Towards a pedagogical stylistics

Since the 1950s, pedagogical stylistics has been intrinsically linked with the teaching of written texts (and especially literary texts) to speakers of English as a second language. This is despite the fact that for decades many teachers have also structured their lessons in L1 classrooms to focus upon the linguistic features of literary texts as a means of enhancing their students’ understanding of literature and language. Recognizing that instructors in both L1 and L2 settings were often employing related pedagogical techniques without realizing that their colleagues in the other context were facing similar challenges, the PEDSIG group of the Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA) has sought to add a theoretical dimension to research undertaken into practice in the stylistics classroom. Its goals, then, were: to establish a working definition of pedagogical stylistics; to identify the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of the discipline shared by L1 and L2 practitioners; to point if possible towards any emerging consensus on good practice. The group determined that the principal aim of stylistics in the classroom is to make students aware of language use within chosen texts, and that what characterizes pedagogical stylistics is classroom activities that are interactive between the text and the (student) reader. Preliminary findings, from a pilot study involving a poem by Langston Hughes, suggest that the process of improving students’ linguistic sensibilities must include greater emphasis upon the text as action: i.e. upon the mental processing which is such a proactive part of reading and interpretation; and how all of these elements – pragmatic and cognitive as well as linguistic – function within quite specific social and cultural contexts.

Writing for success:mentoring as a pedagogical tool – a cross- institutional study

The prominent position given to academic writing across contemporary academia is reflected in the substantive literature and debate devoted to the subject over the past 30 years. However, the massification of higher education, manifested by a shift from elite to mass education, has brought the issue into the public arena, with much debate focusing on the need for ‘modern-day' students to be taught how to write academically (Bjork et al., 2003; Ganobcsik-Williams, 2006). Indeed, Russell (2003) argued that academic writing has become a global ‘problem' in Higher Education because it sits between two contradictory pressures (p.V). On one end of the university ‘experience' increasing numbers of students, many from non-traditional backgrounds, enter higher education bringing with them a range of communication abilities. At the other end, many graduates leave university to work in specialised industries where employers expect them to have high level writing skills (Ashton, 2007; Russell, 2003; Torrence et al., 1999). By drawing attention to the issues around peer mentoring within an academic writing setting in three different higher education Institutions, this paper makes an important contribution to current debates. Based upon a critical analysis of the emergent findings of an empirical study into the role of peer writing mentors in promoting student transition to higher education, the paper adopts an academic literacies approach to discuss the role of writing mentoring in promoting transition and retention by developing students' academic writing. Attention is drawn to the manner in which student expectations of writing mentoring actually align with mentoring practices - particularly in terms of the writing process and critical thinking. Other issues such as the approachability of writing mentors, the practicalities of accessing writing mentoring and the wider learning environment are also discussed.

Volunteering for success? An Analysis of Student Perceptions of the Pedagogical and Social Outcomes of Peer Mentoring in Higher Education

Previous studies into student volunteering have shown how formally organized volunteering activities have social, economic and practical benefits for student volunteers and the recipients of their volunteerism (Egerton, 2002; Vernon & Foster, 2002); moreover student volunteering provides the means by which undergraduates are able to acquire and hone transferable skills sought by employers following graduation (Eldridge & Wilson, 2003; Norris et al, 2006). Although much is known about the benefits of student volunteering, few previous studies have focused on the pedagogical value of student mentoring from the perspectives of both student mentee and mentor. Utilising grounded theory methodology this paper provides a critical analysis of an exploratory study analysing students’ perceptions of the pedagogical and social outcomes of student mentoring. It looks at students’ perceptions of mentoring, and being mentored, in terms of the learning experience and development of knowledge and skills. In doing so the paper considers how volunteering in a mentoring capacity adds ‘value’ to students’ experiences of higher education. From a public policy perspective, the economic, educational, vocational and social outcomes of student volunteering in general, and student mentoring in particular, make this an important subject meriting investigation. In terms of employability, the role of mentoring in equipping mentors and mentees with transferable, employability competencies has not been investigated. By critiquing the mentoring experiences of undergraduates within a single institution, this paper will make an important contribution to policy debates with regards to the pedagogical and employability related outcomes of student volunteering and mentoring.

Sleep and body rhythm disturbance amongst flight crews in long-range aviation

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Rhythm makes the world go round:an MEG-TMS study on the role of right TPJ theta oscillations in embodied perspective taking

While some aspects of social processing are shared between humans and other species, some aspects are not. The former seems to apply to merely tracking another's visual perspective in the world (i.e., what a conspecific can or cannot perceive), while the latter applies to perspective taking in form of mentally “embodying” another's viewpoint. Our previous behavioural research had indicated that only perspective taking, but not tracking, relies on simulating a body schema rotation into another's viewpoint. In the current study we employed Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and revealed that this mechanism of mental body schema rotation is primarily linked to theta oscillations in a wider brain network of body-schema, somatosensory and motor-related areas, with the right posterior temporo-parietal junction (pTPJ) at its core. The latter was reflected by a convergence of theta oscillatory power in right pTPJ obtained by overlapping the separately localised effects of rotation demands (angular disparity effect), cognitive embodiment (posture congruence effect), and basic body schema involvement (posture relevance effect) during perspective taking in contrast to perspective tracking. In a subsequent experiment we interfered with right pTPJ processing using dual pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (dpTMS) and observed a significant reduction of embodied processing. We conclude that right TPJ is the crucial network hub for transforming the embodied self into another's viewpoint, body and/or mind, thus, substantiating how conflicting representations between self and other may be resolved and potentially highlighting the embodied origins of high-level social cognition in general.

Can Executive Skills Help Underachieving Bilingual Students? Pedagogical Implications

The author explores solutions for bilingual students’ underachievement by embedding elements of executive functioning into bilingual education. Based on analysis of theoretical perspectives, the author recommends teaching executive functions to bilingual students. Implications indicate the importance of embedding executive functions in curriculum development, textbook compiling, and instruction.

Analyzing Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Development of Content and Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Mathematics through Microteaching Lesson Study

This study examines the effect of Microteaching Lesson Study participation on the mathematics content and pedagogical content knowledge of 52 elementary preservice teachers. Preliminary findings, which are positive, are discussed.

Pedagogical Perceptions of Classroom Performance in the Teacher Evaluative Process: A Mixed Methods Study

This sequential explanatory, mixed methods research design examines the role teachers should enact in the development process of the teacher evaluation system in Louisiana. These insights will ensure teachers are catalysts in the classroom to significantly increase student achievement and allow policymakers, practitioners, and instructional leaders to direct as learned decision makers.

Circadian rhythm disruption and post-surgical recovery

Circadian rhythms, patterns of each twenty-four hour period, are found in most bodily functions. The biological cycles of between 20 and 28 hours have a profound effect on an individual's mood, level of performance, and physical well being. Loss of synchrony of these biological rhythms occurs with hospitalization, surgery and anesthesia. The purpose of this comparative, correlational study was to determine the effects of circadian rhythm disruption in post-surgical recovery. Data were collected during the pre-operative and post-operative periods in the following indices: body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, urine cortisol level and locomotor activity. The data were analyzed by cosinor analysis for evidence of circadian rhythmicity and disruptions throughout the six day study period which encompassed two days pre-operatively, two days post-operatively, and two days after hospital discharge. The sample consisted of five men and five women who served as their own pre-surgical control. The surgical procedures were varied. Findings showed evidence of circadian disruptions in all subjects post-operatively, lending support for the hypotheses.

Música e surdez: o ensino de música numa perspectiva bilíngue na escola regular

The present study focuses on the development of pedagogical activities in Music Teaching, aiming to enhance the accessibility of musical knowledge for both deaf and hearing students, using a bilingual approach in regular schools. Few studies address Music and Deafness, and those that do focus exclusively on the context of special education, and specifically the deaf student, which signals the urgent need for conducting research on this issue in the context of inclusion – empirically and carried out on school grounds. Therefore, we developed our study at a Natal City Public Elementary school, in a class of 6th graders, comprised of 37 students, 3 of whom were deaf. The objective of the study was to develop a proposal for a pedagogical intervention in Music Teaching, using a bilingual approach, with deaf and hearing students, in the context of regular school classes. The research is based on the theoretical framework presented in Penna (2010), Brito (2001) and Fonterrada (2008), with reference to music education, and Haguiara-Cervellini (2003), Finck (2009) and Louro (2006), with reference to inclusion in teaching music. To achieve this objective, we developed a proposal for intervention based on the methodological dictates of intervention research, presented in studies by Jobim and Souza (2011) in light of the theoretical concepts posited by Mikhail Bakhtin, which assert that knowledge is produced through interaction between subjects, dialogically and through alterity. This methodology was carried out in pedagogical workshops, conceived as spaces for the construction of knowledge, mobilizing participants to engage in ludic activities of musical experimentation. Content covered in these workshops focused on Pulse and Rhythm – basic elements in music education – demonstrating that awareness about and sensitivity to these elements is not limited to the auditory sensory perception of the student, once the entire body is used as an agent of acquisition and expression. Thus, we began the trajectory of our research from the starting point of the identification and perception of „Pulse‟, using one‟s own body and the body of classmates, representing it through physical expressions and movement. Subsequently, this Pulse was extended from the body to a percussion instrument, and was then represented graphically as lines of rhythm, constituting a process of reading and writing; ultimately the intervention culminated in the class presentation with the musical group De Pau e Lata (Stick and Can). In our analysis, faced with the challenges and possibilities presented in our study, findings showed satisfactory results with regard to the participation of all of the students: completing the activities proposed in the class, asking questions when they did not understand, positioning themselves when they thought it necessary, expressing opinions about the work completed, evaluating the workshops given, interacting, helping in the activities, constructing knowledge collaterally, experimenting and experiencing musical elements through the body in activities that applied to both groups (deaf and hearing) in the one class. These indications elucidate the viability of teaching music to deaf and hearing students, using a bilingual approach, and based on experiences with the body and communicative and cultural specificities involved, confirming, as well, the role of Sign Language as a mediator in the teaching/learning process.

A critical theory of rhythm and temporality in film : the metamorphosis of memory and history in Tarkovsky's Mirror (1975)

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.