Suchergebnisse

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has been deemed to be a promising and innovative approach to teaching foreign languages and has received unanimous endorsement by virtually all educational authorities in the European Union. Yet, notwithstanding the numerous benefits the programme offers, it is not free from difficulties. Thus, the main objective of this qualitative study was to examine the teachers' perceptions of CLIL implementation with the major focus on the shortcomings detected and outlined in the previous studies. Data were obtained from an ad hoc online questionnaire filled out by 203 in-service teachers from bilingual English primary schools in the eight provinces of Andalusia (i.e., Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Sevilla) in the year 2020. The picture emerging from the results of the study is not positive as it reflects growing concern over the paucity of teacher training programmes, insufficient coordination, lack of attention to diversity, inadequate textbook design, and above all, students' low English proficiency and class size, factors which might impede the proper development of the programme. Moreover, content teachers as well as those with lower language competence and less experience in teaching appear to be in dire need of more training and support. These findings merit further consideration and should govern educational decisions in order to ensure the feasibility of the project. ; El Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE) se ha considerado un enfoque eficaz e innovador para la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras y ha recibido el respaldo unánime de prácticamente todas las autoridades educativas de la Unión Europea. Sin embargo, a pesar de las numerosas ventajas que ofrece el programa, no está exento de dificultades. Por eso, el objetivo principal de este estudio cualitativo fue examinar las percepciones de los profesores sobre la aplicación del AICLE, centrándose principalmente en las deficiencias detectadas en los estudios anteriores. Los datos se obtuvieron a partir de un cuestionario ad hoc online que cumplimentaron 203 profesores de centros bilingües de inglés de Educación Primaria en las ocho provincias de Andalucía (Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga y Sevilla) en el año 2020. En cuanto a los resultados, el panorama que se desprende del estudio no es positivo, ya que existe una creciente preocupación por la escasez de programas de formación del profesorado, la insuficiente coordinación, la falta de atención a la diversidad, el inadecuado diseño de los libros de texto y, sobre todo, la escasa aptitud lingüística de los alumnos y el tamaño de los grupos, factores que podrían impedir el correcto desarrollo del programa. Además, los profesores de área no lingüística, así como los de menor competencia lingüística y experiencia en la enseñanza, parecen necesitar urgentemente más formación y apoyo. Estas conclusiones merecen una mayor consideración y deberían regir las decisiones educativas para garantizar la viabilidad del proyecto.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has been deemed to be a promising and innovative approach to teaching foreign languages and has received unanimous endorsement by virtually all educational authorities in the European Union. Yet, notwithstanding the numerous benefits the programme offers, it is not free from difficulties. Thus, the main objective of this qualitative study was to examine the teachers' perceptions of CLIL implementation with the major focus on the shortcomings detected and outlined in the previous studies. Data were obtained from an ad hoc online questionnaire filled out by 203 in-service teachers from bilingual English primary schools in the eight provinces of Andalusia (i.e., Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Sevilla) in the year 2020. The picture emerging from the results of the study is not positive as it reflects growing concern over the paucity of teacher training programmes, insufficient coordination, lack of attention to diversity, inadequate textbook design, and above all, students' low English proficiency and class size, factors which might impede the proper development of the programme. Moreover, content teachers as well as those with lower language competence and less experience in teaching appear to be in dire need of more training and support. ; El Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE) se ha considerado un enfoque eficaz e innovador para la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras y ha recibido el respaldo unánime de prácticamente todas las autoridades educativas de la Unión Europea. Sin embargo, a pesar de las numerosas ventajas que ofrece el programa, no está exento de dificultades. Por eso, el objetivo principal de este estudio cualitativo fue examinar las percepciones de los profesores sobre la aplicación del AICLE, centrándose principalmente en las deficiencias detectadas en los estudios anteriores. Los datos se obtuvieron a partir de un cuestionario ad hoc online que cumplimentaron 203 profesores de centros bilingües de inglés de Educación Primaria en las ocho provincias de Andalucía (Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga y Sevilla) en el año 2020. En cuanto a los resultados, el panorama que se desprende del estudio no es positivo, ya que existe una creciente preocupación por la escasez de programas de formación del profesorado, la insuficiente coordinación, la falta de atención a la diversidad, el inadecuado diseño de los libros de texto y, sobre todo, la escasa aptitud lingüística de los alumnos y el tamaño de los grupos, factores que podrían impedir el correcto

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. ; THO/TREX connects transcription with genome integrity in yeast, but a role of mammalian THO in these processes is uncertain, which suggests a differential implication of mRNP biogenesis factors in genome integrity in yeast and humans. We show that human THO depletion impairs transcription elongation and mRNA export and increases instability associated with DNA breaks, leading to hyper-recombination and γH2AX and 53BP1 foci accumulation. This is accompanied by replication alteration as determined by DNA combing. Genome instability is R-loop–dependent, as deduced from the ability of the AID enzyme to increase DNA damage and of RNaseH to reduce it, or from the enhancement of R-loop–dependent class-switching caused by THOC1-depletion in CH12 murine cells. Therefore, mammalian THO prevents R-loop formation and has a role in genome dynamics and function consistent with an evolutionary conservation of the functional connection between these mRNP biogenesis factors and genome integrity that had not been anticipated. ; This work was funded by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BFU2006-05260, BFU2010-16372, and Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2007-015), the Junta de Andalucía (BIO102, CVI624, and CVI4567), and the European Union (FEDER). ; Peer reviewed

The THSC/TREX-2 complex of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mediates the anchoring of transcribed genes to the nuclear pore, linking transcription elongation with mRNA export and genome stability, as shown for specific reporters. However, it is still unknown whether the function of TREX-2 is global and the reason for its relevant role in genome integrity. Here, by studying two TREX-2 representative subunits, Thp1 and Sac3, we show that TREX-2 has a genome-wide role in gene expression. Both proteins show similar distributions along the genome, with a gradient disposition at active genes that increases towards the 3 end. Thp1 and Sac3 have a relevant impact on the expression of long, G+C-rich and highly transcribed genes. Interestingly, replication impairment detected by the genome-wide accumulation of the replicative Rrm3 helicase is increased preferentially at highly expressed genes in the thp1Δ and sac3Δ mutants analyzed. Therefore, our work provides evidence of a function of TREX-2 at the genome-wide level and suggests a role for TREX-2 in preventing transcription– replication conflicts, as a source of genome instability derived from a defective messenger ribonucleoprotein particle (mRNP) biogenesis. ; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [BFU2010-16372]; Junta de Andalucía [CVI4567 and P12/BIO-1238]; European Union (FEDER); and a JAE predoctoral training grant from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) [to J.M.S-P.]. Funding for open access charge: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [BFU2010-16372]. ; Peer reviewed

This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). Two months after publication it is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License. ; Gene expression in eukaryotes is an essential process that includes transcription, RNA processing, and export. One important player in this interface is the poly(A)+-RNA–binding protein Nab2, which regulates the mRNA poly(A)+-tail length and export. Here we show that Nab2 has additional roles during mRNA transcription, tRNA metabolism, and ribosomal subunit export. Nab2 is associated with the entire open reading frame of actively transcribed RNA polymerase (RNAP) II and III genes. As a consequence, nab2 mutations confer translation defects that are detected by polysome profiling. Genome-wide analysis of expression of a conditional degron nab2 mutant shows that the role of Nab2 in RNAPII transcription and RNAPIII metabolism is direct. Taken together, our results identify novel functions for Nab2 in transcription and metabolism of most types of RNAs, indicating that Nab2 function is more ubiquitous than previously anticipated, and that it is a central player in the general and coordinated control of gene expression from transcription to translation. ; This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BFU2006-05260 and BFU2007-28647-E to A.A. and BFU2007-60151 to J.dlC.), the Junta de Andalucía (BIO-102 and CVI-2549 to A.A. and CVI-03508 to J.dlC.), and the European Union (FEDER). C.G.-A. was the recipient of a Formación del Profesorado Universitario predoctoral training grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. R.B. is a recipient of a fellowship from the Junta de Andalucía. ; Peer reviewed