Blanka Klimova

With the advancement of technologies, disabled students are being cared for to progress in their education through assistive technologies (AT). They ensure the inclusion of the target group to make them equal with their peers who do not suffer from disabilities. Unfortunately, there is only scarce research on this margin group in connection with technology. Therefore, the aim of the systematic review is to conduct research on the best practices, pedagogical implications, and limitations for the target group using AT. The results based on the review of empirical studies on the research topic conducted between 2013 and 2023 suggest that the best practices of AT are coming from recent years, specifically from 2017, and countries ranging from Europe to Indonesia and Thailand. Pedagogical implications suggest that the learners using AT are becoming more autonomous, independent and successful in academic achievements. Limitations within the study include the fact that AT needs to be more developed and accessible to learners along with more specialized training of specialists and teachers. Future research on the topic should be aimed at better equipment for these learners with AT.

Recently, the emerging technologies have been constantly shaping the education domain, especially the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for language learning, which has attracted significant attention. Many of the AI tools are being used for learning foreign languages, in both formal and informal ways. There are many studies that have explored the potential of the recent technology “ChatGPT” for education and learning languages, but none of the existing studies have conducted any exploratory study for assessing the usability of ChatGPT. This paper conducts an assessment for usability of ChatGPT for formal English language learning. The study uses a standard questionnaire-based approach to ask participants about their feedback for usefulness and effectiveness of ChatGPT. The participants were asked for their feedback after performing series of tasks related to formal English language learning with ChatGPT. A variety of student participants were selected for this study with diverse English language proficiency levels, education levels, and nationalities. The quantitative analysis of the participant responses shed light on their experience with regards to the usability of ChatGPT for performing different English language learning tasks such as conversation, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. The findings from this study are quite promising and indicate that ChatGPT is an effective tool to be used for formal English language learning. Overall, this study contributes to the fast-growing research domain on using emerging technologies for formal English language learning by conducting in-depth assessment of usability for ChatGPT in formal English language learning.

The article presents the research of empirical mixed methods on the use of a modern mobile reading app compared to traditional forms of teaching in English business classes in higher education in Slovakia. The research belongs to the theoretical frame of the mobile assisted language learning field that has generated an interest since the early 1990 thanks to the development of mobile technologies, their features, and their functions all over the world. The research sample consisted of 40 freshman students from the University of Economics in Bratislava who were equally divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental treatment lasted one semester and was based on analyzing books on a biweekly basis from Blinkist, the reading app based on the protocol the authors created, where three higher-level thinking domains of Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) were identified. Students were also asked to read/listen to the books every week. Even though the current findings indicate no relationship between enhancing English reading skills and incorporating reading apps in a foreign language learning, SWOT analysis from focus group interviews shows different results. It is regarding the positive perception of working with the reading app in business English classes. Based on these findings, the authors make pedagogical implications about using reading apps as a part of the curriculum of blended learning in business English classes in higher education.

Background. The QuantiFERON®-Monitor (QFM) is an assay that measures interferon-γ production and was developed to provide an objective marker of complex immune response. In this study, we evaluated the use of the QFM test in patients with two forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), relapsing–remitting form treated with fingolimod (fMS) and secondarily progressive form not treated pharmacologically (pMS), and in healthy controls (HC). We hypothesized that IFN-γ levels would be lower in those subjects who are relatively more immunosuppressed and higher in those with normal or activated immune function. Methods. This single-center observational study was conducted from November 2020 to October 2021 and compared results in three groups of patients: 86 healthy controls, 96 patients with pMS, and 78 fMS. Combination of lyophilized stimulants was added to 1 ml heparinized whole blood within 8 hr of collection. Plasmatic IFN-γ was measured using the ELISA kit for the QFM and data were obtained in IU/ml. Results. The results showed that controls had nearly 2-fold higher levels of IFN-γ (QFM score) in median (q25, q75) 228.00 (112.20, 358.67) than the MS patient groups: pMS 144.80 (31.23, 302.00); fMS 130.50 (39.95, 217.07) which is statistically significant difference P-value: HC vs. pMS = 0.0071; HC vs. fMS = 0.0468. This result was also confirmed by a validation analysis to exclude impact of variable factors, such as disease duration and Expanded Disability Status Scale scores. Conclusions. Results showed that controls had higher levels of IFN-γ production than the MS patient groups and suggest that MS patients included in this study have a lower ability of immune system activation than HC. Results confirm that fingolimod is able to suppress production of IFN-γ. The fact that the QFM score of MS patients is significantly lower than that of HC may indicate a dysfunctional state of the immune system in baseline conditions.

The use of electronic media has increased dramatically in the past decade due to the general increase in digitization of global societies. This trend has been recently enhanced by the COVID-19 occurrence and following forced implementation of various forms of eLearning into university curricula, including all forms of second language (L2) acquisition. The present study focuses on the evaluation of perceived advantages and disadvantages of online L2 acquisition via electronic media by university students of the Czech Republic (n = 114) and Poland (n = 121). The research methodology was an online questionnaire asking the users of digital media for L2 acquisition about their perceived advantages and disadvantages regarding the use of print and digital media and their potential impact on their L2 acquisition. To understand their evaluation is crucial as it could lead to increased motivation or demotivation to learn a foreign language. The results clearly show that the students realize the drawbacks of digital media and this could lead to their dissatisfaction and frustration when they have to use these media excessively. The implications of the findings could be helpful and necessary for various course designers, curricula makers, and course tutors as they are responsible for the smooth implementation of various digital tools into the educational process.