Parent's reports of lexical and grammatical aspects of toddlers's language in European Portuguese: developmental trends, age and gender differences

The results from a large-scale study on toddlers’ language acquisition in European Portuguese are presented. Toddlers’ lexical and grammatical competencies were assessed using the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences. The results, based on 3012 reports completed by parents, indicate an increase in the lexical size and on five measures of grammatical development (production of regular morphology, irregular morphology, over-regularizations, mean length of utterances and sentence complexity) across age groups. A main effect of gender was found for lexical size, production of regular and irregular morphology, production of over-regularizations and sentence complexity, with girls obtaining overall higher scores than boys. All lexical and grammatical development measures are positively correlated, even after controlling for age and gender effects. These findings are discussed in terms of their consistency with those obtained for other languages.CiPsi - Psychology Research Centre, Uminho (UID/PSI/ 01662/2013), PortugalCIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), Portugalinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lexical, morphological and syntactic development in toddlers between 16 and 30 months old: a comparison across European Portuguese and Galician

The main aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between the lexical size and the emergence of morphological and syntactic markers in toddlers between the ages of 16 and 30 months and to compare these results between Galician and European Portuguese. Parents of 3012 Portuguese toddlers and those of 1081 Galician toddlers completed the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences. The results indicated that the number of words, the ability to combine words and the number of different morphemes produced increased with age. The ability to combine words was used as an indicator of syntactic development; this ability was also associated with the toddlers’ lexical size. In both samples, gender morphemes seemed to be the first to have their production generalized, followed by the plural and the past participle. The production of gender morphemes was accompanied by a small lexical size, whereas the imperfect tense and the person mark onset were associated with large lexical sizes. The implications of these results for charting the continuity between lexical, morphological and syntactical development are discussed.CiPsi - Psychology Research Centre, Uminho (UID/PSI/ 01662/2013), Portugal. National Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN) - FCOMP- 01-0124-FEDER-029556 and through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) with the references and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), Portugal. BPD/102549/2014info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Preschool literacy and reading performance in primary school

A literacia pré-escolar tem recebido uma crescente atenção. Neste estudo, participaram 70 crianças que iniciaram o 1.º ano de escolaridade no ano letivo 2009/10 e que, na educação pré-escolar, frequentaram três instituições com abordagens diferenciadas de leitura e de escrita. O estudo inclui quatro medidas repetidas no tempo nas áreas da fonologia, reconhecimento de letras, palavras e velocidade de leitura. Os resultados sugerem que a abordagem específica à leitura na educação pré-escolar condiciona o desempenho da leitura na instrução primária. Contudo, essa influência parece ser atenuada com o tempo. Por outro lado, verificou-se que sujeitos que receberam instrução direta de leitura em idade pré-escolar (mas não treino fonológico) obtêm resultados significativamente superiores em tarefas fonológicas aos de sujeitos que receberam treino fonológico prolongado (mas não de leitura).The debate regarding kindergarten literacy has received increasing attention and social visibility. In this study, participants are 70 children who attended first grade in 2009/2010. Participants attended three kindergartens with unique approaches to reading. A four wave repeated measure design was conducted to investigate the growth of the children in phonological awareness, letter recognition, word recognition, and reading speed. Results suggest that the approach towards reading and writing in kindergarten affects children's performance in grades 1 and 2 of elementary school. This influence, however, seems to fade over time. Moreover, results show that children who received formal reading instruction in kindergarten, perform significantly better in phonological tasks than children who received direct and extended phonological instruction.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Health-related quality of life and utilities in gastric premalignant conditions and malignant lesions: a multicentre study in a high prevalence country

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A recent review of economic studies relating to gastric cancer revealed that authors use different tests to estimate utilities in patients with and without gastric cancer. Our aim was to determine the utilities of gastric premalignant conditions and adenocarcinoma with a single standardized health measure instrument. METHODS: Cross-sectional nationwide study of patients undergoing upper endoscopy (n=1,434) using the EQ-5D-5L quality of life (QoL) questionnaire. RESULTS: According to EQ-5D-5L, utilities in individuals without gastric lesions were 0.78 (95% confidence interval: 0.76-0.80), with gastric premalignant conditions 0.79 (0.77-0.81), previously treated for gastric cancer 0.77 (0.73-0.81) and with present cancer 0.68 (0.55-0.81). Self-reported QoL according to the visual analogue scale (VAS) for the same groups were 0.67 (0.66-0.69), 0.67 (0.66-0.69), 0.62 (0.59-0.65) and 0.62 (0.54-0.70) respectively. Utilities were consistently lower in women versus men (no lesions 0.71 vs. 0.78; premalignant conditions 0.70 vs. 0.82; treated for cancer 0.72 vs. 0.78 and present cancer 0.66 vs. 0.70). CONCLUSION: The health-related QoL utilities of patients with premalignant conditions are similar to those without gastric diseases whereas patients with present cancer show decreased utilities. Moreover, women had consistently lower utilities than men. These results confirm that the use of a single standardized instrument such as the EQ-5D-5L for all stages of the gastric carcinogenesis cascade is feasible and that it captures differences between conditions and gender dissimilarities, being relevant information for authors pretending to conduct further cost-utility analysis

An application of the Rasch model to reading comprehension measurement

An effective reading comprehension measurement demands robust psychometric tools that allow teachers and researchers to evaluate the educational practices and track changes in students’ performance. In this study, we illustrate how Rasch model can be used to attend such demands and improve reading comprehension measurement. We discuss the construction of two reading comprehension tests: TRC-n, with narrative texts, and TRC-e, with expository texts. Three vertically scaled forms were generated for each test (TRC-n-2, TRC-n-3, TRC-n-4; TRC-e-2, TRC-e-3 and TRC-e-4), each meant to assess Portuguese students in second, third and fourth grade of elementary school. The tests were constructed according to a nonequivalent groups with anchor test design and data were analyzed using the Rasch model. The results provided evidence for good psychometric qualities for each test form, including unidimensionality and local independence and adequate reliability. A critical view of this study and future researches are discussed.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), PortugalThis research was supported by Grant FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-010733 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through the European program COMPETE (Operational Program for Competitiveness Factors) under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Alfabetização baseada na ciência: manual do curso ABC

O presente manual faz parte do projeto ABC – Alfabetização Baseada na Ciência, fruto de um Acordo de Cooperação Internacional celebrado entre a Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), a Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto (FPCEUP), o Instituto Politécnico do Porto (IPP) e a Universidade Aberta de Portugal (UAb). Essa importante parceria tem o objetivo de contribuir para a formação continuada dos profissionais da educação brasileiros que atuam na área de alfabetização, somando-se aos vários esforços que têm sido envidados pelo Ministério da Educação (MEC) para elevar a qualidade dos processos de alfabetização no Brasil e, consequentemente, os seus resultados. A formação de professores tem sido um dos pilares da Política Nacional de Alfabetização (PNA), instituída pelo MEC por meio do Decreto 9.765/19, a qual destaca entre seus princípios a fundamentação de programas e ações em evidências provenientes das ciências cognitivas, bem como a adoção de referenciais de políticas públicas exitosas, nacionais e estrangeiras, baseadas em evidências científicas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Peer relations and gender: Contributes of the adaptation of Peer Relations Questionnaire to Portuguese adolescents

A compreensão das diferenças de género nos comportamentos ajustados ou pró-sociais e nas relações de violência entre os pares, seja na perspetiva do perpetrador ou da vítima, é essencial para a educação. Com o conhecimento destes fenómenos podemos reconhecer sinais e comportamentos, mas também ajustar a intervenção psicoeducativa, de forma a promover o desenvolvimento integral de todos os alunos. Por conseguinte, este trabalho centra-se em dois objectivos: avaliar as propriedades psicométricas do Peer Relations Questionnaire na população Portuguesa e, partindo dos resultados obtidos no mesmo, explorar as relações entre pares em função do género. Para isso, foram realizados dois estudos junto de duas amostras, com 304 e 712 adolescentes, com idades compreendidas entre os 11 e os 16 anos. Os resultados forneceram evidência de validade e fidelidade para o instrumento. Resultados de estudos diferenciais e de associação apontaram ainda diferenças significativas na relação entre pares em função do género, com os rapazes a apresentarem maior nível de violência em relação aos pares, mas também a relatarem ser mais vítimas dessa violência, comparativamente com as raparigas. Inversamente, as raparigas parecem exibir maiores níveis de comportamento pró-social. Encontrou-se ainda uma relação negativa entre violência e idade, assim como com a escolaridade do pai. Estes resultados são discutidos neste artigo à luz da literatura existente, apresentando-se também as suas implicações para a investigação e intervenção.Comprender las diferencias entre iguales y de género en comportamientos prosociales en situaciones de violencia, desde la perspectiva del individuo activo o de la víctima, es esencial para la educación. A partir del conocimiento de estos fenómenos podemos reconocer señales y comportamientos, pero también ajustar la intervención psicoeducativa, de modo a promover el desarrollo integral de todos los alumnos. Por lo tanto, este trabajo se centra en dos objetivos: evaluar las propiedades psicométricas del Peer Relations Questionnaire aplicado a la población portuguesa y, a partir de los resultados obtenidos, explorar las relaciones entre pares en función del género. Para ello, fueron realizados dos estudios a partir de dos muestras, con 304 y 712 adolescentes, con edades comprendidas entre 11 y 16 años. Los resultados demostraron la validad y fidelidad del instrumento. Resultados de estudios diferenciales y de asociación apuntaron también diferencias significativas en la relación entre pares en función del género. Los chicos presentaran mayor nivel de violencia entre pares, pero también han manifestado ser víctimas de esa violencia, en comparación con las chicas. Por otro lado, las chicas demostraron mayor nivel de comportamiento prosocial. Se ha observado también una relación negativa entre violencia y edad, así como entre violencia y escolaridad del padre. En este artigo estos resultados son discutidos a la luz de la literatura existente, presentándose a la vez sus implicaciones para la investigación y la intervención.Understanding the differences in peers’ relationships between genders, whether these relationships are characterized by the existence of prosocial behavior or violence towards others, are essential for education. Only with the appropriate knowledge of this reality we can recognize signs and behaviors but also adjust the psycho-educational intervention to promote the integral development of all students. Therefore, this paper is focused on two goals: to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Peer Relations Questionnaire in the Portuguese population and, using the results obtained in it, to explore the existence of differences in the relationships between peers by gender. Two studies have been conducted using two samples, composed of 304 and 712 adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years old. The results provided evidence for the instrument validity and reliability. Results from the differences and association tests, also allowed us to find significant differences in peer relationship by gender, with boys being more violent to peers but also being more victims that type of violence, and girls demonstrating more prosocial behavior. A negative relationship between violent behavior and age was also found, as well as between violent behavior of the adolescents and the father’s academic qualifications. These results are discussed based on the literature, and implications for research and intervention are presented.Financial Support by CIEC (Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho; FCT R&D unit 317, Portugal) by the Strategic Project UID/CED/00317/2013, with financial support of National Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the COMPETE 2020 - Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-00756