La acción del entorno sobre el desarrollo del lenguaje infantil

RESUMEN

Las distintas teorías del lenguaje han invocado numerosos mecanismos para explicar la acción del entorno en el desarrollo lingúístico. Más que de aprendizaje del lenguaje debe hablarse de puesta en marcha de la función lingúística, y esta puesta en marcha implica una estructuración a distintos niveles: estructuración del lenguaje (en cuanto a gramática y lengua), comunicación de esta estructura por el niño, y normativización de este proceso a través de una relación de autoridad. Esta dinámica culminará a través de la interlocución en la lengua familiar, que se inscribe en un contexto cultural dado. Aquí se sitúa la noción de “hándicap lingúístico” de las clases populares: la inadecuación del lenguaje familiar al de la escuela. La escuela capta el idioma del niño como una aproximación imperfecta del lenguaje del adulto y le obliga a integrar una lengua estándar que es diferente de la suya. Frente a este tipo de hándicap, que se refiere a las formas de dominación lingúística, está el “hándicap real” determinado por una acción inadecuada del entorno sobre los mecanismos de estructuración de la función lingúística.     

L'evolution des chances d'acces a l'enseignement superieur en France (1962–1966)

The article presents the final conclusions of a series of studies (secondary analyses of statistical data and investigations) carried out by the Centre de Sociologie Européenne between 1964 and 1967 and re-evaluated in the light of the new trends which emerged after 1968 (more open system of education offset by diversification of schemes of study with unequal returns in terms of career openings or prestige). In order to present the problem of the democratisation of higher education by reference to unambiguous data, the authors propose a simple principle for calculating the opportunities for entry to a given level of instruction, or into a given field, as a function of social origin and sex. This systematic method of measuring inequality of academic opportunity, linked to sociological variables, has (a) technical (b) methodological and (c) theoretical advantages.o li](a) From the technical point of view, this calculation which relates the number of students (of a given level) possessing certain social characteristics with the cohort of young people of the same age possessing the same social characteristics, makes it possible to eliminate the ambiguities and statistical fallacies of most analyses of the democratisation of education, which are confined to a comparison of the percentages (or the change over time of the percentages) of different social categories represented within the student population, without taking account of the numerical representation (and the change over time of the numerical representation) of these same categories in the active population. li](b) From the methodological point of view, one has thus at one's disposal an indisputable method of presenting unambiguous conclusions with regard to the chronological development of academic inequalities for a given country, or with regard to international comparisons. li](c) From the theoretical viewpoint, this method translates into statistical terms a principle of sociological theory of much more general application and one which is exemplified in the article; this principle, which might be termed structuralist, states that no value (quantitative or qualitative) should be appraised in itself and for itself, rather that it must always be evaluated in its operational or transformational context by taking into account its positional value in the whole system of relations which link it to other values.By applying this principle, it becomes clear that the sciences are not, in France, more democratic than other fields of study, as is asserted by some authors who are content to compare the percentage of working-class students in the science faculties with the percentage achieved in the other faculties, without relating this rate to the extremely low one for working-class students in the Grandes Écoles scientifiques (the École Polytechnique, etc.): in fact, making such a comparison would highlight the weak positional value of scientific subjects in universities in the total system of scientific institutions of higher education and it would reveal the function of relegation (or reduced acceptance) of children from lower-class families assumed by the science faculties in a system dominated by the Grandes Écoles.On a more general level, this principle of relational intelligibility guides the authors' interpretation of opportunity for entry to higher education in France from 1962 to 1966. During this period, the structure of academic inequalities which in 1962 ranged from one chance in 100 (for the least favoured category) to 50 chances in 100 (for the most highly favoured category) has moved upwards, since, in 1966, the range of opportunities extends roughly from 2% to more than 70%. In other words, the total increase in the rate of enrolment in higher education of 18 to 21 year olds has been distributed, grosso modo, between the different social categories in proportion to existing inequalities. Despite a slight statistical narrowing of this range, the authors' psychosociological analysis attempts to show that the general system of expectations and attitudes of different social classes vis-à-vis the University cannot have been modified by a change which amounts to an upward translation of the structure of inequalities. It is therefore concluded that the policy of increasing enrolment during this period had an almost zero effect (sociologically speaking) on the phenomenon of the democratisation of the university, defined as a process equalising the academic opportunities of different social categories.Again it is the same principle, applied to the analysis of the relative scarcity of academic qualifications, which makes it possible to demonstrate that the expansion of higher education devalues degrees (both in the job market and in the symbolic prestige market) as it democratises them, thus reconstructing again at a higher level, or in fields of study yielding high returns, the academic privileges of the favoured classes.     

From Competence in the Curriculum to Competence in Action

The article begins by drawing a distinction between the concepts of “curriculum” and “programme of study”, and goes on to show that curriculum reform involves much more than simply rewriting programmes of study. The reforms that are presently sweeping across education systems throughout the world qualify, in many cases, as true paradigm revolutions, given the magnitude of the transition from an objectives-based to a competency-based pedagogy. The authors discuss the complex nature of a situated approach to competence by exploring the theoretical foundations of a number of contemporary perspectives: situated action/cognition, distributed cognition/intelligence, collective intelligence and enaction. The value of a situated approach to competence is that it goes beyond an objectives-based pedagogy, while at the same time incorporating the best of what it has to offer. Original language: French Philippe Jonnaert (Belgium) Doctoral degree in educational studies from the Université de Mons; formerly, a professor at the Université de Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium and the University of Sherbrooke in Canada; a visiting professor at the Université René Descartes, Paris 5-Sorbonne; he is currently a full professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQàM); director of the Observatoire des réformes en education (ORé); and consultant to various international organizations on issues related to curriculum development. E-mail: philippejonnaert@yahoo.ca Domenico Masciotra (Canada) Doctorate in educational studies from UQáM and completed post-doctoral studies at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology; he is a researcher for ORé and consultant to the Ministère de l’éducation, du loisir et du sport (MELS) of Quebec. E-mail: masciotra.domenico@videotron.ca Johanne Barrette (Canada) A graduate student in a doctoral programme of educational studies at UQáM; her dissertation concerns informal and tacit learning acquired through practice in business settings. She has worked as an educational consultant for adult education in the workplace; as an adult education teacher; as a project manager in charge of a number of Quebec-based and international projects on the development of competencies in the workplace; and is currently a researcher at ORé. E-mail: barsav@sympatico.ca Denise Morel (Canada) Denise Morel holds two master’s degrees: in philosophy (McGill University, Montreal) and in Applied Linguistics (Concordia University, Montreal); has worked as a teacher, educational consultant and analyst for the English Montreal School Board, and as a part-time lecturer at Concordia University; has participated in several programme development projects for the MELS of Quebec, and collaborates with ORé. E-mail: dmorel@emsb.qc.ca Yaya Mane (Canada) Holds a doctorate in educational studies from the Université Montréal; has taught at the Institut supérieur des sciences de l’éducation de Guinée (ISSEG); he is presently a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the Université Montréal;, a research officer at the Centre interdisciplinaire de la formation de la profession enseignante (CRIFPE) at the Université Montréal;, and a researcher at ORé. E-mail: yaya.mane@umontreal.ca     

The prognostic relevance of psychological factors with regard to participation and success in table-tennis

ABSTRACT

This study examined the prognostic relevance of self-determined motivation, coping, burnout, perceived stress and recovery experienced by 159 youth table-tennis players involved in intensive training centers with regard to their participation and success six years later. Results of ANCOVAs showed that players who still practiced at time 2 (T2; six years later; n = 130) reported lower time 1 (T1; while they were involved in intensive training centers) amotivation (large effect), disengagement-oriented coping, sport devaluation and reduced accomplishment (moderate effects) than their counterparts who dropped out at T2 (n = 29). Results of ANCOVAs also showed that international (n = 18) and/or national players (n = 86) at T2 reported significantly lower T1 amotivation (large effect), disengagement-oriented coping and sport devaluation (moderate effects) in comparison to regional (n = 26) players at T2. Finally results of correlational analyses showed that T2 performance and/or six-year performance progress were significantly and weakly correlated with introjected and external regulations, perceived stress and perceived recovery, and significantly and moderately correlated with amotivation, disengagement-oriented coping, sport devaluation, and reduced accomplishment. Overall, this study provided insights into the role played by self-determined motivation, coping, burnout, perceived stress and recovery in the table-tennis players’ dropout and performance level six years later.     

Higher Education Funding: A Decade of Changes

The authors, two French specialists on the financing of higher education, reflect on the conclusions they drew in an article, "Rethinking the Financing of Post-Compulsory Education", which they published in this review ten years ago. As they foresaw, higher education funding became increasingly based on mixed sources with students being required to pay a greater share of the costs of their education. But mechanisms to make cost sharing increasingly equitable have been refined. At the same time, the determination of actual costs per institution, per course programme, and even per course has become increasingly accurate, and funding is increasingly taking into account the verdict of performance indicators of various kinds. The funding of research is being increasingly differentiated from funding for teaching/learning. Across the board, higher education institutions have had to do more for less.     

Assessing the limitations of the Banister model in monitoring training

The aim of this study was to carry out a statistical analysis of the Banister model to verify how useful it is in monitoring the training programmes of elite swimmers. The accuracy, the ill-conditioning and the stability of this model were thus investigated. The training loads of nine elite swimmers, measured over one season, were related to performances with the Banister model. First, to assess accuracy, the 95% bootstrap confidence interval (95% CI) of parameter estimates and modelled performances were calculated. Second, to study ill-conditioning, the correlation matrix of parameter estimates was computed. Finally, to analyse stability, iterative computation was performed with the same data but minus one performance, chosen at random. Performances were related to training loads for all participants (R(2) = 0.79 +/- 0.13, P < 0.05) and the estimation procedure seemed to be stable. Nevertheless, the range of 95% CI values of the most useful parameters for monitoring training was wide: t(a) = 38 (17, 59), t(f) = 19 (6, 32), t(n) = 19 (7, 35), t(g) = 43 (25, 61). Furthermore, some parameters were highly correlated, making their interpretation worthless. We suggest possible ways to deal with these problems and review alternative methods to model the training-performance relationships.     

How do teachers’ approaches to geometric work relate to geometry students’ learning difficulties?

Various studies suggest that French students (grades 7 to 10) may solve geometric problems within a paradigmatic framework that differs from that assumed by teachers, a situation prone to misunderstandings. In this paper, we study the extent to which secondary school teachers recognise the conflicting paradigms and how they handle the geometric work conducted, in sometimes unintended ways, by their students. This is done by analysing teachers’ reactions to specific answers students offered to the Charlotte and Marie problem, an “ambiguous” problem with various solutions depending on the paradigm adopted. As a result of the study, we found that, beyond similarities due to a shared mathematical background, the way secondary schoolteachers handle students’ answers varies with their conceptions of geometric work. Implications are drawn regarding the teaching of geometry and the training of teachers.     

Education traditionnelle au Bénin,la place du sacré dans les rites initiatiques

The author shows how education among traditional communities in Benin is an initiatory process in which the acquisition of practical knowledge is closely interwoven with religion and custom. The stages of an individual's development may be marked by rites of passage, tests of prowess and endurance, and the acquisition of appropriate forms of knowledge such as the learning of tales and the oral traditions of the community. The aim is to prepare the individual to take his or her full place in society. The author also describes certain particular forms of education, such as the training of a shaman, which takes many years and involves learning complex divinatory processes as well as mastering traditional medicine.