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This study investigated Arabic teachers' perceptions of the practice of extensive reading (ER) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study was conducted as part of an interdisciplinary research project at one of the largest higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country. The project aimed to develop and launch an Arabic online reading tracking tool to mirror its successful English forerunner, the M-Reader. The present study aimed to use teachers' perceptions to proactively address any challenges regarding the support needed from HEIs before launching the tool. A total of 34 teachers of Arabic courses in an HEI responded to an online questionnaire, which explored the reasons for, methods and approaches used, and motivation techniques and difficulties associated with implementing ER. The results showed that the teachers were aware of the benefits associated with ER practice and its positive impact on language competency. They reported encountering difficulties, which included students' lack of interest and time for reading and their inability to read independently. Teachers also reported challenges in motivating students to read and in assessing ER practices, particularly when ER is a standalone course rather than a part of the curriculum. Based on the results, we offer practical suggestions that can benefit ER practitioners in HEIs. We conclude by offering a set of implications for the successful implementation of ER programs.

This study examined the English extensive reading (ER) programs across the Arabian Gulf region. It investigated the ER models and approaches adopted by different higher education institutions (HEIs) in the region, their ER practices and activities, and the challenges they encountered in implementing their ER programs. Utilizing qualitative research design with seventeen (17) cases from prominent colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait, the study found that most English ER programs in the region adopted the Graded Readers approach with the Supervised-Modified ER model and course-component integration scheme. The study further discovered that the ER programs varied in terms of duration, number of hours and sessions, target number of words, required number of books read, engagement and enrichment activities, and assessment system. Lastly, the study also found that HEIs in the region experienced challenges in sustaining meaningful, varied, and sufficient resources, changing the negative attitudes of the stakeholders toward extensive reading, providing more sufficient space for ER in English language curriculum, and building a strong culture of reading in the community as a whole. The study concludes with recommendations on how to improve English ER implementation in the Arabian Gulf region.

Hepatitis E virus is a worldwide emerging foodborne pathogen; raw or undercooked meats and liver pork products can cause infection through the orofecal route. In Central-Southern Italy, small traditional farming method, associated with the possibility of environmental sharing with wild species, can facilitate HEV diffusion and persistence. The aim of this study was to determine HEV genotype and subtype in Marche region from home slaughtered domestic pigs involved in small and traditional food chains. A total of 236 liver and muscle tissues and 6 pooled salami samples were screened. Laboratory workflow started with homogenization, followed by RNA extraction. Nested reverse transcription PCR and qRT-PCR were used to amplify specific parts of overlapping open reading frames belonging to the HEV genome. A total of 42/236 (17.79%) liver and 8/236 (3.39%) diaphragm specimens were positive; none of the pooled salami specimens showed positive HEV signal. The discovered HEV3c presented high nucleotide similarities with ones amplified from wild boar populations hunted in the same province. Extensive farming methods and environmental sharing with wild animal species support cross-infection infections, as observed in the present study. Although salami resulted negative for HEV RNA detection, the effects of food technologies on viral loads remain unclear. Therefore, further scientific investigations coupled with efficacious standardized laboratory procedures will be the next challenge.

In pre-service and in-service language teacher education, and in curriculum-related projects in second and foreign language settings, a recurrent issue is the failure to relate the teaching of reading to reading as a meaning-making activity. In this paper, I will consider what current research on second language (L2) reading has actually succeeded in bringing to the classroom. In doing this, I will examine the three obvious candidates for inclusion in a reading programme: extensive reading, reading fluency development, and intensive reading. For each of these I will give my perspective on what's getting through to teachers, and what isn’t, and my best guess as to why it isn’t. This leads to suggestions about areas for further research and other actions that need to be taken to improve classroom practice.

This paper is about the interaction between policy and practice, and about how competing policies contributed to a paradoxical tension within that interaction in one school. Within a paradigm of educational renewal, the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) has initiated a number of policies designed to give schools autonomy in designing and implementing programs to achieve optimal educational outcomes for its students. Among these are READ! Singapore, Teach Less, Learn More and the School Excellence Model. In this context, the authors review an MOE initiated Extensive Reading (ER) program in one school. Despite such innovative policies, 'Dewey Secondary School's' pedagogical and literacy practices continue to be largely influenced by other dominant features of Singapore's and the school's own educational culture n exam- oriented focus that prioritises outcome and skill-based pedagogy and the school's historical practice of restricting literacies. Competing policies as interpreted by the school and diverse stakeholders result in a morphed ER program -- adaptation of a reading program that reflects the program intent overtly but one that collides at other times, and as a result, is pulled in different directions. The story is, thus, one of 'policies of promise and practices of limit'. [Author abstract, ed]