Is language a barrier for quality care in hospitals? A case series from an Emergency Department of a teaching hospital in Brisbane

Aim: The aim of this pilot study is to describe the use of an Emergency Department (ED) at a large metropolitan teaching hospital by patients who speak English or other languages at home. Methods: All data were retrieved from the Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) of this tertiary teaching hospital in Brisbane. Patients were divided into two groups based on the language spoken at home: patients who speak English only at home (SEO) and patients who do not speak English only or speak other language at home (NSEO). Modes of arrival, length of ED stay and the proportion of hospital admission were compared among the two groups of patients by using SPSS V18 software. Results: A total of 69,494 patients visited this hospital ED in 2009 with 67,727 (97.5%) being in the SEO group and 1,281 (1.80%) in the NSEO group. The proportion of ambulance utilisation in arrival mode was significantly higher among SEO 23,172 (34.2%) than NSEO 397 (31.0%), p <0.05. The NSEO patients had longer length of stay in the ED (M = 337.21, SD = 285.9) compared to SEO patients (M= 290.9, SD = 266.8), with 46.3 minutes (95%CI 62.1, 30.5, p <0.001) difference. The admission to the hospital among NSEO was 402 (31.9%) higher than SEO 17,652 (26.6%), p <0.001. Conclusion: The lower utilisation rates of ambulance services, longer length of ED stay and higher hospital admission rates in NSEO patients compared to SEO patients are consistent with other international studies and may be due to the language barriers.

Metacognitive strategy instruction in English as Foreign Language (EFL) listening skill

Listening skill is a critical part of language learning in general, and second, and foreign language learning, in particular. However, the process of this basic skill has been overlooked compared to other skills such as speaking, reading and writing, in terms of an explicit instruction, and the product of listening is instead mainly tested indirectly through comprehension questions in classrooms. Instruction of metacognitive strategies demonstrates the pivotal impact on second language listening skill development. In this vein, this study used a mixed method with an experimental male group (N = 30) listened to texts using process-approach pedagogy directed students through metacognitive strategies over a semester (10 weeks) in Iran. To investigate the impact of metacognitive strategy instruction, the following approaches were implemented. First, IELTS listening test was used to track any development of listening comprehension. Second, using Vandergrift et al. (2006) Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) helped examine students’ use of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension. Finally, interviews were used to examine students’ use of strategies in listening. The results showed that students had a development in comprehension of IELTS listening test, but no statistical significant development of metacognitive awareness in listening was demonstrated. Students and teacher reported in the interviews students used multiple strategies to approach listening comprehension besides metacognitive strategies.

Instructing foreign language learners how to listen through metacognitive strategies : an empirical study

This study uses a mixed method approach to investigate the impact of metacognitive strategies instruction on listening comprehension. An experimental group (N = 30) of university students are guided through a process-approach pedagogy over one semester (10 weeks) in Iran. IELTS listening tests are used to track development of listening comprehension in participants who are then asked to complete a Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ). The questionnaire examines students’ employment of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension. Finally, interviews are used to explore students’ use of strategies in listening. Results indicate that participants develop listening comprehension, but no metacognitive awareness in listening. Students reported in the interviews that they use multiple strategies (cognitive and metacognitive) to approach listening comprehension.

The impact of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) listening comprehension through first language (L1) listening strategy training

Listening is the basic and complementary skill in second language learning. The term listening is used in language teaching to refer to a complex process that allows us to understand spoken language. Listening, the most widely used language skill, is often used in conjunction with the other skills of speaking, reading and writing. Listening is not only a skill area in primary language performance (L1), but is also a critical means of acquiring a second language (L2). Listening is the channel in which we process language in real time – employing pacing, units of encoding and decoding (the 2 processes are central to interpretation and meaning making) and pausing (allows for reflection) that are unique to spoken language. Despite the wide range of areas investigated in listening strategies during training, there is a lack of research looking specifically at how effectively L1 listening strategy training may transfer to L2. To investigate the development of any such transfer patterns the instructional design and implementation of listening strategy of L1 will be critical.

A world map of knowledge in the making : Wikipedia's Inter-Language Linkage as a dependency explorer of global knowledge accumulation

Analysis of Wikipedia's inter-language links provides insight into a new mechanism of knowledge sharing and linking worldwide.

Scheduling techniques to optimise rail operations

In Australia, railway systems play a vital role in transporting the sugarcane crop from farms to mills. The sugarcane transport system is very complex and uses daily schedules, consisting of a set of locomotives runs, to satisfy the requirements of the mill and harvesters. The total cost of sugarcane transport operations is very high; over 35% of the total cost of sugarcane production in Australia is incurred in cane transport. Efficient schedules for sugarcane transport can reduce the cost and limit the negative effects that this system can have on the raw sugar production system. There are several benefits to formulating the train scheduling problem as a blocking parallel-machine job shop scheduling (BPMJSS) problem, namely to prevent two trains passing in one section at the same time; to keep the train activities (operations) in sequence during each run (trip) by applying precedence constraints; to pass the trains on one section in the correct order (priorities of passing trains) by applying disjunctive constraints; and, to ease passing trains by solving rail conflicts by applying blocking constraints and Parallel Machine Scheduling. Therefore, the sugarcane rail operations are formulated as BPMJSS problem. A mixed integer programming and constraint programming approaches are used to describe the BPMJSS problem. The model is solved by the integration of constraint programming, mixed integer programming and search techniques. The optimality performance is tested by Optimization Programming Language (OPL) and CPLEX software on small and large size instances based on specific criteria. A real life problem is used to verify and validate the approach. Constructive heuristics and new metaheuristics including simulated annealing and tabu search are proposed to solve this complex and NP-hard scheduling problem and produce a more efficient scheduling system. Innovative hybrid and hyper metaheuristic techniques are developed and coded using C# language to improve the solutions quality and CPU time. Hybrid techniques depend on integrating heuristic and metaheuristic techniques consecutively, while hyper techniques are the complete integration between different metaheuristic techniques, heuristic techniques, or both.

Languages of Communication : Indigenous language and/or English?

My interest in producing this paper on Indigenous languages was borne out of conversations with and learnings from community members in the Torres Straits and those connected to the ‘Dream Circle’. Nakata (2003, p. 12) laments the situation whereby ‘teachers are transitionary and take their hard-earned knowledge with them when they leave’. I am thus responding to the call to add to the conversation in a productive albeit culturally loaded way. To re-iterate, I am neither Indigenous nor am I experienced in teaching and learning in these contexts. As problematic as these two points are, I am in many ways typical of the raft of inexperienced white Australian teachers assigned to positions in school contexts where Indigenous students are enrolled or in mainstream contexts with substantial populations of Indigenous students. By penning this article, it is neither my intention to contribute to the silencing of Indigenous educators or Indigenous communities. My intention is to articulate my teacherly reflections as they apply to the topic under discussion. The remainder of this paper is presented in three sections. The next section provides a brief overview of the number of Indigenous people and Indigenous languages in Australia and the role of English as a language of communication. The section which follows draws on theorisations from second/additional language acquisition to overview three different schools of thought about the consequences of English in the lives of Indigenous Australians. The paper concludes by considering the tensions for inexperienced white Australian teachers caught up in the fray.

Listening skill requires a further look into second/foreign language learning

Current English-as-a-second and foreign-language (ESL/EFL) research has encouraged to treat each communicative macroskill separately due to space constraint, but the interrelationship among these skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) is not paid due attention. This study attempts to examine first the existing relationship among the four dominant skills, second the potential impact of reading background on the overall language proficiency, and finally the relationship between listening and overall language proficiency as listening is considered an overlooked/passive skill in the pedagogy of the second/foreign language classroom. However, the literature in language learning has revealed that listening skill has salient importance in both first and second language learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of each of four skills in EFL learning and their existing interrelationships in an EFL setting. The outcome of 701 Iranian applicants undertaking International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in Tehran demonstrates that all communicative macroskills have varied correlations from moderate (reading and writing) to high (listening and reading). The findings also show that the applicants’ reading history assisted them in better performing at high stakes tests, and what is more, listening skill was strongly correlated with the overall language proficiency.

A hybrid model for studying spatial aspects of infectious diseases

We consider a hybrid model, created by coupling a continuum and an agent-based model of infectious disease. The framework of the hybrid model provides a mechanism to study the spread of infection at both the individual and population levels. This approach captures the stochastic spatial heterogeneity at the individual level, which is directly related to deterministic population level properties. This facilitates the study of spatial aspects of the epidemic process. A spatial analysis, involving counting the number of infectious agents in equally sized bins, reveals when the spatial domain is nonhomogeneous.

The language of optimism : how entrepreneurs sell the sizzle in business plan offer documents

Existing macro level research on the new venture creation process recognises the entrepreneur as a central agent in the process yet generally avoids, at each stage of the process, an examination of the micro level psychological behaviour of the individual entrepreneur. By integrating two theoretical approaches to entrepreneurship research, the psychology of the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurship process, this paper examines, using content analysis, the language used by new venture founders in documents directly linked to their capital raising activity. The study examined the language of 108 offer documents (information memorandum’s) which were divided between 54 new ventures that were successful in raising capital and 54 new ventures that either did not proceed further or were not successful in raising capital through the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board. Specifically, we were interested in examining the level of optimism evident in these narratives given that entrepreneurs have been previously described in the literature as being excessively optimistic.

Towards visualising people’s ecology of hybrid personal learning environments

Ambient media architecture can provide place-based collaborative learning experiences and pathways for social interactions that would not be otherwise possible. This paper is concerned with ways of enhancing peer-to-peer learning affordances in library spaces; how can the library facilitate the community of library users to learn from each other? We report on the findings of a study that employed a participatory design method where participants were asked to reflect and draw places, social networks, and activities that they use to work (be creative, productive), play (have fun, socialize, be entertained), and learn (acquire new information, knowledge, or skills). The results illustrate how informal learning – learning outside the formal education system – is facilitated by a personal selection of physical and socio-cultural environments, as well as online tools, platforms, and networks. This paper sheds light on participants’ individually curated ecologies of their work, play, and learning related networks and the hybrid (physical and digital) nature of these places. These insights reveal opportunities for ambient media architecture to increase awareness of and connections between people’s hybrid personal learning environments.