“I Want to Do Things With Languages”: A Male Karenni Refugee’s Reconstructing Multilingual Capital

This article discusses how a male Karenni refugee in the United States has constructed multilingual capital along the way of his multiple movements across national borders. As a member of an ethnic minority group in three different countries (Burma, Thailand, and the United States), he has invested in learning multiple languages throughout the movements. Based on a two-year ethnographic study on the participant’s multilingual practices, I argue that being multilingual is a fundamental part of his transnational identities, economic security, and agentive acts. His roles outside formal classroom settings as a language broker, refugee, and an ESL tutor have been shaped by a continuum, or horizontal relationship of languages. The study suggests the inclusion of adult students’ transnational identity and multilingual practices outside a language classroom. In addition, a career that requires multilingual skills and transnational knowledge should be encouraged and created for newcomers.     

Successful Women Researchers in the Social Sciences: A case study of Catalan public universities

This article examines the factors which contribute to the success of female academics engaging in research in social sciences. The data were obtained through a series of interviews carried out at public universities in Catalonia with women, all of whom were the heads of research groups recognized by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government). These results reveal several aspects relevant for women academics, at both the individual and institutional levels, in terms of employment opportunities, management of research programmes, development of teaching strategies and individual time management. This should assist the development of institutional policies and practices within higher education to help women build successful research careers.     

Influence of a catalan peer tutoring programme on reading comprehension and self‐concept as a reader

This study relates to the results obtained in the development of reading comprehension (RC) and self‐concept as a reader in students who participated in Llegim en parella (Reading in pairs), a Catalan peer tutoring programme. The research combines a quasi‐experimental design with the use of comparison groups and pre‐tests/post‐tests for both variables; a qualitative approach is adopted by analysing the interactions in order to detect influencing factors. Statistically significant results were obtained for all students in terms of RC but only for student tutors in relation to reading self‐concept. The factors involved in the improvements identified in RC are: reading strategies, scaffolding in inferential and deep comprehension questions. Regarding self‐concept, the tutor's own role, his involvement with their tutees' progress, reading aloud and the metacognitive reflection processes, are all factors that enable us to explain the improvement in the tutor's reading self‐perception. The positive influence of peer tutoring on the development of reading competence through this programme is clearly evident.     

The effects and characteristics of family involvement on a peer tutoring programme to improve the reading comprehension competence

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of an educational programme involving peer tutoring at school and family tutoring at home on child reading comprehension achievement in Catalunya, Spain. We drew upon a sample of 303 primary school students from 8 to 11 years old and 223 family tutors from home (61.5% mothers, 15% fathers, 17% both parents, 6.5% siblings). Reading comprehension performance was assessed through standardised tests in pre and post-test bases. Background variables were collected by means of student and parent questionnaires and also teacher and family interviews. An analysis of the family tutoring interactions was also performed. The main results showed positive effects for all the students, but especially for the 223 students who received family support. Overall, the study reveals the effectiveness of peer learning to improve reading comprehension skills and the potential of family involvement for the development of academic skills when the school provides trust and support for it.     

An investigation into the cognitive domain of competence II: The relationship between communicative competence and interaction involvement

The purpose of this study was to continue the investigation into the cognitive domain of communicative competence (Duran & Kelly, 1984; McCroskey, 1982; Spitzberg, 1983). The relationship between interaction involvement (Cegala, 1981) and communicative adaptability (Duran, 1983), a communicative competence construct, was studied. Canonical correlation analysis produced three significant canonical roots. Root 1 was defined by social confirmation appropriate disclosure, and responsiveness. Root 2 was defined by social composure, social experience, andperceptiveness. Root 3 was defined by social experience, and attentiveness. The theoretical implications of the results as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Digital modeling of world's first known length reference unit: The Nippur cubit rod

It is a fact that the most important thing for transmitting cultural heritage to posterity starts with a sensitive documentation step. Up to the present, there have been many developments in documentation of cultural heritage by developing technology, and contemporary documentation techniques have progressed speedily. Nowadays besides of a sensitive documentation, rapidness has gain importance for the sake of time and cost. Because of these facts, the techniques that provide fast and reliable documentation and modeling like digital close-range photogrammetry and laser scanning became preferable with respect to classical architectural methods. In this paper, the studies of precise measurement, 3D modeling and documentation of Nippur Cubit is presented. The Nippur cubit–the first known standard measure of length–was a heavy copper bar, unearthed at Nippur on the Euphrates River dating from about 2650 B.C. This ancient measuring device is nowadays exposed in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey. For the purpose of 3D modeling and archiving of the mentioned object, digital close-range photogrammetry and laser scanning technology were applied and results obtained from these two techniques were compared.