This paper presents a pilot study of the use of phrasal Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) techniques to identify and correct writing errors made by learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Using examples of mass noun errors found in the Chinese Learner Error Corpus (CLEC) to guide creation of an engineered training set, we show that application of the SMT paradigm can capture errors ...

Current approaches to language pedagogy recognize the fact that ESL learners need explicit help to improve the grammatical accuracy of their writing. This research investigates the utility of an online resource intended to improve advanced-level ESL learners’ writing by increasing their grammatical awareness and ability to correct the grammatical errors in their own writing. This classroom-base...

Nursing students for whom English is a second language (ESL) are now found in greater numbers in nursing schools. Their presence in nursing contributes to the diversity of the profession, but the language difficulties these students experience may influence academic achievement. Nurse educators can assist ESL students in reaching their career goal by being aware of the special language problems...

The pilot project took place at a public high school in Greater Boston where Ginsberg was then an ESL teacher. Ginsberg initiated this project because he was seeking to supplement the curriculum of his high-intermediate ESL class with critical inquiry activities. He approached Honda and O’Neil for linguistic inquiry materials that he could incorporate into his classes. Instead, using existing m...

Ten high-school students of English as a second language (ESL) intensively studied the modified version of The Cay (retold by Strange, 1997). During their study the teacher asked questions designed to elicit students’ comprehension and understanding of racism and prejudice as the main themes of The Cay. Analysis of classroom discourse data indicated that none of the students independently ident...

This study investigated the impact of Chinese ESL learners’ second language (L2) proficiency on English word recognition in a lexical decision task. The study focused on the interaction among one between-participant variable (L2 proficiency) and three within-participant variables (orthographic neighborhood density, word frequency, and words/nonwords). ANOVA and two-tailed t-test indicated that:...

The life-long maintenance of haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) critically relies on environmental signals produced by cells that constitute the haematopoietic niche. Here we report a cell-intrinsic mechanism whereby haematopoietic cells limit proliferation within the bone marrow, and show that this pathway is repressed by E-selectin ligand 1 (ESL-1). Mice deficient in ESL-1 displ...

Croton zehntneri (Euphorbiaceae) is a native aromatic plant from Northeast region of Brazil. The monoterpenoid estragole (ESL) has been isolated by classical chromatographic methods from the essential oil (EO) of C. zehnteneri leaves and characterized by GC-FID and GC-MS, its antimicrobial and cytotoxic potentials being assessed. The analysis of the EO enabled the identification of 100% of the ...

Purpose. Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) can lead to abnormalities in the composition and function of tear film, resulting in dry eye. Eyelid hygiene is a key to management of MGD. We tested a novel eyelid shampoo (Eye Shampoo Long, ESL) for its ability to maintain lid hygiene. This shampoo is nonirritating and can potentially lengthen eyelashes. This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy ...

Asian immigrants to the U.S. have an increased prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection compared to native born individuals; an estimated 10 percent of Chinese immigrants are infected with HBV. Using qualitative data from focus groups, we developed an English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) curriculum that aimed to improve knowledge about key hepatitis B facts. The curriculum was pilot-tested...