Pragmatic Aspects Of Language Research Articles

‘‘Language profile among Arabic-speaking children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder”

BackgroundChildren with ADHD were found to have language impairment in many studies. The way they use language in their everyday life may be affected, namely, the pragmatic aspect of language. Measuring the affected parameters in all aspects of language will help to reach better rehabilitation. Thus, this study set out to observe relationships between hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention with all language domains in 30 Egyptian Arabic-speaking children with ADHD between 4 and ≤7 years old with the aim of better intervention. Children were evaluated to establish the diagnosis of ADHD and its type following the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-V criteria and the Conners’ Parent Rating Scale-Revised. Language abilities were assessed by the Pre-school Language Scale 4th edition (Arabic version), the Arabic articulation test, and the Egyptian Arabic Pragmatic Language Test. This assessment covered receptive and expressive language abilities and phonological and pragmatic skills. ResultsCompared to norms, it was found that the ADHD children who participated in this study had non-significant language delays in the parameters of the modified PLS-4 test. 70 % of the ADHD children had total pragmatic test scores below their 5th percentile, while 30 % of the children had total pragmatic test scores above their 5th percentile. 50 % of ADHD children failed to master certain sounds corresponding to their phonological age. A statistically significant negative correlation was observed between each of the inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity scores and the receptive, expressive, total language ages, and pragmatic language scores. ConclusionChildren with ADHD in this study did not show major difficulties in areas beyond what would be expected in normally developing children. Most children with ADHD in the present study had problems with pragmatic language aspects that are correlated positively to ADHD symptoms. 50 % of ADHD children failed to master certain sounds corresponding to their chronological age.

Analyzing The Use of Speech Acts in The Animated Film Entitled “Turning Red”

Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics, which is the study of language. One of the pragmatics components is speech acts. Understanding speech acts is crucial for effective communication as it helps to interpret meaning beyond the literal words and to navigate the social and pragmatic aspects of language. The dialogue between the characters in a film is similar to the dialogue in a drama or novel as they are a piece of literary works. The message of the film can be gleaned from the conversations between each character. These are the uttered words, which are made up of different speech acts. Thus, the aim of this study is to identify speech acts used in the animated film entitled “Turning Red”. The researchers used a descriptive qualitative method. The findings showed that there are five speech acts used in the “Turning Red” animated film, such as declarative, commissive, directive, representative, and expressive. Keywords: Animated film, speech acts, Turning Red

Parental perspectives on the impact of screen time on the language skills of typically developing Indian children.

The overuse of screen-based devices results in developmental problems in children. Parents are an integral part of the children's language development. The present study explores the parental perspectives on the impact of screen time on the language skills of typically developing school-going children using a developed questionnaire. 192 parents of typically developing children between 6 and 10 years of age participated in the study. Phase 1 of the study included the development of a questionnaire targeting the impact of screen devices on language development. The questionnaire was converted into an online survey and was circulated among the parents in Phase 2. Descriptive statistics were performed on the retrieved data and a chi-square test was done to determine the association between the use of screen devices across all language parameters. Parents reported television and smartphones to be the most used type of device, with a large proportion of children using screen-based devices for 1-2 hours per day. Most parents reported children prefer watching screens mainly for entertainment purposes, occasionally under supervision, without depending on them as potential rewards. The impact of screen-based devices on language skills has been discussed under the semantics, syntax, and pragmatic aspects of language. The findings of this study will help identify the existing trends in the usage of screen-based devices by children, thereby identifying potential contributing factors towards language delays. This information will also benefit in parental counselling during the interventional planning of children with language delays.

Language Development in Egyptian Arabic Speaking Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract Background Children with ADHD were found to have language impairment in many studies. The way they use language in their everyday life may be affected, namely, the pragmatic aspect of language. Measuring the affected parameters in all aspects of language will help to reach better intervention. Aim of the Work This study was set out to observe relationships between hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention with all language domains in the Egyptian Arabic speaking children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder with aim of better intervention. Subjects and Methods This study was an observational analytical study conducted on 30 Egyptian Arabic-speaking children who were diagnosed as having ADHD with age ranging from 4-7 years. The study was carried out at the Units of Phoniatrics and Audiology of Ain-Shams University hospitals (El-Demerdash and Ain-Shams University Specialized hospital). Children were evaluated to establish the diagnosis of ADHD and its type following the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-V criteria (1) and The Conners‟ Parent Rating Scale – Revised “CPRS-R” (8). The children language abilities were assessed using the Modified PLS-4, the Arabic version, the Standardized Egyptian Arabic Pragmatic Language Test “EAPLT” (13). This assessment covered receptive and expressive language abilities, as well as pragmatic and phonological skills. Results Compared to norms, it was found that the ADHD children who participated in this study had non-significant language delays in parameters of. Seventy % of the participating ADHD children had total pragmatic test scores below their 5th percentile, while 30% of the children had total pragmatic test score above their 5th percentile. Results also revealed that 50% of the ADHD children failed to master certain sounds corresponding to their phonological age. A statistically significant negative correlation was observed between each of Inattention scores, Hyperactivity scores, and Impulsivity with receptive language age, expressive language age, total language age, and pragmatic language scores. Conclusion Receptive and expressive language, children with ADHD in this study did not show major difficulties in areas beyond what would be expected in normally developing children. The majority of children with ADHD in the present study had problems with pragmatic aspects. Half of the children failed to master certain sounds corresponding to their chronological age.

The relationships between students' comprehension of conversational implicatures and their achievement in reading comprehension.

The most important thing in effective communication is understanding not only what is said, but also why it is said. Therefore, the development of pragmatic competence in another language is essential to be able to communicate effectively. Pragmatic competence plays an important role in enabling interlocutors to work out what is intended by what is said. In this sense, special emphasis should be placed on the pragmatic aspects of language in order to enable language learners to use language appropriately. In this regard, this study aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between students’ comprehension of conversational implicatures and their achievement in reading comprehension. To this end, the data were collected from first-year 122 students at one of the private universities in northern Cyprus with different bachelor’s degrees via the Multiple-Choice Discourse Completion Test (MCDCT) and the reading test. The quantitative data were analysed by means of A Pearson Correlational Analysis, Simple Linear Regression, and Canonical Correlational Analysis. The results of the study revealed that comprehension of conversational implicatures of first-year university students is positively related to their achievement in reading comprehension. Moreover, it has been depicted that among the eight implicature types, topic change, indirect refusal, and disclosure are more related (0.855) to reading comprehension. Therefore, these three implicature types provide the most contribution to the participants’ comprehension of conversational implicatures. As it is, they are more powerful predictors of reading comprehension. In addition to these results, there is only one high positive correlation among the six reading subskills; that is between the subskill to identify ideas and opinions of the writer and the subskill to scan a text to find specific information (0.749). In the light of the findings, this study yields crucial implications for language teachers, material developers, and curriculum designers to take full advantage of these associations for promoting EFL learners’ achievement in reading and comprehension of conversational implicatures in the target language.

Pragmatic awareness of conversational implicatures by L2 undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia

Pragmatic competence is one of the chief components of language learners’ communicative abilities. However, in research and instruction, limited attention is often directed towards the pragmatic aspects of language. One such pragmatic aspect is conversational implicature. This study investigates the perception of implicatures by EFL undergraduates in Saudi Arabia, where, as in East Asian countries, English is spoken as a foreign language. It employs an exploratory mixed-methods design to collect and analyse the data. Three instruments were used to collect the data, namely, a multiple-choice discourse completion test, the design based on Bouton’s works (1988, 1994), a questionnaire, developed from and based on the taxonomy of the implicature of interpretative strategies by Vandergrift (1997), and interviews. A total of 40 undergraduates who enrolled on a four-year English programme at Majmaah University were randomly selected to participate in this study. The findings revealed that EFL learners encountered difficulties in understanding implicatures. It was also shown that Quantity, Indirect Criticism, Quality, Sequential, and Scalar implicatures are more problematic for learners than the other five types of implicatures, namely, Minimum Requirement Rule, Manner, POPE-Q, Idiomatic, and Relation, respectively. Moreover, the findings obtained from the questionnaire indicated that the participants tended to use inference strategies, deduction/induction, repetition, and transfer strategies more frequently than grouping strategies, elaboration strategies, translation strategies, and summarisation strategies. The study recommends that language teachers should incorporate the pragmatic aspects of language in their teaching, and such aspects should also be incorporated in the English curricula. It provides significant implications which could be useful for EFL/ESL learners and teachers as well as curriculum designers in Saudi Arabia, as much as in East Asia.

Apresentação do Programa de intervenção em equoterapia “Passo a passo na comunicação” para crianças com autismo

ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to present the “Step-by-step in communication” equine-assisted speech-language-hearing rehabilitation program to treat language impairment in children. The program was developed in three stages: literature analysis, pilot application, and clinical analysis. The literature was analyzed by searching, reading, and discussing articles and books on the topic, published up to 2018. After this stage, the first version of the program was developed. This version addressed: participants’ language assessment, application of 10 sessions, monitoring and record of activities in each session, participants’ reassessment, and adjustment of techniques and activities. The clinical analysis took place after the pilot application with the following procedures: analysis by three judges, revision of the approach by the authors, and development of the final version of the “Step-by-step in communication” program, comprising eight theme modules with 24 sessions, and based on four main pillars, which are applied in equine-assisted therapy activities. Each pillar has specific objectives and strategies. The activities aim at formal (semantic and morphosyntactic) and pragmatic aspects of language. Their theoretical/practical framework is grounded on functional grammar, and the strategies are based on equine-assisted therapy experiences that open the way for communication.

Iconicity ratings really do measure iconicity, and they open a new window onto the nature of language

Abstract This paper reviews recent research using participant ratings to measure the iconicity (form-meaning resemblance) of words and signs. This method, by enabling wide coverage of lexical items and cross-linguistic comparison, has revealed systematic patterns in how iconicity is distributed across the vocabularies of different languages. These findings are consistent with established linguistic and psychological theory on iconicity, and they connect iconicity to factors like learning and acquisition, semantics, pragmatic aspects of language like playfulness, and to the semantic neighborhood density of words and signs. After taking stock of this research, we look critically at the construct validity of iconicity ratings, considering an alternative account of iconicity ratings recently put forward by Thompson, Arthur Lewis, Kimi Akita & Youngah Do. 2020a. Iconicity ratings across the Japanese lexicon: A comparative study with English. Linguistics Vanguard 6. 20190088. They propose that, for most vocabulary, participants might rate the iconicity of different words based on their meaning alone – specifically the degree to which it relates to the senses – independently of actual form-meaning resemblance. We argue that their hypothesis cannot account for many of the various, theory-driven results from this line of research, which strongly support the conclusion that the ratings really do measure iconicity.

Sex Differences in Emotional Processing in Language

Many studies report sex differences in language processing, but there is still no consensus about differences between men and women in language processing. However, the sex differences in emotional processing are more evident and consistent. In this paper, some studies on sex differences in specific emotional area: emotional processing in language, empathy and pragmatic aspect of language, and humor processing are reviewed. These results demonstrate that women engage more emotion-related brain areas than men and the results are in consistent with sex-related cognitive style strategy hypothesis, that is, men and women favor different cognitive strategies during emotional processing. Based on the findings, sex-related cognitive strategies hypothesis and extreme male brain hypothesis are discussed. Men and women favor different cognitive strategies during emotional processing, and women show more sensitivity to emotion processing in language. Although biology may play a role to affect sex differences, the most important factor might be the different cognitive strategies employed by men and women influenced by sex hormones. The favor of different cognitive styles encourages women to have stronger drive to empathize and play the key role in sex-related differences in emotional processing in language, empathy and pragmatic reasoning, and humor processing. It is concluded that women are more efficient than men in emotional processing.

The cognitive profile and autistic characteristics associated with Sotos syndrome

The purpose of this thesis was to advance understanding of the cognitive and behavioural profiles associated with Sotos syndrome. Specifically, the aim of this thesis was to establish the cognitive profile and whether autistic features are associated with Sotos syndrome. Initially, a systematic review of all published literature providing data on cognition and behaviour in Sotos syndrome was conducted. In general, research investigating cognition and behaviour in Sotos syndrome has been sporadic and much of the existing literature is based on small samples. The findings from the systematic review were used to inform the design of the research presented in the subsequent chapters. The studies reported within this thesis have used the largest samples to date to investigate cognition and behaviour in individuals with Sotos syndrome. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that Sotos syndrome is associated with a high prevalence of autistic features, as well as a clear and consistent cognitive profile. In particular, the Sotos syndrome cognitive profile is characterised by relative strength in verbal ability and visuospatial memory and relative weakness in non-verbal reasoning ability and quantitative reasoning. Furthermore, greater severity of autistic features is associated with lower intellectual ability for individuals with Sotos syndrome. Communicative difficulties are common in both adults and children with Sotos syndrome and individuals display difficulty with both structural and pragmatic aspects of language. Overall, the findings reported within this thesis advance understanding of the cognitive and behavioural phenotype of Sotos syndrome and have important implications for considering the syndrome-specific needs of these individuals.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF PRAGMATISM AND PERSPECTIVES OF SOCIO-HUMANITARIAN REDESCRIPTION OF ANALYTIC METHODOLOGY

Purpose. The paper is aimed at studying the specificity of anthropological problematics in pragmatism from the perspective of its ability to be the source of analytic philosophy evolution in the socio-humanitarian direction. Theoretical basis of the research is determined by the works of the representatives of classical pragmatism (C. S. Peirce, W. James, J. Dewey, F. Schiller), neopragmatism (W. V. O. Quine), post-pragmatism (R. Rorty) and analytic pragmatism (R. Brandom). Their works give a clear understanding of the important place of anthropological searches in the theory of pragmatism. Originality. On the basis of the analysis of logical, epistemological and metaphysical ideas formulated by representatives of pragmatism, it is proved that pragmatic methodology is anthropocentric. It is established that the ideological and social foundations of pragmatism can be determined as pluralistic ones due to the attention to the human person. It is revealed that theoretical and methodological searches of pragmatism can be effective in the formation of the socio-humanitarian concepts in analytic philosophy through the specification of strategies for the cognition of human existence in such terms as experience or self and the development of practical ways to justify the truth of knowledge. Conclusions. Pragmatists criticized impersonal, formal thinking, which cannot be an effective means of cognition. Thinking has a social basis and is entirely personal. Justifying its dependence on the socio-cultural sphere and the internal intentions of the subject, it is possible to develop an effective logical theory that operates symbols not only at the syntactic or semantic level but also takes into account the pragmatic aspect of language. Anthropological problematics is also important in the theory of knowledge, the core of which is the notion of pragmatic belief, which enables truth and religious beliefs, since the foundation of the theory of truth is determined by the principle of humanism, and the truth is interpreted as a value orientation. Knowing the external world, we find in it the similarity with us – that’s why the metaphysical foundations of being, according to pragmatism, are personified, and the methodology is defined in anthropomorphic terms. Applying it, the study of human existence is specified in the analysis of psychological and socio-cultural dimensions of such concepts as experience or self. Attempts to comprehend the nature of human existence in pragmatism are empirically grounded. Appealing to science, methodological pluralism, the search for socio-cultural background for thinking and suitable linguistic forms of expression of human experience are the achievements of pragmatism, which are the basis for the socio-humanitarian redescription of analytic methodology.

Pragmatics and figurative language in individuals with traumatic brain injury: fine-grained assessment and relevance-theoretic considerations

ABSTRACT Background Difficulties in the pragmatic aspects of language are considered a hallmark of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). However, this claim is mostly based on assessments of discourse production, neglecting another relevant pragmatic aspect, namely the comprehension of figurative expressions such as idioms, metaphors, and proverbs. Accounts developed in the framework of Relevance Theory might help framing an investigation in this domain, by describing a continuum of loose uses for idioms and metaphors and the echoing of general wisdom in proverbs. Aims First, we aimed at sketching a detailed pragmatic profile of individuals with TBI, by using the Assessment of Pragmatic Abilities and Cognitive Substrates (APACS) test, a standardized tool evaluating both production and comprehension. Second, we aimed at doing a fine-grained investigation of figurative language comprehension skills, by taking into account different figurative types and task-related issues. Methods and Procedures Thirty-nine individuals with TBI were administered the APACS test and compared to a sample of matched controls. Six subtasks considering three figurative types (idioms, metaphors, and proverbs) in two response-formats (multiple-choice and verbal explanation) were derived from the APACS test and analyzed with a mixed model approach. Outcomes and Results Results showed a diffuse pragmatic language disorder both in the expressive and receptive modality, with 56% of individuals with TBI performing below normative cut-off in the APACS Total score. The analysis of the figurative language subtasks confirmed the difficulties of the TBI group with figurative expressions compared to controls. A further model restricted to the TBI group showed that verbal explanation was more difficult than the multiple-choice format. However, we did not observe robust differences between figurative types. The only noticeable effect was related to proverbs in the verbal explanation format, which were more difficult than all other subtasks. Conclusions This study shows two main aspects. First, the pragmatic language disorder of people with TBI encompasses not only the well-known difficulties in discourse production but also a disruption of figurative language understanding. Second, such a disruption affects different figurative types, indicating a general problem in inferring the speaker’s meaning from non-literal language. Relevance-theoretic considerations helped us highlighting the commonalities across figurative types, rather than the differences, and the enhanced meta-representational efforts linked to proverbs in open response formats. Intervention could capitalize on these findings and implement training programs that target pragmatic inferences across different types of expressions to promote the most successful return to communication in its variety of situations.

High rates of language impairment in vulnerable populations: the case for improving cross-sector awareness of Developmental Language Disorder.

High rates of language impairment in vulnerable populations: the case for improving cross-sector awareness of Developmental Language Disorder.

Reviving pragmatic theory of theory of mind.

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to self and others. It has been debated whether or not language capacity precedes ToM in development. Evidence from both neurological and developmental studies suggested that while linguistic capacity is important for ToM understanding, pragmatic component, which is a non-structural part of language, is more important for ToM. Moreover, given that pragmatic component of language is subserved by the right hemisphere of the brain, the evidence also indicates a significant overlap between the neural basis of ToM and that of pragmatic comprehension. The pragmatic theory of ToM, which I aim to revive in this review, firmly links pragmatics to ToM. It regards pragmatic aspects of language and ToM as extensively overlapping functions. I argue that research results from both developmental and neurological studies of ToM are beginning to converge to support this theory. Furthermore, I maintain that the pragmatic theory of ToM provides the best explanation for the seemingly incongruent results from recent child and infant studies on the developmental trajectory of ToM. Lastly, I will discuss whether this theory is in agreement with the domain-specific, the nativist framework, or neither.

Short parietal lobe connections of the human and monkey brain

The parietal lobe has a unique place in the human brain. Anatomically, it is at the crossroad between the frontal, occipital, and temporal lobes, thus providing a middle ground for multimodal sensory integration. Functionally, it supports higher cognitive functions that are characteristic of the human species, such as mathematical cognition, semantic and pragmatic aspects of language, and abstract thinking. Despite its importance, a comprehensive comparison of human and simian intraparietal networks is missing.In this study, we used diffusion imaging tractography to reconstruct the major intralobar parietal tracts in twenty-one datasets acquired in vivo from healthy human subjects and eleven ex vivo datasets from five vervet and six macaque monkeys. Three regions of interest (postcentral gyrus, superior parietal lobule and inferior parietal lobule) were used to identify the tracts. Surface projections were reconstructed for both species and results compared to identify similarities or differences in tract anatomy (i.e., trajectories and cortical projections). In addition, post-mortem dissections were performed in a human brain.The largest tract identified in both human and monkey brains is a vertical pathway between the superior and inferior parietal lobules. This tract can be divided into an anterior (supramarginal gyrus) and a posterior (angular gyrus) component in both humans and monkey brains. The second prominent intraparietal tract connects the postcentral gyrus to both supramarginal and angular gyri of the inferior parietal lobule in humans but only to the supramarginal gyrus in the monkey brain. The third tract connects the postcentral gyrus to the anterior region of the superior parietal lobule and is more prominent in monkeys compared to humans. Finally, short U-shaped fibres in the medial and lateral aspects of the parietal lobe were identified in both species. A tract connecting the medial parietal cortex to the lateral inferior parietal cortex was observed in the monkey brain only.Our findings suggest a consistent pattern of intralobar parietal connections between humans and monkeys with some differences for those areas that have cytoarchitectonically distinct features in humans. The overall pattern of intraparietal connectivity supports the special role of the inferior parietal lobule in cognitive functions characteristic of humans.

Task-Based Approach in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Teaching: A Case Study in the Field of Sports Sciences

Considering that the study of language use can be carried out from different perspectives such as pragmatics, speech act theory, functional linguistics, despite the fact that any utterance may have a multiplicity of functions/meanings and that the local context can strongly influence interpretation, we agree with Swales’ words “thinking of given stretches of discourse in terms of the actions they are intended to perform brings a useful ‘directedness’ to our perceptions of generic exemplars”. It is widely acknowledged that teaching and learning language involves far more than highlighting lexico-grammar patterns. Pragmatic aspects of language are the most difficult to teach, given their subtlety and complexity. The aim of this paper is to show a case study carried out at the University of Rome “Foro Italico” on a task-based course to teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the field of sports for students mastering in Sports Sciences and Adapted Physical Activity (Master MA in Adapted Physical Activity AMPA academic year 2014 and 2015). The course was based on the principle of specific knowledge acquisition through the use of key-features and key-words in the specific professional setting of sports science in English with the aid of e-tools (blended learning). To this purpose, the course was based on project development based on an assigned task. The project was intended as a “simulation” of a professional situation that could have been re-negotiated with the teacher. Project realization based on collaborative work of small groups of students has been carried out as the final outcome for students’ assessment. Examples of students’ realizations and data collected can provide the basis of a teaching resource, specifically designed for an intermediate/advanced postgraduate English class in Italy or Spain.

Construindo a noção de sintoma: articulações entre psicanálise e pragmática

Resumo Este trabalho pretende identificar pontos de aproximação entre a psicanálise e os estudos sobre a linguagem presentes na obra do filósofo austríaco Ludwig Wittgenstein. Para tal, parte-se da construção da noção de sintoma, sua definição no campo médico e psiquiátrico até sua demarcação no campo psicanalítico, elemento que só se define por sua relação com as práticas discursivas do sujeito. Ao introduzir a noção de jogos de linguagem, Wittgenstein destaca o caráter pragmático da linguagem: as regras de uso estabelecidas em determinado contexto conferem o significado a uma expressão linguística. Se para a psicanálise o sintoma implica uma articulação simbólica, é na relação entre significantes, própria do jogo linguístico, que se estabelecem as possibilidades de significação do próprio sujeito.

Can you tell it by the prime? A study of metaphorical priming in high-functioning autism in comparison with matched controls.

Problems with pragmatic aspects of language are well attested in individuals on the autism spectrum. It remains unclear, however, whether figurative language skills improve with language status and whether problems in figurative language are no longer present in highly verbal individuals with autism. To investigate whether highly verbal individuals with autism perform similarly as age-, intelligence- and verbal comprehension-matched controls on the processing of one of the most common types of figurative language, metaphors. The goal was to establish whether the participants with autism are primed similarly to controls by figurative expressions (metaphors) presented in different conditions. The experiment was designed as a cross-modal lexical-decision task where metaphors served as primes for target words related to their figurative or literal meaning. Our findings show that both ASD and control participants made very few errors in the experimental task. However, the participants with ASD presented with problems in performance on the task, reflected in significantly slower reaction times compared with the typically developing peer groups. The similar response speed observed between the younger typical control children and the adult ASD participants suggests that the mechanisms underlying metaphor processing (e.g., selection of metaphorical versus literal interpretation) are still developing in high-functioning autism, very much like in typical children. These results may suggest that metaphor processing requires more than adequate language competences. The findings are also suggestive of a delay in developing sensitivity to figurative language, rather than sheer inability. This suggests that a timely training programme can be implemented to improve figurative language abilities in ASD.

O desenvolvimento do argumento e o aprimoramento dos aspectos semânticos e pragmáticos da linguagem oral, mediante o ensino por investigação

A linguagem e o mecanismo estruturado que nos permite compartilhar todo o conhecimento que adquirimos no processo ensino e aprendizagem. E por meio dela que os saberes cientificos sao organizados. A propriedade comunicativa da linguagem e a habilidade mais significativa que permite ao homem relatar, argumentar e ou refutar uma ideia. As estrategias de ensino que visam desenvolver a enculturacao cientifica, aproximando a ciencia do cotidiano escolar, apresentam concepcoes diferenciadas que privilegiam o ensino problematizador. As metodologias investigativas encaminham o aluno a desenvolver habilidades de comunicacao, principalmente a argumentacao, em uma perspectiva do discurso cientifico. Sabendo da dificuldade que os estudantes, especificamente, do 7o ano do ensino fundamental da rede estadual de ensino, possuem em compreender determinados conteudos da disciplina de Ciencias, muitas vezes na falta de um referencial concreto, foi escolhido o tema sobre os microrganismos para embasar as atividades investigativas propostas. Portanto, o objetivo deste artigo e identificar e analisar as habilidades comunicativas da linguagem, no que tange a argumentacao e seu desenvolvimento, assim como o aprimoramento dos aspectos semânticos e pragmaticos da linguagem oral, mediante o ensino por investigacao. Para a organizacao da atividade de investigacao, utilizamos a abordagem do National Reserach Council bem como os pressupostos idealizados por S. Toulmin, referente a estrutura do argumento. As habilidades pragmaticas e semânticas foram referenciadas por meio da teoria dos Atos de fala. Por meio da ana-lise dos dados obtidos, foi possivel verificar que alguns alunos, foram beneficiados com esta metodologia, e puderam apropriarse de conceitos que fundamentaram e contribuiram para a qualidade estrutural do argumento. Alem disso, percebemos o aprimoramento dos aspectos semânticos e pragmaticos que...

ANALYTIC AND INTEGRATIVE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

<p>Autori polaze od jednostranosti koje su rezultat apsolutizovanja analitičkog načina mišljenja u savremenoj filozofiji. Četiri teze prikazuju slabe tačke oficijelne Analitičke filozofije (apsolutizovanje onog logičkog, ignorisanje drugih medija, jednodimenzionalnost favorizovanog običnog jezika, „omekšavanje“ strogih zahteva za važenjem). U nameri da prevaziđu te nedostatke, ujedno ne ispuštajući iz vida trajne tekovine analitičkog mišljenja (ideal jasnoće, jedinstven metod, samokritika putem kritike jezika), autori se na kraju članka zalažu za integrativno shvatanje jezika koje pored onih analitički obuhvaćenih aspekata jezika (logičko-semantički i pragmatički aspekat) u sebi obuhvata i nove aspekte fenomena jezika (efektivni, ekspresivni, kreativni aspekat jezika).</p>