Theoretical and methodological perspectives on the use of grammatically judgement tasks in linguistic theory

The aims of present paper are: (a) to examine the theoretical and methodological issues pertaining to the use of grammaticality judgment tasks in linguistic theory; (b) to design and administer a grammaticality judgment task that is not characterized by the problems commonly associated with such tasks; (c) to introduce FACETS as a novel way to analyze grammaticality judgments in order to determine (i) which participants should be excluded from the analyses, (ii) which test items should be revised, and (iii) whether the grammaticality judgments are internally consistent. First, the paper discusses the concept of grammaticality and addresses validity issues pertaining to the use of grammaticality judgment tasks in linguistic theory. Second, it tackles methodological issues concerning the creation of test items, the specification of procedures, and the analysis and interpretation of the results. A grammaticality judgment task is then administered to 20 native speakers of American English, and FACETS is introduced as a means to analyze the judgments and assess their internal consistency. The results reveal a general tendency on the part of the participants to judge both grammatical and ungrammatical items as grammatical. The FACETS analysis indicates that the grammaticality judgments of (at least) two participants are not internally consistent. It also shows that two of the test items received from six to eight unexpected judgments. Despite these results, the analysis also indicates that overall, the grammaticality judgments obtained on each sentence type and on grammatical versus ungrammatical items were internally consistent. In light of the results and of the efficiency of the program, the implementation of FACETS is recommended in the analysis of grammaticality judgments in linguistic theory

Intonational Cues to Segmental Contrasts in the Native Language Facilitate the Processing of Intonational Cues to Lexical Stress in the Second Language

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.This study examines whether second language (L2) learners' processing of an intonationally cued lexical contrast is facilitated when intonational cues signal a segmental contrast in the native language (L1). It does so by investigating Seoul Korean and French listeners' processing of intonationally cued lexical-stress contrasts in English. Neither Seoul Korean nor French has lexical stress; instead, the two languages have similar intonational systems where prominence is realized at the level of the Accentual Phrase. A critical difference between the two systems is that French has only one tonal pattern underlying the realization of the Accentual Phrase, whereas Korean has two underlying tonal patterns that depend on the laryngeal feature of the phrase-initial segment. The L and H tonal cues thus serve to distinguish segments at the lexical level in Korean but not in French; Seoul Korean listeners are thus hypothesized to outperform French listeners when processing English lexical stress realized only with (only) tonal cues (H* on the stressed syllable). Seoul Korean and French listeners completed a sequence-recall task with four-item sequences of English words that differed in intonationally cued lexical stress (experimental condition) or in word-initial segment (control condition). The results showed higher accuracy for Seoul Korean listeners than for French listeners only when processing English lexical stress, suggesting that the processing of an intonationally cued lexical contrast in the L2 is facilitated when intonational cues signal a segmental contrast in the L1. These results are interpreted within the scope of the cue-based transfer approach to L2 prosodic processing

Proficiency and working memory based explanations for nonnative speakers’ sensitivity to agreement in sentence processing

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8908430&fileId=S0142716411000890This study examines the roles of proficiency and working memory (WM) capacity in second-/foreign-language (L2) learners’ processing of agreement morphology. It investigates the processing of grammatical and ungrammatical short- and long-distance number agreement dependencies by native English speakers at two proficiencies in French, and the relationship between their proficiency and WM capacity in French and their sensitivity to agreement violations. Native English speakers at mid- and high proficiencies in French and native French speakers completed an acceptability judgment task, a self-paced reading task, and a WM task in French, and the English speakers also completed a WM task in English. The results showed that whereas all participants performed at ceiling on the acceptability judgment tasks, only the high-level L2 learners and native speakers showed some sensitivity to number agreement violations. For L2 learners, this sensitivity did not vary as a function of the length of the agreement dependency. The results also indicated that L2 learners tended to be more sensitive to agreement violations as their WM memory capacity in French increased. The implications of these results for theories of L2 morphological processing are discussed

Étude de la fonction de la RNase III eucaryote et identification de ses partenaires cellulaires dans un criblage double-hybrides

Chez Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Rnt1p, l'orthologue de la RNase III bactérienne, est impliquée directement et indirectement dans 3 étapes: Elle effectue le premier clivage du pré-ARNr 35S, produit les snoRNAs requis pour les modifications de l'ARNr et produit également les snRNAs nécessaires à l'épissage des ARNm des protéines ribosomales. Cependant le rôle de Rntlp dans la cellule ne semble pas s'arrêter là, car l'activité de clivage de structures d'ARN double-brins des RNases III semble requise dans d'autres voies de maturation d'ARN. Afin d'identifier d'autres rôles pour la ribonucléase III chez les levures et de mieux comprendre les voies dans lesquelles on sait qu'elle est déjà impliquée, un criblage double-hybrides a été initié pour découvrir des partenaires protéiques possibles de Rnt1p. Ce criblage s'avéra très fructueux car de nombreuses interactions de Rntlp avec des protéines ont été révélées. Fait intéressant: plusieurs protéines peuvent être reliées avec des phénotypes observés dans les levures délétées en RNT1 , qui présentent entre autres, une sensibilité aux températures élevées et une incapacité à croître sur milieu sans leucine. La signification biologique de l'association de Rntlp avec l'une de ses partenaires a été investiguée en détail."--Résumé abrégé par UMI

Expression ventriculaire des récepteurs aux oestrogènes et aux androgènes dans le coeur de souris

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

La médiation et les victimes d'actes criminels

« La médiation et les victimes d’actes criminels » présente les actes d’une journée d’étude tenue à l’Université de Montréal ayant pour but d’explorer la question de la participation des victimes d’actes criminels dans un processus de médiation. Dans le cadre de cette journée, des chercheurs et étudiants ont présenté les résultats de leurs projets de recherche portant sur les types de délits référés en médiation, les besoins des victimes dans l’application des mesures de réparation, la satisfaction des victimes à travers le processus de médiation, les facteurs impliqués dans le rétablissement des victimes d’abus sexuel et, les effets thérapeutiques et anti-thérapeutiques de la médiation.Fonds d’aide aux victimes du ministère de la Justice du CanadaIntroduction, p. 1 I - Les types de délits référés en médiation aux organismes de justice alternative du Québec, Romilda Martire, p. 3 II - Répondre aux besoins des victimes de violence dans l’application de la justice réparatrice, Martin Denis, p. 14 III- Les facteurs favorisant la satisfaction et le rétablissement des victimes qui participent à une médiation, Katie Cyr, Danielle Paquette et Jo-Anne Wemmers, p. 36 IV- Trajectoire de rétablissement des victimes d’abus sexuel résilientes, Magali Dufour et Louise Nadeau, p. 68 V - La médiation peut-elle avoir des effets thérapeutiques sur les victimes d’actes criminels? Une évaluation de l’expérience des victimes dans la médiation avec des jeunes contrevenants, Jo-Anne Wemmers et Katie Cyr, p. 92 VI- Résumé des ateliers simultanés, p. 11

Critique praxéologique d’une exposition sur le « vrai » visage de Jésus : un essai de théologie trash

Ce mémoire s'inscrit dans la méthode de praxéologie pastorale. Il analyse en qua-tre temps la mise en œuvre d'une exposition picturale qui oppose une figure alié-nante (conventionnelle et doucereuse) de Jésus à une vision trash (c'est à dire sub-versive et provocante) qui se veut plus fidèle à l'évangile. Le premier temps (ob-servation), qui présente le premier projet d'exposition ainsi que ses sources d'inspi-ration (personnelle, culturelle et artistique), amène à cerner deux problématique : la question de la vérité et l'orientation subversive (trash) du Jésus des évangiles. Le deuxième temps (interprétation) creuse tout d'abord la question de la vérité avec Hans Georg Gadamer, ce qui pousse à dépasser l'affirmation violente de la vérité du premier projet d'exposition pour le réorienter dans une perspective de questionnement. Par ailleurs, un modèle de dynamique trash permet de fonder la figure subversive et provocante de Jésus dans une relecture des évangiles, d’où un troisième temps (intervention) : l’amendement du premier projet d'exposition. En guise de conclusion, le quatrième temps (prospective) exporte des pointes de ré-flexion au-delà de l'interprétation concrète, à savoir au plan des questions de l'art et du public, du deuil de la vérité, de la dynamique trash et de la foi.This dissertation is in line with what we call praxéologie pastorale. It analyses, in four cycles, the implementation of an exhibition which opposes an alienating fig-ure of Jesus (smooth and conventional) to a trash vision of him (in other words subversive and provocative), if we are to be faithful to the Bible's inscriptions. The first cycle (observation), which presents the first exhibition project as well as the inspiring sources (personal, cultural and artistic), brings us to surround two prob-lematics: the question of the truthfulness and the subversive orientation (trash) of the Bible's image of Jesus. The second cycle (interpretation) questions the truth with Hans Georg Gadamer, which brings us to surpass the violent affirmation of the truth of the first exposition project to reorient it into that of a questioning per-spective. Furthermore, an example of the trash dynamic allows us to base the sub-versive and provocative figure of Jesus by rereading the Bible; hence the third cycle (intervention): the amendment of the first exhibition project. In conclusion, the fourth cycle (prospective) pushes the reflection beyond the concrete interpreta-tion, namely, in regard to the arts and the public, the grief of the truth, the trash dynamic and the faith

Usefulness of a patient experience study to adjust psychosocial oncology and spiritual care services according to patients’ needs

Little is known about how cancer patients experience psychosocial and spiritual care services and about what services they feel should be offered in order to help them meet their actual needs. This study’s main goal was to examine how cancer patients experienced the psychosocial oncology and spiritual care (POSC) services they received, in order to adjust the service offer according to their expressed needs and expectancies. A qualitative design approach was used. The study was conducted in two phases: (1) Collection of the patients’ perspective and divulgation of the results to the clinical team and managers; and (2) assessment of the impact of the patient experience study results on the clinical team’s services and managerial decisions. Suggestions for improvement were gathered mainly around the themes of service delivery and information about services. Contrary to what was expected, delays to access service responded to patients’ needs and expectations. According to clinical managers, patients’ perspectives on their services legitimized the maintenance of certain services, and were levers that helped make coherent and targeted changes. They felt the changes they made were patient-driven instead of being driven by staff’s perception of patients’ needs. The fact that results emerged from a fairly large and structured patient experience evaluation had an impact on the motivation of stakeholders to initiate changes. These results suggest that collecting patients’ perspective will likely help clinicians and managers tailor service delivery to meet patients’ needs and expectations and may contribute to set more informative standards regarding access to care delays