Oral debates in Spanish as an Additional Language classroom: assessment criteria to improve student performance

The oral debate is a classroom discourse genre commonly used to assess the interactional competence of language learners. Nevertheless, its multidimensional features are often not explicitly spelled out to students, and empirical data related to student performance of this genre has thus far received little attention in the literature. With these two issues in mind, a group of Australian students of Spanish as an Additional Language were audio-recorded as they performed during two oral debates, one a practice session, the other a final debate intended to showcase their oral interaction skills for assessment purposes. Between the two debates, the students received feedback from classmates and their instructor on their preliminary debate performance, and the criteria and indicators of achievement by which their final debate performance would be judged were discussed with them. Transcripts of the two debates were subjected to thematic analysis and the results compared. This comparison revealed improvements in student debate performance, especially in terms of effective turn-requesting and turn-alternation. A second outcome was the elaboration of a revised, more detailed set of criteria for assessing the performance in oral debates of upper intermediate-level students, an instrument which will be useful in any Additional Language contex

PARODI, GIOVANNI (ed.) (2005). Discurso Especializado e Instituciones Formadoras. Valparaiso: Ediciones Universitarias de Valparaiso, Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso. 261 pp. ISBN: 956-17-0362-9

PARODI, GIOVANNI (ed.) (2005). Discurso Especializado e Instituciones Formadoras. Valparaiso: Ediciones Universitarias de Valparaiso, Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso. 261 pp. ISBN: 956-17-0362-9

Emergenza climatica e ambientale: lezioni dalla pandemia

Gli autori ragionano sul legame fra lockdown e inquinamento urbano e, sulla base dei dati relativi a Milano e Torino, mostrano che durante questo blocco prolungato si \ue8 rilevata una moderata riduzione di uno solo degli inquinanti pi\uf9 pericolosi per la nostra salute. Da ci\uf2 gli autori deducono che per affrontare emergenze globali, come le pandemie, l\u2019inquinamento e i cambiamenti climatici, sono necessarie misure programmatiche da attuare con coraggio per tempi lunghi

Honeybee-like collective decision making in a kilobot swarm

Drawing inspiration from honeybee swarms' nest-site selection process, we assess the ability of a kilobot robot swarm to replicate this captivating example of collective decision-making. Honeybees locate the optimal site for their new nest by aggregating information about potential locations and exchanging it through their waggle-dance. The complexity and elegance of solving this problem relies on two key abilities of scout honeybees: self-discovery and imitation, symbolizing independence and interdependence, respectively. We employ a mathematical model to represent this nest-site selection problem and program our kilobots to follow its rules. Our experiments demonstrate that the kilobot swarm can collectively reach consensus decisions in a decentralized manner, akin to honeybees. However, the strength of this consensus depends not only on the interplay between independence and interdependence but also on critical factors such as swarm density and the motion of kilobots. These factors enable the formation of a percolated communication network, through which each robot can receive information beyond its immediate vicinity. By shedding light on this crucial layer of complexity --the crowding and mobility conditions during the decision-making--, we emphasize the significance of factors typically overlooked but essential to living systems and life itself.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 6 appendix figures, 3 supplementary figure

Mapping discourse genres: routes to assess plurilingual discourse coompetence

[EN] A didactic model for the assessment of plurilingual discourse competence is presented in order to promote its development more effectively. The method chosen is that of online cartographic representation: on the one hand, we work with a sky map of three constellations for the theoretical conceptualization of the model; on the other hand, we represent on an earth map of five continents the genres of discourse to be learned, grouped into families. Proposing this double cartographic metaphor (sky map and earth map) has the result of guiding with criteria the teaching, learning and assessment of discourse genres to offer routes adapted to both teacher needs and those of each particular student.[ES] Se presenta un modelo didáctico de evaluación de la competencia discursiva plurilingüe para fomentar su desarrollo con mayor eficacia. El método escogido es el de la representación cartográfica en línea: por una parte, se trabaja con un mapa de tres constelaciones para la conceptualización teórica del modelo; por otra parte, se representan en un mapa terrestre de cinco continentes los géneros discursivos objeto de aprendizaje agrupados en familias. Proponer esta doble metáfora cartográfica tiene como resultado guiar con criterio la enseñanza, aprendizaje y evaluación de los géneros discursivos para ofrecer rutas adaptadas tanto a las necesidades docentes como a las de cada estudiante particular.Este artículo recoge el trabajo llevado a cabo por los miembros del proyecto I+D+i ECODAL, coordinado por Carmen López Ferrero, con financiación del Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica 2016 del Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad español, la Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). Web del proyecto: https://www.upf.edu/web/ecodalLópez Ferrero, C.; Atienza Cerezo, E. (2022). Cartografiar los géneros discursivos: rutas para evaluar la competencia discursiva plurilingüe. Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas. 17:71-83. https://doi.org/10.4995/rlyla.2022.15597OJS71831