Analyzing the Effects of CLIL Method in Teaching Business English Writing in China

The use of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) teaching method in English writing proved to be efficient in enhancing students’ language and content knowledge. This study aims to explore the effects of utilizing CLIL method in teaching Business English Writing among Chinese college students. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The experiment lasted for a total of eight weeks. The Experimental Group was taught Business English Writing using CLIL method while the Control Group was instructed with the conventional method. The sample of the study consists of 80 third year Business English college students from Shaoyang University in Hunan Province, China. Two classes of students were chosen as intact group sampling (40 students in each group). A pre-test and post-test were used as instruments. The data was analyzed using Independent samples t-test. Prior to the actual study a pilot test was carried out to obtain the reliability and validity of the instrument (writing test). The findings from quantitative data showed that students of the Experimental Group using CLIL teaching method performed significantly higher in their overall Business English Writing, report writing, memo writing, letter writing than students in the Control Group using conventional method. Therefore, it can be concluded that the CLIL principle should be employed as an alternative method in future writing classes. These findings have significant pedagogical implications because the CLIL method facilitated students to improve in their Business English writing skills.

The Impact of Marital Status on Work Hours: A Quantitative Study of European Labor Market from Gender Perspective

This article examines the effects of marital status to the gender gap in employment hours. This article uses linear regression analysis with data from the European Social Survey Round 8. Stata/SE 16 is used to analyze the data collected from 18 European countries to explore the research questions. Previous literatures identify some determinants of work hours such as demographic characteristics, the division of household labor, job characteristics, and country-level determinants (e.g., welfare state, work-hour regulations, family policies, part-time labor force participation etc.), but there are few studies on marital status as determinant of work hours. This article finds that there is an interaction among marital status and work hours to the different levels of gender. This article shows that there is a gender inequality in the European labor market, where men’s work hours are more than women’s work hours. Unmarried women work less hours than any other studied categories of marital status (e.g., married, divorced).

To Assess the Association between Exchange Rate, Commodity Prices and Cryptocurrency in Indonesia

The paper aimed to assess the association among exchange rate, commodity prices and crypto currency in Indonesia. This study is quantitative in which the data has been gathered from the Investing.com from 2016 to 2020. The variables which were considered in the study include exchange rate, gold prices, cotton prices, oil prices, Bitcoin and Ethereum. In terms of the analysis, the vector autoregression and granger causality test has been adopted.The results of this study identified that there is no effect of exchange rate, oil price, cotton price and gold price on Bitcoin. On the other hand, there is only significant effect of gold prices on Ethereum. The results of this study are restricted to Indonesian context and the data has been considered from 2016 to 2019 due to the lack of data on crypto currency.

Exploring the Debate of Free Public Tertiary Education in Mauritius

This paper comes at the right moment when the Prime Minister of Mauritius declared on the 1st January 2019 that there would be free tertiary education in public universities of the country. This measure was instinctively considered as populist due to the imminence of forthcoming elections in the country and met with criticisms from various parties. Seen from a different perspective, the provision of free tertiary education in public universities might be a sequel to the already existing free education provided at the primary and secondary levels. This could be a right measure in the sense that education is extended up to the tertiary where the country might need graduates at a strategic level. There might be reservations like the high level of unemployment among the youth, around 30% and the need to find immediate measures to curb this problem. Otherwise, free university education has to become a well-framed concept today where it should prepare the youth to face the challenges of tomorrow in a world of constant evolution. The paper sums up with a perspective of university education after an analysis of the debate surrounding free tertiary education in Mauritius.

A Case Review of a Male Chinese Savant Adult with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and Syndromic Low-Functioning/Non-verbal Autism

This is a case review of a male Chinese adult, BK, who has been previously diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis complex, syndromic low-functioning/non-verbal autistic savantism and intellectual disability. He has the gift of painting and has since produced many works that show he has an eye for detail, color, texture, and stroke application (Camulli, Goh and Chia, 2018). This paper adopts a different perspective to study the case by re-examining BK’s systemizing ability, i.e., his innate drive to analyze or construct any kind of system, and in his case, painting. Systemizing is defined as the ability to follow a certain set of implicit rules that is governing the system in order to predict how that system will behave (Baron-Cohen 2006). In BK’s case, the focus is on his gift of systemizing ability in the cognitive process of acrylic painting using the following cognitive formulation: [input]->[operation]->[output].

Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) Adoption Level among Listed Manufacturing Companies in Sri Lanka: Institutional Theory Perspective

This study investigates about the relationship between institutional pressure and environmental management accounting (EMA) adoption level by applying new institutional sociology perspective to assess the pressures for EMA adoption level with reference to 38 listed manufacturing companies in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in Sri Lanka, based on convenient sampling method. Data were collected through structured questionnaire distributing via e-mail and postal mail for accountant or financial managers as respondents. Reliability analysis, descriptive analysis and inferential analysis were applied to analyze the data and three hypotheses were tested by multiple regression analysis. Those hypotheses were constructed to reveal about coercive isomorphism, normative pressure and mimetic processes are positively influence for EMA adoption level. The results indicate the influences of education or/and training, and political or/and legitimacy are positively pressure for the adoption of EMA; although, the pressures on standard responses to uncertainty is insignificant for EMA adoption. In addition, Coercive isomorphism; responses to political influence or/ and legitimacy influences play vital role in pressuring on EMA adoption. Further findings supports to the practical implications of Accountant role and political/ legitimacy influences are important in managing environmental issues in an organization. This study has made preliminary understanding for the new institutional sociology perspective concerning the type of pressure that influences and, provides useful contribution to the present knowledge by exploring more explanations for environmental management accounting adoption in an unexplored context in Sri Lanka.

Facebook as a Culture: A Sociological Study

The small ‘f’ letter has become the new cultural symbol. The blue world of Zuckerberg has become the postmodern cultural manifestation. Today, Facebook has become the largest virtual networking space with more than 2.23 billion monthly active users. The game of like, comment and share has become the contemporary way of life. The present paper aims to comprehend how Facebook is reconstructing new acculturation and socialization among the youth generation. This advanced cyberculture is reinforcing the most recent sociological concepts like the ‘Net-Generation’, ‘Millennium Generation’ ‘Digital Natives’ etc. The main purpose of the study is to illustrate how the culture of the Facebook is constructing a new pattern of identity, a changing trend of interaction and a new preference about interpersonal relations among the students of the University of Dhaka. The researcher tends to analyze the nature of Online Vs Offline pattern of the youth life. This research also tries to analyze whether Facebook itself is a culture or a subculture or a cultural extension. As a major methodological technique, the researcher uses a quantitative method approach for data collection and analysis. The study reveals that Facebook is encouraging community feelings by facilitating individualism. People are judging another individual through the screen of the Facebook newsfeed. There is evidence of growing night culture, the popularity of English and Bangla mixed writings, Edited picture and edited name to create a new image among students. An awareness building program should be taken by the concerned authority on the positive side and negative side of Facebook use for helping the users.

Shrimp Cultivation: Development Debate and the Adverse Effect on Environment and Economy

As an indicator of economic development, GDP remains the main factor among economists. But the hidden reality is that such parameter just shows the overall superficial economic gain but not the real development scenario of the masses. In the name of economic development, numerous degrading activities take place in the centre and periphery regions of Bangladesh. Such unplanned development activities are not only halting the natural flow of development but also creating a threat to sustainability. As the shrimp sector emerges as one of the major areas of earning foreign currency, stakeholders overlooking its multiple negative impacts on the coastal environment and traditional economic livelihood. With the introduction of shrimp cultivation different short of income sources created. As a result, some profit seekers become well off within a short period of time leaving majority unprivileged. Moreover, there is no local authority that shows any concern on the long-term suffering of the local inhabitants. In this article, we tried to show the amalgamate opinion of multiple people from different occupational groups and the conflicting areas against popular theory of development. As the research is heterogeneous in nature we used qualitative method for collecting data from various respondents. The research result clearly shows the conflicting situation and deprivation of the local inhabitants. Concluding part of this research focused on the ultimate crisis and its way out.

The Rise of China: Dream of Xi Jinping

The main purpose of this article is to explore the mystery of china being a leader in business, and economic aspects and the dream of Xi Jinping. A historical, analytical, case study method has been used to conduct this research. The study reveals that China has been successful in attaining a stable domestic and international status and achieving a top position in the world. It is proclaimed that “The Dream of Xi Jinping” is for making the nation an ideal one based on the characteristics and ideologies of China. This paper focuses on all the aspects of China as a global leader; it discusses China’s economical-political history, struggles for success and policies for becoming a superpower. In addition, Chinese foreign policies and its relationship with the other countries, especially with Bangladesh have been enlightened here. The findings of the study will be helpful for trader, policy makers and enthusiastic to understand, policy making and future trade with China.

A Cross-Linguistic Study of Super and Intensifiers in the Real World

This study examined super in German (super) and in Mandarin Chinese (chao-ji 超級 ‘super’ and chao 超 ‘super’), with data taken from corpora. We aim to test whether intensifiers function as semantically vacuous fillers, as Huddleston and Pullum (2002) proposed, and show the sociolinguistic features of intensifiers while moving toward grammaticalization. The results indicate that German super is flexible morphologically and syntactically, while super in Mandarin Chinese has several constraints. Semantically, Mandarin Chinese chao enhances the gradable property of states and chao-ji often emphasizes modern technology and events. In comparison, German super has advanced itself in terms of linguistic performance and gradually lost its role as an intensifier. The study of super and the use of intensifiers display interesting linguistic diversity and also reveal how men and women, teenagers and children play different participant roles in the process of moving intensifiers toward grammaticalization.