El plan de lengua y cohesión social en Catañunya: primeros datos de una investigación = Language and Social Cohesion Plan in Catalonia: Initial research data

Los programas de inmersión lingüística han constituido y constituyen dentro del Sistema Educativo catalán la principal forma para que el alumnado de lengua familiar no-catalana aprenda una nueva lengua, el catalán, sin que, en su proceso de aprendizaje, vea mermado ni el desarrollo de su propia lengua ni su rendimiento académico. El éxito de la inmersión lingüística en las décadas anteriores ha sido frecuentemente utilizado como uno de los argumentos orientativos para justificar la política lingüística que se sigue en la escolarización de la infancia extranjera. Sin embargo, los resultados obtenidos por investigaciones recientes parece que no avalan empíricamente dicho argumento. Este artículo analiza dichos resultados y expone, a partir del Plan para la Lengua y Cohesión Social puesto en marcha por el Departamento de Educación de la Generalitat de Cataluña, cuáles son los retos que se presentan a su Sistema Educativo dentro del nuevo marco que supone el aumento de la diversidad cultural y lingüística en la actual sociedad catalana

Seminar: Symbol Management systems to support democracy in development of an online Symbol Dictionary

Abstract This seminar will introduce an initial year of research exploring participation in the development of a bilingual symbol dictionary. Symbols can be a communication and literacy ‘lifeline’ for those unable to communicate through speech or writing. We will discuss how an online system has been built to overcome language, cultural and literacy skill issues for a country where 86% are expatriates but the target clients are Arabic born individuals with speech and language impairments. The symbols in use at present are inappropriate and yet there is no democratic way of providing a ‘user voice’ for making choices, let alone easy mechanisms for adapting and sharing newly developed symbols across the nation or extended Arabic world. This project aims to change this situation. Having sourced a series of symbols that could be adapted to suit user’s needs, the team needed to encourage those users, their carers and therapists to vote on whether the symbols would be appropriate and work with those already in use. The first prototype was developed and piloted during the WAISfest in 2013. The second phase needs further voting on the most suitably adapted symbols for use when communicating with others. There is a requirement to have mechanisms for evaluating the outcome of the votes, where symbols fail to represent accurate meanings, have inappropriate colours, representations and actions etc. There also remains the need to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Not easy in a climate of acceptance of the expert view, a culture where to be critical can be a problem and time is not of the essence.

Aplicaciones Organizacionales de TREC en el modelo RET

Las aplicaciones organizacionales de modelos psicológicos son una realidad frecuente en la práctica profesional. Sin embargo es frecuente que los soportes teóricos no sean elaborados de forma expresiva, debido al pragmatismo del entorno organizacional. Esta situación es visible al considerar el lenguaje, la estructura y el soporte teórico recogido en las publicaciones de psicólogos dirigidos al público de las empresas (el management). No obstante, las propuestas teóricas psicológicas en el campo del desarrollo, el desarrollo humano, la respuesta emocional, el aprendizaje en adultos y la cognición entre otros soportan modelos aplicados y desarrollos pragmáticos específicos. Así ocurre en el caso de TREC, que reconoce como los obstáculos emocionales relacionados con sobredemandas influyen negativamente en la comunicación y los vínculos que soportan el liderazgo en entorno organizacional. Diferentes aportes desde la inteligencia emocional permitirán entender y conectar la relación de estas teorías.

About language : tasks for teachers of English.

Este texto parte del supuesto de que los profesores de inglés, no sólo deben ser capaces de hablar y escribir el idioma que enseñan, sino que, también, necesitan saber mucho sobre la manera en que funciona el lenguaje, es decir, sus componentes, sus regularidades, y la forma en que se utiliza. Además, se supone que este tipo de conocimiento útil se adquiere a través del estudio ó análisis de ejemplos de la propia lengua. Por tanto, con el objetivo de aumentar este conocimiento, se incluyen aquí, una secuencia de tareas que se inician al nivel de fonemas hasta llegar al texto completo.

museology and community development in the XXI Century

Each time more, museology professionals are confronted with terms such as community, social inequality, social inclusion and development in their quotidian. Be it in conferences, publications or museum programmes, these are increasingly recurrent terms which, in great part, translate the dynamics of a relationship between museology and community development that has been constructed since the late 60’s. Although it is not new, such relationship has gone through a major bloom in the early 90’s and arrives today as an emerging priority within the world of museology. A first glance on the subject reveals that very different approaches and forms of action share the efforts in endowing museology with a role in community development today. In addition, despite of its growing popularity, it seems to be some misunderstandings on what the work with community development requires and truly signifies, as can be pointed out in a number of assertions originated from the field of museology. Accompanying such a plural environment, discussions and disagreements about to what extend museology is able to claim a role in social change also mark its affairs with community development. People are faced, indeed, with a rather polemic and intricate scenario. To a great extend, language barriers hinder the exchange of information on current initiatives and previous experiences, as well as on the development of concepts, approaches and proposals. Lack of better interactions among the groups of museology professionals and social actors who carry out different works with community development also contributes to making the potential of museology as a resource for development more difficult to be visualised.

The essentials of written language

This paper discusses the development of written language in children.

Development of Mandarin speech discrimination test for children

This paper contains a speech discrimation test for hearing impaired children using Mandarin language.

Experimental method for teaching specific language structures to hearing-impaired children

This paper presents an experimental Receptive-Expressive Multi-Modal Learning Program of Patterned Language Practice for hearing-impaired children.

Infant vocabulary development assessed with a British communicative development inventory

Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) were collected from 669 British children aged between 1;0 and 2;1. Comprehension and production scores in each age group are calculated. This provides norming data for the British infant population. The influence of socioeconomic group on vocabulary scores is considered and shown not to have a significant effect. The data from British infants is compared to data from American infants (Fenson, Dale, Reznick, Bates, Thal & Pethick, 1994). It is found that British infants have lower scores on both comprehension and production than American infants of the same age.

A pattern language for goals

Previous work has established the value of goal-oriented approaches to requirements engineering. Achieving clarity and agreement about stakeholders’ goals and assumptions is critical for building successful software systems and managing their subsequent evolution. In general, this decision-making process requires stakeholders to understand the implications of decisions outside the domains of their own expertise. Hence it is important to support goal negotiation and decision making with description languages that are both precise and expressive, yet easy to grasp. This paper presents work in progress to develop a pattern language for describing goal refinement graphs. The language has a simple graphical notation, which is supported by a prototype editor tool, and a symbolic notation based on modal logic.

When school is not enough: new initiatives in intergenerational language transmission in Wales

This paper examines language reproduction in the family in the context of a highly innovative project in Wales, where the Welsh language has been in decline for over a century. Although Welsh-medium schooling has played a pivotal role in slowing and even reversing language shift in recent decades, there is mounting evidence of the dangers of over-reliance on education. The Twf (Growth) Project was established in 2002 with funding from the National Assembly for Wales with the aim of raising awareness of the benefits of bilingualism among parents and prospective parents. Analysis of interviews with the main stakeholders in the project (managers, the Twf project officers, parents, health workers and a range of other partners), publicity materials and observations of project staff at work suggests that the achievements of the project lie in two main areas: the recognition of the need for building strong alliances with professional groups and organisations that work with families with young children; and the development of a marketing strategy appropriate for the target audience. It is argued that the experience of the project will be of interest to those addressing the issue of intergenerational transmission in a range of other minority language settings.

English-only language-in-education policy in multilingual classrooms in Ghana

This paper, based on the findings of a qualitative study, discusses the influence of Ghana's recently introduced English-only language-in-education policy on pupils' classroom communicative practices and learning generally. It highlights how the use of English- an unfamiliar language- creates anxiety among students and stalls effective classroom participation. The paper first considers the key issues that impinge on the literacy development in multilingual classrooms in postcolonial Africa including the uninformed attitudes towards mother tongue/bilingual education. It then draws on the empirical data from Africa and elsewhere to refute the negative perceptions about mother-tongue education, and examines the prospects for bilingual/mother-tongue education in multilingual classrooms in Ghana.

Language, education and ethnicity: whose rights will prevail in an age of globalisation?

Education and ethnicity cannot be discussed without taking language into account. This paper will argue that any discussion of ethnic minorities cannot ignore the question of language, nor can any discussion of human rights ignore the question of language rights. Unfortunately, in today's globalised world, governments and minorities are faced with conflicting pressures: on the one hand, for the development and use of education in a global/international language; on the other for the use and development of mother tongue, local or indigenous languages in education. Language complexity and ethnic plurality were largely brought about as a result of the creation of nation-states, which were spread around the world as a result of European colonialism. European languages and formal education systems were used as a means of political and economic control. The legacy that was left by the colonial powers has complicated ethnic relations and has frequently led to conflict. While there is now greater recognition of the importance of language both for economic and educational development, as well as for human rights, the forces of globalisation are leading towards uniformity in the languages used, in culture and even in education. They are working against the development of language rights for smaller groups. We are witnessing a sharp decline in the number of languages spoken. Only those languages which are numerically, economically and politically strong are likely to survive. As a result many linguistic and ethnic groups are in danger of being further marginalised. This paper will illustrate this thesis both historically and from several contemporary societies, showing how certain policies have exacerbated ethnic conflict while others are seeking to promote harmony and reconciliation. Why this should be so will be explored. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.