Current research into L2 motivation addresses all aspects of language learning. However, there is a paucity of research into students’ L2 motivations to improve their speaking skills. Specifically, research on pronunciation issues is very rare. This report sheds light on factors that relate to pronunciation issues and their facilitating or hindering effects on L2 motivation. It starts by reviewing research that informs about students’ social-psychological and utilitarian motivations to acquire a second language. Interestingly, these general L2 motivations are mostly affected by factors related to students’ pronunciation skills. The second section discusses the negative factors, which have been found to hinder students’ motivations to learn, and in particular to improve their pronunciation. Based on these research findings, the third section of the report offers recommends pronunciation-teaching strategies to motivate and empower students. This report makes a case for Multi-competence that focuses on increased intelligibility through suprasegmentals and sociopragmatic awareness. / text

Clear speech refers to a speaking style that is more intelligible than typical, conversational speaking styles. It is usually produced at a slower rate compared to conversational speech. Clear speech has been shown to be more intelligible than conversational speech for a large variety of populations, including both hearing impaired (Schum, 1996; Picheny, Durlach, & Braida, 1985; and Payton, Uchanski, & Braida, 1994) and normal hearing individuals (e.g. Uchanski, Choi, Braida, Reed, & Durlach, 1996) under a variety of conditions, including those in which presentation level, speaker, and environment are varied. Although clear speech is typically slower than normally produced conversational speech, recent studies have shown that it can be produced at normal rates with training (Krause & Braida, 2002). If clear speech at normal rates is shown to be as effective for individuals with hearing loss as clear speech at slow rates, it would have both clinical and research implications. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of clear speech at normal rates for older individuals with hearing loss. It examined the way in which intelligibility, measured as percent correct keyword scores on nonsense sentences, varied as a result of speaking mode (clear versus conversational speech) and speaking rate (slow versus normal) in six adults aged 55-75 years old with moderate, sloping, hearing loss. Each listener was presented with nonsense sentences in four speech conditions: clear speech at slow rates (clear/slow), clear speech at normal rates (clear/normal), conversational speech at slow rates (conv/slow), and conversational speech at normal rates (conv/normal) read by four different talkers. Sentences were presented monaurally in quiet to the listeners via headphones. Results indicated that clear/slow speech was the most intelligible condition overall. Neither conv/slow nor clear/normal provided an intelligibility benefit relative to conv/normal speech on average, suggesting that for older adults with moderate, sloping hearing loss, the combination of using clear speech and a slower speaking rate is more beneficial to intelligibility than the additive effects of altering either speaking rate or speaking mode alone. It has been suggested previously (Krause, 2001) that audiological characteristics may contribute to the lack of clear/normal benefit for certain listeners with hearing loss. Although clear/normal speech was not beneficial on average to listeners in this study, there were cases in which the clear/normal speech of a particular talker provided a benefit to a particular listener. Thus, severity and configuration of hearing loss alone cannot fully explain the degree to which listeners from hearing loss do (or do not) benefit from clear/normal speech. More studies are needed to investigate the benefits of clear/normal speech for different audiological configurations, including individuals with flat losses. In addition, the listening tasks should include more difficult conditions in order to compensate for potential ceiling effects.

Clear speech is a type of speaking style that improves speech intelligibility for many individuals. For example, one study showed a 17 percentage point increase in intelligibility over conversational speech for individuals with sensorineural hearing loss (Picheny et al., 1985). The clear speech benefit also extends to children with learning disabilities (Bradlow et al., 2003), non-native listeners (Bradlow and Bent, 2002), and other populations. Although clear speech is typically slower than conversational speech, it can be produced, naturally, at normal rates with training. For young listeners with normal hearing, clear speech at normal rates (clear/normal) is more intelligible than conversational speech (conv/normal) and is almost as beneficial as clear speech at slow rates (clear/slow) (Krause and Braida, 2002). However, a preliminary study by Krause (2001), found that clear/normal speech may benefit some older listeners with hearing loss but not others, suggesting that age may be a factor in the clear speech benefit at normal rates. It is evident, though, that clear speech at slow rates benefits this population (Picheny et al., 1985; Payton et al., 1994; Schum, 1996; Helfer, 1998). Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine older listeners with normal hearing to determine how speech intelligibility, measured by % correct keyword scores, varies with speaking mode, speaking rate, talker and listener. Results were then compared to previously collected data from younger listeners with normal hearing (Krause and Braida, 2002) in order to isolate the effect of age on the size of clear speech benefit at slow and normal speaking rates.Eight adults (ages 55-68) with normal hearing participated in speech intelligibility tests.

Design systems have gained traction in the last few years. They have been primarily used by big tech companies to improve collaboration between designers and developers and to speed up the development process of their digital products. There is no formal definition of what a design system is and what it should entail as of the time of writing. It is believed that communication breakdown during the creation of design systems occurs because designers and developers do not understand each other’s fields of expertise. The purpose of this study is to explore common aspects that cause communication breakdown between developers and designers when creating a design system. The method of choice for this study is semi- structured interviews conducted with frontend/web developers, exploring their views and experiences. The results of this study indicate that there are both similarities and differences between peoples’ views on design systems and that the lack of understanding of a developer's field of work can be seen as an aspect that can cause a communication breakdown. Furthermore, the results imply that one of the factors which can contribute to a more successful understanding of the handoff for developers is the visualization of the design. The major limitations of this study are the lack of scientific literature on the topic of design systems as well as the limited number of participants.

The course of endstage renal disease (ESRD) and receiving hemodialysis (HD) treatment is complex and filled with uncertainty. Part of this illness experience includes making end-of-life (EOL) care decisions. Many families are unprepared to make such decisions. Advance care planning (ACP) creates an excellent context for laying the groundwork for these emotionally charged conversations. Hemodialysis patients, their families and healthcare providers (HCPs) are in a unique position to begin the ACP process early in the illness trajectory, revisiting it when the patient’s health status, prognosis and treatment modality changes. To date, little research has focused directly on how families experience ACP conversations in the context of ESRD or HD. The purpose of this study was to explore family members’ experiences of participating in a facilitated ACP conversation with the HD patient. This approach recognizes and privileges the family’s role in the illness trajectory of ESRD and validates that they too are HCPs’ clients. Five families, consisting of the HD patient and one family member, who went through the ACP process were interviewed along with an ACP facilitator from the nephrology program. This focused ethnographic study applied the theoretical perspective of postmodernist critical theory to derive and analyze data from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed a detailed description of the ACP process that included timing, readiness to acknowledge the potentiality of death, facing mortality, and finding meaning in the illness experience. As families started to deconstruct their experiences, they shared stories of communication breakdown, highlighting the complexities of their relationships with HCPs. Understanding the factors that potentially contribute to HD patients’, their families’ and the renal staff’s discomfort with death were analyzed. The study findings provide important direction for HCPs about how families make ACP decisions, how they perceive the ACP process, and what they identify as their EOL care needs and wishes. Failure to implement ACP as part of an EOL care program means that death will continue to be denied and clients’ EOL care needs will remain un-addressed. In order for ACP to be effective on HD units, sustainable resources are essential for patients, their families and HCPs.

Referentiell kommunikation innebär att kunna delge andra information så att de förstår, samt att själv förstå när man lyssnar och även att vara medveten om när man själv inte har förstått (Sonnenschein & Whitehurst, 1984). Genom en referentiell kommunikationsuppgift har lyssnaregenskaper inom referentiell kommunikation undersökts hos ungdomar med lindrig till måttlig utvecklingsstörning, samt en mentalt åldersmatchad kontrollgrupp. Snabb benämning (Rapid Automatized Naming) av enstaviga och flerstaviga ord har också testats, och huruvida samband mellan resultat i kommunikationsuppgiften och snabb benämning föreligger. För att mäta referentiella lyssnarförmågor har olika typer av efterfrågningar studerats, det vill säga hur individen uttrycker sig för att efterfråga mer information. Resultatet visar att kontrollgruppen producerar signifikant fler av efterfrågningstyperna begäran av utökad information och kontrollfrågor. Båda grupperna var mycket heterogena i kommunikationsuppgiften vad gäller antalet efterfrågningar hos varje individ. I målgruppen återfanns ett signifikant samband mellan efterfrågningstypen aningen-eller-frågor och långsam benämningshastighet av enstaviga ord. En klinisk implikation av resultatet i studien är att en del individer i målgruppen skulle kunna gynnas av träning i referentiell kommunikation.

The course of endstage renal disease (ESRD) and receiving hemodialysis (HD) treatment is complex and filled with uncertainty. Part of this illness experience includes making end-of-life (EOL) care decisions. Many families are unprepared to make such decisions. Advance care planning (ACP) creates an excellent context for laying the groundwork for these emotionally charged conversations. Hemodialysis patients, their families and healthcare providers (HCPs) are in a unique position to begin the ACP process early in the illness trajectory, revisiting it when the patient’s health status, prognosis and treatment modality changes. To date, little research has focused directly on how families experience ACP conversations in the context of ESRD or HD. The purpose of this study was to explore family members’ experiences of participating in a facilitated ACP conversation with the HD patient. This approach recognizes and privileges the family’s role in the illness trajectory of ESRD and validates that they too are HCPs’ clients. Five families, consisting of the HD patient and one family member, who went through the ACP process were interviewed along with an ACP facilitator from the nephrology program. This focused ethnographic study applied the theoretical perspective of postmodernist critical theory to derive and analyze data from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed a detailed description of the ACP process that included timing, readiness to acknowledge the potentiality of death, facing mortality, and finding meaning in the illness experience. As families started to deconstruct their experiences, they shared stories of communication breakdown, highlighting the complexities of their relationships with HCPs. Understanding the factors that potentially contribute to HD patients’, their families’ and the renal staff’s discomfort with death were analyzed. The study findings provide important direction for HCPs about how families make ACP decisions, how they perceive the ACP process, and what they identify as their EOL care needs and wishes. Failure to implement ACP as part of an EOL care program means that death will continue to be denied and clients’ EOL care needs will remain un-addressed. In order for ACP to be effective on HD units, sustainable resources are essential for patients, their families and HCPs.

The course of endstage renal disease (ESRD) and receiving hemodialysis (HD) treatment is complex and filled with uncertainty. Part of this illness experience includes making end-of-life (EOL) care decisions. Many families are unprepared to make such decisions. Advance care planning (ACP) creates an excellent context for laying the groundwork for these emotionally charged conversations. Hemodialysis patients, their families and healthcare providers (HCPs) are in a unique position to begin the ACP process early in the illness trajectory, revisiting it when the patient’s health status, prognosis and treatment modality changes. To date, little research has focused directly on how families experience ACP conversations in the context of ESRD or HD. The purpose of this study was to explore family members’ experiences of participating in a facilitated ACP conversation with the HD patient. This approach recognizes and privileges the family’s role in the illness trajectory of ESRD and validates that they too are HCPs’ clients. Five families, consisting of the HD patient and one family member, who went through the ACP process were interviewed along with an ACP facilitator from the nephrology program. This focused ethnographic study applied the theoretical perspective of postmodernist critical theory to derive and analyze data from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed a detailed description of the ACP process that included timing, readiness to acknowledge the potentiality of death, facing mortality, and finding meaning in the illness experience. As families started to deconstruct their experiences, they shared stories of communication breakdown, highlighting the complexities of their relationships with HCPs. Understanding the factors that potentially contribute to HD patients’, their families’ and the renal staff’s discomfort with death were analyzed. The study findings provide important direction for HCPs about how families make ACP decisions, how they perceive the ACP process, and what they identify as their EOL care needs and wishes. Failure to implement ACP as part of an EOL care program means that death will continue to be denied and clients’ EOL care needs will remain un-addressed. In order for ACP to be effective on HD units, sustainable resources are essential for patients, their families and HCPs. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate