The effects of the World Wide Web on reading and writing skills in a Spanish cultural studies courseLos efectos de la Web en la adquisición de destrezas lectoras y escritas en un curso de cultura hispana

ReCALL ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARMEN CABOT

This paper presents the results of a study that demonstrates an effective use of the Web as a tool to increase motivation and thus promote reading and writing skills in Spanish as well as a deeper sense of the culture of the Spanish speaking world. In the study, thirty students of second year Spanish at the University of New South Wales were required to prepare an itinerary for a trip to a Spanish speaking country of their choice using the WWW as the only resource. In general our findings regarding improved language skills were consistent with the literature: an increase of vocabulary, more use of references, more student initiated interactions and greater interactivity in the classroom amongst students were observed. There was, however, one aspect, linguistic accuracy, in which improvement was not greatly noted. The data collected confirms that a task-oriented Web based course can increase the motivation of students, improve the scope of their reading, and enhance their perception of the target culture, all with a great effect on range of language explored, learned and re-processed, but a much lesser effect on the accuracy of written language produced.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-18
Author(s):  
Tsvetanka Tsenova

This article focuses on the relationship between literacy methods applied at school and the emergence of serious difficulties in mastering reading and writing skills that shape the developmental dyslexia. The problem was analyzed theoretically and subjected to empirical verification. Experimental work was presented which aims to study the phonological and global reading skills of 4- th grade students with and without dyslexia. Better global reading skills have been demonstrated in all tested children, and this is much more pronounced in those with dyslexia than their peers without disorders. Hence, the need to develop a special, corrective methodology for literacy of students with developmental dyslexia consistent with their psychopathological characteristics.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girlane Moura Hickmann ◽  
Sandra Regina Kirchner Guimarães ◽  
Adolfo Antonio Hickmann

 Resumo: Nos últimos anos, a aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita de crianças bilíngues tem atraído crescente interesse de profissionais envolvidos no processo de ensino-aprendizagem da linguagem escrita bem como no desenvolvimento cognitivo. A linguagem faz parte de todo o processo de desenvolvimento humano e está presente nas relações estabelecidas no decorrer da vida. As discussões sobre a aprendizagem da linguagem oral e escrita estão sempre em aberto para novas possibilidades. Este artigo teve como objetivo empreender uma revisão de literatura sobre as habilidades metacognitivas e suas contribuições para o desenvolvimento da linguagem escrita na língua materna pelas crianças bilíngues. Os estudos foram analisados a partir da perspectiva da Psicologia do Desenvolvimento Cognitivo e sugerem que a criança bilíngue apresenta ganhos em relação às funções superiores, como: a atenção, a memória, a linguagem oral (receptiva e expressiva), bem como maior desenvolvimento das habilidades metacognitivas de planejamento, monitoramento e controle intencional dos tratamentos linguísticos. Identificou-se que o desenvolvimento propiciado pela aprendizagem de uma segunda língua deve-se justamente às atividades reflexivas promovidas pelo processo de ensino-aprendizagem de habilidades metalinguísticas, que possibilitam a progressiva tomada de consciência de aspectos relativos à pragmática, fonologia, morfologia, sintaxe e semântica da linguagem. Assim, tendo em vista seu potencial de promover conhecimentos linguísticos explícitos, conclui-se que o bilinguismo é um fator propulsor do crescente domínio da capacidade de leitura e escrita na língua materna.Palavras-chave: Pensamento e Linguagem. Habilidades metalingüísticas. Bilinguismo. Leitura e Escrita.BILINGUAL LEARNING AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE: development of metalinguistic skillsAbstract: In recent years, the learning processes of reading and writing skills of bilingual children have attracted growing interest from professionals involved in the language teaching and learning processes and also in cognitive development.  Language is part of the whole process of human development and it is present in relationships established in the course of everyone's life. The discussions about the process of oral and written language are always open to new possibilities. This article aimed to undertake a literature review on metacognitive skills and their contributions to the development of written language in the mother tongue of bilingual children. The studies were analysed from Cognitive Developmental Psychology perspective and suggest that bilingual children show gains in relation to superior psychological functions, such as attention, memory, verbal language (receptive and expressive) and  greater development of metacognitive skills of planning capacity, monitoring and intentional control of linguistic treatments. It was identified that the development brought about by learning a second language is right due to reflective activities promoted by the teaching-learning metalinguistic skills process, which enable the progressive awareness of aspects of pragmatics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Thus, in view of its potential to promote explicit language knowledge, one may conclude that bilingualism is a driving factor in the growing mastery of reading and writing skills in the mother tongue.Keywords: Thought and language. Metalanguage skills. Bilingualism. Reading and writing.EL APRENDIZAJE BILINGÜE Y EL LENGUAJE ESCRITO: desarrollo de las habilidades metalingüísticas Resumen: En los últimos años, el aprendizaje de la lectura y de la escritura de los niños bilingües han atraído creciente interés de los profesionales involucrados en el proceso la enseñanza y aprendizage de del lenguaje escrito, así como en el desarrollo cognitivo. El lenguaje hace parte de todo el proceso de desarrollo humano y está presente en las relaciones que se establecen a lo largo de la vida. Las discusiones sobre el lenguaje oral y escrito siempre están abiertos a nuevas posibilidades. Este artículo tiene como objetivo realizar una revisión de la literatura sobre las habilidades metalingüísticas y sus contribuciones al desarrollo de la lengua escrita en la lengua materna de los niños bilingües. Se analizaron los estudios desde la perspectiva de la psicología del desarrollo cognitivo y sugieren que los niños bilingües muestran ganancias en relación con las funciones superiores, como la atención, la memoria, el lenguaje verbal (receptivo y expresivo) y un mayor desarrollo de las habilidades metacognitivas, la planificación, el seguimiento y el control de los tratamientos lingüísticos intencionales. Se identificó que el desarrollo provocado por el aprendizaje de una segunda lengua es debido justamente a las actividades de reflexión promovidas por el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de habilidades metalingüísticas, lo que permite la progresiva toma de conciencia de los aspectos de la pragmática, fonología, morfología, sintaxis y semántica del lenguaje. Por lo tanto, en vista de su potencial para promover el conocimiento explicito de idiomas, se concluye que el bilingüismo es un factor de propulsión en el creciente campo de la lectura y de la escritura en la lengua materna.Palabras clave: Pensamiento y Lenguaje. Habilidades metalingüísticas. Bilingüismo. Lectura y Escrita.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel-Ann Bradshaw ◽  
Karen Richardson

This case-study shows how successful collaboration between colleagues from the University of Greenwich library and Mathematical Sciences department has resulted in increased library usage and an improvement in important employability skills for mathematics students.  It is argued that similar collaborations in other STEM disciplines within the University could have an equally beneficial effect.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Concepción Shimizu Wilson ◽  
John D’Ambra ◽  
Robyn Drummond

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which e-books fit the needs of medical academics of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in the performance of their academic tasks. Design/methodology/approach – A web-based survey was distributed to all UNSW academics in medicine, and 224 completed responses were analyzed according to the attributes of a task-technology fit (TTF) model developed for e-books in academic settings. Findings – Although the UNSW Library had access to > 225,000 e-books, usage by medical academics was relatively low (38 per cent); however, most (92 per cent) predicted that they would be using e-books within the next five years. Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) had portable devices including smartphones, and 90 per cent rated the ability to search across full text in an e-book of moderate-to-high importance. Research tasks dominated the use of e-books, and 71 per cent agreed that e-books helped improve their overall productivity. Research limitation/implications – Only 224 (8 per cent) of 2,790 medical academics at UNSW participated in the study. The low response rate and over-representation of research only academics limit the extent of generalization of the findings. Originality/value – This is the first study on the use of e-books among academics in the Faculty of Medicine – comprising nearly 64 per cent of all UNSW academic staff. The findings highlight the extent of e-books used by medical academics and their enthusiasm for access to digital resources. There is also the suggestion that the library must continue to develop services to ensure delivery of task-compatible e-books to medical academics in increasingly mobile environments.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Yulia Hapsari ◽  
Esti Junining ◽  
Devinta Puspita Ratri

Issues related to the need of English at higher education continue to be a discussion among scholars. Many believe that there is a positive relationship between English language skills of university students and their academic performance, and that English language skills are highly valued as a graduate attribute for employability. However, there are still few actions taken to gain information regarding which specific English language skills needed by educators and academic support staff. Universitas Brawijaya (UB) as one of the prominent higher education institutions in Indonesia is continuously taking actions to keep improving the quality of its graduates. One of the actions is to help its students to have a decent level of English language skills in order to help them to be ready to compete in work market that is going global. To reveal English language skills needed by bachelor graduates of the university as well as the reasons behind the need, sets of questionnaire were distributed to the educators in this case represented by the deans and academic support staff and the heads of academic support units both in the faculty and university level. The data from the questionnaires were then analyzed qualitatively. The findings of this study demonstrated that the educators need Reading and Writing skills more than the other two skills. This finding supports the idea that reading and writing skills are desperately needed to increase the number of publication in UB. Different from this result, the academic support staff perception on the need of English for the employees is on speaking skills. They think that speaking skills are the most needed skills for the employees to be able to handle the guest, and as a speaker of the units.Keyword: need of English, English language skills, higher education


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Marc Goodrich ◽  
Amber L. Farrington ◽  
Christopher J. Lonigan

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-107
Author(s):  
Melanie Boltzmann ◽  
Thomas Münte ◽  
Bahram Mohammadi ◽  
Jascha Rüsseler

Abstract. In Germany, 7.5 Million individuals between 18 and 64 years are considered to be functionally illiterate (Grotlüschen & Riekmann, 2012). Functional illiterates have only rudimentary literacy skills despite attending school for several years. Although they can use written language to a very limited extent, only few functional illiterates attend literacy courses for adults. In addition, most adult literacy courses primarily aim at promoting basic reading and writing skills. Offers specific to workplace literacy are scarce. This review gives an overview of the definition of functional illiteracy. Afterwards, a specific literacy program (AlphaPlus) and its effectiveness will be presented. The reviewed studies indicate that learning to read in adulthood is associated with structural and functional brain changes.


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