Factors Responsible for Poor English Reading Comprehension at Secondary LevelBahram Kazemian
The present study shows factors responsible for poor English reading comprehension at secondary school level students. The purpose of this study is to explore those factors and to suggest remedies how to strengthen English reading comprehension of the students. English is the 2nd language of Pakistani students and Kachru (1996) places it in the outer circle. Test and interviews are conducted to get the data. Different factors like poor command of vocabulary, habit of cramming, no interest to learn creativity in reading but the sole goal is just to pass the examination which are found responsible for poor English reading comprehension. Motivation to learn reading can develop reading comprehension skill of students.
This presentation takes into account the reasons for developing reading and listening exercises in an EFL language classroom. It presents the types of reading and listening activities for language teaching and the main considerations to develop materials for these two language skills.
Factors Responsible for Poor English Reading Comprehension at Secondary LevelBahram Kazemian
The present study shows factors responsible for poor English reading comprehension at secondary school level students. The purpose of this study is to explore those factors and to suggest remedies how to strengthen English reading comprehension of the students. English is the 2nd language of Pakistani students and Kachru (1996) places it in the outer circle. Test and interviews are conducted to get the data. Different factors like poor command of vocabulary, habit of cramming, no interest to learn creativity in reading but the sole goal is just to pass the examination which are found responsible for poor English reading comprehension. Motivation to learn reading can develop reading comprehension skill of students.
This presentation takes into account the reasons for developing reading and listening exercises in an EFL language classroom. It presents the types of reading and listening activities for language teaching and the main considerations to develop materials for these two language skills.
@ characteristics and impact of hearing loss B7 2.1AsmitaHuddar
The presentation covers understanding a child with d/Deafness, the impact of deafness on development of a child in general and with specific reference to the degree of hearing loss and What could be the characteristics of a student with hearing loss. The intention is to take the audience from 'what is hearing loss' to 'what is to be a child with hearing loss?'
How has our understanding of BICS/CALP and time needed for academic achievement by second-language learners changed over the last 3 decades as we have learned more from new waves of immigration and new research findings? In this session, this foundational information will be updated and re-examined based on current research and teaching practices.
Created by Sonia Babaee
Sources:
Mishan, F. & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials development for TESOL (pp. 99-120). Edinburg University Press. (Materials to develop reading and listening skills)
Mishan, F. & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials development for TESOL (pp. 121-140). Edinburg University Press. (Materials to develop speaking and writing skills)
Here is a presentation on the music genre, POP. I have included magazines which relate to this genre. I have also analysed the Mise-en-scene, History, Cultue and audience of this particular genre.
@ characteristics and impact of hearing loss B7 2.1AsmitaHuddar
The presentation covers understanding a child with d/Deafness, the impact of deafness on development of a child in general and with specific reference to the degree of hearing loss and What could be the characteristics of a student with hearing loss. The intention is to take the audience from 'what is hearing loss' to 'what is to be a child with hearing loss?'
How has our understanding of BICS/CALP and time needed for academic achievement by second-language learners changed over the last 3 decades as we have learned more from new waves of immigration and new research findings? In this session, this foundational information will be updated and re-examined based on current research and teaching practices.
Created by Sonia Babaee
Sources:
Mishan, F. & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials development for TESOL (pp. 99-120). Edinburg University Press. (Materials to develop reading and listening skills)
Mishan, F. & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials development for TESOL (pp. 121-140). Edinburg University Press. (Materials to develop speaking and writing skills)
Here is a presentation on the music genre, POP. I have included magazines which relate to this genre. I have also analysed the Mise-en-scene, History, Cultue and audience of this particular genre.
This slideshare is research for my music magazine. I have analysed 3 mainstream magazines and the conventions used on the front cover, contents page and a double spread page.
This seminar-workshop was developed at the request of Ephesians Publishing Inc. for the Manila Central University teacher training series for elementary school and high school teachers. This was conducted on May 29, 2013.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
2. Why are we asking the question?
• Some say that proficiency tests such as the
OPI are inappropriate tests for heritage
learners.
• Others say the OPI and the ACTFL/ILR
rating criteria are appropriate for everyone.
3. Which is the best term,
“Bilingual,” “Native,” or
“Heritage” Speaker?
• All of these terms describe categories of
individuals.
• Each term represents a range of abilities
rather than a specific level of proficiency in
a language.
• The terms are used inconsistently and may
overlap.
4. Points to Ponder
• Can native speakers also be bilinguals?
• Are bilinguals always considered to be
native speakers of two languages?
• Are heritage speakers considered to be
native speakers?
• Are there some people who speak no
language well?
5. What Makes Someone
a Native Speaker?
•
•
•
•
Place of birth?
The first language acquired?
The language of the parents?
A minimum number of years living in the
society?
• The level of education attained in the
society where the language is spoken?
7. Cognitive versus Linguistic
Student Errors
• Without the Greeks we wouldn’t have history.
• A myth is a female moth.
• Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by
another man of that name.
• Germinate: To become a naturalized German.
• The pistol of a flower is its only protection against
insects.
• The abominable cavity contains the bowls, of
which there are five – a, e, i, o, and u.
9. The following three charts are from:
Bias in Mental Testing,
by Arthur R. Jensen
The Free Press, Macmillan Publishing.
786 pages, 1980.
ASVAB Factor Analysis, page 220
Mental Age and Chronological Age, page 104
Knowledge and Reasoning Development, page 106
10.
11.
12.
13. Summary of Maturation’s
Impact on Language
• Verbal ability is highly correlated with the growth
of cognitive ability.
• Mental ability grows rapidly from birth to about
age 16, then the rate of growth levels off.
• About age 8 there is a sharp increase in ability to
answer questions requiring recall of factual
information.
• Ability to answer questions requiring the
understanding of relationships develops more
slowly and doesn’t level off until age 12.
15. Reading Scale: European Commission
• Functional reading
– Locate information in highly formatted texts such as
schedules, signs, directories.
• Referential reading
– Acquire new information from news, descriptions,
science reports.
• Reflective reading
– Extend one’s world view, cultivate the mind by reading
literature, popular science articles, reviews.
• Critical reading
– Evaluate editorials, critical essays, persuasive texts.
16. Reading Scale: Council of Europe
Common European Framework
• A1 Can understand very short, simple texts a single
phrase at a time.
• A2 Can understand short, simple texts on familiar topics.
• B1 Can read straightforward factual texts.
• B2 Can read [factual texts] with a large degree of
independence, but may have difficulty with low-frequency
items.
• C1 Can understand in detail lengthy, complex texts.
• C2 Can interpret critically virtually all forms of the
written language including abstract, structurally complex,
or highly colloquial writings.
17. Bloom’s Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives
• Memorization of facts.
• Comprehension and use of words and phrases.
• Application of skills to create and understand new
communications.
• Analysis and definition of factual relationships in
paragraph length communications.
• Synthesis of concepts to produce and comprehend
abstract ideas and hypothetical situations.
• Evaluation and persuasion through refined use of
professional, literary, and rhetorical skills.
18. Summary of Education’s Impact
on Language Development.
• Life’s activities support the cognitive
development of lower cognitive levels.
• Formal education builds on those levels.
• Attaining the highest levels of language and
cognitive skills usually requires sustained
schooling such as completion of a higher
education degree program.
19. What would happen if …
• A learner stopped using the language at age 8?
• A learner’s experience in the language were
limited to factual communications?
• A learner’s education switched to a different
language in the 4th grade?
20. What Makes Someone
a Heritage Speaker?
“For the most part, …[t]hey speak or hear the
heritage language spoken at home, but they
receive all of their education in the official or
majority language of the countries in which they
live. … They thus become literate only in the
majority language.”
Guadalupe Valdés, “Introduction,” in Volume I, Spanish for Native
Speakers, Harcourt College Publishers. 108 pages, 2000.
21. Testing and Teaching
Heritage Learners
• Assessment methods should match the
reason for giving the test.
– Screening for job assignments.
– Placement into instructional programs.
– Planning individualized instruction.
22. What Determines Whether a
Test Is Appropriate?
• The person to be tested?
Or…
• The purpose for which the test is being
administered?
23. Testing Application Matrix
Purpose
Heritage Learners Other Learners
Screening for job assignments
?
?
Placement into instructional programs
?
?
Planning individualized instruction
?
?
24. Screening for Job Assignments
• Skill modality ratings based on the ILR scale are
“non-compensatory” in that all conditions of a
given level must be met to earn that rating.
• Therefore, an ILR rating is useful for job
placement, because it represents a conservative
guarantee that the test candidate has the level of
proficiency needed for a given job.
• However, a summary ILR proficiency rating
cannot recognize the individual strengths that may
be present in a heritage speaker’s ability profile.
25. Level 3 / Superior: A Summary
• Content areas to be included:
Practical, social, professional, and abstract topics
such as economics, culture, and science.
• Communication tasks to be accomplished:
Use extended, cohesive discourse to support
opinions, to hypothesize, to defend policies, and to
clarify points of disagreement.
• Accuracy expectations:
Without searching for words or phrases, can use
the language clearly and relatively naturally to
elaborate concepts freely and make ideas easily
understandable to native speakers.
26. Proficiency Level Summary
LEVEL
FUNCTION/TASKS
5
All expected of an
educated NS
4
Tailor language, counsel, motivate,
persuade, negotiate
Wide range of
professional needs
3
Support opinions, hypothesize,
explain, deal with unfamiliar topics
Practical, abstract,
special interests
2
Narrate, describe, give directions
1
Q & A, create with the language
0
Memorized
CONTEXT/TOPICS
All subjects
Concrete, realworld, factual
ACCURACY
Accepted as an
educated NS
Extensive, precise,
and appropriate
Errors never
interfere with
communication &
rarely disturb
Intelligible even if
not used to dealing
with non-NS
Everyday survival
Intelligible with
effort or practice
Random
Unintelligible
27.
28. Placement into instructional
programs. (Macro Diagnosis)
• The major components of the ILR scale are
– Communication tasks to be accomplished.
– Specified topical domains.
– Accuracy statements.
• Assigning a separate rating to each of these
components creates a “macro” skill profile.
• Although this three-factor, macro profile is not
very detailed, it could be useful in grouping
learners into classes of students with similar
needs.
29. Course Design
• Depending on the diversity found in the
population, multiple instructional tracks
may be needed.
• These tracks may be based on
– Communicative functions.
– Topical / lexical domains.
– Language structure and accuracy of
communication.
30. Proficiency Level Summary
LEVEL
FUNCTION/TASKS
5
All expected of an
educated NS
4
Tailor language, counsel, motivate,
persuade, negotiate
Wide range of
professional needs
3
Support opinions, hypothesize,
explain, deal with unfamiliar topics
Practical, abstract,
special interests
2
Narrate, describe, give directions
1
Q & A, create with the language
0
Memorized
CONTEXT/TOPICS
All subjects
Concrete, realworld, factual
ACCURACY
Accepted as an
educated NS
Extensive, precise,
and appropriate
Errors never
interfere with
communication &
rarely disturb
Intelligible even if
not used to dealing
with non-NS
Everyday survival
Intelligible with
effort or practice
Random
Unintelligible
31. Planning Individualized
Instruction. (Micro Diagnostics)
• The ILR scale can also be used as the basis
for conducting individualized diagnostic
assessments.
• Strengths and deficiencies can be noted as
they relate to the candidate’s performance
on the communication tasks found in the
ILR scale.
32. Planning Individualized
Instruction. (Micro Diagnostics)
• For instance, the test candidate performing tasks at
Level 3 might display the following pattern:
– Native-like pronunciation.
– Inappropriate choice of register.
– Lack of lexical precision.
– Etc.
• From this type of analysis, an individualized
learning plan could be developed for each learner
based on their personal strengths and weaknesses.
33. Proficiency Level Summary
LEVEL
FUNCTION/TASKS
5
All expected of an
educated NS
4
Tailor language, counsel, motivate,
persuade, negotiate
Wide range of
professional needs
3
Support opinions, hypothesize,
explain, deal with unfamiliar topics
Practical, abstract,
special interests
2
Narrate, describe, give directions
1
Q & A, create with the language
0
Memorized
CONTEXT/TOPICS
All subjects
Concrete, realworld, factual
ACCURACY
Accepted as an
educated NS
Extensive, precise,
and appropriate
Errors never
interfere with
communication &
rarely disturb
Intelligible even if
not used to dealing
with non-NS
Everyday survival
Intelligible with
effort or practice
Random
Unintelligible
35. When testing heritage language learners,
is the glass half empty
or half full?
• The answer will depend on:
–The breadth and depth of the
learner’s experiences.
- The “size of the glass.”
36. Choosing the Correct Glass
Requires Knowing Its Purpose
• Water glass
• Wine glass
• Brandy snifter
37. Choosing the Correct Test
Requires Knowing Its Purpose
• Screening for job assignments.
• Placement into instructional programs.
• Planning individualized instruction.
38. Testing Application Matrix
Purpose
Heritage Learners Other Learners
Screening for job assignments
?
?
Placement into instructional programs
?
?
Planning individualized instruction
?
?
39. Testing Application Matrix
Purpose
Screening for job assignments
Heritage Learners Other Learners
Proficiency Test
Proficiency Test
Macro Diagnostic Macro Diagnostic
Placement into instructional programs
Test
Test
Micro Diagnostic Micro Diagnostic
Planning individualized instruction
Test
Test
40. Testing is Beneficial
• Heritage learners generally have substantial,
if sometimes uneven, language skills.
• Optimum utilization of those skills requires
informed decision making.
• Language tests can provide the desired
information.
41. However…
• Different tests and testing approaches yield
different data.
• The type of information needed establishes
the testing purpose.
42. Conclusion
• It is the purpose of the test – not the person
to be tested – that should determine the type
of test to be administered.