Desempenho de pré-escolares com queixa de Distúrbios da Comunicação no Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (Plai-2)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Differentiation in the Content-Area Classroom for English Language Learners

This paper explores the idea of using differentiation strategies in the content-area classroom to improve reading skills and comprehension. In particular, this thesis explores methods and strategies that can be used in the classroom to help address the individual needs of English language learners (ELLs). A broad range of experts in curriculum, differentiation, and English language acquisition were consulted in the development of this review, which synthesizes the research on ELLs’ needs, differentiation, and differentiation strategies for ELL readers. The models for best teaching practices are then placed within a ninth grade language arts unit.

All the World's a Stage: Reaching English Language Learners through Drama

The use of drama with language instruction has long been considered a legitimate practice. A recent survey of the literature shows that English Language Learners (ELLs) may have even more to benefit from the use of drama in the classroom. Studies showed an increase in language and problem-solving ability, as well as student self-efficacy that was transferrable across activities. Following an analysis of the literature is a proposed curriculum based on the findings of the researchers cited. This unit is centered on dramatic activities that make use of all four language domains and includes the examination of plays in writing, on the stage, and as a playwright. In the end, students will be asked to combine all of their skills to put on a completely student-created production. An analysis of the factors surrounding the implementation of such a unit follows the unit itself.

Desempenho de pré-escolares com queixa de Distúrbios da Comunicação no Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (Plai-2)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE RHETORIC: FROM THE THEORETICAL BASIS TO THE PRODUCTION OF DIDACTIC MATERIAL FOR UNDERGRADUATE CHEMISTRY TEACHING

This work is part of a study that focused on analyzing the contributions of didactic activities related to scientific language rhetoric characteristics aimed at developing students' abilities to identify such characteristics in chemistry scientific texts and critical reading of those texts. In this study, we present the theoretical basis adopted to determine the scientific discourse characteristics and for the production of the didactic material used in those activities. Latour, Coracini and Campanario studies on persuasive rhetorical strategies present in scientific articles aided the production of such material.

The influence of nonverbal language on mediation

[ES]Mediation is a process that assigns meaning through the discourse of the disputants whereby signals that are verbally sent become rare indicators to dig for full communication. If reading nonverbal language was not taken into account, we would lose approximately 93% of the total information conveyed by someone; for this reason, it is necessary to know the most recurrent gestures to, thus, foster mediators’ communication skills in order to substantially improve their discourse and understanding. This paper focuses on arguing why nonverbal language is crucial for the mediation process on the basis of the analysis of the theoretical framework of the matter and its implications for mediation.

Efficacy of communication skills training courses in oncology: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Group training in communication skills [communication skills training (CST)] has become partly mandatory for oncology staff. However, so far, a comprehensive meta-analysis on the efficacy is lacking. Design: Included studies either compare the efficacy of a specific training with a control group or look at the additional effect of booster sessions on communication behaviour, attitudes or patient outcomes. Methods: Four electronic databases were searched up to July 2008 without language restriction, and reference lists of earlier reviews were screened. Effect sizes (ESs) were extracted and pooled in random effects meta-analyses. Results: We included 13 trials (three non-randomised), 10 with no specific intervention in the control group. Meta-analysis showed a moderate effect of CST on communication behaviour ES = 0.54. Three trials compared basic training courses with more extensive training courses and showed a small additional effect on communication skills ES = 0.37. Trials investigating participants' attitudes ES = 0.35 and patient outcomes ES = 0.13 (trend) confirmed this effect. Conclusions: Training health professionals by CST is a promising approach to change communication behaviour and attitudes. Patients might also benefit from specifically trained health professionals but strong studies are lacking. However, feasibility and economic aspects have to be kept in mind when considering providing a training of optimal length.

Retirement as a “language related major life event” and its consequences on the multilingualism of migrants

The present study investigates life stories of established Italian workforce migrants living in the city of Berne, Switzerland, in regard to “language related major life events” (De Bot, 2007). These events are important in terms of changes happening in the linguistic setting during the life span and influence language development. In this sense, during the process of retirement, a new phase of life begins, which, amongst other things, has to be reorganized in relation to social contact and language use. One of my main questions is how the subjects handle the changes happening within and after the process of retirement in respect to the use of different languages and how this “language related major life event” is constructed and described by the migrants. One of these changes happens due to the fact that, after retirement, the social network at the workplace (the primary source of language input) can get (partially) lost and with it, the use of the local language. The fact that migrants living in Berne are confronted with diglossia (Standard German and Swissgerman), that the Canton of Berne is bilingual (German and French) and that the migrants' mother tongue (Italian) is one of the Swiss national languages, makes this question even more interesting. A second question will consider the influence of the fact that most of the subjects in question lived with the idea of return migration, but as shown in a previous study (Alter/Vieillesse/Anziani, NFP 32, 1999), only a third returned back while another third remained in the host country and the final third chose the commuting option. I will first examine these processes, changes and influences by using quantitative questionnaires in order to obtain general information on demographic data, the social situation, and a self-assessment of linguistic skills. Secondly, I will use qualitative interviews to get in-depth information of the subjects’ life stories and language biographies. The results of this project are meant to deliver insight into different aspects that have not been looked at in detail to this point: which factors of the life stories of Italian workforce migrants, who decided to remain in Switzerland after retirement, influence the linguistic changes in general and the ones happening around retirement in particular.

Encouragement to Increase the Use of Psychosocial Skills in the Diagnosis and Therapy of Patients With Functional Dysphonia.

Clinicians believe that psychosocial factors play a causal role in the etiology of many forms of functional dysphonia (FD). But for decades, all attempts to confirm such causation have failed. This paper aims to show the logic of this failure, to discuss the possibilities of employing psychology in therapy nonetheless, and to encourage clinicians to use their psychosocial knowledge and skills. The failure to confirm psychic and social factors as causal in the etiology of FD is basically a consequence of a principal shortcoming of evidence-based medicine (EBM). As the gold standard for validity, reliability, and objectivity in medical research, EBM is based on calculability and hence the processing of quantitative data. But life paths and life situations are best or sometimes only expressible in qualitative, experiential, and idiographic terms. Thus EBM-guided evaluation undervalues most psychosocial studies. This report of an experienced multidisciplinary voice team proposes alternative pathways for integrating psychosocial knowledge into the diagnosis and the treatment of FD. The difference between the fields of activity of psychotherapists and speech-language pathologists is discussed, and the latter group is shown the potential benefits of using more of their psychosocial knowledge and skills.

Assessment of English Language Learners Seeking a Graduate Degree in Speech Language Pathology

A shortage of bilingual/bicultural speech language pathologists may reflect a problem with recruitment and retention of bilingual/bicultural students. The purpose of the present study was to survey graduate training programs in speech language pathology to determine typical policies and practices concerning students who apply and are admitted as ELLs. With a growing number of ELL children needing services from a bilingual SLP, it seems that little is being done to address the issue. The problem may be with the reluctance of programs to not only accept ELL students, but there also seems to be a disinclination for any sort of training program to be established for these ELL students. Clinic directors were asked to complete a survey about ELLs seeking clinical training in speech language pathology. In particular, we were interested in obtaining information about whether clinical training programs a) provided opportunities for ELL to participate in clinic, b) assessed the English skills of these students, and c) provided remediation if these students English skills were judged to be less than proficient.

A new way of teaching different subjects in a foreign language in the Building Engineering Degree at the Universidad Politécnica.

The European Union has been promoting linguistic diversity for many years as one of its main educational goals. This is an element that facilitates student mobility and student exchanges between different universities and countries and enriches the education of young undergraduates. In particular, a higher degree of competence in the English language is becoming essential for engineers, architects and researchers in general, as English has become the lingua franca that opens up horizons to internationalisation and the transfer of knowledge in today’s world. Many experts point to the Integrated Approach to Contents and Foreign Languages System as being an option that has certain benefits over the traditional method of teaching a second language that is exclusively based on specific subjects. This system advocates teaching the different subjects in the syllabus in a language other than one’s mother tongue, without prioritising knowledge of the language over the subject. This was the idea that in the 2009/10 academic year gave rise to the Second Language Integration Programme (SLI Programme) at the Escuela Arquitectura Técnica in the Universidad Politécnica Madrid (EUATM-UPM), just at the beginning of the tuition of the new Building Engineering Degree, which had been adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) model. This programme is an interdisciplinary initiative for the set of subjects taught during the semester and is coordinated through the Assistant Director Office for Educational Innovation. The SLI Programme has a dual goal; to familiarise students with the specific English terminology of the subject being taught, and at the same time improve their communication skills in English. A total of thirty lecturers are taking part in the teaching of eleven first year subjects and twelve in the second year, with around 120 students who have voluntarily enrolled in a special group in each semester. During the 2010/2011 academic year the degree of acceptance and the results of the SLI Programme have been monitored. Tools have been designed to aid interdisciplinary coordination and to analyse satisfaction, such as coordination records and surveys. The results currently available refer to the first and second year and are divided into specific aspects of the different subjects involved and into general aspects of the ongoing experience.

Strengthening communication skills in an innovative context of engineering project management learning

This document presents an innovative, formal educational initiative that is aimed at enhancing the development of engineering students’ specific competences when studying Project Management (PM) subject. The framework of the experience combines (1) theoretical concepts, (2) the development of a real-case project carried out by multidisciplinary groups of three different universities, (3) the use of software web 2.0 tools and (4) group and individual assignments of students that play different roles (project managers and team members). Under this scenario, the study focuses on monitoring the communication competence in the ever growing PM virtual environment. Factors such as corporal language, technical means, stage, and PM specific vocabulary among others have been considered in order to assess the students’ performance on this issue. As a main contribution, the paper introduces an ad-hoc rubric that, based on previous investigations, has been adapted and tested for the first time to this new and specific context. Additionally, the research conducted has provided some interesting findings that suggest further actions to improve and better define future rubrics, oriented to communication or even other competences. As specific PM subject concerns, it has been detected that students playing the role of Project Managers strengthen their competences more than those ones that play the role of Team Members. It has also been detected that students have more difficulty assimilating concepts related to risk and quality management. However those concepts related with scope, time or cost areas of knowledge have been better assimilated by the students.

Integrated approach to foreign language in the building engineering degree at the Universidad Politécnica Madrid

The European Union has been promoting linguistic diversity for many years as one of its main educational goals. This is an element that facilitates student mobility and student exchanges between different universities and countries and enriches the education of young undergraduates. In particular,a higher degree of competence in the English language is becoming essential for engineers, architects and researchers in general, as English has become the lingua franca that opens up horizons to internationalisation and the transfer of knowledge in today’s world. Many experts point to the Integrated Approach to Contents and Foreign Languages System as being an option that has certain benefits over the traditional method of teaching a second language that is exclusively based on specific subjects. This system advocates teaching the different subjects in the syllabus in a language other than one’s mother tongue, without prioritising knowledge of the language over the subject. This was the idea that in the 2009/10 academic year gave rise to the Second Language Integration Programme (SLI Programme) at the Escuela Arquitectura Tecnica in the Universidad Politecnica Madrid (EUATM-UPM), just at the beginning of the tuition of the new Building Engineering Degree, which had been adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) model. This programme is an interdisciplinary initiative for the set of subjects taught during the semester and is coordinated through the Assistant Director Office for Educational Innovation. The SLI Programme has a dual goal; to familiarise students with the specific English terminology of the subject being taught, and at the same time improve their communication skills in English. A total of thirty lecturers are taking part in the teaching of eleven first year subjects and twelve in the second year, with around 120 students who have voluntarily enrolled in a special group in each semester. During the 2010/2011 academic year the degree of acceptance and the results of the SLI Programme are being monitored. Tools have been designed to aid interdisciplinary coordination and to analyse satisfaction, such as coordination records and surveys. The results currently available refer to the first semester of the year and are divided into specific aspects of the different subjects involved and into general aspects of the ongoing experience.