Processing of hierarchical syntactic strusture in music

Hierarchical structure with nested nonlocal dependencies is a key feature of human language and can be identified theoretically in most pieces of tonal music. However, previous studies have argued against the perception of such structures in music. Here, we show processing of nonlocal dependencies in music. We presented chorales by J. S. Bach and modified versions inwhich the hierarchical structure was rendered irregular whereas the local structure was kept intact. Brain electric responses differed between regular and irregular hierarchical structures, in both musicians and nonmusicians. This finding indicates that, when listening to music, humans apply cognitive processes that are capable of dealing with longdistance dependencies resulting from hierarchically organized syntactic structures. Our results reveal that a brain mechanism fundamental for syntactic processing is engaged during the perception of music, indicating that processing of hierarchical structure with nested nonlocal dependencies is not just a key component of human language, but a multidomain capacity of human cognition.

The experience of teaching statistics to non-specialist students in Saudi universities

Undoubtedly, statistics has become one of the most important subjects in the modern world, where its applications are ubiquitous. The importance of statistics is not limited to statisticians, but also impacts upon non-statisticians who have to use statistics within their own disciplines. Several studies have indicated that most of the academic departments around the world have realized the importance of statistics to non-specialist students. Therefore, the number of students enrolled in statistics courses has vastly increased, coming from a variety of disciplines. Consequently, research within the scope of statistics education has been able to develop throughout the last few years. One important issue is how statistics is best taught to, and learned by, non-specialist students. This issue is controlled by several factors that affect the learning and teaching of statistics to non-specialist students, such as the use of technology, the role of the English language (especially for those whose first language is not English), the effectiveness of statistics teachers and their approach towards teaching statistics courses, students’ motivation to learn statistics and the relevance of statistics courses to the main subjects of non-specialist students. Several studies, focused on aspects of learning and teaching statistics, have been conducted in different countries around the world, particularly in Western countries. Conversely, the situation in Arab countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, is different; here, there is very little research in this scope, and what there is does not meet the needs of those countries towards the development of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students. This research was instituted in order to develop the field of statistics education. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to generate new insights into this subject by investigating how statistics courses are currently taught to non-specialist students in Saudi universities. Hence, this study will contribute towards filling the knowledge gap that exists in Saudi Arabia. This study used multiple data collection approaches, including questionnaire surveys from 1053 non-specialist students who had completed at least one statistics course in different colleges of the universities in Saudi Arabia. These surveys were followed up with qualitative data collected via semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers of statistics from colleges within all six universities where statistics is taught to non-specialist students in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region. The data from questionnaires included several types, so different techniques were used in analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the demographic characteristics of the participants. The chi-square test was used to determine associations between variables. Based on the main issues that are raised from literature review, the questions (items scales) were grouped and five key groups of questions were obtained which are: 1) Effectiveness of Teachers; 2) English Language; 3) Relevance of Course; 4) Student Engagement; 5) Using Technology. Exploratory data analysis was used to explore these issues in more detail. Furthermore, with the existence of clustering in the data (students within departments within colleges, within universities), multilevel generalized linear models for dichotomous analysis have been used to clarify the effects of clustering at those levels. Factor analysis was conducted confirming the dimension reduction of variables (items scales). The data from teachers’ interviews were analysed on an individual basis. The responses were assigned to one of the eight themes that emerged from within the data: 1) the lack of students’ motivation to learn statistics; 2) students' participation; 3) students’ assessment; 4) the effective use of technology; 5) the level of previous mathematical and statistical skills of non-specialist students; 6) the English language ability of non-specialist students; 7) the need for extra time for teaching and learning statistics; and 8) the role of administrators. All the data from students and teachers indicated that the situation of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students in Saudi universities needs to be improved in order to meet the needs of those students. The findings of this study suggested a weakness in the use of statistical software applications in these courses. This study showed that there is lack of application of technology such as statistical software programs in these courses, which would allow non-specialist students to consolidate their knowledge. The results also indicated that English language is considered one of the main challenges in learning and teaching statistics, particularly in institutions where English is not used as the main language. Moreover, the weakness of mathematical skills of students is considered another major challenge. Additionally, the results indicated that there was a need to tailor statistics courses to the needs of non-specialist students based on their main subjects. The findings indicate that statistics teachers need to choose appropriate methods when teaching statistics courses.

A VOICE OF THEIR OWN: MUSIC AND SOCIAL COHESION IN TURKISH ALEVI LIFE

This dissertation examines the role that music has played in the expression of identity and revitalization of culture of the Alevis in Turkey, since the start of their sociocultural revival movement in the late 1980s. Music is central to Alevi claims of ethnic and religious difference—singing and playing the bağlama (Turkish folk lute) constitutes an expressive practice in worship and everyday life. Based on research conducted from 2012 to 2014, I investigate and present Alevi music through the lens of discourses on the construction of identity as a social and musical process. Alevi musicians perform a revived repertoire of the ritual music and folk songs of Anatolian bards and dervish-lodge poets that developed over several centuries. Contemporary media and performance contexts have blurred former distinctions between sacred and secular, yet have provided new avenues to build community in an urban setting. I compare music performances in the worship services of urban and small-town areas, and other community events such as devotional meetings, concerts, clubs, and broadcast and social media to illustrate the ways that participation—both performing and listening—reinforces identity and solidarity. I also examine the influence of these different contexts on performers’ musical choices, and the power of music to evoke a range of responses and emotional feelings in the participants. Through my investigation I argue that the Alevi music repertoire is not only a cultural practice but also a symbol of power and collective action in their struggle for human rights and self-determination. As Alevis have faced a redefined Turkish nationalism that incorporates Sunni Muslim piety, this music has gained even greater potency in their resistance to misrecognition as a folkloric, rather than a living, tradition.

Framework for music as store atmospherics to induce buying : a study of Delhi mall customers

Music is a hidden stimulus for retailers. Not much has been researched on Indian luxury stores. This paper attempts to study the composition of music on perception of buyers at luxury stores. A research on customer’s buying intention was done to study their perception of music in the luxury store formats. This study uses exploratory factor analysis to find the significant different factors which constitute music to be played so as to induce buying in a luxury store. The composition of music depends upon music attractiveness, age of the customer and a desire to listen to the music.

Contributions of Neuroscience to Develop Teaching Strategies and Learning of Mathematics

The goal of the present work is to develop some strategies based on research in neurosciences that contribute to the teaching and learning of mathematics. The interrelationship of education with the brain, as well as the relationship of cerebral structures with mathematical thinking was discussed. Strategies were developed taking into consideration levels that include cognitive, semiotic, language, affect and the overcoming of phobias to the subject. The fundamental conclusion was the imperative educational requirement in the near future of a new teacher, whose pedagogic formation must include the knowledge on the cerebral function, its structures and its implications to education, as well as a change in pedagogy and curricular structure in the teaching of mathematics.

Teaching-learning process and teaching methodology in Portuguese for the deaf under the perspective of inclusive education

For years, the discrepancies faced by deaf students in the teaching of the Portuguese language were due to the lack of hearing. Recently, these failures have been attributed to the use of inadequate teaching methodologies and to the lack of communication through Libras between the deaf and the hearers. This article aims at reporting a research study that analyzed the teaching-learning processes from the point of view of a deaf elementary student in Viçosa/MG. The project was primarily developed by a qualitative approach, by utilizing the bibliographical review, the participant observation and the field diary. Results showed the communicative interactions were restrained, since teachers and hearing students were not fluent in Libras, and there was no interpreter available. The methodology was mostly expositive, with a predominance of oral resources. The findings demonstrated the challenges faced by the deaf students are numerous, since the school does not offer the structure to meet their needs, and the teachers do not have the required education to work in an inclusive school environment. This article reports some methodological proposals for the teaching of Portuguese that were elaborated and applied within an inclusive context, all following PCN orientations. It reinforces the need to invest in teacher training to meet the demands of inclusive education to improve the quality of the classes offered to the deaf in regards to the teaching-learning process for Portuguese.

BELIEFS ABOUT ENGLISH LEARNING AND TEACHING IN A TECHNICAL SCHOOL IN THE CITY OF PONTA PORÃ/MS

Abstract: This study is part of my master research, which aimed to investigate the beliefs about  English learning and teaching of students entering to a High School Course integrated to Computer Technician at a Federal High School in the city Ponta Pora / MS , located at the  border  with Paraguay . In the context , great part of the students coming from public schools in the region  had not studied English as a foreign language in elementary school , once it is located  in a region of the border with Paraguay , it offers only Spanish as a foreign language. The interest for this research came up as of conflicting situations between the teacher way of teaching and students ways of learning, especially of those who had not studied English in elementary school. Thus we tried to study the beliefs of these students, analyzing how they process in that context in order to promote reflection of the teacher  to perform actions of intervention in order to reduce the mismatches between the ways of teaching and the ways that the students believe to be the right to learn. Keywords: Beliefs; English Teaching and Learning; Context

The Practice of Reading, Writing Papers and Linguistic Analysis in Teaching Portuguese: A Proposal for the Organization of Everyday School Life from the Perspective of Multiliteracies

This paper aims to reflect on the teaching of Portuguese language in the context of twenty-first century, taking as its starting point the proposal of multiliteracies. We propose to discuss the applicability of genres in the classroom as a condition to ensure the construction of fundamental knowledge to social practices of language. For this, we rely on recent studies on the possibilities that the genre can bring to practice reading, writing papers, and linguistic analysis. We intend, therefore, to assist the planning of teachers who still find themselves unsure on curricula that suggest what they have to do, but did not say how. Understand the reason why this work is another contribution to the teaching of Portuguese in the final years of elementary school and high school bringing out a space for discussion about what needs to be taught and some teaching procedures that favor the democratization of school and interaction linguistics. Curricular innovations and new ways of thinking about teaching and learning of mother tongue are already part of the reflections of most professionals, but there is still an open field to think of more effective alternatives through multimodality an interactionist conception of language.

PROGRAM MONITORING IN THE PROCESS OF TEACHING/LEARNING SPANISH LANGUAGE FOR STUDENTS OF TOURISM

This article is about the lived experience in the Monitoring Programme of the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), during the discipline of Spanish Language Applied to Tourism, of the Tourism Course, in Parnaíba/PI. The study aims at getting to introduce students, teachers and researchers the importance of this academic practice, as well as to characterize the relevance of the teaching/learning of foreign language (FL), more specifically the Spanish as foreign language (ELE), for tourism activity and career of tourism professional. The methodology adopted was a bibliographical, documentary and field research with qualitative and quantitative approach. Thus, it can be state that the monitoring encourages the students to teach, associated with teaching activities, research and extension activities, and it contributes to the development of their intellectual, academic and professional abilities. Furthermore, subjects perceive the relevance of foreign language teaching in the classroom, including the teaching of SFL for the efficient development of their works in relation to tourism.

A proposal for English teaching in the classrooms of IFSC in times of globalization and bilingualism

This article discusses, departing from Critical Applied Linguistics perspectives, English language teaching in the classrooms of the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Santa Catarina – IFSC (Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Santa Catarina) – more specifically about high school courses integrated to technical teaching, a discussion also useful to other institutions and schools. In the article, the role of IFSC is critically discussed regarding English teaching in the present globalization/globalism era with its demands for bilingualism. A reflection about what kind of English teaching is desirable for IFSC is presented, trying to answer the following question: Which approach of English teaching could be applied to IFSC in the current context? The understanding in the article is that nowadays teaching of English should not be performed any more as a mere study of a language, but that that teaching may occur through a libertarian conception, which, besides preparing the students to the world of work, gives them the possibility to grow as critical citizens, engaged in the organization for a more humane and just world. Keywords: globalization; bilingualism; English teaching.

Diversity of accuracy profiles for absolute pitch recognition

Most advanced musicians are able to identify and label a heard pitch if given an opportunity to compare it to a known reference note. This is called ‘relative pitch’ (RP). A much rarer skill is the ability to identify and label a heard pitch without the need for a reference. This is colloquially referred to as ‘perfect pitch’, but appears in the academic literature as ‘absolute pitch’ (AP). AP is considered by many as a remarkable skill. As people do not seem able to develop it intentionally, it is generally regarded as innate. It is often seen as a unitary skill and that a set of identifiable criteria can distinguish those who possess the skill from those who do not. However, few studies have interrogated these notions. The present study developed and applied an interactive computer program to map pitch-labelling responses to various tonal stimuli without a known reference tone available to participants. This approach enabled the identification of the elements of sound that impacted on AP. Pitch-labelling responses of 14 participants with AP were recorded for their accuracy. Each participant’s response to the stimuli was unique. Their accuracy of labelling varied across dimensions such as timbre, range and tonality. The diversity of performance between individuals appeared to reflect their personal musical experience histories.

The place of writing in first grade Kuwaiti english education : a sociological case study

A hybridized society, Kuwait meshes Islamic ideologies with western culture. Linguistically, English exists across both foreign language and second language nomenclatures in the country due to globalization and internationalization which has seen increasing use of English in Kuwait. Originally consisting of listening, speaking, reading and writing, the first grade English curriculum in Kuwait was narrowed in 2002 to focus only on the development of oral English skills, and to exclude writing. Since that time, both Kuwaiti teachers and parents have expressed dissatisfaction with this curriculum on the basis that this model disadvantages their children. In first grade however, the teaching of pre-writing has remained as part of the curriculum. This research analyses the parameters of English pre-writing and writing instruction in first grade in Kuwaiti classrooms, investigates first grade English pre-writing and writing teaching, and gathers insights from parents, teachers and students regarding the appropriateness of the current curriculum. Through interviews and classroom observations, and an analysis of curriculum documents, this case study found that the relationship between oral and written language is more complex than suggested by either the Kuwaiti curriculum reform, or international literature concerning the delayed teaching of writing. Intended curriculum integration across Kuwait subjects is also far more complex than first believed, due to a developmental mismatch between English pre-writing skills and Arabic language capabilities. Findings suggest an alternative approach to teaching writing may be more appropriate and more effective for first Grade students in the current Kuwait curriculum context. They contribute also to an emerging interest in the second and foreign language fields in the teaching of writing to young learners.

Seeing music performance : visual influences on perception and experience

Drawing from ethnographic, empirical, and historical / cultural perspectives, we examine the extent to which visual aspects of music contribute to the communication that takes place between performers and their listeners. First, we introduce a framework for understanding how media and genres shape aural and visual experiences of music. Second, we present case studies of two performances, and describe the relation between visual and aural aspects of performance. Third, we report empirical evidence that visual aspects of performance reliably influence perceptions of musical structure (pitch related features) and affective interpretations of music. Finally, we trace new and old media trajectories of aural and visual dimensions of music, and highlight how our conceptions, perceptions and appreciation of music are intertwined with technological innovation and media deployment strategies.

An investigation into the use of a blended model of learning in a first year accounting subject

The weaknesses of ‗traditional‘ modes of instruction in accounting education have been widely discussed. Many contend that the traditional approach limits the ability to provide opportunities for students to raise their competency level and allow them to apply knowledge and skills in professional problem solving situations. However, the recent body of literature suggests that accounting educators are indeed actively experimenting with ‗non-traditional‘ and ‗innovative‘ instructional approaches, where some authors clearly favour one approach over another. But can one instructional approach alone meet the necessary conditions for different learning objectives? Taking into account the ever changing landscape of not only business environments, but also the higher education sector, the premise guiding the collaborators in this research is that it is perhaps counter productive to promote competing dichotomous views of ‗traditional‘ and ‗non-traditional‘ instructional approaches to accounting education, and that the notion of ‗blended learning‘ might provide a useful framework to enhance the learning and teaching of accounting. This paper reports on the first cycle of a longitudinal study, which explores the possibility of using blended learning in first year accounting at one campus of a large regional university. The critical elements of blended learning which emerged in the study are discussed and, consistent with the design-based research framework, the paper also identifies key design modifications for successive cycles of the research.

The genesis of science education research in Australasia

Although the sciences were being taught in Australian schools well before the Second World War, the only evidence of research studies of this teaching is to be found in the report, published by ACER in 1932 of Roy Stanhope’s survey of the teaching of chemistry in New South Wales and a standardized test he had developed. Roy Stanhope was a science teacher with a research masters degree in chemistry. He had won a scholarship to go to Stanford University for doctoral studies, but returned after one year when his scholarship was not extended. He went on to be a founder in 1943 of the Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA), which honours this remarkable pioneer through its annual Stanhope Oration. In his retirement Stanhope undertook a comparative study of science