Comprehension of passives in Persian speaking children with ASD : an investigation of grammar in autism

Most research on the underlying causes of social and communicative impairment in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been devoted to pragmatic aspects of language. The present research is exploring the syntactic knowledge as a probable underlying mechanism of language deficit in ASD. Three groups comprising high-functioning ASD, low-functioning ASD, and typically developing 5-year-old Persian-speaking children were tested on comprehension of passive sentences. Results suggest that while low-functioning children with ASD might be impaired in the area of grammar, high-functioning children with ASD are not. The new results are compared to those of two recent studies on comprehension of passives in Greek-speaking and English-speaking subjects with ASD (Perovic et al., 2007; Terzi, et al., to appear).

Problematic Internet use in British adolescents: An exploration of the addictive symptomatology

Research into online addictions has increased substantially over the last decade, particularly amongst youth. This study adapted the Problematic Internet Entertainment Use Scale for Adolescents [PIEUSA] for use with a British population. The adapted scale was used to (i) validate the instrument for English-speaking adolescent samples, (ii) estimate the prevalence of adolescent online problem users and describe their profile, and (iii) assess the accuracy of the scale"s classification of symptomatology. A survey was administered to 1097 adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years. The results indicated that (i) reliability of the adapted scale was excellent; factor validity showed unidimensionality, and construct validity was adequate. The findings also indicated that (ii) prevalence of online problem users was 5.2% and that they were more likely to younger males that engaged in online gaming for more than two hours most days. The majority of online problem users displayed negative addictive symptoms, especially"loss of control" and"conflict". The adapted scale showed (iii) very good sensitivity, specificity, and classification accuracy, and was able to clearly differentiate between problem and non-problem users. The results suggest certain differences between adolescent and adult online problem users based in the predominance of slightly different psychological components.

Development of a New Assessment System to Evaluate Students' English Communicative Capacities in China

The purpose of this study was to develop a new English assessment system to evaluate Chinese students' English communicative capacities. Since there is more interaction with people from English-speaking countries, Chinese people attach more importance to English oral skills, and a lot of Western English teaching methods were introduced into China to improve students' English communicative capacities. However, traditional paper-written examinations, like the English test of higher education entry examination, cannot evaluate it effectively. This study explored the perceptions of two Chinese English-language teachers and two Chinese students about English assessment system. A qualitative research method using telephone interviews was conducted in this study. The findings showed that the most possible ways to assess Chinese students' English communicative capacities were paper-written examination and person-machine conversations, although measures should be taken to improve these two models. On the other hand, the model of person-person conversation was the ideal assessment tool but was hard to achieve at the current stage.

Les manifestations subtiles du stress dans le continuum de la psychose

RÉSUMÉ L’étiologie de la schizophrénie est complexe et le modèle de vulnérabilité-stress (Nuechterlein & Dawson, 1984) propose que des facteurs de vulnérabilité d’ordre génétique combinés à une histoire environnementale de stress particulier pousseraient l’individu vers un état clinique de psychose. L’objectif principal de cette thèse est de mieux comprendre la réaction physiologique des personnes schizophrènes face à un stress psychologique, tout en conceptualisant les symptômes psychotiques comme faisant partie d’un continuum, plutôt que de les restreindre sur un plan catégoriel. Afin de faire la différence entre les patients schizophrènes et les individus de la population générale, au-delà de la sévérité de leurs symptômes psychotiques, leur réaction au stress est comparée et le phénomène de seuil critique dans la réaction de cortisol est exploré en tant que point décisif pouvant distinguer entre les deux groupes. La première étude de cette thèse (Brenner et al., 2007) examine la fiabilité, la validité et la structure factorielle du Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) (Stefanis et al., 2002), avec un échantillon francophone et anglophone de la population nord américaine, un questionnaire auto-administré de 42 items qui évalue les expériences quasi-psychotiques présentes dans la population générale : des symptômes positifs (ou psychotiques), négatifs (ou végétatifs) et dépressifs. Ce questionnaire a été complété par un échantillon de 2 275 personnes de la population montréalaise. Les résultats appuient la consistance interne des 3 sous-échelles originales. De plus, l’analyse factorielle exploratoire suggère des solutions de 3-5 facteurs, où les solutions à 4 et 5 facteurs proposent de séparer les symptômes positifs en sous-catégories plus spécifiques. Finalement, cette étude suggère une version plus courte du CAPE, avec seulement 23 items, tout en préservant les mêmes trois échelles originales. La toile de fond de cet article confirme l’existence du phénomène du continuum de la psychose, où une variation de symptômes psychotiques peut se retrouver aussi bien dans la population générale que dans la population clinique. Dans une deuxième étude (Brenner et al., 2009), cette thèse examine à quel point la réponse de l’hormone de stress, le cortisol, à un test de stress psychosocial nommé le Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) (Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993), peut établir une différence entre les sujets témoins et les patients schizophrènes, tout en contrôlant des variables importantes. Un groupe de 30 personnes schizophrènes et un groupe de 30 sujets de la population générale, recrutés lors de la première étude de cette thèse, ont participé à cette recherche qui est construite selon un plan expérimental. Le groupe témoin inclut des personnes légèrement symptomatiques et un chevauchement des scores psychotiques existe entre les deux groupes. Suite au stresseur, les deux groupes démontrent une augmentation significative de leur rythme cardiaque et de leur pression artérielle. Cependant, leur réponse de cortisol a tendance à différer : les patients schizophrènes présentent une réponse de cortisol plus petite que celle des témoins, mais en atteignant un seuil statistique significatif seulement à la mesure qui suit immédiatement le stresseur. Ces résultats significatifs sont obtenus en contrôlant pour la sévérité des symptômes positifs, un facteur discriminant significatif entre les deux groupes. Ainsi, le niveau de cortisol mesuré immédiatement après le stresseur se révèle être un marqueur de seuil critique pouvant établir une distinction entre les deux groupes. Aussi, leur réponse de cortisol maximale a tendance à apparaître plus tard que chez les sujets témoins. De façon générale, la réaction au stress des deux groupes étudiés est un autre moyen d’observer la continuité d’un comportement présent chez les individus, jusqu’à ce qu’un seuil critique soit atteint. Ainsi, il est possible de trancher, à un moment donné, entre psychose clinique ou absence de diagnostic.

Relations entre le leadership transformationnel de directions d’établissement, le contexte scolaire et les conditions favorisant l’engagement du personnel enseignant tels que perçus par des enseignants de quatre écoles primaires de Montréal lors de l’implantation du renouveau pédagogique

Cette recherche vise à examiner les relations entre la perception que des membres du personnel enseignant ont des pratiques du leadership transformationnel de la direction d’école, du contexte scolaire et des conditions favorisant leur engagement à implanter le renouveau pédagogique dans leur école. Le schéma conceptuel et le questionnaire qui sous-tendent cette recherche sont une adaptation de ceux élaborés par Yu, Leithwood et Jantzi (2002). Le questionnaire a été complété par 31 membres du personnel enseignant de quatre écoles primaires montréalaises appartenant à des commissions scolaires anglophones et francophones. À partir de ces données, nous avons calculé des moyennes et nous avons comparé les écoles, à l’aide des tests Mann-Whitney, selon leur niveau d’implantation du renouveau pédagogique, leur niveau socioéconomique et la langue de la commission scolaire d’appartenance. De plus, pour compléter nos données quantitatives, nous avons repris quelques citations des entrevues faites auprès des directions de ces écoles que les professeurs du département d’Administration et fondements de l’éducation de l’Université de Montréal, qui font partie du Groupe de recherche sur l’éducation en milieux défavorisés (GRÉMD), ont effectuées dans le cadre d’une autre étude. Les comparaisons des écoles selon leur niveau d’implantation du renouveau pédagogique révèlent que le personnel enseignant des deux écoles en changement se distingue de celui des deux écoles peu engagées dans le changement sur un seul point majeur : il a évalué moins positivement le contexte scolaire, un résultat appuyé par les analyses non paramétriques. Il semble que, dans les écoles qui ont participé à notre étude, le fait de soutenir l’implantation du renouveau pédagogique serait associé à une évaluation plus faible du contexte scolaire ; la culture de l’école et l’environnement étant les conditions les plus touchées. Un autre résultat de cette recherche est le fait que les enseignantes de l’école favorisée ont évalué le contexte scolaire, notamment la culture, l’environnement et les stratégies pour le changement, moins positivement que les enseignantes des écoles défavorisées. Enfin, les comparaisons des écoles en fonction de la langue de la commission scolaire indiquent qu’il n’existe pas de différence significative dans les évaluations faites des trois variables, que les enseignantes travaillent dans une école appartenant à une commission scolaire anglophone ou francophone. Étant donné que l’échantillon d’enseignantes qui a participé à notre étude est modeste, les résultats de cette recherche ne peuvent pas être généralisés, cependant ils pourraient constituer une base pour des recherches ultérieures dans ce domaine.

Schlüsselqualifikationen im Hochschulbereich

Ausgehend von dem von Friedrich Edding geprägten Begriff der Schlüsselfähigkeit entwickelte Dieter Mertens Anfang der 1970er Jahre sein Konzept der Schlüsselqualifikationen. Damit suchte er Wege, Menschen so zu qualifizieren, dass sie ihnen übertragene berufliche Aufgaben, auch in einem sich rasch verändernden Umfeld, bewältigen können. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird gezeigt, dass die Rezeption des Begriffs in verschiedenen Bildungsbereichen mit unterschiedlichen Intensitäten und Resultaten verlief. Am folgenreichsten war die Rezeption in der Berufsbildung. Von wenigen skeptischen Stimmen abgesehen, stieß das Konzept der Schlüsselqualifikationen auf positive Zustimmung und mehrere Umsetzungsversuche wurden unternommen. Diese führten allerdings zu einer Verlängerung der Liste der Schlüsselqualifikationen (die ursprünglich von Mertens als abschließbar angedacht war). Ein Konsens, was in der Berufsbildung als Schlüsselqualifikationen zu gelten hat, ist immer noch nicht in Sicht. In den allgemeinbildenden Schulen hingegen fand das Konzept keine große Beachtung. Zwar wurde hin und wieder auf den Begriff zurückgegriffen, um beispielsweise allgemein verbindliche Standards in der Schule zu thematisieren oder neuen Inhalten eine Legitimation zu verschaffen, dennoch griff die Debatte in der Schulpädagogik nicht nachhaltig. Gründe dafür liegen zum einen in der dem Konzept inhärenten berufsvorbereitenden Funktion, die der Idealvorstellung einer zweckfreien Bildung widerspricht, zum anderen in der relativ straffen und zentralisierten Gestaltung der Lehrpläne. Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich mit dem Konzept der Schlüsselqualifikationen im Hochschulbereich auseinander. Eine Untersuchung von ca. 130 deutsch- und englischsprachigen Arbeiten, die Schlüsselqualifikationen im Hochschulbereich zum Thema haben, belegt eine sehr große Heterogenität der zugrunde liegenden Vorstellungen und konkreten Modelle. Es wird gezeigt, dass die zwei wichtigsten Ordnungsschemata, die gelegentlich zur Abgrenzung der Schlüsselqualifikationen gegenüber anderen Bildungskomponenten herangezogen werden (nämlich die Taxonomie der Lernziele von Bloom und das Handlungskompetenzmodell von Roth in der Weiterentwicklung von Reetz) mit keinem kohärenten Rahmenwerk, das der Fülle der Modelle von Schlüsselqualifikationen im Hochschulbereich gerecht wäre, aufwarten können. Eine Alternative bietet eine diskursanalytische Perspektive foucaultscher Prägung. Begriffen als eine diskursive Formation, haben Modelle der Schlüsselqualifikationen ihre Gemeinsamkeit nicht in dem vermeintlich gemeinsamen Gegenstand. Demnach sind Schlüsselqualifikationen in der heutigen Hochschuldebatte keine Qualifikationen suis generis, die eine eigene Kategorie bilden, sondern eine Antwort auf die Herausforderungen, die die verschiedenartigen Veränderungen in und um Hochschulen mit sich bringen. Es lassen sich drei Kontexte identifizieren, in denen die Modelle der Schlüsselqualifikationen der Herausforderung zu begegnen versuchen: in der Gesellschaft im Allgemeinen, in der vor-universitären Bildung sowie in der Hochschulbildung und in der Berufswelt. In diesen Kontexten artikulieren die Modelle der Schlüsselqualifikationen verschiedene Dimensionen, um Gesellschafts-, Studier und Beschäftigungsfähigkeit der Studierenden zu fördern. Eine vergleichende Analyse der Debatten und Modelle der Schlüsselqualifikationen in der BRD und in England zeigt, dass diese drei Kontexte in beiden Ländern vorfindbar sind, jedoch deren inhaltliche Vorstellung und konkrete Umsetzung aufgrund der Partikularitäten des jeweiligen Hochschulsystems unterschiedliche Akzentuierungen erfahren. Anders als in der BRD betonen die Modelle der Förderung der Studierfähigkeit in England die Brückenkurse als Hilfestellung bei der Vorbereitung auf das Studium. Das hängt mit den uneinheitlichen Zugangsregelungen zum Hochschulstudium und der hierarchischen Struktur im englischen Hochschulsystem zusammen. Bei der Förderung der Beschäftigungsfähigkeit setzen die Modelle der Schlüsselqualifikationen in Deutschland, wo traditionell ein Hochschulstudium als berufsvorbereitend angesehen wird, den Akzent auf Praxisbezug des Studiums und auf Flexibilität. In England hingegen, wo sich das Studium per se nicht als berufsqualifizierend versteht, rücken die Modelle der Schlüsselqualifikationen den Übergang in den Arbeitsmarkt und das Karrieremanagement - subsumiert unter dem Konzept der employability - in den Vordergrund.

Uneven playing field or falling standards? Chinese students' competence in English.

This paper explores student and teacher perspectives of challenges relating to the levels of competence in English of Chinese students studying overseas from the perspective of critical pedagogy. It draws on two complementary studies undertaken by colleagues at the University of Reading. The first—a research seminar attended by representatives from a wide range of UK universities—presents the views of teachers and administrators; the second draws on four case studies of the language learning of Chinese postgraduate students during their first year of study in the UK, and offers the student voice. Interview and focus group data highlight the limitations of current tests of English used as part of the requirements for university admission. In particular, university teachers expressed uncertainty about whether the acceptance of levels of written English which fall far short of native-speaker competence is an ill-advised lowering of standards or a necessary and pragmatic response to the realities of an otherwise uneven playing field. In spite of this ambivalence, there is evidence of a growing willingness on the part of university teachers and support staff to find solutions to the language issues facing Chinese students, some of which require a more strategic institutional approach, while others rely on greater flexibility on the part of individuals. Although the studies reported in this paper were based on British universities, the findings will also be of interest to those involved in tertiary education in other English-speaking countries which are currently attracting large numbers of Chinese students.

English teachers in the digital age – a case study of policy and expert practice from England

This article is a case study of how English teachers in England have coped with the paradigm shift from print to digital literacy. It reviews a large scale national initiative that was intended to upskill all teachers, considers its weak impact and explores the author’s involvement in the evaluation of the project’s direct value to English teachers. It explores how this latter evaluation revealed how best practice in English using ICT was developing in a variable manner. It then reports on a recent small scale research project that investigated how very good teachers have adapted ICT successfully into their teaching. It focuses on how the English teachers studied in the project are developing a powerful new pedagogy situated in the life worlds of their students and suggests that this model may be of benefit to many teachers. The issues this article reports on have resonance in all English speaking countries. This article is also a personal story of the author’s close involvement with ICT and English over 20 years, and provides evidence for his conviction that digital technologies will eventually transform English teaching.

The status of literature: English teaching and the condition of literature teaching in schools

Although the curriculum subject of English is continually reviewed and revised in all English speaking countries, the status of literature is rarely questioned i.e. that it is of high cultural value and all students should be taught about it. The concerns of any review, in any country, are typically about what counts as literature, especially in terms of national heritage and then how much of the curriculum should it occupy. This article reports on three inter-related pieces of research that examine the views of in-service, and pre-service, English teachers about their experiences of teaching literature and their perceptions of its ‘status’ and significance at official level and in the actual classroom; it draws attention to how England compares to some other English speaking countries and draws attention to the need to learn from the negative outcomes of political policy in England. The findings suggest that the nature of engagement with literature for teachers and their students has been distorted by official rhetorics and assessment regimes and that English teachers are deeply concerned to reverse this pattern.

How Pragmatically Odd! Interface Delays and Pronominal Subject Distribution in the L2 Spanish of English Natives

Sorace (2000, 2005) has claimed that while L2 learners can easily acquire properties of L2 narrow syntax they have significant difficulty with regard to interpretation and the discourse distribution of related properties, resulting in so-called residual optionality. However, there is no consensus as to what this difficulty indicates. Is it related to an insurmountable grammatical representational deficit (in the sense of representation deficit approaches; e.g. Beck 1998, Franceschina 2001, Hawkins 2005), is it due to cross-linguistic interference, or is it just a delay due to a greater complexity involved in the acquisition of interface-conditioned properties? In this article, I explore the L2 distribution of null and overt subject pronouns of English speaking learners of L2 Spanish. While intermediate learners clearly have knowledge of the syntax of Spanish null subjects, they do not have target-like pragmatic knowledge of their distribution with overt subjects. The present data demonstrate, however, that this difficulty is overcome at highly advanced stages of L2 development, thus suggesting that properties at the syntax-pragmatics interface are not destined for inevitable fossilization.

Disambiguating with Bourdieu: unravelling policy from practice in the teaching of children with English as an additional language

This article explores the use of Bourdieusian analysis for examining how policy and practice interact in the teaching of English and therefore in the development of children’s language and literacy; in particular how Bourdieusian analysis uncovers the ways in which teachers’ practice has been influenced unconsciously by centralised shaping of the curriculum for English in England while the pupil demographic in schools has become more linguistically diverse. Data were collected from interviews with both newly qualified and very experienced primary school (pupil ages 5 – 11) teachers, whose pedagogical norms for the teaching of English were challenged by the arrival of non-English speakers in their classrooms. The discussion highlights how the use of Bourdieusian constructs of field, habitus and capital can disambiguate teachers’ practical classroom decisions from the influences of policy expectations.

Le développement de la prosodie dans le syndrome de Williams et le syndrome de Down chez des enfants de langue anglaise

The aim of the present study is to investigate the developmental profile of three aspects of prosody function, i.e. affect, focus and turn-endings in children with Williams and in those with Down’s syndrome compared to typically developing English speaking children. The tasks used were part of the computer-based battery, Profiling Elements of Prosody for Speech Communication (Peppe, McCann & Gibon, 2003). Cross-sectional developmental trajectories linking chronological and non-verbal mental age and affects and turn-ending functions of prosody were constructed. The results showed an atypical profile in both clinical populations. More interestingly, the profiles were atypical for different reasons, suggesting multiple and possibly different developmental pathways to the acquisition of prosody in these two populations.

En retorisk analys av Fahrenheit 9/11 ur ett dokumentärhistoriskt perspektiv

The history of rhetorics in documentary film is a long one. The French brothers Louise and Auguste Lumiére were among the first persons who produced a documentary and their work has had a big impression in the history of documentary during the 1900 century. John Grierson has been called “the father” of documentary film. He produced films in the English speaking part of the world and he is the founder of the concept “documentary film”. Propaganda filming has a big part in the history of documentary film. Most frequently it appeard in Germany before and during the secound WW II, but propaganda films has been produced in Great Britain and USA as well as in other parts of the world. Rhetorics are of current interest today. It effects the news, papers, magazines, books and movies. The purpose with this essay is to investigate the rhetorics in Michael Moores controversial documentary of September 11th, Fahrenheit 9/11. The main question is: what rhetorical tools does Michael Moore use in order to communicate his politcal message in Fahrenheit 9/11? The rhetorical analysis includes exordium, narratio, propsitio, argumentatio and conclusio as well as ethos, logos and pathos. In order to conduct the analysis I have used Kurt Johannesson’s book Retorik eller konsten att övertyga, Maria Karlberg and Brigitte Mral’s book Heder och påverkan. Att analysera modern retorik. And at last a chapter by Brigitte Mral named Retorikanalys in the book Metoder i kommunikationeverenskap, by Mats Ekström and Larsåke Larsson. For the background about the history of documentary film I have used Barsam M. Richard, Nonfiction Film A Critical History and Bjørn Sørenssen’s book Å fange virkeligheten –Dokumentarfilmens århundre.The analysis shows that Moore uses different rhetorical tools in order to point out that George W Bush is the wrong man for the role as the president of United States of America. Some of the most effective tools that Moores uses are his own voice, pictures who awakes emotions, recordings and sharp arguments. His way of using ethos, logos and pathos is very clear. The disposal can also be distinct discern, however there are some exceptions towards the classical rhetoric. One example is that Moore doesn´t describe the arrangement of the movie in exordium.

The discourses on induced abortion in Ugandan daily newspapers : a discourse analysis

Background: Ugandan law prohibits abortion under all circumstances except where there is a risk for the woman's life. However, it has been estimated that over 250 000 illegal abortions are being performed in the country yearly. Many of these abortions are carried out under unsafe conditions, being one of the most common reasons behind the nearly 5000 maternal deaths per year in Uganda. Little research has been conducted in relation to societal views on abortion within the Ugandan society. This study aims to analyze the discourse on abortion as expressed in the two main daily Ugandan newspapers. Method: The conceptual content of 59 articles on abortion between years 2006-2012, from the two main daily English-speaking newspapers in Uganda, was studied using principles from critical discourse analysis. Results: A religious discourse and a human rights discourse, together with medical and legal sub discourses frame the subject of abortion in Uganda, with consequences for who is portrayed as a victim and who is to blame for abortions taking place. It shows the strong presence of the Catholic Church within the medial debate on abortion. The results also demonstrate the absence of medial statements related to abortion made by political stakeholders. Conclusions: The Catholic Church has a strong position within the Ugandan society and their stance on abortion tends to have great influence on the way other actors and their activities are presented within the media, as well as how stakeholders choose to convey their message, or choose not to publicly debate the issue in question at all. To decrease the number of maternal deaths, we highlight the need for a more inclusive and varied debate that problematizes the current situation, especially from a gender perspective.