A qualitative approach was taken to explore Canadian Congolese refugees’ experience of war trauma recovery. Six volunteers (three men and three women), who self-identified as traumatized by their experience of war in Congo and had lived in Canada for less than ten years, participated in in-depth interviews. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach to analysis, a core construct of Surviving War was identified. A hierarchical model of surviving war was developed that subsumed all other categories. By extrapolating principles from this model, a theory of Surviving War was developed which identifies factors that contribute to surviving war. Limitations of the current research are presented along with suggestions for further research. Recommendations for professionals working with a refugee population are also presented.

A qualitative approach was taken to explore Canadian Congolese refugees’ experience of war trauma recovery. Six volunteers (three men and three women), who self-identified as traumatized by their experience of war in Congo and had lived in Canada for less than ten years, participated in in-depth interviews. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach to analysis, a core construct of Surviving War was identified. A hierarchical model of surviving war was developed that subsumed all other categories. By extrapolating principles from this model, a theory of Surviving War was developed which identifies factors that contribute to surviving war. Limitations of the current research are presented along with suggestions for further research. Recommendations for professionals working with a refugee population are also presented.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:44:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5955.pdf: 2202085 bytes, checksum: 2bdf9d02a40e317e0214e8d84f9872e0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-23 / The focus of this work was to watch, in the speeches of InterpreterTranslators of the Language of Signs (TILS), the understanding and the conceptions that they have concerning your function in the process of the deaf student's formation and of the professional alterities constitution of them. We based our study theoretically in the enunciativo-discursive language theory of Mikhail Bakhtin and, to leave of that referential, we defined the methodological procedures , as then organization and the discussions presented in the results. We left of the presupposition that to understand the subjects it is necessary to request to place them in your reality, in the universe of relationships in which they are submerged, and that are decisive the construction of meanings and the relationships and interactions for them established, considering, still, the researcher's active paper in the construction of the data. It participated with us, in the interviews and interactions, 27 TILS, located in series of the Fundamental Teaching II (6th to the 9th year), in schools of the municipal public nets of 8 (eight) Brazilian states. The interviews were recorded, and we did, also, annotations of context elements, important for the understanding of the subjects and yours speeches. We created dialogue spaces and reflection concerning the elements that guide the social practices of these subjects in your professional contexts and, leaving of discussions centered in the speech concepts, subject, dialogy and ideology, we cleaned our perception on the construction of the senses and meanings attributed by the TILS to your material realities and related universes, besides the function of the speeches in the manners as the subject of the research understand your function and responsibilities and they look at the work place for them in the sceneries of development of the deaf students' schooling. Among ours (in) conclusions, detached that the local sceneries indicate significant changes in course in what plays to the deaf students' education and, mainly, in the relationship with the TILS. The plurality of professional entails and of wages it demonstrated that there is a lot to be done in this field of the rights and duties. The suitable situations for the subjects also appeared for the distance among what it would be the ideal and what is the Real in the implantation of bilingual educational projects. We saw as indispensable the support offer to the faculty, as well as the need of the TILS of if they feel part of the teaching team and they develop partnership relationships with the teachers. We saw, also, that the realities and singularities lived by the performance in school atmospheres they hinder these professionals excessively to define your roles, the limits of your responsibilities in the teaching process and of the deaf students' learning. Finally, on formation, professionalization and politization of the TILS, we believed that are aspects they be constantly pursued her, not just in your dimension individual, but collective, considering the interlacement and the crossings of the aspects political, ideological, philosophical, that constitute them in the group of your professional identities. With relationship to the unfoldings of this research, because the done questions raised many other, we believed, mainly, in the importance and need to think on her the formation in a deep and connected way to the beginnings of the alterity. And, still, we waited that, after materializing doubts, conflicts, anguishes and reflections of TILS, this material can serve, also, to the formulation of new and others idealize and ideas of professional formation for them. / O foco deste trabalho foi desvelar, nos discursos de Tradutores-Interpretes de Língua de Sinais (TILS), a compreensão e as concepções que eles têm acerca de seu papel no processo de formação do aluno surdo e da constituição de suas alteridades profissionais. Fundamentamos teoricamente nosso estudo na teoria enunciativo-discursiva da linguagem de Mikhail Bakhtin e, a partir desse referencial, definimos tanto os procedimentos metodológicos, quanto a organização e as discussões apresentadas nos resultados. Partimos do pressuposto de que compreender os sujeitos requer situá-los em sua realidade, no universo de relações no qual estão imersos, e que são determinantes a construção de significados e as relações e interações por eles estabelecidas, considerando, ainda, o papel ativo do pesquisador na construção dos dados. Participaram conosco, das entrevistas e interações, 27 TILS, atuantes em séries do Ensino Fundamental II (6º ao 9º ano), em escolas das redes públicas municipais de 8 (oito) estados brasileiros. As entrevistas foram gravadas, e fizemos, também, anotações de elementos contextuais, relevantes para a compreensão dos sujeitos e seus discursos. Criamos espaços de diálogo e reflexão acerca dos elementos que orientam as práticas sociais destes sujeitos em seus contextos profissionais e, partindo de discussões centradas nos conceitos de discurso, sujeito, dialogia e ideologia, apuramos nossa percepção sobre a construção dos sentidos e significados atribuídos pelos TILS às suas realidades materiais e universos relacionais, além da função dos discursos nos modos como os sujeitos da pesquisa entendem seu papel e responsabilidades e olham para o lugar ocupado por eles nos cenários de desenvolvimento da escolarização de alunos surdos. Dentre nossas (in)conclusões, destacamos que os cenários locais indicam mudanças significativas em curso no que tange à escolaridade de alunos surdos e, principalmente, na relação com os TILS. A pluralidade de vínculos profissionais e de salários demonstrou que há muito a ser feito neste campo dos direitos e deveres. As situações indicadas pelos sujeitos apontaram também para a distância entre o que seria o ideal e o que é o real na implantação de projetos educacionais bilíngues. Vimos como indispensáveis a oferta de suporte ao corpo docente, assim como a necessidade dos TILS de se sentirem parte da equipe de ensino e desenvolverem relações de parceria com os professores. Vimos, também, que as realidades e singularidades vivenciadas pela atuação em ambientes escolares dificultam sobremaneira a estes profissionais definirem seus papéis, os limites de suas responsabilidades no processo de ensino e de aprendizagem dos alunos surdos. Finalmente, sobre formação, profissionalização e politização dos TILS, acreditamos que são aspectos a serem perseguidos constantemente, não apenas em sua dimensão individual, mas coletiva, considerando o entrelaçamento e os atravessamentos dos aspectos políticos, ideológicos, filosóficos, que os constituem no conjunto das suas identidades profissionais. Quanto aos desdobramentos desta pesquisa, visto que as perguntas feitas suscitaram muitas outras, acreditamos, principalmente, na importância e necessidade de se pensar sobre a formação de maneira profunda e conectada aos princípios da alteridade. E, ainda, esperamos que, após materializar dúvidas, conflitos, angústias e reflexões de TILS, este material possa servir, também, à formulação de novas e outros ideais e ideias de formação profissional para eles.

Signed language interpreting in South Africa has not received much academic attention, despite the profession having undergone major transformation since the advent of democracy. This study aims to create a better understanding of signed language interpreters’ behaviour in one specific setting in South Africa – post-secondary education. During the researcher’s own practice as an educational interpreter at a post-secondary institution, she experienced role conflict and found little information available to assist her in making professional decisions on which direction to take. This provided the impetus to embark on this research. The study begins by outlining the field of liaison interpreting and educational interpreting, and examining the existing literature regarding the interpreter’s role and norms in interpreting. It then goes on to examine authentic interpreted texts, filmed in actual lectures in post-secondary settings. These texts are analysed with reference to interpreter shifts and deviations from the source text, with particular focus on interpreter-generated utterances (additions), borrowing (fingerspelling), omissions (both errors and conscious choice) and various types of collaboration between the interpreter and primary participants. These shifts are examined in more detail to explore whether they indicate any change in the interpreter’s role. Further, interpreters’ own views about their practice, elicited from individual interviews, enable the reader to understand how the interpreters view the role(s) that they fulfil. The research will provide information for interpreter trainers about the roles assumed by SASL interpreters in higher education and provide a platform from which to scaffold future educational interpreter research and training. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

The masterʼs thesis, divided into theoretical and empirical parts, deals with court interpreting for children and minors. After a short introduction to history, it describes the characteristic of court interpreting with the emphasis on children and minors involved in judicial proceedings. Following chapters focus on court interpreting in the Czech republic, expanding on its description, the related legal framework, required qualification and training of court interpreters. Subsequently, the thesis draws a comparison with training and education of other professionals taking part in proceedings with minors. Furthermore, the state of the art in the Czech republic is also compared to the situation in Belgium where the project CO-Minor-IN/ QUEST was launched and carried out. To our knowledge, it is the first international project on cooperation among major professionals involved in interpreted criminal proceedings with minor participants. The thesis presents a summary of findings concerning communication with children and minors, laying stress on particular patterns of behaviour and conduct that are likely to occur in little and school-age children. The information provided is considered in the context of court interpreting. The thesis puts emphasis on the most significant differences between court...

[pt] O estudo investiga narrativas de conflito de alunos surdos e tradutores-intérpretes de Libras/Português, que emergem em entrevistas de pesquisa, junto ao pesquisador-intérprete, no Instituto Nacional de Educação de Surdos (INES). A perspectiva teórica e analítica se situa no âmbito da Linguística Aplicada, mediante análise de narrativas sobre conflito, em relações com narrativas de sofrimento, estigma e de resistência, nas perspectivas textual, interacional e sequencial, com avaliações, dêiticos e diálogo construído. A metodologia é qualitativa e interpretativa, com critérios de ética da pesquisa, de natureza êmica e geração de dados em entrevistas de pesquisa. Há discussão das convenções de transcrição dos dados para línguas orais, da análise da conversa, e para Libras, com glosas escritas. As convenções utilizadas buscam abarcar a complexidade de interações sinalizadas em Libras, com tradução para o Português. Os resultados das análises das narrativas de conflito indicam que: i) os alunos surdos relatam experiências de conflito e estigma na família, na descoberta da surdez, na relação interpessoal com surdos e ouvintes, colegas e professores, na Educação Básica e na Universidade; ii) os intérpretes de Libras relatam conflitos, em situações de atuação profissional, com interferência de alunos ouvintes no ato interpretativo, na sala de aula, além de conflito com professores ouvintes. Na busca de inteligibilidades, são focalizadas propostas de alunos surdos e de intérpretes de Libras: alunos surdos indicam o uso de Libras por ouvintes em sala de aula, além de contestarem estigmas e opressão; e os intérpretes de Libras fazem relatos de conflitos na prática profissional. / [en] The study investigates conflict narratives of deaf students and translators/interpreters of Libras/Portuguese that emerge from research interviews with the researcher-interpreter at the National Institute of Education of Deaf (INES). The theoretical and analytical perspective is situated in the scope of Applied Linguistics, through analysis of narratives about conflict, in relation to narratives of suffering, stigma and resistance, in textual, interactional and sequential perspectives, with evaluations, deixis and constructed dialogue. The methodology is qualitative and interpretative, with criteria of research ethics, emic in nature and data generation in research interviews. There is a discussion of the conventions of data transcription for oral languages, conversation analysis, and Libras, with written glosses. The conventions used seek to encompass the complexity of signaled interactions in Libras, with translations to Portuguese. The results of conflict narrative analysis indicate that: i) deaf students report experiences of conflict and stigma within their families, the discovery of deafness, and the interpersonal relationships with deaf and hearing people, mates and teachers/professors, at school and at college; ii) Libras interpreters report conflicts in professional settings, with the interference of hearing students in the interpretive act, in the classrooms, and also conflicts with hearing teachers. In the search for intelligibilities, proposals are focused on deaf students and interpreters of Libras: deaf students indicate the use of Libras by the hearing ones in the classroom, in addition to contesting stigma and oppression; and the Libras interpreters report conflicts in their professional practices.

Within medical facilities in South Africa, including the Western Cape, language barriers often exist between healthcare professionals and their patients. This can cause a barrier to efficient patient treatment. In order to address this problem, educational institutions in the Western Cape have started to introduce Xhosa language facilitation for healthcare professionals. In order to facilitate the learning of this additional language, the use of e-learning as a complement to traditional classroom lectures was investigated. The students who participated in this Xhosa language facilitation were specifically identified. This study was quantitative in nature and questionnaires were used. It was concluded that the combination of lectures and the complementary e-learning component helps to improve the student’s ability to learn an additional language, in this case Xhosa. Recommendations were made that would possibly alleviate the problem of language barriers in healthcare settings in the Western Cape. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

Usability aspects of programming languages are often overlooked, yet have a substantial effect on programmer productivity. These issues are even more acute in the field of Inductive Synthesis, where programs are automatically generated from sample expected input and output data, and the programmer needs to be able to comprehend, and confirm or reject the suggested programs. A promising method of Inductive Synthesis, CombInduce, which is particularly suitable for synthesizing recursive programs, is a candidate for improvements in usability as the target language Combilog is not user-friendly. The method requires the target language to be strictly compositional, hence devoid of variables, yet have the expressiveness of definite clause programs. This sets up a challenging problem for establishing a user-friendly but equally expressive target language. Alternatives to Combilog, such as Quine's Predicate-functor Logic and Schönfinkel and Curry's Combinatory Logic also do not offer a practical notation: finding a more usable representation is imperative. This thesis presents two distinct approaches towards more convenient representations which still maintain compositionality. The first is Visual Combilog (VC), a system for visualizing Combilog programs. In this approach Combilog remains as the target language for synthesis, but programs can be read and modified by interacting with the equivalent diagrams instead. VC is implemented as a split-view editor that maintains the equivalent Combilog and VC representations on-the-fly, automatically transforming them as necessary. The second approach is Combilog with Name Projection (CNP), a textual iteration of Combilog that replaces numeric argument positions with argument names. The result is a language where argument names make the notation more readable, yet compositionality is preserved by avoiding variables. Compositionality is demonstrated by implementing CombInduce with CNP as the target language, revealing that programs with the same level of recursive complexity can be synthesized in CNP equally well, and establishing the underlying method of synthesis can also work with CNP. Our evaluations of the user-friendliness of both representations are supported by a range of methods from Information Visualization, Cognitive Modelling, and Human-Computer Interaction. The increased usability of both representations are confirmed by empirical user studies: an often neglected aspect of language design.

Within medical facilities in South Africa, including the Western Cape, language barriers often exist between healthcare professionals and their patients. This can cause a barrier to efficient patient treatment. In order to address this problem, educational institutions in the Western Cape have started to introduce Xhosa language facilitation for healthcare professionals. In order to facilitate the learning of this additional language, the use of e-learning as a complement to traditional classroom lectures was investigated. The students who participated in this Xhosa language facilitation were specifically identified. This study was quantitative in nature and questionnaires were used. It was concluded that the combination of lectures and the complementary e-learning component helps to improve the student’s ability to learn an additional language, in this case Xhosa. Recommendations were made that would possibly alleviate the problem of language barriers in healthcare settings in the Western Cape. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The initial purpose of this study was to describe and analyse the language situation at Baragwanath Hospital. This was seen as a microcosm of the language situation in urban South Africa. As such, this study set out to identify problems and offer suggestions in resolving the difficulties experienced in communication in this hospital as well as in other medical institutions in the rest of the country. Before attempting such an investigation, a sound theoretical framework had to be established. In order to gain familiarity with the research field, concepts on sociolinguistics had to be researched and described. In order to apply particular concepts to the situation under investigation, the concepts had to be defined and interpreted first. This study has made a contribution to the theoretical debate regarding various sociolinguistic concepts, in that it has shown how these concepts apply to the South African situation. The next step in the research process involved making a decision about which method would be most appropriate for collecting data. Therefore, various approaches were investigated in order to find the appropriate one. The techniques of data collection and the recruitment of respondents had to be refined before the main data collection process could begin. Then began the journey of discovery. The detailed description of the language situation at Baragwanath Hospital presented in chapter 3 forms the crux of this study. This is the first time that such a comprehensive, qualitative description of the entire language situation in this hospital has been done. An appropriate method for data analysis had to be devised. This entailed various levels of analysis and interpretation. A description of the language situation at Baragwanath Hospital would have been incomplete without presenting a few of the various scenarios that took place in this hospital. Many important conclusions were reached during the course of the research. The most important of these were: 1. A huge communication problem exists at Baragwanath Hospital. 2. Either interpreters will have to be hired to overcome this problem; or nurses will have to be paid more for their interpreting services. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil.