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Abstract(s)
As crianças com Trissomia 21 apresentam limitações próprias da sua condição genética (cromossoma adicional), as quais afetam os respetivos perfis de funcionalidade, incluindo as capacidades para a aprendizagem. Todavia, dependendo da dimensão das referidas limitações, estas podem não ser impeditivas da aprendizagem de uma segunda língua. A adoção de estratégias de ensino adequadas à forma e ritmo de aprendizagem destas crianças é referida na literatura como um fator crucial para garantir o sucesso da aprendizagem. Neste contexto, a aplicação das condições de ensino habitualmente utilizadas com crianças sem Trissomia 21 são, frequentemente, consideradas adversas à aprendizagem por crianças com esta condição.
A presente dissertação, subordinada ao tema Trissomia 21 e a aprendizagem de uma segunda língua, centra-se nesta problemática. O seu principal objetivo é a avaliação das potencialidades de uma criança com Trissomia 21, que fala português, para a aprendizagem de uma língua estrangeira, no caso concreto o Inglês, quando sujeita a condições de ensino semelhantes às utilizadas com crianças sem a condição.
No desenvolvimento da investigação adotou-se uma metodologia de estudo de caso centrado numa criança com Trissomia 21 e idade cronológica de 9 anos, cuja caracterização foi efetuada, nomeadamente no que se refere ao contexto social, económico e familiar, ao diagnóstico funcional e ao percurso escolar. O processo de ensino-aprendizagem foi desenvolvido em 20 sessões individualizadas de uma hora semanal. Nestas sessões foram lecionados seis temas vocabulares que integram o conjunto de temas habitualmente ensinados pela investigadora nas aulas de iniciação ao inglês a crianças sem Trissomia 21, no âmbito das atividades de enriquecimento curricular (AEC). A extensão de cada tema, o ritmo de apresentação, as metodologias, as estratégias e os materiais utilizados foram semelhantes aos habitualmente empregados com crianças sem Trissomia 21 com idêntica idade cognitiva.
Os resultados relativos ao desempenho da criança foram recolhidos com recurso a uma grelha de observação, onde constam os objetivos da aprendizagem relativamente à compreensão e expressão oral e à memória a longo e curto prazo, avaliados tendo em conta o modo como as tarefas foram executadas. Da grelha de observação constam também os objetivos comportamentais, avaliados numa escala de frequência.
A análise dos resultados revela que o desempenho da participante no estudo é semelhante ao que tipicamente caracteriza as crianças sem Trissomia 21, nomeadamente no que se refere ao número de vocábulos aprendidos e à compreensão oral. Ao nível da expressão oral revelou algumas dificuldades na articulação de determinados vocábulos, fruto das dificuldades já apresentadas habitualmente pela criança na sua língua materna.
Os resultados obtidos durante este estudo, permitem admitir que a longo prazo a criança poderá ser capaz de adquirir conhecimentos suficientes para comunicar de forma muito simples desde que o seu interlocutor se disponha a repetir ou dizer por outras palavras, num ritmo mais lento, e a ajude a formular aquilo que ela gostaria de dizer. Ao conseguir interagir oralmente desta forma, a criança atingiria o nível A1 da interação oral do Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência para as Línguas.
Children with Down Syndrome show some limitations due to their genetic condition (additional chromosome), affecting their functionality profiles as well as their ability to learn. However, depending on the level of the referred limitations, these may not be deterrent to learning a second language. As stated in the literature, the execution of suitable teaching strategies to the learning mode and rhythm of these children is vital to ensure the success in learning. In this context, the applied teaching approaches usually used with children without Down Syndrome are often considered adverse to the learning of children with the Syndrome. This dissertation, entitled Down syndrome and the learning of a second language, focuses on this problematic. It aims at assessing the potential of a child with Down Syndrome who speaks Portuguese learning a foreign language, in this case English, when subjected to similar learning conditions as the ones used with children without the same limitations. A case study methodology was selected during the course of this investigation centered on a nine years old (chronological age) child with Down Syndrome, characterized namely by his social, economic and family context, functional diagnosis and school progress. The teaching and learning process was developed in 20 private sessions, one hour weekly. During these sessions six lexical themes were taught which integrate the set of themes usually taught by the researcher in a beginner’s EFL class to children without Down Syndrome within the Atividades de Enriquecimento Curricular (AEC). The extension of each theme, the pace of its presentation, the methodologies, the strategies and the materials used were similar to those typically used with identical cognitive age children without Down Syndrome. The results regarding the child’s performance were collected using an observation grid containing both speaking and listening learning objectives and long and short term memory, assessed by the way tasks were performed. The observation grid also includes behavioral objectives, assessed on a frequency scale. The analysis of the results demonstrate that the performance of the participant in this case study is similar to those typically displayed by children without Down Syndrome, namely with regard to the number of words learnt and listening comprehension. However, the participant revealed some difficulty in the articulation of some words in speaking, a direct result from the difficulties usually presented by the participant in the child’s mother tongue. The results obtained during this study reveal that in the long run the participant may be capable of acquiring enough knowledge to communicate in a very simple way, provided that the interlocutor is willing to repeat or use other words at a slower pace, and help the child formulate what she would like to say. Being capable of orally interacting in such a manner, the participant would achieve an A1 speaking level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Children with Down Syndrome show some limitations due to their genetic condition (additional chromosome), affecting their functionality profiles as well as their ability to learn. However, depending on the level of the referred limitations, these may not be deterrent to learning a second language. As stated in the literature, the execution of suitable teaching strategies to the learning mode and rhythm of these children is vital to ensure the success in learning. In this context, the applied teaching approaches usually used with children without Down Syndrome are often considered adverse to the learning of children with the Syndrome. This dissertation, entitled Down syndrome and the learning of a second language, focuses on this problematic. It aims at assessing the potential of a child with Down Syndrome who speaks Portuguese learning a foreign language, in this case English, when subjected to similar learning conditions as the ones used with children without the same limitations. A case study methodology was selected during the course of this investigation centered on a nine years old (chronological age) child with Down Syndrome, characterized namely by his social, economic and family context, functional diagnosis and school progress. The teaching and learning process was developed in 20 private sessions, one hour weekly. During these sessions six lexical themes were taught which integrate the set of themes usually taught by the researcher in a beginner’s EFL class to children without Down Syndrome within the Atividades de Enriquecimento Curricular (AEC). The extension of each theme, the pace of its presentation, the methodologies, the strategies and the materials used were similar to those typically used with identical cognitive age children without Down Syndrome. The results regarding the child’s performance were collected using an observation grid containing both speaking and listening learning objectives and long and short term memory, assessed by the way tasks were performed. The observation grid also includes behavioral objectives, assessed on a frequency scale. The analysis of the results demonstrate that the performance of the participant in this case study is similar to those typically displayed by children without Down Syndrome, namely with regard to the number of words learnt and listening comprehension. However, the participant revealed some difficulty in the articulation of some words in speaking, a direct result from the difficulties usually presented by the participant in the child’s mother tongue. The results obtained during this study reveal that in the long run the participant may be capable of acquiring enough knowledge to communicate in a very simple way, provided that the interlocutor is willing to repeat or use other words at a slower pace, and help the child formulate what she would like to say. Being capable of orally interacting in such a manner, the participant would achieve an A1 speaking level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
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Keywords
Trissomia 21 Aprendizagem Segunda língua Comunicação Down syndrome Learning Second language Communication