Languages Learning at Key Stage 2. A Longitudinal Study. Final report.

In 2006, The Open University, the University of Southampton and Canterbury Christ Church University were commissioned by the then Department for Education and Skills (DfES), now Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to conduct a three-year longitudinal study of languages learning at Key Stage 2 (KS2). The qualitative study was designed to explore provision, practice and developments over three school years between 2006/07 and 2008/09 in a sample of primary schools and explore children’s achievement in oracy and literacy, as well as the possible broader cross-curricular impact of languages learning.

Vocabulary is important for some, but not all reading skills

Although there is evidence for a close link between the development of oral vocabulary and reading comprehension, less clear is whether oral vocabulary skills relate to the development of word-level reading skills. This study investigated vocabulary and literacy in 81 children aged 8 to 10 years. In regression analyses, vocabulary accounted for unique variance in exception word reading and reading comprehension, but not text reading accuracy, decoding, or regular word reading. Consistent with these data, children with poor reading comprehension exhibited oral vocabulary weaknesses and read fewer exception words correctly. These findings demonstrate that oral vocabulary is associated with some, but not all, reading skills. Results are discussed in terms of current models of reading development.

Reading the world through words: cultural themes in heritage Chinese language textbooks

This paper explores the social and cultural knowledge embedded in the textbooks for language and literacy education in a Chinese heritage language school, the Zhonguo School, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It examines how Chinese language arts textbooks introduce the child reader to cultural knowledge considered legitimate and valued in China as well as in Chinese diasporan communities. Furthermore, it looks at the construction of cultural knowledge in Chinese language textbooks in relation to the mainstream ideology to which immigrant children are exposed in and out of mainstream school classrooms. It looks at how the power relationship between legitimate cultural knowledge in majority and minority contexts is established and to what extent it affects language minority students' literacy practices in mainstream school and heritage language school contexts. Data sources are the Chinese textbooks used from kindergarten to Grade 5 in a Chinese heritage language school.

Children’s eye movements during reading

Children’s eye movements during reading. In this chapter, we evaluate the literature on children’s eye movements during reading to date. We describe the basic, developmental changes that occur in eye movement behaviour during reading, discuss age-related changes in the extent and time course of information extraction during fixations in reading, and compare the effects of visual and linguistic manipulations in the text on children’s eye movement behaviour in relation to skilled adult readers. We argue that future research will benefit from examining how eye movement behaviour during reading develops in relation to language and literacy skills, and use of computational modelling with children’s eye movement data may improve our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the progression from beginning to skilled reader.

Disambiguating with Bourdieu: unravelling policy from practice in the teaching of children with English as an additional language

This article explores the use of Bourdieusian analysis for examining how policy and practice interact in the teaching of English and therefore in the development of children’s language and literacy; in particular how Bourdieusian analysis uncovers the ways in which teachers’ practice has been influenced unconsciously by centralised shaping of the curriculum for English in England while the pupil demographic in schools has become more linguistically diverse. Data were collected from interviews with both newly qualified and very experienced primary school (pupil ages 5 – 11) teachers, whose pedagogical norms for the teaching of English were challenged by the arrival of non-English speakers in their classrooms. The discussion highlights how the use of Bourdieusian constructs of field, habitus and capital can disambiguate teachers’ practical classroom decisions from the influences of policy expectations.

Aprendizagem de escrita de língua de sinais pelo sistema SignWriting : língua de sinais no papel e no computador

Esta tese trata de como o sistema SignWriting pode servir de suporte a uma nova proposta pedagógica ao ensino da escrita de língua de sinais e letramento para crianças surdas usuárias da Língua Brasileira de Sinais - Libras e da Língua de Sinais Francesa - LSF. Escrever deve ser uma atividade significativa para a criança. No caso da criança surda, a escrita fundamenta-se em sua competência na língua de sinais, sem precisar da intermediação da língua oral. A criança surda, quando em um ambiente onde ela e seus colegas se comunicam em língua de sinais, efetivamente tenta escrever sinais, quando é incentivada a fazê-lo. Em nossos experimentos, usamos o sistema SignWriting para mostrar ás crianças surdas (e a seus pais e professores) como escrever textos em línguas de sinais de ambas as formas: manuscrita e impressa, usando o programa Sign Writer para editar textos em línguas de sinais. A base teórica que apóia a tese é a abordagem bilíngüe para a educação de surdos, a língua de sinais, a teoria de Piaget, e de Ferreiro quando trata das etapas da alfabetização em língua oral. Esta investigação possui um caráter exploratório, em que o delineamento metodológico é dado pela pesquisa-ação. O primeiro estudo apresenta um levantamento do processo de aquisição da escrita de sinais, em sua forma manuscrita, pela criança e jovem surdo no Brasil e na França. O segundo estudo trata da ajuda que a informática pode dar a essa aquisição e de como utilizamos os softwares de escrita de língua de sinais em aulas de introdução ao uso do computador e em transcrições da LSF de corpus vídeo para a escrita de língua de sinais. Os resultados sugerem que as crianças evoluem em sua escrita, pois muitos signos que elas escreveram não foram sugeridos pela experimentadora, nem por outro meio, mas surgiram espontaneamente. A introdução de um software como o Sign Writer ou o SW-Edit nas classes para introduzir as TI traz a essas aulas muito maior interesse do que quando usamos um editor de textos na língua oral. Também as produções das crianças são mais sofisticadas. As conclusões indicam que a escrita de língua de sinais incorporada à educação das crianças surdas pode significar um avanço significativo na consolidação de uma educação realmente bilíngüe, na evolução das línguas de sinais e aponta para a possibilidade de novas abordagens ao ensino da língua oral como segunda língua.

Determinantes socioeconômicos e ambientais do declínio das hospitalizações por diarréias em lactentes no Rio Grande do Norte - 1992 a 2001

There was a significant decline in hospitalizations for acute diarrhea in children younger than 1 year of age in Brazil between 1992 to 2001. The less economically developed state of Rio Grande do Norte is a case example of the national trend. In this work, we show a significant association between improvements in socioeconomic variables as well as increased access to sanitation and the decreased rate of hospitalization. Additionally, we observed a positive, seasonal correlation between rainfall and hospitalizations. Most notably, however, we show that improvements in income and inflation were positively correlated with a decline in hospitalizations. Improvements in public health infrastructure, socioeconomic variables like education and literacy, and increased investment in health services were important in reducing severe early childhood diarrheas. However, the data suggests that increased buying power and reductions in poverty played an equally crucial role in reducing hospitalizations for acute diarrhea in infants in Brazil. The work includes elements of the demography of the period for the age groups involved, children under one year, women in fertile age and fertility rate

Avaliar na alfabetização: uma reflexão sobre as dificuldades docentes

Our work leads up to the context of evaluation during alphabetization process as a moment of an educational action cycle that requires planning, teaching and learning of reading and writing. It aimed to research the difficulties lived by teachers of a public elementary school during the specific task of evaluating children in the alphabetization process. This qualitative research took place as a case study at Emília Ramos Municipal School, in Natal, capital city of Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil. Semi-structured interview and questionnaire were used as fact-gathering proceedings. Two pedagogical advisers and seven teachers formed the group of research subjects. All of them worked with elementary school first cycle classes, in that school, in the year of 2003. The analysis shows that teachers difficulties concern to theoretic questions of conceptual and methodological orders, although these questions indicate an important knowledge of teachers about alphabetization and evaluation. Our reflection about these problems articulates two points: alphabetization and evaluation. Concerning alphabetization, we took reference on Psychogenetic studies of Ferreiro and Teberosky (1985) which emphasizes fundamental points for a coherent evaluation practice: a) objective knowledge is not a beginning data; it is a construction process, which the learner does not conquest step by step on a linear way; b) objective knowledge acquisition happens through a global re-construction, and some of them may seem mistakes if we consider conventional writing but these mistakes are constructive and necessary. We also took reference on Interactionist-constructivist theory. Here, Vygotsky (1984) proposes that writing must be specially understood as language, symbolical activity, cultural practice. So, acquisition of writing process, as language learning, must be understood as a development of abilities relative to symbolical and communicative activity of sense production. On this way, Hoffmann (1994) advises that is necessary to overtake current evaluation practices, limited by their terminality character, only pointing right or wrong questions. According to a new paradigm, valuation appears as one of the mediations by which teachers must indicate re-ordination of pupil s knowledge, and re-organize their own practices too. The comprehensions of these questions plays decisive part in order to overtake our difficulties in evaluating. Besides, it points a way to build a coherent valuate practice, with an emancipating character and able to create new teaching-and-learning situations, leading to a better alphabetization Pedagogy

Entre saberes e práticas :a alfabetização de jovens e adultos no MOVA Belém

This research analyses the experience of the Alphabetization of Young and Adults Movement named Prof. Paulo Freire (MOVA Belém) in the time period 2001-2004. the study intends to reveal which knowledge/activities are constituent of pedagogical practices of popular alfhabetzers. It also intends to contribute with the registry in the history of alphabetization of young and adults in Belém, without any intention of making general the analyzed aspects. The research is characterized by the use of a qualitative approach of the type ethnographic, because it involves an analysis that considers at the same time the local and global aspects. It analysis documents produced in the period and uses semi-structured interviews for data construction. It tries to show living cues and experiences of the pedagogical activities found in the theoretical references of Brandão (2003), Freire (1979; 1987; 1992), Gadotti (1998; 2000), Ribeiro (1999; 2003), Santos (1995; 2000), Soares (1985; 1998; 2003) and other authors of alphabetization and popular education fields. This multiplicity of bibliographical and empirical references has produced a heterogeneous framework, that is much more complex and multifaceted than the one which would be constituted as the knowledge of the pedagogical, alphabetizer practice. It can not happen, however, an absolute concept that is clear and total that resumes significance and matter of the pedagogical, alphabetization practice of young and adults. So, the study establishes a relativism between them assuming as valid the ones that are of popular and democratic types. At last but not least, it intended to contribute to the history of the alphabetization of youngsters and adults in Belém with a popular education perspective without any pretension to turn the analyzed aspects into generalized ones

Autonomy Markers in Brazilian Adults With Intellectual Disabilities

The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between autonomy markers in adult people with intellectual disabilities (ID) and variables such as intelligence quotient (IQ), early aging, and literacy. Participants were 47 adults with ID (33 men; aged 28-58 years with nonspecific etiology, 34 literate). All participants were trainees at the Center for Training of Capacity and Orientation for Employment at Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais de São Paulo, São Paulo State, Brazil. They were divided into two age groups: younger (n = 27, mean age 31.85; +/- 2.23), and older (n = 38, mean age 41.84; +/- 5.54). They were administered intelligence scales twice, and answered questions related to social participation, community integration, and choice-making; the percentage of item responses leaning toward self-determination and freedom in choice-making was considered in defining the autonomy score. For both groups, IQ declined from the first to the second assessment. Autonomy scores were more determined by IQ classification than by literacy. Authors concluded that autonomy in people with ID is a multifactorial phenomenon associated with cognitive decline.

Práticas de leitura e escrita na formação em ciências e tecnologia

The discussion about the need of improving the reading and the writing practices of professionals from the most different knowledge areas has caused, in Brazilian and foreign institutions of higher education, a movement of insertion of curricula components whose focus is the reading and the writing in academic formation. To contributing with the reflection about that discussion, this master s degree dissertation has as object of study the situated linguistic formation. Our general objective is to analyze a linguistic formation proposal to graduating students from the Bachelor s degree in Science and Technology (BCT) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). To constructing that analysis, we have established four specific objectives: a) verifying if the ten brazilian Institutions of Higher Education which offer the BCT have curricula components of reading and writing directed to that formation; b) describing how these Bachelor s degree reading and writing curricula components are presented; c) examining differences and similarities which, in general, exist among curricula components related to reading and writing in each one of the researched institutions; d) revealing which categories delineate the linguistic formation developed in the BCT of the UFRN. In order to reaching our goals, this work has been based on the dialogical conception of the language (BAKHTIN [1952-1953] 2010), on the literacy studies (KLEIMAN [1995] 2008; TINOCO, 2008) and on the critical pedagogy (FREIRE, 1980; 2007). Methodologically, this qualitative research of ethnographic direction (ANDRÉ, 1995) is grounded in Applied Linguistics (PEREIRA; ROCA, 2009; PASCHOAL; CELANI (Orgs.), 1992). This research has the contribution of professors, scholars and monitors of the field of Reading and Writing Practices (PLE) and also graduating students from the UFRN BCT which had already studied PLE-I and/or PLE-II. The tools used for data collection/generation were: curricula components programs related to reading and writing in the BCT in the researched higher education institutions (IES), questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and profiles. The generated data allowed us to establish the following analysis categories: situationality (real situation, thematic contemporaneity and thematic focalization) and literacy projects (learning community and protagonism). The results achieved show that most IES which offer BCT worry about improving the reading and writing competences of their graduating students; however, there is still a lot to be done (increase of the number of class hours, contents and methodological aspects review, theoretical referential sophistication) so that the curricula components can be configured as a situated and significant linguistic formation. Finally, we make some suggestions for improving the work which has been made in the BCT of the UFRN, making then the mother tongue teaching in courses of the area of exact and technological sciences stronger

Formação de classes ordinais após a aprendizagem de seqüências independentes

A aquisição de relações ordinais entre estímulos arbitrários é uma importante habilidade comportamental, requisito para a aprendizagem de comportamentos acadêmicos, especialmente a alfabetização. O propósito deste estudo foi investigar o efeito do ensino de seqüências de dois termos com sobreposição na emergência de relações ordinais com mais de dois estímulos. A sobreposição ocorre quando o último estímulo em uma seqüência de dois estímulos é o primeiro de outra seqüência (e.g., S1 -> S2 e S2 ->S3, onde S2 é o estímulo sobreposto). Nas Etapas 1 e 2 de um experimento conduzido com cinco estudantes do ensino fundamental foram ensinadas seqüências de dois termos com os cinco estímulos de um conjunto A (A1 -> A2, A2 -> A3, A3 -> A4, A4 ->A5) e os cinco de um conjunto B (B1 -> B2, B2 ->B3, B3 -> B4, B4 -> B5). Estabelecida essa linha de base, foram conduzidos testes da emergência de relações ordinais com três, quatro e cinco termos dos conjuntos A e B, separadamente. A Etapa 3 avaliou se estímulos das seqüências ensinadas eram mutuamente substituíveis, com base na mesma função ordinal (primeiro, secundo, etc.). Os estudantes compuseram as relações ordinais ensinadas e apresentaram relações ordinais emergentes com estímulos dos conjuntos A e B, separadamente. Três estudantes também realizaram a substituição mútua entre estímulos dos conjuntos A e B na Etapa 3. Esses resultados sugerem a formação de cinco classes de estímulos (A1B1, A2B2, etc.), cada uma consistindo de estímulos que ocuparam a mesma função ordinal em diferentes seqüências. Os resultados têm implicações para a análise de comportamento simbólico complexo. Merecem consideração, também, aspectos metodológicos que favoreceram a aprendizagem relacional e a emergência de comportamento novo.

Um balanço critico da década da alfabetizaçâo no brasil

In relation to United Nations Literacy Decade (2003- 2012), are being developed in Brazil many public policies on education and literacy. The results of these public policies indicate both noisy conquest of some advances as the worsening of many historical problems. Among these, we highlight the result of silencing of discussion around the concept of restricted and rudimentary literacy, on which, in line with neoliberal political model, are based educational policies and corresponding systems assessment of skills and competencies of reading and writing, which it is hoped that students learn and which are defi ning the role of the teacher as a mere provider of strategies for such learning. Based on this hypothesis, we present, in a tone of critical balance, refl ections on the Decade of Literacy in order to contribute to the discussion of problems and perspectives for teaching reading and writing in Brazil.

As letras como unidades históricas na construção do discurso

This paper proposes we grant graphemes - the constituents of words in situations of discursive constructions - the status of meaning carrying units, in much the same way Vigotski granted the phoneme such status in relation to the spoken word. This paper also seeks to analyze these units in singular manifestations in acts of appropriation of the written language, based on data created by a six-year-old child in a discursive situation. To perform this task, we also referred to Bakhtinian studies on the role of the other in our relation with language. Since the analysis indicated spelling approximations to records found in old Portuguese, historical grammar research of Portuguese was also used. The findings indicate the diversity of reference sources for letter selection by the child, according to its function in the composition of the word.