Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Speech activities'

Randomly selected students in the Academic Health Sciences Divisions and Psychology Department at ETSU participated in a two-year Interprofessional Education (IPE) program. Prior research found that student’s general attitudes and perceptions of team oriented collaborative practice positively change with IPE experiences. However, there is a lack of research supporting that IPE improves students’ specific skills and competencies. The goal of ETSU’s pilot IPE program was to provide a collaborative learning environment for students from health professions to improve future health outcomes. Students participated in an IPE activity or course for each of the four Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. The competencies included Roles and Responsibilities, Ethics, Communication, and Teams and Teamwork, which provide a framework for lifelong learning across all health professions’ education curricula. The purpose of the research was to determine whether participation in IPE activities and courses changed students’ specific skills and competencies within the broader four Core Competencies. It was predicted that integrating interprofessional education into post-secondary education would increase students’ knowledge and application and appreciation of interprofessional education. Data was collected through the online survey program, Survey Monkey©, before and after each course or activity. Pre- and post-surveys were administered to measure students’ judgments about their current level of knowledge, ability to implement the knowledge, and degree to which they valued the skills. Nine to twelve subcompetencies, derived from the Core Competencies, were presented in a question format addressing the proficiencies: I know..., I practice..., and I value... A total of 32 graduate students from the Colleges of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, College of Public Health, College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences, and Department of Psychology submitted 41 surveys. Dependent t-tests were used to test for change between pre- and post-test ratings. Results showed that the overall mean posttest ratings within each Core Competency were greater than the pre-test ratings at a statistically significant levels, excluding the Ethics Competency. The mean post-test ratings for each proficiency (e.g., I know, I practice, I value) were greater than the pre-test ratings at a statistically significant levels. Most students (95%) rated their initial evaluation of knowledge as accurate, meaning the students felt their pre-test ratings were representative of their prior knowledge. The findings of the current study suggest that integrating interprofessional education into post-secondary education courses, such as that provided by the ETSU IPE Pilot Project, may increase students’ knowledge, skills and appreciation for interprofessional education.

Surveys measured students’ knowledge, application, and appreciation for four core competencies of IPE before and after their participation in specific activities and courses. There was a statistically significant difference between pre- and post-test ratings for all competencies, with the exception of Ethics, and all proficiency types. Modest gains were found.

Learn to …. (1) Use the ICF-CY framework for assessment; (2) use the ICF-CY framework for goal setting; (3) address the child's own perspectives in goal setting (person-centred goal setting); (4) include a parent's perspective in planning everyday functional activities for intervention; (5) formulate therapy goals across different language and cultural groups.

Over the past several years, much research has investigated the role of pre-task planning, including solitary, group, and teacher-led planning, on the variables of complexity, fluency, and accuracy in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. (Foster & Skehan, 1996; Gaillard, 2013; Geng & Ferguson, 2013). Additionally, other studies have investigated L2 learners' use of paragraphs and/or the role of conjunctions, i.e. transition words and expressions, in developing ideas and increasing cohesion (Mendelson, 2012; Rass, 2015). A gap remains, however, in seeing how pre-speaking and transition word activities together can promote proficiency in terms of text type, i.e. the move from word level speech and producing strings of sentences to paragraph level discourse. This study seeks to fill this gap by examining two teaching methods, namely Prelude to Conversation, or pre-speaking (Thompson, 2009), and transition word activities, to investigate the effect that these teaching methods have on increasing complexity and fluency among Intermediate-level learners of French. Complexity was measured by investigating the sub-components of total transition words, taught transition words, total clauses, words per clause, and total words. Fluency was measured by investigating the sub-components of time duration (total minutes) and words per minute. Furthermore, a case study illustrates the implications of increases in complexity and fluency for text type. Subjects were recruited from third semester French courses at Brigham Young University and were subsequently divided into three groups with each group receiving a different teaching method: Group 1 received transition word pre-activities, Group 2 received pre-speaking with a focus on content and forms needed to respond to the task, and Group 3 received a combination of both teaching methods. The study lasted four weeks with a Pre-Test in week one, followed by two weeks of treatments before completing the Post-Test in the fourth week. During the second and third weeks, each group received their respective treatments before responding to prompts that were identical for each group. Following the data collection, the speech samples were transcribed and analyzed for the sub-components of complexity and fluency. Results show, when comparing the Pre-Test to the Post-Test, that pre-speaking has a broader impact on complexity and fluency, either alone or when combined with transition word activities, impacting in particular total clauses, total words and response duration. When transition word activities were taught alone, there were greater gains in the use of taught transition words. The findings also demonstrate that even simply practicing providing oral responses regardless of treatment did help learners make overall increases that led to Post-Test responses (without scaffolding) that did not return to Pre-Test levels.

Lors d’une conversation, les participants ont la tendance à accorder, consciemment ou non, leur production communicative par rapport à leur interlocuteur. Il est généralement admis que dans des circonstances normales, ce phénomène entraîne une convergence des paramètres de parole des deux participants. Il est généralement connu que dans des circonstances normales, ce phénomène génère une convergence des paramètres du discours des deux participants. Alors que ces études impliquent souvent des conditions de laboratoire contrôlées, les mécanismes qui régissent le phénomène dans les conversations naturelles sont moins connus, en raison du flux spontané des conversants et de la grande variabilité des paramètres suivis. En outre, on ne sait pas encore très bien comment les participants modifient leur style de parole (c'est à dire la dynamique) au cours de la conversation et quels sont les facteurs qui influencent ces modifications. Cette thèse présente une nouvelle méthodologie pour aborder ces aspects
During a conversation, participants tend to tune, consciously or not, their communicative production in regards to their interlocutor. It is generally admitted, that under standard circumstances, these phenomena result in convergence of the two participants’ speech parameters. Past literature offers a large part of studies describing the effects of convergence in interpersonal dynamics but there are still some unclear aspects. These concerns firstly the mechanisms that rule the phenomenon in natural conversations. These are hard to be studied due to the spontaneous flow of the conversants that results to be noisy and variable. In second place in this kind of conversation is still not well known how participants modify their speech style (the dynamics i.e.) in the course of the conversation. In this thesis, we aim to validate previous results in acoustic-prosodic convergence and provide novel approaches to have a partial a posteriori filter on natural conversations and to track the interpersonal dynamics. We used classical machine learning approaches (Linear mixed models, Random forest e.g.) and more recent algorithms of deep learning (LSTM architecture). These results extend the landscape of convergence effects in the not controlled dataset and offer novel approaches, concerning the method to control the variability of natural conversations and the prediction task paradigm to evaluate the interpersonal dynamics, consisting in evaluating the influence of the speaker and interlocutor on each other speech style

Conversational prosody or tone of voice (e.g. intonation, pauses, speech rate etc.) plays an essential role in our daily communication. Research studies in various contexts have shown that prosody can function as an interactional device for the management of our social interaction (Hellermann, 2003, Wennerstrom, 2001, Wells and Macfarlane, 1998, Couper-Kuhlen, 1996). However, not much research focus has been given to the pedagogical implications of conversational prosody in classroom teaching and learning. Informed by Community of Practice theory (Lave and Wenger, 1991) and Academic Task and Social Participation Structure (Erickson, 1982), which place participation at the core of the learning development, the current research employs an exploratory case study to examine the function of speech prosody during the co-construction of classroom talk-in-interaction in and between different classroom activities (e.g. whole class instruction, group discussion, group presentation, etc.). Audio–video data of classroom lessons were collected over a two-month period. Transcribing conventions described by Atkinson and Heritage (1984) were adopted to note the prosodic features in the recordings. Prosodic features such as pauses, volume, intonation, and speech rate were set as the main criteria for analysing the classroom talk. Analysis of the transcripts showed that speech prosody can function as a coordination tool for language learners to organise their social participation roles in collaborative learning activities (e.g. forming alignment, managing turn-taking, signalling repair sequences, etc.). The research also showed that prosody can function as a pedagogical tool for language teachers to manage classroom interactional ground (e.g. provide scaffolding, align academic task structure and social participation structure, frame classroom environment, etc.). Moreover, the research showed that prosodic analysis can be an effective tool in unfolding the pedagogical importance of classroom interaction (e.g. IRE/F sequences) in classroom teaching and learning.

This thesis is about special needs educational competence of educators working in collaborating teams within child and youth habilitation centres. The pedagogy of the moment stands for the decisions made by educators, based on their observations made when meeting the child in its different environments. These decisions build on educational theoretical and practical knowledge and experience developed through collaboration within interprofessional teams. The study was carried out through the use of focus groups consisting of professionals within different child and youth habilitation centres. The data consists of taped and transcribed focus groups discussions. Participants provided additional information concerning, estimations of the focus group session, their education and use of special needs educational assignments through additional questionnaires. The analysis focuses on how the educators conceptualise their competence and the dialogue in the group conversation. To facilitate the interactional analysis, a constructional key for the conversation was developed.

The educators within child and youth habilitation centers have not developed specific professional strategies, but instead, appear to have adapted a mission through structural means. Their competence appears contextually adapted and devel-oped within three spheres of activities. Their basic education is in the area of pre-school with theoretical focus on children’s normal development, pedagogical experience of working with groups of children, play and learning. On the basis of this background, together with experiences with toy library activities for children with disabilities, they have become one of the corner stone of child and youth habilitation centres of the 1980’s. In these centers, by tradition a mainly medical sphere of activity, they work in teams with family orientated habilitation, and have developed compe-tence for special needs educational intervention for children with disabilities. Special needs education is a supplementary field, which includes educators who are being trained for municipal operation. The educators use professional speech genres with colloquial language terminology, which is adjusted to its communicative context. The educators and their colleagues in the teams emphasize the importance of the educator bridging the medical, treatment and pedagogical contexts, together with a focus on child, parents and staff, at home and in preschool/school. A communicational genre has developed within the occupational group, where the educators reinforce rather than question each other when taking turns during interprofessional conversations. The competence of the educator is based on knowledge and experience when it comes to children, their development, play and learning. The thesis demonstrates that the main focus of the supplementary education increasingly lies on the pedagogical meeting with adults, mostly parents, around specific child. The practical pedagogical work for the child, playing as intervention as well as the specific special needs educational intervention is less conceptualised by the educators. They are requesting relevant research and theories to support their field of knowledge.

Föreliggande studie syftar till att undersöka vilka stödstrukturer lågstadielärare uppger att de bygger i klassrummet för att stötta organiserade samtal i svenskundervisningen. Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i den sociokulturella teorin där begreppet stödstruktur är centralt. Vidare har semistrukturerade intervjuer besvarats skriftligt av sju lågstadielärare och i analysen av empirin användes två kategoriseringar av stödstrukturer: intellektuella och fysiska (Säljö, 2000:100). De intellektuella stödstrukturer som framkom i studien är läraren som kommunikativ förebild, det sociala klassrumsklimatet, elevens självkänsla samt kamratlärande. De fysiska stödstrukturer som utkristalliserades i materialet var klassrumsmöblering, text- och bildstöd samt andra fysiska artefakter. Av dessa ansåg flertalet lärare att textoch bildstöd var den bäst fungerande stödstrukturen. Lärarens sätt att visa och vägleda eleverna till att föra samtal, det vill säga att vara en kommunikativ förebild, var ytterligare en stödstruktur som uppfattades som framgångsrik. Bland intervjusvaren nämndes tämligen få fysiska artefakter, vilket var ett oväntat resultat.

Les préfets auront pour les prochaines années à poursuivre leur action au sein d’une société française inscrite dans la dynamique planétaire d’un « processus d’appropriation d’une innovation disruptive » et « oblige les utilisateurs à rompre avec leurs manières de faire et de penser antérieures ».Comment ce « personnage » assume ce changement est la question inductrice de cette recherche. Il y-a-t-il transformation, transition, évolution ou évitement ?En ayant recours à la Sémiotique des Transactions Coopératives (STC) sont identifiés dans les narrations recueillies les indices d’une appropriation de cette transition numérique, à travers : - ses impacts cognitivo émotionnels ; - la description des conditions et du contexte d’usage des objets devenus instruments ; - la technique gestionnaire déployée pour réguler la mise en tension sur son bassin de vie.Les principaux apports mettent en évidence : - un nouveau rapport du préfet à la technologie ; - un engagement vis-à-vis de l’innovation en tant qu’appui ou facilitation des initiatives émergentes, plus difficilement en tant que porteur de projet ; - un projet de république numérique qui reste flou, mais qui redistribue le lien social et les modalités d’organisation de l’action collective
The prefects will have for the next years to continue their action within a French company inscribed in the global dynamics of a "process of appropriation of a disruptive innovation" and "forces the users to break with their ways of doing and to think earlier ".How this "character" assumes this change is the inductive question of this research. Is there transformation, transition, evolution or avoidance?Using the Semiotics of Cooperative Transactions (STC) are identified in the narrations collected the clues of an appropriation of this digital transition, through : - its cognitive and emotional impacts ; - the description of the conditions and the context of use of objects that became instruments; - the managerial technique deployed to regulate the tensioning in his living area.The main contributions highlight : - a new report from the prefect to technology ; - a commitment to innovation as a support or facilitation of emerging initiatives, more difficult as a project leader ; - a draft of a digital republic that remains unclear, but which redistributes the social link and the organizational methods of collective action

The aim of the thesis was to investigate the importance of physical function for survival in very old people, and furthermore, whether physical exercise could influence physical function, cognitive function, and dependence in activities of daily living (ADLs) in older people with dementia living in nursing homes. The world’s population is ageing. Given the age-related increase in chronic disease such as dementia   and compounded by physical inactivity, the prevalence in need for assistance and are in daily activities in older people is expected to increase in the near future. Gait speed, a measure of physical function, has been shown to be associated with health and survival. However, studies of the  oldest  people  in  the  population,  including  those  dependent  in ADLs,  living  in  nursing  homes  and  with  dementia,  are  few.  Moreover,  in people  with  dementia  physical  exercise  may  improve  physical and  cognitive function and  reduce  dependence  in  ADLs.  Further large studies with high methodological quality and with designs incorporating attention control groups are needed in this population. In addition, no study has compared exercise effects between dementia types. The association between gait speed and survival was investigated in a population based cohort study of 772 people aged 85 years and over. Usual gait speed was assessed over 2.4 metres and mortality followed for five years. Cox proportional hazard regression models adjusted for potential confounders were used in analyses. Effects of physical exercise in people with dementia were investigated in a randomised controlled trial that included 186 participants with various dementia types living in nursing homes. Participants were allocated to the High-Intensity Functional Exercise  (HIFE) program or a seated control activity, which both lasted 45 minutes and held five times  fortnightly for four months. Dependence in ADLs was assessed with Functional Independence Measure and Barthel ADL Index, and balance with Berg Balance Scale. Usual gait speed was evaluated over 4.0 metres in two tests; first using habitual walking aid if any, and thereafter without walking aid and with minimum living support. Global cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale, and   executive function using Verbal fluency. Blinded testers performed assessments at baseline, four (directly after intervention completion) and seven months. Analyses used linear mixed models in agreement with the intention-to-treat principle. Gait speed was found to be an independent predictor of five-year all-cause mortality, where inability to complete the gait test or a gait speed below 0.5 iv meters per second (m/s) was associated with higher mortality risk. In analyses of exercise effects on ADLs there was no difference between groups in the complete sample. Interaction analyses showed a difference in exercise effect according to dementia type at seven months. Positive between-group exercise effects were found for dependence   in ADLs in participants with non-Alzheimer’s type of dementia (non-AD) at four and seven months. In balance, a difference between groups was found at four but not at seven months in the complete  sample, and interaction analyses indicated a difference in effect according to dementia type at four and seven months. Positive between-group exercise effects were found in participants with non-AD.  No difference between groups in gait speed was found in the complete sample, where the majority habitually walked with a walking aid. In interaction analyses exercise effects differed according to walking aid use. Positive between-group exercise effects in gait speed were found in participants that walked unsupported at four and seven months. No difference between groups in cognitive function was found in the complete sample. The effects of exercise on gait speed and cognitive function did not differ according to sex, cognitive level, or dementia type. In conclusion, among people aged 85 or older, including those dependent in ADLs and with dementia, gait speed seems to be a useful clinical indicator of health status. Inability to complete the gait test or a gait speed below 0.5 m/s appears to be associated with higher five-year mortality risk. In older people with mild to moderate dementia living in nursing homes, a four-month high-intensity functional exercise program appeared to attenuate loss of dependence in ADLs and improve balance, albeit only in participants with non-AD type of dementia. Further studies are needed to validate this result. Furthermore, exercise had positive effects on gait speed when tested unsupported, in contrast to when walking aids or minimum support were used. The result implies that the use of walking aids in the gait speed test may conceal exercise effects. The exercise program had no superior effects on global cognition or executive function when compared with an attention control activity. This thesis suggests that, in older people with dementia, exercise effects on physical function rather than cognitive function may explain effects on dependence in ADLs.

De nombreux chercheurs se sont intéressés aux particularités lexicales et pragmatico-discursives du langage que les parents adressent à leur jeune enfant. La revue de la littérature sur ce point montre qu’il existe tantôt des différences tantôt des ressemblances entre les mères et les pères. Cependant, les caractéristiques syntaxiques du langage qu’adressent les parents à leur enfant font rarement l’objet d’études. Par ailleurs, les études portant sur les effets du dialogue, des genres de discours déployés durant celui-ci et des activités dans lesquelles interagissent les dyades parent-enfant sur le développement syntaxique de l’enfant sont encore peu développées.Cette thèse s’articule ainsi autour de trois objectifs : i) mieux cerner les différences et les similitudes qui existent dans le langage maternel et paternel aux niveaux syntaxique et pragmatico-discursif, et d’en observer l’influence sur le langage de l’enfant, ii) évaluer l’effet de l’activité en cours sur les productions et les conduites de dyades mère-enfant et père-enfant, iii) interroger les liens qui existent entre dimension syntaxique et dimension pragmatico-discursive dans le processus d’acquisition du langage.Sept enfants francophones natifs, âgés de 3 à 4 ans, et leurs parents ont été observés dans deux activités : un jeu symbolique et un jeu de cartes illustrées. Leurs productions ont été analysées au niveau syntaxique, tout en considérant certaines propriétés discursives et pragmatiques liées aux usages de ces productions (statut de l’interlocuteur de l’enfant, types d’activité et aspects pragmatico-discursifs). Nos résultats suggèrent que le statut de l’interlocuteur de l’enfant, associé aux types d’activités et aux spécificités du dialogue, constituent un faisceau de variables qu’il convient de considérer si l’on veut mieux décrire les usages syntaxiques des enfants et la variabilité de ceux-ci
Many researchers have studied lexical and pragmatic-discursive particularities of the language that parents use to address their young child. A literature review shows that there are both differences and similarities between mothers and fathers. However, characteristics of the language that parents use for addressing their child have rarely been studied. Moreover, there is a paucity of studies examining the effects on the child’s syntactic development of dialogue, speech genres and activities during which parent-child dyads interact.This thesis has three goals: i) improve understanding of differences and similarities in the syntactic and pragmatic-discursive aspects of maternal and paternal language and their effect on the child’s language, ii) evaluate the effect of the ongoing activity on the production and the use of mother-child and father-child dyads, iii) investigate the relation between syntactic and pragmatic-discursive dimensions during the language learning process.Seven 3-4 years old native French-speaking children and their parents were observed during two activities: a symbolic play and a picture card game. The syntactic dimensions of their productions were analyzed while considering certain discursive and pragmatic properties related to the use of these productions (status of the child’s interlocutor, type of activity and pragmatic-discursive aspects). Our results suggest that the status of the child’s interlocutor, associated with the type of activity and the dialogue’s specificities, form a body of variables that should be taken into account in order to better describe children’s syntactic uses and their variability

Данная работа посвящена исследованию цифровой технологии “Digital storytelling” в обучении говорению на английском языке учащихся начальных классов в рамках проектной деятельности. Актуальность исследования обусловлена необходимостью выявления новых путей развития и пополнения средств обучения, направленных на улучшение навыков говорения в обучении английскому языку. Объект исследования – процесс обучения монологической речи на иностранном языке в начальной школе. Предмет исследования – цифровая технология “Digital storytelling” при обучении монологической речи на иностранном языке. Цель исследования – выявление, определение и обоснование особенностей использования цифровой технологии “Digital storytelling” в обучении монологической речи на иностранном языке учащихся младшей школы.
This work is devoted to the study of digital technology "Digital storytelling" in teaching English speaking to primary school pupils during the project activities. The relevance of the study is determined by the necessity to identify new ways of development and updating of means of education aimed at improving speaking skills in teaching English. The object of the research is the process of teaching monologue speech in a foreign language in primary school. The subject of the research is the digital technology “Digital storytelling” in teaching monologue speech in a foreign language. The goal of the study is to identify, define and substantiate the peculiarities of using the digital technology “Digital storytelling” in teaching monologue speech in a foreign language of primary school pupils.

En s'appuyant sur les développements conceptuels apportés à la théorie de l'activité par la psychologie du travail, cette recherche se propose d'explorer la genèse et les fonctions des instruments dans la conduite des activités des sujets malades. La recherche s'appuie sur l'analyse de quatorze entretiens conduits auprès de personnes affectées par une ou plusieurs maladies chroniques sévères. Elle explore comment le sujet malade chronique déploie des " agir sur soi " au travers de ses activités. Elle démontre comment le sujet s’approprie et utilise pour ce faire, des artefacts et des instruments, élabore des stratégies et met en place des dispositifs pour étayer son travail quotidien et sa présence au monde. En s'appuyant sur les concepts de la théorie instrumentale élargie (Rabardel), sur l'activité médiatisée (Vygotski) et sur l’activité au service du maintien de soi en vie en santé (Tourette-Turgis), l'analyse des matériaux identifie trois catégories d'instruments (matériels, non matériels et mixtes) utilisés par les participants de l'étude. Ces instruments semblent remplir des fonctions d'organisateurs d'activités et de transformations des activités et des sujets
Based on the conceptual developments brought to the theory of the activity by occupational psychology, this research explores the genesis and the functions of the instruments used by the subjects living with a chronic disease in their daily life given that patient ‘s participation in their own care is conceived as a work. The research is based on analysis of fourteen interviews conducted with people affected by one or more severe chronic diseases. It explores and analyses different situations describing how the subject affected by a chronic disease creates, invents different means to « act on oneself » in order to stay alive . This research describes how participants living with one or several chronic diseases use artefacts, tools, instruments , strategies to maintain active the multiple dimensions of their involvement with the world. Using different conceptual frameworks of research on work such as extended instrumental theory ( Rabardel), mediated activity ( Vygotski), the patient’s work ( Tourette-Turgis), content analysis of interviews shows three different categories of instruments ( material, intangible, mixted ) used by the participants of the study. These instruments seem to fulfill the functions of organizers of activities and transformations of the activities and the subjects

La plupart des systèmes ferroviaires subissent une demande croissante de capacité. Pour y faire face, il faut construire de nouvelles infrastructures ou exploiter plus efficacement celles existantes, notamment en définissant des grilles horaires optimisées. Dans la littérature, la plupart des approches de construction des grilles sont basées sur des représentations macroscopiques de l'infrastructure, ce qui peut conduireà des solutions infaisables ou inefficaces. En revanche, les approches microscopiques reposent sur une modélisation réaliste du système ferroviaire, ce qui garantit la faisabilité et l'efficacité des résultats. Néanmoins, en raison de leur complexité, l'utilisation de ces approches est généralement limitée à une seule gare. Malgré l'optimisation de la grille horaire, les travaux de maintenance peuvent avoir un fort impact sur les circulations des trains. En présence de maintenances, il peut donc être nécessaire de redéfinir la grille horaire pour assurer une exploitation efficace de la capacité. Nous présentons deux contributions principales sous forme de deux approches microscopiques : une pour la conception de grilles horaires et l'autre pour leur redéfinition en cas de maintenance. La deuxième est la première approche microscopique qui apparaît dans la littérature pour aborder ce problème tout en considérant des aspects comme les limitations temporaires de vitesse. Nous démontrons la validité de nos approches et leur applicabilité dans des scénarios réels. De plus, nous montrons que les approches microscopiques peuvent être utilisées pour traiter des zones de l'infrastructure contenant plusieurs gares
Most railway systems experience a growing demand of railway capacity. To face this demand, either new infrastructure must be built or a more efficient exploitation of the existing one must be attained. Timetables play a determinant role in the efficient capacity exploitation. Most timetabling approaches in the literature are based on macroscopic representations of the infrastructure. This may lead to inefficient and in some cases, impractical solutions. Instead, microscopic approaches are based on more realistic modelling of the elements of the railway system. This guarantees the feasibility of the timetables while promoting an efficient capacity exploitation. However, due to their complexity, the scope of microscopic approaches is typically restricted to main stations. Despite the optimization of timetables, the performance of infrastructure maintenance may severely impact the trains' circulations in the network. Therefore, the timetable may have to be rearranged to ensure an efficient capacity exploitation. We present two main contributions in this thesis: first, a microscopic approach for timetable design. Second, a microscopic approach for timetable rearrangement to cope with maintenance. This is the first microscopic approach in the literature to tackle this problem while also considering specific aspects as temporary speed limitations. After a thorough experimental analysis, we demonstrate the validity of our approaches and their practical applicability in real life scenarios. In particular, we show that microscopic approaches can be used to tackle large areas of the infrastructure, including several stations

This diploma thesis describes how to create or convert traditional Java programs to desktop-like rich internet applications with the Google Web Toolkit. The Google Web Toolkit is an open source development environment, which translates Java code to browser and device independent HTML and JavaScript. Most of the GWT framework parts, including the Java to JavaScript compiler as well as important security issues of websites will be introduced. The famous Agricola board game will be implemented in the Model-View-Presenter pattern to show that complex user interfaces can be created with the Google Web Toolkit. The Google Web Toolkit framework will be compared with the JavaServer Faces one to find out which toolkit is the right one for the next web project
Diese Diplomarbeit beschreibt die Erzeugung desktopähnlicher Anwendungen mit dem Google Web Toolkit und die Umwandlung klassischer Java-Programme in diese. Das Google Web Toolkit ist eine Open-Source-Entwicklungsumgebung, die Java-Code in browserunabhängiges als auch in geräteübergreifendes HTML und JavaScript übersetzt. Vorgestellt wird der Großteil des GWT Frameworks inklusive des Java zu JavaScript-Compilers sowie wichtige Sicherheitsaspekte von Internetseiten. Um zu zeigen, dass auch komplizierte graphische Oberflächen mit dem Google Web Toolkit erzeugt werden können, wird das bekannte Brettspiel Agricola mittels Model-View-Presenter Designmuster implementiert. Zur Ermittlung der richtigen Technologie für das nächste Webprojekt findet ein Vergleich zwischen dem Google Web Toolkit und JavaServer Faces statt

碩士
國立臺東大學
幼兒教育學系碩士班
92
Self-Regulating Functions of Young Children’s Private Speech among Types of Activities and phases of Activities. Jang-Jin Pan Abstract This study investigated young children''s self-regulating functions of private speech and explored the relationship of the function in types of activities and phases of activities based on Vygotsky theory framework. There were thirty 4- and 6- year-old children through observations selected randomly in the study. Data coded through Manning（1996）private speech content classification and revealed a total of 338 events observed. Reliability and validity were established. Besides, data were analyzed by applying descriptive statistics, chi-square, two-way mixed design ANOVA and two-way mixed design MANOVA. The results of the study were summarized as follows: 1. Young children expressed self-regulating functions of private speech included "affect expression", "commenting" ," questioning"（off-task） ," questioning"（non-facilitative）," focusing, describing", "questioning"（facilitative）, and "correcting", "coping" ," reinforcing" and "solving". 2. Correlations among children’s types of activities and phases of activities were found no significant. 3. There was no significant difference in self-regulating functions of private speech in respect of types of activities. 4. There was significant difference in self-regulating functions of private speech in respect of phases of activities. 5. It achieved significant differences in sorts of self-regulating functions of private speech including "describing" in the early phase of activity, "affect expression", "describing" and "directing" in the middle phase of activity and "questioning", "coping" , "reinforcing" , and "problem solving" in the later phase of activity. Based on the above results, discussions and implications were provided for understanding the self-regulating functions of children''s private speech and the effects of types of activities and phases of activities. Furthermore, future researches were proposed.

碩士
臺北市立大學
音樂學系
107
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of applying music activities to improve speech ability and stereotypical behavior for an elementary student with Autism. The method of case study was adopted, and the research participant was a female student taking private lessons with the researcher in a music center. Music lessons lasted for 12 weeks, with every 30-minute lesson taking place one time per week. The aspect of speech ability had to do with the vocabulary numbers and the pragmatics, while the stereotypical behavior was concerned about her behavior of hand swaying, tongue playing and clothes rubbing for observing and assessing. To be more specific, the researcher drew line graphs, based upon the within-period and between-period results, as visual basis to demonstrate her progress out of music activities. Other observational records and interview data were also utilized for the analysis of qualitative and social validity The results out of implementing the music activities were listed as follows: Firstly, the case student made partial progress in the number of her vocabulary. She was also found to show initiatives in expressing herself, but needed to be prompted occasionally. Secondly, the case student made significant improvement in her pragmatics accuracy. Thirdly, the case student was found to gradually reduce her stereotypical behavior of hand swaying. Fourthly, the case student’s self-stimulating behavior of tongue playing was found to disappear. Fifthly, the case student was found to increase her stereotype behavior of cloth rubbing. Sixthly, the case student was observed to start on the behavior of lifting her clothes, but it ended soon. Seventhly, among the various music activities, the case student conducted least self-stimulating behavior in the activity of music finger games. To sum up, music activities were concluded to exert many positive impacts upon children with Autism. The suggestions were thus proposed regarding instructional practices and future studies based upon the research findings.

碩士
東吳大學
日本語文學系
101
The purposes of this research are: (1) To develop the classroom activities based on SGE and TAE theory which are suitable for Teenagers under Japanese Language Educating. (2) To make learners to experience the pleasure while making a speech through the above mentioned classroom activities, which also could inspire learners’ wishes to speak voluntarily during the class, moreover, could enhance learners’ motivation of learning. (3) To create an “Assisted Classroom” in order to put (2) into practice. To achieve the above objectives, this research was based on a Girls’ High School in Taipei City, adopting the questionnaire survey and interview instigation by GTA analysis. After practice, we find the positive feedback from learners toward classroom activities; the disappearing process of uncertainties in learning language and the transition process from individual learning to group learning. Furthermore, the classroom activities could also create a reliable speech environment which encouraging learners to make meaningful interaction among peer relationships. The findings of this research and the results after practice prove out the effects by using classroom activities in Teenagers’ Japanese Language Educating are positive.

Given the small body of existing research concerning focus on form at post-task stage in task-based language teaching, the present study adopts post-task transcribing as a focus on form activity and explores the effects of transcribing under various conditions. In addition, two task types are adopted in multiple task sessions to explore task effects and task practice effects on learners' oral performance.
Ninety-six participants, divided into five experimental groups and one control group completed four tasks with a one-week interval between each task. Different experimental groups were assigned various post-task activities respectively. No post-task activity was adopted in the control group. Task performance was measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, fluency and lexical performance.
The findings are multifaceted. First of all, the adoption of post-task transcribing was found to be efficient for different formal aspects of task performance. In the second place, the pair-based transcribing brought about more syntactically complicated language, whereas the individual condition at the post-task stage led to an improvement in lexical sophistication. Thirdly, further revision after transcribing had complex effects on accuracy and complexity. Fourthly, interactive tasks proved to be more promising for a better overall task performance. Last but not least, multiple task practices were found to be beneficial for learners' lexical performance.
The findings were discussed in light of the concept of noticing and attention, Levelt's speaking model, socio-cultural theory and other related SLA theories. Based on the theoretical discussion, pedagogical implications have been proposed.
This research argues that in task-based language teaching, more attention should be paid to the post-task stage regarding its effect on focus on form. Specifically, it suggests that (a) a post-task transcribing activity can be adopted as a feasible focus on form activity in L2 classrooms; (b) different conditions for the operation of post-task transcribing may bring about distinct effects on various aspects of task performance; (c) different task types have different effects on learners' performance; (d) multiple task sessions are necessary for L2 language improvement. Further, the present study calls for a process-product approach in further studies concerning the effects of post-task focus on form activities.
Li, Qian.
Adviser: Peter Skehan.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: .
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-278).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract also in Chinese; appendix III also in Chinese.

碩士
國立臺北護理健康大學
聽語障礙科學研究所
101
The primary aim of this study was to investigate the percentage and symptoms of swallowing problems among Taiwanese laryngectomees, as well as its impact on the laryngectomees’ social activities and social participation. A questionnaire by Maclean, Cotton, & Perry (2008) was translated into Mandarin and validated by ENT specialists. The questionnaires were completed by members of the Taiwan Laryngectomy Speech Rehabilitation Association in its branches located in Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan. Data analysis was descriptive, with frequencies and counts being the primary methods of reporting. Fisher’s exact probability test was adopted to compare the differences between subjects with and without self-reported swallowing difficulties in terms of demographics, treatment information, and any noted changes to their ability to swallow following surgery. Pearson correlation coefficient was adopted to determine the effects of the distress associated with swallowing on the laryngectomees’ social activities and social participation satisfaction level. The results showed that 52.3% of the respondents had experienced difficulty with their swallowing since their laryngectomy. 79.5% reported that they had experienced symptoms of swallowing difficulties. The most commonly reported symptoms included: having to make changes to the constitution and consistency to the diet, feeling things stuck in the throat, having difficulty chewing food, and feeling of tightness in the throat during swallowing. The most common complaint on social activities and social participation was that swallowing difficulties prevented the respondents from doing things they used to be able to do. These data were useful for helping surgeons, radiologists, and speech-language pathologists raise awareness of the possible complications that may occur to the laryngectomees’ ability to swallow during treatment and thus these specialists can provide patients with realistic information about postoperative swallowing function and appropriate care.

The main topic of the Master's thesis are the possibilities of development of communication abilities during the preschool age through extracurricular activities. The research study is qualitative and its goal is to determine the effect of group speech therapy sessions on the communication abilities of children attending a mainstream preschool. The Master's thesis is divided into two parts - a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part provides basic information about the overall development of children from the time of birth until reaching school age. It describes the development of children's motor skills, the development of sensory perception (visual and auditory perception) and the development of communication abilities. Each part also contains information about the possibilities of stimulating the individual areas of development. The theoretical part also defines and describes impaired communication ability. The thesis deals in more detail with the types of impaired communication ability which occur frequently in population. Based on the research study, a description of impaired communication ability in hearing-impaired people is provided. The practical part consists of a qualitative research study. The goal of the study is to determine whether group speech therapy sessions affect...

Дисертацію присвячено розв‘язанню проблеми навчання мовленнєвої адаптації майбутніх учителів англійської мови – студентів третіх курсів ВНЗ. Наукова новизна дослідження полягає в тому, що вперше теоретично обґрунтовано, розроблено й експериментально перевірено методику навчання мовленнєвої адаптації майбутніх учителів англійської мови; визначено уміння комплексної мовленнєвої адаптації; удосконалено перелік адаптивних мовленнєвих умінь учителя англійської мови для ефективного педагогічного спілкування; набуло подальшого розвитку уточнення ефективних шляхів покращення сприйняття навчальної інформації учнями на уроці англійської мови. Практичне значення одержаних результатів полягає у відборі навчального матеріалу для формування вмінь мовленнєвої адаптації у майбутніх учителів англійської мови; розробленні комплексу вправ; створенні моделі організації навчального процесу для реалізації запропонованої методики; укладанні методичних рекомендацій щодо організації відповідного навчання. У Вступі обґрунтовано актуальність теми, визначено мету і завдання, об‘єкт і предмет дослідження, зазначено наукову новизну, практичне значення, методи дослідження, зв‘язок роботи з науковими програмами, планами та темами, наведено відомості щодо апробації одержаних результатів. У першому розділі дисертації проаналізовано сучасний стан розвитку наукової думки із проблеми формування вмінь професійно орієнтованого говоріння, досліджено теоретичні передумови формування вмінь мовленнєвої адаптації у майбутніх учителів англійської мови на заняттях із практики усного та писемного мовлення. Визначено зміст навчання мовленнєвої адаптації: професійно орієнтований мовний матеріал (фонетичний, граматичний, лексичний); професійно орієнтований мовленнєвий матеріал (вирази класного вжитку, навчальні тексти, матеріал шкільних підручників); невербальні засоби спілкування (жести); професійно орієнтовані знання; теми та ситуації спілкування; професійно орієнтовані навички та вміння. Обґрунтовано шість груп умінь мовленнєвої адаптації на різних лінгвістичних рівнях: адаптивні вміння організації, оцінювання та корекції, стимулювання, фасилітації, інформування, контролю. Встановлено, що основною характеристикою мовлення вчителя іноземної мови (ІМ) вважається зрозумілість, яка сприяє підвищенню ефективності дидактичного комунікативного впливу в процесі педагогічної взаємодії та досягається шляхом пристосування мовлення вчителя до рівня підготовки учнів. Адаптація мовлення вчителя ІМ здійснюється шляхом спрощення або ускладнення, тобто шляхом модифікації мовлення вчителя на фонетичному, лексичному, синтаксичному рівнях та на рівні дискурсу. Більш високий рівень доступності усної навчальної інформації досягається шляхом застосування вмінь комплексної МА, яку ми розуміємо як адаптацію мовлення вчителя одночасно щонайменше на двох із чотирьох зазначених вище лінгвістичних рівнях. Виокремлено найбільш ефективні модифікації мовлення щодо покращення сприйняття навчальної інформації учнями: на фонетичному рівні (використання різних видів наголосу, пауз; зміни інтонації), на лексичному рівні (перефразування слів), на синтаксичному рівні (спрощення структури речення, сурядний зв'язок; уникання скорочень слів, прислівників перед дієсловами), на рівні дискурсу (формулювання питання-стимулу у формі відкритого спеціального запитання, додаткового альтернативного запитання, додаткового неповного запитання, демонстраційного або довідкового запитання; застосування часткових повторень, різних способів перевірки розуміння). Другий розділ дослідження присвячено розробленню методики навчання мовленнєвої адаптації майбутніх учителів англійської мови. Здійснено відбір навчальних матеріалів з урахуванням принципів комунікативної необхідності та достатності, кореляції навчальних матеріалів зі шкільними підручниками, професіоналізації, релевантності, автентичності. Описано етапи формування вмінь мовленнєвої адаптації в межах навчального модуля. Розроблено підсистему вправ для формування вмінь мовленнєвої адаптації у майбутніх учителів англійської мови. Вона складається з чотирьох груп вправ для формування вмінь мовленнєвої адаптації на фонетичному, лексичному, синтаксичному рівнях та вмінь комплексної мовленнєвої адаптації. Кожна група містить шість підгруп вправ для формування адаптивних мовленнєвих умінь учителя, об‘єднаних відповідно у два блоки. Об‘єднання підгруп вправ у блоки викликано потребою застосувати вміння мовленнєвої адаптації, які формуються, для розв‘язання конкретних завдань у змодельованих ситуаціях під час проведення фрагмента уроку в кінці кожного блоку вправ. Запропоновано модель організації навчання мовленнєвої адаптації майбутніх учителів англійської мови для студентів третіх курсів ВНЗ, яка об‘єднує чотири навчальні модулі. Мета кожного модуля – формування вмінь мовленнєвої адаптації на відповідному рівні модифікації мовлення шляхом виконання шести підгруп вправ, проведення двох фрагментів уроків, заповнення таблиць спостереження та участі в рефлексивних бесідах. У третьому розділі описано організацію та хід експерименту, указано етапи його проведення; проаналізовано й інтерпретовано одержані результати, подано їхню статистичну обробку. Ефективність розробленої методики підтверджено шляхом проведення методичного експерименту. Результати експерименту свідчать про загальну ефективність обох варіантів методики. Горизонтальний характер експерименту допоміг визначити оптимальну організацію навчання МА із застосовуванням письмової рефлексії під час проведення мікротренінгу та самооцінювання ступеня володіння вміннями МА. За результатами проведеного експериментального дослідження укладено методичні рекомендації щодо раціональної організації навчання МА майбутніх учителів англійської мови.
The thesis focuses on the problem of teaching speech adaptation to the third-year students of foreign languages departments who are trained to be future English language teachers. The research provides theoretical substantiation and practical elaboration of the methodology of teaching speech adaptation to future English language teachers. The scientific novelty of the research: for the first time the methodology of teaching speech adaptation to the future English language teachers has been theoretically grounded, developed and verified; complex speech adaptation skills have been ascertained; the list of speech adaptation skills of future English language teachers for increasing the pupils‘ input comprehension has been elaborated; effective ways for increasing the pupils‘ input comprehension during the English classes have been further specified. The practical value of the scientific research: the materials for teaching speech adaptation to the future English language teachers have been selected; the subsystem of professionally oriented activities has been developed; the model of teaching speech adaptation to the 3rd year University students has been developed; the methodological recommendations for the organization of the process of teaching speech adaptation have been suggested. In the Introduction the significance of the problem is grounded; the purpose, the tasks, the object and the subject of the thesis are defined; the scientific novelty, the practical value, methods of the research, the connection with scientific programs are described; the information about the approbation of the results of the research is provided. In the first chapter the current state of scientific ideas concerning the problem of developing professionally oriented speaking skills has been analyzed; the theoretical prerequisites for developing speech adaptation skills of future English language teachers during English Practice classes have been investigated. The content of speech adaptation teaching is substantiated: professionally oriented language material (phonetic, grammar, lexical); professionally oriented speech material (classroom language, educational texts, the material of school textbooks); non-verbal means of communication (gestures); professionally oriented knowledge; topics and situations for communication; professionally oriented skills. Six groups of skills of speech adaptation at different linguistic levels are grounded. They are: organizing adaptive skills, assessing-correcting adaptive skills, stimulating adaptive skills, facilitating adaptive skills, informative adaptive skills and checking adaptive skills. It is determined that the essential characteristic of the English language teacher talk is its comprehensibility which helps to increase the effect of the didactic communicative impact during pedagogical interaction. The comprehensibility is achieved by means of teacher talk adjustment to the level of pupils. The teacher talk adaptation is carried out by means of simplifying or making the speech more complicated, in other words, by means of speech modifications at phonetic, lexical, syntactical levels and at the level of discourse. The higher level of the pupils‘ input comprehension is achieved with the help of complex speech adaptation which is defined as the teacher talk adaptation simultaneously at two linguistic levels. The most effective modifications of teacher talk for increasing the pupils‘ input comprehension are indicated: at the phonetic level (using logical stress, pauses, intonation), at the lexical level (paraphrasing), at the syntactical level (simplifying sentence structure, using coordination more than subordination; using fewer contractions, avoiding pre-verb adverbs), and at the level of discourse (open questions, giving clues in alternative questions, referential and display questions; partial repetitions, different types of comprehension checks). The second chapter is devoted to the elaboration of the methodology of teaching speech adaptation to future English language teachers. The teaching materials have been selected according to the principles of communicative necessity and sufficiency, correlation of teaching materials with school textbooks, professionalization, relevance, and authenticity. The stages of developing speech adaptation skills within one module are described. The subsystem of activities for developing speech adaptation skills has been presented. It consists of four groups of activities for developing speech adaptation skills at phonetic, lexical, syntactical levels and skills of complex speech adaptation. Each group contains six subgroups of activities for developing adaptive speech skills, which are combined respectively into two units. This combination of the subgroups is caused by the necessity to use the adaptive speech skills which are being developed while taking part in microteaching at the end of each unit. The model of teaching speech adaptation to the 3rd year University students has been developed. The model contains four modules. The purpose of each module is to develop students‘ speech adaptation skills at phonetic, lexical, syntactical levels and skills of complex speech adaptation by means of doing activities of six subgroups, taking part in microteaching and reflective discussions, and filling in observation tables. In the third chapter the organization, the procedures and the stages of the experimental teaching have been described; the results of the experiment have been analyzed and interpreted, their statistic processing has been given. The efficiency of the suggested methodology has been confirmed by means of the experiment. The results of the experimental teaching prove the general validity of both variants of the suggested methodology; its optimal variant with written reflection during microteaching and self-assessment has been substantiated. Based on the theoretical studies and outcomes of the experimental validation of the developed methodology, the methodological recommendations for the organization of the process of teaching speech adaptation to future English language teachers have been suggested.

碩士
國立東華大學
國際企業學系
101
Owing to rapid environmental change, many firms can’t play well in this tumultuous time. Lots of studies have indicated that declining firms might conduct activities to a turnaround, and most of them focus on the business activities within the national borders. Relatively less research has been conducted to investigate the relationship between foreign divestment and turnaround strategy. The purpose of this study is to delineate the relationship between performance of turnaround and foreign divestment approach; foreign divestment speed and turnaround performance. We specifically focus on the first declining firms. The data set was collected form the TEJ (Taiwan Economic Journal Financial Databank), and sample are firms in the all industries covering the period from 1996 to 2011. The result were found that during the first-time turnaround, (1) increasing FSTS (foreign sales as a percentage of total sales) were beneficial on turnaround performance; (2) declining firm’s performance will improve through decreasing foreign subsidiary; and (3) increasing FSTS slowly can improve the turnaround performance.

碩士
國立臺灣體育學院
休閒運動管理研究所
91
Abstract 　　The purpose of this study was to research if women's physical activities before she got pregnant, and after being pregnant will have any impacts on her birth delivery while she was giving birth. This study was to use questionnaire to targeting on demography, physical activities and the process of birth delivery. People are investigated are those who had virginal delivery without any illness, healthy ladies checked by physicians from the En-Chu-Kong Hospital. All the results can be useful for those women who plan to be pregnant in the future. The total numbers of questionnaires were giving to two hundred and eighty people to answer. And the valid ones were two hundred and thirty-eight with eighty-five percent accurate ratio. All the data of the valid samples were analyzed by descriptive statistics, independent t test, one-way ANOVA and Docan posthoc. The findings were as following: 1. Women’s physical activities got changed the patten before she got pregnant and after she got pregnant. Usually women tend to exercise more often after they were pregnant. The most popular activities that pregnant women do were "taking a walk" and "shopping" in this study. 2. Physical activities did not have any impacts on birth delivery. However, the multigravida for the first stage of birth delivery process, a housewife can do quicker than a professional, working lady. 3. As the second stage of birth delivery, the primipara will have major difference on delivery speed depending on her physically exercise between her 3 stages of pregnancy. The women who do exercise frequency can give birth delivery quickly than those who do not exercise at all. 4. BMI plays an important role on pregnancy. When the pregnant women's BMI was "higher", the women's delivery will slow down than those who have "normal" ones.