Currently, Communicative Language Teaching has been popular around the world andhas a profound effect on second language acquisition since the 1970s. ForCommunicative Language Teaching to be successful, there is a need for appropriateteaching materials.This paper analyzes speaking tasks in Chinese and Swedish textbooks for grade 8，Gofor it and Magic. The analysis presents content analysis, providing a general overviewof speaking tasks found in both textbooks. First, task description is analyzed, whichprovides the pupils with the topics of tasks in both textbooks. It will be seen if thetopics are real-life. Second, types of speaking, text type, cognitive processes, focus,classroom organization are quantitively analyzed to see if there are differentapproaches to Communicative Language Teaching between Chinese and Swedishtextbooks.Through comparison of these six aspects in different textbooks, there are three similarapproaches to Communicative Language Teaching: First, they both have real-worldtopics under which there are many real-world speaking tasks. Second, the dialoguesplay a main role in both textbooks. Third, pair and group work have dominantposition in these two books.Also there are three different approaches to Communicative Language Teaching: First,the Chinese textbook is directed towards accuracy while the Swedish textbook isdirected towards fluency. Second, the Chinese textbook focuses on form whereas theSwedish textbook focuses on meaning. Third, there is an information-gap approach inthe Chinese textbook where tasks based on information gap are obviously labeled.However, it cannot be found in the Swedish textbook.

The study examined whether an instruction-based strategy (studying the instructions before attempting the task) or a task-based strategy (attempting the task and referencing instructions) was more effective for procedural performance and learning. Four groups of participants learned to perform macram tasks and assembly tasks, and received detailed instructions at different times in the process of attempting the tasks. Performance was assessed at training and a week later by recording task completion time, correctness, and subjective cognitive load. The strategy for using instructions affected initial performance on the macram tasks, where instruction-based strategy was superior, but not later retention or transfer. This pattern of results was not found for the assembly tasks indicating that characteristics of the tasks influenced the effectiveness of the strategy for using instructions.

PIM ¡]Processor-in-Memory¡^ architectures have been proposed in recent years for the purpose of reducing performance gap between processor and memory. This new class of computer architectures attempts to integrate processor and memory on a single one chip¡CWe proposed a new transformation and parallelizing system named SAGE ¡]Statement Analysis Group Evaluation¡^to fully utilize the host processor and memory processors in PIM systems. In this thesis, we focus on designing a load-balance optimization mechanism for the job scheduling. The experimental results of this mechanism are also discussed.

This dissertation proposes an experimental study of focus in Spanish, investigating, in particular, if two types of focus – Contrastive focus and Non-contrastive focus – are syntactically and prosodically distinguished. The evidence that the conceptual distinction between the focus subtypes can be represented linguistically has been found in languages (Drubig 2003, É. Kiss 1998, Gundel & Fretheim 2001, Zubizarreta 1998 to name a few). As for Spanish, Zubizarreta (1998) argued that the two types of focus most noticeably differ syntactically. While Non-contrastive Focus should appear at utterance-final position, Contrastive Focus may appear in-situ. Nevertheless, not all the studies seem to accept Zubizarreta’s (1998) syntax-oriented distinction between the two focus types. A few studies suggest that not only Contrastive Focus but also Non-Contrastive Focus can indeed occur sentence-internally (Cabrera Abreu & García Lecumberri 2003, Kim & Avelino 2003, Toledo 1989). Inspired by a handful of studies and motivated by empirical data gathered for the pilot study, the current study sets out to investigate Zubizarreta’s (1998) syntax-oriented claim on the distinction between the focus subtypes. Focus in Spanish is known to be prosodically marked by its particular intonational contour- higher pitch and the early peak, and secondarily longer duration and/or higher intensity, compared to unfocused elements in a given utterance (Cabrera Abreu & García Lecumberri 2003, Domínguez 2004a & b, Face 2000, 2001, 2002b, Hualde 2003, 2005, Kim & Avelino 2003, de la Mota 1995, 1997, Navarro Tomás 1918, Nibert 2000, Quilis 1971, Sosa 1998, Toledo 1989, Zubizarreta 1998). We assume that the distinction between the two types of focus would also be made using the existing cues, as suggested by a handful of studies on focus types (Cabrera Abreu & García Lecumberri 2003, Kim & Avelino 2003, Zubizarreta, 1998). The findings of our experiments clearly indicate that Spanish speakers consistently use different phonetic and phonological cues such as duration and pitch in order to make a distinction between the two types of focus. These findings give clear evidence that the pragmatically defined notion of focus (Lambrecht 1994) is indeed further divided into two types in Castilian Spanish, somewhat similar to the distinction made in English (Selkirk 1984, 1995). / text

Analysis of optimisation and decision-making theories was made during this master degree thesis. The study of the optimisation tasks types and their solving methods was made. Main focus was given to the solutions of multiple criteria optimization problems. Computing software MINIMUM and existing software for the solution of multiple criteria optimization tasks were analyzed during the study. Applying computing software MINIMUM strategy for the solution of multiple criteria optimization tasks has been developed and special software for the efficiency research created. Experimental trials have been carried out in order to investigate and compare efficiency of the existing and specially created software for the solution of multiple criteria optimization tasks. Using specially created software, experimental solutions of multiple criteria optimisation tasks in graphical environment showed that optimal solution is found faster i. e. duration of the optimum result computing time was most economical. New programming language PowerBuilder was also analyzed during the development of the special software for the efficiency research and more experience in modern software development was gained.

The purpose of this study was to investigate elite soccer players' attentional focus during their best performances, better understand the strategies they use to enter or re-enter optimal attentional states, and explore potential attentional differences according to soccer positions, performance tasks, and game situations. No previous studies have explored elite soccer players' attentional skills from a naturalistic and qualitative perspective in such detail. The growing interest in soccer among Canadians provided further justification for this study. Data collection consisted of individual semi-structured interviews with eight elite soccer players from five main soccer positions, namely goalkeeper, defender, wing, midfielder, and forward. Cross-case thematic analysis indicated positive thinking and pre-performance routines as important sources of optimal focus. Attentional focus varied according to soccer positions and performance tasks. Information processing, sport expertise, and attentional systems theoretical frameworks informed the discussion of results. Applied and theoretical implications were drawn and future studies were recommended.

An electroencephalographic (EEG) protocol was used to examine cerebral activity in the moments proceeding self paced motor performance. Throughout the series of investigations, power in the alpha waveband (8-13 Hz) was used as the dependant variable. In the first investigation, subjects completed a variety of stereotyped 'left and right brain' tasks. These tasks induced a reliable and predictable pattern of lateralised activity. Furthermore, tasks categorised as 'right brain' were shown to induce a more consistent effect. In the second investigation, expert Karate athletes performed a number of Karate specific tasks together with a skill acquisition and cognitive task condition. Significant increases in alpha band power, mediated by task difficulty, were found to be associated with one category of task. In the third study, subjects completed a series of novel tasks, designed to systematically vary the effort and accuracy demands. A significant decrease in alpha band power was shown to be associated with preparation for the asymmetrical high effort task, namely a leg extension against resistance. Outcome of the high accuracy condition was found to significantly mediate alpha band power immediately prior to performance. In the final investigation, the alpha band powers of cricketers, non-cricketing sportsmen and non-sportsmen were compared as they performed a variety of Cricket related, throwing tasks. Significant differences were detected between the different groups and between the different tasks. Once again, success was found to mediate the pattern of alpha band power. It was concluded that the effects observed were probably due to changes in the Rolandic Wicket or Mu rhythm generated in the central and pre-central regions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate elite soccer players' attentional focus during their best performances, better understand the strategies they use to enter or re-enter optimal attentional states, and explore potential attentional differences according to soccer positions, performance tasks, and game situations. No previous studies have explored elite soccer players' attentional skills from a naturalistic and qualitative perspective in such detail. The growing interest in soccer among Canadians provided further justification for this study. Data collection consisted of individual semi-structured interviews with eight elite soccer players from five main soccer positions, namely goalkeeper, defender, wing, midfielder, and forward. Cross-case thematic analysis indicated positive thinking and pre-performance routines as important sources of optimal focus. Attentional focus varied according to soccer positions and performance tasks. Information processing, sport expertise, and attentional systems theoretical frameworks informed the discussion of results. Applied and theoretical implications were drawn and future studies were recommended.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Utah husbands and wives thought household tasks should viii be allocated and how they actually were allocated in their own homes. The sample was 191 two-parent, two-child families residing in Iron, Washington, and Salt Lake Counties. Urban/rural residence, wife's employment status, educational level of both the husband and wife, family income, religious activity, and the husband's occupation were studied in relation to household task allocation. Eight hypotheses were tested. Husband's religious activity and wife's employment status were found to be related to a traditional pattern of household task allocation. There was a significant difference between wives' religious activity and allocation of household tasks. Wives who were active church members were more traditional in both attitude and behavior than wives who were not active church members

Student Number : 0008975N - M Ed research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / This qualitative study was conducted in one school in an informal settlement, West of Johannesburg. The study explored how a grade 7 teacher promoted mathematical reasoning in multilingual mathematics class of English second language learners. The focus of the research was on how a Grade 7 mathematics teacher interacts with the learners to encourage mathematical reasoning during his teaching in a multilingual class. The study also looked at the kind of tasks the teacher used to promote mathematical reasoning and how he uses language to enable mathematical reasoning. The study was informed by a theory of learning which emphasises the importance of social interaction in the classroom where the teacher encourages learners to interact with each other to explain their thinking and to justify their answers. Data was collected through lesson and teacher interviews. The study shows the teacher focused more on developing the learners’ procedural fluency. This focus on procedural fluency was accompanied by the dominance of the use of English by the learners.