Construction and validation of an instrument to assess the reading comprehension of students from the third to the fifth grades of elementary school

Objetivo:Este estudo teve como objetivo construir e validar um instrumento de avaliação da compreensão de leitura a fim de caracterizar o perfil de leitura e detectar dificuldades de compreensão em escolares do terceiro ao quinto ano do Ensino Fundamental.Métodos:Participaram 378 escolares divididos em trés grupos para avaliação da compreensão de proposições literais e inferenciais de micro e macroestruturas de dois textos expositivos e dois textos narrativos por meio de questões de múltipla escolha.Resultados:Os dados analisados estatisticamente indicaram valores do teste alfa de Cronbach apresentando consisténcia interna nos quatros textos aplicados para os trés grupos.Conclusão:Foi possível constatar que os escolares apresentaram menor número de erros com o aumento da escolarização e que cada tipo de texto apresentou uma dificuldade específica para os escolares.

Phonological working memory and reading in students with dyslexia

Purpose: To investigate parameters related to fluency, reading comprehension and phonological processing (operational and short-term memory) and identify potential correlation between the variables in Dyslexia and in the absence of reading difficulties.Method: One hundred and fifteen students from the third to eighth grade of elementary school were grouped into a Control Group (CG) and Group with Dyslexia (GDys). Reading of words, pseudowords and text (decoding); listening and reading comprehension; phonological short-term and working memory (repetition of pseudowords and Digit Span) were evaluated.Results: The comparison of the groups showed significant differences in decoding, phonological short-term memory (repetition of pseudowords) and answers to text-connecting questions (TC) on reading comprehension, with the worst performances identified for GDys. In this group there were negative correlations between pseudowords repetition and TC answers and total score, both on listening comprehension. No correlations were found between operational and short-term memory (Digit Span) and parameters of fluency and reading comprehension in dyslexia. For the sample without complaint, there were positive correlations between some parameters of reading fluency and repetition of pseudowords and also between answering literal questions in listening comprehension and repetition of digits on the direct and reverse order. There was no correlation with the parameters of reading comprehension.Conclusion: GDys and CG showed similar performance in listening comprehension and in understanding of explicit information and gap-filling inference on reading comprehension. Students of GDys showed worst performance in reading decoding, phonological short-term memory (pseudowords) and on inferences that depends on textual cohesion understanding in reading. There were negative correlations between pseudowords repetition and TC answers and total score, both in listening comprehension.

The perfective aspect in english and portuguese: a constrative study on semantic basis

An exam of the occurrences of the PRESENT PERFECT in Englishwas made in such a way as to establish the prevailing semantic features ofthis verbal form. I t was verified up to what an extent the meaning of thePERFECTIVE thus characterized is expressed in the corresponding Portuguesesentences in the PRETÉRITO PERFEITO. It was found that in Portuguesethe verbal inflexion itself characterizes in a much smaller degree the PERFECTIVE ASPECT.

Correlação entre habilidades básicas de leitura e compreensão de leitura

Este estudo objetivou verificar a correlação entre habilidades básicas de leitura (tempo, velocidade, precisão) e compreensão de leitura de 80 escolares do 2º ao 5º ano do Ensino Público Municipal, divididos em oito grupos, conforme o ano escolar e a presença ou não de dificuldade de aprendizagem. Como procedimento, utilizou-se a leitura oral de textos correspondentes ao ano escolar, seguida de perguntas abertas para verificação da compreensão de leitura. em todos os grupos, houve diferença estatisticamente significante com correlação entre tempo de leitura e velocidade de leitura. No grupo VI, foi observada correlação entre palavras lidas incorretamente e velocidade de leitura, enquanto o grupo VII apresentou correlação entre palavras lidas incorretamente, velocidade de leitura e compreensão de leitura. Esses dados sugerem que a habilidade de compreensão de leitura requer capacidades cognitivas de alto nível, que vão além de habilidades básicas, sendo fundamental elaborar uma representação mental do conteúdo proposicional para obter o significado global da mensagem escrita.

Verbos em movimento em inglês: uma proposta de descrição e ensino por meio do modelo de integração conceptual

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The phonological and visual basis of developmental dyslexia in Brazilian Portuguese reading children

Evidence from opaque languages suggests that visual attention processing abilities in addition to phonological skills may act as cognitive underpinnings of developmental dyslexia. We explored the role of these two cognitive abilities on reading fluency in Brazilian Portuguese, a more transparent orthography than French or English. Sixty-six children with developmental dyslexia and normal Brazilian Portuguese children participated. They were administered three tasks of phonological skills (phoneme identification, phoneme, and syllable blending) and three visual tasks (a letter global report task and two non-verbal tasks of visual closure and visual constancy). Results show that Brazilian Portuguese children with developmental dyslexia are impaired not only in phonological processing but further in visual processing. The phonological and visual processing abilities significantly and independently contribute to reading fluency in the whole population. Last, different cognitively homogeneous subtypes can be identified in the Brazilian Portuguese population of children with developmental dyslexia. Two subsets of children with developmental dyslexia were identified as having a single cognitive disorder, phonological or visual; another group exhibited a double deficit and a few children showed no visual or phonological disorder. Thus the current findings extend previous data from more opaque orthographies as French and English, in showing the importance of investigating visual processing skills in addition to phonological skills in children with developmental dyslexia whatever their language orthography transparency.

Leitura em língua estrangeira (inglês) para elaboração de resumos documentários

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC

Educandas do PEJA em conversas sobre a língua inglesa e sua influência no cotidiano

This paper was developed through literacy events (Barton, 2000) about English language, understood as a social practice of writing and reading. The subjects involved in this research were women, between forty and seventy years old, students of a Young and Adult Education Project (PEJA) that occurs at UNESP/Rio Claro, whose are looking forward to conclude basic school. We intended to see in their speeches reflections about the English language presence in our society and how they deal with this foreign language. Thus, we optimize this contact exposing those women to daily situations where English language was present. To foment dialog and ideas discussions, we brought to the classes common elements, materials such as street advertisements photos with words in English. We noticed that most students recognize the constant English presence and, even they never had formal English education, they were able to establish relations between the uses of English words in everyday Portuguese at most different spheres of life. And, at many times, foreign word comprehension is related to English words use instead of a native one leading to an English naturalization process in the Brazilians speeches world.

The influence of different implant surfaces on osseointegration in diabetes: a systematic review of the literature

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate, through a systematic review of the literature, the effects of different implant surface modifications on osseointegration in diabetic subjects. METHODS: A search was performed of the PubMed database, using a combination of the following keywords: “Implant surface” OR “Dental implants” AND “Diabetes” OR “Hyperglycemia”. Papers published in English between January 1960 and November 2013 were selected. All experimental models were considered in this search, but case reports and in vitro studies were excluded from this review. RESULTS: The initial search identified 182 articles. After reading the titles and abstracts, 39 articles were selected for full reading. Finally, 4 papers were selected after evaluation of all the papers, and these papers are discussed in this review. Due to the methodological heterogeneity of the selected studies, it was not possible to perform a meta-analysis of the data. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that although the benefits of surface modifications present in individuals with diabetes have biological plausibility, there is little evidence of the benefits of these modifications.