The transfer to upper secondary school is a challenge for most students. Results from the first year of the intervention

This study is a contribution to the empirical underpinning of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and it aims to identify linguistic correlates to the proficiency levels defined by the CEFR. The study was conducted in a Swedish school setting, focusing on English, French and Italian, and examined the relationship between CEFR levels (A1–C2) assigned by experienced raters to learners’ written texts and three measures of syntactic complexity (based on length of t-unit, subclause ratio, and mean length of clause (cf. Norris & Ortega, 2009)). Data were elicited through two written tasks (a short letter and a narrative) completed by pupils of L2 English (N = 54) in years four, nine and the final year of upper-secondary school, L3 French (N = 38) in year nine and the final year of upper-secondary school, and L4 Italian (N = 28) in the final year of upper-secondary school and first year of university. The results showed that, globally, there were weak to medium-strong correlations between assigned CEFR levels and the three measures of syntactic complexity in English, French and Italian. Furthermore, it was found that syntactic complexity was homogeneous across the three languages at CEFR level A, whereas syntactic complexity was different across languages at CEFR level B, especially in the data for English and French. Consequences for the empirical validity of the CEFR framework and the nature of the three measures of complexity are discussed.

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Når forventningerne ikke stemmer overens med virkeligheden. En undersøgelse af de studerendes valg og strategier i overgangen til de længere videregående teknat-uddannelser

Dansk Universitetspædagogisk Tidsskrift ◽

10.7146/dut.v9i16.8832 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (16) ◽

pp. 44-57

Author(s):

Henriette T. Holmegaard ◽

Lene Møller Madsen ◽

Lars Ulriksen

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Secondary School ◽

First Year ◽

Study Cohort ◽

Upper Secondary School ◽

Research Project ◽

Negotiation Strategies ◽

Science Programme ◽

Upper Secondary ◽

Education Science

Denne artikel præsenterer resultater fra et forskningsprojekt, hvor studerende er fulgt fra slutningen af gymnasiet og ind på en lang videregående teknisk eller naturvidenskabelig uddannelse. Fokus er på de studerendes løbende forventningsafstemning i mødet med den nye uddannelse og de forhandlinger, der finder sted over tid, når de studerende forsøger at blive akademisk integreret. Analysen fokuserer på de studerende der oplever dette som særligt vanskeligt. Tre forhandlingsstrategier identificeres: at udholde at ens forventninger ikke bliver indfriet; gentagende afprøvninger af, om det, man møder, kan tilpasses ens forventninger; at indordne og tilpasse sine forventninger til det, man møder. De tre forskellige strategier foldes ud i analysen med konkrete eksempler og viser, at de studerendes iden-titetsarbejde er en vigtig del af progressionen i de studerendes første studieår. Konsekvenserne og implikationerne for praksis diskuteres afslutningsvist. This paper presents results from a research project where students are followed from the end of upper secondary school into their higher education science programme. We pay particular attention to the students’ continuous negotiation of expectations in relation to the content of their new study programmes and their attempts to become academically integrated. The analysis is focused on those students who found these negotiations difficult. Three negotiation strategies are identified: to endure and just accept that one’s expectations are not honoured; to continuously try to fit what you meet to your expectations; to fit and adjust one’s expectations to what you meet. Cases from the study cohort who used these strategies are identified and these form the basis of the discussion. Particular attention is paid to the importance of students’ ‘identitywork’ in their first year of study and the consequences and implications this has for practice.

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Activating a Self-Regulated Process

Fostering Self-Regulated Learning through ICT ◽

10.4018/978-1-61692-901-5.ch013 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 210-231

Author(s):

M. Alessandra Mariotti ◽

Laura Maffei

Keyword(s):

Secondary School ◽

Reference Frame ◽

Self Control ◽

First Year ◽

Upper Secondary School ◽

Teaching Intervention ◽

Self Regulated Learning ◽

9Th Grade ◽

Upper Secondary ◽

Remedial Intervention

This contribution is based on a research study which aims at investigating the benefits coming from the use of the Aplusix ICT environment in a remedial intervention in Algebra. The authors start from elaborating a theoretical reference frame for Self-Regulated Learning in order to make it suitable to reformulate and investigate the specific pedagogical problem of a remedial activity in Algebra (first year of the upper secondary school, 9th grade). Then, the authors present the design of a teaching intervention that has been carried out at school, centred around the use of Aplusix. Finally, they discuss some results from the analysis of the data collected during the experiment. The study’s results show clear evidence of the evolution of students’ awareness and self control, i.e. they have become self regulated learners.

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