A temática da pedofilia é complexa, polêmica e emergente. A pedofilia, no entanto, não implica necessariamente no cometimento de atos abusivos contra as crianças, sendo possível que as fantasias sexuais do pedófilo jamais saiam de sua mente. Por outro lado, caso referido distúrbio sexual ultrapasse os limites do imaginário do indivíduo que dele é portador, estará configurado o abuso sexual infantil. Relevante observar que não apenas o indivíduo portador de pedofilia pratica atos que caracterizam abuso sexual infantil, mas também os denominados abusadores oportunistas ou ocasionais. Na relação pedófilo-criança, a opção pelo estudo da criança neste trabalho justifica-se, sobretudo, porque é ela quem ocupa a posição de vítima e, como tal, não se duvida que seus prejuízos sejam maiores em decorrência dos atos abusivos praticados. De fato, relevante assumir um olhar benevolente para aquela que, subjugada pelo abuso, necessita, de alguma forma, encontrar amparo que a possa resgatar dessa situação. Menciona-se, nesta dissertação, que historicamente as crianças sempre foram vítimas de atos de violência e que a temática do abuso sexual infantil compreende outras noções igualmente polêmicas, dentre as quais se podem destacar a sexualidade infantil e o incesto. Nesse passo, é dito que a existência de uma sexualidade infantil saudável constitui aspecto relevante para o pleno desenvolvimento da criança. Demonstra-se que o abuso sexual infantil tem a peculiaridade de se revestir da característica do segredo, ou seja, de um silêncio que encobre as práticas abusivas perpetradas contra a criança, de forma que fica garantida a perpetuação do abuso ao longo do tempo, sendo notável a cifra negra relativamente a essas práticas. Com relação ao estudo do abuso sexual infantil praticado por portadores de pedofilia, justifica-se o enfoque em virtude das circunstâncias de sedução e engodo que envolvem a atuação pedofílica e que potencializam o trauma vivenciado pela vítima. Nesse contexto, retrospectivamente ao abuso, verifica-se a existência de fatores de risco para sua ocorrência, bem como se mencionam teorias sobre a vítima. Ressalta-se que a criança e o abusador ocupam posições nitidamente distintas na relação de poder que se estabelece entre eles e se enfatiza a necessidade de investigar quais dessas crianças, que já são vulneráveis por si só, apresentam-se no grupo de risco para a vitimização. São apontados fatores de risco para a vitimização, dentre os quais, sexo, idade, isolamento social e relações conflituosas com os pais ou entre eles. Descreve-se o processo de aproximação entre o pedófilo e a vítima, bem como se analisam os danos sofridos pela criança vitimada. São fornecidos critérios para o diagnóstico do abuso sexual infantil e elencados fatores capazes de potencializar o trauma da vitimização. Descrevem-se os efeitos iniciais e a longo prazo do abuso e, por fim, refletindo-se sobre os fatores de risco, anteriores ao abuso e, sobre os danos, a ele posteriores, salienta-se a importância da tomada de atitudes preventivas e reparatórias do abuso sexual infantil, todas pautadas em ações multissetoriais e interdisciplinares. / Pedophilia is a complex, emergent and polemic theme. However, pedophilia does not imply committing abusive acts against children; once it is possible the pedophile sexual fantasy never emerges out of his mind. On the other hand, in case such sexual deviance exceed the limits of the persons imagination, then the child sex abuse is configured. It is relevant to observe that not only the pedophile practices acts which can be qualified as childs sex abuse, but also those acts practiced by opportunists or occasional abusers. Within the pedophile-childs relationship, the option for a study of the child is justifiable, mainly because it holds the position of victim and, as such, there cannot be any doubt that the damages are larger as a result of the abuse acts. In fact, a benevolent eye is set upon the child who suffered the abuse and needs, somehow, to receive the necessary support to rescue it from this situation. It is mentioned, in this paper, that historically children have always been victims of violence acts, and that the theme of child sex abuse comprises other aspects equally polemic, among which we can detach infantile sexuality and incest. In this connection, it is said that the existence of a healthy infantile childhood is relevant for the full development of children. It is pointed out that the child sex abuse has the peculiarity of being involved in a climate of secrecy, i.e. the silence covering abusive practices against children, so that the maintenance of the abuse is kept for a long time, the black cipher on this context being notable. With reference to the study of child sex abuse practiced by pedophilists, this focus is justifiable, in view of the seduction and deception involving pedophilic activities, which contribute to potentiate the trauma experienced by the victim. In this sense, it is said there are risk factors which precede the abuse, as well as theories about the victim are mentioned. It is noteworthy that the child and the abuser occupy distinct positions in the power relationship between them, and we must emphasize the need for investigation about which of the children, vulnerable by themselves, are on the victimization risk group. Risk factors for victimization are pointed out, such as, sex, age, social isolation and conflict relations with parents or between them. The process of approximation between the pedophile and the victim is indicated, as well as de damages suffered by the victim child. Criteria are supplied for the diagnosis of infant sex abuse, and factors capable of potentiating the victimization trauma are indicated. The initial and long-term abuse effects are described and, finally, considering the reflections on the risk factors prior to the abuse and on the damages after it, emphasizing the importance of taking preventive and remedial actions on infantile sex abuse, all of them based on multi-sector and multidisciplinary actions.

Le 21ème siècle est considéré comme l’âge du numérique. Les TIC sont devenus des outils identitaires d’une génération désormais définie comme « native du numérique » (angl. digital natives). Equiper les établissements secondaires en matériels coûteux devient une nécessité pour faire face aux besoins nouveaux de la société. Les ressources numériques, qui ont complété puis évincé le manuel et ses périphériques traditionnels, demeurent un atout incontournable pour l’apprentissage d’une langue vivante étrangère, grâce à des contenus linguistiques et culturels le plus souvent authentiques, qui favorisent la mise en œuvre de l’approche actionnelle du Cadre Européen Commun de Référence pour les Langues. On peut néanmoins s’interroger sur la capacité du sujet apprenant à traiter cet input directement extrait d’Internet. La plus-value pédagogique présumée, didactique et motivationnelle, qui associée à ces outils technologiques ne saurait être acceptée sans un questionnement sincère sur les capacités cognitives effectives des apprenants ainsi que sur la réalité de leur engagement. L’accordage entre le sujet apprenant, les méthodes et méthodologies d’enseignement-apprentissage des langues, ainsi que les dispositifs numériques doivent être explorés. Il est nécessaire aujourd’hui de se situer dans un paradigme cognitiviste ou encore connexioniste en envisageant une construction de l’information et l’exposition des apprenants à un environnement stimulant et riche. En effet, en dépit de l’attractivité, de la non-linéarité et de l’interactivité de l’hypermédia, il convient de vérifier que l’apprenant possède bien les ressources cognitives nécessaires pour traiter efficacement l’information issue de l’hypertexte. Car l’enjeu du traitement de l’information ne se situe pas simplement au niveau de l’extraction d’input mais bien de la construction sémantique au sein de la mémoire de travail. Notre réflexion théorique fait donc entrer en dialogue des disciplines telles que la linguistique, la psycholinguistique, la didactique, les sciences cognitives. Elle fait également un état des lieux des différents outils numériques, afin de vérifier la compatibilité entre l’enseignement-apprentissage des langues étrangères et la technologie. Notre posture d’enseignant de terrain nous amène à considérer le numérique comme un facteur de motivation engageant fortement les usagers dans l’apprentissage de la langue étrangère. Cela d’autant plus que le public participant à notre étude est généralement peu motivé pour l’apprentissage des langues étrangères. La mise à disposition à des fins pédagogiques de tablettes tactiles, assimilables à des consoles de jeu, est-elle susceptible de les impliquer davantage et de modifier leur représentation de la langue cible? Pour répondre à cette question, nous menons deux expérimentations. Dans un premier temps, nous réalisons un pré-test permettant d’élaborer des hypothèses sur l’engagement cognitif des apprenants dans un environnement numérique. Nous observons l’usage réel et situé de tablettes numériques censées susciter la motivation par leur caractère ludique. Nous examinons également la posture des apprenants et leur capacité à exploiter l’information. A ce stade, la démarche conserve un caractère intuitif et les pratiques observées ne sont pas strictement encadrées. C’est pourquoi, dans un deuxième temps, nous procédons à une expérimentation plus structurée, en meilleure adéquation avec les critères de la recherche-action en langues vivantes étrangères. Nous en détaillons et en analysons les résultats. / The 21st century is commonly known as the “digital age”. Information technology has become a defining component of a new generation of learners, the so-called “digital natives”. Massive investment in digital learning equipment for schools has become a priority to meet the rising demands of society. Digital technologies, initially intended to supplement traditional course book instruction are fast replacing printed books altogether. Instant access to (mostly) authentic language material is a definite asset for developing linguistic skills and implementing the action-based approach prescribed by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. However, learner ability does not necessarily match all requirements for processing input from the Internet. Educators who believe in the added value of information technology in language pedagogy should therefore consider more carefully the actual cognitive capacities and cognitive engagement shown by learners when exposed to rich stimulus. For digital devices to become efficient pedagogical tools in language pedagogy, learner ability, teaching strategies, and technological implements must be mutually adjusted and integrated within a consistent framework. Although hypermedia is attractive, non-linear and interactive, it is essential to verify that learners do possess the skills and efficiency to process the information obtained from hypertext documents. Information processing is indeed a major challenge since it involves not only searching and retrieving relevant pieces of information, but requires some cognitive processing—a semantic construction within working memory. The perspective adopted here is thus multidisciplinary, with multiple references to linguistics, education, psycholinguistics, and cognitive science. Also needed are an overview of the various digital devices available and an assessment of their true relevance to language pedagogy. As a professional EFL teacher working in a vocational school, I consider digital technologies to be precious in motivating and engaging learners. The secondary school students involved in the current research study usually show little concern for language learning in the first place. The practical issue can thus be framed as “How can the use of tablets engage them as learners and favourably alter their conceptions of the second language?” To answer this question, a pre-test is set up to form preliminary hypotheses on degrees of cognitive engagement in the language classroom whenever digital devices are put to pedagogical use. The concrete, situated use of tablets is observed, their playful nature and expected contribution to motivation assessed. Learning attitudes and the ability to process information are subject to close scrutiny. At this preliminary stage, methods remain largely intuitive, and the activities or learning processes not strictly characterized. A more structured experiment setup must thus be created, based on more established criteria of action-research, the details and results of which are analysed in this dissertation.

M.A. (Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Linguistics) / The construct of this study consists of the perceptions and experiences of the teachers and students of initial reading at Sizwile School for the Deaf in urban South Africa. This investigation focuses on a Sub B class, in which Sign Language is the means of communication. The research design is exploratory and descriptive as it aims to explore, describe and clarify the children's apprehension of reading. This could yield new knowledge which is rooted in a specific and complex context. The process is conducted by means of a case study (monographic study) design which includes mostly qualitative methods for data collection. The rationale for this study is that respondents' personal (ernic) views, obtained from a "bottom-up" research mode could bring more light to the body of knowledge of deaf education in South Africa. Insufficient rigorous research, the lack of educational policy, lack of more input in South African curriculum for the deaf and limited cohesive instructional theory in South African deaf education motivated the researcher to initiate this investigation. The rationale of this stidy thus circulated from the theoretical and physical context of deaf education in South Africa, as well as the researcher's personal experiential knowledge as a teacher in the only school for the deaf around Soweto (a Black Township). The research question in this inquiry has been conceptualised in a maze of conflicting opinions and practices regarding the education of the deaf and the teaching of initial reading. The experiences, activities and perceptions of a single class within a school for the deaf was explored and described argumentatively in the light of contemporary theories on language, learning, reading and deaf education. Perspectives on learning to read are discussed in order to contextualise the individual's learning to read. Also included are theories of language and of learning, presented to provide a backdrop against which the practices in deaf education will be discussed. Language is subsequently discussed as medium of communication in the education process, with a closer focus on instruction in the first language (Sign Language) of the deaf child. The other part of the conceptual framework covers reading across the curriculum. The theoretical framework is presented as support structure for the research construct and also to problematise the research question (problem) from complementary angles.

The research documented in this report had a twofold purpose. Firstly, it was to design and implement an intervention based on the theory of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) aimed at improving the mathematical understanding of learners in two Grade 8 remedial mathematics classes, by revisiting the key number concepts of place value, fractions and decimals. In doing so, a second purpose was to investigate the viability and emerging characteristics of an intervention based on the theory of RME in such a setting (i.e. with low attainers to revisit key number concepts). Pending the realisation of these immediate outcomes, more distant outcomes in subsequent research would be: that learners' understanding and academic performance in mathematics improves and to develop a local instruction theory in using the RME theory to revisit the concepts of place value, fractions and decimals with low attaining learners in order to improve their understanding in this regard. Grade 8 low attainers were selected as the target group for this research as a result of the pending implementation of Mathematical Literacy as a compulsory subject for all learners, possibly from 2006. Currently in South Africa, learners who are not meeting the required standard by the end of their Grade 9 year are able to elect not to take mathematics through Grades 10, 11 and 12. When the new Further Education and Training (FET) policy is implemented, this will no longer be the case. All learners, who do not elect to take mathematics as a subject, will have to take Mathematical Literacy as a compulsory subject throughout Grades 10, 11 and 12. Although less detailed and abstract than the subject mathematics, the Mathematical Literacy curriculum still requires learners to have an understanding of key number concepts and also contains a substantial amount of algebra. As Grade 8 is when learners start working with algebra more formally, and is also their first year at secondary school, it was decided that this would be an appropriate year to try and diagnose and remediate problems in learners' understanding of the key number concepts, if and where possible. The intention was that this would then equip learners with a more appropriate structure of conceptualised knowledge of the above-mentioned concepts on which they could further construct their understanding of algebra. The study was carried out at a local urban high school in South Africa and the research design of this study was informed by two development research approaches (van den Akker&Plomp, 1993; Gravemeijer, 1994). Also, the study was only implemented with a small number of participants, within a bounded setting and without the intention to generalise the results. It was therefore regarded as a development case study. The results appear to indicate that it is viable to apply the theory of RME with low attaining Grade 8 learners in order to revisit the key number concepts of place value, fractions and decimals. Copyright 2004, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Barnes, HE 2004, A developmental case study : implementing the theory of realistic mathematics education with low attainers, MEd dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-12032004-103122 / > / Dissertation (MEd (Curriculum design))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children enrolled in two first grade classes who did not meet the criterion score for one or more of the seven subtests on a selected readiness test given during the first two weeks of the school year would make higher scores on selected comprehension measures when instruction in a basal reading series is supplemented with instruction in the language experience approach than children who receive instruction only in basal reader materials. Language experience activities were conducted with all reading groups in the experimental class for three days every two weeks. Group experience stories and word bank activities were not done with the control group which used only basal materials. A factorial analysis of variance model was selected to analyze the data on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test on the main effects of type of instruction, sex, and classification of students. No significant difference at the .05 level was found for the null hypotheses tested; however, a slight non-significant difference was found in the mean scores of the target children in both classes with the language experience group having an 80% higher mean score than the control group.

The current movement towards multilingualism and multiculturalism in South Africa has placed language at the centre of all educational activity. With the implementation of the outcomes-based Curriculum 2005, the emphasis is on appropriate learning support material, and the learning programmes are seen as guides that allow teachers to be innovative and creative in designing instructional and learning material. The fact that Afrikaans was one of three compulsory language subjects at a school in the Soweto area motivated researchers of Technikon South Africa to embark upon an outreach project. The latter entailed a remedial programme to address the lack of Afrikaans language proficiency of the Grade 12 learners at this school. My role as the remedial teacher and my subsequent responsibility for the development of appropriate and relevant learning material for the intervention provided the impetus and motivation for this research. The aim of the study was to determine the criteria for developing materials, in order to develop the proficiency in Afrikaans of Grade 12 additional language learners. The intervention took the form of an ongoing action research cycle. The magnitude of the proficiency dilemma in this study was revealed by a pre-intervention assessment. Apart from the learners’ poor functional Afrikaans literacy, it also became apparent that the influence of affective variables in additional language learning should be considered. The literature survey undertaken to articulate the relevant information about Communicative Language teaching (CLT) emphasised the kind of teaching necessary to develop proficiency in an additional language. In addition, the exploration of the influence of affective factors on additional language teaching and learning allowed a better understanding of the learners’ needs and ensured a learning-centered approach. In the process of materials selection, adaptation and development, it was necessary to relate learning principles and procedure to theory, research methods and classroom practice. Reviewing the literature on issues such as designing and developing materials contributed to a pragmatic approach to materials development, and assisted in establishing the criteria for the development of appropriate materials. The study has attempted to show how to design appropriate and relevant teaching materials guided by a set of criteria. The implementation of the materials in the classroom integrated theory and practice. Thus in practice, through different action research cycles, the developed materials were shown to comply with the theoretical criteria to establish their effectiveness, and refined to suit the proficiency level of the particular learners. Finally, critical reflection resulted in a redesigned set of materials for Afrikaans as an additional language. The post-intervention assessment showed that there was indeed an improvement in the learners’ proficiency levels and that the average grade of their proficiency levels improved. Other findings suggested the probability of a positive attitude change in the learners. Thus, it can be concluded that the intervention may be judged as having been relatively successful. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Unit for Academic Literacy / DPhil / Unrestricted

No description available.

This project consists of two, two-week thematically planned language arts units containing all the components of a balanced literacy. It was created to teach second and third grade at risk students at Chester Morrison Elementary School, in Menifee, California during two weeks of their off track time. Both sessions have daily detailed plans for the teacher outlining all the components of a balanced literacy program. Both sessions contain relevent books that students make and take, shared reading to increase comprehension and skill building, and constant literacy opportunities.