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Esforçamo-nos por realizar uma leitura com ferramentas multidisciplinares na busca por transcender o reducionismo e os excessos de formalidades e de subjetivismo na abordagem do objeto arte, aproximando esta da ciência. Como objeto de estudo, selecionamos uma pequena parte da arte russa com o objetivo primordial de lê-la como uma narrativa pictórica. A partir disso, tratamos a pintura artes plásticas como uma narrativa que, por ser uma linguagem, porta as seis funções. A elaboração da narrativa pictórica, ao reunir inspiração, intuição e dedução, observações perceptivas racionais e emocionais, além de promover um predomínio da função poética, se vale da aplicação de leis estéticas comuns às artes plásticas não apenas da Rússia, mas à arte produzida em qualquer país. As seis funções da linguagem de Roman Jakobson e as nove leis da estética de Vilayanur S. Ramachandran são conjuntamente as chaves da nossa leitura. Na medida em que se baseia em leis universais da estética e da arte assim chamadas porque remetem à habilidade presente em todos os cérebros humanos que se desenvolvem normalmente , tal leitura, sem destituir o papel da cultura ou da individualidade do artista, centra-se não na diferença entre os vários estilos artísticos, mas em princípios que transcendem as barreiras culturais. Por essa razão, ao considerar a existência dos universais artísticos da neuroestética, consideramos também a ocorrência da convergência poética como uma afinidade artística entre os agentes expressivos que possuem elementos similares em sua realidade circundante para expressar sua mensagem. / We endeavoured to carry out a reading with multidisciplinary tools in the quest to transcend reductionism and the excesses of formalities and subjectivism in the art object approach, bringing art near to science. As object of study we select a small part of Russian art with the primordial objective of reading it as a pictorial narrative. From this, we treat painting plastic arts as a narrative that, because it is a language, bears the six functions. The elaboration of the pictorial narrative by gathering inspiration, intuition and deduction, rational and emotional perceptual observations, besides promoting a predominance of the poetic function, uses the application of aesthetic laws common to the plastic arts, not only of Russia, but to the art produced in any country. Roman Jakobsons six functions of language and Vilayanur S. Ramachandrans nine laws of aesthetics are together the keys of our reading. Insofar as it is based on universal laws of aesthetics and art so called because they refer to the ability present in all human brains that normally develop such a reading, without depriving the role of culture or the individuality of the artist, focuses not on the difference between the various artistic styles but on principles that transcend cultural barriers. For this reason, when considering the existence of the artistic universals of Neuroaesthetics, we also consider the occurrence of poetic convergence as an artistic affinity between expressive agents who possess similar elements in their surrounding reality to express their message.

One of the more widely-used methods for pinpointing children in need of more in-depth language evaluation is screening. One language screening instrument designed to accomplish this in an effective and efficient way was the Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions Elementary Screening Test (CELF-S) (Semel & Wiig, 1980). The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the CELF-S in identifying those children in a second grade setting, who were in need of more thorough evaluation. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) What is the percentage of false negatives produced by the CELF-S?, and 2) What is the percentage of false positives produced by the CELF-S?

Esforçamo-nos por realizar uma leitura com ferramentas multidisciplinares na busca por transcender o reducionismo e os excessos de formalidades e de subjetivismo na abordagem do objeto arte, aproximando esta da ciência. Como objeto de estudo, selecionamos uma pequena parte da arte russa com o objetivo primordial de lê-la como uma narrativa pictórica. A partir disso, tratamos a pintura artes plásticas como uma narrativa que, por ser uma linguagem, porta as seis funções. A elaboração da narrativa pictórica, ao reunir inspiração, intuição e dedução, observações perceptivas racionais e emocionais, além de promover um predomínio da função poética, se vale da aplicação de leis estéticas comuns às artes plásticas não apenas da Rússia, mas à arte produzida em qualquer país. As seis funções da linguagem de Roman Jakobson e as nove leis da estética de Vilayanur S. Ramachandran são conjuntamente as chaves da nossa leitura. Na medida em que se baseia em leis universais da estética e da arte assim chamadas porque remetem à habilidade presente em todos os cérebros humanos que se desenvolvem normalmente , tal leitura, sem destituir o papel da cultura ou da individualidade do artista, centra-se não na diferença entre os vários estilos artísticos, mas em princípios que transcendem as barreiras culturais. Por essa razão, ao considerar a existência dos universais artísticos da neuroestética, consideramos também a ocorrência da convergência poética como uma afinidade artística entre os agentes expressivos que possuem elementos similares em sua realidade circundante para expressar sua mensagem. / We endeavoured to carry out a reading with multidisciplinary tools in the quest to transcend reductionism and the excesses of formalities and subjectivism in the art object approach, bringing art near to science. As object of study we select a small part of Russian art with the primordial objective of reading it as a pictorial narrative. From this, we treat painting plastic arts as a narrative that, because it is a language, bears the six functions. The elaboration of the pictorial narrative by gathering inspiration, intuition and deduction, rational and emotional perceptual observations, besides promoting a predominance of the poetic function, uses the application of aesthetic laws common to the plastic arts, not only of Russia, but to the art produced in any country. Roman Jakobsons six functions of language and Vilayanur S. Ramachandrans nine laws of aesthetics are together the keys of our reading. Insofar as it is based on universal laws of aesthetics and art so called because they refer to the ability present in all human brains that normally develop such a reading, without depriving the role of culture or the individuality of the artist, focuses not on the difference between the various artistic styles but on principles that transcend cultural barriers. For this reason, when considering the existence of the artistic universals of Neuroaesthetics, we also consider the occurrence of poetic convergence as an artistic affinity between expressive agents who possess similar elements in their surrounding reality to express their message.

An important field of interpreting research, neurolinguistic approach emerged soon after the shift towards an interdisciplinary approach to research into interpreting. The mutually beneficial collaboration between neurolinguists and interpreters has been centred mainly on the issue of language representation in interpreters as bilingual subjects, namely on the role each of the two cerebral hemispheres plays depending on the task (automatic speech production, shadowing, translation of single words or phrases, simultaneous interpreting), choice of interpreting strategy (literal vs. meaning-based interpretation) or on the direction of interpreting (B to A vs. A to B language). The thesis focuses on the research into hemispheric lateralization done at SSLMIT, University of Trieste, Italy - the place where, in the 80s, the neurolinguistic approach was first adopted. The Trieste School then remained its centre for approximately ten years. The beginning chapters of this theoretical study present the fundamentals of neuranatomy, neurophysiology and neurolinguistics, necessary for understanding of the mental processes underlying simultaneous interpretation. Furthermore, relevant neuroimaging methods are introduced that either have already been used in or could be applied to interpreting research in the...

With Facebook widely embraced by college students, exploring its educational uses has piqued both educators' and researchers' interest (Mills, 2011; Reinhardt & Zander, 2011; Thorne, 2011). Drawing on a functional perspective of language use, this study explored what kind of language functions intermediate-level Chinese language learners performed when they conducted social communication in Chinese on Facebook and whether conducting weekly social communication in Chinese on Facebook impacted their writing ability. A mixed methods design was adopted. A qualitative approach addressed discourse functions of student communication on Facebook. The qualitative data were mainly collected from nine students' Facebook posts during one semester. A quasi-experimental design was employed to examine whether there was any difference in the quantity and quality of the written texts produced by two groups (N=18) of intermediate-level Chinese language learners. Over the semester, students in the experimental (E) group wrote weekly comments and updates in Chinese on the designated Facebook group page, while students in the control (C) group did not post on the Facebook page. Three writing tasks were administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. These tasks were brief essays which asked students to use Chinese to write about personal information, university life, future plans and goals. Qualitative findings revealed that the participants used 22 types of discourse functions during their social communication on Facebook. The highest percentage of discourse function was asking questions. The next two frequently used discourse functions were expressing opinions and describing events or activities unrelated to campus. Other discourse functions listed among the top 10 were sharing similar experiences or perspectives, expressing likes and dislikes, expressing wishes, making explanations and expressing thanks. When asking questions, the participants mainly used Q-word or Wh- questions and polar questions during their communication and interaction. Alternative questions were seldom used. With regard to question functions, findings revealed that more than half of all the questions were asked to request information. Rhetorical questions were the least and rarely used. In addition, more than half of the total questions were not responded to. All these findings demonstrated that Facebook provided the students with an optional platform to practice situational and functional use of the target language. Quantitative results revealed that there was a significant difference in writing quantity (i.e. the number of Chinese characters produced) between the two groups. While there was no significant difference between the two groups in the first writing task, the E group produced significantly more Chinese characters than the C group in the later writing tasks. In terms of the writing quality, results indicated that both groups showed an improvement from the first to the final task, but no significant differences were found between the two groups in all three writing tasks. In view that the small sample size might have some impact on the outcome of the participants' writing quality, the results are somewhat more promising in the area of quantity.

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The focus of this study is the potential reduction of first language (L1) use during group activities in the second language (L2) classroom through the introduction of L2 support phrases with the goal of enabling learners to carry out three information exchange tasks without resorting to communication in L1. Many language instructors tend to limit group interaction because learners would typically revert to the language they are comfortable with and thus receive less comprehensive input and feedback from peers or get a chance to modify their output in the target language. Group work in the second language classroom is, however, most beneficial as it maximizes the number of turns students take and their overall speech production.  In the study I conducted, the participants were 16 students, forming eight pairs, from beginning Spanish language classes. Those in the L2 support class received linguistic assistance while those in the no L2 support class did not receive any additional help during the three information-exchange activities completed by the participants four to five weeks apart. The transcribed learner-learner interactions were analyzed in order to reveal the extent to which beginning Spanish language learners use the L1 rather than the target language during group work, and to make observations about the communicative functions of the languages used.  The findings revealed that providing L2 support phrases to manage tasks and deliberate over language use did not have an impact on the amount of the use of L1. On the contrary, it demonstrates that verbalizing less in the L1 in learner-learner interactions does not produce more target language. Thus, this study contributes to the theoretical explanation for the use of an L1 during learner-learner interactions, which does not always align with pedagogical practices. / Spanish

在台灣，由於中學英語課程的設計大都是考試導向，教學過程中幾乎完全著重於語言形式的教導，而忽略語言使用功能的重要性，所以台灣的英語學習者在中學階段很少有機會接受語言功能教學。本研究主要是要調查間接性以及禮貌性這兩個語用功能對於邀請句式選擇的適當性是否有所影響，進而調查語言功能教學對於本國的中學生學習英語的可行性與成效性。 本研究先分析了20位美國人在間接性與禮貌性的考量之下，對邀請句式的選擇為何，以便建立美國文化在這方面的規範。然後，再以此規範，設計一套四個單元的語言功能教學課程。有135位來自台灣北部兩所高中的高一學生接受了這項課程。這兩所學校的基測成績高低不同；每間學校各有兩班學生分別接受以功能為主的教學和以結構為主的教學。 前測及後測的結果顯示語言功能教學有效地改善了台灣學生的語言功能表現。再者，語言形式選擇的適當性的確受制於間接性及禮貌性的宰制。此外，情態策略也被驗証比直接策略及暗示策略要來得困難及複雜許多。又，基測成績較高的學校的學生比基測成績較低的學校的學生在學習語言功能的過程中表現較好。整體而言，實驗結果顯示，對於以英語為外國語的學生而言，語言功能教學是有效的、可行的，也是必須的。 另外，雖然台灣學生較偏好結構為主的教學法，但是本研究發現功能為主的教學法比結構為主的教學法成效較佳。最後，從學生對於本課程的評量得知，雖然學生們覺得語言功能學習法不是很有趣，但是他們大多認為這樣的教學方法對學習英語是有幫助的，而且是重要的。 / EFL learners in Taiwan are hardly taught language functions in high schools since most of the English courses are designed in accordance with the examination-oriented goal, which is far more focused on teaching language form than on teaching language use. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether indirectness and politeness would influence appropriate linguistic choice for invitation, and to investigate the effectiveness of teaching language functions to high school students in EFL classrooms. In this study, 20 American subjects’ ratings of eight linguistic forms for invitation by indirectness and politeness were analyzed to obtain the American norm, based on which a four-unit program of teaching language functions was designed. 138 senior high school students from two senior high schools in northern Taiwan took a pre-test before receiving the instruction and a post-test afterwards. Two classes from each school received function-based teaching method and structure-based teaching method respectively. The results of the pre-test and the post-test, in comparison with the American norm, indicate that teaching language functions is effective in improving Chinese students’ competence of the functional aspect of English. Next, the test results verify that the appropriate choice of linguistic forms is indeed influenced by politeness and indirectness, although these two functional factors are not in a systematic relationship. Moreover, Modality strategy is found to be more difficult and more complex than Direct strategy and Hinting strategy. In addition, although the students from the school of high BCT scores tend to perform better than those from the school of low BCT scores, students of both schools made significant improvement in learning the concepts of indirectness and politeness. The findings given above imply that teaching language functions to high school students in EFL classrooms is feasible, necessary, and effective. In addition, according to the results of the general evaluations to this teaching program offered by the students and the English teachers involved, although the Taiwanese students showed preference to structure-based method, function-based method is verified to be more effective. In conclusion, the students’ and the teachers’ evaluations of this program indicate that learning language functions may not be interesting, but it is helpful and important to the students.

Doctor of Philosophy / The thesis of this study is that two seemingly disparate research disciplines can be coalesced to develop an effective pedagogical framework for educational design in the context of networked learning. That contention is grounded in, and inspired by, the rapid developments in educational technologies which have greatly changed the landscape in teaching and learning in higher education over the last decade. The study attempts to add to the corpus of contemporary learning theory which sees students not merely as passive recipients of knowledge, but as active participants in the learning process, having much greater control over their selection of technological learning tools, learning resources and learning methodologies. This is very much in line with the shift from the traditional focus on content design and knowledge transmission towards a more student-centred design for knowledge co-construction, a development which demands the type of new thinking about the design of learning tasks and learning resources contained in this study. Also set out are new lines of action for the fashioning of a collaborative learning environment, for community interaction and the sharing of knowledge, and for promoting good teaching and learning practice. The central argument of the study is that such pedagogical goals may be attained by juxtaposing the theories of Systemic Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL) and pattern languages. These have not, thus far, been used in combination. SFL is a well established theory in the study of language, and is used in this thesis to help analyse and classify discourses produced and shared by teachers and students in networked learning. Pattern languages have their origin in architecture. Design patterns can be used as a means of representing and sharing important and specific empirical research results and design experiences. This new knowledge can be used to support and improve the quality of educational design. The study has two central components. The first uses the SFL theoretical framework to demonstrate how text is used as a key medium in networked learning. In other words, it is argued in this section that the quality of texts has a direct impact on the quality of learning and learning outcomes. The quality of text is assessed by means of a detailed discourse analysis of selected texts. This process involves deconstructing, identifying and capturing the linguistic resources and language strategies used in the texts. The detailed discourse analysis also illustrates and reveals how language is used in the construction of knowledge and the promotion of collaboration in teaching and learning. The second component centres on the argument that SFL provides valuable language knowledge which can be represented by using Alexander’s design patterns. New knowledge encoded in these design patterns can be used by teachers and designers as reusable and shared resources to help them improve their design work. The empirical research was carried out in three phases. The first involved a) the identification of text patterns of discourses used in networked learning based on detailed discourse analysis; b) Interviewing experienced academic staff to identify their perspectives on good online teaching practices and success factors. The second phase involved using the data which emerged from these interviews and discourse analysis to model illustrative patterns. (Here, illustrative means that due to the scope of the study, it is only possible to develop a limited number of patterns to illustrate the methods used for pattern development. It is not the intention to develop a full repository of design patterns in this study). In the third (validation) phase the patterns were reviewed by two groups of academic staff, with the aim of improving these patterns. Improved patterns were then tested on a group of educational design students for their usefulness and application. It is concluded from this research that it is possible to develop design patterns which ensure the best use of linguistic resources in both the teaching and learning process. Finally, it is argued that the combination of SFL and pattern languages provides a promising theoretical framework for the complex and demanding task of educational design. Future research could make use of such a framework to explore a fuller application of the pattern- based approach for the representation of new knowledge for educational design. Suggested additional research directions include finding new ways of capturing a new pedagogical approach to mobile learning and blended learning. Also, a promising direction could be the use of SFL Appraisal theory (Martin, 2000) for the investigation on how students construct interpersonal relationships (appraise peer work) in online joint projects. In the conclusion, it is contended that through its exploration of new ground in the use of SFL and pattern language theory in the construction of education design patterns, the study makes a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of networked learning.