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1 – 10 of 125Shu Fan, Shengyi Yao and Dan Wu
Culture is considered a critical aspect of social media usage. The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultures and languages influence multilingual users' cross-cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
Culture is considered a critical aspect of social media usage. The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultures and languages influence multilingual users' cross-cultural information sharing patterns.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a crowdsourcing survey with Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 355 multilingual users who utilize two or more languages daily. A mixed-method approach combined statistical, and cluster analysis with thematic analysis was employed to analyze information sharing patterns among multilingual users in the Chinese cultural context.
Findings
It was found that most multilingual users surveyed preferred to share in their first and second language mainly because that is what others around them speak or use. Multilingual users have more diverse sharing characteristics and are more actively engaged in social media. The results also provide insights into what incentives make multilingual users engage in social media to share information related to Chinese culture with the MOA model. Finally, the ten motivation factors include learning, entertainment, empathy, personal gain, social engagement, altruism, self-expression, information, trust and sharing culture. One opportunity factor is identified, which is convenience. Three ability factors are recognized consist of self-efficacy, habit and personality.
Originality/value
The findings are conducive to promoting the active participation of multilingual users in online communities, increasing global resource sharing and information flow and promoting the consumption of digital cultural content.
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Sou Hyun Jang, Yong Jeong Yi and Yun-Mi Song
The primary objective was to develop a user-centered mobile health application (app) tailored to the specific health information needs of among immigrant women from diverse…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary objective was to develop a user-centered mobile health application (app) tailored to the specific health information needs of among immigrant women from diverse backgrounds in Korea.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 immigrant women to gain insights into their health information-seeking behavior. Based on the findings, a mobile app was designed and developed. A beta version of the app underwent validation by an MD and seven expert reviewers who assessed the app for content accuracy and conformance to mobile heuristics. Last, immigrant women (n = 12) evaluated the usability of the app.
Findings
The study revealed that the interviewed immigrant women had strong health information needs related to pregnancy and parenting. Most of them used multiple sources to find and verify health information. Language barriers were identified as a major obstacle to accessing and evaluating health information. The results of the user test indicated that the app effectively facilitated study participants' search for reliable health information, meeting their specific needs.
Research limitations/implications
This research extended the literature by addressing the limited availability of mobile apps tailored to the health information needs of immigrant women in Korea.
Originality/value
By incorporating multilingual support and focusing on pregnancy and parenting information, the health app serves as a valuable tool to bridge the gap in health information access and to facilitate the well-being of immigrant women in the country.
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Amir Ghajarieh and Afarin Aghabozorgi
This study aims to analyze translanguaging practices and beliefs of Iranian English for General Purposes (EGP) teachers and find discrepancies between the practice and perception…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze translanguaging practices and beliefs of Iranian English for General Purposes (EGP) teachers and find discrepancies between the practice and perception of educators in bi/multilingual species in Iranian educational settings.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved interviewing ten teachers and observing six of their sessions, which yielded qualitative data.
Findings
The results showed that the participating teachers produced recurring themes such as the significance and limitations of translanguaging, techniques for training multilingual learners and the restrictions imposed by policies that discourage the use of L1 in language institutes in Iran. A noteworthy observation made in this investigation was that educators who possessed competency in three or more languages exhibited greater endorsement of translanguaging in both their perceptions and practices.
Practical implications
This study has significant implications for instructors, teacher trainers and policymakers operating within multilingual environments. It serves as a pioneering study that invites a productive synergy between Western and Asian researchers in exploring bi/multilingual spaces within Asian educational contexts.
Originality/value
This study brings a fresh perspective to the current body of research on teacher agency in bi/multilingual educational settings. By utilizing qualitative methods, it offers unique and original insights. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery that educators who are proficient in three or more languages are more inclined to support translanguaging. This observation adds a distinctive understanding of translanguaging in language education. It opens up new possibilities for exploring the application and efficacy of the translanguaging approach in Asian bi/multilingual spaces in education.
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Shubhada Nagarkar, Archana Thakur, Monali Mane and Prajakta Nagare
The purpose of this study is to examine Indian language journals published in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) included in the UGC-CARE list, which is an initiative of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine Indian language journals published in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) included in the UGC-CARE list, which is an initiative of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India. This study argues that although these journals do not appear in international databases, they are valuable because they frequently publish and have published for years, opinions, memoirs and critical review articles, especially the local culture.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines 298 journals categorised into two groups: monolingual (189) and multilingual (109). The first group included 189 journals published in 15 Indian languages. Monolingual journals were examined using five criteria: year of publication, subject area, frequency, language and geographical zone of the publisher. Multilingual journals analysed as per languages covered.
Findings
The analysis reveals that the UGC-CARE List includes journals published between 1899 and 2019. The most common languages are Hindi (67), Urdu (31), Sanskrit (9) and Marathi (26). The frequency of majority (114) of journals is quarterly. Associations, universities, individual publishers and learned societies as publishers are dominant. Analysis of multilingual journals indicated that the highest number of journals (34) are published in English and Hindi.
Practical implications
Journals that fulfil the stringer criteria of three UGC-CARE journal analysis protocols find a place in the CARE List. The list is dynamic and is updated quarterly to maintain its currency and therefore its credibility. The list is available at http://ugccare.unipune.ac.in and is the list preferred by Indian Higher Education Institutes.
Originality/value
UGC-CARE List includes journals published by Indian publishers especially in the fields of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It is the first initiative to battle against the predatory journals and effort to bring the Indian legacy of journals on the world map of journals and periodicals.
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Antonijo Marijić and Marina Bagić Babac
Genre classification of songs based on lyrics is a challenging task even for humans, however, state-of-the-art natural language processing has recently offered advanced solutions…
Abstract
Purpose
Genre classification of songs based on lyrics is a challenging task even for humans, however, state-of-the-art natural language processing has recently offered advanced solutions to this task. The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding and application of natural language processing and deep learning in the domain of music genre classification, while also contributing to the broader themes of global knowledge and communication, and sustainable preservation of cultural heritage.
Design/methodology/approach
The main contribution of this study is the development and evaluation of various machine and deep learning models for song genre classification. Additionally, we investigated the effect of different word embeddings, including Global Vectors for Word Representation (GloVe) and Word2Vec, on the classification performance. The tested models range from benchmarks such as logistic regression, support vector machine and random forest, to more complex neural network architectures and transformer-based models, such as recurrent neural network, long short-term memory, bidirectional long short-term memory and bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT).
Findings
The authors conducted experiments on both English and multilingual data sets for genre classification. The results show that the BERT model achieved the best accuracy on the English data set, whereas cross-lingual language model pretraining based on RoBERTa (XLM-RoBERTa) performed the best on the multilingual data set. This study found that songs in the metal genre were the most accurately labeled, as their text style and topics were the most distinct from other genres. On the contrary, songs from the pop and rock genres were more challenging to differentiate. This study also compared the impact of different word embeddings on the classification task and found that models with GloVe word embeddings outperformed Word2Vec and the learning embedding layer.
Originality/value
This study presents the implementation, testing and comparison of various machine and deep learning models for genre classification. The results demonstrate that transformer models, including BERT, robustly optimized BERT pretraining approach, distilled bidirectional encoder representations from transformers, bidirectional and auto-regressive transformers and XLM-RoBERTa, outperformed other models.
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Daniel Sidney Fussy and Hassan Iddy
This study aims to explore motives behind teachers' and students' use of translanguaging and how they use it in Tanzanian public secondary school classrooms.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore motives behind teachers' and students' use of translanguaging and how they use it in Tanzanian public secondary school classrooms.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using interviews and non-participant observations.
Findings
The findings indicate that translanguaging was used to facilitate content comprehension, promote classroom interaction and increase students' motivation to learn. Translanguaging was implemented using three strategies: paraphrasing an English text into Kiswahili, translating an English text into its Kiswahili equivalent and word-level translanguaging.
Practical implications
By highlighting the motivations for translanguaging and corresponding strategies associated with translanguaging pedagogy in the Tanzanian context, this study has significant practical implications for teachers and students to showcase their linguistic and multimodal knowledge, while fostering a safe learning space that relates to students' daily experiences.
Originality/value
The study offers new insights into previous research on the role of language-supportive pedagogy appropriate for teachers and students working within bi-/multilingual education settings.
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The goal of this article is two-fold. The first is to contribute new insights to inform education policies for addressing the underlying educational inequalities and injustices…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this article is two-fold. The first is to contribute new insights to inform education policies for addressing the underlying educational inequalities and injustices that are caused by lack of epistemic access in the context of Fiji higher education. The second is to explore how the Grounded Theory Methodology can be applied to longitudinal language testing research that seeks to reverse epistemic injustices and educational inequalities in Fiji and other comparable multilingual countries.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore how the Grounded Theory Methodology can be applied to longitudinal language testing research that seeks to reverse epistemic injustices and educational inequalities in Fiji and other comparable multilingual countries. The study was conducted at a university in Fiji where 120 students were sampled at the beginning of the first year and at the end of their first year of university programme. The same cohort was tracked throughout the project, out of which 30 students were interviewed at the end of the first year.
Findings
The four indicators include: (1) lack of teaching and learning resources, (2) language barriers, (3) problems with the medium of instruction and (4) shortage of experienced teachers.
Originality/value
Although widely acknowledged in previous studies from elsewhere, the indicators of educational inequalities identified in this study are worth reporting on due to the unique socio-cultural and linguistic context of Fiji.
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Tiara Kusumaningtiyas, Prasetyo Adi Nugroho and Nurul Aida Noor Azizi
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in libraries, especially university libraries, which are faced with users from various countries…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in libraries, especially university libraries, which are faced with users from various countries who have different languages and cultures. Seamless M4T, which is being developed, has great potential for helping university librarians maximize library services by providing ease of communication.
Design/methodology/approach
Analyzing the possibility of developing Seamless M4T using natural language processing techniques and how to train language models to be smarter AI tools and can be used to break down language barriers between librarians and users.
Findings
The implementation of AI-based application Seamless M4T can help university librarians provide maximum service to users who are hampered by language and culture with advanced communication skills. Seamless M4T has an automatic speech recognition feature for dozens of languages, so it can translate speech-to-text, text-to-speech or both text and speech. To convert written words into verbal forms, this AI can also translate and transcribe text and speech in real-time without significant delays.
Originality/value
This paper emphasizes the use of AI in university libraries to improve services, especially in communication due to language differences between librarians and users. Advantages in using AI in libraries can support the collaboration and scholarly communication process.
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Xiaoxian Yang, Zhifeng Wang, Qi Wang, Ke Wei, Kaiqi Zhang and Jiangang Shi
This study aims to adopt a systematic review approach to examine the existing literature on law and LLMs.It involves analyzing and synthesizing relevant research papers, reports…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to adopt a systematic review approach to examine the existing literature on law and LLMs.It involves analyzing and synthesizing relevant research papers, reports and scholarly articles that discuss the use of LLMs in the legal domain. The review encompasses various aspects, including an analysis of LLMs, legal natural language processing (NLP), model tuning techniques, data processing strategies and frameworks for addressing the challenges associated with legal question-and-answer (Q&A) systems. Additionally, the study explores potential applications and services that can benefit from the integration of LLMs in the field of intelligent justice.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper surveys the state-of-the-art research on law LLMs and their application in the field of intelligent justice. The study aims to identify the challenges associated with developing Q&A systems based on LLMs and explores potential directions for future research and development. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the advancement of intelligent justice by effectively leveraging LLMs.
Findings
To effectively apply a law LLM, systematic research on LLM, legal NLP and model adjustment technology is required.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the field of intelligent justice by providing a comprehensive review of the current state of research on law LLMs.
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Oghenere Salubi and Uyanda Majavu
This paper delves into the pivotal role of public libraries in supporting and promoting literacy, with a particular focus on their relevance in financially and infrastructurally…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper delves into the pivotal role of public libraries in supporting and promoting literacy, with a particular focus on their relevance in financially and infrastructurally low-resourced territories (FILTs). Literacy, being a fundamental skill, empowers individuals, enriches education and contributes to social and economic development. Nonetheless, numerous FILTs encounter substantial obstacles in granting access to quality education and fostering literacy skills among their people. As an opinion piece rooted in empirical literature, this paper serves as an introductory exploration, acknowledging that it only skims the surface of raising awareness.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper expands upon the existing body of literature concerning public libraries and the imperative for literacy programs. It purposefully addresses a range of issues that may appear contradictory in FILTs, primarily due to economic constraints. However, from the authors’ perspective, these issues actually highlight the vast potential for intervention and progress.
Findings
Numerous evident strategies can be identified to attain the goal of an enlightened and educated nation, fostering empowered individuals. One such approach involves prioritizing the promotion and support of literacy programs in public libraries. Nonetheless, there is a pressing need for heightened awareness regarding the significance of adopting a holistic perspective when addressing various interconnected issues. This includes the long-term advantages associated with an educated and literate society, particularly in FILTs.
Originality/value
The literature within the field of library and information science offers scarce publications regarding literacy support programs in libraries, despite the fact that fostering informed and literate citizens is a prominent goal in the mission and vision plans of numerous FILTs. This paper presents an exploratory perspective, aiming to raise awareness about the significance of considering diverse approaches to support and promote literacy in public libraries within FILTs. It also proposes the development of a framework as a means to facilitate this endeavor. While the context of the paper is framed for FILTs, aspects of the framework may also be useful and applicable in other well-resourced regions and libraries.
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