Thinking for speaking: the expression of motion events by Russian and Chinese learners of Catalan as a second language / Pensar para hablar: la expresión de eventos de movimiento en hablantes nativos de ruso y mandarín que aprenden catalán como una segunda lengua

Abstract

In this study we provide evidence for the influence of L1 typological patterns in elicited narratives in Catalan by bilingual speakers of three different typological languages. The expression of the semantic components of Path and Manner of motion of Russian L1 speakers and Mandarin L1 speakers was compared to that of native Catalan speakers. Following the Thinking for Speaking framework, it was hypothesized that if the preferred semantic structure of L1 is transferred to the L2, then productions would be organized and structured differently according to the typological characteristics of L1. Results show different patterns of expression in L2 with regard to lexical choice and syntactic-semantic structure. We argue that the results provide empirical support for the Thinking for Speaking hypothesis.     

Season of birth and school success in the early years of primary education

Several studies have reported significant relationships between children’s season of birth and measures of their academic success (i.e., the ‘season of birth effect’). Whereas most of these studies were cross‐sectional, the current study uses growth curve modelling to analyse longitudinal data on 3,187 children in Flemish primary education. The results indicate season of birth effects on both grade retention and mathematics achievement during the first two years of primary school. Because the Flemish cut‐off date is 31 December, children born in the fourth quarter (October‐November‐December) invariably are among the youngest in their grade age group. Almost 20% of these children were found to have been retained or referred to special education by the end of Grade 2, whereas for children born in the first quarter (January‐February‐March), this was only 6.34%. First quarter‐born children also showed moderately higher mathematics achievement at the start of first grade. During the next two school years, this achievement gap between children born in the first and the fourth quarter narrowed significantly. Finally, differentiated instruction was not found to be related to the decrease of the season of birth effect.     

The School and the Reduction of Inequality∗

ABSTRACT

The need to develop reasoning skills in children through discussion is generally acknowledged by curriculum aims. There is, however, a lack of any definite teaching strategy to fulfil this need. Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children programme has had success in this area. As with other ‘collaborative enquiry‐based’ approaches to learning, it depends upon a teaching strategy which enhances children's self‐esteem. This seems a necessary ingredient for the development of rationality, critical awareness and autonomy in children. Inadequate teacher training is suggested as a major reason for the failure of ‘collaborative’ approaches greatly to influence educational practice. With a shift away from the ‘authority/knowledge‐based’ paradigm and the provision of effective teacher training, it is considered that our educational institutions could become more democratically organised, and we would move closer to realising the liberal ideal of developing human potential to the full.     

Análisis comparativo de la conducta de niños autistas,deficientes y normales en una situación de interacción

Resumen

El presente articulo expone una investigación cuyo objetivo es estudiar comparativamente la conducta de los niños autistas, deficientes no autistas y normales, en una situación de interacción diádica con un adulto. La muestra estaba compuesta por 30 niños, 10 en cada grupo. Los niños de los distintos grupos diagnósticos estaban igualados uno a uno en edad mental y sexo. Los deficientes y los autistas fueron igualados además en edad cronológica. Cada sujeto fue grabado mediante video en una sesión de interacción social. La conducta de los sujetos se codificó atendiendo a 34 categorías de observación que recogían distintos tipos de conducta (conductas proxémicas, de atención, expresivas, instrumentales, estrategias de comunicación, conductas de huida, agresivas…). Se discuten tos resultados y sus implicaciones, sugiriendo nuevas lineas de investigación.     

Curricula and curricular analysis: Some pointers for a debate

This introduction to our guest-edited issue provides a framework for reflecting on curricula, based on the four still fundamental questions raised by Tyler (Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1949) about effective ways to organize educational experiences that can meet the school’s educational purpose. The authors begin by decoding the Franco-European and Anglo-Saxon/North American approaches to the concept of curriculum, and seek points where the two are complementary. Using Tyler’s four questions, they then clarify the concept in a conceptual outline, organize it into a rational model, and seek a reference framework that can offer pointers for a debate on curriculum. They then show that, because a curriculum necessarily originates in a specific society, some of that society’s irrationality affects the nature of the curriculum. Thus, any curriculum experiences a tension between the rationality of the models that define it in theoretical terms and the irrationality of its surrounding society—which has the power to regulate it. Therefore, tools for curriculum analysis must consider all these dimensions, contradictions, and tensions to achieve a truly systemic perspective. While a system model is important for evaluation, it is also important to understand the less rational aspects and to place them in dialogue with their models. In this respect, providing pointers for the debate on curriculum remains a perilous exercise. Finally, the authors reflect on a systemic and holistic approach to the curriculum, and suggest pointers for contemporary reflection on curriculum.     

Reading Place: Bodies and Spaces in Québécois Adolescent Literature

This paper examines two Canadian (Québécois) novels for young adults, translated from French to English in Canada: The Road to Chlifa by Michèle Marineau, and Pieces of Me by Charlotte Gingras. We examine the representation of adolescent bodies in space and movement, and how these coming of age narratives play out in relation to discourses about nationality and citizenship. This paper suggests that there are subtle differences in sensibilities in works published in French by Québécois writers and publishers, and that there is evidence of a lingering solitude in relation to young adult literature in Canada. We argue that we need to understand and continue to explicate the complex set of cultural readings and re-readings engendered by these and other coming of age novels that cross real and imagined boundaries of federation and language; that is, we encourage educators to examine representations of adolescent protagonists in relation to the production and reception of literary works that travel within and across our borders.     

Numerical modeling of DNA-chip hybridization with chaotic advection

We present numerical simulations of DNA-chip hybridization, both in the “static” and “dynamical” cases. In the static case, transport of free targets is limited by molecular diffusion; in the dynamical case, an efficient mixing is achieved by chaotic advection, with a periodic protocol using pumps in a rectangular chamber. This protocol has been shown to achieve rapid and homogeneous mixing. We suppose in our model that all free targets are identical; the chip has different spots on which the probes are fixed, also all identical, and complementary to the targets. The reaction model is an infinite sink potential of width d_h, i.e., a target is captured as soon as it comes close enough to a probe, at a distance lower than d_h. Our results prove that mixing with chaotic advection enables much more rapid hybridization than the static case. We show and explain why the potential width d_h does not play an important role in the final results, and we discuss the role of molecular diffusion. We also recover realistic reaction rates in the static case.     

Influence of a stressing constraint on stiffness and damping functions of a ski simulator's platform motion

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of stress on a previously acquired motor coordination. Following a longitudinal learning experiment, four participants performed oscillations on a ski simulator, either in normal or stressful conditions. The results showed that the amplitude of the oscillations decreased under stress, but no significant effect was seen regarding coordination, suggesting the strong resistance to stress of overlearned behaviour. Nevertheless, for one participant, a transient regression towards a former stage of learning was observed. This result was consistent with the regression hypothesis formulated by Fuchs ().     

On passion and sports fans: A look at football

Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to test the applicability of the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003 Vallerand, R. J., Blanchard, C. M., Mageau, G. A., Koestner, R., Ratelle, C.Léonard, M. 2003. Les passions de l'âme: On obsessive and harmonious passion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85: 756–767. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to being a sport (football) fan. Three studies provided support for this dualistic conceptualization of passion. Study 1 showed that harmonious passion was positively associated with adaptive behaviours (e.g. celebrate the team's victory), whereas obsessive passion was positively associated with maladaptive behaviours (e.g. risking losing one's job to go to a game). Study 2 used a short Passion Scale and showed that harmonious passion was positively related to the positive affective life of fans during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, psychological health (self-esteem and life satisfaction), and public displays of adaptive behaviours (e.g. celebrate the team's victory into the streets), whereas obsessive passion was predictive of maladaptive affective life (e.g. hating opposing teams' fans) and behaviours (e.g. mocking opposing teams' fans). Finally, Study 3 examined the role of obsessive passion as a predictor of partner's conflict that in turn undermined partner's relationship satisfaction. Overall, the present results provided support for the Dualistic Model of Passion. The conceptual and applied implications of the findings are discussed.