EFL Learners’ Pedagogical Views on the Online Social Networks in EFL Classrooms

This present study aims to explore EFL learners’ pedagogical views towards the utilization of online social networks in EFL classrooms. It specifically elaborates the EFL learners’ preferences of online social networks for learning English. Moreover, the EFL learners’ English skills enhanced by utilizing online social networks were also investigated. Ten EFL learners participated in the qualitative study which employed observations and interviews in collecting qualitative data. The results show that the learners’ preferences include Facebook, blogs, WhatsApp, Twitter, podcasts and Instagram. The learners’ English skills improved include listening, writing, reading, and speaking. In conclusion, online social networks are not only designed for general communication among EFL learners, but also for engaging EFL learners to work collaboratively in learning English via online environments.

Adult children’s goals as predictors of communication satisfaction with their parent: The moderating roles of inferences of the parent’s goals and future time perspective of the parent

Adult children ( N = 245, MAge = 50.55 years, 62.0% women, 80.0% European American) reported on their own prosocial goals during typical interactions with their parent, inferences of their parent’s prosocial goals, assessment of their parent’s future, and general communication satisfaction in their relationship with their parent. Prosocial goals were considered as social support goals and relationship protection goals. The study examined how children’s own prosocial goals predicted children’s general communication satisfaction, as well as how children’s inferences of their parent’s goals and future time perspective of their parent moderated these associations. The associations between children’s own goals and children’s communication satisfaction were positive (1) when children inferred that their parent held the same goals and perceived their parent’s future as restricted, or (2) when children inferred that their parent held relatively low levels of the goals and perceived their parent’s future as expansive. The study illuminates the contingencies under which children’s goals predict children’s general communication satisfaction.

Stronger correlations than dense coding with the same quantum resources

Dense coding is the seminal example of how entanglement can boost quantum communication. By sharing an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) pair, dense coding allows one to transmit two bits of classical information while sending only a single qubit [1]. This doubling of the channel capacity is the largest allowed in quantum theory [2]. In this letter we show in both theory and experiment that same elementary resources, namely a shared EPR pair and qubit communication, are strictly more powerful than two classical bits in more general communication tasks. In contrast to dense coding experiments [3–8], we show that these advantages can be revealed using merely standard optical Bell state analysers [9, 10]. Our results reveal that the power of entanglement in enhancing quantum communications qualitatively goes beyond boosting channel capacities.

Collaboration Between Child Play Therapy and Speech-Language Pathology: Case Reports of a Novel Language and Behavior Intervention

Purpose It has been well documented that a significant number of children with developmental language disorders (DLDs) also exhibit challenging behaviors. In this study, a new intervention (Play and Language [PAL]) was developed through a research collaboration between a speech-language pathologist and a play therapist. The purpose of this clinical focus article is to describe child play therapy techniques and how these, along with early language intervention techniques, may positively impact preschool children's general communication and behavior. Method Students in a communication sciences and disorders program were trained to use a combination of child therapy techniques and language facilitation procedures in the PAL approach. Five preschool children, who displayed DLD and challenging behaviors, participated in a 2-week daily intensive intervention. Pre- and postintervention data for general communication and behavior skills were collected through parent report and language sample data. Student clinician and parent surveys were collected to assess the feasibility of conducting the new intervention and the parent-observed outcomes and satisfaction. Results A majority of the children who participated in the study increased their intelligibility and number of different words. Fewer than half increased their sentence length. These same children decreased their challenging behaviors, with 11 of 14 behaviors being reduced to normal levels. All parents reported satisfaction with their child's results. In addition, students trained to provide the intervention reported high levels of satisfaction with the training to implement PAL and that they were confident in providing the intervention techniques. Conclusion Together, our exploratory data provide preliminary and limited evidence that combining play therapy and language facilitation techniques may improve general communication skills and decrease challenging behaviors within the same intervention. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16840459

Quality of Communication Questionnaire for Hospitalized Patients Hospitalized in Intensive and Palliative Care Unit: Validity Evidence for Use in Brazil

The Quality of Communication Questionnaire (QoC) was culturally adapted for Brazil due to its importance and use in several studies and different scenarios. The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity evidence of the Brazilian version of the QoC. A validation study was carried out involving 253 patients admitted to five public hospitals in Southern Brazil. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, Cronbach's alpha (α) to assess internal consistency, exploratory factor analysis, and goodness-of-fit index. One hundred and three patients were in intensive care (IC), and 150 were in palliative care (PC). The participants’ mean age was 51 years (SD = 14.2). QoC,and its general communication subscale, and end-of-life communication subscale means were 5.5 (SD = 1.6), 8.8 (SD = 1.5), and 5.5 (SD = 1.6) respectively. Among patients in IC, QoC Cronbach’s alpha was .75, and .84 in the general communication subscale and .51 in the end-of-life communication subscale. Among patients in PC, QoC Cronbach’s alpha was .83, and .88 in the general communication subscale, and .71 in the end-of-life communication subscale. The root mean square error of approximation was .07 (90% CI: .04 – .08); Tucker-Lewis index was .97 (95% CI: .95 – .98); comparative fit index was .98 (95% CI: .97 – .99), and χ2/df ratio was 1.33 (χ2[53] = 70.858, p = .05). The authors conclude that the general communication subscale of QoC Brazilian version has good validity evidence for patients in IC and PC, whereas the end-of-life communication subscale is only valid for patient in PC.

ASSESSMENT OF ESSENTIAL COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS OF FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS

The purpose of the presented work is to assess the development and progression of basic communication skills of the 1st year students of the medical faculty that can serve as the basis for their further improvement over the course of professional education. The general level of students' communication skills was assessed using the test "Diagnosis of communicative and organizational tendencies"; the general level of empathy and the degree of its manifestation in communicating with different categories of people were studied using the Yusupov I. test; types of behavior in conflicts were estimated using the Thomas test. The research findings were processed according to the keys suggested by the authors of the tests. The study has shown that the majority of students (66%) demonstrates a high and very high level of general communication, while 18% of participants have low and very low levels of communication skills. An adequate general level of empathy was found in 91.7% of 1st year students, moreover, it was high in the remaining 8.3% of students. All respondents have shown the greatest empathy towards parents (average level 10.1 out of 15 possible scores), strangers (9.2) and children (8.9), while the level of empathy for older people was 6.9 points. Determining the strategy for resolving conflict situations has revealed that 1st year students most often choose a compromise (22.5% boys and 24% girls), the strategy of avoidance ranks the second position and is commn among the girls (23%, while the boys exhibit rivalry (21.8%), cooperation is chosen mainly by the girls (19.8%). The results of the study have shown that high levels of general communication and empathy could contribute to the choice of a future profession by the students and need only the right support during their graduate training program. Much attention should be paid to fostering empathy for the elderly people and the choice of cooperation as the best conflict resolution strategy between the parties during educational process at the university.

MALAQBIQ LOCAL VALUE IN EFL WRITING CLASS

The purpose of this study is to integrate malaqbiq local value, Islamic values, and language skill in Writing in General Communication course. It was conducted at English Education study program of STAIN Majene in 2019 by employing descriptive qualitative research method with total of 32 participants. Data gathered from interview, field notes, questionnaire, and RPS document analysis showed that the process of implementing malaqbiq value which included planning, implementation, and evaluation of learning had not encountered such a big obstacle because it has been supported by vison-mission of STAIN Majene which exemplify the value per se and the learning achievements of KKNI curriculum which contains affective aspect. Indicators of malaqbiq value related to writing skill are having a broad and advanced view in writing; creating introductory paragraphs/statements containing greetings; choosing appropriate diction according to context; composing words appropriately according to grammar; using proper spelling of words; writing correct information; writing with sense of relief (based on personal judgement); writing with authenticity and one own’s ideas (no plagiarism); writing with regards to context (who and where); and writing text according to rules.

Rotation Forest model modification within the email spam classification

Increased use of email in daily transactions for many businesses or general communication due to its cost-effectiveness has made emails vulnerable to attacks, including spam. Spam emails are unsolicited messages that are very similar to each other and sent to multiple recipients randomly. This study analyzes the Rotation Forest model and modifies it for spam classification problem. Also, the aim of this study is to create a better classifier. To improve classifier stability, the experiments were carried out on Enron spam, Ling spam, and SpamAssasin datasets and evaluated for accuracy, f-measure, precision, and recall.

An Objective Structured Clinical Exam As a Tool for Assessing the Communicative Skills of Residents in Simulated Conditions

The relevance of the research problem is due to the need to update theoretical views and practical actions to create new methods for an objective and structured assessment of the communication skills of students at a medical university. The purpose of the article is to prove the suitability, reliability, feasibility of an objective structured clinical examination (OSKE) as a tool for assessing the communication skills of residents in simulated conditions during the intermediate certification of students. The leading research method was an experiment on the development and implementation of three stations within the framework of the OSKE to assess the communication skills of 77 residents who completed the training course in the discipline "Communication skills" necessary information and resistance to doctor's recommendations. The article shows that experts highly assess the level of formation of general communication skills and skills of explaining information to the patient among the majority of examinees. It was revealed that communication skills associated with persuading the patient to follow the doctor's recommendations require improvement. Based on the methods of oral questioning and questioning, as well as psychometric analysis of the exam results, it has been proven that the developed OSKE is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the communication skills of residents in simulated conditions. The materials presented in the article can be used for intermediate and final certification of students in residency, as well as in the process of teaching future doctors the skills of communicating with patients at clinical departments. The technology of the exam, developed by the authors, will make it possible to fairly objectively assess communication skills, to cause the examinees to experience a sense of fairness in assessment, which is one of the factors in the emergence of a positive attitude towards improving the activity of professional communication.