We closely replicated Wu and Ortega (2013), who found that an elicited imitation test (EIT) reliably distinguished low-level from high-level language abilities among instructed L2 learners of Mandarin Chinese. The original study sampled learners (i) from second-level courses to represent low-level language abilities and (ii) from third-, fourth- and graduate level courses to represent high-level language abilities. Results showed that high-level learners outperformed low-level learners on the Mandarin EIT. Our close replication used Wu and Ortega’s (2013) materials and procedures in order to understand (i) the extent to which this EIT can additionally distinguish between finer-grained language abilities and (ii) the ways in which the broad grouping of language abilities in the high group may have contributed to the findings. Sixty-five instructed L2 learners from four instructional levels were assigned to one of three groups: Beginner (first-level courses), Low (second-level courses), High (third- and fourth-level courses). Consistent with the original study, our results showed clear between-group differences, indicating that the EIT can distinguish between both broad (beginner vs high) and finer-grained (beginner vs low, low vs high) language abilities. These results are discussed in light of the original study’s findings with implications for proficiency assessment in SLA research.
Background Appropriate allocation of nursing staff is key to ensuring efficient nursing in hospitals, and is significantly correlated with patient safety, nursing quality, and nurse job satisfaction. However, there are few studies on nursing workforce allocation in the isolation wards of COVID-19 designated hospitals globally. This study aims to better understand the nursing workforce allocation in the isolation wards of COVID-19 designated hospitals in China, and provide a theoretical basis for efficiently deploying first-line nurses in China and across the world in the future. Methods An online survey was conducted among the head nurses (n = 229) and nurses (n = 1378) in the isolation wards of 117 hospitals (selected by stratified sampling), using a self-reported human resource allocation questionnaire. Results The average bed-to-nurse ratios of different isolation wards were different (Z = 36.742, P = 0.000). The bed-to-nurse ratios of the ICU, suspected COVID-19 cases ward, and confirmed COVID-19 cases ward, were 1:1.88, 1:0.56, and 1:0.45, respectively. The nurse work hours per shift in different isolation wards were also different (Z = 8.468, P = 0.014), with the specific values of the ICU, suspected COVID-19 cases ward, and confirmed COVID-19 cases ward, being 5, 6, and 6 h, respectively. A correlation analysis showed that the average work hours per shift was proportional to the overtime work of nurses (rs = 0.146), the proportion of nurse practitioners was proportional to the overall utilization rate of nursing human resources in the wards (rs = 0.136), and the proportion of nurses with college degrees was proportional to teamwork (rs = 0.142). The proportion of nurses above grade 10 was inversely proportional to teamwork and psychological problems (rs = 0.135, rs = 0.203). The results of multiple stepwise regression analyses showed that the work hours of nurses per shift was the main factor affecting nurse satisfaction and that the proportion of nurses and the work hours of nurses per shift were both independent factors affecting the length of stay (LOS) of patients. Conclusion Hospitals in China have made good nursing workforce allocations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are certain shortcomings. Therefore, scientific and efficient nursing workforce allocation practice plans should be established to improve the ability of hospitals to deal with public health emergencies and are urgent problems that need to be addressed soon.
This paper outlines the research agenda of a framework that integrates corpus- and genre-based approaches to academic writing research and pedagogy. This framework posits two primary goals of academic writing pedagogy, that is, to help novice writers develop knowledge of the rhetorical functions characteristic of academic discourse and become proficient in making appropriate linguistic choices to materialize such functions. To these ends, research in this framework involves 1) compilation of corpora of academic writing annotated for rhetorical functions, 2) analysis of the organization and distribution of such functions, 3) analysis of the linguistic features associated with different functions, 4) development of computational tools to automate functional annotation, 5) use of the annotated corpora in academic writing pedagogy, and 6) exploration of the role of form-function mappings in academic writing assessment. The implications of this framework for promoting consistent attention to form-function mappings in academic writing research, pedagogy, and assessment are discussed.
Recent second language acquisition research has demonstrated that language learning is in essence the learning of constructions, or form-meaning pairings. Compared to first language acquisition research, however, our understanding of how constructions in a second language (L2) emerge and develop with proficiency and/or experience is limited. Furthermore, within this developing evidence base of L2 research, investigations have predominantly focused on verb-based constructions (e.g., verb-argument constructions), understood to be a core construction category of sentences. As a result, a large part of L2 speakers’ construction inventories remains to be investigated. To address this gap, a corpus-based investigation of the “article + adjective + noun” (AAN) construction in a written corpus of Chinese-speaking learners of English was carried out. Analyses show growth in construction types and developmental changes of adjectives in AANs with increasing amounts of L2 experience, consistent with usage-based understandings of language. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed, including the extent to which previous findings for verb-based constructions apply to AAN constructions.
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