Writing skills at secondary level. Developing an English language writing syllabus - a case study

Trabalho de projecto apresentado para o cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de mestre em Didática do Inglês

Language and culture: representations of English-speaking cultures in 1st year secondary english language coursebooks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Dissertação apresentada para o cumprimento dos requisitos necessários á obtenção do grau de Mestre em Didáctica de Inglês

A cross-cultural shortened form of the ZKPQ (ZKPQ-50-CC) adapted to English, French, German, and Spanish languages.

The aim of the present study was to develop a short form of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) with acceptable psychometric properties in four languages: English (United States), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), and Spanish (Spain). The total sample (N = 4,621) was randomly divided into calibration and validation samples. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted in the calibration sample. Eighty items, with loadings equal or higher than 0.30 on their own factor and lower on the remaining factors, were retained. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed over the survival items in the validation sample in order to select the best 10 items for each scale. This short version (named ZKPQ-50-CC) presents psychometric properties strongly similar to the original version in the four countries. Moreover, the factor structure are near equivalent across the four countries since the congruence indices were all higher than 0.90. It is concluded that the ZKPQ-50-CC presented a high cross-language replicability, and it could be an useful questionnaire that may be used for personality research.

Improving How Listening Skills are Taught in the Efl Classroom: Guidelines to Producing Better Speakers of the English Language

This research paper is concerned with the need to improve how listening skills are taught in the Capeverdian EFL classroom. Teaching English through listening is not an easy task, especially when there are many factors that impede the learning process such as: lack of adequate materials and conditions; lack of qualified teachers with good pronunciation, and lack of innovative approaches to teaching listening skills. If our goal as teachers is to produce good English speakers we must invest in training good listeners. In this work I will focus on the following aspects: an evaluation of how effectively listening skills are taught in the Capeverdian EFL classroom; a look at how we can turn teaching problems into positive solutions; how to improve teaching listening skills and materials and recommendations for best practices in teaching listening skills in the EFL classroom. In conclusion I will include listening activities which reflect these best practices and offer recommendations for further research.

GIS-based debris flow source and runout susceptibility assessment from DEM data - a case study in NW Nicaragua

In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch triggered numerous landslides (mainly debris flows) in Honduras and Nicaragua, resulting in a high death toll and in considerable damage to property. The potential application of relatively simple and affordable spatial prediction models for landslide hazard mapping in developing countries was studied. Our attention was focused on a region in NW Nicaragua, one of the most severely hit places during the Mitch event. A landslide map was obtained at 1:10 000 scale in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment from the interpretation of aerial photographs and detailed field work. In this map the terrain failure zones were distinguished from the areas within the reach of the mobilized materials. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 20 m×20 m of pixel size was also employed in the study area. A comparative analysis of the terrain failures caused by Hurricane Mitch and a selection of 4 terrain factors extracted from the DEM which, contributed to the terrain instability, was carried out. Land propensity to failure was determined with the aid of a bivariate analysis and GIS tools in a terrain failure susceptibility map. In order to estimate the areas that could be affected by the path or deposition of the mobilized materials, we considered the fact that under intense rainfall events debris flows tend to travel long distances following the maximum slope and merging with the drainage network. Using the TauDEM extension for ArcGIS software we generated automatically flow lines following the maximum slope in the DEM starting from the areas prone to failure in the terrain failure susceptibility map. The areas crossed by the flow lines from each terrain failure susceptibility class correspond to the runout susceptibility classes represented in a runout susceptibility map. The study of terrain failure and runout susceptibility enabled us to obtain a spatial prediction for landslides, which could contribute to landslide risk mitigation.

An Empirical Study on Faculty Perceptions and Teaching Practices of Wikipedia

Some faculty members from different universities around the world have begun to use Wikipedia as a teaching tool in recent years. These experiences show, in most cases, very satisfactory results and a substantial improvement in various basic skills, as well as a positive influence on the students' motivation. Nevertheless and despite the growing importance of e-learning methodologies based on the use of the Internet for higher education, the use of Wikipedia as a teaching resource remains scarce among university faculty.Our investigation tries to identify which are the main factors that determine acceptance or resistance to that use. We approach the decision to use Wikipedia as a teaching tool by analyzing both the individual attributes of faculty members and the characteristics of the environment where they develop their teaching activity. From a specific survey sent to all faculty of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), pioneer and leader in online education in Spain, we have tried to infer the influence of these internal and external elements. The questionnaire was designed to measure different constructs: perceived quality of Wikipedia, teaching practices involving Wikipedia, use experience, perceived usefulness and use of 2.0 tools. Control items were also included for gathering information on gender, age, teaching experience, academic rank, and area of expertise.Our results reveal that academic rank, teaching experience, age or gender, are not decisive factors in explaining the educational use of Wikipedia. Instead, the decision to use it is closely linked to the perception of Wikipedia's quality, the use of other collaborative learning tools, an active attitude towards web 2.0 applications, and connections with the professional non-academic world. Situational context is also very important, since the use is higher when faculty members have got reference models in their close environment and when they perceive it is positively valued by their colleagues. As far as these attitudes, practices and cultural norms diverge in different scientific disciplines, we have also detected clear differences in the use of Wikipedia among areas of academic expertise. As a consequence, a greater application of Wikipedia both as a teaching resource and as a driver for teaching innovation would require much more active institutional policies and some changes in the dominant academic culture among faculty members.

Translations and Translators of English-language Literature in Catalan Literary Publications and Series between 1868 and 1910

Translations into Catalan of English and American authors during the final quarter of the nineteenth century are few and far between. Numerically, English-language literature most likely ranks fifth or sixth among all the translations of this period. We take inventory here of translations found in Catalan magazines from this time (the oldest dates from 1868) and in published series that came out at this time (if these continued until later, we trace them up to their final year). At the same time, the translators are examined, including reference, where available, as to whether the translations are direct or indirect. Finally, we consider some possible causes for the low English-language volume in Catalan translation during the period.

Teaching cross-cultural competence and CLIL: a CLIL approach in International Relations University Courses

International relations professionals need cross-cultural competence and English language communication skills to function in the international arena (Graddol 1997). English language communication skills are necessary not only to communicate with foreign colleagues (Bocanegra-Valle 2014) but also to access the vast amount of knowledge transmitted in English over the internet (Ku, Zussman 2010). This work reports the use of CLIL and cross-cultural training in the University of Messina International Relations Advanced Degree Program as a method to raise students’ level of English as quickly as possible while giving them the essential intercultural skills for work in the international field. The researchbased course program combined cross-cultural communication training (Storti, 1997; Lewis, 1999; Gannon, 2004, Harris and Moran, 2007; U.S Peace Corps Training Handbook 2012,) and intercultural competence skill development (Bennett, 1998). Two objectives were proposed: 1) develop cross-cultural communication competence; 2) bring students up to a B2 level as fast as possible. The final exam demonstrated significant growth in the areas of cross-cultural competence as well as an increase in European Common Framework level ranging from .5 to 1.0 depending on the student. Students expressed their belief that what they had learned would be useful for their future career. Combining CLIL with intercultural competence building seems to be effective in meeting two objectives: increasing English language fluency and developing cross-cultural communication competence. More research is recommended to further document this method for increasing English communication proficiency while developing interculturally competent international professionals.

Lifecourse socioeconomic status and type 2 diabetes : the role of chronic inflammation in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

We examined the association between lifecourse socioeconomic status (SES) and the risk of type 2 diabetes at older ages, ascertaining the extent to which adult lifestyle factors and systemic inflammation explain this relationship. Data were drawn from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) which, established in 2002, is a representative cohort study of ≥50-year olds individuals living in England. SES indicators were paternal social class, participants' education, participants' wealth, and a lifecourse socioeconomic index. Inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein and fibrinogen) and lifestyle factors were measured repeatedly; diabetes incidence (new cases) was monitored over 7.5 years of follow-up. Of the 6218 individuals free from diabetes at baseline (44% women, mean aged 66 years), 423 developed diabetes during follow-up. Relative to the most advantaged people, those in the lowest lifecourse SES group experienced more than double the risk of diabetes (hazard ratio 2.59; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.81-3.71). Lifestyle factors explained 52% (95%CI:30-85) and inflammatory markers 22% (95%CI:13-37) of this gradient. Similar results were apparent with the separate SES indicators. In a general population sample, socioeconomic inequalities in the risk of type 2 diabetes extend to older ages and appear to partially originate from socioeconomic variations in modifiable factors which include lifestyle and inflammation.

An empirical study on faculty perceptions and teaching practices of Wikipedia

Peer-reviewed