Coherence and Historical understanding in children's Biography and Historical Nonfiction Literature: A Content Analysis of Selected Orbis Pictus Books

The purpose of this study was to investigate a selection of children's historical nonfiction literature for evidence of coherence. Although research has been conducted on coherence of textbook material and its influences on comprehension there has been limited study on coherence in children's nonfiction literature. Generally, textual coherence has been seen as critical in the comprehensibility of content area textbooks because it concerns the unity of connections among ideas and information. Disciplinary coherence concerns the extent to which authors of historical text show readers how historians think and write. Since young readers are apprentices in learning historical content and conventions of historical thinking, evidence of disciplinary coherence is significant in nonfiction literature for young readers. The sample of the study contained 32 books published between 1989 and 2000 ranging in length from less than 90 pages to more than 150 pages. Content analysis was the quantitative research technique used to measure 84 variables of textual and disciplinary coherence in three passages of each book, as proportions of the total number of words for each book. Reliability analyses and an examination of 750 correlations showed the extent to which variables were related in the books. Three important findings emerged from the study that should be considered in the selection and use of children's historical nonfiction literature in classrooms. First, characteristics of coherence are significantly related together in high quality nonfiction literature. Second, shorter books have a higher proportion of textual coherence than longer books as measured in three passages. Third, presence of the author is related to characteristics of coherence throughout the books. The findings show that nonfiction literature offers students content that researchers have found textbooks lack. Both younger and older students have the opportunity to learn the conventions of historical thinking as they learn content through nonfiction literature. Further, the children's literature, represented in the Orbis Pictus list, shows students that authors select, interpret, and question information, and give other interpretations. The implications of the study for teaching history, teacher preparation in content and literacy, school practices, children's librarians, and publishers of children's nonfiction are discussed.

Norma estándar y variedad rioplatense en instrumentos de gramatización

En el marco de las políticas lingüísticas, el trabajo analiza los discursos sobre el español como lengua estándar subyacentes en los diversos instrumentos de gramatización (Auroux, 1992) destinados a regular los usos lingüísticos en el ámbito hispanoamericano. Postula la hipótesis de que las políticas lingüísticas alentadas desde las Academias de la Lengua y las diversas instancias de difusión del estándar llamado panhispánico acuden al espíritu de unidad y homogeneidad lingüística presente desde los inicios de los discursos sobre el español afectando el prestigio de los estándares regionales. A partir de esta hipótesis, sostiene que las actuales expectativas de homogeneidad e intercomprensibilidad lingüística expresadas tanto en diccionarios, manuales de estilo o gramáticas como en los medios de comunicación olvidan que los estándares regionales paralelos a ese español globalizado no siempre cuentan con una vía de enseñanza formal que los valide y los prestigie frente a la variedad transnacional. Para verificar la plausibilidad de esta hipótesis, analizamos diccionarios de la RAE y Panhispánico de Dudas y manuales escolares de enseñanza de español, entre otros instrumentos; allí identificamos la construcción de las nociones de norma estándar, español transnacional y dialecto

Norma estándar y variedad rioplatense en instrumentos de gramatización

En el marco de las políticas lingüísticas, el trabajo analiza los discursos sobre el español como lengua estándar subyacentes en los diversos instrumentos de gramatización (Auroux, 1992) destinados a regular los usos lingüísticos en el ámbito hispanoamericano. Postula la hipótesis de que las políticas lingüísticas alentadas desde las Academias de la Lengua y las diversas instancias de difusión del estándar llamado panhispánico acuden al espíritu de unidad y homogeneidad lingüística presente desde los inicios de los discursos sobre el español afectando el prestigio de los estándares regionales. A partir de esta hipótesis, sostiene que las actuales expectativas de homogeneidad e intercomprensibilidad lingüística expresadas tanto en diccionarios, manuales de estilo o gramáticas como en los medios de comunicación olvidan que los estándares regionales paralelos a ese español globalizado no siempre cuentan con una vía de enseñanza formal que los valide y los prestigie frente a la variedad transnacional. Para verificar la plausibilidad de esta hipótesis, analizamos diccionarios de la RAE y Panhispánico de Dudas y manuales escolares de enseñanza de español, entre otros instrumentos; allí identificamos la construcción de las nociones de norma estándar, español transnacional y dialecto

Norma estándar y variedad rioplatense en instrumentos de gramatización

En el marco de las políticas lingüísticas, el trabajo analiza los discursos sobre el español como lengua estándar subyacentes en los diversos instrumentos de gramatización (Auroux, 1992) destinados a regular los usos lingüísticos en el ámbito hispanoamericano. Postula la hipótesis de que las políticas lingüísticas alentadas desde las Academias de la Lengua y las diversas instancias de difusión del estándar llamado panhispánico acuden al espíritu de unidad y homogeneidad lingüística presente desde los inicios de los discursos sobre el español afectando el prestigio de los estándares regionales. A partir de esta hipótesis, sostiene que las actuales expectativas de homogeneidad e intercomprensibilidad lingüística expresadas tanto en diccionarios, manuales de estilo o gramáticas como en los medios de comunicación olvidan que los estándares regionales paralelos a ese español globalizado no siempre cuentan con una vía de enseñanza formal que los valide y los prestigie frente a la variedad transnacional. Para verificar la plausibilidad de esta hipótesis, analizamos diccionarios de la RAE y Panhispánico de Dudas y manuales escolares de enseñanza de español, entre otros instrumentos; allí identificamos la construcción de las nociones de norma estándar, español transnacional y dialecto

Investigating the process of translation:humour translation norms, strategies and approaches in children's literature

Research in the present thesis is focused on the norms, strategies,and approaches which translators employ when translating humour in Children's Literature from English into Greek. It is based on process-oriented descriptive translation studies, since the focus is on investigating the process of translation. Viewing translation as a cognitive process and a problem soling activity, this thesis Think-aloud protocols (TAPs) in order to investigate translator's minds. As it is not possible to directly observe the human mind at work, an attempt is made to ask the translators themselves to reveal their mental processes in real time by verbalising their thoughts while carrying out a translation task involving humour. In this study, thirty participants at three different levels of expertise in translation competence, i.e. tn beginner, ten competent, and ten experts translators, were requested to translate two humourous extracts from the fictional diary novel The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend (1982) from English into Greek. As they translated, they were asked to verbalise their thoughts and reason them, whenever possible, so that their strategies and approaches could be detected, and that subsequently, the norms that govern these strategies and approaches could be revealed. The thesis consists of four parts: the introduction, the literature review, the study, and the conclusion, and is developed in eleven chapters. the introduction contextualises the study within translation studies (TS) and presents its rationale, research questions, aims, and significance. Chapters 1 to 7 present an extensive and inclusive literature review identifying the principles axioms that guide and inform the study. In these seven chapters the following areas are critically introduced: Children's literature (Chapter 1), Children's Literature Translation (Chapter 2), Norms in Children's Literature (Chapter 3), Strategies in Children's Literature (Chapter 4), Humour in Children's Literature Translation (Chapter 5), Development of Translation Competence (Chapter 6), and Translation Process Research (Chapter 7). In Chapters 8 - 11 the fieldwork is described in detail. the piolot and the man study are described with a reference to he environments and setting, the participants, the research -observer, the data and its analysis, and limitations of the study. The findings of the study are presented and analysed in Chapter 9. Three models are then suggested for systematising translators' norms, strategies, and approaches, thus, filling the existing gap in the field. Pedagogical norms (e.g. appropriateness/correctness, famililarity, simplicity, comprehensibility, and toning down), literary norms (e.g. sound of language and fluency). and source-text norms (e.g. equivalence) were revealed to b the most prominent general and specific norms governing the translators'  strategies and approaches in the process of translating humour in ChL. The data also revealed that monitoring and communication strategies (e.g. additions, omissions, and exoticism) were the prevalent strategies employed by translators. In Chapter 10 the main findings and outcomes of a potential secondary benefit (beneficial outcomes) are discussed on the basis of the research questions and aims of the study, and implications of the study are tackled in Chapter 11. In the conclusion, suggestions for future directions are given and final remarks noted.

Forensic linguistics : the application of language description in legal contexts

In this article I first divide Forensic Linguistics into three sub-disciplines: the language of written legal texts, the spoken language of legal proceedings, and the linguist as expert witness and then go on to give a small number of examples of the research undertaken in these three areas. For the language of written legal texts, I present work on the (in) comprehensibility of police cautions and of judges instructions to juries. For the spoken language of legal proceedings, I report work on the problems of interpreted interaction, of vulnerable witnesses and the need for more detailed research comparing the interactive rules in adversarial and investigative systems. Finally, to illustrate the role of the linguist as expert witness I report a trademark case, five different authorship attribution cases, three very different plagiarism cases and I end reporting briefly the contribution of linguists to language assessment techniques used in the linguistic classification of asylum seekers. © Langage et société no 132 - juin 2010.

Biståndshandläggare inom äldreomsorgens upplevelse av sin arbetssituation : En kvalitativ studie ur ett salutogent perspektiv

Syftet med denna uppsats var att genom ett salutogent perspektiv få en ökad förståelse för, inom äldreomsorgen verksamma, biståndshandläggares arbetssituation samt att undersöka vad som kan bidra till att biståndshandläggares arbetssituation upplevs som lättare och mindre påfrestande. Metoden som använts är kvalitativa intervjuer där sex biståndshandläggare verksamma i Värmland har intervjuats. Intervjuerna analyserades genom teman ur KASAM och resulterade i kategorier under varje tema. Under temat begriplighet framkom att biståndshandläggare får stöd från sina kollegor men att de också önskar att det fanns mer resurser för handledning. Biståndshandläggare utför mer än vad som ingår i arbetsbeskrivningen. Under temat hanterbarhet framgår att hög arbetsbelastning hanteras genom att biståndshandläggarna måste planera, strukturera och prioritera. Kollegornas stöd gör arbetet lättare att hantera då de genom att prata med varandra bearbetar känslomässigt påfrestande delar av arbetet. De uttryckte olika behov av att reflektera över sitt arbete. Biståndshandläggare har en stor frihet att planera sin egen arbetsdag och de samverkar med andra professioner. Under temat meningsfullhet framgår att biståndshandläggare finner mening i att göra skillnad för den enskilde. Vårt resultat visar att biståndshandläggarna är utsatta för stress i sitt arbete och att de också har förmåga att möta stressen, men förmågan att möta stressen minskar när arbetsbelastningen blir för hög. 

El derecho a recibir resoluciones motivadas desarrolladas por la Corte Constitucional, mediante resoluciones de acciones extraordinarias de protección

Entodas las sociedades ha sido una necesidad importante que las personas obtengan decisiones debidamente motivadas por parte de las personas que las representan o que están en el poder. En la actualidad se denota claramente la imperfección en la técnica y en la formación de los jueces y tribunales al momento de dictar una infinidad de resoluciones judiciales, las cuales pueden estar bien o mal motivadas, afectando por tanto a un sin número de personas, ya sea en sus patrimonios o hasta su honor. A raíz de la vigencia de la Constitución de la Repúblicaen el año 2008, se incorporó una nueva garantía de derechos denominada Acción Extraordinaria de Protección, orientada a tutelar el debido proceso y los derechos constitucionales que resulten vulnerados en resoluciones judiciales emitidas por los jueces y tribunales en su actividad jurisdiccional, siendo la motivación uno de estos derechos que frecuentemente es vulnerado. En el presente trabajo se establece cual es la tesis que la Corte Constitucional ha desarrollado sobre la motivación y se explica los tres requisitos que la integran los cuales son: la razonabilidad, lógica, y la comprensibilidad; para que de esta manera la sociedad conozca esta garantía a plenitud y pueda ejercer su derecho a la defensa en el momento oportuno.

Measuring the impact of illness perception on NHS audiology service usage in presbycusis patients – a feasibility study

Objective: Coping behaviour in adult hearing loss is still not well understood. Despite the high prevalence of hearing loss in those over 65, many people do not seek help for hearing loss. The common sense model of illness perceptions suggests that illness perceptions are a strong predictor of adapted coping behaviours, including help-seeking and take-up of treatments. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using the brief illness perceptions questionnaire (bIPQ) to measure the impact of illness perception in predicting usage of NHS audiology services. Study design: Twenty-four volunteers were recruited from a standard NHS audiology outpatient clinic and illness perception was measured using the bIPQ. Two different recruitment strategies were explored and compared in terms of recruitment and retention rates. Comprehensibility of the questionnaire was assessed by Think Aloud Analysis in a subset of participants, while possible risks and burdens were monitored in structured telephone interviews. Results: The questionnaire is a comprehensive and quick tool to measure individual illness perception at minimal cost. We suggested minor adaptations of three questionnaire items to increase comprehension. Participants preferred to complete the questionnaire after their appointment at the clinic facilities rather than at home prior to their hearing assessment appointment. There were no identified risks or burdens to participants in this study. Conclusions: This approach met our criteria for feasibility. Understanding the impact of illness perception on patients’ coping behaviour in presbycusis could improve treatment outcomes and increase patient satisfaction, while promoting a more efficient and individualized audiology service.

Defending the 'public interest': an assessment of competing actor representations of 'solutions' to growing natural resource deficiencies.

This paper applies a SRT framework to the study of two case studies, namely the recent campaign of opposition to the legalization of hydraulic fracking in the State of New York and the more ongoing debate on land leasing in Africa. In relation to both campaigns, the analysis accounts for the arguments of a major financial institution and industry representatives who stress the safe and value-adding dimensions of these practices, as well as the views of opponents who refute the validity of industry's position and point to the unacceptable risks posed to the community, health and the environment. In spite of a number of obvious differences between these two case studies, not least differences arising from contrasting socio-economic and geo-political settings, there were also some notable similarities. First, was a tendency amongst protesters in both cases to formulate their role as contemporaries in a historically extended struggle for democratic justice. All perceived of themselves as guardians of their community's right to resist a corporate 'invasion' of their territories, like their forefathers and mothers before them. A theme of colonialism was explored in both settings through various identity and thematic anchoring devices that deliberately evoked shared understandings and historical memories of exploitation and human suffering. The evocation of powerful symbols of identity through visual narratives of protest further reinforced the cultural comprehensibility of opponents' message of protest in both contexts.

Compreensão da terminologia legal em adolescentes escolarizados

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado apresenta um estudo sobre terminologia legal relacionada ao entendimento de crianças e adolescentes escolarizados, tendo como objetivo analisar de forma crítica, a compreensibilidade de alguns vocábulos, como também a interpretação de terminologias jurídica na visão destes públicos, uma vez que, o Direito por ser um dos ramos da ciência a usar em demasia certos termos, tem dificultado até mesmo aqueles que têm certa familiaridade com a matéria, a ter certa dificuldade em relação à interpretação de fraseologia. Tal inquietação em aprofundar sobre o tema surgiu em virtude da percepção, de acordo com os noticiários, em expor a participação cada vez maior desses atores em contato com o mundo delituoso. Dessa forma, emergiu a inquietação em saber com certa pertinência, como estes percebiam certos vocábulos ou termos legal, usados no cotidiano, não somente pelos profissionais do Direito, como também, por aqueles que têm a incumbência de socializar os acontecimentos com o envolvimento pela população. Esta pesquisa teve como fundamentos metodológicos, as abordagens qualitativas e quantitativas, que oportunizou fazer a análise e o cruzamento das informações identificadas às múltiplas facetas das ações desenvolvidas no que refere à percepção dos detentores do assunto, finalizando com todos os objetivos conclusos, oportunizando, não só aos leitores, como também propiciando elevada contribuição para a ciência.

Socratic flipped classroom : What types of questions and tasks promote learning?

Socratic questioning stresses the importance of questioning for learning. Flipped Classroom pedagogy generates a need for effective questions and tasks in order to promote active learning. This paper describes a project aimed at finding out how different kinds of questions and tasks support students’ learning in a flipped classroom context. In this study, during the flipped courses, both the questions and tasks were distributed together with video recordings. Answers and solutions were presented and discussed in seminars, with approximately 10 participating students in each seminar. Information Systems students from three flipped classroom courses at three different levels were interviewed in focus groups about their perceptions of how different kinds of questions and tasks supported their learning process. The selected courses were organized differently, with various kinds of questions and tasks. Course one included open questions that were answered and presented at the seminar. Students also solved a task and presented the solution to the group. Course two included open questions and a task. Answers and solutions were discussed at the seminars where students also reviewed each other’s answers and solutions. Course three included online single- and multiple choice questions with real-time feedback. Answers were discussed at the seminar, with the focus on any misconceptions. In this paper we categorized the questions in accordance with Wilson (2016) as factual, convergent, divergent, evaluative, or a combination of these. In all, we found that any comprehensible question that initiates a dialogue, preferably with a set of Socratic questions, is perceived as promoting learning. This is why seminars that allow such questions and discussion are effective. We found no differences between the different kinds of Socratic questions. They were seen to promote learning so long as they made students reflect and problematize the questions. To conclude, we found that questions and tasks promote learning when they are answered and solved in a process that is characterized by comprehensibility, variation, repetition and activity.