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The main concerns that enhance the empirical studies in assessment of second language learners is to identify the prevalence of second language deficits, the validity of a new test, and to determine specificities and predictors of speakers’ profiles, among other variables (age, home language formal instruction, exposure to second language, first years of schooling, nationality, parent’s profiles). Hypotheses: different language speakers will perform differently in specific tasks in portuguese language, so age, home language, and first language instruction would be main predictors? Strong discriminant achievements could be identified in percentiles 25 and 75? In this post-doctoral research the main goal is to assess new immigrant students from several Portuguese schools to determine cognitive and linguistic profiles. Through new diagnostic test in second language area will be analyzed distinct verbal behaviors and determined cut-offs. Additionally will be evaluated the difficulty and reliability of each task. Method: the instrument was developed with 15 tasks based on international assessment sources such Alberta, TOEFL, DELNA and WMLSR. There is no knowledge of other validated tools to test portuguese immigrant students. Approximately 110 individuals were assessed, with ages between 7 and 17 years old, speakers of romance, indo-aryan, afro-asiatic, slavic, and mandarin languages, and at this phase we are conducting inferential tests (SPSS) to measure profiles and reliability coefficients. The collection of sample is still ongoing. Findings: in one hand, this paper reports preliminary data gathered from a large-scale district study that is examining language proficiency and cognitive performance of immigrants in Portuguese schools. Different language speakers and age groups, with different amounts of instruction in home * Corresponding author. Tel.: 00351 218811700; fax: 00351 218860954. http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2014.05.21 The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences eISSN: 2357-1330 European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences eISSN: 2357-1330 185-200 186 language, from basic and high schools, will be analyzed regarding lowest and highest performances in picture-naming (1) and semantic relations tasks (2), particularly focusing the vocabulary decoding skills. Findings demonstrate reliable tasks and different student’s profiles, being crucial over proficiency levels identification. In the other hand, prior findings in this area will be expected to be confirmed such as the influence of age and mother tongue. Part of our hypotheses will be rejected considering the youngest learner’s low scores and the creoles language speakers with deficits in specific vocabulary domain. Particular assumptions of literature in this area will be discussed regarding divergent data observed and new insights. Older learners, with instruction in first language, speakers of slavic, mandarin and romance languages presented more positive results and expected greater cognitive profile in second language specific traits. But, other variables should be considered with further examination and with the conclusion of the empirical study. Also implications of results and test feasibility will be discussed for general educational policies and assessment in second language field. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Cognitive – crcs under responsibility of the Author(s).

Dissertação de Mestrado em Psicologia Educacional, apresentada ao ISPA - Instituto Universitário O sono serve várias funções diferentes do organismo, tais como a reparação, o crescimento, a consolidação da memória e a aprendizagem. É assim, que durante o comportamento do sono, processos fisiológicos e neurocognitivos ocorrem. Na adolescência as alterações do ciclo vigília-sono geram um défice de sono, provocando um descontrolo emocional, diminuindo significativamente a capacidade cognitiva e de aprendizagem. Estas alterações podem ter consequências ao nível do rendimento académico, assim como nos valores e atitudes intrínsecas ao próprio indivíduo. Na presente dissertação, pretende-se contribuir para o alargamento do conhecimento científico, particularmente no âmbito da Educação, analisando para o efeito, o sono nos adolescentes de acordo com o seu género e o seu rendimento académico, compilando dados referentes ao comportamento dos adolescentes face ao sono. Foi utilizado para a recolha dos dados um questionário, já utilizado e aferido na população portuguesa – Questionário Sobre o Sono em Adolescentes – QSSA e foi elaborada uma folha de informação que contém questões relativamente à atual situação escolar do adolescente. O instrumento utilizado, foi aplicado numa escola da zona de Lisboa, de ensino público. A amostra é constituída por 164 estudantes do 8º e 9º ano, com idades compreendidas entre os 13 e os 15 anos, durante o ano lectivo 2012/2013. Os resultados evidenciam que as auto-percepções e os conhecimentos sobre o sono dos adolescentes não têm relação com o rendimento académico. Em oposição, as relações sociais (ficar com amigos fora de casa até tarde, nos rapazes e ficar a comunicar virtualmente com amigos até tarde, no caso das raparigas) apresentam uma relação com o rendimento académico. Conclui-se que existe uma relação entre hábitos e rotinas de sono e o rendimento académico satisfatório, e da mesma forma, uma relação entre os hábitos e rotinas de sono e o género dos adolescentes portugueses. ABSTRACT: The sleep serves several different purposes in the human body such as repair growth, learning and memory consolidation. It is during sleep that neurocognitive and physiological process occur. In adolescence changes in the sleep-awake cycle generate a sleep deficit, causing lack of emotional control and diminishing learning and cognitive capacity. These changes may have consequences in terms of academic performance and also on the values and attitudes intrinsic to the individual himself. The intension of this dissertation is to contribute to the scientific knowledge, particularly in the education field. For that it was analyzed the effect of sleep in adolescents according to their gender and their academic performance, compiling data on the behavior of adolescents in relation to sleep. It was used a questionnaire previously tested and applied in Portugal – Questionário Sobre o Sono em Adolescentes – QSSA and it was created a fact sheet containing questions regarding the current school situation of the adolescent. The previous instruments were applied in a public school in Lisbon. The sample consisted of 164 students of the 8th and 9th grade, aged between 13 and 15, during the academic year of 2012/2013. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that self-perceptions and knowledge about sleep on teens are unrelated to academic performance. In contrast, social relations (staying late outside with friends and communicate with friends until late for girls) have a relation with academic performance. It is concluded that there is a relationship between sleep habits and routines and a satisfactory academic performance, and similarly, a relationship between sleep habits and routines and the gender of Portuguese adolescents.