Esta pesquisa investigou o processo de significação docente de professoras participantes do Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisa do Ensino e Aprendizagem da Matemática na Infância (Gepeami) em situação de formação contínua desenvolvida por meio da parceria entre a universidade e a Secretaria de Educação de um município do interior paulista. O estudo fundamentou-se na teoria histórico-cultural e desenvolveu-se mediante o método do materialismo histórico e dialético, envolvendo os participantes do grupo: a formadora, as professoras de educação infantil e dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental e os estudantes de graduação e pós-graduação. Nosso objetivo geral foi compreender a relação entre a aprendizagem das professoras ao participarem da atividade formativa no/pelo Gepeami e a atribuição de sentidos pessoais ao desenvolverem ações de trabalho docente, pois partimos do princípio de que há uma relação entre as ações formativas e a significação docente. Para tanto, definimos os modos generalizados de ação docente (MGAD) como nosso objeto de estudo por considerá-los o elo entre o pensamento das professoras e suas condutas nas formações no/do Gepeami que pudessem evidenciar a significação docente por meio da expressão verbal, oral e/ou escrita das professoras. Propusemos uma questão nuclear: os MGAD estruturam e revelam a relação entre significado social e sentido pessoal do professor no trabalho docente? Analisamos que, conforme os MGAD foram revelados, revelou-se também o desenvolvimento do pensamento teórico das professoras. Compreendemos que as professoras, ao aprenderem sobre os conhecimentos matemáticos e a organização do ensino nos pressupostos da Atividade Orientadora de Ensino (AOE), desenvolveram novas estruturas do pensamento que lhes possibilitaram modificar sua consciência e personalidade, orientadas para uma personalidade coletiva. Nossos objetivos específicos centraram-se em: a) caracterizar o contexto teórico e prático do processo formativo realizado no/pelo Gepeami; b) compreender em que medida esse grupo coletivo constituiu espaço de desenvolvimento de professores; c) identificar situações desencadeadoras favoráveis à aprendizagem docente. A coleta e produção dos dados ocorreram por meio de filmagens dos encontros formativos, caderno de campo e transcrição e elaboração dos quadros de análise. Orientada pelos princípios do trabalho como atividade de desenvolvimento humano, da intencionalidade pedagógica na organização do ensino e no desenvolvimento do trabalho coletivo, nossa análise buscou ressaltar as ações favoráveis à aprendizagem docente e potencialmente geradoras de significação para os sujeitos envolvidos. Os resultados evidenciaram que as ações de estudo, de escrita do material didático (produzido pelo grupo), de planejamento das tarefas de ensino e de trabalho coletivo, orientadas ao desenvolvimento do pensamento teórico docente, além de possibilitarem o desenvolvimento da consciência e da personalidade do professor, também revelaram o Gepeami com características de grupo que possui institucionalidade e estabilidade / This research investigated the process of teaching significance of teachers participating in the Group of Studies and Research of Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in Childhood (Gepeami) in a situation of continuous formation developed through the partnership between the university and the Education Department in a city located in the state of Sao Paulo. The study was based on historical-cultural theory and developed through the method of historical and dialectical materialism, involving the participants of the group: the teacher, nursery school teachers and early elementary school students and undergraduate and graduate students. Our general objective was to understand the relationship between the teachers\' learning when participating in the formative activity in / by Gepeami and the attribution of personal senses when developing teaching work actions, since we assume that there is a relation between the formative actions and the signification teacher. To that end, we defined the generalized modes of teaching activity (MGAD) as our object of study, considering them the link between the teachers\' thinking and their behaviors in the Gepeami formations that could show the teacher\'s meaning through verbal expression, oral and / or written. We have proposed a main question: do the MGAD structure and reveal the relationship between social meaning and the personal sense of the teacher in the teaching work? We analyzed that, as the MGAD were revealed, it also revealed the development of the theoretical thought of the teachers. We understand that teachers, by learning about mathematical knowledge and the organization of teaching in the presuppositions of the Teaching Activity of Teaching (CEA), have developed new structures of thought that enabled them to modify their consciousness and personality, oriented to a collective personality. Our specific targets were: a) to characterize the theoretical and practical context of the training process carried out in / by Gepeami; b) to understand to what extent this collective group constituted a space for the development of teachers; c) identify enabling situations favorable to teacher learning. The data collection and production took place through the filming of the training meetings, the field and transcript and the preparation of the analysis tables. Following the principles of \"work as a human development activity\", \"pedagogical intentionality in the organization of teaching\" and the development of \"collective work\", our analysis sought to highlight the actions favorable to teacher learning and potentially generating significance for the subjects involved. The results evidenced that the actions of study, writing of didactic material (produced by the group), planning of teaching tasks and collective work, oriented to the development of theoretical teaching thought, besides enabling the development of the consciousness and the personality of the Professor, also revealed the Gepeami with characteristics of group that has institutionality and stability

This thesis investigates the relationship between social meaning and linguistic change. An important observation regarding spoken languages is that they are constantly changing: the way we speak differs from generation to generation. A second important observation is that spoken utterances convey social as well as denotational meaning: the way we speak communicates something about who we are. How, if at all, are these two characteristics of spoken languages related? Many sociolinguistic studies have argued that the social meaning of linguistic features is central to explaining the spread of linguistic innovations. A novel form might be heard as more prestigious than the older form, or it may become associated with specific social stereotypes relevant to the community in which the change occurs. It is argued that this association between a linguistic variant and social meaning leads speakers to adopt or reject the innovation, inhibiting or facilitating the spread of the change. In contrast, a number of scholars have argued that social meaning is epiphenomenal to many linguistic changes, which are instead driven by an automatic process of convergence in face-to-face interaction. The issue that such arguments raise is that many studies proposing a role of social meaning in the spread of linguistic innovations rely on production data as their primary source of evidence. Observing the variable adoption of innovations across different groups of speakers (e.g. by gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status), a researcher might draw on their knowledge of the social history of the community under study to infer the role of social meaning in that change. In many cases, the observed patterns of could equally be explained by the social structure of the community under study, which constrains who speaks to whom. Are linguistic changes facilitated and inhibited by social meaning? Or is it rather the case that social meaning arises as a consequence of linguistic change, without necessarily influencing the change itself? This thesis explores these questions through a study of vocalic change in York, Northern England, focusing on the fronting and diphthongization of the tense back vowels /u/ and /o/. It presents a systematic comparison of the social meanings listeners assign to innovations (captured using perceptual methods), their social attitudes with regard to those meanings (captured through sociolinguistic interviews), and their use of those forms in production (captured through acoustic analysis). It is argued that evidence of a consistent relationship between these factors would support the proposal that social meaning plays a role in linguistic change. The results of this combined analysis of sociolinguistic perception, social attitudes and speech production provide clear evidence of diachronic /u/ and /o/ fronting in this community, and show that variation in these two vowels is associated with a range of social meanings in perception. These meanings are underpinned by the notion of 'Broad Yorkshire' speech, a socially-recognized speech register linked to notions of authentic local identity and social class. Monophthongal /o/, diphthongal /u/, and back variants of both vowels are shown to be associated with this register, implying that a speaker who adopts an innovative form will likely be heard as less 'Broad'. However, there is no clear evidence that speakers' attitudes toward regional identity or social class have any influence on their adoption of innovations, nor that that their ability to recognise the social meaning of fronting in perception is related to their production behaviour. The fronting of /u/ is spreading in a socially-uniform manner in production, unaffected by any social factor tested except for age. The fronting of /o/ is conditioned by social network structure - speakers with more diverse social networks are more likely to adopt the innovative form, while speakers with closer social ties to York are more likely to retain a back variant. These findings demonstrate that York speakers hear back forms of /u/ and /o/ as more 'local' and 'working class' than fronter realizations, and express strong attitudes toward the values and practices associated with regional identity and social class. However, these factors do not appear to influence their adoption of linguistic innovations in any straightforward manner, contrasting the predictions of an account of linguistic change where social meaning plays a central role in facilitating or inhibiting the propagation of linguistic innovations. Based on these results, the thesis argues that many linguistic changes may spread through the production patterns of a speech community without the direct influence of social meaning, and advocates for the combined analysis of sociolinguistic perception, social attitudes and speech production in future work.

Abstract This study examines people-centred Thai NGOs trying to help peasants empower themselves in order to compete better in conflicts over land, water, forest, and capital, during the 1970s to 1990s. The study investigates how the NGOs contested asymmetric power relations among government officials, private entrepreneurs and ordinary people while helping raise the people’s confidence in their own power to negotiate their demands with other actors.¶ The thesis argues that the NGOs are able to play an interventionist role when a number of key factors coexist. First, the NGOs are able to understand local situations, which contain asymmetric power relations between different actors, in relation to current changes in the wider context of the Thai political economy and seize the time to take action. Secondly, the NGOs are able to articulate a social meaning beyond the dominating rhetoric of the ‘state’ and the ‘capitalists’ which encourages the people’s participation in collective activities. Thirdly, while dealing with one problem in social relations and negotiation with local environment, the NGOs are able to recognise new problems as they arise and rapidly identify a new political space for the actors to renegotiate their conflicting interests and demands. Fourthly, the NGOs are able to recreate new meanings, new actors and reform their organisations and networks to deal with new situations. Finally, the NGOs are able to effectively use three pillars of their movement, namely individuals, organisations and networks to deal with everyday politics and collective protest.¶ The case studies in three villages in Northern Thailand reveal that the NGOs were able to play an interventionist role in specific situations through their alternative development strategies somewhat influenced by structural Marxism. The thesis recommends that the NGO interventionist role be continued so as to overcome tensions within the NGO community, for instance, between the NGOs working at the grass-roots level and the NGOs working at regional and national levels (including NGO funding agencies); local everyday conflicts; and the bipolar views of a society among the NGOs expressed in dichotomous thinking between ‘rural’ and ‘urban’, ‘community’ and ‘state’, conflict and order, actor and system.¶ The fragmentation of NGO social and environmental movements showed that there is no single formula or easy solution to the problems. If the NGOs want to continue their interventionist role to help empower ordinary people and help them gain access to productive resources, they must move beyond their bipolar views of a society to discover the middle ground to search for new meanings, new actors, new issues and to create again and again counter-hegemony movements. This could be done by having abstract development theories assessed and enriched by concrete development practices and vice versa. Both theorists and practitioners need to use their own imagination to invent and reinvent what and how best to continue.

This thesis deals with jokes and gender as social meaning. Here gender identity is regarded as one kind of social meaning. The gender identity of the individual is produced in interaction with other persons and is also conditioned by cultural codes. Of particular interest is how social identity is constituted by linguistic means. This is discussed using a model of indexicality, i.e. how linguistic features index one or more dimensions of the social context. Especially the indirect and constitutive relations between language and gender are discussed in terms of stances, acts and activities. In this context the speech act joking is seen as an example of a male gender constituent. A second theoretical angle consists of introducing some linguistic theories of humour and applying them to two empirical materials. The first material consists of audiovisual recordings of school pupils’ group discussions with no adult leader present. The pupils work with the same task, both in unisexual and mixed groups. The study focuses on describing how the speakers present suggestions of their own, and respond to the suggestions of others. The suggestions have lent themselves to being grouped into three categories: serious suggestions, playful suggestions, and joking suggestions. Identifying jokes in conversation can be difficult; thus four criteria for joke identification are applied: intention, structure, reaction and convention. Two types of structural criteria are used: semantic and rhetorical. The second material consists of a questionnaire administered to university students, which asks whom the informant apprehends as funny. A general tendency in the answers is that men only mention men, while women single out both women and men. Another tendency is that few women are found in the answers of the questions concerning the mass media, while women mention many funny women in the questions about their own everyday experiences. In this study it is argued that language use not only reflects our place in culture and society but also helps to constitute that place. Women and men encounter different cultural codes, and thus their performance of different speech acts also differs. This has an impact on the speakers’ social identity, one of which is gender identity.

This diploma thesis analyses the occurrence of synonymy in the texts of academic prose and fiction. The topic of synonymy has been in the centre of attention for a long time and it still deserves much attention. The aim of this thesis is to approach to the topic from a different perspective. Theoretical part describes the theoretical background of synonymy from the upper layers of the system of language. These theories are used as analytical tool in analysing the collected samples with the focus on similarities and differences in connotation of pairs of synonyms. The diploma thesis should particularly contribute to study of partial synonymy and the components of associative meaning that vary in dependence on functional style. This thesis should also marginally refer to the topic of absolute synonymy. The frequency of the components of associative meaning and findings are described in the conclusion of the thesis.

Submitted by Celso Magalhaes (celsomagalhaes@ufrrj.br) on 2017-06-12T11:52:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Renan Arjona de Souza.pdf: 1690935 bytes, checksum: 965f87bd7e3a5c97f4c2b17bf55faef8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-12T11:52:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Renan Arjona de Souza.pdf: 1690935 bytes, checksum: 965f87bd7e3a5c97f4c2b17bf55faef8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-25 / The research was guided by the analysis of the social significance of expansion of higher education for the Baixada Fluminense, from the implementation of the New Campus Degree courses Igua?u Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, one of 79 higher education institutions (HEIs) who participated in this policy established in the government's first term of President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2006). So left is a macro analysis of educational policies and their purposes, theoretical basis of the Public Policy Evaluation and its relation to the institutional evaluation of HEIs, which is an important tool for improving the achievement of their teaching duties, research and extension, a role relevant to promote improvement of social indicators, through the common goal between these two concepts of evaluation: social effectiveness. In order to contextualize the reality involving the implementation of this campus, they were described some aspects that characterized the influence of higher education policies in Brazil and in the Lowlands during the study period, and the historicity of the first four years of operation ( 2006-2009). From this basis, we sought to raise part of the teaching, research and extension occurred and carried out a field survey of part of the freshmen students of the first degree courses. As a result, we combined the data providing opportunities lie aspects of academic and institutional activities produced in line with a higher education policy. In UFRRJ, these teaching, research and extension followed towards the established training purposes, seeking to meet the ideals of educational policy of expansion and internalization of higher education for the Baixada Fluminense, enhancing the role and engagement of the Campus Nova Igua?u in contribution the reduction of social inequalities in the region, through a transformer environment and favorable to the formation of critical citizens aware of their social role / A pesquisa foi pautada pela an?lise do significado social da expans?o do ensino superior para a Baixada Fluminense, a partir da implanta??o dos cursos de Licenciatura do Campus Nova Igua?u da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, uma das 79 Institui??es de Ensino Superior (IES) que participaram desta pol?tica estabelecida no primeiro mandato do governo do presidente Luis In?cio Lula da Silva (2003 a 2006). Assim, partiu-se de uma analise macro de pol?ticas p?blicas educacionais e seus fins, com base te?rica na Avalia??o de Pol?ticas Publicas e sua rela??o com a Avalia??o Institucional das IES, que ? uma ferramenta importante para aperfei?oamento da consecu??o das suas fun??es de ensino, pesquisa e extens?o, papel este relevante para promo??o de melhoria dos ?ndices sociais, atrav?s do objetivo comum entre estes dois conceitos de avalia??o: a efetividade social. A fim de contextualizar a realidade que envolveu a implanta??o deste campus universit?rio, foram descritos alguns aspectos que caracterizaram as influencias das pol?ticas de ensino superior no Brasil e na Baixada Fluminense no per?odo da pesquisa, assim como a historiciza??o dos seus primeiros quatro anos de funcionamento (2006 a 2009). A partir deste embasamento, buscou-se levantar parte das atividades de ensino, pesquisa e extens?o ocorridas e realizou-se um levantamento de campo com parte dos discentes ingressantes dos primeiros cursos de licenciatura. Como resultado, foram conjugados os dados obtidos oportunizando situar aspectos da forma??o acad?mica e as atividades institucionais produzidas em conson?ncia com uma pol?tica de ensino superior. Na UFRRJ, estas atividades de ensino, pesquisa e extens?o seguiram rumo aos prop?sitos de forma??o estabelecidos, procurando atender os ideais da pol?tica educacional de expans?o e interioriza??o do ensino superior para a Baixada Fluminense, potencializando a fun??o e o engajamento do Campus Nova Igua?u na contribui??o da redu??o das desigualdades sociais nesta regi?o, atrav?s de um ambiente transformador e favor?vel ? forma??o de cidad?os cr?ticos e conscientes do seu papel social.

Esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de compreender o processo de atribuição de sentido pessoal à atividade pedagógica dos professores da escola pública de ensino fundamental por meio do levantamento dos motivos dessa atividade. Ao enfocarmos a atividade pedagógica, pretendemos, também, localizar a função e a importância do projeto político pedagógico na organização das ações pedagógicas. Para tanto, este trabalho tem como embasamento teórico a psicologia histórico-cultural (Vigotski, Leontiev, Luria e outros), mais especificamente a contribuição dos autores que se dedicaram ao estudo da atividade humana como unidade central da vida do sujeito concreto, ou seja, a teoria psicológica geral da atividade (Leontiev, Davidov e outros). Nosso estudo centrou-se na observação do cotidiano escolar de uma escola pública municipal de ensino fundamental que almejava construir seu projeto político pedagógico e articulá-lo com as ações pedagógicas desenvolvidas. Inspirados no estudo de caso do tipo etnográfico, foram usados os seguintes procedimentos de investigação: observação participante, análise de documentos e realização de entrevistas com professores. No processo de análise dos dados, organizamos as informações obtidas em três grandes contextos: "Organização escolar", "Em busca do projeto político pedagógico" e "Atribuição de sentido pessoal à atividade pedagógica". Nos dois primeiros contextos, apresentamos as formas como os profissionais da escola organizam suas atividades e ações pedagógicas e apontamos as dificuldades na construção de um projeto político pedagógico, a produção da fragmentação do trabalho pedagógico e as possibilidades de superação da alienação. No último contexto, a partir da trajetória profissional de dois professores, analisamos o processo de atribuição de sentido pessoal à atividade pedagógica. Os professores entrevistados denunciam as rupturas entre o significado e o sentido pessoal, entre os motivos da atividade e os fins das ações e expressam essas cisões não só verbalmente, como física e emocionalmente. Contraditoriamente, indicam, também, elementos no seu trabalho e na organização escolar reveladores das possibilidades do estabelecimento de relações conscientes com a universalidade dos homens, para além da relação singular-particular. Assim, a análise ressalta a construção do projeto político pedagógico entendido como atividade enquanto um dos elementos possíveis de humanização docente, ou seja, como espaço de resistência à desintegração entre o significado e o sentido pessoal atribuído à atividade pedagógica. / This research aims to study the process of sense attribution to the public elementary school teacher's pedagogical activity through the study of this activity motives. By focusing the pedagogical activity we also intend to find the political pedagogical project function and importance in the organization of pedagogical actions. For doing so, this work has as theoretical basis on the cultural-historical psychology (Vigotski, Leontiev, Luria et al.), more specifically, the contribution of authors who were dedicated to the study human activity as the central unity of the concrete individual's life, or else, the general psychological theory of activity (Leontiev, Davidov et al). Our study has been centered on scholar daily routine observation of a public elementary school that aimed to build its political pedagogical project and link it with the developed pedagogical actions. Inspired in the case study of the ethnographic perspective, there were used the following investigation procedures: participant observation, documents analysis and interviews with teachers. During the process of data analysis we have organized the obtained information in three major contexts: "Scholar Organization", "In search of the political pedagogical project" and "Attribution of sense to the pedagogical activity". In the first two contexts we have presented the ways that school professionals organize their activities and pedagogical actions and have pointed out the difficulties in the construction of a political pedagogical project, the fragmentation production of pedagogical work and the possibilities of alienation overcoming. In the last context, as from two teachers professional trajectory, we have analysed the process of sense attribution to the pedagogical activity. Interviewed teachers reveal the ruptures between the social meaning and the sense, between the activity motives and the actions objectives and express these scission not only orally but also physically and emotionally. In a contradiction, they also indicate elements in their work and in scholar organization that reveal possibilities of relationships establishment conscious with men universality, for beyond the singular-particular relation. Thus, the analysis reinforces the construction of the political pedagogical project understood as activity, as one of the possible elements of teaching humanization, or else, as an area of resistance to the disintegration between social meaning and sense given to the pedagogical activity.

No description available.

This study contributes to the growth of design knowledge in China, where vehicle design for the local, older user is in its initial developmental stages. Therefore, this research has explored the travel needs of older Chinese vehicle users in order to assist designers to better understand users’ current and future needs. A triangulation method consisting of interviews, logbook and co-discovery was used to collect multiple forms of data and so explore the research question. Grounded theory has been employed to analyze the research data. This study found that users’ needs are reflected through various ‘meanings’ that they attach to vehicles – meanings that give a tangible expression to their experiences. This study identified six older-user need categories: (i) safety, (ii) utility, (iii) comfort, (iv) identity, (v) emotion and (vi) spirituality. The interrelationships among these six categories are seen as an interactive structure, rather than as a linear or hierarchical arrangement. Chinese cultural values, which are generated from particular local context and users’ social practice, will play a dynamic role in linking and shaping the travel needs of older vehicle users in the future. Moreover, this study structures the older-user needs model into three levels of meaning, to give guidance to vehicle design direction: (i) the practical meaning level, (ii) the social meaning level and (ii) the cultural meaning level. This study suggests that a more comprehensive explanation exists if designers can identify the vehicle’s meaning and property associated with the fulfilled older users’ needs. However, these needs will vary, and must be related to particular technological, social, and cultural contexts. The significance of this study lies in its contributions to the body of knowledge in three areas: research methodology, theory and design. These theoretical contributions provide a series of methodological tools, models and approaches from a vehicle design perspective. These include a conditional/consequential matrix, a travel needs identification model, an older users’ travel-related needs framework, a user information structure model, and an Older-User-Need-Based vehicle design approach. These models suggest a basic framework for the new design process which might assist in the design of new vehicles to fulfil the needs of future, aging Chinese generations. The models have the potential to be transferred to other design domains and different cultural contexts.

El propòsit d'aquesta tesi es fonamenta en demostrar que el producte és un mitjà de comunicació social del que les persones es serveixen comunicativament -en funció del seu caràcter simbòlic- que permet a l'ésser humà interactuar amb el seu món social, cultural i personal. Aquest treball explica el paper que els productes juguen com a mitjans de comunicació social. La tesi parteix del fet que les pràctiques socials produeixen significat i sentit en la cultura material, partint de la proposició pragmàtica de que cada interpretació necessitat un determinat context que aporti significat i sentit als productes. Mitjançant la definició d'un model d'anàlisi "pragmàtico-etnogràfic" i la seva aplicació al estudi del producte telèfon mòbil, aquest treball mostra com per comprendre el significat d'un producte, cal valorar les pràctiques i accions socials que els signifiquen: posar l'atenció en l'anàlisi de la significació generada per les relacions establertes pel binomi producte i usuari. / The intention of this thesis is to demonstrate that the product is a medium of social communications which people use to communicate -as a function of its symbolic character- which allows human interaction between social, cultural and personal realms. The thesis explains the role that products play in social communication. The thesis shows the fact that social practices provide meaning and sense in the materialistic culture, from the pragmatic proposition that each interpretation needs a certain context which contributes significance and sense to the products. By means of the definition of the analytical model "pragmatic-ethnography" and its application to the study of the mobile telephone, this work confirms that in order to realize the significance of a product one has to evaluate the actions and social practices in which they matter: put the attention of the analysis to the significance generated by the relations established by the binominal product and user.