Since the introduction of communicative language teaching, collaborative learning has played an important role in the second language (L2) classroom. Drawing from sociocultural theory, which states that human cognitive development is a socially situated activity mediated by language, studies in L2 pedagogy advocate the use of tasks that require learners to work together. Collaborative dialogue encourages language learning, and research shows that the solutions reached by students in this process are more often correct with a lasting influence on their language comprehension. This volume includes ten chapters that illustrate the benefits of collaborative dialogue in second foreign language classrooms. The volume considers key issues dealing with collaborative tasks and implications for language teaching.

This book contributes to the growth of interest in task-based language learning and teaching that has been seen in recent years. It brings together research that focuses on various aspects and effects of pedagogic task design and presents work that uses tasks to examine oral interaction, written production, vocabulary and reading, lexical innovation and pragmatics in different formal language learning contexts and in different languages (English as a second/foreign language, French/German/Italian/Spanish as foreign languages). It also provides guidelines for task classification, sequencing and design. The book is addressed to both professionals and students interested in second language acquisition research. It will also be of use to professionals involved in language pedagogy and curriculum design.

Addressing issues which are critical for language planning, this is an overview of research on the age factor in foreign language learning. It presents research on foreign language learning within bilingual communities in formal instruction settings focusing on syntax, phonology, writing, oral skills and learning strategies. The work discusses learning English as a third language in two bilingual communities.

This book provides an overview of current research on the age factor in foreign language learning, addressing issues, which are critical for language planning. It presents new research on foreign language learning within bilingual communities in formal instruction settings focussing on syntax, phonology, writing, oral skills and learning strategies.

Overland flow modelling has been an active field of research for some years, but developments in numerical methods and computational resources have recently accelerated progress, producing models for different geometries and types of flows, such as simulations of canal and river networks. Flow in canals has traditionally been described using one-dimensional, depth-averaged, shallow water models; but a variety of simulation techniques now facilitate the management of hydrodynamic systems, providing models which incorporate complex geometry and diverse flows. Much effort has gone into elaborating canal operational rules based on decision support systems, with the dual aim of assuring water delivery and meeting flow control constraints. In natural water courses, water management problems are associated with the need to meet quality standards. Numerical modelling of advection-diffusion can be used to manage problems related to the movement of solutes in rivers and aquifers. The analysis of solute transport is used to safeguard the quality of surface and ground water and to help prevent eutrophication. Solute flow through the soil can be dynamically linked to overland flow for hydrological and agricultural applications. Advances in modelling also cast new light on sediment transport in rivers, exploring the complex dynamics of river bed erosion and deposition and assist in thee analysis of river-reservoir systems. All these issues are discussed in Numerical Modelling of Hydrodynamics for Water Resources, which will be useful to civil engineers, applied mathematicians, hydrologists, and physicists.

This book presents research on the learning of foreign languages by children aged 6-12 years old in primary school settings. The collection provides a significant and important contribution to this often overlooked domain and aims to provide research-based evidence that might help to inform and develop pedagogical practice. Topics covered in the chapters include the influence of learner characteristics on word retrieval; explicit second language learning and language awareness; meaning construction; narrative oral development; conversational interaction and how it relates to individual variables; first language use; feedback on written production; intercultural awareness raising and feedback on diagnostic assessment. It will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, teachers and stakeholders who are interested in research on how children learn a second language at primary school.

The last three decades have witnessed a growth of interest in research on tasks from various perspectives and numerous books and collections of articles have been published focusing on the notion of task and its utility in different contexts. Nevertheless, what is lacking is a multi-faceted examination of tasks from different important perspectives. This edited volume, with four sections of three chapters each, views tasks and Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) from four distinct (but complementary) vantage points. In the first section, all chapters view tasks from a cognitive-interactionist angle with each addressing one key facet of either cognition or interaction (or both) in different contexts (CALL and EFL/ESL). Section two hinges on the idea that language teaching and learning is perhaps best conceptualized, understood, and investigated within a complexity theory framework which accounts for the dynamicity and interrelatedness of the variables involved. Viewing TBLT from a sociocultural lens is what connects the chapters included in the third section. Finally, the fourth section views TBLT from pedagogical and curricular vantage points.

This book presents research on the learning of foreign languages by children aged 6-12 years old in primary school settings. The collection provides a significant and important contribution to this often overlooked domain and aims to provide research-based evidence that might help to inform and develop pedagogical practice. Topics covered in the chapters include the influence of learner characteristics on word retrieval; explicit second language learning and language awareness; meaning construction; narrative oral development; conversational interaction and how it relates to individual variables; first language use; feedback on written production; intercultural awareness raising and feedback on diagnostic assessment. It will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, teachers and stakeholders who are interested in research on how children learn a second language at primary school.

The last three decades have witnessed a growth of interest in research on tasks from various perspectives and numerous books and collections of articles have been published focusing on the notion of task and its utility in different contexts. Nevertheless, what is lacking is a multi-faceted examination of tasks from different important perspectives. This edited volume, with four sections of three chapters each, views tasks and Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) from four distinct (but complementary) vantage points. In the first section, all chapters view tasks from a cognitive-interactionist angle with each addressing one key facet of either cognition or interaction (or both) in different contexts (CALL and EFL/ESL). Section two hinges on the idea that language teaching and learning is perhaps best conceptualized, understood, and investigated within a complexity theory framework which accounts for the dynamicity and interrelatedness of the variables involved. Viewing TBLT from a sociocultural lens is what connects the chapters included in the third section. Finally, the fourth section views TBLT from pedagogical and curricular vantage points.

Numerical Methods for Hyperbolic Equations is a collection of 49 articles presented at the International Conference on Numerical Methods for Hyperbolic Equations: Theory and Applications (Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 4-8 July 2011). The conference was organized to honour Professor Eleuterio Toro in the month of his 65th birthday. The topics covered include: * Recent advances in the numerical computation of environmental conservation laws with source terms * Multiphase flow and porous media * Numerical methods in astrophysics * Seismology and geophysics modelling * High order methods for hyperbolic conservation laws * Numerical methods for reactive flows * Finite volume and discontinous Galerkin schemes for stiff source term problems * Methods and models for biomedical problems * Numerical methods for reactive flows The research interest of Eleuterio Toro, born in Chile on 16th July 1946, is reflected in Numerical Methods for Hyperbolic Equations, and focuses on: numerical methods for partial differential equations, with particular emphasis on methods for hyperbolic equations; design and application of new algorithms; hyperbolic partial differential equations as mathematical models of various types of processes; mathematical modelling and simulation of physico/chemical processes that include wave propagation phenomena; modelling of multiphase flows; application of models and methods to real problems. Eleuterio Toro received several honours and distinctions, including the honorary title OBE from Queen Elizabeth II (Buckingham Palace, London 2000); Distinguished Citizen of the City of Carahue (Chile, 2001); Life Fellow, Claire Hall, University of Cambridge (UK, 2003); Fellow of the Indian Society for Shock Wave Research (Bangalore, 2005); Doctor Honoris Causa (Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 2008); William Penney Fellow, University of Cambridge (UK, 2010); Doctor Honoris Causa (Universidad de la Frontera, Chile, 2012). Professor Toro is author of two books, editor of two books and author of more than 260 research works. In the last ten years he has been invited and keynote speaker in more than 100 scientific events. Professor Toro has held many visiting appointments round the world, which include several European countries, Japan, China and USA.

Este libro se enmarca en el Atlas Dialectal de Madrid (ADiM) [adim.cchs.csic.es], un atlas linguistico espanol pensado para estudiar las hablas rurales de la Comunidad de Madrid, del que es un complemento. El volumen se abre con una caracterizacion de las hablas madrilenas, seguida de los etnotextos, que pueden escucharse en soporte audio y leerse en transcripcion fonetica enfrentada a su transliteracion, lo que permitira su uso con fines didacticos. El libro se cierra con un vocabulario que explica las palabras menos usuales de los textos. Los etnotextos parten de grabaciones hechas a los hablantes, hombres y mujeres, de mas edad, que hacen de nexo entre los modos tradicionales de vida casi olvidados y los nuevos. Sus treinta y dos narraciones proporcionan materiales linguisticos - sintaxis de la lengua oral, fonetica y lexico en contexto - y aportan contenidos de valor etnografico como las labores del campo: la trilla, la aceituna, el vino, la matanza; la caza; las tareas domesticas: lavar, la elaboracion del queso o del pan; las fiestas: romerias, carnaval, bodas, aguinaldo, corroblas, etc.

The demands of producing high quality, pathogen-free food rely increasingly on natural sources of antimicrobials to inhibit food spoilage organisms, foodborne pathogens and toxins. Discovery and development of new antimicrobials from natural sources for a wide range of applications requires that knowledge of traditional sources for food antimicrobials is combined with the latest technologies in identification, characterization and application. This book explores some novel, natural sources of antimicrobials as well as the latest developments in using well-known antimicrobials in food. Covering antimicrobials derived from microbial sources (bacteriophages, bacteria, algae, fungi), animal-derived products (milk proteins, chitosan, reduction of biogenic amines), plants and plant-products (essential oils, phytochemicals, bioactive compounds), this book includes the development and use of natural antimicrobials for processed and fresh food products. New and emerging technologies concerning antimicrobials are also discussed.

Since the introduction of communicative language teaching, collaborative learning has played an important role in the second language (L2) classroom. Drawing from sociocultural theory, which states that human cognitive development is a socially situated activity mediated by language, studies in L2 pedagogy advocate the use of tasks that require learners to work together. Collaborative dialogue encourages language learning, and research shows that the solutions reached by students in this process are more often correct with a lasting influence on their language comprehension. This volume includes ten chapters that illustrate the benefits of collaborative dialogue in second foreign language classrooms. The volume considers key issues dealing with collaborative tasks and implications for language teaching.