The Uses of Print and Writing in Eighteenth Century European Ballet: the Case of The Letters on Dancing and Ballets by Jean-Georges Noverre

This article aims to study the uses of print, especially the Letters on Dancing and Ballets by Jean-Georges Noverre, throughout the emergence of pantomime ballet in the late eighteenth century. Noverre’s discourse is directly associated with a project to revitalize the art of dance. In this sense, books as an object are not only a support for the new aesthetic discourse, but a tool with multiple uses. It simultaneously seeks to modify the spectator’s view of the scene, legitimize the success of the new theatrical genre and value the ballet master profession.

Motivation and Vocabulary Breadth in CLIL and EFL Contexts. Different age, Same Time of Exposure

Numerous studies have found a positive connection between learners’ motivation towards foreign language and foreign language achievement. The present study examines the role of motivation in receptive vocabulary breadth (size) of two groups of Spanish learners of different ages, but all with 734 hours of instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL): a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) group in primary education and a non-CLIL (or EFL) group in secondary education. Most students in both groups were found to be highly motivated. The primary CLIL group slightly overcame the secondary non-CLIL group with respect to the mean general motivation but this is a non-significant difference. The secondary group surpass significantly the primary group in receptive vocabulary size. No relationship between the receptive vocabulary knowledge and general motivation is found in the primary CLIL group. On the other hand, a positive significant connection, although a very small one, is identified for the secondary non-CLIL group. We will discuss on the type of test, the age of students and the type of instruction as variables that could be influencing the results.

La activación de conocimientos previos (ACP): Una estrategia de comprensión lectora

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar un estudio sobre la activación de conocimientos previos como una de las estrategias que los docentes utilizan para trabajar la comprensión lectora con alumnos de segundo y tercero de Educación Primaria. Los datos que se analizan han sido recogidos mediante observaciones realizadas, durante dos cursos, en diversas aulas de la geografía española. Como resultado del análisis, se ofrece una panorámica de las maneras de activar conocimientos previos y cómo se distribuyen en función del tipo de texto y de la finalidad de la lectura.

Telenovela’s orality: from medium to a linguistic-discursive construction

Telenovela’s orality: from medium to a linguistic-discursive construction. Studies about telenovelas usually highlight their "orality". However, a literature review, specifically for Latin American telenovelas, shows that the term "orality" has been used with varying senses. In contrast with those devoted to telenovelas, literary studies have addressed the question by conceptualizing it as fictional orality. This paper takes fictional orality as a key concept to explain telenovela’s discursive peculiarities, and on that base, it distinguishes several dimensions of linguistic and discursive variation, in which such orality is being portrayed.

Una planta sin clásicos. La berenjena en la farmacología medieval y renacentista

La berenjena (Solanum melongena L.) es una planta solanácea de múltiples variedades, cuyos ancestros salvajes se sitúan en Indochina y el este de África. Su cultivo fue muy temprano en zonas de China e India. Aun así, no se extendió al Occidente antiguo ni apenas se conoció, de ahí su ausencia en los textos clásicos de botánica y farmacología. Fueron los árabes quienes llevaron el cultivo de la planta por el Norte de África y Al-Andalus, de donde pasó ya a Europa. Los primeros testimonios occidentales de la berenjena aparecen en traducciones latinas de textos árabes, para incorporarse luego a la literatura farmacológica medieval y, más tarde ya, a la del Renacimiento, que empezó a tratar de ella por su posible parecido con una especie de mandrágora. Pese a que se le reconocían algunas virtudes medicinales, siempre se la tuvo bajo sospecha por ser de sabor poco agradable, indigesta y causante de algunas afecciones. Solo los botánicos de finales del Renacimiento describirían la planta y sus variedades con criterios más «científicos» y botánicos, ya sin apenas intereses farmacológicos.

Item and task difficulty in a B2 reading examination: perceptions of test-takers and CEFR alignment experts compared with psychometric measurements

The article presents a study of a CEFR B2-level reading subtest that is part of the Slovenian national secondary school leaving examination in English as a foreign language, and compares the test-taker actual performance (objective difficulty) with the test-taker and expert perceptions of item difficulty (subjective difficulty). The study also analyses the test-takers’ comments on item difficulty obtained from a while-reading questionnaire. The results are discussed in the framework of the existing research in the fields of (the assessment of) reading comprehension, and are addressed with regard to their implications for item-writing, FL teaching and curriculum development.

El ritual en los "Textos de las Pirámides": sintaxis, texto y significado

Este trabajo pretende explorar la dimensión ritual en los Textos de las Pirámides, el corpus de literatura religiosa extensa más antiguo de la humanidad. La naturaleza variada de sus componentes textuales ha impedido que los egiptólogos comprendan en profundidad las complejidades de la colección y los contextos originales en los que estos textos (ritos) aparecieron. La aplicación de la teoría del ritual, principalmente la aproximación de la sintaxis ritual, ofrece a los investigadores un marco excelente de análisis e interpretación del corpus, su estructura y función. Sujeto a las reglas de la sintaxis ritual es posible exponer los múltiples niveles de significado en el corpus para la resurrección y salvación del difunto.

Interpretation and typology Spanish indefinite pronoun uno in three discoursive genres

This study investigates the Spanish indefinite pronoun uno (“one”). After a detailed analysis of its occurrences in authentic language, we find that its interpretation varies depending on the linguistic context. Therefore, we examine which elements of the context - we focus on the broader context, beyond the sentence – have an impact on its interpretation and develop a typology of the indefinite pronoun as to its interpretation. The pronoun may be interpreted as completely generic or specific (referring to the speaker, the listener or a third person). Its interpretation can also be located in an intermediate position between these interpretive extremes.In addition, we compare its use in various discursive genres - spontaneous conversations, academic essays and web forum - which are distinguished by the presence or absence of interactivity and of more or less subjectivity / intersubjectivity. The comparison shows that pronoun use depends on these characteristics.

Receptive Vocabulary of CLIL and Non-CLIL Primary and Secondary School Learners

CLIL instruction has been reported to be beneficial for foreign language vocabulary learning since CLIL students show higher vocabulary profiles than students of their same age in traditional EFL contexts. However, to our knowledge, the receptive vocabulary knowledge of CLIL and non-CLIL learners at the end of primary and secondary education has not been examined yet. Hence, this study aims at comparing the receptive vocabulary size 79 CLIL primary learners with the receptive vocabulary knowledge of 331 non-CLIL learners at the end of primary and secondary school. Sex-based differences were also analysed. The 2k Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) was used for the purposes of the study. Results revealed that learners’ receptive vocabulary sizes lie within the most frequent 1000 words, non-CLIL secondary school students throw better results than primary students but the differences between the secondary group and the CLIL group are not statistically significant. As for sex-based differences, we found no significant differences among the groups. These findings led us to believe that the CLIL approach offers a benefit for vocabulary acquisition since CLIL learners have been exposed to the foreign language for a shorter period of time and the results are quite similar to their non-CLIL secondary school partners.