English as a Global Language

How far has English already spread? How much further can we expect it to go? In response to the first question, this chapter tries to identify the areas of life where English already serves as a lingua franca in the world (more or less) and those where the language faces sharp competition and does not threaten to marginalize the other major languages. The former areas of life are international safety, the internal business of international organizations, internal communication within the international news industry, international sports and science. The latter areas are the press, television, the internet, publishing and international trade. As to the second question, about the future prospects of English, the chapter argues that the advance of English will depend heavily on the motives to learn the other major languages in the world as well. Based on the empirical evidence, the same model applies to the incentives to learn English and these other languages. On the important topic of welfare, the cultural market is the single one where it is arguable that the progress of English has gone too far. English dominance in the song, the cinema and the best-seller is indeed extraordinary and difficult to reconcile with the evidence popular attachments to home languages, which is otherwise strong and apparent.

Irish English habitual do be revisited

This article describes similarities of the Irish Gaelic present habitual aspect and traditional Irish English dialects. These observations are contrasted with differences in the Scots Gaelic aspectual system and an explanation for the deviances in present habitual marking in Scottish English and Irish English is suggested, based on differences in the Gaelic contact varieties.

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.

Kansainvälisten lukukokeiden kääntämiseen liittyviä ongelmia

Artikkeli pohjautuu kirjoittajan väitöstutkimukseen The problem of equivalence in translating texts in international reading literacy studies : a text analytic study of three English and Finnish texts used in the PISA 2000 reading texts (Jyväskylän yliopisto 2007).

Conference Proceedings. Academic Mobility Blending Perspectives - Mobilité Académique Perspectives croisées

Les 21, 22 et 23 septembre 2006, le Département d’Études Françaises de l’Université de Turku (Finlande) a organisé une conférence internationale et bilingue (anglais et français) sur le thème de la mobilité académique ; le but de cette rencontre était de rendre possible la tenue d’un forum international et multidisciplinaire, susceptible d’être le siège de divers débats entre les différents acteurs de la mobilité académique (c’estàdire des étudiants, des chercheurs, des personnels enseignants et administratifs, etc.). Ainsi, ont été mis à contribution plus de cinquante intervenants, (tous issus de domaines aussi variés que la linguistique, les sciences de l’éducation, la didactique, l’anthropologie, la sociologie, la psychologie, l’histoire, la géographie, etc.) ainsi que cinq intervenants renommés1. La plupart des thèmes traités durant la conférence couvraient les champs suivants : l’organisation de la mobilité, les obstacles rencontrés par les candidats à la mobilité, l’intégration des étudiants en situation d’échange, le développement des programmes d’études, la mobilité virtuelle, l’apprentissage et l’enseignement des langues, la prise de cosncience interculturelle, le développement des compétences, la perception du système de mobilité académique et ses impacts sur la mobilité effective. L’intérêt du travail réalisé durant la conférence réside notamment dans le fait qu’il ne concentre pas uniquement des perspectives d’étudiants internationaux et en situation d’échange (comme c’est le cas de la plupart des travaux de recherche déjà menés sur ce sujet), mais aussi ceux d’autres corps : enseignants, chercheurs, etc. La contribution suivante contient un premier corpus de dixsept articles, répartis en trois sections : 1. Impacts de la mobilité étudiante ; 2. Formation en langues ; 3. Amélioration de la mobilité académique. À l’image de la conférence, la production qui suit est bilingue : huit des articles sont rédigés en français, et les neuf autres en anglais. Certains auteurs n’ont pas pu assister à la conférence mais ont tout de même souhaité apparaître dans cet ouvrage. Dans la première section de l’ouvrage, Sandrine Billaud tâche de mettre à jour les principaux obstacles à la mobilité étudiante en France (logement, organisation des universités, démarches administratives), et propose à ce sujet quelques pistes d’amélioration. Vient ensuite un article de Dominique Ulma, laquelle se penche sur la mobilité académique régnant au sein des Instituts Universitaires de Formation des Maîtres (IUFM) ; elle s’est tout particulièrement concentrée sur l’enthousiasme des stagiaires visàvis de la mobilité, et sur les bénéfices qu’apporte la mobilité Erasmus à ce type précis d’étudiant. Ensuite, dans un troisième article, Magali Hardoin s’interroge sur les potentialités éducationnelles de la mobilité des enseignantsstagiaires, et tâche de définir l’impact de celleci sur la construction de leur profil professionnel. Après cela arrive un groupe de trois articles, tous réalisés à bases d’observations faites dans l’enseignement supérieur espagnol, et qui traitent respectivement de la portée qu’a le programme de triple formation en langues européennes appliquées pour les étudiants en mobilité (Marián MorónMartín), des conséquences qu’occasionne la présence d’étudiants étrangers dans les classes de traductions (Dimitra Tsokaktsidu), et des réalités de l’intégration sur un campus espagnol d’étudiants américains en situation d’échange (Guadalupe Soriano Barabino). Le dernier article de la section, issu d’une étude sur la situation dans les institutions japonaises, fait état de la situation des programmes de doubles diplômes existant entre des établissements japonais et étrangers, et tente de voir quel est l’impact exact de tels programmes pour les institutions japonaises (Mihoko Teshigawara, Riichi Murakami and Yoneo Yano). La seconde section est elle consacrée à la relation entre apprentissage et enseignement des langues et mobilité académique. Dans un premier article, Martine Eisenbeis s’intéresse à des modules multimédia réalisés à base du film « L’auberge espagnole », de Cédric Klapish (2001), et destinés aux étudiants en mobilité désireux d’apprendre et/ou améliorer leur français par des méthodes moins classiques. Viennent ensuite les articles de Jeanine Gerbault et Sabine Ylönen, lesquels traitent d’un projet européen visant à supporter la mobilité étudiante par la création d’un programme multimédia de formation linguistique et culturelle pour les étudiants en situation de mobilité (le nom du projet est EUROMOBIL). Ensuite, un article de Pascal Schaller s’intéresse aux différents types d’activités que les étudiants en séjour à l’étranger expérimentent dans le cadre de leur formation en langue. Enfin, la section s’achève avec une contribution de Patricia KohlerBally, consacrée à un programme bilingue coordonné par l’Université de Fribourg (Suisse). La troisième et dernière section propose quelques pistes de réflexion destinées à améliorer la mobilité académique des étudiants et des enseignants ; dans ce cadre seront donc évoquées les questions de l’égalité face à la mobilité étudiante, de la préparation nécessitée par celleci, et de la prise de conscience interculturelle. Dans un premier chapitre, Javier Mato et Bego

The English novel in the time of Shakespeare

The rise of the English novel needs rethinking after it has been confined to the "formal realism" of Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding (Watt, 1957), to "antecedents, forerunners" (Schlauch, 1968; Klein, 1970) or to mere "prose fiction" (McKillop, 1951; Davis, Richetti, 1969; Fish, 1971; Salzman, 1985; Kroll, 1998). My paper updates a book by Jusserand under the same title (1890) by proving that the social and moral history of the long prose genre admits no strict separation of "novel" and "romance", as both concepts are intertwined in most fiction (Cuddon, Preston, 1999; Mayer, 2000). The rise of the novel, seen in its European context, mainly in France and Spain (Kirsch, 1986), and equally in England, was due to the melting of the nobility and high bourgeoisie into a "meritocracy", or to its failure, to become the new bearer of the national culture, around 1600. (Brink, 1998). My paper will concentrate on Euphues (1578), a negative romance, Euphues and His England (1580), a novel of manners, both by Lyly; Arcadia (1590-93) by Sidney, a political roman à clef in the disguise of a Greek pastoral romance; The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) by Nashe, the first English picaresque novel, and on Jack of Newbury (1596-97) by Deloney, the first English bourgeois novel. My analysis of the central values in these novels will prove a transition from the aristocratic cardinal virtues of WISDOM, JUSTICE, COURAGE, and HONOUR to the bourgeois values of CLEVERNESS, FAIR PLAY, INDUSTRY, and VIRGINITY. A similar change took place from the Christian virtues of LOVE, FAITH, HOPE to business values like SERVICE, TRUST, and OPTIMISM. Thus, the legacy of history proves that the main concepts of the novel of manners, of political romance, of picaresque and middle-class fiction were all developed in the time of Shakespeare.

Formação continuada de professores e melhoria do exercício docente

O presente trabalho teve como ponto de partida os resultados dos rendimentos escolares apresentados pelo SAEB (Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica) e o SAEPE (Sistema de Avaliação Escolar de Pernambuco), frente às ações de intervenções promovidas pelas políticas públicas implementadas pelo governo de Pernambuco, através dos programas de formação continuada, direcionados na perspectiva de reverter os baixos índices do rendimento escolar, o que nos possibilitou a delinear objetivos que nos permitissem a identificar a relação entre os indicadores do SAEB, SAEPE e Programas de Formação Continuada no redimensionamento do saber fazer docente e implicações na melhoria do desempenho docente, bem como identificar limites e possibilidades da formação na melhoria do desempenho docente, em razão dos indicadores apresentados. As transformações do mundo têm interferido de forma contundente no campo da educação, bem como nos vários aspectos da gestão educacional, escolar, curricular e particularmente na formação continuada, com vistas no desempenho docente, tendo como objeto crescente a atenção dos pesquisadores com atuação na educação. As políticas educacionais no Brasil vêm demonstrado preocupação com a qualidade do ensino ofertada pela escola pública, decorrente das pressões dos organismos internacionais, que veem na educação a solução dos problemas enfrentados por um mundo cada vez mais globalizado, de transformações e descobertas tecnológicas que caracterizam hoje, a chamada sociedade do conhecimento. Tal contexto, em que a escola pública brasileira se encontrava, mobilizou os gestores a buscarem ações de intervenção no sentido de reverter o quadro tão comprometedor que o ensino público da Educação Básica brasileira se apresentava. O repensar das práticas pedagógicas vivenciadas no contexto escolar, recai sobre o professor, a responsabilidade do resultado que a escola apresenta. Falar da prática pedagógica recai necessariamente na formação inicial e continuada desse professor. Para sua realização utilizou-se uma abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa. As técnicas de coleta de dados foram aplicação de questionários a 100 professores da educação básica da rede pública, entrevistas com cinco formadores e análise dos documentos relacionados com a política de formação continuada. O estudo demonstrou que o modelo proposto, pouco tem contribuído para o desenvolvimento profissional docente, não envolvendo, portanto, o professor diretamente no processo formativo, com exceção dos que participam de alguns programas (SAEB / SAEPE) que visam diretamente à melhoria dos índices de aprendizagem em língua portuguesa e matemática, na perspectiva de que a formação os instrumentalize a aplicar técnicas, que a formação continuada não atende nem suas necessidades, nem da escola. Os demais professores só se encontram uma vez por ano, em estilo de grande evento, enquanto as formações ocorrem de forma desarticulada e fragmentada. Em consequência, foram apresentadas algumas reflexões no intuito de provocar e contribuir na revisão da concepção de formação continuada vivenciada pelos professores da rede pública do ensino de Pernambuco.

Can we predict when “dying” will be difficult?: Progressive achievements in L2 English

A large body of research has focused on the observation that second language (L2) learners are limited in their production of temporal and aspectual forms. For example, in L2 English, it has been shown learners use progressive marking with activity verbs and only rarely extend the form to telic verb phrases such as accomplishments or achievements (Bardovi-Harlig and Reynolds, 1995; Bardovi-Harlig, 2000; Robison, 1995). Shirai and Andersen (1995) proposed that activities represent the prototype for the category of progressive aspect and learners generally acquire the prototype first. However, very little research has focused explicitly on advanced learners to see if they eventually extend beyond the prototype. In addition, properties of the native language have not systematically been taken into account. Achievements such as "die" are especially interesting in that they interact differently with markers of progressive aspect across languages. The present study investigated the acquisition of progressive achievements in English by native speakers of Chinese and Korean in order to examine whether there is evidence of universal difficulty, as would be predicted by the prototype account, or whether similarity between the L1 and L2 (as in the case of English and Korean) can facilitate acquisition, as would be predicted by transfer. Our results suggest that the properties of the native language play an important role, supporting the transfer account. However, neither L1 group performs at the level of native speakers. We argue that the acquisition of aspect is influenced by both the properties of the native language and the semantic and pragmatic complexity of the target computation.

Psychometric evaluation of the Disordered Eating Attitude Scale (DEAS). English version

Eating attitudes are defined as beliefs, thoughts, feelings, behaviors and relationship with food They could influence people`s food choices and their health status Objective This study aimed to adapt from Portuguese to English the Disordered Eating Attitude Scale (DEAS) and evaluate its validity and reliability. The original scale in Portuguese was translated and adapted into English and was applied to female university students of University of Minnesota USA (n = 224). Internal consistency was determined (Cronbach`s Alpha). Convergent validity was assessed by correlations between Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) and Restrain Scale (RS). Reliability was evaluated applying twice the scale to a sub-sample (n = 30). The scale was back translated into Portuguese and compared with the original version and discrepancies were not found. The internal consistency was .76 The DEAS total score was significantly associated with EAT-26 (r = 0.65) and RS (r = 0 69) scores The correlation between test-retest was r = 09 The English version of DEAS showed appropriate internal consistency, convergent validity and test-retest reliability and will be useful to assess eating attitudes in different population groups in English spoken countries. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A Linguistic Analysis of the Written Production of Second Language Learners : The Variation of Article Usage by Adult Chinese Learners of English

This study aims to test Robertson’s lexical transfer principle, which posits that Chinese learners use demonstratives (particularly this) and the numeral one as markers of definiteness and indefiniteness. This is tested by analysing Chinese learners’ written production collected from the Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners 2.0 (SWECCL 2.0). The purpose is to understand the variation of article usage by adult Chinese learners of English. More specifically, the study examines to what extent articles, possessive and demonstrative pronouns are used in Chinese learners’ English and how definite and indefinite articles are used by the Chinese learners. Findings suggest that Robertson’s lexical transfer principle was corroborated by the present study. In addition, Chinese learners prefer to use demonstrative determiners, the possessive determiner our, and the numeral one to perform the function of marking definiteness and indefiniteness. In particular, the learners try to use the demonstrative determiners that and this in the anaphoric function instead of the definite article, and the demonstrative determiner those is frequently used in the cataphoric function. What is more, the learners use the numeral one as a marker of indefiniteness, and it is also used as a marker of definiteness in the anaphoric function. Further, the possessive determiner our is used as a marker of definiteness in larger situation uses referring to something unique. To this end, the study is able to show that the definite article is used to perform the function of marking indefiniteness, and in some particular contexts the definite article functions as a Chinese specifier in Chinese learners’ English. Also, the indefinite article is frequently used in quantifier phrases but is rarely used in other functions. There are three main reasons that may explain why Chinese learners use determiners variously. Firstly, the choice of determiners by Chinese learners is influenced by linguistic contexts. Secondly, because of learning strategies, Chinese learners try to ignore the anaphoric function and cataphoric function that they are not yet ready to process in article usage. Thirdly, interlanguage grammar influences the optionality in the use of articles. 

Transdisciplinaridade em saúde: uma análise integrativa da literatura

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)