885 research outputs found
Developmental changes associated with cross-language similarity in bilingual children
Online publication 30/9/2015The main goal of the present study was to investigate how the degree of orthographic
overlap between translation equivalents influences bilingual word recognition
processes at different stages of reading development. Spanish–Basque bilingual
children with ages ranging from 8 to 15 years were tested in an explicit translation
recognition task with a large set of items. Critically, the degree of cross-language
similarity (i.e. the cognate status) between the references and the correct targets was
manipulated along a continuum in order to investigate how the reliance on crosslanguage
orthographic overlap varies as a function of reading experience. Results
showed that younger children were significantly more sensitive to the cognate status
of words than older children while recognising translation equivalents, and that this
difference did not depend on the speed of response of the participants. These results
demonstrate that the influence of cross-language similarity progressively diminishes as
a function of increased exposure to print together with the maturation of the
mechanisms responsible for language interference suppression, as suggested by
developmental models of bilingual lexical access.This research has been partially funded by the Spanish Government [grant number PSI2012-32123], the European Research Council [grant number
ERC-AdG-295362], and by the AThEME project funded by the European Union [grant number 613465]
Conteúdos linguísticos como subsídio à formação de professores alfabetizadores: a experiência do Brasil e de Portugal
Objetiva identificar em dois programas de formação de professores
alfabetizadores – no Brasil, Pacto Nacional pela Alfabetização na Idade Certa (Pnaic) e, em Portugal, Programa Nacional do Ensino do Português (Pnep) – os conteúdos linguísticos relacionados ao ensino da leitura que fundamentaram a atualização dos professores com vistas a compreender como as descobertas científicas penetram o campo pedagógico. Por meio de análise documental, são apresentadas, de forma resumida, a estrutura e a organização dos dois programas e os respectivos conteúdos de formação. Há muita similaridade entre os dois programas com relação à organização e às estratégias metodológicas e há diferenças importantes quanto à atualidade dos conteúdos oferecidos aos professores alfabetizadores, assim como o tempo de formação aplicado a este conteúdo. A formação linguística do professor é essencial para desenvolver competência para o ensino da língua e, por conseguinte, melhorar as habilidades de ler e escrever dos alunos do ensino fundamental.This article aims to identify the linguistic contents related to the
teaching of reading in two training programs for literacy teachers: Brazil’s
National Pact for Literacy at the Right Age (Pacto Nacional pela Alfabetização
na Idade Certa – Pnaic) and the National Program for Portuguese Teaching
(Programa Nacional do Ensino do Português – Pnep) of Portugal. The focus
is on the linguistic contents that served as foundation for the updating
of teachers, in order to understand how scientific discoveries permeate
the teaching field. Through documentary analysis, the structure and the
organization of the two programs and their respective training contents are
briefly presented. There are many similarities between the two programs,
regarding the organization and the methodological strategies; but there are
also differences in relation to the timeliness of the content offered to the
literacy teachers, as well as to the duration of the training applied to the
content. The linguistic training of teachers is essential to developing the
competence for language teaching and, therefore; for the improvement of
reading and writing skills of elementary school students.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho (UI 317 da FCT), PortugalFundos Nacionais através da FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) e cofinanciado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) através do COMPETE 2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) com a referência POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
An examination of business occupier relocation decision making : distinguishing small and large firm behaviour
This paper explores how business occupiers decide whether and where to relocate. It captures the experience and behaviour of a range of sizes and types of business occupier and subjects their decision-making processes to detailed scrutiny. A linear three-stage decision model is used to sequence and structure interviews with individuals who have intimate involvement with the relocation of 28 firms and organizations in Tyne and Wear, in the north-east of England. The 'constant comparative' method is used to analyse the interview data, from which emerges 18 key concepts, comprising 51 characteristic components. Using an axial approach, these are organized into 10 cross-cutting themes that represent the main areas of consideration or influence on the thinking of the people involved in determining whether a firm or organization should relocate and, if so, where to. The resulting analysis finds that organizations adopt varying degrees of sophistication when making relocation decisions; small firms are more inclined to make decisions based on constrained information; larger organizations adopt a more complex approach. Regardless of firm size, key individuals exert considerable influence over the decision-making process and its outcome
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Orthographic facilitation in oral vocabulary acquisition
An experiment investigated whether exposure to orthography facilitates oral vocabulary learning. A total of 58 typically developing children aged 8-9 years were taught 12 nonwords. Children were trained to associate novel phonological forms with pictures of novel objects. Pictures were used as referents to represent novel word meanings. For half of the nonwords children were additionally exposed to orthography, although they were not alerted to its presence, nor were they instructed to use it. After this training phase a nonword-picture matching posttest was used to assess learning of nonword meaning, and a spelling posttest was used to assess learning of nonword orthography. Children showed robust learning for novel spelling patterns after incidental exposure to orthography. Further, we observed stronger learning for nonword-referent pairings trained with orthography. The degree of orthographic facilitation observed in posttests was related to children's reading levels, with more advanced readers showing more benefit from the presence of orthography
Contextualising Chinese migration to Africa
Who are ‘the Chinese’ in Africa? Why are they there? As China’s engagement with African countries intensifies, and the size of the Chinese population in Africa increases, these questions have elicited substantial attention. Many attempts to provide answers, especially in the media and popular publications, are problematically based on uninformed stereotypes and undifferentiated notions of ‘the Chinese’, by implication a homogeneous group lacking contextualisation. Seeking to address such characterisations, this paper uses the digital communications of present and prospective Chinese migrants to provide a more nuanced picture of the motivations, preoccupations and migration experiences of private entrepreneurs and state-owned enterprise workers
Coalition theories: empirical evidence for dutch municipalities
The paper analyzes coalition formation in Dutch municipalities. After discussing the main features of the institutional setting, several theories are discussed, which are classified as size oriented, policy oriented and actor oriented models. A test statistic is proposed to determine the predictive power of these models. The empirical analysis shows that strategic positions as well as some of the distinguished preferences are important in the setting of Dutch municipalities. Especially, the dominant minimum number principle yields highly significant results for coalition formations in the period 1978–1986
Colonialism, postcolonialism and the liberal welfare state
This article addresses the colonial and racial origins of the welfare state with a particular emphasis on the liberal welfare state of the USA and UK. Both are understood in terms of the centrality of the commodified status of labour power expressing a logic of market relations. In contrast, we argue that with a proper understanding of the relations of capitalism and colonialism, the sale of labour power as a commodity already represents a movement away from the commodified form of labour represented by enslavement. European colonialism is integral to the development of welfare states and their forms of inclusion and exclusion which remain racialised through into the twenty-first century
Party mandates and the politics of attention:Party platforms, public priorities and the policy agenda in Britain
This paper develops an attention-based model of party mandates and policy agendas, where parties and governments are faced with an abundance of issues, and must divide their scarce attention across them. In government, parties must balance their desire to deliver on their electoral mandate (i.e. the “promissory agenda”) with a need to continuously adapt their policy priorities in response to changes in public concerns and to deal with unexpected events and the emergence of new problems (i.e. the “anticipatory agenda”). Parties elected to office also have incentives to respond to issues prioritized by the platforms of their rivals. To test this theory, time series cross-sectional models are used to investigate how the policy content of the legislative program of British government responds to governing and opposition party platforms, the executive agenda, issue priorities of the public and mass medi
The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods
A recent workshop entitled The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods was held in Paris in December 2010, sponsored by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and by the journal Human Biology. This workshop was intended to foster a debate on questions related to the family names and to compare different multidisciplinary approaches involving geneticists, historians, geographers, sociologists and social anthropologists. This collective paper presents a collection of selected communications
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