Gabriela Medved Vieira | 2016

The Republic of Ireland has been known for having a long history of conservatism. Much of this conservatism has been brought about by the strong influence that the Catholic Church has had upon the moral values and principles of Irish society. As a result, the State has been particularly oppressive towards women. An example of this oppression was the existence of Magdalene Laundries, institutions where women had to endure forced labor to “pay” for their sins. Having this in mind, the aim of this piece of research is to situate the play Eclipsed (1994), whose main action takes place in a Magdalene Laundry, in the historical-cultural context of the Republic of Ireland on both periods the play occurs, 1963, a more conservative period, and 1992, when the country started to become more liberal. To this end, an analysis based on Genette’s concept of intertextuality has been carried out to investigate how this play functions as a representation of society in the two periods.

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Cristina da Silva Ferreira | 2015

This study is a review of the recent scientific literature that aims to answer the research question: “What are the effects of bilingualism in terms of brain function?”. The new technologies that obtain brain data allow researchers to identify the areas of the brain that are active during language processes such as reading, speaking, translating and also switching between languages when the process concerns a bilingual brain. With the use of neuroimaging tools, researchers have found intriguing results about the brain concerning other brain functions with respect to bilingualism and acquisition of a second language. This study seeks for the most relevant information in this area with respect to age of acquisition, child development, aging, preventions against brain damage, among other factors. The neuroimaging has provided researchers to check on delay on onset symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, increase in the plasticity of matters (Grey-matter and White-matter) of the brain as well as children outperforming concerning reading and speaking tasks.

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Luciana Busato Salles | 2015

The purpose of this work is to investigate genre in digital culture, focusing on the issue of contextualization of discourse in web domains, identifying ‘internet genres’ and Colonies of Promotional Genres’ (Bhatia, 2004) nearly obligatorily to preserve and prompt the communicative purposes in the setting. The discussion is suggested in view of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Genre Studies. The subject of analysis is written texts in the website LeanIn.org, which aims to provide support for women to succeed in their goals and professional roles. The findings indicate that ‘internet genres’ (Bauman, 1999) used in the context are communicative events dependant on technological resources available on the internet, oriented on promotional activities and organized in ‘colonies of promotional genres’ (Bhatia, 2004).

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Rafael Descovi Galelli | 2015

This study intends to discuss the concept of authorship within the translation studies framework and its interface with scientific texts, in particular, mathematical texts. This discussion will be an exploratory argument among the different understandings of authorship within these different perspectives. There are two main arguments at the center: the relationship between authorship and originality and its consequences to translations. These two arguments find its foundations in the works of Lawrence Venuti and Sundar Sarukkai, from the Translation Studies and Hard Sciences points of view respectively. The main objective is to perceive that although the understanding of originality is intrinsically related to that of authorship, any change in the conception of this original can cause different understandings on writing and on translation alike even in more strict scientific contexts.

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Olegario da Costa Maya Neto | 2014

Much has been published regarding the process of film adaptation. Traditionally, the quality of film adaptation was evaluated based on assumptions that literature was a superior form of art compared to cinema. As Stam lengthily discusses it, those assumptions were based on a number of beliefs, e.g. literature was a senior form of art compared to the more novice cinema, the cultural prejudice against visual arts and the word-centeredness of our culture (21). Furthermore, Xavier points out that critics used to evaluate films in terms of how “faithful” they were in relation to the source text, basing that evaluation solely on their interpretation of written text and films (61). But the same author also explains that the inflexibility towards film adaptation gradually changed in the last decades following cultural changes that established a new relation between written text and film adaptation, one that is understood as a “dialogue” between two works of art. Notions of authorship and originality were questioned by Bakhtin, as discussed by Stam (23). In other words, film adaptation is now seen as a process of artistic creation in which it is possible to change the perception of events, redefine the sense of time and even alter the meaning of the characters‟ experience. After all, “book and film are apart in time; the writer and the movie director do not share the same sensibility or perspective. Therefore, one should expect from adaptations not only a reference to the original text but also towards the intended context” (Xavier, 62) ¹.

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Emilene Lubianco de Sá | 2014

The objective of this study is to analyse the English subtitles of the Brazilian film O Auto da Compadecida – A Dog’s Will (Arraes, 2000) – in order to verify which strategies were used in the translation of idioms and fixed expressions. The choices of translation strategies were described based on concepts discussed within Translation Studies (TS). The results reveal that despite the technical constraints of subtitling, especially with regard to time and space, the translator managed to use strategies, albeit varied, that reproduced the idioms in the subtitles, which shows an understanding of the important role of these elements in the mood of the film.

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Karina Rodrigues Lacerda | 2014

For many years, genres were merely considered a literacy type of texts, but this meaning has been changed. Differente lines of genres’s researches started to appear as English for Specific Purpose, North American New Rhetorical and Systemic Function Linguistics which helped to build the meaning of genre, which consists in “communicative events”, “communicative purposes”, and patterns of “structure, style, content and intended audience” (Swales, 1990) of written and oral texts, and may be a tool for helping teaching practices of a second language. The studies of genre are complex and follow different paths, but these studies are important to bring improvement to education. In Brasil, genres became a demand to textbooks used in public schools, including for the first time second language text books.

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Karine Pinto Manfé | 2014

Many researchers from different countries are mapping the pronunciation patterns of learners of English as a foreign language in order to identify specific difficulties students may have when learning a language. Once these patterns which may hinder successful communication are identified, educators could improve their teaching approaches concerning pronunciation so as to better assist their target students. Bearing this in mind, this research aimed at investigating why some Brazilian students delete the /s/ pronunciation in word-final positions (e.g., ‘watches’ and ‘always’). The data counted on 10 participants who were asked to respond an open-ended questionnaire with their background information; to answer some questions according to an image and about their own habits; and to read a text in Portuguese and another in English. Regarding the nonlinguistic variables, the results showed that the participants who less deleted the /s/ were the ones who spent more time learning English. Moreover, there was partial support to the hypothesis that certain dialects may lead to the deletion of /s/. Concerning the tests, the oral section with closed questions led to the highest percentages of /s/ deletions. Furthermore, all participants who deleted the /s/ in L1 also deleted it in L2. Moreover, the research also proved that the informants who delete the /s/ when reading also delete it when speaking. Finally, it could also be concluded that from the five linguistic categories present in the tests plurality, verb inflection and verb contraction were the ones on which most /s/ deletions occurred.

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Paula Eduarda Michels | 2014

Very recently, foreign language textbooks began to be distributed free of charge for public schools in Brazil (in 2011 for grades 6 through to 9; and in 2012, for secondary school) through the government program called Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD). This event suggests a potentially significant change in the public schools’ English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom dynamics. Bearing this in mind, this paper investigates how public school teachers, with focus on secondary school teachers working for the state of Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis, incorporate the EFL textbooks selected by the PNLD into their classrooms. This qualitative study was conducted with the participation of three public school teachers, each from a different state school, and the instruments for data collection were semi-structured interviews and classroom observation. The investigation attempted to unveil aspects involved within the textbook selection process; the relation between the textbook’s theoretical-methodological assumptions and the teacher’s own practice and orientations; and in what manner issues related to the cross-curricular themes proposed by the National Curriculum Guidelines (PCN, 1998) were approached in class. In general terms, the availability of the PNLD textbooks was viewed as positive by the teachers at least in two of the cases investigated, but some common shortcomings going beyond the textbook were salient, such as the extensive workload, the lack of familiarity with official educational guidelines, the absence of specific teaching education for the teachers and the lack of opportunities to share experiences among colleagues, all of them having impact on the incorporation of the textbook and on the teacher’s performance in class.

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Ingrid Marjha Kukulka Xavier | 2014

Although there are no considerable basis in practical experience and research findings, bilingual education is a controversial and frequently misunderstood field (Krashen, 2007). Also, the concepts of bilingualism and bilingual education are seen to be complex and may involve several dimensions in their definitions. With the great globalization and studies in the area of bilingualism, suggesting advantages to being a bilingual speaker, the demands for bilingual education grow increasingly worldwide. Thus, some schools in Brazil teach bilingual programs that serve children in order to teach them English, though they do not always follow standards of Bilingual Education. In this context, this study aims to ponder over these issues by presenting an analysis of a teacher’s own reflections upon her pedagogical practices in a bilingual classroom, in a so-called bilingual education environment in a private school located in the southern Brazil.

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