BACKGROUND Expiratory flow limitation (EFL), determined by the negative expiratory pressure (NEP) technique, can exhibit overlapping patterns in COPD, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and non-OSA obesity. We assessed the ability of a quantitative method to assess EFL to discriminate COPD from obese and OSA patients during NEP (-2 to -3 cm H(2)O) testing. METHODS EFL was quantified by measuring t...

When students in Taiwan enter into higher education, the reading demands placed upon them often lead them to select ineffective and inefficient strategies with little strategic intent. To investigate how reading strategy use affects the development of Taiwanese EFL learners’ reading comprehension, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship and differences of four reading strategy...

Genes encoding elongation factor-like (EFL) proteins, which show high similarity to elongation factor-1alpha (EF-1alpha), have been found in phylogenetically distantly related eukaryotes. The sporadic distribution of "EFL-containing" lineages within "EF-1alpha-containing" lineages indirectly, but strongly, suggests lateral gene transfer as the principal driving force in EFL evolution. However, ...

in spite of the significant role of teachers in the efficacy of classroom management particularly in teaching english as a foreign language, the issue has not been addressed sufficiently especially in relation with other individual variables. hence, this study made an attempt to investigate the association between iranian efl teachers’ classroom management, reflective thinking and transformatio...

This study investigated the discourse effects on intermediate English as foreign language (EFL) learners’ production of dative constructions including prepositional dative (PD), I gave a book to John, and double-object dative (DOD), I gave John a book. The author argues that the alternation between these two constructions is determined by the order of given and new (GN) information that is foll...

Achieving communicative competency in English classes has been a key goal in contexts where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL). During this process, however, integrating the difficulty and complexity of real life tasks into classroom teaching has often been disregarded. Lack of opportunities for authentic language use often results in learners’ gaining extensive knowledge about the t...

This research tends to ascertain several traditional and socio-cultural barriers to English language learning in Saudi Arabia and to explore more ways than before for making teaching and learning more effective. The findings of four quantitative and qualitative surveys conducted in this regard reveal a unique traditional and socio-cultural milieu, which turns the Saudi EFL learners lackadaisica...