<p>Modern economic activities, like industry and agriculture, as well as household activities, generate an important amount of refuse. The way we collect, transport, and dispose it will determine the level of environmental contamination. May animals exploit refuse as a food source (i.e., anthropogenic food subsidy) and gulls are the most important group. Refuse subsidizes energetically gull populations, which impacts on their acquisition and allocation of resources, as well as on the environment, with ecological and evolutionary consequences are not well understood. In this dissertation we evaluated potential impacts of refuse on gulls by doing a literature review as well as empirical research on the Kelp Gull (<i>Larus dominicanus</i>) in the Rio de la Plata Estuary in South America. Direct and indirect impacts of refuse on gull species and the environment have been observed during the review process. We have detected positive impacts of refuse on body size, chick growth, fecundity, reproductive success, and population dynamics. However, negative impacts were also found focusing on fecundity, reproductive success, and population dynamics. Indirect negative impacts on other species, water bodies, and airport security were also found. Refuse produces numerous impacts on gulls at the individual, population, and species levels, with indirect negative consequences on ecosystems. There is a need to reduce the access of gulls to sources of refuse to mitigate the existing and potential conflicts with human activities and other species, especially those that are threatened and endangered. During our empirical research we found that refuse was ingested and assimilated by Kelp Gull chicks during the chick rearing period and that the ecological niche width increased with the age of the chick. We propose that parents incorporate isotopically unique food sources to nestling’s diet during their growth, increasing isotopic diversity of nestlings. Additionally, we found that refuse could affect foraging decisions of females during the pre-incubation period, which could positively affect future fecundity and negatively impact reproductive success. We found also that refuse consumption on fecundity and reproductive success of gulls is generally studied at the colony level, using conventional diet techniques, but not much has been done using stable isotopes at the individual level, making comparisons among studies and conclusions difficult to address. We encourage other researchers to continue incorporating the isotopic ecology perspective to study the effect of food subsidies on gulls. Additionally, we found that Kelp Gull on the coast of the Rio de la Plata Estuary ingest plastic debris. We conclude that plastic bags and plastic films might be the most important source of contaminants for the Kelp Gull on the coast of the estuary. Main findings of this dissertation suggests the need for an improvement of waste management practices and a regulation of plastic production and use in Uruguay to reduce plastic ingestion by gulls. Finally, next steps for research are provided in this important area of environmental science and natural resource management.</p>

This thesis examines the effects of de-industrialisation on the lives of adult learners attending adult education programmes in the former coal mining and steel working communities of County Durham. It presents the outcomes of a qualitative study of life history stories which are 'person centred'. Focusing on the subjective experiences of learners, both past and present, was an appropriate way in which the learner voice could be heard as well as helping to understand their experiences and views on the effects that de- industrialisation has had on their lives, and if lifelong learning was improving their life chances. The importance of social class and gender in configuring and understanding adult learner experiences are critical factors whilst, at the same time, the collective resources of these working class communities have been systematically undermined. Furthermore, the provision of publically funded adult education has declined dramatically since the 1980s. Through the prism of learners' lives the study explores experiences of employability skills programmes and community adult education programmes on shaping the position, disposition and identity of learners who have experienced a major trauma to their communities, their families and themselves. Ontological insecurity, a product of de-industrialisation, has a critical impact on the lives of these adults. The thesis adopts Hirschman's (1970) framework of 'Exit, Loyalty and Voice', originally used to frame the responses of workers confronting the possibility of job losses in a firm, as a way of understanding the reactions of adult learners to the impact of de-industrialisation on communities. In Hirschman's framework the relationship between exit, loyalty and voice followed a distinctive pattern. Loyalty, for example, was the opposite of voice, as people in a firm stayed silent in order to be saved from job loss. In this study, loyalty to the community has enabled individuals to benefit from support and community provision, which has given them a lifeline for survival and a step on the way to finding a voice. Exit, in the original framework, involved proactive workers getting 'ahead of the curve' by finding alternative employment before others. In this study, employability skills training - as a resource for exit - does not deliver. Instead, it systematically demoralises individuals and undermines their capacity to act. It involves churning learners between welfare and more training programmes and, where and when available, into short-term work. The overall impact has resulted in the social exclusion of these learners from the labour market and from the community - the opposite of agency. It is argued that this is a paradox given that social and economic inclusion was an aim of lifelong learning policies. The thesis challenges the claim of neoliberal ideology that purports to promote the freedom of individuals to determine their own fate. Those attending employability skills programmes are expected to find solutions to structural problems, and are subjected to coercive methods through psychological interventions that are expected to bring about attitudinal behaviour changes to achieve employability. It is argued that this is a paradox given deficient labour market conditions which are beyond the control of the learner. Attention is given to public sector community adult education that once offered liberating models of adult education, but have now been subjected to the logic of neoliberal governmentality. This is creating new 'subjectivities' for educators, who are being coerced to deliver learning for the economy rather than social purpose education. What has emerged is a new role of the employability trainer.

A presente pesquisa consiste em um estudo voltado para a melhoria do ensino de língua de sinais brasileira (LSB ou LIBRAS) como segunda língua para alunos ouvintes. Empregando os procedimentos da história oral, foram realizadas entrevistas com professores surdos que, uma vez coletadas, receberam dois tratamentos diferenciados: em primeiro lugar, um tratamento formal, que pudesse resultar em histórias de vida a serem lidas pelo público-alvo da pesquisa pelo seu valor intrínseco; e, em segundo lugar, um tratamento analítico, que pudesse resultar numa análise das concepções de ensino que estão por trás da prática dos professores surdos. No primeiro caso, as entrevistas passaram por um processo de tradução da LSB falada para o português escrito, bem como por uma espécie de “romanceamento" dessa tradução. No segundo caso, as entrevistas foram submetidas a uma análise que visou a identificar e discutir as implicações sociais, políticas e acadêmicas do sistema de conhecimentos, crenças e suposições que os professores surdos carregam sobre o ensino da LSB. Espera-se que, com esses dois focos diferenciados, os frutos deste trabalho possam ser aproveitados como fonte de reflexão tanto pelos profissionais surdos e ouvintes que atuam no campo de ensino da LSB como segunda língua, quanto pela sociedade em geral, que poderá encontrar aqui uma ponte de contato com a experiência de vida surda. / This research is a study focused on the improvement of the teaching of Brazilian Sign Language (LSB or LIBRAS) as a second language for hearing students. Using oral history procedures, interviews were carried out with deaf teachers that, once collected, were approached in two different ways: first, they received a formal treatment which results in life histories to be read by the target audience of this research for their intrinsic value; and, second, they received an analytic treatment which results in an analysis of the concepts of teaching that underlie the deaf teachers' actual practices. In the case of the life histories, the researcher submitted the interviews to a process of translation from spoken LSB to written portuguese, as well as to a process of “novelization" of that translation. In the case of the analysis, the researcher aimed at identifying and discussing the social, political and academic implications of the teachers’ system of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge for the teaching of LSB. It is hoped that through these two distinct focuses, the results of this study may be useful as an object of reflection for deaf and hearing professionals working in the field of teaching LSB as a second language, and also for the general public, which can find in this work a bridge to the life experiences of the deaf.

Trygonorrhina fasciata (Rhinobatidae) specimens naturally infected by three monogenean species were captured and maintained in marine aquaria to promote a continuous parasite load. Monogenean eggs recovered from aquaria provided larvae for descriptions and life history experiments. I describe the adult, larva and post-larval development of a new species of hexabothriid, Branchotenthes octohamatus, from the gills. This is the first monogenean larva described with only eight hooklets. This character may be useful to help resolve problematic relationships within the Hexabothriidae and offers insight into more general hypotheses about relationships within the Monogenea. I also redescribe the adult of Calicotyle australis (Monocotylidae) from the cloaca and describe the larva. The number and arrangement of larval ciliated epidermal cells and sensilla was revealed using silver nitrate. I redescribe Pseudoleptobothrium aptychotremae (Microbothriidae) adults from the skin of T. fasciata, representing a new host and locality record. Larval anatomy and post-larval development are also documented. The presence of six needle-like spicules in the larval haptor is confirmed, supporting an earlier theory that spicules are ancestral vestiges. My studies revealed three different egg hatching, host finding strategies and larval ‘types’. Branchotenthes octohamatus has a ‘sit-and-wait’ strategy, entirely dependent on mechanical disturbance to stimulate eggs to hatch. Larvae are unciliated, cannot swim, lack pigmented eyespots and show no photo-response but may survive for more than two days after hatching at 22ºC. In contrast, eggs of C. australis hatch spontaneously with a strong diurnal rhythm in the first few hours of daylight when exposed to a LD12:12 illumination regime. Larvae are ciliated and can swim, have pigmented eyespots, are photo-positive and can remain active and survive for up to 24 h after hatching at 22ºC. Eggs of P. aptychotremae may have a ‘bet-hedging’ strategy. Some eggs hatch spontaneously and rhythmically in an LD12:12 regime during the last few hours of daylight but their low hatching success rate suggests that other eggs may require a different cue provided by the host. Larvae are ciliated, can swim, lack pigmented eyespots, show no photo-response and remain active for only a few hours at 22ºC. Experiments using the fluorescent dye, 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein diacetate N-succinimidyl ester (CFSE) revealed B. octohamatus on gills of T. fasciata within 30 min of exposure to the host. This provides strong evidence that larvae invade the gills directly via the host’s inhalant respiratory current and do not migrate after initial attachment elsewhere. Five rhinobatid species (Aptychotrema vincentiana, T. fasciata, Trygonorrhina sp. A, A. rostrata and Rhinobatos typus), with overlapping distributions spanning west, south and east Australian coastal waters were surveyed for monogeneans at four locations between Fremantle, Western Australia and Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Genetic homogeneity, using the mitochrondrial gene Cytochrome b (cytb) and the nuclear marker, Elongation factor-1 alpha (EF1a), was observed for all Branchotenthes and Calicotyle specimens irrespective of collection locality or rhinobatid species. Genetic homogeneity was observed for Pseudoleptobothrium specimens collected in western and southern Australia. However, local genetic heterogeneity was apparent among Pseudoleptobothrium specimens collected from two sympatric host species in New South Wales. Analyses revealed a highly divergent clade, indicating a morphologically cryptic, ancestral species. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1323070 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2008

After European settlement, Australian rangelands especially in South Australia underwent significant changes because of the main land use of pastoralism. Many studies have revealed that the plant communities are negatively effected by herbivory mainly by sheep. The main aim of this study is to separate the different effects of sheep, rabbits and kangaroos. This was examined by survey supported by experimental and modelling research. A 32,000 km² area previously surveyed by Tiver and Andrew (1997) in eastern South Australia was re-surveyed to monitor populations of perennial plant species at sites of various intensity of grazing by sheep, rabbits and kangaroos (goats populations are low in the study area), the most important vertebrate herbivores. Plant population data were collected in both sheep paddocks and historically ungrazed by sheep (road reserves) by using the Random Walk method and analyzed using Generalized Linear Modelling (GLM) to separate the effects of sheep and rabbits on plant regeneration and their regeneration in response to grazing. These data were also compared to similar data collected by Tiver and Andrew in 1992 (1997) to ascertain if the reduction in rabbit numbers through introduction of RCV had allowed increased regeneration. Regeneration of many species inside paddocks were negatively affected and species in roadside reserves neither did not significantly increase from 1992 to 2004. However, some species showed increase of populations in spite of sheep grazing, with some species being less susceptible than others. This research also indicates kangaroo grazing impact on some plant species. Reduction in rabbit numbers following the 1995 release of calicivirus has not been effective in restoring regeneration. Another experiment was conducted at Middleback Field Station near Whyalla to identify herbivore grazing pressure on the arid zone plant species Acacia aneura using unfenced, sheep fenced and rabbit fenced grazing exclosures. This experiment was set up with seedlings in exclosures, ten replicates of each treatment, at plots four different distances from the watering point to identify the survivorship of seedlings. Data were collected by recording canopy volumes of seedling over an 18 month period and analyzed by Residual Maximal Likelihood (REML). Seedlings both near and far from the watering point were severely effected by large herbivores, either sheep, kangaroos or both, and in a separate experiment kangaroo grazing effects on the seedling were also identified. Seedlings browsed by the rabbits were recovered better than the seedlings grazed by the large herbivores. Decreasing kangaroo activities has been noticed when the rabbit movements increased. Computer modelling was conducted to predict the future plant population structure over 500 years using a matrix population model developed by Tiver et al. (2006) and using data collected in the survey as a starting point. Extinction probabilities of populations of Acacia aneura near watering points, far from watering points and under pulse grazing scenarios were compared. Sheep grazing was found to cause eventual extinction of populations in all parts of sheep paddocks. Together, the results indicate that sheep are the major herbivore suppressing regeneration of perennial plant species. Kangaroo and rabbits have an identifiable but lesser effect. The results have implications for conservation and pastoral management. To achieve ecological sustainability of arid lands a land-use system including a network of reserves ungrazed by sheep and with control of both rabbit and kangaroo numbers will be required.

Trygonorrhina fasciata (Rhinobatidae) specimens naturally infected by three monogenean species were captured and maintained in marine aquaria to promote a continuous parasite load. Monogenean eggs recovered from aquaria provided larvae for descriptions and life history experiments. I describe the adult, larva and post-larval development of a new species of hexabothriid, Branchotenthes octohamatus, from the gills. This is the first monogenean larva described with only eight hooklets. This character may be useful to help resolve problematic relationships within the Hexabothriidae and offers insight into more general hypotheses about relationships within the Monogenea. I also redescribe the adult of Calicotyle australis (Monocotylidae) from the cloaca and describe the larva. The number and arrangement of larval ciliated epidermal cells and sensilla was revealed using silver nitrate. I redescribe Pseudoleptobothrium aptychotremae (Microbothriidae) adults from the skin of T. fasciata, representing a new host and locality record. Larval anatomy and post-larval development are also documented. The presence of six needle-like spicules in the larval haptor is confirmed, supporting an earlier theory that spicules are ancestral vestiges. My studies revealed three different egg hatching, host finding strategies and larval ‘types’. Branchotenthes octohamatus has a ‘sit-and-wait’ strategy, entirely dependent on mechanical disturbance to stimulate eggs to hatch. Larvae are unciliated, cannot swim, lack pigmented eyespots and show no photo-response but may survive for more than two days after hatching at 22ºC. In contrast, eggs of C. australis hatch spontaneously with a strong diurnal rhythm in the first few hours of daylight when exposed to a LD12:12 illumination regime. Larvae are ciliated and can swim, have pigmented eyespots, are photo-positive and can remain active and survive for up to 24 h after hatching at 22ºC. Eggs of P. aptychotremae may have a ‘bet-hedging’ strategy. Some eggs hatch spontaneously and rhythmically in an LD12:12 regime during the last few hours of daylight but their low hatching success rate suggests that other eggs may require a different cue provided by the host. Larvae are ciliated, can swim, lack pigmented eyespots, show no photo-response and remain active for only a few hours at 22ºC. Experiments using the fluorescent dye, 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein diacetate N-succinimidyl ester (CFSE) revealed B. octohamatus on gills of T. fasciata within 30 min of exposure to the host. This provides strong evidence that larvae invade the gills directly via the host’s inhalant respiratory current and do not migrate after initial attachment elsewhere. Five rhinobatid species (Aptychotrema vincentiana, T. fasciata, Trygonorrhina sp. A, A. rostrata and Rhinobatos typus), with overlapping distributions spanning west, south and east Australian coastal waters were surveyed for monogeneans at four locations between Fremantle, Western Australia and Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Genetic homogeneity, using the mitochrondrial gene Cytochrome b (cytb) and the nuclear marker, Elongation factor-1 alpha (EF1a), was observed for all Branchotenthes and Calicotyle specimens irrespective of collection locality or rhinobatid species. Genetic homogeneity was observed for Pseudoleptobothrium specimens collected in western and southern Australia. However, local genetic heterogeneity was apparent among Pseudoleptobothrium specimens collected from two sympatric host species in New South Wales. Analyses revealed a highly divergent clade, indicating a morphologically cryptic, ancestral species. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1323070 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2008

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:36:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HostinaMFN.pdf: 1261910 bytes, checksum: 23f648e7f8194be2e1a11b767c527f28 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-12-10 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / We make many journeys during our lifetime. In each of them we accumulate experiences that result in an amount of knowledge that constitutes our history. The dissertation presents one of these journeys: that one I took along with students of Pedagogia da Terra project from Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte UERN to think about the knowledge within their memories in their way from countryside to city seeking for education. I used as main references to this task the ideas of Edgar Morin about Method as Strategy, implication of the subject in knowledge, pertinent knowledge, and knowledge reconnection. And from Paulo Freire I used the concepts of cultural identity assumption and dialog. I built as resource of method the metaphor of the suitcase, called by me the trunk of memory treasures . The use of this cognitive operator makes possible for those students bring their memories to the surface and share them collectively, by the process I name as auto-social- biographical narratives. The explicitness of the memories they choose to reveal by means of these narratives permitted me to understand the metamorphosis of these knowledge since their childhood to nowadays. In order to present an archeology of knowledge within these life histories I chose a narrative writing style concerned with simplicity and lightness, where I use the description of facts and discussions occurred during this journey. My main arguments in systematizing this experience are: scientific production can and should be grounded on knowledge diversity and on a more sensible approach to phenomena; education and pedagogy need to take as starting point and fuel for their practices the singularities of the subjects, their life history, educational background and knowledge resulting from both. Teacher s formation programs which students have mixed, rural and urban, background should value cognitive experiences built in the interaction with that knowledge closer of a sensible logic, deeper grounded in land and nature. Doing so, education can contribute to join diverse knowledge against monocutural forms of thinking and educational practices / Durante nossa vida fazemos muitas viagens. Em cada uma delas vivenciamos experi?ncias que, acumuladas, resultam na bagagem de conhecimentos que comp?e a nossa hist?ria. A disserta??o apresenta uma dessas viagens: a que realizei ao encontro dos alunos do Projeto Pedagogia da Terra da Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte UERN para refletir sobre os saberes inscritos nas suas mem?rias durante o percurso que os conduziu para a cidade em busca de escolariza??o. Tomei como refer?ncias principais as id?ias de Edgar Morin sobre m?todo como estrat?gia, implica??o do sujeito no conhecimento, conhecimento pertinente e religa??o de saberes e, de Paulo Freire, os conceitos de assun??o da identidade cultural e de di?logo. Constru? como recurso de m?todo a met?fora da mala chamada por mim de ba? de tesouros memor?sticos. O uso deste operador cognitivo permitiu aos alunos do Projeto, trazerem ? tona suas mem?rias e compartilh?-las coletivamente atrav?s do que chamo narrativas auto-s?cio-biogr?ficas. A explicita??o das mem?rias que escolheram revelar atrav?s destas narrativas me permitiu compreender a metamorfose de seus conhecimentos desde crian?a at? os dias atuais. Para apresentar uma arqueologia dos saberes inscritos nestas hist?rias de vida, escolhi um estilo narrativo comprometido com a simplicidade e com a leveza. Baseei-me principalmente na descri??o e narra??o dos acontecimentos e nas reflex?es e saberes constru?dos durante a viagem. Meus principais argumentos ao sistematizar esta experi?ncia s?o: a produ??o cient?fica pode e deve se pautar na diversidade de saberes e num olhar mais sens?vel diante dos fen?menos; a educa??o e a pedagogia necessitam tomar como ponto de partida e alimento de sua pr?tica as singularidades dos sujeitos, sua forma??o, suas hist?rias de vida e os saberes delas resultantes; a forma??o de professores que t?m uma urbaniza??o mesclada com o rural deve valorizar experi?ncias cognitivas constru?das na intera??o com saberes mais pr?ximos da l?gica do sens?vel, mais enraizados na rela??o com a terra e com a natureza. Fazendo assim, a educa??o poder? contribuir para a religa??o de saberes diversos contra a monoculturaliza??o do pensamento e das pr?ticas educativas

O trabalho visou o entendimento do sucesso escolar, na área de alfabetização, pelas experiências docentes, investigando os saberes e as práticas relacionados à vida pessoal, escolar e profissional de quatro alfabetizadoras bem sucedidas, que exerceram a profissão nas décadas de 50 a 80, no Estado de São Paulo. Estudou-se o peso da reforma de 1971 e os determinantes advindos das diferentes políticas, anteriores e posteriores, e o provável período em que se iniciou a conformação profissional das educadoras pesquisadas. Pelo estudo de histórias de vida, a investigação caracterizou as diferentes experiências das alfabetizadoras, identificando os saberes e as práticas, que deram sustentação ao trabalho bem sucedido com a alfabetização, e os condicionantes que acompanharam a formação docente. A articulação dos saberes da infância pré-escolar, da vida escolar, da trajetória no curso de formação e da vida profissional com o estudo das características das práticas alfabetizadoras justificou o sucesso escolar. Pela análise dos resultados, concluiu-se que as várias facetas da história de vida das educadoras, com saberes e concepções de ensino, sustentaram o êxito na alfabetização. Apesar das situações bem heterogêneas, o sucesso escolar decorreu da autonomia no trabalho docente para a organização de práticas de ensino, que garantissem a aprendizagem bem sucedida da leitura e escrita, sempre considerando que toda criança apresentava capacidade para aprender, independentemente das condições socioeconômicas, culturais e de aprendizagem. O estudo da história de vida das alfabetizadoras bem sucedidas, envolvendo saberes e práticas importantes e diferentes para configurações de práticas de alfabetização, que garantiram o êxito de todos os alunos, não visou apenas a sistematização de situações pedagógicas que servissem somente como referenciais para organizar o processo de alfabetização de docentes da atualidade, mas também a problematização de aspectos inerentes às ações educativas, no ensino da leitura e escrita, e o resgate de alguns valores que, na época dessas professoras, eram considerados essenciais e que, atualmente, recebem críticas e depreciações. A análise das práticas educativas sinalizou uma diversificação de estratégias de ensino entre as professoras pesquisadas. Apesar dessa diferença, as docentes apresentaram objetivos semelhantes, visando a aprendizagem de todos e rejeitando qualquer forma de discriminação. Verificou-se ainda a criação de rotinas e rituais, durante o desenvolvimento dos conteúdos e das atividades, mas com práticas e aspectos diferenciados. Essa característica confirma a formação de uma ética de trabalho pedagógico. A presente pesquisa oferece, assim, informações para o estudo da alfabetização, enriquecendo a análise dos elementos do trabalho docente, para o êxito escolar, e dos novos dados que possibilitam investigações da temática, também em outras abordagens. / This paper focused on the understanding of academic success in the alphabetizing area by investigating the knowledge and practices related to the personal, academic and professional life of four successful alphabetizers who exercised their profession in the state of Sao Paulo throughout 1950 to 1980. The impact of the 1971 reform was duly studied and so were the direct consequences of the different previous and posterior policies and also the probable period during which started the professional making of the researched teachers. By studying the life histories, the investigation underlined the different experiences of the alphabetizers, identifying the various knowledge and practices which gave support to the successful alphabetizing work, and the decisive factors which accompanied the process of a teacher\'s formation. The articulation of the pre-school childhood knowledge, academic life, personal performance, both scholar and professional, together with the study of the alphabetizing practices characteristics justified the academic success. The results analysis concluded that the various aspects of the teachers\' life history, together with their personal knowledge and teaching concepts, sustained the alphabetizing success obtained. In spite of quite heterogeneous scenarios, the academic success resulted from the autonomy in the work to organize teaching practices which would ensure a successful learning of writing and reading, always considering that every child presented capacity to learn independently of social/economic, cultural and learning conditions. The study of the life histories of the successful alphabetizer teachers, involving important and different knowledge and pratices to build up alphabetizing practices which guaranteed the success of every student, didn\'t focus just the systematizing of pedagogic aspects which would serve solely as references to organize the alphabetizing process of today\'s teachers, but also the intrincacies of those aspects inherent to educative actions, in teaching writing and reading techniques, and the rescue of a few values which were considered essential, back at the time when the researched teachers were active, and nowadays are criticized and depreciated. The analysis of educational practices pointed out a diversification of teaching strategies amongst the researched teachers. In spite of the differences, they presented similar purposes - everyone should learn and any form of discrimination was rejected. It was also verified the creation of routines and rituals while developing the contents and related activities, but with distinguished practices and aspects. This characteristic confirms the making of ethics applied to pedagogical work. So, the present research offers information for the study of alphabetizing while making richer the analysis of the elements pertaining to teaching work to achieve academic success, and of the new data which make possible the investigation of the matter also with other approaches.

A presente pesquisa consiste em um estudo voltado para a melhoria do ensino de língua de sinais brasileira (LSB ou LIBRAS) como segunda língua para alunos ouvintes. Empregando os procedimentos da história oral, foram realizadas entrevistas com professores surdos que, uma vez coletadas, receberam dois tratamentos diferenciados: em primeiro lugar, um tratamento formal, que pudesse resultar em histórias de vida a serem lidas pelo público-alvo da pesquisa pelo seu valor intrínseco; e, em segundo lugar, um tratamento analítico, que pudesse resultar numa análise das concepções de ensino que estão por trás da prática dos professores surdos. No primeiro caso, as entrevistas passaram por um processo de tradução da LSB falada para o português escrito, bem como por uma espécie de “romanceamento” dessa tradução. No segundo caso, as entrevistas foram submetidas a uma análise que visou a identificar e discutir as implicações sociais, políticas e acadêmicas do sistema de conhecimentos, crenças e suposições que os professores surdos carregam sobre o ensino da LSB. Espera-se que, com esses dois focos diferenciados, os frutos deste trabalho possam ser aproveitados como fonte de reflexão tanto pelos profissionais surdos e ouvintes que atuam no campo de ensino da LSB como segunda língua, quanto pela sociedade em geral, que poderá encontrar aqui uma ponte de contato com a experiência de vida surda. / This research is a study focused on the improvement of the teaching of Brazilian Sign Language (LSB or LIBRAS) as a second language for hearing students. Using oral history procedures, interviews were carried out with deaf teachers that, once collected, were approached in two different ways: first, they received a formal treatment which results in life histories to be read by the target audience of this research for their intrinsic value; and, second, they received an analytic treatment which results in an analysis of the concepts of teaching that underlie the deaf teachers' actual practices. In the case of the life histories, the researcher submitted the interviews to a process of translation from spoken LSB to written portuguese, as well as to a process of “novelization” of that translation. In the case of the analysis, the researcher aimed at identifying and discussing the social, political and academic implications of the teachers’ system of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge for the teaching of LSB. It is hoped that through these two distinct focuses, the results of this study may be useful as an object of reflection for deaf and hearing professionals working in the field of teaching LSB as a second language, and also for the general public, which can find in this work a bridge to the life experiences of the deaf.

This study presents an analysis of the processes of representation and translation involved in the practice of the Validation des Acquis de l’Expérience (VAE), or Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning, in a French University. This analysis is based on a qualitative research using semi-structured interviews with VAE candidates, advisers and academic staff, and recorded interactions between candidates and their advisers, and the validation juries. The research was at first influenced by the life history and educational biographies perspective (Josso 2001; Dominicé 2002; Pineau 2002), which privileged a dialogic approach. This has led to the decision to let the candidates tell their story of ordering struggle, where the resistance, dissidence and controversies circulate within and around the VAE ‘object’. This study is interested in the ordering modes enacted through the VAE and their relational effects with subjectivities. The analysis draws on Callon’s (1986) four moments of translation, as a way to give an initial frame of reference for the research. It presents the actors’ voices in a sequence of accounts, disrupted by the researcher’s running commentaries. It also focusses on the role the portfolio plays in ‘ordering’ the heterogeneous elements of the candidates’ lives, subjecting them to a form of ‘disciplinary writing’ through ‘technologies of the self’, whereby subjectivities are mobilised into specific modes of ordering. It analyses how the VAE becomes a stabilized network (Star 1991), insisting on speaking with a unitary voice, erasing the multiplicity of selves and the messy realities of the candidates’ lives, until the heterogeneous elements of the network escape again. Finally the study seeks to investigate further the recognition of heterogeneity, the possibility of multiplicity of cultures and agencies, multiple identities.