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Twitter is used by a substantial minority of the populations of many countries to share short messages, sometimes including images. Nevertheless, despite some research into specific images, such as selfies, and a few news stories about specific tweeted photographs, little is known about the types of images that are routinely shared. In response, this article reports a content analysis of random samples of 800 images tweeted from the UK or USA during a week at the end of 2014. Although most images were photographs, a substantial minority were hybrid or layered image forms: phone screenshots, collages, captioned pictures, and pictures of text messages. About half were primarily of one or more people, including 10% that were selfies, but a wide variety of other things were also pictured. Some of the images were for advertising or to share a joke but in most cases the purpose of the tweet seemed to be to share the minutiae of daily lives, performing the function of chat or gossip, sometimes in innovative ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the aspects of the language teacher identity within the socio-professional institutional environments. It highlights the popularity of English as a second language (ESL) education for professional development. It also stresses the educational discourses of foreign language for the language teachers.

Language teachers constantly create, adapt and evaluate classroom materials to develop new curricula and meet their learners’ needs. It has long been argued (e.g. by Stenhouse, L. [1975]. An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development. London: Heinemann) that teachers themselves, as opposed to managers or course book writers, are best placed to develop context-specific materials that effectively and affectively engage learners. However, a systematic approach is required for materials development, and one practical option is through action research. Action research enables teachers to investigate learners’ reactions to new materials, and work with them to develop engaging context-specific materials. To illustrate how action research can successfully support materials development, this paper reports on a classroom-based project the first author (Emily) conducted at her college in Australia. The project was part of an innovative national programme for the Australian English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector, initiated and facilitated by the second author (Anne) and the ELICOS peak body English Australia. An Assessment for Learning (AfL) theoretical framework was adopted to integrate lesson materials and assessment, based on learner needs. At the college, previous assessment preparation materials had been ad hoc, so Emily explored what materials would best support her learners in preparing for written assessments and feedback. Innovative classroom materials were developed in negotiation with learners, who were actively involved in the process through interviews, focus groups and surveys. Findings included improved AfL classroom materials and new self-study resources, as well as increased learner motivation. The paper concludes with analysis of the implications of using action research for materials development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The presence of Salmonella in animal feed or feed ingredients at the feed mill or on-farm is a cause for concern, as it can be transmitted to food-producing animals and subsequently to humans. The objective of this study was to determine the survival characteristics of five feed ingredient- and feed-derived monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium 4,[5],12:i:- strains. The first part of the study investigated thermal inactivation using an immersed heating coil apparatus. A Weibull model provided a good fit, with low RMSE values (0.04–0.43) and high R 2 values (0.93–0.99) obtained. There was considerable inter-strain variation in heat resistance, with D-values ranging from 397.83 to 689 s at 55 °C, 11.35–260.95 s at 60 °C and 1.12 to 6.81 at 65 °C. Likewise, z-values ranged from 2.95 to 5.44 °C. One strain demonstrated a significantly higher thermal tolerance, even though it had been isolated from a meal feed. However, overall the strains investigated do not appear to be that much more heat resistant than Salmonella previously studied. The second part of this study involved assessing the ability of the five Salmonella strains to survive during storage over a 28-day period in pelleted weaner pig feed treated with 0.3% sodium butyrate. While a mean reduction in the Salmonella count of 0.79 log 10 CFU was seen in the treated feed during the storage period, a reduction (albeit only 0.49 log 10 CFU) was also observed in the control feed. Although there was no overall effect of treatment, sodium butyrate resulted in reductions in Salmonella counts of 0.75 and 0.22 log 10 CFU at days 14 and 24 of feed storage, respectively but at the end of the 28-day storage period counts were 0.25 log 10 CFU higher in the treated feed. Therefore, the sodium butyrate used appears unsuitable as an agent for feed treatment perhaps due to the protective coating on the particular feed additive used. Overall, the results of this study enhance knowledge about the behaviour and survival characteristics of monophasic S. Typhimurium 4,[5],12:i:- strains in animal feed and may assist the feed industry and pig producers in implementing effective intervention strategies for their control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in educational research conducted by teachers and other practitioners in learning environments. There is also a growing willingness among educators to discuss such research in environments that are open and online. However, for some of those engaging with such forms of inquiry in such online spaces, puzzles remain. For example, for it to count as 'research', does teacher/practitioner 'research' have to be shared? Can this happen in non-academic ways, and why is this beneficial? In what ways is teacher/practitioner research valuable in itself as an activity? What forms of such research are open to teachers, how are they similar and how do they differ? What are the defining characteristics of one of these forms, 'exploratory practice', and what does it look like in practice? What kinds of support are required so that teacher/practitioner research is a more viable activity for both teachers and their learners? These were some of the questions raised in a recent online discussion involving teachers and academics from all over the world. It provided dialogic learning opportunities and encouraged a sharing of insights from educators working from different perspectives but united in the common cause of supporting deeply ethical, empowering teacher/practitioner research. This article represents the moderators' reflective summary of the discussion, produced with a view to disseminating current ideas on this topic and stimulating further debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides research guidelines for authors intending to submit their manuscripts to TESOL Quarterly. These guidelines include information about the TESOL Quarterly review process, advice on converting a dissertation into a research article, broad introductions to a number of research methods, and a section on research ethics. The research methods discussed here are experimental research, survey research, ethnographic research, discourse analysis, and practitioner research. These are, of course, not the only methods that authors draw on for their submissions to TESOL Quarterly but ones we thought it would be helpful to provide advice on. Each of the sections on research methods includes a broad introduction to the method (or approach), a guide for preparing a manuscript using the particular method or approach, and an analysis of an article published in TESOL Quarterly using that method or approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, research on feedback in second language (L2) writing has primarily focused on feedback per se, with little attention paid to the teachers’ professional development with regard to feedback in writing. This study aims to explore the ways in which two secondary teachers in Hong Kong attempted to implement feedback innovation in their writing classrooms after receiving some professional development input, as well as the factors that influenced their attempts at feedback innovation. The findings indicate that the teachers were unable to fully translate into practice the feedback principles acquired from teacher education and reveal a string of factors that influenced their attempts at feedback innovation. The study has implications for teacher education and teacher professional development, shedding light on how teachers can be supported to bring innovation to conventional feedback approaches in the writing classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]