Alissa J. Hartig, Connecting Language and Disciplinary Knowledge in English for Specific Purposes: Case studies in law

This book, which explores the relationship between linguistic and disciplinary knowledge, belongs to the “New Perspectives on Language and Education” series co-edited by two major professors of language-in-education, Viv Edwards, from the University of Reading, United Kingdom, and Phan Le Ha, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States. Alissa Hartig’s study is truly international in scope: it examines the development of international students’ legal writing competence, builds on he..

L’évaluation en langues à l’entrée de la fonction publique en France et au Canada

Cet article se propose de comparer les modalités de l’épreuve de langue aux concours d’accès à la fonction publique en France et au Canada. Concernant la France, l’étude concerne les concours des fonctions publiques d’État et territoriale. Une typologie des épreuves laisse apparaître un nombre restreint de types d’épreuves, dominées, à l’écrit comme à l’oral, par la version, accompagnée voire remplacée à l’oral par une conversation. Ceci reflète une organisation des épreuves extrêmement décentralisée. Les besoins en langues sont rarement envisagés par poste ; ils le sont plutôt par corps. Au Canada, l’évaluation du niveau de compétence dans la seconde langue officielle vient d’être revue. Les candidats sont évalués en fonction d’un référentiel qui pallie certains points problématiques du référentiel établi par le Conseil de l’Europe, le Cadre européen commun de référence (CECR), comme, par exemple, la place des langues de spécialité. Les besoins en langues par postes sont analysés grâce à ce référentiel. Nous proposons enfin quelques pistes pour améliorer la validité des épreuves de langues aux concours administratifs en France.Language testing in competitive entrance exams for the French civil service is compared to the equivalent in Canada for entrance to the Canadian civil service. On the French side, this covers national, regional and local administrative posts. Analysis reveals a limited range of language test types, whether written or oral, confined primarily to translation from English into French and/or conversational exchange. The absence of any centralised form of test organisation is also apparent: tests vary according to ministries and administrations, and language needs are hardly ever defined according to function or job type. Canada has recently reviewed its official second language assessment procedures. Candidates are to be assessed henceforth by means of a grid which overcomes a number of problem areas identified in the CEFR such as, for example, languages for specific purposes. In both French and English, language needs are analysed with this new grid in terms of function or job type. Suggestions are made to better validate language tests in French civil service entrance exams

L’impact de l’utilisation du Portfolio européen des langues en cycle de Licence de Sciences économiques

Le Conseil de l’Europe et les enseignants qui utilisent le Portfolio européen des langues (PEL) avec leurs étudiants font le pari que cet instrument favorisera l’autonomie et accroîtra la motivation. Quel est le point de vue des utilisateurs étudiants ? Cette étude se propose de l’examiner au moyen d’un questionnaire portant sur l’ergonomie du PEL, les changements qu’il induit dans leur apprentissage par son utilisation en semi-autonomie, la valorisation de leur multilinguisme, leur intérêt pour le PEL et les effets du PEL sur leur motivation. Le questionnaire a été administré en 2004-2005 à 158 étudiants de cycle de Licence de Sciences économiques (1e et 2e années). Son analyse suggère une réaction mitigée des étudiants face au PEL, plutôt favorables à son introduction, mais considérant qu’il reste globalement sans effet sur leur motivation.The Council of Europe and teachers using the European Language Portfolio (ELP) with their students hope that it will be a tool to favour autonomy and increase motivation. What is the student users’ point of view? Data collected from a questionnaire administered in 2004-2005 to 158 first- and second-year Economics students was used to look at ELP ergonomics, the changes induced by their semi-autonomous use of the ELP, learners’ perception of their own multilingualism and their interest in the ELP as well as any effects of the ELP on motivation. Mixed responses from the students would suggest that they are initially, at least, favourable to using the ELP, though it appears to have little effect on overall motivation

Estimation of Light-use Efficiency of Terrestrial Ecosystem from Space: A Status Report

A critical variable in the estimation of gross primary production of terrestrial ecosystems is light-use efficiency (LUE), a value that represents the actual efficiency of a plant's use of absorbed radiation energy to produce biomass. Light-use efficiency is driven by the most limiting of a number of environmental stress factors that reduce plants' photosynthetic capacity; these include short-term stressors, such as photoinhibition, as well as longer-term stressors, such as soil water and temperature. Modeling LUE from remote sensing is governed largely by the biochemical composition of plant foliage, with the past decade seeing important theoretical and modeling advances for understanding the role of these stresses on LUE. In this article we provide a summary of the tower-, aircraft-, and satellite-based research undertaken to date, and discuss the broader scalability of these methods, concluding with recommendations for ongoing research possibilities

The noise-lovers: cultures of speech and sound in second-century Rome

This chapter provides an examination of an ideal of the ‘deliberate speaker’, who aims to reflect time, thought, and study in his speech. In the Roman Empire, words became a vital tool for creating and defending in-groups, and orators and authors in both Latin and Greek alleged, by contrast, that their enemies produced babbling noise rather than articulate speech. In this chapter, the ideal of the deliberate speaker is explored through the works of two very different contemporaries: the African-born Roman orator Fronto and the Syrian Christian apologist Tatian. Despite moving in very different circles, Fronto and Tatian both express their identity and authority through an expertise in words, in strikingly similar ways. The chapter ends with a call for scholars of the Roman Empire to create categories of analysis that move across different cultural and linguistic groups. If we do not, we risk merely replicating the parochialism and insularity of our sources.Accepted manuscrip

Barton (Carlin Α.). Roman Honor. The Fire in the Bones.

Méthy Nicole. Barton (Carlin Α.). Roman Honor. The Fire in the Bones.. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 81, fasc. 1, 2003. Antiquité - Oudheid. pp. 215-217

Barton (Carlin Α.). Roman Honor. The Fire in the Bones.

Méthy Nicole. Barton (Carlin Α.). Roman Honor. The Fire in the Bones.. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 81, fasc. 1, 2003. Antiquité - Oudheid. pp. 215-217

Petraccia Lucernoni (M. F.), Serta Antiqua et mediaevalia III. Gli stationarii in età imperiale, 2001 (Università degli studi di Genova Dipartimento di Scienze dell'antichità e del medioevo : Storia Antica ; I)

Méthy Nicole. Petraccia Lucernoni (M. F.), Serta Antiqua et mediaevalia III. Gli stationarii in età imperiale, 2001 (Università degli studi di Genova Dipartimento di Scienze dell'antichità e del medioevo : Storia Antica ; I). In: Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 104, 2002, n°3-4. pp. 611-612

Bakhouche (Béatrice), Moreau (Alain) et Turpin (Jean-Claude) edd. Les astres.

Méthy Nicole. Bakhouche (Béatrice), Moreau (Alain) et Turpin (Jean-Claude) edd. Les astres.. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 75, fasc. 1, 1997. Antiquite - Oudheid. pp. 194-195