Foreign Language Education in Colombia: A Qualitative Study of Escuela Nueva

Since 2004 the Colombian Ministry of Education has been implementing the Programa Nacional de Biling��ismo (PNB) with the goal of having bilingual high school graduates in English and Spanish by 2019. However, implementation of the PNB has been criticized by English Language Teaching (ELT) specialists in the country who say, among other things, that the PNB introduced a discourse associated exclusively with bilingualism in English and Spanish. This study analyzed interviews with 15 participants of a public school of the Colombian Escuela Nueva, a successful model of community-based education that has begun a process of internationalization, regarding the participants��� perceptions of foreign language education and the policies of the PNB. Six students, five teachers, and four administrators were each interviewed twice using semi-structured interviews. To offer a critique of the PNB, this study tried to determine to what extent the school implemented the elements of Responsible ELT, a model developed by the researcher incorporating the concepts of hegemony of English, critical language-policy research, and resistance in ELT. Findings included the following: (a) students and teachers saw English as the universal language whereas most administrators saw English imposed due to political and economic reasons; (b) some teachers misinterpreted the 1994 General Law of Education mandating the teaching of a foreign language as a law mandating English; and (c) some teachers and administrators saw the PNB���s adoption of competence standards based on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages as beneficial whereas others saw it as arbitrary. Conclusions derived from this study of this Escuela Nueva school were: (a) most participants found the goal of the PNB unrealistic; (b) most teachers and administrators saw the policies of the PNB as top-down policies without assessment or continuity; and (c) teachers and administrators mentioned a disarticulation between elementary and high school ELT policies that may be discouraging students in public schools from learning English. Thus, this study suggests that the policies of the PNB may be contributing to English becoming a gatekeeper for higher education and employment thereby becoming a tool for sustaining inequality in Colombia.

Entering an academic discourse community: A case study of the coping strategies of eleven english as a second language students

This case study follows eleven non-English speaking students as they adapt to community college, content courses. The three classes examined are required freshman classes--Humanities, Social Environment, and Individual in Transition. In order to cope with the demands of these classes, students must penetrate the academic discourse community and have effective relationships with their instructors and their peers. The results of the study are based on interviews with eleven non-native speaking (NNS) students and their instructors and on an analysis of student writing assignments, course syllabi, and exams. Three general areas are examined: (a) students' first-language (L1) education, (b) the requirements of their content classes, and (c) the affective factors which influence their adaptation process. The case of these students reveals that: 1. Students draw on their L1 education, especially in terms of content, as they cope with the demands of these content classes. 2. In some areas L1 educational experiences interfere with students' ability to adapt. 3. The content classes require students to have well developed reading, writing, oral, and aural skills. 4. Students must use higher level cognitive skills to be successful in content classes. 5. Affective factors play a role in students' success in content classes. The discussion section includes possible implications of this data for college level English as a Second Language courses.

Consumo c(l)iente: abordagem do g��nero an��ncio publicit��rio em livros did��ticos de l��ngua portuguesa do ensino m��dio

Portuguese language textbooks, according to what has been preconized on the official document to education, have been configured on discursive genres imported from diverse spheres of human activity. Adverts, genre of ample social circulation, spread from the Advertising sphere to the schools and started being approached by these collectaneas as an object and a tool for teaching. Therefore, this research deals with the approach of ads in Portugese textbooks. These discursive practices matter for the impact or appeal they exert over the (new) consumers, among which High School students; for their representation in the capitalist system, which guides us on our relationships and social practices; and for the mix of languages that end up at their composition, once they encapsulate the spirit of our time, par excellence, the one from the verbal-visual genres. To understand the treatment given to these advertising pieces, from questions/commentaries related to them, two collections were selected by the Programa Nacional do Livro Did��tico ��� Textbook National Program (PNLD 2012) among the ones more used by public High Schools in Natal/RN. From Applied Linguistics, from mestizo, nomadic and inter/transdisciplinary identity (MOITA LOPES, 2009), this study falls within the discursive chain of the interpretive tradition of historical-cultural approach (FREITAS, 2010) and names the Bakhtin Circle and its language���s dialogical conception as inescapable partners. The data of the colletaneas show that the genre approach can happen as concrete utterance, as linguistic artifact and as hybrid, at work with questions and without questions, with the predominance of its occurrence in the portion of the volume devoted to the study of grammar. In the literature chapters and production/interpretation of compositions, it insert is incipient or it doesn���t happen in the volume. Such a provision has implications for multiliteracies (ROJO, 2012) of the citizen student, once the lack or the abundance of critical reading proposals for this genre, that demand from the student the exercise of knowledge that is necessary to the construction of linguistic and social meanings, can be responsible for guide to a more conscious consumerism (material and cultural) by the chief customers of the work under review. The approaches of the genres seems to indicate a gradual transition that such material have undergone, which means, from the focus on clauses to the focus on utterances, or even the approach as linguistic artifact to hybrid and the concrete utterance, in search of overcoming the traditional tendency of taking advantage of formal aspects of the language, to the detriment of enunciative ones, and for coming into harmony with the guidelines and parameters of teaching in contemporary times, bringing the school duties close to the rights in life.

A, B, C��� Anorexia, bulimia y comedor compulsivo. Manual para docentes

Los trastornos relacionados con la alimentaci��n se han convertido, en los ��l- timos a��os, en un grave problema de salud p��blica, tanto por la gravedad que estas patolog��as adquieren con el tiempo, como por la alarma social que se ha despertado frente a la, cada vez m��s frecuente, aparici��n de estos trastornos. A este respecto baste se��alar que, seg��n los ��ltimos datos, de la poblaci��n de j��venes escolarizados en la Comunidad de Madrid, con edades comprendidas entre los quince y dieciocho a��os, un 3.4% padecen un TCA y un 7,6% presen- tan riesgo de padecerlo, lo que, unido a la prevalencia actual, supone que este problema de salud afecta a un 11% de los adolescentes escolarizados en Madrid. Junto a los j��venes que padecen un trastorno relacionado con la alimentaci��n hay una cantidad considerable de menores que presentan conductas de riesgo relacionadas con la aparici��n de estos trastornos. As��, seg��n los ��ltimos estudios con adolescentes, un 7,1% de los chicos y un 34,1% de las chicas han iniciado una dieta para adelgazar en el ��ltimo a��o, mientras que un 1,1% de los chicos y un 9,1% de las chicas se han provocado el v��mito con la intenci��n de adelgazar. Un joven que est�� empezando a desarrollar una anorexia o una bulimia puede pasar desapercibido para su entorno, la diferencia entre la salud y la enfer- medad es, en sus or��genes, muy sutil. As��, es dif��cil diferenciar al adolescente que se pone a dieta porque es la moda y acaba dejando la dieta pasadas unas semanas, del joven que, con id��ntico inicio, acaba desarrollando un trastorno. El INUTCAM, consciente de la compleja situaci��n a la que se enfrentan los docentes en cuanto a los TCA, publica este manual con la intenci��n de brindar una ayuda m��s de cara a la prevenci��n, detecci��n y atenci��n a los j��venes con estas patolog��as.

The urban community in fifteenth-century Scotland : language, law and political practice

Peer reviewed

Using parent report to assess early lexical production in children exposed to more than one language

Limited expressive vocabulary skills in young children are considered to be the first warning signs of a potential Specific Language Impairment (SLI) (Ellis & Thal, 2008). In bilingual language learning environments, the expressive vocabulary size in each of the child���s developing languages is usually smaller compared to the number of words produced by monolingual peers (e.g. De Houwer, 2009). Nonetheless, evidence shows children���s total productive lexicon size across both languages to be comparable to monolingual peers��� vocabularies (e.g. Pearson et al., 1993; Pearson & Fernandez, 1994). Since there is limited knowledge as to which level of bilingual vocabulary size should be considered as a risk factor for SLI, the effects of bilingualism and language-learning difficulties on early lexical production are often confounded. The compilation of profiles for early vocabulary production in children exposed to more than one language, and their comparison across language pairs, should enable more accurate identification of vocabulary delays that signal a risk for SLI in bilingual populations. These considerations prompted the design of a methodology for assessing early expressive vocabulary in children exposed to more than one language, which is described in the present chapter. The implementation of this methodological framework is then outlined by presenting the design of a study that measured the productive lexicons of children aged 24-36 months who were exposed to different language pairs, namely Maltese and English, Irish and English, Polish and English, French and Portuguese, Turkish and German as well as English and Hebrew. These studies were designed and coordinated in COST Action IS0804 Working Group 3 (WG3) and will be described in detail in a series of subsequent publications. Expressive vocabulary size was measured through parental report, by employing the vocabulary checklist of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences (CDI: WS) (Fenson et al., 1993, 2007) and its adaptations to the participants��� languages. Here we describe the novelty of the study���s methodological design, which lies in its attempt to harmonize the use of vocabulary checklist adaptations, together with parental questionnaires addressing language exposure and developmental history, across participant groups characterized by different language exposure variables. This chapter outlines the various methodological considerations that paved the way for meaningful cross-linguistic comparison of the participants��� expressive lexicon sizes. In so doing, it hopes to provide a template for and encourage further research directed at establishing a threshold for SLI risk in children exposed to more than one language.

A Systematic Review of Race and Ethnicity in Hepatitis C Clinical Trial Enrollment.

The African American/Black population in the United States (US) is disproportionately affected by hepatitis C virus (HCV) and has lower response rates to current treatments. This analysis evaluates the participation of African American/Blacks in North American and European HCV clinical trials. The data source for this analysis was the PubMed database. Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT) on HCV treatment with interferon 2a or 2b between January 2000 and December 2011 were reviewed. Inclusion criteria included English language and participants 18 years or older with chronic HCV. Exclusion criteria included non-randomized trials, case reports, cohort studies, ethnic specific studies, or studies not using interferon-alfa or PEG-interferon. Of the 588 trials identified, 314 (53.4%) fit inclusion criteria. The main outcome was the rate of African American/ Black participation in North American HCV clinical trials. A meta-analysis comparing the expected and observed rates was performed. Of the RCT's that met search criteria, 123 (39.2%) reported race. Clinical trials in North America were more likely to report racial data than European trials. Racial reporting increased over time. There was a statistically significant difference among the expected and observed participation of African Americans in HCV clinical trials in North America based on the prevalence of this disease within the population. The burden of HCV among African Americans in North America is not reflected in those clinical trials designed to treat HCV. Research on minority participation in clinical trials and how to increase minority participation in clinical trials is needed.

National Cinemas and Non-Hegemonic Languages. The Invisibility of Galician Language Facing the Policies for Cultural Diversity

In the spirit of the proposals of the Agenda 2020 about the structural role of cinema in the configuration of the European identities, this article highlights the significance of the national cinemas in non-hegemonic languages in the conformation of a diverse European culture. Following this perspective, we use Galician cinema as a case study in which we analyze the presence (or more precisely the absence) of the Galician language in the original version in the feature films released between 2008 and 2012.This proposal is hosted by the I+D+I project eDCINEMA: ���Towards the European Digital Space. The role of small cinemas in original version��� (Ref. CSO2012-35784) financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain.

The origins of the foreign language press in M��laga

The settlement of foreign residents in Spain has led since the mid- nineteenth century the creation of a foreign language press in order to inform and serve as a vehicle for social cohesion in these communities. This article studies M��laga because it is one of the provinces with the highest current number of foreign language press in Spain. This research has focused on analyzing two of the first newspapers written in English at the beginning of XX century: British Colony Gazette and the English section of La Union Mercantil, Weekly English News.

�� "Le g��nant", c���est qu���Olivier ne sera pas seul ��. Le probl��me de l���adjectif substantiv�� th��matis�� en fran��ais

Nous ��tudions dans cet article les tournures du type ����Le g��nant, c���est qu���Olivier ne sera pas seul����, lesquelles sont fr��quemment d��crites, d���un point de vue formel, comme des structures de type article/adjectif substantiv��. Apr��s avoir analys�� les propri��t��s morphosyntaxiques de notre tournure, nous montrons qu���en r��alit�� on ne saurait parler d���adjectif substantiv�� par un article, dans la mesure o�� ni l���adjectif ne devient un substantif, ni l���article ne fonctionne comme un v��ritable article. Ce dernier, en effet, peut ��tre d��fini comme un ����article-d��monstratif neutre����. Nous sommes dans cette perspective amen�� �� repenser le sch��ma de l���article de la psychom��canique du langage, et �� proposer du tenseur binaire guillaumien une vision ��largie que l���on peut repr��senter par un sch��me trimorphe.