Utilizing a Facebook closed group for EFL e-learning environment: Students’ views

This study was conducted out of the researcher’s teaching reflection while teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) online class during the pandemic of COVID-19, a time when face-to-face courses had to be converted to online classes. Her choice of educational tool for her EFL e-learning environment utilized a Facebook closed group. Her experiences in utilizing a Facebook closed group for her EFL e-learning environment and the students’ views were the main topics of this study. Eighteen EFL freshmen participants were selected in this study. The researcher used data from a questionnaire with some closed and open-ended questions. The findings indicated that the students found the Facebook closed group a comfortable, practical, and useful e-learning environment. The students’ familiarity with the interface helped them to immediately focus on the class activities instead of learning how to use the tool. Most students viewed the Facebook closed group as positive for class interactions, creative work, opinions, and express feelings. A few dislike voices were related to the display quality of Facebook, the asynchronous and silent communication on Facebook. Accordingly, utilizing a Facebook closed group might be worth considering for learners who have not been adequately prepared with the technology for joining an online class.

Conventional versus Modified Tarso-frontalis Suspension Surgery using Targeted Lid Crease for Simple Congenital Blepharoptosis with Poor Levator Action

Introduction: The routine technique of tarso-frontalis suspension surgery for simple congenital blepharoptosis with poor levator action is cosmetically less rewarding due to either an absence or asymmetry of the postoperative eyelid crease. The objective of this study was to assess the eyelid crease quality after a modified open method of tarso-frontalis suspension surgery compared to the closed method. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective comparative study reviewing the case sheets of all the patients undergoing unilateral tarso-frontalis suspension surgery with silicon rod employing Fox pentagon design from September 2017 to February 2019 at Mechi Eye Hospital, Jhapa, Nepal. A review of 40 case sheets of congenital lid ptosis with poor levator function(<4mm) aged 9 years or more was done. Tarso-frontalis suspension surgery, modified with a mini blepharoplasty incision, direct attachment of silicon rod to tarsus, completion of pentagon design with supra-brow incisions, and skin-orbicularis-tarsus-orbicularis-skin suture (open method) was done in 20 cases whereas other 20 cases underwent surgery with supraciliary stab incisions (closed method). Results: The mean age of the patients was 21.1+5.9 years (range 9-30 years). The ptosis amount ranged from 3–10mm. At the 6th postoperative month, most of the cases had good ptosis correction (90% open group, 85% closed group, p=0.74). However, cosmetic outcomes were better in the open group compared to the closed group: 100% symmetrical eyelid crease compared to 40% (p<0.001) and 90% acceptance rate for eyelid contour compared to 70% (p=0.23). Conclusion: Predictable, targeted, and symmetrical lid crease can be obtained using the modified open method of tarso-frontalis suspension surgery.

Jordanian graduate students’ complaints on Facebook: Semantic formulas and politeness

This study examines Jordanian graduate students' complaints posted on a Facebook closed group and directed to the representatives of Student Union at Jordan University of Science and Technology to be transferred to the officials concerned. In line with Boxer (1993b), the study considers the students' complaints to be indirect speech acts, as the addressee(s) are not the source of the offense. Using a sample of 60 institutional complaining posts, the researchers have analysed the complaints in terms of their semantic formulas, politeness functions and correlations with the gender of the complainers. The students’ complaints are classified into six semantic formulas of which the act statement element is indispensable as the complaint is stated in it. The other five formulas, ordered according to their frequency, are opener, remedy, appreciative closing, justification and others. Despite the negative affect typically involved in the complaining act, the semantic formulas identified in this study are found to signal politeness and fit into Brown and Levinson’s (1987) pool of face-saving strategies rather than face-threatening acts. Specifically, when the graduate students direct their Facebook complaints to the students' representatives, they tend to offer camaraderie with them to be encouraged to pursue the problems specified in the complainers’ posts.

Migration, Language, Identity: The Journey of Meixian Hakkas from Calcutta to Vienna

Hakkas from Meizhou who migrated to Calcutta established suc¬cessful businesses, and then, in the 1970s to the 1990s, moved on to settle in Vienna (and Toronto). Prac¬ticing a closed-group life both in Vienna and across continents, the Hakkas preserved their lan¬gua¬ge and culture while adapting both to India and Austria in various ways. In a series of open interviews with Vienna-based Hakkas, questions of identity and the preservation of a minority culture are raised. In dependence to age, the consultants have very different personal identities behind a shared social identity of being ‘Indian Hak¬ka¬s,’ which is, however, mostly borne out of practical considerations of mutual support and certain cultural practices. As mi¬grants, they can profit from close friendship and loyalty between group members, sharing the same pro¬fes¬sions, marrying inside the group, and speaking their own language. Questions of identity are most¬ly relevant for the younger generation which has to deal with a confusingly layered familial iden¬tity.

EVERYDAY LIFE OF TEACHERS OF THE UKRAINIAN SSR IN THE CONTEXT OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The article presents an analysis of the use of anthropological methods in the study of the everyday life of teachers in Soviet Ukraine. The author explains the adaptation of certain techniques of the humanities in the development of the image of a social group. The application of methods of visual anthropology is illustrated. Remarks on the adaptation of ethnographic film methods are made. The article illustrates the problem of “reflexive ethnography” in the use of visual sources in the study of the life of a closed group. The research appeals to the methods of visual anthropology as branch methods that help to study visible forms of culture: gestures, ceremonies, rituals, etc. The close connection between history and anthropology dates back to the middle of the twentieth century – from the time of E. Evans-Pritchard’s scientific experiments. In his lecture “Social Anthropology: Past and Present”, delivered in 1950, he drew attention to the fact that social anthropology was to be considered as a kind of historiography. One of the main requirements of anthropologism is the need to “get used” to the environment whose consciousness is being studied, to grow into the environment, to become part of the team. As the historian Mills Hills noted, this is done in order to reveal as little as possible their differences in locality, worldview. Photography can help in the interpretation of the functioning of a closed group of such phenomena as non-verbal communication, social rituals, ceremonies, no less vividly can be reproduced seemingly spatio-temporal arts such as dance and music. However, in the history of awakening, the most important thing for us to see in the visual source (first of all - photographs) is not so much its artistic value as its role in reproduction as a social artifact. Visual anthropology is based on the idea that a scientist is able not only to "see" the manifestations of culture, but also to study their fixation by audiovisual means. In recent history textbooks, there is a tendency to interpret the visual source as unbiased, objective. It is believed that the decoration of theoretical paragraphs on ambiguous or complex topics with photographic material helps to form a neutral point of view on the problem. In the history of everyday life of the Soviet era, the ideological component of the audiovisual component should be constantly kept in mind. Only random photos from family photo archives tend to be "transparent source". The work was carried out within the framework of the research theme of the Department of Culturology of the Poltava National Pedagogical University named after V.G.Korolenko “Polylogue of the global and regional in the formation of the socio-cultural identity of the individual” (state registration number 0120U103840).

Occupational Language of Military Sports Specialists in the Context of Linguodidactics

The paper highlights specificities of occupational language of military sports cadets and postgraduates during their content-based English learning instruction. The use of diverse technologies and methods is imperative for developing cadets’ linguistic competence for effective communication. A closed group of occupational lexical units presenting part of national language is analyzed within the framework of linguodidactics. The content of certain lexico-semantic groups of military sports terms applied in occupational communication is considered. The practical significance of language experience acquired in the educational process in achieving high results in occupational activity has been identified.

Marginals and Elites in International Arbitration

This chapter highlights a field that has raised significant interest in recent years: the sociology of individuals who are routinely appointed as international arbitrators to settle the important business disputes that commonly arise in transnational settings. These individuals serve as the private judges of global business law, and their governance functions have grown together with the growth of international arbitration, which is now the preferred method for resolving these disputes. The private nature of these appointments and the creation of a closed group of elite arbitrators have raised important concerns within civil society. The chapter then shows how the elites of international commercial arbitration (ICA) have successfully gained a strong and growing foothold in the burgeoning field of investor–state arbitration (ISA), despite the structural differences between ICA and ISA. Indeed, the elites of ISA and ICA significantly overlap, and have developed similar social strategies to secure legitimacy within the unified field of international arbitration.

Using Facebook Group as a Blended Learning Medium in Teaching Cross-Cultural Understanding in Islamic Higher Education

This study aimed to investigate how social media, in this case, a Facebook group as Blended learning incorporated in teaching at Islamic Higher Education in Indonesia. Sixty-five EFL students participated in this study. The content of cross-cultural and responses in this closed group was analyzed to identify the patterns of interaction, and their responses to e-journaling through a Facebook group. The findings revealed that the students responded positively to this activity and promote the student's sense of the uniqueness of his own culture as a positive value and enables the students to accept the uniqueness of the other cultures. The power of sharing and learning from other students encourages understanding and appreciation of other cultures.