Input

Globally, India ranks second in terms of area planted under rice (Oryza sativa) and its production as well. Potential to yield is dented due to a lack of inbuilt resistance to different biotic stresses as discernible in ~1000 rice cultivars across the country. Farmers usually rely on applying pesticides that result in several environmental adversities apart from rejection of export consignments due to the presence of chemical residue in grains. Yield losses due to pests of rice in tropical Asia range 25-43%. There is a need to explore alternative integrated input-based management options for judicious use of chemicals with optimal combinations of non-chemical interventions to improve productivity and profitability of rice culture. Field trials were conducted in split-split plot design at Chinsurah, West Bengal during three consecutive rainy (kharif) seasons (2013-15) in transplanted rice. The exploratory objectives were to assess different interventions for alleviating crop biotic stresses and obtaining precise estimate of grain yield as well as economic advantages, and to devise a cost-effective recommendation on need-based integrated pest management (IPM) in transplanted rice. Green manuring with 45-day old Sesbania crop showed a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in infestation of leaf folder, stem borer, sheath rot, sheath blight, false smut, brown spot and bacterial leaf blight of rice compared to control. Both the herbicide (pretilachlor)-treated and green (Sesbania)-manured plots displayed a significant (P < 0.05) suppression of weeds. The diseases (sheath rot, sheath blight, brown spot) of rice were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by all the treatments targeted for better crop management as evidenced from the sub-sub plots. Rice diseases were best managed by seed treatment with carbendazim 50% WP @ 1.0 g a.i./kg seed, and the effect was more pronounced when the crop was green manured. Significantly (P < 0.05) higher grain yield of rice was recorded with Sesbania manuring, which was as good (P < 0.05) as pre-emergence application of pretilachlor. The herbicide application provided the highest (2.03) incremental benefit-cost ratio (IBCR) among the main plot treatments. Seed treatment with carbendazim followed by (fb) seed bed application of Pseudomonas fluorescens in combination with green manuring prior to rice transplanting in main field fb sequential sprays of chlorantraniliprole 0.4% GR (20 DAT), chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC (40 DAT) and validamycin 3% L (50 DAT) on the standing crop provided the highest (5656 kg/ha) grain yield with a lower (2.02) IBCR. Contrastingly, only seed treatment with carbendazim recorded the highest (73.85) IBCR. Lower pest incidence and higher grain yields did not fetch greater economic return as apparent from the current investigation. Considering quantifiable and economic impact of inputs, their need-based usage would be a cost-effective proposition to take care of dominant pests in transplanted rice. No comprehensive investigation made such a target-based IPM of most influential crop pests of rice for realizing higher productivity and profitability.

Riassunto — La Second Language Acquisition è una disciplina accademica che si occupa di studiare come una lingua seconda o straniera venga appresa dalla mente dell'uomo, ma ha interessanti implicazioni in campo didattico non solo per le lingue moderne, ma anche per le lingue classiche. In questo contributo, viene illustrato il concetto di «input» linguistico che è alla base di due metodologie di cui sono spiegati i principi teorici: il Total Physical Response che favorisce la comprensione immediata, e il Metodo Neocomparativo che po-tenzia la conoscenza metalinguistica sulla base del confronto tra latino e lingue moderne alla luce della grammatica generativa. Questi metodi possono essere utilmente impiegati nell'insegnamento della lingua latina per far fronte alle sfide che la crisi dell'istruzione clas-sica pone ogni giorno a docenti, spesso formatisi solo alle scienze dell'Altertumwissenschaft. Abstract — Second Language Acquisition is an academic discipline which investigates how human mind learns a foreign or second language, but it has got outstanding pedagogical implications non only for modern languages, but also for classical ones. In this contribution, after the explanation of the fundamental concept of input, the theoretical underpinnings of two methodologies are clarified: Total Physical Response which promotes immediate comprehension; the Neocomparative Method which helps developing cognitive skills of metalinguistic knowledge by comparison between Latin and modern languages described by generative grammar. These methodologies can be useful for teaching Latin in order to enable Altertumwissenschaft-related teachers to face the challenges of humanistic education's crisis.

This book presents key findings of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, along with reflection tasks and lesson activities, aiming to bridge the gap between SLA theories and practical applications in the language classroom. Although many textbooks excel in describing theories and research studies concerning SLA, often teachers and students have to undertake the difficult burden of applying such methodological principles in their own pedagogical and learning practices. With the objective of facilitating the use of SLA theories, the authors identified essential principles that teachers might find problematic and unpacked them through three main stages: reflection, conceptualisation, and reconstruction and planning. The first chapter explores the dynamic and complex nature of lexico-grammar and its acquisition, which is discussed in Larsen-Freeman's (2003) research. Nava and Pedrazzini explain that some might view lexi-cogrammar solely as a matter of form; however, lexicogrammar is multi-dimensional and should be considered from the perspectives of form, meaning and use. While each feature can be considered independently from the others, they are all intertwined in actual language use, and thus no single process is likely to account for the learning of lexicogrammar. The Affiliation

This study is designed to examine the composite and relative effects of educational input, process variables and learning outcomes on quality of secondary school education among selected employers of labour in south west, Nigeria. Descriptive research design of correlational type was employed to investigate the relationship that exists between the educational input, process variables and learning outcomes on quality of secondary school education among the selected employers of labour in south west, Nigeria. 518 employers of labour in south west, Nigeria were used for the study with 323 males and 195 females. Primary data were collected from the concerned individuals using questionnaire tagged “Perception of Employers’ of Labour on input, process variables and learning outcomes on quality of secondary school education in Nigeria”. This instrument was divided into five sections viz the demographic, input, processing, product and quality of secondary school education sections, all together has a test-re-test reliability coefficient of 0.71. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the three research questions that were raised at 0.05 levels of significances. The result revealed significant composite effect and relative contributions with curriculum as the most potent predictor (β = 0.544; t= 7.692; p< 0.05), followed by teachers quality (β = 0.531, t=12.767, p<0.05) followed by school friendly environment (β = 0.445, t= 5.696, p<0.05) followed by evaluation of learners (β = 0.405, t= 3.924, p<0.05), followed by learners support (β = 0.107, t= 1.987, p<0.05) and learners’ discipline (β = 0.176, t= 2.369, p<0.05). Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that parents should see to the education need of their children early enough. Also, that teachers’ quality should be looked into on issues of teaching-learning; curriculum implementation, learners support and learners discipline. Also, that curriculum should be prepared so as to make it relevant to individuals, cooperate existence and at large for national development.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the effect of podcasts on developing listening comprehension ability among Iranian EFL Intermediate Iranian Arab students. To fulfill the objectives of the study a homogeneity test (Oxford Quick Placement Test) was administered among students at the pre-intermediate level of Smile Language Institute. Two intact classes, namely the control and experimental groups were chosen for the study. The participants of this study were 61 language learners who were selected among pre-intermediate students from Smile English language institute in Chahmobarak, Iran. The control group is containing 30 students and the experimental group of 30 students. Before starting the treatment, a validated teacher-made listening comprehension test was administered to the students as a pre-test to assess the participants' listening comprehension at the beginning of the course. Then, the experimental group received the treatment, which was teaching listening comprehension through using podcasts while the control group was taught using traditional methods of teaching listening with no multimedia source. After 18 sessions of treatment, the two groups were administered the same teacher-made listening test with a little modifications as a post-test. The data were analyzed by paired and independent samples t-tests. The findings showed that the experimental group significantly performed better than the control group. Generally, the experimental group outperformed the control group. The results suggest that podcasts can be used in English classes to develop listening ability among Iranian Arab EFL learners.

Hoy en día es importante tener conocimiento de diferentes lenguas como el inglés, francés, etc. por eso las instituciones educativas adoptan y reforman nuevos métodos de enseñanza, pero ¿es realmente suficiente enseñar francés con un input de francés estándar, en otras palabras, francés de Paris? ¿Si un estudiante fuera expuesto a un input diferente del que conoce qué efectos se producirían en él? ¿Podría defenderse ante otras variaciones lingüísticas que no sea de Francia como la de Canadá? Es por ello que el objetivo de este trabajo es exponer a los estudiantes de francés intermedio y avanzado a un input diferente, es decir, al francés acadiano para conocer los efectos producidos para hacer conciencia sobre otras variantes del francés además de la estándar y conocer su importancia, ya que esto mejora la competencia lingüística del estudiante. La investigación se lleva a cabo con un enfoque cualitativo y con un método de investigación acción de tipo práctico. Asimismo, el estudio da a conocer las diferencias entre estas dos variaciones concentrándose en el léxico, la fonética-fonología y la morfología. Explica también la importancia de cada variación y los efectos producidos, en su mayoría negativos que los estudiantes pueden tener a causa de la exposición a un input diferente. Adicionalmente se presenta una serie de recomendaciones que se espera contribuyan a que el estudiante tenga una experiencia más agradable en caso de tener contacto con alguna variación lingüística que no sea la estándar.

The book provides an insight into how system theory can be used to assess the quality of both the input, process and output components of the transformation system needed to produce graduates from a given academic department of a given tertiary educational institution. The outcome of the study provides basis of improving the quality of both input, process and output components of the transformation system in order to raise the observed falling quality of students in Business Education in Nigeria

This paper reports a study of the frequency of English articles that occur with certain types of noun. While L2 article use has extensively been investigated in relation to semantic contexts (i.e., definiteness, specificity) and L1 effects, yet unexplored is a potential influence from input; namely, how often learners may encounter certain combinations of an article and a noun. Such input additionally serves as a cue for L2 learners to realize that some nouns can equally be count and mass in English (i.e., dual
nouns: a cake/cake). The present study aims to determine the extent to which frequency information might correlate with L2 learners’ use of articles as well as whether or not there are enough evidence in input for learners to establish a nominal category for dual nouns. Frequency data is extracted from the British National Corpus (BNC) and controlled to reflect potential input specific to the target learner group of this study, Japanese EFL learners. Results showed that frequency patterns mirror error patterns
previously reported in the literature, providing another dimension to explain phenomena in L2 article use. Further implication about input frequency including textual cues for the English mass-count distinction will be discussed.

This study assessed the input factors in the implementation of Trade/Entrepreneurship subject curricula in public senior secondary schools in Lagos state. Five research questions guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with all the principals, teachers of trade/Entrepreneurship and students as the population. The sample comprised 1,407 respondents drawn through multi stage sampling technique. Three research instruments were validated TPCRS, (0.77), TECRS (0.63) and IMAAC (0.80) and were used to obtain data from the respondents Data was analysed using mean, frequency count, percentages and standard deviation. Finding of the study showed that, there are no adequate teachers and instructional materials to teach trade/entrepreneurship subjects. The result also showed that, few teachers available have good years of experience and are pedagogically competent to teach the subjects. The study concluded that the input factors for the successful implementation of trade/entrepreneurship subject curricula are not adequate. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that schools should liaise with PTA to provide for more teachers pending when government will provide teachers.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medic) are the most important grain legumes
covering 21.3% of the total acreage (1.6 million ha) and 24.1% of production (23.2 millon tons) of
all pulse crops in Ethiopia (CSA 2012). They are grown by more than 1.7 million farmers; are major
staple food legumes and are a good source of dietary protein (17 %, 23%). These crops require low
input for production and can maintain and restore soil fertility (can fix up to 60 kg N /ha/year).
Moreover, they are high potential crops for domestic and export markets and considered to be
strategic crops for national food security and agricultural development in the country. Two different
types of seed supply systems, formal and informal (community seed production) are known in
Ethiopia. To date the majority chickpea and lentil producers obtain their seed for planting informally
from own saved seed or through local exchange. The informal seed system for chickpea and lentil
currently operates at the individual farmer or community level and depends on local knowledge of
plant and seed selection, sourcing, retaining and management, as well as local diffusion mechanisms.
It is, therefore, important to continually search for solutions to improve the availability of, access to
and use of quality seed required by farmers. In this paper, we provide an overview of community
seed production and delivery systems of chickpea and lentil operating in the country; review the
initiatives and document best approaches to improve the availability of improved quality seeds to
farmers in order to maximize productivity of these crops in Ethiopia.

Increasing of agriculture products is of importance so that research and development in this branch considers as one of the most important infrastructure which develops production growth. Agriculture provides new and improved findings regarding inputs and production methods hence R&D efficiency increases and leads to potential creation in increasing of agriculture products and reduces pressure on natural resources. In most developing countries agriculture products has increased per farmers which exhibits the efficiency of novel technology application thus basic practicing of R&D in the field of agriculture is really important.

Abstract: Learning a foreign or second language at different levels of proficiency involves the acquisition of a great number of words. Language learners look for effective ways to increase opportunities for retaining new words in long-term memory, but forgetting is a common problem. Language learners often complain that they forget new words soon. The importance of vocabulary learning also poses some challenges for teachers. They like to know in what ways instructional programs might foster the acquisition of so many words. Students face some barriers when they try to assign the vocabularies to their long term memories. In this paper, learners ’ problems in vocabulary learning are elaborated on and some guidelines are offered to ameliorate or even to remove them. In so doing, it introduces language learning strategies that make vocabulary learning interesting and easy for learners. It also familiarizes teachers with useful techniques and activities for presentation. Ideas and viewp...

According to Eifring & Theil (2005), it is believed that human have the common system in their language. The same system of the languages is called as Language Universals. Thus, it can be assumed that Language Universals or known as Linguistic Universals is a pattern that occurs systematically across natural languages. For instance, all languages have nouns and verbs, or if language is spoken, it has consonants and vowels.

Learning a foreign or second language at different levels of proficiency involves the acquisition of a great number of words. Language learners look for effective ways to increase opportunities for retaining new words in long-term memory, but forgetting is a common problem The importance of vocabulary learning also poses some challenges for teachers. They like to know in what ways instructional programmes might foster the acquisition of so many words. In this study, learners' problems in vocabulary learning are elaborated on and some guidelines are offered to ameliorate or even to remove them. It introduces language learning strategies that make vocabulary learning interesting and easy for learners. It also familiarises teachers with useful techniques and activities for presentation. A misconception analysis of teachers' and students' attitudes to vocabulary learning is carried out in terms of learning strategies, dictionary use, input, intake, output, affective variables, mnemonic devices, declarative and procedural memories.

Nowadays, vocabulary as an influential domain in mastering second/foreign languages has encouraged researchers to put forth conceptualizations that can substantiate the successful learning of words. This study used WhatsApp to investigate the different impacts of two input modalities (voice messages vs. written texts) on EFL learners' intentional learning and retention of words. To this end, 50 female EFL learners in two intact classes (n1=n2=25) were selected from a language institute in Khorramabad, Iran. The groups were randomly assigned to two treatment conditions. The results of a general English proficiency test verified their homogeneity at the outset. A standardized teacher-made vocabulary test assured the researchers that the words were unfamiliar to the learners. After the twelve-session treatment, which was integrated with conventional English teaching classes, another standardized vocabulary test was administered once immediately after the intervention and the second time after a two-week interval. The Friedman repeated measures analysis showed a significant difference between the pretest and posttests. However, the results of the statistical analyses showed no statistically significant differences between the participants' performances on the immediate and delayed posttests. Thus, the researchers concluded that the participants had not forgotten the words from the first to the second posttest indicating the efficacy of intentional vocabulary learning. Additionally, no significant differences were found between the two groups showing the similar impacts of the input modality. The study has implications for EFL teachers and educators whose focus is on TEFL.

Instructors’ difficulties in judging whether linguistic material is suitable for their students&#39; level seem to have been aggravated during the pandemic (Conti, 2021). In this situation, there is the risk of exposing learners to inappropriate input, which can be detrimental to language acquisition. The proposed solution, (modified-)elaborated input, is designed to increase comprehensibility without sacrificing the richness of authentic input, which is crucial for language acquisition (Long, 2015; 2020; O’Donnel, 2009; Yano, Long, & Ross, 1994). The features of elaborated input make its application beneficial in any kind of language course. In addition, in the context of online teaching, elaborated input can be a powerful tool to deal with the issue of input appropriateness. This work analyzes the theoretical underpinnings of elaborated and modified-elaborated input while providing a review of the existing empirical data supporting its effectiveness. Key words: INPUT APPROPRIATENE...

Cloud computing is a concept of providing user and application oriented services in a virtual environment. Users can use the various cloud services as per their requirements dynamically. Different users have different requirements in terms of application reliability, performance and fault tolerance. Static and rigid fault tolerance policies provide a consistent degree of fault tolerance as well as overhead. In this research work we have proposed a method to implement dynamic fault tolerance considering customer requirements. The cloud users have been classified in to sub classes as per the fault tolerance requirements. Their jobs have also been classified into compute intensive and data intensive categories. The varying degree of fault tolerance has been applied consisting of replication and input buffer. From the simulation based experiments we have found that the proposed dynamic method performs better than the existing methods.

Many schools work on developing students’ reading and writing skills with less focus on oral communication. As a result, numerous students reach the university level unable to express themselves fluently and accurately in addition to facing trouble finding a good job due to their poor English proficiency.

Teachers in KG classes can help their students develop strategies in acquiring meaning from spoken English and develop good conversation skills using fun activities. Therefore, students are able to (1) demonstrate active listening skills, (2) increase understanding of spoken English, and (3) speak English more naturally by learning basic patterns of speech. 

NOTE:
*You can watch my related videos which offer practical teaching tips
on my YouTube channel: Hanadi Mirza.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU4-E6OZfZDrQkn0TiFEZ3w
*You can also watch part of the workshop discussing  with the audience the 2 speaking activities and criteria here:
https://youtu.be/sOY24xG6CXM
*You can also view the video related to  “How Can Kindergarten Students Initiate Conversations” on my YouTube channel


In this 3 hour workshop, participants would:
1- Identify the problems that hinder the development of students’ speaking skill in kindergarten,
2-Discuss how to integrate vocabulary and grammar in authentic speaking activities and how to fix students’ mistakes in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary use, intonation… and
3- Design their own authentic speaking activities for various lessons taught in KG classes

Target Audience: Language teachers (English and Arabic) and coordinators of kindergarten classes 

Brief Report -->  ABOUT THIS 3H WORKSHOP:
This workshop started with a series of questions related to a given picture, and the participants had to identify which questions were speaking activities.The pictures were taken from the KG story “I Am Sam”.
The teacher-participants ended up concluding that all the questions asked were not good speaking activities but rather questions and answers.

Before going into details about speaking, teachers shared the problems their students are facing in their

Instructors’ difficulties in judging whether linguistic material is suitable for their students' level seem to have been aggravated during
the pandemic (Conti, 2021). In this situation, there is the risk of exposing learners to inappropriate input, which can be detrimental
to language acquisition. The proposed solution, (modified-)elaborated input, is designed to increase comprehensibility without
sacrificing the richness of authentic input, which is crucial for language acquisition (Long, 2015; 2020; O’Donnel, 2009; Yano,
Long, & Ross, 1994). The features of elaborated input make its application beneficial in any kind of language course. In addition,
in the context of online teaching, elaborated input can be a powerful tool to deal with the issue of input appropriateness. This work
analyzes the theoretical underpinnings of elaborated and modified-elaborated input while providing a review of the existing empirical data supporting its effectiveness.

A process of information input in the computer with the use of the geographical informative systemof Quantum GIS with the opened source code is described. It is shown, that working technique on the raster overlay allows to combine raster and vector layers, considerably increasing a digitizing accuracy and speed. The digitizing method does not require the special devices as digitizer. It is offered to use for digitizing the inflicted on a map observations points and the anomaly values, but not isolines. The testing is executed on actual material and efficiency of the developed method of input of cartographic information in a computer is proved.