be an essential feature of alcohol reward and may elucidate pathways through which alcohol is linked to social facilitation. Examinations of alcohol's impact on language content, however, are sparse. Accordingly, this investigation represents the first systematic review and meta-analysis of alcohol's effects on affiliative language. We test the hypothesis that alcohol increases affiliative verbal approach behaviors and discuss future research directions. PsycInfo and Web of Science were systematically searched in March 2023 according to our preregistered plan. Eligible studies included social alcohol administration experiments in which affiliative verbal language was assessed. We present a random-effects meta-analysis that examines the effect of alcohol compared to control on measures of affiliative verbal behavior. Our search identified 16 distinct investigations (comprising 961 participants) that examined the effect of alcohol on affiliative verbal behavior. Studies varied greatly in methods and measures. Meta-analytic results demonstrated that alcohol is modestly associated with increases in affiliative verbal behavior (Hedges' g = 0.164, 95% CI [0.027, 0.301], p = 0.019). Study quality was rated using an adapted version of the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies and did not significantly moderate alcohol's effects. This study provides preliminary evidence that alcohol can increase affiliative verbal behaviors. This effect may be an important feature of alcohol reward. Given heterogeneity in study features, low study quality ratings, and limited reporting of effect size data, results simultaneously highlight the promise of this research area and the need for more work. Advances in language processing methodologies that could allow future work to systematically expand upon this finding are discussed.

Cultural Adaptation and Development of an Educational Intervention 'Meri Sehat, Mere Rules' Relating to Cardiovascular Disease Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis for South Asian People.

The cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is elevated by 1.5 times among South Asians with rheumatological conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the UK. However, there is a dearth of culturally sensitive educational interventions tailored to this population. We have culturally adapted an existing cognitive behavioural patient education intervention, originally designed for predominantly White populations, to address this gap. The adaptation process followed the Ecological Validity Model, comprising four phases: stage-setting and expert consultations, preliminary content adaptation, iterative content adaptation with patient partners, and finalisation with patient partners and feedback. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) was employed to evaluate the relevance, acceptability, and cultural adaptation of the existing intervention. Seven South Asian Patient Experts with RA were interviewed, and their input aided in developing new content for the culturally sensitive intervention. The intervention was successfully adapted to suit South Asians. Cultural adaptation involved reviewing elements of the existing intervention, including language tone, content, and metaphors. Moreover, by incorporating behaviour change techniques, the content was designed to enhance understanding of RA, CVD risk associated with RA, and promote a healthy lifestyle. The newly developed educational intervention addressed topics such as community resistance, perspectives on health and culture, societal pressure, and opportunities for change. Key messages were visually illustrated through pictorial diagrams in a twenty-five-minute online resource. The first culturally adapted CVD intervention targeting South Asian individuals with RA, particularly those who are non-English-speaking, is now accessible free of charge at www.nras.org.uk/apnijung nationally and internationally.

A Contrastive Study of the Grammaticalization Between “Gan Jing” and “Clean” Based on Corpus

Based on corpus study, this paper makes a diachronic study of the grammaticalization process of the Chinese word “Gan Jing” and English word “clean”. The study shows that both “Gan Jing” and “clean” gradually lose their original meaning and change from a content word to a functional word. The mechanisms of the grammaticalization include reanalysis, analogy, semantic bleaching, metonymy and metaphor, as well as subjectivity. These changes can be attributed to the principle of economy. Though “Gan Jing” and “clean” share many similarities in grammaticalization path, mechanisms and motivations, the use frequency of them varies. The lowly grammaticalized form of “Gan Jing” is most used while the highly-intensified meaning of “clean” is used more widely.

Tone Tracker

Abstract: Tone Tracker's integration of BERT and LSTM technologies allows it to predict and flag offensive language in both Tamil and English social media comments. BERT, a transformer-based model, enables the tool to understand the semantic context of text in multiple languages, ensuring accurate detection of inappropriate content regardless of language. The incorporation of LSTM further enhances this capability by capturing nuanced contextual information, refining the tool's proficiency in content moderation for both Tamil and English content. With its user-friendly features, Tone Tracker becomes accessible to a diverse user base, empowering them to swiftly remove offensive content in both languages and contribute to fostering a secure digital environment. This groundbreaking innovation not only boosts content moderation efficiency but also ensures scalability across various digital platforms, making it adaptable to the linguistic diversity of online communities. Ultimately, Tone Tracker, powered by LSTM and BERT, plays a pivotal role in cultivating positive online spaces where users can engage confidently and respectfully in both Tamil and English.

Exploring Sentiment Analysis across Text, Audio, and Video: A Comprehensive Approach and Future Directions

Abstract: This study presents a comprehensive exploration of sentiment analysis techniques across text, audio, and video modalities. Leveraging natural language processing (NLP), speech recognition, and computer vision algorithms, the research demonstrates the versatility and adaptability of sentiment analysis across diverse data sources. The necessity of such an approach lies in its ability to provide deeper insights into user emotions and opinions expressed in various mediums, including written text, spoken language, and visual content. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of sentiment analysis in understanding customer feedback, market trends, social media sentiments, and sentiment-aware recommendation systems. Future directions include advancing algorithmic accuracy and efficiency, integrating multimodal fusion techniques, and exploring applications in diverse domains, thereby paving the way for enhanced sentiment analysis capabilities and broader realworld applications

ASSESSMENT OF YORUBA LANGUAGE CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION IN LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

There is notable inadequacy in the amount of Yoruba Language content being offered to learners, which could impede their self-sufficiency. It thus appears that the methods and instructional materials stipulated for Yoruba Language Curriculum are not adequately used to impart knowledge to the pupils. This study, therefore, examined the qualifications of teachers teaching Yoruba Language in lower primary schools in Osun State; assessed the availability and usage of instructional materials in teaching Yoruba Language in the lower primary schools and ascertained the appropriateness of the methods being used as stipulated in the Yoruba Language curriculum in the study area. These were with a view to providing empirical information on the quality of teachers teaching Yoruba Language, the availability as well as usage of instructional materials and the appropriateness of the methods being used at the lower primary schools in Osun State. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Three research instruments were employed in this study namely Yoruba Language Teachers’ Questionnaire (YLTQ), Yoruba Language Instructional Material Checklist (YLIMC) and Yoruba Language Teaching Method Observation Checklist (YLTMOC). Data collected were analyzed using percentages and frequency counts. The results showed that majority (62.8%) of the Yoruba Language teachers possessed Nigerian Grade II Teachers Certificate and the National Certificate of Education (NCE) as their educational qualifications. The findings of the study also showed that most of the instructional materials that were available in the schools were not adequately used by the teachers teaching Yoruba Language in the study area The study further revealed that methods used in majority of the schools are appropriate as prescribed by the National Policy on Education (2013).Keywords: Yoruba Language; curriculum; lower primary; instructional resources

Development of Interactive Video Media to Improve Skill in Writing Simple Sentences of Serang Java Language Local Content Subjects

This study aims to develop interactive video media to enhance the ability of fourth-grade students at a state elementary school in Serang City to write simple sentences. Researchers utilized the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) as outlined by Robert Maribe Branch in a Research and Development (RD) framework. The study involved trials with fourth-grade students using the developed interactive video media. The trials were conducted to gather responses from the students as users of the learning media. The validation assessment by media experts scored 165 with a 94.3% rating in the "Decent" category, while material experts gave a score of 89 with an 89% rating in the same category. The small group trial received a score of 267 with an 83.4% rating, and the field trial scored 641 with an 80.12% rating, both categorized as "Decent." The pretest and posttest results, analyzed using the N-Gain formula, showed an average score of 0.5 with a 100% rating in the "Medium" category. The findings indicate that the developed interactive video media, incorporating local Javanese Banten language content, effectively improves student learning outcomes in fourth-grade elementary school students. Interactive video media is a suitable tool for enhancing sentence writing skills among fourth-grade students at the elemenatary school, demonstrating significant improvements in their learning outcomes.

Empowering Indonesian internet users: An approach to counter online toxicity and enhance digital well-being

The proliferation of online toxicity, characterized by offensive and disrespectful language, has been a pervasive issue in Indonesia’s digital environment, impacting users’ mental health and well-being. Simultaneously, the potential of Natural Language Processing (NLP) in detecting and managing toxic comments provides a promising avenue for mitigating online toxicity. This study presents a 3-stages methodology consisting of type, target audience, and topics to detect and categorize online toxicity in the Indonesian language using fine-tuned IndoBERTweet and Indonesian RoBERTa models. The results indicate that the IndoBERTweet model, with optimally adjusted hyperparameters, consistently outperforms the Indonesian RoBERTa model in all stages of our proposed methodology. These outcomes are substantiated by higher precision, recall, and F1 score metrics exhibited by the IndoBERTweet model. This model also exhibits remarkable performance in real-world applicability, accurately classifying new Indonesian language content from Twitter (now X). This research establishes a stepping stone for future work, including exploring other language models, applying the methodology to other languages, training the models on larger and more diverse datasets, and applying it to other social media platforms or forums. Our proposal contributes to create safer online spaces, and the results provide insights for the development of automated moderation tools, playing a significant role in combating online harassment and ensuring online community well-being.

The Effect of Active Review Strategy on Student’s Attitude to Basic Science in Oyo State

Students' oral language skills are very important in the digital era, and technology and communication have developed rapidly by presenting spoken language content that is popular with students. Multiliteracy learning refers to the multicontext aspect, which means learning uses various contexts or broad topics. In the multimedia aspect, multiliteracy learning uses various media. This research uses a case study design with the aim of exploring the oral language skills of elementary school students in the digital era to support multiliteracy learning. The data in the research was collected through several collection techniques in the form of questionnaires, observations and interviews. The data of this study were analysed using a qualitative approach with thematic analysis techniques. The research results show that students' oral language skills in this digital era are still limited to non-formal speaking skills. Talking content comes from shows that are watched, namely short dramas, advice, food review videos, other entertainment content. The type of text used in oral language learning is only printed text, which in their daily lives students often watch content on social media such as WhatsApp, Tiktok, snackvideo and YouTube. Students prefer short, interesting videos, with a few activities that involve thinking skills. Listening and speaking activities through these sources can be included in learning according to a multiliteracy context so that it is more meaningful for students.

Peningkatan Hasil Belajar IPA dan Bahasa Indonesia Tema 3 Melalui Problem Based Learning Berbantu Media Video di SD 4 Karangbener

This research aims to describe teacher skills, describe increasing science learning outcomes and improving Indonesian language learning outcomes using a problem based learning model assisted by video media on theme 3 Healthy Food.This research is classroom action research which was carried out in two cycles and each cycle consisted of three meetings. The subjects in this research were 5th grade students at SD 4 Karangbener, totaling 20 students. The variables in this research consist of the independent variable, namely the Problem Based Learning model and the dependent variable, namely teacher skills and learning outcomes. Data collection techniques use observation and test techniques. The data analysis technique uses descriptive data in the form of a percentage of teacher skills and mathematics learning outcomes.The research results showed that the application of problem based learning assisted by video media was able to improve teacher skills in cycle I, which obtained a percentage of 61% in the sufficient category and increased to 81% in the good category in cycle II. The application of the problem based learning model assisted by video media was able to increase science learning outcomes, increasing to 60% for minimum completeness with an average value of 71.8 in cycle I and increasing again to 75% for minimum completeness with an average value of 79.3 in cycle II and the application of the problem based learning model assisted by video media was able to increase Indonesian language learning outcomes, increasing to 65% for minimum completeness with an average score of 74 in cycle I and increasing again to 80% for minimum completeness with an average score of 82.5. Based on the research results, it is concluded that the application of the problem based learning model assisted by video media can improve teacher skills and learning outcomes for science and Indonesian language content.

Oral Language Skills of Elementary School Students to Support Multiliteracy Learning in the Digital Era

Students' oral language skills are very important in the digital era, and technology and communication have developed rapidly by presenting spoken language content that is popular with students. Multiliteracy learning refers to the multicontext aspect, which means learning uses various contexts or broad topics. In the multimedia aspect, multiliteracy learning uses various media. This research uses a case study design with the aim of exploring the oral language skills of elementary school students in the digital era to support multiliteracy learning. The data in the research was collected through several collection techniques in the form of questionnaires, observations and interviews. The data of this study were analysed using a qualitative approach with thematic analysis techniques. The research results show that students' oral language skills in this digital era are still limited to non-formal speaking skills. Talking content comes from shows that are watched, namely short dramas, advice, food review videos, other entertainment content. The type of text used in oral language learning is only printed text, which in their daily lives students often watch content on social media such as WhatsApp, Tiktok, snackvideo and YouTube. Students prefer short, interesting videos, with a few activities that involve thinking skills. Listening and speaking activities through these sources can be included in learning according to a multiliteracy context so that it is more meaningful for students.

Code-Switching in Bashkir Takhmaks-Chastushkas (Pragmatic Aspects)

This paper presents a pragma-linguistic analysis of language switches observed in samples of Takhmaks-Chastushkas, a genre of Bashkir folk songs with a wide thematic range performed in a recitative and melodicrecitative style. The material for analysis comes from expedition records of the authors, samples of Takhmaks-Chastushkas included in a separate volume of the multi-volume systematic scientific publication “Bashkir Folk Creativity”. It is demonstrated that a large number of bilingual Takhmaks function in Bashkir song folklore, their emergence influenced by centuries-old language contacts and the prolonged cohabitation of representatives of the Bashkir and Russian peoples on the same territory. Key pragmatic functions of code-switching (humorous, rhyme-forming, and referential) are identified, which can be combined within one realization of codeswitching. Despite differences between the two language systems, the composer of Takhmaks achieves semantic, compositional, and structural integrity of the text by mixing lexemes from the Bashkir and Russian languages. It is emphasized that code-switching is done to create a humorous effect, attract the audience’s attention, maintain rhyme and rhythm of the Takhmak, and compensate for speech gaps. If foreign material is replaced with native language content and brought into line with the norms of the native language, Takhmaks lose their humorous nuance.

CERKIS: Big Book Learning Media Based on Quiz Stories for Second-Grade Elementary Schools

Teachers strive to recognize and develop students' potential through the learning process. However, deficiencies are often found in the process, such as learning feeling monotonous. One of the causes is the need for more variety in learning media. The observations in the field show the need to develop learning media for Indonesian language subjects, especially for students who cannot read and tend to focus on pictures. This research aims to develop Big Book learning media based on quiz stories on health care material for class II elementary schools. This research is a development research type with the ADDIE model. The research subject is a big book learning media based on quiz stories on health care material. Data collection used observation, interview, and questionnaire methods. Data was analyzed qualitatively from the results of expert reviews and quantitatively from scores in the form of test results. The research results showed that material experts scored 0.98, learning design experts 0.97, and media experts 0.97. The results of the practicality test of student responses through individual trials were 95.11%; The teacher response test was 93.75%, so it was concluded that the development of big book learning media based on quiz stories was very valid and practically applied to Indonesian language content on maintaining health in class II elementary schools. This research has theoretical and practical implications in that the big book learning media based on developed quiz stories could solve the problem of students' low/low reading ability.

Large language models for air transportation: A critical review

In the past decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has contributed to the improvement of various aviation aspects, including flight plan optimization, the development of autonomous systems, performing predictive analytics, as well as in passenger / crew assistance systems. The latest AI technology to potentially revolutionize air transportation are so-called Large Language Models (LLMs), which have an outstanding ability to process and generate human-like text. The application areas for LLMs cover nearly all aspects of air transportation, through language processing, content generation, and problem solving. In this study, we discuss the potential of this impact with two major contributions. First, we have performed an experimental evaluation of twelve commonly-used LLMs concerning their performance of air transportation related subjects, covering fact retrieval, complex reasoning abilities, and explanation tasks. Second, we have performed a survey among graduate students at Beihang University, a leading aviation university in China, to explore the experiences and uses of LLMs. We believe that our study makes a significant contribution towards the dissemination and application of LLMs in the air transportation domain.

Александр Кушнер: два «Посещения»

The article considers and compares two poems by A. S. Kushner with a common name – “Visit” (1977 and 1985). They are united by the situation of the lyrical hero returning to the places where he spent his childhood and youth. However, the author’s position is deprived of the nostalgic regret about the past years that is expected in such cases – in particular, due to the mismatch of memories with the real world of the past. Kushner continues the Russian tradition of lyrical “returns” (Pushkin, Baratynsky, Nekrasov, etc.), but correlates it with the new historical context and experience of the Soviet era, which undergoes critical re-interpretation in his poems. The second poem does not copy the first: the lyrical retrospective in it is more profound due to the motifs of infant and adolescent reading of the late Stalin era, childrens’ and “adult” (popular in the post-war years) volleyball games, and school studies. The article also analyzes the poetic technique used by Kushner, revealing its significance for the lyrical content of poems. A relatively short meter (iambic trimeter, anapestic dimeter), seemingly unexpected in the poems by Kushner, who gravitated towards the “long” line in the 70s and 80s, betrays a hidden polemic in relation to the epic poetry, a poetic theme seeming to lead up to it, but the epic poetry being consciously foreign to the poet himself. The article also touches upon another (the third) poem by Kushner called “Visit” (1973), which is only indirectly related to the other two, but which also contains the motifs of the Soviet history. As a result, all three poems fit into a series of poems by Kushner that recreate the socio-political atmosphere of the Soviet era.

Multilingual Habitus and Language Prestige: Value Profiles of Croatian, English, German, and Italian in Croatia

In a multilingual world, languages represent various forms of capital in society and gain or lose prestige depending on how transferable they are perceived to be into social, cultural, economic, and symbolic capital. The dominance of the English language and social media content in the Information Age affects people’s language worldwide. In many countries, there is a significant trend toward diglossia, where the national language is used alongside English, leading to the marginalization of all other languages. In Croatia, an EU member state, the most popular foreign languages are English, German, and Italian. However, due to the linguistic dominance of English, foreign languages other than English have experienced a loss of status. This shift implies that people’s perceptions of the types of capital those languages represent are changing and that there is a movement from multilingualism toward diglossia. This goes against the strongly promoted idea of multilingualism in the EU, where language variety is considered a valuable form of symbolic and cultural capital. Within that framework, this study aims to examine the attitudes of multilingual speakers in Croatia toward the four languages included in the study. The goal is to determine whether they perceive a language to represent a form of social, cultural, economic, or symbolic capital. Furthermore, based on the results, it will be concluded whether multilingual language practice is affected and whether there is a clash between the desired multilingual habitus of European citizens and their perceptions of language values, which determine their language choices.