LOS EFECTOS DE LA INSTRUCCIÓN EN LA HABILIDAD ESCRITA DE HABLANTES DE ESPAÑOL COMO LENGUA HEREDADA: UN ESTUDIO DE CASO

In the U.S., heritage Spanish speakers are those who acquire Spanish in early childhood, but then switch to English, which becomes their dominant language. Such speakers possess various degrees of bilingualism. Those of advanced proficiency have both receptive and productive oral skills in their heritage language, yet still fail to display native-like abilities in their written output. A gap in heritage language research is whether formal instruction has an impact on the linguistic competence of heritage speakers, and if so, in which areas. This case study addresses the issue by exploring the written production of advanced heritage speakers. Results after one semester of instruction revealed that a focus on explicit grammar teaching and extensive writing was beneficial. Gains after instruction were significant in orthography and general writing skills

Media Representation of the European Union: Comparing Newspaper Coverage in France, Spain, and the United Kingdom

Based on content analysis of newspapers and in-depth interviews of journalists, this article analyzes the role of the media in defining the European Union and, therefore, in contributing to the production and reproduction of social representations of the EU in the public. The research concentrated on three EU member countries: France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The study is theoretically informed by news production theory. Results demonstrate that there are major differences among the newspapers analyzed here in terms of how they represented the EU in the news, according to their nationality and political orientation. Furthermore, many of the principles that dominate the production of news undermine information on the EU. The material on the EU tends to reinforce traditional views on economics, politics, and society, including the widespread belief that a national government is better than the EU for solving society\u27s problems

National Identity, Nationalism, and the Organization of the European Union

Based on in-depth interviews and document analysis, this article examines the relationships between cultural identification and the process of European integration. It shows that French and Spanish people\u27s cultural attachments to Europe as a common social organization is still very limited and reflects a concern for the defense of a national identity. This research contributes to our understanding of the European integration and to the theory of cultural identity by suggesting a dynamic paradigm that articulates the constitution of a formal organization with the process of cultural identity formation

Television Transnationale, Mondialisation et la Formation de l\u27Identite Culturelle: l\u27Exemple de la Republique Dominicaine

La societe globale qui se profile au debut du XXIe siecle presente des caracteristiques tant economiques et politiques que culturelles. En sociologie, le phenomene de mondialisation se definit comme la proliferation de flux economiques et culturels internationaux et transnationaux au niveau de la planete et comprend egalement la creation d\u27institutions supranationales. De fait, les echanges financiers et commerciaux, le developpement de moyens de communication plus efficaces et rapides (mass media, transports, telephone, telecopie, Internet, etc.) et l\u27intensification des flux migratoires ont connecte et rapproche des nations differentes, produisant une interaction accrue entre les peuples. Appadurai (1990) explique le processus de mondialisation comme le resultat du flux croissant de personnes a travers le globe (immigrants, touristes, exiles), de la technologie (machines, appareils electroniques, etc.), de l\u27information financiere (argent, actions), des images et informations (ideologies et visions du monde) produites par les media (la television, le cinema, la radio, les journaux et magazines). Giddens (1990, p. 64) decrit la mondialisation comme l\u27intensification de relations au niveau mondial qui relie des localites differentes et lointaines de telle maniere que ce qui se passe au niveau local peut etre affecte par des evenements qui ont lieu a des milliers de kilometres de distance. Ainsi, la dynamique centrale de la mondialisation implique la particularisation de l\u27universel et l\u27universalisation du particulier (Robertson, 1994)

Newspapers Coverage of Spain and the United States: A Comparative Analysis

This article assesses the content of foreign news coverage in the United States and Spain. It draws on content analysis of two US and two Spanish newspapers over a 28-month period, during 2005-2007 and in 2009. The results show that the content of these newspapers tends to be more negative when covering politics. However, there was a major change in the type of coverage in the Spanish newspapers from the period 2005-2007 to 2009. Coverage of US politics in 2009 was much more positive than in the previous period studied. These findings suggest that newspapers contribute to an overall unfavorable representation of these countries for their respective populations. Also, when covering international news, newspapers are less independent from their government agendas than they claim; supporting critical research findings that mainstream media is vulnerable to “news management” by the government

National Identities Confronting European Integration

This article examines the relationships between cultural identification and the process of European integration. Specifically, it describes and analyzes 1) people\u27s cultural attachments to Europe as a common social organization and 2) the connection between people\u27s perception of European integration and the defense of a national cultural identit

Una actividad ctsa que favorece que el alumnado hable de ciencia : ¿hay fraude en las ciencias?

En esta comunicación se presenta una secuencia de actividades CTSA sobre el fraude en las ciencias, experimentadas con alumnos de 4º curso de secundaria obligatoria y 1º de bachillerato. Se investigan los resultados de la misma con una metodología cualitativa mediante grabación en audio, para analizar si se ha mejorado la comprensión de la ciencia, de su funcionamiento y sus valores, así como el interés por la misma

Tuberculosis in children treated with second-line drugs under programmatic conditions in Lima, Peru.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise childhood tuberculosis (TB) treated with second-line drugs (SLDs) in Lima, Peru. DESIGN: Results for the age groups <5 and 5-14 years were compared and treatment outcomes were assessed in cases reported between 2011 and 2015 from six districts of Lima. RESULTS: Of 96 reported cases, 82 were evaluated. Among these, 59% were boys; the median age was 8 years and 32% were aged <5 years. Contact with a TB case was reported in 82% of cases; 90% were treatment-naïve, 98% had pulmonary localisation and 50% underwent the tuberculin skin test (purified protein derivative), with induration 10 mm in 88%. A positive smear was found in 40%, all in the 5-14 years age group, and 46% were culture-positive. Only 26% had confirmed multidrug-resistant TB, 90% of whom were in the 5-14 years age group. SLDs for confirmed or probable drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) were administered to all cases, with a high proportion of success (over 83%), no failures or deaths and a high proportion of loss to follow-up. CONCLUSION: The main indication for SLDs in childhood TB was the empirical treatment of DR-TB due to contact with one or more identified DR-TB patients. Bacteriological confirmation was limited; however, treatment success was adequate

Effect of universal MODS access on pulmonary tuberculosis treatment outcomes in new patients in Peru.

SETTING: Primary health care centres in Callao, Peru. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of universal access to the microscopic-observation drug susceptibility (MODS) assay on treatment outcomes in new and primary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients and on the process of drug susceptibility testing (DST). DESIGN: Retrospective review of tuberculosis (TB) registers and clinical records before (2007) and after (2009) the introduction of MODS in 2008. RESULTS: There were 281 patients in each cohort. Favourable treatment outcomes for 2007 (81%) and 2009 (77%) cohorts were similar. There was an increase in loss to follow-up (from 6% to 10%, P = 0.04) and a reduction in failure rates (from 4% to 0.4%, P = 0.01) in the 2009 compared with the 2007 cohort. In new MDR-TB cases (n = 22), a favourable treatment outcome was improved (from 46% to 82%, P = 0.183) in the 2009 cohort. DST coverage improved (from 24% to 74%, P < 0.001), and a significant reduction in time to diagnosis of drug-susceptible (from 118 to 33 days, P < 0.001) and MDR-TB (from 158 to 52 days, P =30.003) was observed in the 2009 cohort. CONCLUSION: Universal access to MODS increased DST coverage, reduced the time required to obtain DST results and was associated with reduced failure rates. MODS can make an important contribution to TB management and control in Peru