Perfiles de competencias y concepciones sobre la escritura académica en estudiantes universitarios

The version of record of this manuscript has been published and is avalilable in Cultura y Educación 2015 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/11356405.2015.1072358This study analyses Spanish undergraduates’ perceptions of their competency in academic writing, as well as their perception of the criteria that define its quality. We identified student profiles and examined their relationship with (1) certain sample characteristics, such as years of university experience, area of study and students’ gender, and (2) variables related to the process of writing, namely the students’ perception of the writing process and the importance they attribute to its characteristics. The data obtained came from the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) which was administered to 1,044 students from nine Spanish universities. Profiles were identified by means of k-means cluster analysis. The relationship between these profiles and the variables studied was examined by means of chi-squared analyses and univariate ANOVAs. Two profiles were identified: students who are confident about their writing skills and who acknowledge the importance of writing in their field of knowledge; and students who are relatively confident about their writing ability and who consider writing to be relatively important in their subject areaEste estudio analiza la percepción de estudiantes universitarios españoles sobre su competencia en escritura académica y sobre el criterio que define la calidad de dicha escritura. Se identificaron los perfiles de estudiantes y se examinó su relación con (1) algunas características de la muestra — años de experiencia universitaria, ámbito de estudio de los estudiantes y su género; y (2) variables relacionadas con el proceso de escritura — las percepciones que los estudiantes tienen sobre el proceso de escritura y la importancia que atribuyen a las características de dicho proceso. Los datos obtenidos proceden de la Encuesta Europea sobre la Escritura Académica (EEEA), que fue administrada a 1,044 estudiantes de nueve universidades españolas. La relación entre estos perfiles y las variables estudiadas fue examinada mediante análisis de chi-cuadrado y ANOVAS univariados. Se identificaron dos perfiles distintos: estudiantes que confían en sus habilidades de escritura y que reconocen la importancia de la escritura en su ámbito de conocimiento; y los estudiantes que confían relativamente en sus habilidades de escritura y que consideran que la escritura es relativamente importante en su ámbito de conocimientoThis study was partially funded by Spain´s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, DGICyT (EDU2013-46606-C2-2-R y EDU2013-46606-C2-1-R) and the European Self-perceived competencies of academic writing

Profiles of self-perceived competencies and conceptions of academic writing in university students

This study analyses Spanish undergraduates' perceptions of their competency in academic writing, as well as their perception of the criteria that define its quality. We identified student profiles and examined their relationship with (1) certain sample characteristics, such as years of university experience, area of study and students' gender, and (2) variables related to the process of writing, namely the students' perception of the writing process and the importance they attribute to its characteristics. The data obtained came from the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) which was administered to 1,044 students from nine Spanish universities. Profiles were identified by means of k-means cluster analysis. The relationship between these profiles and the variables studied was examined by means of chi-squared analyses and univariate ANOVAs. Two profiles were identified: students who are confident about their writing skills and who acknowledge the importance of writing in their field of knowledge; and students who are relatively confident about their writing ability and who consider writing to be relatively important in their subject area. ResumenEste estudio analiza la percepcion de estudiantes universitarios espanoles sobre su competencia en escritura academica y sobre el criterio que define la calidad de dicha escritura. Se identificaron los perfiles de estudiantes y se examino su relacion con (1) algunas caracteristicas de la muestra anos de experiencia universitaria, ambito de estudio de los estudiantes y su genero; y (2) variables relacionadas con el proceso de escritura las percepciones que los estudiantes tienen sobre el proceso de escritura y la importancia que atribuyen a las caracteristicas de dicho proceso. Los datos obtenidos proceden de la Encuesta Europea sobre la Escritura Academica (EEEA), que fue administrada a 1,044 estudiantes de nueve universidades espanolas. La relacion entre estos perfiles y las variables estudiadas fue examinada mediante analisis de chi-cuadrado y ANOVAS univariados. Se identificaron dos perfiles distintos: estudiantes que confian en sus habilidades de escritura y que reconocen la importancia de la escritura en su ambito de conocimiento; y los estudiantes que confian relativamente en sus habilidades de escritura y que consideran que la escritura es relativamente importante en su ambito de conocimiento

Changing patterns in the epidemiology of drug allergy

Drug allergy (DA) remains a complex and unaddressed problem worldwide that often deprives patients of optimal medication choices and places them at risk for life-threatening reactions. Underdiagnosis and overdiagnosis are common and due to the lack of standardized definitions and biomarkers. The true burden of DA is unknown, and recent efforts in data gathering through electronic medical records are starting to provide emerging patterns around the world. Ten percent of the general population engaged in health care claim to have a DA, and the most common label is penicillin allergy. Up to 20% of emergency room visits for anaphylaxis are due to DA and 15%–20% of hospitalized patients report DA. It is estimated that DA will increase based on the availability and use of new and targeted antibiotics, vaccines, chemotherapies, biologicals, and small molecules, which are aimed at improving patient's options and quality of life. Global and regional variations in the prevalence of diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus and mycobacterial diseases, and the drugs used to treat these infections have an impact on DA. The aim of this review is to provide an update on the global impact of DA by presenting emerging data on drug epidemiology in adult and pediatric populations.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga/CBUA

Improving Questioning-Answering Strategies in Learning from Multiple Complementary Texts: an Intervention Study

Studies have shown that inferential questions encourage a more in-depth understanding of texts and that students need to learn appropriate strategies for answering them, particularly when they deal with multiple texts. In this experimental study, the authors aimed to improve 8th grade students' (13- to 14 years old) ability to answer intra- and intertextual inferential questions when they read one or multiple complementary texts. The intervention was implemented by a group of middle-school history teachers. Teachers in both the intervention and control groups (IG and CG, respectively) taught the same teaching unit using the same reading materials. However, teachers in the IG participated in 12 hours of professional development seminars on analysis of their classroom practice and how to improve their questioning strategies. Post-intervention results revealed that students in the IG were significantly better than those in the CG at answering intra- and intertextual inferential questions. This difference was maintained at follow-up (two months after finishing the intervention). Students in the IG also performed better than those in the CG at a learning test. These results confirm the value of teaching students how to answer complex questions, especially when they refer to more than one text. The findings also support the value of the professional development program that enables teachers to reflect on their practice