El estudio del lenguaje infantil a partir de 5–6 años

RESUMEN

El punto de partida del trabajo presentado en el estudio de las variedades no standard del francés. Tras la constatación de que el marco de referencia utilizado hasta ahora para el estudio de estas variedades ha sido fundamentalmente la variedad standard escrita, los autores proponen un cambio de óptica al abordar la descripción y análisis del lenguaje oral de locutores adultos y niños en diferentes tipos de situaciones informales. Ello les lleva a reconocer dentro de la competencia lingüística de los locutores un doble sistema de organización de los enunciados: el basado en el modelo tradicional de la frase o construcción gramatical y el basado en las configuraciones discursivas.

Tras pasar revista a ambos tipos de sistemas y proporcionar una serie de ejemplos de configuraciones discursivas complejas, los autores abordan desde esta perspectiva un análisis somero de las relaciones existentes entre sistema lingüístico y otros componentes que determinan las producciones verbales de los locutores. Finalmente, el nuevo marco de referencia adoptado les lleva a replantearse la relación entre la variedad standard normativa y las restantes variedades no standard, así como a una revisión de las diferencias constatadas entre las producciones lingüísticas de los niños y las de los adultos.     

Psicología y Didácticas: una relación a debate

Resumen

El artículo revisa las relaciones entre, por una parte, la psicología de la educación y de la instrucción y, por otra, las didácticas específicas. Partiendo de las representaciones que didactas y psicólogos tienen de sus respectivos campos de trabajo, se constata la existencia de un «espacio de problemas» común en torno a los procesos escolares de enseñanza y aprendizaje y, al mismo tiempo, una aproximación netamente diferenciada a dichos problemas. Sin embargo, la aparición en el transcurso de las dos últimas décadas de una serie de tendencias y movimientos que se manifiestan por igual en el ámbito de la psicología y de las didácticas apunta, de forma inequívoca, a una mayor interconexión e interrela- ción entre ambas aproximaciones disciplinares.     

The Future of Graduate Study in Teacher Preparation in Physical Education

This article speculates about the future of graduate study in pedagogy of physical education. The argument is based on demographic trends, historical developments in the field of physical education, empirical evidence of effective teaching, and experiences with graduate courses that appear to have been successful. The article concludes that the demand for graduate programs, the mechanisms for delivering them, and the content of such programs in teacher education in physical education portend a bright future for the quality of teaching in physical education in America. If this is to be achieved, new efforts at defining the focus of the field of physical education must be undertaken.     

Cognitive Scientists Prefer Theories and Testable Principles With Teeth

The visions of mathematics classrooms called for by current educational reform efforts pose great challenges for kindergarten through Grade 12 schools and teacher education programs. Although a number of colleges and universities throughout the country are making changes in their teacher education programs to reflect these reform recommendations, we have little systematic information on the nature of these programs or their impact on prospective teachers. These issues are of central concern in the study-Learning to Teach Secondary Mathematics in Two Reform-Based Teacher Education Programs-that we draw on in this article. The article focuses on 1 preservice teacher's (Ms. Savant) knowledge, beliefs, and practices related to proof, tasks, and discourse. A situative perspective on cognition and components of teachers' professional knowledge frame our research. We examined data on Ms. Savant's experiences in her teacher education program to understand the influences of teacher education on her development as a mathematics teacher. This research indicates that Ms. Savant's teacher education experiences did make a difference in her development as a teacher. Her mathematics methods course provided a large collection of tasks, engaged her and her preservice colleagues in discourse, and provided her with both formal and informal experiences with proof-all of these experiences reflecting reform-based visions of mathematics classrooms. The situative perspective on cognition directed our attention to issues of compatibility of goals and visions across the various university and kindergarten through Grade 12 classroom settings, and it helped us to understand why some aspects of reform-based pedagogy are more easily learned than others: Why some ideas and practices learned as a student in the university setting are more easily transported to the novice teacher's kindergarten through Grade 12 field setting. We conclude that compatibility of these settings on several key dimensions is essential for the settings to reinforce each other's messages, and thus work in conjunction, rather than in opposition, to prepare reform-minded teachers.     

A test of anxiety/uncertainty management theory: The intercultural adaptation context

Anxiety/Uncertainty Management theory, as formulated by Gudykunst and Hammer (1987a), proposes that intercultural adaptation outcomes are based on the two mediating dimensions of uncertainty reduction and anxiety reduction and sixteen secondary variables that systematically influence uncertainty and anxiety reduction. In this paper, the sixteen variables originally identified are categorized into four “fundamental factors”; (interpersonal saliencies, intergroup saliencies, communication message exchange, and host contact conditions). The present study examines this revised Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) theory of intercultural adaptation. A total of 291 international students at two universities in the United States participated in the study. The study found overall fit of the revised AUM theory vis‐a‐vis the two mediating factors of uncertainty and anxiety reduction, the importance of interpersonal saliencies for uncertainty reduction, and the importance of host contact conditions for facilitating feelings of comfort and reducing anxiety. Intergroup saliencies were significantly related to uncertainty reduction but not, contrary to expectation, to anxiety reduction. Communication message exchange (which consists of information gathering strategies and second language proficiency) was, again contrary to expectation, not significantly related to either uncertainty or anxiety reduction. Finally, cultural identity showed a small though significant negative relationship to intergroup saliencies, suggesting a stronger, ingroup identity was associated with increased uncertainty. The paper concludes by proffering explanations for the findings and suggestions for future research.     

Integrating Language,Literacy, and Academic Development: Alternatives to Traditional English as a Second Language and Remedial English for Language Minority Students in Community Colleges

This article argues for the importance of integrating a focus on language, literacy, and academic development for United States-educated language minority (US-LM) students, sometimes called Generation 1.5. It describes four initiatives at community colleges in California that aim to do so. US-LM students have completed some K–12 schooling in the United States, but their English is considered by community college faculty, staff, or assessment measures to be inadequate for college-level instruction. Although enacting effective language and literacy support for Generation 1.5 has centered on debates about whether these students belong in English as a Second Language (ESL) or remedial English courses, how they can best be identified and tested, or whether they should be taught in separate classes, we argue that more fundamental shifts are needed. Instead of conceiving of students’ language and literacy development solely in terms of progress through ESL or remedial English sequences, educators designing support for US-LM students must also consider larger contexts of students’ academic progress, promoting students’ development of language and literacy for success in academic and professional settings as well as progress toward completing credits required for associate degrees, certificates, and transfer to four-year institutions.     

Choice of Reading Comprehension Test Influences the Outcomes of Genetic Analyses

Vowel representations are particularly difficult for children to learn because most vowel phonemes can be spelled in several different ways. Children in Grades 1, 2, and 3 spelled nonwords with an ambiguous vowel and reported their spelling strategies. Analysis of the children's spellings and strategy reports revealed a shift in relying solely on phonological information to considering orthographic information for making vowel letter choices. Implications for vowel spelling development are discussed.