Teaching and learning Chinese: heritage language classroom discourse in Montreal

This paper explores issues of teaching and learning Chinese as a heritage language in a Chinese heritage language school, the Zhonguo Saturday School, in Montreal, Quebec. With a student population of more than 1000, this school is the largest of the eight Chinese Heritage Language schools in Montreal. Students participating in this study were from seven different classes (grade K, two, three, four, five, six, and special class), their ages ranging from 4 to 13 years. The study took place over a period of two years between 2000 and 2002. Focusing on primary level classroom discourse and drawing on the works of Vygotsky and Bakhtin, I examine how teachers and students use language to communicate, and how their communication mediates teaching, learning and heritage language acquisition. Data sources include classroom observations, interviews with students and their teachers, students’ writings, and video and audio taping of classroom activities. Implications for heritage language development and maintenance are discussed with reference to the findings of this study.

The relationship between L3 transfer and structural similarity across L3 development: raising across an experience in Brazilian Portuguese

The present study examines three competing models of morphosyntactic transfer in third language (L3) acquisition, examining the particular domain of the feature configuration of embedded T in L3 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) at the initial stages and then through development. The methodology alternates Spanish and English as the L1 and L2 to tease apart the source of transfer to L3 BP. Results from a scalar grammaticality acceptability task show unequivocal transfer of Spanish irrespective of Spanish’s status as an L1 or L2. The data thus support the Typological Primacy Model (Rothman 2010, 2011, 2013a, 2013b), which proposes that multilingual transfer is selected by factors related to comparative structural similarity. Given that Spanish transfer at the L3 initial stages creates the need for feature reconfiguration to converge on the target BP grammar, the second part of this chapter examines the developmental consequences of what the TPM models in cases of non-facilitative initial transfer, that is, the developmental path of feature reconfiguration of embedded T in L3 BP by English/Spanish bilinguals. Given what these data reveal, we address the role of regressive transfer as a correlate of L3 proficiency gains.

Children's Vocabulary Development : The role of parental input, vocabulary composition and early communicative skills

The aim of this thesis is to examine the early vocabulary development of a sample of Swedish children in relation to parental input and early communicative skills. Three studies are situated in an overall description of early language development in children. The data analyzed in the thesis was collected within a larger project at Stockholm University (SPRINT- “Effects of enhanced parental input on young children’s vocabulary development and subsequent literacy development” [VR 2008-5094]). Data analysis was based on parental report via SECDI, the Swedish version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, and audio recordings. One study examined parental verbal interaction characteristics in three groups of children with varying vocabulary size at 18 months. The stability of vocabulary development at 18 and 24 months was investigated in a larger study, with focus on children’s vocabulary composition and grammatical abilities. The third study examined interrelations among early gestures, receptive and productive vocabulary, and grammar measured with M3L, i.e. three longest utterances, from 12 to 30 months. Overall results of the thesis highlight the importance of early language development. Variability in different characteristics in parental input is associated with variability in child vocabulary size. Children with large early vocabularies exhibit the most stability in vocabulary composition and the earliest grammatical development. Children’s vocabulary composition may reflect individual stylistic variation. Use of early gestures is associated differentially with receptive and productive vocabulary. Results of the thesis have implications for parents, child- and healthcare personnel, as well as researchers and educational practitioners. The results underscore the importance of high quality in adult-child interaction, with rich input fine-tuned to children’s developmental levels and age, together with high awareness of early language development.

English as the target language : A literature study on teachers’ and L2 learners’ language use in the upper elementary classroom

Even though English is a subject where Swedish pupils do well compared to pupils in other countries, research indicates that pupils are not always motivated to learn in the English classroom. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find research relating to the use of the target language in classrooms for pupils at the upper elementary level, particularly language learners in Sweden. The focus of this thesis is to find out what benefits and challenges accompany the use of the target language during English lessons, as well as what pupils’ opinions are on the consistent use of the target language in the classroom. This literature review of five research articles shows that it is beneficial for pupils’ language development to have lessons where mainly the target language is used. It is for example beneficial for pupils’ ability to speak, their pronunciation, vocabulary and ability to use language strategies. The results show that there are challenges as well, especially for the teachers, since use of the target language presumes that the teacher has good language skills and is capable of scaffolding each pupil at their individual level and in their zone of proximal development. Furthermore, there are challenges like differences in pupils’ skill level, creating tasks that both motivate and stimulate, and creating a safe learning environment. Even though the results in this thesis are limited, it is still obvious that it is an important area, where more research is necessary in order to assist teachers in how to teach English as effectively as possible.

Caracterização dos processos de leitura em escolares com dislexia e distúrbio de aprendizagem

OBJETIVO: Caracterizar e comparar o desempenho de escolares com dislexia, distúrbio de aprendizagem e bom desempenho acadêmico nos processos de leitura. MÉTODOS: Participaram 60 escolares de ambos os gêneros, de primeira a quarta série do ensino fundamental de uma cidade no interior de São Paulo, que foram divididos em: GI - 20 escolares com diagnóstico interdisciplinar de dislexia; GII - 20 escolares com diagnóstico interdisciplinar de distúrbio de aprendizagem; e GIII - 20 escolares com bom desempenho acadêmico, pareados por gênero, faixa etária e escolaridade com o GI e GII. Os escolares foram submetidos à aplicação da adaptação brasileira da Avaliação dos Processos de Leitura - PROLEC, composta por quatro blocos: identificação de letras, processos léxicos, sintáticos e semânticos. RESULTADOS: Os escolares de GIII apresentaram desempenho superior em relação ao GI e ao GII. Foram encontradas diferenças nas provas referentes aos sinais de pontuação e compreensão de orações e textos, em que foi evidenciado desempenho inferior do GII em relação ao GI. Quanto à classificação dos resultados, a maior parte dos escolares do GI apresentou desempenho normal no processo de identificação de letras e dificuldade grande no processo léxico, comprometendo os demais processos, e o GII apresentou dificuldade grande em todos os processos. CONCLUSÃO: Os escolares com dislexia e distúrbio de aprendizagem apresentam desempenho inferior nas provas dos processos de leitura. Os escolares com dislexia apresentam dificuldades no domínio dos processos léxico, sintático e semântico e os escolares com distúrbio de aprendizagem apresentam dificuldades em todos os processos avaliados.

Percurso e resultados da terapia fonoaudiológica na síndrome de Prader-Willi (SPW): relato de caso

O objetivo deste estudo foi descrever o percurso e os resultados da terapia fonoaudiológica na síndrome de Prader-Willi, por meio do estudo longitudinal do caso de uma criança de 8 anos de idade, do gênero masculino, ao longo de quatro anos de terapia fonoaudiológica em uma clínica-escola. Foram realizadas filmagens de sessões de terapia e análise documental de informações dos prontuários referentes à anamnese, avaliação e relatórios terapêuticos fonoaudiológicos e avaliações multidisciplinares. A criança apresentou características típicas da síndrome de Prader-Willi como obesidade, hiperfagia, ansiedade, problemas de comportamento e auto-agressões. em avaliação fonoaudiológica foram observados hipotonia orofacial, sialorréia, voz hipernasal, alterações cognitivas, dificuldades de compreensão oral, comunicação por meio de gestos e produção de palavras isoladas ininteligíveis. Inicialmente, a terapia fonoaudiológica teve o objetivo principal de promover o desenvolvimento da linguagem com ênfase na interação social por meio de atividades lúdicas. Com a evolução do caso o direcionamento principal passou a ser o desenvolvimento de habilidades conversacionais e narrativas. Foram observadas evoluções quanto à manutenção da atenção, brincadeira simbólica, contato social e comportamento. Além disso, houve aumento do vocabulário, evolução quanto à compreensão oral e desenvolvimento de habilidades narrativas. Dessa maneira, a intervenção fonoaudiológica em caso de síndrome de Prader-Willi foi eficaz em diferentes níveis, no que se refere às habilidades fonológicas, sintáticas, lexicais e pragmáticas da linguagem

Desenvolvimento de uma Lista de Verificação em Comunicação e Linguagem para os Transtornos do Espectro Autístico

A Lista de Verificação em Comunicação e Linguagem aqui apresentada foi elaborada para avaliar as especificidades de dois grupos distintos: os transtornos do espectro autístico e outras alterações de desenvolvimento da linguagem. Com essa finalidade foi aplicada em 60 participantes, divididos em dois grupos: 20 portadores de transtornos do espectro autístico (M=7, 11) e 40 portadores de outras alterações de desenvolvimento da linguagem (M=4, 10). Foi utilizado o teste do Qui-Quadrado para avaliar a validade do conteúdo e determinar quais questões deveriam ser retiradas do instrumento por não serem significativas. Os outros testes utilizados foram o Índice de Concordância Kappa e o teste de Mann-Withney. A Lista também apresentou uma sensibilidade de 90% e uma especificidade de 97,5%, o que demonstra a viabilidade de sua utilização como instrumento auxiliar na detecção de transtornos do espectro autístico.

Disturbios da comunicacao em criancas de alto risco neonatal

Neonatal high risk children present high incidence for communication disorders and delay development of language. The present study aimed to evaluate the incidence of communication disorders and long term follow up of neonatal high risk children. Twenty-one children were followed up to age of four years old and were evaluated for the development of linguistics aspects. The main high risk neonatal factors were: prematurity, mechanical ventilation, long time in the incubator and severe hypoxia. In 47,62% of the cases, the following communication disorder were found: articulation disorders (9,52%), simple (9,52%) and small and (14,29%) with delay development of language. The incidence of these disorders was greater among male children (57,14%).

Molecular and Cytogenetic Analyses on Brazilian Youths with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

The Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) constitute a group of behavioral and neurobiological impairment conditions whose main features are delayed communicative and cognitive development. Genetic factors are reportedly associated with PDDs and particular genetic abnormalities are frequently found in specific diagnostic subgroups such as the autism spectrum disorders. This study evaluated cytogenetic and molecular parameters in 30 youths with autism or other PDDs. The fragile X syndrome was the most common genetic abnormality detected, presented by 1 patient with autism and 1 patient with PPD not-otherwise specified (PPD-NOS). One girl with PDD-NOS was found to have tetrasomy for the 15q11-q13 region, and one patient with autism exhibited in 2/100 metaphases an inv(7)(p15q36), thus suggesting a mosaicism 46,XX/46,XX,inv(7)(p15q36) or representing a coincidental finding. The high frequency of chromosomopathies support the hypothesis that PDDs may develop as a consequence to chromosomal abnormalities and justify the cytogenetic and molecular assessment in all patients with PDDs for establishment of diagnosis.

Subtelomeric region of chromosome 2 in patients with autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders are severe psychiatric diseases commonly identified in the population. They are diagnosed during childhood and the etiology has been much debated due to their variations and complexity. Onset is early and characterized as communication and social interaction disorders and as repetitive and stereotyped behavior. Austistic disorders may occur together with various genetic and chromosomal diseases. Several chromosomal regions and genes are implicated in the predisposition for these diseases, in particular those with products expressed in the central nervous system. There are reports of autistic and mentally handicapped patients with submicroscopic subtelomeric alterations at the distal end of the long arm of chromosome 2. Additionally, there is evidence that alterations at 2q37 cause brain malformations that result in the autistic phenotype. These alterations are very small and not identified by routine cytogenetics to which patients are normally submitted, which may result in an underestimation of the diagnosis. This study aimed at evaluating the 2q37 region in patients with autistic disorders. Twenty patients were studied utilizing the fluorescence in situ hybridization technique with a specific probe for 2q37. All of them were also studied by the GTC banding technique to identify possible chromosomal diseases. No alterations were observed in the 2q37 region of the individuals studied, and no patient presented chromosomal diseases. This result may be due to the small sample size analyzed. The introduction of routine analysis of the 2q37 region for patients with autistic disorders depends on further studies. ©FUNPEC-RP.

Adaptação transcultural do Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (PLAI-2) em falantes do português brasileiro com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem

Pós-graduação em Fonoaudiologia - FFC

Caracterização da narrativa oral de história de indivíduos com transtorno do espectro alcoólico fetal

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Preschool Language Assessment Instrument, second edition, in Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Polimorfismos dos genes ADA e CNTNAP2 em indivíduos com Transtornos do Espectro do Autismo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Early influence of auditory stimuli on upper-limb movements in young human infants: an overview

Given that the auditory system is rather well developed at the end of the third trimester of pregnancy, it is likely that couplings between acoustics and motor activity can be integrated as early as at the beginning of postnatal life. The aim of the present mini-review was to summarize and discuss studies on early auditory-motor integration, focusing particularly on upper-limb movements (one of the most crucial means to interact with the environment) in association with auditory stimuli, to develop further understanding of their significance with regard to early infant development. Many studies have investigated the relationship between various infant behaviors (e.g., sucking, visual fixation, head turning) and auditory stimuli, and established that human infants can be observed displaying couplings between action and environmental sensory stimulation already from just after birth, clearly indicating a propensity for intentional behavior. Surprisingly few studies, however, have investigated the associations between upper-limb movements and different auditory stimuli in newborns and young infants, infants born at risk for developmental disorders/delays in particular. Findings from studies of early auditory-motor interaction support that the developing integration of sensory and motor systems is a fundamental part of the process guiding the development of goal-directed action in infancy, of great importance for continued motor, perceptual, and cognitive development. At-risk infants (e.g., those born preterm) may display increasing central auditory processing disorders, negatively affecting early sensorymotor integration, and resulting in long-term consequences on gesturing, language development, and social communication. Consequently, there is a need for more studies on such implications.