Volume 16 (2012): Issue 1 (January 2012)

Recent research on speech perception and word recognition has shown that fine-grained sub-phonemic as well as speaker- and episode-specific characteristics of a speech signal are integrally connected with segmental (phonemic) information; they are all most probably processed in a non-distinct manner, and stored in the lexical memory. This view contrasts with the traditional approach holding that we operate on abstract phonemic representations extracted from a particular acoustic signal, without the need to process and store the multitude of its individual features. In the paper, I want to show that this turn towards the "particulars" of a speech event was in fact quite predictable, and the so-called traditional view would most probably have never been formulated if studies on language variation and language change-in-progress had been taken into account when constructing models of speech perception. In part one, I discuss briefly the traditional view ("abstract representations only"), its theoretical background, and outline some problems, internal to the speech perception theory, that the traditional view encounters. Part two will demonstrate that what we know about the implementation of sound changes has long made it possible to answer, once and for all, the question of integrated processing and storage of extralinguistic, phonemic and subphonemic characteristics of the speech signal.

The Stroop task is widely used to assess attentional dysfunction due to a frontal or frontoparietal deficit and is also thought to be related to the maturation of the prefrontal cortex. The study aimed to prove the diagnostic usefulness of the Polish Names and Colors Interference Test (TINiK) in a clinical setting and to investigate the pattern of performance on four TINiK subtasks according to the type of brain damage (focal or diffuse) and age of the patients. A total of 107 subjects (62 female, 45 male) aged 11-18 were divided into two groups: children aged 10;4-14;6 and adolescents aged 14;7-17;10 within each diagnostic category: healthy (H - 35), heterogeneous focal brain damage (BD - 36) and cardiac arrhythmia (CA - 36). The number of correct responses in the 60s time limit was collected for each TINiK task. The H group significantly outperformed both clinical groups. The H and CA groups show improvement of performance systematically with age on all TINiK subtasks although at a different level. The BD group displayed merely non-significant developmental improvement especially among the adolescent group. A discriminant analysis using the four basic TINiK scores was able to significantly differentiate the BD from the H group (83.1%) and the BD from the CA group (74.6%), but less well the CA from the H group (63.9%). TINiK has acquired preliminary neuro-psychological validation in Polish children. Developmental improvement in interference control may be hampered by various neuropathological mechanisms which are yet to be identified.

The aim of this paper is to gain an insight into some aspects of personal computer literacy and preschool and primary school teachers' education on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Another aim of the paper is to point out the inappropriate effects of computer use (personal as well as with children of school and preschool ages) according to the students of the Department of Preschool and Primary School Teaching of the Juraj Dobrila University in Pula. The x2 test was used in the data processing, along with the calculation of marginal frequencies for all the examined variables. The scientific and application value of this work is that, based on the indicators obtained, it suggests a need for permanent education of both preschool and primary school teachers on the applicability of ICT at all pedagogical and educational levels, and on all the positive but also negative aspects of ICT use in the widest sense.

Differences in teacher perceptions depending on student gender and their impact on teacher-student interaction was the focus of the study. The questions addressed were: the characteristics that teachers encourage and discourage in girls and boys; the patterns of their responses to students of different genders; perception of pupils' academic achievement, learning skills and giftedness; distribution of attention between girls and boys. The study revealed that in spite of better school results, girls' skills and talents are underestimated, expectations towards them are low and their behavior is restricted to stereotyped feminine roles. The majority of those surveyed support the idea that sex determines different abilities in different learning skills as regards school subjects. While girls, in teachers' opinion, insignificantly exceed boys in the humanities, boys entirely outdo girls in natural sciences and math. Teachers totally deny girls' abilities in sports. At the same time, most teachers are hardly aware of being gender-biased themselves.

The study investigates the German language learning motivations of Polish secondary school students. Questionnaire data were collected from 100 students aged 16-18 years. Using the AMOS 18 package, structural equation modeling was run to analyze how language learning goals, attitudes, self-related beliefs, and parental encouragement interact in shaping motivated learning behavior. The results of this study reveal that the important factor which exerts the most influence on motivated learning behavior is an integrative attitude, i.e. openness to and interest in the community using the language, as well as the culture, customs and international status. Another important factor in this model is parental encouragement, as it affects the German language community, learning and instrumental values.

The article examines nine different rhetorical devices employed by two Israeli Supreme Court justices in their writing of the majority and minority opinions (Justices Dorner and Cheshin respectively) in the case of Kidum Initiative Inc. versus The Israel Broadcasting Authority which addressed the issue of freedom of speech versus good taste. Theoretical background and examples from the verdict are presented and discussed.