Literacy and language change: The special case of speech act verbs

This paper explores the methodological and theoretical issues that need to be addressed in testing the validity of proposed correlations between the rise of a certain class of words and the development of literacy. Olson and Astington (in press) suggest a correlation between the rise of a) assertive speech act verbs such asobserve,state, andclaim, b) literacy, and c) the Enlightenment. Data from the history of speech act verbs in English do not provide evidence for any privileged correlation with the Enlightenment, since assertives abound from Old and especially Middle English on. Possible correlations with literacy point not to writing as the motivating force but rather to the language of the law-courts, feudal practices, and rhetorical debate in the Middle Ages.This paper is being reprinted from Judith Langer (Ed.),Language, Literacy and Culture: Issues of Society and Schooling/it (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1987) with the permission of the publisher.     

认知隐喻视阈下的手语研究述评

认知语言学中的概念隐喻理论是研究手语本质及其认知机制的重要途径.通过剖析有声语言和手语中隐喻表达的异同,揭示二者共同的神经基础,有利于阐明手语中隐喻表达的系统性与独特性.     

族群视野下台湾地区语言使用及语言态度调查

二十年前,国语和闽南话是台湾社会的强势语言,而闽南话较之国语又略占优势。当今台湾社会,国语和闽南话仍然是强势语言,但是国语的优势远远大于闽南语。闽南人只有在家庭内部,与祖父辈、父辈交谈时及在菜市场时使用闽南话的比例超过国语,其余在面对各类交际对象、交际话题和交际场合时,使用国语的比例均超过闽南话。外省人、客家人、少数民族的国语能力、使用、评价更是远远高于闽南话。客家人和少数民族的族群对应语言已经退到家庭内部使用,在家庭之外,闽南话在客家人中的优势比客家话明显,闽南话在少数民族中和少数民族语不相上下。客家话及少数民族语处于令人堪忧的弱势。     

手语多样性、标准化及手语语言建设的问题与思考——从荷兰CLSLR2会议看中国手语规范化工作

手语是人类的语言.手语在发展中因社会、政治、宗教、教育等原因出现了各种变异.为促进聋人群体的沟通,人们编纂手语词典来进行手语标准化工作,但这种手语标准化工作在一些国家并没有成功.中国手语规范化工作应该借鉴国外的经验教训,明确中国的聋人手语与中国手语的概念,处理好中国手语与中国标准手语的关系,发挥聋人在手语语言建设工作中的主导作用.     

How does dissociation between written and oral forms affect reading: evidence from auxiliary verbs in Arabic

In Arabic, auxiliary verbs are necessary in the written language, but absent from the oral language. This is contrary to languages such as English and French in which auxiliary verbs are mandatory in both written and oral languages. This fact was exploited to examine if dissociation between written and oral forms affects reading measures like letter detection task and therefore to validate the phenomenon of the missing‐letter effect (MLE) and to replicate previous studies. In addition, the study examined whether auxiliary verbs in Arabic are considered as functional elements that constitute part of the structural frame. Sixty native Arabic speakers read a passage while looking for a target letter that was embedded in a preposition, an auxiliary verb or a content word. Results showed the typical MLE with more omissions for the preposition than for the content words. However, the results with the auxiliary verb are less clear. The functional and the syntactic roles of auxiliary verbs in Arabic are discussed.     

Working with artefacts: gestures, drawings and speech in the construction of the mathematical meaning of the visual pyramid

This paper reports a part of a study on the construction of mathematical meanings in terms of development of semiotic systems (gestures, speech in oral and written form, drawings) in a Vygotskian framework, where artefacts are used as tools of semiotic mediation. It describes a teaching experiment on perspective drawing at primary school (fourth to fifth grade classes), starting from a concrete experience with a Dürer’s glass to the interpretation of a new artefact. We analyse the long term process of appropriation of the mathematical model of perspective drawing (visual pyramid) through the development of gestures, speech and drawings under the teacher’s guidance.

从符号与意义的关系探索语言僵化现象

语言僵化现象是外语学习中的一个普遍现象。本文在分析和总结有关僵化现象研究成果的基础上,从语言符号与意义的关系这个崭新的视角探索了僵化现象的成因和防止其产生的措施,以及对教学的启示。     

The role of signifier differences,associations, and combinations in creative digital video composing: making meaning with gestures,objects, actions,and speech

This article presents an analysis of a digital video created by a student (age 13) in a classroom setting. Since sign functioning is a key focus in theories of meaning making as it occurs through language and through other modes, my analysis focuses on the relations between signifiers as they are inscribed in her video. This analysis explores new ways to use a theory of signification as a lens for considering, interpreting, and conceptualizing student video creations. My analysis focuses on how the focal student’s video is constituted by signifiers (gestural, actional, object, and spoken) that are arranged into chains of signifiers. These signifiers come into relation, combination, and association with one another across varying degrees of difference and similarity, both delimiting and opening up their possible meaning potentials. This analysis provides a heuristic that offers a signifier-based method of interpreting student-created digital videos, conceptualizing them as composed of signifiers drawn from across modes. This study also offers ways to recognize how creative or novel uses of the medium involve complex semiotic association and dissociation processes occurring in multiple modes.     

The educational achievement of pupils with immigrant and native mothers: evidence from Taiwan

This paper takes advantage of the Taiwan Assessment of Student Achievement data set to empirically evaluate whether the test score differentials between pupils with immigrant and native mothers are substantial across subjects, grades and years. Our results show that there exist test score differentials between the two groups after controlling for the students' individual characteristics and family background. The Chinese, Maths and English subjects exhibit larger test score gaps relative to Science and Society. We also find that the academic gaps between native students and pupils with mothers from Southeast Asian countries tend to widen, while the students' performance is about the same as that for native students if their mothers are from mainland China, confirming that the language proficiency of immigrant mothers significantly affects pupils' learning. Our empirical results may suggest that remedial teaching (or an equivalent preferential policy) for the lower-grade pupils with immigrant mothers might be required to create a fair environment for learning, and such a policy should take the nationality of those foreign mothers into account.     

中国、瑞典与美国三国听障教育手语政策比较

本研究着重对比分析了中国、瑞典与美国三个国家听障教育中的手语政策,特别对三个国家在手语语言地位和手语习得方面的战略规划展开剖析.瑞典手语政策强调手语与本国语并重的双语教育做法,美国手语政策则强调把手语同化到有声世界;在政策的具体实施和多语言使用方面,瑞典与美国的手语政策都存在着不同程度的问题.与瑞典和美国相比,中国的手语政策存在不少短板与问题,特别是在手语语言地位规划、手语习得规划、语言建设策略以及具体推广措施方面,亟待进一步完善和提高.     

System-wide improvement of early-grade mathematics: New evidence from the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy

This article reports on a two-year evaluation of the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS), an innovative system-wide reform intervention designed to improve learning outcomes in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Using data from universal testing of all learners in 2008 on a provincial systemic evaluation, as well as data from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Annual National Assessment tests, this article investigates whether or not the GPLMS improves the numeracy skills of learners in early-grade mathematics in underperforming schools. Using as identification strategy, the natural experiment that resulted from a miscalculation of the provincial systemic evaluation test scores in 2008, which had been used to assign schools to the GPLMS intervention, the study shows that the GPLMS intervention is positively associated with improvements in early-grade mathematics performance of schools in the neighbourhood around the assignment threshold. The findings of the study contribute to the growing body of knowledge that shows the effectiveness of combining lesson plans, learner resources, and quality teacher capacity building.     

Accuracy and consistency in morphological spelling: evidence from Greek-speaking children with and without spelling difficulties

Reading and Writing - In this study, we examined the accuracy and consistency of Greek-speaking children with spelling difficulties using a spelling level-matched design at two time points....     

Language and preliteracy skills in bilinguals and monolinguals at preschool age: effects of exposure to richly inflected speech from birth

Language proficiency before school entry has proven to be a powerful predictor of literacy development. This longitudinal study examined how simultaneous exposure to two richly inflected languages from birth contributes to the development of language-related literacy precursors at preschool age compared to peers exposed to one language. The community language turned out to be the stronger language of the bilinguals by 4 years of age and to a great extent age-appropriate compared to monolingual peers. The same initial exposure conditions resulted in three bilingual and two monolingual language proficiency profiles. For the bilinguals changes in the proportion of exposure to two home languages and frequency of language-specific social interactions explained proficiency in each language, whereas for the monolinguals exposure did not explain language proficiency. Our findings give support for the primary impact of exposure on the development of bilingualism and preliteracy skills.     

Comparing beliefs about appropriate practice among early childhood education and care professionals from the U.S., China, Taiwan, Korea and Turkey

The purpose of this study was to examine what, if anything, caregivers and teachers of 3- to 5-year-old children from the U.S. (n = 412), China (n = 244), Taiwan (n = 222), Korea (n = 574), and Turkey (n = 214), had in common in terms of self-reported beliefs and self-reported practices related to the National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) policy statement for developmentally appropriate practices (DAP). DAP is widely endorsed by early childhood education and care professionals in the U.S. and is assumed to have far reaching impact on curricular beliefs and practices throughout the world. Pearson correlations and one-way ANOVA were used to compare overall mean scores for beliefs measured by the Teachers Beliefs Scale (TBS) to those of practices measured by the Instructional Activities Scale (IAS) [Charlesworth, R., Hart, C. H., Burts, D. C., & Hernandez, S. (1991). Kindergarten teachers’ beliefs and practices. Early Child Development and Care, 70, 17–35]. Item-by-item analyses were conducted using factor analysis and χ² analyses within and across countries. Similarities emerged related to, in particular, those beliefs and teaching practices associated with integrating across the curriculum, promoting social/emotional development, providing concrete/hands-on materials, and allowing play/choice in the curriculum.     

两岸三地数学教师教育中数学教育类课程设置的比较

开设数学教育类课程的目的是为未来的中学数学教师提供必要的知识.数学教师教育必须提供给学生4类知识:数学内容知识、数学教学知识、数学课程知识和学生数学学习的知识.台湾所提供的4类知识都是充分的:大陆除了数学内容知识是充分外,其余3类知识是不充分的;而香港所提供的数学内容知识是不充分的,所提供的数学教学知识是充分的,其余的两类知识则是较充分的.     

两岸四地语文课程文件的比较研究

从框架结构、课程性质和地位、指导思想或基本理念、课程目标、实施建议五方面比较我国大陆语文《课标》、台湾《纲要》、香港《指引》和澳门《大纲》等语文课程文件的同异,从中可以看到四地对中国语文教学规律是有着共同认识的。港澳台课程文件对大陆语文课程标准修订的启示在于:课程标准的前后要求要一致;增强实施建议的可操作性;提高教学内容的难度;规范课程目标的表述。     

Communicating about science and engineering practices and the nature of science: An exploration of American Sign Language resources

Science classrooms have been demonstrated to be educational contexts with unique and challenging language demands. Enhanced cognitive and linguistic demands arising from an emphasis on the science and engineering practices (SEPs) and the nature of science (NOS) in the Next Generation Science Standards warrant consideration of how to support students with different language abilities. Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students must negotiate multiple languages in the science classroom, including academic science vocabulary, written English, and spoken American Sign Language (ASL). However, science-specific ASL vocabulary is rather limited, and current development efforts mostly focus on developing signs for more traditional content vocabulary. Yet, effective science instruction for DHH students must also provide them opportunities to engage in and communicate about the NOS and the functions of the SEPs. The current study explores the availability of such ASL resources across a body of science-specific resources available for teachers of DHH students. Reviewing a body of publicly available resources, researchers identified a small list of 21 ASL signs that are common across multiple resources. These signs, and the larger data set, were reviewed to identify trends and patterns across them and how well they communicate scientific meanings for NOS and the SEPs. Issues that emerged and classroom implications are discussed.     

Differences in the use of American Sign Language morphology by deaf children: implications for parents and teachers

Newport (1988) has noted differences in how American Sign Language (ASL) is used by the following three groups of deaf adults: those with deaf parents (native signers); those, with hearing parents, who learned ASL upon entering school at age 5 years (early signers); and those who learned to sign after puberty (late signers). The present study extends this research to children by investigating the use of morphological inflections in ASL by native and early signers. Thirty deaf children between ages 3 and 9 years were asked to sign a story in ASL. The videotaped stories were analyzed for morphological and contextual complexity. Qualitative differences were found between native and early signers on measures relating to the aspectual complexity of signs but not on measures relating to the complexity of the utterance. Implications of these differences are discussed in terms of communication at home and ASL use in the classroom.