A classroom intervention on Spanish grammar and writing: the use of the past tense with secondary school students / La intervención didáctica en el aula sobre gramática y escritura. El saber gramatical y la revisión de textos en el uso de los tiempos verbales del pasado con alumnos de secundaria

Abstract

This article presents an innovative experience which links grammar teaching with writing, following the premises of the Grammar Didactic Sequences (GDS) with one basic objective: to create a situation in which students learn to reflect on the language they use and are able to use these reflections to improve their writing. The GDS, focused on the use of past tense verb forms, was carried out with fourth-year secondary school students in Spain. This article highlights the difficulties experienced by students when using grammatical concepts as elements to control usage and the importance of revising texts in order to create metalinguistic awareness in a recursive didactic process: from grammar to writing, from writing to grammatical revision, and final version writing.     

Promoting a participatory convergence in a Spanish context: an inter-university action research project using visual narrative

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the deconstruction of an inter-university action research project that has allowed us to rethink our teaching and research, questioning the social, political and ethical dimensions of the university. Following the pre-assembly proposal to promote participatory convergence, organized within the framework of the 1^st Global Assembly for Knowledge Democracy (2017), an action research process was implemented in order to generate systematic inquiry around the current situation of the university and the need to act and rethink our commitment to promoting changes in this context. We have reflected on the meaning of democratization, rethinking the pedagogical relationship with our students and how we critically commit them to promote activism. We generated an environment where we look for the meaning of our practices by means of a visual narrative which has enabled us to weave and identify our own biography and become aware of where we are and why we act in one way or another. We have also focused on the search for the meaning of our actions in relation to the community we belong to and how to deal with the challenges of social justice, encouraging collaboration with other networks in a wider inter-university framework.     

Media Accountability and Journalists: To Whom Do Spanish Professionals Feel Responsible?

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses to whom Spanish journalists feel responsible. To achieve this objective, we sent out a survey to Spanish journalists to ascertain their opinion on this question. The journalists’ point of view was then compared with that of the general public though six focus groups consisting of Spanish citizens from six cities in Spain (Barcelona, Castellón, Madrid, Sevilla, Mondragón and Santiago de Compostela). Lastly, five in-depth interviews were conducted with journalism experts (e.g., directors of professional journalist associations). The main results show that the journalists feel particularly responsible to their conscience, the journalism code of ethics and their sources. The citizens, in contrast, believe that journalists should be responsible to the audience. We contextualised the Spanish finding in the European context by comparing our results with those derived from a study among European journalists.     

On the construction of transitional filter nomographs

The construction of nomographs for transitional classical filters is described. Gain functions of classical filters are related to filter requirements resulting in a formulation for the general gain nomograph. The transitional filters that are products of approximating polynomials are incorporated into the general gain nomograph resulting in transitional filter nomographs that are sums of the individual nomographs. Nomographs for transitional filters using alternative forms where poles are interpolated are also considered. The resulting nomographs allow for quick optimization of transitional filter frequency response in many cases. Design examples are submitted and discussed. The proposed transitional filter nomographs provide the engineer with increased insight into the selection of classical transitional filters with optimum frequency response.     

Intercultural sensitivity among university students: measurement of the construct and its relationship with international mobility programmes / Sensibilidad intercultural de los estudiantes universitarios: medición del constructo y su relación con los programas de movilidad internacional

The purpose of this study was to validate the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory) and to assess the impact of international mobility programmes on the intercultural sensitivity of university students. For this, a quasi-experimental study was carried out using a longitudinal design of repeated pre-test and post-test measures, with an experimental group of students who carried out international mobility programmes and a control group of students who did not. The sample consisted of 3,047 university students. The inventory yielded a five-factor structure (negation/defence, minimization, reversion, acceptance/adaptation and encapsulated marginality) with alpha coefficients ranging from .82 to .91, revealing adequate reliability and validity. The results indicate the effectiveness of the IDI to measure intercultural sensitivity. Although the post-test scores are higher than the pre-test scores for both groups, there are significant differences in favour of the experimental group (p = .000) in all factors except the negation/defence stage. The conclusions focus on the implications of this study for curriculum development and policy at an educational level.     

Understanding students’ game experiences throughout the developmental process of the number navigation game

Educational technology research and development - Serious games for learning have received increased attention in recent years. However, empirical studies on students’ gaming experiences...     

Which instructional models influence more on perceived exertion,affective valence,physical activity level,and class time in physical education?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of two different instructional models (i.e. direct instructional model (DIM) and tactical games model (TGM)) with primary education students. Perceived exertion, affective valence, physical activity (PA) level, instruction time, active learning time, and relation of instruction/active learning time were measured with 256 primary education students during DIM and TGM 8 weeks’ intervention programs. Significant differences were found between the DIM and TGM in perceived exertion, PA level, instruction time and in the relation between instruction/active learning time (p?<?.01, ES=?0.4 to 1.1). By age group, the DIM had significantly higher PA level in students of 3^rd grade of primary education (G3), 4^th grade (G4) and 6^th grade (G6) (p?<?.05 or p?<?.01, ES=?0.8 to ?0.4). The instructional model used during physical education classes can affect perceived exertion, PA level, instruction time, and the relation instruction/active learning time.     

The efficiency of information transmission of sign and spoken language

Rhe study compares sign and oral language in terms of information transmission efficiency. The sample consisted of 36 hearing people with no knowledge of sign language and 36 deaf people reasonably fluent in sign language. (The deaf participants' level of hearing loss ranged from severe to profound.) Oral and sign language comprehension was assessed by means of texts at three different difficulty levels. After being exposed to the texts, the study participants had to tell what they had understood about them, answer a set of related questions, and offer a title for each text. When the hearing group's comprehension of oral versions of the texts was compared to the deaf group's comprehension of signed versions, the deaf group showed better comprehension of the explicit content of the texts but added more invented content and made more errors.