It has often been advanced that pitch is a two-dimensional perceptual attribute, its two dimensions being: (1) tone height, a perceptual quality monotonically related to frequency; and (2) tone chroma, a quality shared by tones forming an octave interval. However, given that many musically uneducated adults do not seem to perceive tone chroma, this model is controversial. We investigated the sensitivity of three-month-old infants to tone chroma by means of a behavioral habituation-dishabituation procedure. Infants were presented with two successive melodic sequences of pure tones, the second sequence being a distorted version of the first one. The distortion consisted in shifting the frequency of some of the original tones, through a seventh or a ninth for some infants, through an octave for others. In the former case, infants displayed significant novelty reactions. In the latter case, significant novelty reactions were observed when the two sequences differed in melodic contour, but not when they had the same contour. These results suggest that young infants are sensitive to both tone height and tone chroma, and thus that tone chroma perception does not necessitate some form of musical experience.
Background: To help immigrant and refugee adolescents experiencing a severe academic delay cope with adversity, a school-based intervention combining drama workshops and language awareness activities was piloted in two classrooms. Method: A qualitative analysis of participant observations was performed and the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire and its Impairment Supplement was administered before and after the intervention. The observations were carried out in two Montreal high schools serving an underprivileged neighbourhood of immigrants, involving two classrooms of underschooled adolescents (n = 27) and two classes of similarly underschooled adolescents chosen among other teachers interested in the intervention, who accepted to participate as a comparison group (n = 28). Results: The adolescents shared their experiences of adversity and felt empowered by the workshops. Self-reported impairment decreased in the intervention groups. Conclusion: The protective effect of creative language activities for immigrant and refugee youth should be further investigated. Key Practitioner Message:• Immigrant and refugee adolescents with learning difficulties may be at risk of feeling doubly rejected • School-based programmes are usually well-accepted by immigrant families • Language awareness activities paired with drama expression workshops may empower these youth • The acknowledgement of diverse languages and identities can help restore feelings of belonging
In the framework of a habituation-recovery paradigm, we presented 40 infants, aged 70–110 days, two cyclically repeating melodic sequences of pure tones. The habituation sequence, A B C A B C …, was the same for all infants; its component tones, A, B, and C, had a level of 80 dB SPL and respective frequencies of 736.7, 487.4, and 428.1 Hz. B and C were replaced by X and Y in the test sequence, A X Y A X Y …, which had three different versions, heard by three separate groups of infants. For each group, X and Y were 85 dB SPL and X Y was an exact musical transposition of B C at lower frequencies. The interval between B and X (and C and Y) was equal to 1003 cents for group 1 (N = 12), 1200 cents—i.e., one octave—for group 2 (N = 16), and 1389 cents for group 3 (N = 12). Significant reactions to the sequence change were observed in groups 1 and 3, but not in group 2. Young infants would therefore seem to perceive as strongly similar two pure tones one octave apart. This tends to support nativist explanations of the perception of tone chroma.
L'apprentissage réussi de la lecture est un processus complexe qui constitue l'un des défis majeurs des premières années de la scolarisation, en particulier pour de jeunes élèves allophones qui commencent leurs études dans une langue seconde. Les recherches en langue première ont montré que cet apprentissage est favorisé par le développement d'habiletés langagières orales ainsi que par l'émergence de capacités dites métalinguistiques. En langue seconde, les chercheurs ont surtout questionné l'existence d'un niveau seuil de compétence langagière dans la langue seconde nécessaire au transfert des habiletés de lecture acquises dans la langue première. Ils ont très peu examiné les effets possibles des capacités métalinguistiques sur l'apprentissage de la lecture en langue seconde. La présente étude vise donc à analyser, en français langue seconde, le rôle exercé par les habiletés langagières orales et par les capacités métalinguistiques sur les performances en lecture de jeunes apprentis lecteurs allophones en situation de bilinguisme successif et à observer si des différences existent avec leurs pairs francophones du même niveau scolaire.
Résumé Nous traiterons dans cet article de la dimension linguistique des enjeux interculturels en questionnant la prise en compte de la diversité linguistique dans les milieux scolaires québécois. En particulier, nous présenterons les programmes d’Éveil aux langues développés en Europe (Candelier, 2003b; Perregaux et al., 2003) et implantés récemment en Colombie-Britannique et au Québec (Armand et Dagenais, 2005), qui visent à préparer les élèves à vivre dans des sociétés linguistiquement et culturellement diverses. Après avoir abordé les liens entre ces programmes, l’éducation interculturelle et l’éducation à la citoyenneté, nous préciserons les principes importants à respecter, pour éviter des biais, lors de leur implantation. Enfin, nous appuyant sur les travaux récents du Conseil de l’Europe (Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues, 2001; Guide pour l’élaboration des politiques linguistiques éducatives en Europe, 2007a), nous aborderons plus largement la question, au Québec, d’une éducation plurilingue.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.