Creation and validation of a bilingual test to estimate aural and written vocabulary size

Language learners’ vocabulary size is a reliable predictor of their success in a second language as it clearly correlates with better performances in the target language. Being precise in those estimations is paramount to plan language teaching. However, the instruments employed by previous studies for those estimations might present validity and reliability issues that affect their research sensitivity and accuracy. This paper presents a step-by-step account of the creation of an aural and a written version of a bilingual vocabulary test. Test was delivered to 73 adult L1-Spanish students attending English classes. Their answers were analysed with Rasch model to determine the best performing items in the test so that the overall reliability of the instrument was enhanced. The final version of the test presents high levels of reliability: .89 for the listening vocabulary test and .82 for the written vocabulary test. Furthermore, descriptive statistics confirm that recognizing the words in their aural form is more challenging than in their written form: participants got 10.80% fewer correct answers in the listening vocabulary test. This finding confirms the claim that aural and written vocabulary are two separate dimensions, and impacts on how vocabulary should be taught in L2 classrooms.El tamaño del vocabulario de quienes aprenden una lengua es un predictor fiable de su éxito en la lengua meta porque se correlaciona claramente con mejores rendimientos. Las estimaciones precisas son esenciales para planificar la enseñanza de lenguas. Sin embargo, los instrumentos empleados pueden presentar problemas de validez y fiabilidad que afecten a su sensibilidad y precisión investigadoras. Este artículo describe la creación de un versión oral y escrita de un test bilingüe de vocabulario, administrado a 73 estudiantes adultos de inglés cuya lengua materna era el español. Sus respuestas fueron analizadas con el modelo Rasch para determinar los elementos del test que mejor se comportaban y mejorar la fiabilidad general del instrumento. La versión final del test presenta altos niveles de fiabilidad: .89 para la prueba oral de vocabulario y .82 para la prueba escrita. Además, las estadísticas descriptivas confirman que reconocer las palabras en su forma oral supone un reto mayor que hacerlo en su forma escrita porque hubo un 10,80% menos de respuestas correctas en el test oral. Este hallazgo confirma la afirmación de que el vocabulario oral y escrito son dos dimensiones distintas e influye en cómo se debería enseñar el vocabulario en las aulas

Viejas variedades, nuevas oportunidades: un trabajo de investigación saca a la luz viejas variedades de vid desconocidas en peligro de extinción

El estudio molecular de la colección de vides recopiladas por la antigua Estación de Viticultura y Enología de Movera, actualmente integrada en el Centro de Transferencia Agroalimentaria del Departamento de Agricultura y Alimentación del Gobierno de Aragón, realizado en colaboración con la Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (CSIC), ha permitido descubrir un número importante de variedades desconocidas en peligro de extinción que podrían ser autóctonas de la región

Stereodynamical Control of a Quantum Scattering Resonance in Cold Molecular Collisions

Cold collisions of light molecules are often dominated by a single partial wave resonance. For the rotational quenching of HD (v=1, j=2) by collisions with ground state para-H2, the process is dominated by a single L=2 partial wave resonance centered around 0.1 K. Here, we show that this resonance can be switched on or off simply by appropriate alignment of the HD rotational angular momentum relative to the initial velocity vector, thereby enabling complete control of the collision outcome

The Evidence in Ancient Philosophy

Enargeia became a technical term –to which Cicero coined the neologism evidentia for its translation– in the Hellenistic Epistemology, so it seems, beginning from Epicurus. In his analysis of the perceptive evidence he developed a relevant reformulation of the nature of perceiving and the Aristotelian typology of sensibilia which bases the truth of perception on the autonomy and opacity of each one of the senses in relation to the rest of the senses and other faculties such as memory or reason. Sextus Empiricus objected to this type of approach that every perceptive act entails synthesis, in which memory or reason get involved, and requires the affection (pathos), which comes between perception and object, and makes the perceptive evidence another case of inference through signs. The basic reflexivity mode which was designated as synaisthesis in Late Antiquity seems to have been put forward against the second objection of Sextus Empiricus.Enargeia se convirtió en un término técnico –para cuya traducción Cicerón acuñó el neologismo evidentia– en la epistemología helenística, al parecer, a partir de Epicuro. En sus análisis de la evidencia perceptiva Epicuro desarrolló una relevante reformulación de la naturaleza del percibir y de la tipología aristotélica de los sensibles que fundamenta la veracidad de la percepción en la autonomía y opacidad de cada uno de los sentidos respecto a los demás sentidos y a otras facultades como la memoria o la razón. Sexto Empírico objetó a este tipo de planteamientos que todo acto perceptivo conlleva síntesis, en las que interviene la memoria o la razón, y requiere la afección (pathos), que se interpone entre percepción y objeto, y hace de la evidencia perceptiva otro caso más de inferencia mediante signos. El modo de reflexividad elemental que en la antigüedad tardía se denominó synaisthesis parece haber sido esgrimida contra la segunda objeción de Sexto Empírico

Usefulness of microsatellites for positioning the tunisian almond germplasm in its mediterranean geographic context.

6 Pags.- 1 Tabl.- 1 Fig. The definitive version is available at: http://www.actahort.org/index.htmIn Tunisia, the almond tree (Prunus dulcis), dating back to ancient times, has been grown extensively since the Carthaginian era. In the framework of a national project on the characterisation and the conservation of the local almond germplasm many morphological and molecular markers (RAPD and SSR) have been used in order to analyse the genetic diversity of the main almond cultivars and to seek for the genetic position of these resources in the Mediterranean basin. For this study, 10 SSRs were used to analyse 82 almond accessions from different origins. Most of them originated from Tunisia (50), the others included in the National collection were from France (9), Italy (7), Morocco (1), Spain (8), USA (3), or were of unknown origin (4). The dendrogram based on UPGMA analysis using the similarity matrix generated by the Nei and Li (1979) coefficient presented four main clusters (A, B, C and D). In group A were present 40 of the 50 local genotypes that originate from the centre and the south contrarily, all cultivars from the north were in group C and clustered with the European and American genotypes. Accordingly, our study stressed the large diversity of the Tunisian almonds and revealed the presence of two distinct genetic groups. One located in the north genetically close to the gene pool of the Northern border of the Mediterranean and the second in the central and southern part that is highly adapted to different abiotic stress mainly drought.Peer reviewe

Anales de Aragon desde el año mil quinientos y quarenta ... hasta el año de mil quinientos y cincuenta y ocho, en que muriò el ... Emperador Carlos V

Prosigue los Anales de Diego J. Dormer y se une a los de ZuritaSign.: [a]-f2, A-Z2, Aa-Zzzz2, a-z2, aa-ddd2, A-K2Port. con escudo real xil.Texto a dos col.Letras iniciales adornadasApostillas marginales y reclamosContiene: Testamento del Emperador Carlos V ; Codecilo del Emperador Carlos

Universal behavior in complex-mediated reactions: Dynamics of S(1D)+ o-D2 --> D + SD at low collision energies

Reactive and elastic cross-sections, and rate coefficients, have been calculated for the S(1D)+ D2 (v=0, j=0) reaction using a modified hyperspherical quantum reactive scattering method. The considered collision energy ranges from the ultracold regime, where only one partial wave is open, up to the Langevin regime, where many of them contribute. This work presents the extension of the quantum calculations, which were compared with the experimental results in a previous work, down to energies in the cold and ultracold domains. Results are analyzed and compared with the universal case of the quantum defect theory by Jachymski et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 213202 (2013)]. State-to-state integral and differential cross sections are also shown covering the ranges of low-thermal, cold and ultracold collision energy regimes. It is found that at E/k_B T < 1 K there are substantial departures from the expected statistical behavior, and that dynamical features become increasingly important with decreasing collision energy, leading to vibrational excitation.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Chemical Physic