Sobre las fronteras retóricas del español escrito

El artículo explora la presencia de elementos culturales y retóricos procedentes de la lengua nativa (L1) de un autor en sus escritos en segunda lengua (L2). Se resumen y comentan varias investigaciones de la Retórica Contrastiva, los Nuevos Estudios de Literacidad y la Traductología, que analizan las estrategias usadas por autores y traductores para ocultar o mostrar aspectos de su L1 en sus escritos en L2. También se analizan dos casos de escritura académica (de un latino que escribe en inglés y un quechua que lo hace en español), que aportan ejemplos de extralimitaciones en la corrección y de ocultación de rasgos culturales relevantes. Esos datos y las teorías permiten reflexionar sobre la gestión de la retórica y la cultura en los textos de los plurilingües, tanto desde una óptica de la construcción de la identidad como de la corrección de textos en clase.

L'avançament de la introducció de la llengua estrangera: una fugida cap enrere?

En aquest article es pretén traçar una anàlisi crítica, basada en els resultats de recerques empíriques, d'alguns arguments que s'han utilitzat per justificar aquest avençament, que s'ha presentat com una millora indiscutible de les reformes educatives del nostre país d'aquests darrers anys.

Developing an Effective Construction Training Program for American Supervisors with Hispanic Craft Workers, 2005

In the construction industry, Hispanics have the highest rate of fatal work injuries among the racial/ethnic groups, and productivity in the field is limited by the language barrier between Hispanic workers and their supervisors and the level of education of many Hispanic craft workers. This research developed a training program designed to facilitate the integration process between American supervisors and Hispanic craft workers in a practical and cost-effective way, thus improving productivity and lowering fatality rates. The Iowa State University research team conducted a survey of 38 American supervisors, representing 14 Iowa construction companies. Survey results confirm that communication is the main problem experienced by American supervisors in the job site. Many American supervisors also use or depend on a link-person (an individual who interprets tasks to the rest of the Hispanic crew) to communicate to the Hispanic crew members. Research findings show that language differences affect productivity and workplace safety in the construction industry. Additionally, the educational levels of Hispanic workers indicate that they may not have the literacy skills necessary to understand training materials. This research developed two training courses designed to expand the Spanish communication skills of American supervisors. The research team modified the English-as-a-second-language course developed in Phase I into the Spanish as a Second Language (SSL) Survival Course. A series of technical training courses were also developed, titled Concrete Pavement Construction Basics (CPCB), that cover general practices in concrete pavement construction. They are much shorter and more specialized than the SSL course. The CPCB courses provide American supervisors simple and practical communication tools on a variety of topics to choose from according to their specific needs.

Opettajan monikulttuurinen työ

Teacher's multicultural work The purpose of the present study is to explore teachers’ conceptions of their work as teachers of multicultural students. Teachers’ experiences of multicultural work and conceptions derived from them are part of the teacher’s multicultural competence which is seen as a key component of the teacher’s multicultural teachership. The teacher’s multicultural competence consists of the teacher’s cultural knowledge, pedagogical skills and experiences and attitudes related to multiculturalism. The teacher’s multicultural competence constitutes the basis on which the teacher implements multicultural education. The foundation for the teacher’s work is laid by laws and decrees, curricula, regulations issued by authorities in charge of the education of immigrant students, resources available and other demands and expectations set by the ambient society. The study was conducted in the city of Turku, Finland. The sample consisted of class teachers who taught both immigrant and majority students. Main objects of study in the theoretical part are the multicultural and pluralistic school and the multicultural teachership. The basic assumption is that the multicultural and pluralistic school forms the frame of activity in which the teacher implements multicultural teaching. The research strategy is based on methodological triangulation. The quantitative part of the study was carried out using a questionnaire typical of survey methods. The questionnaire was returned by 71 teachers. The qualitative part was conducted using theme-based interviews typical of phenomenological philosophical research. Of the total of teachers who returned the questionnaire, twelve (12) teachers were selected for interviews. According to the results, the participating teachers enjoyed their work regardless of the ample extra work caused by the students with immigrant backgrounds. The teachers experienced their work as teachers of multicultural student groups as strenuous, yet challenging. Students with immigrant backgrounds had caused many changes in the teacher’s work. The teachers regarded their multicultural skills as inadequate in relation to the demands of the work. They had not received education related to teaching students with immigrant backgrounds, but they were ready for in-service education. The teachers’ previous attitudes concerning immigrant students had been enforced. Teaching experiences strengthened the earlier, both positive and negative, attitudes. The central problems related to multiculturalism in the teacher’s work were caused by the deficient Finnish skills of the students with immigrant background. This was apparent in both teaching and learning as well as in contacts with parents. The teachers reported on relatively few inclusions of multicultural angles in their teaching. However, they believed that they could aid students with different cultural backgrounds in their integration process. At the same time they felt that their own chances to enhance the students’ cultural identities were slim. On the basis of the interviews conducted in connection with the teacher’s multicultural competence, the teachers were divided into three groups: assimilative, indeterminate and integrating multicultural teachers. The present study provides a strong indication that teachers tend to interpret multiculturalism in narrow terms. School activities, such as Finnish as a second language, first language and religious instruction, which were targeted exclusively at immigrant students were in most cases considered adequate. A holistic, cross-disciplinary, all-inclusive multicultural education that would permeate all school activities remains largely unimplemented.

Los géneros discursivos desde la perspectiva del ELE

Afrontar el proceso de adquisición de una lengua extranjera supone unatarea global que culmina en el dominio de la misma en múltiples variablessituacionales. En el siguiente trabajo proponemos una incipientecaracterización de la conversación telefónica como subgénero discursivo quese enmarca en el ámbito del desarrollo de las destrezas orales. Pretendemoscon ello acotar un marco específico en el que las característicasinteraccionales propias de los textos conversacionales aparecen en algunosaspectos dislocadas, así como proponer una aplicación didáctica mediante laimbricación de este género textual con el uso de ciertos recursos cinematográficos en la clase de ELE.

Gramática aplicada a ELE: la perífrasis “ir a + infinitivo” y el futuro sintético

La presencia en español de dos construcciones —la perífrasis «IR A+Infinitivo» y lasformas verbales sintéticas terminadas en –rá— que pueden alternarse en determinadoscontextos como mecanismos para expresar la futuridad en español ha llevado a unageneralización en el uso de tales construcciones descuidando la vertiente pragmática delas mismas, y, en consecuencia, se ha tendido a ofrecer al estudiante de ELE unaconsideración básicamente gramatical de los usos de la perífrasis y del futuro sintético. Eneste sentido, el objetivo de nuestra propuesta busca establecer las principales divergencias de carácter pragmático que —creemos— deberían incorporarse a la explicación de estos contenidos gramaticales.

Cortosionismo: hablar por los cortos: propuesta didáctica para el uso del cortometraje en el aula de ELE

En este estudio se apuesta por utilizar el material audiovisual en el aula de español como segunda lengua, ya que este material actúa como un sustituto de la realidad en la clase y conecta con el mundo conocido por el aprendiente

L'Ús del mètode verbotonal per a la correcció fonètica: estudi de cas d'un parlant de català com a L2 amb problemes de pronúncia de les laterals palatals

Aquest treball pretén ser l’estudi i la correcció fonètica d’un parlant de castellà com a primera llengua que té la llengua catalana coma segona llengua i presenta un problema a l’hora de pronunciar les laterals palatals. Per tant, és l’estudi d’un cas molt concret. Per a fer aquest estudi s’ha seguit el mètode verbotonal de correcció fonètica, ja que també es pretén comprovar la funcionalitat d’aquest mètode i els resultats possibles

Saako historiasta selvää? Monikulttuuriset yläkoululaiset historian lähteillä historian taidot motiivien, seurauksien, historian tulkintojen ja lähteiden luotettavuuden arvioinneissa

The research assesses the skills of upper comprehensive school pupils in history. The focus is on locating personal motives, assessing wider reasons hidden in historical sources and evaluating source reliability. The research also questions how a wide use of multiple sources affects pupils’ holistic understanding of historical phenomena. The participants were a multicultural group of pupils. The origins of their cultures can be traced to the Balkan, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. The number of native Finnish speakers and pupils speaking Finnish as their second language was almost equal. The multicultural composition provides opportunities to assess how culturally responsive learning history from sources is. The intercultural approach to learning in a multicultural setting emphasizes equality as a precondition for learning. In order to set assignments at least to some extent match with all participants only those answers were taken into account which were produced by pupils who had studied history for a similar period of time in the Finnish comprehensive school system. Due to the small number of participants (41), the study avoids wide generalizations. Nevertheless, possible cultural blueprints in pupils’ way of thinking are noted. The first test examined the skills of pupils to find motives for emigration. The results showed that for 7th graders finding reasons is not a problematic task. However, the number of reasons noticed and justifications varied. In addition, the way the pupils explained their choices was a distinguishing factor. Some pupils interpreted source material making use of previous knowledge on the issue, while other pupils based their analysis solely on the text handed and did not try to add their own knowledge. Answers were divided into three categories: historical, explanatory and stating. Historical answers combined smoothly previously learned historical knowledge to one’s own source analysis; explanatory answers often ignored a wider frame, although they were effective when explaining e.g. historical concepts. The stating answers only noticed motives from the sources and made no attempts to explain them historically. Was the first test culturally responsive? All pupils representing different cultures tackled the first source exam successfully, but there were some signs of how historical concepts are understood in a slightly different way if the pupil’s personal history has no linkage to the concepts under scrutiny. The second test focused on the history of Native Americans. The test first required pupils to recognize whether short source extracts (5) were written by Indians or Caucasians. Based on what they had already learned from North American history, the pupils did not find it hard to distinguish between the sources. The analysis of multiphase causes and consequences of the disputes between Native Americans and white Americans caused dispersion among pupils. Using two historical sources and combining historical knowledge from both of them simultaneously was cumbersome for many. The explanations of consequences can be divided into two groups: the ones emphasizing short term consequences and those placing emphasis on long term consequences. The short term approach was mainly followed by boys in every group. The girls mainly paid attention to long term consequences. The result suggests that historical knowledge in sources is at least to some extent read through role and gender lenses. The third test required pupils to explain in their own words how the three sources given differed in their account of living conditions in Nazi Germany, which turned out to be demanding for many pupils. The pupils’ stronghold was rather the assessment of source reliability and accounts why the sources approached the same events differently. All participants wrote critical and justified comments on reliability and aspects that might have affected the content of the sources. The pupils felt that the main reasons that affected source reliability were the authors’ ethnic background, nationality and profession. The assessment showed that pupils were well aware that position in a historical situation has an impact on historical accounts, but in certain cases the victim’s account was seen as a historical truth. The account of events by a historian was chosen most often as the most reliable source, but it was often justified leniently with an indication to professionalism rather than with clear ideas of how historians conduct accounts based on sources. In brief, the last source test demonstrates that pupils have a strong idea that the ethnicity or nationalism determines how people explained events of the past. It is also an implication that pupils understand how historical knowledge is interpretative. The results also imply that history can be analyzed from a neutral perspective. One’s own membership in an ethnical or religious group does not automatically mean that a person’s cultural identity excludes historical explanations if something in them contradicts with his or her identity. The second method of extracting knowledge of pupils’ historical thinking was an essay analysis. The analysis shows that an analytical account of complicated political issues, which often include a great number of complicated political concepts, leads more likely to an inconsistent structure in the written work of pupils. The material also demonstrates that pupils have a strong tendency to take a critical stance when assessing history. Historical empathy in particular is shown if history somehow has a linkage to young people, children or minorities. Some topics can also awake strong feelings, especially among pupils with emigrant background, if there is a linkage between one’s own personal history and that of the school; and occasionally a student’s historical experience or thoughts replaced school history. Using sources during history lessons at school seems to have many advantages. It enhances the reasoning skills of pupils and their skills to assess the nature of historical knowledge. Thus one of the main aims and a great benefit of source work is to encourage pupils to express their own ideas and opinions. To conclude, when assessing the skills of adolescents in history - their work with sources, comments on history, historical knowledge and finally their historical thinking - one should be cautious and avoid cut off score evaluations. One purpose of pursuing history with sources is to encourage pupils to think independently, which is a useful tool for further identity construction. The idea that pupils have the right to conduct their own interpretations of history can be partially understood as part of a wider learning process, justification to study history comes from extrinsic reasons. The intrinsic reason is history itself; in order to understand history one should have a basic understanding of history as a specific domain of knowledge. Using sources does not mean that knowing history is of secondary importance. Only a balance between knowing the contextual history, understanding basic key concepts and working with sources is a solid base to improve pupils’ historical understanding.

Acerca de las relaciones entre escuela e inmigración

El artículo repasa algunos aspectos sobre la relación entre educación escolar e inmigración. Así, al inicio se analizande manera descriptiva las características de la inmigración ligada a la sociedad de la información y sus repercusiones educativas. Igualmente, se repasan algunos trabajos sobreel rendimiento académico de la infancia y la adolescencia extranjera, y se enfatiza el factor lingüístico como una de lasfuentes explicativas de dicho rendimiento. En este sentido, se muestran varias investigaciones dedicadas a conocerlos factores que inciden en el aprendizaje por el alumnado extranjero de la lengua de la escuela y, finalmente, se ofrecen varios criterios para encarar con éxito la relación entre escolarización e inmigración

Los géneros discursivos desde la perspectiva del ELE

Afrontar el proceso de adquisición de una lengua extranjera supone unatarea global que culmina en el dominio de la misma en múltiples variablessituacionales. En el siguiente trabajo proponemos una incipientecaracterización de la conversación telefónica como subgénero discursivo quese enmarca en el ámbito del desarrollo de las destrezas orales. Pretendemoscon ello acotar un marco específico en el que las característicasinteraccionales propias de los textos conversacionales aparecen en algunosaspectos dislocadas, así como proponer una aplicación didáctica mediante laimbricación de este género textual con el uso de ciertos recursos cinematográficos en la clase de ELE.

Gramática aplicada a ELE: la perífrasis “ir a + infinitivo” y el futuro sintético

La presencia en español de dos construcciones —la perífrasis «IR A+Infinitivo» y lasformas verbales sintéticas terminadas en –rá— que pueden alternarse en determinadoscontextos como mecanismos para expresar la futuridad en español ha llevado a unageneralización en el uso de tales construcciones descuidando la vertiente pragmática delas mismas, y, en consecuencia, se ha tendido a ofrecer al estudiante de ELE unaconsideración básicamente gramatical de los usos de la perífrasis y del futuro sintético. Eneste sentido, el objetivo de nuestra propuesta busca establecer las principales divergencias de carácter pragmático que —creemos— deberían incorporarse a la explicación de estos contenidos gramaticales.

Lengua, escuela e inmigración

A lo largo de la última década, la heterogeneidad identitaria, lingüística, religiosa, cultural y étnica ha crecido de manera significativa en España debido a la llegada de inmigrantes, lo cual está planteando al Sistema Educativo problemas hasta ahora desconocidos. En este artículo se discuten las relaciones entre lengua, escuela e inmigración con un énfasis especial en los factores implicados en la adquisición de la lengua de uso escolar. Se discute tanto el tiempo que el alumnado inmigrante tarda en aprender dicha lengua como el papel de su lengua inicial en dicha adquisición. La discusión se realiza a partir del análisis de datos provenientes de evaluaciones internacionales, así como de trabajos de investigación realizados en situaciones escolares multilingües y se reflexiona sobre su pertinencia para el establecimiento de una política educativa que tenga en cuenta las dificultades de las y los inmigrantes con la adquisición y el dominio de la lengua de la escuela. Finalmente, se abordan las nuevas necesidades de los sistemas educativos en relación con alguno de los retos que plantea la educación intercultural y se enfatiza la importancia de la práctica educativa para encontrar soluciones a los problemas que se derivan de la nueva situación escolar

Kielikylpydidaktiikkaa kehittämässä : 3-6-vuotiaiden kielikylpylasten kielellinen kehitys ja kielikylpydidaktiikan kehittäminen päiväkodissa

The goal of this study is to determine the naming ability in Finnish and Swedish of nursery school-aged children participating in a language immersion programme, as well as their command of both languages. The study also aims to describe factors reflecting language immersion teaching in nursery schools based on action research and a literature survey. The longitudinal study, conducted in 2003–2005, comprised 133 native Finnish three- to six-year-old children in language immersion programmes. A total of four measurements were carried out over two and a half years. In each measurement, four separate tests were given to each child (totally 1134 measurements). Research material was collected using survey tools that measured the children’s naming ability and command of language. The tools had been translated into both Finnish and Swedish. The material also includes taped responses related to the tool for naming ability. Didactic approaches were developed on the basis of material from action research and the literature survey. The material was examined using methodological triangulation, and a quantitative analysis was made of each survey tool. Furthermore, a content analysis of the children’s taped responses gave further depth to the description of language development. The theoretical framework of the study is mainly based on modern sociocultural theories of second language development and acquisition. Thus, the approach is both linguistic and pedagogic, with emphasis lying on the latter. The socioculturally-oriented framework of this study is mainly influenced by the theorists Vygotski, Spolsky, van Lier and Cummins. According to the results, the language skills of children in language immersion programmes develop as expected from age three to six in the fields studied. In the field of language command, the children acquired excellent skills in listening comprehension. Their naming ability was not as good. In each test, the children showed weaker skills in Swedish than in Finnish. However, based on the assumption that the two languages have a shared cognitive field, the skills in Swedish catch up with the skills in Finnish at an annual rate of 6–7 per cent. The study indicates that children meet a language development threshold one year earlier in their native language than they do in the immersion language. As for the naming ability in Swedish, problems arose from the fact that the deviation in results increases with age. Children showed creativity in their use of naming strategies. Judging by the research results, children begin to use the immersion language as a tool for thought at a very early phase. The research results, action research and literature survey were also used to create a general educational model for language immersion.