Translation and Translanguaging Pedagogies in Intercomprehension and Multilingual Teaching

Since 2007, California State University, Long Beach has developed and offered courses that highlight students’ pre-existing linguistic repertoires in English and in the Romance languages. These courses are unique in that they build upon a multilingual base for the acquisition of new languages through the method of intercomprehension. As an approach that moves among languages, Intercomprehension places learners in conditions that are conducive to translanguaging and translation. This paper discusses the role of translation and translanguaging in Intercomprehension as a pedagogical approach in these courses. Since our students are constantly moving between English and one or more Romance language(s), they actively bring the other Romance languages they are learning into the translingual repertoire they already practice through the multilingual learning strategies deployed in intercomprehension. Depuis 2007, California State University, Long Beach développe et offre des cours qui mettent en avant le répertoire linguistique préexistant des étudiants en anglais et en langues romanes. Ces cours sont uniques, car ils s’appuient sur un répertoire multilingue pour permettre l’acquisition de nouvelles langues à travers la méthode d’intercompréhension. L’intercompréhension, approche transcendant les barrières entre les langues, offre aux apprenants un contexte propice au translanguaging et à la traduction. Cet article discute du rôle de la traduction et du translanguaging dans l’intercompréhension. Étant donné que nos étudiants naviguent constamment entre l’anglais et une (ou, des) langue(s) romanes(s), ils font ainsi entrer de manière active les tierces langues romanes en cours d’apprentissage dans le répertoire translangagier qu’ils utilisent déjà par le biais des stratégies intercompréhensives

Self-efficacy and Anxiety in Learning English as a Foreign Language: Singing in Class Helps Speaking Performance

Learning is a process that involves both cognitive and affective components and that requires appropriate educational strategies. The present study investigates the links between self-efficacy and anxiety in second language learning, and the effectiveness of the singing songs teaching strategy upon students’ speaking performance. In particular, we tested whether singing songs in class during English lessons affects the relationship between self-efficacy, anxiety and performance in a group of Italian high school students learning English as a second language (N = 132; age ranging 16-19 years). The data were collected through a production task in which the vocabulary extension, the number of words, and the fluency of speech were coded and calculated as a general indicator of students’ linguistic competence. In addition, students were asked about their use of singing as an educational activity during English lessons. Results of bootstrapping analyses confirmed our prediction that foreign language self-efficacy is correlated to performance, through the mediation of anxiety. Our results also showed that the use of a singing songs strategy moderates the association of low self-efficacy to anxiety and performance, thus suggesting its plausibility as a positive pedagogical tool in second language learning activities. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Juntos: Italian for Speakers of English and Spanish

Juntos: Italian for Speakers of English and Spanish, Third Edition, is the first comprehensive textbook for the teaching of Italian to students who already possess knowledge of Spanish, whether as L1 Spanish speakers, heritage speakers, or L2 Spanish learners. Suitable for students at the high school and college levels, Juntos is also the first textbook to cultivate interlinguistic awareness through intercomprehension, developing bridges that foster the recognition and use of students’ bilingual repertoire as a tool for learning Italian and acquiring other Romance languages

Features, reason for testing, and changes with time of 583 paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria clones from 529 patients: a multicenter Italian study

In this study, we aimed at disclosing the main features of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) clones, their association with presentation syndromes, and their changes during follow-up. A large-scale, cooperative collection (583 clones from 529 patients) of flow cytometric and clinical data was entered into a national repository. Reason for testing guidelines were provided to the 41 participating laboratories, which followed the 2010 technical recommendations for PNH testing by Borowitz. Subsequently, the 30 second-level laboratories adopted the 2012 guidelines for high-resolution PNH testing, both upon order by the local clinicians and as an independent laboratory initiative in selected cases. Type3 and Type2 PNH clones (total and partial absence of glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol-anchor, respectively) were simultaneously present in 54 patients. In these patients, Type3 component was sevenfold larger than Type2 (p\u2009<\u20090.001). Frequency distribution analysis of solitary Type3 clone size (N\u2009=\u2009442) evidenced two discrete patterns: small (20% of peripheral neutrophils) and large (>\u200970%) clones. The first pattern was significantly associated with bone marrow failure and myelodysplastic syndromes, the second one with hemolysis, hemoglobinuria, and thrombosis. Pediatric patients (N\u2009=\u200934) showed significant preponderance of small clones and bone marrow failure. The majority of PNH clones involved neutrophils, monocytes, and erythrocytes. Nevertheless, we found clones made exclusively by white cells (N\u2009=\u200913) or erythrocytes (N\u2009=\u20093). Rare cases showed clonal white cells restricted only to monocytes (6 cases) or neutrophils (3 cases). Retesting over 1-year follow-up in 151 cases showed a marked clone size increase in 4 cases and a decrease in 13, demonstrating that early breaking-down of PNH clones is not a rare event (8.6% of cases). This collaborative nationwide study demonstrates a clear-cut difference in size between Type2 and Type3 clones, emphasizes the existence of just two classes of PNH presentations based on Type3 clone size, depicts an asymmetric cellular composition of PNH clones, and documents the possible occurrence of changes in clone size during the follow-up