Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:56:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sandra Puliezi.pdf: 2112077 bytes, checksum: 65039a7eb052fad7e1682ee760969c50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Current studies about reading show that there is a strong relationship between comprehension and reading fluency, to the extent that one influences another. In order to contribute to the growth of this knowledge, we conducted a study to investigate the relationship between reading comprehension and reading fluency of Brazilian children who attend the 4th year of elementary school. Objectives of this research were: verify the effects of an intervention in comprehension; verify the effects of an intervention in reading fluency; and create a series of activities for the improvement and stimulation of reading fluency and comprehension. To accomplish these objectives, we created two intervention groups (one in fluency and the other in comprehension) and a control group. At the beginning of the school year all the groups completed two tests: an assessment of fluency (accuracy, speed and prosody) and an assessment of comprehension. The intervention lasted three months. At the end of that time, every group completed the same assessments of fluency and comprehension, plus a test to evaluate inferential comprehension. We then analyzed the data to compare student performance between the three groups. The results showed that interventions helped to improve the performance of students in the skills that were being targeted, but not the other skill. Pearson's correlations allowed us to see that high performance in comprehension is accompanied by high performance in fluency, highlighting the importance of the two skills for success in reading. Our study indicated the need to direct teaching in order to fully develop the three dimensions of fluency and the different levels of comprehension, leading us to conclude that the teaching of one of these skills alone does not ensure success in the other / Estudos atuais sobre leitura mostram que existe uma relação muito forte entre compreensão e fluência na leitura, a ponto de haver influência de uma sobre a outra. Com o intuito de contribuir para o crescimento desse conhecimento, conduzimos um estudo para investigar relações entre a compreensão de textos e a fluência na leitura de crianças brasileiras que cursam o 4º ano do ensino fundamental. Os objetivos foram: verificar os efeitos de uma intervenção em compreensão; verificar os efeitos de uma intervenção em fluência e criar uma série de atividades para a melhoria e estimulação da fluência de leitura e da compreensão. Para tanto, foram constituídos dois grupos de intervenção (um em fluência e outro em compreensão) e um grupo controle. No início do ano letivo todos os grupos passaram pelo pré-teste que continha duas provas: uma para avaliar a fluência (precisão, velocidade e prosódia) e uma para avaliar a compreensão. A intervenção durou três meses. Ao fim desse tempo, todos os grupos passaram pelo pós-teste, constituído pelas mesmas provas do pré-teste, acrescido de uma prova que avaliou a compreensão inferencial. Na análise dos dados foram comparados o desempenho dos alunos dos três grupos. Os resultados mostraram que as intervenções ajudaram a melhorar o desempenho dos alunos nas habilidades que estavam sendo treinados, mas não na outra. As correlações de Pearson nos permitiram ver que o bom desempenho em compreensão é acompanhado do bom desempenho em fluência, evidenciando a importância das duas habilidades para o sucesso na leitura. Nosso estudo indicou que é preciso haver um ensino direcionado para podermos desenvolver ao máximo as três dimensões da fluência e os diferentes níveis de compreensão, fazendo-nos concluir que apenas o ensino de uma dessas habilidades é insuficiente para o sucesso da outra

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T14:32:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Ana Maria Moraes.pdf: 1040774 bytes, checksum: b9dc4b892a91fd181fe47a9ac8e69ec5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-11 / The present study aimed in identifying operational indicators of Young Activist Network project involving two groups of children ages 9 to 12 years old; the groups Young Activist and the Juventude Ativa. This study is part of an educational program that uses digital applied-technology as tool for developing events related to youth activism. This research was conducted in the community-based technology centers Juventude Interativa Social Lab and Telecentro Padre Joseph Alan Black located at Jardim Antartica in the north side of Sao Paulo city. This study is a qualitative research that uses the action research metodology (Hart). The proposed work approached digital inclusion as a mean to achieve social inclusion while attempts to overcome the digital gap on the fluency of the computer language and knowledge in building community-assets. Juventude Ativa group developed a workshop based on citizenship and environmental education and the Young Activist workshop had the foundation of Roger Hart s participation, theory of technological fluency (Resnick), citizenship (Pina) and other categories related from social aspects that emerged from Vygostky´s scope. Data collected were qualitative only, which were analyzed in two categories as follows; the Pina procedure for citizenship and Hart s participation and technological fluency with Resnick procedure. Our results support the development of youth activism actions using different models/focus. The action research cycle and the development of youth activism mediated by the use of digital technology was not developed in the Environmental Education Workshop by the Juventude Ativa group, but it was developed at the Young Activist Network Workshop using bottom-up model. Although, there was an obvious gain in their learning process using digital technology, the lack of technological fluency still exists causing a gap, which was well noticed in both workshops/ community technology centers. / O presente trabalho analisou a operacionalização dos projetos Rede de Jovens Ativistas e Juventude Ativa, através do desenvolvimento de ações de protagonismo juvenil. Foram desenvolvidas duas oficinas com 18 jovens de 9 a 12 anos ocorridas nos centros de tecnologia comunitária Laboratório Social Juventude Interativa e Telecentro Padre Joseph Alan Black situados no bairro do Jardim Antártica, zona norte da cidade de São Paulo. Esta é uma pesquisa qualitativa que utiliza da metodologia da pesquisa-ação (Hart) e realizou uma análise de dados de acordo com o modelo misto. A inclusão digital foi debatida através dos conceitos de uso da tecnologia para a inclusão social e da brecha digital gerada pela falta da fluência tecnológica, sendo associada esta temática ao protagonismo juvenil. As categorias previamente selecionadas para a análise dos dados foram cidadania (Pina), participação (Hart) e fluência tecnológica (Resnick) e outras relacionadas ao aspecto social emergiram da leitura dos dados tais como a leitura realizada do aspecto social sob a ótica de Vygotsky. Os resultados obtidos corroboram para o desenvolvimento de ações de protagonismo juvenil sob diferentes enfoques/modelos, onde o ciclo da pesquisa-ação não foi evidenciado na oficina de educação ambiental e na da Rede de Jovens Ativistas ocorreram algumas etapas. Conclui-se neste trabalho que apesar de ter havido um aprimoramento no uso das tecnologias digitais, a brecha digital gerada pela falta de fluência tecnológica continuou a existir nas duas oficinas realizadas em decorrência de problemas, tais como: o analfabetismo, pouco tempo para utilizar as tecnologias digitais. As ações de protagonismo juvenil só foram evidenciadas na oficina da Rede de Jovens Ativistas de acordo com um modelo bottom-up .

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Celso Marquetti.pdf: 3452870 bytes, checksum: d23a3014a1708276863e4e29453c83a2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research aims to investigate the use of digital technologies by a group of high school students on the theme of some elements and properties of the metric space geometry, specifically the volume of cubes and pyramids, and the relationship betwen them. The question constituted around these assumptions, is to investigate how a didactic approach that addresses the use of the software GeoGebra 5, which has 3D capabilities, contributes to subsidize the understanding of high school students on topics related to the properties of geometric solids In particular, cube and pyramid. The subjects, five students from a private school in São Paulo, used GeoGebra software, version 5, in two sessions, aiming to announce conjectures about the properties linked to volume cubes and pyramids and the relation between these objects. After collecting and analyzing data, it was realize the end of the investigation that elements such as visualization, experimentation and the dynamism of the interface have competed from the engendered strategy for the subsidy to understanding certain relationships, properties and results would be hampered otherwise / O presente trabalho tem por finalidade investigar o uso de tecnologias digitais por parte de um grupo de estudantes do Ensino Médio, tendo como tema alguns elementos e propriedades da geometria espacial métrica, mais especificamente os volumes de cubos e pirâmides, bem como a relação estre os mesmos. A questão, constituída em torno destes pressupostos, consiste em investigar de que forma uma abordagem didática que prevê o uso do software GeoGebra 5, que possui recursos 3D, concorre para subsidiar a compreensão de estudantes do Ensino Médio sobre temas referentes às propriedades dos sólidos geométricos, em especial, o cubo e a pirâmide? Os sujeitos, cinco estudantes de uma escola particular da cidade de São Paulo, utilizaram o software GeoGebra, versão 5, em duas sessões, com intuito de anunciar conjecturas acerca das propriedades ligadas ao volime de cubos e pirâmides, além da relação entre estes objetos. Após a coleta e análise dos dados, aventou-se, ao final da investigação, que elementos como a visualização, a experimentação e o dinamismo da interface tenham concorrido, a partir da estratégia engendrada, para o subsídio à compreensão de certas relações, propriedades e resultados que estariam dificultados de outra maneira

Esta dissertação é composta por dois estudos conduzidos a fim de compreender de maneira integrada os fatores cognitivos/neuropsicológicos e ambientais relacionados ao desempenho em leitura (precisão e fluência) de crianças. A amostra foi composta por 185 alunos, 78 (42,2%) meninos e 107 (57,8%) meninas, do 4º ano do Ensino Fundamental de escolas públicas de Porto Alegre e Belo Horizonte. No primeiro estudo, foram investigadas as variáveis cognitivas/neuropsicológicas e ambientais que melhor explicam o desempenho de leitura (precisão e fluência). Nas análises de regressão linear observou-se a consciência fonológica e a nomeação seriada rápida (NSR) como melhores preditores na precisão de leitura, apoiando a hipótese de que o processamento fonológico é um contribuinte fundamental para a leitura no nível lexical. As variáveis ambientais importantes para leitura de palavras irregulares e fluência em leitura foram o nível socioeconômico (NSE) e o índice de desempenho (IDEB) da escola de origem. No segundo estudo, comparou-se o desempenho neuropsicológico, características comportamentais e ambientais de 3 grupos de crianças provenientes do estudo 1: com dificuldades de leitura/escrita (DLE); com dificuldade combinada de leitura/escrita e aritmética (DC) e sem dificuldades de aprendizagem (SD). Os grupos DLE e DC apresentaram desempenho estatisticamente inferior ao das crianças sem dificuldades de aprendizagem em consciência fonológica, NSR e memória de trabalho fonológica. O grupo DC apresentou desempenho inferior ao do grupo com DLE apenas em fluência verbal ortográfica. As crianças com dificuldades acadêmicas (DLE e DC) apresentaram maior escore no questionário de características de desatenção e hiperatividade e menor NSE. Os resultados contribuem para a compreensão de modelos multifatoriais (cognitivo/neuropsicológico, comportamental e ambiental) no desempenho da leitura e nas dificuldades de aprendizagem. Ambos os estudos mostram que a leitura no nível da palavra está mais relacionada às habilidades de processamento fonológico do que as habilidades visuoespaciais ou funções executivas, nas crianças avaliadas no quarto ano. É importante considerar a inserção de atividades para promover estas habilidades no currículo no Ensino Infantil e Ensino Fundamental como medida preventiva (primária e secundária) de dificuldades de leitura. / This dissertation consists of two studies conducted to understand cognitive, neuropsychological and environmental factors related to children’s reading performance (accuracy and fluency) in an integrated way. The sample consisted of 185 4th grade students, 78 (42.2%) boys and 107 (57.8%) girls, from public elementary schools from Porto Alegre city and Belo Horizonte city. In the first study, we investigated the cognitive and environmental variables that best explain the reading performance (accuracy and fluency). In linear regression analyzes observed phonological awareness and rapid serial nomination as best predictors of the accuracy, supporting the hypothesis that phonological processing is a key contributor to the reading on the lexical level. Important environmental variables for reading irregular words and fluency in reading were the socioeconomic status (SES) and the index of Brazilian education. In the second study, we compared the neuropsychological performance, behavioral and environmental characteristics of 3 groups of children from the study 1: difficulties with reading / writing (DLE); combined with reading / writing and arithmetic (DC) and without difficulty (SD). DLE and DC groups had statistically lower performance than children without learning difficulties in phonological awareness, NSR and phonological working memory. The DC group had underperformed the group with DLE only orthographic verbal fluency. Children with academic difficulties (DLE and DC) had higher scores on the questionnaire of inattention and hyperactivity characteristics and were from lower SES families. The results contribute to the understanding of multifactorial models for reading performance and learning difficulties, given the performance results from the interaction among different factors (cognitive/neuropsychological, behavioral and environmental). Both studies showed that the word reading level is more consistent related to phonological processing skills than visuospatial abilities and executive functions in this 4th grade sample. It is important to consider the inclusion of these skills in the curriculum in Infant and Primary Education as a preventive measure (primary and secondary) of reading difficulties.

INTRODUÇÃO: O teste de fluência verbal fonológica é uma tarefa neuropsicológica amplamente utilizada em estudos de neuroimagem funcional que analisam os circuitos neurais relevantes para a produção de linguagem. A maioria dos estudos que utilizam a RMf para analisar as áreas cerebrais de maior ativação durante a tarefa de fluência verbal é realizado na língua inglesa. Embora estudos anteriores tenham demonstrado que dependendo da língua falada possa ocorrer diferença de desempenho na tarefa de fluência verbal, ainda não está claro se esta diferença leva a mudanças do padrão de ativação cerebral. Há indícios na literatura que a ativação cerebral regional durante a tarefa de fluência verbal pode variar com o aumento de dificuldade da tarefa, sendo o cíngulo anterior a área cerebral que parece estar envolvida no processo de adaptação ao grau de dificuldade da tarefa. Estudos com sujeitos saudáveis demonstram também a influência de variáveis demográficas, como idade, escolaridade, gênero e classificação socioeconômica no desempenho na produção de palavras, com alguns estudos reportando maior ativação cortical nos homens em comparação às mulheres. OBJETIVOS: Avaliar os efeitos da variação do grau de dificuldade da tarefa de fluência verbal utilizando a técnica de ressonância magnética funcional. Analisar se há correlação entre os dados demográficos e o desempenho na tarefa de fluência verbal. Comparar o padrão de ativação cerebral entre os gêneros. MÉTODOS: Foram incluídos 21 voluntários saudáveis (12 homens), destros e falantes do português do Brasil como primeira língua. Foram colhidos dados sociodemográficos, neuropsicológicos e de desempenho dos voluntários. Comparamos os achados adquiridos através da técnica de ressonância magnética funcional durante a produção de palavras iniciadas com letras classificadas anteriormente como fáceis e difíceis para produzir palavras na língua portuguesa. As imagens foram adquiridas em aparelho de ressonância magnética de 1,5 T através de uma sequência de aquisição de imagens compressed epi que permite aos sujeitos produzirem as palavras apenas durante o período de silêncio do equipamento. As imagens foram analisadas através do software XBAM para os grupos e para a análise de correlação comportamental. RESULTADOS: A tarefa de fluência verbal engajou circuitos cerebrais incluindo córtex frontal medial e inferior esquerdo, putamen e tálamo (p<0,001). O aumento de dificuldade da tarefa de fluência verbal fonológica na língua portuguesa mostrou-se associado a uma diferença significativa de ativação apenas em uma região cerebral, o cerebelo (maior ativação durante a tarefa realizada com letras mais fáceis). Houve correlações significativas entre o desempenho na tarefa de fluência verbal fonológica na língua portuguesa e o grau de ativação do cíngulo anterior quando foram usadas letras difíceis para produção de palavras, mas não com letras fáceis. Não houve correlação significativa entre os dados demográficos (idade, escolaridade, gênero e classificação socioeconômica) e o desempenho durante a produção de palavras iniciadas com letras fáceis e com letras difíceis. Observamos maior ativação de cíngulo posterior e giro lingual nas mulheres em comparação aos homens durante a produção de palavras iniciadas com letras difíceis e interação positiva entre os gêneros e os graus de dificuldade na região de cíngulo anterior, demonstrando maior ativação do cíngulo anterior nos homens durante a produção de palavras iniciadas com letras difíceis. CONCLUSÃO: Apesar das diferenças lingüísticas, o padrão de ativação cerebral encontrado no nosso estudo foi consistente com o padrão verificado em outras línguas, com recrutamento de múltiplas áreas cerebrais durante a produção de palavras. Na língua portuguesa, assim como na língua inglesa, há indícios de que o aumento de dificuldade da tarefa está associado com maior engajamento de cíngulo anterior. Houve diferenças entre os gêneros em termos do engajamento de áreas cerebrais consideradas críticas para o desempenho na tarefa de fluência verbal fonológica, particularmente no cíngulo anterior / INTRODUCTION: Phonological verbal fluency is a neuropsychological test used in numerous functional neuroimaging studies to allow the assessment of the neural circuits relevant to language production. The majority of studies that use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to analyze the cerebral areas with greater activation during the verbal fluency task have been carried out in English. Although there is evidence that the verbal fluency performance varies as a function of the spoken language, it is unclear if this difference is associated with differences in cerebral activation patterns. Added to that, there is neuroimaging evidence that patterns of regional cerebral activation during VF task may vary with task demand. In particular, the anterior cingulate cortex seems critical to the adaptation process to the level of difficult. Studies of healthy individuals have demonstrated the influence of demographic variables, such as age, level of education, gender and socio-economic status, on word production performance, and some authors have shown greater cortical activation in men than in women. OBJECTIVES: To use the fMRI technique to evaluate the effect of varying levels of difficult of verbal fluency task on the brain activation patterns in healthy subjects. To analyze whether there is a significant correlation between demographic variables and verbal fluency performance. To compare cerebral activation patterns between genders. METHODS: We recruited 21 (12 men) right-handed healthy volunteers, having Portuguese as their first language. Demographic, neuropsychological and behavioral data were collected. We compared fMRI data acquired during production of words beginning with letters classified as easy or hard for word production in Portuguese. Images were acquired in 1,5 T magnet through a clustered image acquisition sequence that allowed overt verbal responses to be made in the absence of scanner noise. Data were analyzed through XBAM software on group basis and for behavioral correlation. RESULTS: The phonological verbal fluency task engaged a network including the left inferior and middle frontal cortices, putamen and thalamus (p<0.001). The hard condition was associated with greater anterior cingulate activation than the easy condition when associated with the performance, as previously demonstrated in studies carried out with English speaking subjects. Increased phonological verbal fluency task demand in Portuguese was associated with activation differences in only one brain region, namely the cerebellum (in the direction of greater activation during performance of the task with easy letters). There were significant correlations between phonological verbal fluency task performance in Portuguese and the intensity of anterior cingulate activation, when hard letters to produce words were used (but not with easy letters). There were no significant correlations between demographic variables and the performance during production of words beginning with easy or difficult letters. There was greater activation of the posterior cingulate cortex during the production of words beginning with the difficult letters in women than in men. There was also a significantly positive interaction between gender and level of difficult in anterior cingulate cortex, with men showing greater activation of this brain region during the word production beginning with difficult letters relative to women. CONCLUSIONS: Despite grammatical differences, the patterns of cortical activations observed in our study were in accordance with fMRI studies of phonological verbal fluency task carried out in other languages, with recruitment of a set of distributed cerebral areas during the word production. There is evidence that increased task demand is associated with greater engagement of the anterior cingulate cortex in Portuguese, similarly to the patterns previously observed in English. There were gender differences in regard to the engagement of brain regions seen as critical to verbal fluency performance, particularly in the anterior cingulate cortex

L’objectif général de cette thèse est d’étudier la production quantitative (i.e., nombre de mots) et qualitative (i.e. regroupements et alternances) du verbe d’action dans le vieillissement normal et dans les pathologies du mouvement à travers la tâche de fluence d’action, comparativement aux fluences classiques (i.e., sémantique et littérale). Nous avons montré que la production lors d’une tâche de fluence d’action est altérée chez des adultes âgés (60 ans et plus) comparativement à des adultes jeunes (30 ans et moins) et qu’elle est en lien avec les fonctions exécutives (Expérience 1) et la mémoire de travail (Expérience 3) chez l’adulte âgé. L’effet de l’âge paraît être modifié par le temps de production, les adultes âgés produisant moins de verbes d’action que les adultes jeunes pour un temps de trois minutes (Expérience 1) mais pas pour des temps d’une (Expérience 2) et de deux minutes (Expérience 3). De plus, les adultes âgés prenaient davantage en considération la consigne temporelle lors des tâches de fluence verbale que les adultes jeunes (Expérience 2). Les données d’une tâche d’association verbale (Expérience 4) indiquaient que les associations entre les noms et les verbes sont modifiées par l’âge. Nous avons comparés les performances de patients atteints de pathologiesdu mouvement à celles de participants contrôles lors de la tâche de fluence d’action. Nous avons montré que la production quantitative lors cette tâche est altérée chez des patients atteints de maladie de Parkinson (Expérience 5) et d’atrophie multisystématisée (Expérience 6). Dans le tremblement essentiel (Expérience 7), nous avons montré une atteinte de la fluence d’action alors que le traitement des verbes, lors d’une tâche de décision lexicale, n’était pas altéré. De plus, la chirurgie (stimulation cérébrale profonde) modifiait qualitativement la production dans la tâche de fluence d’action. Nos données montrent un impact du vieillissement normal et des pathologies du mouvement sur la production du verbe d’action, enraison de la nature fortement exécutive de ce processus. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate the production of action verbs through the action fluency task, in comparison to classical fluency tasks (i.e., semantic and letter). In first instance, production has been studied, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in aging. We have shown that action fluency is impacted by healthy aging and is related to executive functions (Experiment 1) and working memory (Experiment 3) in older adults. This effect of age appearsto be affected by production time, with older adults producing fewer action verbs than younger adults in three minutes (Experiment 1) but not in one (Experiment 2) and two minutes (Experiment 3). In addition, older adults took more into account the time instruction during verbal fluency tasks (Experiment 2). The verbal association task’s data (Experiment 4) indicated that associations between nouns and verbs are modified by age. In second instance,the production of action verbs has been studied within movement disorders. We have shown that the production in the action fluency task and the adaptation to time instruction are impacted by Parkinson's disease (Experiment 5). We have also shown that action fluency is altered within an atypical parkinsonism, multiple system atrophy (Experiment 6). In essential tremor (Experiment 7), we have shown an impairment of action fluency while verbs treatment, in a lexical decision task, was not altered. In addition, surgery (deep brain stimulation) qualitatively modified the production of verbs in action fluency. Our data highlight the impact of healthy aging and movement disorders on the production of action verb, due to the highly executive nature of this process.

Notre recherche a pour objectif de tester l’incidence de la pratique linguistique à l’oral sur les compétences en lecture d’apprenants de Français Langue Etrangère (FLE). A partir d’une hypothèse en psycholinguistique sur le rôle de la prosodie implicite dans le décodage de l’écrit en Langue Maternelle (Fodor, 2002), nous postulons qu’un travail poussé de correction phonétique centré sur la sensibilisation à la structure prosodique du français (via la Méthode Verbo Tonale, MVT) va non seulement améliorer la fluence des apprenants en parole spontanée et en parole lue, mais aussi faciliter le décodage de l’écrit. Nous pensons que cet apprentissage sera plus efficace s’il est proposé dès le niveau débutant. Pour tester ces hypothèses, nous avons mené deux études longitudinales avec des apprenants anglophones de FLE. Nous avons mesuré la fluence en lecture oralisée des apprenants avant et après la formation. Les résultats des analyses acoustiques et perceptives de la première étude (étude pilote) nous ont permis de confirmer nos hypothèses et d’appuyer nos choix méthodologiques. Dans la deuxième étude, nous avons souhaité approfondir les résultats obtenus dans l’étude pilote et valider expérimentalement l’efficacité de la MVT. Nous avons comparé l’impact de la MVT et de la méthode Articulatoire dans l’évolution de la fluence des apprenants. Nous avons également testé un des présupposés de la méthodologie SGAV (dont est issue la MVT) selon lequel l’écrit ne devrait pas être introduit avant que les paramètres prosodiques ne soient maitrisés, sans quoi le passage à l’écrit entrainerait une chute de la fluence des apprenants. Les résultats de cette seconde étude vont dans le sens de nos hypothèses : seuls les apprenants qui ont suivi les cours de correction phonétique via la MVT ont amélioré leur fluence en parole lue. De plus, l’introduction de l’écrit fait chuter la fluence des productions chez tous les apprenants. En conclusion, la maitrise de la prosodie constitue un prérequis nécessaire au passage à l’écrit en langue étrangère. / This study investigates the influence of oral training on reading out loud in French as a Foreign Language (FFL). Based on the implicit prosody hypothesis by Fodor (2002), we venture that working on the phonetic correction orally will improve speaking fluency, as well as reading fluency, and facilitate the decoding of the written test. We think that the impact of this training will be stronger with beginner than advanced learners. In order to test these hypotheses, we have conducted two longitudinal studies with English FFL students. We have measured the students’ fluency before and after training. The acoustics and perceptive results of the first study have confirmed our hypothesis and supported our methodology. In the second study, we follow up on these results on a larger-scale longitudinal study, designed to systematically compare the impact of two phonetics teaching methods on reading skills for FFL learners of French: the Articulatory Method (AM) and the Verbo-Tonal Method (VTM). We have also tested one of the presuppositions of the Structuro-Global Audiovisual Methodology (SGAV) – from which comes the VTM – according to which readings and writings activities should be delayed until students’ phonetic and prosodic skills have reached a basic and steady level. Our data support our hypotheses: only the students who have received VTM classes have improved their reading fluency. Furthermore, the introduction of reading activities during the training has caused a decline in all the students' fluency. Thus mastering second language prosody is essential before introducing reading or writing activities.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is currently the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease (AD), affecting 100.000 people in Spain and more than 4 million people worldwide. Being a movement disorder, impairment of motor functions is considered to be the hallmark symptom of PD. However, cognitive dysfunction is now recognized as a common feature, being present since early disease stages and affecting the majority of patients as the disease progresses. In line with this, one of the most common cognitive deficits found in PD patients are verbal semantic and phonemic fluency deficits. Although there are still no established biomarkers for PD, neuroimaging methods offer the possibility of mapping the neurobiological substrates of motor and cognitive impairment in these patients. Amongst the available neuroimaging techniques, structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, fMRI) produces images of the brain that provide quantitative values of cerebral atrophy and brain dysfunction, respectively. These techniques are relevant because they shed light into neurodegeneration processes occurring in PD compared to normal aging as well as those pathological processes that specifically underlie cognitive decline in these patients. In addition to neuroimaging, another method that allows studying brain networks and their disruption in PD is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which, in addition to modulating functional connectivity, provides a tool for cognitive and motor rehabilitation. This thesis comprises three different studies that had two main goals. On one hand, it was aimed at characterizing the brain’s structural and functional correlates of semantic and phonemic fluency cognitive deficits in patients with PD using MRI, fMRI and tDCS methods. On the other hand, given the lack of a comparison of the relative contribution of different existing MRI-based techniques to characterize cortical degeneration in PD, specific changes in different characteristics of the cortical gray matter (GM) layer were assessed to determine whether brain atrophy in PD can be attributed to changes in cortical thickness, cortical folding or GM volume. The first study of this thesis showed that semantic fluency is associated with GM density in cortical frontal and temporal areas in PD patients, suggesting this function relies both on executive functions and semantic memory processes. The second study showed that by stimulating the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with tDCS, significant enhancement of functional connectivity occurs in both semantic and phonemic fluency networks in PD, in addition to a significant improvement of phonemic fluency functions. The third and final study showed that amongst the most widely used neuroimaging analysis techniques to assess cortical changes in PD, cortical thickness seems to be the most sensitive, followed by cortical folding and finally GM volume as assessed by voxel-based morphometry. To conclude, the results that were found in this thesis shaded light into previously unstudied issues related to PD, increasing the knowledge on some of the cerebral pathological changes that affect patients with this disorder. In addition they encourage the use of tDCS to explore brain networks in PD and suggest that surface-based techniques such as cortical thickness are useful to assess GM changes occurring in these patients. / Actualmente, la enfermedad de Parkinson (EP) es el segundo trastorno neurodegenerativo más frecuente después de la enfermedad de Alzheimer. Al ser un trastorno del movimiento, el síntoma principal de la EP es el deterioro de las funciones motoras. Sin embargo, la disfunción cognitiva actualmente se reconoce como una característica más de la EP, que está presente desde las fases iniciales de la enfermedad y que afecta a la mayoría de los pacientes a medida que la enfermedad va avanzando. Entre los déficits cognitivos más comunes en la EP se encuentra el deterioro de la fluidez semántica y fonológica que normalmente se atribuye al deterioro de las funciones ejecutivas. Aunque todavía no se han establecido biomarcadores definitivos para la EP, los métodos de neuroimagen como la resonancia magnética estructural y funcional (RM, RMf) y los métodos de estimulación cerebral no invasiva como la estimulación por corriente directa (ECT) ofrecen la posibilidad de estudiar los sustratos neurobiológicos del deterioro cognitivo en estos pacientes. Esta tesis está formada por tres estudios. El primer estudio de esta tesis demostró que la fluidez semántica está asociada con la densidad de sustancia gris en áreas corticales frontales y temporales en los pacientes con EP, lo que sugiere que esta función se basa tanto en las funciones ejecutivas como en la memoria semántica. El segundo estudio mostró que la ECT sobre la corteza prefrontal dorsolateral izquierda, da lugar a un aumento significativo de la conectividad funcional en las redes neuronales de la fluidez semántica y fonológica, además de una mejora significativa de las funciones de fluidez fonológica en la EP. El tercer y último estudio mostró que entre las técnicas de análisis de neuroimagen más utilizadas para evaluar los cambios corticales en la EP, el grosor cortical parece ser el más sensible, seguido por el plegado cortical y el volumen de sustancia gris. Para concluir, los resultados que se encontraron proporcionan información relevante sobre temas que previamente no se habían estudiado en la EP, aumentando el conocimiento sobre algunos de los cambios cerebrales patológicos que afectan a los pacientes con este trastorno

This study examined reading programs in 68 Texas elementary schools that were identified as successful by their scores on TAAS assessment results in the 1999-2000 school year. These schools’ student populations had a high proportion of culturally diverse and low-SES students. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine if and how teaching methods and collaboration (intervention/support teams) were used by effective schools to foster reading success in all students; (2) to identify cohesive patterns (clusters) or models in schools’ use of collaboration and teaching methods; (3) to examine these clusters of similar schools and see if the patterns differed based on the school/community demography (urban, suburban, or rural). The study was conducted in 68 schools in 33 school districts that represented various demographic settings from 12 different Education Service Centers across Texas. From these original 332 variables, 26 variables were selected that were of medium frequency and strongly correlated with high TAAS scores over a 4- year period. These 26 variables were used to examine the 68 high-performing Texas elementary schools for clusters. K-means analysis and HCA were both applied to the 26 response variables, using them as complementary techniques to arrive at a five cluster solution. Results from correlations of individual characteristics and from identifying school clusters suggested that school community type could possibly be moderately predictive of student performance on the TAAS/TAKS over time.

Bakgrund och problem: Företag ägnar idag betydande utrymme i sina årsredovisningar till berättande information som ska ge investeraren en helhetsbild av företaget och dess verksamhet, vilket ska öka användbarheten vid beslutsfattande. Investerare värderar den kontextuella informationen högt men anser samtidigt att den saknar aktualitet och objektivitet. Ett problem med den berättande informationen är att företagen kan framställa sina prestationer och framtidsutsikter på ett opportunistiskt sätt. Med utgångspunkt i att framvagnen består av berättande information och är en viktig del av företags årsredovisning är det av vikt att undersöka framvagnen. Läsbarheten av den berättande informationen har visats påverka icke-professionella investerare i en bedömnings- och beslutssituation, varför det är intressant att undersöka hur framvagnens läsbarhet påverkar investeringsbeslutet. Syfte: Syftet är att förstå hur framvagnen används som kommunikationskanal och förklara hur interaktionen mellan framvagnens läsbarhet och nivån på de finansiella nyheterna, positiva respektive negativa, påverkar icke-professionella investerares investeringsbeslut. Metod: Studien utgår från både en kvalitativ och en kvantitativ ansats. För att förstå hur framvagnen används som kommunikationskanal har vi genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer, med en projektledare för årsredovisningen och två användare av framvagnen för få att deras syn på sambandet mellan framvagnen och de resterande delarna av årsredovisningen samt vikten av läsbarheten av och tilliten till framvagnen. Vi genomförde ett experiment på tredjeårsstudenter på civilekonomprogrammet vid Linköpings universitet där vi undersökte hur interaktionen mellan framvagnens läsbarhet och nivån på de finansiella nyheterna, positiva respektive negativa, påverkar icke-professionella investerares investeringsbeslut. Slutsats: Vi fann att framvagnen används för att kommunicera en berättelse om företaget men även för att sätta de finansiella rapporterna i ett tydligare sammanhang, vilket ska ge investeraren en känsla för varför den ska investera i företaget. En högre läsbarhet av framvagnen underlättar kommunikationen mellan företaget och dess investerare då samtliga investerare förstår informationen samtidigt som det undermedvetet ökar tilliten till informationen. Experimentet indikerade att läsbarheten i kombination med nivån på de finansiella nyheterna har en viss påverkan på icke-professionella investerares sannolikhet att investera och tillit till informationen. En framvagn med en högre läsbarhet som innehåller positiva finansiella nyheter torde öka icke-professionella investerares sannolikhet att investera i företaget. När framvagnen har en högre läsbarhet har de icke-professionella investerarna en större tillit till de positiva finansiella nyheterna. Har framvagnen däremot en lägre läsbarhet har de icke-professionella investerarna en större tillit till de negativa finansiella nyheterna. / Background &amp; Problem: Today, companies devote significant space in their annual reports to narrative information, which provide investors with a complete picture of the company and its operations. The narrative information enhances the documents’ decision usefulness. Investors consider the contextual information valuable even though it is lacking timeliness and objectivity. One problem with the narrative information is that companies can present their achievements and prospect in a favourable way. Because the-state-of-the-company report consists of narrative information and is a significant part of the annual report it is of importance to explore. The readability of the narrative information has been shown to influence non-professional investors’ investment decision, therefore it is of interest to explore how the readability of the-state-of-the-company report influences the investment decision. Aim: The aim is to understand how the-state-of-the-company report is used as a communication channel and to explain how the interaction between the readability of the state-of-the-company report and the level of financial news, positive or negative, influence investors’ decisions. Method: The study is based on both a qualitative and a quantitative method. We conducted semi-structured interviews to understand how the-state-of-the-company report is used as communication channel. Interviews were conducted with a project manager for the annual report and two users of the state-of-the-company report. The purpose with the interviews were to get their view of the relationship between the state-of-the-company report and the financial reporting part of the annual report, as well as the importance of the readability of and reliance on the state-of-the-company report. We have conducted an experiment on third grade business students at Linköping University to explain how the interaction between the readability of the state-of-the-company report and the level of financial news, positive or negative, influence non-professional investors’ investment decisions. Conclusion: We found that the state-of-the-company report is used to communicate a story about the company, but also to contextualize the numbers, which gives the investor a sense of why they should invest in the company. A higher readability of the-state-of-the-company report enhances the communication between the company and its investors, since all investors can comprehend the information at the same time as it subconsciously increases their reliance on the information. The experiment indicated that the readability, in combination with the level of financial news (positive or negative), has some influence on non-professional investors’ likelihood to invest and their reliance on the information. A state-of-the-company report with a higher readability consisting positive financial new should increase non-professional investors’ likelihood to invest. When the state-of-the-company report has higher readability, non-professional investors have a greater reliance on the positive financial news. If the state-of-the-company report instead has lower readability, non-professional investors have a greater reliance on the negative financial news. The readability has not the same influence on professional investors because they have a more critical perspective on the state-of-the-company report.