The primary purpose of this study is to determine how teaching English in European schools can become more effective in order to improve the quality of foreign language education and the quantity of students learning it. Currently, only the minority (38%) of European citizens possesses the ability to speak English, while its importance continues to grow. In addition, it is argued that English can be a very useful instrument in the process of European unification. The current crisis laid bare that there is no underlying emotional bond between people from different member state countries and English has the potential to change that. This research consists of a total of four parts with every part answering a different sub question. In the first part is discussed what the implications of the growing importance of English are on national identities and languages. The second part includes the factors which influence the process of second language acquisition. Subsequently, a case study is conducted which compares the organization of and participation in Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and Bulgarian primary and secondary education and also looks at the teachers and teaching processes. Finally, in the fourth part numbers are presented and analyzed on whether or not EU member state countries are attaining the Barcelona objectives: mother tongue plus two. The main conclusions of all these parts are that a national identity and a possible European identity are able to co-exist instead of replace the other. Similarly, national languages are very robust and will never dissolve into new intermediate idioms. The difference between the percentages of English speakers within Europe cannot merely be explained by education. There are also important linguistic and societal factors influencing second language acquisition. Only a few countries are attaining the Barcelona objectives so far, but there have been reforms in many states which show that they are making an effort. The case study showed that there is still a lot of room for improvement in all four countries when it comes to teaching foreign languages in primary and secondary education. The conclusion lists twelve recommendations on how to do this. For example, it is advised to lower the age of compulsory language learning to the age of 5, to exclusively use the language of instruction in the classroom, to expose students to the target language outside of school and to offer more programs and courses taught in English in universities.

Es tracta d'un treball retrospectiu (primer quadrimestre del 2002) que analitza la prevalència de caigudes de la gent gran (a partir de 65 anys) a Barcelona que han sofert una caiguda no sincopal en els domicilis i han trucat al sistema de emergéncias mèdiques 061, per a sol·licitar ajuda i recurs majoritàriament d'ambulància.Els objectius generals de l'estudi són:1) Analitzar la freqüència de caigudes en la gent gran a Barcelona ciutat i2) Conèixer la qualitat de salut percebuda, en una mostra aleatória d'aquesta població, mitjançant la realització d'enquestes telefòniques, entre 12 i 18 mesos posteriors a la caiguda i esbrinar si la qualitat de salut percebuda de les persones que han caigut ha millorat o empitjorat. Les variables selecionades són: gènere, edat, districtes de Barcelona ciutat (10), franges horàries (8) dividides en franges de 3 hores, traumatismes assenyalats per localitzacions anatòmiques i tipus, destinacions hospitalàries de la ciutat, qui contesta l'enquesta, i les 5 preguntes de l'enquesta validada Euroqöl (mobilitat actual, cura personal, activitats quotidianes, dolor/malestar, ansietat/depressió) amb els seus 3 ítems de resposta per a cadascuna d'elles ( 1- no té problemes; 2- alguns problemes; 3- molts problemes).Les dades inicials estan recollides en el sistema operatiu MS-DOS, posteriorment a Excel-5 i Word-2000, s'han calculat algunes taxes i s'ha utilitzat el sistema SPSS 11,0 per a la realització de l'anàlisi estadística, estadístic "khi" per a variables qualitatives, comparar grups i la representativitat de les mostres i la prova de "t" de Sudent Fisher per a la conformitat de les mitjanes en les variables quantitatives. Per a tots ells el nivell de sisgnificació alfa és del 0,05. De l'anàlisi es pot concloure el següent: 1.- El nombre de dones és aproximadament tres vegades superior al dels hombes (si es calculen amb les taxes poblacionals de la ciutat, resulten només dues vegades superior). 2.- El 77,34% de les caigudes ocupen franges d'edat de 75 a 94 anys. La edat mitjana global de les caidas és de 81,9 anys (homes 80,1 anys i dones 82,5 anys), que supera o s'aproxima a l'esperança de vida de la ciutat en el 2002 que és en global de 79,1 anys, sent per als homes de 75,3 anys i per a les dones de 82,6 anys.3.- Els districtes predominants corresponen als districtes amb més població major i que són: 1º Eixample i 2º Sant Martí. 4.- Els períodes horaris de caigudes més freqüents són de 9 hores a 16 hores (43,09 %).5.- Els tipus de traumatismes més freqüents, d'entrada, són les contusions (56,8%), i els corresponents a l'extremitat inferior en una primera valoració (32,5%) i amb una distribució similar per als dos gèneres. 6.- Les destinacions predominants són: Hospital Cínic i Provincial i Hospital de Sant Pau, que corresponen als hospitals de referéncia dels barris predominants. 7.-Com que la mostra que contesta l'enquesta és representativa de la població estudiada, no es troben diferéncias significatives respecte al gènere, edat, tipus de patologia, localització anatòmica, districtes de la ciutat i destinacions hospitalàries de Barcelona. 8.- El gènere de les persones, el grup d'edat que pertany, la zona anatòmica afectada o el tipus de traumatismo no es pot demostrar que siguin determinants o influeixin en cap de les cinc variables estudiades de l'enquesta EuroQol sobre l'estat de salut actual percebut entre 12 a 18 mesos després de la caida: Mobilidat; Cura Personal; Activitats quotidianes; Dolor / Malestar i Ansiedat / Depressió. 9.- Finalment tampoc s'ha trobat relació entre el gènere, la zona anatòmica afectada o el tipus de traumatismo respecte al fet d'estar viu o mort entre 12 a 18 mesos després de la caida accidental. 10.- En aquest estudi, 1 de cada 3 persones amb més edat que l'esperança de vida, i que són atesos per un traumatismo domiciliari han mort entre els 12 i 18 mesos posteriors a la caiguda. Això significa que són un grup de risc fàcilment identificable per a intervencions específiques en la prevenció de caigudes i les seves conseqüèncias. La epidemiologia de les caidas cada dia té més rellevància, en part per l'augment de l'esperança de vida, bé significatiu en la ciutat de Barcelona, i per produir lesions, discapacitats i mort així com un alt cost sanitari i social. Les caigudes en la gent gran constituïxen un repte per a la sanitat pública del present i del futur; seria necessari analitzar i revisar les actuacions actuals i promoure les bases per a la seva prevenció que podrian sorgir d'actuacions coordinades donis dels equips sanitaris, socials, terapeutes, gestors en salut, etc,. / This is a retrospective work (first four months of 2002) that studies the prevalence of falls in older people (65 years or more) in Barcelona city, who had undergone non syncopal episodes at home, had called the medical emergency system (061) asking for help and had been transported to hospital in ambulance. The general objectives of the study are: 1) To study the frequency of falls in older people in Barcelona city and 2) To know the perceived health quality, in a random sample of this population, by means of telephone surveys, carried out between 12 and 18 months after the fall, to find out if the quality of present perceived health has a relation with the fall undergone. The selected variables are: sex, age, districts of Barcelona city (10), daytime ranges (8), traumatic events -indicated by anatomical locations and types-, hospital destinies in the city, person who answers the survey, and the 5 questions of the validated Euroqöl survey(present mobility, personal care, daily activities, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression) with 3 answer items for each (1 no problems; 2 some problems; 3 many problems). The initial data are gathered in MSDOS system, later translated to Excel-5 and Word-2000, some ratios have been calculated and the system SPSS 11.0 has been used to carry out the statistical analysis, "khi" statistics has been used for qualitative variables, to compare groups and the representativeness of the samples and the Student Fisher "t" test for the conformity of the averages in the quantitative variables. For all of them, the level of significance alpha is 0,05. From the analysis, the following can be concluded: 1. - The number of women is approximately three times higher than the number of men (if they are calculated with population ratios of the city, are only twice higher). 2. - 77.34% of the falls occupy age ranges from 75 to 94 years. 3. - The predominant districts correspond to the districts with most older population, namely: 1st l'Eixample and 2nd Sant Martí.4. - The time period where falls are most frequent is from 9,00 am to 16,00 pm (43.09 %). 5.- The types of most frequent traumatic events are contusions (56,8%), and those corresponding to lower extremity on first valuation (32,5%), with similar distribution for both genders. 6. - The predominant destinies are: Clynical and Provincial Hospital and Hospital of Sant Pau, that correspond to the reference hospitals of the predominant districts. 7. - Because the pattern (in the answers to the Euroqol) is representative of the study population, we don't find significant differences with respect to sex, age, types of pathology, anatomical location, districts of the city and hospital destinies in Barcelona. 8. - The sex of the people, their group of age, the anatomical zone affected or the type of traumatic event cannot be demonstrated to be determining or to have an influence in none of the five variables studied by the EuroQol survey on perceived state of present health between 12 to 18 months after the fall: Mobility; Personal Care; Daily activities; Pain/Discomfort and Anxiety/Depression. 9. - Finally no relation has been found between gender, anatomical zone affected or the type of traumatism and being alive or dead between 12 to 18 months after the accidental fall.10. - In this study, 1 out of 3 people older than the life expectancy, and that are being taken care of because of a home fall, have died between 12 and 18 months after the fall. This means that they are a risk group that can be easily identifiable for specific interventions in the prevention of falls.Epidemiology of falls becomes progressively more relevant, partly because of the increase in life expectancy, very significant in the city of Barcelona. It is the cause of injuries, handicaps and death as well as a high sanitary and social cost. KEY WORDS: falls, elderly people, prevention, Barcelona population.

Aquest treball preten estudiar els canvis en la política social del liberalisme espanyol, no només a partir de l'anàlisi de l'evolució política general sinó també a partir dels efectes que la revolució liberal i la industrialització van tenir en un marc urbà com el de Barcelona. En aquest sentit, s'analitza com la política social liberal va acabar reduint-se a l'àmbit benèfico-sanitari durant les primeres dècades del nou règim, sempre des d'un estricte individualisme. En aquest context, s'incideix en les conseqüències problemàtiques d'aquest reduccionisme en l'entorn urbà i es valora en quina mesura va cotribuir l'especial realitat industrial a la superació dels plantejaments estrictament individualistes inicials a finals del segle XIX i principis del segle XX. Per arribar-hi ha calgut estudiar el funcionament dels ajuntaments i de les seves relacions amb el poder de l'Estat per tal de copsar la centralitat del paper dels municipis en la gestió del canvi. / This work tries to explain the changes in the first spanish liberalism, not only from the analysis of the general political perspective but from the effects of liberal revolution and industrialisation in a urban environment such as Barcelona as well. In this respect, it shows how the liberal social policy was reduced to strict individualistic, sanitarian and welfare terms during the first decades of the new regime. In this context it deepens in the problematic consequences of this reductionism in an urban environment and it tries to assess to what extent the special industrial reality contributed to overcome that strictly individualistic basis at the end of XIXth. and the beginning of XXth. centuries. To do so, it has been useful to know how the town councils worked and how were its relations with the state's government, in order to catch the centrality of its role in that political changes.

Univ., Diss.--Zürich, 1995.

Thesis (M.A.). / Written for the Dept. of Art History and Communication Studies. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/03/12). Includes bibliographical references.

Univ., Magisterarbeit, 2007--Frankfurt (Main).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Brenda Cappucio, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 18, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 176 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Physical-spatial and social configuration at neighborhood level, the Raval (Barcelona), an urban evaluation according with the Compact City Model Edwin Javier Azofeifa Valverde ABSTRACT In urban areas, economic development and efforts for improving the quality of citizens' lives, instead of complementing each other and contributing to the advancement of the city, both of them generate and accentuate the processes of physical and social fragmentation in cities. This thesis describes and evaluates the physical-spatial and social configuration in the neighbourhood of Raval in Barcelona, with a particular focus on the role played in that configuration by the immigrant population. The aim is to identify how those processes in which social inequality and a lack of access to certain services and facilities manifest themselves. In order to illustrate this reality and understand the configuration of Raval, population data and information regarding services, facilities, and urban furniture were gathered. The concept of compact urban development (the compact city model) was used in order to interpret the potential weaknesses in the neighbourhood, which hinder its functionality. The main drawbacks are the predominance of population groups occupying certain spaces hindering their potential integration in the...

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans une réflexion géographique sur la façon dont les rapports des migrants à l’espace s’accommodent des formes contemporaines de la migration. Le choix des migrants sénégalais et des Gambiens apporte un éclairage sur la manière dont ces individus-acteurs venus de pays pauvres et émigrant vers la métropole européenne de Barcelone, engagent un processus de territorialisation et de construction identitaire. Ce questionnement met aussi en lumière les écarts économiques, spatiaux et culturels qui accompagnent l’expérience migratoire. L’analyse croisée et multi-scalaire de données statistiques et de données qualitatives issues d’entretiens de types biographiques a permis de décrypter le processus de construction de l’habiter en situation migratoire, conçu comme un « système de liens et de lieux » complexe. Cet habiter relève, d’une part, d’une inscription plurielle et différenciée des Sénégalais et des Gambiens dans l’espace à travers leurs pratiques résidentielles, les échanges dans les lieux de vie (travail et sociabilités) et la fabrique de lieux au quotidien, et, d’autre part, de différentes formes d’ancrages et d’identification sous-tendues par une tension permanente entre l’ici et l’ailleurs. L’habiter en situation migratoire se lit également comme un processus temporel, dynamique et fluctuant, se recomposant au fil de la trajectoire de vie des migrants, se réajustant sans cesse en fonction des expériences socio-spatiales et des contextes locaux. Le « savoir habiter » des migrants confirme ainsi une négociation constante entre un ensemble de contraintes et de possibilités, entre logiques individuelles et collectives, faisant émerger différentes formes de territorialisation et figures de spatialité de l’habiter. / This thesis contributes to a geographical reflection on the way in which the relationships of migrants to space are shaped contemporary forms of migration. The choice of the Senegalese and Gambian migrants sheds light on the way by which these individual-actors coming from poor countries and emigrating towards the European metropolis of Barcelona engage in a process of territorialisation and identity construction. This case study also highlights the economic, spatial and cultural gaps which accompany the migratory experience. The combined and multi-scalar analysis of statistical data and qualitative data resulting from biographical interviews enables to decipher the construction process of dwelling in migratory situations, conceived as a complex “system of bonds and places”. Dwelling, is produced on the one hand, by a plural and differentiated inscription of the Senegalese and Gambians in space through their residential practices, the exchanges in their places of living, and the daily construction of places, and, on the other hand, various forms of anchoring and identification underpinned by a permanent tension between the "here" and the "elsewhere". Dwelling in migratory situation is also analyzed as a temporal process, dynamic and fluctuating, recomposing itself along the life trajectory of the migrants, readjusting unceasingly according to the socio-space experiences and the local contexts. The “dwelling capacity” of migrants thus confirms a constant negotiation between a whole of constraints and possibilities, between individual and collective logics, producing various forms of territorialisation and spatial figures of spatiality.

Orientador: Maira Angélica Pandolfi / Resumo: O trabalho em questão visa, a partir de Últimas tardes con Teresa (1966), de Juan Marsé, discutir os embates sociais da década de 50 na Espanha franquista. Marsé cria a história da relação amorosa de dois integrantes de classes sociais diferentes, que por olhos mais superficiais pode ser considerado como tradicional e debate, durante a narrativa, questões de significativa importância histórica. Há a intenção de discutir as questões sociais presentes em Lazarillo de Tormes, clássico produção espanhola e suas relações com o romance de Juan Marsé, seus temas e subtemas. A utilização de diversas vozes persuasivas e irônicas na obra de Marsé possibilita o estudo de questões importantes no período pós-guerra espanhola. Os conceitos de Cronotopo e Dialogia (teorias difundidas pelo Círculo de Bakhtin) permeiam a interpretação da obra e, juntos à narrativa, constroem uma personagem emblemática da literatura espanhola contemporânea: Pijoaparte, jovem andaluz, representante de migrantes, ladrão de motos, que elabora uma relação peculiar com a burguesia estudantil dos anos 50, especificamente em Barcelona. / Resumen: El trabajo en cuestión tiene como objetivo, a partir de Últimas tardes con Teresa (1966), de Juan Marsé, discutir las luchas sociales de la década de 1950 en la España franquista. Marsé crea la historia de la relación amorosa de dos miembros de diferentes clases sociales, que desde un punto de vista más superficial puede considerarse tradicional y debatir, durante la narración, cuestiones de importancia histórica significativa. Su objetivo es discutir los problemas sociales presentes en Lazarillo de Tormes, la producción clásica española y sus relaciones con la novela de Juan Marsé, sus temas y subtemas. El uso de varias voces persuasivas e irónicas en el trabajo de Marsé permite estudiar cuestiones importantes en el período de la posguerra en España. Los conceptos de Cronotopo y Dialogismo (teorías difundidas por el Círculo de Bakhtin) impregnan la interpretación de la obra y, junto con la narrativa, construyen un personaje emblemático de la literatura española contemporánea: Pijoaparte, joven andaluz, representante de migrantes, ladrón de motocicletas, que construye una peculiar relación con la burguesía estudiantil de los años cincuenta, específicamente en Barcelona. / Abstract: The work in question aims, starting from Juan Marsé's Últimas tardes con Teresa (1966), to discuss the social struggles of the 1950s in Francoist Spain. Marsé creates the story of the love relationship of two members of different social classes, which by more superficial eyes can be considered as traditional and debate, during the narrative, issues of significant historical importance. It is intended to discuss the social issues present in Lazarillo de Tormes, classic Spanish production and its relations with the novel of Juan Marsé, its themes and subthemes. The use of various persuasive and ironic voices in Marsé's work makes it possible to study important issues in the postwar period of Spain. The concepts of Chronotope and Dialogy (theories spread by the Bakhtin Circle) permeate the interpretation of the work and, together with the narrative, build an emblematic character of contemporary Spanish literature: Pijoaparte, young Andalusian, representative of migrants, motorcycle thief, who builds a peculiar relationship with the student bourgeoisie of the 1950s, specifically in Barcelona. / Mestre