Beyond Chronicity: Evaluation and Temporality in Spanish-Speaking Children’s Personal Narratives

This chapter focuses on Spanish-speaking children’s evaluation and temporality in the construction of personal narratives. The study analyzes 32 personal narratives produced by 8 Andean Spanish-speaking children from the Andean city of Cusco in Peru All children were monolingual speakers of the Andean Spanish variety and came from lower-middle-class families. Half the children were preschoolers (4;9 to 5;5 years) and the other half were first-graders (6;6 to 7;8 years). Both age groups were balanced in terms of gender. Children were interviewed and tape-recorded by the author using the ConversationalMap of Narratives of Real Experiences (McCabe & Rollins, 1994) as the elicitation procedure. Narratives were transcribed using CHAT conventions (MacWhinney, 2000) and were subsequently coded for narrative components (Peterson &McCabe, 1983) and temporal organization (Genette, 1980). Results indicated that contrary to the sequentiality and single-story structure reported as characteristic of U.S. European American English-speaking children, these Andean Spanish-speaking children’s narratives present a distinctive feature labeled herein as structural evaluation. Structural evaluation takes two forms, either (1) a functional deviation from the timeline of real events; or (2) a chain of independent stories connected within the boundaries of a single narrative. These young narrators used these strategies to evaluate a specific point in the narrative, consequently affecting both the temporal organization of events and the episodic complexity of the narratives. Deviations from the timeline are usually identified as indicators of language pathology or immaturity for U.S. European American English-speaking children. In these Andean children’s narratives, conversely, departures from the timeline served a rhetorical function that reflected a sophisticated discourse skill. Results highlight the need of data-driven interpretative approaches of Spanish-speakers’ narratives in a field increasingly focused on cultural/linguistic diversity but still dominated by Anglo-centric views of development

La biblioteca Sainte-Geneviève di Henri Labrouste e la questione del carattere degli edifici

(...) Ho disegnato molto sul posto, osservando l’edificio nel suo complesso, in relazione alla città e via via sempre più nel dettaglio. Più mi addentravo nel particolare, di cui la Saint-Geneviève è ricca, e più mi rendevo conto che le risposte che stavo cercando stavano nel generale. Come se la dovizia di particolari che Labrouste si premurò di disegnare a complemento della sua biblioteca non fossero poi così importanti per farmi capire il significato dell’edificio. Significato che comprendevo invece essere sempre più legato alle necessità del momento storico oltre che alla funzione, e all’evolversi di una città che vedeva nella biblioteca pubblica un indispensabile veicolo per l’educazione e la cultura più che per l’erudizione. Da qui sembra nascere la necessità, colta da Labrouste, di definire una tipologia chiara, solida e facilmente ripetibile. Un esempio di cui disporre costruito attraverso elementi tipizzati dell’architettura come il magazzino dei libri, l’atrio d’accesso, lo scalone ed infine la grande sala di lettura. È questa, a mio avviso, la principale lezione della biblioteca Sainte-Geneviève di Henri Labrouste che ci mostra come ogni progetto dovrebbe ambire ad essere esemplare e servire per essere assunto come modello tutte le volte che fosse risultato necessario. Solo percorrendo quella strada scopriremmo quel carattere di generalità che permette ad un’architettura di non esaurirsi nella sua singolare esperienz

Emerging temporality: past tense and temporal/aspectual markers in Spanish-speaking children's intra-conversational narratives

This study describes how young Spanish-speaking children become gradually more adept at encoding temporality using grammar and discourse skills in intra-conversational narratives. The research involved parallel case studies of two Spanish-speaking children followed longitudinally from ages two to three. Type/token frequencies of verb tense, temporal/aspectual markers and narrative components were analyzed to explore interrelationships among grammatical and discourse skills. Children progressed from scattered unsystematic means of encoding temporality to mastering a basic linguistic system that included devices to mark location of events, temporal relations and aspectual meanings. The consolidation of perfective past tense to express narrative events marked a crucial developmental point which preceded an explosion of additional verb tenses and temporal markers. The value of spontaneous language data, and the need to study grammar and discourse simultaneously to construct a comprehensive developmental picture are highlighted. Results are discussed in relation to theoretical proposals on the development of temporality

Lo spettacolo dei libri: il progetto della biblioteca

Scrivendo di Leon Battista Alberti, Giorgio Grassi, dice che "I progetti di Alberti che conosciamo non sono mai progetti determinati da quella particolare occasione, da quel determinato luogo (che sembrano invece piuttosto un pretesto per la loro esistenza), sono progetti che hanno un obiettivo più ambizioso, è questo che li fa diversi, sono progetti cui Alberti affida il compito di indagare criticamente e definire formalmente alcune fra le più importanti tipologie dell’architettura (…), ognuna delle quali rappresenta, in quanto ne è l’espressione diretta, una definita questione cui l’architettura da sempre deve rispondere, una questione prevalentemente espressiva, che nasce però dalla necessità, dalla finalità pratica dell’architettura, fino a diventare, col tempo, quasi la forma simbolica di quella questione, quasi la sola espressione legittima di quella questione che l’ha resa necessaria" . Proprio mettendo in pratica quel pensiero Grassi mette a punto un’idea di biblioteca che può essere, con apparente facilità, riutilizzata ogni volta se ne presenti la necessità, poiché la forma simbolica, la sola espressione legittima di quella questione, è frutto di scelte che conducono il progetto direttamente e senza distrazioni ad occuparsi della riconoscibilità del tema

Mastering Academic Language: Organization and Stance in the Persuasive Writing of High School Students

Beyond mechanics and spelling conventions, academic writing requires progressive mastery of advanced language forms and functions. Pedagogically-useful tools to assess such language features in adolescents’ writing, however, are not yet available. This study examines language predictors of writing quality in 51 persuasive essays produced by high school students attending a linguistically and ethnically diverse inner-city school in the Northeastern U.S. Essays were scored for writing quality by a group of teachers; transcribed and analyzed to generate automated lexical and grammatical measures; and coded for discourse-level elements by researchers who were blind to essays’ writing quality scores. Regression analyses revealed that beyond the contribution of length and lexico-grammatical intricacy, the frequency of organizational markers and one particular type of epistemic stance marker, i.e., epistemic hedges, significantly predicted persuasive essays’ writing quality. Findings shed light on discourse elements relevant for the design of pedagogically-informative assessment tools

Attraverso musei di celluloide: rovesciare lo sguardo

Nell’età dell’esperienza cinematografica immersiva e digitale ha ancora senso parlare di due brevi film di 70 anni fa, in bianco e nero, che furono concepiti con l’idea di raggiungere il più vasto pubblico possibile e magari, parola che oggi suona fortissima, educarlo? Carpaccio e Caravaggio, di Umberto Barbaro e Roberto Longhi, concepiti tra il 1947 e il 1948, nel pieno della Ricostruzione, sono due pezzi esemplari di un capitolo potenziale del cinema italiano del dopoguerra, che ha poi imboccato altre strade, ha visto affermarsi altre linee politiche e teoriche, e non semplicemente i frutti del capriccio di un grande storico dell’arte e prosatore inarrivabile, aiutato da un amico colto e pieno di risorse che lavora nel mondo del cinema. I due film sono ridiscussi nel contesto del “cinema breve” degli anni ’40 e ’50, considerando anche il rapporto con lo spettatore, e, per questo, confrontati con un esempio sovietico più tardo, Vzgljanitje na litso (1966), di Pavel Kogan, che tematizza la relazione tra il pubblico e la leonardesca Madonna Litta, rovesciando lo sguardo della macchina da presa verso i fruitori dell’opera d’arte, aprendo a un controcampo della pittura che è forse simile a quello immaginato da Barbaro e Longhi.In the age of immersive and digital cinematic experience, does it still make sense to talk about two black & white 70-years-old short films, that were conceived to reach - and, perhaps, to educate - the widest audience possible? Carpaccio and Caravaggio, by Umberto Barbaro and Roberto Longhi, were produced between 1947 and 1948, in the midst of the Italian Reconstruction. They are two exemplary pieces of a potential chapter of post-war Italian cinema - which would later take different paths, with other political and theoretical lines taking hold - and not simply the fruits of the whim of a great art historian and superb writer supported by a cultured and resourceful friend working in cinema industry. The two films are discussed in the context of the “cinema corto” of the 40s and 50s. Furthermore, the relationship between the artwork and its audience will be taken into account by comparing these short movies with a later Soviet film, Vzgljanitje na litso (1966), by Pavel Kogan, which in turn deals with the reactions of museum visitors in front of the leonardesque Madonna Litta, moving the gaze of the camera towards the viewers, opening to a reverse angle of the work of art which is perhaps similar to the one imagined by Barbaro and Longhi

The impact of multiple sclerosis on the identity of mothers in Italy

Purpose: This paper reports on one of the themes that emerged from the analysis of the study, regarding the perceived influence of multiple sclerosis (MS) on the identity of mothers in the socio-cultural context of Italy. Method: In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 women at various stages of MS, with follow up interviews with seven of the women. Phenomenology guided the methodology and the analysis was conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: Through the research the value of motherhood to the women who participated emerged. The findings illustrated how many strove to maintain controlof their MS, which led to some making comparisons of themselves and other mothers and feeling different. Some women described how they adjusted their roles and found strength in being mothers but others spoke of their feelings of loss. Most women described living in the moment, appreciating the present and living each day as it came. Another significant experience was fear of stigma, both realized in the form of “pity” from others, and the perceived and actual associated stigma for their families. This contributed to why some women were reluctant to disclose their condition. The mothers who took part in this study differed in how they perceived their disabled identity. Conclusion: Although this study was conducted in the socio-cultural setting of Italy, the findings have implications for professionals working with disabled mothers and women with MS in Italy and beyond; including recognizing the value associated with fully identifying oneself as a mother, rather than solely focusing on doingmothering tasks. • Implications for Rehabilitation • Professionals need to be mindful of the value of motherhood for women with multiple sclerosis. • Professionals should support women who feel like they are battling with maintaining control of their multiple sclerosis, who may be adjusting their identity as mothers; recognizing that they may be influenced by the stage of their multiple sclerosis and whether they were diagnosed before or after having their children. • Women can have feelings of loss related to their ability to fully participate in their children’s lives and professionals should work with women to help them identify the value of their mothering role not only in physically participating in activities but also in being emotionally and physically present as a mother