Towards Information Literacy Indicators. Conceptual Framework prepared by Ralph Catts and Jesus Lau

Este documento proporciona un marco conceptual básico para la medición de la Alfin y ha sido diseñado para servir de referencia con objeto de facilitar la elaboración de indicadores de alfabetización informacional.Elaborado por Ralph Catts y Jesús LauRevisión técnica por Cristóbal Pasadas Ureña (Universidad de Granada, Biblioteca de la Facultad de Psicología). La presente edición ha sido publicada por el Ministerio de Cultura español en colaboración con UNESCO

Apoptosis and schizophrenia: a pilot study based on dermal fibroblast cell lines

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an increased susceptibility to apoptosis in cultured fibroblasts from patients with schizophrenia

Towards Adult Information Literacy Assessment in Latvia: UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Competency Matrix in Practice

The study presents conclusions regarding the possibility of adapting the UNESCO MIL Competency Matrix and developing methodology for information literacy assessment of the adult population. During field research in a sample territory (Kekava district) and within an adult population target group, the levels of information literacy are assessed, and information literacy education needs are clarified. The research results can be used for the development of diagnostic instruments for regional growth, planning of adult education, elaboration of information literacy training programmes, as well as for self-evaluation of information literacy competencies. The study has been carried out within the framework of the European Social Fund project “Development of Innovative Diagnostic Instruments for Regional Growth”

Associated reading skills in children with a history of Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

A large cohort of 200 eleven-year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) were assessed on basic reading accuracy and on reading comprehension as well as language tasks. Reading skills were examined descriptively and in relation to early language and literacy factors. Using stepwise regression analyses in which age and nonverbal IQ were controlled for, it was found that a single word reading measure taken at 7 years was unsurprisingly a strong predictor of the two different types of reading ability. However, even with this measure included, a receptive syntax task (TROG) entered when reading accuracy score was the DV. Furthermore, a test of expressive syntax/narrative and a receptive syntax task completed at 7 years entered into the model for word reading accuracy. When early reading accuracy was excluded from the analyses, early phonological skills also entered as a predictor of both reading accuracy and comprehension at 11 years. The group of children with a history of SLI were then divided into those with no literacy difficulties at 11 and those with some persisting literacy impairment. Using stepwise logistic regression, and again controlling for IQ and age, 7 years receptive syntax score (but not tests of phonology, expressive vocabulary or expressive syntax/narrative) entered as a positive predictor of membership of the ‘no literacy problems’ group regardless of whether early reading accuracy was controlled for in step one. The findings are discussed in relation to the overlap of SLI and dyslexia and the long term sequelae of language impairment

Written language skills in children with specific language impairment

Background. Young children are often required to carry out writing tasks in an educational context. However, little is known about the patterns of writing skills that children with Specific Language Impairment (CwSLI) have relative to their typically developing peers

Narrative writing, reading and cognitive processes in middle childhood: what are the links?

This study investigated the relationship between measures of reading and writing, and explored whether cognitive measures known to be related to reading ability were also associated with writing performance in middle childhood. Sixty-Four children, aged between 8 years 9 months and 11 years 9 months, took part in a battery of writing, reading, and cognitive ability tasks. Reading fluency emerged as having a strong relationship to written language performance, after controlling for age and verbal reasoning. While children with reading difficulties were weak at spelling accuracy, they were otherwise found to produce written compositions of similar quality to typical readers. Boys produced less written text than girls, but did not demonstrate weaker written language abilities. Collectively the results demonstrate that writing skills can be separated into transcription and composition processes, and highlight the need for further research on the relationship between reading fluency and children’s writing

Intervention for mixed receptive-expressive language impairment : a review

Children with receptive-expressive language impairment (RELI), also referred to as 'receptive language disorder' or 'mixed receptive-expressive disorder',2 form a subset of those with speech, language, and communication needs who commonly have problems understanding both spoken and written language; they have particular difficulties in comprehending vocabulary and grammar and inferring meaning. They will have problems with expressive language and some will also have difficulties in pragmatics, i.e. the use of language in social contexts

Phonological and articulation treatment approaches in Portuguese children with speech and language impairments: a randomized controlled intervention study

Background In Portugal, the routine clinical practice of speech and language therapists (SLTs) in treating children with all types of speech sound disorder (SSD) continues to be articulation therapy (AT). There is limited use of phonological therapy (PT) or phonological awareness training in Portugal. Additionally, at an international level there is a focus on collecting information on and differentiating between the effectiveness of PT and AT for children with different types of phonologically based SSD, as well as on the role of phonological awareness in remediating SSD. It is important to collect more evidence for the most effective and efficient type of intervention approach for different SSDs and for these data to be collected from diverse linguistic and cultural perspectives. Aims To evaluate the effectiveness of a PT and AT approach for treatment of 14 Portuguese children, aged 4.0–6.7 years, with a phonologically based SSD. Methods & Procedures The children were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment approaches (seven children in each group). All children were treated by the same SLT, blind to the aims of the study, over three blocks of a total of 25 weekly sessions of intervention. Outcome measures of phonological ability (percentage of consonants correct (PCC), percentage occurrence of different phonological processes and phonetic inventory) were taken before and after intervention. A qualitative assessment of intervention effectiveness from the perspective of the parents of participants was included. Outcomes & Results Both treatments were effective in improving the participants’ speech, with the children receiving PT showing a more significant improvement in PCC score than those receiving the AT. Children in the PT group also showed greater generalization to untreated words than those receiving AT. Parents reported both intervention approaches to be as effective in improving their children's speech. Conclusions & Implications The PT (combination of expressive phonological tasks, phonological awareness, listening and discrimination activities) proved to be an effective integrated method of improving phonological SSD in children. These findings provide some evidence for Portuguese SLTs to employ PT with children with phonologically based SSD

Research Questions for the Archaeology of Rural Places: Experiences from the Middle Atlantic

That some 19th-century farmsteads and other rural places have significance is generally conceded as true. Our problem as historical archaeologists is to develop research questions and directions that illuminate and explain to a broad audience the significance of the physical evidence of the sultures of agriculture in American history. This essay looks at some of the writings of early agricultural historians and draws on previous historical and archaeological farmstead studies in the Middle Atlantic region. Ideas about the success (or failure) of field approaches are presented, and suggestions for research directions that could serve as over-arching themes to tie the archaeology of rural places to national trends are offered