Using Explicit Instruction of the International Phonetic Alphabet System in English as a Foreign Language Adult Classes

<p style="text-align: justify;">The effects of international phonetic alphabet (IPA) instruction on English as a foreign language (EFL) adult learners’ pronunciation have been well-recognized. However, not many studies on the topic were conducted in the Vietnamese context. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate (1) the impact of IPA learning on Vietnamese EFL adult learners’ pronunciation and (2) adult learners’ perceptions of the effects of learning the IPA system on their pronunciation. The study was designed as an experimental study, following a mixed-methods approach, using the pre-and-post-tests, questionnaires, and interviews to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Thirty-eight adult learners took part in this investigation; they were divided into two groups, nineteen in the control and nineteen in the experimental group. The experimental study lasted ten weeks before the questionnaires and interviews were administered with the participants in the experimental group. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in adult learners’ pronunciation in the experimental group. The participants in the experimental group also highly perceived the positive effects of learning the IPA system on their pronunciation. Pedagogical implications and suggestions were presented at the end of the paper.</p>

Incidentally gathered natural history information on Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in southeastern Alberta

We present observations on Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) gathered during a study of Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) in a multiple-use, mixed grass landscape adjacent to the South Saskatchewan River, ~30 km northeast of Medicine Hat, Alberta, in May–October 1997. Hibernacula shared with rattlesnakes were located close to the river. We captured 31 Bullsnakes, either in a drift fence array around a hibernaculum or by hand; three were recaptured once. Emergence from the hibernaculum ended in mid-May, and return to it began in early September. A gap in capture events occurred between early July and late August, possibly attributable to fossorial activity during the height of the summer. The sex ratio of captured adult snakes was 0.64 in favour of males. Males attained the greatest maximum body sizes, but there was no significant size dimorphism by sex. Bullsnakes were assignable to juvenile, subadult, and adult classes by body size. Most captures were made on slopes in the immediate vicinity of the river, in areas classed as “thin breaks”, but four captures, about 7 km east of the river, provide evidence of long-distance movements from hibernacula. Captures were seldom made in the vicinity of anthropogenic features. Gas field development has increased greatly in the years since these data were collected. Our findings provide a baseline for Bullsnake population responses to such changes.

Italian Language in the Adult Class - Didactic Unit for Adults

This paper aims to address foreign language and Italian respectively of the adult classes. Teaching in classes with adults is radically different from teaching in classrooms with children and teenage, this occur because students typology to teach is quite another. Teaching adults is a topic which is not studied enough because the teaching for this age group is often taken for granted. So, while teaching children and adolescents we can find countless of studies that adults age does not enjoy this privilege. The branch that deals with the study of teaching adults is Andragogy. Teaching adults depends on many factors, as an adult that has a formative his own bag round which certainly we cannot overlook. Adults also need to be clarified about the objectives of teaching, because they need to know the values that will have the information that they would take in a certain course. In a language class with adults it has a great importance the role of teacher too. He is not the pedagogical teacher but andragogic hence its formation must be such that it should recognize quite well each method, technique of teaching adults. Our paper aims to provide also a didactic unit in order to provide a practical approach to language teaching, near adult classes taking into account the psychology age their requirements and their needs

A Dengue Vaccination Model for Immigrants in a Two-Age-Class Population

We develop a model of dengue transmission with some vaccination programs for immigrants. We classify the host population into child and adult classes, in regards to age structure, and into susceptible, infected and recovered compartments, in regards to disease status. Since migration plays important role in disease transmission, we include immigration and emigration factors into the model which are distributed in each compartment. Meanwhile, the vector population is divided into susceptible, exposed, and infectious compartments. In the case when there is no incoming infected immigrant, we obtain the basic reproduction ratio as a threshold parameter for existence and stability of disease-free and endemic equilibria. Meanwhile, in the case when there are some incoming infected immigrants, we obtain only endemic equilibrium. This indicates that screening for the immigrants is important to ensure the effectiveness of the disease control.

The Workers in the Workers' Educational Association, 1903–1950

The history of British continuing education has been written almost entirely as institutional history. The impact of the 1924 Board of Education regulations on the funding of adult classes has been thoroughly examined, and we know a good deal about the various district secretaries of the Workers' Educational Association. But we have yet to tackle a set of more fundamental and revealing questions about the WEA: Who were the students? Why did they enroll in WEA courses? What were their intellectual goals? What cultural equipment did they bring to their classes? What went on inside the classroom? Most importantly, how, if at all, did the WEA change the lives and minds of its students?This article focuses on a controversy that erupted shortly after the WEA was launched in 1903, and which persists today: a question that can only be resolved by studying WEA students at close range. According to a number of Marxist critics, the WEA played an important role in steering the British working class away from Marxism. Roger Fieldhouse argues that the WEA'S emphasis on objective scholarship and open-mindedness “could have the effect of neutralising some students' commitments or beliefs and integrating them into the hegemonic national culture.”