Sustainable swimwear in Portugal : perceptions and purchase intentions

Sustainable products are a rising trend in Portugal since concerns about the environment have been increasing over the last years. The fashion industry did not let the opportunity escape, and over this year, the appearance of sustainable swimwear made of recycled or upcycled materials has boosted. Hence, the present dissertation aims to explore the Portuguese females’ perceptions and purchase intentions towards sustainable swimwear products. Thus, three research questions were answered: (1) Who is the consumer, (2) What are the main drivers that lead to intentions of purchase, and (3) What are the main barriers that prevent consumers from purchasing the product. For this purpose, past literature was reviewed, and two methodologies were conducted: eight in-depth interviews and an online survey (418 participants). Results indicated that the Portuguese female consumer is a young adult, with high levels of education and with a monthly income between 1001€-1500€. Under a comparative analysis, the main drivers of purchase intentions found were knowledge about the environment, sustainable lifestyle, and psychographic factors. Lastly, the main barriers to the purchase were lack of information about the product, hard purchase access, and price.Produtos sustentáveis são uma tendência emergente em Portugal, desde o aumento das preocupações ambientais nos últimos anos. A indústria de moda não deixou escapar esta oportunidade e no último ano houve um reforço do aparecimento de biquínis sustentáveis feitos através de materiais reciclados ou reaproveitados. Desta maneira, o principal objetivo da presente dissertação é a exploração das perceções e intenções de compra da mulher portuguesa relativamente a biquínis sustentáveis. Assim, três questões de pesquisa foram respondidas: (1) Quem é a consumidora, (2) Quais são principais fatores que influenciam a intenção de compra e (3) Quais são as principais barreiras que fazem com que os consumidores não comprem o produto. Com este propósito, literatura sobre o tema foi revista e duas metodologias de pesquisa foram utilizadas: oito entrevistas e um questionário online (418 participantes). Os resultados indicam que a consumidora portuguesa é uma jovem adulta com um nível de educação elevado e um rendimento mensal entre 1001€-1500€. Através de uma análise comparativa, os principais fatores que influenciam a intenção de compra são o conhecimento sobre o meio ambiente, um estilo de vida sustentável e fatores psicográficos. Por último, as principais barreiras à compra identificadas foram a falta de informação acerca do produto, o difícil acesso à compra e o preço

The contribution of word-, sentence-, and discourse-level abilities on writing performance: a 3-year longitudinal study

Writing is a foundational skill throughout school grades. This study analyzed the development of different levels of written language (word, sentence, and discourse) and explored the relationship between these levels and writing performance. About 95 Portuguese students from two cohorts—Grades 4–7 (n = 47) 6–9 (n = 48)—were asked to produce a descriptive text two times, with a 3-year interval. The produced texts were used to assess spelling, syntactic correctness and complexity, and descriptive discourse as well as text length and quality. The main results showed that there were improvements from Grades 4 to 7 and 6 to 9 in word- and sentence-level skills, along with increases in some dimensions of the descriptive discourse. Moreover, the older cohort performed better than the younger cohort in terms of spelling, syntactic complexity, and text quality, but not in terms of syntactic correctness, one dimension of the descriptive discourse, and text length. Regression analyses showed that writing performance was predicted by word and sentence levels in the younger cohort only, and by discourse-level variables in both cohorts. Overall, despite indicating a generalized growth in writing skills throughout schooling, this study also highlighted the areas that may need additional attention from teachers, mainly in terms of the descriptive features

Predictors of portuguese teachers' use of information and communication technologies in literacy classes

In the last years, the teaching and learning of literacy has changed due to the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The use of ICT in the classroom depends largely on teachers, who are the key players in its integration. However, several factors influence teachers’ decisions to use ICT in their classroom, both internal (e.g., self-efficacy) and external (e.g., school support). Indeed, despite the potential benefits of using ICT, not all teachers use them in their teaching practice. In the present study, we examined which are the main factors influencing teachers’ effective use of ICT in literacy classrooms. A total of 125 teachers lecturing Portuguese Language in grades 5–12 participated in this study (M = 50.00 years, SD = 7.88; 89% women). Teachers filled in an online survey, comprising sociodemographic questions (viz., age, gender, education, years of teaching experience, teaching level, school type, and geographical area) and four questionnaires related to ICT and teaching. Results showed that effective use of ICT was predicted by both internal (ICT’ self-efficacy and constructivist conception of teaching) and external (lack of access and support, and gatekeepers) factors. These findings may help in the identification of key targets to facilitate the effective use of ICT in literacy classrooms

Editorial: spelling across orthographies

The ability to spell words correctly is a cornerstone of literacy. Despite the substantial amount of research into this process, a large part of the empirical findings come from English-speaking populations. Given the distinctive features of the varying orthographic systems worldwide, more research into spelling across orthographies seems warranted. To stimulate this was the main goal of this Research Topic, which contains two review plus 14 research articles tapping 11 orthographies (viz., Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, Hebrew, Malay, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, and Welsh), from first graders to undergraduates. These articles were organized into three sections focusing on (1) the type of misspellings produced, (2) the role of non-phonological knowledge in spelling, and (3) the view of spelling as a basic writing process. Together, the findings from the studies included in the Research Topic showed that the type of misspellings produced is influenced by writing systems, writers’ characteristics, and spelling tasks; that morphological, orthographic, morpho-orthographic, and syntactical knowledge are important sources of information to produce accurate spellings in varying orthographic systems; and that spelling is a fundamental writing process intertwined with handwriting. In sum, this Research Topic provides an up-to-date view on spelling across orthographies, which will contribute to increase our understanding of this process and instigate further research into it

Medir a empatia: adaptação portuguesa do Índice de Reactividade Interpessoal

Uma das escalas mais utilizadas para medir a empatia é o Índice de Reactividade Interpessoal de Davis (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI; Davis, 1980, 1983). Este índice assenta numa concepção multidimensional de empatia e baseia-se em quatro sub-escalas: tomada de perspectiva, preocupação empática, desconforto pessoal e fantasia. Apresentamos aqui uma versão portuguesa do IRI que foi testada com 478 estudantes universitários. Uma análise confirmatória com metade da amostra revelou um ajustamento fraco da estrutura factorial original aos dados portugueses. Para melhorar a validade factorial do IRI foram eliminados quatro itens. A nova composição da escala, testada na outra metade da amostra, revelou um bom ajustamento. O IRI português apresentou uma boa consistência interna e replicou o padrão de correlações entre sub-escalas verificado tanto na escala original como nas suas adaptações a outras línguas.ABSTRACT: One of the most widely used measures of empathy is the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980, 1983). This index is based on a multidimensional view of empathy and comprises four sub-scales: perspective taking, empathic concern, personal distress and fantasy. Here we present a Portuguese version of IRI which was tested with 478 university students. A confirmatory factor analysis was run on half of the sample, the results of which showed a weak adjustment of the original factorial structure to the Portuguese data. In order to enhance the factorial validity of IRI four items were eliminated from the scale, and a new confirmatory analysis was calculated on the other half of the sample. This revealed a good adjustment of the data to the expected factorial structure. Further analyses showed that this version of the scale (the Portuguese IRI) has good internal reliability, and that the correlations between sub-scales replicate the pattern found with the original scale as well as with adapted versions to other languages.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT