Written

The study reported in this paper investigated the relationship between components of aptitude and the fluency, lexical variety, syntactic complexity, and accuracy of performance in two types of written and spoken narrative tasks. We also addressed the question of how narrative performance varies in tasks of different cognitive complexity in the written and spoken modes. Our findings indicate a complex interaction between aptitude components and task performance under different conditions. The components of aptitude that seemed to be most strongly related to the complexity and accuracy of production were inductive ability and grammatical sensitivity. The results also show that in writing the participants used more varied vocabulary than in speech, but their performance was similar in terms of syntactic complexity.

Percebe-se que a evolucao tecnologica busca tornar a vida mais facil e favorecer habilidades funcionais de pessoas com deficiencia. Diante disso e do modelo de uma sociedade inclusiva, com o compromisso de garantir que essas pessoas nao sejam excluidas das atividades comuns, esta pesquisa apresenta a concepcao e o desenvolvimento de uma interface de teclado virtual denominado Mousekey, e discute como essa tecnologia assistiva pode favorecer a escrita de pessoas com dificuldades motoras. Para compreender os objetivos propostos deste estudo, optou-se por uma pesquisa qualitativa, tipo estudo de caso. Os participantes da pesquisa foram cinco pessoas alfabetizadas, mas com dificuldades motoras para escrever, que "Nao consegue de modo algum" ou possui "Grande dificuldade". Para coleta de dados, realizaram-se dois encontros com esses sujeitos, que utilizaram a tecnologia projetada, sendo dois deles com Amiotrofia Espinhal Muscular, dois com Distrofia Muscular, e um com...

This study considers how adolescents compose historical arguments, and it identifies theoretically grounded predictors of the quality of their essays. Using data from a larger study on the effects of a federally funded Teaching American History grant on student learning, we analyzed students’ written responses to document-based questions at the 8th grade ( n = 44) and the 11th ( n = 47). We report how students use evidence (a hallmark of historical thinking), how students structure their historical arguments, and what kinds of argumentative strategies they use when writing about historical controversies. In general, better writers cite more evidence in their arguments than weaker writers, and older students demonstrate how to situate evidence in ways that are consistent with the discipline. Both the structure of students’ arguments and their use of evidence were predictive of the overall quality of their essays. Finally, students’ use of argumentation strategies revealed patterns re...

On the example of some texts attributed to the 15th-century poet-saint Kabīr, the paper contests the postmodern claim that each received version is a poetically beautiful, polished text. In all probability all received versions have undergone a long phase of oral transmission before being committed to writing and they are sometimes the outcome of textual corruption resulting in inconsistent reading or in poetic looseness and redundancy. On the basis of prosody and a comparison of variant versions, reconstruction of some earlier text is possible. It is argued that the poems may have been composed for a metrically correct recitation and when they became songs set to musical moods and rhythms they have lost their strict metrical frame under the licenses used by the singers. Amplification can also be detected on a higher level since sometimes entire lines were invented or borrowed. By detecting instances of amplification a more concise and more powerful early text can be reconstructed. The reconstruction of the early text in turn can open up a way to posit the later variants into a relationship with each other and to see ideological motivating forces behind changes such as ‘bhaktification’.

This study investigates the manner in which students build up meaning to draw the gradient of a given graph. Some researchers claim that students tend to use algebra to solve calculus questions. This research suggests this may happen when students are encouraged to ...

When one is studying man, what can be more exact or more rigorous than to recognize human properties in him ? Jean-Paul Sartre, Search for a Method … I began the creation of a human being. Victor Frankenstein In his 1797 essay “Of an Early Taste for Reading,” William Godwin announced that “Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms.” Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus – boldly dedicated to “WILLIAM GODWIN, Author of Political Justice, Caleb Williams, &c.” – may be read as a critique of her father's pronouncement. Shelley's corporeally indeterminate but eccentrically literate monster asks us to consider whether literature – taken in all its bearings – was or is indeed a useful “line of demarcation between” human and animal. The fate of the monster suggests that proficiency in “the art of language” (110), as he calls it, may not ensure one's position as a member of the “human kingdom.” Shelley shows us how a literary education, so crucial to Godwinian perfectibility, presupposes not merely an educable subject but a human being. Read through Godwin's dictum, the trajectory of Frankenstein's creature offers a parable of pedagogic failure – specifically a failure in the promise of the humanities, in letters as a route to humanization. The novel demonstrates, perhaps against itself, that acquisition of “literary refinement” fails to humanize the problematic body – the ever-unnamed monster.

... 256 James Collins and Sarah Michaels Paul refers to the new character as 'he'until another perspec-tive shift occurs later in the ... Example 10.10 There was a man collecting fruit from a tree In example 10.11, several lines later, having described the man's activities, he shifts ...

Although much has been said about ergonomics in interface and in computer tools and interface design, very few articles in major journals have addressed this topic in relation to language testing. This article describes an experiment carried out at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, in which 27 Media and Communication students provided support to design and experiment an internet

Studies of university writing assignments demonstrate inconsistencies in the elements examined, making it difficult to achieve a clear understanding of the range, frequency, and characteristics of assignments that students might encounter. In this research study, syllabi from one university college were analyzed to determine the types and frequency of assignments and how these assignments vary by program and level. A total of 179 syllabi from all courses taught during 1 academic year were collected. On average, 2.5 writing assignments per course were assigned. Almost half of all assignments were 4 pages or less in length. Though length and grade value of assignments were significantly correlated, students did not write significantly longer or more high-stakes assignments as they progressed. The most common type of assignment was the term or research paper, though task labels were highly variable. Program profiles revealed differences between programs in frequency of assignments, lea...

In response to the need for studies that focus on learning and writing in mathematics, this study examined changes in students' probabilistic thinking and writing during an instructional program that emphasized transactional writing in a problem-solving context. Although correlations between probabilistic thinking and writing levels at the end of the study were not significant, students did make significant gains in both probability reasoning and writing. Analysis of target students' journals revealed that their writing incorporated both writing symbols and mathematical symbols. These symbols were more complementary for those students whose writing increased to the higher levels during instruction. Moreover, this growth appeared to be promoted by the teacher herself, who systematically sought verbal explanations of solutions and written interpretations of diagrams and numerical patterns.