The present study investigates the translation of dialectal elements in literary texts from the German and Swedish linguistical and cultural areas. Translation theory generally advises against the translation of dialectal elements in standard language texts thereby implicitly questioning their creative and communicative function. The aim of the study is to investigate to what extent the dialectal elements in the source text are translated by corresponding dialectal elements in the target text thereby promoting a "cultural transfer" or whether a translation method based on translation theory is used. The linguistic material from the novels Die Räuberbande by the German author Leonhard Frank, Tjärdalen by the Swedish author Sara Lidman and Kapten Nemos bibliotek by the Swedish author Per Olov Enquist is microanalyzed. In doing so, the phonetical-phonological, morphological and syntactical dialectal features in the three source texts are treated methodically and are exemplarily and systematically presented together with their translation variants in the target language. The study focuses mainly on the translations of dialectal lexicology, which is investigated according to its contrastive function regarding the translations of standard language, thereby examining its adequacy. By including all the dialectal lexemes appearing in the works and their translations empirical dates have been compiled as a result of the translation methods. The study´s analyses demonstrate that dialectal elements are mainly translated into standard language, that a large part of dialectisms is paraphrased and that a small part is rendered by spoken language without regional limits. A tendency towards increasing use of dialectal elements through the times can be detected as well as a propensity to adapt the translation to the stylistical preferences in the receiving country. Thus, "cultural transfer" is not promoted.

<p>This study formed part of a larger project that is concerned with the adaptation of a test of cognitive academic language proficiency, the Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS). The WMLS has been adapted from English into isiXhosa and the present study is located within the broader study that is concerned with establishing overall equivalence between the two language versions of the WMLS. It was primarily concerned with the Verbal Analogies (VA) scale. Previous research on this scale has demonstrated promising results, but continues to find evidence of some inequivalence. This study aimed to cross-validate previous research on the two language versions of the WMLS and improve on methodological issues by employing matched groups. It drew upon an existing dataset from the larger research project. The study employed a monolingual matched two-group design consisting of 150 mainly English speaking and 149 mainly isiXhosa learners in grades 6 and 7. This study had two sub aims. The first was to investigate item bias by identifying DIF items in the VA scale across the isiXhosa and English by conducting a logistic regression and Mantel-Haenszel procedure. Five items were identified by both techniques as DIF. The second sub aim was to evaluate construct equivalence between the isiXhosa and English versions of the WMLS on the VA scale by conducting a factor analysis on the tests after removal of DIF items. Two factors were requested during the factor analysis. The first factor displayed significant loadings across both language versions and was identified as a stable factor. This was confirmed by the Tucker&rsquo / s Phi and scatter plot. The second factor was stable for the English version but not for the isiXhosa version. The Tucker&rsquo / s phi and scatter plot indicated that this factor is not structurally equivalent across the two language versions</p>

<p>In the majority of the schools in South Africa (SA), learners commence education in English. This English milieu poses a considerable challenge for English second-language speakers. In an attempt to bridge the gap between English as the main medium of instruction and the nine indigenous languages of the country and assist with the implementation of mother-tongue based bilingual education, this study focuses on the cross-validation of a monolingual English test used in the assessment of multilingual or bilingual learners in the South African context. This test, namely the Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS), is extensively used in the United States in Additive Bilingual Education in the country. The present study is a substudy of a broader study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into SA English and Xhosa. For this specific sub-study, the researcher was interested in investigating the scalar equivalence of the adapted English version of the Verbal Analogies (VA) subscale of the WMLS across English first-language speakers and Xhosa first-language speakers. This was achieved by utilising differential item functioning (DIF) and construct bias statistical techniques. The Mantel-Haenszel DIF detection method was employed to detect DIF, while construct equivalence was examined by means of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) utilising an a priori two-factor structure. The Tucker&rsquo / s phi coefficient was used to assess the congruence of the construct across the two language groups</p>

The intended contribution of this work is to systematically discuss a selection of methodological topics and some of the empirical and technical issues that have been driving the measurement of inequality in Mexico so far. This discussion has two strands: firstly, the general case, and second, the particular case of Mexico. The general case include some philosophical concerns, along with a review of the traditional inequality measurement, the most common operational decisions in empirical calculations, and the recent methodological contribution of development literature that is mostly centered around the capability approach of Sen (1985b). The philosophical part contrasted with other approaches and rejected the Marxist view of economic inequality, which is mostly viewed as an outcome of exploitation. The distributional judgments are compared with more ancient schools of thought in regards to justice. Another methodological issue is such that social inequality, approximated by income inequality, might be considered as an additional functioning that measures the degree of social cohesion in the country, this finding is an implication that comes from the definition of functionings within the capability approach; then, social inequality is a functioning that is different in nature from other measures of destitution, and it is also different from the destitution that is captured by absolute poverty measurement. Our general case includes a review of the most popular ways to measure inequality, such as normative and pragmatic inequality measures that are mentioned with their properties, with their rankings of the distributions provided by the use of stochastic dominance and quantile comparisons, and the construction of statistical models and some graphic representations of income economic inequality; the approach of inequality concerns included in the measurement of relative poverty is rejected for the sake of clarity. Then this general view would guide us to a better understanding of the Mexican literature for the consideration of income distribution. The measurement of destitution provided by governmental offices is necessary to discuss, because there might be some lack of coherence between the design of the measurement and the complex legal system in Mexico. We also consider a set of regulatory concerns that might not be unique to the Mexican law, but may be generalized for developing countries as a whole. Some of the methodological discussions that show how the Mexican research has been influenced by the international literature about human destitution will be good to clarify, looking at the value judgments that have been automatically accepted by the researchers. A sensitivity analysis was performed to the empirical calculation of inequality in Mexico, so the measurement showed to be different in regards to a variety of operational concerns: the recipient unit, the different data from income and consumption-expenditure surveys, various non-responses and underreported biases, the inclusion of a regional price index, among other things. In this work was also covered the reasons why it might be the case that destitution and poverty assessment was studied more deeply than inequality itself, so the possible ambiguity of inequality with poverty measurement is challenged in this work with a variety of theoretical remarks and empirical arguments. The final topic for the particular case of Mexico is to shed light in regards to the context of the capability approach and the use of equivalence scales, because these methodological approaches consider respectively directly and indirectly the assessment of distributional judgments. This discussion is followed by an empirical assessment of inequality measures that is related with a set of functionings and services, where a direct relationship of measures of inequality with other measures of destitution is made clear.

Τα τελευταία χρόνια, η φασματοσκοπία πλάσματος επαγόμενο από λέιζερ (LIBS) έχει προσελκύσει μεγάλο ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον καθώς αποτελεί μία πειραματικά απλή και αποτελεσματική τεχνική, η οποία παρέχει τη δυνατότητα λήψης μετρήσεων για απευθείας ποιοτική και ποσοτική στοιχειακή ανάλυση. Η τεχνική LIBS στηρίζεται στη δημιουργία σπινθήρα/πλάσματος μέσω ισχυρά εστιασμένης δέσμης λέιζερ στην επιφάνεια ή στο εσωτερικό του δείγματος, στην ακόλουθη διέγερση και ατομοποίηση των στοιχείων του στόχου και στην τελική καταγραφή και φασματοσκοπική ανάλυση της εκπεμπόμενης ακτινοβολίας του πλάσματος. Λόγω των πολλών πλεονεκτημάτων που συγκεντρώνει η τεχνική, το LIBS έχει προταθεί για πληθώρα πρακτικών, τεχνικών και τεχνολογικών εφαρμογών σε ένα ευρύ φάσμα ερευνητικών πεδίων. Από την άλλη μεριά, στον τομέα της καύσης, η ποσότητα καυσίμου σε ένα εύφλεκτο μίγμα είναι αντικείμενο μείζονος σημασίας καθώς επηρεάζει σημαντικά την απόδοση των χημικών διεργασιών και την παραγωγή και εκπομπή ρύπων. Επομένως, δημιουργείται η ανάγκη ανάπτυξης μίας γρήγορης και μη παρεμβατικής διαγνωστικής τεχνικής για τη μέτρηση της περιεκτικότητας του καυσίμου τοπικά στη φλόγα με καλή τόσο χωρική όσο και χρονική ανάλυση. Στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής, η τεχνική LIBS η οποία συγκεντρώνει όλα αυτά τα πλεονεκτήματα χρησιμοποιήθηκε για αυτό το σκοπό. Κατά τη διάρκεια των πειραμάτων, χρησιμοποιήθηκαν πηγές λέιζερ διάρκειας παλμών ns και fs, ενώ τα συστήματα καύσης που μελετήθηκαν ήταν φλόγες υδρογονανθράκων-αέρα, στρωτής και τυρβώδους ροής, απλής και συνθετότερης γεωμετρίας. Από τα LIBS φάσματα φλογών διαφορετικής σύστασης, προέκυψε λοιπόν ότι υπάρχει μία ισχυρή εξάρτηση μεταξύ των εντάσεων διαφόρων φασματικών γραμμών με το λόγο ισοδυναμίας. Επομένως, μέσω της συσχέτισης αυτής μπορεί να επιτευχθεί με μεγάλη ακρίβεια τόσο η μέτρηση της περιεκτικότητα σε καύσιμο φλογών άγνωστης σύστασης όπως επίσης και η μέτρηση της κατανομής του καυσίμου τοπικά μέσα σε όλη την έκταση της φλόγας παρέχοντας σημαντικές πληροφορίες για την δομή της. Τέλος, εφαρμόστηκε μία παραπλήσια διαγνωστική τεχνική, κατά την οποία η διηλεκτρική κατάρρευση του μέσου ήταν αποτέλεσμα ενός ηλεκτρικού σπινθήρα: electrical Spark Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (SIBS) όπου και πραγματοποιήθηκε η συγκριτική μελέτη της ακτινοβολίας του πλάσματος επαγόμενο μέσω οπτικής και ηλεκτρικής διέγερσης. / Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has attracted a lot of scientific interest during the last two decades as it is generally considered to be an experimentally simple and efficient laser-based technique which can perform real-time, qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis. The basic idea of LIBS is the creation of spark/plasma through tight focusing of a laser beam on the surface or into a sample, the subsequent excitation and atomization of the species of the sample at the location where the spark is formed and the final detection and spectroscopic analysis of the emitted radiation from the decaying plasma. Seeing the numerous advantages holding the technique, LIBS has been proposed for many practical, technical and technological applications in various scientific areas. On the other hand, in the field of combustion, the proportion of fuel in a combustible mixture is of great importance as it strongly affects the efficiency of the chemical processes and the production of soot emissions. Therefore, there is a continuously increasing need for the development of a rapid and non-perturbative diagnostic technique for the determination of the fuel content locally in the flame structure with good spatial and temporal resolution. Ιn the present dissertation, LIBS technique which offers such advantages has been applied for combustion diagnostics purposes. During the experiments, laser systems with pulse duration in the scale of ns and fs have been applied as excitation sources, while the combustible mixtures under investigation were hydrocarbon-air flames, of laminar and turbulent flow with simple and more complicated structures. From the LIBS spectra in flames of different compositions, it was exhibited that there is a strong dependence of the intensities of various spectral lines on the equivalence ratio, which demonstrates that the precise determination of the amount of fuel can be performed. Also based on this correlation, the determination of the equivalence ratio locally everywhere within the flame can be achieved giving useful information about its structure. Finally, a similar diagnostic technique has been employed. The dielectric breakdown is held using a spark generator and the technique is called electrical Spark Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (SIBS). The emitted light of the two plasmas induced by optical and electrical excitation was collected and a comparative study was performed.

This thesis is concerned with the modeling and the analysis of distributedreal-time systems. In distributed systems, components evolve partlyindependently: concurrent actions may be performed in any order, withoutinfluencing each other and the state reached after these actions does notdepends on the order of execution. The time constraints in distributed real-timesystems create complex dependencies between the components and the events thatoccur. So far, distributed real-time systems have not been deeply studied, andin particular the distributed aspect of these systems is often left aside. Thisthesis explores distributed real-time systems. Our work on distributed real-timesystems is based on two formalisms: time Petri nets and networks of timedautomata, and is divided into two parts.In the first part, we highlight the differences between centralized anddistributed timed systems. We compare the main formalisms and their extensions,with a novel approach that focuses on the preservation of concurrency. Inparticular, we show how to translate a time Petri net into a network of timedautomata with the same distributed behavior. We then study a concurrency relatedproblem: shared clocks in networks of timed automata can be problematic when oneconsiders the implementation of a model on a multi-core architecture. We showhow to avoid shared clocks while preserving the distributed behavior, when thisis possible.In the second part, we focus on formalizing the dependencies between events inpartial order representations of the executions of Petri nets and time Petrinets. Occurrence nets is one of these partial order representations, and theirstructure directly provides the causality, conflict and concurrency relationsbetween events. However, we show that, even in the untimed case, some logicaldependencies between event occurrences are not directly described by thesestructural relations. After having formalized these logical dependencies, wesolve the following synthesis problem: from a formula that describes a set ofruns, we build an associated occurrence net. Then we study the logicalrelations in a simplified timed setting and show that time creates complexdependencies between event occurrences. These dependencies can be used to definea canonical unfolding, for this particular timed setting.

<p>This study formed part of a larger project that is concerned with the adaptation of a test of cognitive academic language proficiency, the Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS). The WMLS has been adapted from English into isiXhosa and the present study is located within the broader study that is concerned with establishing overall equivalence between the two language versions of the WMLS. It was primarily concerned with the Verbal Analogies (VA) scale. Previous research on this scale has demonstrated promising results, but continues to find evidence of some inequivalence. This study aimed to cross-validate previous research on the two language versions of the WMLS and improve on methodological issues by employing matched groups. It drew upon an existing dataset from the larger research project. The study employed a monolingual matched two-group design consisting of 150 mainly English speaking and 149 mainly isiXhosa learners in grades 6 and 7. This study had two sub aims. The first was to investigate item bias by identifying DIF items in the VA scale across the isiXhosa and English by conducting a logistic regression and Mantel-Haenszel procedure. Five items were identified by both techniques as DIF. The second sub aim was to evaluate construct equivalence between the isiXhosa and English versions of the WMLS on the VA scale by conducting a factor analysis on the tests after removal of DIF items. Two factors were requested during the factor analysis. The first factor displayed significant loadings across both language versions and was identified as a stable factor. This was confirmed by the Tucker&rsquo / s Phi and scatter plot. The second factor was stable for the English version but not for the isiXhosa version. The Tucker&rsquo / s phi and scatter plot indicated that this factor is not structurally equivalent across the two language versions</p>

<p>In the majority of the schools in South Africa (SA), learners commence education in English. This English milieu poses a considerable challenge for English second-language speakers. In an attempt to bridge the gap between English as the main medium of instruction and the nine indigenous languages of the country and assist with the implementation of mother-tongue based bilingual education, this study focuses on the cross-validation of a monolingual English test used in the assessment of multilingual or bilingual learners in the South African context. This test, namely the Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS), is extensively used in the United States in Additive Bilingual Education in the country. The present study is a substudy of a broader study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into SA English and Xhosa. For this specific sub-study, the researcher was interested in investigating the scalar equivalence of the adapted English version of the Verbal Analogies (VA) subscale of the WMLS across English first-language speakers and Xhosa first-language speakers. This was achieved by utilising differential item functioning (DIF) and construct bias statistical techniques. The Mantel-Haenszel DIF detection method was employed to detect DIF, while construct equivalence was examined by means of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) utilising an a priori two-factor structure. The Tucker&rsquo / s phi coefficient was used to assess the congruence of the construct across the two language groups</p>

De nos jours, la compétence à écrire ne se limite plus aux habiletés développées dans l’usage du papier-crayon traditionnel. Le traitement de texte est omniprésent et tend à devenir indispensable à l’individu dans les situations authentiques d’écriture. Évaluer la compétence à écrire uniquement sur la base de productions manuscrites suscite alors des interrogations pour des raisons d’authenticité et de validité dans la perspective de Messick (1989). Des études ont du reste révélé que les élèves habitués à l’ordinateur ont de meilleures performances en modalité informatisée (traitement de texte) qu’en modalité manuscrite (Russell et Haney, 2000). Il convient cependant de mieux connaître les deux modalités d’évaluation, l’une par rapport à l’autre. Le processus d’écriture est-il modifié chez le scripteur ? Les conditions de passation sont-elles équivalentes? Faut-il désactiver les correcticiels? Le processus de correction se déroule-t-il de la même manière chez l’enseignant ? Les deux modalités d’évaluation conduisent-elles à des résultats équivalents ? Ce sont là des questions de recherche au centre du présent travail qui a pour objectif de faire une comparaison entre modalités d’évaluation manuscrite et informatisée à l’aide de productions écrites d’élèves de cinquième année secondaire au Québec. Le cadre théorique repose sur deux concepts-clés : processus d’écriture et évaluation de l’écrit. La méthode adoptée est à la fois quantitative et qualitative. Deux tâches d’écriture déjà retenues à l’épreuve unique d’écriture en français du MELS ont été utilisées pour administrer respectivement un test en modalité informatisée et un autre en modalité manuscrite à 127 élèves provenant de deux écoles. Dans la première, il s’agit d’un programme ordinaire avec accès aux TIC. Les correcticiels y étaient désactivés. Dans la deuxième, il s’agit d’un programme favorisant particulièrement les TIC dans l’apprentissage. Dans ce groupe, les correcticiels étaient accessibles. Trois scripteurs étaient observés en modalité informatisée et deux en modalité manuscrite. Les moyens utilisés (verbalisation et caméra vidéo pour les deux modalités, capteur d’écran en plus pour la modalité informatisée) permettaient de recueillir des observations sur le processus d’écriture. En outre, pour recueillir des observations sur le processus de correction, grâce à la verbalisation et une caméra vidéo, deux enseignants étaient observés en cours de tâche en modalité de correction papier-imprimé, un autre correcteur en modalité de correction à l’écran et tous les trois en modalité papier-manuscrit. Des observations qualitatives sur les stratégies d’écriture et de correction étaient ainsi collectées puis retranscrites. Les scores attribués par les mêmes correcteurs en appliquant la grille de correction du MELS aux 254 copies (127 manuscrites, 77 imprimées et 50 à l’écran) ont été analysés. D’abord, l’analyse des observations recueillies sur le processus d’écriture révèle des stratégies déployées exclusivement en modalité informatisée et des stratégies qui y sont plus fréquentes. Ces stratégies relevant de sous-processus différents, la fréquence de leur déploiement en modalité informatisée implique des va-et-vient plus fréquents entre sous-processus distincts lorsque le scripteur utilise le traitement de texte. On peut alors déduire que le caractère récursif du processus rédactionnel est plus marqué en modalité informatisée. Ensuite, les résultats de l’analyse des données sur le processus de correction révèlent que : 1) Le correcteur identifie non seulement les erreurs, mais aussi les éléments pertinents positifs, ce qui remet en cause les cadres conceptuels antérieurs focalisés sur la détection des seules erreurs; 2) La modalité de correction n’a pas d’effet sur les stratégies d’identification d’éléments pertinents, mais les stratégies de rétroaction varient d’une modalité de correction à l’autre. Enfin, au niveau de la comparabilité des scores, l’analyse statistique suggère que : 1) La modalité de production et le programme de formation ont un effet; 2) l’activation des correcticiels a un effet positif faible alors que leur désactivation a un effet négatif important. / Writing skills are no longer limited to those developed in performing paper-and-pencil tasks. Word processing is ubiquitous and becomes indispensable in writing authentic situations. In Messick (1989) perspective, writing assessment that is based on handwritten documents raises authenticity and validity problems. For instance, some studies have revealed that students who use to write with a computer perform better in word processing test conditions than on handwriting conditions (Russell and Haney, 2000). We need to better understand the impact of using a computer for a test as opposed to administering paper-and-pencil test: Is the writing process modified? Are the testing conditions equivalent? Should spell and grammar check software be disabled? Is the assessment process different when the reader has to rate in different modes of presentation - handwritten essays or word processed essays that are either printed or displayed on the screen? Do both assessment methods lead to equivalent results? The purpose of this study is to compare Grade 11 Quebec students’ writing assessments based on essays written with a computer versus handwritten essays. The conceptual framework is built on the concepts of Writing process and Writing assessment. The approach is both quantitative and qualitative. Two writing tasks previously used in the Grade 11MELS French writing exam were used to administer a test with a computer and a paper-and-pencil test. The sample consisted of 127 students from two schools. In the first school, students are enrolled in a regular program with access to ICTs and the spell and grammar check software was disabled. In the second school, ICT use is fully integrated in teaching and learning. In this group, the spell and grammar check software was available. Three writers were observed in the computer mode and two in the handwritten mode. Observations on the writing process were collected in three ways - verbalization and video camera for both modes, screen capture added in computerized mode. In addition, to collect data on the assessment process, the three teachers were observed during the rating task by two means (think-aloud and video camera) in different modes of presentation: two assessed a set of paper essays, one a set of paper that were displayed on the screen and three a set of manuscript essays. Qualitative observations on the writing process and the assessment process were collected and transcribed. Quantitative data consisted of scores given by the three raters using the MELS correction grid. 254 essays (127 handwritten, 77 word-processed and printed, 50 word-processed and displayed on the screen), were analyzed. First, the analysis of the qualitative data on the writing process revealed that some strategies from different writing sub-processes involved in word processing are used exclusively or more frequently when the writer uses a computer. Their application means moving more frequently between different sub-processes when the writer uses the word processor. Therefore, the writing process is more recursive with word processing. Then, the analysis of the quantitative data on assessment process revealed that : 1) the teacher not only identifies errors and problems in text; he also identifies positive features in the essay. This is important because previous frameworks focused on the errors detection; 2) The difference in the mode of presentation does not influence rater’s strategies in the detection of relevant features. Finally, as far as the comparability of scores is concerned, the statistical analysis revealed that: 1) Both the way an essay is produced (word processing or handwriting) and the type of program influence the outcome; 2) Enabling the spell and grammar check software seems to has a small impact whereas disabling it has an important impact. / Au niveau méthodologique, ce travail innove en combinant plusieurs moyens d'observation complémentaires sur le processus d'écriture et sur le processus de correction. Les observations qualitatives ainsi recueillies sont retranscrites en les combinant selon l'ordre chronologique d'apparition, puis elles sont traitées et analysées sous le logiciel QDA Miner.

Plus de dix ans après la mise en place du projet d’harmonisation du droit du commerce électronique, l’ASEAN, « The Association of Southeast Asian Nations » rassemblant dix États membres en Asie du Sud-est, n’arrive toujours pas à doter chacun de ses États membres d’une législation harmonisée en la matière. Dans cette optique, nous tenterons, pour contribuer à cette harmonisation, de démontrer la situation problématique relative au droit du commerce électronique dans six des dix États membres de l’ASEAN où, en plus de leur non-uniformité législative, les textes nationaux régissant le formalisme du contrat électronique demeurent difficiles à comprendre, à interpréter et donc à appliquer ; ce qui cause parfois des erreurs interprétatives voire l’oubli total de ces textes. Cette expérience n’est pas unique dans l’ASEAN, car l’on trouve également de similaires situations dans d’autres juridictions, telles que le Canada et les États-Unis. Pour pallier cette rupture entre la loi et la jurisprudence, nous proposons une quête d’une méthode d’interprétation comme une piste de solution qui nous semble la plus pertinente au regard de l’état des textes déjà en vigueur et de l’objectif de l’harmonisation du droit du commerce électronique dans l’ASEAN. Parmi les méthodes interprétatives très variées, nous arrivons à identifier la méthode contextuelle, aussi large soit-elle, comme la méthode la plus pertinente eu égard aux caractéristiques particulières du formalisme du contrat électronique, à savoir l’écrit et la signature électroniques. Nous proposons donc une grille d’analyse de cette méthode composée de contextes juridique, technique et social, qui aideront les juristes, surtout les juges, à mieux saisir le sens des textes et à leur donner « une meilleure interprétation » en faveur de l’objectif de l’harmonisation du droit dans l’ASEAN. / More than ten years after the implementation of the harmonization project of e-commerce law, ASEAN, "The Association of Southeast Asian Nations" gathering ten Member States in Southeast Asia, is still not able to provide each of their Member States with a harmonized legislation in this respect. In this context, we try, in contribution to this harmonization, to demonstrate the problematic situation on e-commerce law in six of the ten ASEAN Member States where, in addition to their statutory non-uniformity, these national laws governing the formalism of electronic contract are difficult to understand, to interpret and therefore to apply; sometimes causing interpretative errors or total neglect of these texts. This experience is not unique to ASEAN, because there are also similar situations in other jurisdictions such as Canada and the United States. To address this disconnect between the law and jurisprudence, we propose a search for a method of interpretation as a possible solution that seems most relevant to the state of the texts already in place and to the objective of harmonizing of the electronic commerce law in ASEAN. Among the wide variety of interpretive methods, we are able to identify the contextual approach, as large as it is, as the most appropriate method regarding to the particular characteristics of the formalism of electronic contract, namely the electronic writing and electronic signature. We propose an analytical method that consists of legal, technical and social contexts that will help lawyers, especially judges, to better understand the meaning of the texts and to give them a "best interpretation" in favor of the objective of harmonization of law in ASEAN. / Commentaires généraux du rapport externe (par Prof. Arthur Oulaï) : Il faut saluer la préoccupation du candidat pour l’apport d’un éclairage sur les textes qui régissent le contrat électronique afin de les rendre plus accessibles aux juges. L’élaboration d’une méthode d’interprétation de ces textes constitue, sans aucun doute, une contribution telle qu’attendue d’une thèse de doctorat en droit. Nous tenons à l’en féliciter. Nous recommandons donc la soutenance de sa thèse et lui accordons la mention « Très bonne ». 12 Déc. 2013 – Vincent Gautrais (Directeur de thèse) : Sambath Hel vient de se voir attribuer le doctorat en droit de l’Université de Montréal avec la mention selon laquelle sa thèse est jugée «Très bonne». En plus des félicitations qui lui ont été adressées lors de la soutenance, je puis aussi témoigner du grand plaisir que j’ai eu à l’accompagner durant ce long processus. Bravo Sambath!