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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors contributing to the competencies and capabilities of Family Development Center (FDC) staff in order to promote pre-school language developmental support amongst parents.

A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 260 FDC staff under the supervision of Thai local authorities in the rural province of Suphanburi in Thailand from July to September 2016. Self-administered questionnaires were used. Eligible participants with at least a year’s experience on the FDC committee were purposively selected. Analyses were performed by descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, Spearman’s correlation, χ² test and stepwise multiple regression.

Only 23.5 percent of staff had a high level of capability. The respondents’ perceptions of their self-capability were influenced by motivation, attitudes toward promoting language learning amongst parents, self-efficacy, sufficient budget and receiving constructive appraisal support (r=0.387, 0.328, 0.366, 0.106 and 0.104, respectively). Marital status was negatively associated with FDC staff capability (r=−0.172). The multivariate analysis showed that 23.9 percent of the variability of FDC staff’s self-capability could be explained by their motivation for working, attitude, self-efficacy and marital status (p<0.001).

Research findings could be used to improve motivation for working, positive attitudes and self-efficacy regarding parenting promotion for pre-school language development to achieve standardized quality performance. Results of this study could also form the basis for designing effective training programs for FDC staff in the context of the specific organization and community.

As the number of school-aged children living outside their country of birth continues to rise, domestic governments should examine whether their education systems have the appropriate policies and practices in place to provide equitable accountability for migrant students. Specifically, domestic governments should work to ensure immigrant students who are not yet proficient in the host country's language are being systematically identified and provided the language supports necessary to engage in their education.

Over the past two decades, the US has been able to hone its approach to educating immigrant children. Drawing from this experience, this brief will show how the federal government has used education policy to increase access and accountability for immigrant children enrolled in US schools. Specifically, this brief will highlight the policies the US has adopted to facilitate uniform and objective procedures in how schools:

• identify immigrant students with linguistic needs upon enrollment;

• assess their language skills upon enrollment to create a baseline; and

• systemically and continually support and assess immigrant students' linguistic needs to ensure they can engage with age-appropriate academic content.

identify immigrant students with linguistic needs upon enrollment;

assess their language skills upon enrollment to create a baseline; and

systemically and continually support and assess immigrant students' linguistic needs to ensure they can engage with age-appropriate academic content.

By highlighting these practices and policies, this brief will show key steps other domestic governments can take to increase the visibility of and accountability over the education of migrant children by ensuring their linguistic needs are proactively addressed.

This paper aims to provide evidence that online well-designed educational tasks can provide more relevant and richer active learning environment for business English learners. The benefits of online tasks, as an education tool, became more apparent and gained more importance during the events related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The task design is based on task-based interactions and in a sequence of tasks with the support of an online learning management system (LMS). The findings suggest that online task-based learning (and would-be blended learning in the future) enables meaningful and authentic activities promoting interactions and communicative competences to prepare for learners of business English to enter the workplace.

The overarching aim of the study is to explore how task-design-utilizing online LMS could contribute to enhancing the learning process and to the development of the learner's communicative competences. The study included two aspects, namely: (1) the design of online tasks and (2) pilot evaluation. The task design involved tasks that required interactions between the learners. The pilot evaluation relied on data collection via questionnaires.

Two aspects relating to the findings: (1) a description of the teaching initiatives which was designed to see how blended learning and online tasks can enhance learning and develop the skills of the learners: with questioning techniques targeting communication skills, simulated workplace situations and timely feedback and peer influence; (2) the findings of the pilot study evaluation to see the actual implementation of online tasks. The students' responses corroborate the teachers' comments. The findings of this research showed that LMS tasks, which were designed for this study, helped the learners to enhance their competence in business English. Such competences included communicative skills needed for learners to enter the workplace such as interpersonal skills, presentation skills and negotiation skills in contexts. These findings lead to significant recommendations regarding the way forward for developing active blended learning.

Firstly, teachers need to be trained and involved in designing such online tasks and materials to be used in active blended learning. More training in language teaching methodologies should be investigated to adapt the transition from a traditional to a computer-assisted language learning teacher. This helps teachers to design and implement online simulated workplace tasks. Secondly, time for the use of online tasks should be allocated satisfactorily. This can be achieved by building online learning sessions into class schedule or developing active blended courses. The time for the use of online simulated tasks should be allocated satisfactorily with lab or simulation room, in which students would be shown how to access the online tasks designed on the university LMS and the way to practice with different kinds of tasks.

In this study context, the online tasks design can initiate at activity-level blending to support face-to-face (F2F) activities, for example, online activities to support tasks for the topic Make a request or Offer for help. This can be extended to course-level blending when more online activities are designed to use with F2F activities such as online comparing and contrasting tasks to develop skills in connections with the awareness of cultures. The findings of the research suggest to develop and to implement online tasks alongside with classroom learning and teaching to enable the objectives of business English programme at university for preparing learners to enter the workplace. The recent pandemic highlighted the need for effective methodologies for active blended learning. It is now required that professionals in higher education to collect evidence base to inform future practice of such methodologies. Further significant research efforts should be directed towards collecting such evidence of the effectiveness and improvements of such methods. The support of higher education management professionals in securing funding for such research will be essential.

Language and how it is communicated within organisations is a complex situation. The purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on the practice of issuing style guides and restrictive word lists as highlighted in the recent media through the case of Leader of the House of Commons, Mr Rees-Mogg.

A key focus is the question whether the approach of limiting language and guiding communication through such a directive is effective in developing understanding amongst work-based learners and facilitating both consistency and quality of communications. The paper looks to draw upon both educational and psychological perspectives to underpin the discussion of how such an approach has been implemented and the resulting impact upon those working with such rules of guidance.

Conclusions drawn highlight that professionals learning at work may fail to understand the rationale for why guidelines have been issued to them. Subsequently, the work-based learner may feel othered by the process thus effecting motivation and well-being.

The paper offers a perspective on an approach utilised by a leader within the UK Government, exploring it through the lens of education and English Language development to discuss the potential impact upon employees within the workplace.

This paper explores the survival strategies and coping mechanisms of ethnic minority entrepreneurs operating in the hospitality sector in northern Finland during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The paper utilizes qualitative research approach based on six exploratory case studies. The in-depth interviews in two phases were conducted with owners/mangers of ethnic minority entrepreneurial restaurants.

The findings reveal that all studied case firms undertook quick adjustments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, staff working hours were reduced through mutual consultation, and readjustments to the supply chain were made so that critical ingredients remain available despite the forced lockdown and supply chain bottlenecks. However, the readjustment of the supply chain was not visible in all case firms. Some of the owner-managers who were interviewed decided to keep doing business with the ethnic minority suppliers, despite some transportation problems due to lockdowns, especially in the early phases of COVID-19. Findings also suggest that the support grants announced by the state appeared not to be particularly useful for these restaurants due to restrictive eligibility criteria that many microbusinesses potentially fail to meet. Finally, the sample microbusinesses (restaurants) entrepreneurs recognize the importance of home delivery for their business survival, although they were critical of online food delivery service providers (apps) due to their high charges. Some of the case restaurants gave customers incentives for directly ordering from them, as an alternative strategy.

This paper is one of the first studies to specifically highlight the peculiarities of ethnic minority entrepreneurship and survival dynamics in northern Finland, where running the restaurant operations, including ensuring the supply chain management, is more complex than in the case of ethnic minority restaurants in more well-connected European countries and cities with an established history of immigrant businesses. This study is also novel in terms of specifying the strategies adopted by ethnic minority businesses in adjusting to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and surviving through it. At the same time, it has shown limitations and some problems associated with accessing state support announced for the hospitality industry in response to COVID-19. Finally, it offers a new angle by explicitly highlighting the power dynamics between restaurants and food ordering platforms (apps) and the potential alternatives in this specific context.

Healthy Together (HT) is an innovative family education program focused on bringing families together to promote physical activity and healthy eating. The HT program was implemented in 10 community-based organizations across Canada offering services to immigrant and refugee families. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of HT when offered to these families.

A cross-sectional, non-comparative design was used. Caregiver participants were invited to complete a survey at the end of 15, 30 or 24 HT sessions. Trained program facilitators and directors of community-based organizations also provided feedback on the program.

Among the 203 caregiver participants, 135 (64%) were born outside of Canada. These caregivers were more likely to attend 50% or more of the HT sessions than Canadian-born caregivers. Survey responses show that the HT program was acceptable to immigrant and refugee caregivers and held important benefits for families including positive changes in healthy eating and physical activity, strengthening social connections and learning about community services and resources. Areas for enhancing the HT program for immigrant and refugee families were identified by participant caregivers and community organizations delivering the program.

The HT program demonstrates the value of family-centered program models in supporting immigrant and refugee families in establishing healthy lifestyles and building social connections in ways that hold promise for long-term impact.

The HT program model demonstrates strong potential to fill gaps in community programming for immigrant and refugee families. Although focused on promoting healthy lifestyles, the program extends additional benefits that can positively influence resettlement trajectories. The findings contribute to the growing field of implementation studies that are focused on expanding the reach and impact of community health interventions in a real-world setting while reaching multiple target populations.

How closely does the translation match the meaning of the reference has always been a key aspect of any machine translation (MT) service. Therefore, the primary goal of this research is to assess and compare translation adequacy in machine vs human translation (HT) from Arabic to English. The study looks into whether the MT product is adequate and more reliable than the HT. It also seeks to determine whether MT poses a real threat to professional Arabic–English translators.

Six different texts were chosen and translated from Arabic to English by two nonexpert undergraduate translation students as well as MT services, including Google Translate and Babylon Translation. The first system is free, whereas the second system is a fee-based service. Additionally, two expert translators developed a reference translation (RT) against which human and machine translations were compared and analyzed. Furthermore, the Sketch Engine software was utilized to examine the translations to determine if there is a significant difference between human and machine translations against the RT.

The findings indicated that when compared to the RT, there was no statistically significant difference between human and machine translations and that MTs were adequate translations. The human–machine relationship is mutually beneficial. However, MT will never be able to completely automated; rather, it will benefit rather than endanger humans. A translator who knows how to use MT will have an opportunity over those who are unfamiliar with the most up-to-date translation technology. As MTs improve, human translators may no longer be accurate translators, but rather editors and editing materials previously translated by machines.

The findings of this study provide valuable and practical implications for research in the field of MTs and for anyone interested in conducting MT research.

In general, this study is significant as it is a serious attempt at getting a better understanding of the efficiency of MT vs HT in translating the Arabic–English texts, and it will be beneficial for translators, students, educators as well as scholars in the field of translation.

The purpose of this paper is to report on how early years practitioners worked with the ORIM Framework to support work with parents to promote early literacy experiences.

Co-produced Knowledge Exchange (KE) was used to develop and evaluate work with parents to facilitate their young children’s literacy. Information was gathered in discussion groups, interviews with parents and practitioners and feedback from all the parties involved.

Practitioners and families engaged with each other in the further development of an established literacy programme, and families demonstrated “ownership” of the co-produced knowledge after the end of the project.

Project design in co-produced research and KE is necessarily flexible. The focus is on practitioners’ knowledge and ownership of the process, sharing knowledge with parents and enhancing children’s experiences.

Practices that can enhance parental engagement in their children’s early literacy are varied and multiple and ORIM can be used flexibly to plan, develop and evaluate innovative and community – (and family –) specific practices.

Where parents have more knowledge of children’s early literacy development they are in a better position to support them; for learning communities there are implications in terms of future development of work with families to support early literacy development.

This paper contributes an original approach to the co-production of research with early years practitioners. It also identifies specific issues around the ethics of ownership in co-produced research.

This paper aims to reinforce the arguments for applying the social support concept in social marketing.

This paper aims to conceptually outline the potential positive contribution of social support for social marketing practice as a tool to induce behavior change.

This paper focuses on the philosophical principle of social exchange, highlights the consumer-centered perspective of social marketing, which implies the natural evaluation of the social networks of influence and support and presents social support as a mechanism to induce long-term behavior change.

No empirical (qualitative or quantitative) investigations were used to test the application of the concept in practical interventions.

This paper provides significant insights for intervention developers that can be used to program and theoretically justify future social marketing interventions applying the social support concept.

Empirical research concluded for a positive relation between social support and human health and well-being. Thus, increasing the use of the concept in social marketing can serve to attain these social goals.

The concept of social support has gained considerable interest in the areas of behavioral medicine and health psychology. Despite such interest, it is still not clear how it can be approached in social marketing as there is a lack of conceptual literature discussing social support from a social marketing perspective, the number of social marketing interventions operationalizing the concept is limited and, till date, no research has focused in comprehensively establishing a theoretical rationale to operationalize the concept in social marketing.

This study examines the dualities of digital services – that is, how customers’ favorite everyday digital services can positively and negatively contribute to their well-being. Thus, the study describes the meanings of favorite digital services as part of customers’ everyday lives and the types of well-being to which such services can contribute.

We used a qualitative research approach through semi-structured interviews conducted in 2021 to collect data from 14 young adults (22–31 years old) who actively used digital services in their daily lives.

Our findings revealed that customers’ favorite everyday digital services can contribute to their mental well-being, social well-being, and intellectual well-being. Within these three dimensions of well-being, we identified nine dualities of digital services that describe their positive and negative contributions: (1) digital escapism versus digital disruption, (2) digital relaxation versus digital stress, (3) digital empowerment versus digital subjugation, (4) digital augmentation versus digital emptiness, (5) digital socialization versus digital isolation, (6) digital togetherness versus digital exclusion, (7) digital self-expression versus digital pressure, (8) digital learning versus digital dependence, and (9) digital inspiration versus digital stagnation.

These findings suggest that everyday digital services have the potential to contribute to customer well-being in various aspects – both positively and negatively – accentuating the need for service providers to decipher the impacts of their offerings on well-being. Indeed, understanding the relationship between digital services and customer well-being can help companies tailor their services to customers’ needs. Companies that prioritize customer well-being not only benefit their customers but also create sustainable growth opportunities in the long run. Further, companies can use the derived information in service design to develop marketing strategies that emphasize the positive impacts of their digital services on customer well-being.

Although prior transformative service studies have investigated the well-being of multiple stakeholders, such studies have focused on services related to the physical and healthcare domains. Consequently, the role of everyday digital services as contributors to customer well-being is an under-researched topic. In addition, the concept of well-being and its various dimensions has received limited attention in previous service research. By investigating everyday digital services and their multidimensional contribution to customer well-being, this study broadens the perspective on well-being within TSR and aids in refining a more precise conceptualization.