Oral Correction in Foreign Language Classrooms

This paper analyses the correction of errors and mistakes made by students in the Foreign Language Teaching classroom. Its goal is to point out typical correction behaviors in Cape Verde in Language Teaching classrooms and raise teachers’ consciousness concerning better correction practice.

Simulation in Third Cycle English Language Teaching

Many researchers have suggested simulation as a powerful tool to transpose the normal classroom into an authentic setting where language skills can be performed under more realistic conditions. This paper will outline the benefits of simulation in the classroom, provide additional topics to Third Cycle English Language National Syllabus to be discussed / simulated in the classroom and also provide two simulation lesson plans with samples for Capeverdean Third Cycle English Language Students.

Improving How Listening Skills are Taught in the Efl Classroom: Guidelines to Producing Better Speakers of the English Language

This research paper is concerned with the need to improve how listening skills are taught in the Capeverdian EFL classroom. Teaching English through listening is not an easy task, especially when there are many factors that impede the learning process such as: lack of adequate materials and conditions; lack of qualified teachers with good pronunciation, and lack of innovative approaches to teaching listening skills. If our goal as teachers is to produce good English speakers we must invest in training good listeners. In this work I will focus on the following aspects: an evaluation of how effectively listening skills are taught in the Capeverdian EFL classroom; a look at how we can turn teaching problems into positive solutions; how to improve teaching listening skills and materials and recommendations for best practices in teaching listening skills in the EFL classroom. In conclusion I will include listening activities which reflect these best practices and offer recommendations for further research.

Phase-based manganese enhanced MRI, a new methodology to enhance brain cytoarchitectural contrast and study manganese uptake.

PURPOSE: As the magnetic susceptibility induced frequency shift increases linearly with magnetic field strength, the present work evaluates manganese as a phase imaging contrast agent and investigates the dose dependence of brain enhancement in comparison to T1 -weighted imaging after intravenous administration of MnCl2 . METHODS: Experiments were carried out on 12 Sprague-Dawley rats. MnCl2 was infused intravenously with the following doses: 25, 75, 125 mg/kg (n=4). Phase, T1 -weighted images and T1 maps were acquired before and 24h post MnCl2 administration at 14.1 Tesla. RESULTS: Manganese enhancement was manifested in phase imaging by an increase in frequency shift differences between regions rich in calcium gated channels and other tissues, together with local increase in signal to noise ratio (from the T1 reduction). Such contrast improvement allowed a better visualization of brain cytoarchitecture. The measured T1 decrease observed across different manganese doses and in different brain regions were consistent with the increase in the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) measured by both T1 -weighted and phase imaging, with the strongest variations being observed in the dentate gyrus and olfactory bulb. CONCLUSION: Overall from its high sensitivity to manganese combined with excellent CNR, phase imaging is a promising alternative imaging protocol to assess manganese enhanced MRI at ultra high field. Magn Reson Med 72:1246-1256, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nonparametric bounds on the returns to language skills

This paper applies the theoretical literature on nonparametric bounds ontreatment effects to the estimation of how limited English proficiency (LEP)affects wages and employment opportunities for Hispanic workers in theUnited States. I analyze the identifying power of several weak assumptionson treatment response and selection, and stress the interactions between LEPand education, occupation and immigration status. I show that thecombination of two weak but credible assumptions provides informative upperbounds on the returns to language skills for certain subgroups of thepopulation. Adding age at arrival as a monotone instrumental variable alsoprovides informative lower bounds.

Alfabetização de crianças caboverdianas em língua portuguesa como língua não materna : o ensino da leitura

abstract: Cape Verde is a country of bilingual characteristics, where coexist two languages: the mother tongue – the Creole of Cape Verde (CCV) or the Capeverdian Language (LCV) and the Non Maternal language – the Portuguese that is the official language and, therefore, the language used in the process of education and learning. This situation generates conflicts so much to linguistic level as to cultural level. The two languages presents some lexical resemblances, what drives, many times, to misconceptions and linguistics errors that complicate children in the learning, in particular, of reading that constitute the base for the learning of others knowledge. The learning of reading, in the Non Maternal language, requires a development of the oral language in Portuguese Language, which stimulates the reasoning of the child through playful exercises and cognitivists and construtivists approaches. In this way, the competences of phonological processing in the acquisition of the competences of reading are important for the discrimination of written text and favor the learning and the development of reading. The child, through the discovery, begins to elaborate concepts in the way to obtain a relation with the written language, by functional form. Adopting a methodology of case study and through questionnaires, direct observation and collect of documentary information, this dissertation presents and analyzes connected aspects to the literacy of capeverdian children in the beginning of the schooling and to the learning of reading as basic support for the learning of Non Maternal language. The subsidies collected by the study, presented in this dissertation will contribute for the education progress of reading and, also, for implement successfully the learning of reading of the students, developing to practical of reading and the expectations in uncover the multiplicity of the dimensions of experience in that domain and contribute for a relative comprehension of written and reading modes.

Alfabetização de crianças caboverdianas em língua portuguesa como língua não materna : o ensino da leitura

abstract: Cape Verde is a country of bilingual characteristics, where coexist two languages: the mother tongue – the Creole of Cape Verde (CCV) or the Capeverdian Language (LCV) and the Non Maternal language – the Portuguese that is the official language and, therefore, the language used in the process of education and learning. This situation generates conflicts so much to linguistic level as to cultural level. The two languages presents some lexical resemblances, what drives, many times, to misconceptions and linguistics errors that complicate children in the learning, in particular, of reading that constitute the base for the learning of others knowledge. The learning of reading, in the Non Maternal language, requires a development of the oral language in Portuguese Language, which stimulates the reasoning of the child through playful exercises and cognitivists and construtivists approaches. In this way, the competences of phonological processing in the acquisition of the competences of reading are important for the discrimination of written text and favor the learning and the development of reading. The child, through the discovery, begins to elaborate concepts in the way to obtain a relation with the written language, by functional form. Adopting a methodology of case study and through questionnaires, direct observation and collect of documentary information, this dissertation presents and analyzes connected aspects to the literacy of capeverdian children in the beginning of the schooling and to the learning of reading as basic support for the learning of Non Maternal language. The subsidies collected by the study, presented in this dissertation will contribute for the education progress of reading and, also, for implement successfully the learning of reading of the students, developing to practical of reading and the expectations in uncover the multiplicity of the dimensions of experience in that domain and contribute for a relative comprehension of written and reading modes.

As Línguas de Cabo Verde: uma Radiografia Sociolinguística

Esta dissertação constitui um estudo de caso, exploratório e de carácter descritivo. Tem como objectivo fazer uma radiografia sociolinguística de Cabo Verde, particularmente centrada no actual uso das duas línguas faladas no arquipélago, o português (PCV) e o crioulo cabo-verdiano (LCV). A linha de pesquisa adoptada inspira-se fortemente nos estudos de macrosociolinguística, tomando a situação de contacto de línguas, caracterizadora da sociedade cabo-verdiana, como ponto de partida para o enquadramento de um conjunto de questões seleccionadas para investigação mais aprofundada. São, assim, explorados os processos implicados nesta situação de contacto concreta e os resultados linguísticos decorrentes da mesma, como o bilinguismo ou a diglossia (cf. Cap. 3). Recorrendo a contributos teóricos de áreas associadas e complementares (cf. Cap. 1), foca-se a importância da análise dos domínios em que cada uma das línguas é usada, das redes sociais dos falantes ou das suas atitudes linguísticas. A investigação partiu de uma recolha de dados realizada para o efeito, nas nove ilhas habitadas. As unidades de análise retidas correspondem a uma amostragem de dois grupos sociais distintos: falantes jovens, alunos do ensino secundário (inquiridos por questionário), e falantes adultos cuja profissão implica uma intensa actividade linguística (professores e ‘líderes’, inquiridos por entrevistas semi-dirigidas). Foi usada uma metodologia de recolha o mais rigorosa possível e adoptado o tratamento estatístico de dados (cf. Cap. 2). O confronto dos comportamentos linguísticos e das atitudes das duas gerações inquiridas, com diferentes características (cf. Introdução), forneceu importantes informações sobre a dinâmica linguística da sociedade cabo-verdiana, conclusões essas que serão importantes para a definição de orientações no âmbito da política linguística (cf. Cap. 5). É apresentada, como complemento, uma análise exploratória de alguns aspectos sintácticos atestados nas produções dos indivíduos inquiridos com instrução superior (cf. Cap. 4), um contributo, embora modesto, para a definição da variedade padrão do PCV

Os manuais de língua portuguesa e o desenvolvimento da expressão oral no ensino secundário de Cabo Verde

Na elaboração do presente trabalho, que tem como tema “Os manuais de língua portuguesa e o desenvolvimento da expressão oral no ensino secundário de Cabo Verde”, procurou-se investigar, a partir da perspectiva dos manuais de Língua Portuguesa, até que ponto os mesmos podem servir ou não para o desenvolvimento da competência comunicativa dos alunos do ensino secundário, na modalidade de expressão oral. Para isso foi adoptada uma metodologia situada no campo da investigação educacional, sem pôr de lado os métodos da pesquisa qualitativa e quantitativa, o que permitiu abordar as questões relacionadas com as constantes situações de insucesso na aprendizagem da Língua Portuguesa, cujas causas têm sido atribuídas, quase sempre, aos factores como as metodológicas, aos problemas linguísticos, decorrentes da forte presença da língua materna no quotidiano dos aprendentes e ao uso de materiais desajustados da realidade nacional. Assim, para o cumprimento dos objectivos propostos, foi possível trabalhar sobre dois corpora; por um lado analisaram-se os manuais do ensino secundário, por outro, foi examinado o inquérito aplicado tanto aos professores como aos alunos, e cujo tratamento dos dados permitiu confirmar a aceitação entusiástica dos manuais escolares no contexto pedagógico, apesar da descrença na potencialidade dos exercícios propostos em desenvolver a capacidade de expressão oral dos alunos. Outro aspecto digno de registo foi o desejo manifestado pelos informantes em ter outros materiais capazes de melhorar o ensino do Português como língua segunda. Em termos do ensino da citada disciplina, foram apresentadas algumas sugestões para que a sua melhoria reverta a favor do sucesso de aprendizagem de todos os alunos

Three Continents, one Language: Studying English in a Portuguese Landscape (Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal)

Unlike other languages, English has spread to all continents and become a truly global language, a process observable in countries, like Brazil, Cape Verde, and Portugal, located in three different continents, and sharing a common official language: Portuguese. This relatively recent development has contributed to the wide exposure to English and the growing influence of the language in their societies, being used with lingua franca communicative purposes, which raises pedagogical issues. Our aim is to map the exposure and use of English as a Lingua Franca in these Portuguese speaking countries through a comparative study of the results from three case studies (Berto 2009, Cavalheiro 2008 and Nunes 2010). By taking into consideration the findings from questionnaires answered by students and teachers of English, it compares and contrasts the respondents’ opinions on the profile of English teachers — native vs. non-native —, the varieties of English to be taught, and the language teaching resources available. In addition, it explores the learners’ interests, motives and purposes in relation to English and the potential communicative interactions between all speakers, so as to better understand ELF in English language education, and how these factors affect or should affect pedagogical practices in a Portuguese environment.

Neurophysiological origin of human brain asymmetry for speech and language.

The physiological basis of human cerebral asymmetry for language remains mysterious. We have used simultaneous physiological and anatomical measurements to investigate the issue. Concentrating on neural oscillatory activity in speech-specific frequency bands and exploring interactions between gestural (motor) and auditory-evoked activity, we find, in the absence of language-related processing, that left auditory, somatosensory, articulatory motor, and inferior parietal cortices show specific, lateralized, speech-related physiological properties. With the addition of ecologically valid audiovisual stimulation, activity in auditory cortex synchronizes with left-dominant input from the motor cortex at frequencies corresponding to syllabic, but not phonemic, speech rhythms. Our results support theories of language lateralization that posit a major role for intrinsic, hardwired perceptuomotor processing in syllabic parsing and are compatible both with the evolutionary view that speech arose from a combination of syllable-sized vocalizations and meaningful hand gestures and with developmental observations suggesting phonemic analysis is a developmentally acquired process.

Adapting the Process Writing Approach to English Language Learners with Special Needs: Using Visuals

The available literature on the writing characteristics and best practices to teach writing to English Language Learners who also present some disability is scarce. In order to understand and provide some insight on the developments in this field, I propose an adaptation of the Process Writing Approach based on a literature review of the existing bibliography about the writing characteristics of English Language Learners, Special Needs Learners, and English Language Learners with Special Needs’ writing, the effects of the Process Writing Approach in teaching writing to these groups, and the use of visuals in writing instruction. The main assumptions of this study are: a) The Process Writing Approach provides an opportunity to differentiate instruction to ELLs with special needs and gives them additional opportunities to bring their funds of knowledge to the classroom, improving their writing, and b) By allowing students to rely on visuals in different phases of the writing process teachers will be addressing the needs of both visual and verbal learners, therefore allowing students more options to develop writing skills. The main pedagogical implication is that by dividing writing in recursive stages and inserting visuals as scaffolding throughout the entire writing process, teachers will provide an alternative approach to writing instruction that may be more effective to English Language Learners with Special Needs.

Review of the Abandoned Mined Land Reclamation program administered by the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship for the period July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2008

Review of the Abandoned Mined Land Reclamation program administered by the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship for the period July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2008