СОЧЕТАНИЕ ФОРМАЛЬНОГО, НЕФОРМАЛЬНОГО, ИНФОРМАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ ПРИ ПОДГОТОВКЕ МЛАДШИХ ШКОЛЬНИКОВ К МЕЖКУЛЬТУРНОМУ ОБЩЕНИЮ

The article presents an analysis of implementation of formal, nonformal and informal forms of education during the preparation of primary school students for intercultural communication. The author's interpretation of primary school students’ readiness for intercultural communication  was formulated. The description of each educational form: definition, forms of realization and influence on the components of primary school students’ readiness for intercultural communication was given. It was determined that each of the forms has a unilateral influence on the readiness of schoolchildren to intercultural communication and its components: personal, linguistic, cultural and anthropological. It was proved that the set of formal, non-formal, informal education eliminated one-sided individual forms and provided a synergetic effect. The conclusion was drawn about the expediency of combination of formal, nonformal and informal education to prepare for students for intercultural communication in the process of development of components of primary school students readiness for intercultural communication (personal, linguistic, culturalanthropological). The results can become the basis for the creation of practical recommendations on developing readiness of primary school students to intercultural communication.Представлен анализ реализации формального, неформального и информального образования при подготовке младших школьников к межкультурному общению. Дана авторская трактовка готовности младших школьников к межкультурному общению с учетом особенностей возраста. Представлено описание каждой из форм образования, включающее определение, формы реализации и влияние на компоненты готовности младших школьников к межкультурному общению. Определено, что каждая из форм оказывает одностороннее влияние на готовность младших школьников к межкультурному общению и его компоненты: личностный, лингвистический и культурно-антропологический. Обосновано, что совокупность формального, неформального, информального образования нивелирует односторонность отдельных форм и обеспечивает синергетический эффект. Сделан вывод о целесообразности сочетания формального, неформального и информального образования для подготовки младших школьников к межкультурному общению. Полученные выводы могут стать основой для педагогов-практиков в развитии готовности младших школьников к межкультурному общению

Illegal timber trade : analysing the effectiveness of European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) in the UK

Despite the decades of concern and efforts, the forest cover of the world is more endangered than ever. Failure of international dialogues since the Rio Summit in 1992 is an indication that inclusive coordinated approach with strict laws and policies needed to protect global forest cover and to fight against the transnational issue of illegal logging. The emerging transnational timber legality assurance regime and the experimentalist form of governance in the form of the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) aimed at controlling trade in illegally logged wood and wood products into the EU. This research critically examines the mechanisms of EUTR and performance of its legal instruments in eradicating the illegal timber from the EU market. This research helps in identifying the operational difficulties of implementing this regulation in the UK as the UK is one of the major importers of wood products from countries where illegal logging of timber is a massive issue. To achieve the research objectives, the black letter approach and empirical research method have been considered to analyse the potential of EUTR. The experimentalist governance theory to develop analytical framework and the empirical study with stakeholders including the timber industry in the UK, EUTR enforcement agency and research organisations including the environmental Non-government organisations are a significant part of this thesis. The experience and opinions of different stakeholders on EUTR components, collected through questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, have been analysed qualitatively by using the computer software NVIVO 11 to conclude. This research shows that views of the stakeholders are very diverse and there are noticeable differences in opinions from the same category of stakeholders. The study finds that although EUTR is considered as a welcome initiative by most of the stakeholders, they are also of the opinion that EUTR has weaknesses which make it difficult to completely control illegal timber and timber products being placed in the UK market. From the data analysis, it is quite evident that implementation and enforcement of timber regulation, narrow product scope, ambiguous concept of monitoring organisation, lack of transparency from competent authority and coherent approach across EU, technical issues within due diligence system are some of the significant challenges that affect the potential of EUTR in combating illegal timber trade

Individualized Instruction in Reading

The purpose of this study was to describe methods, procedures, techniques, and problems in the utilization of individualized instruction in reading through a review of literature and a practical application of this method in the classroom

A Study of Spelling Errors Made by Milford Second Grade Children During 1966

Spelling is the writing of symbols to represent to other people the words and thoughts in the mind of the individual who is writing. Rarely, if ever, does anyone want to write a word which he has not used orally or which he has not heard. The task of spelling correctly is to be sure these symbols are the ones which are accepted and recognized by others (Hanna and Hanna, 1959)

Learning Icelandic in Virtual Reykjavik: Simulating real-life conversations with embodied conversational agents using multimodal clarification requests

Þessi doktorsritgerð er hluti af verkefninu Icelandic Language and Culture Training in Virtual Reykjavik, þrívíddartölvuleik sem gerir þeim sem eru að læra íslensku sem annað mál kleift að æfa tal og hlustun. Markmið verkefnisins var að búa til tölvuleik með sýndarspjallverum (e. embodied conversational agents) sem byggju yfir raunsærri fjölþættri hegðun, með það langtímamarkmið að styðja við hagnýta kennslu á íslensku máli og menningu þar sem mál úr raunverulegum samskiptum er notað. Markmið doktorsverkefnisins beindist að því að rannsaka raunveruleg yrt og óyrt atriði í skýringarbeiðnum meðal Íslendinga (e. clarification requests, CRs). Lögð voru til sex fjölþætt líkön af skýringarbeiðnum sem áttu að stuðla að raunhæfari samspili manna og sýndarspjallvera í Virtual Reykjavik. Þróun doktorsritgerðar fór fram í þremur lotum. Fyrst var gerð stutt könnun til að komast að því hvaða væntingar notendur hefðu til Virtual Reykjavik-þrívíddarforritsins. Nemendurnir sögðust eiga í erfiðleikum með að æfa sig í að tala íslensku við þá sem hafa íslensku að móðurmáli og kynnu því að meta að fá sýndarnámsumhverfi til að æfa sig í tali. Kennslufræðilegur grunnur Virtual Reykjavik tekur mið af samskiptaaðferðum, námi á grundvelli verkefna og leikja og fjölþættum og einstaklingsmiðuðum aðferðum í tungumálanámi. Sýndarspjallverur Virtual Reykjavik búa yfir fjölþættri hegðun sem er í samræmi við íslenska menningu. Með því að taka þátt í leiknum komast notendur í tæri við íslenskt mál og menningu í sýndarnámsveruleika áður en þeir eiga samskipti við Íslendinga. Meginviðfang rannsóknarinnar var samskiptaþátturinn skýringarbeiðni (CR) en nauðsynlegt var að afmarka rannsóknina við einn samskiptaþátt svo unnt væri að nota fjölþætta greiningu sem dugði til að forrita sýndarverurnar. Skýringarbeiðni er ein algengasta tegund segða í samtölum (Purver, 2004). Hún hjálpar til við að skýra það sem áður hefur verið sagt en sem viðmælandi hefur af einhverjum sökum ekki skilið og stuðlar þannig að góðu samtalsflæði. Af þessum sökum eru skýringarbeiðnir mjög mikilvægar til þess að ná fram raunsæjum samskiptum milli notanda og sýndarspjallveru í kerfum eins og okkar sem sameina sjálfvirka talgreiningu og samtöl sem skipulögð eru fyrir fram. Í næstu lotu rannsóknarinnar var málgögnum safnað til þess að greina yrta og óyrta þætti í mismunandi tegundum af skýringarbeiðnum. Vegna þess hversu flókið talmál er og fjölbreytileg samtöl geta verið var aðeins safnað samtölum þar sem ókunnugir spurðu til vegar í miðbæ Reykjavíkur. Þetta endurspeglaðist svo í þeim verkefnum sem nemendur þyrftu að leysa í Virtual Reykjavik. Þar spyrja þeir sýndarspjallverur til vegar í miðbæ Reykjavíkur og verurnar nota skýringaraðferðir til að vísa til vegar á sem raunsæjastan hátt. Þó ber ekki að líta svo á að þetta sé tæmandi rannsókn á eðli skýringarbeiðna heldur fjölþætt lýsing á skýringarbeiðnum, notkun þeirra í sérstökum samræðuaðstæðum í leiknum og beitingu þeirra til að líkja eftir mannlegri hegðun. Sex mismunandi fjölþættar skýringarbeiðnategundir voru búnar til á grundvelli gagnagrunns með myndbandsupptökum af raunverulegum samtölum milli fólks með íslensku að móðurmáli og fólks sem ekki hefur íslensku að móðurmáli. Þetta voru í heild 165 upptökur, 1.59.02 klst. á lengd, 108 pör fólks þar sem annar aðilinn hefur íslensku að móðurmáli en hinn ekki og 57 pör þar sem báðir aðilar hafa íslensku að móðurmáli, karlmenn og konur. Aldur þeirra sem höfðu íslensku að móðurmáli var á bilinu 18–70 ár og meðalaldurinn u.þ.b. 35 ár en þeir sem ekki höfðu íslensku að móðurmáli voru á aldrinum 20–40 ára og meðalaldur þar u.þ.b. 30 ár. Úr þessum gagnagrunni var búinn til fjölþættur stofn skýringarbeiðna sem samanstóð af yrtum og óyrtum gögnum fyrir hverja tegund af skýringarbeiðni. Myndbandsupptökur voru greindar með ELAN merkingar- og skýringapakkanum. Í hverri greiningu var fjölþættum gögnum lýst. Fjölþættri nálgun við tungumál og fjölþættri greiningu á samskiptum var beitt til að greina yrta og óyrta þætti skýringarbeiðna. Vegna takmarka á umfangi rannsóknarinnar voru aðeins tvær gerðir beiðna notaðar, úrfelling og innskotsaðferð. Að lokum var framkvæmd notendakönnun til að komast að því hvernig nemendur skynjuðu fjölþætta hegðun sýndarspjallveranna í leiknum og hvort þeir tækju eftir þessum tveimur tegundum skýringarbeiðna í honum. Nemendum þótti innskotsaðferðin vera eðlilegust þótt þeim hefði fundist henni stundum vera beitt dálítið ruddalega eða hún verið notuð of mikið af sýndarspjallverunum. Það hversu spjallverurnar notuðu mikið skýringarbeiðnirnar var ekki mælt þar sem einblínt var á nemendur sem notendur í þessari frumútgáfu leiksins. Könnunin leiddi í ljós fjölda möguleika til að betrumbæta fjölþætta hegðun spjallveranna í framtíðarútgáfum leiksins. Sérstaklega bentu notendur á að ákveðin svipbrigði og að spjallverurnar gætu ekki brosað gerði það að verkum að þær virkuðu „óhugnanlegar“. Í stuttu máli eru færð rök fyrir því í ritgerðinni að þrívíddartölvuleikir nýtist vel til að kenna íslenska tungu og menningu, með sérstakri áherslu á að æfa talmálsfærni. Fjallað er um og stutt með kennslufræðilegum kenningum hvernig bæta megi námsupplifun og kalla fram alvörusamskipti í sýndarveruleika með raunsærri og fjölþættri hegðun spjallvera. Skoðaðar voru sex skýringaraðferðir sem fólk með íslensku að móðurmáli notaði til að vísa til vegar, annars vegar af fólki með íslensku að móðurmáli og hins vegar þeim sem ekki hafa íslensku að móðurmáli. Í ritgerðinni er einnig bent á hugsanlegar nýjar rannsóknir í sambandi við skýringarbeiðnir og Virtual Reykjavik. Skoða mætti frekar fjölþættar skýringarbeiðnir í samtölum við aðrar aðstæður og í öðrum tungumálum. Slíkt myndi gagnast við að betrumbæta þær skýringarbeiðnir sem sýndarspjallverur í Virtual Reykjavik nota. Ágætis byrjun á áframhaldandi vinnu væri að framkvæma nýja könnun með fullkomnari leiðbeiningum, námsefni og stoðbúnaði, talgreinikerfi sem virkar á allan hátt í Virtual Reykjavik og með sýndarspjallverum sem byggju yfir fleiri eiginleikum, gætu t.d. brosað.This thesis forms part of the project Icelandic Language and Culture Training in Virtual Reykjavik, a 3D computer game that enables learners of Icelandic to practise oral language and listening. The aim of the project was to build a computer game populated with embodied conversational agents (ECAs) endowed with realistic multimodal behaviour, with a long-term goal of supporting authentic teaching of Icelandic language and culture. The part of the project reported in this thesis focused on examining human verbal and non-verbal features in clarification requests (CRs). Six multimodal CR models were suggested for implementation, with the intention of promoting a more realistic human-agent interaction in Virtual Reykjavik. The research took place in three phases. First, a small survey was carried out, eliciting learners’ expectations from Virtual Reykjavik. It informed about learners’ expectations of a 3D application. Learners reported difficulties in practising spoken Icelandic with native speakers in real life and for this reason said they would appreciate a virtual learning environment for practising oral language. The pedagogical foundation of Virtual Reykjavik considers the communicative approach in language instruction, task- and game-based learning, and multimodal and individual language learning approaches. Virtual Reykjavik was populated with ECAs endowed with multimodal behaviour that is authentic to Icelandic culture. Engaging in the game provided learners with an opportunity to experience Icelandic language as it is spoken in the target culture but in a virtual learning environment, and prior to engaging with speakers in the real world. The communicative function CR was chosen as the main object of multimodal analysis, in order to narrow down the focus to a specific topic in natural language research. CR is one of the most commonly used utterance-types in spoken conversations (Purver, 2004); it helps to clarify what has previously been said but for whatever reason not understood by the recipient, and as such facilitates smooth conversational flow. For these reasons, CR is very important in achieving a realistic human-agent interaction in systems, like ours, which combine automatic speech recognition and pre-planned dialogues. In this second phase, natural language data was collected in order to analyse the verbal and non-verbal features in various types of CRs. Due to the complexity of spoken language and a wide range of possible conversational scenarios, data were collected only during first encounters asking for directions to a location in central Reykjavik. This in turn reflected the same task learners would need to do in Virtual Reykjavik - they would ask agents for directions in central Virtual Reykjavik and the agents would use clarification strategies in an authentic way. It should, however, not be seen as an exhaustive treatise about the nature of CRs but rather as a multimodal description of CRs, their use in a particular conversational scenario in the game, and their application to the development of human-like behaviour. Based on a database of video recordings of real-life conversations between native and non-native speakers of Icelandic, six different multimodal CR types were characterised. (165 recordings with total recorded time 1 hour, 59 minutes and 2 seconds; 108 native-non-native speaker pairs and 57 native-native speaker pairs, men and women; ages of native speakers between 18-70 with average age approximately 35 years, and ages of non-native speakers between 20-40 with average age approximately 30 years). Out of this database, a multimodal corpus of CRs was created, consisting of verbal and non-verbal data for each type of CR. Video recordings were analysed using the ELAN tagging and annotation package. Each analysis consisted of a description of multimodal data. The multimodal approach to language and the multimodal interaction analysis were used to analyse the verbal and non-verbal features of CRs. Due to resource constraints, only two types, the Ellipsis and the Fragment (Interjection Strategy), were implemented. Finally, a user response study was conducted in order to find out how learners perceived multimodal behaviour of ECAs in the game, and whether surveyed learners noticed the two implemented CRs. Learners perceived the CR Fragment (Interjection Strategy) as the most natural, despite its being perceived as slightly rude or used too frequently by the ECAs. The frequency of use of CRs by the ECAs was not measured, since the focus was on learners as users of this game prototype. The study revealed many possibilities for improving the multimodal behaviour of ECAs which could be implemented in future versions. In particular, certain facial expressions, and their lack of ability to smile, were commonly perceived by learners as “creepy”. In summary, this thesis presents the rationale for building a 3D computer game for teaching Icelandic language and culture, with a focus on practising oral language skills. It presents pedagogical background for including authentic features into the multimodal behaviour of ECAs in a computer game to achieve a more realistic human-agent interaction, and thus to contribute to an improved learning experience in an online virtual learning environment. Six clarification strategies used by native speakers of Icelandic were observed when they were approached by other native and non-native speakers asking for directions. The thesis also outlines points for future work on CRs and Virtual Reykjavik. Exploration of multimodal CRs in other conversational settings and languages would be useful for further improving ECA CRs used in Virtual Reykjavik. A good starting point for a continuation would be to conduct a new study with more complete instructions, learning materials and scaffolding, a fully functioning speech recognition system in Virtual Reykjavik, and ECAs endowed with additional features including smiling.RANNÍ

Transnational governance through private authority : the case of the Forest Stewardship Council certification in Russia

cum laude graduation (with distinction

Whole Indian: Racism, Resistance, And (Re)Membering Turtle Island

American Indians occupy numerous social and cultural intersections. These intersections shape the ways in which each are subjected to systemic racism. In the case of Indigenous people, each of its manifestations is inextricably linked to the settler motivation to dispossess Indigenous Peoples of their lands. However, the resulting dispossession goes far beyond the relationship between tribes and their lands or political sovereignty. Native people are ultimately dispossessed of personhood and the sovereignty of self, body, mind, and spirit. They are dismembered through physical, spiritual, psychological, and cultural strategies by a pervasive settler culture, the consequences of which affect the self- and community-appraisals internalized by Native people themselves. This is a story of Indigenous people and their communities seeking to heal from the traumas of systemic racism and colonialist dispossession and dismemberment in the ways that they (re)member how to do, drawing on the brilliance of Indigenous wisdom and tradition. This is a study about Indigenous Americans seeking to thrive, to be whole

Towards inclusive GIS in the Congo Basin: an exploration of digital map creation and an evaluation of map understanding by non-literate hunter-gatherers

Sustainable and socially just natural resource management is one of the fundamental development challenges humanity is facing today. Communities living in remote areas possess unique insights about their natural resources. While this knowledge is critical to climate change, it is difficult for them to engage in environmental protection. Geographic Information Science (GIS) plays a central role in resource management, as it is utilised in spatial decision making processes. However, the literature argues that its use is too challenging for marginalised communities. Working with indigenous hunter-gatherers in the Congo Basin without prior exposure to technology or maps, this research moves towards enabling them to become active stakeholders in decision making so that they understand how to capture environmental knowledge and gain power through ownership. (Participatory) GIS, Human Computer Interaction, Action Research and Citizen Science concepts are adapted to the local context to address the lack of mapping of these areas, and the increased understanding of if and how digital, high resolution orthographic maps incorporated in digital mapping tools can be understood by people with no prior exposure to maps and technology. Different set-ups of low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and consumer grade cameras were tested and evaluated for suitability to generate high-resolution maps in-situ for previously unmapped and disconnected contexts. Applying a computer log analysis approach to overcome local obstacles, three experiments were carried out to test whether the resulting aerial orthophotos are understood as a representation of familiar geographical landscapes. For each of the experiments, a bespoke app functioning without an internet connection was developed. The research shows that the majority of the 136 participants could find as well as edit known features on the map and all participating groups were able to utilise a map for a Treasure Hunt game. Additionally, a number of methodological amendments are proposed to allow standardised research methods to be applied in a context where usability experiments are significantly challenged