Verbal Aids Research Articles

Recommended practices for virtual nutrition education interventions for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A reflection from two pilot interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate unhealthy eating behaviors and dietary patterns compared to their neurotypical counterparts. Given the increased risk of unhealthy weight gain and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, modified nutrition programs in this population are warranted. The authors independently conducted two virtual pilot interventions during COVID-19 that offered feasible and acceptable alternatives to in-person delivery, providing unique opportunities for participant engagement and family involvement. Future virtual nutrition education programs for adolescents with ASD may include visual and verbal aids through Zoom, more parent/family integration, and accommodations for those with varying ASD severity levels.

Analysis of Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors for the Aid Events of COVID-19 Based on GDELT

The uncertainty of COVID-19 and the spatial inequality of anti-pandemic materials have made international aid an important means for many countries to cope with this global public health crisis. It is of far-reaching significance to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of international aid events for the global joint fight against COVID-19 and the sustainability of global public health business. The data on aid events from 23 January 2020 to 31 October 2021, were from the GDELT database. China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada were selected as the study objects because they provided more aid. Their spatiotemporal characteristics of main aid flows, the response characteristics of the aid requests, and the characteristics of verbal aid to cash in were studied using spatial statistical analysis methods. The influencing factors of aid allocation also were studied by regression analysis. The results found that: the international aid flow of each country was consistent in spatial distribution, mainly to countries with severe pandemics and neighboring countries. However, there were differences in the recipients. China mainly aided developing countries, while the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada mainly aided developed countries. Relatively speaking, China was more responsive to aid requests and more aggressive in cashing in on verbal aid. The countries considered the impact of their economic interests when they planned to aid. At the same time, there were obvious “bandwagon effect” and “small country tendency” on the aid events.

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ІНФОГРАФІКИ ЯК ЗАСОБУ НАВЧАННЯ АНГЛОМОВНОГО УСНОГО МОВЛЕННЯ НА ПОЧАТКОВИХ КУРСАХ МОВНИХ СПЕЦІАЛЬНОСТЕЙ

The article outlines the definition, classification and types of infographics, as well as the advantages, relevance and importance of using infographics as a means of teaching English speaking skills in the first and second years of language specialties. The experience of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University named after M. Kotsyubynskyi in the development and evaluation of English speaking skills through infographics is considered and the examples of infographics practical application are given. Visual aids play an important role in teaching foreign languages. According to the didactic principles of pedagogy, the effectiveness of learning grows if visual aids have not only an illustrative function, but also a cognitive one. Verbal-imaginary aids have both these functions. The development of computer technologies has made it possible to represent such functions in the form of infographics. Infographics has a considerable number of advantages. It has logical structure and convenience, allows to give a vast amount of information in a concise form, provides the subject matter of speaking, contributes to interaction, encourages meaningful speaking during individual, pair and group work. Also, with the help of symbolic visualization tools: graphics, illustrations, design, animation, maps, electronic resources, videos and other elements of interactivity, infographics makes students use their vocabulary more easily and quickly, practise dialogic units or grammar structures, better understand and memorize information. The work on the development of students’ English speaking skills in the first and second years of universities is an important and at the same time challenging task that requires considerable attention and effort both from teachers and students. The best solution to this problem, in our opinion, is the use of infographics, because it acts as visual, informational and verbal aids, stimulates mental activity, critical thinking, promotes initiative and interactivity of speech, develops imagination and creativity of students, and thus, has an important motivational function.

Rethinking the Mini-Map: A Navigational Aid to Support Spatial Learning in Urban Game Environments

ABSTRACTPlayers in computer games continue to rely on assistance for navigation in the game environment, even after hours of gameplay. This behavior is in contrast to the real world where spatial knowledge of an unfamiliar environment develops with experience and reliance on navigational assistance declines. The slow development of spatial knowledge in virtual environments can be attributed to the use of turn-by-turn navigational aids. In the context of computer games, the most common form of these aids is a “mini-map.” The use of such aids in computer games is necessitated by the demands of immersion and entertainment and, hence, they cannot be entirely discarded. The need, then, is to design navigational aids that support, rather than inhibit, the development of spatial knowledge. The authors propose landmark-based verbal directions as an alternative to mini-maps and report the results of a randomized comparative study conducted to examine the impact of mini-maps and their proposed aid on the development of spatial knowledge in a virtual urban environment. The results confirm the superiority of their verbal aid in terms of spatial knowledge, while mini-maps perform better with respect to navigational efficiency. The authors hope that this study provides a first step toward defining design parameters that govern the tradeoff between navigational efficiency and spatial learning.

The use of modality in the design of verbal aids in computer-based learning environments

Computer-based learning environments include verbal aids helping learners to gain a deep understanding. These aids can be presented in either the visual or the auditory modality. The problem is that it is not clear-cut how to present them for two reasons: the modality principle [Mayer, R.E., 2001. Multimedia Learning. Cambridge University Press, New York] is not applicable because verbal aids do not usually come with related pictures and the little empirical research on the question provides diverging results. Our aim was twofold: to present a research framework, which makes it possible to reinterpret prior findings, and to test it empirically as it provides guidelines about how to present verbal aids. It distinguishes between two types of verbal aids: regulatory, which guide the learners’ decision making process during learning, and explanatory, which help learners to revise their understanding of the to-be-learned contents. The framework suggests that explanatory aids should be presented visually and regulatory aids should be presented auditorily. In two experiments participants learned from a computer-based learning environment on plate tectonics and solved retention and inference questions afterwards. They received verbal aids presented in different modalities depending on the condition. Participants receiving visual explanatory aids outperformed those receiving auditory explanatory aids both in retention and inference questions. Participants receiving auditory regulatory aids showed no advantage; the same pattern was obtained in the second experiment, in which the auditory aids were given by a pedagogical agent. Results have practical implications for the design of computer-based materials.

Vision and Quality of Life: Development of Methods for the VisQoL Vision-Related Utility Instrument

Purpose: To describe the methods and innovations used in constructing the VisQoL, a vision-related utility instrument for the health economic evaluation of eye care and rehabilitation programs. Methods: The VisQoL disaggregates vision into six items. Utilities were estimated for item worst responses (the worst level for each item, with all other items at their best level) and VisQoL all-worst responses (all items at their worst level) using the time trade-off procedure. Time trade-off questions require people to imagine living a fixed number of years with a particular health condition and then indicate how many of those years of life they would be willing to trade to have perfect health. Where respondents indicated a health state was “worse than death” negative utilities were estimated. Time trade-off questions minimized the “focusing effect,” which occurs if respondents discount the fact that all other aspects of health are at their best when answering questions, by using pictorial and verbal aids. Results: Item utilities were combined using a multiplicative model, and VisQoL model utilities placed on a scale where 0.00 and 1.00 represent full health and death, respectively. The VisQoL allows utilities to be calculated for a wide range of vision-related conditions. Conclusion: The 6-item VisQoL has excellent psychometric properties and is specifically designed to be sensitive to vision-related quality of life. It is the first instrument to permit the rapid estimation of utility values for use in economic evaluations of vision-related programs.

Verbal guidance rules for a localized wayfinding aid intended for blind-pedestrians in urban areas

Automatic wayfinding verbal aids for blind pedestrians in simple and structured urban areas are claimed to rely on specific database features and guidance functions (i.e., instructions and spatial information provided at specific places). This paper reports an experiment in which these requirements for such areas, and for complex and unstructured urban areas, were tested by 7 cane- and 3 dog-users. Very few hesitations and errors along with the need for few modifications of the verbal guidance rules and for a one-meter localization device for traversing crosswalks were found. Further research issues for designing a localized verbal navigational aid are also presented (i.e., extension/diversification of the population and gradual introduction of the interface).

Exploring the Functional Specifications of a Localized Wayfinding Verbal Aid forBlind Pedestrians: Simple and Structured Urban Areas

We propose functional specifications for a localized verbal wayfinding aid for blind pedestrians, in simple and structured urban areas. A user-centered design approach, that is, the analyses of route descriptions produced by blind pedestrians, allowed first to evidence verbal guidance rules and then to elaborate route descriptions of unfamiliar paths; their efficiency was confirmed.We found that specific database features are streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, and intersections and that guidance functions consist of a combination of orientation and localization, goal location, intersection, crosswalks, and warning information as well as of progression, crossing, orientation, and route-ending instructions; they have to be provided between 5 to 10 meters before an intersection, after crossing, at middle block, and after entering a street. Last, verbal guidance is possible in simple and structured urban areas, with no localization aid, and is optimal within 5 meters' precision. The outcomes and limits of the requirements of the navigational aid evidenced are discussed.

The Organisation of Hydrographic Information for English Navigators – Five Hundred Years of Sailing Directions and Charts

This paper is based on the President's Invitational Address given by the author at the 54th Annual General Meeting on 25 October 2000.The paper outlines the changes in the physical form in which hydrographic information has reached the chart tables of ordinary navigators over the last five hundred years and traces its development from a purely verbal aid to a graphic one.