General Skills Research Articles

Phonological components analysis (PCA) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA): A single-case longitudinal study

ABSTRACT Background Semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) is a form of dementia leading to progressive language comprehension and production difficulties. Aims We investigated whether a phonological approach combined with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) would improve naming skills in semantic-based word finding difficulties due to svPPA. Methods & Procedures A 58-year-old female with svPPA was treated with phonological components analysis (PCA) combined with anodal transcranial direct current simulation (atDCS) of the left anterior temporal lobe. She completed four structured therapy blocks, each lasting two weeks and separated by a minimum two-week break including two interim tests. Before and after the intervention, we additionally assessed the participant’s general cognitive and language skills. Outcomes & Results Logistic regression showed that the participant’s ability to name trained and untrained items improved significantly. Furthermore, her overall cognitive and language abilities seemed to stagnate over the eight months, which seems surprising given the underlying progressive svPPA. We therefore concluded that phonological approaches combined with tDCS can enhance naming abilities even though the difficulties are mainly semantically driven.

Practicality Test of Learning Strategy on Chemistry Instrument Analysis to Improve Scientific Generic Thinking Skills

Higher-order thinking skills in chemistry learning encompass a set of skills known as science generic skills. These skills are fundamental competencies that can be applied across various scientific disciplines and contribute to the success of scientists and science practitioners. The objective of this research is to develop a Problem-Based Learning-based VC-MER learning strategy that enhances students' science generic skills. The research aims to test the practicality of the VC-MER learning strategy, based on Problem-Based Learning, in improving students' science generic skills. The results indicate that the VC-MER learning strategy is feasible for use in the learning process and can be categorized as a practical learning strategy for implementing all stages of the VC-MER learning strategy.

Entrustable professional activities-based objective structured clinical examinations in a pharmacy curriculum

Entrustable professional activities-based objective structured clinical examinations in a pharmacy curriculum

Parental strategies to promote theory of mind development in autistic children of color.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is characterized by an impaired ability to take other people's perspectives, which is known as theory of mind. However, little is known about how theory of mind exhibits itself in autistic children of color and how parents foster their child's developmental skills in communities of color. Two interviews were created to assess how parents appraise their child's developmental skills and help their child grow: a perspective-teaching interview and a general developmental skills interview. Four families participated in the study; three children were African American or mixed, while one had an Asian mother. Parents were asked how their child exhibited various developmental skills and how they helped their child with those milestones. Parents pointed at similar delays in theory of mind and other developmental skills, such as turn-taking and reading faces. They also provided similar strategies to teach those abilities, such as modeling and reinforcements. Several insights and common themes were found regarding autistic behaviors their children expressed and how those affected their parenting experiences. These findings allow for a better understanding of parents' experiences raising autistic children of color; future research could expand on their stories and create interventions tailored to these underrepresented communities.

EXPRESS: The Development of Lexical Processing: Real-Time Phonological Competition and Semantic Activation in School Age Children.

Prior research suggests that real-time phonological competition processes are stabilized in early childhood (Fernald et al., 2006). However, recent work suggests that development of these processes continues throughout adolescence (Huang & Snedeker, 2011; Rigler et al., 2015). This study aimed to investigate whether these developmental changes are based solely within the lexical system or are due to domain general changes. This study also aimed to investigate the development of real-time lexical-semantic activation. We captured semantic activation phonological competition and non-linguistic domain general processing skills using two Visual World Paradigm experiments in 43 7-9-year-olds, 42 10-13-year-olds, and 30 16-17-year-olds. Older children were quicker to fixate the target word and exhibited earlier onset and offset of fixations to both semantic and phonological competitors. Visual/cognitive skills explained significant, but not all, variance in the development of these effects. Developmental changes in semantic activation were largely attributable to changes in phonological processing. These results suggest that the concurrent development of linguistic processes and broader visual/cognitive skills lead to developmental changes in real-time phonological competition, while semantic activation is stable across these ages.

Competências gerais, específicas e dificuldades para a atuação dos farmacêuticos como preceptores: revisão integrativa

The present study aimed aimed at describing and analyzing the general and specific skills and difficulties for pharmacists to act as preceptors. To this end, a literature review was carried out in the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Scopus, for articles published on general and specific competencies of pharmaceutical preceptors. The initial search identified 355 articles and 14 using articles published met the inclusion criteria. The main general competencies were found to be: communication skills, knowledge, problem solving, development of critical thinking and professionalism; as specific: feedback, interpersonal relationships, activities based on student needs, planning, shared expectations and leadership; and the main difficulties were seen as: need for greater qualification of preceptors and lack of time to carry out preceptorship activities. Knowledge of these skills and difficulties can contribute to a better workforce in academic and experiential pharmacy education.

Strengthening Generic Skills in Undergraduate Students in Physical Education. Perception of University Professors

Purpose: Demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposal for strengthening generic and specific competencies, which are evaluated in the Saber Pro tests in students of the Bachelor's program in Physical Education at a Colombian university, through the perception of participating teachers. said proposal. Methodology: A qualitative methodology was implemented, with the purpose of trying to understand the reality and behaviors of individuals who belong to a certain social context (Vílchez, 2022), in addition to understanding and identifying various characteristics associated with the qualities and descriptions of a social phenomenon without resorting to the collection of specific numerical data (Morenos, 2021). Results and Conclusions: They indicate the development of innovative teaching strategies in academic spaces in order to strengthen competencies. Likewise, it demonstrates the viability of the proposal in relation to the teaching strategies that make a theoretical and practical approach, since they adjust to the focus and thematic contents of the subjects, therefore, they facilitate the assimilation and appropriation of the knowledge that requires a future graduate, thus concluding the need to incorporate innovative tools that promote the appropriation of knowledge to train better professionals in the area of Physical Education. Implications: This research provides implications for educational and government policy to continue to strengthen standardized testing policies in higher education. Originality/value: This research offers novelty by glimpsing the impact of the formation of the pedagogical model in higher education.

Lingwodydaktyczny potencjał ChatGPT w nauczaniu języków obcych

ChatGPT can be used as an alternative resource when learning a foreign language. It has a wide range of applications, such as: working with vocabulary and grammar, practicing, testing and proofreading texts, practicing speaking, creating learning materials, automatically translating texts and providing information about countries, cultures, history and other aspects related to the foreign language being taught. Phraseological competence is an important element of general communicative skills, which enables the learner of a foreign language to use the language correctly, freely, and broadens knowledge of intercultural issues. The article analyses the possibilities of using a chatbot when learning foreign language phraseology. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of ChatGPT in the process of foreign-language phraseology acquisition. Texts from Russian and Polish textbooks containing phraseological units are used as material. The results reveal that for this purpose ChatGPT can be used partially because its effectiveness is related to the type of specific task. The Chatbot gives worse results when it is tasked with translating phraseological compounds or citing an example of their use, while it is promising as an alternative resource for creating educational content.

General Problem-solving Skills Can be Enhanced by Short-time Use of Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

Future students are confronted with a complex world that demands the ability to solve problems in unstructured, undefined, and unfamiliar situations. The aim of the present study was to investigate the development of problem-solving skills through the implementation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL). While previous research has primarily focused on content-related and long-term measurements when examining the effects of PBL, this study took a different approach by exploring the general increase in problem-solving skills resulting from PBL. The sample consisted of 90 second-semester students who were assessed at three different time points using three subscales of the Wilde-Intelligenz-Test I & II: analogies (AL), letter series (BR) and numerical series (ZN). The findings revealed a significant improvement in general problem-solving abilities within the PBL group. These results provide valuable insights into the impact of PBL on the development of general problem-solving skills, even within a domain-independent and short-term context. Lecturers are encouraged to consider implementing PBL in their study programs, as it equips graduates with the necessary skills to tackle the challenges of today’s dynamic and constantly changing world.

From grassroots literacy to transliteracies in the educational context of the Moldavian Csángó

ABSTRACT This paper investigates literacies in the Moldavian region of Romania, where bilingual speakers produce writings in a contested language they call the ‘Csángó mode of speaking’. The speakers sometimes define their language as collateral both with Standard Hungarian and Romanian. Our research question is the following: How are locally constructed collateral literacy practices transformed or neglected in standardising educational contexts? The theoretical question we raise in this article is whether Blommaert’s concept of grassroots literacy or the newer transliteracies framework is better suited to describe the process of a collateral language becoming literate. The collateral language, the Csángó mode of speaking, is no longer passed onto children by the parents, who still might use it among themselves, thus the children still might acquire a passive knowledge of it. Since 2001, a relatively popular educational programme teaching Standard Hungarian literacy has evolved. As our data, we use texts produced by c. 100 participants of the Moldavian Csángó Hungarian Educational Programme from eight villages. Our contribution is to investigate how transliteracies can constitute a resource not only for local ways of speaking, but also for the development of general literacy skills instead of skills bound to a single language.

The effects of interactionist versus interventionist dynamic assessment models on Iranian EFL learners’ speaking sub-skills: a mixed-method study

Dynamic assessment has been proven to effectively promote EFL learners' speaking proficiency, but its implementation in teaching speaking skills has been limited. One of the main reasons is that, thus far, very few studies have scrutinized the impacts of its two main models, interactionist and interventionist, on the speaking sub-skills of EFL learners. Instead of examining speaking as a general skill, this research focused on four speaking sub-skills, including grammatical range and accuracy, vocabulary, fluency, and pronunciation, with a concurrent experimental mixed-method design. To this aim, 30 undergraduate students from the Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, were recruited through convenience sampling and participated in both phases. The quantitative data were collected from participants' pre-and post-test scores in the IELTS speaking module, and qualitative data consisted of the transcribed recordings of the intervention sessions. The integration of the quantitative and qualitative results revealed that while both models positively affected EFL learners' speaking proficiency, they differed in the extent and mechanisms of their impacts. The interactionist DA effectively improved grammatical range and accuracy, pronunciation, and vocabulary depth, and the interventionist DA enhanced fluency and vocabulary breadth more efficiently. The findings dissect the differential effects of DA models in one-to-one speaking lessons, offering practical insights for ELT practitioners and stakeholders.

Games and Arts as Tools for Developing Generic Skills in Engineering Students

In today’s educational landscape, the integration of innovative pedagogical approaches is essential for improving student learning. In this respect, game-based learning appears to be a strategy that not only actively engages students—who often struggle to understand scientific concepts, leading to negative emotions and discouragement—but also helps them acquire transferable skills. Particularly in the field of telecommunications engineering, where the practical application of knowledge is essential, the use of educational games offers a unique opportunity to explore and reinforce specific and general skills. In this study, a cross-sectional quantitative methodology was implemented using a representative sample of 64 undergraduate students in the sixth semester of the telecommunications engineering program at a public university. In general, educational games are primarily intended to evoke emotions in participants, such as enjoyment, to help them cultivate a “receptive learning mindset” and to effectively teach a specific subject. In contrast to these approaches, the game proposed in this study incorporates humanistic skills and artistic tools to construct antennas within a specific context. This enabled students to engage in a practical, applied learning experience in their field of study, focusing on three key aspects: appropriating knowledge, building values, and learning about life, as well as recognizing others in society and interacting with the environment. The results obtained using the proposed game-based strategy were compared with those obtained using conventional teaching tools. The results showed that play not only imparted knowledge but also contributed to students’ overall development by fostering the values and skills essential to their personal and professional success. The results underscore the significance of developing games that authentically simulate project processes and activities. This emphasizes the importance of aligning game dynamics with real-world challenges and situations in the field of telecommunications engineering. This simulation-based approach may be the key to maximizing the impact of game-based learning on the training of future professionals in this field. This comparative study helps fill a gap in knowledge about game-based learning in engineering education by providing valuable insights. It is also important to comprehend the impact of game-based learning on an antenna course and the students’ willingness to engage with this innovative teaching style in the classroom.

Learning to navigate in the unknown: attuning to affordances in artist visits in schools

ABSTRACT Artist visits have become a common means of delivering arts education in schools; however, teacher education insufficiently prepares student teachers to use the benefits of art projects for teaching and learning. In this conceptual paper, I contribute to an understanding of what capacities are necessary for future teachers to engage in artist visits. I shed light on the fundamental capacity to recognise the affordances that arise in the sociomaterial environment produced through artist visits. By elucidating how affordances are perceived, I illustrate how teacher education can design educational encounters that enable student teachers to attune and attend to affordances through embodied experiences with the ‘unknown’. This approach involves a shift from generic knowledge and skills to ways of being, a shift that is valuable not only for teacher – artist collaborations but also for interprofessional collaboration and professional practice in general.

Are Creativity Tests Vulnerable to Coaching?

ABSTRACT This study tested the claim that coaching on a widely used creativity measure can improve respondents’ scores on that measure – specifically whether those who receive explicit coaching on the scoring of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural (TTCT-F) get higher subsequent scores on the test. A total of 35 adults were included in the treatment and reference groups. The treatment condition was defined as receiving coaching on how to score the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural (TTCT-F) and training on creative teaching strategies. The reference condition was defined as receiving training on general creativity skills and creative teaching strategies, but no coaching on how to score the TTCT-F. An ANCOVA was conducted to account for differences in the posttest scores by group while controlling the effect of pretest scores as covariates. The result of the ANCOVA indicated that the treatment group dropped significantly on the fluency subscale, F 1 , 32 = 9.73, p < .001 from pretest to posttest. Findings imply that TTCT-F scores do not benefit from specific coaching on test scoring.

The effect of fluency training on interpreter trainees’ speech fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness

Abstract Fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness are considered important parameters of interpreting quality but have rarely been studied systematically in training programs of interpreting. Therefore, the present study was set up to investigate the effect of fluency training on speech fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness of interpreter trainees. Two groups of interpreter trainees at a university in Iran took part in the study, receiving the same amount of instruction and practice (12 hours over 4 weeks). The experimental group (N = 30) spent 33% of the time (i.e., 4 of the 12 hours in the training program) on dedicated fluency strategy training, encouraging the memorization, repetition, and retelling of audio and video materials. The remaining 67% was spent on training general speaking skills. The control group (N = 30) were only taught general speaking skills in the training program but received no dedicated fluency training. Systematic interviews were run to assess the interpreter trainees’ speech fluency, comprehensibility and accentedness, which were judged independently by three expert raters at three moments of testing, i.e., pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest (one month later). The findings revealed that the fluency training significantly enhanced the interpreter trainees’ fluency, and to a lesser extent the students’ comprehensibility but had only a marginal effect on accentedness. The pedagogical implication would be that awareness training on speech fluency in EFL settings be included in interpreting training programs.

Clinical evaluation, useability, and utility of the Work Ability Screening Profile II (WASP II)

Introduction:&#x0D; The Work Ability Screening Profile (WASP) was conceptualised and developed by occupational therapists at the University of Durban Westville to provide a basic vocational screening assessment. Its purpose was to screen competence in generic work skills which reflected performance in activities essential to workplace participation relevant to the South African context. The assessment was revised in 2005 and renamed the WASP II. It was decided this screening assessment tool would be continuously reviewed using action research with clinicians involved in the ongoing evaluation so ensure validity and reliability for the population with which it is used. This study considered the clinical evaluation, useability and utility of the WASP II in order to inform further revision.&#x0D; Method: A cross sectional survey was used to gather data from 70 occupational therapy clinicians familiar with or using the WASP II in clinical practice.&#x0D; Results: A sample of 70 respondents indicated the WASP II was suitable to assess current work ability and production speed with a variety of clients with physical and mental health dysfunction. Ten of the 12 subtests were used by at least 40% of the time by the 28 respondents who used the WASP II frequently. These respondents reported good to adequate useability in terms of cost, sensitivity to clients’ educational level and ease of understanding instructions, incorporation into clinical practice contexts while supporting clinical reasoning and judgement. The accommodation of clients’ language and provision of standard scores were indicated as inadequate. Utility was considered adequate for all aspects including discrimination of moderate to severe dysfunction, informing the choice of other assessmentsas well as supporting vocational rehabilitation intervention. The WASP II outcomes were also understood by other service providers, employers, referring parties as well asclients.&#x0D; Conclusion: While the WASP II was considered appropriate for use in the South African context and has adequate useability and utility, some subtests need to be updated and revised in terms of the standard times and content validity for current practice in the work environment.&#x0D; Implications for practice:&#x0D; The WASP II has useability&#x0D; &#x0D; aligned with generic work skills of acquiring information or following d irections numeracy, conveying information and written communication &#x0D; for with those with work experience and with scholars and students yet to enter the workplace The WASP II has utility in relation to • cost and clients’ educational levels &#x0D; detailed instructions on the task layout but some standardisation needs to be interpreted with care &#x0D; sensitivity to all aspects of assessment of generic work skills, except discrimination of mild dysfunction&#x0D;

A quantitative case study of secondary school students’ level of statistical thinking

In the 21&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt; century, statistical thinking has become necessary for all citizens as this skill is vital for societal literacy. Students with statistical thinking will grasp and apply the problem’s context to develop research and draw conclusions, as well as the coherence of the whole process from asking questions to collecting data, evaluating, and testing hypotheses. Although statistical thinking is increasingly in demand in various emerging vocations, students and teachers find statistics challenging to understand. Thus, the study examines the level of statistical thinking of the process of describing data, organizing and reducing data, representing data, and analyzing and interpreting data among high school students based on gender. The statistical thinking test modification of the framework validation test, code, and subprocess reference was used to collect research data from 35 grade 10 students. The research data were statistically analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences version 23 software through descriptive and inferential statistics, specifically an independent t-test analysis. The findings revealed that none of the students achieved an analytical level of understanding; instead, their general statistical thinking skills were at the transitional level, followed by the idiosyncratic and quantitative levels. The findings also demonstrated no statistically significant gender-related disparities in students’ statistical thinking. The study proposes several recommendations, including the necessity of connecting statistical activities to the reality of students’ life and area of study and emphasizing practical rather than theoretical aspects.

The contributions of executive functions, transcription skills and text-specific skills to text quality in narratives

AbstractTo ensure adequate writing support for children, a profound understanding of the subskills of text quality is essential. Writing theories have already helped to better understand the contribution of different subskills to text quality, but empirical work is often limited to more general low-level transcription skills like handwriting fluency and spelling. Skills that are particularly important for composing a functional text, while theoretically seen as important, are only studied in isolation. This study combines subskills at different hierarchical levels of composition. Executive functions, handwriting fluency and spelling were modeled together with text-specific skills (lexically diverse and appropriate word usage and cohesion), text length and text quality in secondary school students’ narratives. The results showed that executive functions, spelling and handwriting fluency had indirect effects on text quality, mediated by text-specific skills. Furthermore, the text-specific skills accounted for most of the explained variance in text quality over and above text length. Thus, it is clear from this study that, in addition to the frequently reported influence of transcription skills, it is text-specific skills that are most relevant for text quality.

Does being a leader make them stay? Short‐ and long‐term effects of supervisory responsibility on turnover intentions

AbstractEmployers want to avoid fluctuation, especially when qualified personnel is involved. This raises the question of whether promoting employees into leadership positions with supervisory responsibility helps to retain them. Based on social exchange theory, this article predicts that in the short run, employees have lower turnover intentions due to reciprocal feelings. In the long run, following human capital theory, supervisory responsibility increases an employee's turnover intentions due to the general skills acquired in the leadership position. This article argues that human resource management (HRM) practices that enhance an individual's internal career development counteract this long‐term turnover‐increasing effect by offering employees internal advancement opportunities. This study empirically tests these predictions using German linked employer‐employee data. The results support the predicted short‐term turnover‐reducing and the long‐term turnover‐increasing effect of supervisory responsibility. The results also reveal that for long‐term supervisors appraisal interviews and development plans, two examples of HRM practices, counteract the effect by reducing an employee's intention to quit.

The dynamics of statistical learning in autism – exploratory research

IntroductionIn the context of developmental disorders, it is frequently observed that atypical processes may yield seemingly unimpaired behavioural outcomes. Research has shown that children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have intact statistical learning performance. Recent studies have indicated that learning can happen not only during practice but during ultrashort rests between practice blocks (that is, ultrafast offline learning) but no study to date examined these dynamics in ASD.ObjectivesThis research aimed to unravel the effect of ASD on learning during and between blocks, also known as online and offline improvement.MethodsWe conducted a series of research with three different samples: 1) ASD children (N = 27), 2) ASD adults (N = 42), and 3) neurotypical adults with distinct positions on the autism spectrum, i.e., the severity of autistic traits (N = 174). Participants performed the Alternating Serial Reaction Time task, allowing us to measure statistical learning (the extraction of statistical knowledge) and general skill learning (speed-up regardless of probabilities) separately.ResultsIndividual differences in online and offline improvements were observed. Results of individual studies further confirmed by meta-analysis performed on the three above-mentioned datasets show that neither ASD nor the severity of autistic traits influences the dynamics of learning.Conclusions Our findings suggest that, not only learning but also the dynamics of acquisition of statistical knowledge are intact in autism.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared