Tableau d'honneur de la FÉSP / Introduction. L’entrainement aux habiletés requises en fauteuil roulant manuel (FRM) mené par un pair est efficace pour améliorer ces habiletés et l’auto-efficacité. Peu d’information est disponible sur l’entrainement dans la communauté. Ainsi, le premier objectif de ce mémoire consiste à réaliser une synthèse des connaissances sur les effets des interventions de réadaptation impliquant des pairs. Le second objectif consiste à évaluer les effets de Roulez avec confiance, un entrainement aux habiletés en FRM mené par un pair dans la communauté, et à explorer l’expérience des participants au programme. Méthode. Une revue systématique des écrits a été menée. Ensuite, une étude à devis mixte parallèle avec trois temps de mesure a été réalisée. Des questionnaires sur la participation sociale (Wheelchair outcome measure), l’auto-efficacité (Wheelchair use confidence scale for manual wheelchair users), les habiletés en FRM (Wheelchair skills test questionnaire) et la qualité de vie (Satisfaction with life scale) ainsi qu’une entrevue semistructurée ont été complétés. Une analyse non-paramétrique de données longitudinales et une analyse de contenu thématique ont été réalisées. Résultats. Treize études ont été identifiées : certaines menées par des pairs et d’autres par des professionnels. Dix-neuf utilisateurs de FRM (45±12 ans) ont participé au programme. Une différence statistiquement significative (p<0,0001) a été identifiée pour toutes les variables sauf la qualité de vie (p=0,687). Les gains se sont maintenus après trois mois. Les thèmes émergeant des entrevues sont : 1) L’influence de mon passé ; 2) Composantes du programme : toucher à la surface ; 3) Une expérience sociale positive ; 4) Comment l’environnement physique a façonné le programme ; 5) Apprendre plus que des habiletés ; 6) Les émotions provoquées par le programme. Conclusion. Davantage d’études sont nécessaires pour déterminer les effets sur la mobilité et la participation des interventions impliquant des pairs. Roulez avec confiance apporte des bénéfices aux utilisateurs de FRM / Introduction. A peer-led wheelchair skills training is effective to increase wheelchair skills and self-efficacy. Few information is available on wheelchair training in the community. The first objective was to synthesize knowledge on the effectiveness of peer-based rehabilitation interventions among adults with mobility disabilities. The second objective was to evaluate the effects of Roulez avec confiance, a peer-led community-based wheelchair skills training, on community-dwelling manual wheelchair users and to explore their experience in the program. Methods. First, a systematic literature review was conducted. Second, a parallel mixed design was used with measurements before, after and 3 months after the program. Validated questionnaires on social participation (Wheelchair outcome measure), manual wheelchair self-efficacy (Wheelchair use confidence scale for manual wheelchair users), manual wheelchair skills (Wheelchair skills test questionnaire), and quality of life (Satisfaction with life scale) were administered. A semi-structured interview on users’ experience was conducted. Nonparametric analysis of longitudinal data and thematic content analysis were done. Results. Thirteen peer-based studies were identified including peer-led and professional-led studies. Nineteen manual wheelchair users (45±12 years) participated in the peer-led program. There was a statistically significant increase (p<0.0001) in all outcomes except quality of life (p=0.687). Gains were maintained after three months. Main themes identified were: 1) The influence of my background; 2) Components of the program: Scratching the surface; 3) A positive social experience; 4) How the physical environment shaped the program; 5) Learning more than skills; 6) Emotions triggered by the program. Conclusion. Further research on the effects of peer-based interventions on mobility and participation is warranted. Roulez avec confiance is a relevant intervention to deliver peer-led community-based wheelchair skills training to community-dwelling manual wheelchair users.

This study dealt with the problem of investigating the validity of two recently developed paper-and-penci1 tests of programmer aptitude , the Aptitude Test for Programmer Personnel (ATPP) and the Computer Programmer Aptitude Battery (CPAB), in predicting success in computer programming.

La thèse invite à s’intéresser à l’aptitude à consentir du salarié. En tant qu’elle constitue l’aptitude du sujet à prendre part au gouvernement de sa situation juridique par l’accord, elle participe de l’expression d’un choix de celui reconnu comme partie faible au rapport asymétrique qui le lie à l’employeur. En pareil contexte, la question du consentement apparaît centrale. Le contrat, acte juridique censément conclu par des sujets égaux, requiert l’accord de celui mis dans une situation d’inégalité et consistant dans la subordination, qu’elle émane de l’acte juridique auquel il consent ou qu’il soit déjà salarié.L’aptitude à consentir invite à s’intéresser aux règles qui reconnaissent au salarié une aptitude à décider, eu égard aux contrats que le droit du travail admet et qui peuvent s’insérer dans sa situation juridique. Cette aptitude est assurément juridique (Partie 1) et ne se trouve pas limitée aux règles qui, classiquement, peuvent être mobilisées pour la caractériser. L’aptitude juridique ne procède pas seulement du droit de la capacité ou de la personnalité, mais prospère à travers des mécanismes que le droit du travail promeut pour permettre non seulement au travailleur de faire valoir un choix, mais de le protéger à cette occasion. Elle rayonne encore lorsque la décision elle-même, c’est-à-dire le consentement, est envisagée : sans information et sans égard à la prise de décision, l’aptitude serait nettement diminuée. Les règles qui forgent l’aptitude juridique à consentir, doivent encore être rapportées à d’autres, qui conditionnent ou orientent les choix que le salarié peut avoir à opérer. C’est ainsi que l’aptitude juridique pose également la question de son effectivité (Partie 2), dans la mesure où elle n’est pas seulement l’objet de règles protectrices. Alors, il s’agit de tenir sérieusement en considération le rapport du sujet à l’emploi, qu’il s’agisse pour lui de le choisir ou même simplement d’y accéder. Et de ne pas négliger, enfin, le rapport de l’aptitude à consentir aux normes juridiques elles-mêmes. Qu’il s’agisse du contrat ou des normes environnantes, patronales et conventionnelles, le sujet connait des limites à l’épanouissement de sa volonté qui participent parfois de sa protection et, d’autres fois, d’une limite à l’emprise qu’il a sur sa situation. / The thesis invites to be interested in the aptitude to consent of the employee. In so far as it constitutes the subject's ability to take part in the government's legal position through the agreement, it participates in the expression of a choice of the one recognized as weak party to the asymmetrical relationship which links him to the employer. In such a context, the issue of consent appears central. The contract, legal act supposedly concluded by equal subjects, requires the agreement of the one placed in a situation of inequality and consisting in the subordination, that it emanates from the legal act to which it consents or that it is already salaried.The ability to consent invites attention to the rules that recognize the employee's ability to decide, with regard to the contracts that labor law contains and that may fit into his legal situation. This aptitude is undoubtedly legal and is not limited to the rules which, classically, can be mobilized to characterize it. Legal ability does not come only from the rights of capacity or personality, but thrives through mechanisms that labor law promotes to allow not only the worker to assert a choice, but to protect him on this occasion. It still shines when the decision itself, that is to say, consent, is considered: without information and without taking into account the decision-making, the aptitude would be clearly diminished.The rules that form the legal capacity to consent must still be reported to others, which condition or direct the choices that the employee may have to make. Thus legal capacity also raises the question of its effectiveness, insofar as it is not only the object of protective rules. So, it is a question of seriously considering the relation of the subject to the job, whether it is for him to choose it or even simply to access it. And not to neglect, finally, the report of the ability to consent to the legal norms themselves. Whether it is the contract or surrounding norms, employers and conventional, the subject knows limits to the fulfillment of his will that sometimes participate in its protection and other times, a limit to the influence he has on his situation.

Cette recherche vise à élaborer une théorie de la pratique et une philosophie morale qui n’accorderaient aucune réalité à des possibles ou à des virtualités. Si l’inspiration bourdieusienne hante notre propos, c’est à partir de Spinoza que nous tentons dans un premier temps de construire un concept de disposition qui soit débarrassé de toute connotation indéterministe en référant les dispositions à des états de corps actuels et en clarifiant le sens de la notion, trop souvent confondue avec d’autres (aptitude, capacité, habitus). Nous montrons dans une deuxième partie que l’incorporation de l’extériorité dans des dispositions actuelles s’accompagne, conformément à la philosophie spinoziste, d’un effort nécessaire et déterminé pour accomplir aussitôt ce que l’agent est condamné à accomplir. La disposition désigne une puissance qui va au bout de ce qu’elle peut, abstraction faite de contrariétés internes ou externes. Si la puissance d’agir peut augmenter ou diminuer, l’effort ne peut être qu’aidé ou contrarié. L’agent est un automate, mais un automate qui s’efforce d’effectuer de gré et nécessairement ce qu’il est forcé d’effectuer, même s’il s’avère que c’est pour le pire. Cela nous conduit dans une troisième partie à contester les interprétations de la philosophie pratique spinoziste en terme d’aliénation. Nous montrons aussi que l’intellectualisme spinoziste doit être largement redéfini, la libération ne pouvant s’effectuer sans compter sur les « dispositions du dehors », y compris l’imagination d’un progrès possible. Enfin, si l’agent automate se signale par la grande inconstance de ses dispositions, il faut le disposer à agir dans un sens favorable à la raison. Le fonctionnement de l’État doit reposer sur la seule mécanique des institutions, puisqu’il est acquis qu’on ne peut vraiment compter sur personne. / This research aims at developing a theory of practice and a moral philosophy that leaves no place for what is merely possible and virtual. While inspired by the sociology of Bourdieu, I first draw on Spinoza to develop a concept of disposition that is freed of all indeterminist connotations by referring dispositions to actual states of the body so as to clarify the meaning of the term, which is so often confused with concepts such as aptitude, capacity, habitus. In the second part of this work, I show that the incorporation of the exteriority comes with the necessary effort to immediately accomplish what the agent is condemned to accomplish. « Disposition » refers to a power that sees through to the end what it can, notwithstanding internal and external impediments. If the power to act increases or diminishes, effort itself can only be helped or hindered. Thus, the agent is an automaton, but one that willingly strives to do what it is compelled to do, even if it is for the worst. Consequently, in the third part, I contest interpretations that relate human bondage in Spinoza’s ethics to alienation. I argue that Spinoza’s intellectualism must be redefined : emancipation cannot occur without relying on the dispositions we receive from the common order of Nature, including imagining possible progress. Finally, although the automaton is characterized by the inconstancy of his dispositions, he has to be disposed in a way that is favorable to reason. The workings of the state should rest solely on the mechanism of the institutions, as it has been established that we really cannot rely upon anyone.

The present dissertation is concerned with language aptitude in young learners. The first aim of this dissertation is to validate the content of two new instruments: the adaptation to both Spanish (MLAT-ES) and Catalan (MLAT-EC) of the Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary (MLAT-E) (Carroll & Sapon, 1967). The second aim of this dissertation is to study the relationship between language aptitude, L1 acquisition and cognitive development. The norming study of the MLAT-E offers data of children from grade 3 to 6 while that of the MLAT-ES covers grades 3 to 7. In both norming studies, while means increase steadily from grades 4 to 6, the largest increase is observed between grade 3 and 4. The third aim of this dissertation is related to the variable sex. While in the MLAT-E study the data appear divided according to this variable, the population in the MLAT-ES norming study appears as one cohort. It would be interesting to see if significant differences are observed between the performance of boys and girls to keep this variable or not when using these tests. Finally, the fourth aim of this study is to check the construct validity of the tests. The MLAT-E tests are intended to measure language aptitude for foreign language learning. One way to check their construct validity is to correlate scores on the tests with measures of foreign language proficiency. The first aim of the study - the validation of two versions of the MLAT-E in Spanish and Catalan - is supported by the statistical results obtained although some of the items in the MLAT-ES do not work as expected (or as they do for monolingual Spanish speakers or speakers of a Spanish regional variety other than the Peninsular). As for the second aim, it was observed that the tests functioned in a different way for 3-graders than for the rest of grades, as in the previous norming studies. This could be explained by the fact that 3-graders are at the beginning of their concrete operational stage, which limits their cognitive processing abilities. From an information processing perspective, children at this stage still have to develop problem-solving strategies as well as strategies for encoding and memorising information. Moreover, they have become literate relatively recently and show to have lower meta-linguistic awareness than their older counterparts. The third aim dealt with the sex variable. The results show that aptitude does not seem to be affected by the participants’ sex. However, perhaps a more cognitive oriented approach into the way each of the parts of the MLAT-E is answered would shed light on sex differences, if any. These should be explored along with different proficiency measures, those that, traditionally, have given an advantage to girls over boys (such as fluency) and vice versa (e.g. receptive tasks). Regarding the construct validity of the tests, both the MLAT-ES and the MLATEC seem to be valid measures of predictability of general concurrent proficiency although not in all skills, since the speaking skill sometimes did not correlate with the aptitude measures. Also, correlations in grade 3 were consistently non-existent or lower than those in other grades. This phenomenon could be related to the issues discussed in relation to the participants’ age and cognitive development and/or to the validity of the proficiency measures used. Consequently, the MLAT-ES and the MLATEC should be revised if they are to be administered to children this age. Oral data were collected from most participants, so perhaps a deep analysis of these oral data will shed more light on the relationship between FL aptitude in young learners and their true FL proficiency in further research. / Aquesta tesi doctoral presenta la validació de dos tests d’aptitud per a l’aprenentatge de llengües estrangeres en un context bilingüe català/castellà. Es tracta de l’adaptació al castellan (MLAT-ES) i al català (MLAT-EC) del Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary (MLAT-E) (Carroll i Sapon, 1967). 629 estudiants d’edats compreses entre els 8 i els 13 anys (de 3r de primària a 1r d’ESO) participaren en aquest estudi. Un cop validat el contingut d’ambdós tests, la primera pregunta de recerca explora la relació entre l’aptitud, l’adquisició de la L1 i el desenvolupament cognitiu, ja que els resultats mostren que, si bé les mitjanes obtingudes en els tests augmenten amb l’edat, aquest augment és molt més gran entre 3r i 4t de primària que entre els altres cursos. Aquesta diferència es podria explicar per l’estat de desenvolupament cognitiu dels participants a 3r de primària així com pel fet que en aquesta edat algunes estratègies de resolució de problemes i de memorització, entre altres, encara estan en vies de desenvolupament. La segona pregunta d’investigació té a veure amb la variable sexe. No s’observen diferències significatives entre els resultats obtinguts pels nens i nenes participants. Finalment, l’objectiu de la tercera pregunta de recerca és comprovar la validesa de constructe del MLAT-ES i del MLAT-EC correlacionant els resultats obtinguts amb proves de proficiència en llengua estrangera (anglès). Ambdós tests semblen ser vàlids en aquest aspecte tot i que amb excepcions significatives al grup de 3r de primària, sobretot pel que fa a la proficiència oral. Aquestes diferències es podrien explicar per les proves de proficiència utilitzades o per l’estat de desenvolupament cognitiu d’aquests participants, que podria haver influït en la manera com interpretaven els tests d’aptitud. Per tant, en futurs estudis s’hauria d’explorar amb més detall si les habilitats mesurades pels tests d’aptitud en nens i nenes d’entre 8 i 9 anys són les mateixes que en estudiants més grans.

Thèse (D. en psychologie)--Université du Québec à Montréal, 2005. / En tête du titre: Université du Québec à Montréal. Bibliogr.: f. [150]-157. Publié aussi en version électronique.

This study focuses on the relationship of one cognitive ability test on long-term job performance as measured by personnel data. Archival data from over 3,000 employees at an international technology company were used to assess how aptitude test scores relate to both objective and subjective job performance measures. Supervisory performance ratings, level of promotion, and salary increase significantly contributed to variance in test scores; however, these results were inconsistent. Number of training courses did not have a significant relationship with test scores. Additionally, type of turnover did not moderate the relationship between aptitude test scores and job performance. These results indicate that although aptitude test score is related to long term job performance factors, other factors account for the majority of the variance. The implication is that aptitude should not be the sole consideration when predicting long term job success.

A mini-dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, 2004. / This study investigates the validity of the General Scholastic Aptitude Test as a tool for predicting academic success for first year Information Technology (IT) students. Secondly it seeks to establish if it is an equally good predictor for the various racial groups in South Africa. Thirdly it investigates it’s usefulness as a predictor for the different gender groups. The final aim is to establish whether the GSAT correlates with the Swedish Rating (SR) and English language ability in terms of predicting academic success for first year IT students. The student group that served as the sample was the first year IT student group over the three year peroid from 2000 to 2002 at the Port Elizabeth (PE) Technikon. The study found that there was a weak link between GSAT and academic success across the entire sample. It however proved not to be an equally good predictor across all the racial groups, where it proved to be a far more useful tool for white students than for students from the other racial groups. Insofar as the gender groups were concerned it appeared to have some predictive power across the whole sample but not necessarily equally for the different gender and racial groups. There appeared to be a positive correlation between GSAT and Swedish Rating but not between GSAT and English language ability. From this study it appears that the GSAT has some merit in predicting academic success, although with differing rates of usefulness across different demographic groupings in South Africa. In addition there are many other factors that may militate against academic success in a student’s life which may hinder the usefulness of the GSAT as a predictive tool. If such assessments are to be used it would seem that they should be used very carefully, that factors reducing the chances of academic success need to be identified, and that institutions ensure that programmes are in place to empower students to maximize their potential.

The aim of the writer in giving the Stenquist Mechanical Aptitude Test as a basis for this study was to try to find a reliable method of selecting the boys to be admitted to the shop classes in vocational and technical high schools.

Данная работа посвящена разработке и апробации собственного диагностического инструментария для прогнозирования успешного изучения иностранного языка. В первой главе рассматриваются теоретические основы исследования языковой предрасположенности. Во второй главе проводится комплексный анализ наиболее актуальных в настоящий момент зарубежных методик. В третьей главе описывается созданный инструментарий, процесс его апробации с последующей систематизацией и анализом полученных данных. В заключении в обобщенном виде излагаются полученные результаты, выводы по выдвинутой гипотезе, обосновывается практическая значимость и описываются перспективы для дальнейших исследований. Особенно полезными результаты этой работы могут стать для оптимизации учебной деятельности в учебных заведениях, а также в разработке новых психодиагностических методик и критериев уровня языковых способностей учащихся. / This paper is devoted to the development and testing of our own diagnostic toolkit for predicting successful foreign language learning. The first chapter deals with the theoretical foundations of language predisposition research. In the second chapter, a comprehensive analysis of the most relevant foreign methods at the moment is carried out. The third chapter describes the created toolkit, the process of its approbation with the subsequent systematization and analysis of the obtained data. The conclusion summarizes the obtained results, conclusions on the hypothesis, substantiates the practical significance and describes the prospects for further research. The results of this work can be especially useful for optimizing learning activities in educational institutions, as well as in the development of new psychodiagnostic techniques and criteria for the level of language abilities of students.