A comparison analysis of Human copy editor vs machine grammar/spell checker on key sections of a research manuscript. Many errors in the original non-native English speaker’s writing were not found by Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Ginger, Grammarly, and Trinka. Longer and difficult to read sentences were not identified by the machine language checkers.
In Act-II, Scene-II of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet famously says “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By Any Other Name would smell as sweet.” She is of course referring to family names being unimportant. The Capulets are sworn enemies of the Montagues, but she is saying that her name “Capulet”
Political miscommunication … or How to turn a lily into a death threat Read More »
Where are the Non Native Speakers? LinkedIn, the Facebook for professionals around the world, is an essential tool for people in international business, and increasingly for the business of academic research, too. However, even for a country that became one of Asia’s Tiger economies built on international trade, Taiwan’s number of LinkedIn accounts is very
Suggested outline for Academic social media strategy and training.
Social media communication for researchers: strategy & training Read More »
The online education market is exploding. Covid lockdowns have accelerated the need for online learning and educational videos. Many teachers and non-teachers alike have responded in continuous flow of educational video after video. That’s great for learning, but that also means there is a lot more competition to make your educational videos stand out. What
Mega-star Youtubers of all niches have millions of loyal fans. Gamer and internet meme commentator Pewdiepie has 108 million subscribers, viral challenge master Mr. Beast has 60.2 million, fun loving sports and comedy bros Dude Perfect have 55.8 million, sexy Youtube video commentator SSSniperwolf has 26.9 million, internet personality and scandal-monger Logan Paul has 22.9
My mother was human. Joan Betty Llewellyn Daly had her charms and foibles – as does everybody. On April 1, 2021, she passed away. After a few weeks or mourning and contemplation, I have come to truly appreciate her strengths – and I will strive to learn from them. My mother’s life was filled with
Covid-19 has resulted in mass layoffs and more time for huge numbers of people. Many have therefore turned to the internet to upskill or even completely reskill by taking informal and more formal online courses. These courses may be MOOCs or paid pre-recorded video courses with or without certificates. In Covid-stricken 2020, Coursera alone increased
The evolution and future of EFFECTIVE online learning: v1.0 to v4.0 Read More »
If the evolutionary purpose of language is social, then language cannot be reduced to words and grammar rules. Language is not the end but a means to an end. And that end is communication, which refers to not only the knowledge and skills in language use but also of the context and its participants. In
A dynamic model of ELF communicative competence Read More »
Who owns English? Whose standards? English is the most commonly spoken international language at over 1.1 billion speakers. It has been estimated that of all the English speakers of the world, non-native speakers (NNS) outnumber native speakers (NS) by more than 4 to 1. This means that English is being used more by NNS than
We need ELF-ish standards to make English a truly functional and inclusive Lingua Franca Read More »
