Journal articles on the topic 'It is clear that vocabulary is essential to effective communication in any language'

Formal email etiquette and clear communication are essential skills in the digital age. However, many Year 4 Malaysian pupils face challenges in crafting well-structured, appropriately worded emails following the Ujian Akhir Sesi Akademik (UASA) format, Malaysia’s latest exam standard. They often struggle with email structure, formal language, and clarity, key elements for effective academic communication. Click, Type, Send (CTS) is an innovative module that addresses the pupils’ challenges in composing emails based on the UASA format. CTS leverages Canva to create an engaging, interactive module that guides students step-by-step through UASA’s email format and requirements. By combining Canva’s accessible design features with gamified elements such as Kahoot!, Quizizz, Quizlet, and other digital platforms, it offers a visually appealing, user-friendly platform that motivates pupils to practice email writing. CTS is a digital innovation that enhances communication skills by guiding users, especially young learners, through structured email writing. It offers real-time feedback on format, vocabulary, and tone, using interactive exercises and step-by-step guidance to teach effective, clear communication. The outcomes of this innovation include enhanced digital communication skills, improved email writing abilities with proper format and vocabulary, and increased confidence in using email among the Year 4 pupils. These skills prepare them to navigate digital platforms effectively, laying a foundation for future learning and professional communication. Thus, CTS fosters communication skills, promotes digital inclusion, and enhances educational competence, preparing young learners to succeed academically and contribute to their communities in a tech-driven world.

Formal email etiquette and clear communication are essential skills in the digital age. However, many Year 4 Malaysian pupils face challenges in crafting well-structured, appropriately worded emails following the Ujian Akhir Sesi Akademik (UASA) format, Malaysia’s latest exam standard. They often struggle with email structure, formal language, and clarity, key elements for effective academic communication. Click, Type, Send (CTS) is an innovative module that addresses the pupils’ challenges in composing emails based on the UASA format. CTS leverages Canva to create an engaging, interactive module that guides students step-by-step through UASA’s email format and requirements. By combining Canva’s accessible design features with gamified elements such as Kahoot!, Quizizz, Quizlet, and other digital platforms, it offers a visually appealing, user-friendly platform that motivates pupils to practice email writing. CTS is a digital innovation that enhances communication skills by guiding users, especially young learners, through structured email writing. It offers real-time feedback on format, vocabulary, and tone, using interactive exercises and step-by-step guidance to teach effective, clear communication. The outcomes of this innovation include enhanced digital communication skills, improved email writing abilities with proper format and vocabulary, and increased confidence in using email among the Year 4 pupils. These skills prepare them to navigate digital platforms effectively, laying a foundation for future learning and professional communication. Thus, CTS fosters communication skills, promotes digital inclusion, and enhances educational competence, preparing young learners to succeed academically and contribute to their communities in a tech-driven world.

Within the dynamic realm of aviation, proficiency in language stands as a cornerstone for success. This article explores the nuanced terrain of teaching Kyrgyz as a second language in aviation specialties, delving into essential features pivotal for fostering linguistic and operational expertise. Emphasizing the indispensable role of language in aviation, the article elucidates the necessity of specialized vocabulary and technical terminology tailored to the industry's demands. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of practical application and hands-on learning, offering immersive experiences mirroring real-world aviation scenarios. Effective communication channels between educators and learners are identified as paramount, facilitating clear understanding and bolstering confidence in navigating aviation language complexities. Additionally, the article examines the pivotal role of innovation and adaptation in aviation language instruction, advocating for modern teaching methodologies and technology integration. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of cultivating a culturally sensitive and inclusive learning environment to accommodate learners from diverse backgrounds. Through an exploration of these key facets, this article aims to provide insights into the multifaceted endeavor of teaching Kyrgyz as a second language in aviation specialties, ultimately equipping learners with the linguistic proficiency and operational acumen essential for success in the global aviation terrain.

Vocational high school students in Indonesia are expected to develop English proficiency aligned with workplace demands, yet grammar-focused instruction often limits their communicative competence. Role-play, as an interactive and learner-centered approach, offers potential to enhance speaking skills in vocational contexts. Through a service-learning framework, this community engagement project involved lecturers, students, and teachers in collaboratively implementing role-play activities based on authentic scenarios in hospitality and fashion design. Students engaged in simulated real-life interactions that promoted active participation, peer collaboration, and pragmatic language use. Data from observations, questionnaires, and student reflections indicate that role-play significantly improved engagement, motivation, and speaking confidence. Quantitative results show 54.5% of students found the method engaging, 75.8% viewed the materials as clear, and 78.1% recognized the PkM team’s effective delivery. Qualitative feedback highlighted gains in vocabulary, practical communication skills, and readiness to apply English beyond the classroom. Embedding role-play into vocational English instruction thus addresses gaps in speaking practice and supports the development of workplace-relevant communication. This study contributes to ongoing discussions of role-play as an effective pedagogical strategy in ESL/EFL classrooms, particularly within vocational education where practical language use is essential.

One of the main structural units of the political discourse of any language is its socio-political vocabulary, which is an integral part of the lexical system of the language reflecting a combination of the political and social characteristics of society. Such a complex of lexical units is designed not only to convey to the audience the views of any politician, but also to affect the society through vibrant and clear speech patterns determined by existing ideological values. The socio-political vocabulary is inevitably transformed following the changes in the domestic and foreign policy of the country. This evolutionary process brings neologisms, some of which are firmly fixed in the language. This article is an attempt to evaluate the influence of the historical context on the evolution of the socio-political vocabulary of the Italian language through the examination of a number of its key features which reflect certain milestones of the country’s development and history. It considers the most vivid and widely used political terms, which are products of the linguistic creativity of statesmen in various periods of Italian history since the emergence of the single state in 1861 to the present day. The paper analyzes the factors that had a direct impact on the formation of these lexical units and the connection between personal characteristics of certain Italian politicians with their choice of terms intended to appeal both to their supporters and opponents. The article describes some aspects of the transformation process of the political language into popular language designed to ensure effective communication with the electorate.

The use of social media in human life recently is such normal direct interaction including in English language teaching. Politeness strategies are essential in social communication to keep convenient connections. This study aims to examine how politeness strategies are used in increasingly complex situations, combining social media and the pedagogical context of multiple members’ character, specifically in an EFL class WhatsApp group, and note any effects on students’ language acquisition. This research employs a qualitative methodology with a precisely descriptive case study procedure. The data in this study consists of the last two months’ WhatsApp group chats centered on English learning, specifically examining the usage of politeness methods as well as the results of a focused group discussion (FGD) involving six English as a Foreign Language (EFL) randomly selected students who are members of the WhatsApp group. The result shows that students use positive and negative politeness strategies during the WhatsApp conversation. It enhances their English language learning motivation, critical thinking skills, vocabulary enrichment, writing improvement, and raising awareness of English grammar skills. Therefore, applying politeness strategies in WhatsApp instructional conversations is advantageous in preventing the failure of effective communication during the learning process.

Effective teaching and learning of speaking skills are vital for achieving proficiency in any language, particularly in Arabic, where precise verbal communication is essential. This study investigates the design, implementation, and evaluation of Arabic speaking skills instruction at Institut Agama Islam Negeri Metro, aiming to identify best practices and areas for improvement. The research addresses three key questions: how lecturers prepare and comprehend their teaching plans, the effectiveness of various learning designs and strategies, and the challenges students encounter in mastering speaking skills. A qualitative approach was employed, involving interviews with lecturers and observations of speaking classes. The data analysis technique was a qualitative data analysis technique from Miles and Huberman include condensation, display, and verification for conclusion. Findings indicate significant variability in lecturer preparation, with some relying heavily on curriculum materials and others primarily on the syllabus, leading to discrepancies in instructional quality. The design of learning plans also varies, with proactive and reactive approaches affecting the coherence of the teaching process. In implementation, inconsistencies were found in the use of multimedia resources and the emphasis on practical speaking activities, resulting in gaps in student engagement and practice opportunities. Challenges faced by students, particularly in vocabulary and fluency, highlight the need for a more integrative teaching approach that combines grammar, vocabulary, and real-life communication tasks. The study concludes that improving Arabic speaking skills instruction at Institut Agama Islam Negeri Metro requires enhanced lecturer preparation, diverse teaching methods, and more effective assessment strategies. Addressing these issues could significantly improve instructional quality and student outcomes in Arabic language proficiency.

Effective communication plays a crucial role in the field of English literature, facilitating the exchange of ideas, interpretations, and critical analyses among scholars, researchers, students, and enthusiasts. However, various barriers and problems can impede the seamless flow of communication within this domain. This abstract presents a critical analysis of the key barriers and problems that hinder effective communication in English literature. Firstly, language proficiency emerges as a significant barrier. English literature attracts scholars and enthusiasts from diverse linguistic backgrounds, and varying levels of English proficiency can hinder effective communication. Language barriers can result in misinterpretations, miscommunications, and difficulties in expressing complex literary concepts accurately. Secondly, cultural differences pose challenges in understanding and interpretation. English literature encompasses a wide range of cultural contexts, and readers and researchers from different cultural backgrounds may struggle to fully comprehend the nuances, allusions, and references embedded within literary works. Cultural barriers can lead to misinterpretations and limited engagement with the depth and richness of English literary texts. Thirdly, technological limitations and access to resources impact communication channels. In an increasingly digital world, communication in English literature heavily relies on technology, including online platforms, digital archives, and collaborative tools. Limited access to these resources can restrict communication opportunities, particularly for individuals from marginalized communities or regions with inadequate technological infrastructure. Furthermore, disciplinary jargon and academic conventions can create barriers in communication. English literature, like any specialized field, possesses a specific vocabulary, terminology, and scholarly conventions that may be challenging for newcomers or individuals from interdisciplinary backgrounds to comprehend. The extensive use of jargon can alienate individuals and hinder effective communication and knowledge dissemination. Lastly, gender and power dynamics may impact communication within English literature. Historically, the field has been dominated by male voices, and the perspectives and contributions of female scholars and writers have been marginalized. Gender biases and power imbalances can create barriers in communication, as marginalized voices may face challenges in having their ideas heard, acknowledged, and incorporated into the discourse. In conclusion, the barriers and problems in communication related to English literature are multi-faceted and require critical attention. Efforts to overcome language barriers, promote cultural inclusivity, enhance technological access, simplify disciplinary jargon, and address gender and power imbalances are essential for fostering effective and inclusive communication within the field. By recognizing and actively working to overcome these barriers, scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts can facilitate a more vibrant and enriched exchange of ideas and interpretations in the realm of English literature.

Why should international educators encourage research abroad? The work of the students represented in this Special Volume of Frontiers exemplifies the best of undergraduate research abroad. Their research shows an achievement of one, or all, of the goals international educators typically set for learning abroad: linguistic competence, cross-cultural skills, cultural competence, and disciplinary learning. Research abroad often holds strong incentives for successful student learning. Students choose their own research topics, providing intrinsic motivation to move beyond superficial explorations of their topic. Fulfilling faculty expectations for student learning, whether in the form of a paper, thesis, data collection or ethnographic study provides extrinsic motivation.
 The value of disciplinary learning abroad, especially in course-based programs, disputed on home campuses. Undergraduate research abroad can demonstrate that the cultural context of learning enhances the disciplinary knowledge gained. Disciplinary learning in another cultural context can correct culturally-ingrained research biases. Students gain knowledge difficult to capture without the cultural exposure provided by the experience abroad, which informs their work with nuances of first-hand research, moving it beyond the intellectual. Home-campus faculty may be less skeptical of the merits of sending students abroad for disciplinary learning if that experience results in an increase in knowledge or a demonstration of the application of previously gained disciplinary knowledge in a new context.
 Developing research skills in an international context means that students must learn how to navigate in another culture. Students must interact with people who are not their peers and who are outside a traditional classroom setting. By approaching organizations and individuals that inform their research, students learn much about the workings of the culture. And success in one attempt to navigate a host-culture can lead to success in further attempts. For the student-researcher, persistence is necessary because their research goal depends on successfully gaining access to the information they require. Cross-cultural skills are the tools that enable student-researchers to accomplish their goals and finish their projects.
 In order to achieve this in non-English language locations, students must develop a certain level of linguistic competence or, if using an interpreter, basic forms of communication in the host language. They must develop these competencies not only in everyday topics, but also in their fields of research. How will they ask about their topic if they do not learn some of the vocabulary? How will they obtain the help or information they need if they cannot ask people for it in appropriate forms? Since a research project typically requires a number of weeks to complete, student-researchers are likely to use these linguistic skills on an on-going basis. As a result, the linguistic competency gained is reinforced, and becomes more permanent.
 This cultural and linguistic learning can lead students to develop generalized cross-cultural skills with the assistance of international educators. We can provide valuable help to students doing research by asking them questions that will encourage them to realize that these skills transfer into other cultural situations. Often it requires simple queries: “What did you do to get this information? Did you have someone specific in the culture that gave you good advice? How did you find this person? What steps did you take when you succeeded in doing a piece of your research? When you did not succeed how did you figure out what went wrong? What did you do to try again? Beyond these basic questions, there are larger ones that can spur on student learning: “What did you learn from doing this project that would allow you to do another one in a completely different culture? How did you make sure your project was culturally appropriate? Did you think about making your project useful for local people? How would you share these results in the most effective way?” In posing these questions, we encourage students to examine the specific context of their research, and also to consider a meta-level analysis that places their research in a broader context. The hope is that students will see these skills in the wider global context, and that future cultural learning will be analyzed in a similar manner and transferred into other cross-cultural situations.
 If we achieve this, then we have certainly met the highest goals of encouraging students to learn to transcend cultural differences in constructive ways and to adapt to differing cultural modes as appropriate. Student research abroad can be a powerful way to accomplish all types of cultural learning.
 Supporting Undergraduate Research Abroad
 Even with these benefits, not many undergraduate students undertake research opportunities abroad. Faculty may advise students that research in their chosen discipline is better done at home, given the resources of the home campus. Students may be told that their language skills are not strong enough or that they are simply not mature enough as scholars in their disciplines to conduct relevant research. Students may be encouraged to conduct research or participate in directed study, but not to do field work or participate in experiential learning. A student may be able to receive credit for an internship that requires a substantial paper, but not for an ethnographic study. Moreover, the very idea of conducting research may be daunting to some students.
 Efforts should be made to advertise existing research opportunities abroad and to encourage new ideas for conducting research. If undergraduate research is endorsed by the highest academic officers of our institutions, our Presidents, Provosts and Academic Deans, faculty are more likely to provide encouragement and support, and then students will be more likely to pursue these options. International educators can assist these efforts by creating programs that offer research options, advertising such programs, and, most importantly, finding funding sources for such efforts. In order for students to take advantage of possible opportunities, it may be necessary to find ways to register students who might otherwise travel abroad independently (and thereby not be registered at their home institutions) in credit-bearing programs that would make them eligible for funding. The National Security Education Program David L. Boren Undergraduate Scholarships provides a model that allows advanced undergraduates with strong language skills to apply for funding for individually-arranged, supervised independent study.
 International educators may also help by designing processes on the home campus that support student research abroad. Research can take many forms, from the use of original documents and artifacts in libraries, archives, and museums, to service-learning, conducting field work, joining a research group, conducting interviews, doing a creative project, or interning or volunteering for an organization. On-campus administrative processes should make clear to students what types of projects are eligible to receive credit. If a student expects to receive credit at their home institution, they need to be able to review easily the criteria for determining whether credit will be granted with the appropriate on-campus authority (e.g. academic dean, department head, or registrar). Receiving credit helps to motivate the student and to validate the undertaking; making the credit-granting process clear can make a big difference to students exploring these options. It also assures that there will be faculty input, if not throughout the project, at least in the determination of granting credit on the home campus.
 In designing programs abroad with research components, faculty involvement is essential. Indeed, faculty supervision and support can make or break such projects for students. Faculty supervisors on the home campus or abroad will be more likely to agree to support a student researcher if they feel that this is a recognized part of their teaching. The supervision of an independent study can be time-consuming. Do departments consider this supervision when assigning workloads? Is extra compensation provided? Should these financial concerns be addressed in the budgets of the abroad programs? Can students continue follow-up work with faculty after they return home? 
 Faculty supervision of student research abroad may follow various models. In some cases, research is an integral part of a study abroad program. Arrangements may be made to train the student on-site, perhaps as part of a course. The student conducts the research on-site, under the supervision of a resident director, or an on-site faculty member, and the course ultimately becomes a part of the student’s academic record, along with all other courses taken abroad. Another model has a faculty member at the student’s home institution supervising the student, along with some support given by a local faculty member. This model requires effective communication between the student and the faculty member on the home campus.
 In both cases clear goals need to be established about the nature of the project, research methods, and the final product. Fortunately, many of these formats can follow timelines and processes already developed on the home campus. However, once in the host country, parameters may change. Students may discover new opportunities, or their original ideas and plans may not be feasible. The logistics of conducting research in an international setting may make it impossible to keep to the original goals.
 In addition to guiding research and assessing the final product, faculty can serve in other important roles. They may introduce students to opportunities to submit their work for publication, present it at professional conferences, or compete for academic awards. Undergraduate research funding from the home institution might require a student to present their findings. Some institutions organize annual opportunities for students to give oral presentations or poster sessions during research fairs or conferences on campus. Others have a journal of student research. Resources and opportunities that are provided to students who conduct research on campus should also be extended to those whose work is done overseas. In many cases students may use the research conducted abroad as the foundation for a senior thesis.
 Students may choose to conduct independent research abroad. If students do research and are not enrolled in a program (e.g., during the summer) and have been encouraged to do so by their institution, have received funds from their institution, and will perhaps receive credit, their home institution should prepare them for the experience. Faculty and administrators should conduct seminars, orientation programs, and research methodology sessions to prepare students. Institutions should consider offering benefits to individual students that they would normally offer to students going abroad on registered study abroad programs (i.e., access to emergency services). By regularizing these aspects of going abroad, even to conduct independent research, institutions will be better able to track students who are conducting research abroad. At the minimum, students going abroad independently should be directed to information sources on health, safety, and security preparations when traveling to the host country. Additionally, students should be made aware of any legal issues related to doing research, and have their proposals vetted through the usual campus channels such as institutional review boards.
 Outcomes of Student Research
 Little data exists on how many students conduct research abroad, or on how this experience affects their academic work when they return to campus as well as their career decisions after graduation. Currently the national data on study abroad from the Institute of International Education’s annual Open Doors report documents only participation in credit-bearing programs. No statistics are kept on the numbers of students conducting research abroad who will not receive credit for their research.
 Among the questions this lack of data raises are: Are these students more likely to attend graduate school in their major discipline and to look for opportunities to conduct research abroad? Are they more likely to pursue independent research in sites that are less common as study abroad destinations? If they conducted research in a foreign language, are they more likely to study this language at an advanced level? 
 The Lincoln Commission articulates the need for more in-depth international educational experiences, of which research can play an important part:
 An understanding of the diverse cultures of the world, especially those of developing countries, should be an essential component of the 21st-century education of our nation’s students. Direct exposure to foreign languages and other aspects of these cultures can best be achieved through a meaningful study abroad experience. Broader global awareness among America’s future leaders will, in turn, lead to more effective U.S. foreign policy, greater security from terrorism and economic resilience in the increasingly competitive world of trade.
 The research benefits discussed above mesh well with the current national interests that call for broader global awareness, and international educators should seriously consider designing and supporting research opportunities as one of their efforts to increase such competencies. Conducting research abroad can be one of the most personally satisfying parts of a student’s undergraduate academic career. These undertakings can also be frustrating and fraught with difficulties unless there is good planning and communication with a students’ academic advisors. International educators can assist in making these opportunities as effective, safe, and rewarding as possible. Faculty and administrators should look for ways to help students overcome the potential barriers to a successful experience, including the credit-approval process, organizing faculty supervision, and accessing information about opportunities, as well as funding. Since undergraduate student research abroad can lead to improved linguistic competence, cross-cultural skills, cultural competence, and disciplinary knowledge, we should do everything we can to develop and promote it.
 Mell C. Bolen~ Brown University
 Pat Martin~ University of Pennsylvania
 
 
 About the IFSA Foundation:
 The IFSA Foundation was founded to assist the continuing advancement of
 international education through direct and indirect support of study abroad by
 undergraduate students from U.S. colleges and universities. This is the first foundation
 whose mission focuses exclusively on the advancement of study abroad as a major
 component of higher education in the United States
 The Directors of the Foundation believe that effective study abroad for U.S.
 students involves minimally a semester length experience and, wherever possible,
 close academic integration with recognized universities abroad and, in all cases, the
 provision by the program sponsors of comprehensive student services to maximize
 the academic and cultural benefit of the experience and provide for the welfare and
 security of students.
 The IFSA Foundation intends to concentrate on projects that will provide muchneeded
 strength to undergraduate study abroad in the United States: scholarships to
 extend opportunities (particularly among underrepresented groups); start-up funding
 for underdeveloped areas of semester and full year study abroad programs; and
 support for the development of innovative projects designed to broaden the scope of
 the undergraduate study abroad experience.
 The IFSA Foundation grants are given only to institutions; scholarship grants
 are not tied to participation of students on any particular program.
 For more information:
 http://www.theifsafoundation.org

<strong>Purpose.</strong>&nbsp;This paper is a study of innovative methods of learning and teaching English with the help of Internet resources and students motivation to seek the necessary information at homework.&nbsp;<strong>Methodology.</strong>&nbsp;The main principle of the Web-Quest as a type of English language teaching is to motivate students. For example, by participation in the Web-Quest students, who were unsure of their knowledge, become more confident. Having clear goals and objectives, using computer skills, motivated young people more actively acts as a confident user of English.&nbsp;<strong>Findings.</strong>&nbsp;According to the technology of We-Quests students were asked to create one or more projects directly related to the successful execution of the work. It is a significant result of all the hard work of students, and it is the subject of evaluation. Evaluation is an essential component of Web-Quest or any other project, and from this point of view, the criteria should be clear and accessible to students from the very beginning. These instructions can and should be changed in order to differentiate and provide an oral presentation and written work.&nbsp;<strong>Originality</strong>. Basically, Web-Quests are mini-projects in which a higher percentage of the material obtained from the Internet. They can be created by teachers or students, depending on the type of training work. The author detailed the increase of possibilities in the search of Internet projects with other creative types of student work. They may include: review of the literature, essay writing, discussion of read works and other.&nbsp;<strong>Practical value.</strong>&nbsp;The paper confirmed that the roles and tasks, reflecting the real world, invites to cooperate, stimulate and train the thinking process at a higher level. That is why the use of Web-Quests can improve the language skills of the educational process (reading for information extraction, detailed reading, negotiations, oral and written communication, and other).

The relevance of the topic. One of the urgent problems of modern methods of teaching foreign languages is the organization of teaching students of non-philological majors with the help of games. The relevance of this problem is caused by a number of factors. First of all, the intensification of the learning process poses the task of finding means to support students' interest in the material and to activate their activities that are being studied throughout the lesson. Educational games are an effective means of solving this problem. Secondly, one of the most important problems of teaching a foreign language is learning the oral language, which creates conditions for revealing the communicative function of the language, which enables the learning process to be closer to the conditions of real learning, which increases the motivation to learn a foreign language. The purpose of the research is to develop a set of role-playing exercises for training future economists in foreign language communication based on the strategy of implicit professionalization using a video phonogram. Implicit professionalization – integrated mastering by students of the initial stage of education of commonly used vocabulary and a part of economically marked lexical units (LU) in non-professional spheres of communication. Methodology. Role-play is a technique that allows students to explore realistic situations by interacting with other people in a managed way in order to develop experience and trial different strategies in a supported environment. Role-plays give students the opportunity to demonstrate how to use English in real life situations and make them focus more on communication than on grammar. Role-play activities can be a lot of fun however a class full of shy students may be reluctant to participate so it is important to know your students. Regardless of what type of role-play you intend to do, it is imperative that students feel comfortable with the necessary structures and vocabulary. Mini-role plays can be done in any lesson as a practice activity. Role-plays can also take an entire lesson especially if students are put in groups instead of in pairs. Role-plays can be used as end of term projects for intermediate and advanced students. Practical meaning. The material for the development of a complex of role-playing exercises based on the content of the video phonogram mainly served as fragments of educational video courses, which is due to the typicality of the communication situations presented in them and the presence of lexical units specially selected for activation and assimilation. The results. Based on the results, it was found that the role play method can improve students' speaking skills, increase self-confidence, collaboration among students, and make the learning atmosphere fun and interesting. Firstly, various reasons for using role-play techniques in the research context have been found. Participants tend to use role-play techniques because it creates a fun and enjoyable learning environment. Another important reason is that learners recognize this method will be less boring than conventional methods. It's a good way to help them reduce stress and pressure during English speaking practice. At the same time, learners enjoy role-playing activities because they can become different characters to communicate in real-life situations. Therefore, this is a great condition for them to practice speaking English more naturally in a foreign language learning environment. Secondly, it gives opportunities for students to express their creativity in the English learning process. Students can be more active and creative to participate in speaking activities in front of the class. This method helps learners to boost their confidence level and overcome their negative feelings in the process of communicating with others. Another advantage of using role-play techniques is to practice essential skills related to learners’ speaking ability such as pronunciation, intonation, and vocabulary. The regular practice of role-playing makes learners fluent in English. It is also a good way to help learners have more motivation to speak English and be able to communicate fluently and naturally. Prospects for further research. We see prospects for further research in the creation of role-playing games based on the content of a video phonogram for teaching foreign language communication to students of other specialties, whose professional vocabulary can be significantly expanded thanks to the use of implicit professionalization at the initial stage of learning.

It has been claimed that ‘no individual’s linguistic repertoire is perfect’ (Maleki 2007, as cited in (Hmaid, 2014)). Both indigenous and non-native participants of any community frequently encounter obstacles, relying on restricted verbal tools to convey their intention. Communication strategies are the methods through which speakers seek to bridge the barrier amongst all individuals who wish to convey and the instantly accessible language assets. The significance of English cannot be overstated. Paragraph fragmentation, run-on phrases, and general topic alignment are the major opponents of proper grammar. Communicating is the most fundamental mode of interaction. That is the only fundamental human privilege with the fewest limits and is regarded as extremely essential by the legislation. Currently, fluency in English is practically a must for accomplishment in the globe. This research paper reveals a mixed-method methodology in scrutinizing possible effective modules and types for oral communication skills in the English language. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were taken into consideration throughout the whole investigation, where the studies of Dhani Ram Sharma, Apisara Sritulanon, Panna Chaturongakul, Thapanee Thammetar, Anne Syomwene, Zhanli Yang, Yaseen Hmaid, JD Singh had a huge impact on the results and discussions of the research. The main obstacles illustrated throughout the research were lack of preparation, lack of spoken English, poor vocabulary, inability to clearly understand native speakers or others speaking this language, and inability to express ideas that were discussed and analyzed with the offered solutions. The following research objectives are being analyzed throughout the investigation: making a significant commitment for persuading instructors &amp; others; developing a conceptual method for instructors; promoting the benefits of communication skills; offering a skill different from conventional learning speaking skills to learning English; examining the efficacy of conversation skills. Examples, strategies, and recommendations illustrated by the authors in the following sections of the research paper underline the importance of oral communication skills both in the teaching environment and in the professional sphere. Furthermore, the analysis of statistics made by Dhani Ram Sharma, stressed the positive impacts of strategies used by them in improving and developing students’ communication skills. Moreover, the results and discussions concerning the revealing of research findings affirm that activities and strategies implemented were successful enough for future professional accomplishments of oral communication skills.

In recent years, the study of language has evolved to explore the intricate nuances that shape our communication. One fascinating aspect of language is the use of idioms, which enable speakers to convey emotions indirectly through metaphorical expression. Although idioms enrich language and enhance its expressiveness and vividness, they often cause difficulties for people learning English. Among the myriad of idioms, those related to colours stand out as vibrant and captivating elements of linguistic diversity. Colour is an objective quality of the material world, encoded by language signs into a diverse array of information. Colour schemes and their designations are universal elements of the larger colour symbolic system, composed of multiple subsystems each with their own function and structure. As carriers of information about the surrounding world, colour designations are meaningful topics for cognitive, psycholinguistic, linguistic, and cultural studies. Understanding the structural and semantic features of colour idioms is essential for unravelling the intricate threads that make up effective communication, especially in the context of business discourse. The purpose of this paper is to delve into the semantic and structural features of colour idioms used in English business discourse. General methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, classification), theoretical methods (system analysis), graphical, as well as methods of logical, system-structural analysis and connections, comparative and dialectical approaches have been used. Results. Colour symbolism, like any other, is based on the peculiarities of the human psyche, on various associations, which are based on everyday human experience, fed by mythological, religious and aesthetic views. Examining business idioms with the colour component we can say that the semantics of this component often differ from the semantics of the same colour name in free use. The meanings of different colours in business idioms were scrutinized. A detailed analysis was also carried out and a certain proportion of idioms was determined by structures and colours, and the corresponding diagrams were given. The study shows the prevalence of the blue colour (17%), followed by black (15%), red and white (13% each). The yellow colour appears to be less utilized, constituting only 2% of the analysed idioms. The analysis of the syntactic characteristics of colour idioms has shown the dominance of nominal idioms (80%), followed by verbal idioms (10%) with adjectival making up 6% and the adverbial being represented by 1 lexical unit (4%). The originality of this article lies in the study of the symbolism of colours in terms of their use in business phraseological units, and a detailed structural and semantic analysis of colour idioms used in business discourse. Conclusion. The study underscores the significance of colour idioms within the business vocabulary, emphasizing their relevance. Proficiency in these expressions not only enriches one's linguistic repertoire but also enhances communication skills. Business idioms are an important segment in the business vocabulary. Colour idioms occupy a large share in business phraseology, the study of which requires further research.

Abstract This study aims to explore and investigate translation procedures and how linguistic and cultural adaptation affects communication and marketing outcomes on consumer attitudes and behaviors in Zimbabwe. To answer pertinent questions, the study adopted a mixed-method research design, combining qualitative corpus analysis and quantitative data from questionnaires. Two different questionnaires were administered to different groups, and English-to-Shona translated adverts were collected. The study made use of participant observation and responses from both company representatives and consumers were analyzed. The study is grounded in the Skopos, communicative, and appropriateness theories to understand the interplay between translation strategies and marketing goals. Results of the study revealed that Shona translations frequently employ techniques such as cultural adaptation, modulation, and reformulation to achieve linguistic and cultural equivalence. However, the impact on consumer engagement varies, with 80% of surveyed consumers occasionally influenced by Shona advertisements. <strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong> advertising, consumers, English, marketing, Shona, translation.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <em><strong>How to cite</strong></em><strong>: </strong>Phiri, R., Nge, D., &amp; Ayonghe, L. (2024). The impact of English-Shona translation of adverts on consumer attitudes in Zimbabwe. <em>GPH-International Journal of Educational Research</em>, 7(12), 15-31. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14566512 <strong>1. Introduction</strong> According to Munday (2002), translating advertisements are ways through which companies gain insight into other countries or cultures. The clamor for the presence of local languages in Africa has led to the vulgarization of adverts in various domains such as social media, audio-visual media and many more, hence the rise of translation of adverts from English to Shona languages in Zimbabwe considering culture and context to effectively communicate. Cook (2001), considers advertising to be simply, everywhere;&nbsp; we cannot walk down the street, shop, watch television, go through the mail, log on to the Internet, read a newspaper or board a train without encountering advertising. Zimbabwe&rsquo;s constitution recognizes 16 official languages, with English as the official medium, alongside Shona and Ndebele which are the predominant indigenous languages in their respective geographic spheres, namely Mashonaland in the east and Matebeleland in the west of Zimbabwe. Advertising is omnipresent, and its effectiveness depends heavily on cultural resonance and contextual appropriateness. Translating advertisements involves more than linguistic transfer, it requires transcreation and cultural adaptation to maintain the original message&rsquo;s impact. Industry theorists like Wu (2018) emphasize that advertising translation must evoke the same emotional responses as the source material. Advertising texts does not only include words, but also cultural concepts, ideas and visuals. De Mooij (2004:179) defines translating advertising copy as &lsquo;painting the tip of an iceberg and hoping the whole thing will turn red&rsquo;. To him advertising lies on the cultural notion, as advertising is not made of words only, but made of culture. Translating advertising goes beyond translating a regular written text as it includes cultural elements such as shared beliefs, attitudes, norms, roles, and values. Hence, Reboul (1978) suggests that to transfer an advertisement from one language and culture to another, it is worth considering translating, adapting, and creating. Advertising texts are rich in cultural and social elements, whether they are translatable or not is still being questioned hence attention has to be paid to cultural and textual nuances.Basem (2006) says when translating, two languages and two cultures are involved. Simply speaking translated advertisements have an attractive power to manipulate consumers as they advocate, encourage, ask questions, announcing about products or services invoking their cultures that are deeply embedded into their minds. A closer reading of these authors as well as others has led to the quest to study how advertisements are translated in Zimbabwe where there is multiculturalism thereby addressing the issue of techniques and strategies that are implied in the translation of adverts from English to Shona in Zimbabwe marketing terminology in terms of translation strategies. The purpose of this research is therefore to investigate the techniques, strategies, and impact of such translated advertisements. <strong>1.1 Problem statement</strong> It has been observed that translated advertisements from English to Shona fail to give the intended effect on the target consumers as those of the original advertisements. This study, therefore seeks to assess the translated advertisements on consumer attitudes and the procedures used in their translation. &nbsp; <strong>1.2 Research Questions</strong> 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What is the impact of translating English language advertisements into Shona by companies on customers in Zimbabwe? 2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What are the various translation techniques used in these English adverts to Shona translated adverts? <strong>1.3 Objectives</strong> 1. Identify, analyze, describe and assess the effectiveness of the translation of advertisements in Zimbabwe on consumer attitudes and behaviors. 2. Identify, analyze and describe the techniques involved in the translation of&nbsp;&nbsp; advertisements from English to Shona. <strong>2. Review of related literature</strong> <strong>2.1 Conceptual Review</strong> In this part key concepts related to the study will be defined. <strong>2.1.1 Translation</strong> Bell (1991:20) highlights that the phenomenon of translation is, &lsquo;a replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language&rsquo;. Bell (1991) refers to an important notion in translation theory, namely equivalence, whereby the translator renders the message to the targeted audience in the closest possible equivalence that will be well understood by the target audience. In line with this study, Bell&rsquo;s definition simply means giving an appropriate translation equivalence from source text to target text. <strong>2.1.2 Advertising</strong> Bovee and Arens (1986:5) views advertising as non-personal communication of information that is usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the diverse media. Bovee and Arens (1986) view advertising as persuasive in nature according to messages being conveyed on various media to catch the eye of anyone who could be a possible client; for example, on social media, television, billboards, and radios whereby marketers have to pay to convey a message about their goods or services, hence the words they use in this case should be catchy to quickly attract the target audience.&nbsp; <strong>2.1.3 Advertising translation</strong> According to Sharabi (2023), advertising translation covers the conversion of marketing content to effectively reach a full-target (full-fledged) market or audience through translation, transcreation, and localization. In this way advertisements will not only be linguistically accurate but also will resonate to the essence of culture. De Mooij (2004), considers translating adverts like painting the tip of an iceberg, what you see are the words, but there is a lot behind the words that must be understood to transfer advertising from one culture to another. <strong>2.1.4 Advertising slogans</strong> Brierley (2002) says advertising slogans are short, memorable phrases used in advertising campaigns. Their purpose is to emphasize a phrase that the company wishes to be remembered by, particularly for marketing a specific corporate image or connection to a product or consumer base. Slogans speak volumes about a product, service or even the company itself to the customer&rsquo;s attention. <strong>2.1.5 Consumer behaviour </strong> According to De Mooij, (2004: 181) the correlation between consumer behavior and cultural values show that a culturally appropriate advertising style is the key to successful advertising. Consumers are products of their own culture and language therefore one has to consider certain pre-established notions of each culture before advertising. <strong>2.1.6 Translation strategies </strong> Ngoran (2017:36) describes &lsquo;domestication and foreignization&rsquo; as the two main strategies in translation. He says &lsquo;foreignization&rsquo; is source-text oriented, word for word, structure for structure and literal while &lsquo;domestication&rsquo; is target text-oriented, free, natural,and transparent and message for message. <strong>2.1.7 Translation techniques </strong> Ngoran (2017:38), considers a translation technique as an operational mechanism put in place by the translator in the course of actual translation. Translation techniques are micro strategies which narrow down the strategies that the translator uses in their translation, while techniques usually concentrate on segments of the text. They fall under strategies and they are the decision made by the translator in translating segments. Examples of translation techniques include; borrowing, calque, literal translation, reformulation, explicitation, transposition, modulation, cultural, formal and dynamic equivalence, local and global adaptation. <strong>2.2 Theoretical review </strong> The Skopos, communicative and the theory of appropriateness were used. <strong>2.2.1 The Communicative theory</strong> According to, Ngoran (2017), the communication theory of translation is a theory that aims at communicative translation, which attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original language.Communication is the ultimate goal of language instruction to enable learners to communicate effectively with others in real-life situations.The communicative theory is applied to this study as translation of advertisements, requires not only the linguistic aspects but also the communicative aspect making sure that the meaning of the message has been transmitted and in its originality. <strong>2.2.2 The Skopos theory</strong> Skopos theory is a translation theory proposed in the 1970s by the German Hans J. Vermeer.Skopos as a technical term referring to the purpose of a translation and of the action of translation. Skopos is a Greek term which means &lsquo;aim&rsquo;, &lsquo;goal&rsquo; or &lsquo;purpose&rsquo;. Vermeer freed translation research from the constraints of the original text centered theory, believing that translation must follow the principles of purpose, coherence, and fidelity. Theprinciple of purpose is the primary principle as any translation behavior is determined by the purpose of translation, which determines the means of translation as stated by Munday,(2012). <strong>2.2.3 The appropriateness theory</strong> The appropriateness theory, proposed by Paul Grice in the 1970s, is a conversational implicature theory that focuses on the cooperative nature of human communication. According to this theory, speakers are expected to make their contributions appropriate to the context of the conversation. This includes observing maxims such as truthfulness, clarity, relevance, and manner (Grice, 1975), this is what is needed in the translation of adverts to make them comprehensible as the original text. <strong>2.3 Empirical review</strong> This section reviews other studies relevant to the present studies which were carried out by other scholars in different contexts To begin with, Sichkar et al (2023), on the investigation of the techniques used to translate advertising texts in English and Ukrainian languages, found that translated slogans are target-oriented and address groups of people with definite values and demands. The results of the study indicate that the translation of English advertising slogans is oriented towards preserving their pragmatic effect and function in the target culture. The results prove that lexico-semantic, grammatical, and stylistic transformations are used in rendering advertising slogans into Ukrainian. The present study relates with, Sichkar et al. (2023),however, the present study goes further to analyze the translation techniques used in the translation of advertisements and seeks to understand the impact of these translations on consumer behavior. Syahputra et al. (2022), aims to describe a unique phenomenon in a translated advertisement. The study analyses translated advertisements and their relation to translation techniques. The study focused on how the language that contains the culture of a country can be presented to other countries by one advertisement product. It is a challenge for producers to promote their products, and the translator takes over the role as a communication bridge between producers and target consumers. Results showed that translated advertisement tends to keep its original text to preserve its meaning, the sound and image of the video also influences the translated version. Kappe (2012)&rsquo; s study on the translation of advertisements seeks to assess the use of semiotics, symbolism, and techniques used by advertisers and translators in persuading customers and to know whether translators of advertisements use the same techniques in the target language as used in the original text. The study focuses on the comparative analysis of 30 English Coca-Cola advertisements and their French translations from 1905 to 2011. Analysis was done based on the relevance theory, equivalence theory, and Skopos theory within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) which examines and analyzes the way existing translations are carried out on advertisements. De Mooij, (2004:179), asserts that &lsquo;translating an advertising copy is like painting the tip of an iceberg&rsquo;. The study focuses on the complex interplay between language, culture, and marketing strategies. His work emphasizes that effective advertisement translation goes beyond mere linguistic conversion; it requires a deep understanding of cultural nuances and consumer behavior. De Moiji employs comparative analysis by analyzing pairs of source and target language advertisements, focusing on linguistic choices, cultural references, and marketing strategies, to identify successful translation practices and common pitfalls, offering insights into effective cross-cultural advertising.The work equally examines how language functions within specific advertising contexts considering factors such as tone, style, and persuasive techniques. These works highlight the importance of translation of advertisements in preserving culture which is the main aspect in a human what will lure the consumer to have the will power to purchase a good or a service, which is what the current study seeks to investigate in Zimbabwe and the procedures used in the translations. <strong>3. Methodology</strong> <strong>3.1 Sample population</strong> The target population for this study is divided into two categories, the first category are the companies (Bakers Inn Zimbabwe, Saraquel Ltd, Coverlink holdings, NetOne Zimbabwe, and Nash Paints Zimbabwe) and the second category is a randomly selected public, who are the possible clients and consumers of the goods and services provided by these companies. Both groups, companies and the public, responded to online questionnaires that were designed with different questions to meet the expectations from each group making this study a success. <strong>3.2 Sampling </strong> For this study, purposive sampling was used to select companies that provided data for the studyand random sampling was used for the selection of participants to answer the questionnaire for the potential clients. Purposive sampling is the intentional selection or identification of individuals or groups of individuals based on their characteristics, knowledgeof and experience with a phenomenon of interest, Cresswell and Clark (2011). Random sampling refers to a randomly selected subset of the population; every individual has an equal chance of being selected. It is the method of selecting a sample of n units out of N units by drawing units one by one with or without replacement whereby, every unit has an equal probability of selection. It is applied to allow every individual to have an opportunity to be selected. <strong>3.3 Data collection instruments</strong> To carry out this study, questionnaires, participant observation and corpus analysis were used. Questionnaires were administered online to the proposed customers (public) and the advertising companies respectively together with online observations. The study makes use of corpus analysis to investigate and analyze the techniques used to translate the advertisements. The extracts of adverts were collected from websites and from the companies&rsquo; data. Twenty (20) excerpts were collected and analysed using the Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) model. <strong>3.4 Participant observation</strong> Participant observation was based on the advertisements on posters, flyers and social media posts, to examine carefully, check and see how the adverts are translated and the frequency of the translations. We immersed ourselves in the Zimbabwean society to observe and participate on social media sites and websites ensuring the translation of advertisements, identifying the procedures used in the translation of these advertisements, in order to fully convince customers. The goal was to gain a deep understanding of the culture, beliefs and practices from an insider&rsquo;s perspective. We even went on to consult company representatives through WhatsApp forum so that they verify if they translate their adverts from English to Shona. <strong>3.5 Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS)</strong> DTS model that involves comparative analysis of English and Shona texts, revealing cultural adaptations and shifts in meaning due to translation techniques used will be used as a guide in describing and analyzing the basic features of English and Shona corpus analysis. <strong>4. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS</strong> Data collected through questionnaires and observations will be presented, analyzed and interpreted in this section. &nbsp; <strong>4.1 Respondent&rsquo; profile</strong> The measured demographic variables of sex, age, and level of education of the randomly chosen clients/public in Zimbabwe will be presented.&nbsp; <strong>a) Gender </strong> Results show that the majority of the respondents were female with 21 (52.5%), while the minority is male with a percentage of 19 (47.5%). <strong>b) </strong><strong>Age</strong> Twenty nine out of 40 respondents that is 72.5% of the population were 20-35 years old, then 6 (15%) were 36-55 years old, 4 (10%) were above 55 years old and 1 (2.5%) was below 20 years old.&nbsp; <strong>c) Level of English proficiency</strong> Concerning the level of English proficiency of the respondents, 32(80%) of the respondents have an advanced English proficiency, while 8 (20%) are on the immediate level in English language and no one is a beginner. The fact that most of respondents fluently speak and understand English contributed to the study as they comprehended the questions on the administered questionnaire. The level of literacy is also a contribution to the Zimbabwean marketing society as customers can understand English language. <strong>d) Languages spoken at home.</strong> Regarding the languages spoken at home 75% of the target audience speaks Shona in their homes, followed by 10% who speak English and Shona, 10% who speak Ndebele, and 5% who speak English. The majority of the respondents speak Shona, adding to the study on how Shona adverts can influence their purchasing decisions. This highlights the importance of the language in daily interactions. <strong>4.1.2 Attitude of respondents towards translation of adverts</strong> <strong>a) Purchase of product or service as a result of Shona advertisements.</strong> The study aimed to determine if Shona advertisements have influenced purchasing power. Results showed that 65% of respondents are sometimes convinced to buy goods, while 32.5% have never bought. The remaining 2.5% are neither convinced nor pushed to buy. The results suggest that Shona advertisements have not fully convinced customers to purchase or not. <strong>b) Preference of English words or translated Shona words on advertisement</strong> The majority of the population (72.5%) prefers English words over Shona translated words in advertisements, while 20% prefer their mother language for a sense of belonging and connection to their culture. The remaining 7.5% are indifferent, allowing the message to be passed regardless of the language used. This preference may be influenced by their English literacy, as the majority of the population speaks Shona at home. <strong>c) Conviction to buy goods or services as a result of either translated Shona words or English ones</strong> This question aimed to determine if consumers feel more convinced and connected with marketers when goods are advertised in their native language. Results showed that 65% of respondents found Shona advertisements more convincing than English ones, indicating patriotism or love for their language. However, 15% of respondents felt not compelled to buy goods or services by Shona advertisements. <strong>d) Motives behind the decision to purchase goods and services that are promoted in Shona: </strong> The decision to purchase goods and services advertised in Shona is influenced by the emotional and cultural resonance these advertisements evoke. Shona commercials, with their local rhythm and simple vocabulary, are rated higher by audiences compared to English ones, making them more relatable and engaging. These advertisements acknowledge the diverse consumer base, particularly by appealing to the Zimbabwean identity. When the message is relevant and the marketing strategy is tailored to the target demographic, Shona adverts inspire interest and enhance the likelihood of purchase. Skilled organizations often craft these advertisements with expertise and cultural insight. However, there are criticisms. Some respondents find Shona adverts unconvincing due to their lack of creativity, substance, and clarity, resulting in ambiguous or unrealistic messages. To enhance appeal, advertising in Shona should emphasize product attributes while avoiding jargon or overly technical language, ensuring clarity and relatability for potential customers. <strong>e) Improvements to be made to Shona adverts.</strong> Enhancing Shona advertisements requires a focus on clarity, engagement, and cultural authenticity. Advertisers should use simple, precise language and concise messaging to maintain viewer interest. Incorporating regional proverbs, idioms, and slang makes the content relatable and genuine. Adverts should consider Shona&rsquo;s diverse dialects and regional variations, using vibrant visuals such as traditional attire, local landscapes, and culturally significant symbols to resonate with audiences. Additionally, clear translation into Shona can extend the reach of the advertisements. Marketers should avoid complex sentences, excessive jargon, and overly scripted performances, instead fostering natural communication styles. Handouts with clear explanations and visual aids can cater to audiences with varying literacy levels. Regular production of high-quality advertisements, focused on authenticity and professionalism, is also essential. <strong>f) Opinions on the purpose of Shona adverts.</strong> The primary purpose of Shona advertisements is to promote product awareness, educate consumers, and encourage purchase while fostering a cultural connection. These adverts effectively communicate brand messages to diverse age groups, ensuring inclusivity across the Zimbabwean population. By leveraging the native language, advertisers create an accessible medium that helps bridge cultural gaps and expands product reach. Moreover, Shona advertisements celebrate and preserve African cultural diversity and heritage. They respect local languages while promoting open communication, ensuring that people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds understand the brand&rsquo;s message. This approach strengthens cultural identity while achieving marketing goals. &nbsp; <strong>4.2 Companies</strong> The companies that participated to this study were NashPaints, Coverlink Holdings, Dairibord Zimbabwe, Saraquel ltd, Netone Zimbabwe and Baker's inn Zimbabwe. The professional positions of the people in the companies are as follows; marketing manager, customer service representative, human resource worker, marketer, marketing assistant and professional marketer, these helped ensure that the results are more accurate and aligned to the companies. &nbsp; <strong>a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </strong><strong>Gender</strong> Six company representatives responded to the questionnaire, 4 are female, representing 66.67% of the total sample. On the other hand, 2(33.33%), are male. <strong>b)&nbsp; Goods and services offered</strong> The products and services provided by the different companies, are paint; insurance on cash plans, medical health, funeral insurance, legal insurance, special savings, home and auto insurance; dairy products; borehole drilling and installation; network service provider; and bread and confectionery items. The aim was to gather their opinions on translated advertisements, as these products cater to a larger market. <strong>d) Target audience</strong> The target audience for NetOne Zimbabwe and Coverlink Holdings includes all age groups, including infants, teens, adults, and professionals. Nash Paints targets adults investing in building, Saraquel Ltd targets adults, workers, and professionals for borehole drilling and installation, and Bakers&rsquo; Inn targets teens, adults, workers, and professionals for their bread and confectionery products. <strong>e) Market range</strong> This study reveals that 3 out of 6 companies target large scale markets, while others target small, medium, and all ranges.&nbsp; <strong>f) Person or department responsible for the Translations</strong> The results reveal that Zimbabwe&rsquo;s translation departments are predominantly bilinguals and agencies, with three companies relying on bilinguals and three relying on agencies. However, no professional translators are employed, highlighting the underrepresentation of qualified translators and the low status of translation as a profession in Zimbabwe, necessitating action from translator associations in the country. &nbsp; <strong>4.2.1 Opinions and attitudes towards the translation of advertisements by companies</strong> This portion of the questionnaire seeks to discuss the attitudes and opinions of respondents towards the translation of adverts. <strong>a) Advertising languages</strong> According to the results English and Shona are the primary languages used for advertising goods and services, with Ndebele being a secondary option. English is used by 100% of respondents, while Shona is also used all the companies. Ndebele is used by approximately 50% of companies. The frequency analysis shows that English and Shona are universally used, with Ndebele having a significant presence but not dominating the overall language use. <strong>b) Does translating advertisements increase sales and profits in the company?</strong> <strong>R1.</strong> It has not been measured yet but the assumption is that the message was related to more people than an English advert locally. <strong>R2</strong>.The Company hasn&rsquo;t had a direct record on profits and sales, but assumes that some of the customers who consult it would have understood the posts in the local language. So overall sales are increasing due to translating advertisements <strong>R3</strong>. Translation of promotional materials enhances communication with potential clients by bridging language barriers. Languages like Shona or Ndebele help understand product advantages and fulfill demands, increasing market reach, cultural relevance, trust, conversion rates, client loyalty, and sales. <strong>R4</strong>. In 2022, sales increased by 12%. This was the result of the introduction of Shona posts in a specific rural area of Zimbabwe, where people could read the flyers and understand without needing an explanation. Since the message containing the services was clearly stated, a lot of customers were invited. <strong>R5</strong>. There is no actual report or proof of it improving sales. Translations are valued for their potential to improve sales by reaching a broader audience, both English-speaking and non-English-speaking, thus increasing customer engagement. <strong>R6</strong>. Yes. Because the market range is wide, we understand that there is a type of consumers who prefer to engage in their native languages.&nbsp; That&rsquo;s why we use Shona and Ndebele also.&nbsp; We consider the translation of advertising materials to be a strategic move and it contributes to increased sales and expands reach.&nbsp; <strong>c) Why did you decide to translate advertising materials?</strong> <strong>R1</strong>. To make customers the center of attention. It&rsquo;s tempting to use your original tongue because you can even use popular lingo like &lsquo;Ma1, Chiremerera, ndayura, tinoramba, tichipisa, etc&rsquo;. <strong>R2</strong>. Translating promotional materials helps overcome language barriers and strengthens client connections. By speaking in Shona, we gain trust and credibility with Zimbabweans, making us their first choice for insurance services, despite not being fluent in English. <strong>R3</strong>. Translations of advertising materials are done to reach a wider audience, including those who would like information to be expressed in their language or who may not speak English well. Adverts are also translated for competitive edge because people are more likely to purchase a product when they comprehend the message than when they do not. <strong>R4</strong>. The translation of materials acknowledges, empowers, and promotes our mother tongue while reaching out to nearly all possible customers without leaving out any group. Companies translate promotional content to establish credibility and persuade customers that they are dependable and trustworthy. <strong>R5</strong>. It boosts the possibility of expanding clientele. Resonating with the cultural and language inclinations of the target customers. It shows a dedication to diversity and improves brand image. <strong>R6</strong>. Translating advertisements enhances local search engine optimization, increases visibility and traffic for Shona-based users, and makes content more accessible. Localizing content boosts sales, customer engagement, brand awareness, and helps businesses introduce new products to clients who may not speak English well. &nbsp; <strong>d) How important do you think translation of adverts is, in the promotion of African languages and preserving culture and meeting the company&rsquo;s objectives? </strong> <strong>R1</strong>. It is crucial because the message is more relatable. It also aligns with our goals, since we want the brand to represent the middle class, upper class, and the ghetto. Since our brand is universal, our advertising makes it more relatable. <strong>R2</strong>. Translating adverts enables us to become more relevant in the market by helping us localize and blend in with our business. It enables us to adapt to the specific preferences and market dynamics of the area. Additionally, it helps customers to perceive and believe that we recognize and value their particular requirements on a regional market. <strong>R3</strong>. Translations of advertisements enhance customer and company communication, conserving culture through content adaptation to cultural context and audience preferences. This ensures content is appropriate for the target audience, relevant to their culture, and has its own colloquial expressions. Translating advertising materials reduces misunderstandings and misinterpretations due to linguistic barriers, ensuring accurate communication and desired impact. <strong>R4.</strong>Translating advertising materials helps ensure accurate communication and impact, reducing misunderstandings and misinterpretations. This is crucial for entering new markets or increasing market share. Locally relevant adverts establish brand relevance and accessibility, increasing the likelihood of expanding into the target market, attracting new clients, and earning market share. <strong>R5.</strong>The company aims to be a network provider, increasing commercial activity, and supporting the Shona language. Some translations preserve indigenous Shona culture to make consumers feel valued. <strong>R6</strong>. Translating commercials into Shona and Ndebele ensures cultural alignment with target market conventions, values, and preferences. This ensures better understanding and comprehension for clients, maintains original tone and style, and evokes desired emotions and responses from the target market, thereby preserving the intended meaning. <strong>4.3 Discussions</strong> The study reveals that translating advertisements from English to Shona is crucial for upholding African culture, reducing language barriers, and promoting marketing strategies. The majority of respondents support this translation, as it gives them a sense of belonging and importance. However, they prefer English-language advertisements, despite speaking Shona in their homes. This may be due to diglossia where English is considered high and Shona is considered low. Shona advertisements provide cultural relevance and help preserve culture.The study also highlights the need for professional translators in Zimbabwe to ensure good translations.Using professional translators could help avoid errors of inappropriate jargon. The translation of advertisements from English to Shona has a positive impact on companies, as it increases client loyalty, engagement, brand awareness, sales, and profitability. This broadens the market range and allows companies to effectively communicate with people from diverse backgrounds and demographic age groups, earning brand recognition in a competitive world. &nbsp; <strong>4.4. Analytical analysis of the corpus</strong> Excerpts extracted from adverts of different companies that were collected from websites and from the companies are analyzed in this section of analysis. <strong>ST: Special savings plan</strong> <strong>TT: </strong><em>Plan yekuchengetedza mari yakanaka</em> The excerpt from an insurance companyuses borrowing technique and domestication strategy to translate the word <strong><em>plan</em></strong> as the translator did not find a word that is equivalent in the target text. The word <strong><em>special</em></strong> was also not rendered with the emphasis that it should have given in the original text, the weight of the meaning was rather reduced. The word that was rather better to use for special was <strong><em>yakakosha</em></strong>, the translation would have been, <strong><em>hurongwa hwekuchengetedza mari hwakakosha. </em></strong>The skopos theory applied, the purpose and aim of the message was conveyed to the target audience that they can trust the insurance company, one would also justify the use of the word <strong><em>plan</em></strong> as it is a word that is widely used in the society. <strong>ST: Crystal Clear Water from the original source</strong> <strong>TT: </strong><em>Mvura yakachena inoyevedza, Yabva pasi pemvura</em> This is an advert from a borehole drilling company on the cleanliness of the water that the boreholes provide, the translator used the domestication strategy and the explicitation technique as they had to explain what the original text ought to say. There is also a mistranslation on the words <strong><em>yabva pasi pemvura</em></strong> which are the elements of interestas the words <strong><em>original source</em></strong> refers to where the water is coming from that is the <strong><em>bedrock</em></strong> and in most times these could be springs and in Shona the original source that brings clean and healthy water that does not need further purification is called <strong><em>chitubu</em></strong> therefore there was a repetition of water coming from under water rather than saying the water is coming from the original source in Shona. The suggested translation is, <strong><em>Mvura yakachena inoyevedza, inobva muchitubu</em></strong>. The first part of the advert is well translated but the second rather has errors, the possible constraints here could have been finding the equivalent words for the target language. The skopos theory applies as the purpose of the source text was rather achieved. <strong>ST: Get spotted with the Baker&rsquo;s Inn loaf and win USD10</strong> <strong>TT:</strong><em> Batika paMap nechingwa che Baker&rsquo;s Inn upihwe USD10</em> The excerpt is from a bread company advertisement featuring a man holding money, offering promotions for buying bread. The advertisement aims to lure customers to buy more bread to receive vouchers and increase their chances of winning. The translation strategy is foreignization, with borrowing techniques such as map, Baker's Inn, and USD10 from English to maintain the original writer&rsquo;s spirit and relevance. Words such as <strong><em>map, Baker&rsquo;s Inn</em></strong> and <strong><em>USD10</em></strong> are borrowed from English to keep the readers in the spirit of the original writer and to maintain the sense. The word <strong><em>map</em></strong> came in to stand in for spotted so the translator just used common slang used in the country referring to being available, they say <strong><em>batika paMap</em></strong> therefore this was relatable to the reader. The word win was translated to <strong><em>upihwe</em></strong> which does not really bring the sense yet the word <strong><em>win</em></strong> in Shona is <strong><em>kubudirira/ hwinha/ kukunda</em></strong> which was rather going to emphasis on the competitive part of the promotion. The theory of appropriateness applies as the translator used the appropriate words to give the message relevance and communicate the sense and meaning. <strong>ST: Welcome home</strong> <strong>TT:</strong><em> Dzoka uyamwe</em> This is an advert from a telecommunication company, the slogan <strong><em>Welcome home</em></strong> was translated to <strong><em>dzoka uyamwe</em></strong>. The direct translation will be <strong><em>tinokutambirai kumba </em></strong>which in the case of a telecommunication company wouldn&rsquo;t render the expected impact that the source text is giving. The translation <strong><em>dzoka uyamwe</em></strong> which basically means something else different that is come back and drink was found to be more appropriate in the sense that the company is a network company that helps people connect on the internet so it is encouraging the clients to come back and take from them to get connectivity from them as it is homely. The strategy that was used is domestication and the strategy is modulation. The theory of appropriateness is applicable as the translator used words that would be appropriate to the context of the target culture. <strong>4.4.1 Discussions</strong> This study analyzed 20 excerpts of advertisements translated from English into Shona, focusing on marketing terms to persuade clients to trust the services and goods offered by companies. Translation techniques like literal translation, calque, transposition, modulation, adaptation, transposition, and explicitation were used. The study identified theories like skopos, appropriateness, and communicative, but possible constraints include translators&rsquo; influence by the source text and inaccurate renderings. The results suggest the need for more professional translators to ensure translations are conveyed in their natural state in the target culture. <strong>5. CONCLUSION</strong> The study analyzed 20 advertisements and their Shona translations using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It used Newmark&rsquo;s communicative theory, Vermeer&rsquo;s Skopos theory, and Grice&rsquo;s appropriateness theory to understand the impact of translation procedures on consumer behavior and attitudes towards companies. Data was collected through questionnaires, corpus analysis, and participant observations. Results showed that translation techniques like explicitation, transposition, borrowing, direct translation, and cultural adaptation are often used to align advertisements with Shona-speaking audiences. Public responses indicated mixed outcomes, with some consumers finding Shona translations relatable but others feeling they lacked the persuasive impact of original English adverts. The study suggests improvements in translation in Zimbabwe to meet cultural norms and values.The study indicates a need for improvement in Zimbabwe&rsquo;s advertisement translation to align with the language&rsquo;s cultural norms and values. The process requires linguistic precision, cultural sensitivity, and marketing acumen. Despite challenges, these efforts promote linguistic diversity and inclusivity in Zimbabwe&rsquo;s advertising landscape. Further studies on other indigenous languages would be necessary to assess their role in shaping consumer perceptions and equally consulting the translators in the marketing field. <strong>REFERENCES</strong> Basem, A (2006).The translation of fast-food advertising texts from English to Arabic.University of South Africa Bell, A. (1991). Translation and the translatability of advertising. In L. Venuti (Ed.), <em>the translation studies reader</em> (pp. 77-92). Routledge. Bovee, C. L., &amp; Arens, W. F. (1986). <em>Contemporary Advertising</em> (p. 5). Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin. Brierley, S. (2002). The importance of cultural context in advertising translation. <em>Journal of Advertising Research</em>, <em>42</em>(2), 31-40. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-42-2-31-40 Cook, G. 2001. The discourse of advertising, 2nd Edition, London: Routledge. Creswell, J. W., &amp; Clark, V. L. P. (2011). <em>Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research</em> (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. De Mooij, M. (2004). Translating advertising copy: Painting the tip of an iceberg and hoping the whole thing will turn red. In <em>The Translator: Studies in Intercultural Communication</em> (Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 179&ndash;198). St. Jerome Publishing. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole &amp; J. L. Morgan (Eds.), <em>Syntax and Semantics: Vol. 3. Speech Acts</em> (pp. 41&ndash;58). New York: Academic Press. Kappe.F.(2012).<em>The&nbsp;translation&nbsp;of&nbsp;advertisements:&nbsp;issues&nbsp;of&nbsp;semiotics,&nbsp;symbolism&nbsp; and&nbsp;persuasion</em>. University&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Witwatersrand. Munday, J. (2002). <em>Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications</em>. London: Routledge. Ngoran, C.T. (2017). <em>Mastering translation in four stages.</em> ISBN: 978 9956-765-4-4 Reboul, O. (1978). <em>The Rhetoric of Advertising</em>. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. Sharabi, C. (2023). <em>Marketing and Advertising Translation Techniques for International Companies.</em>Press.https://www.getblend.com/blog/marketing-and-advertising-translation-techniques-for-international-companies/ Sichkar, S., Kaminska, M., Bryk, M., Melko, K., Zhurkova, O., Kharkevych, H. (2023). Training of future translators through advertising slogans translation. Revista Rom&acirc;nească pentru Educaţie Multidimensională, 15(2), 418-439. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/15.2/742 Syahputra, , Suryadi, S., &amp; Azhar, R. (2022). <em>Cross-Cultural Translation in Advertising</em>. Jakarta: Universitas Indonesia Press. Syahputra F.P, Nasution E.H&amp;Widiantho. Y. (2022) <em>Translation Techniques in Translated Commercial Break Advertisement.</em>Proceedings of English Linguistics and Literature, Vol.3 (2022) Wu, J. (2018). Evoking Emotions in Advertising Translation: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. <em>Journal of Translation Studies</em>, <em>25</em>(3), 45&ndash;62. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. &nbsp; <strong>IMAGES</strong> &nbsp; Image 1: English advert with Shona translation from NetOne Image 2: English and Shona translated advert for Baker&rsquo;s Inn Image 3: English and Shona translated advert for Saraquel ltd

Objective. The objective of the article is to study the features of youth slang and banter and their place in modern language systems; to investigate the specificity of the translation of youth slang and banter into Ukrainian from English and vice versa. Methods. The need to consider the formation of interactive relations between youth slang and banter in English and Ukrainian languages has led to recourse to the methods of historical and analytical approach, as well as analysis and generalization of scientific literature on the problems of youth slang and banter. Results. Youth slang is an integral part of expressive vocabulary and serves to enrich and diversify the process of communication, works of literature, reports and journalistic works. Already at the beginning of the research, it was clear that this is a special vocabulary that not everyone understands, therefore, for the sake of an effective comparative analysis in English and Ukrainian languages, the main difficulties of translating youth slang and banter were first of all solved and considered. This is a rather important stage, because in order to move on to the main ways of education, it is necessary to correctly translate this or that slang expression. Having researched and presented an analysis of various scientific works and opinions on this matter, we learned that this branch of linguistics has been and continues to be of interest to many researchers. They described slang vocabulary from different angles, trying to analyze the origin, distribution, representatives and conditions of distribution. When writing, it was found that, in addition to the ways of formation acceptable for linguistics, one should rely on the emergence of social groups, because they are the beginners who lay the foundation for the creation of jargonisms. The obtained results also have given us an understanding that jargon is gaining popularity among all strata of the population and because of this, it is often used without even understanding the meaning of what is said or written. But on the other hand, in some spheres of distribution, it acts as an effective and even necessary means of communication. The topic was not chosen by chance, a large number of examples and a wide field of distribution provided an opportunity to investigate the initial stages of the formation of jargonisms. In addition, we paid attention to neoplasms in this area. Observation shows that any lexical structure of the language is a dynamic organism. It is constantly in need of development, rejects outdated units and accepts new ones. Having characterized the examples related to the new phenomena of the world scale, we made sure that the slang vocabulary is capable of changes and transformations. Having analysed the jargon of Oxford and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy students, we can draw conclusions about vocabulary in both languages. First of all, a comparative analysis of different ways of formation in English and Ukrainian languages was carried out. We singled out the main methods and, based on examples, provided certain statistics regarding the composition of methods (in percentage) in both analysed languages. Moreover, the results showed a tendency towards the spread of one or another path in certain social groups. Another important issue was the study of the appropriateness of the use of jargon. As the study showed, when submitting certain literary works, periodicals, journalistic articles and materials for public review, it is necessary to monitor not only the quantity and quality of this vocabulary, but also the topic where it will look appropriate. After all, in pursuit of popularity and attractiveness, authors often oversaturate the text. Sometimes it causes dissatisfaction in the reader, and sometimes even disgust. Understanding that modern Ukrainian literature is filled with so much youth slang and banter gave us the opportunity to make an in-depth analysis, illustrated with samples taken from the works. Considering everything analysed above, we note that we encounter jargon in everyday life almost every day. Currently, it is used in many areas and we can now clearly define the signs of its use, formation and distribution.

This comprehensive qualitative study delves into the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on teacher professionalism, particularly in the domain of English language teaching (ELT) in Indonesian senior high schools. Teachers hold a pivotal role in any education system, with their professionalism gauged by the mastery of certain competencies and skills tailored to meet the demands of the teaching profession. In the realm of foreign language education, the overarching goal is to equip learners with essential communication skills, necessitating the design of classroom activities that encourage learners to express themselves effectively through language. The onset of the pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to this goal, forcing a rapid transition to online and offline hybrid learning models and demanding flexibility and innovation from teachers. This study, conducted at MAN 2 Parepare in 2022, explores how English teachers responded to these challenges, analyzing their teaching strategies and techniques to maintain the quality of education amidst this turbulent period. The study identified four primary strategies employed by teachers - expository, inquiry, contextual teaching and learning, and problem-based instruction. Teachers adapted these methods to foster an engaging learning environment that caters to the unique challenges posed by the pandemic, such as virtual classrooms and social distancing measures. The study reveals not only the teachers' adaptability and resilience but also their commitment to nurturing their students' linguistic abilities, even in times of crisis. Furthermore, the study uncovers the difficulties faced by these professionals, providing a clear picture of the pressing need for targeted support and professional development initiatives in these exceptional circumstances. The findings of this research have broad implications for policymakers and educators alike, highlighting the importance of fostering teacher professionalism and adaptability in the face of adversities and contributing to the ongoing discourse on effective English language teaching during a global pandemic.

Abstract Many non-native and native speakers all around the world have proven that English is an international language. It is sometimes referred to as the global language since it is the primary means of communication across countries. In our nation, the usage of English as a common language play an essential role in education. English learners must place strong emphasis on the use of communication. The ultimate goal of language instruction is to improve communication skills. Pragmatics is the method in which meaning is transferred through communicating, and linguistic skill is regarded as an instrument for communication. Pragmatic competence is the capacity to comprehend and communicate meanings that are more correct and acceptable for the cultural and social contexts in which communication takes place. Even though English is used at many levels of communication, the speakers must be familiar with a variety of pragmatic components to create coherency and the capacity to react in a variety of scenarios. As a result, one of the key aims in the field of education should be the development of pragmatic ability and also help for future understanding. <strong>Keywords</strong>: <strong>&nbsp;</strong>Communication, communication skills, English, language, literature &nbsp; <strong>Received-</strong>03 /12 /2025,<strong> Accepted</strong>-18 /01/2025,<strong> Published Date</strong>-31 /01 /2025 &nbsp; &nbsp; <strong>&nbsp;</strong> &nbsp;Introduction Communication is a talent that allows one individual to collect and transfer pieces of information to another. So, communication in English is a talent that can only be perfected by consistent practice and acquaintance with the target languages. This talent is beneficial in broadening pupils' comprehension abilities. If a person is to attain his or her purpose, he or she must be able to communicate successfully with others (P. Chairat 2016). Different strategies can be use to improve communication. Listening literature, particularly poetry, is one of the strategies. Seeing life through the eyes of someone else may also be beneficial. Poetry is a concise language that communicates a wide range of emotions. It provides the reader with joy. It helps pupils improve their speaking abilities. It is a tool that may be used depending on the pupils' attitude. It encourages people to express their opinions and views regarding difficult societal topics. Poetry is an important part of language instruction. Poetry is the actual content that aids in the student's grasp of the language they are attempting to acquire. The researcher's main goal is to improve students' verbal communication skills through teaching poetry in the classroom ( M. D. Mehra 2013). In actuality, businesses evaluate newly recruited graduates' professional competence, although it is the primary criteria for educational excellence (M. Ilankumaran and P. Deepa 2018). With the foregoing in mind, and as far as everyone&lsquo;s is worried, a large number of recent research and educations have absorbed more on graduate employability and professional competence (like critical, problem-solving, leadership, and teamwork skills) than on English communication skills needed and used in there al workplace. However, the afore mention is unsuitable for preparing English main graduates for future careers, predominantly those who are not natural English speakers. It'ssafetoassumethatoncethey'vecompletedtheirdegree,they'llpursuecareersthatneedthemto use the English language (G. Charyulu 2015). As a result, it is evident that the graduates' English communication abilities are crucial and widely anticipated by businesses and organizations. As a result, universities and academic instructions are likely to place a greater focus on professional competence and employability skills. Literature is about letters, phrases, words, sentences, essays, paragraphs, and tales, among other things. The author must concentrate on all of these areas of knowledge when learning a language. Ideas, views, sentiments, and facts to communicate with others for personal or professional reasons are all part of communication. Literature is the same way (M. Ilankumaran and P. Deepa 2018). Literature is the heart of language is the mind. The lexicographical, grammatical, and syntactical systems that makeup language. Anyone who wants to improve their communication skills should concentrate on language. In general, there are three sorts of communication (S. Kuroda and I. Yamamoto 2018). &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Visual communication &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Verbal communication &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Auditory communication The author needs greater verbal communication abilities in our professional communication than visual and oral communication. Author focus on literature rather than raw, lifeless phrases as models of grammar to enhance our English. One must concentrate on the fundamental notions of that language. Concentrate first on the alphabet, tiny word lists, word groupings, sentences, phrases, and storey paragraphs (M. S. Kaper 2018). Improve your languages skills by telling mythical, magical, or legendary stories. Stories are the most effective way to improve one's analytical and cognitive abilities. Stories give ample room for the creative process to flourish. People used to practice their linguistic skills by listening to legendary stories and relaying them to others. However, tales are no longer part of the academic curriculum, and youngsters are unaware of the importance of literature. Even parents believe that fiction is a fun way to spend time. It's pointless. It is, in fact, a misunderstanding. Only through reading and listening to literature can we improve our command of the English language and our communication abilities (A. V. Basantes, M. E. Naranjo, M. C. Gallegos, and N. M. Ben&iacute;tez 2017) . The internet has offered up new avenues for knowledge enhancement through communication. We can't separate the Internet from English. They've mixed. Modern technology has produced a Digital World in which people may communicate quickly via email, chat, video conferencing, mobile interviewing, net banking, and online shopping, among other methods. In today's world, man lives in a digital world (P. Deepa and M. Ilankumaran 2018). His needs are for cutting-edge technology. Computer technology and the English language are the two most important instruments for connecting the entire world. These are both technical and communication tools that work well. Nowadays, technical communication abilities are required in the business, educational, and career domains. Everyone used to be different, but today we are all referred to as global citizens. Students have become global students, and their occupations have become global occupations. These days, if an educated individual does not know English or how to use a computer, he is referred to be an illiterate (M. Reza Ahmadi, H. Nizam Ismail, and M. Kamarul Kabilan Abdullah 2013). The basic function of a language is to be spoken rather than written. So, written languages are the most valuable resource for retracing the cultures, societies, and lifestyles of earlier generations of people and races (S. Shrestha, S. Parajuli, and U. R. Paudel 2019). The English language is not static; it is always expanding into new domains and notions (K. B. Haskard Zolnierek and M. R. Dimatteo 2009). The Anglo-Saxon language only had roughly 20,000 term sinitsrepertoire.There are approximately 4,00,000 words in the contemporary Oxford Dictionary. The majority of the vocabulary used by the Anglo-Saxons came from their German predecessors. Any living language, such as English, has a large vocabulary and allows easy exploration of new concepts, people, and regions. The old world had lost its sense of self (B. Crosbie, M. Ferguson, G.Wong, D. M.Walker, S.Vanhegan, and T. Dening 2019). It was first used under the British government's rule. People write Telugu and speak Telugu, and people in others tates speak and write their respective languages; in fact,our country was separated based on linguistic modifications. Our mother tongue is used in our daily conversations. Only our language allows us to communicate our thoughts, ideas, and expressions. As a result, the mother language impact dominates our ability to communicate smoothly and successfully in English (M. C. Paretti, A. Eriksson, and M. Gustafsson 2019). The acquisition of spoken language occurs naturally as a result of the culture. We are unable to speak English in the manner of an Englishman since we were not born in that nation or culture. Rather than spending time and energy imitating the English at ion and dialect, aim to rapid and convey faultless English for common understanding and communication with the rest of the globe. <strong><em>1.1&nbsp; </em></strong><strong><em>Role of English Grammar to Enhance Communication</em></strong> Grammar is a necessary component of efficient English learning. In written communication, grammar is extremely important. To write excellent English, one must understand the law of grammar. Professional graduate students must write competent English to advance in their careers. Because the world has changed dramatically, English grammar must also evolve. Indian students find it challenging to adhere to different language laws and restrictions. The Greek and Latin Classical Languages gave birth to the English Lexicon and its structure. The rules of British English haven't altered in a long time. As a result, the Global Student looks for choices. Fresh developments, such as the Internet and e-mail, provide him with a new road to English mastery (G. Papanastasiou, A. Drigas, C. Skianis, M. Lytras, and E. Papanastasiou 2019). Even yet, English teachers and textbooks continue to use age-old English spelling rules, word order, punctuation, and grammar rules (K. Bombeke 2012). Students that are interested in technology are on the lookout for reality and are eager to learn. Because of their high intelligence quotient <strong>(</strong>IQ) scores. So it's time to revise English grammar using the most up-to-date technology; otherwise, grammar would only exist in English textbooks and the surnames of English teachers. Our Prehistoric Civilization has bestowed a magnificent gift onto us. It is written in Sanskrit. It has become drowned in the Global World due to its Conventional Grammatical Rules. The threat to the British English languages comes not from people, but modern communication technology. Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, the world's three Classical Languages, have all but perished due to their Conventional Lexicon and Grammar (K.S. Juma, D.M.A. Raihan, and D. C. K. Clement 2021). <strong><em>1.2&nbsp; </em></strong><strong><em>Need of English Language</em></strong> During the British administration, Macaulay brought English into our educational system. Since that time, English has been an integral element of our culture. It is a necessary commodity in the fields of business, commerce, education, and employment. In India, the British Empire has crumbled, but the English Empire has flourished. Leaders and citizens created slogans against English during the American Revolution, claiming that it should be prohibited. However, it continues to thrive not because of its structure, but because of its adaptability. These two terms cannot be separated; they are synonymous. Globalization gave birth to the new world. Computer technology and the English language are the two fundamental components that connect the whole globe (D. Khashimova, N. Niyazova, U. Nasirova, D. Israilova, N. Khikmatov, and S. Fayziev 2021). These are both technical and communication tools that work well. Students have become global students, and their careers have become global careers. "Public Speaking" is a different type of speech. In public speaking, a speaker addresses a large group of people on a certain topic. The speaker and his or her information are given first attention in this procedure. Electronic communication is another mode of communication. This method includes using cell phones, voice mails, e-mails, and chatting. Any type of communication is solely to share information with others. It is the most alive and effective kind of communication compared to other forms of communication. "Reading makes a man perfect,"says one author. It's a common phrase used to emphasize the necessity of good reading abilities. What motivates us to read? The basic goal of reading is to understand the meaning of each paragraph in a book. We simply read books to gather information and knowledge. As a result, books are the future generations' treasures of ancient man's wisdom. There are several sorts of books. Reading may be done in a variety of ways, including word-to-word reading, skimming, and scanning. These are the several methods for reading a book. The author looks through a paragraph to see what information or concept we're seeking for using this strategy. It's all about looking for something in a book rather than learning everything there is to know about that book. These are the several methods for reading a book. To strengthen your ability to provoke thinking, try reading at least a paragraph every day. Another advantage of reading is that it improves your vocabulary and linguistic skills. Individuals' thoughts, clarity, and meaning increase as a result of reading. Writing Ability: "Writing creates a precise guy. "Amongthethreetalentsoflistening,speaking,andreading,writingisthemostchallenging.Itisa a thought-provoking activity. It is an everlasting document. Stones were used to writing on in ancient times. Lithography was the name of the process. They later began writing on animal hides. Later, the Chinese created paper. After a few years, Gut ten Burg devised the printing press, which revolution the writing system. Newspapers, periodicals, and many types of printed books were created. Reading,Writing,Listening,and Speaking are the four forms of communication that we must master to communicate effectively. And I feel that if we read more, we will be able to enhance our writing, listening, and speaking skills. I'm sure we all do a lot of reading for work. Reading literature that is not immediately relevant to our profession, however, is also necessary, in my opinion. Reading books on numerous themes helps one's general knowledge, imagination, and creativity, among other things, in addition to vocabulary and grammar. These advantages can also aid in bridging gaps between team members from various countries in dispersed teams. It's not simple to get into the habit of reading since we're continually catching up with our fast-paced and chaotic lifestyles. Apart from professional competency and employ-ability skills, academic institutions should emphasize and teach workplace communication skills in English to boost English major graduates' capabilities and capacities to satisfy labour market expectations and requirements. As a result, university language programs must be designed to provide appropriate practice in listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities. These abilities are equallyvital,and students typically practice them in different combinations or all at once.""Effort should be made to ensure that what is taught in the course is related to authentic office situations to ensure that the students' professional communication skills are practiced according to the requirements of employers, and match the requirements of employers," the same researchers added.‖ Every literary person is aware of the concepts of language and literature. They are, nevertheless, the most popular way to acquire language. The importance of literature in the language classroom cannot be overstated. It not only entertains readers but also helps them gain experience and develop critical thinking skills. 2.&nbsp; DISCUSSION Both literary and linguistic talents are valued equally in English Literature and Communications degrees. The curriculum aims to teach students how to critically connect with a variety of genres through a variety of texts from across the world. The communicative English curriculum social circumstances as well as various cultural and literary traditions. When you go through the curriculum, you'll see that, in addition to English literature, you'll learn about mass media communication, journalism, philosophy, travel, and tourism. This one meal contains a lot of variety. It also attempts to provide pupils with the chance to improve their communication abilities. While the courses include a broad range of skills for particular corporate and creative areas such as advertising, business, and public service, they also aim to prepare students for further education in the field. The program's overall goal is to develop autonomous learners with the creative, critical, and analytical abilities needed for lifelong learning. <strong><em>2.1&nbsp; </em></strong><em>Important About Communication Skills</em> Some pundits expected that the website would herald at the end of human written correspondence, but the reality is very different. Texting, social networks, and email are all becoming increasingly popular forms of communication. Misunderstandings are more likely when there is more communication. Take into account the multiplying effect of social media. With with a few clicks, what you used to say to only a few people may suddenly be broadcast to hundreds of millions. In this paper, the author discuss why English communication skills are so crucial, as well as some recommendations for meeting today's communication needs, whether English is your first language or you're studying it as a second. You'll also learn about how the National University can assist you in improving your English abilities through our ESOL (English speakers of other languages) program or our English and communication degree options. 3.&nbsp; Conclusion The prose is the most effective instrument for learning English and Prose has built-in grammar. As a result, students may quickly learn Prose Topics. Words, nouns, verbs, punctuation, phrases, and sentences make up prose. Grammar should be taught in conjunction with Prose Paragraphs rather than individually. Students study Grammatical Assemblies in a highly efficient manner. Prose instruction nowadays is mechanical and serves no use. But it serves a greater purpose than simply explaining and translating it. Mathematical Applications are analogous to English Language Prose. Every single word and sentence is true and correct. As a result, it should not be squandered by translating. If a student masters prose, he will naturally master English communication skills. Professionals that are fluent in English are in high demand in today's job market. The four regions of English should be learned to gain command of the language. Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing is the four branches of the English language. These four abilities are referred to as communication skills. Speech is more significant than writing in language learning. The author uses Spoken Language to share our opinions regularly. To talk successfully, students need to master basic grammar rules and this rule help for better future communication skills.

Introduction: In an era where technological advancements in large language models and generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms like ChatGPT continually redefine the boundaries of medicine, the advent of Amazon Web Services (AWS) HealthScribe on July 26th, 2023, heralds a transformative moment in healthcare. This HIPAA-eligible generative AI service, capable of transcribing patient-provider conversations and automatically entering them into an electronic health record (EHR) system, represents a profound intersection of technology and medical practice. As this technology permeates clinical settings, addressing associated patient concerns with AI becomes paramount. Although providers may grasp the intricacies of such technology swiftly, patients are likely to harbor concerns. Patients may be unfamiliar with the technology or question its safety. Clear and precise communication will be essential for physicians to ease patient concerns. Our team interviewed forty-eight subjects to survey their understanding, concerns, and opinions on artificial intelligence. We then classified and visually charted their responses. Based on our data, we created a framework for ethical communication physicians can follow when talking to patients about using artificial intelligence in clinical settings. Method: A multidisciplinary team encompassing physicians, advanced practice providers specializing in hematology and oncology, and bioethicists engaged with forty-eight subjects. The study population represented a diverse cross-section of society, differing in aspects such as age, sex assigned at birth, political orientation, education, income, ethnicity, occupation, and religious affiliation. Our investigative process included a structured interview containing twenty-five foundational questions. No personal health information was collected during the questionnaire, and all questions sought only to garner subject opinion. Questions were designed to probe areas of interest such as: (1) the subject's general feelings about AI in healthcare, (2) their familiarity with AI technologies, (3) the existence of any specific concerns, and (4) a deeper exploration of those concerns. The responses were meticulously collected, categorized, and analyzed to discern emergent trends. Results: Our team developed The TRUST Framework based on our research findings by identifying and addressing the three primary concerns with AI in healthcare; transparency, confidentiality, and consent. The data presented a mosaic of varied opinions, with minimal discernible trends correlating with specific demographic attributes. One of the subtle patterns identified pertained to age. Subjects within the 12-35 age bracket demonstrated a familiarity with artificial intelligence, generally expressing indifference rather than concern or enthusiasm. Those aged 35-65 exhibited greater pronounced indifference than any age demographic and revealed an unfamiliarity with existing artificial intelligence tools. Conversely, respondents aged 65 and older expressed the highest level of concern and a prevalent unfamiliarity with the range of available artificial intelligence applications. Conclusion: Effective communication when introducing the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare settings is imperative. This conclusion is based on abstract reasoning and rooted in real-world feedback received from a diverse subject population. Our research revealed that subjects have varying feelings and concerns with artificial intelligence, irrespective of their background. Therefore, avoiding unconscious bias and having a framework for communicating how AI will be used is essential. As the frontier of AI continues to expand, the need for ethical and transparent communication will only grow. This study serves as a call to action for healthcare providers to commit to clear, honest, and empathetic communication about AI's role in patient care. Doing so will promote the overall acceptance of AI in healthcare, subsequently enhancing patient outcomes and alleviating patient concerns by building trust.

<strong>Abstract </strong> A lot of research has been conducted in constructivism as a relatively new theory opposing traditional learning theories with its innovative ideas. In the field of English language teaching, however, and teacher&rsquo;s cognitions of educational theories, research is still insufficient in the Albanian EFL context. This study explores Albanian EFL teachers&rsquo; perceptions of constructivism and their classroom practices. The data was collected from four high school classrooms and two EFL teachers through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall interviews within a trimester. Results showed that teachers support the constructivist perspective and the existence of its techniques in actual curriculums by implementing it sparingly throughout their lessons. However, data also revealed that the use of constructivist techniques could not be carried out based simply on personal cognitions due to unsuccessful results in students&rsquo; socio-cultural behavior. The shift in usage of teaching techniques is analyzed and according to classroom implications the collected data is stated as helpful to understand the unconsciously employed techniques compared to the theoretical cognitions of English teachers. The findings were interpreted considering the teachers; understanding of the constructivist teaching process and its suggestions for changes in the role of the teacher and student with the aim of building a perfect environment for teaching and learning. <strong>Keywords</strong><em>: Constructivism, EFL teachers, EFL classrooms, Teacher perceptions, Teaching practices</em> &nbsp; <strong>Introduction </strong> Constructivism is one of the most recent educational theories that emerged as an innovative perspective of teaching and learning in 1974. Initiated by Ernst von Glasesrfeld and developed by educational theorists such as Jean Piaget, Jerome Brunner and Lev Vygotsky, the theory supports that knowledge is actively constructed by learners who explore their environments and build knowledge based on pre-existing information schemas. There are many methods and models which represent constructivist approach for learning such as inquiry-based teaching, discovery learning, discussion and debates, peer-assisted learning and reflective teaching (Schunk, 2012). According to the theory, knowledge is co-constructed with social interaction and is a process that lasts and is formed in several layers (Bandura, 1986). In this theory, the teacher acts as a facilitator that encourages curiosity and motivates learners by analysing their existing knowledge and adapting it with proper posed questions at specific moments of instruction (Baviskar et al., 2009). The classroom is student-centered and the curriculum is formulated based on the needs of the student. Constructivist strategies have also proved to be very useful for students and teachers by making the teaching process active and interesting (Yilmaz, 2008).&nbsp; Many studies have explored teachers&rsquo; perceptions as well as the actual practicality and applicability of the theory in real-life EFL classrooms (Yilmaz, 2008). Teachers lean on different thoughts regarding constructivism and use it accordingly in EFL classrooms. Since constructivism is new as an educational theory compared to older theories, there are various issues to be considered as to whether it can be successfully applied in Albanian EFL classrooms or not, and if teachers actually support and practice the theory. Therefore, this study is conducted with the aim to investigate most frequent teaching techniques used in EFL classrooms and find possible relation to constructivist techniques; to explain teachers&rsquo; cognitions, beliefs, and ideas of constructivism; to analyze external factors that influence the applicability of the theory. It is a modest contribution to research in further understanding EFL teachers&rsquo; perceptions of constructivism and their classroom practices. <strong>Literature review</strong> The roots of constructivism are in Jean Piaget&#39;s work of age-related development stages which considered a child &ldquo;a lone scientist of the world&rdquo; (Hmelo-Silver &amp; Barrows, 2006; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2007). Piaget is considered a biological individualist and therefore constructivism seems to be applied more efficiently in science related fields since they have the proper amount of curiosity to offer for curious learners (Piaget, 1964; 2003). He considered the learning process as internal, private and mental and pointed out the idea that learners should first explore on their own before they share their knowledge with peers (1964).&nbsp; For Piaget, the individual possesses the prime value and puts it in the first place letting aside the social. This point of view was, however, opposed by Lev Vygotsky and Cole, who underlined the importance of the socio-cultural context pointing out that students can learn better by socializing and co-learning (1978). Piaget&rsquo;s revolutionary idea did not support passive learning in which the only source of information is poured from the teacher to a blank or empty &ldquo;sponge&rdquo;, which is the student (Piaget, 1964; 2003). With his ideas it became more popular for curriculum designs to integrate student-engaging activities through participation in dialogues, in group work and in self-made projects, thus making students &ldquo;more involved&rdquo; in the learning process (Piaget, 1964). Considering these new practices, in the linguistic approach of constructivism, we notice a significant use of all these classroom activities with the aim of learning how to use languages more efficiently in real life situations as well as how to give and receive information in different social contexts. Vygotsky introduced another perspective of constructivism identifying the social character of learning (1978). Unlike the psychological features of the constructivist theory, social constructivism deals with the importance that social interaction and cognitive learning have in constructing cognitive and emotional images of reality (Yilmaz, 2008). Vygotsky concluded that social interviews are the foundation in cognitive development. Becoming the inventor of social constructivism, he emphasized the importance of human learning by interacting with each other, which is directly related to the linguistic approach of social constructivism and how important the application of the theory would be in English as a foreign language (EFL) context&nbsp;(Vygotsky &amp; Cole, 1978). According to him, knowledge is a social product and learning is a social process (Abha, 2019). In other words, understanding is social from nature, and it is created by interactions with others. Vygotsky explains his theory speaking from a social and personal sphere, considering that perception is actualized only when the internalization of knowledge is created in interaction with others (Yilmaz, 2008).&nbsp; Vygotsky attaches great importance to dialogue and different types of interaction between the learners (1978). According to him, every operation within the cultural development of the kid happens twice: initially, at the social level, and later, at the individual level; initially between individuals and then among the kids. This is applicable to learners&rsquo; attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of ideas (Vijayakumari &amp; Jinu, 2013). All higher functions occur as complete relationships between people. Vygotsky sees language as the main medium of interaction and communication and a prerequisite for absorbing and initializing the experiences gained from interaction. Therefore, constructivism as a learning theory, has many prospects in social-based fields where social interaction is more needed than personal exploration (Yilmaz, 2008; Alt, 2014). Following Piaget, who somehow initiated the basics of the theory, Jerome Brunner established constructivism through his approach of interactionism. Basically, this contributes to a better understanding of the linguistic approach of constructivism, as Bruner explored language development and how learners acquire knowledge by communicating or interacting and therefore developing linguistic expression. Brunner highlights that social interaction is an important factor in child development. It contributes to the use of meaningful language and active participation in creating valid shared meaning through collaborative processes (Bruner, 1961). He argued that &ldquo;one seeks to equip the child with deeper, more gripping and subtler ways of knowing the world and himself.&rdquo; (Bruner, 1961, pp. 117-118) thus pointing out that learning as a process is constructed based on the human&rsquo;s previous experiences. It is true that we can learn by putting into practice the knowledge we get from experience, but actually the whole learning process is socially related. Experiences show that human beings learn easier by interacting with each other, by encoding and decoding (Karagiorgi &amp; Symeou, 2005). Since it was invented, the theory continues to be increasingly employed by teachers all around the world, who try to find the most convenient learning style for their students. It holds that individuals require proper assistance at the right moment. Furthermore, the role of teacher as a facilitator is still necessary. This combination of the right assistance at the right time leads to very effective gain of knowledge in the learning process of a classroom where children try to gain more knowledge by interaction. Research shows that to be a successful constructivist teacher you should not only play the role of the facilitator but also create a conductive and social-friendly environment in the classroom (Abha, 2019). Learning should be contextualized in real-world environments that make use of a context which makes learning relevant (Jonassen, 1991). Usage of the principles and methods of constructivism has demonstrated that these constructive methods of teaching are more effective than the traditional ones (Bandura, 1986; Bandura et al., 2001). <strong>Concepts and Definitions</strong> Constructivism suggests that learners construct their knowledge based upon their pre-existing information by adding it to their knowledge schemas. Learners create understanding of this information in an active way through participating in the process of receiving and giving information rather than passively receiving it (Vygotsky &amp; Cole, 1978). They reflect on the new knowledge according to experiences and they create their own perspective of the received information according to their personal and social background. Recent definitely suggest that teachers include in their lesson plans problem-solving activities which put students to the center of the learning process. The aim of the constructivist theory is to guide learners to think on how they can put theoretical acquisition into real-life use through assimilation and accommodation. Hence, language teaching and learning regards many practical everyday activities which can be thoroughly supported by the constructivist teaching model (Bada &amp; Olusegun, 2014). Constructivism is a theory that aims for the instructors to simply be facilitators that provide students with contexts where they can explore and find interesting things about the new information (Hyslop-Margison &amp; Strobel, 2008). According to this approach, every learner should be an active participant throughout the learning process. All said, constructivism is a learner-centered educational theory and to be able to transform our teacher centered educational models has proven to be challenging. This theory includes significant concepts and processes such as assimilation and accommodation, zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding, an explanation of which will help in better understanding of this theory. <strong>Assimilation </strong>is the receiving of new information from the learner who tries to fit it in his pre-existing schemas of knowledge (Piaget, 1964). Every individual has a set of knowledge schemas which are created since he starts grasping and understanding information. His mindset is created by adding more information to those schemas of knowledge. <strong>Accommodation</strong> is the continuing process of assimilation where the learner takes the new information and tries not to fit the knowledge into the previous knowledge but actually &ldquo;restores&rdquo;, &ldquo;revises&rdquo;, &ldquo;develops&rdquo; and &ldquo;transforms&rdquo; the existing schemas to whole new schemas of understanding (Piaget, 1964).&nbsp; <strong>The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) </strong>implies the notion of &ldquo;the more knowledgeable other&rdquo; (Harland, 2003).&nbsp; Apparently there is always one or more persons who have a better understanding or skills regarding a specific area. The ZPD is the time that a learner cannot receive knowledge without proper encouragement or guidance. This zone is the time where instruction is much more needed in order for the student to develop the necessary skills (Yilmaz, 2008). This brings another important factor which is the role of dialogue and teacher facilitation for constructivism. A critical element regarding the ZPD remains the fact that during their lifetime students advance from one approximate area to another, with progress that sometimes is slighter and sometimes larger, depending on various internal and external factors (Vygotsky, 1978). <strong>Scaffolding</strong> is another constructivist concept that contributes to our understanding of the teacher&rsquo;s role in constructivism. Scaffolding refers to the role of the teacher in providing learners with enough basic knowledge for them to pass the initial stages of learning a new subject (Bruner, 1961). Educators facilitate, organize, plan the lesson and use the more appropriate techniques to transfer the student exactly where his maximum understanding zone is. <strong>Domains of constructivism</strong> Constructivism is not a single or unified theory; rather, it is characterized by plurality and multiple perspectives. Varied theoretical orientations explicate such different facets of constructivism as cognitive development, social aspects, and the role of context (Yilmaz, 2008). Cognitive constructivism, developed by Jean Piaget, centers around the concept that knowledge is constructed through active learning and not simply received passively by a single source of knowledge (Piaget, 1964). Furthermore, radical constructivism (Von Glasersfeld (2013) suggests that the acquired knowledge is not necessarily reflecting knowledge of a real world, since every individual has his own construction schemas. In addition, critical constructivism emphasizes a critical evaluation in the communicative ethics used in the classroom between teachers and learners. It fully supports that knowledge is an adaptive process and that it is based on the experiences of the individual. Social constructivism, according to sociocultural theory, suggests that human development is a social-driven process by which students learn better and faster by interacting with their more educated peers. In the foreign language context, the effects of culture are meant to appear with the appearance of the tools of intellectual development. Social interaction is the main factor of social constructivism. In order to understand constructivism in the learning process, educators have to restructure their perspectives of teaching.&nbsp;As social constructivism can be considered the future in the teaching process, educators have to focus on interaction, multiple perspectives, different learning inputs and different environments of learning in order to be able to contribute to this huge world of information (Le Cornu &amp; Peters, 2005; Gijbels et al., 2008; Bozalek et al., 2013). <strong>Constructivism in EFL Instruction</strong> Based on the main focus of this study, constructivism in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context will be presented in terms of principles that build the ideas of this theory embedded in the classroom. Regarding relevant research, the discussion in this context began after the 1980s and the term constructivism became more frequently used in the context of EFL teaching. In accordance with constructivist principles, Wolff and De Costa point out that constructivist language teaching is a learning process which is prominently autonomous, subjective, student centered and active (2017), while traditional teaching is mostly based on a pedagogical-psychological concept where learners simply &ldquo;react&rdquo; to what is being taught and they either accept or reject the information. In constructivism, the learner tries to accumulate the received information and embed it to the pre-existing knowledge by actively changing the cognitive schemas. Most important to the research is to understand how the sociocultural approach of constructivism is closely embedded with teaching English as a foreign language. Sociocultural approach in teaching English as a foreign language is teaching with interaction, negotiation and collaboration (Yilmaz, 2008). In the process of learning a foreign language, it is important for the teacher to intertwine collaborative learning by using experience and discourse for the students to grasp meanings through peers. Since a foreign language is mostly learned for communication purposes, the sociocultural approach helps to understand how students use their sociocultural backgrounds to add and give from their foreign language knowledge (Yilmaz, 2008). Recent studies about EFL teachers have shown that the sociocultural approach in constructivism has helped them reach better results in their classrooms. The EFL teaching process is oriented towards action oriented&nbsp;and cooperative learning activity, which constitute significant principles of constructivism. Some of the many activities within this approach are pair work, group work and social forms of English -speaking activities. The student is frequently asked to take the role of the teacher and so the student learns by teaching. As Wolff and De Costa claim, learning can be influenced by teaching but not in a way as traditional teaching suggests (2017). Furthermore, Tenenbaum et al. also suggest that knowledge develops internally rather than simply transmitted by the teacher or another learner (2001). In a language classroom, for example, the learner is asked to choose teaching materials for classroom learning; as a result, the ability to make decisions promotes autonomy and learners are able to distinguish their preferable style of learning and recognition of skills. Before being able to decide, the student is informed that with decision comes responsibility and the crucial thing is that his chosen techniques and strategies should be applied actively during learning. Gaining proper learning awareness is followed by language and intercultural awareness which were explained in detail in the socio-cultural approach. However, not all constructivist approaches are applicable to the EFL teaching contexts. For instance, radical constructivism cannot be applied as it has many disadvantages in the explanatory level and in areas of inconsistency. The holistic language experience or the content-oriented EFL instruction is applied in bilingual contexts and according to it, learning a foreign language is very effective in complex learning environments. Studies report interesting results regarding the usefulness of constructivism in EFL instruction. Reinfried argues in a more realistic approach to the application of constructivism in EFL teaching opposing learner-centered theories thus being more of an &ldquo;absolute&rdquo; and radical researcher (2000). Furthermore, Gul came to the conclusion that using constructivism in EFL teaching is more effective compared to traditional teaching approaches (2016). A study conducted by Al Muhaimeed (2013) demonstrated that using constructivist techniques of English language reading comprehension helped students in a school in Saudi Arabia learn how to read faster and better than using the traditional approach. In another study, in a school in India, Sengupta (2015) used an activity with collaborative writing tasks where all students discussed with each other while writing; thus, each student shared their personal knowledge and all of them took what they needed from other students&rsquo; knowledge. By scaffolding, the students took claim of their original ideas and also provided a context where other students could generate new ideas and new content through their own engagement. In another example, Nikitina (2010) conducted a study where students used visual aids to prepare projects in groups; the results showed that students learned the foreign language better and faster. In this study, the activities were selected by the students and the results were beneficial to their learning. <strong>The role of the teacher in the constructivist classroom</strong> The principles of constructivism can be applied into different forms by the teacher as a facilitator. The teacher&#39;s role is to give experiences to the students, to help them interact with each other in order to encourage and to advance their individual learning (Le Cornu &amp; Peters, 2005; Pitsoe &amp; Maila, 2012). However, teachers must be careful that the experiences they give to the students are within their zone of proximal development (Karagiorgi &amp; Symeou, 2005). As a result, it is clear that it is the teacher&#39;s responsibility to make students self-regulated learners. A good teacher might choose catchy topics in order to involve all the students in the process of learning. As questions lead to more questions, students&rsquo; critical thinking would expand. In such specific cases, collaborative learning comes by way of peer interaction, but it is well structured and mediated by the cooperating teacher (Le Cornu &amp; Peters, 2005). In a typical classroom, the qualified teacher is the conduit for the effective tools of culture that properly include language, social context and other forms of information access. Learning in the constructivist classroom is constructed, active, reflective, and collaborative and independent inquiry based (Bada &amp; Olusegun, 2015). A teacher is always one of the information resources and not necessarily the primary one. Most importantly, the teacher should assist students to understand their metacognitive process of learning and encourage student autonomy and initiative. During classroom interaction, the teacher facilitates communication in order for students to communicate as clearly as possible in their verbal and written responses since communication is the primary tool of interactionism and language is what explains proper understanding of all concepts. Research has shown that teachers&rsquo; perceptions of learning and teaching have a significant influence on their attitudes and approaches to teaching (Borg, 2003; Trigwell et al., 1999) and as a result, affect and determine their classroom practices (Borg, 2003; Sogutlu, 2015). Further research has also demonstrated the positive effects of constructivist learning environment and of implementing constructivist principles in the classroom (Tynjala, 1998; Vijayakumari &amp; Jinu, 2013). Therefore, reconceptualization of teaching philosophies and raising teachers&rsquo; awareness of learner-centered instruction through constructivist pedagogies become key elements to the accomplishment of teaching objectives. <strong>Methodology</strong> This study uses a qualitative research design to collect the data and analyze them accordingly. The aim of the study is to explore the teachers&rsquo; cognitions of the constructivist theory in Albanian classrooms and to analyze how constructivism can be embedded into Albanian EFL classrooms. It addresses the following research questions: What are the participant EFL teachers&rsquo; perceptions of constructivism? Do EFL teachers use constructivist techniques and approaches in their classrooms? What are the constructivist techniques already used and what should be added according to teachers&rsquo; perceptions? <strong>Participants and context</strong> Participants in the study were chosen from an Albanian public high school in the rural area of the capital of Albania, Tirana. The study is conducted with students of three grades of high school with each grade having three classrooms. Observation was conducted in a trimester period of time from December 2021 to February 2022. All students in this high school have learned English for at least seven years or above during their schooling. All students vary in ages of 15-16 for 10th grade and 16-17 for 11th grade. In terms of proficiency levels, 10th graders are mostly pre-intermediate with almost 30% of them being beginners, while 11th graders are mostly intermediate where 20% is lower intermediate and 30% is upper intermediate based on self-report. Class 10A had 28 students, class 10B had 27 students, classroom 11A had 25 students and classroom 11B had 26 students. As per the interviews, two teachers volunteered to participate in this study. For purposes of anonymity and confidentiality, we refer to them as teacher A and teacher B. Both teachers had 10-15 years of experience in EFL teaching. The only context in which they have taught English is public high schools and private courses as a second job. Both of them hold a master&rsquo;s degree in the profile of education and teaching EFL for high schools and both graduated from public universities. The textbooks used throughout the lectures were named &ldquo;On Screen&#39;&#39; and level B1+ was used for 10th grade while B2 was used for the 11th grade. Not very frequently, extra materials were handed for extracurricular activities and exercises. Regarding assessment, teachers evaluated students by conducting semester exams and a final exam at the end of the year. In addition to exams, students were assessed for their projects, writing essays, articles or other activities as part of their yearly portfolio. <strong>Instruments of data collection</strong> Two high school EFL teachers were interviewed and four classrooms with a total of 106 students were observed every day during English language lessons. The research data was collected through three instruments: classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall interviews in one high school semester. Relying on classroom observations, researchers are able to collect direct information from their own observations rather than participants&rsquo; self-reported accounts. This observational data collected provided the opportunity to gather important information in a real context. Each classroom was observed two days per week with three hours in each lecture which concludes to 72 hours of observation for each classroom. Lectures were not recorded due to the duration of&nbsp;time, however, field notes were taken in almost each classroom by recording behaviors of students and teachers regarding specific topics of EFL teaching in a constructivist context. In order for the analysis to be more clear and specific, separate English teaching topics were chosen in order to explain teachers&rsquo; techniques. The lectures chosen to be more analytically explained in the study were mostly grammar topics. Four grammar topics were chosen including past and present tenses, passive voice, modal verbs and future tenses. Grammar topics are considered important in order to distinguish if the teaching method used is constructivist since they are more difficult and complex in terms of explanation. In addition to grammar, two vocabulary sessions were observed and recorded with field notes. The purpose of classroom observation was to find out teachers&#39; cognitions and perceptions of using constructivism all while observing them in action. On the other hand, the study observed the impact that these traditional and constructivist techniques had on students. Another very important instrument is the semi-structured interviews. The teachers were asked not very specific questions, but they were rather let to talk freely about constructivism, socio-cultural theory and other EFL educational-related theories. Teacher participants of this study were interviewed separately and several times throughout the observational period; however, only one interview was formally conducted and recorded in an interval of one hour for each teacher. The chosen language for the interview was Albanian in order to not create any misunderstandings and to offer the teachers the opportunity to express themselves in more details. The interviews were later transcribed and translated into English. The interview included questions regarding the best learning theory that could lead EFL instruction to better results, what techniques they preferred to use and which one of them was considered more effective. They were also asked about proper methods to implement English language in classrooms and what techniques seem the students to like or dislike. Which teaching methods students actively participated in and do they think that the implemented curriculum was right for their students. The last instrument is stimulated recall interview. Stimulated recall interviews include commenting and reminding participants&rsquo; behaviors throughout the lecture in order to reflect on their daily teaching techniques in accordance to what they have said in their previous interviews. This is not conducted in order to add tension to the participants but for them to understand why they use specific teaching styles in specific contexts, situations under pressure or depending on each different classroom. For each question, teachers replied about why they used each technique according to which classroom they were teaching, their level, the social context or curriculum-based compulsory strategies. Participants were simulated to recall their teaching techniques and several questions were asked after a grammar lecture, listening and writing session, reading and exam sessions as well. For each lecture observed, several teaching segments especially for grammar and reading were selected and recorded in notes so that they could be discussed after classroom. <strong>Techniques of data analyses</strong> The data for this study was gathered in separate stages and qualitatively analyzed by using the above-mentioned methods. All the data underwent the procedure of the six step data analysis from Creswell (2012) which is collecting the data, preparing data for analysis, reading the data, coding the data, coding the description to be used in the research report and finally coding the test for themes to be used in the research report. Once data was collected including observation notes of the students and teachers, recorded interviews, notes from after-classroom simulated recall interviews, the audio recordings were transcribed and translated, all English versions were presented once more to teachers to see for any misunderstood conception. The final version of all transcribed notes and interviews was taken for final analysis and results. <strong>Procedures</strong> The interviews were conducted after the observation phase. The simulated recall interviews were conducted after different topics of English language lessons were observed. Notes were kept throughout all the observation phase and were later on transcribed and translated. Students were not notified for the observation procedure with the aim of understanding the constructivist impact and so the school, teachers and students were kept confidential since ethical considerations are ensured throughout the study. Each of the participant teachers was given clear and sufficient information about the aim of the study and after their consent, the interviews were conducted and the data were&nbsp;obtained. <strong>Results </strong> <em>Classroom observations </em> By observing both students and teachers during their teaching-learning process, we found that students did not participate enough to determine the classrooms as constructivist. As a matter of fact, the classroom was mostly teacher-centered and the students acted as receivers of information. The only source of information provided was the teacher&#39;s knowledge and the textbook. The role of the teacher was providing students with all the information and guiding the lesson throughout the whole lesson and it definitely had an authoritarian character. All activities were strictly followed as defined in the curriculum and were skipped partially depending on the students&rsquo; level and capabilities. Depending on the type of lesson, students could participate when asked. Frequent activities students were asked to participate were: reading the text in reading sessions, explaining grammar rules they were already taught, reading out writing exercises they were assigned in previous sessions, participating very rarely in group discussions and almost never in listening sessions. Students could add any information during grammar explanation sessions or in discussion groups by raising their hands and taking permission. The teacher would frequently ask students to express their thoughts and opinions on various topics of reading or grammar rules and exercises but only advanced students had the courage to raise their hands. Sometimes, teachers tried to not teach grammar explicitly but did not have any success as students either had no knowledge or were afraid of faulty answers, and because participating actively in the classroom during a teaching session is simply not part of their socio-cultural educational upbringing. In cases of grammar explanation, the student is taken as a blank slate and considered to know nothing regarding the topic. The teacher might sometimes make references to the Albanian language teaching rules and give several sentences as examples in order to ease students&rsquo; understanding. However, examples are only given after the rules are written on the board and explained one by one by the teacher. Students are asked to take notes as they will be asked for all these rules in the next grammar session. Students are taught to memorize the rules and all related concepts theoretically. While all grammar rules are explained thoroughly, the teacher asks frequently if there are any questions, but students rarely ask any regardless of their understanding of these rules. Only advanced students who have prior knowledge of the grammar topic might participate partially; however, almost 50% of the class is silent and simply attentive. 10th graders, especially, are all silent but this can be justified as they are trying to adjust to a new environment with new fellow students and teachers. As constructivism suggests and since this study is conducted in a constructivist perspective, we should accept that all student behavior must be analyzed in terms of socio-cultural approach since social upbringing has a huge impact in the educational experience and therefore not all the teaching-learning process is dependent on teacher behavior. Teacher A for example, definitely has great authority in the classroom but still tries to build interaction whenever she finds it more suitable during the lesson. Based on these observations, we can note that in grammar sessions, constructivist techniques are almost nonexistent but this also varies depending on both teachers, students&rsquo; temperaments in each classroom and the grammar topic. <strong>Episode 1: Grammar topic explained in 10th grade. </strong>Teacher A, Passive Voice, Lower Intermediate Level Teacher A: <em>&ldquo;Today we are going to explain Passive Voice, you will notice that this will be very frequently used in upcoming texts, articles and essays so be very attentive and take notes.&rdquo; </em>(The teacher uses the students&rsquo; L1, that is, Albanian. &nbsp;Then the teacher proceeds to explain rules in English) Teacher writes on the board the definition of passive voice, a table of how verbs change in passive voice in all tenses, the differences between active and passive voice, and finally, after writing the form structure for active and passive sentences, she writes down a sentence and then writes down how it is turned into passive. Students are silent throughout all the explanatory sessions. The grammar rule explanation lasts for almost 15 minutes. Teacher writes a sentence in active voice: &ldquo;<em>The farmers keep the dog in the yard.&rdquo;</em> Teacher A: <em>&ldquo;Now, I want you to help me turn this sentence into the passive voice. Any ideas&rdquo;</em> -Students: &hellip;.. &hellip;&hellip; (quiet, no response) Teacher: <em>&ldquo;Anyone?........(</em>no response)<em> Okay, I will help you on this one&rdquo;</em> and proceeds to explain how to transform the sentence: <em>&ldquo;The dog is kept in the yard by the farmers&rdquo;</em> Teacher asks students to open the books and continue with doing some exercises together. The first exercise is done together and some students participate partially. Students then are asked to do the second and third exercise and are informed that they can discuss them with their peers. After ten minutes, students are asked to read the answers in the class. If anyone is wrong, another student is asked to read the alternative and if no one answers correctly, the teacher provides the correct answer. In this episode there is reflected a grammar session technique that is used in almost every grammar lecture. Grammar is a crucial component in understanding English language and grammar knowledge is necessary in all the other skills. The most important motive for teacher A is to teach grammar for them to be able to use in exercises and in correct writing assignments. Based on the principles of constructivism we can come to these conclusions: <strong>Constructing knowledge actively, not receiving passive information</strong>: in this and many other classroom observations, we notice that the teacher is the only source of information along with the textbook used for activities. The student receives passive information and tries to construct meaning with the new information but we do not have active feedback to determine the effectiveness of the transmitted knowledge except for the feedback given in the exercises. Therefore, the teacher and the class is not considered constructivist. <strong>Using information of real-life situations and constructing knowledge with assistance of social interaction:</strong> The teacher tries to connect the theoretical information to daily-life examples and to simplify the passive voice theoretical part; however, students are still passively listening rather than actively using the passive voice in real-life contexts such as a short dialogue trying to use passive voice. Learning EFL is contextual and cannot be separated from the environment as it is explicitly a social activity. Teacher lets students discuss while doing exercises which is a form of social interaction and it definitely can be considered a constructivist technique. Many students in the episode seemed very interacting and helped each other in case of misconceptions or need of help. In this aspect the teacher and the lesson can be considered partially constructivist. <strong>Critical, active, authentic, collaborative learning:</strong> Students did not show signs of critical thinking or pondering on the new theory but simply took notes with the aim of learning them by heart. Learning based on repetition is not considered authentic and therefore is not constructivist. The teacher does not actively encourage classroom participation or collaborative learning; neither does she ask questions. Students are only asked to participate in specific parts of the lecture and even then they hesitate to be involved. Therefore, based on this principle, the classroom is not considered constructivist. <strong>Formative Evaluation:</strong> Students are expected to learn the rules by heart and are going to be asked next class about them. They are going to be evaluated for their correct answers in exercises and if students are active during the session. Active participation is appreciated and positively evaluated but not properly encouraged. Students will not specifically be assessed for their thinking process, critical thoughts, ideas or innovative thinking. Teacher is motivating in the long process but not very specific on what students need to improve. Therefore, in this case the classroom is not based on constructivist principles. <em>Semi-Structured Interviews</em> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Based on teachers&rsquo; answers and thoughts, we came to a mixed conclusion regarding their desire to apply such educational theories into their daily practices and what prevents them with regard to student behavior, feedback, practicality, curriculum and type of lectures. Both teachers supported the idea of constructivism as a whole, however they mentioned that not all principles could be applied in Albanian classrooms and that many constructivist activities could lead to chaotic unmanageable classrooms. Both teachers supported that the teacher should have the greater authority in the classroom even if that concluded in passive learners. Teacher B was more supportive of collaborative learning and critical thinking, while teacher A was supportive but did not put great attention during the teaching process. In terms of social-interaction, dialogues, group talk and projects or presentations, teacher B was very supportive and liked the practicality and the effectiveness these activities had in listening and speaking skills. Teacher A on the other hand, thought that learning could be more effective if it was more individual. The social context in EFL teaching is important, however each student has accumulated separate knowledge and has reached a different level of English. All knowledge is learned by effort she mentions. As for student responsiveness in these kinds of activities, both teachers agreed that it could be very difficult to mold their behavior into learning new things by exploring more than by listening. They mentioned that the curriculum had many activities of constructivist nature but not all of them are successful and this is due to student behavior and social context. Therefore, teachers seem to understand new pedagogical theories, accept them as positive to learning and teaching, acknowledge that they are present in curriculums but not fully practice them due to external factors. Further discussion of the recalled interviews is also supported with exceprts. <strong>Excerpt 1 (Teacher A):</strong> <em>&ldquo;I believe constructivism is a great theory overall, having students participate and be more interactive during the lecture could generate a fruitful lesson and I could actually understand more of what their level is, however having students interact in matters of new grammar I think it would create much more confusion.&rdquo;</em> Teacher A put more emphasis on grammar and thought that English is better learned by exercises and the best exercises come from grammar examples. Regarding the grammar explanation, teacher A thought that rule explanation is a must and every student should memorize in order to be able to use them. As per other activities, teacher A attaches little to no importance to speaking or listening activities claiming that there was not enough time in the curriculum program to properly address grammar issues, vocabulary exercises or reading passages. <strong>Excerpt 2 (Teacher B<em>):</em></strong><em> &ldquo;I believe that a good English teacher should adapt to the students&rsquo; needs and actually use any kind of educational theory that suits them best in that situation. I love listening to my students&rsquo; ideas in English and when I see them trying to talk regardless of the accuracy, that is when I know I have succeeded in making them like English.&rdquo;</em> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We notice that teacher B is more focused on the students&rsquo; needs and puts the student in the center of the lesson. The teacher&rsquo;s aim is to encourage students to interact more, to be curious and make English more interesting to them either by making topic focus group discussions, role plays, presentations in groups and many other interactive activities that require authentic thought and ideas. However, as seen in the excerpt below, not all EFL activities can be adapted with constructivism as the teacher could be disrespected or not listened to in terms of class management. She also expresses that students must have an innate curiosity and be mature enough to understand that learning should not only come from a teacher source but actually make themselves a source of their own information. <strong>Excerpt 3 (Teacher B):</strong> <em>&ldquo;I am very fond of interactionism in the classroom and I think constructing knowledge in groups, dialogues or any other type of social interaction with their peers is great for their speaking and listening skills in English. Isn&rsquo;t the whole point of learning English to speak and understand it properly? However, every teacher in Albania must have some authority so students respect them enough to actually listen to them.&rdquo;</em> As for students&rsquo; behavior and what teachers think of their preferences regarding constructivist activities, there is a positive approach towards constructivism as during the observation phase. <strong>Excerpt 4 (Teacher A):</strong> <em>&ldquo;I have seen that students love group discussions and group work but I also notice that the work is mostly done by the most responsible students and the other part receives credit for nothing. They also love problem-solving activities and slide presentations but I also notice that the lesson sometimes ends up with most students being inattentive and that is why I like traditional teaching in most cases.&rdquo;</em> During the observation phase and based on teachers&rsquo; cognitions, students seem to like constructivist teaching activities; they consider them amusing and a way to escape the monotonous theoretical explanation. They also find them as an excuse to interact with their peers and when group discussions are based on an interesting topic, they are flattered to participate and share something of their own ideas. Despite the fun part, the students&rsquo; learning outcomes can only be recognized after a long period of time and not directly. Since constructivism is not a regularly tested theory in Albanian EFL classrooms, we cannot know for sure if the theory actually works for Albanian students. <strong>Excerpt 5 (Teacher B):</strong> <em>&ldquo;Constructivism is a very wide theory from what I know and every teacher has a particular style of learning. One of the things I find difficult with every educational theory </em><em>actually is assessment and with a theory so innovative we teachers wouldn&rsquo;t know how to assess students&#39;&#39;</em> The constructivist theory is mostly formative rather than summative and its real purpose is in fact to improve the quality of learning rather than simply grading students on a particular exam. This type of assessment seems to be very vague and baseless to Albanian teachers. Even if they appreciate interactive learners and active responders, they still value it positively but according to them it is not a basis for final evaluation. <em>Stimulated Recall Interviews - Factors Contributing to Teacher&rsquo;s Changing Cognitions</em> After several hours of observation and after the interviews were conducted, we found that participant teachers turned back to their traditional ways of teaching despite their reported beliefs and preferences. Teachers continue to disseminate information such as explaining grammar explicitly or translating vocabulary directly whenever they thought it was necessary for students. Teachers are aware that this phenomenon happens and according to their answers they have no other choice but to do what a teacher is supposed to do. <strong>Episode 2 (Teacher B): Modal Verbs</strong> -Teacher: <em>&ldquo;&hellip;Who is going to tell us what do you know about modal verbs&rdquo;</em> -Students: (Around 7 students proceed to tell what they know shortly and mention some modals they already know). -Teacher: <em>&ldquo;Okay great, now let&rsquo;s explain the various situations in which we can use them properly&rdquo;</em> Students open their notebooks and proceed to take notes as teachers starts explaining the topic. Teacher B had expressed that she actively used constructivist techniques wherever seemed useful and classroom observation showed she was actually more open to new educational theories. After the class mentioned in episode 2 the teacher was asked why she didn&rsquo;t use an exercise as an example and let students derive a conclusion on the modal verbs usage. Her response was: <strong><em>Excerpt 6 (Teacher B):</em></strong><em> &ldquo;Albanian students, at least the students here always need something to focus on, write and take notes, an initiating information to start from. Even if they know the theory very well and they know how to use it perfectly, they still feel like an explanation from the teacher gives them more security about what they already know. And&hellip;. Despite all this, we don&rsquo;t have that much time to listen to all students and wait for them to actually come up with concrete and correct results.&rdquo;</em> The teachers&rsquo; cognition changed according to the external factors contributing to the classroom. Sociocultural factors, student temperament, instructional time limits, curriculum and textbooks, students&rsquo; needs, examinations and assessment pressure as well as classroom management requirements forced them to teach in a particular way opposing their theoretical cognitions. The concept of education is definitely influenced by the Communist era where the teacher was the supreme authority in any occasion and that Albanian thinking of education still views the teacher as the absolute source of knowledge and management. Students also feel &ldquo;safe&rdquo; and &ldquo;relaxed&rdquo; when there is someone to give answers to their questions and correct their mistakes. A very noticeable issue as well is the limited instructional time. Even though the lecture has been lengthened to one hour and a half, the daily program requires coverage of many topics in that hour and therefore teachers have to follow the curriculum. Teachers have to closely follow the textbooks and this makes it difficult for teachers to find time for extra activities that would boost speaking and listening or interactive communication. This explains why teacher A constantly skips listening and speaking topics in the textbook. Teachers&rsquo; cognition can be easily subjected to contextual factors and therefore constructivism is highly valued but not always implemented. &nbsp; <strong>Discussion </strong> <strong>What are EFL teachers&rsquo; perceptions of constructivism?</strong> The participant EFL teachers have slightly different perceptions of constructivism and as the interview results revealed, each teacher follows a special pattern of educational strategies used in their classrooms. In the metacognitive perspective of the theory, teachers expressed a positive attitude towards the innovative practices of constructivism only on some specific areas of English teaching. However, the practical use is a matter that is affected immensely by external factors during the teaching process. Teachers are aware that external factors do not always allow the teaching process to run smoothly and so they are obliged to frequently turn to traditional techniques. Teachers also believe that every social group has special types of behavior in the classroom. This proves the constructivist socio-cultural approach explains the teaching-learning process in real-life contexts and not just theoretically. In comparison to other educational approaches, constructivism has recently entered the Albanian curriculums and Albanian teachers are still not fully aware of all the teaching techniques and strategies due to lack of knowledge on the theory. This cannot provide this research a full and clear result for all Albanian schooling. Due to limited resources of educational theories training and provision of information to educators, Albanian teachers continue using traditional methods of teaching and they also believe that these techniques are necessary for the progress of the academic year within time limits. In general research on teachers&rsquo; cognitions on constructivism, teachers are mostly fond of new theories in education. Most of teachers have positive perceptions on progressive teaching strategies such as constructivism, despite the socio-cultural factors and their use of traditional teaching strategies, the answer to this question is that EFL teachers&rsquo; perceptions of constructivism are prone to accepting and encouraging its use. <strong>Do EFL teachers use constructivist techniques and approaches in their classrooms?</strong> Based on the answer to the previous question, there is a slight contradiction between teachers&rsquo; perceptions of the theory and actual use of its strategies. In many cases, teachers have reported that constructivist method cannot be used for all English language activities and this varies depending on the teachers&rsquo; personal teaching methods or student temperament and learning styles as well. A very important aspect of learning that every teacher should consider is their students&rsquo; learning styles and the students&rsquo; conditions as well. For instance, constructivism supports the autonomy of the learner and teachers use constructivist techniques for individual work, but they also believe that group work helps them advance their learning capabilities. However, activities should have certain restrictions. Albanian students, depending on the region they live, either have a lot of time to deal with individual homework or they do not have time at all due to responsibilities after school. For example, most students in villages or rural areas are obliged to work in order to support their families. Lack of time after school does not allow them to do homework individually, do research in libraries or even have the means to search other sources of information, which makes the teacher the only source of information. Teachers in such areas must find techniques that cover all the lesson and provide the necessary knowledge within class time. They should organize group work, projects and classroom work so that all students are able to receive all information needed. In comparison to what teachers do and what they should do, Albanian EFL teachers use constructivist strategies in accordance with their students&rsquo; needs and their personal requirements. They mostly follow the curriculum and they try to achieve all goals and objectives by the end of the year. Due to lack of time, teachers skip certain topics that seem less &ldquo;important&rdquo; than other topics required for students to pass exams. Since the evaluation system is predominantly based on formative exam evaluation in written forms, what is mostly important according to teachers, is grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing exercises. Therefore, they exclude listening and speaking activities which take time to organize in the classroom. Albanian students show lack of speaking skills even though they might understand the language fully, write great essays and stories and do amazing projects. Sometimes, students show that they understand the written language very well but have great difficulty understanding spoken language particularly native speakers. This is due to lack of speaking and listening exercises. However, we should consider that each teacher has special ways of teaching and managing classrooms; not all teachers pay the same attention to different topics of the English language. This proves that there is a variety in use of constructivist techniques in Albanian EFL classrooms. &nbsp; <strong>What are the constructivist techniques already used and what should be added according to teachers&rsquo; perceptions?</strong> Constructivist techniques that are used in different learning situations are inquiry teaching, group work, group project presentations, cooperative learning and discovery learning. These techniques are moderately used in different classroom levels of high school and always depending on the teacher. Inquiry based learning is based on the question-answer method while presenting a new topic. The teacher that wants to present a grammar lesson with a constructivist technique will teach by asking students about their previous knowledge and let them guess the correct rules by their own mistakes and ideas. Constructivism puts great value to the inquiry teaching method as it enhances students&rsquo; curiosity, research skills and critical thinking. One of the teachers observed in the research seeks a two-way interaction with her students and invites them to learn meaningfully. Regarding recommendations from teachers, activities have already started to be part of the curriculum; they just have to be implemented earlier in educational years so students are adapted to the new way of learning. The already existing activities should be observed better in order to have successful results. Finally, the most significant issue to be revisited is the curriculum design and the learning hours which limits them into implementing these methods in the lesson. <strong>Conclusion </strong> This study explored teachers&rsquo; cognitions regarding the implementation of the constructivist theory in Albanian EFL classrooms in a high school in a rural area in Albania. Based on teachers&rsquo; cognitions and classroom observations, the research yielded significant information that can initiate more insights and perspectives into effective EFL teaching in Albania. The study was conducted using three instruments: observation, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall interviews. The study results although limited, revealed that the teachers had positive views on constructivism and used it partially in terms of classroom activities. Their perspectives are complex and dynamic and inevitably shaped by external factors. Classroom observations showed that despite their cognitions, teachers chose different techniques depending on contextual factors and making decisions was proved to be a complex matter and not simply based on their opinions and beliefs. Observation revealed that Albanian EFL classrooms are not constructivist and even though many constructivist activities were accepted by the Educational Institutes of Curriculum designs, the activities are partly failed by the teaching system. As part of the improvement of educational theories application, teachers need to undertake initiatives to constantly improve themselves and their teaching skills by updating on the latest and most effective EFL teaching techniques. For instance, they can take part in professional seminars, workshops, trainings and teaching courses. 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Playing for a child is not only fun, but also one of the main and most important methods of education, which, properly organized, helps to develop various child's qualities. Through play, children gain new knowledge, get to know the world around them, interact and collaborate with other children and adults. Jakimavičienė (2017) highlights the extraordinary significance of play for a child's education and development: the play implements the child's essential needs (independence, movement, communication, cognition), it is important for the child's mental development, and also other activities are developed through play. One of the types of play is didactic games, which have a significant impact on child's development. Hakkarainen et. al. (2015) state that play will always be associated with learning. Often, learning and play seem to be at odds: science is defined as serious and very important work, and play is defined as something free and non-binding. However, as far as learning through the games is concerned, this opposition seems to disappear. When working with children, educating them in the form of play is the most attractive and, as many studies show, very effective. The author argues that play is not the same as learning, but it is the most effective form of learning. According to Genius (1929), play is the school of a child’s life: when a child plays any game, it remains in memory as a certain value. Games are essential in the children's lives and play an important role in their development and upbringing, especially in the pre-school age. During didactic games, children get motivated in organized and creative way, taking into account their abilities and getting to know the world around them. Didactic games influence the general development of a child, encourage speech, enrich vocabulary, communication, develop logical thinking (Petrovska et. al., 2013). Analysing the influence of didactic games on the development of preschool children, the author reviews the theoretical ideas of the significance of play, emphasizing didactic games and their impact on the child's development. The results of an empirical study are also presented – the attitude of parents and teachers about the influence of didactic games on a child's development. The aim of the article is to determine the impact of didactic games on the development of preschool children. In order to reveal the aim of the research, the following goals are formulated: 1. Discussion on the concept, type, organization, and structure of didactic play. 2. Emphasis on the benefits of didactic games for the development of preschool children. 3. Revealing the opinion of teachers about the influence of didactic games on the development of preschool children. The following research methods were used in the preparation of the conference (April 28, 2022) presentation: review of scientific literature; questionnaire; statistical analysis of survey data. The research was conducted in February–May 2021. 104 preschool teachers who work in kindergartens were selected for the survey. The survey was conducted online via webpage www.apklausa.lt. The main results. The research shows that preschool teachers play didactic games with children, and the influence of didactic games on child's development is significant. Didactic games benefit preschool children in many aspects: they help to develop the child's language, fine motor skills, fantasy, memory, self-expression, collaboration skills, perception of space, logical thinking. Through didactic games, pre-schoolers also develop their values, perception of discipline as well as they learn to follow established rules.

In this article, the author argues that philosophy is a "methodology" of understanding. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation especially the interpretation philosophical texts. H.-G. Gadamer asserted that methodical contemplation is opposite to experience and reflection. We can reach the truth only by understanding or mastering our experience. According to H.-G. Gadamer, our understanding is not fixed but rather is changing and always indicating new perspectives. The most important thing is to unfold the nature of individual understanding. Hermeneutics is not just "art", but the methodology of "understanding." Accordingly, philosophy is the methodology of understanding and interpretation. Philosophy is a science with its own subject and object. Legal laws are not absolute, therefore they should be interpreted. It is the task of philosophy. Philosophy speaks the language of concepts and evidence. Concepts should be specific, clear, defined. Philosophical work is the formulation of concepts. On the basis of such understanding of philosophy, we will now study the question of "political myth". Scientific exploration is devoted to the study of the concept of "myth" and identifying the essential features of the "political myth". What is "political myth" of modernity? What language is he speaking? What appealed? In this intelligence proved that "political myth" is a communication system that distorts reality. It is established that every "political myth" has its own shelf life and the boundaries of its interpretation. It is confirmed that "political myth" is one of the most effective tools to meet political goals, such as achievement of power and its legitimation. It is proved that political discourse is irrational, and political speeches appeal to the argument of sensuous, not rational. "Political myth" models own "world picture", which is a simplified, taken for granted, self-evident. It is proved that the ability of critical judgment, ability to work with information and qualitative analysis from the mouth of the unbiased media and the expert environment, though not a panacea, but partially negate the "force," "political myth". Myth has an irrational basis, and controls the emotions with the help of stereotypes. The myth creates its own reality and creates the effect of solidarity of the masses. The essence of "political myth" is that he always addressed to specific audiences, takes into account the peculiarities of mentality. A dominant position in the "political myth" plays a stereotype. Any stereotype is formed on the generalizations. What is the difference between the stereotypes and myths? "A stereotype is a label", which is the context, but it there is no story. That is, the stereotype is a form, and the myth is content history. In addition, in this exploration of the role and value of such concepts as "political magic" and "political spectacle" in the context of "political mythology" as applied mythology.

What does it mean to be a professional? What sort of values, knowledge and relationships do we consider essential to become a professional? How does thinking about what professionalism is and could become contribute to the work and organisation of hospitality?&#x0D; This brief insight will provide a synopsis of a conceptual article that endeavoured to open up our understandings and opportunities for the concept of professionalism within hospitality [1]. The article was a conceptual discussion piece, aiming to critically examine understandings of being professional and what it could become for the hospitality sector. An organisational communication perspective was adopted to highlight how wider social discourses, relationships and language communicate and construct particular ways of being for understanding self, communities and organisations within society. The article also highlights the role of communication to achieve identification for the sector. The hospitality industry has been plagued by negative media attention around the tensions between low pay and finding the right staff with the required skills [1]. Previous research has illustrated that many graduates and prospective employees do not envisage the sector as a legitimate job or long-term career prospect [2]. To reverse these problems, a consideration of the meaning of work and aiming for professionalism in the sector has been identified as one possible solution.&#x0D; The concept of work can be communicated and interpreted in different ways. Perhaps your first thought of ‘work’ is that ‘it pays the bills and has to be done’ – so an element of compulsory drudgery is associated to this first thought. It is fair to say then, that the concept of work can include both negative and positive aspects. Considering the concept more broadly, we can see this negative association is not always the case. The work involved in maintaining and doing certain leisure activities, such as dog training and gardening is not always exclusively negative. Within the concept of work there are certain conditions that negate the negative association. In Cockburn-Wootten’s [1] conceptual article, this argument was made to change the association and avoid traditional disciplinary managerial tactics. She discusses previous organisational communication research that has identified that certain workplace cultures develop employees who enjoy their job, gain strong identification and commitment, and feel their work provides meaning and dignity to their lives [3]. The conceptual article argues that a critical communication perspective highlights opportunities to reconsider professionalism for the sector – identifying hospitality as meaningful, valued and more than just work.&#x0D; ‘Professionalism’ is an ambiguous term, but certain principles are always seen as essential in any of its definitions; these include trust, knowledge, ethics and character (ethos) [1]. Professionalism secures certain employment conditions, such as a higher level of autonomy, status in the wider community and collegiality, and importantly, employees regulate themselves to these values. Professionalism provides employees with “a sense of dignity in work, through self-worth, status and meaning” [1]. Communicating the values, practices and qualifications deemed the essential characteristics of a professional are crucial to achieve this sense of meaning for employees [1]. Effective organisational employee training, on-the-job support processes, clear ethical expectations and values need to be embedded to help create identification with the concept of professionalism. All this has typically seen business outcomes such as committed employees, lower turnover rates, and attracting prospective staff with the right skills – all of which contribute to an authentic and excellent hospitality service climate.&#x0D; To conclude, the article calls for critical consideration about professionalism’s contribution to the work and organisation of hospitality. Importantly, to achieve identification with the sector, we need a deeper understanding about the role of communication “to reconstruct individuals” and create meaningful work [1]. Suggestions in the article include a consideration of the how managers facilitate (or not) the workplace culture. Secondly, greater collaboration and dissemination of knowledge, for instance between academics and industry practitioners, would enhance the sector. Rarely does this happen in a reciprocal manner, for example with industry role models working with and within academia [4]. A final note is that being critical aware and reflective, particularly as we educate the next generation of managers, opens us up to the possibilities for ethical transformations that can tackle the current depressing turnover and employment conditions.&#x0D; Read the original article here: 10.1386/hosp.2.2.215_1&#x0D; Corresponding author&#x0D; Cheryl Cockburn-Wootten can be contacted at: cwootten@waikato.ac.nz&#x0D; References&#x0D; (1) Cockburn-Wootten, C. Critically Unpacking Professionalism in Hospitality: Knowledge, Meaningful Work and Dignity. Hospitality &amp; Society 2012, 2 (2), 215–230. https://doi.org/10.1386/hosp.2.2.215_1&#x0D; (2) Gebbels, M.; Pantelidis, I. S.; Goss-Turner, S. Towards a Personology of a Hospitality Professional. Hospitality &amp; Society 2019, 9 (2), 215–236. https://doi.org/10.1386/hosp.9.2.215_1&#x0D; (3) Lammers, J. C.; Garcia, M. A. Exploring the Concept of “Profession” for Organizational Communication Research: Institutional Influences in a Veterinary Organization. Management Communication Quarterly 2009, 22 (3), 357–384. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318908327007&#x0D; (4) Cockburn-Wootten, C.; McIntosh, A. J.; Smith, K.; Jefferies, S. Communicating across Tourism Silos for Inclusive Sustainable Partnerships. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 2018, 26 (9), 1483–1498. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2018.1476519

The operating theatre in a hospital is a highly critical and complex area which requires high hygienic standards. A certain code of conduct must be followed at all times to maintain a pedagogical model of excellence. There is indeed a very narrow margin for errors and critical incidents are waiting to happen with any lapses in the standard of care. The core idea of possessing certain etiquettes and mannerisms is therefore quintessential for excellence and safety in patient care and a good outcome. We as anesthetists play a pivotal role in maintaining the requisite standards. Let us revisit these sequentially to better equip ourselves in our temple of work- The Operating Theatre (OT) Basic house rules mandate entering the OT in a well laundered clean two piece scrub suit, cap, disposable mask and proper footwear to minimize cross infection. The scrub suit is made up of cotton with a high weave density that minimizes the risk of bacterial strike- through. These should be changed immediately if soiled or contaminated. Long sleeves are not allowed and bare below elbows must be strictly followed in all clinical areas. Proper footwear has ridged rubber soles to make it antistatic and anti skid to prevent slip and falls. (1) Our next portal of contact is the patient which has to be impactful! This is a game changing opportunity and one must make the most of it! Through each and every step of anesthesia, one must be courteous, empathetic, reassuring and communicate adequately with the patient. (2) This would set the patient at ease and half the battle will be won! Vigilance with multitasking must be reflected at every step with positive communication. Dutt-Gupta et al have shown that negative communication during intravenous cannulation is known to have increased analgesic requirements in one study. (3) Leave apart the humour, sattire, sarcasm but the best surgeon – anesthetist relationship actually is a symbiotic one which thrives on professionalism, punctuality, discipline, mutual respect and assertiveness. We all do possess technical skills with great dexterity but one must possess non technical skills which sets us apart from others. Arrive before time for performing the blocks. One must turn their penchant off for people pleasing and maintain integrity at all times. Strong work ethics is a must for success. Mistakes do happen and one must apologize and explain them. Perfect documentation of all events in the OT is essential as the law is very clear about it, if it is not mentioned in the anesthetic chart-it has not happened! In the recently concluded FIFA world cup 2018, the Croatian team taught us lessons for a lifetime. They did an unmitigated display of non-technical skills which are equally important for our working in theatre. These nontechnical skills are none other than task management, team work, situation awareness and decision making. Flin et al in their excellent article on Anesthetists’ and non-technical skills have pointed out that deficiencies in these can contribute to medical error and adverse events.(4) Ghodki et al has demonstrated these non-technical skills with day to day examples in her editorial on soft skills for anesthetists.(5) Quality Communication Quality communication should be the key element of the OT milieu. Gawande et al documents 43% of adverse events to be due to communication failure. Lingard et al has noted 30% of adverse events due to lack of standardization and team integration. Reluctance to interrupt, fear of embarrassment, and concern of being misjudged or inability to verbalize thoughts are the most common causes of communication failure. The challenge is to overcome the barriers and speak up. (6) Two challenge rule of advocacy and curiosity practiced in aviation has been strongly recommended in OT and critical care setting as well. While advocacy means deliberate practice to express your concern without being offensive, curiosity is to understand others point of view. The bottom-line of effective communication is to give clear precise instructions and ensure that the loop is closed and correct action executed. Non verbal clues like facial expressions, body language and above all the ability to listen to others make a whole lot of difference. (7) Infection Control Another important area which definitely needs our valuable contribution is infection control. Practice your 5 moments of hand hygiene religiously. Use personal protection equipment (PPE) and sterile aseptic precautions while doing any invasive procedures like central neuraxial blockade (CNB) and central venous cannulation. There has been a lot of apathy regarding the use of face masks while performing CNB’s. An observational study found that most cases of meningitis after CNB were due to Streptococcus, a commensal in the respiratory tract. Let’s see what the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and prevention) has to say in this respect; facemasks should always be used when injecting any material or inserting a catheter into the epidural or subdural space, aseptic technique and other safe injection practices should always be followed for all spinal injection procedures. Excellent protection from an appropriate mask lasts for ∼15 minutes. A proper large, soft, pleated, pliable mask (as opposed to a cloth mask) remains a good bacterial filter for up to 8 hrs. It is prudent to change mask after each procedure. The correct segregation of healthcare waste on site is vital and we as anesthetists have our share of responsibility too! As a matter of fact during my training in England, I learnt by observing my seniors and consultants to dispose the sharps after use myself into the sharps can. Any contaminated or infectious disposables should be discarded in the yellow bag for further disposal. Black bag is meant only for non contaminated packaging, tissues, and disposable cups. (1) Mobile Menace The only word which comes to mind when I think of smartphones is menace. However, these have become an integral part of the healthcare sector responsible for innovation, teaching and education, data entry and many others. It’s difficult to dissociate smartphones but we can try to minimize its use in the OT. Apart of being a significant source of nosocomial infections due to handling of mobiles by healthcare professionals by contaminated hands, they are a potent source of distraction. Although anesthetists are trained in multitasking while maintaining situational awareness, it may sometimes result in lack of concentration. Sterile cockpit rules followed in aviation industry apply to OT environment as well. To prevent interference with medical equipment a safe 1m rule is followed although most of the equipments are not affected due to electromagnetic radiation. It would be a good idea to store mobiles in plastic bag to prevent cross contamination. Restricted use of mobiles is highly recommended with regulation of ring tones. (8) Needless to mention that use of unparliamentary language is strictly prohibited as it can lead to dire consequences. With the use of smartphones, use of social media has become inevitable with a variety of websites and groups on facebook where patient information is shared for discussion and knowledge sharing. It is our singular responsibility to obtain patient’s consent, hide PID (Patient Identifiable Data) to protect security and privacy and maintain confidentiality all the time. “Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted either on sick or on well.” —Florence Nightingale, 1859 Specifically within hospitals, average noise levels of 45 dBA or less are recommended. Both National Institute for Occupational safety and Health and Occupational safety and Health Administration guidelines agree that the peak level for impulsive noise (characterized by a steep rise in the sound level to a high peak followed by a rapid decay) should not exceed 140 dBA. (9) The most common source of noise is loud chatter and music followed by arranging metal instruments, suction apparatus, monitor alarms, air warming units, various mobile ringtones. The most commonly reported short term healthcare consequences are distraction leading to serious communication gaps, negative impact on anesthetist and surgeon performance, increased chances of surgical site infection especially when junior surgical staff is closing the wound with music playing in background. Thus, noise prevention is a collective responsibility to be shared by entire staff in OT for an error free surgery. Strict adherence to sterile cockpit rules during surgery as well anesthetic critical moments like induction, extubation and administering CNB’s and regional blocks. (9) What you do has far more impact that what you say!- Stephen Covey. Anesthetist being the team leader, MUST WALK THE TALK! The team members don’t listen to what you say but follow what you do. The future is definitely bright for anesthetists with the introduction of non-technical skills in undergraduate curriculum. Neurolinguistic programming and simulation training will further enhance our situational awareness and response to crisis moments. Acknowledgment: I owe this editorial to all the members of TAS (The Anaesthetist Society) and especially Dr Shiv Kumar Singh whose posts and discussions have given me ideas galore and inspired me to think laterally and compose them

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.理解是實現知情同意的基礎，而理解與知情同意的語境學問題有密切關係。醫生常常抱怨病人聽不懂，病人也認為醫生的解釋過科術語化。問題就在於醫患雙方語境的差異。20世紀80年代對知情同意的研究已經開始從告訴病人什麼資訊轉向了怎樣告訴病人的研究。因此醫生除了關心病人敘述的意義之外，還需要關注以各㮔語言為中介與事實之間所建立的聯繫，注意語句的規範性以及正確地把握雙方的語言意圖和目的。本文試圖對知情同意進行語義學、語形學和語用學的分析，以便從這三者統一上來透視和闡述知情同意的各種語境的規定性，以提高知情同意的可理解性。Understanding, being closely associated with the context, is the basis of realization of informed consent. Physician often complains that patients cannot well comprehend medical information, while patients are often unsatisfied with the explanatory statements and technical terms given by physicians. Since 1980s the emphasis in the studies of informed consent has shifted from what should be presented to patient to how to present the related information to patients. Besides being concerned with the meaning of the narratives of patients, physician should pay close attention to the connection of the medical facts or information and the everyday language, to maintain the norms of the syntax, and to understand the real goal and intention of the patients. This paper aims to approach the context of informed consent by semantic analysis, syntax and pragmatics.Informed consent involves much more than merely reading and signing a paper. It normally has two essential parts: a document and a process. The document of informed consent should be understandable to any ordinary patient in the local population. It should be written in such a way that anyone with an education level of the ninth grade or lower can read it. To make the document of informed consent easy-to-read, the following requirements should be met. First, the language is everyday language and familiar to the readers. Any scientific, medical, or legal terms should be defined clearly. Second, terms and key concepts should be consistent throughout the document. Third, sentences should be short, direct, and easy to comprehend. Fourth, the paragraph should be short too. Each paragraph coveys one major idea only. Fifth, every idea should be clear and logically sequenced. Last but not least important, readability analysis should be to determine the reading level of the document.The process of informed con sent process requires physicians to provide the patient with ongoing explanations so that patients can make his or her informed decisions. This is to say, before the patient makes his or her decisions, the physician should fully discuss related issues with the patient. Of course, the physician's communications kills are usually difficult to change. However, physicians can improve their communication skills through learning and practicing.Of course, in China, not only researchers and physicians, but patients and research participants, including the public who can be regarded as the potential subjects, lack the full understanding of the principle of informed consent. It is thus important to improve the nationwide level of education, for it is only by doing that the principle of informed consent can be carried out in reality. The current level of education of the nation is not high yet, and many people even cannot fully understand some basic terms in medical and life sciences. There is s till a still considerable amount of illiterates in China. In medical education, especially in the educating of medical ethics, we have not paid enough attention to on the principle of informed consent so that some medical students even never heard the term" informed consent." As a result, there is still a long way for us to go.Informed consent, serving as an effective measure to protect the subjects and patients, has enjoyed the wide recognition in the fields of medical and related laws. It has become the paradigm of consent in medical research and clinical practice internationally. Many international relative organization s have regarded informed consent a basic ethical requirement. Legally speaking, physicians and patients are equal. But in reality they are not equal. There is an imbalance of medical knowledge between doctors and patients. Although the patient has the right to make his or her own decision, he or she is often not capable of deciding and choosing. It is necessary to establish the law in order to guarantee the realization of the patient's rights such as informed consent.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 13 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

<strong>Abstract</strong>: This study investigates the effectiveness of an experiential learning approach for teaching the English language to Grade 12 students. Experiential learning, grounded in Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle, emphasizes direct experiences, reflection, and active engagement to enhance understanding and application of language skills. A quasi-experimental design was employed, comparing traditional instruction with experiential methods to assess their impact on students' English proficiency and 21st-century skills, including communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. The study utilized pre-test and post-test measurements, with data collected via standardized assessments, student questionnaires, and IELTS scores. Results indicate that the experiential approach significantly improved students' language proficiency and engagement, providing a transformative alternative to traditional methods. These findings underscore the potential of experiential learning to address challenges in English language education and foster critical skills for academic and professional success. &nbsp; &nbsp; Keywords Experiential learning ,English language teaching ,Grade 12 students, Communicative competence ,21st-century skills, Language proficiency, Educational innovation, Quasi-experimental study &nbsp; <strong>Received-</strong>03 /01 /2025,<strong> Accepted</strong>-11 /01/2025,<strong> Published Date</strong>-31 /01 /2025 &nbsp; &nbsp; Introduction: Teaching the English language to 12th-grade students is very important since English fluency is a crucial skill for academic and professional attainment in today&rsquo;s world, which is increasingly becoming globalized. The language of international communication is basically English language; as such, students must have strong language skills if they are to fully take advantage of an array of educational and career opportunities (Graddol, 2006). Students require good proficiency in the English language so that they can interact with many different viewpoints, participate in worldwide discussions, and develop multicultural perspectives (Crystal, 2012). Traditional methods of teaching English often struggle to motivate pupils or foster deep learning experiences. They fail to attract students&rsquo; interest by relying on drills and rote learning methods, which offer rare chances for authentic language use (Brown, 2007). Consequently, learners might be unable to gain the necessary communicative competence and confidence to use English naturally. Experiential learning, a technique that emphasizes teaching through direct experience and reflection, has been considered an encouraging substitute for conventional language training methods. By means of engaging students in hands-on interactive activities and enabling them to reflect on their learning encounters, experiential learning can facilitate more profound understanding, longer-term retention and higher motivation to learn (Kolb &amp; Kolb 2005). In terms of language acquisition, experiential techniques may offer students genuine opportunities to practice English in contexts that are meaningful and applicable to develop communicative skills and confidence (Knutson 2003). The objective of this investigation is to examine the effectiveness of an experiential technique for teaching the English language to 12th-grade students, considering all of these possible advantages. The present research seeks to offer important insights into the possibility of experiential learning as a transformative method of teaching English language proficiency by comparing the effects of experiential learning and traditional instruction on students' achievement, 21st-century skills, and English language proficiency. <strong>Important Terms:</strong> <strong>Experimental technique </strong>means a way of teaching which gives students practical knowledge by direct involvement in their reflection on the events and situations that happen in their lives as they help learn, develop skills, and resolve dilemmas while fostering capacities for better contribution to communities (Association for Experiential Education, 2020). In this study, experiential learning entailed activities that were carried out physically or through physical actions in order to facilitate English language acquisition among grade twelve learners (Kolb &amp; Kolb, 2017). On the other hand,<strong> traditional instruction </strong>is marked by teacher-centeredness, book-dependent classrooms, and limited student participation (Weimer 2013; Tomlinson 2011; Long 2015). Thus, in the present investigation, conventional education was selected as the control group to compare the effects of experience learning. To succeed in the information age, students need to develop &ldquo;21st-century skills,&rdquo; which are a set of abilities (Trilling &amp; Fadel, 2009; Dede, 2010; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2019; Kaufman &amp;Beghetto, 2009). These skills consist of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. This research, therefore, assessed how the experiential approach could help augment such skills in English learning. <strong>Need and Significance:</strong> In teaching seniors at grade twelve level English language, there is a great need for effective teaching strategies that address diverse learners&rsquo; styles and foster learner engagement. As they prepare for postsecondary education or the workforce, attaining fluency in English becomes increasingly vital for their academic and career success (Graddol, 2006). Conventional teaching methods often do not meet all of students&rsquo; multiple learning requirements nor can they stimulate active student involvement in learning (Tomlinson, 2014). There are several reasons why effective instructional methods are important, and one of them is the diversity of students&rsquo; learning styles in grade 12. According to Gardner&rsquo;s (2011) theory of multiple intelligences, different persons have different strengths and preferences in their learning processes and information chunking. Some learners are visual while others may be kinesthetic learners. Visual learners find graphical representations and imagery very useful, while kinesthetic learners thrive on practical activities and physical motion (Pritchard, 2014). To cater for these diverse types of learners, all effective instructional techniques must consider this fact so that all these children who are studying English can have equal opportunities in life (Tomlinson, 2014). Given these considerations, the importance of effective teaching approaches that resonate with different learning styles and boost student participation could not be overemphasized in the context of teaching Grade 12 English. By acknowledging and adapting to the diverse learning needs of students, engaging them actively in the process of learning and preparing them for 21st-century challenges, educators can foster a more comprehensive and interactive language acquisition environment. In view of this fact, investigating new methods like experiential education is vital in overcoming the constraints inherent in standard ways of teaching and ensuring that every learner can acquire English competence required to succeed in their future undertakings. <strong>Review of the literature:</strong> One significant challenge identified in the literature was the emphasis on rote memorization and drills in traditional language classrooms. This focus on form over meaning neglected the communicative aspects of language learning, leading to a lack of authentic language practice and limited development of communicative competence (Richards &amp; Rodgers, 2014). Students often struggled to transfer their language skills to real-world contexts, as they lacked exposure to genuine language use and opportunities to negotiate meaning with peers (Ellis, 2003). It has been noted that task-based language teaching (TBLT) which is an experiential form of approach, has been widely discussed in research literature. Ellis (2003) argues that by engaging learners in goal-oriented communication tasks that simulate real-world language use, TBLT can be successful. For instance, Skehan (2003), Van den Branden (2006) and other scholars have conducted extensive research on the effectiveness of TBLT in fostering language acquisition with respect to fluency, accuracy, and complexity. It was a painstaking review which mapped these studies against their methodological soundness and how transferable they were to the grade 12 English Language Education context. In addition, there is content-based instruction (CBI) as another experiential approach where language learning is integrated with content learning for the purpose of providing authentic context for practicing languages (Stoller, 2008). Empirical inquiries have studied CBI effects on students&rsquo; language development, content knowledge acquisition as well the motivation (Grabe &amp; Stoller, 2011; Met, 1999). This review critically considered what these studies did well and what they failed to do to gain some understanding about whether CBI may be effective for students taking grade twelve English as a Second Language. Furthermore, studies on the second language acquisition have made extensive use of project-based learning (PBL), a participatory method where learners are involved in cooperative real-life tasks (Beckett &amp; Miller, 2006).&nbsp; Some researchers have investigated the impacts of PBL on students&rsquo; language skills, engagement and 21st century competences (Fragoulis&amp;Tsiplakides, 2009; Stoller, 2006).&nbsp; The results were closely analysed and their relevance to the specific challenges and opportunities involved in introducing project-based learning into twelfth grade English programs was assessed. Conventional teaching approaches frequently found it difficult to include 21st-century abilities into language learning activities, such as creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking. These abilities are necessary for success in academic and professional settings in an increasingly globalised and linked society (Trilling &amp; Fadel, 2009). Students were seldom given the chance to acquire these abilities in addition to language competence through teacher-centered learning methods and textbook-based instruction (Dede, 2010). &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Objectives of the study &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To find out the current challenges and limitations in teaching English language to grade 12 students using pre-test as a tool. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To develop a plan for applying the experiential method customized to address the identified challenges. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To implement the experiential method in the classroom and observe its impact on the student engagement and overall learning experience. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To compare and assess the effectiveness of the experiential learning method versus traditional method. Assumption Several underlying assumptions shaped the study's design, data gathering, and interpretation. These assumptions were essential for giving the investigation a solid foundation and ensuring the validity of the conclusions drawn from the data. The participants' honesty and accuracy in answering the questionnaires and evaluations was a key tenet of the study. This presumption was crucial as learning objectives, experiences, and attitudes of students were frequently assessed using self-reported data (D&ouml;rnyei &amp; Taguchi, 2009). The researchers emphasised the need for open communication and data confidentiality to &nbsp;encourage honest responses. The participants' guarantee that their responses would not impact their grades or position in the classroom fostered open and honest conversation (Krosnick, 2018). Another crucial premise was that the sample of 12th graders selected for the study was thought to be representative of the intended audience. Representativeness is an essential part of research design because it allows study findings to be extrapolated to a wider population of interest (Etikan et al., 2016). To achieve accuracy, the researchers employed stratified random selection techniques, which considered gender, the language background, and socioeconomic standing (Vandergrift &amp; Goh, 2018). The investigation diversified the sample based on the demographic factors to gather a range of perspectives and experiences, which improved the external validity of its results (Fraenkel et al., 2018). It is relevant to note that the main assumptions of this investigation were analysed in detail and considered for making sure that the results are valid and reliable. In order to study whether an experiential approach towards teaching English language among grade 12 students is effective, the following assumptions were made by researchers: a representative sample, valid and reliable instruments, honest responses from participants, and consistent application of instructional strategies. These theories played a central role in generating enlightening findings and deepening our knowledge on how we can acquire language effectively. The Tools of Data Selection &nbsp;The study employed a combination of questionnaires and standard English language competency tests in order to generate a complete picture of student performance. In this regard, these materials proved to be critical in understanding how intricate language acquisition is as well as the necessity of developing 21st-century competencies. More so, IELTS exam was known internationally for its comprehensive coverage of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills among students which make it a gold standard for assessing linguistic proficiency. At the same time, some carefully designed tests were created to evaluate students&rsquo; critical thinking abilities, creativity, teamwork and communication skills; Their results showed how effectively they were acquiring 21st century capabilities. Research Methodology To help facilitate this investigation, a combination of observational and interview data along with the quantitative data from tests and surveys were used as part of the study&rsquo;s mixed-methods research approach. This method provided for an in-depth analysis of the results of such teaching techniques owing to the abundant set of materials that brought into focus both subjective experiences and objective circumstances faced by tutors as well as learners. Accordingly, the design encompassed diverse factors thus representing varied situations through which students experienced English language education in twelfth grade within an experiential learning framework to give a comprehensive evaluation on how effective it was. <strong>Population</strong> The study targeted twelfth graders in English classes. This focus was a careful choice of a demographic that targets students who are at the crossroads as far as their language mastery is concerned to ensure that it would be applicable even to secondary school. The main goal of the study in grade twelve was to provide information for curriculum development and teaching strategies at high school level. Sample To ensure fair representation, a carefully selected sample of one hundred students was used with fifty students receiving traditional instruction while the other half were exposed to experiential learning. Reducing bias and increasing the validity of this study was made possible by this equitable sample which allowed for fair comparison between teaching methods. The selection process of these students was guided by stratified random sampling techniques aimed at ensuring that the sample was representative of all twelve grade English Language learners in a larger population. This chapter's methodology offered a thorough framework for examining the efficacy of using an experiential approach to teach English to students in grade 12. The project aims to provide significant insights into the area of English language instruction by combining rigorous data gathering technologies with a strong research methodology. These insights might possibly guide future pedagogical practices and curriculum development. Sample Technique For the strength of study&rsquo;s results and generalization, stratified random sampling was employed. This technique enabled researchers to create a sample that was characterized by similar traits as those found in larger population of grade 12 English learners. To avoid interference from extraneous variables which may confound instructional methodologies, this investigation was divided by various demographic characteristics such as gender, socio-economic status, and language background. Tools of Data Collection To get a full view of the students&rsquo; performance, standardized English language proficiency tests were incorporated with questionnaires throughout the study. Their importance lies in showing the difficulty of learning another language and the need to acquire 21st-century skills. IELTS is regarded as the best exam for determining how well learners can communicate orally or on paper, listen and also read. At once, specifically tailored appraisals were administered that examined the critical thinking, creativity, cooperative effort and communication abilities of their learners; this determined whether they were acquiring 21st-century skills suitably. Data Analysis Technique A mixture of both inferential and descriptive statistical methods was employed for analysing the data. Although inference statistics, such as the use of t- tests were utilised to evaluate hypotheses and assess the significance for the variations discovered between the two instructional techniques, statistical indicators, such as standard deviations and mean deviations, gave an overview of the data. This two-pronged approach to data analysis made sure that the consequences of the teaching techniques on outcomes for students were carefully investigated. Summary of the Research: A mixed-methods research design was employed in this study which combined both quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand the effectiveness of teaching English experientially among grade 12 students. &nbsp; The experimental design used in the quantitative component compared the results of students who were taught through experiential learning with those taught traditionally. In assessing language proficiency in English and skills related to the 21st century, pre- and post-tests were administered. For quantitative data collection, questionnaires as well as standardized tests like IELTS were used. &nbsp; On the other hand, a phenomenological approach was used in the qualitative section that explored how people experience living things. To obtain rich descriptive data on participants&rsquo; perspectives, difficulties, and accomplishments; there were in-depth talks, study circles; class observations took place. The sample for the study consisted of grade 12 students selected using purposive and random sampling techniques. Schools offering English language courses to grade 12 students were purposively selected, and individual participants were randomly chosen from within those schools. The sample size was determined based on factors such as research design, statistical power, and available resources. Ethical considerations were given utmost importance throughout the research process. Informed consent, participant privacy, and data confidentiality were ensured, and the study received approval from the institutional review board. The study included descriptive statistics, inferential analyses, and qualitative findings, providing a comprehensive picture of the effectiveness of the experiential learning approach in teaching English to grade 12 students. An overview of the age, sex, and pre-English-speaking ability of the sample was provided by the descriptive statistics. Major factors including scores on the English Language Proficiency Pre- and Post-tests and evaluations of 21st-century abilities were shown with their mean and standard deviation. Groups receiving standard education and those receiving experiential learning were compared using inferential methods. Independent samples t-tests were used to determine the mean difference between the two groups' post-test scores, and paired samples t-tests were employed to analyse changes within each group from the pre-test to the post-test. To further account for confounding variables such as earlier English skill levels, covariance analysis was employed. Inferential analysis results indicated that there were notable variations between the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups. Students who obtained English language proficiency and 21st-century skills assessments through experiential learning teaching scored higher on post-tests than students in the traditional education group. According to effect sizes determined by Cohen's d (Cohen, 1988), the differences were practically as well as statistically significant. Thematic analysis of interview and observation data produced qualitative findings that offered deep insights into the viewpoints and experiences of instructors and students participating in experiential learning. The qualitative data revealed themes including improved communication ability, raised student involvement, and the growth of critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. T-Test base on Exam mark output The study was designed to find out if there were any significant differences between the IELTS test scores for each group before and after the learning sessions. The study assessed the effect of traditional teaching methods compared with experiential learning on English language achievement among 12th grade high school students using IELTS as a measure. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>&nbsp;</strong> &nbsp; The mean scores in both traditional and experimental groups for pre-test and post-test questionnaires can be seen from paired samples statistics. The means of pretest scores for the traditional group increased from 21.0800 (SD = 5.14222) to 22.1000 (SD = 5.03964) at post-test stage while those of the experimental group grew from 21.1200 (SD = 5.52781) in pretreatment to 31.62000(SD=8.00482) during post treatment. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The pre-test and post-test scores showed strong positive correlations for both the conventional group (r =.790, p &lt;.001) and the experimental group (r =.853, p &lt;.001), as indicated by the paired samples correlations (Table 2). These connections showed a powerful link between the students' pre-test and post-test scores in each group.&nbsp; The paired samples test (Table 3) revealed significant differences between the pre-test and post-test scores for both groups. For the traditional group, there was a statistically significant increase in scores from the pre-test to the post-test, with a mean difference of -1.02000 (SD = 2.39464), t(49) = -3.012, p = .004. This finding suggested that traditional instruction had a small but significant positive impact on students' English language proficiency. For the experimental group, there was a statistically significant increase in scores from the pre-test to the post-test, with a mean difference of -10.50000 (SD = 4.94562), t(49) = -15.013, p &lt; .001. This result indicated that the experiential learning approach had a large and significant positive impact on students' English language proficiency. The findings aligned with the study's objectives, particularly in comparing the impact of an experiential learning approach and traditional instruction on grade 12 students' English language proficiency. The results supported the hypothesis that experiential approaches and methods for teaching English language to grade 12 students significantly improve learning outcomes compared to traditional instructional methods (Kolb &amp; Kolb, 2017; Ellis, 2003). The paired samples t-test analysis provided evidence that both traditional instruction and the experiential learning approach positively influenced grade 12 students' English language proficiency. the experiential learning approach demonstrated a substantially larger impact on students' learning outcomes, highlighting its potential as an effective solution to the challenges and limitations identified in traditional English language teaching methods (Weimer, 2013; Tomlinson, 2011). Pre-test and post-test questionnaire data for the experimental group and traditional group outcome Before traditional teaching approaches and experimental learning were introduced, pre-test questionnaires assessed students&rsquo; self-reported proficiency in English language and 21st-century skills. Post-test questionnaires showed how students perceived the effect of these methods on their skills subsequent to intervention. From this information, it was found that both groups had average levels of agreement on reading comprehension, writing skills, critical thinking abilities, and collaboration skills. Therefore, it can be deduced that before the intervention students from different groupings had diverse levels of confidence in their English language ability as well as 21st century capabilities. The post-test information, on the other hand, showed that both parties had increased their levels of agreement with respect to the effectiveness of their respective instructional techniques. The experimental group, which utilized the experiential learning method, demonstrated a significantly higher level of &nbsp;agreement than its traditional counterpart. For the traditional group, there was a slight increase in the percentage of learners who agreed or strongly agreed with skill-related statements from pre-test to post-test. The sum percentages for reading comprehension rose from 46% to 58%, writing skills 46% to 58%, critical thinking abilities 44% to 56%, and collaboration skills 54% to 66%.On the contrary, among students in the experimental group, there was an overwhelming increase in those who agreed or strongly agreed with statements concerning their skills. In relation to this, combined percentages for reading comprehension increased from half (50%) to three-fourths (74%), writing skills rose from over half (54%) up to four-fifths (82%), critical thinking went rose by over half and ended at three-quarters (50%&ndash;76%), while collaboration closed between fifty-eight and seventy-eight percent (58%-78%). The comparison of data before testing and after testing done in between the two groups offers a strong basis for endorsing experiential learning as opposed to traditional means of teaching for improving 21st-century skills and English proficiency among students in grade twelve. The experimental group showed a significantly higher rise in positive attitudes than the control group, which implies that the effects of experiential learning on student performance were more pronounced compared to conventional teaching techniques. <strong>&nbsp;</strong> T-Test base on IELTS test scores output &nbsp; Grade 12 students&rsquo; English language achievement, as measured by IELTS test scores was compared between traditional instruction and experiential learning approach. The study determined whether there were significant differences between the pre-test and post-test scores for each group. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Table 1 summarizes paired samples statistics which present mean IELTS scores for the pre-test and post-test in both traditional and experimental groups. For traditional group, the mean score increased from 16.0400 (SD = 5.75684) to 21.3000 (SD = 4.30116) in the post-test phase. On the other hand, experimental group&rsquo;s mean went up from 15.5200 (SD = 5.48557) in the pre-test to 28.6000 (SD = 3.95897). &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; A weak negative correlation existed between pretest and post-test scores for both traditional group where r (40) = -0.109, p &gt; .05 and experimental group where r (40) = -0.066, p&gt; .05 (Table2). Therefore, these correlations were not statistically significant implying that student&rsquo;s pretest scores did not have an impact on their post-test scores of each of these two groups separately according to this analysis <strong>&nbsp;</strong> The paired samples test (Table 3) showed there were significant differences between the pre-test and post-test scores for both groups. In the traditional group, there was a statistically significant increase in IELTS scores from pre-test to post-test with mean difference of -5.26000 (SD = 7.55337), t(49) = -4.924, p &lt; .001 indicating that the traditional instruction had significantly improved students&rsquo; English language performance. On the same note, there was a statistically significant increase in IELTS scores from pre-test to post-test in experimental group with mean difference of -13.08000 (SD = 6.97471), t(49) = -13.261, p &lt; .001 which showed that the experiential learning approach significantly boosted learners&rsquo; achievement in English subjects. The findings were in line with the study&rsquo;s objectives, especially as they related to comparing the effects of an experiential learning approach and conventional instruction on English language achievement of grade 12 students. Results supported the hypothesis that experiential approaches make a big difference in learning outcomes compared to traditional methods (Kolb &amp; Kolb, 2017; Ellis, 2003). Significant increase in IELTS scores for the experimental group showed how much experiential learning can improve English language competency and readiness for standardized language tests (Phakiti et al., 2018; Bachman &amp; Palmer, 2010). Paired samples t-test analysis provided evidence of positive effect both from traditional instruction and an experiential learning approach on English language achievement among Grade 12 students using IELTS score as the measure. On the other hand, a significantly greater impact was revealed by the experiential learning approach on student&rsquo;s learning outcomes which underlines its effectiveness in improving English language ability and preparing students for use in real world situations (Weimer, 2013; Tomlinson, 2011). Findings These are the key findings of the study, which centred on 12th graders&rsquo; understanding of English through experiential method. The effects of experiential learning on students&rsquo; English proficiency, 21st century skills and overall achievement are analyzed in the results. It is also concerned with the research goals and objectives. A major discovery of the research is that students&rsquo; English language proficiency significantly improved through experiential learning instructions. The results of the quantitative analysis indicated that students in the experiential group had better post-test scores on standardized English proficiency exams such as IELTS compared to their counterparts in the traditional teaching group (Grabe &amp; Stoller, 2019; Hyland, 2019). This investigation discovered that practical and interactive nature of experiential learning activities helped learners to improve their language by integrating them into meaningful contexts and providing an opportunity for real-life language usage (Kohonen et al., 2014; Knutson, 2003). The qualitative findings from interviews and observations confirmed the positive benefits of experiential learning on students' language proficiency in English. Speaking in English resulted in participants reporting increased self-assurance, articulacy and success in speaking to people daily, as established by Segalowitz (2016) and Vandergrift &amp; Goh (2018). Language structures were internalised, vocabulary expanded while learners gained deeper cognitive understanding of the language through such realistic contextualized language practice delivered through experiential learning activities (Ellis, 2003; Lightbown &amp; Spada, 2013). Besides, the study also found that experiential learning had a positive influence on the development of 21st-century skills among students in Grade 12. For example, it was revealed that learners who participated in experiential learning received better marks than those belonging to the control group in critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity (Trilling &amp; Fadel, 2009; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2019). Experiential teaching activities like problem solving exercises, group tasks or simulation games offered students chances to evaluate different information together with their colleagues as well as voice out personal opinions about any given topic from which they could generate creative solutions (Dede, 2010; Kaufman &amp;Beghetto, 2009). The qualitative findings further supported the role of experiential learning in fostering 21st-century skills. Participants reported increased ability to think critically, work effectively in teams, communicate their thoughts and opinions, and approach problems creatively (D&ouml;rnyei \&amp; Ushioda, 2021; Mercer \&amp; D&ouml;rnyei, 2020). The reflective component of experiential learning, which encouraged students to examine their learning experiences and draw insights, was found to be particularly valuable in promoting metacognitive skills and self-directed learning (Little, 2007; Kohonen et al., 2014). The study noted that when it comes to the general learners' academic success, students from experiential learning group performed better than those in traditional instructional one. Consequently, there was a rise in grades, test scores and academic participation (Weimer, 2013; Tomlinson, 2011). This shows that the use of experiential learning could have wider implications for student&rsquo;s overall language acquisition process and achievement (Richards &amp; Rodgers, 2014; Nunan, 2004). Additionally, the study discovered that experiential learning satisfies all sorts of learning approaches for high School seniors (Gardner, 2011; Pritchard, 2014). This means that with different types of language tasks and activities available in experiential approach, students with various strengths and preferences were able to connect and learn language more effectively leading to better outcomes (Tomlinson, 2014; Lightbown &amp; Spada, 2013). This finding highlights the importance of employing pedagogies that acknowledge and address diversity among pupils in a second language classroom. The findings disclosed that experiential learning blended well with current methodologies of teaching language including communicative language teaching (CLT) and task-based language teaching (TBLT) (Richards &amp; Rodgers, 2014; Nunan, 2004). The focus on genuine communication authentic language use and learner-centered activities made by this type of learning matched these methods thus making them result in better experiences during learning the language (Ellis, 2003; Long ,2015). The significant results of this research provide a highly convincing proof of how effective the experiential approach is when teaching English to grade 12 students. It was discovered that the method of learning by experience enhances student&rsquo;s English proficiency skills, promotes their 21st-century abilities, increases overall achievement, attends to various learning styles and is in line with current language teaching methods. These findings also underscore the possibilities of experience-based learning as a revolutionary technique for teaching English which can help educators, curriculum developers and policymakers to improve language teaching practices. Conclusion This study has demonstrated the benefits of teaching English to 12th grade students using a completely immersed method. The findings show how practical training may support students in meeting a range of learning objectives, improving their overall performance, cultivating 21st-century skills, and adhering to contemporary language teaching approaches. The results of this study highlight the necessity of a paradigm change in the teaching of English, emphasising the use of real language, student participation, and the development of critical abilities necessary for success in the twenty-first century.By embracing experiential learning principles in future research, educational policies, and language teaching practices, we can create transformative language learning experiences that empower grade 12 students to become proficient, confident, and globally competent English language users. <strong>&nbsp;</strong> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

<strong>Abstract</strong> Burnout is a significant issue in the American healthcare system, and it can lead to decreased productivity, increased medical errors, and reduced job satisfaction among healthcare professionals. Utilizing active listening is one way to address burnout in healthcare workers. Active listening involves paying attention to the speaker, demonstrating understanding and empathy, and responding appropriately. By practicing active listening, healthcare professionals can better understand their colleagues' challenges and concerns, which can help create a more supportive work environment. This, in turn, can reduce burnout and improve the overall well-being of healthcare workers. <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>Keywords</strong><strong>:</strong> burnout;active listening; American Healthcare System; healthcare workers; quiet quitting. <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>Introduction</strong> The COVID-19 pandemic has, among many expositions, exposed the continuing stress and pressure healthcare workers undergo as they struggle to provide care to patients and their families. Burnout was first described in 1974 by the clinical psychologist Herbert Freudenberg, who often volunteered at a free clinic in the then drug-ridden East Village of New York City. Over time, Freudenberg observed emotional depletion and accompanying psychosomatic symptoms among the clinic&rsquo;s volunteer staff [1]. He called the phenomenon - burnout borrowing the term from drug-addict slang. Freudenberg defined burnout as exhaustion leading to the enormous cost of energy, strength, or resources [2].&nbsp; The burden of burnout in the healthcare system in America is a significant and growing problem. Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. Burnout is evident in cynicism, detachment, and decreased satisfaction in work. Burnout affects the quality of care to patients as it is a big concern for healthcare organizations.&nbsp; Even in the post-COVID era, healthcare workers still face burnout leading to many quiet quitting, a term that has come to apportion the blame on the workers alone! Nothing seems to have changed much despite the efforts to mitigate this problem. Yet, addressing burnout among healthcare providers is critical to improving the health and well-being of providers and patients. In this paper, we contend that efforts to resolve the issue can only occur in an environment where employers and employees can communicate to understand each other through active listening.&nbsp; <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>Review of Literature</strong> Healthcare organizations, employers, and government agencies; have not been silent about putting a check to incessant burnout. There has been the implementation of work-life balance policies. Some healthcare organizations have implemented flexible work schedules, paid time off, and telecommuting options to reduce work stress and improve work-life balance[3,4]. Also, some Healthcare organizations have drawn policies to promote self-care among healthcare workers by providing access to mental health resources, such as counseling and support groups Again, the use of technology in the healthcare sector to automate routine tasks and reduce workloads [2]. The expectation was to help free up time for healthcare workers to focus on more complex and rewarding tasks [2]. Yet, there still exists relative evidence on how to tackle the problem of burnout. Given that, government agencies and healthcare organizations are yet to address systemic issues such as inadequate staffing, poor working conditions, and lack of resources; beyond having them as policies, which contribute to burnout. Growing research seems to point to individual and organizational collaboration as the way out [2]. The scenario indicates a question of leadership [5]. It will take leadership to inspire collaboration, communicate motivation, and persuade the stakeholders (internal physicians, nurses, and external patients and sponsors) that they are valued and appreciated [6]. Such cannot happen if government agencies and healthcare organizations have not actively listened to each other. &nbsp; <strong>The Burden of burnouts in the American HealthCare System</strong> At the organizational level, healthcare providers face increased stress, long hours, and high levels of responsibility, leading to a high incidence of burnout. With increasing pressure to perform their duties in a fast-paced and demanding environment, with many long hours and high workloads leading to exhaustion, stress, and burnout, physicians and nurses have had to be battling with decreased job satisfaction, decrease job performance, and higher rates of absenteeism and turnover [3,7-9]. The prevalence rate of burnout among healthcare providers in the United States is such that among physicians, there is a burnout rate of 51%, and those greatly affected are those on the frontline of care [2]. Among nurses, the rate of burnout staggers at a roaring rate of 43%, while for residents and medical students, the rate is tagged at 69% [10,11]. There is little doubt that this makes it less likely for these providers to provide high-quality care and be prone to making errors [12]. It equally goes a long way to lead to a decrease in the patient-provider relationship and patient satisfaction. Among the medical students and residents are growing rates of burnout leading to dishonest clinical acts, weak altruism, and high alcohol and substance abuse [13,14]. Yet, the burden of burnout is not limited to the well-being of healthcare providers but is also detrimental to patient care. Patients are also negatively impacted by burnout among healthcare providers. Burned-out providers are less likely to provide high-quality care and are more prone to medical errors. They may also have less time and energy to devote to individual patients, leading to a decreased patient-provider relationship and a decrease in patient satisfaction [15]. Among nurses, greater levels of burnout have resulted in higher rates of patient mortality and the spreading of hospital-transmitted infections [16,17]. <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>Utilizing Active Listening, a recommendation</strong> Next to physical survival, the greatest need of the human being is psychological survival: to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated. Hence, the importance of active listening in genuine communication. Active listening means listening to understand [18]. Active or reflective listening originated from the American psychologist Carl Roger for personal counseling use [19]. Consisting of a genuine desire to understand the other and communicate what was understood active listening; involves focusing on receiving the deep communication of another human soul. It is about making deposits in emotional bank accounts and putting oneself in the shoes of others to verbalize their needs and concerns. Active listening invites us to understand first before judging. Because when we listen to others with judgment, we suspend understanding them. Active listening is a vital communication skill that involves fully engaging with and understanding the speaker's message. It is characterized by a conscious effort to comprehend and respond effectively to verbal and nonverbal cues, demonstrating genuine interest and empathy towards the speaker. According to Auerbach and Routledge [20], active listening encompasses various essential components, such as maintaining eye contact, nodding, or providing appropriate facial expressions, and using verbal cues, such as paraphrasing or summarizing the speaker's words [20]. In active listening, we forego our autobiographical responses (evaluating, probing, advising, interpreting) for the four stages of active and reflective listening; suspending judgment; concentrating on emotion and content; following in the conversation, and reflecting on what was understood [21,19]. This lack may have been the failure of communication within the healthcare system that has kept those policies starved of implementation. Active listening also involves avoiding distractions and focusing one's attention solely on the speaker. As noted by Brown and [22], this requires setting aside personal biases, preconceptions, and distractions to create a supportive and inclusive environment for effective communication. Active listening entails actively seeking to understand the speaker's perspective, emotions, and underlying motivations by carefully observing their body language, tone of voice, and overall demeanor. By doing so, the listener can accurately interpret the message and respond appropriately, demonstrating their commitment to understanding and validating the speaker's experiences. Utilizing active listening skills, leaders in addressing burnout among their team members would understand the root cause of the issue and provide support. Healthcare management listening actively to the internal stakeholders will strengthen the communication wheel and show the corporate intention to provide solutions to the employees' plight and encourage shared identity and loyalty, which are ingredients of the sequence of success for any organization [23]. These can include creating an open and supportive work environment, promoting work life balance, providing resources for stress management, and seeking feedback from team members. Active listening skills such as paying attention, demonstrating empathy, and asking questions can help leaders to understand the employees' perspectives and find solutions to prevent burnout. By doing so, leaders can create a positive workplace culture, improve employee morale, and retain talent. Active listening provides the opportunity to understand the viewpoint of the other. As such, a leader with excellent listening skills can identify and address broader systemic issues within the organization that may contribute to burnout and work to implement changes that create a more sustainable work environment for everyone. When the healthcare management listens actively to the internal stakeholders to understand their viewpoints, there will be opportunities to understand better the why, how, and what of perpetuating burnout despite the efforts made so far. For the management, it would require answering why, which is an act of empathy and adds a layer of persuasion [24]; a particular policy needs to be implemented instead of the other. Active listening would require healthcare management to check how supportive their communication of the policies made to address the problem of burnout has been. As the internal stakeholders are the first victims of the problem, genuinely listening to their experience of its impact on their lives, living, and work is essential. They will provide the management answers as to how their assessment of the incidence of burnout is objective; and how honest, integrative, positive, and focused on the problem their policies have been. These provide the essentials of supportive communication to tackling burnout in the healthcare system [25]. The leaders' role in addressing burnout among team members is crucial, and active listening is one of the skills that can help. Actively listening to the internal stakeholders provides an opening for the management to help them by communicating policies to tackle their problems, knowing their feelings about the policies implemented, and knowing how to improve. Active listening provides the awareness to check how physicians and nurses are experiencing the policies implemented to tackle burnout. Furthermore, the burnout experience of the internal stakeholders affects the external stakeholders (patients and the care provided to them and sponsors). Healthcare management empathizing with the burnout of the internal stakeholders is essential to reducing medical errors, the transmission of hospital-acquired infection because of inadequate attention to protocol, and creating an empathetic culture, a culture where; patients feel valued and treated by relaxed and compassionate healthcare providers. With less-pressured healthcare providers, patient satisfaction, treatment compliance; and clinical outcomes will improve [26].&nbsp; However, to effectively implement active listening in a healthcare setting, it is essential to provide providers and management with training and support to help them develop and refine their listening skills. Such will foster a culture of open communication and collaboration. &nbsp; <strong>Utilizing active listening: expected outcomes</strong> Active listening is a fundamental skill that goes beyond simply hearing words. It involves active engagement, empathy, and the conscious effort to understand the speaker's message. Through attentive observation and genuine interest, active listeners create an environment of trust and openness, fostering effective communication and meaningful connections. By incorporating active listening into interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions, organizations and individuals can enhance their relationships, promote understanding, and cultivate a culture of respect and empathy. By actively listening to their concerns, healthcare organizations can address the root causes of burnout among healthcare providers. Such supportive communication will usher in collaborative perspectives on excessive workload, lack of support, and poor work-life balance. Thus, ensuring the proper awareness of what policies to tackle burnout, how they are doing, and what needs to change [21].&nbsp; Active listening in reducing burnout among healthcare professionals will help to foster better communication and understanding between patients and providers. By actively listening to patients and their concerns, unpressured healthcare professionals can build trust, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve patient outcomes. Moreover, active listening will help healthcare providers to reflect on their emotions and experiences, which can help prevent burnout [27]. With active listening incorporated among healthcare workers and their supervisors; views and concerns will be expressed without fear or favor and understood; considered, and effectively managed. Quiet quitting would no longer be the fault of the employees alone; there shall no longer be any reason to assume that everyone gets it or is prepared to get on with it as far as burnout is concerned. Engagingly listening between healthcare management and the internal stakeholders would improve the understanding of management as not homogenous, so understanding the various and varying aspects of the problem of burnout is a key to effectively tackling it. By actively engaging and attentively listening to patients, unpressured healthcare providers will create a more humanistic and empathetic experience for patients improving care outcomes and ensuring treatment compliance. Thus, make caregiving service compassionate! <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>Limitations</strong> This study has some limitations that are essential to consider in interpreting its findings. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The study focuses on the American healthcare sector, so it is not clear whether the findings would be generalizable to other industries. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The study does not consider the specific challenges of implementing active listening in a busy and demanding healthcare environment. &nbsp; Overall, the study provides a valuable starting point for research on the potential benefits of active listening in reducing burnout. However, more research is needed to consider the benefits of active listening in other sectors and the specific challenges to implementing it in the healthcare setting. &nbsp; <strong>Conclusion</strong> Burnout in the American healthcare system has become one major challenge to efficient care provision and quality. It is a real problem demanding real solutions. Active listening is a powerful tool that can be used to reduce burnout in the American healthcare system. By listening to healthcare professionals with empathy and understanding, we can help them to feel supported and valued. This can lead to a decrease in stress, an increase in job satisfaction, and a better overall work environment. There are a number of ways to implement active listening in the healthcare setting. Healthcare organizations can make it a priority to train their staff on active listening skills and to provide opportunities for staff to practice these skills. Healthcare organizations can also create a supportive environment where staff feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings. Active listening is not a cure-all for burnout, but it can be a valuable tool in reducing its prevalence. By listening to healthcare professionals with care and attention, we can help them to feel better about their work and to be more resilient in the face of stress. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, active listening can also help to improve communication, build trust, and resolve conflict. This can lead to a more positive and productive work environment for everyone involved. If you are a healthcare professional who is struggling with burnout, active listening training may be a helpful way to improve your well-being. There are many resources available to help you learn active listening skills, and you may also want to consider seeking professional help. By working together, we can create a healthcare system where burnout is no longer the norm. Active listening is a powerful tool that can help us to achieve this goal. It requires humility. It requires courage to be engaged!&nbsp; <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>Declarations</strong> &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All research data used for this work are shared in the work for verification. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kizito Uzoma Ndugbu, conceived, carried out the research, and approved it for publication. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There is no funding received for the research. &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There is no conflict of interest.

This updated issue of the professional publication Bulletin of the Slovenian Armed Forces is dedicated to the question of the Slovenian commitment to finding peaceful solutions to conflicts. As Commander­in­Chief of the Defence Forces of the Republic of Slovenia, I find this subject not only necessary but also entirely essential. There are many reasons for this. The historical experience of the Slovenian people has not always been pleasant regarding the preservation of national identity, manifested in the language as well as in the cultural and national tradition. Despite different repressive and denationalising measures taken by many foreign authorities, our ancestors managed to preserve the Slovenian nation through much wisdom, deep national awareness and political skill. The importance of consistent compliance with the provisions of international law in crisis situations, including wars, was seen in 1991. Slovenia won the war, not only in a military sense but also by complying with all legal norms, thus soon becoming recognised as a young European democratic country founded on high legal and moral principles. The lessons of war in 1991 increased the resolve of the Slovenian people for clear rejection of the use of force in finding solutions to any kind of conflict. For this reason, my pleasure at being invited to write about the topic of Slovenian people in the service of peace is that much greater, in part also due to the fact that I spent a large part of my professional life, from 1992 to 2005, working in the United Nations, first as the ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia, later as UN Assistant Secretary­General. In both functions I dealt with peacekeeping operations to a considerable extent. United Nations peacekeeping operations were in full swing at that time and underwent great development on the one hand, but also bitter disappointment and moments of deep doubt on the other. However, they continued to develop to the current extent. The topic of the Bulletin is presented in truly deep, scientific, theoretical and practical ways, from strategic and tactical levels, considering the evolutionary and transformational characteristics of peacekeeping operations, and deriving from historical experience. The most respected authors in the Slovenian professional field have thrown light upon important conceptual changes in the area of peacekeeping operations, which result from numerous factors, in particular from important geopolitical changes in the world. We must not disregard the increasing cooperation of regional organisations in the implementation of peacekeeping operations, which has indirectly brought about a different understanding of the term “peacekeeping operation” and opened technical discussions in the area of terminology as well as in the technical fulfilment of obligations, all the way to the question of the necessity of a preliminary UN mandate. These deficiencies can also be seen in Slovenia and point to the need for conducting a deep technical discussion as soon as possible and unifying the understanding of both the structure of the Slovenian Armed Forces and the broader defence and security system. The introductory and in particular the more theoretical parts of the Bulletin may be taken as important contributions in this regard. Some of the articles offer interesting historical insight into the cooperation of Slovenian men, and later women, in various endeavours for peace launched by individual great powers and international organisations. Although it is difficult to understand the military intervention of European forces on the island Crete in 1897 as a peacekeeping operation, the objective which is still in the forefront of contemporary efforts of the international community in this area was achieved for at least some time. This intervention ensured an armistice between the parties involved in the conflict and enabled a diplomatic solution on the island without unnecessary victims. The confidence that the highest political and military authorities in the Austro­Hungarian Empire had in the 2nd Battalion of the 87th Infantry Regiment from Celje was truly special. This was particularly the case because the military unit was mainly composed of Slovenes, and at the time of deployment in Crete its commander was a Slovene as well. However, we need to emphasise that such thinking is unconventional. By studying the literature on peacekeeping operations we see that such operations were first mentioned around 1919 in connection with peace conferences after the end of World War I and with managing various border issues in Europe, different plebiscites and other situations which, besides political and other diplomatic action, also required the protection of security and were followed by military operations intended for this particular purpose. History tells us much about peacekeeping operations intended to maintain truces. In these operations, coalition forces were deployed to an area in which a truce already existed and had to be maintained among well organised and disciplined armed forces. Today, the status of armed forces is quite different. We have to look at all of history and every aspect of international military engagement which is not armed combat by nature but a military presence with various aspects of employment of military force and the constant readiness and capability of peace forces to defend themselves effectively and be prepared to use weapons to fulfil their mandate. If today we see peacekeeping operations as valid in this respect, it is clear that we have to be familiar with history and evaluate what we can learn from past experience and how we are obliged to consider the present. Of course, we must consider the present. If we look at the status of peacekeeping operations today, we see how important this military activity is for the modern world. I will only dwell upon the United Nations, which from the standpoint of peacekeeping operations is the most important organisation operating today. Approximately 140,000 soldiers participate in peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the United Nations. No other military force has that number of uniformed personnel operating abroad. These people are assigned to eighteen currently active peacekeeping operations, each costing the organisation about seven billion dollars. This is the largest component of the budget of the United Nations. However, this expenditure is small in comparison to other kinds of military deployment outside the UN, to operations which are not peacekeeping operations by nature. Peacekeeping operations have become very multidimensional. The latest such operations, established in Africa (Darfur, Chad, Central African Republic), have been among the most demanding from the very beginning. We can thus conclude that peacekeeping operations are becoming increasingly more complex, which also results in a higher degree of risk. In 2007, 67 members of UN peacekeeping operations lost their lives. Looking at individual operations we see that six people died in Lebanon alone that year. Ever since peacekeeping operations have been in existence, Lebanon has been one of the most dangerous areas. Today, however, it is somewhat outside the sphere of interest. This may be due to the fact that there is a peacekeeping operation active in the area, on account of which a state of relative peace can be better maintained. Peacekeeping operations are both dangerous and multidimensional, multidimensional because they are no longer focused merely on keeping belligerent parties apart. Modern peacekeeping operations include both standard and supplemental functions. Providing a secure environment for political normalisation, humanitarian activity and development is a comprehensive task, requiring the engagement of peacekeeping forces in operations that are far from being common types of military deployment. This raises different questions about the training and competence of peacekeeping forces. We also have to ask ourselves how we can fully consider the lessons learned from previous peacekeeping operations and organise a system of command, particularly in organisations such as the United Nations, while at the same time making sure that national contingents do not lose their identity. There are thus two lines of communication, one through channels established by international organisations and the other through those established by national systems of armed forces. How to balance this and achieve efficient functioning? How to ensure the operation of different cultures, members and levels of competence in a way that facilitates the success of peacekeeping operations? These are always important questions to consider. In recent years the question of interest has pointed to the complexity of modern peacekeeping operations. Peacekeeping operations are frequently required to facilitate an environment in which elections can be conducted and assist in the establishment of a legal order and institutions to maintain that order. Both tasks are extremely demanding. The establishment of a safe environment for conducting elections in a country with poor communications, with no tradition of elections and with violence linked to every political event, is an extremely difficult task. The establishment of a legal order in areas with no such tradition or adequate infrastructure is even harder. There is often a need to include the civilian police, whose tasks in peacekeeping operations are very demanding. Civilian police have a number of other particularities besides problems connected to the aforementioned multidimensionality. It is necessary to adapt to the local environment in order to facilitate effective police performance. How to facilitate this in an environment such as Haiti, for example, with its difficult past? How to facilitate this in linguistically demanding environments such as East Timor until recently and in other difficult circumstances? These are all extremely demanding tasks. However, there is not much understanding with regard to all the details and problems arising from their implementation. The international political community is often satisfied merely by defining the mandate of a peacekeeping operation. For many people this signifies the solution to the problem, considering that the mandate is defined and that the deployment of forces will occur. However, this is where real problem solving only begins. Only then does it become obvious what little meaning general resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and other acts by which mandates are defined have in the context of actual situations. Therefore, I am of the opinion that we have to take a detailed look at experience from the distant past as well as the present. When speaking of the civilian police we also have to consider the fully human aspects that characterise every peacekeeping operation. Once I spoke to a very experienced leader of civilian police operations about the need to send additional police officers to the mission in Kosovo in the spring, when winter is over and people become more active, which also results in a higher crime rate. He explained that this is not only a problem in the area of this mission but elsewhere in Europe. In spring, the crime rate rises everywhere. Therefore it is difficult to find police officers during this time who are willing to leave their homeland, where they are most needed, and go to a mission area which is just then facing increased needs. I mention this to broaden understanding of the fact that the deployment of peacekeeping forces, both military and civilian police, is not only a matter of mandates and military organisation, but sometimes of the purely elementary questions that accompany social development. I have already mentioned that memory of the past is a very important component of considering present peacekeeping operations. I would like to conclude with another thought. I believe the manner of organising the knowledge of peacekeeping operations is of great importance to all countries, especially those that are new to cooperating in peacekeeping operations. This knowledge cannot be gained from books written at universities, but only from monitoring and carefully analysing the previous experiences of others. It is very important that this knowledge be carefully organised, that these experiences be carefully gathered and analysed, and that a doctrine be developed gradually. This doctrine is required for a country like Slovenia, which is new at conducting peacekeeping operations, to be able to manage well and define its role in international peacekeeping operations properly. To achieve this objective, a new country must cooperate with those countries which have been conducting peacekeeping operations for a long time and therefore have a richer experience. The neighbouring Austria is known to have one of the longest and most interesting systems of experience in peacekeeping operations within the United Nations. Ever since it joined the UN, Austria has been active in numerous activities linked to peacekeeping operations. Its soldiers and the civilian police have participated in a number of peacekeeping operations. Experience gained in this way is of great value, and using this experience is necessary for successful planning of and operating in future peacekeeping operations. The future will be complicated! At one time, when the members of peacekeeping operations numbered approximately 80,000, the United Nations thought that nothing more could be done, and a larger number of members was unthinkable. Today the number of members is significantly larger, development will most likely still continue and conditions will become even more demanding. I do not wish to forecast events which have not yet taken place. However, I would like to strongly emphasise that the history of peacekeeping operations is not over yet and that the future will be full of risks and challenges. I would also again like to stress the importance of this issue of the Bulletin of the Slovenian Armed Forces, which is entering a new decade, and express my pleasure at being able to note down a few thoughts. Let me particularly emphasise that as Commander­in­Chief of the Slovenian Defence Forces I will continue to devote special attention to achievements in the area of cooperation in peacekeeping operations in the future, having a special interest in these experiences. I thank the authors of the articles of this important issue of the Bulletin for their scientific and professional contributions – and I greatly respect those who have already done important work in the name of the Republic of Slovenia with the Slovenian flag on their shoulders, with the hope that they continue to fulfil their obligations in accordance with the rules.

That was the year that was! 2021 seemingly arrived just yesterday and now we are shortly to bid it farewell. I hailed its predecessor as heralding the hope for a new clarity of vision – the start of a new decade which promised much. However, I have become reminded that perfect 20/20 vision in the present may not necessarily lead to reliable predictions for the future. Further I have immediately been taken back to my undergraduate days and the unforgettable words of the great poet T. S Eliot in his poem Burnt Norton – the first of the four Quartets Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable. What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present They are words that seem to ring particularly true not only to anyone contemplating their remorselessly advancing years and reflecting on a career nearing completion, but they also seem particularly apposite for the experiences of the last two years. The pandemic started by destroying our expectations and predictions for what lay ahead. It ensured that our best laid plans for our immediate futures would remain unfulfilled and thus unredeemable. Subsequently during the year, we were left to speculate as to our future pathways - not only with regard to our professional activities, but also concerning our personal and family relationships – with a whole world of separation between ourselves and those of our kith and kin domiciled in distant lands. Though for some it may have been no more than a regional border! Such forced isolation caused many of us to think backwards as well, reflecting on our past trajectories and recalling both mistakes and successes alike. Yet for many it became a time to substitute the incessant demands of work and its associated travel and busy-ness with former and forgotten pleasures. Leisurely walks with friends and family, the rediscovering of rhythms and tempos unimpeded by the daily demands of our diaries and other extraneous demands on our time that had required us to respond immediately and forgo the immediate needs of the surroundings and people closest to us. Above all, with the future in limbo and the past re-emerging in our minds, it reinforced the realisation that the present is what we really have, and it contains what is most important. For a time, the incessant chatter and noise of the media retained our attention, just as it had dominated our attention at the end of 2019. Yet, somehow during the year, the hype and frenzied reporting seems to have diminished in impact. This was nowhere more evident than in the responses to COP26 – the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. Items in the press came thick and fast leading up to the event: predictions of planetary doom; political conflicts were highlighted as world leaders met or didn’t meet on the conference stage; appearances by the celebrities of the world; demonstrations aplenty. All of this breathless activity faded imperceptibly out of our consciousness as the serious (but more boring?) negotiations between nations started to take place, with much of the brilliance of the limelight now exhausted. The anticlimactic conclusion was judged by Boris Johnson, the chair and among the most optimistic of politicians, as achieving a 6 out of 10. Several positive outcomes were identified such as: commitments to end deforestation; a global methane pledge; a socalled ‘Breakthrough Agenda’, which committed countries to work together to accelerate the clean energy transition. Yet predictably, this was labelled by the critics and activists as too little too late. Although there are many who would see climate crisis as the major crisis that faces us – there are many other current crises of even more pressing and immediate concern to very many of us. The most urgent of which, would depend upon your own circumstances and where you might find yourself in the world. Examples from recent media would include: the loss of previously taken for granted freedoms in Hong Kong; increased fears for personal safety and the prospect of hunger and poverty in Afghanistan; the loss of political freedoms and the prospects of war in Belarus and the Ukraine; the prospect of secession leading to renewed civil war in Serbia; another military coup in Sudan; civil unrest in Cuba, etc etc.. On a global scale the movement of people leaving failed states and war-torn areas looking for the chance to make a better future, has continued to increase on a scale that the world is quite unable to manage. Sadly, even in the countries that are eagerly sought as destinies, there seem to be endless stories of strife, anxiety and anger to be told. The Economist provides the example of France, the ninth largest economy in the world with the 20th largest population of 67+ million. This pillar of Europe is facing a presidential election. Far from rejoicing in its prosperity, stability and proud history – the mood is sombre. Tune in to any French prime time talk show this autumn, and discussion rages over the country’s wretched decline. France is losing its factories and jobs, squeezing incomes and small businesses, destroying its landscapes and language, neglecting its borders and squandering its global stature. Its people are fractious and divided, if not on the verge of a civil war, as a public letter from retired army officers suggested earlier this year. At the second presidential primary debate for the centre-right Republicans party, on November 14th, the five candidates competed with each other to chronicle French disaster. Listen to the hard right, and it is “the death of France as we know it”. The anxiety is widespread. In a recent poll 75% agreed that France is “in decline”. When asked to sum up their mood in another survey, the French favoured three words: uncertainty, worry and fatigue. So, we are entitled to ask, what is happening in the world as we contemplate the path out of Covid? Should we not be expecting some feeling of optimism and gratitude that modern medicine has provided a way forward out of the pandemic through vaccination and new medical treatments? We should be putting the trials and tribulations of the pandemic behind us, embracing the lessons we have learnt and anticipating the benefits of the reassessments and recalibrations we have undergone over the last two years. Yet instead, we seem to be facing re-entry into a world of strife and dissension. It is a view that that would seem to encourage retreat into the comfort of a limited and familiar space, rather than striking out confidently and optimistically. So, to return to Eliot – perhaps we need to be reminded that the present is all we have. We will only be able to experience our future when we arrive there. Therefore, the pathway we choose to it, should be as smooth, rich and rewarding as possible. It should not be characterised by hedonism but rather by enhancing rather than diminishing the future. Every moment spent devaluing either our future or our past, is a moment that further undermines our present. This last point is particularly true when we fail to see our present in the context of both our past and future. One of the major contributions to this current angst within our societies, appears to be the cultural wars being waged by the warriors of WOKE. Passing judgements on figures from a previous time, without a clear understanding of the context in which they operated makes absolutely no sense. It is akin to a capital punishment abolitionist vilifying the heroes of the French Revolution for allowing Madame Guillotine to be the agent of their retribution against the aristocracy. So, it is with defacing statues of those who lived and acted in far different times and were the product of the dominant values and beliefs of that time. It is indeed an act of vandalism. If we remove all evidence of the history to which such people belonged, how can we expect to learn from that time and ensure that the world does indeed move forward? Although we are talking about the context provided by time – this is equally true of all the contexts in which we currently find ourselves. It is impossible to understand human behaviour without knowing and understanding the context in which it occurs. This is a key principle of the science of human behaviour. Alas it is a principle that has been neglected in the sport sciences in recent years. Whereas research into the physiology, psychology and biomechanics of sport has flourished, too often it is reported in a way that fails to adequately take account of the context in which it occurs. It is why so many findings are ungeneralisable and remain in the laboratory rather than making the journey out onto the playing field of life. Understanding the history and the social context within which sport is practised is essential if scientists and professionals are going to be able to make comparisons between findings gained in different settings. Comparative studies in sport and physical education play an important role in enabling knowledge and understanding about these institutions to be widely shared. Our journal therefore has an important role to play in the development and sharing of knowledge and understanding between scientists and professionals in different settings. This is a role that has been filled by our journal over the last forty-three years. I am pleased to be able to report that the society (ISCPES), following a break of four years in activity, will be meeting again at the end of this year. The meeting which can be attended online will be hosted by Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education in India. Details are provided in this edition, and I commend this important meeting to you. That there is an interest and demand in comparative and international studies is clear from the number of submissions we have been receiving for our journal. The chance to meet with fellow researchers and colleagues in real time, if not actually face to face, is to be welcomed. It is my fervent hope that this will lead to continuing growth in interest in our multidiscipline and internationally focused field. I congratulate the organisers for their initiative. I would also like to pay tribute to former president Dr Walter Ho of the University of Macau, for his role in this as well as for his continuing support of our journal. So, I come to commend to you the contributions of this latest volume. They come from four different continents and as such provide a representative cross section of our readership. The topics about which they write give an example of the range of understanding and practices that can usefully be shared amongst us. In our first paper Croteau, Eduljee and Murphy report on the health, lifestyle behaviours and well-being of international Masters field hockey athletes. The Masters sport movement provides an important example of why sport represents a solid investment in assisting individuals to commit to health supporting physical activity across the lifespan. The study is particularly interesting, as it provides evidence of the broader sense of wellbeing to be gained by ongoing participation and also the fact that this benefit seems to apply even in the geographic and culturally different environments provided by life in Europe, North America and, Asia and the Pacific. Our second paper by Kubayi, Coopoo and Toriola addresses a familiar problem – the breakdown in communication between researchers and scientists in sport and the coaches who work with the athletes. The context for this study is provided by elite performance level sport in South Africa and the sports of soccer, athletics, hockey and netball. It is concluded that the sports scientists and academics need to be encouraged to make their work more available by presenting it more frequently face to face during coaching workshops, seminars, clinics and conferences. However, the caveat is that this needs to be done in a way that is understandable, applicable and relevant to helping the coach make effective decisions and solve problems in a way that benefits the athletes as the end product. A team of medical and pedagogical scientists from Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia provide the Asian input to this volume. They raise a concern over the issue of safety and risk in physical education and how well specialists in the subject are prepared in the area of sport injury management. Hidayat, Sakti, Putro, Triannga, Farkhan, Rahayu and Magetsari collaborated in a survey of 191 physical education teachers. They concluded that there was a need for better and more sustained teacher education on this important topic. PE teacher training should not only upgrade teachers’ knowledge but also increase their self-perceptions of competence. PE teachers should be provided with enhanced training on sports injuries and Basic Life Support (BLS) skills, in order to improve the safety and maximize the benefits of PE classes. It is a finding that could usefully be compared with current practices in other countries and settings, given the common focus in the PE lesson on children performing challenging tasks in widely varying contexts. Our final paper by Rojo, Ribeiro and Starepravo takes a very much broader perspective. Sport migration is a relatively new, specialised but expanding field in sports studies. This paper is however significant not for what it can tell us about current knowledge in sport migration, but rather in what it tells us about the way knowledge is gathered and disseminated in a specialist area such as this. Building on the ideas of Bourdieu, they demonstrate how the field of knowledge is shaped by the key actors in the process and how these key actors serve to gather and use their academic capital in that process. As such fields of knowledge can become artificially constricted in both the spaces and cultures in which they develop. The authors highlight a very real problem in the generation and transmission of academic knowledge, and it is one that International Sports Studies is well positioned to address. In conclusion, may I encourage you in sharing with these papers to actively engage in reflecting on the importance of the varying contexts these authors bring and how sensitivity to this can enlarge and deepen our own practices and understanding. John Saunders Brisbane, November 2021

The article considers the continuous necessity of improving and expanding any language vocabulary and the actuality of clear and concise communication at an international level. Vocabulary is a skill based on all areas of communication. Extensive vocabulary, along with grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, is an essential tool and one of the largest challenges in learning a second language. Thus, building vocabulary is one of the easiest ways to improve communication. In view of the great importance and constant need for learning new words in a foreign language, efficient vocabulary has been the subject of multiple research. The purpose of the article is to determine the key enhancement means of a foreign language vocabulary. The research findings suggest that by using the means outlined in this article, one should be well on his way to discovering and learning new words to expand his vocabulary and strengthen his use of a foreign language.

Reading is essential for the enhancement of writing skills, influencing vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and total language competence. The relationship between reading and writing is mutual, since exposure to various texts enhances writing abilities by fostering coherence, organization, and originality. This research examines the impact of reading on writing quality via the enhancement of comprehension, critical thinking, and stylistic expression. Various reading genres, such as fiction, nonfiction, and academic books, distinctively enhance writing development, promoting a more adaptive and diverse approach to written communication. Moreover, the research emphasizes the significance of both comprehensive and intense reading practices in enhancing writing fluency, clarity, and argumentation. The study investigates the impact of reading comprehension on writing structure and coherence, highlighting the significance of active reading strategies like annotation and summarizing. Moreover, motivation and reading habits substantially influence writing skill, underscoring the need for effective pedagogical ways to include reading into writing teaching. Notwithstanding the evident advantages, obstacles such as inadequate reading comprehension, restricted vocabulary, and insufficient access to excellent reading resources impede the complete actualization of the reading-writing link. Mitigating these obstacles via focused interventions and proactive reading techniques may improve writing efficacy. This research emphasizes that a robust reading habit cultivates clear, organized, and compelling writing, making reading an essential instrument for writing advancement.

Speaking is one of the basic language skills. Personality is called ‘personality’. Therefore, it is very important to have influence on speech as well as how much physical and mental resources are essential for personality development. This study examines the extent to which personality skills are important for a teacher to be able to speak in the teaching of learning. This dissertation was based on a book review and an observation among Tamil teachers at school. Vocabulary is the ability to take the word. Vocabulary is required to be a leader in any field, no matter who you are. This study examines the importance or influence of speaking skills among teachers. Approaches such as observation and interview were carried out among the Tamil teachers in this study. Speaking skill in classroom teaching is an important part of every teacher. Conceptual speaking and clear speech will refine classroom teaching. Improving these elements will help students in the classroom and fully engage in their learning. This review was conducted from a number of angles for each teacher to dominate in speaking skill. This study shows that effective learning in teaching can be achieved if each teacher acquires an influential personality in speaking skills.

Abstract Background With over 2 million cases diagnosed annually, breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related disability and mortality worldwide. Despite global efforts to implement screening programs, uptake rates vary widely across settings due to socioeconomic factors and accessibility challenges. In 2022 in Flanders (Belgium), breast cancer screening participation in municipalities with an income below the poverty line was 15% lower than average. Methods To tackle the limited participation of underserved women in the breast cancer screening program in Flanders, a culturally sensitive approach was used to investigate factors influencing screening participation and to realize a tailored reminder letter to be tested in a later phase. Working closely with community organizations, 33 women aged 50–69 (29 of whom were non-native Dutch speakers) with low-socioeconomic status were identified to participate in the study. Through an iterative process comprising 3 focus group discussions, 3 Delphi-consultations with sector experts, 1 co-creation session and a final member check, critical insights were gathered. Results Key barriers included low health literacy and limited understanding of preventive care concepts. Once participants were effectively informed about the breast cancer screening program, they displayed increased help‐seeking behaviors in relation to health, underscoring the importance of clear communication in fostering willingness to consider screening. An evaluation of the standard invitation letter employed in the program revealed several challenges related to readability and comprehension. These included the excessive text length, the use of complex vocabulary and grammar beyond an A2 level, slogans unrelated to the mammography appointment (e.g., ‘We do it and what do you do?’), and the use of generic visuals. At the same time, simplifying the vocabulary to A1-A2 levels, employing straightforward sentence structures, and incorporating relevant visuals enhanced understandability and fostered interest in breast cancer prevention. Utilizing a color palette associated with breast cancer and featuring logos of local authorities instilled a sense of credibility and trustworthiness. Based on this feedback, a revised reminder letter was developed. The final communication was concise and included essential details such as time and place for screening and a QR code providing translation into 12 languages. Conclusions Simplifying vocabulary, grouping related information, and providing direct links and language options improved the clarity and accessibility of the reminder letter, thereby fostering help‐seeking behaviors related to breast cancer screening.

Storytelling is a deeply human practice. Through narrative ‐understood as a representation of a possible world in a linguistic and/or visual medium, at whose center protagonists exist in a temporal and spatial sense (Fludernik, 2009)‐ the audience can immerse in a different world. Therefore, storytelling can be a powerful tool with which to engage any person with the societal relevance of a scientific project and enhance its visibility and credibility.This engagement is essential for science, even before the actual research is done. A research proposal, for example, needs to stand out amongst other equally valid work to gain funding. Later, a scientific paper must present the results clearly to have an impact, even for a niche audience (Hillier, 2016).The structure and language of storytelling can be helpful when conveying the planning and performing of experiments. A clear, orderly, and compelling narrative won’t compromise the integrity and authenticity of scientific research. On the contrary, when communicating outside the scientific community, a story arc provides a logical framework to present our research. Since people cannot like what they don’t understand and won't support what they don’t like, scientific research must bridge the gap between the scientific community and the general public to gain societal support. Yet, the constructs of scientific communication can be daunting for a nonscientific audience: the passive voice, overly formal language, undefined concepts, highlighting the results before explaining the problem we are trying to solve, etc.Starting with a question, focusing on the journey of knowledge, and explaining what's at stake are more effective approaches to convey scientific messages (Ettinger, 2020). Communicating our motivations will make complex content sound less alienating. A narrative based on a first‐person voice and including the researcher's origin of interest increases perceived authenticity in the non‐expert audience (Saffran et al., 2020). Furthermore, storytelling can help counter misinformation (Sangalang, 2019). Combining the facts of science and the persuasion of storytelling, scientific messages can use the persuasion of narrative to empower society.Ettinger, J. (2020). What Hollywood can teach researchers about scientific storytelling. Nature.Hillier, A., Kelly, R. P., &amp; Klinger, T. (2016). Narrative Style Influences Citation Frequency in Climate Change Science. PLOS ONE, 11(12), e0167983.Saffran et al. (2020). Constructing and influencing perceived authenticity in science communication: Experimenting with narrative. PLOS ONE, 15(1), e0226711.Sangalang, A., Ophir, Y., &amp; Cappella, J. N. (2019). The Potential for Narrative Correctives to Combat Misinformation. Journal of Communication, 69(3), 298–319.

Until the 1980s research into computer technology was developing outside of a context of media culture. Until the 1970s the computer was seen as a highly effective calculator and a tool for the use in government, military and economic life. Its popular image from the 1940s to 1950s was that of a calculator. At that time the computer was a large machine which only white lab-coated engineers could understand. The computer was studied as a technical instrument, not from the viewpoint of the user. The peculiar communication between the user -- engineers at this point -- and the machine was described in caricatures like those in Electric Media (Brown &amp; Marks 100). Many comics handled the issue of understanding. In one cartoon one engineer asks another: "Do you ever feel that it is trying to tell us something?" And in Robert Sherman Townes's novel "Problem of Emmy", the computer (Emmy) acts out of control and prints the words: "WHO AM I WHO AM I WHO AM I?". In these examples the man-machine relationship was taken under consideration, but the attitude towards the relationship was that of a master-tool way. The user was pronouncedly in control and the machine just a passive tool. After the 1980s the image of the computer was turning into that of a playful toy and a game machine, thanks to the game houses' and marketing departments' efforts. Suddenly the player was playing with the computer, and even fairly often got beaten by it. That definitely raises feelings towards the machine! The playing situation was so intensive that the player did not often pay any attention to the interface, and the roles were not so clear anymore. This was a step towards the idea of natural communication between human and machine. Later science fiction influenced depictions of virtual reality, and haptic interfaces mediated the ideas into reality. In this paper I will discuss the man-machine relationship from the viewpoint of interface design. My expertise is in electronic games, and thus I will use examples from the game industry. This paper is a sidetrack of RAID -- Research of Adaptive User Interface Design, which was going on at the University of Lapland, Finland in 1995-1999. The RAID project was about research into adaptive interface design from the viewpoint of media archaeology, electronic games, toys and media art. Early Visions Already in the 1960s, MIT professor J.C.R. Licklider wrote about man-machine symbiosis. He saw that "man machine symbiosis is an expected development in cooperative interaction between men and electronic computers". He believed that it would lead to a new kind of cooperative partnership between man and machine (9). Licklider's visions are important, because the relationship between man and machine was seen generally differently at those days. At the time of the first mainframe computers in the 1940s, man and machine were seen as separate entities from the viewpoint of data processing. The operator put in data to the machine, which processed it by its own language which only the machine and very few engineers could understand. Fear -- a fearful affection -- has affected the development of machines and the idea of man-machine relationships throughout the decades. One reason for this is that the ordinary person had no contact to the computer. That has led to fears that when cooperating with the machine, the user will become enslaved by it, or sucked into it, as in Charlie Chaplin's film Modern Times (1936). The machine captivates its user's body, punishes it and makes its movement impossible at the end. Or the machine will keep the body's freedom, but adapt its functions to work by the automatic rhythm: the human body will be subordinated to the machine or made a part of it. What Is the Interface? In reality there still is a mediator between the user and the machine: the interface. It is a connector -- a boundary surface -- that enables the user to control the machine. There has been no doubt who is in charge of whom, but the public image of the machine is changing from "computer as a tool" to "computer as an entertainment medium". That is also changing the somewhat fearful relationship to the computer, because such applications place the player much more intensively immersed in the game world. The machine as a tool does not lose its meaning but its functionality and usability are being developed towards more entertainment-like attributes. The interface is an environment and a structural system that consists of the physical machine, a virtual programming environment, and the user. The system becomes perfect when all its parts will unite as a functional, interactive whole. Significant thresholds will arise through the hapticity of the interface, on one hand questioning the bodily relationship between user and machine and on the other hand creating new ways of being with the machine. New haptic (wearable computing) and spatial (sensors in a reactive space) interfaces raise the question of man-machine symbiosis from a new perspective. Interfaces in a Game World In games the man-machine relationship is seen with much less emotion than when using medical applications, for example. The strength of electronic games is in the goal-oriented interaction. The passivity of older machines has been replaced by the information platform where the player's actions have an immediate effect in the virtual world. The player is already surrounded by the computer: at home sitting by the computer holding a joystick and in the arcades sometimes sitting inside the computer or even being tied up with the computer (as in gyroscope VR applications). The symbiosis in game environments is essential and simple. During the 1980s and 1990s a lot of different virtual reality gear variants were developed in the "VR boom". Some systems were more or less masked arcade game machines that did not offer any real virtuality. Virtuality was seen as a new way of working with a machine, but most of the applications did not support the idea far enough. Neither did the developers pay attention to interface design nor to new ways of experiencing and feeling pleasure through the machine. At that time the most important thing was to build a plausible "virtual reality system". Under the futuristic cover of the machine there was usually a PC and a joystick or mouse. Usually a system could easily be labelled as a virtual theater, a dome or a cabin, which all refer to entertainment simulators. At the beginning of the 1990s, data glasses and gloves were the most widely used interfaces within the new interaction systems. Later the development turned from haptic interfaces towards more spatial ideas -- from wearable systems to interaction environments. Still there are only few innovative applications available. One good example is Vivid Group's old Mandala VR system which was later in the 1990s developed further to the Holopod system. It has been promoted as the interface of the future and new way of being with the computer. As in the film Modern Times so also with Holopod the player is in a way sucked inside the game world. But this time with the user's consent. Behind the Holopod is Vivid Group's Mandala VGC (Video Gesture Control) technology which they have been developing since 1986. The Mandala VGC system combines real time video images of the player with the game scene. The player in the real world is the protagonist in the game world. So the real world and the game world are united. That makes it possible to sense the real time movement as well as interaction between the platform and the player. Also other manufacturers like American Holoplex has developed similar systems. Their system is called ThunderCam. Like Konami's Dance Dance Revolution, it asks heavy physical involvement in the Street Fighter combat game. Man-Man and Man-Machine Cooperation One of the most important elements in electronic games has been reaction ability. Now the playing is turning closer to a new sport. Different force feedback systems combined with haptic interfaces will create much more diverse examples of action. For example, the Japanese Konami corporation has developed a haptic version of a popular Playstation dance game where karaoke and an electronic version of the Twister game are combined. Besides new man-machine cooperative applications, there are also under development some multi-user environments where the user interacts with the computer-generated world as well as with other players. The Land of Snow and Ice has been under development for about a year now in the University of Lapland, Finland. It is a tourism project that is supposed to be able to create a sensation of the arctic environment throughout the year. Temperature and atmosphere are created with the help of refrigerating equipment. In the space there are virtual theatre and enhanced ski-doo as interfaces. The 3-D software makes the sensation very intense, and a hydraulic platform extends the experience. The Land of Snow and Ice is interesting from the point of view of the man-machine relationship in the way that it brings a new idea to the interface design: the use of everyday objects as interfaces. The machine is "hidden" inside an everyday object and one is interacting and using the machine in a more natural way. For example, the Norwegian media artist Stahl Stenslie has developed "an 'intelligent' couch through which you communicate using your body through tactile and visual stimuli". Besides art works he has also talked about new everyday communication environments, where the table in a café could be a communication tool. One step towards Stenslie's idea has already become reality in Lasipalatsi café in Helsinki, Finland. The tables are good for their primary purpose, but you can also surf the Internet and read your e-mail with them, while drinking your tea. These kind of ideas have also been presented within 'intelligent home' speculations. Intelligent homes have gained acceptance and there are already several intelligent homes in the world. Naturally there will always be opposition, because the surface between man and machine is still a very delicate issue. In spite of this, I see such homogeneous countries as Finland, for example, to be a good testing ground for a further development of new man-machine interaction systems. Pleasure seems to be one of the key words of the future, and with the new technology, one can make everyday routines easier, pleasure more intense and the Internet a part of social communication: within the virtual as well as in real world communities. In brief, I have introduced two ideas: using games as a testing ground, and embedding haptic and spatial interfaces inside everyday objects. It is always difficult to predict the future and there are always at least technology, marketing forces, popular culture and users that will affect what the man-machine relationship of the future will be like. I see games and game interfaces as the new developing ground for a new kind of man-machine relationship. References Barfield, W., and T.A. Furness. Virtual Environments and Advanced Interface Design. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. Brown, Les, and Sema Marks. Electric Media. New York: Hargrove Brace Jovanovich, 1974. Burdea, G., and P. Coiffet. Virtual Reality Technology. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1994. Greelish, David. "Hictorically Brewed Magazine. A Retrospective." Classic Computing. 1 Sep. 1999 &lt;http://www.classiccomputing.com/mag.php&gt;. Huhtamo, Erkki. "Odottavasta Operaattorista Kärsimättömäksi Käyttäjäksi. Interaktiivisuuden Arkeologiaa." Mediaevoluutiota. Eds. Kari Hintikka and Seppo Kuivakari. Rovaniemi: U of Lapland P, 1997. Jones, Steve, ed. Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cybersociety. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1997. Kuivakari, Seppo, ed. Keholliset Käyttöliittymät. Helsinki: TEKES, 1999. 1 Sep. 1999 &lt;http://media.urova.fi/~raid&gt;. Licklider, J.C.R. "Man-Computer Symbiosis." 1960. 1 Sep. 1999 &lt;http://memex.org/licklider.pdf&gt;. Picard, Rosalind W. Affective Computing. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT P, 1997. "Return of the Luddites". Interview with Kirkpatrick Sale. Wired Magazine June 1995. Stenslie, Stahl. Artworks. 1 Sep. 1999 &lt;http://sirene.nta.no/stahl/&gt;. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Sonja Kangas. "From Haptic Interfaces to Man-Machine Symbiosis." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.6 (1999). [your date of access] &lt;http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9909/haptic.php&gt;. Chicago style: Sonja Kangas, "From Haptic Interfaces to Man-Machine Symbiosis," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 6 (1999), &lt;http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9909/haptic.php&gt; ([your date of access]). APA style: Sonja Kangas. (1999) From haptic interfaces to man-machine symbiosis. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(6). &lt;http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9909/haptic.php&gt; ([your date of access]).

If we consider learning as a meaning-making process where people construct shared knowledge, it becomes a social dialogical activity in which knowledge is the result of an active process of articulation and reflection within a context (Jonassen et al.). An important element of this belief is that conversation is at the core of learning because knowledge is language-mediated. Within this context, what makes a conversation worthwhile and meaningful is how it is structured, how it is managed by the participants, and most importantly, how it is understood. In particular, conversation is essential in learning situations where the main goal is to generate a new understanding of the world (Bruner). Thus, if conversations can be seen as support for learning processes, the question then becomes how synchronous textual spaces mediate conversation and how chat affects learning. Experienced Teachers Learning in a Collaborative Virtual Environment We studied two different groups of experienced teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) attending a Master of Education course entitled "Curriculum and Instruction". They communicated through a collaborative virtual environment (CVE) designed to enhance teachers' professional development: TAPPED IN™ (TI). We recorded their on-line conversations over six weeks. The teachers met twice a week for a two hour session and the data collected consisted of approximately 350-400 pages of text from transcripts. The following concerns, gleaned from an ongoing analysis of on-line conversations are of interest for this paper: The first concern has to do with the ability of teachers to concentrate on a task while managing multiple simultaneous conversations. The question is how to maintain the focus on the purpose of the goal oriented task. The second concern is related to the technical characteristics of a CVE and the teachers' feelings of being lost, too slow, or not understanding the point of the discussion. The question is how to deal with this confusion when the aim is to construct meanings from online discussion? The third concern is related the preceding points. It is concerned with the importance of a leader coaching and guiding experienced teachers online. We examined these three concerns, using TI during the teachers' on line discussions. Our primary goal in the analysis was to determine i) whether the teachers could conduct their learning activities through TI and ii) how goal-oriented conversations might be affected by the constraints of TI. The following examples come from a personal recorder. Messages are numbered in order to show their position in the session and to show the distance between the messages sent. Implications of Multitasking in Learning Sessions In CVEs, participants have the possibility of performing several tasks simultaneously (Holmevik). This is especially true when participants hold more than one conversation at a time. Participants can talk to one person or to the whole group while also chatting privately with people in the same CVE's room, in the same CVE or even in other CVEs. But the possibility of being able to participate in multiple conversations becomes potentially confusing and disorienting for teachers wanting to achieve a specific task. Let us give an example of how a main task (e.g. to share notes of pedagogical projects -- task 1) fragments into different tasks (e.g. learning a command -- how to create a note -- task 2; and socialise, express feelings and play with cows -- task 3). (Note that the students are in fact experienced teachers and a teacher is leading the session. The goal of the on-line session is to read and discuss the different educational projects that the students should have written in virtual notes.) The goal of the task became difficult to accomplish for teachers who were suddenly involved in more than one task at a time. In order to understand what is going on in this situation, participants had to accomplish extra work. They needed to filter messages and rank them to make the main objective of the session clear. In a goal-oriented session such as this, it is extremely important to keep track of the task as well as to concentrate on one activity at time. This entails a necessity to understand current threads in order to contribute to the object of interest for them as individuals and as a group member. Implications of Multi Threads and Floor-Taking in Goal-Oriented Conversations Perseverance with each message creates a parallelism that can become extremely disorienting to participants who intend to produce new understandings and not just maintain an awareness during on-line conversations. The larger the number of participants in a conversation, the more likely it is for fragmentation to occur. The jumbled and quickly scrolling screen can be quite disconcerting. Yet as mentioned by Mynatt et al., even between two participants, multi-threading is common due to the overlapping composition of conversational turns. Participants write simultaneously and the host computer sends the messages out sequentially. Under these conditions, competing conversational threads emerge continuously. It becomes difficult to know who actually holds the floor at the time. Here is an example showing a teacher -- student 2 -- looking for attention and trying to read and understand others' answers to his questions: Student 2 did not read message 26 sent from the teacher with care. In fact, the teacher did explain that there is a part in the assignment where students have to meet in order to exchange ideas about individual projects. Yet although S2's question was answered, S2 still did not understand. A possible reason is that S2 could have been focussed on writing the next question. Again, the teacher answered the question asked in message 29. However, S2 still did not understand in spite of S15 and S6 confirming that the teacher had already covered the question. Student 2 finally understood when the teacher addressed him directly and repeated what the other students had said before. In order to be heard, the students repeated their questions until they had the answer from the teacher. With more than a handful of participants, this attention seeking strategy may make on-line conversations confusing. Goal-oriented conversations then easily degenerate, as mentioned by Colomb and Simutis. These authors point out that one of the most common problems in using CMC is keeping students on task. Even experienced teachers do not escape from the possibility of converting from an instrumental discussion to a social one due to different misunderstanding between interlocutors. To be able to 'send' a message is not equivalent to claiming the 'floor'. An important extra task that teachers have to do in CVEs before sending a message is to think about how it meets the goal of the discussion. Looking for coherence and understanding is a must in learning situations and this becomes a great challenge in online learning sessions. On the other hand, different modalities of communication in CVEs may add richness and depth to online conversations when participants can anticipate constraints. Consider another group of teachers. They are discussing readings, and make great use of multiple modalities, such as gestures, to reframe misunderstandings. These gestures provide back channel information and other visual signs. Here is one example of what a group of teachers does in order to avoid embarrassing situations. As Mynatt et al. express, "the availability of multiple modalities gives complexity to the interactional rhythm, because people have choices about what modality to use at any particular moment and for any set of conversation partners" (138). Given these pros and cons of CVEs, the challenge of holding an on-line educational discussion requires the teachers to reestablish the context and control the underlying the sense of the conversation. This challenge could be also regarded as an exigency of the medium that 'invites' teachers to structure their conversations in order to encourage meaningful discussions. Importance of a Teacher of Teachers The problems mentioned earlier may be solved more easily when there is a leader at hand. Since these difficulties mainly arise at the start of learning the communication environment, it might be proposed that a leader is most critical in this phase. A comparison of two groups' interactions with and without a leader supports the intuition that a leader is crucial for keeping the learning on track even though the participants are experienced teachers. In this example, the task that the group performed was the same: "learning to attach an icon to their ellipses representing their presence in the system". Table 1. Data related to groups with and without a teacher Groups Learners Icons attached Messages produced Time employed 1. Without leader 12 0 549 56 min 8 sec 2. With leader 9 4 644 1h 27min 52 sec Fig. 1 Comparing flow and categories of the messages sent by the groups These frequencies confirm that teachers without a leader have more problems than the group with a leader. The number of successful icons attached by the groups (0 and 4 icons) demonstrates this claim. What happens is that the number of messages related to 'Task' decrease and those related to 'Relation' increase when there is no leader present -- a result which would be unsurprising among most people who have worked in 'real' classrooms. Messages produced and coded as 'Playing' and 'Feedback' also show a considerable difference between groups. Finally, categories such as 'Whisper' and 'Artifact' present in comparison to the others minimal differences between groups. A leader is a must for the smooth development of on-line conversation. The leader is a sort of mediator between the pedagogical task of the on-line conversation and what appears on the screen. The leader's task is to show which threads are important to follow or not and how messages should be read on the screen. Like an orchestra conductor, the leader coordinates tasks and makes sense of individual actions which are part of a common product and the quality of the on-going conversation. Discussion This ongoing research has demonstrated three important concerns surrounding experienced teachers' professional use of CVE. First, teachers chatting online have to anticipate the lack of assurance "that what gets sent gets read" and that gaining the floor in a CVE is "that one's message draws a response and in some way affect the direction of a current thread" (Colomb and Simutis). Teachers have to learn to negotiate turn-taking sequences behind the screen. When chatting, a person's intention to speak is not signalled. Overlapping and interruptions do not exist and non-verbal communication requires knowledge of gesture commands. Negotiating turns in online conversations is concerned with how people express information and what they express. In educational discussion, turns are generally taken when messages either present a good formulation of ideas, express controversial thinking, raise an issue that allows someone else to participate, or provide knowledge on the topic at hand. Second, teachers should learn to collaborate in online conversations. It is essential to be aware that people are writing a text while they discuss. The quality of the conversation will depend on one hand, how teachers manage the discussion and, on the other hand, the opinions they elaborate together. Third, teachers need leaders in online discussions. A leader has to be able to anticipate the text that the participants are writing. The leader has the responsibility of meeting pedagogical goals with a participant's messages. The leader has to show the coherence or incoherence of the discussion and raise issues that improve the level of the written interaction. These issues are extremely important in a context where people learn through conversations. As Laurillard has mentioned, "academic knowledge relies heavily on symbolic representation as the medium through which it is known. ... Students have to learn to handle the representations system as well as the ideas they represent" (27). Therefore, it is necessary that learners know and think about the rules of online discussion in order to adapt technical commands and effects to their needs. But these rules are in contrast to what participants expect from online conversations. Teachers want to perform their tasks with support of a computer program; they do not want to learn the computer program per se. CMC in learning activities must be based, not on visionary claims about technology as an all-purpose tool for automatic teaching/learning, but on specific accounts of how and why the technology affects the user's achievement of specific goals. Acknowledgements This study has been supported by a grant from the Swedish Transport &amp; Communication Research Board. We wish to express our gratitude to Judi Fusco, who, in several ways, has been a bridge between the TI community and us. We also want to thank the teachers, CharlesE and FlorenceE, for having the courage of letting Tessy 'sit in' on the sessions. The 'expert' session was lead by TerryG, whom we also want to thank for her generosity. Susan Wildermuth came to us in the final spurt, and we owe her much for the reliability check, structuring of ideas, and hints about related research. Finally, all students struggling with TI are thanked for their willingness to participate in this study. References Cherny, L. Conversation and Community. Chat in a Virtual World. California: CSCLI Ed, 1999. Colomb, and Simutis. "Visible Conversations and Academic Inquiry: CMC in a Culturally Diverse Classroom." Computer-Mediated Communication: Linguistic, Social and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Ed. Susan Herring. Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1996. 203-24. Bruner, Jerome. Acts of Meanings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1990. Holmevik, J., and C. Haynes. MOOniversity. A Student's Guide to Online Learning Environments. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Jonassen, D., et al. "Constructivism and Computer-Mediated Communication." Distance Education 9.2 (1992): 7-25. Laurrillard, Diana. Rethinking University Teaching: A Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology. London: Routledge, 1994. Mynatt, E. D., et al. "Network Communities: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed." Computer Supported Cooperative Work: The Journal of Collaborative Computing 7.1-2 (1998): 123-56. Schlager, M., J. Fusco, and P. Schank. "Evolution of an On-line Education Community of Practice." Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace. Ed. K. Ann Renninger and W. Shumar. NY: Cambridge UP, 2000. Wærn, Yvonne. "Absent Minds -- On Teacher Professional Development." Journal of Courseware Studies 22 (1999): 441-55. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Teresa Cerratto, Yvonne Wærn. "Chatting to Learn and Learning to Chat in Collaborative Virtual Environments." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3.4 (2000). [your date of access] &lt;http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/learning.php&gt;. Chicago style: Teresa Cerratto, Yvonne Wærn, "Chatting to Learn and Learning to Chat in Collaborative Virtual Environments," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3, no. 4 (2000), &lt;http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/learning.php&gt; ([your date of access]). APA style: Teresa Cerratto, Yvonne Wærn. (2000) Chatting to learn and learning to chat in collaborative virtual environments. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3(4). &lt;http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/learning.php&gt; ([your date of access]).

<strong>Abstract: </strong> The educational landscape of the 21st century is undergoing a transformative shift, primarily driven by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into learning environments. This paradigm shift, referred to as Artificially Intelligent Education, promises to redefine the traditional methodologies and approaches that have long characterized educational systems worldwide. At the core of this transformation is the capability of AI to provide personalized learning experiences, automate administrative tasks, and offer deep insights into student learning behaviours and needs. As AI technologies evolve, they bring forth a host of opportunities and challenges that educators, policymakers, and technologists must navigate to harness their potential effectively. This paper explores the impact of AI on education, highlighting the shift from a one-size-fits-all teaching model to a more tailored and adaptive learning framework. AI-enhanced educational tools and platforms are revolutionizing the ways in which content is delivered and consumed. Through adaptive learning technologies, AI can analyse a student's previous interactions and performance to tailor educational content to suit their individual learning pace and style. This approach not only improves engagement but also enhances comprehension and retention of knowledge. Moreover, AI-driven analytics enable educators to gain unprecedented insights into student progress and areas needing improvement, allowing for timely intervention and support. Additionally, AI facilitates a more inclusive learning environment by providing customized resources that cater to diverse learning needs, including those of students with disabilities. This paper details the development of various AI tools that contribute to these personalized learning experiences and discusses their implications for student outcomes and educational equity.However, the integration of AI into education is not without its challenges. Ethical considerations, such as data privacy, bias in AI algorithms, and the digital divide, pose significant hurdles that could undermine the efficacy and fairness of AI-driven educational systems. Furthermore, there is a critical need for curricula and teacher training to evolve in step with these technological advances, ensuring that educators are equipped not only to use these tools effectively but also to critically assess their impact on educational outcomes. This paper concludes by proposing a framework for the responsible implementation of AI in education, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts among educators, technologists, and policymakers. By addressing the challenges and optimizing the opportunities presented by AI, the field of education can move towards a future where learning is more personalized, accessible, and aligned with the needs of the 21st-century learner. <strong>Keywords:</strong> Artificial Intelligence (AI), Personalized Learning, Educational Technology, Ethical Considerations, Adaptive Learning Technologies <strong>Received - </strong>20/01/2024, <strong>Accepted </strong>- 27/01/2024, <strong>Published Date </strong>- 31/01/2024 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <strong>&nbsp;</strong> <strong>Introduction to AI in Education</strong> Artificial Intelligence (AI) encompasses a broad range of technologies designed to emulate human cognitive functions such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and language understanding. In the context of education, these technologies are primarily implemented through machine learning algorithms, natural language processing (NLP), and intelligent tutoring systems. Machine learning enables AI systems to improve their performance over time without being explicitly programmed by using large amounts of data. NLP allows computers to understand and interact with humans in natural language, facilitating AI applications like chat bots and virtual assistants that can aid in the learning process. Intelligent tutoring systems adaptively respond to individual student's needs, providing personalized instructions and feedback. Together, these technologies aim to enhance educational experiences and improve learning outcomes by offering more adaptive, responsive, and engaging educational tools. The integration of AI in education traces back several decades, with initial developments focused on simple computer-assisted instructions and adaptive learning systems. The 1980s and 1990s saw the emergence of early intelligent tutoring systems, such as the SCHOLAR and GUIDON systems, which used rule-based AI to teach and provide feedback in specific domains like medicine and biology. However, these systems were often limited in scope and adaptability. In recent years, the advancement of deep learning and the exponential increase in data availability and computing power have led to significant breakthroughs in AI capabilities. &nbsp; Today, AI is used in various educational applications from primary to tertiary and continuing education. Tools such as personalized learning platforms that adapt to individual learning speeds and styles, AI-driven data analytics for assessing student performances and educational outcomes, and AI-powered educational games and simulations are becoming increasingly commonplace. These tools are not only enhancing how content is delivered but are also providing educators with robust tools to measure and enhance their teaching effectiveness. &nbsp; Currently, the educational sector is witnessing a growing integration of AI technologies aimed at not only automating administrative tasks but also significantly enhancing instructional methods and learning environments. The proliferations of AI in education has facilitated remote learning and massively open online courses (MOOCs), which have broadened access to quality education, especially during the global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these advancements, the field continues to face challenges related to ethical concerns, the need for massive data sets for AI training, and the digital divide that may limit access to AI-enhanced education for underserved populations. These areas present ongoing research and policy-making opportunities to optimize the benefits of AI in education while mitigating its risks. <strong>Personalization through AI</strong> Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize the educational landscape by providing personalized learning experiences that cater to the unique needs of each student. At the core of this transformation is AI&rsquo;s ability to analyse vast amounts of data regarding a student&rsquo;s performance, learning habits, and preferences. AI systems can identify patterns and learning gaps that may not be evident at a glance. For example, through adaptive learning technologies, AI can determine if a student excels in visuallearning over textual or auditory methods. It can adjust the content delivery accordingly, offering more diagrams and videos for visual learners, detailed readings for textual learners, or podcasts and discussions for auditory learners. This adaptive approach helps in tailoring the educational experience to optimize student engagement and comprehension. AI can continuously monitor the progress of each learner and dynamically adjust the difficulty level and pace of the curriculum. Such systems use algorithms that assess a student&rsquo;s responses to various learning activities and automatically provide additional practice or advance to more challenging materials as needed. This is particularly beneficial in large classrooms where teachers may not always have the time to give detailed, individual attention to every student. AI-driven platforms can serve as an assistant that provides real-time feedback and support, helping students stay on track and achieve their learning goals more effectively. AI can also facilitate personalized learning paths. It can analyse a student&rsquo;s long-term academic performance and recommend career paths or future courses that align with their demonstrated skills and interests. For instance, a student showing strong aptitude in mathematical reasoning and analytical skills might receive suggestions to explore advanced mathematics, statistics, or computer science courses. This level of guidance is pivotal in helping students make informed decisions about their educational and professional futures, enhancing motivation and relevance in their studies. AI&rsquo;s role in education extends to supporting educators by providing them with detailed insights into each student&rsquo;s learning process. This allows teachers to make informed decisions about how to structure their instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners effectively. For instance, AI-generated reports can highlight which students need more help on specific topics, who might benefit from accelerated content, or what collective misconceptions need to be addressed in class discussions. By leveraging AI, educators can focus more on pedagogy and less on the logistics of content delivery, creating a more efficient and effective educational environment that prioritizes individual student needs and outcomes.The integration of AI in personalized learning leverages machine learning algorithms and data analytics to deliver educational experiences that are tailored to the individual needs and abilities of each student. This approach fundamentally changes the learning landscape by using AI to assess each student's current knowledge base, learning pace, and preferred learning styles. AI systems analyse these parameters and continually adjust the content difficulty, feedback, and instructional methods accordingly. This dynamic adaptation helps to keep the learning process engaging and effective, maximizing student motivation and ensuring that each learner can achieve their potential.AI in personalized learning also encompasses the ability to predict student performance and identify potential learning gaps before they become problematic. Through the use of predictive analytics, AI can forecast which areas students might struggle with and provide pre-emptive interventions. This proactive approach helps in maintaining a continuous learning progression and supports educators in delivering targeted assistance. It minimizes frustration for learners by addressing challenges at their roots, providing a more seamless and supportive educational journey. AI-driven personalized learning can bridge the gap between students and educational content across diverse backgrounds and learning abilities. It can democratize learning by offering high-quality, customized education to students regardless of geographical and socio-economic boundaries. AI systems can deliver personalized learning experiences to a vast number of students simultaneously, making advanced education more accessible and inclusive. This broad reach, combined with the capacity for customization, underlines the transformative potential of AI in education, promising a future where learning is optimized for each individual's unique needs and potentials. <strong>AI and Curriculum Development</strong> The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in designing and updating curriculum is becoming increasingly significant as educational institutions seek more adaptive and personalized learning experiences for students. AI can analyse vast amounts of educational data to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities in existing curricula. For example, by evaluating student performance across various subjects and levels, AI systems can help educators understand which areas are most challenging for students and require enhanced instructional focus. Additionally, AI can track the evolution of job markets and emerging technological trends, ensuring that the curriculum remains relevant and prepares students effectively for future careers. AI also plays a crucial role in the personalization of education. It allows for the development of dynamic curricula that adapt to the learning pace and style of individual students. AI-powered platforms can suggest custom learning paths and resources, modify difficulty levels in real time, and provide targeted interventions based on real-time feedback and assessment data. This level of personalization is not feasible at scale without AI, as it requires constant adjustment and fine-tuning of the learning content and methodologies to meet each student's unique needs and capabilities. AI assists in the continuous updating of curricula by automating the collection and analysis of feedback from various stakeholders, including students, teachers, and industry experts. This ongoing process helps in identifying which parts of the curriculum are outdated or less effective. AI-driven analytics can highlight the need for new courses or updates faster than traditional methods, supporting academic institutions in keeping their courses fresh and in alignment with both academic advancements and industry requirements. By facilitating a more responsive and agile curriculum development process, AI ensures that educational content not only meets current standards but also anticipates future educational needs and job market trends. <strong>AI-Driven Assessment Tools</strong> The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into educational systems, specifically for grading and providing feedback, is a rapidly evolving domain that holds promise for enhancing educational outcomes and operational efficiency. AI grading systems primarily utilize natural language processing (NLP) technologies to evaluate written responses and machine learning to adapt and improve over time. These systems can handle large volumes of work in a fraction of the time required by human graders, thereby reducing workload and providing immediate feedback to students. This swift feedback can be particularly beneficial in large classes or online courses, where the scale might otherwise delay responses. However, the use of AI in grading is not without its challenges and limitations. One significant concern is the potential for AI to misunderstand nuanced or creatively structured answers. AI systems are typically trained on datasets that may not fully encapsulate the diversity of expression found in student work. Consequently, there's a risk of migrating or failing to appreciate unique, correct responses that deviate from expected patterns. Furthermore, students might learn to 'game the system' by tailoring their answers in ways that are more likely to be rewarded by algorithms, potentially stunting genuine learning and critical thinking skills. The ethical considerations are also paramount when deploying AI in education. Issues around privacy, data security, and bias need careful examination. AI systems can inadvertently perpetuate and amplify biases present in their training data, leading to unfair outcomes for certain groups of students. Additionally, reliance on digital tools raises concerns about data privacy and the security of student information, especially when third-party providers are involved in the AI systems' development and maintenance. The potential for AI to transform educational assessment is undeniable. When used responsibly and as a complement to human oversight, AI can offer more personalized, timely, and detailed feedback than would otherwise be possible, particularly in under-resourced educational environments. To maximize the benefits while mitigating risks, educational institutions should focus on transparent, inclusive, and ethically responsible AI implementation strategies. This includes rigorous validation of AI systems for accuracy and fairness, regular reviews by human educators, and clear communication with students about how their work is being assessed. With careful management, AI in grading can serve as a valuable tool to enhance educational delivery and student learning outcomes. AI-driven assessment tools have significantly transformed the landscape of both educational and professional environments by offering scalable, efficient, and consistent ways to evaluate knowledge, skills, and abilities. These tools utilize algorithms to grade and provide feedback on a wide range of assessments, from standardized testing to more complex analytical tasks. One of the primary benefits of such technology is its ability to deliver immediate feedback, a feature particularly useful in educational settings where timely feedback is crucial for effective learning. Moreover, these systems can handle large volumes of assessments simultaneously, which reduces the time and labour traditionally associated with grading, thereby allowing educators and professionals more time to focus on curriculum development and training activities. AI-driven assessment tools also bring a significant degree of personalization to the evaluation process. By analysing large sets of data, these tools can adapt to the individual learning pace and style of each student, potentially identifying strengths and weaknesses that may not be evident through traditional assessment methods. For instance, adaptive testing can modify the difficulty of questions based on the examinee's previous responses, offering a tailored assessment experience that can more accurately measure a student&rsquo;s true capabilities and learning progress. There are several challenges associated with the use of AI in assessments. One major concern is the potential for bias in AI algorithms, which can occur due to biased training data or flawed algorithm design. This can lead to unfair assessments and outcomes that disproportionately affect certain groups of people, thereby undermining the fairness and credibility of these tools. Additionally, over-reliance on automated systems may neglect the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as these systems are typically optimized for quantifiable outcomes and may not effectively assess more nuanced skills such as creativity and interpersonal abilities. The implementation of AI-driven assessment tools raises significant concerns regarding data privacy and security. The collection and analysis of large amounts of personal and performance data necessitate robust protections to prevent data breaches and ensure that individuals&rsquo; privacy is respected. This challenge is compounded by the varying regulations and standards across different regions, which can make it difficult for institutions to implement these tools universally. In conclusion, while AI-driven assessment tools offer substantial benefits in terms of efficiency and personalization, they also present notable challenges that must be addressed to ensure their fair, effective, and secure use in both educational and professional settings. AI-driven assessment tools differ from traditional assessment methods in several key ways, each carrying its own advantages and challenges. Traditional assessments, which often include paper-based tests, essays, and oral examinations, have long been the standard in educational and professional environments. These methods rely heavily on human judgment for scoring and feedback, which can introduce a high level of subjectivity and potential for inconsistency. One of the primary distinctions is the scalability and efficiency offered by AI-driven tools. Traditional methods are labour-intensive, requiring significant time from educators or examiners to prepare, administer, and grade. This process is not only slow but can also be prone to human error and bias, particularly in subjective assessments like essays or presentations. In contrast, AI systems can process and evaluate large volumes of assessments quickly and consistently, without fatigue, thereby providing more uniform outcomes. Another significant advantage of AI-driven assessments over traditional methods is the ability to offer personalized and adaptive testing experiences. Traditional assessments are typically static, offering the same questions to every test-taker, which can fail to account for varying skill levels and learning paces. AI-driven tools, however, can adjust the difficulty of questions in real-time based on an individual's previous responses, allowing for a more tailored assessment that can more accurately reflect an individual's knowledge and abilities. This can lead to a more efficient assessment process, as it can potentially reduce the number of questions needed to accurately knowledge a student&rsquo;s competency. Traditional methods have advantages in assessing more complex cognitive and interpersonal skills. For example, oral exams and in-person presentations can better gauge a student's communication skills, critical thinking, and ability to interact in real-world scenarios. AI assessments, while improving, often struggle to accurately assess these more nuanced skills, which are crucial in many academic and professional fields. Additionally, traditional assessments involve direct human interaction, which can provide immediate contextual feedback in a more personalized and empathetic manner. AI-driven assessments provide remarkable scalability, efficiency, and personalization, traditional assessment methods still hold significant value in evaluating complex human skills and offering a more nuanced and interactive assessment experience. The choice between AI-driven and traditional assessments may depend on the specific needs of the educational or professional program and the skills it aims to measure. <strong>Enhancing Engagement with AI</strong> AI technology significantly enhances student engagement through personalized learning environments and interactive content. Personalized learning platforms use AI to analyse individual performance data and preferences, allowing the system to tailor the difficulty and types of tasks presented to each student. This approach ensures that thelearning process is aligned with the student&rsquo;s pace and interest, thereby maximizing engagement and effectiveness. Additionally, AI-driven gasification incorporates elements like points, badges, and leader boards tailored to each user's achievements, making learning a more fun and competitive experience. These platforms can dynamically adjust challenges based on a student&rsquo;s interactions, ensuring the content remains engaging and not overly daunting. AI is instrumental in providing real-time support and predictive insights through chat bots and virtual assistants. These AI tools offer instant academic help and guidance, facilitating a continuous learning process without delays. They can also detect subtle changes in student engagement and adapt their interaction accordingly, which helps in maintaining an active learning environment. Moreover, AI applications in creating adaptive content such as simulations and interactive videos cater to different learning styles, keeping students actively involved by providing hands-on, responsive experiences that adjust based on real-time student input and actions. Through these innovative applications, AI technologies foster an engaging, personalized, and supportive learning atmosphere that can lead to improved educational outcomes. AI-driven gamification and interactive learning environments are transforming the way educational content is delivered, making learning more engaging and personalized. In gamification, AI is utilized to create adaptive learning paths where the challenges and rewards are customized to the learner's skill level and progress. For instance, a language learning app might use AI to analyse a student's previous answers and tailor future quizzes to areas that need improvement, all while incorporating game-like elements such as points, levels, and badges to motivate the learner. Additionally, AI can dynamically adjust the difficulty of tasks in real-time to keep the learner in a state of flow, where the activity is neither too easy nor too challenging, fostering an optimal learning environment. In interactive learning environments, AI enhances interactivity and immersion through virtual and augmented reality systems. For example, a virtual lab simulation for chemistry students can use AI to simulate complex experiments that react differently depending on the student's input, mimicking a real-world lab experience. AI can also facilitate role-playing scenarios in which students interact with AI-driven characters, allowing them to practice language skills or medical procedures in a risk-free setting. Such environments leverage AI's capability to process natural language and understand user input, thereby providing immediate feedback and adapting the scenario to enhance the learning experience. This not only makes learning more interactive but also deeply engaging, promoting better retention of knowledge and skills. <strong>AI in Classroom Management</strong> AI tools are increasingly becoming integral in assisting teachers with managing classroom activities, enhancing both the effectiveness of teaching and the efficiency of administrative tasks. These tools can automate routine tasks such as attendance taking, grading, and scheduling, freeing up teachers to focus more on instructional time and student interaction. AI-driven platforms can also facilitate personalized learning by tracking student performance and adapting curriculum to meet individual needs. This personalized approach helps in identifying students who may be struggling or those who need more challenging material, ensuring that all students receive the appropriate level of support and challenge. AI tools help in creating a more engaged learning environment through the use of interactive and adaptive learning technologies. Educational software and applications powered by AI can provide students with interactive simulations, educational games, and problem-solving activities that are designed to enhance learning outcomes and keep students motivated. These tools often include real-time feedback mechanisms, allowing students to understand their mistakes and learn from them immediately, which can significantly enhance the learning process. For teachers, this means a more dynamic classroom where instruction is supported by tools that adapt to the educational needs of students in real-time. AI can assist in managing communication within the classroom setting. Tools such as AI-powered chat bots can answer students&rsquo; frequently asked questions and assist with homework outside of school hours. This provides students with continuous support and can help maintain their interest and engagement with the subject matter. In a broader sense, AI can also analyse communication patterns and provide teachers with insights into how to improve interactions or identify issues that might be affecting classroom dynamics. Overall, AI tools not only support the administrative and instructional aspects of teaching but also enhance interaction and communication, leading to a more effective and cohesive educational environment. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into classroom management has shown significant potential to reduce teacher workload and enhance efficiency. AI-driven tools can automate routine administrative tasks such as attendance taking, grading, and scheduling, allowing teachers to devote more time to instructional activities and personalized student engagement. Moreover, AI can analyse data on student performance and classroom behaviour, providing teachers with actionable insights. This data-driven approach helps in identifying students' learning patterns, predicting areas where students may struggle, and tailoring educational interventions accordingly. As a result, teachers are better equipped to address diverse learning needs efficiently, enhancing overall classroom effectiveness. AI can streamline communication between teachers, students, and parents, ensuring that all stakeholders are well-informed and actively involved in the educational process. Platforms that utilize AI can help in managing communications, sending out reminders for assignments, and even providing initial responses to common student inquiries, thus reducing the manual effort required from teachers. This increased efficiency not only reduces the stress associated with teacher workload but also improves the quality of education by enabling a more organized and responsive teaching environment. Overall, the deployment of AI in classroom management promises a more sustainable and dynamic educational ecosystem, potentially leading to improved educational outcomes and a better work-life balance for teachers. <strong>Predictive Analytics in Education</strong> The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to predict student performance and dropout rates is an emerging field that leverages machine learning algorithms to analyse various data points about students and their learning environments. These algorithms are trained on historical data such as grades, attendance records, socio-economic background, engagement levels in class activities, and many other factors that could influence a student's success in school. By identifying patterns and trends within this data, AI can predict which students are at risk of underperforming or dropping out. This predictive capability enables educational institutions to intervene proactively, offering targeted support and resources to students who need it most. It also helps in optimizing resource allocation, designing personalized education plans, and improving overall educational outcomes. The implementation of AI in predicting student outcomes poses both opportunities and challenges. It allows educators to understand the complex interplay of factors that affect student success at a granular level, potentially transforming how educational policies and practices are designed. However, it also raises concerns about privacy, data security, and the ethical use of predictive information. Moreover, there is a risk of perpetuating existing biases if the AI systems are trained on skewed or biased data sets. Therefore, while AI can significantly enhance educational strategies by providing detailed insights into student performance, it is crucial that these technologies are developed and implemented thoughtfully and inclusively, with an ongoing evaluation of their impact and effectiveness. In the context of education, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) for strategic interventions based on predictive insights represents a transformative shift towards personalized and efficient learning environments. AI-driven analytics can mine extensive data sets&mdash;ranging from student interaction logs, performance records, and demographic information&mdash;to identify patterns and predict student outcomes. This predictive capability allows educators and administrators to implement proactive strategies tailored to the needs of individual students or specific groups. For example, AI can help in predicting which students might struggle with certain subjects, enabling early interventions such as customized tutoring sessions or specialized content delivery that can help bridge knowledge gaps before they widen. AI in education extends to optimizing curriculum development and resource allocation, enhancing the overall learning experience. By analysing trends over time, AI systems can recommend adjustments to teaching methodologies, suggest the most effective multimedia tools, or even adapt the pace of content delivery to suit diverse learning speeds. This level of customization ensures that educational institutions can better serve their student populations, promoting higher engagement and achievement rates. Strategic interventions powered by AI not only focus on academic performance but also incorporate socio-emotional factors, aiming to build a supportive learning environment that anticipates and addresses educational challenges in a holistic manner. This integration of AI fosters a more inclusive, adaptive, and forward-thinking educational landscape. <strong>Ethical Considerations in AI-Driven Education</strong> AI-driven education brings with it a myriad of ethical challenges that educators, developers, and policymakers must navigate carefully. One of the primary concerns is privacy. As AI systems often require large volumes of data to function optimally, the collection, storage, and processing of student data&mdash;including potentially sensitive information related to learning patterns, behavioural traits, and personal demographics&mdash;pose significant privacy risks. There is a critical need to establish stringent data protection measures and ensure that data collection is transparent and consensual. Additionally, the integration of AI in education raises questions about the extent of surveillance in learning environments and the impact it may have on student autonomy and trust. Another set of ethical challenges revolves around bias and accountability. AI systems can inadvertently perpetuate and amplify existing biases if they are trained on skewed or unrepresentative data sets. This can lead to unfair treatment of students based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, or other factors, thereby reinforcing existing inequalities in educational outcomes. Addressing this requires not only careful design and training of AI models to ensure fairness and inclusivity but also ongoing monitoring to detect and correct bias as it arises. Furthermore, accountability is crucial in AI-driven education; it must be clear who is responsible for the decisions made by AI systems. This includes determining who is accountable when an AI makes an error that negatively affects a student's learning progress or outcomes. Ensuring that there are mechanisms for human oversight and intervention in AI-driven systems is essential to maintain trust and effectiveness in educational settings. Transparency and explain ability must be prioritized. Educational institutions should be transparent about the AI systems they deploy, including the types of data these systems utilize, how they process this data, and the purpose for which it is used. It&rsquo;s crucial that both students and educators understand how AI decisions are made, particularly when these affect student assessments, personalized learning paths, or recommendations. Ensuring that AI systems are explainable and their outputs justifiable builds trust and accountability, making it easier for users to recognize and rectify biases or errors. Fairness and bias mitigation are critical. AI systems should be continuously monitored and audited to detect and address any implicit biases that could affect student outcomes based on race, gender, socio-economic status, or disability. This involves training AI models on diverse data sets that accurately reflect the varied student population. Institutions should also implement regular reviews of AI outcomes to ensure equitable impacts across all student groups, adjusting the systems as needed to prevent discrimination and to promote inclusivity. Data privacy and security practices must be stringent. Educational institutions must comply with local and international data protection laws, such as GDPR in Europe or FERPA in the United States, ensuring that student data is handled securely and with consent. Students and parents should have clear options to opt out of data collection or AI analysis where feasible, and they should be informed of the potential implications of these technologies on the student's educational experience. Strong encryption methods, secure data storage solutions, and regular security audits should be standard to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access or breaches. <strong>AI, Accessibility, and Inclusivity</strong> Artificial Intelligence (AI) is significantly enhancing the accessibility of education for students with disabilities by providing customized learning experiences and removing barriers that traditional educational methods often present. For instance, AI-driven technologies such as text-to-speech and speech recognition tools are transformative for students with visual impairments or reading difficulties, enabling them to access textual content through auditory means. Additionally, AI can adapt learning materials to the needs of each student, allowing for variations in presentation that suit different learning styles and disabilities. Predictive analytics, another facet of AI, can help educators identify individual student needs early, allowing for timely intervention and support to ensure all students have equal opportunities to succeed in their educational endeavours. AI facilitates real-time communication and interaction adjustments, which are critical for students with hearing impairments or cognitive disabilities. Through AI-powered apps and platforms, these students can receive instant subtitles for spoken words or complex instructions broken down into simpler, manageable steps. This technology also extends to sign language recognition systems that convert sign language into text, making classroom interactions more inclusive. By automating and customizing the delivery of educational content, AI helps create a learning environment that acknowledges and adjusts to the unique challenges faced by students with disabilities, thus fostering a more inclusive education system where barriers to learning are continuously identified and addressed. Inclusive education, aimed at supporting diverse student needs within a mainstream educational setting, has been significantly enhanced through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI). One prominent example involves AI-powered tools like text-to-speech and speech recognition technologies, which have been transformative for students with visual impairments and learning disabilities such as dyslexia. For instance, platforms integrating AI-driven algorithms can customize learning experiences, adapting content to suitable formats and providing personalized learning pathways. Such tools not only enhance reading and comprehension skills by converting text to audio but also allow students to interact with the content through verbal commands, thereby promoting independence and engagement in the learning process. Another case study centres around the use of AI to support students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). AI technologies, including machine learning models and robotics, have been utilized to develop social robots that assist in teaching social and communication skills to autistic students. These robots engage students through consistent, repeatable, and patient interaction, which can be less intimidating than human interactions for some individuals with ASD. Additionally, AI-driven data analysis tools help educators identify unique learning patterns and potential hurdles specific to each student, enabling tailored educational strategies that accommodate individual learning speeds and styles. Through these applications, AI facilitates a more inclusive educational environment where students with diverse needs receive the support necessary to thrive academically and socially. <strong>Preparing for the Future</strong> As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into various aspects of daily life and work, students need to develop specific skills to thrive in this new landscape. Digital literacy is crucial; this includes not only the ability to use technology but also to understand the basics of how AI systems work, the data they use, and their limitations. Critical thinking skills are also essential, allowing students to discern the quality of information generated by AI and make informed decisions based on its output. As AI automates routine tasks, creativity and innovation become invaluable skills, enabling students to identify and solve complex problems where human intuition and novel thinking are irreplaceable. Additionally, interpersonal and ethical skills will play a significant role in a future dominated by AI technologies. Emotional intelligence, the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically, will be vital as machines lack these nuanced human capabilities. Understanding and navigating ethical considerations in the use of AI, such as bias, privacy, and accountability, will be crucial. These competencies ensure that students can use AI responsibly and effectively, fostering environments where technology serves to enhance human capabilities and quality of life rather than diminishing them. Educational systems around the world are increasingly recognizing the importance of adapting curricula and teaching methods to prepare students for a future job market that is expected to be heavily influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. To this end, there is a growing emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, as these areas are foundational to understanding and working with AI. Schools and universities are incorporating more computer science classes, including programming, data analysis, and specific courses on AI and machine learning. Beyond STEM, there is also a push to integrate these technologies across all subjects to foster a deeper understanding of how AI can be applied in various fields, thereby encouraging a more interdisciplinary approach to education. Additionally, to equip students with the necessary skills for future jobs, educational systems are also focusing on developing soft skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. AI is expected to automate many routine tasks, so these higher-order thinking skills are becoming crucial. Schools are incorporating project-based learning and collaborative assignments to help students develop these skills. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on lifelong learning and adaptability, recognizing that the rapid pace of technological change will require continuous skill development and re-skilling throughout one&rsquo;s career. Educational technologies, including AI-driven personalized learning platforms, are being utilized to support tailored educational experiences that meet individual learning styles and pace, thereby enhancing student engagement and effectiveness of the learning process. <strong>Challenges and Limitations of AI in Education</strong> <strong><u>Technical Challenges:</u></strong> The implementation of AI in any field, including education, faces significant technical challenges. One of the primary issues is the development of robust and scalable AI systems that can reliably process and interpret the vast amounts of data they receive. This involves not only the creation of powerful algorithms but also ensuring these systems can operate efficiently across diverse hardware and software environments. Another technical hurdle is the integration of AI tools with existing educational technologies, which may not always be straightforward. This integration requires careful planning and coordination to ensure data compatibility and functional interoperability, which are essential for a seamless user experience. <strong><u>Ethical Challenges:</u></strong> Ethical considerations are paramount in the deployment of AI in education. Issues of data privacy and security are at the forefront, as educational AI systems handle sensitive information about students' personal details, learning patterns, and academic performance. Ensuring that this data is protected and that students' privacy is respected is a major concern. Additionally, there is the risk of bias in AI algorithms, which can perpetuate or exacerbate existing inequalities if not carefully managed. AI systems must be designed to be as neutral as possible, with continuous monitoring and adjustments to mitigate any form of bias that might occur. <strong><u>Practical Challenges:</u></strong> On the practical side, the implementation of AI in education requires significant investment in both technology and training. Schools and educational institutions may face budget constraints that limit their ability to deploy AI solutions. There is also the challenge of digital literacy among educators and students, which can hinder the effective use of AI tools. Educators need to be trained not just to use these tools, but also to understand their capabilities and limitations. This training must be ongoing to keep pace with technological advancements. Moreover, there is the issue of ensuring that AI does not replace the human touch that is crucial in education but instead acts as a supplement to enhance the teaching and learning process. <strong>Balancing Challenges and Opportunities:</strong> Despite these challenges, the potential benefits of AI in education can be transformative, making it worth the effort to address these issues. By tackling the technical, ethical, and practical challenges head-on, stakeholders can pave the way for AI to enhance educational outcomes through personalization, efficiency, and accessibility. Collaborative efforts among educators, technologists, policymakers, and the community are essential to develop strategies that maximize the benefits of AI while minimizing its risks. Through responsible implementation, AI can significantly contribute to preparing students for the demands of the 21st-century world. <strong>Limitations of current AI technologies in addressing complex educational needs</strong> The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education has been met with much enthusiasm, attributed to its potential to revolutionize how educational content is delivered, personalized, and assessed. However, as with any technological advancement, AI in education comes with a set of significant limitations that must be addressed to fully realize its benefits while mitigating negative impacts. <strong>1. Emotional and Social Intelligence Deficits:</strong> One of the primary limitations of AI in educational settings is its inability to mimic the emotional and social intelligence of human teachers. AI systems can tailor learning paths based on cognitive data and performance metrics, but they lack the capacity to sense, respond to, or appreciate the emotional states of students. Effective education is not merely about knowledge acquisition; it involves understanding student emotions, which can significantly affect motivation and engagement. Human teachers can perceive when a student is struggling not just intellectually but emotionally&mdash;be it stress, confusion, or disinterest&mdash;and can intervene in ways that are supportive and empathetic. AI, however, is not equipped to handle such nuances, which can lead to a learning experience that feels impersonal and detached. <strong>2. Inherent Biases in AI Systems:</strong> AI-driven educational tools rely heavily on data to make decisions or recommendations. If the underlying data is biased or not representative of the diverse student populations, the AI's outputs will inevitably inherit these biases. This can manifest in several detrimental ways, such as favouring one demographic over another or failing to accommodate the unique needs of students from varied backgrounds. For instance, an AI system developed predominantly with data from urban, well-funded schools may not perform effectively for students in rural or underfunded schools, exacerbating existing educational inequalities rather than alleviating them. <strong>3. The Irreplaceability of Human Interaction:</strong> The role of a teacher is profoundly complex, extending beyond the delivery of curriculum content to include mentorship, motivation, and the fostering of a safe and conducive learning environment. Teachers inspire, lead by example, and cultivate a sense of curiosity and a desire to learn. While AI can efficiently manage information dissemination and conduct assessments, it cannot replicate the mentor-student relationship that is vital for educational and personal growth. Human teachers also play a critical role in fostering group interactions and promoting social skills among students&mdash;areas where AI applications fall short. <strong>4. Ethical and Privacy Concerns with AI in Education:</strong> Deploying AI in educational settings raises significant ethical concerns, particularly regarding privacy and surveillance. AI systems often require the collection, storage, and processing of personal data, posing risks related to data breaches and misuse. Additionally, the continuous monitoring capabilities of AI could lead to an Orwellian scenario where every action of a student is watched, potentially infringing on privacy and impacting student behaviour. Educators and policymakers must tread carefully to balance the benefits of AI technologies with the need to protect student rights and freedoms. <strong>5. Technological Access and Inequality:</strong> The efficacy of AI in education is heavily dependent on the availability of suitable technological infrastructure. This includes not only access to computers and other devices but also to reliable, high-speed internet. Disparities in access to technology&mdash;often along socio-economic and geographical lines&mdash;can lead to a digital divide where some students benefit from AI-enhanced education while others are left behind. This technological inequality can lead to widening gaps in educational achievements between different groups of students. <strong>6. Challenges in Developing Critical and Creative Thinking:</strong> AI in education is often geared towards optimizing the learning process through structured tasks and feedback systems. However, this focus can neglect the development of critical and creative thinking skills, which are crucial for students to effectively navigate the complexities of the real world. Education should involve open-ended questions and unstructured problems that foster innovation and critical analysis&mdash;areas where AI's structured and algorithmic nature may not provide the best support. <strong>7. Resistance to Technological Integration:</strong> The adoption of AI in educational contexts also faces practical challenges, including resistance from educators, students, and parents. Teachers might view AI tools as a threat to their professional autonomy or fear being replaced by technology. Additionally, there might be scepticism regarding the effectiveness of AI in improving educational outcomes. Effective integration of AI requires addressing these concerns through transparent communication, demonstrating the value added by AI, and ensuring that these tools support rather than replace the human elements of teaching. To address these limitations, a nuanced approach that emphasizes the complementary role of AI in education is essential. By leveraging AI to handle certain tasks while ensuring that the core of teaching remains human-cantered, the educational landscape can evolve in a way that harnesses the best of both worlds. <strong>Future Trends and Innovations in AI and Education</strong> Emerging technologies, particularly in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), are set to significantly reshape the educational sector by enhancing both teaching methodologies and learning experiences. Adaptive learning technologies, which are one of the forefront applications of AI, exemplify this shift. These systems utilize AI to assess the abilities and learning progress of individual students in real-time, adjusting the content difficulty, style, and pacing according to each student&rsquo;s unique needs. This personalized approach aims to maximize learning efficiency and engagement by ensuring that each student faces challenges tailored to their current level, potentially boosting their academic performance and interest in the subject matter. Another profound impact of AI in education is seen through Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). These systems create a close-to-personal tutoring experience, where the machine responds to student inquiries, provides customized feedback, and explains concepts in varied ways until the learner gains a proper understanding. This technology is particularly revolutionary in environments where there is a shortage of qualified teachers, as it offers a scalable method to deliver high-quality, personalized education, and maintains learning continuity in diverse settings. AI is streamlining administrative tasks in education through automated grading systems. These systems are not limited to objective assessments like quizzes but are increasingly capable of evaluating subjective answers and essays. The implementation of such technology can significantly reduce the grading workload on educators, allowing them more time to focus on instructional design and student interaction. Furthermore, the instant feedback provided by automated systems can be crucial for the learning process, offering students timely insights into their understanding and areas for improvement. Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) technologies also complement AI in transforming educational landscapes by providing immersive learning environments. These technologies enable students to explore complex or abstract concepts in a highly interactive manner&mdash;for instance, VR can simulate historical events or distant planets, offering students a deeper, experiential form of learning that is often more engaging than traditional textbooks. When integrated with AI, these simulations can adapt to student interactions, providing customized learning experiences that respond to the user&rsquo;s input and learning style. However, the deployment of such technologies also requires careful consideration of ethical issues, particularly concerning data privacy and the risk of widening the digital divide. The effective use of AI in education hinges not only on technological advancements but also on ensuring equitable access and maintaining the human touch that is crucial in education. As these technologies continue to develop, they must be governed by policies that protect student data and ensure that the benefits of AI are accessible to all students, regardless of their socio-economic background. By navigating these challenges, AI can significantly enhance educational outcomes and herald a new era of personalized learning. As AI technology continues to evolve, its integration into educational settings is poised to transform how education is delivered, personalized, and managed. Looking towards the future, several predictions can be made about the role of AI in education, reflecting both the potential enhancements and the challenges to be navigated. AI is expected to drive significant advances in personalized learning. Algorithms capable of analysing individual learning patterns and preferences will make it possible to tailor educational content to the needs of each student. This means that the pacing, level of difficulty, and teaching styles can be adjusted to optimize each student&rsquo;s learning potential. This will not only help in accommodating diverse learning abilities within a single classroom but also assist in closing gaps in educational achievement. AI will likely automate many administrative tasks that currently consume substantial amounts of teachers&rsquo; time. Grading of quizzes, essays, and even participation can be handled by sophisticated AI systems, freeing educators to focus more on teaching and less on paperwork. Furthermore, AI could help in creating and updating curricula that are not only tailored to individual students but also adapt to changing societal needs and job markets, ensuring that educational content remains relevant and dynamic as AI becomes more embedded in educational tools, virtual and augmented reality will become more commonplace in classrooms. These technologies, enhanced by AI, will provide students with immersive learning experiences that are both engaging and effective. For instance, complex scientific concepts or historical events can be explored in virtual environments that make learning more tangible and impactful. This immersive technology can drastically enhance learning by making abstract or difficult content more accessible and interesting. However, with these advancements, there will also be significant challenges, particularly concerning data privacy and ethical considerations. As AI systems require large datasets to function optimally, the collection and handling of sensitive student information will need to be managed with strict adherence to privacy laws and ethical standards. Educators and technologists will need to work together to establish protocols that protect students and their personal information while enabling the benefits of AI. The future of AI in education will necessitate continuous professional development for educators. Teachers will need to become proficient not only in their subject areas but also in using advanced technologies that support AI-driven education. This will require substantial investment in teacher training and may also change the role of the teacher from a knowledge provider to a facilitator of learning experiences.In sum, while AI promises to enrich educational experiences significantly; its successful integration will depend on careful management of ethical issues, robust privacy protections, and ongoing support for educators. If these elements are effectively addressed, AI has the potential to revolutionize the educational landscape by making learning more personalized, efficient, and engaging. <strong>Conclusion</strong> The transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in education is vast and multifaceted, offering possibilities that could redefine teaching and learning processes. AI can significantly enhance personalized learning, providing tailored educational experiences that meet the individual needs of each student. By analysing data on students&rsquo; learning styles, progress, and challenges, AI can adapt curriculum and instruction in real-time. For instance, intelligent tutoring systems can offer additional practice on topics a student struggles with, or suggest advanced content when a student is ready to move forward, ensuring optimal learning progression for everyone. AI can streamline administrative tasks that traditionally consume much of educators' time, thereby allowing teachers to focus more on teaching and less on logistics. Automation tools can handle grading, scheduling, and even communication with students and parents, making these processes more efficient and less prone to human error. This not only improves the efficiency of educational institutions but also enhances the quality of interaction between students and educators. Teachers can spend more time engaging with students in meaningful ways, facilitating deeper discussion, and addressing individual concerns more effectively. AI also holds promise for breaking down barriers in education, making quality learning materials and experiences accessible to a broader range of students, including those in remote or underserved areas. Through technologies such as AI-powered online learning platforms, students from around the world can access lectures, resources, and support from top-tier educational institutions. Moreover, AI can assist in language translation and content adaptation, which are crucial for non-native speakers and can democratize access to global educational content, fostering a more inclusive learning environment. However, the integration of AI in education also presents challenges and ethical considerations that must be addressed. Issues such as data privacy, security, and the potential for AI to perpetuate existing biases must be carefully managed. Educators and policymakers need to establish robust frameworks and guidelines to ensure that AI tools are used responsibly and that they truly enhance educational outcomes without compromising ethical standards or exacerbating inequalities. In conclusion, while AI&rsquo;s potential to transform education is undeniable, realizing this potential requires careful implementation, ongoing evaluation, and adaptive policy frameworks. As AI continues to evolve, it is imperative that educators and technologists collaborate closely to harness its capabilities in a way that enriches the learning experiences and prepares students effectively for the future. This collaborative approach can ensure that AI serves as a powerful tool for educational enrichment rather than a source of contention. &nbsp;

IntroductionIn 2013, Facebook introduced autoplay video into its newsfeed. In order not to produce sound disruptive to hearing users, videos were muted until a user clicked on them to enable audio. This move, recognised as a competitive response to the popularity of video-sharing sites like YouTube, has generated significant changes to the aesthetics, form, and modalities of online video. Many video producers have incorporated captions into their videos as a means of attracting and maintaining user attention. Of course, captions are not simply a replacement or translation of sound, but have instead added new layers of meaning and changed the way stories are told through video.In this paper, I ask how the use of captions has altered the communication of messages conveyed through online video. In particular, I consider the role captions have played in news reporting, as online platforms like Facebook become increasingly significant sites for the consumption of news. One of the most successful producers of online news video has been Al Jazeera Plus (AJ+). I examine two recent AJ+ news videos to consider how meaning is generated when captions are integrated into the already multimodal form of the video—their online reporting of Australian versus US healthcare systems, and the history of the Black Panther movement. I analyse interactions amongst image, sound, language, and typography and consider the role of captions in audience engagement, branding, and profit-making. Sean Zdenek notes that captions have yet to be recognised “as a significant variable in multimodal analysis, on par with image, sound and video” (xiii). Here, I attempt to pay close attention to the representational, cultural and economic shifts that occur when captions become a central component of online news reporting. I end by briefly enquiring into the implications of captions for our understanding of literacy in an age of constantly shifting media.Multimodality in Digital MediaJeff Bezemer and Gunther Kress define a mode as a “socially and culturally shaped resource for meaning making” (171). Modes include meaning communicated through writing, sound, image, gesture, oral language, and the use of space. Of course, all meanings are conveyed through multiple modes. A page of written text, for example, requires us to make sense through the simultaneous interpretation of words, space, colour, and font. Media such as television and film have long been understood as multimodal; however, with the appearance of digital technologies, media’s multimodality has become increasingly complex. Video games, for example, demonstrate an extraordinary interplay between image, sound, oral language, written text, and interactive gestures, while technologies such as the mobile phone combine the capacity to produce meaning through speaking, writing, and image creation.These multiple modes are not simply layered one on top of the other, but are instead “enmeshed through the complexity of interaction, representation and communication” (Jewitt 1). The rise of multimodal media—as well as the increasing interest in understanding multimodality—occurs against the backdrop of rapid technological, cultural, political, and economic change. These shifts include media convergence, political polarisation, and increased youth activism across the globe (Herrera), developments that are deeply intertwined with uses of digital media and technology. Indeed, theorists of multimodality like Jay Lemke challenge us to go beyond formalist readings of how multiple modes work together to create meaning, and to consider multimodality “within a political economy and a cultural ecology of identities, markets and values” (140).Video’s long history as an inexpensive and portable way to produce media has made it an especially dynamic form of multimodal media. In 1974, avant-garde video artist Nam June Paik predicted that “new forms of video … will stimulate the whole society to find more imaginative ways of telecommunication” (45). Fast forward more than 40 years, and we find that video has indeed become an imaginative and accessible form of communication. The cultural influence of video is evident in the proliferation of video genres, including remix videos, fan videos, Let’s Play videos, video blogs, live stream video, short form video, and video documentary, many of which combine semiotic resources in novel ways. The economic power of video is evident in the profitability of video sharing sites—YouTube in particular—as well as the recent appearance of video on other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.These platforms constitute significant “sites of display.” As Rodney Jones notes, sites of display are not merely the material media through which information is displayed. Rather, they are complex spaces that organise social interactions—for example, between producers and users—and shape how meaning is made. Certainly we can see the influence of sites of display by considering Facebook’s 2013 introduction of autoplay into its newsfeed, a move that forced video producers to respond with new formats. As Edson Tandoc and Julian Maitra write, news organisations have had been forced to “play by Facebook’s frequently modified rules and change accordingly when the algorithms governing the social platform change” (2). AJ+ has been considered one of the media companies that has most successfully adapted to these changes, an adaptation I examine below. I begin by taking up Lemke’s challenge to consider multimodality contextually, reading AJ+ videos through the conceptual lens of the “attention economy,” a lens that highlights the profitability of attention within digital cultures. I then follow with analyses of two short AJ+ videos to show captions’ central role, not only in conveying meaning, but also in creating markets, and communicating branded identities and ideologies.AJ+, Facebook and the New Economies of AttentionThe Al Jazeera news network was founded in 1996 to cover news of the Arab world, with a declared commitment to give “voice to the voiceless.” Since that time, the network has gained global influence, yet many of its attempts to break into the American market have been unsuccessful (Youmans). In 2013, the network acquired Current TV in an effort to move into cable television. While that effort ultimately failed, Al Jazeera’s purchase of the youth-oriented Current TV nonetheless led to another, surprisingly fruitful enterprise, the development of the digital media channel Al Jazeera Plus (AJ+). AJ+ content, which is made up almost entirely of video, is directed at 18 to 35-year-olds. As William Youmans notes, AJ+ videos are informal and opinionated, and, while staying consistent with Al Jazeera’s mission to “give voice to the voiceless,” they also take an openly activist stance (114). Another distinctive feature of AJ+ videos is the way they are tailored for specific platforms. From the beginning, AJ+ has had particular success on Facebook, a success that has been recognised in popular and trade publications. A 2015 profile on AJ+ videos in Variety (Roettgers) noted that AJ+ was the ninth biggest video publisher on the social network, while a story on Journalism.co (Reid, “How AJ+ Reaches”) that same year commented on the remarkable extent to which Facebook audiences shared and interacted with AJ+ videos. These stories also note the distinctive video style that has become associated with the AJ+ brand—short, bold captions; striking images that include photos, maps, infographics, and animations; an effective opening hook; and a closing call to share the video.AJ+ video producers were developing this unique style just as Facebook’s autoplay was being introduced into newsfeeds. Autoplay—a mechanism through which videos are played automatically, without action from a user—predates Facebook’s introduction of the feature. However, autoplay on Internet sites had already begun to raise the ire of many users before its appearance on Facebook (Oremus, “In Defense of Autoplay”). By playing video automatically, autoplay wrests control away from users, and causes particular problems for users using assistive technologies. Reporting on Facebook’s decision to introduce autoplay, Josh Constine notes that the company was looking for a way to increase advertising revenues without increasing the number of actual ads. Encouraging users to upload and share video normalises the presence of video on Facebook, and opens up the door to the eventual addition of profitable video ads. Ensuring that video plays automatically gives video producers an opportunity to capture the attention of users without the need for them to actively click to start a video. Further, ensuring that the videos can be understood when played silently means that both deaf users and users who are situationally unable to hear the audio can also consume its content in any kind of setting.While Facebook has promoted its introduction of autoplay as a benefit to users (Oremus, “Facebook”), it is perhaps more clearly an illustration of the carefully-crafted production strategies used by digital platforms to capture, maintain, and control attention. Within digital capitalism, attention is a highly prized and scarce resource. Michael Goldhaber argues that once attention is given, it builds the potential for further attention in the future. He writes that “obtaining attention is obtaining a kind of enduring wealth, a form of wealth that puts you in a preferred position to get anything this new economy offers” (n.p.). In the case of Facebook, this offers video producers the opportunity to capture users’ attention quickly—in the time it takes them to scroll through their newsfeed. While this may equate to only a few seconds, those few seconds hold, as Goldhaber predicted, the potential to create further value and profit when videos are viewed, liked, shared, and commented on.Interviews with AJ+ producers reveal that an understanding of the value of this attention drives the organisation’s production decisions, and shapes content, aesthetics, and modalities. They also make it clear that it is captions that are central in their efforts to engage audiences. Jigar Mehta, former head of engagement at AJ+, explains that “those first three to five seconds have become vital in grabbing the audience’s attention” (quoted in Reid, “How AJ+ Reaches”). While early videos began with the AJ+ logo, that was soon dropped in favour of a bold image and text, a decision that dramatically increased views (Reid, “How AJ+ Reaches”). Captions and titles are not only central to grabbing attention, but also to maintaining it, particularly as many audience members consume video on mobile devices without sound. Mehta tells an editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab:we think a lot about whether a video works with the sound off. Do we have to subtitle it in order to keep the audience retention high? Do we need to use big fonts? Do we need to use color blocking in order to make words pop and make things stand out? (Mehta, qtd. in Ellis)An AJ+ designer similarly suggests that the most important aspects of AJ+ videos are brand, aesthetic style, consistency, clarity, and legibility (Zou). While questions of brand, style, and clarity are not surprising elements to associate with online video, the matter of legibility is. And yet, in contexts where video is viewed on small, hand-held screens and sound is not an option, legibility—as it relates to the arrangement, size and colour of type—does indeed take on new importance to storytelling and sense-making.While AJ+ producers frame the use of captions as an innovative response to Facebook’s modern algorithmic changes, it makes sense to also remember the significant histories of captioning that their videos ultimately draw upon. This lineage includes silent films of the early twentieth century, as well as the development of closed captions for deaf audiences later in that century. Just as he argues for the complexity, creativity, and transformative potential of captions themselves, Sean Zdenek also urges us to view the history of closed captioning not as a linear narrative moving inevitably towards progress, but as something far more complicated and marked by struggle, an important reminder of the fraught and human histories that are often overlooked in accounts of “new media.” Another important historical strand to consider is the centrality of the written word to digital media, and to the Internet in particular. As Carmen Lee writes, despite public anxieties and discussions over a perceived drop in time spent reading, digital media in fact “involve extensive use of the written word” (2). While this use takes myriad forms, many of these forms might be seen as connected to the production, consumption, and popularity of captions, including practices such as texting, tweeting, and adding titles and catchphrases to photos.Captions, Capture, and Contrast in Australian vs. US HealthcareOn May 4, 2017, US President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in New York City. Trump delayed the meeting, however, in order to await the results of a vote in the US House of Representatives to repeal the Affordable Care Act—commonly known as Obama Care. When he finally sat down with the Prime Minister later that day, Trump told him that Australia has “better health care” than the US, a statement that, in the words of a Guardian report, “triggered astonishment and glee” amongst Trump’s critics (Smith). In response to Trump’s surprising pronouncement, AJ+ produced a 1-minute video extending Trump’s initial comparison with a series of contrasts between Australian government-funded health care and American privatised health care (Facebook, “President Trump Says…”). The video provides an excellent example of the role captions play in both generating attention and creating the unique aesthetic that is crucial to the AJ+ brand.The opening frame of the video begins with a shot of the two leaders seated in front of the US and Australian flags, a diplomatic scene familiar to anyone who follows politics. The colours of the picture are predominantly red, white and blue. Superimposed on top of the image is a textbox containing the words “How does Australia’s healthcare compare to the US?” The question appears in white capital letters on a black background, and the box itself is heavily outlined in yellow. The white and yellow AJ+ logo appears in the upper right corner of the frame. This opening frame poses a question to the viewer, encouraging a kind of rhetorical interactivity. Through the use of colour in and around the caption, it also quickly establishes the AJ+ brand. This opening scene also draws on the Internet’s history of humorous “image macros”—exemplified by the early LOL cat memes—that create comedy through the superimposition of captions on photographic images (Shifman).Captions continue to play a central role in meaning-making once the video plays. In the next frame, Trump is shown speaking to Turnbull. As he speaks, his words—“We have a failing healthcare”—drop onto the screen (Image 1). The captions are an exact transcription of Trump’s awkward phrase and appear centred in caps, with the words “failing healthcare” emphasised in larger, yellow font. With or without sound, these bold captions are concise, easily read on a small screen, and visually dominate the frame. The next few seconds of the video complete the sequence, as Trump tells Turnbull, “I shouldn’t say this to our great gentleman, my friend from Australia, ‘cause you have better healthcare than we do.” These words continue to appear over the image of the two men, still filling the screen. In essence, Trump’s verbal gaffe, transcribed word for word and appearing in AJ+’s characteristic white and yellow lettering, becomes the video’s hook, designed to visually call out to the Facebook user scrolling silently through their newsfeed.Image 1: “We have a failing healthcare.”The middle portion of the video answers the opening question, “How does Australia’s healthcare compare to the US?”. There is no verbal language in this segment—the only sound is a simple synthesised soundtrack. Instead, captions, images, and spatial design, working in close cooperation, are used to draw five comparisons. Each of these comparisons uses the same format. A title appears at the top of the screen, with the remainder of the screen divided in two. The left side is labelled Australia, the right U.S. Underneath these headings, a representative image appears, followed by two statistics, one for each country. For example, the third comparison contrasts Australian and American infant mortality rates (Image 2). The left side of the screen shows a close-up of a mother kissing a baby, with the superimposed caption “3 per 1,000 births.” On the other side of the yellow border, the American infant mortality rate is illustrated with an image of a sleeping baby superimposed with a corresponding caption, “6 per 1,000 births.” Without voiceover, captions do much of the work of communicating the national differences. They are, however, complemented and made more quickly comprehensible through the video’s spatial design and its subtly contrasting images, which help to visually organise the written content.Image 2: “Infant mortality rate”The final 10 seconds of the video bring sound back into the picture. We once again see and hear Trump tell Turnbull, “You have better healthcare than we do.” This image transforms into another pair of male faces—liberal American commentator Chris Hayes and US Senator Bernie Sanders—taken from a MSNBC cable television broadcast. On one side, Hayes says “They do have, they have universal healthcare.” On the other, Sanders laughs uproariously in response. The only added caption for this segment is “Hahahaha!”, the simplicity of which suggests that the video’s target audience is assumed to have a context for understanding Sander’s laughter. Here and throughout the video, autoplay leads to a far more visual style of relating information, one in which captions—working alongside images and layout—become, in Zdenek’s words, a sort of “textual performance” (6).The Black Panther Party and the Textual Performance of Progressive PoliticsReports on police brutality and Black Lives Matters protests have been amongst AJ+’s most widely viewed and shared videos (Reid, “Beyond Websites”). Their 2-minute video (Facebook, Black Panther) commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, viewed 9.5 million times, provides background to these contemporary events. Like the comparison of American and Australian healthcare, captions shape the video’s structure. But here, rather than using contrast as means of quick visual communication, the video is structured as a list of five significant points about the Black Panther Party. Captions are used not only to itemise and simplify—and ultimately to reduce—the party’s complex history, but also, somewhat paradoxically, to promote the news organisation’s own progressive values.After announcing the intent and structure of the video—“5 things you should know about the Black Panther Party”—in its first 3 seconds, the video quickly sets in to describe each item in turn. The themes themselves correspond with AJ+’s own interests in policing, community, and protest, while the language used to announce each theme is characteristically concise and colloquial:They wanted to end police brutality.They were all about the community.They made enemies in high places.Women were vocal and active panthers.The Black Panthers’ legacy is still alive today.Each of these themes is represented using a combination of archival black and white news footage and photographs depicting Black Panther members, marches, and events. These still and moving images are accompanied by audio recordings from party members, explaining its origins, purposes, and influences. Captions are used throughout the video both to indicate the five themes and to transcribe the recordings. As the video moves from one theme to another, the corresponding number appears in the centre of the screen to indicate the transition, and then shrinks and moves to the upper left corner of the screen as a reminder for viewers. A musical soundtrack of strings and percussion, communicating a sense of urgency, underscores the full video.While typographic features like font size, colour, and placement were significant in communicating meaning in AJ+’s healthcare video, there is an even broader range of experimentation here. The numbers 1 to 5 that appear in the centre of the screen to announce each new theme blink and flicker like the countdown at the beginning of bygone film reels, gesturing towards the historical topic and complementing the black and white footage. For those many viewers watching the video without sound, an audio waveform above the transcribed interviews provides a visual clue that the captions are transcriptions of recorded voices. Finally, the colour green, used infrequently in AJ+ videos, is chosen to emphasise a select number of key words and phrases within the short video. Significantly, all of these words are spoken by Black Panther members. For example, captions transcribing former Panther leader Ericka Huggins speaking about the party’s slogan—“All power to the people”—highlight the words “power” and “people” with large, lime green letters that stand out against the grainy black and white photos (Image 3). The captions quite literally highlight ideas about oppression, justice, and social change that are central to an understanding of the history of the Black Panther Party, but also to the communication of the AJ+ brand.Image 3: “All power to the people”ConclusionEmploying distinctive combinations of word and image, AJ+ videos are produced to call out to users through the crowded semiotic spaces of social media. But they also call out to scholars to think carefully about the new kinds of literacies associated with rapidly changing digital media formats. Captioned video makes clear the need to recognise how meaning is constructed through sophisticated interpretive strategies that draw together multiple modes. While captions are certainly not new, an analysis of AJ+ videos suggests the use of novel typographical experiments that sit “midway between language and image” (Stöckl 289). Discussions of literacy need to expand to recognise this experimentation and to account for the complex interactions between the verbal and visual that get lost when written text is understood to function similarly across multiple platforms. In his interpretation of closed captioning, Zdenek provides an insightful list of the ways that captions transform meaning, including their capacity to contextualise, clarify, formalise, linearise and distill (8–9). His list signals not only the need for a deeper understanding of the role of captions, but also for a broader and more vivid vocabulary to describe multimodal meaning-making. Indeed, as Allan Luke suggests, within the complex multimodal and multilingual contexts of contemporary global societies, literacy requires that we develop and nurture “languages to talk about language” (459).Just as importantly, an analysis of captioned video that takes into account the economic reasons for captioning also reminds us of the need for critical media literacies. AJ+ videos reveal how the commercial goals of branding, promotion, and profit-making influence the shape and presentation of news. As meaning-makers and as citizens, we require the capacity to assess how we are being addressed by news organisations that are themselves responding to the interests of economic and cultural juggernauts such as Facebook. In schools, universities, and informal learning spaces, as well as through discourses circulated by research, media, and public policy, we might begin to generate more explicit and critical discussions of the ways that digital media—including texts that inform us and even those that exhort us towards more active forms of citizenship—simultaneously seek to manage, direct, and profit from our attention.ReferencesBezemer, Jeff, and Gunther Kress. “Writing in Multimodal Texts: A Social Semiotic Account of Designs for Learning.” Written Communication 25.2 (2008): 166–195.Constine, Josh. “Facebook Adds Automatic Subtitling for Page Videos.” TechCrunch 4 Jan. 2017. 1 May 2017 &lt;https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/04/facebook-video-captions/&gt;.Ellis, Justin. “How AJ+ Embraces Facebook, Autoplay, and Comments to Make Its Videos Stand Out.” Nieman Labs 3 Aug. 2015. 28 Apr. 2017 &lt;http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/08/how-aj-embraces-facebook-autoplay-and-comments-to-make-its-videos-stand-out/&gt;.Facebook. “President Trump Says…” Facebook, 2017. &lt;https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/954884227986418/&gt;.Facebook. “Black Panther.” Facebook, 2017. &lt;https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/820822028059306/&gt;.Goldhaber, Michael. “The Attention Economy and the Net.” First Monday 2.4 (1997). 9 June 2013 &lt;http://firstmonday.org/article/view/519/440&gt;.Herrera, Linda. “Youth and Citizenship in the Digital Age: A View from Egypt.” Harvard Educational Review 82.3 (2012): 333–352.Jewitt, Carey.”Introduction.” Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis. Ed. Carey Jewitt. New York: Routledge, 2009. 1–8.Jones, Rodney. “Technology and Sites of Display.” Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis. Ed. Carey Jewitt. New York: Routledge, 2009. 114–126.Lee, Carmen. “Micro-Blogging and Status Updates on Facebook: Texts and Practices.” Digital Discourse: Language in the New Media. Eds. Crispin Thurlow and Kristine Mroczek. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2011. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199795437.001.0001.Lemke, Jay. “Multimodality, Identity, and Time.” Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis. Ed. Carey Jewitt. New York: Routledge, 2009. 140–150.Luke, Allan. “Critical Literacy in Australia: A Matter of Context and Standpoint.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 43.5 (200): 448–461.Oremus, Will. “Facebook Is Eating the Media.” National Post 14 Jan. 2015. 15 June 2017 &lt;http://news.nationalpost.com/news/facebook-is-eating-the-media-how-auto-play-videos-could-put-news-websites-out-of-business&gt;.———. “In Defense of Autoplay.” Slate 16 June 2015. 14 June 2017 &lt;http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/06/autoplay_videos_facebook_twitter_are_making_them_less_annoying.html&gt;.Paik, Nam June. “The Video Synthesizer and Beyond.” The New Television: A Public/Private Art. Eds. Douglas Davis and Allison Simmons. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977. 45.Reid, Alistair. “Beyond Websites: How AJ+ Is Innovating in Digital Storytelling.” Journalism.co 17 Apr. 2015. 13 Feb. 2017 &lt;https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/beyond-websites-how-aj-is-innovating-in-digital-storytelling/s2/a564811/&gt;.———. “How AJ+ Reaches 600% of Its Audience on Facebook.” Journalism.co. 5 Aug. 2015. 13 Feb. 2017 &lt;https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/how-aj-reaches-600-of-its-audience-on-facebook/s2/a566014/&gt;.Roettgers, Jank. “How Al Jazeera’s AJ+ Became One of the Biggest Video Publishers on Facebook.” Variety 30 July 2015. 1 May 2017 &lt;http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/how-al-jazeeras-aj-became-one-of-the-biggest-video-publishers-on-facebook-1201553333/&gt;.Shifman, Limor. Memes in Digital Culture. 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Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.Zou, Yanni. “How AJ+ Applies User-Centered Design to Win Millennials.” Medium 16 Apr. 2016. 7 May 2017 &lt;https://medium.com/aj-platforms/how-aj-applies-user-centered-design-to-win-millennials-3be803a4192c&gt;.

This essay sheds lights on the framing process during the research on the crossing between natural and artificial systems. To approach this, we must outline the machine-natural system relation. From this notion, technology is not seen as an external thing, nor even in contrast to an imaginary of nature, but as an effect that emerges from our thinking and revealing being that, in many cases, may be reduced to an issue of knowledge and action. Here, we want to consider the concept of transduction from Gilbert Simondon as one possible framework for considering the socio-technological actions at stake. His thought offers a detailed conceptual vocabulary for the question of individuation as a “revelation process”, a concern with how things come into existence and proceed temporally as projective entities.Moreover, our approach to the work of philosopher Simondon marked the starting point of our interest and approach to the issue of technique and its politics. From this perspective, the reflection given by Simondon in his thesis on the Individuation and the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, is to trace certain reasons that are necessary for the development of this project and helping to explain it. In first place, Simondon does not state a specific regime of “human individuation”. The possibility of a psychic and collective individuation is produced, as is manifested when addressing the structure of his main thesis, at the heart of biological individuation; Simondon strongly attacks the anthropocentric tendencies that attempt to establish a defining boundary between biological and psychic reality. We may presume, then, that the issue of language as a defining and differencing element of the human does not interest him; it is at this point that our project begins to focus on employing the transduction of the téchnē as a metaphor of life (Espinoza Lolas et al.); regarding the limits that language may imply for the conformation and expression of the psychic reality. In second place, this critique to the economy of attention present across our research and in Simondon’s thinking seeks to introduce a hypothesis raised in another direction: towards the issue of the technique. During the introduction of his Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, Simondon shows some urgency in the need to approach the reality of technical objects as an autonomous reality and as a configuring reality of the psychic and collective individualisation. Facing the general importance granted to language as a key element of the historical and hermeneutical, even ontological, aspects of the human being, Simondon considers that the technique is the reality that plays the fundamental role of mediating between the human being and the world.Following these observations, a possible question that will guide our research arises: How do the technologisation and informatisation of the cultural techniques alter the nature itself of the knowing of the affection of being with others (people, things, animals)? In the hypothesis of this investigation we claim that—insofar as we deliver an approach and perspective on the technologisation of the world as a process of individuation (considering Simondon’s concept in this becoming, in which an artificial agent and its medium may get out of phase to solve its tensions and give rise to physical or living individuals that constitute their system and go through a series of metastable equilibria)—it’s possible to prove this capacity of invention as a clear example of a form of transindividual individuation (referring to the human being), that thanks to the information that the artificial agent acquires and recovers by means of its “imagination”, which integrates in its perception and affectivity, enables the creation of new norms or artifacts installing in its becoming, as is the case of bioeconomy and cognitive capitalism (Fumagalli 219). It is imperious to observe and analyse the fact that the concept of nature must be integrated along with the concept of Cosmotecnia (Hui 3) to avoid the opposition between nature and technique in conceptual terms, and that is the reason why in the following section we will mention a third memory that is inscribed in this concept. There is no linear time development in human history from nature to technique, from nature to politics.The Extended MindThe idea of memory as something transmissible is important when thinking of the present, there is no humanity outside the technical, neither prior to the technical, and it is important to safeguard this idea to highlight the phýsis/téchnē dichotomy presented by Simondon and Stigler. It is erroneous to think that some entity may exceed the human, that it has any exteriority when it is the materialization of the human forms, or even more, that the human is crossed by it and is not separable. For French philosopher Bernard Stiegler there is no human nature without technique, and vice versa (Stigler 223). Here appears the issue of knowing which are the limits where “the body of the human me might stop” (Hutinel 44), a first glimpse of externalized memory was the flint axe, which is made by using other tools, even when its use is unknown. Its mere existence preserves a knowledge that goes beyond who made it, or its genetic or epigenetic transmission is preserved beyond the organic.We raise the question about a phýsis coming from the téchnē, it is a central topic that dominates the discussion nowadays, about technology and its ability to have a transforming effect over every area of contemporary life and human beings themselves. It is being “revealed” that the true qualitative novelty of the technological improves that happen in front of our eyes resides not only in the appearance of new practices that are related to any particular scientific research. We must point out the evident tension between bíos and zôê during the process of this adaptation, which is an ontological one, but we also witness how the recursivity becomes a modus operandi during this process, which is both social and technological. Just as the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of biology confronts its own limit under the light shed by the recursive algorithms implemented as a dominant way of adaptation, which is what Deleuze called societies of control (Deleuze 165). At the same time, there is an artificial selection (instead of a natural selection) imposed by the politics of transhumanism (for example, human improvement, genetic engineering).In this direction, a first aspect to consider resides in that life, held as an object of power and politics, does not constitute a “natural life”, but the result of a technical production from which its “nature” develops, as well as the possibilities of its deployment. Now then, it is precisely due to this gesture that Stiegler longs to distinguish between what is originary in mankind and its artefactual or artificial becoming: “the prosthesis is not a simple extension of the human body, it is the constitution of said body insofar as ‘human’ (the quotes belong to the constitution). It is not a ‘medium’ for mankind, but its end, and it is known the essential mistakenness of the expression, ‘the end of mankind’” (Stiegler 9). Before such phenomena, it is appropriate to lay out a reflexive methodology centered in observing and analysing the aforementioned idea by Stiegler that there is no mankind without techniques; and there is no technique without mankind (Stigler 223). This implies that this idea of téchnē comprises both the techniques needed to create things, as the technical products resulting from these techniques. The word “techniques” also becomes ambiguous among the modern technology of machines and the primitive “tools” and their techniques, whether they have become art of craft, things that we would not necessarily think as “technology”. What Stiegler is suggesting here is to describe the scope of the term téchnē within an ontogenetic and phylogenetic process of the human being; providing us a reflection about what do we “possess as a fundamental thing” for our being as humans is also fundamental to how “we experience time” since the externalization of our memory into our tools, which Stiegler understands as a “third kind” of memory which is separated from the internal memory that is individually acquired from our brain (epigenetic), and the biological evolutive memory that is inherited from our ancestors (phylogenetic); Stiegler calls this kind of evolutive process epiphylogenetic or epiphylogenesis. Therefore, we could argue that we are defined by this process of epiphylogenesis, and that we are constituted by a past that we ourselves, as individuals, have not lived; this past is delivered to us through culture, which is the fusion of the “technical objects that embody the knowledge of our ancestors, tools that we adopt to transform our surroundings” (Stiegler 177). These supports of external memory (this is, exteriorisations of the consciousness) provide a new collectivisation of the consciousness that exists beyond the individual.The current trend of investigation of ontogeny and phylogeny is driven by the growing consensus both in sciences and humanities in that the living world in every one of its aspects – biologic, semiotic, economic, affective, social, etc. – escapes the finite scheme of description and representation. It is for this reason that authors such as Matteo Pasquinelli refer, in a more modest way, to the idea of “augmented intelligence” (9), reminding us that there is a posthuman legacy between human and machine that still is problematic, “though the machines manifest different degrees of autonomous agency” (Pasquinelli 11).For Simondon, and this is his revolutionary contribution to philosophy, one should think individuation not from the perspective of the individual, but from the point of view of the process that originated it. In other words, individuation must be thought in terms of a process that not only takes for granted the individual but understands it as a result.In Simondon’s words:If, on the contrary, one supposes that individuation does not only produce the individual, one would not attempt to pass quickly through the stage of individuation in order arrive at the final reality that is the individual--one would attempt to grasp the ontogenesis in the entire progression of its reality, and to know the individual through the individuation, rather than the individuation through the individual. (5)Therefore, the epistemological problem does not fall in how the téchnē flees the human domain in its course to become technologies, but in how these “exteriorization” processes (Stiegler 213) alter the concepts themselves of number, image, comparison, space, time, or city, to give a few examples. However, the anthropological category of “exteriorization” does not bring entirely justice to these processes, as they work in a retroactive and recursive manner in the original techniques. Along with the concept of text and book, the practice of reading has also changed during the course of digitalisation and algorithmisation of the processing of knowledge; alongside with the concept of comparison, the practice of comparison has changed since the comparison (i.e. of images) has become an operation that is based in the extraction of data and automatic learning. On the other side, in reverse, we must consider, in an archeological and mediatic fashion, the technological state of life as a starting point from which we must ask what cultural techniques were employed in first place. Asking: How does the informatisation of the cultural techniques produce new forms of subjectivity? How does the concept of cultural techniques already imply the idea of “chains of operations” and, therefore, a permanent (retro)coupling between the living and the non-living agency?This reveals that classical cultural techniques such as indexation or labelling, for example, have acquired ontological powers in the Google era: only what is labelled exists; only what can be searched is absolute. At the same time, in the fantasies of the mediatic corporations, the variety of objects that can be labelled (including people) tends to be coextensive with the world of the phenomena itself (if not the real world), which will then always be only an augmented version of itself.Technology became important for contemporary knowledge only through mediation; therefore, the use of tools could not be the consequence of an extremely well-developed brain. On the contrary, the development of increasingly sophisticated tools took place at the same pace as the development of the brain, as Leroi-Gourhan attempts to probe when studying the history of tools together with the history of the human skeleton and brain. And what he managed to demonstrate is that the history of technique and the history of the human being run in parallel lines; they are, if not equal, at least inextricable. Even today, the progress of knowledge is still not completely subordinated to the technological inversion (Lyotard 37). In short, human evolution is inseparable from the evolution of the téchne, the evolution of technology. One may simply think the human being as a natural animal, isolated from the external material world. What he becomes and what he is, is essentially bonded to the techniques, from the very beginning. Leroi-Gourhan puts it this way in his text Gesture and Speech: “the apparition of tools as a species ... feature that marks the boundary between animals and humans” (90).To understand the behavior of the technological systems is essential for our ability to control their actions, to harvest their benefits and to minimize their damage. Here it is argued that this requires a wide agenda of scientific investigation to study the behavior of the machine that incorporates and broadens the biotechnological discipline, and includes knowledges coming from all sciences. In some way, Simondon sensed this encounter of knowledges, and proposed the concept of the Allagmatic, or theory of operations, “constituted by a systematized set of particular knowledges” (Simondon 469). We could attempt to begin by describing a set of questions that are fundamental for this emerging field, and then exploring the technical, legal, and institutional limitations in the study of technological agency.Information, Communication and SignificationTo establish the relation between information and communication, we will speak from the following two perspectives: first with Norbert Wiener, then with Simondon. We will see how the concept of information is essential to start understanding communication in an artificial agent.On one side, we have the notion from Wiener about information that is demarcated in his project about cybernetics. Cybernetics is the study of communication and control through the inquiry of messages in animals, human beings, and machines. This idea of information arises from the interrelation with the surrounding. Wiener defines it as the “content of what is an interchange object with the external world, while we adjust to it and make it adjust to us” (Wiener 17-18). In other words, we receive and use information since we interact with the world in which we live. It is in this sense that information is connected to the idea of feedback that is defined as the exchange and interaction of information in our systems or other systems. In Wiener’s own words, feedback is “the property of adjusting the future behavior to facts of the past” (31).Information, for Wiener, is influenced, at the same time, by the mathematic and probabilistic idea from the theory of information. Wiener refers to the amount of information that finds its starting point at the mechanics of statistics, along with the concept of entropy, inasmuch that the information is opposed to it. Therefore, information, by supplying a set of messages, indicates a measure of organisation. Argentinian philosopher Pablo Rodríguez adds that “information [for Wiener] is a new physical category of the universe. [It is] the measure of organization of any entity, an organization without which the material and energetic systems wouldn’t be able to survive” (2-3). This way, we have that information responds to the measure of organization and self-regulation of a given system.Moreover, and almost in complete contrast, we have the concept given by Simondon, where information is applicable to the whole possible range: animals, machines, human beings, molecules, crystals, etc. In this sense, it is more versatile, as it exceeds the domains of the technique. To understand well the scope of this concept we will approach it from two definitions. In first place, Simondon, in his conference Amplification in the Process of Information, in the book Communication and Information, claims that information “is not a thing, but the operation of a thing that arrives to a system and produces a transformation in there. The information can’t be defined beyond this act of transformative incidence, and the operation of receiving” (Simondon 139). From this definition it follows the idea of modulation, just when he refers to the “transformation” and “act of transformative incidence” modulation corresponds to the energy that flows amplified during that transformation that occurs within a system.There is a second definition of information that Simondon provides in his thesis Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, in which he claims that: “the information signal is not just what is to be transmitted … it is also that what must be received, this is, what must adopt a signification” (Simondon 281). In this definition Simondon clearly distances himself from Wiener’s cybernetics, insofar as it deals with information as that which must be received, and not that that is to be transmitted. Although Simondon refers to a link between information and signification, this last aspect is not measured in linguistic terms. It rather expresses the decodification of a given code. This is, signification, and information as well, are the result of a disparity of energies, namely, between the overlaying of two possible states (0 and 1, or on and off).This is a central point of divergence with Wiener, as he refers to information in terms of transference of messages, while Simondon does it in terms of transformation of energies. This way, Simondon adds an energy element to the traditional definition of information, which now works as an operation, based in the transformation of energies as a result of a disparity or the overlaying of two possible elements within a system (recipient). It is according to this innovative element that modulation operates in a metastable system. And this is precisely the last concept we need to clarify: the idea of metastability and its relationship with the recipient-system.Metastability is an expression that finds its origins in thermodynamics. Philosophy traditionally operates around the idea of the stability of the being, while Simondon’s proposal states that the being is its becoming. This way, metastability is the condition of possibility of the individuation insofar as the metastable medium leaves behind a remainder of energy for future individuation processes. Thus, metastability refers to the temporal equilibrium of a system that remains in time, as it maintains within itself potential energy, useful for other future individuations.Returning to the conference Amplification in the Process of Information, Simondon points out that “the recipient metastability is the condition of efficiency of the incident information” (139). In such sense, we may claim that there is no information if the signal is not received. Therefore, the recipient is a necessary condition for said information to be given. Simondon understands the recipient as a mixed system (a quasi-system): on one hand, it must be isolated in terms of energy, and it must count with a membrane that allows it to not spend all the energy at the same time; on the other hand, it must be heteronomous, as it depends on an external input of information to activate the system (recipient).The metastable medium is the one indicated to understand the artificial agent, as it leaves the possibility open for the potential energy to manifest and not be spent all at once, but to leave a remainder useful for future modulations, and so, new transformations may occur. At the same time, Simondon’s concept of information is the most convenient when referring to communication and the relationship with the medium, primarily for its property of modulating potential energy. Nevertheless, it is also necessary to retrieve the idea of feedback from Wiener, as it is in the relationship of the artificial agent with its surrounding (and the world) that information is given, and it may flow amplified through its system. By this, significations manage to decode the internal code of the artificial agent, which represents the first gesture towards the opening of the communication.ConclusionThe hypotheses on extended cognition are subject to a huge amount of debate in the artistic, philosophical, and science of cognition circles nowadays, but their implications extend further beyond metaphysics and sciences of the mind. It is apparent that we have just began to scratch the surface of the social sphere in a broader way; realising that these start from cultural branches of the sight; as our minds are; if our minds are partially poured into our smartphones and even in our homes, then it is not a transformation in the human nature, but the latest manifestation of an ancient human ontology of the organic cognitive and informative systems dynamically assembled.It is to this condition that the critical digital humanities and every form of critique should answer. This is due to an attempt to dig out the delays and ruptures within the systems of mass media, by adding the relentless belief in real time as the future, to remind that systems always involve an encounter with a radical “strangeness” or “alienity”, an incommensurability between the future and the desire that turns into the radical potential of many of our contemporary social movements and politics. Our challenge in our critical job is to dismantle the practice of the representation and to reincorporate it to different forms of space and experience that are not reactionary but imaginary. What we attempt to bring into the light here is the need to get every spectator to notice the limits of the machinic vision and to acknowledge the role of image in the recruitment of liminal energies for the capital. The final objective of this essay will be to see that nature possesses the technique of an artist who renders contingency into necessity and inscribes the infinite within the finite, in arts it is not the figure of nature that corresponds to individuation but rather the artist whose task is not only to render contingency necessary as its operation, but also aim for an elevation of the audience as a form of revelation. The artist is he who opens up, through his or her work, a process of transindividuation, meaning a psychical and collective individuation.ReferencesDeleuze, Gilles. “Post-Script on Control Societies.” Polis 13 (2006): 1-7. 14 Feb. 2020 &lt;http://journals.openedition.org/polis/5509&gt;.Espinoza Lolas, Ricardo, et al. “On Technology and Life: Fundamental Concepts of Georges Caguilhem and Xavier Zubiri’s Thought.” Ideas y Valores 67.167 (2018): 127-47. 14 Feb. 2020 &lt;http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/ideasyvalores.v67n167.59430&gt;.Fumagalli, Andrea. Bioeconomía y Capitalismo Cognitivo: Hacia un Nuevo Paradigma de Acumulación. Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños, 2010.Hui, Yuk. “On Cosmotechnics: For a Renewed Relation between Technology and Nature in the Anthropocene.” Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 21.2/3 (2017): 319-41. 14 Feb. 2020 &lt;https://www.pdcnet.org/techne/content/techne_2017_0021_42769_0319_0341&gt;.Leroi-Gourhan, André. El Gesto y la Palabra. Venezuela: Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1971.———. El Hombre y la Materia: Evolución y Técnica I. Madrid: Taurus, 1989.———. El Medio y la Técnica: Evolución y Técnica II. Madrid: Taurus, 1989.Lyotard, Jean-François. La Condición Postmoderna: Informe sobre el Saber. Madrid: Cátedra, 2006.Pasquinelli, Matteo. “The Spike: On the Growth and Form of Pattern Police.” Nervous Systems 18.5 (2016): 213-20. 14 Feb. 2020 &lt;http://matteopasquinelli.com/spike-pattern-police/&gt;. Rivera Hutinel, Marcela.“Techno-Genesis and Anthropo-Genesis in the Work of Bernard Stiegler: Or How the Hand Invents the Human.” Liminales, Escritos Sobre Psicología y Sociedad 2.3 (2013): 43-58. 15 Dec. 2019 &lt;http://revistafacso.ucentral.cl/index.php/liminales/article/view/228&gt;.Rodríguez, Pablo. “El Signo de la ‘Sociedad de la Información’ de Cómo la Cibernética y el Estructuralismo Reinventaron la Comunicación.” Question 1.28 (2010): 1-17. 14 Feb. 2020 &lt;https://perio.unlp.edu.ar/ojs/index.php/question/article/view/1064&gt;.Simondon, Gilbert. Comunicación e Información. Buenos Aires: Editorial Cactus, 2015.———. La Individuación: a la luz de las nociones de forma y de información. Buenos Aires: La Cebra/Cactus, 2009 / 2015.———. El Modo de Existencia de los Objetos Técnicos. Buenos Aires: Prometeo, 2007.———. “The Position of the Problem of Ontogenesis.” Parrhesia 7 (2009): 4-16. 4 Nov. 2019 &lt;http://parrhesiajournal.org/parrhesia07/parrhesia07_simondon1.pdf&gt;.Stiegler, Bernard. La Técnica y el Tiempo I. Guipúzcoa: Argitaletxe Hiru, 2002.———. “Temporality and Technical, Psychic and Collective Individuation in the Work of Simondon.” Revista Trilogía Ciencia Tecnología Sociedad 4.6 (2012): 133-46.Wiener, Norbert. Cibernética y Sociedad. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1958.

<strong>Transparency</strong> Transparency means the continuous sharing of information, decision making, and implementation should be open. It is not sufficient that should simply be made available. It must also be reliable and presented in useful and understandable ways in order to facilitate accountability.[1]Information should be accessible in that every citizen can participate in the debates. Such information helps to ensure a level playing field and encourage the effective participation of all social groups and partnership between different sectors. Transparency makes the institution and organizations more responsible.[2] Transparency refers to availability of information to the general public and clarity about government rules, regulations and decisions. Transparency refers to unfettered access by the public to timely and reliable information on decision and performance in the public sector. Access to accurate and timely information about the economy and government policies can be vital for economic decision making by the private sector. Transparency in government decision making and public policy implementation reduces uncertainty and can help inhibit corruption among public officials. <strong>Different Dimensions of Transparency</strong> Transparency is to be ensured different dimensions namely,[3] 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Openness in public dealings; 2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Right to information relating to the service delivery process; 3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Right to information relating to criteria and their applications; 4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Right to information relating to public expenditure/contract;&nbsp; 5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Enactment relating to the right to information; 6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Code relating to access to information; and 7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Openness in the cost of the project, quality standard, etc <strong>Transparency in Bangladesh: Legal Mechanism</strong> Access to information is very much important for ensuring transparency in the administration. The easy access to information can create awareness about peoples&rsquo; right and responsibilities of the government. People can take part in the development and decision-making process upon&nbsp;information and shall have the due share end else can ensure balanced development and also work for equality among the people. The access to information or freedom of expression is the precondition to the fulfillment of all other rights in the democratic society. Access to information and freedom of expression are closely connected. If information is not available, the freedom of expression will be meaningless. These have been recognized as human rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. <em>Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and&nbsp;</em>freedom of opinion and expression.&nbsp;<em>observance.</em>&nbsp;<em><strong>[4]</strong></em> The right of access to public information has also been recognized by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as a fundamental human right, which became the first international tribunal to do so. In the case <strong><em>Claude Reyes,<strong>[5]</strong></em></strong> the Court held that any restrictions of access to information need to be based on satisfying an imperative public interest, and if there are several options to attain that objective, the one which poses the least restrictions to the protected right should be selected. Therefore, state authorities should be ruled by the principle of maximum disclosure, on the assumption that all information should be accessible, limited only by a restricted system of exemptions. In those cases, the state bears the burden of proving the legitimacy of the restriction. <strong>Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights</strong>&nbsp;and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides their guarantees of freedom of expression in the language that is strikingly similar and spare. It assures individuals that the fundamental right to be free from governmental interference in expressing their sentiments. Article 10 provides the safeguard in these few words, &lsquo;Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom &hellip;. to receive and impart information and ideas without inference by public authority.&rsquo; This right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek&nbsp;receive and impart information and ideas through any&nbsp;media&nbsp;and regardless of frontiers.[6] &nbsp; For making the UDHR mandatory, the International Covenant on Civil and Political&nbsp;Rights (ICCPR) adopted and opened for signature, ratification&nbsp;&nbsp;and accession by UN General Assembly resolution&nbsp;&nbsp;22004&nbsp;(XXI) of 16 December 1966 and became effective on 23^rd&nbsp;&nbsp;March 1976. Article 19 of the&nbsp;ICCPR&nbsp;provides that 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Everyone&nbsp;shall&nbsp;have the right to hold opinions without interference. 2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Everyone&nbsp;shall&nbsp;have the right to freedom of expressing; this right&nbsp;shall&nbsp;include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art. or through any other media of his choice. 3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The exercise of the rights provided in paragraph&nbsp;<em>2&nbsp;</em>of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may, therefore, be subject to certain restrictions, but these&nbsp;shall only&nbsp;be such as are provided by law and are necessary: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(b) For the protection of national security, or of&nbsp;public&nbsp;order, or of&nbsp;public&nbsp;health or&nbsp;morals.&nbsp;&nbsp; Bangladesh ratified the ICCPR in 2000 and is pleased bound to guarantee access to information to all its citizens. The Constitution of Bangladesh provides necessary controlling measures (both internal and external) for making the administration accountable and transparent. For example, Article 134 stipulates that except as otherwise provided by this Constitution every person in the service of the Republic shall hold office during the pleasure of the President. Article 55(3) says that the cabinet shall be collectively responsible to parliament. Article 11 of the Constitution of the People&#39;s Republic of Bangladesh guarantees basic human rights including access to information. For ensuring transparency of the government functions, the Constitution has guaranteed&nbsp;the freedom of thought and conscience.&quot; The Constitution&nbsp;also provides that subject to any reasonable restrictions&nbsp;imposed by law in the interests of the security of the state,&nbsp;friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or&nbsp;incitement to an offense&nbsp;<strong>-&nbsp;</strong>(a) the right of every citizen to&nbsp;freedom of speech and expression; and (b) freedom of the&nbsp;press.48&nbsp;There was however no progress until a draft law on Right to&nbsp;Information was prepared in 2002 and promulgated by the&nbsp;Caretaker Government through an ordinance in 2008.&nbsp;However, the elected government finally passed the Right to&nbsp;Information Act in 2009 with a view to ensuring a free flow of&nbsp;information and people&rsquo;s right to information.[7] The preamble&nbsp;of this Act recognizes that if the right to information of the&nbsp;people is ensured, the transparency and accountability of all&nbsp;public, autonomous and statutory organizations and of other&nbsp;private institutions constituted or run by government or&nbsp;foreign financing shall increase, corruption of the same shall&nbsp;decrease and good governance of the same shall be&nbsp;established. The salient features of this act is as follows: a.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The objective of the act is to ensure transparency and&nbsp;accountability in public, Autonomous, statutory&nbsp;organizations and private institutions .which are&nbsp;constituted run by a government or foreign funds. b.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For&nbsp;providing&nbsp;information according to this act, all authorities are bound to appoint designated officer m each unit of the department concerned within 60 days at the commencement of this act and the authority concerned shall inform the Information Commission&nbsp;about&nbsp;the name Designation, address, fax number, the e-mail address of the designated officer within 15 working days of such appointment. c.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The authority of the concerned office is bound to&nbsp;give&nbsp;information on the request (request may be made either&nbsp;written or electronic or e-mail) from any citizen. The&nbsp;designated officer shall provide information within 20&nbsp;working days from the date of receiving the request. In&nbsp;case of more than one authority, the time&nbsp;limit is 30 working days. But if the request is related to&nbsp;life and death, arrest and release from the jail of any&nbsp;person, the officer. in charge shall provide the preliminary&nbsp;information within 24 hours. Failing to provide&nbsp;information within the prescribed above time is considered&nbsp;as rejection of the request. This act makes some restrictions, where the authority concerned, shall not be bound to provide information. But prior approval of these restrictions from the Information The commission is essential. A list of 20 subjects has been considered as a matter of restrictions;&nbsp;<strong>viz.,&nbsp;</strong>matters relating to national security, integrity and sovereignty; a foreign policy that may hamper the relationship with foreign country, international organization or any regional alliance or organization; secret information received from a foreign country; information relating to intellectual property rights; any advance information relating to custom, VAT, tax, the exchange rate that may be gainful or damaging to any particular individual or organization; any information obstructing the enforcement of the law; information endangering the security of the public or impede the due judicial process of a pending case; offend the privacy of the personal life of an individual; endanger the life or physical safety of anybody; matters that may cause contempt of court; impede the process of investigation; prejudicial to the special rights of the House of the Nation; summary for the discussion or the decision of the Cabinet or Council of Advisers, etc. g.&nbsp;Establishment of independent Information Commission is one of the prime concerns of this act. The head office of the Commission shall be at Dhaka, but the Commission may establish branch offices anywhere in Bangladesh. The Commission shall be consist of the Chief Information Commissioner and 2 other Commissioners, at least one of whom shall be a woman. The Chief Information Commissioner and other Information Commissioners shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the selection committee. The selection committee is composed of 5 members having a judge of the Appellate Division nominated by the Chief Justice, who shall be its chairman, Cabinet Secretary, one Member of Parliament from the ruling party and one from the opposition, one from the profession of journalism or a prominent member of the society related to mass communication nominated by the government. As a watchdog authority of implementing of the right to information of the citizens, the Commission shall receive, inquire into and dispose of any complaint according to the provisions of this act. The Information Commission may exercise such powers as a civil court may exercise under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 in respect of issuing a summons, inspecting and examining information, receiving evidence on affidavit, etc. Besides, the Information Commission has been assigned to take necessary measures for fulfilling the spirit of the Right to Information Act. h.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A person may lodge&nbsp;a&nbsp;complaint to the Information Commission if he gets no information&nbsp;from&nbsp;the authority or if he is dissatisfied with the decision on his&nbsp;appeal.&nbsp;The act provides detail&nbsp;reasons&nbsp;for&nbsp;making a&nbsp;complaint before the Commission. The Information Commission may take various actions in this regard. The Information Commission shall have the power to reject any complaint, to direct the authority or the officer-in-charge for providing the requested information in&nbsp;a&nbsp;specific&nbsp;manner&nbsp;among&nbsp;others. Moreover, the Information The commission may impose fine if the officer-in-charge refuses to receive any request without any&nbsp;reason&nbsp;or fails to provide information within the time limit or refuses to receive&nbsp;a&nbsp;request or an&nbsp;appeal&nbsp;with&nbsp;mala&nbsp;fide intention or provides&nbsp;wrong,&nbsp;incomplete,&nbsp;confusing&nbsp;and distorted information. i.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When&nbsp;a&nbsp;complaint is disposed of by the Information Commission shall be binding&nbsp;upon&nbsp;all concerned and no person can raise any question before any court for anything which has been done under this act except preferring an&nbsp;appeal&nbsp;before an appellate authority or lodging&nbsp;a the&nbsp;complaint before the Information Commission. j.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Legal and other Obstacles in the way of Right to Information<strong>:</strong>&nbsp;In&nbsp;a&nbsp;democratic society, there should be right to know and let others know about everything of public interest. Obtaining information is necessary for building any opinion. Inline with this view, the Bangladesh Constitution has guaranteed the freedom of speech and expression&nbsp;along&nbsp;with freedom of the press. Specific law regarding the right to information has&nbsp;also&nbsp;been promulgated and came into force. But there are some inconsistencies of the existing laws and due to the presence of some legal and practical barriers, free flow of information is being hampered and right to information as well as the transparency&nbsp;is virtually not ensured. Some of these causes are discussed below. k. The ICT Amendment Act, 2013:&nbsp;The prevalence &nbsp;of the freedom of expression in the country can be understood by the presence of the following indicator of free and independent [8] The right to freedom of expression guarantees every individual to write and speak freely without undue interferences from the incumbent government. Freedom of expression is called one of the cornerstones of democracy. It also secures other fundamentals of democracy like pluralism and free, fair and transparent elections. Furthermore, a healthy government will encourage the media to provide legitimate criticism. This will raise the country&#39;s reputation abroad. Moreover, open criticism will reduce corruption and mismanagement, which caused harm to the economy. It is not worthy to mention here that all of the world&#39;s strongest economies allow open criticism for the betterment of their countries&nbsp;&nbsp;.[9] The section 57 of the ICT (Amendment) Act of 2013 provides that &ldquo;If any person deliberately publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the website or in any other electronic form any material which is false and obscene and if anyone sees, hears or reads it having regard to all relevant circumstances, its effect is such as to influence the reader to become dishonest or corrupt, or causes to deteriorate or creates a possibility to deteriorate law and order, prejudice the image of the state or person or causes to hurt or may hurt religious belief or instigate against any person or organization, then this activity will be regarded as an offense.&rdquo; To conclude, the ICT (Amendment) Act, 2013 is a direct threat to freedom of expression because it contradicts to the Constitution of Bangladesh and Right to Information Act as well as challenges for privacy and Human Rights. It is true that cyber-crimes are on the rise and we have to deal with them within a legal framework. Therefore, we must adopt new laws as required in current times. The amendment of the ICT law is more about violating citizens&#39; constitutional right to freedom of expression than protecting their liberty. We the citizens of the country don&#39;t want oppression in the name of protection. The government can take the ICT Act to protect and control the misuse of information technology. But the act should be clear and specific, so that it may not affect the right to freedom of expression of the citizens. Criminal offenses under section 57 are very loosely defined. By such definition that is contrary to the basic principle of Criminal law, has been expanded the state power upon the infliction of unnecessary and precarious punishment.&nbsp;Through the use of indefinite/vague terms of 57&nbsp;Section &ndash; for example, &ldquo;the image crisis of state and people&quot;) have been denied fundamental &ldquo;principle of certainty&rdquo; of criminal law. It has been created the opportunity to bring any of the innocent or legitimate online publications/dissemination, under the wish of state and punishment. The Amendments ordinance 2013- section 57 defined by loosely and indefinite/vague words- by making several offenses cognizable and non-bailable, has created unlimited opportunities for state harassment and oppression. The act was used for the first time in April 2013 to arrest four bloggers who had been vocal on different social issues and mostly wrote against religious extremism. They were formally indicted in September for alleged anti-Islamic comments. By then, however, the penalties they faced had increased to a maximum 14 years in prison under an amendment passed in August 2013 without regard for civil society criticism.2 Police no longer need a warrant to make arrests under the amended act, and used it to detain at least eight bloggers, Facebook users, journalists, and civil society activists for criticizing the government or the prime minister during the coverage period of this report. About 400 cases are pending in different court against the print and electronic media worker under this Act. In recent time 5 section of the ICT Act including 57 has abolished but these sections come in new form in the Digital Security Act, 2018. If we look at our neighboring country, India; we find that the Indian Supreme Court in March 2015 struck down almost a similar section like section 57 of the Act of 2013, terming it unconstitutional. The court observed section 66A of the Information Technology Act hit at the root of liberty and freedom of expression, two cardinal pillars of democracy.[10] Digital Security Act, 2018 The Digital Security Act, 2018 is the absolute restriction on the way of access to information or right to information as well as transparency. About this Act, there was a storm of severe criticism from the beginning of the law. The editorial council rejected the law. They objected to the 8,21,25,28,29,31,32,43 and 53 sections of the law. The journalist union also raised objections to the law. In above sections of Digital Security Act, there is a fear of harassment in the opinion of the public, which will hamper independent journalism. For example, Section 32 of the Act provides for the provision of the spying of spies for digital crimes. It states that &quot;If a person enters, transmits or preserves, preserves or preserves through any illegal, most secretive information-data computer, digital device, computer network or any other electronic, official, semi-government, autonomous or statutory agency through the illegal entry. , Then it would be a crime for a computer or digital spying. &#39;&nbsp;For this purpose, the person concerned will be sentenced to a maximum of 14 years imprisonment or a fine of Tk 25 lakh or both. If the same person repeats the same mistake, he or she will be sentenced to life imprisonment or one core taka, or both. In this context, Article 32 of the Digital Security Act has created a new controversy. Naturally, the question arises, the controversial 57 articles of the IT Act is coming back as a section of the Digital Security Act. Article 28 states that the maximum punishment for the 10 years in prison is to suffer religious injuries or hurt feelings. On the other hand, if some publicity campaign is&nbsp;published in section 29, it will be sentenced to three years. According to Section 30, if you have to pay e-transaction for any bank, insurance or financial institution beyond the law, you will have to face five years in prison. Besides, the provision of various penalties and penalties for hacking, destruction of the computer source code, and illegal possession, transmission, and preservation of government information. Most of the new laws are not bailable. However, there is a provision of bail for the offenses of defamation of 20, 25 and 48 of 29 defamation cases.[11] Mahfuz Anam, general secretary of the Editor&#39;s Council of Bangladesh, editor of the newspaper, thinks that the work of the media-workers will be constrained by this act.[12] According to the law, after the introduction of Article 57 in the ICT Act in 2013, for the last several years, Media and human rights activists complained about the cancellation. He said, &quot;Section 32 of the law says the 14-year sentence for breaking the government&#39;s secret through digital means. What is the secret of government? Anything that the government is not officially informing people, that&#39;s going to be secret. According to this law, it is not the right to know the people. Because the&nbsp;government does not tell it. But the journalists know 24 hours of work. It is a state secret because I can&rsquo;t do journalism here. According to him, without the warranty, the power of search, seizure, and arrest under section 43 of the law will also be under pressure by the media workers.&nbsp;According to Article 43, if a police officer arrives at my media office and finds that he needs to enter his official server for the sake of the investigation and if he seizes the server, then the sign of the crime should not exist or not, because the server was seized, my publication of the day was closed. To be kept. Section 53 of the Digital Security Act says that there will be 14 sections of the law non-bailable. In this case, human rights activist Sultana Kamal, the leader of human rights movement, will face the risk.&nbsp;He said, &quot;14 sections of the law have been made non-bailable. If anyone arrested in this section, he will not be bailed. And maybe it will be a long time to prove its crime. Until then, he has to be arrested. It is not possible to do such a thing only when the force which is not working on suspicion. &quot;Under Article 25, 28, 29 and 31 of the new laws, the issues of the person and the state of the country are hurt, religious feelings, injury of somebody, defamation of law and order and deterioration of law and order, are referred to as offenses. The punishments of those who are sentenced from three to seven years of imprisonment. But there is enough scope for misuse of these crimes, because the crimes are not clearly defined. <strong>National Broadcasting Policy, 2014</strong> The National Broadcasting Policy has enacted in 2014. Right to information of the citizens has seriously hampered by this Act. By this Act, the government wants to control criticism against it. There was a lot of objection against this Act from the media and civil society.&nbsp;The terms and conditions for which television licenses are issued are not conducive to&nbsp;independent media, and new policy conditions will get worse.&nbsp;&quot;It is said that there is nothing to say about the officer who&nbsp;can give a criminal punishment? But all government officials&nbsp;have the power to punish anyhow. If someone in despair,&nbsp;then is&nbsp;it news or not?&nbsp;&nbsp;In talk shows, politicians often talk about. If we do not preach a party, we are going to tilt in one direction. There are lots of untrue statements seen in the two campaigns. Syed Ishtiaq Reza Says,&nbsp;&quot;We give up the responsibility of judging the reader or the audience. But if the responsibility of considering this trial only goes to the government, then it is a fear of misuse&rdquo;.Untrue reports and misleading statements can not be broadcast on talk shows or news shows. At the same time, the Talk Show has given instructions for giving equal opportunities to both parties. Besides this Act, the government has taken initiative to pass a new Act which will impose more restriction on media&nbsp;.[13] <strong>Government Service Rules 1979 </strong> It has specified that disclosures of departmental information would be punished but the RTI Act exempted them of any punishment. The service rule may be amended to match the RTI Act to make the process smooth. Moreover, there are some existing laws which are making hindrances in the way of ensuring the objectives of RTI Act. These are: <strong>The Official Secrets Act, 1923. (Act No. XIX of 1923)</strong> Section 5 makes the communication of any official information by a Government Officer an offence punishable under the said section and thereby prevents citizens from having access to official information. <strong>Section 123, 124 85 162 of the Evidence Act, 1872 (Act No. 1 of 1872)</strong> <strong>Section-123</strong> No one shall be permitted to give any evidence derived from unpublished official records relating to any affairs of state, except with the permission of the officer at the head of the department concerned, who shall give or withhold such permission as he thinks fit. <strong>Section-124</strong> No public officer shall be compelled to disclose communications made to him in official confidence, when he considers that the public interests would suffer by the disclosure. <strong>Section-162</strong> <strong>...... </strong>The Court, if it sees fit, may inspect the document, unless it refers to matters of State, or takes other evidence to enable it to determine on its admissibility. <strong>Rules 28 (1) of the Rules of Business, 1996</strong> No information acquired directly or indirectly from official documents or relating to official matters shall be communicated by government servant to the press, to non-officials or even officials belonging to other Government offices, unless he has been generally or specially empowered to do so. <strong>Rule 19 of the Government Servants (Conduct) Rule1979</strong> <strong>A </strong>Government servant shall not unless generally or specially empowered by the government in this behalf, disclose directly or indirectly to government servant belonging to other ministries, Divisions or Departments, Or to non-official persons or to the press, the contents of any official document or communicate any information which has come into his possession in the course of his official duties, or has been prepared-or collected by him in the course of those duties, whether from official sources or&nbsp; otherwise. <strong>Oath (Affirmation) of Secrecy under the Bangladesh Constitution.</strong> The 3rd Schedule of the Constitution prohibits the Prime Minister and other Ministers to communicate directly or indirectly or to reveal any matter to any person. The RTI act has made a good number of restrictions by the name of state security or other petty reasons where the authority concerned is not bound to provide information. This list is too large. About 20 matters have been listed under this perpetual information not giving principle. This is not but the destitution of giving information. There is a bar to go to the court for remedy. Without making an appeal before and appellate authority or lodging a complaint before the Information Commission no aggrieved person can raise any question before any court against any action or decision or order or instruction made under the Right to Information Act. There is uncertainty to give third party involved information. There is a jugglery with figures for not giving information by the name of third party involvement. As per section 13(1) of the Act, the Information Commission can entertain complaint if a particular authority does not appoint designated officer. But the Commission does not have the power to direct the concern authority to personally appear before the Commission. The Indian Right to Information Act 2005 has given the Commission such independence and authority. So far as it is known, the different bodies of the government has nominated more than thousand government officers and staffs as&#39; designated officers whereas a very few number(201) of non government institutions have appointed designated officers out of some 30000 NGOs. As NGOs were very much concern about the enactment of RTI act, they should be more responsive in terms of appointing designated officers. The aim of RTI act is to make the vulnerable section informed of their rights and privileges under this act. Unfortunately, the citizens are not aware of this act or Commission established under this act and its functions. The RTI should be widely discussed in all forums and media. The civil society may play a lead role to make it known to all citizens of the country. Side by side, workshops should be organized for the public officials, civil society members, human rights activists, journalists and lawyers to facilitate better understanding of RTI. But its our pleasure that the Information Commission is enlightening the mass people about right to information and RTI act through SMS mobile phone message and TV scroll <strong>Some other Practical Barriers</strong> The public servants do not feel shy to show indifference and ignorance towards the law, rules, regulations and rule of law. Appropriate system has not yet been established for achieving the target of administration around the time limit. Political interference upon administration has made our democracy about to cripple. The nation expects fair, honest and impartial administration in terms of the performance of their duties and responsibility. But all successive regimes of Bangladesh have covertly or/and overtly politicized the bureaucracy in varying degrees for advancing their partisan agenda. Involvement of public officials on the jonotar moncho (public dais) in early 1996, appointment of about 450 loyal officials as DC, ADC, UNO before expiry of Awami League tenure in 2001, promotion and posting of a large number of officials were made on political consideration by the present four party alliance in 2003- 2004 are the glaring examples. One of the main reasons for non-establishment of accountability in the administration is lack of merited people in the administration. Skilled, efficient and worth civil servants are a must for good governance and development of a country. But our national administrative machinery is bereft of such kind of officials. Acknowledging such problem, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia said that a terrible dearth of merit has eclipsed our entire national life setting off deep crisis all around and unfortunately public administration has also not been any exception to the rule.[14] This can be attributed to two broad reasons, namely: the ever declining quality of the top ranking civil servants, and the reckless and forced politicizing of the whole administrative structure. The principle of power delegation is not explained clearly. Usually annual confidential report is not so authentic. Almost it is dependent upon the personal relationship with the controlling authority, not on performance. Lack of proper attitude and training of the officers. Unsolicited and unexpected pressure of labour associations <strong>/ </strong>trade unions on administration. To disobey the rules of service, to realise undue privileges from the job and to use the government transportation abruptly are the part of our today&rsquo;s culture. It has been created for decadence of value. For a long period of time our administration has been known as persuasion model of administration and it is not run without any recommendation, request etc. <strong>Transparency in Bangladesh</strong>: <strong>Institutional Mechanism</strong> The Government&#39;s transparency is the opportunity where the citizens&#39; can access Government&#39;s administrative process, activities and information. Accessibility of information and data is the core element of transparent bureaucracy. To impose restriction on information without reasonable grounds is one types of fraud. Keep the citizens away from reality being identified as their outsiders. The main mechanism of establishing transparency in Bangladesh is as follows: <strong>Decentralization</strong> The transparent bureaucracy creates opportunities fort acceptable and understandable decision making process. This is only possible when the administrative system is decentralized up to the local area and people are given the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. The local government is result of the concept of decentralization. As a result, local people get the chance to know what is going on inside the government. The entire government administration in Bangladesh has been decentralized through the creation of 4562 unions, 492 upazillas 650 thanas and 64 districts.¹⁶The 64 district administrations is the decentralized nature of the Government of Bangladesh. Every district administration is the representative of the national government and the way of social services of citizens of each district. There are district and administrative courts of every district. It is headed by the deputy commissioner and he is responsible for the land revenue and the public justice system. In order to ensure transparency and accountability as well as remove suffering of public there are three conferences held regularly at the Deputy Commissioner&#39;s Office every month like: Conference on law and order, conference on trials and conference on police administration. These monthly conferences are an effective strategy to continue transparency. Besides, they are helpful in clarifying misunderstandings, confusions and issues related to citizen life. In the law and order conference, all the representatives of the society, such as lawyers, transport workers, teachers, doctors, representatives of women society, municipal councils, concerned all the upazila administrators and journalists were called for the conference and the current socioeconomic problems of the people were discussed openly. Participants of the conference discussed about drug abuse, market value, transport system, important test management. On the judicial conference, open negotiations were discussed to clarify mutual understanding and issues concerning justice. The settlement status of the case is assessed at the conference. The member of law enforcement agencies, government lawyers and upazila executive officers, magistrates, corruption officials, civil surgeon and karapal were invited to the law and order conference. The issues related to arrest warrant, law and order situation, diversity of crime and dimensions, hanging cases, medical reports are reviewed in this conference. So these conferences create the areas of discussion on the major issues local administration.[15] <strong>Independent newspaper</strong> In the establishment of a transparent government, press and media play an important role and the observer&#39;s responsibility. In the case of mischief, irregularity and wrongful disclosure, the newspaper has huge responsibilities. Only if the democratic environment prevails in the country, the media can work independently and effectively. Since the establishment of parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh in 1991, newspapers are enjoying enough freedom. Newspapers are writing news and reports independently on administrative activity, inactivity and corruption. Magazines are active in discussions about abuses of power, government officials&#39; arrogance. This newspaper work has been done to insulate the government officials. Likewise, newspaper work for elected representatives, for this reason they are vigilant in neglecting their duties and responsibilities. Recently reports publish on newspaper against administrators, public complaints are increasing day by day. In spite of being trained in public-oriented development of government officials, regular reports were published in the newspapers about their arbitrariness, misuse of power, dishonesty, arrogance and jealousy. Other complaints include delay in settlement of cases, nepotism, regionalism, bias, interest, wrong interpretation of rules, violation, wasteful, bribe taking, deliberately neglecting the responsibilities, giving unfair advantage to others and avoiding duty. These are signs of lack of transparency in administration. <strong>Ombudsman</strong> In order to ensure accountability and transparency, the Ombudsman is mentioned in article 77 of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Ombudsman is an effective arrangement for the people to face direct complaints against the administration. When the Ombudsman system is implemented, it is possible to reduce the distance between the democratic government and the people. <strong>Government money</strong> Publicly, the budget is a strategy to control public money. The responsibility of the elected representatives in Bangladesh is to allocate government funds to the different expenditure and continue the provision of this expenditure through the members of the civil service. The budget is mainly a revenue administration and money allocation document. This indicates the source of income and the proposed expense. The responsibility of the Ministry of Finance is to create annual financial statements and to present it in Parliament under the official rules. Ministry of Finance prepares budget and grants for demand based on estimates received from the heads of government departments and other such organizations. <strong>Parliamentary question-answer</strong> Members of Parliament have the opportunity to ask the administrators about various issues related to government policies and activities. In short notice, the minister responsible for any governmental activity has to explain publicly. Supplementary questions may also arise in this regard. These questions always alert the administrators and ministers; Because it usually reflects public opinion. Publicly asked the minister, but in reality the government officials made the answers to these questions. These questions and responses session were circulated in newspapers and television. <strong>Training</strong> The government&#39;s responsibility is to train the government officials and regenerate politicians in the administration. The Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center conducts training programs of all government officials. In order to implement the government&#39;s plan to meet the needs of the civil services and to create a transparent and accountable administration, this center has created training syllabus for junior and senior government officials. Regular inter-departmental discussions and workshops / seminars are held to strengthen the viewpoint of the functioning of the government officials and the fundamental basis for the need for transparency. Government transparency can be realized from how government is active in the face of public changes and new problems arising. Transparency and democracy complement each other. Through the establishment of democratic system, the practice of transparency is possible only in politics or bureaucracy. &nbsp; &nbsp; <strong>Judiciary</strong> The scenery of the transparency in the judicial system of Bangladesh is not so bad. Here the judges are appointed by the government gazette notification as well as a competitive examination. Without camera trial anyone can present in the court room at the time of hearing. Both parties get equal opportunity for their self defense. Parties can collect the copy of order and judgment. Followings are the key points of transparency in the judicial system of Bangladesh: &bull; Existence of a website. &bull; Publishing and updating of rulings and regulations as well as decision. &bull; Publishing of statistics on cases filed, resolved and pending. &bull; Publishing of the Courts&rsquo; agenda. &bull; Budget, salaries, background, assets and income, and disciplinary matters on relevant officials. &bull; Publishing of bidding and procurement information for contracts. &bull; Access and information regime.[16] On the other hand, Independence judiciary is the essential requirement of transparency. It plays an vital role to ensure transparency and accountability in the administration. Judiciary is the only way to enforce the fundamental rights of the citizen. To ensure freedom of expression and right to information judiciary plays important role. <strong>Comptroller &amp; Auditor General</strong> The Comptroller &amp; Auditor General (CAG) is the most important organ which plays important role to ensure transparency. It justified whether the money approved by the parliament are spent for the purpose intended and in effective and efficient manner. After such auditing the CAG submits its report to the President of the Republic and the President causes it to be laid before parliament.[17] The PAC (Public Account Committee) of the Parliament scrutinizes the report and the PAC plays a vital to question the accounting officer of the concerned ministry. The officer is responsible to express necessary information before the Court. The PAC can take evidence in the public and ask question to other witness. <strong>Election Commission</strong> Freedom of expression is the fundamental right of the citizen in our country. Giving vote is the most important way to execute this right. On the other hand, in the democratic system people control the government power by giving vote. Honest, qualified and eligible peoples&rsquo; representative is the precondition of transparency. Citizens of state participate indirectly to the government by elected their representative. Here election commission is responsible to ensure free and fair election. In previous time, election commission have played vital role to elect honest, qualified and eligible peoples&rsquo; representative. But in the present time if we look some recent local and national election, it has failed to ensure free and fair election. Here mentionable that, if the political government and elected representatives are corrupted, it not possible for administrative officer be free from corruption. For this reason transparency of government can&rsquo;t be ensured properly in Bangladesh. <strong>Suggestions to improve Transparency</strong> Transparency is a wide range concept. Followings are the key points to improve transparency in Bangladesh: We can extend the way of transparency by removing all sections or provisions of different Act which imposed restriction against transparency and right to information. The state must ensure freedom and responsibility of newspaper because it plays vital role to ensure transparency by publishing correct and neutral news. The governor, officer and staff of the republic must be honest and qualified as well as they will have high professional ethics. Radio and television can ensure administrative transparency by telecasting fast news and video. Report, interview, question-answer and live program can play vital role to ensure the rights and interests of the citizen. Under article 76 of the constitution of Bangladesh, effective Public Accounts Committee (PAC) can ensure transparency in the administration by the accountability of the principal account officer about spend public money. Privilege and Standing Parliamentary Committee can play vital role to ensure transparency by investigating important administrative matter in the different parts of administration. Effective and powerful ombudsman post shall be core element of transparency under article 77(2) of the Constitution of Bangladesh. <strong>Conclusion</strong> Information is available about such government activities which are done by efficiently, properly, legally and only for the benefit of stakeholders. But when these activities are not in proper way and purpose, then concern officers are not interested to disclose information about such activities. This is the most important obstacle in the way to transparency. In the present situation in Bangladesh there have some legal restriction in the way to ensure transparency. On the other hand institutional mechanism of transparency is not so good. House of the nation, CAG, PAC, Ombudsman, Election Commission, Print &amp; Electronic media, Judiciary can&rsquo;t perform very well. Bangladesh has so far from the proper transparent government as well as good governance. &nbsp; [1] Kamal Siddiqui, op. cit, p. 4. [2] Mohammad Johurul Islam, &ldquo;Good Governance in Bd: An agenda for Development&rdquo; [3] http://orissagov.nic.in/e-magazine/orissareview/aug2004/engishpdf/pages27 [4] Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 [5] IAHR Court, Case <em>Claude Reyes and others vs., Chile</em>, Sentence from September 19, 2006, Series C, No. 151, par. 90, 91 &amp; 92. [6] Interference of Press Freedom with Administration of Justice: An analysis/Dr. Moammad Abdul Hannan [7] Act no XX of 2009 [8] The Daily Sun 27 July 2017 Tasmhia Nuhia Ahmed) [9] The Lawyers Club Bangladesh.com<strong> <strong>Advocate Mahbobul Alam (Toha)</strong></strong> [10] http://www.daily-sun.com/arcprint/details/243519/Section-57-of-the-ICT-Act-2013/2017-07-27 [11] https://www.jugantor.com/national/12844/%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%80 [12] http://www.abcnewsbd.com/?p=20108 [13] The Daily Prothom Alo/ 16 october 2018 [14] Kazi Alauddin Ahamed, &ldquo;Merit Cerisis in Administration-An introspection&rdquo; The Daily Star/26 february 2004 [15] Transparency of govt/ Syed Nokib Muslim pdf [16] Access to Information &amp; Transparency in the Judiciary/Alvaro Herrero &amp; Gaspaer Lopez/ World Bank Institute/Governance Working paper Series &nbsp; [17] Article 132 of the Constitution Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, 1972

Introduction Almost all industries in Australia today have adopted digital media in some way. However, uses in large scale activities such as mining may seem to be different from others. This article looks at mining practices with a media studies approach, and concludes that, just as many other industries, mining and media have converged. Many Australian mine sites are adopting new media for communication and control to manage communication, explore for ore bodies, simulate forces, automate drilling, keep records, and make transport and command robotic. Beyond sharing similar digital devices for communication and computation, new media in mining employ characteristic digital media operations, such as numerical operation, automation and managed variability. This article examines the implications of finding that some of the most material practices have become mediated by new media. Mining has become increasingly mediated through new media technologies similar to GPS, visualisation, game remote operation, similar to those adopted in consumer home and mobile digital media. The growing and diversified adoption of digital media championed by companies like Rio Tinto aims not only ‘improve’ mining, but to change it. Through remediating practices of digital mining, new media have become integral powerful tools in prospective, real time and analytical environments. This paper draws on two well-known case studies of mines in the Pilbara and Western NSW. These have been documented in press releases and media reports as representing changes in media and mining. First, the West Angelas mines in the Pilbara is an open cut iron ore mine introducing automation and remote operation. This mine is located in the remote Pilbara, and is notable for being operated remotely from a control centre 2000km away, near Perth Airport, WA. A growing fleet of Komatsu 930E haul trucks, which can drive autonomously, traverses the site. Fitted with radars, lasers and GPS, these enormous vehicles navigate through the open pit mine with no direct human control. Introducing these innovations to mine sites become more viable after iron ore mining became increasingly profitable in the mid-2000s. A boom in steel building in China drove unprecedented demand. This growing income coincided with a change in public rhetoric from companies like Rio Tinto. They pointed towards substantial investments in research, infrastructure, and accelerated introduction of new media technologies into mining practices. Rio Tinto trademarked the term ‘Mine of the future’ (US Federal News Service 1), and publicised their ambitious project for renewal of mining practice, including digital media. More recently, prices have been more volatile. The second case study site is a copper and gold underground mine at Northparkes in Western NSW. Northparkes uses substantial sensing and control, as well as hybrid autonomous and remote operated vehicles. The use of digital media begins with prospecting, and through to logistics of transportation. Engineers place explosives in optimal positions using computer modelling of the underground rock formations. They make heavy use of software to coordinate layer-by-layer use of explosives in this advanced ‘box cut’ mine. After explosives disrupt the rock layer a kilometre underground, another specialised vehicle collects and carries the ore to the surface. The Sandvik loader-hauler-dumper (LHD) can be driven conventionally by a driver, but it can also travel autonomously in and out of the mine without a direct operator. Once it reaches a collection point, where the broken up ore has accumulated, a user of the surface can change the media mode to telepresence. The human operator then takes control using something like a games controller and multiple screens. The remote operator controls the LHD to fill the scoop with ore. The fully-loaded LHD backs up, and returns autonomously using laser senses to follow a trail to the next drop off point. The LHD has become a powerful mediator, reconfiguring technical, material and social practices throughout the mine. The Meanings of Mining and Media Are Converging Until recently, mining and media typically operated ontologically separately. The media, such as newspapers and television, often tell stories about mining, following regular narrative scripts. There are controversies and conflicts, narratives of ecological crises, and the economics of national benefit. There are heroic and tragic stories such as the Beaconsfield mine collapse (Clark). There are new industry policies (Middelbeek), which are politically fraught because of the lobbying power of miners. Almost completely separately, workers in mines were consumers of media, from news to entertainment. These media practices, while important in their own right, tell nothing of the approaching changes in many other sectors of work and everyday life. It is somewhat unusual for a media studies scholar to study mine sites. Mine sites are most commonly studied by Engineering (Bellamy &amp; Pravica), Business and labour and cultural histories (McDonald, Mayes &amp; Pini). Until recently, media scholarship on mining has related to media institutions, such as newspapers, broadcasters and websites, and their audiences. As digital media have proliferated, the phenomena that can be considered as media phenomena has changed. This article, pointing to the growing roles of media technologies, observes the growing importance that media, in these terms, have in the rapidly changing domain of mining. Another meaning for ‘media’ studies, from cybernetics, is that a medium is any technology that translates perception, makes interpretations, and performs expressions. This meaning is more abstract, operating with a broader definition of media — not only those institutionalised as newspapers or radio stations. It is well known that computer-based media have become ubiquitous in culture. This is true in particular within the mining company’s higher ranks. Rio Tinto’s ambitious 2010 ‘Mine of the Future’ (Fisher &amp; Schnittger, 2) program was premised on an awareness that engineers, middle managers and senior staff were already highly computer literate. It is worth remembering that such competency was relatively uncommon until the late 1980s. The meanings of digital media have been shifting for many years, as computers become experienced more as everyday personal artefacts, and less as remote information systems. Their value has always been held with some ambivalence. Zuboff’s (387-414) picture of loss, intimidation and resistance to new information technologies in the 1980s seems to have dissipated by 2011. More than simply being accepted begrudgingly, the PC platform (and variants) has become a ubiquitous platform, a lingua franca for information workers. It became an intimate companion for many professions, and in many homes. It was an inexpensive, versatile and generalised convergent medium for communication and control. And yet, writers such as Gregg observe, the flexibility of networked digital work imposes upon many workers ‘unlimited work’. The office boundaries of the office wall break down, for better or worse. Emails, utility and other work-related behaviours increasingly encroach onto domestic and public space and time. Its very attractiveness to users has tied them to these artefacts. The trail that leads the media studies discipline down the digital mine shaft has been cleared by recent work in media archaeology (Parikka), platform studies (Middelbeek; Montfort &amp; Bogost; Maher) and new media (Manovich). Each of these redefined Media Studies practices addresses the need to diversify the field’s attention and methods. It must look at more specific, less conventional and more complex media formations. Mobile media and games (both computer-based) have turned out to be quite different from traditional media (Hjorth; Goggin). Kirschenbaum’s literary study of hard drives and digital fiction moves from materiality to aesthetics. In my study of digital mining, I present a reconfigured media studies, after the authors, that reveals heterogeneous media configurations, deserving new attention to materiality. This article also draws from the actor network theory approach and terminology (Latour). The uses of media / control / communications in the mining industry are very complex, and remain under constant development. Media such as robotics, computer modelling, remote operation and so on are bound together into complex practices. Each mine site is different — geologically, politically, and economically. Mines are subject to local and remote disasters. Mine tunnels and global prices can collapse, rendering active sites uneconomical overnight. Many technologies are still under development — including Northparkes and West Angelas. Both these sites are notable for their significant use of autonomous vehicles and remote operated vehicles. There is no doubt that the digital technologies modulate all manner of the mining processes: from rocks and mechanical devices to human actors. Each of these actors present different forms of collusion and opposition. Within a mining operation, the budgets for computerised and even robotic systems are relatively modest for their expected return. Deep in a mine, we can still see media convergence at work. Convergence refers to processes whereby previously diverse practices in media have taken on similar devices and techniques. While high-end PCs in mining, running simulators; control data systems; visualisation; telepresence, and so on may be high performance, ruggedised devices, they still share a common platform to the desktop PC. Conceptual resources developed in Media Ecology, New Media Studies, and the Digital Humanities can now inform readings of mining practices, even if their applications differ dramatically in size, reliability and cost. It is not entirely surprising that some observations by new media theorists about entertainment and media applications can also relate to features of mining technologies. Manovich argues that numerical representation is a distinctive feature of new media. Numbers have always already been key to mining engineering. However, computers visualise numerical fields in simulations that extend out of the minds of the calculators, and into visual and even haptic spaces. Specialists in geology, explosives, mechanical apparatuses, and so on, can use plaftorms that are common to everyday media. As the significance of numbers is extended by computers in the field, more and more diverse sources of data provide apparently consistent and seamless images of multiple fields of knowledge. Another feature that Manovich identifies in new media is the capacity for automation of media operations. Automation of many processes in mechanical domains clearly occurred long before industrial technologies were ported into new media. The difference with new media in mine sites is that robotic systems must vary their performance according to feedback from their extra-system environments. For our purposes, the haul trucks in WA are software-controlled devices that already qualify as robots. They sense, interpret and act in the world based on their surroundings. They evaluate multiple factors, including the sensors, GPS signals, operator instructions and so on. They can repeat the path, by sensing the differences, day after day, even if the weather changes, the track wears away or the instructions from base change. Automation compensates for differences within complex and changing environments. Automation of an open-pit mine haulage system… provides more consistent and efficient operation of mining equipment, it removes workers from potential danger, it reduces fuel consumption significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it can help optimize vehicle repairs and equipment replacement because of more-predictable and better-controlled maintenance. (Parreire and Meech 1-13) Material components in physical mines tend to become modular and variable, as their physical shape lines up with the logic of another of Manovich’s new media themes, variability. Automatic systems also make obsolete human drivers, who previously handled those environmental variations, for better or for worse, through the dangerous, dull and dirty spaces of the mine. Drivers’ capacity to control repeat trips is no longer needed. The Komatsu driverless truck, introduced to the WA iron ore mines from 2008, proved itself to be almost as quick as human drivers at many tasks. But the driverless trucks have deeper advantages: they can run 23 hours each day with no shift breaks; they drive more cautiously and wear the equipment less than human drivers. There is no need to put up workers and their families up in town. The benefit most often mentioned is safety: even the worst accident won’t produce injuries to drivers. The other advantage less mentioned is that autonomous trucks don’t strike. Meanwhile, managers of human labour also need to adopt certain strategies of modulation to support the needs and expectations of their workers. Mobile phones, televisions and radio are popular modes of connecting workers to their loved ones, particularly in the remote and harsh West Angelas site. One solution — regular fly-in-fly out shifts — tends also to be alienating for workers and locals (Cheshire; Storey; Tonts). As with any operations, the cost of maintaining a safe and comfortable environment for workers requires trade-offs. Companies face risks from mobile phones, leaking computer networks, and espionage that expose the site to security risks. Because of such risks, miners tend be subject to disciplinary regimes. It is common to test alcohol and drug levels. There was some resistance from workers, who refused to change to saliva testing from urine testing (Latimer). Contesting these machines places the medium, in a different sense, at the centre of regulation of the workers’ bodies. In Northparkes, the solution of hybrid autonomous and remote operation is also a solution for modulating labour. It is safer and more comfortable, while also being more efficient, as one experienced driver can control three trucks at a time. This more complex mode of mediation is necessary because underground mines are more complex in geology, and working environments to suit full autonomy. These variations provide different relationships between operators and machines. The operator uses a games controller, and watches four video views from the cabin to make the vehicle fill the bucket with ore (Northparkes Mines, 9). Again, media have become a pivotal element in the mining assemblage. This combines the safety and comfort of autonomous operation (helping to retain staff) with the required use of human sensorimotor dexterity. Mine systems deserve attention from media studies because sites are combining large scale physical complexity with increasingly sophisticated computing. The conventional pictures of mining and media rarely address the specificity of subjective and artefactual encounters in and around mine sites. Any research on mining communication is typically within the instrumental frames of engineering (Duff et al.). Some of the developments in mechanical systems have contributed to efficiency and safety of many mines: larger trucks, more rock crushers, and so on. However, the single most powerful influence on mining has been adopting digital media to control, integrate and mining systems. Rio Tinto’s transformative agenda document is outlined in its high profile ‘Mine of the Future’ agenda (US Federal News Service). The media to which I refer are not only those in popular culture, but also those with digital control and communications systems used internally within mines and supply chains. The global mining industry began adopting digital communication automation (somewhat) systematically only in the 1980s. Mining companies hesitated to adopt digital media because the fundamentals of mining are so risky and bound to standard procedures. Large scale material operations, extracting and processing minerals from under the ground: hardly to be an appropriate space for delicate digital electronics. Mining is also exposed to volatile economic conditions, so investing in anything major can be unattractive. High technology perhaps contradicts an industry ethos of risk-taking and masculinity. Digital media became domesticated, and familiar to a new generation of formally educated engineers for whom databases and algorithms (Manovich) were second nature. Digital systems become simultaneously controllers of objects, and mediators of meanings and relationships. They control movements, and express communications. Computers slide from using meanings to invoking direct actions over objects in the world. Even on an everyday scale, computer operations often control physical processes. Anti-lock Braking Systems regulate a vehicle’s braking pressure to avoid the danger when wheels lock-up. Or another example, is the ATM, which involves both symbolic interactions, and also exchange of physical objects. These operations are examples of the ‘asignifying semiotic’ (Guattari), in which meanings and non-meanings interact. There is no operation essential distinction between media- and non-media digital operations. Which are symbolic, attached or non-consequential is not clear. This trend towards using computation for both meanings and actions has accelerated since 2000. Mines of the Future Beyond a relatively standard set of office and communications software, many fields, including mining, have adopted specialised packages for their domains. In 3D design, it is AutoCAD. In hard sciences, it is custom modelling. In audiovisual production, it may be Apple and Adobe products. Some platforms define their subjectivity, professional identity and practices around these platforms. This platform orientation is apparent in areas of mining, so that applications such as the Gemcom, Rockware, Geological Database and Resource Estimation Modelling from Micromine; geology/mine design software from Runge, Minemap; and mine production data management software from Corvus. However, software is only a small proportion of overall costs in the industry. Agents in mining demand solutions to peculiar problems and requirements. They are bound by their enormous scale; physical risks of environments, explosive and moving elements; need to negotiate constant change, as mining literally takes the ground from under itself; the need to incorporate geological patterns; and the importance of logistics. When digital media are the solution, there can be what is perceived as rapid gains, including greater capacities for surveillance and control. Digital media do not provide more force. Instead, they modulate the direction, speed and timing of activities. It is not a complete solution, because too many uncontrolled elements are at play. Instead, there are moment and situations when the degree of control refigures the work that can be done. Conclusions In this article I have proposed a new conception of media change, by reading digital innovations in mining practices themselves as media changes. This involved developing an initial reading of the operations of mining as digital media. With this approach, the array of media components extends far beyond the conventional ‘mass media’ of newspapers and television. It offers a more molecular media environment which is increasingly heterogeneous. It sometimes involves materiality on a huge scale, and is sometimes apparently virtual. The mining media event can be a semiotic, a signal, a material entity and so on. It can be a command to a human. It can be a measurement of location, a rock formation, a pressure or an explosion. The mining media event, as discussed above, is subject to Manovich’s principles of media, being numerical, variable and automated. In the mining media event, these principles move from the aesthetic to the instrumental and physical domains of the mine site. The role of new media operates at many levels — from the bottom of the mine site to the cruising altitude of the fly-in-fly out aeroplanes — has motivated significant changes in the Australian industry. When digital media and robotics come into play, they do not so much introduce change, but reintroduce similarity. This inversion of media is less about meaning, and more about local mastery. Media modulation extends the kinds of influence that can be exerted by the actors in control. In these situations, the degrees of control, and of resistance, are yet to be seen. Acknowledgments Thanks to Mining IQ for a researcher's pass at Mining Automation and Communication Conference, Perth in August 2012. References Bellamy, D., and L. Pravica. “Assessing the Impact of Driverless Haul Trucks in Australian Surface Mining.” Resources Policy 2011. Cheshire, L. “A Corporate Responsibility? The Constitution of Fly-In, Fly-Out Mining Companies as Governance Partners in Remote, Mine-Affected Localities.” Journal of Rural Studies 26.1 (2010): 12–20. Clark, N. “Todd and Brant Show PM Beaconsfield's Cage of Hell.” The Mercury, 6 Nov. 2008. Duff, E., C. Caris, A. Bonchis, K. Taylor, C. Gunn, and M. Adcock. “The Development of a Telerobotic Rock Breaker.” CSIRO 2009: 1–10. Fisher, B.S. and S. Schnittger. Autonomous and Remote Operation Technologies in the Mining Industry: Benefits and Costs. BAE Report 12.1 (2012). Goggin, G. Global Mobile Media. London: Routledge, 2010. Gregg, M. Work’s Intimacy. Cambridge: Polity, 2011. Guattari, F. Chaosmosis: An Ethico-Aesthetic Paradigm. Trans. Paul Bains and Julian Pefanis. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1992. Hjorth, L. Mobile Media in the Asia-Pacific: Gender and the Art of Being Mobile. Taylor &amp; Francis, 2008. Kirschenbaum, M.G. Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination. Campridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008. Latimer, Cole. “Fair Work Appeal May Change Drug Testing on Site.” Mining Australia 2012. 3 May 2013 ‹http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/fair-work-appeal-may-change-drug-testing-on-site›. Latour, B. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Maher, J. The Future Was Here: The Commodore Amiga. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2012. Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. McDonald, P., R. Mayes, and B. Pini. “Mining Work, Family and Community: A Spatially-Oriented Approach to the Impact of the Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine Closure in Remote Australia.” Journal of Industrial Relations 2012. Middelbeek, E. “Australia Mining Tax Set to Slam Iron Ore Profits.” Metal Bulletin Weekly 2012. Montfort, N., and I. Bogost. Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2009. Parikka, J. What Is Media Archaeology? London: Polity Press, 2012. Parreira, J., and J. Meech. “Autonomous vs Manual Haulage Trucks — How Mine Simulation Contributes to Future Haulage System Developments.” Paper presented at the CIM Meeting, Vancouver, 2010. 3 May 2013 ‹http://www.infomine.com/library/publications/docs/parreira2010.pdf›. Storey, K. “Fly-In/Fly-Out and Fly-Over: Mining and Regional Development in Western Australia.” Australian Geographer 32.2 (2010): 133–148. Storey, K. “Fly-In/Fly-Out: Implications for Community Sustainability.” Sustainability 2.5 (2010): 1161–1181. 3 May 2013 ‹http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/5/1161›. Takayama, L., W. Ju, and C. Nas. “Beyond Dirty, Dangerous and Dull: What Everyday People Think Robots Should Do.” Paper presented at HRI '08, Amsterdam, 2008. 3 May 2013 ‹http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/~wendyju/publications/hri114-takayama.pdf›. Tonts, M. “Labour Market Dynamics in Resource Dependent Regions: An Examination of the Western Australian Goldfields.” Geographical Research 48.2 (2010): 148-165. 3 May 2013 ‹http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-5871.2009.00624.x/abstract›. US Federal News Service, Including US State News. “USPTO Issues Trademark: Mine of the Future.” 31 Aug. 2011. Wu, S., H. Han, X. Liu, H. Wang, F. Xue. “Highly Effective Use of Australian Pilbara Blend Lump Ore in a Blast Furnace.” Revue de Métallurgie 107.5 (2010): 187-193. doi:10.1051/metal/2010021. Zuboff, S. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. Heinemann Professional, 1988.

Sharing this article, the act of writing and then having it read, legitimises the point of it – that is, we (and we speak on behalf of each other here) managed to negotiate western academic expectations and norms from a just-as-legitimate-but-not-always-heard female Buginese perspective written in Standard Australian English (not my first choice-of-language and I speak on behalf of myself). At times we transgressed roles, guiding and following each other through different academic, cultural, social, and linguistic domains until we stumbled upon ways of legitimating our entanglement of experiences, when we heard the similar, faint, drum beat across boundaries and journeys.This article is one storying of the results of this four year relationship between a Buginese PhD candidate and an Indigenous Australian supervisor – both in the writing of the article and the processes that we are writing about. This is our process of knowing and validating knowledge through sharing, collaboration and cultural exchange. Neither the successful PhD thesis nor this article draw from authoethnography but they are outcomes of a lived, research standpoint that fiercely fought to centre a Muslim-Buginese perspective as much as possible, due to the nature of a postgraduate program. In the effort to find a way to not privilege Western ways of knowing to the detriment of my standpoint and position, we had to find a way to at times privilege my way of knowing the world alongside a Western one. There had to be a beat that transgressed cultural and linguistic differences and that allowed for a legitimised dialogic, intersubjective dance.The PhD research focused on potential dialogue between Australian culture and Buginese culture in terms of feminism and its resulting cultural hybridity where some Australian feminist thoughts are applicable to Buginese culture but some are not. Therefore, the PhD study centred a Buginese standpoint while moving back and forth amongst Australian feminist discourses and the dominant expectations of a western academic process. The PhD research was part of a greater Indonesian tertiary movement to include, study, challenge and extend feminist literary programs and how this could be respectfully and culturally appropriately achieved. This article is written by both of us but the core knowledge comes from a Buginese standpoint, that is, the principal supervisor learned from the PhD candidate and then applied her understanding of Indigenous standpoint theory, Tuhiwahi Smith’s decolonising methodologies and Spivakian self-reflexivity to aid the candidate’s development of her dancing methodology. For this reason, the rest of this article is written from the first-person perspective of Dr Abbas.The PhD study was a literary analysis on five stories from Helen Garner’s Postcards from Surfers (1985). My work translated these five stories from English into Indonesian and discussed some challenges that occurred in the process of translation. By using Edward Said’s work on contrapuntal reading and Robert Warrior’s metaphor of the subaltern dancing, I, the embodied learner and the cultural translator, moved back and forth between Buginese culture and Australian culture to consider how Australian women and men are represented and how mainstream Australian society engages with, or challenges, discourses of patriarchy and power. This movement back and forth was theorised as ‘dancing’. Ultimately, another dance was performed at the end of the thesis waltz between the work which centred my Buginese standpoint and academia as a Western tertiary institution.I have been dancing with Australian feminism for over four years. My use of the word ‘dancing’ signified my challenge to articulate and engage with Australian culture, literature, and feminism by viewing it from a Buginese perspective as opposed to a ‘Non-Western’ perspective. As a Buginese woman and scholar, I centred my specific cultural standpoints instead of accepting them generally and therefore dismissed the altering label of ‘Non-Western’. Juxtaposing Australian feminism with Buginese culture was not easy. However, as my research progressed I saw interesting cultural differences between Australian and Buginese cultures that could result in a hybridized way of engaging feminist issues. At times, my cultural standpoint took the lead in directing the research or the point, at other times a Western beat was more prominent, for example, using the English language to voice my work.The Buginese, also known as the Bugis, along with the Makassar, the Mandar, and the Toraja, are one of the four main ethnic groups of the province of South Sulawesi in Indonesia. The population of the Buginese in South Sulawesi spreads into major states (Bone, Wajo, Soppeng, and Sidenreng) and some minor states (Pare-Pare, Suppa, and Sinjai). Like other ethnic groups living in other islands of Indonesia such as the Javanese, the Sundanese, the Minang, the Batak, the Balinese, and the Ambonese, the Buginese have their own culture and traditions. The Buginese, especially those who live in the villages, are still bounded strictly by ade’ (custom) or pangadereng (customary law). This concept of ade’ provides living guidelines for Buginese and consists of five components including ade’, bicara, rapang, wari’, and sara’. Pelras clarifies that pangadereng is ‘adat-hood’, a corpus of interlinked ruling principles which, besides ade’ (custom), includes also bicara (jurisprudence), rapang (models of good behaviour which ensure the proper functioning of society), wari’ (rules of descent and hierarchy) and sara’ (Islamic law and institution, derived from the Arabic shari’a) (190). So, pangadereng is an overall norm which includes advice on how Buginese should behave towards fellow human beings and social institutions on a reciprocal basis. In addition, the Buginese together with Makassarese, mind what is called siri’ (honour and shame), that is the sense of honour and shame. In the life of the Buginese-Makassar people, the most basic element is siri’. For them, no other value merits to be more detected and preserved. Siri’ is their life, their self-respect and their dignity. This is why, in order to uphold and to defend it when it has been stained or they consider it has been stained by somebody, the Bugis-Makassar people are ready to sacrifice everything, including their most precious life, for the sake of its restoration. So goes the saying.... ‘When one’s honour is at stake, without any afterthought one fights’ (Pelras 206).Buginese is one of Indonesia’s ethnic groups where men and women are intended to perform equal roles in society, especially those who live in the Buginese states of South Sulawesi where they are still bound strictly by ade’ (custom) or pangadereng (customary law). These two basic concepts are guidelines for daily life, both in the family and the work place. Buginese also praise what is called siri’, a sense of honour and shame. It is because of this sense of honour and shame that we have a saying, siri’ emmi ri onroang ri lino (people live only for siri’) which means one lives only for honour and prestige. Siri’ had to remain a guiding principle in my theoretical and methodological approach to my PhD research. It is also a guiding principle in the resulting pedagogical praxis that this work has established for my course in Australian culture and literature at Hasanuddin University. I was not prepared to compromise my own ethical and cultural identity and position yet will admit, at times, I felt pressured to do so if I was going to be seen to be performing legitimate scholarly work. Novera argues that:Little research has focused specifically on the adjustment of Indonesian students in Australia. Hasanah (1997) and Philips (1994) note that Indonesian students encounter difficulties in fulfilling certain Western academic requirements, particularly in relation to critical thinking. These studies do not explore the broad range of academic and social problems. Yet this is a fruitful area for research, not just because of the importance of Indonesian students to Australia, and the importance of the Australia-Indonesia relationship to both neighbouring nations, but also because adjustment problems are magnified by cultural differences. There are clear differences between Indonesian and Australian cultures, so that a study of Indonesian students in Australia might also be of broader academic interest […]Studies of international student adjustment discuss a range of problems, including the pressures created by new role and behavioural expectations, language difficulties, financial problems, social difficulties, homesickness, difficulties in dealing with university and other authorities, academic difficulties, and lack of assertiveness inside and outside the classroom. (467)While both my supervisor and I would agree that I faced all of these obstacles during my PhD candidature, this article is focusing solely on the battle to present my methodology, a dialogic encounter between Buginese feminism and mainstream Australian culture using Helen Garner’s short stories, to a Western process and have it be “legitimised”. Endang writes that short stories are becoming more popular in the industrial era in Indonesia and they have become vehicles for writers to articulate the realities of social life such as poverty, marginalization, and unfairness (141-144). In addition, Noor states that the short story has become a new literary form particularly effective for assisting writers in their goal to help the marginalized because its shortness can function as a weapon to directly “scoop up” the targeted issues and “knock them out at a blow” (Endang 144-145). Indeed, Helen Garner uses short stories in a way similar to that described by Endang: as a defiant act towards the government and current circumstances (145). My study of Helen Garner’s short stories explored the way her stories engage with and resist gender relations and inequality between men and women in Australian society through four themes prevalent in the narratives: the kitchen, landscape, language, and sexuality. I wrote my thesis in standard Australian English and I complied with expected forms, formatting, referencing, structuring etc. My thesis also included the Buginese translations of some of Garner’s work. However, the theoretical approaches that informed my analysis cannot be separated from the personal. In the title, I use the term ‘dancing’ to indicate a dialogue with white Australian women by moving back and forth between Australian culture and Buginese culture. I use the term ‘dancing’ as an extension of Edward Said’s work on contrapuntal reading but employ it as a signifier of my movement between insider and outsider (of Australian feminism), that is, I extend it from just a literary reading to a whole body experience. According to Ashcroft and Ahluwalia, the “essence of Said’s argument is to know something is to have power over it, and conversely, to have power is to know the world in your own terms” (83). Ashcroft and Ahluwalia add how through music, particularly the work of pianist Glenn Gould, Said formulated a way of reading imperial and postcolonial texts contrapuntally. Such a reading acknowledges the hybridity of cultures, histories and literatures, allowing the reader to move back and forth between an internal and an external standpoint of cultural references and attitudes in “an effort to draw out, extend, give emphasis and voice to what is silent or marginally present or ideologically represented” (Said 66). While theorising about the potential dance between Australian and Buginese feminisms in my work, I was living the dance in my day-to-day Australian university experience. Trying to accommodate the expected requirements of a PhD thesis, while at the same time ensuring that I maintained my own personal, cultural and professional dignity, that is ade’, and siri’, required some fancy footwork. Siri’ is central to my Buginese worldview and had to be positioned as such in my PhD thesis. Also, the realities that women are still marginalized and that gender inequality and disparities persist in Indonesian society become a motivation to carry out my PhD study. The opportunity to study Australian culture and literature in that country, allowed me to increase my global and local complexity as an individual, what Pieterse refers to as “ a process of hybridization” and to become as Beck terms an “actor” and “manager’’ of my life (as cited in Edmunds 1). Gaining greater autonomy and reconceptualising both masculinity and femininity, while dominant themes in Garner’s work, are also issues I address in my personal and professional goals. In other words, this study resulted in hybridized knowledge of Australian concepts of feminism and Buginese societies that offers a reference for students to understand and engage with different feminist thought. By learning how feminism is understood differently by Australians and Buginese, my Indonesian students can decide what aspects of feminist ideas from a Western perspective can be applied to Buginese culture without transgressing Buginese customs and habits.There are few Australian literary works that have been translated into Indonesian. Those that have include Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang (2007) and My Life is a Fake (2009), James Vance Marshall’s Walkabout (1957), Emma Darcy’s The Billionaire Bridegroom (2010) , Sally Morgan’s My Place (1987), and Colleen McCullogh’s The Thorn Birds (1978). My translation of five short stories from Postcards from Surfers complemented these works and enriched the diversity of Indonesian translations of world literary works, the bulk of which tends to come from the United Kingdom, America, the Middle East, and Japan. However, actually getting through the process of PhD research followed by examination required my supervisor and I to negotiate cross-cultural terrain, academic agendas and Western expectations of what legitimate thesis writing should look like. Employing Said’s contrapuntal pedagogy and Warrior’s notion of subaltern dancing became my illegitimate methodological frame.Said points out that contrapuntal analysis means that students and teachers can cross-culturally “elucidate a complex and uneven topography” (318). He adds that “we must be able to think through and interpret together experiences that are discrepant, each with its particular agenda and pace of development, its own internal formations, its internal coherence and system of external relationships, all of them co-existing and interacting with others” (32). Contrapuntal is a metaphor Said derived from musical theory, meaning to counterpoint or add a rhythm or melody, in this case, Buginese and Anglo-Australian feminisms. Warrior argues for an indigenous critique of how power and knowledge is read and in doing so he writes that “the subaltern can dance, and so sometimes can the intellectual” (85). In his rereading of Spivak, he argues that subaltern and intellectual positions can meet “and in meeting, create the possibility of communication” (86). He refers to this as dancing partly because it implicitly acknowledges without silencing the voices of the subaltern (once the subaltern speaks it is no longer the subaltern, so the notion of dancing allows for communication, “a movement from subalternity to something else” (90) which can mark “a new sort of non-complicitous relationship to a family, community or class of origin” (91). By “non-complicit” Warrior means that when a member of the subaltern becomes a scholar and therefore a member of those who historically silence the subaltern, there are other methods for communicating, of moving, between political and cultural spaces that allow for a multiplicity of voices and responses. Warrior uses a traditional Osage in-losh-ka dance as an example of how he physically and intellectually interacts with multiple voices and positions:While the music plays, our usual differences, including subalternity and intellectuality, and even gender in its own way, are levelled. For those of us moving to the music, the rules change, and those who know the steps and the songs and those who can keep up with the whirl of bodies, music and colours hold nearly every advantage over station or money. The music ends, of course, but I know I take my knowledge of the dance away and into my life as a critic, and I would argue that those levelled moments remain with us after we leave the drum, change our clothes, and go back to the rest of our lives. (93)For Warrior, the dance becomes theory into practice. For me, it became not only a way to soundly and “appropriately” present my methodology and purpose, but it also became my day to day interactions, as a female Buginese scholar, with western, Australian academic and cultural worldviews and expectations.One of the biggest movements I had to justify was my use of the first person “I”, in my thesis, to signify my identity as a Buginese woman and position myself as an insider of my community with a hybrid western feminism with Australia in mind. Perrault argues that “Writing “I” has been an emancipatory project for women” (2). In the context of my PhD thesis, uttering ‘I’ confirmed my position and aims. However, this act of explicitly situating my own identity and cultural position in my research and thesis was considered one of the more illegitimate acts. In one of the examiner reports, it was stated that situating myself centrally was fraught but that I managed to avoid the pitfalls. Judy Long argues that writing in the female first person challenges patriarchal control and order (127). For me, writing in the first person was essential if I had any chance of maintaining my Buginese identity and voice, in both my thesis and in my Australian tertiary experience. As Trinh-Minh writes, “S/he who writes, writes. In uncertainty, in necessity. And does not ask whether s/he is given permission to do so or not” (8).Van Dijk, cited in Hamilton, notes that the west and north are bound by an academic ethnocentrism and this is a particular area my own research had to negotiate. Methodologically I provided a comparative rather than a universalising perspective, engaging with middle-class, heterosexual, western, white women feminism but not privileging them. It is important for Buginese to use language discourses as a weapon to gain power, particularly because as McGlynn claims, “generally Indonesians are not particularly outspoken” (38). My research was shaped by a combination of ongoing dedication to promote women’s empowerment in the Buginese context and my role as an academic teaching English literature at the university level. I applied interpretive principles that will enable my students to see how the ideas of feminism conveyed through western literature can positively improve the quality of women’s lives and be implemented in Buginese culture without compromising our identity as Indonesians and Buginese people. At the same time, my literary translation provides a cultural comparison with Australia that allows a space for further conversations to occur. However, while attempting to negotiate western and Indonesian discourses in my thesis, I was also physically and emotionally trying to negotiate how to do this as a Muslim Buginese female PhD candidate in an Anglo-Australian academic institution. The notion of ‘dancing’ was employed as a signifier of movement between insider and outsider knowledge. Throughout the research process and my thesis I ‘danced’ with Australian feminism, traditional patriarchal Buginese society, Western academic expectations and my own emerging Indonesian feminist perspective. To ensure siri’ remained the pedagogical and ethical basis of my approach I applied Edward Said’s work on contrapuntal reading and Robert Warrior’s employment of a traditional Osage dance as a self-reflexive, embodied praxis, that is, I extended it from just a literary reading to a whole body experience. The notion of ‘dance’ allows for movement, change, contact, tension, touch and distance: it means that for those who have historically been marginalised or confined, they are no longer silenced. The metaphoric act of dancing allowed me to legitimise my PhD work – it was successfully awarded – and to negotiate a western tertiary institute in Australia with my own Buginese knowledge, culture and purpose.ReferencesAshcroft., B., and P. Ahluwalia. Edward Said. 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Fremantle Press, 1987.Pelras, Christian. The Bugis. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. Perreault, Jeanne. Writing Selves: Contemporary Feminist Autography. London &amp; Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1995.Pieterse, J.N. Globalisation as Hybridisation. In M. Featherstone, S. Lash, and R. Robertson, eds., Global Modernities. London: Sage Publications, 1995.Marshall, James V. Walkabout. London: Puffin, 1957.McCullough, C. The Thorn Birds Sydney: Harper Collins, 1978.Minh-ha, Trinh T. Woman, Native, Other: Writing, Postcoloniality and Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1989.Novera, Isvet Amri. "Indonesian Postgraduate Students Studying in Australia: An Examination of Their Academic, Social and Cultural Experiences." International Education Journal 5.4 (2004): 475-487.Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage Book, 1993. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Zed Books, 1999.Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "Can the Subaltern Speak?" In C. Nelson and L. Grossberg, eds., Marxism and Interpretation of Culture. Chicago: University of lllinois, 1988. 271-313.Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. New York: Routledge, 1988.Warrior, Robert. ""The Subaltern Can Dance, and So Sometimes Can the Intellectual." Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 13.1 (2011): 85-94.

As the single most successful social-networking Website to date, Facebook has caused a shift in both practice and perception of online socialisation, and its relationship to the offline world. While not the first online social networking service, Facebook’s user base dwarfs its nearest competitors. Mark Zuckerberg’s creation boasts more than 750 million users (Facebook). The currently ailing MySpace claimed a ceiling of 100 million users in 2006 (Cashmore). Further, the accuracy of this number has been contested due to a high proportion of fake or inactive accounts. Facebook by contrast, claims 50% of its user base logs in at least once a day (Facebook). The popular and mainstream uptake of Facebook has shifted social use of the Internet from various and fragmented niche groups towards a common hub or portal around which much everyday Internet use is centred. The implications are many, but this paper will focus on the progress what Mimi Marinucci terms the “Facebook effect” (70) and the evolution of lists as a filtering mechanism representing one’s social zones within Facebook. This is in part inspired by the launch of Google’s new social networking service Google+ which includes “circles” as a fundamental design feature for sorting contacts. Circles are an acknowledgement of the shortcomings of a single, unified friends list that defines the Facebook experience. These lists and circles are both manifestations of the same essential concept: our social lives are, in fact, divided into various zones not defined by an online/offline dichotomy, by fantasy role-play, deviant sexual practices, or other marginal or minority interests. What the lists and circles demonstrate is that even very common, mainstream people occupy different roles in everyday life, and that to be effective social tools, social networking sites must grant users control over their various identities and over who knows what about them. Even so, the very nature of computer-based social tools lead to problematic definitions of identities and relationships using discreet terms, in contrast to more fluid, performative constructions of an individual and their relations to others. Building the Monolith In 1995, Sherry Turkle wrote that “the Internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constructions and reconstructions of self that characterize postmodern life” (180). Turkle describes the various deliberate acts of personnae creation possible online in contrast to earlier constraints placed upon the “cycling through different identities” (179). In the past, Turkle argues, “lifelong involvement with families and communities kept such cycling through under fairly stringent control” (180). In effect, Turkle was documenting the proliferation of identity games early adopters of Internet technologies played through various means. Much of what Turkle focused on were MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) and MOOs (MUD Object Oriented), explicit play-spaces that encouraged identity-play of various kinds. Her contemporary Howard Rheingold focused on what may be described as the more “true to life” communities of the WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) (1–38). In particular, Rheingold explored a community established around the shared experience of parenting, especially of young children. While that community was not explicitly built on the notion of role-play, the parental identity was an important quality of community members. Unlike contemporary social media networks, these early communities were built on discreet platforms. MUDs, MOOs, Bulletin Board Systems, UseNet Groups and other early Internet communication platforms were generally hosted independently of one another, and even had to be dialled into via modem separately in some cases (such as the WELL). The Internet was a truly disparate entity in 1995. The discreetness of each community supported the cordoning off of individual roles or identities between them. Thus, an individual could quite easily be “Pete” a member of the parental WELL group and “Gorak the Destroyer,” a role-player on a fantasy MUD without the two roles ever being associated with each other. As Turkle points out, even within each MUD ample opportunity existed to play multiple characters (183–192). With only a screen name and associated description to identify an individual within the MUD environment, nothing technical existed to connect one player’s multiple identities, even within the same community. As the Internet has matured, however, the tendency has been shifting towards monolithic hubs, a notion of collecting all of “the Internet” together. From a purely technical and operational perspective, this has led to the emergence of the ISP (Internet service provider). Users can make a connection to one point, and then be connected to everything “on the Net” instead of individually dialling into servers and services one at a time as was the case in the early 1980s with companies such as Prodigy, the Source, CompuServe, and America On-Line (AOL). The early information service providers were largely walled gardens. A CompuServe user could only access information on the CompuServe network. Eventually the Internet became the network of choice and services migrated to it. Standards such as HTTP for Web page delivery and SMTP for email became established and dominate the Internet today. Technically, this has made the Internet much easier to use. The services that have developed on this more rationalised and unified platform have also tended toward monolithic, centralised architectures, despite the Internet’s apparent fundamental lack of a hierarchy. As the Internet replaced the closed networks, the wider Web of HTTP pages, forums, mailing lists and other forms of Internet communication and community thrived. Perhaps they required slightly more technological savvy than the carefully designed experience of walled-garden ISPs such as AOL, but these fora and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) rooms still provided the discreet environments within which to role-play. An individual could hold dozens of login names to as many different communities. These various niches could be simply hobby sites and forums where a user would deploy their identity as model train enthusiast, musician, or pet owner. They could also be explicitly about role-play, continuing the tradition of MUDs and MOOs into the new millennium. Pseudo- and polynymity were still very much part of the Internet experience. Even into the early parts of the so-called Web 2.0 explosion of more interactive Websites which allowed for easier dialog between site owner and viewer, a given identity would be very much tied to a single site, blog or even individual comments. There was no “single sign on” to link my thread from a music forum to the comments I made on a videogame blog to my aquarium photos at an image gallery site. Today, Facebook and Google, among others, seek to change all that. The Facebook Effect Working from a psychological background Turkle explored the multiplicity of online identities as a valuable learning, even therapeutic, experience. She assessed the experiences of individuals who were coming to terms with aspects of their own personalities, from simple shyness to exploring their sexuality. In “You Can’t Front on Facebook,” Mimi Marinucci summarizes an analysis of online behaviour by another psychologist, John Suler (67–70). Suler observed an “online disinhibition effect” characterised by users’ tendency to express themselves more openly online than offline (321). Awareness of this effect was drawn (no pun intended) into popular culture by cartoonist Mike Krahulik’s protagonist John Gabriel. Although Krahulik’s summation is straight to the point, Suler offers a more considered explanation. There are six general reasons for the online disinhibition effect: being anonymous, being invisible, the communications being out of sync, the strange sensation that a virtual interlocutor is all in the mind of the user, the general sense that the online world simply is not real and the minimisation of status and authority (321–325). Of the six, the notion of anonymity is most problematic, as briefly explored above in the case of AOL. The role of pseudonymity has been explored in more detail in Ruch, and will be considered with regard to Facebook and Google+ below. The Facebook effect, Marinucci argues, mitigates all six of these issues. Though Marinucci explains the mitigation of each factor individually, her final conclusion is the most compelling reason: “Facebook often facilitates what is best described as an integration of identities, and this integration of identities in turn functions as something of an inhibiting factor” (73). Ruch identifies this phenomenon as the “aggregation of identities” (219). Similarly, Brady Robards observes that “social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook collapse the entire array of social relationships into just one category, that of ‘Friend’” (20). Unlike earlier community sites, Ruch notes “Facebook rejects both the mythical anonymity of the Internet, but also the actual pseudo- or polynonymous potential of the technologies” (219). Essentially, Facebook works to bring the offline social world online, along with all the conventional baggage that accompanies the individual’s real-world social life. Facebook, and now Google+, present a hard, dichotomous approach to online identity: anonymous and authentic. Their socially networked individual is the “real” one, using a person’s given name, and bringing all (or as many as the sites can capture) their contacts from the offline world into the online one, regardless of context. The Facebook experience is one of “friending” everyone one has any social contact with into one homogeneous group. Not only is Facebook avoiding the multiple online identities that interested Turkle, but it is disregarding any multiplicity of identity anywhere, including any online/offline split. David Kirkpatrick reports Mark Zuckerberg’s rejection of this construction of identity is explained by his belief that “You have one identity … having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity” (199). Arguably, Zuckerberg’s calls for accountability through identity continue a perennial concern for anonymity online fuelled by “on the Internet no one knows you’re a dog” style moral panics. Over two decades ago Lindsy Van Gelder recounted the now infamous case of “Joan and Alex” (533) and Julian Dibbell recounted “a rape in cyberspace” (11). More recent anxieties concern the hacking escapades of Anonymous and LulzSec. Zuckerberg’s approach has been criticised by Christopher Poole, the founder of 4Chan—a bastion of Internet anonymity. During his keynote presentation at South by SouthWest 2011 Poole argued that Zuckerberg “equates anonymity with a lack of authenticity, almost a cowardice.” Yet in spite of these objections, Facebook has mainstream appeal. From a social constructivist perspective, this approach to identity would be satisfying the (perceived?) need for a mainstream, context-free, general social space online to cater for the hundreds of millions of people who now use the Internet. There is no specific, pre-defined reason to join Facebook in the way there is a particular reason to join a heavy metal music message board. Facebook is catering to the need to bring “real” social life online generally, with “real” in this case meaning “offline and pre-existing.” Very real risks of missing “real life” social events (engagements, new babies, party invitations etc) that were shared primarily via Facebook became salient to large groups of individuals not consciously concerned with some particular facet of identity performance. The commercial imperatives towards monolithic Internet and identity are obvious. Given that both Facebook and Google+ are in the business of facilitating the sale of advertising, their core business value is the demographic information they can sell to various companies for target advertising. Knowing a user’s individual identity and tastes is extremely important to those in the business of selling consumers what they currently want as well as predicting their future desires. The problem with this is the dawning realisation that even for the average person, role-playing is part of everyday life. We simply aren’t the same person in all contexts. None of the roles we play need to be particularly scandalous for this to be true, but we have different comfort zones with people that are fuelled by context. Suler proposes and Marinucci confirms that inhibition may be just as much part of our authentic self as the uninhibited expression experienced in more anonymous circumstances. Further, different contexts will inform what we inhibit and what we express. It is not as though there is a simple binary between two different groups and two different personal characteristics to oscillate between. The inhibited personnae one occupies at one’s grandmother’s home is a different inhibited self one plays at a job interview or in a heated discussion with faculty members at a university. One is politeness, the second professionalism, the third scholarly—yet they all restrain the individual in different ways. The Importance of Control over Circles Google+ is Google’s latest foray into the social networking arena. Its previous ventures Orkut and Google Buzz did not fare well, both were variously marred by legal issues concerning privacy, security, SPAM and hate groups. Buzz in particular fell afoul of associating Google accounts with users” real life identities, and (as noted earlier), all the baggage that comes with it. “One user blogged about how Buzz automatically added her abusive ex-boyfriend as a follower and exposed her communications with a current partner to him. Other bloggers commented that repressive governments in countries such as China or Iran could use Buzz to expose dissidents” (Novak). Google+ takes a different approach to its predecessors and its main rival, Facebook. Facebook allows for the organisation of “friends” into lists. Individuals can span more than one list. This is an exercise analogous to what Erving Goffman refers to as “audience segregation” (139). According to the site’s own statistics the average Facebook user has 130 friends, we anticipate it would be time-consuming to organise one’s friends according to real life social contexts. Yet without such organisation, Facebook overlooks the social structures and concomitant behaviours inherent in everyday life. Even broad groups offer little assistance. For example, an academic’s “Work People” list may include the Head of Department as well as numerous other lecturers with whom a workspace is shared. There are things one might share with immediate colleagues that should not be shared with the Head of Department. As Goffman states, “when audience segregation fails and an outsider happens upon a performance that was not meant for him, difficult problems in impression management arise” (139). By homogenising “friends” and social contexts users are either inhibited or run the risk of some future awkward encounters. Google+ utilises “circles” as its method for organising contacts. The graphical user interface is intuitive, facilitated by an easy drag and drop function. Use of “circles” already exists in the vocabulary used to describe our social structures. “List” by contrast reduces the subject matter to simple data. The utility of Facebook’s friends lists is hindered by usability issues—an unintuitive and convoluted process that was added to Facebook well after its launch, perhaps a reaction to privacy concerns rather than a genuine attempt to emulate social organisation. For a cogent breakdown of these technical and design problems see Augusto Sellhorn. Organising friends into lists is a function offered by Facebook, but Google+ takes a different approach: organising friends in circles is a central feature; the whole experience is centred around attempting to mirror the social relations of real life. Google’s promotional video explains the centrality of emulating “real life relationships” (Google). Effectively, Facebook and Google+ have adopted two different systemic approaches to dealing with the same issue. Facebook places the burden of organising a homogeneous mass of “friends” into lists on the user as an afterthought of connecting with another user. In contrast, Google+ builds organisation into the act of connecting. Whilst Google+’s approach is more intuitive and designed to facilitate social networking that more accurately reflects how real life social relationships are structured, it suffers from forcing direct correlation between an account and the account holder. That is, use of Google+ mandates bringing online the offline. Google+ operates a real names policy and on the weekend of 23 July 2011 suspended a number of accounts for violation of Google’s Community Standards. A suspension notice posted by Violet Blue reads: “After reviewing your profile, we determined the name you provided violates our Community Standards.” Open Source technologist Kirrily Robert polled 119 Google+ users about their experiences with the real names policy. The results posted to her on blog reveal that users desire pseudonymity, many for reasons of privacy and/or safety rather than the lack of integrity thought by Zuckerberg. boyd argues that Google’s real names policy is an abuse of power and poses danger to those users employing “nicks” for reasons including being a government employment or the victim of stalking, rape or domestic abuse. A comprehensive list of those at risk has been posted to the Geek Feminism Wiki (ironically, the Wiki utilises “Connect”, Facebook’s attempt at a single sign on solution for the Web that connects users’ movements with their Facebook profile). Facebook has a culture of real names stemming from its early adopters drawn from trusted communities, and this culture became a norm for that service (boyd). But as boyd also points out, “[r]eal names are by no means universal on Facebook.” Google+ demands real names, a demand justified by rhetoric of designing a social networking system that is more like real life. “Real”, in this case, is represented by one’s given name—irrespective of the authenticity of one’s pseudonym or the complications and dangers of using one’s given name. Conclusion There is a multiplicity of issues concerning social networks and identities, privacy and safety. This paper has outlined the challenges involved in moving real life to the online environment and the contests in trying to designate zones of social context. Where some earlier research into the social Internet has had a positive (even utopian) feel, the contemporary Internet is increasingly influenced by powerful and competing corporations. As a result, the experience of the Internet is not necessarily as flexible as Turkle or Rheingold might have envisioned. Rather than conducting identity experimentation or exercising multiple personnae, we are increasingly obligated to perform identity as it is defined by the monolithic service providers such as Facebook and Google+. This is not purely an indictment of Facebook or Google’s corporate drive, though they are obviously implicated, but has as much to do with the new social practice of “being online.” So, while there are myriad benefits to participating in this new social context, as Poole noted, the “cost of failure is really high when you’re contributing as yourself.” Areas for further exploration include the implications of Facebook positioning itself as a general-purpose user authentication tool whereby users can log into a wide array of Websites using their Facebook credentials. If Google were to take a similar action the implications would be even more convoluted, given the range of other services Google offers, from GMail to the Google Checkout payment service. While the monolithic centralisation of these services will have obvious benefits, there will be many more subtle problems which must be addressed. References Blue, Violet. “Google Plus Deleting Accounts en Masse: No Clear Answers.” zdnet.com (2011). 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://www.zdnet.com/blog/violetblue/google-plus-deleting-accounts-en-masse-no-clear-answers/56›. boyd, danah. “Real Names Policies Are an Abuse of Power.” zephoria.org (2011). 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2011/08/04/real-names.html›. Cashmore, Pete. “MySpace Hits 100 Million Accounts.” mashable.com (2006). 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://mashable.com/2006/08/09/myspace-hits-100-million-accounts›. Dibble, Julian. My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World. New York: Henry Holt &amp; Company, 1998. Facebook. “Fact Sheet.” Facebook (2011). 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistic›. Geek Feminism Wiki. “Who Is Harmed by a Real Names Policy?” 2011. 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Real_Names%22_policy› Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. London: Penguin, 1959. Google. “The Google+ Project: Explore Circles.” Youtube.com (2011). 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocPeAdpe_A8›. Kirkpatrick, David. The Facebook Effect. New York: Simon &amp; Schuster, 2010. Marinucci, Mimi. “You Can’t Front on Facebook.” Facebook and Philosophy. Ed. Dylan Wittkower. Chicago &amp; La Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 2010. 65–74. Novak, Peter. “Privacy Commissioner Reviewing Google Buzz.” CBC News: Technology and Science (2010). 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/02/16/google-buzz-privacy.html›. Poole, Christopher. Keynote presentation. South by SouthWest. Texas, Austin, 2011. Robards, Brady. “Negotiating Identity and Integrity on Social Network Sites for Educators.” International Journal for Educational Integrity 6.2 (2010): 19–23. Robert, Kirrily. “Preliminary Results of My Survey of Suspended Google Accounts.” 2011. 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://infotrope.net/2011/07/25/preliminary-results-of-my-survey-of-suspended-google-accounts/›. Rheingold, Howard. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993. Ruch, Adam. “The Decline of Pseudonymity.” Posthumanity. Eds. Adam Ruch and Ewan Kirkland. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary.net Press, 2010: 211–220. Sellhorn, Augusto. “Facebook Friend Lists Suck When Compared to Google+ Circles.” sellmic.com (2011). 10 Aug. 2011 ‹http://sellmic.com/blog/2011/07/01/facebook-friend-lists-suck-when-compared-to-googleplus-circles›. Suler, John. “The Online Disinhibition Effect.” CyberPsychology and Behavior 7 (2004): 321–326. Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon &amp; Schuster, 1995. Van Gelder, Lindsy. “The Strange Case of the Electronic Lover.” Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social Choices Ed. Rob Kling. New York: Academic Press, 1996: 533–46.

Methods of monitoring undesirable drug reactions Aastha Jaiswal Under the Guidance Madraimov Venera mam (Dept of EBM) &nbsp;Abstract Monitoring undesirable drug reactions, also known as adverse drug reactions (ADRs), is a critical component of ensuring patient safety and optimizing treatment outcomes in healthcare. ADRs can range from mild side effects to life-threatening conditions, making their timely detection and management essential. This comprehensive exploration humanizes the complex process of ADR monitoring by weaving together the science, real-world challenges, and patient experiences. We delve into the various methods used to identify and track ADRs, including spontaneous reporting systems, electronic health records, clinical trials, patient-reported outcomes, and advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. Ethical considerations, such as balancing patient autonomy with safety and ensuring equitable access to monitoring systems, are also addressed. Through relatable case studies and practical insights, this discussion highlights how healthcare providers, regulators, and patients collaborate to minimize harm while navigating the complexities of medication use. Systemic issues, cultural factors, and future directions are considered to provide a holistic view of ADR monitoring. &nbsp;Introduction: A Patient&rsquo;s Story Meet Emma, a 52-year-old teacher who recently started a new medication for her arthritis. A week later, she notices a rash and feels unusually tired. Is this just a minor side effect, or something serious? Emma&rsquo;s doctor needs to figure it out quickly, and that&rsquo;s where monitoring adverse drug reactions (ADRs) comes in. ADRs are unwanted or harmful effects caused by medications, ranging from nausea to rare, life-threatening conditions like liver failure. They&rsquo;re a big deal&mdash;studies estimate ADRs cause 3&ndash;7% of hospital admissions and countless outpatient visits. For Emma, catching an ADR early could mean switching to a safer drug or adjusting her dose. For doctors, it&rsquo;s about using tools and systems to spot these reactions before they spiral. And for the healthcare system, it&rsquo;s about keeping patients safe while learning how drugs perform in the real world. This exploration dives into the methods of monitoring ADRs, making the science relatable with stories like Emma&rsquo;s. We&rsquo;ll cover the tools, challenges, ethical dilemmas, and future possibilities, all while keeping the human experience&mdash;patients, families, and caregivers&mdash;at the heart of the conversation. &nbsp;What Are ADRs, and Why Monitor Them? An ADR is any harmful or unintended response to a medication, whether it&rsquo;s a common side effect (like drowsiness from an antihistamine) or a rare, severe reaction (like anaphylaxis from an antibiotic). The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an ADR as &ldquo;a response to a drug which is noxious and unintended, and which occurs at doses normally used in man.&rdquo; Monitoring ADRs is like keeping a safety net under patients. It helps: - Protect patients: Early detection can prevent harm, like catching Emma&rsquo;s rash before it becomes a serious skin reaction. - Improve treatments: Data from ADRs helps doctors choose safer drugs or adjust doses. - Inform the system: Regulators use ADR reports to update drug labels, issue warnings, or even pull drugs from the market. - Build trust: When patients like Emma know their concerns are taken seriously, they&rsquo;re more likely to stick with their treatment. But monitoring isn&rsquo;t easy. ADRs can be hard to spot, mimic other conditions, or show up years later. Plus, patients, doctors, and systems all have to work together, which brings its own challenges. &nbsp;Methods of Monitoring Adverse Drug Reactions Let&rsquo;s walk through the main ways ADRs are monitored, with examples to bring each method to life. &nbsp;1. Spontaneous Reporting Systems (SRS) - What Is It? This is the most common method, where doctors, pharmacists, or patients report suspected ADRs to a national database, like the FDA&rsquo;s MedWatch in the U.S. or the WHO&rsquo;s VigiBase globally. - How It Works: If Emma&rsquo;s doctor thinks her rash is from her arthritis drug, they file a report online or by phone. These reports are collected, analyzed, and used to spot patterns. - Pros: &nbsp; - Wide reach: Captures ADRs from real-world use, not just clinical trials. &nbsp; - Cost-effective: Relies on voluntary reporting, so it&rsquo;s relatively cheap. &nbsp; - Patient involvement: Many systems now let patients like Emma report directly. - Cons: &nbsp; - Underreporting: Busy doctors might not report every case, and patients might not know how. &nbsp; - Incomplete data: Reports often lack details, like Emma&rsquo;s full medical history. &nbsp; - No denominator: It&rsquo;s hard to know how many people took the drug, so you can&rsquo;t calculate rates. - Example: In the 1990s, spontaneous reports linked the diet drug fen-phen to heart valve problems, leading to its withdrawal. Emma&rsquo;s rash report could help spot a similar issue with her drug. &nbsp;2. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Data Mining - What Is It? EHRs store patient data like prescriptions, lab results, and diagnoses. Computers can scan this data to find patterns suggesting ADRs. - How It Works: If Emma&rsquo;s HER shows her rash started after her new drug, an algorithm might flag it as a potential ADR. Data from millions of EHRs can reveal trends. - Pros: &nbsp; - Big data: Captures ADRs from diverse patients, not just those reported. &nbsp; - Real-time: Can detect issues faster than waiting for voluntary reports. &nbsp; - Detailed: Includes lab results, comorbidities, and more. - Cons: &nbsp; - Privacy concerns: Patients like Emma might worry about their data being used. &nbsp; - False positives: Algorithms might flag unrelated issues as ADRs. &nbsp; - Access gaps: Not all clinics use EHRs, especially in low-resource areas. - Example: HER data helped link a diabetes drug to an increased risk of heart failure by spotting patterns in patient records. &nbsp;3. Clinical Trials and Post-Marketing Surveillance - What Is It? Clinical trials test drugs before approval, but ADRs often show up after a drug hits the market (Phase IV studies). Post-marketing surveillance tracks these. - How It Works: If Emma&rsquo;s drug is new, its manufacturer might run studies to monitor side effects, or regulators might require safety reports. - Pros: &nbsp; - Controlled: Trials can confirm if a drug causes an ADR. &nbsp; - Long-term: Catches delayed reactions, like cancer years after a drug. &nbsp; - Rigorous: Uses scientific methods to reduce bias. - Cons: &nbsp; - Limited scope: Trials don&rsquo;t include everyone (e.g., kids, elderly, or those with multiple conditions). &nbsp; - Expensive: Costs a lot to run long-term studies. &nbsp; - Slow: Can take years to spot rare ADRs. - Example: Post-marketing studies found that Vioxx, a painkiller, increased heart attack risk, leading to its withdrawal in 2004. &nbsp;4. Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) - What Is It? Patients report their experiences directly, often through apps, surveys, or hotlines, giving a first-hand view of ADRs. - How It Works: Emma could use an app to log her rash and fatigue, which gets sent to a monitoring system or her doctor. - Pros: &nbsp; - Patient-centered: Captures what matters to people like Emma, not just what doctors notice. &nbsp; - Timely: Patients often report symptoms before they&rsquo;re severe. &nbsp; - Inclusive: Empowers patients to take part in safety monitoring. - Cons: &nbsp; - Subjectivity: Emma might misinterpret her symptoms (e.g., thinking fatigue is from the drug when it&rsquo;s stress). &nbsp; - Access: Not everyone has a smartphone or knows about reporting tools. &nbsp; - Verification: Hard to confirm if symptoms are drug-related without medical input. - Example: Patient reports via apps helped identify mood changes as a side effect of a new antidepressant. &nbsp;5. Pharmacovigilance Registries - What Is It? These are databases focused on specific drugs or conditions, tracking ADRs over time, often for high-risk medications like biologics or chemotherapy. - How It Works: If Emma&rsquo;s arthritis drug is a biologic, her doctor might enroll her in a registry that tracks side effects like rashes or infections. - Pros: &nbsp; - Targeted: Great for drugs known to have risks. &nbsp; - Longitudinal: Follows patients like Emma for years. &nbsp; - Collaborative: Involves doctors, researchers, and sometimes patients. - Cons: &nbsp; - Resource-heavy: Requires funding and coordination. &nbsp; - Limited scope: Only covers specific drugs or groups. &nbsp; - Consent: Patients might hesitate to join due to privacy fears. - Example: Registries for HIV drugs have tracked rare ADRs like kidney damage, improving treatment guidelines. &nbsp;6. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning - What Is It? AI analyzes massive datasets&mdash;EHRs, social media, even wearable devices&mdash;to predict or detect ADRs. - How It Works: If Emma posts about her rash on social media, AI might pick it up as a signal. Or her smartwatch could flag an irregular heartbeat linked to her drug. - Pros: &nbsp; - Predictive: Can spot ADRs before they&rsquo;re widely reported. &nbsp; - Scalable: Handles huge amounts of data quickly. &nbsp; - Innovative: Uses non-traditional sources like social media. - Cons: &nbsp; - Accuracy: AI can make mistakes, flagging unrelated issues. &nbsp; - Ethics: Raises questions about consent and data privacy. &nbsp; - Cost: Requires investment in tech and expertise. - Example: AI analysis of Twitter posts helped identify gastrointestinal issues with a new painkiller before formal reports surged. &nbsp;7. Active Surveillance Systems - What Is It? Unlike passive spontaneous reporting, active surveillance proactively collects ADR data, often through surveys or monitoring high-risk groups. - How It Works: Emma&rsquo;s clinic might call her a month after starting her drug to ask about side effects, or a study might track arthritis patients on her medication. - Pros: &nbsp; - Thorough: Catches ADRs that might be missed otherwise. &nbsp; - Targeted: Focuses on at-risk groups, like older adults or pregnant women. &nbsp; - Reliable: Reduces underreporting by seeking out data. - Cons: &nbsp; - Time-intensive: Requires staff to follow up with patients. &nbsp; - Costly: Needs funding for surveys or monitoring programs. &nbsp; - Burden: Patients like Emma might find repeated check-ins intrusive. - Example: Active surveillance of a new vaccine caught rare allergic reactions by surveying thousands of recipients. &nbsp;Ethical Issues in ADR Monitoring Monitoring ADRs isn&rsquo;t just technical&mdash;it&rsquo;s deeply ethical, especially when balancing patient safety with autonomy. Here are the key dilemmas, humanized with examples: &nbsp;1. Patient Autonomy vs. Safety - Issue: Emma wants to keep taking her arthritis drug despite her rash, but her doctor worries it&rsquo;s dangerous. Respecting her choice (autonomy) could risk harm (non-maleficence). - Example: Emma insists, &ldquo;I can live with the rash; the drug helps my pain.&rdquo; Her doctor fears it could worsen to a severe reaction. - Solution: Use shared decision-making&mdash;explain the risks clearly, offer alternatives, and agree on close monitoring if Emma continues the drug. &nbsp;2. Privacy and Data Use - Issue: Using Emma&rsquo;s HER or social media posts to monitor ADRs raises privacy concerns. She might not want her data shared, even anonymously. - Example: Emma&rsquo;s uncomfortable knowing her rash is in a database. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s seeing this?&rdquo; she asks. - Solution: Ensure informed consent for data use, anonymize data, and be transparent about how it&rsquo;s used to build trust. &nbsp;3. Equity and Access - Issue: Not everyone has access to ADR monitoring tools, like apps or registries, especially in rural areas or low-income communities. - Example: Jos&eacute;, a farmworker, can&rsquo;t report his side effects because he lacks a smartphone and his clinic doesn&rsquo;t use EHRs. - Solution: Develop low-tech options, like paper forms or hotlines, and fund outreach to underserved areas. &nbsp;4. Over- or Underreporting - Issue: Overreporting can lead to false alarms, scaring patients like Emma off safe drugs. Underreporting can miss serious risks. - Example: If Emma&rsquo;s rash is overreported as a major issue, her drug might get a bad rap unfairly. If it&rsquo;s underreported, a dangerous pattern could be missed. - Solution: Train doctors to report accurately and encourage patients to share concerns without fear of judgment. &nbsp;5. Cultural and Language Barriers - Issue: Cultural beliefs or language gaps can hinder ADR reporting. A patient might not report a side effect if it&rsquo;s taboo in their culture or if they don&rsquo;t speak the doctor&rsquo;s language. - Example: Aisha, whose first language isn&rsquo;t English, struggles to describe her nausea to her doctor. - Solution: Use interpreters, culturally sensitive materials, and community health workers to bridge gaps. &nbsp;Practical Approaches to Effective ADR Monitoring Here&rsquo;s how to make ADR monitoring work for patients like Emma: 1. Empower Patients: Teach patients to recognize and report side effects using apps, hotlines, or simple forms. Emma&rsquo;s doctor could say, &ldquo;If you notice anything new, like a rash, call us or use this app.&rdquo; 2. Train Healthcare Providers: Doctors and pharmacists need training to spot ADRs and report them accurately, without adding to their workload. 3. Simplify Reporting: Make systems user-friendly&mdash;online forms, mobile apps, or even text-based reporting for patients like Jos&eacute;. 4. Use Technology Wisely: Combine EHRs, AI, and wearables to catch ADRs early, but prioritize patient consent and data security. 5. Engage Communities: Work with local leaders to encourage reporting in diverse or underserved groups, addressing cultural and language barriers. 6. Feedback Loop: Let patients and doctors know how their reports make a difference, like updating drug warnings, to keep them motivated. &nbsp;Bigger Picture: Challenges and Future Directions &nbsp;Systemic Challenges - Underfunding: Many ADR monitoring systems, especially in low-income countries, lack resources for robust surveillance. - Fragmentation: Different countries use different systems, making global tracking tricky. - Industry Influence: Drug companies might downplay ADRs to protect profits, skewing data. &nbsp;Cultural and Social Factors - Misinformation: Social media can amplify fears about ADRs, like vaccine side effects, making patients hesitant to report or trust doctors. - Stigma: In some cultures, reporting side effects might be seen as complaining or weakness, discouraging participation. &nbsp;Technology and Innovation - Wearables: Devices like smartwatches could track heart rate or sleep changes, flagging potential ADRs in real time. - Blockchain: Could secure patient data while allowing anonymous ADR reporting. - Global Collaboration: Platforms like VigiBase are expanding to share ADR data worldwide, improving drug safety. &nbsp;Case Studies to Bring It Home 1. Emma&rsquo;s Rash &nbsp; &nbsp;Emma&rsquo;s rash is reported via MedWatch by her doctor, who also checks her HER for similar cases. The report joins others, revealing a pattern with her arthritis drug. Emma switches to a safer alternative, and the drug gets a new warning label. 2. Jos&eacute;&rsquo;s Unreported Fatigue &nbsp; &nbsp;Jos&eacute;, the farmworker, doesn&rsquo;t report his fatigue from a blood pressure drug because his clinic lacks an HER. A community health worker helps him report it via a hotline, catching a rare side effect that leads to a dose adjustment. &nbsp;Conclusion Monitoring adverse drug reactions is about keeping patients like Emma and Jos&eacute; safe while respecting their voices and choices. From spontaneous reports to AI-driven insights, the methods are diverse, each with strengths and flaws. Ethical challenges&mdash;like balancing autonomy with safety or ensuring fair access&mdash;add complexity, but solutions like shared decision-making, clear communication, and inclusive systems can bridge the gap. By listening to patients, leveraging technology, and tackling systemic barriers, healthcare can catch ADRs early, prevent harm, and build trust. It&rsquo;s a team effort&mdash;doctors, patients, and regulators all play a part in making medicines safer and care more human. &nbsp;References 1. World Health Organization. (2002). Safety of Medicines: A Guide to Detecting and Reporting Adverse Drug Reactions. WHO. 2. Edwards, I. R., &amp; Aronson, J. K. (2000). Adverse drug reactions: Definitions, diagnosis, and management. The Lancet, 356(9237), 1255&ndash;1259. 3. Pirmohamed, M., James, S., Meakin, S., et al. (2004). Adverse drug reactions as cause of admission to hospital: Prospective analysis of 18,820 patients. BMJ, 329(7456), 15&ndash;19. 4. Hazell, L., &amp; Shakir, S. A. (2006). Under-reporting of adverse drug reactions: A systematic review. Drug Safety, 29(5), 385&ndash;396. 5. Uppsala Monitoring Centre. (2020). VigiBase: The WHO Global Database of Individual Case Safety Reports. WHO-UMC. 6. Bates, D. W., Cullen, D. J., Laird, N., et al. (1995). Incidence of adverse drug events and potential adverse drug events: Implications for prevention. JAMA, 274(1), 29&ndash;34. 7. Nebeker, J. R., Barach, P., &amp; Samore, M. H. (2004). Clarifying adverse drug events: A clinician&rsquo;s guide to terminology, documentation, and reporting. Annals of Internal Medicine, 140(10), 795&ndash;801. 8. Avery, A. J., Anderson, C., Bond, C. M., et al. (2011). Evaluation of patient reporting of adverse drug reactions to the UK Yellow Card Scheme: Literature review, descriptive and qualitative analyses, and questionnaire surveys. Health Technology Assessment, 15(20), 1&ndash;234. 9. Harpaz, R., DuMouchel, W., Shah, N. H., et al. (2012). Novel data-mining methodologies for adverse drug event discovery and analysis. Clinical Pharmacology &amp; Therapeutics, 91(6), 1010&ndash;1021. 10. Coloma, P. M., Schuemie, M. J., Trifir&ograve;, G., et al. (2013). Combining electronic healthcare databases in Europe to allow for large-scale drug safety monitoring: The EU-ADR Project. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 22(1), 1&ndash;11. 11. Inacio, P., Cavaco, A., &amp; Airaksinen, M. (2014). The value of patient reporting to the pharmacovigilance system: A systematic review. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 77(2), 227&ndash;246. 12. Moore, T. J., Cohen, M. R., &amp; Furberg, C. D. (2007). Serious adverse drug events reported to the Food and Drug Administration, 1998&ndash;2005. Archives of Internal Medicine, 167(16), 1752&ndash;1759. 13. Lazarou, J., Pomeranz, B. H., &amp; Corey, P. N. (1998). Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: A meta-analysis of prospective studies. 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(2016). The impact of patient-reported outcome measures in pharmacovigilance: A systematic review. Drug Safety, 39(5), 395&ndash;404. 19. Curtis, J. R., Westfall, A. O., Allison, J., et al. (2007). Longitudinal patterns in the prevention of osteoporosis in glucocorticoid-treated patients. Arthritis &amp; Rheumatism, 56(7), 2485&ndash;2494. 20. Hauben, M., &amp; Aronson, J. K. (2009). Defining &lsquo;signal&rsquo; and its subtypes in pharmacovigilance based on a systematic review of previous definitions. Drug Safety, 32(2), 99&ndash;110. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;