Bilingual resources in English-medium instruction lectures

English is increasingly used as a lingua franca (ELF) for academic activities in Spanish higher education institutions. The notion of ELF is now being redefined including in its conceptualization a multilingual nature of communication (Jenkins, 2015). This conception is interesting for researchers in English-medium instruction (EMI). Therefore, this paper reports on a study which focuses on the multilingual resources most frequently used by higher education lecturers to achieve comprehensibility in EMI courses at the University of Zaragoza. It regards them as part of the pragmatic and strategic behaviour of the participants. The corpus for the study consists of 14 hours of audio-recorded lectures in two different disciplines that have been analysed from a discourse-pragmatic approach, involving both qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis of the data reveals that lecturers use their multilingual resources, mainly their own first language, as a pragmatic strategy that enables them to achieve various conversational goals such as clarifying meaning.

Strategic interaction: Distrust and cooperation in US-China relations

<p>International cooperation is generally thought to be made possible, or at least enhanced, by a relationship of trust between nations. This proposition is examined with a particular focus on US-China relations, and proceeds through a critique of various models of cooperation that works to expose the limits imposed by the assumption of a causal relationship between trust and cooperation. A concept of strategic interaction is developed on the basis of analysis of values and interests, asymmetric exchange and distrust, and is offered as an alternative to grand strategic narratives for understanding the strategic behaviour of states.</p>

Strategic interaction: Distrust and cooperation in US-China relations

<p>International cooperation is generally thought to be made possible, or at least enhanced, by a relationship of trust between nations. This proposition is examined with a particular focus on US-China relations, and proceeds through a critique of various models of cooperation that works to expose the limits imposed by the assumption of a causal relationship between trust and cooperation. A concept of strategic interaction is developed on the basis of analysis of values and interests, asymmetric exchange and distrust, and is offered as an alternative to grand strategic narratives for understanding the strategic behaviour of states.</p>

The Competencies Used to Assess the Effectiveness of New Zealand Managers

<p>Research on the competencies required by effective New Zealand managers is lacking. This thesis addressed this deficiency by identifying the competencies managers use to assess the effectiveness of managers across organisations and industries in New Zealand. The research was carried out in two parts. First, repertory grid interviews were conducted with 225 chief executives and senior managers from 75 organisations. They described the constructs that differentiated their effective and less effective senior managers. Six independent people categorised the interview constructs, which were incorporated in a questionnaire. In the second part of the study, 185 managers from two organisations rated a manager they regarded as effective on the constructs, as well as their overall effectiveness. The questionnaire analysis revealed a six-factor managerial effectiveness model. One main factor (interpersonal Skills) contributed over 40% of the variance. The five other factors (Conscientious and Organised, Strategic Behaviour, Problem-Solving, Drive and Enthusiasm, and Honest Feedback) contributed between 1.6% and 6% of the variance. The factors were similar to non-New Zealand competency models and the frequently cited Big Five personality factors. The implications of these findings are discussed, as well as issues related to identifying and implementing competencies.</p>

The Competencies Used to Assess the Effectiveness of New Zealand Managers

<p>Research on the competencies required by effective New Zealand managers is lacking. This thesis addressed this deficiency by identifying the competencies managers use to assess the effectiveness of managers across organisations and industries in New Zealand. The research was carried out in two parts. First, repertory grid interviews were conducted with 225 chief executives and senior managers from 75 organisations. They described the constructs that differentiated their effective and less effective senior managers. Six independent people categorised the interview constructs, which were incorporated in a questionnaire. In the second part of the study, 185 managers from two organisations rated a manager they regarded as effective on the constructs, as well as their overall effectiveness. The questionnaire analysis revealed a six-factor managerial effectiveness model. One main factor (interpersonal Skills) contributed over 40% of the variance. The five other factors (Conscientious and Organised, Strategic Behaviour, Problem-Solving, Drive and Enthusiasm, and Honest Feedback) contributed between 1.6% and 6% of the variance. The factors were similar to non-New Zealand competency models and the frequently cited Big Five personality factors. The implications of these findings are discussed, as well as issues related to identifying and implementing competencies.</p>

Fake Reviews in Online Platforms and the Effort to Fight Them

This paper proposes a model in which oligopolistic firms selling through an online platform can invest in creating positive fake reviews to increase their reputation and negative ones to harm that of their competitors. Therefore, oligopolistic firms’ demand depends on the amount of positive and negative fake reviews. In this context, the online platform optimally chooses the effort to fight fake reviews and the fee it charges to online sellers for each transaction. The novelty of the model lies in incorporating the online platform’s role in fighting fake reviews and its interplay with sellers’ strategic behaviour. The model’s main result is that the platform’s effort has a positive impact not only on consumers’ surplus but also on the oligopolistic firms’ profitability. In its turn, the platform’s optimal effort depends on exogenous parameters, including the demand’s sensitivity to fake reviews. JEL Classifications: D21, D43, L13, L81

EXPRESS: Effects of Presentation Modality and Duration on Children’s Strategy Use: A Study in Computational Estimation

Two experiments were run to determine how presentation modality and duration influence children’s arithmetic performance and strategy selection. Third and fourth graders were asked to find estimates for two-digit addition problems (e.g., 52 + 39). Children were tested in three conditions: (1) time-unlimited visual, (2) time-limited visual, or (3) time-limited auditory conditions. Moreover, we assessed children’s working-memory updating and arithmetic fluency. Children were told which strategy to use on each problem to assess arithmetic performance while executing strategies, in Experiment 1, and were asked to choose the best strategy of three available strategies to assess strategy selection, in Experiment 2. Presentation modality influenced strategy execution (i.e., children were faster and more accurate in problems under visual than auditory conditions) but only in children with low updating abilities. In contrast, presentation modality had no effect on children’s strategy selection. Presentation duration had an effect on both strategy execution and strategy selection with time-limited presentation leading to a decline in children’s performance. Interestingly, specifically in children with low updating abilities, time-limited presentation led to poorer performance. Hence, efficient updating seemed to compensate for detrimental effects of auditory in comparison to visual and time-limited in comparison to time-unlimited presentation. These findings have important implications for determining conditions under which children execute strategies most efficiently and select the best strategy on each problem most often, as well as for understanding mechanisms underlying strategic behaviour.

Can Strategic Behaviour Facilitate Confusion Resolution? The Interplay Between Confusion and Metacognitive Strategies in Betty’s Brain

Confusion may benefit learning when it is resolved or partially resolved. Metacognitive strategies (MS) may help learners to resolve confusion when it occurs during learning and problem solving. This study examined the relationship between confusion and MS that students evoked in Betty’s Brain, a computer-based learning-by-modelling environment where elementary and middle school students learn science by building causal maps. Participants were sixth graders. Emotion data were collected from real-time observations by trained researchers. MS and task performance information were determined by analyzing the action logs. Pre- and post-tests were used to assess learning gains. The results revealed that the use of MS was a function of the state of student confusion. However, confusion resolution was not related to MS behaviour, and MS did not moderate the effect of confusion on student task performance in Betty’s Brain or on learning gains.