A structural model of cognitive-motivational variables as explanatory factors of academic achievement in Spanish Language and Mathematics

In recent years, several explanatory models have been developed which attempt to analyse the predictive worth of various factors in relation to academic achievement, as well as the direct and indirect effects that they produce. The aim of this study was to examine a structural model incorporating various cognitive and motivational variables which influence student achievement in the two basic core skills in the Spanish curriculum: Spanish Language and Mathematics. These variables included differential aptitudes, specific self-concept, goal orientations, effort and learning strategies. The sample comprised 341 Spanish students in their first year of Compulsory Secondary Education. Various tests and questionnaires were used to assess each student, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to study the relationships in the initial model. The proposed model obtained a satisfactory fit for the two subjects studied, and all the relationships hypothesised were significant. The variable with the most explanatory power regarding academic achievement was mathematical and verbal aptitude. Also notable was the direct influence of specific self-concept on achievement, goal-orientation and effort, as was the mediatory effect that effort and learning strategies had between academic goals and final achievement.

False anglicisms in the Spanish language of fashion and beauty

Many works have already dealt with anglicisms in Spanish, especially in science and information technologies. However, despite the high and growing number of English terms incorporated daily by the language of fashion, it has received comparative less attention in lexicographic and terminological studies than that of other areas, such as science or business. For several reasons, which include prestige or peer pressure, Spanish has not only adopted English words with new meanings and usage, but also contains other forms based on English patterns which users seem to consider more accurate or expressive. This paper concentrates on false anglicisms as indicators of some of the special relationships and influences between languages arising from the pervasive presence of English. We shall look at the Spanish language of fashion, which, in addition to genuine anglicisms, has for some time been using English words with different meanings, or even created items of its own (or imported them from other languages) with the appearance of English words. These false anglicisms, which have proven extremely popular in receiving languages (not only in Spanish) have frequently been disseminated by youth magazines and the new digital media, both in general spheres and in fashion-specific contexts.

All Is not English that Glitters: False Anglicisms in the Spanish Language of Sports

Over the past decades, many studies have dealt with Anglicisms in Spanish, not only in science and technology, but also in other areas such as business, fashion and even sports. However, in spite of the large number of works on Spanish Anglicisms in sports, these have often disregarded the distinction between Anglicisms and false Anglicisms. Given their importance as evidence of the particular relationships between languages, this article focuses on the use of false Anglicisms in the Spanish language of sports, which has not only adopted English words giving them new meanings and usage, but has also either imported items with an English appearance from other languages or created its own forms based on English patterns. Although these false Anglicisms, which have proven extremely popular in various European languages (not only Spanish), have frequently been used and disseminated, as some examples will prove, little attention has been paid to their differences with the English term or their non-English origin.

Recognizing and tagging temporal expressions in Spanish

This paper shows a system about the recognition of temporal expressions in Spanish and the resolution of their temporal reference. For the identification and recognition of temporal expressions we have based on a temporal expression grammar and for the resolution on an inference engine, where we have the information necessary to do the date operation based on the recognized expressions. For further information treatment, the output is proposed by means of XML tags in order to add standard information of the resolution obtained. Different kinds of annotation of temporal expressions are explained in another articles [WILSON2001][KATZ2001]. In the evaluation of our proposal we have obtained successful results.

AliQAn, Spanish QA system at multilingual QA@CLEF-2008

Comunicaci��n presentada en Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF 2008), Aarhus, Denmark, September 17-19, 2008.

When Spanish owns English words

The English language and the Internet, both separately and taken together, are nowadays well-acknowledged as powerful forces which influence and affect the lexico-grammatical characteristics of other languages world-wide. In fact, many authors like Crystal (2004) have pointed out the emergence of the so-called Netspeak, that is, the language used in the Net or World Wide Web; as Crystal himself (2004: 19) puts it, ���a type of language displaying features that are unique to the Internet [���] arising out of its character as a medium which is electronic, global and interactive���. This ���language���, however, may be differently understood: either as an adaptation of the English language proper to internet requirements and purposes, or as a new and rapidly-changing and developing language as a result of a rapid evolution or adaptation to Internet requirements of almost all world languages, for whom English is a trendsetter. If the second and probably most plausible interpretation is adopted, there are three salient features of ���Netspeak���: (a) the rapid expansion of all its new linguistic developments thanks to the Internet itself, which may lead to the generalization and widespread acceptance of new words, coinages, or meanings, hundreds of times faster than was the case with the printed media. As said above, (b) the visible influence of English, the most prevalent language on the Internet. Consequently, (c) this new language tends to reduce the ���distance��� between English and other languages as well as the ignorance of the former by speakers of other languages, since the ���Netspeak��� version of the latter adopts grammatical, syntactic and lexical features of English. Thus, linguistic differences may even disappear when code-switching and/or borrowing occurs, as whole fragments of English appear in other language contexts. As a consequence of the new situation, an ideal context appears for interlanguage or multilingual word formation to thrive: puns, blends, compounds and word creativity in general find in the web the ideal place to gain rapid acceptance world-wide, as a result of fashion, coincidence, or sheer merit of the new linguistic proposals.

Spanish Nursing Students' Practical Experience of Computer Applications in Nursing

This study aimed to determine the level of computer practical experience in a sample of Spanish nursing students. Each student was given a Spanish language questionnaire, modified from an original used previously with medical students at the Medical School of North Carolina University (USA) and also at the Education Unit of Hospital General Universitario del Mar (Spain). The 10-item self-report questionnaire probed for information about practical experience with computers. A total of 126 students made up the sample. The majority were female (80.2%; n=101). The results showed that just over half (57.1%, n=72) of the students had used a computer game (three or more times before), and that only one third (37.3%, n=47) had the experience of using a word processing package. Moreover, other applications and IT-based facilities (e.g. statistical packages, e-mail, databases, CD-ROM searches, programming languages and computer-assisted learning) had never been used by the majority of students. The student nurses' practical experience was less than that reported for medical students in previous studies.

The influence of English on Spanish fashion terminology: -ing forms

As has been the case with other European languages, Spanish has welcomed the arrival of English words, in spite of all purist efforts to the contrary. Moreover, it has not only adopted and adapted true Anglicisms but it has also created other forms based on English patterns, such mechanisms particularly visible in the fashion jargon in Spanish. In this paper we focus on -ing forms in the Spanish language of fashion, which may at times be genuine Anglicisms (formal or semantic ones) or false Anglicisms (analogical creations, that is, English-looking lexical elements), found in Spanish editions of fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle, InStyle, Grazia, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan. The main aim of this study is to qualitatively analyse and classify -ing Anglicisms and false Anglicisms in the aforementioned jargon in order to establish whether the impact of English in the Spanish fashion jargon is so important as to replace native words and expressions.

Evidence-based editing: factors influencing the number of citations in a national journal

Purpose: Citations received by papers published within a journal serve to increase its bibliometric impact. The objective of this paper was to assess the influence of publication language, article type, number of authors, and year of publication on the citations received by papers published in Gaceta Sanitaria, a Spanish-language journal of public health. Methods: The information sources were the journal website and the Web of Knowledge, of the Institute of Scientific Information. The period analyzed was from 2007 to 2010. We included original articles, brief original articles, and reviews published within that period. We extracted manually information regarding the variables analyzed and we also differentiated among total citations and self-citations. We constructed logistic regression models to analyze the probability of a Gaceta Sanitaria paper to be cited or not, taking into account the aforementioned independent variables. We also analyzed the probability of receiving citations from non-Spanish authors. Results: Two hundred forty papers fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The included papers received a total of 287 citations, which became 202 when excluding self-citations. The only variable influencing the probability of being cited was the publication year. After excluding never cited papers, time since publication and review papers had the highest probabilities of being cited. Papers in English and review articles had a higher probability of citation from non-Spanish authors. Conclusions: Publication language has no influence on the citations received by a national, non-English journal. Reviews in English have the highest probability of citation from abroad. Editors should decide how to manage this information when deciding policies to raise the bibliometric impact factor of their journals.

Blogs para la ense��anza de literatura infantil y juvenil en espa��ol: espacio central de la LIJ 2.0

Para analizar la recepci��n de las obras de literatura infantil y juvenil en internet, los blogs contin��an siendo un espacio fundamental para la opini��n cr��tica, la reflexi��n acad��mica y la pr��ctica docente configur��ndose como eje central del concepto LIJ 2.0. Despu��s de analizar dicho concepto, se presentar��n en primer lugar los principales blogs de la LIJ en castellano, donde encontramos espacios de escritores e ilustradores, propuestas de animaci��n a la lectura, repositorios de obras y cr��tica literaria, centr��ndonos m��s en la parte de difusi��n y animaci��n a la lectura que en la de creaci��n literaria. Posteriormente se presentar��n el recorrido did��ctico realizado a lo largo de cinco a��os en la Universidad de Alicante para explotar dichas herramientas en distintos niveles educativos.

La (autoantonimia) al-���dad en las lenguas, seg��n la teor��a ���el esquema b��sico de la referencia���

En nuestro art��culo, vamos a analizar qu�� quiere decir de autoantonimia (al-���dad), las razones de su aparici��n en la lengua seg��n las opiniones de los antiguos ling��istas ��rabes, y, finalmente, vamos a escoger algunas palabras autoant��nimas, tanto en la lengua ��rabe como en la lengua espa��ola, dando explicaciones de su aparici��n seg��n nuestra teor��a ���el esquema b��sico de la referencia���, que es una teor��a desarrollada a partir del legado ��rabe y la teor��a cognitiva, por eso hemos usado la terminolog��a de la gram��tica cognitiva. Seg��n esta teor��a, el signo ling����stico es la interacci��n entre cuatro componentes: la percepci��n, la imaginaci��n, la comprensi��n y la simbolizaci��n. Nuestra teor��a pretende ser la base de una ling����stica moderna y hol��stica, muy diferente de la ling����stica tradicional. Es el primer art��culo acad��mico sobre el tema de las palabras autoant��nimas en la lengua espa��ola.

��C��mo se relaciona la ansiedad escolar con el rendimiento acad��mico?

Se conoce poco sobre la relaci��n existente entre la ansiedad escolar y el rendimiento acad��mico de los alumnos. Este estudio analiz�� la relaci��n entre ansiedad escolar y el rendimiento acad��mico en una poblaci��n de 520 estudiantes espa��oles de 12 a 18 a��os (M = 15.38, DE = 1.95). Los resultados revelaron que los estudiantes con alto rendimiento en castellano (lengua y literatura) presentaron puntuaciones significativamente m��s altas en ansiedad ante el fracaso y castigo escolar, ansiedad ante la agresi��n, ansiedad conductual y ansiedad psicofisiol��gica. Igualmente, los estudiantes con alto rendimiento en matem��ticas presentaron puntuaciones significativamente m��s altas en ansiedad ante el fracaso y castigo escolar, ansiedad ante la agresi��n y ansiedad conductual. Adem��s, los alumnos con ��xito acad��mico presentaron puntuaciones significativamente m��s altas en ansiedad ante el fracaso y castigo escolar, ansiedad conductual y ansiedad psicofisiol��gica. Sin embargo, los alumnos con fracaso escolar presentaron puntuaciones significativamente m��s altas en ansiedad ante la evaluaci��n social. Finalmente, la ansiedad ante el fracaso y castigo escolar fue un predictor significativo del alto rendimiento en las asignaturas de castellano (lengua y literatura) y matem��ticas, mientras que la ansiedad ante el fracaso y castigo escolar y la ansiedad ante la evaluaci��n social fueron predictores significativos del ��xito acad��mico general. As��, los resultados indican un mayor rendimiento acad��mico de los alumnos que presentan determinados temores escolares. Estos resultados podr��an ser utilizados por profesores, psic��logos escolares y psic��logos cl��nicos como base emp��rica para desarrollar acciones preventivas y de intervenci��n m��s eficaces del bajo rendimiento acad��mico.

Evaluaci��n del bienestar espiritual en pacientes en cuidados paliativos

Objetivo: La evaluaci��n del bienestar espiritual del paciente es un aspecto cr��tico y fundamental en la atenci��n hol��stica y multidisciplinar. Disponer de un instrumento v��lido de evaluaci��n de la espiritualidad con finalidad tanto investigadora como cl��nica es muy conveniente. En este estudio se examina la presencia de bienestar espiritual, o sentido de la vida, en pacientes en cuidados paliativos a trav��s de un cuestionario con garant��as psicom��tricas de calidad. Pacientes y M��todos: Han participado en este estudio con dise��o transversal un total de 60 pacientes en cuidados paliativos. El instrumento b��sico empleado ha sido la versi��n espa��ola del Cuestionario del Sentido de la Vida (Meaning in Life Scale), de 21 ��tems y 4 escalas: Prop��sito, Falta de significado, Paz, y Beneficios de la espiritualidad. Se proporciona, tambi��n, una puntuaci��n global de espiritualidad. Se registraron, adem��s, variables de tipo cl��nico y sociodemogr��fico, as�� como estimaciones del estado de salud, calidad de vida (general y actual), felicidad personal, el grado de religiosidad y la creencia en la existencia de vida ultraterrena. Resultados: Los resultados muestran que la versi��n espa��ola de este instrumento (Cuestionario del Sentido de la Vida [Meaning in Life Scale]) es una medida de bienestar espiritual con garant��as psicom��tricas de calidad (buena fiabilidad y validez), adecuada para evaluar la complejas exigencias generadas por la enfermedad cr��nica del paciente en cuidados paliativos. El bienestar espiritual se relaciona significativamente con diversas variables de calidad de vida, percepci��n de salud, felicidad personal o religiosidad. No existe una relaci��n significativa entre las puntuaciones de espiritualidad y variables sociodemogr��ficas como la edad o el sexo. La presencia de bienestar espiritual en estos pacientes es m��s baja de la esperada. Conclusi��n: Este cuestionario de espiritualidad resulta un instrumento v��lido para valorar las 4 dimensiones b��sicas del bienestar espiritual. Los resultados sugieren que considerar y evaluar el bienestar espiritual de los pacientes en cuidados paliativos puede ser de ayuda para la pr��ctica cl��nica. La presencia de espiritualidad parece desempe��ar un papel importante en el bienestar psicol��gico, el estado de salud y la calidad de vida percibidos por el paciente en cuidados paliativos. El grado de bienestar espiritual de estos pacientes es relativamente bajo.

Caracter��sticas de los v��deos en espa��ol publicados en Youtube sobre la vacuna contra el virus del papiloma humano

Fundamentos: Internet constituye un recurso de b��squeda de informaci��n relacionada con la salud. El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer las caracter��sticas de los v��deos en idioma espa��ol de YouTube relacionados con la vacuna contra el virus del papiloma humano (VPH). M��todos: Se realiz�� un estudio observacional a partir de una b��squeda en YouTube el 26 de julio de 2013, con las palabras claves: ���vacuna virus papiloma humano���, ���vacuna VPH���, ���vacuna Gardasil���, ���vacuna Cervarix���. Se establecieron categor��as por tipo, fuente de publicaci��n y predisposici��n favorable o no hacia la vacuna. Se registr�� el n��mero de visitas, tiempo de duraci��n de los videos y origen de los 20 v��deos m��s visitados. Resultados. Se encontraron 1.080 videos registrados, 170 fueron seleccionados y clasificados como: noticias locales (n=39; 37 favorables, 2 desfavorables; 2:06:29; 42972 visitas), noticias nacionales (n=32; 30/2; 1:49:27; 50138 visitas), creados por subscritores de YouTube (n=21; 13/8; 2:50:35; 144655 visitas), entrevistas (n=21; 20/1; 1:44:39; 10991 visitas), anuncios (n=21; 19/2; 0:27:05; 28435 visitas), conferencias (n=17; 15/2; 3:25:39; 27206 visitas), documentales (n=16; 12/4; 2:11:31; 30629 visitas), y noticias internacionales (n=3; 3/0; 0:11:33; 1667 visitas). De los 20 videos m��s reproducidos predominan los favorables a la vacunaci��n (n=12; 0:43:43; 161.789 visitas) frente a los desfavorables (n=8; 2:44:14; 86.583 visitas). Conclusiones. Predominan los videos que tiene una opini��n favorable hacia la vacuna contra el VPH, aunque los videos de contenido negativo son los m��s extensos y reproducidos.

Relationship between sociometric types and academic achievement in a sample of compulsory secondary education students

The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between sociometric types, behavioural categories and academic achievement in a sample of 1,349 compulsory secondary education students (51.7% boys), ranging in age from 12 to 16 years. The students��� sociometric identification was performed by using the Programa Socio and academic performance was measured by school marks provided by teachers in the subjects of Spanish language, mathematics and average academic performance. The results show that sociometric types were significant predictors of academic achievement, as students who were rated positively by their peers (popular, leaders, collaborators and good students) were more likely to have high academic achievement (in mathematics, Spanish language and average academic achievement) than students rated negatively by peers (rejected-aggressive, rejected-shy, neglected and bullies).