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The current study provides literature review on research conducted over the past four decades focused on written corrective feedback (WCF). This metanalysis reveals that, although the field of WCF has matured, there is still considerable debate among research scholars over its efficacy. This article provides a synthesis of the literature on WCR in five areas the efficacy: (1) of WCF, in general; (2) of different forms of WCF; (3) of focused versus unfocused WCF; (4) of WCF on revised and new pieces of writing; and (5) of the results of WCF studies and the instructional context. Research has thus shown the general usefulness of WCF and examined a host of variables that influence it, such as the focus of the WCF, the nature of the target grammatical structure, forms of WCF, and instructional teaching context.

Japanese EFL international students may experience high levels of apprehension when communicating in English due to their culture, educational background, attitudes towards the role of English in their society, and lack of opportunities to practice speaking in English. Although the students in this study had studied English before joining the English immersion program, their language learning experiences might not have focused on oral communication skills. EFL learners' oral communication apprehension has been examined in various contexts, but the Japanese EFL context has not received adequate attention, especially Japanese EFL international students in Malaysian institutions of tertiary education. Thus, this study examined the levels of oral communication apprehension among Japanese EFL international students in four communication contexts (group discussions, meetings, conversations, and public speaking). The study adopted a quantitative approach, using the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) to measure oral communication apprehension levels among 23 first-year Japanese EFL students in an immersion program in a Malaysian public university. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel. The results of this study revealed that most of the Japanese EFL international students exhibited a high level of oral communication apprehension. The study also revealed that the highest levels of apprehension were found in two communication contexts: group discussions and conversation, possibly because oral communication takes place spontaneously in these two communication contexts.

This current quasi-experimental study examined the effect of the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) on Jordanian EFL undergraduate RVK- recall and retention. 122 participants took part in this study. Quantitative data were collected by administering a pre, post and delayed vocabulary-reading test. The respondents were assigned as experimental and control groups of English major, at the Hashemite University in Jordan. While CALLA was used as the method of teaching students in the experimental group, the conventional method of teaching students was used in the control group. The analysis of the quantitative data revealed that the RVK of the participants improved in a significant way, where the experimental group outperformed the students in the control group. Furthermore, the delayed post-test proved to be useful in this study as it helped the researcher to capture the long-term learning. Additionally, the analysis of post-delayed test showed that attrition of academic vocabulary occurred in very small amounts. The implications of this study suggest that CALLA could facilitate learning academic language in an effective way which could help students to acquire and remember new vocabulary.

Cognition plays an important role in language teacher decision-making. A number of sources, including schooling, influence the cognition of language teachers. The concept of schooling is identified as the history of teachers' own personal education influences on the teachers' knowledge, also referred to as apprenticeship of observation (AO). Through further conceptualization of schooling/AO involving the notion of history-in-person, the current multiple case study explored the prior learning experience of two Bangladeshi novice teachers of English: Kamrul and Monabbir (pseudonym), and how these experiences influenced their cognition of language. The findings suggest that the prior learning experience of English teachers has influenced their cognition and has taken on distinctive trajectories. Both AO and anti-apprenticeship of observation (anti-AO) were documented on the basis of the positive and negative English learning experiences of Kamrul and Monabbir at school. The article concludes with the implication of schooling in shaping the knowledge of language teachers and developing a context-based teacher education program.

Focusing on the perspective of lecturers, this qualitative research investigated the academic reading and writing challenges faced by international English-as-a-foreign language master's students at a Malaysian university. Data was collected through semi-structured, in-depth, one-on-one interviews with 16 lecturers who taught international students from various graduate programs. The findings from the lecturers' perspectives indicate that the students faced acute challenges in their academic reading and writing practices such as adhering to academic writing conventions and interpreting text in an English language instructional setting. This study suggests policies and programs to overcome the challenges of the international EFL students' academic writing and reading practices to ensure their academic success in as they learn in graduate programs.

New norms of linguistic ideology and practices emerged as English grows in higher education in non-English speaking countries. English Medium Instruction (EMI) has been formalised by overlooking the role of other (e.g. native) languages in knowledge construction and communication. This study investigates STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teachers' and students' language-related ideologies about translanguaging at a private university in Bangladesh where English has been adopted as an instructional medium. The participants of this study include 6 university teachers and 10 students from STEM background. In-depth interviews with teachers and students reveal that, while English has been used as the official language for instruction, translanguaging has been highlighted for its purposeful use and significance in STEM classrooms, primarily in the construction of knowledge, communication, and scientific meaning-making. The findings of the study also shed light on the mismatch between macro-level English-only monolingual language policy adoption driven by contemporary ideologies associated with English, and micro-level stakeholders' ideologies of translanguaging in STEM pedagogy. This study, therefore, argues for a change in the way of looking at bilinguals' language practices and embracing the linguistic rights and reality for more flexible and inclusive language policy in higher education.

This paper presents a case study that investigated and compared the stated beliefs and observed classroom practices relating to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) of two ESL teachers. The findings of the study revealed that both the teachers hold similar complex beliefs that mostly contradict the philosophy of CLT. The practices were not in line with their stated belief or CLT principles either. The findings also indicate that teachers indeed possess a set of complex beliefs that are not always realized in their classroom practices for a variety of potential reasons: some of these might be directly related to the context of teaching. Additionally, this study found that by articulating and reflecting on his beliefs, the teacher became more aware of the meaning and impact of these beliefs on his classroom practices. Some implications of future studies have also discussed.

This paper explores the current practices of learner autonomy among Saudi undergraduates at Preparatory Year, Najran University. The Short List questionnaire developed by Dixon (2011) was administered to measure the use of autonomous learning in English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Quantitative data were gathered from 208 male students in level one. The results of the data analysis showed that the participants experience a low level of learner autonomy (LA) in English language. While the LA dimensions of linguistic confidence, social comparison, and locus of control are considered a weakness for the participants, they had medium averages in information literacy, metacognition, and self-reliance dimensions. Therefore, the study suggests the need for pedagogical treatments like the strategy use instruction to develop LA in the Saudi EFL context.

As a multi ethnic country, Malaysia consists of three major ethnic groups mainly Malays, Chinese, and Indians with unity as its building block. Although education is seen as the best medium for the three major ethnic groups to work together, contemporary research shows that there is lack of intercultural understanding among these three ethnic groups. Therefore, this study focused on a classroom intervention to investigate how Malaysian based English literature can be utilized to promote intercultural understanding among Form Four secondary school students via reading. This qualitative research design study collected data through focus group interviews and journal entry. This research explored intercultural knowledge among Form Four students through the Intercultural Reading Program (IRP). Findings indicate that the IRP intervention improved Form Four students' level of intercultural knowledge. This research puts forward suggestions to the Ministry of Education such as integrating IRP in its secondary schools' English Literature curriculum.

The present research provides insights into the different forms of adaptation strategies employed by international graduate students to overcome the challenges faced in the academic writing practices and gain access to their disciplinary communities of practice at Master's level. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured in-depth focus group interviews. Respondents were 70 international graduate students enrolled in various Master-level programs. Semi-structured focus group interviews allowed the international graduate students to share their own experiences in the employment of suitable adaptation strategies to overcome the challenges faced in their academic writing practices in the Master programs. The adaptation strategies employed include enhancing their English language proficiency, referring to non-formal advisory services, and improving their academic writing style.

Malaysian intercultural society is typified by three major ethnic groups mainly Malays, Chinese and Indians. Although education system is the best tool for these three major ethnic groups to work together, contemporary research reveals that there is still lack of intercultural embedding education context and national schools are seen as breeding grounds of racial polarisation. In Malaysian context, there is a gap in research that focuses on the design of a proper intercultural reading framework for national integration and such initiatives are viable through schools. The main objective of this conceptual paper is to introduce the English Language Intercultural Reading Programme (ELIRP) in secondary schools to promote intercultural understanding among secondary school students. The proposed framework will facilitate the acquisition of intercultural inputs without being constrained by ideological, political, or psychological demands. This article will focus on elucidating how ELIRP could affect cognitive (knowledge) and behavioural transformations to intercultural perceptions harboured by selected Form 4 students of 20 national schools in Malaysia.

Business relationship between Japan and Malaysia has developed very quickly in recent years. This has caused a dramatic increase in the need for individuals who possess language skills to function in Japanese businesses. In order to investigate the needs of our Malaysian graduates, a survey was conducted involving graduates of Japanese language minor program from a public university in Malaysia. The aims of the survey were to get an overall understanding of (1) the use of Japanese language at workplace where the Japanese language minor program's graduates are employed; (2) identify problems faced in language use and in terms of Japanese business practices in workplace. The results indicated that the graduates use Japanese language to communicate with the employees of their workplace compared to outsiders. The findings also highlight that Japanese language listening and speaking skills are the most important skills needed by the graduates for their workplace success compared to reading and writing.

Evolution of English medium instruction (EMI) in non-native English-speaking countries in recent years has inspired researchers to investigate the various dimensions of this phenomenon. Internationalising higher education, realising the local needs of English-speaking graduates, and eliciting the economic and social benefits of English are often reported as the major factors behind the adoption and implementation of EMI. However, these goals and demands of EMI are perceived and realised to varying extents in diverse higher education contexts. This article reports on a small-scale study conducted in Malaysia and Bangladesh exploring the beliefs and attitudes of university lecturers to EMI. Based on the data extracted from interviews, this study highlights the needs and aspirations of EMI in Malaysia and Bangladesh and identifies several common issues that influenced the adoption of EMI in both countries. However, Malaysia's desire to become a hub of higher education in the region and to encourage the recruitment of international students has been reported by the lecturers in Malaysia as the most prominent reason for their adoption of EMI. Such EMI-related policies in Malaysia have shaped positively the beliefs and attitudes of lecturers towards its adoption and implementation. Furthermore, these policies also supported the lecturers to develop a considerate attitude to students' challenges with regard to EMI.

In English as first language contexts, clear requirement for critical thinking (CT) has been listed in teaching guidelines and assessment criteria in higher education. At present, fostering language learners to be critical thinkers is valued in English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching as well; yet how to achieve the objective remains a challenge. Efforts have been made to seek appropriate ways to develop CT in various courses; although no single method has emerged as the best, some do seem to be effective when properly implemented. This paper focuses on three sets of research-supported teaching strategies which are useful in promoting CT and applicable to EFL classrooms; that is, explicit instruction, teacher questioning, as well as active and cooperative learning strategies. Meanwhile, common features of effective CT instruction are discussed, which aims to illuminate instructional strategies for CT at a macro level.

The aim of this research is to examine graduate students' needs and preferences for written feedback on academic writing from their lecturers and thesis supervisors. Quantitative method via survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 21 respondents. The data collection involved Master and Doctorate students at a tertiary level institution in Malaysia. The data was analyzed and tabulated using descriptive analysis. Results indicate that graduate students regularly need written feedback on their academic writing and they preferred electronic method to obtain feedback from their supervisors. Findings also indicate that graduate students appreciated feedback which was straightforward, provided clear instructions, directed them to other related resources, and feedback which was detailed or specific. This research filled the gap in literature by providing awareness among thesis supervisors and lecturers on the students' needs and preference for written feedback on their academic writing. Apart from that, greater understanding of students' perceived needs for feedback and preferences of feedback is also vital for lectures and thesis supervisors to increase the effectiveness of providing constructive written feedback.

Feedback plays a fundamental role in writing development. The present study seeks to investigate the impact of teacher's written feedback on the writing performance of Iranian undergraduates. The subjects were 400 students majoring in the fields of English language translation and English language literature in four universities, namely Shahaid Bahonar, Vali-e-Asr, Isfahan and Shiraz, in Iran. Writing tasks, questionnaires and interviews were used in the process of the present study. Mixed methods research design was adopted in this study. Therefore, this research used the triangulation of data collection techniques. For data analysis, the thematic coding was used for analyzing semi-structured interview. In the writing task, inter-rater agreement (Cohen kappa) was used and the Pearson correlation coefficient was run for analysis of the questionnaire. The result shows a significant relationship between teacher's written feedback and students' writing performance.

Speaking is an important skill that needs to be mastered as it is the best way to communicate with other people in order to deliver opinions and express ideas, but the fact is that secondary school students' ability in speaking English is low in Malaysia. It is caused by several factors such as lack of vocabulary, poor pronunciation, weak grammar and poor fluency that hinders the mastery of English language. In this research, Oral Proficiency in English for Secondary Schools (OPS-English) Programme was employed to improve students' speaking skill by engaging them in vocabulary based activities. The main objectives of this study are to investigate the effectiveness of OPS-English in improving the students speaking skills and increasing their vocabulary count. This is an experimental pretest-posttest control group design study which involved 70 students from a school located in one of the districts in Kedah, Malaysia. The duration of the study was 8 weeks. The data collection was done using pre-test and post-test. The data from the pre-test and posttest was analysed quantitatively using independent sample test. The findings of this study show that OPS-English can improve students' vocabulary. This is proven by experimental group's students' test score that showed improvement in the post-test. OPS-English is a suitable programme that should be used to improve students' vocabulary. The result of this study provides useful insights for English language teachers in teaching speaking.

This article focuses on the challenges faced by non-native English speaking international graduate students in their academic writing practices while they studied at a university in Malaysia as well as the solutions they employed when faced with the challenges. Academic Literacies Questionnaire was used to collect data. Based on 131 participants, the findings indicate that non-native English speaking international graduate students faced challenges in their academic writing practices in the instructional settings where English was used as a medium. In addition, the results revealed that some challenges those students face were mainly attributable to the fact that English in Malaysia is not the native or first language. This study suggests policies and programmes to meet the unique academic writing background needs of these students and ensure their academic success.

This article focuses on research into academic reading practices of international graduate students in taught Master programmes in a Malaysian university. The purpose of the study was to examine the challenges faced in the academic reading practices as well as the strategies employed to overcome the challenges in the academic reading practices. Quantitative data was collected through the Academic Literacies Questionnaire and analysed. The findings show challenges faced by international graduate students are attributed by the fact that English is the medium of instruction and English is not their first language. At the same time, the findings also highlight the strategies employed by the students to overcome the challenges in their academic reading practices. However, it was found that the students, although exposed to challenges in their academic reading practices were not very responsive toward overcoming the challenges. This article concludes with administrative policies and reading related programmes to support the unique academic reading background needs of the students and ensure their academic success.

Given the significance of English in the global world, English language teaching in Bangladesh has become subject to a supreme concern in maintaining economic growth and developing a skilled workforce. In this article, several barriers have been discussed based on a critical analysis of published materials. This review article covers several key issues such as the status of English in the country; English in education policies; factors affecting the implementation of communicative language teaching curriculum, method, and materials in Bangladesh; validity of the current assessment and its washback effect on English language teaching in Bangladesh; and current situation of teachers' professional development. The article concluded with language policy and planning implications for policymakers, curriculum and material developers, public exams' test-setters, and future English teacher training programmes, keeping the overall development of ELT in Bangladesh in mind.

English proficiency, especially speaking skills, is crucial for academic and professional success in Jordan. However, many undergraduates struggle with fluency, particularly those majoring in English Language and Literature (ELL). Traditional teaching methods in Jordan emphasize exam preparation over practical language use, leading to superficial knowledge acquisition. This study investigates the effectiveness of YouTube in improving the speaking skills of Jordanian EFL undergraduates. Employing a mixed-methods approach with a quasi-experimental design, the study evaluated the effectiveness of YouTube as a tool for enhancing pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and fluency. Ninety-three participants were divided into experimental and control groups, with the former undergoing a 16-week YouTube program and the latter continuing traditional methods. Quantitative results showed significant improvements in the experimental group's speaking skills across all assessed areas, while the control group exhibited only modest gains. Qualitative analysis from semi-structured interviews revealed themes related to YouTube's effectiveness, its benefits in engagement and learning, challenges such as content relevance and distractions, and comparisons with traditional methods. The findings suggest that YouTube is a valuable supplement to traditional teaching, significantly enhancing speaking skills among Jordanian EFL undergraduates, though careful implementation with curated content and instructional support is crucial. Future research should investigate broader applications and long-term impacts in diverse educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the pull factors that influenced international students' choice of country and institution for their Master's education. Design/Methodology/ Approach: This qualitative study relied upon focus group interviews with 70 international students registered in taught Master programmes at a higher education (HE) institution in Malaysia for data collection. Findings: It was found that socio-economic, environmental and personal factors played important role in the international student's decision-making process of choosing the country and HE institution. Research Limitations/Implications: The paper concludes with recommendations for Malaysian Universities to consider in their marketing strategies to promote Malaysia as an international education's hub. Originality/Value: This paper focuses on research into the lives of international students who are currently pursuing their Master education at a public Malaysian University. This paper discusses the three attributes that led this particular group of students to select Malaysia and the particular HE institution to further their taught Master programmes.

The number of international students choosing Malaysia as a destination to further their graduate studies is steadily growing. This phenomenon has urged researchers to look for ways to ensure that they go through a smooth academic journey. One significant area of research has focused on the challenges faced by these students in their academic listening practices, and the measures employed to overcome the challenges. The Academic Literacies Questionnaire (Manjet, Investigating the academic literacies challenges of international graduate students in Master programmes in an Institution of Higher Education in Malaysia, 2013) was administered to 131 international graduate students in 10 taught Master programmes (coursework and mixed mode) to whom English is a foreign or second language. The results revealed some challenges those students face attributable mainly to the fact that English in Malaysia is not the native or first language. The findings and results, if taken seriously by the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia, would assist to the academic listening practices of international graduate students by the local academicians. It is hoped that the recommendations provided in this study would be a platform to ensure that international students experience a satisfying academic experience in their graduate study.

This research focuses on the needs analysis and perspectives in evaluating English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses designed for medical students. The study intends to identify the medical students' perceptions of the frequency and importance of using English language skills. Two different instruments, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, were used to collect data. Respondents included 186 medical students, 4 ESP lecturers, and 10 Department of Medicine (DM) Subject Matter lecturers at Ibb University in Yemen. In this study, quantitative data were collected from three different subject groups (n=200) by means of three versions of the questionnaire. Correspondingly, some follow-up interviews, which were organised with a group of these three informants (n=29), complemented the data collection procedure. The collected data was analysed via the SPSS software package, followed by a qualitative data thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. The findings showed some differences in which medical students believed the most frequent skills used are Listening and Reading, while their ESP and DM Subject Matter lecturers believed that medical students use Writing and Listening. The results revealed that although most of the English language skills and sub-skills in target needs were considered important or very important by all the participants, there were discrepancies in the preferences and priorities. The findings of this study are expected to be used as reference material for further research and give valuable considerations which may provide useful information for the ESP course designers to meet the target English needs of medical students in Yemen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: This study examined the comprehensiveness and sufficiency of academic integrity (AI) policies of selected Malaysian higher education institutions. The investigation of eight public and private universities' AI policies were guided by the five core elements of exemplar AI policy framework developed by Bretag, Mahmud, Wallace, Walker, James, Green, East, McGowan and Partridge (2011). Methodology: This qualitative method research focused on document analysis of purposively selected eight AI policies. The five core elements that guided the document analysis are access, approach, responsibility, detail and support. The data collected from document analysis was analysed via NVivo 11 software. Findings: Public universities are educative based and private universities practice punitive approach. All universities provide access of the AI documents to the university community and public, implement ad hoc basis education, awareness campaigns and modules to support the AI agenda and encourage responsibility among the staff and students to curb academic dishonesty. As for detail, universities differ in terms of amount and type of information provided in the documents. Contributions: The findings will provide universities evidence to make their existing AI policies more robust and comprehensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate some forms of interrogatives in Standard Arabic (SA), two Jordanian Arabic dialects (JAD): urban Jordanian Arabic (UJA) and rural Jordanian Arabic (RJA), and their impact on the Jordanian people's use of English Interrogative forms. It also examines how SA, and the two JAD are similar and different based on their forms and uses of interrogatives. Further, this study analyzes how each interrogative form is used in different classifications and contexts. The descriptive approach is used to describe the impact of SA, UJA and RJA on the use of English interrogative forms in social contexts. The study concludes that JADs share some interrogative forms and that some of them hold multiple meanings or usages. It also confirms that SA and its Jordanian dialects, UJA and RJA, to some extent, impact the Jordanian people's use of English interrogative forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, educational psychology and theory have advanced the knowledge of various ways college students learn and retain information. Low academic performance in college education is directly attributed to learning disabilities. Using the underlying mechanism of mobile-assisted language learning, the present study explored how self-monitoring impacted self-management, as well as beliefs about language learning skills. The present study hypothesized that college students' beliefs about the problems associated with mobile phones to learn a language serve as a moderator in the relationship between self-management and beliefs about how their language skills are improving. Furthermore, this study investigated the role of self-management as a mediator in the relationship between self-monitoring and beliefs about mobile-assisted language skills. The data was gathered from 329 college students in the Chinese city of Shanghai. The PLS-based SEM results highlighted a direct relationship between self-monitoring and self-management, during mobile-assisted language learning in college English teaching. The findings also confirmed the underlying role of college students' beliefs on the issues associated with using mobile phones to learn a second language. Importantly, the findings highlighted the implications of the widely expanding mobile-assisted language learning in the education industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sudden increase in the statistical outbreak of Coronavirus in Malaysia had urged the government to impose a movement control order (MCO) starting 18 March 2020 for Malaysians to stay at home to stop the virus from spreading even more. Since the virus had been spreading rapidly across the globe, the situation demanded the closure of schools and educational institutions giving rise to emergency remote teaching in ensuring that students are not neglected during this pandemic. Due to the dramatic changes in all public and private institutions from face-to-face interaction to online learning, students have faced difficulty and challenges in adapting to the online learning methods that were made compulsory by lecturers and institutions' directives. Thus, this article investigates the students' perceptions, satisfaction, and challenges during this period of sudden change to e-learning platforms during the Covid-19 Movement Control Order. The questionnaire was piloted with the first 128 responses to analyze the validity and reliability of each item categorically. The reliability statistics on the survey for students' perceptions showed .896, for challenges faced by the students showed .906, and for the students' satisfaction showed .910. This article presents further findings gathered from a total of 329 participants that involved 79% from public universities and 21% from private universities across Malaysia. The significant correlations between the students' perceptions, challenges faced, and satisfaction with their universities' e-learning platforms were analyzed. Lastly, discussions and three implications demonstrate how participants' perception, challenges, and satisfaction significantly motivate their cognitive engagement and academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The virus takes a toll on people worldwide regarding the economy and social life, control the spread of this virus and taking the vaccine are most problems faced by the governments. This article examines the news coverage of the Coronavirus vaccine, focusing on the Covid-19 vaccine and how it has been exploited politically and ideologically in the English and Arabic media (BBC and Al-Jazeera). Since there are limited researches of CDA on the vaccine discourse in the media (how the vaccine is portrayed), this study aims to contribute to the researches in CDA about Covid-19 vaccine discourse. Fairclough's (1995) three-dimensional critical discourse analysis was utilised as a foundational framework to investigate the amount to which power is linguistically expressed persuasively in every discourse of different media genres using particular lexical, rhetorical, and pragmatic methods. A qualitative approach was used to analyse the selected data (two discourses from each media type). The findings revealed that the governments, through media, had used linguistic features to persuade people's minds, convincing them to take the vaccine as the only solution. The ethical appeal, cultural, societal and religious is very well generated in the discourse of both media genres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuelled by nationalism, public universities in Bangladesh adopted Bangla as their MOI. In contrast, considering the role of English in the processes of internationalization, globalization and economic benefit attached to English, private universities in Bangladesh have adopted English as their MOI. Through the exploration of lecturers' MOI ideologies, the present study aims to discover these diverse trajectories in the adoption of MOI policies in public and private universities in Bangladesh. The study was conducted at two research sites in the district of Dhaka – a local public university (UPB) and a private university (UPR). Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews conducted with five social sciences lecturers from UPB and four social sciences lecturers from UPR. The findings suggest that MOI policies in public and private universities in Bangladesh are non-identical and individual language ideologies have played a vital role in the adaptation of such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]