Sample records for bilingual community self-survey
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gerda de Klerk
2008-01-01
Full Text Available This article is a response to Mark Pfeifer’s Cambodian, Hmong, Lao and Vietnamese Americans in the 2005 American Community Survey and elaborates on the utility of the American Community Survey (ACS for studying immigrant groups in the United States of America, and also compares the ACS to the U.S. Census. Neither the Census nor ACS questionnaire is structured to capture the language and literacy skills of immigrant communities in as far as these surveys only collect information about respondents’ oral language abilities, with a focus on English fluency. Direct, self-reported, and surrogate measures of literacy are discussed, with a proposal to use education level as surrogate for literacy. Using the Vietnamese subpopulation in the ACS, examples are presented of ways to construct composite variables from the ACS raw microdata, to measure respondents’ bilingualism and biliteracy. When such new variables are used in analysis of immigrant communities, a more complex multilingual picture emerges than is presented normally in Census and ACS data products available to the public.
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What is it like to grow up to be bilingual?-A survey report on bilingual high school students-
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Satoshi Tamiya
2014-10-01
Full Text Available In this era of globalization, Japanese teachers as well as teachers in other areas of the world have increasing chances of encountering bilingual students such as returnees and immigrants. It is important to understand the development of these students. The authors conducted a survey about bilingualism on 60 bilingual high school students at an international school in Japan. The survey questions asked about the students’ background and their experiences as a bilingual. Twenty-nine students responded to the survey. The responses were classified according to whether the reported advantages/disadvantages were linguistic, socio-cultural or identity-related. Linguistic disadvantages as well as advantages were experienced by most students. Bilingual influences on identity were mostly favorable, but some difficulties were common. Despite these disadvantages, socio-cultural advantages were prominent. It was reassuring to see that many bilingual high school students felt they were socio-culturally advantaged and mostly felt secure about their identity as a bilingual. However, we should not dismiss linguistic difficulties experienced by many of them and some cases of insecure identity, as these are crucially related to the mental health and creation of self-identity that is typical of adolescence.
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Home and Community Language Proficiency in Spanish-English Early Bilingual University Students.
Schmidtke, Jens
2017-10-17
This study assessed home and community language proficiency in Spanish-English bilingual university students to investigate whether the vocabulary gap reported in studies of bilingual children persists into adulthood. Sixty-five early bilinguals (mean age = 21 years) were assessed in English and Spanish vocabulary and verbal reasoning ability using subtests of the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey-Revised (Schrank & Woodcock, 2009). Their English scores were compared to 74 monolinguals matched in age and level of education. Participants also completed a background questionnaire. Bilinguals scored below the monolingual control group on both subtests, and the difference was larger for vocabulary compared to verbal reasoning. However, bilinguals were close to the population mean for verbal reasoning. Spanish scores were on average lower than English scores, but participants differed widely in their degree of balance. Participants with an earlier age of acquisition of English and more current exposure to English tended to be more dominant in English. Vocabulary tests in the home or community language may underestimate bilingual university students' true verbal ability and should be interpreted with caution in high-stakes situations. Verbal reasoning ability may be more indicative of a bilingual's verbal ability.
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Survey of Bilingualism in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Kay-Raining Bird, Elizabeth; Lamond, Erin; Holden, Jeanette
2012-01-01
This survey study investigates issues related to bilingualism and autism. Bilingualism is common around the world but there is little published information to guide professionals and parents in making decisions about bilingualism for children with autism. Participants were 49 parents or guardians of children with autism who were members of a…
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"Cultivando Confianza": A Bilingual Community of Practice Negotiates Restrictive Language Policies
Newcomer, Sarah N.; Puzio, Kelly
2016-01-01
Drawing from an ethnographic study of how one school community negotiates English-only policy in Arizona, we investigated how a bilingual community of practice was established at one school. Integral to establishing this bilingual community was the mobilization of Spanish-speaking families in the school's daily life and operation. This…
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Lee, Susan K; Sulaiman-Hill, Cheryl R; Thompson, Sandra C
2014-04-12
Although the challenges of working with culturally and linguistically diverse groups can lead to the exclusion of some communities from research studies, cost effective strategies to encourage access and promote cross-cultural linkages between researchers and ethnic minority participants are essential to ensure their views are heard and their health needs identified. Using bilingual research assistants is one means to achieve this. In a study exploring alcohol and other drug service use by migrant women in Western Australia, bilingual workers were used to assist with participant recruitment and administration of a survey to 268 women who spoke more than 40 different languages. Professional interpreters, bilingual students, bilingual overseas-trained health professionals and community sector bilingual workers were used throughout the research project. For the initial qualitative phase, professional interpreters were used to conduct interviews and focus group sessions, however scheduling conflicts, inflexibility, their inability to help with recruitment and the expense prompted exploration of alternative options for interview interpreting in the quantitative component of the study. Bilingual mature-age students on work placement and overseas-trained health professionals provided good entry into their different community networks and successfully recruited and interviewed participants, often in languages with limited interpreter access. Although both groups required training and supervision, overseas-trained health professionals often had existing research skills, as well as understanding of key issues such as confidentiality and referral processes. Strategies to minimise social desirability bias and the need to set boundaries were discussed during regular debriefing sessions. Having a number of workers recruiting participants also helped minimise the potential for selection bias. The practical and educational experience gained by the bilingual workers was regarded as
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2014-01-01
Background Although the challenges of working with culturally and linguistically diverse groups can lead to the exclusion of some communities from research studies, cost effective strategies to encourage access and promote cross-cultural linkages between researchers and ethnic minority participants are essential to ensure their views are heard and their health needs identified. Using bilingual research assistants is one means to achieve this. In a study exploring alcohol and other drug service use by migrant women in Western Australia, bilingual workers were used to assist with participant recruitment and administration of a survey to 268 women who spoke more than 40 different languages. Discussion Professional interpreters, bilingual students, bilingual overseas-trained health professionals and community sector bilingual workers were used throughout the research project. For the initial qualitative phase, professional interpreters were used to conduct interviews and focus group sessions, however scheduling conflicts, inflexibility, their inability to help with recruitment and the expense prompted exploration of alternative options for interview interpreting in the quantitative component of the study. Bilingual mature-age students on work placement and overseas-trained health professionals provided good entry into their different community networks and successfully recruited and interviewed participants, often in languages with limited interpreter access. Although both groups required training and supervision, overseas-trained health professionals often had existing research skills, as well as understanding of key issues such as confidentiality and referral processes. Strategies to minimise social desirability bias and the need to set boundaries were discussed during regular debriefing sessions. Having a number of workers recruiting participants also helped minimise the potential for selection bias. The practical and educational experience gained by the bilingual
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Self-Repair and Language Selection in Bilingual Speech Processing
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Inga Hennecke
2013-07-01
Full Text Available In psycholinguistic research the exact level of language selection in bilingual lexical access is still controversial and current models of bilingual speech production offer conflicting statements about the mechanisms and location of language selection. This paper aims to provide a corpus analysis of self-repair mechanisms in code-switching contexts of highly fluent bilingual speakers in order to gain further insights into bilingual speech production. The present paper follows the assumptions of the Selection by Proficiency model, which claims that language proficiency and lexical robustness determine the mechanism and level of language selection. In accordance with this hypothesis, highly fluent bilinguals select languages at a prelexical level, which should influence the occurrence of self-repairs in bilingual speech. A corpus of natural speech data of highly fluent and balanced bilingual French-English speakers of the Canadian French variety Franco-Manitoban serves as the basis for a detailed analysis of different self-repair mechanisms in code-switching environments. Although the speech data contain a large amount of code-switching, results reveal that only a few speech errors and self-repairs occur in direct code-switching environments. A detailed analysis of the respective starting point of code-switching and the different repair mechanisms supports the hypothesis that highly proficient bilinguals do not select languages at the lexical level.Le niveau exact de la sélection des langues lors de l’accès lexical chez le bilingue reste une question controversée dans la recherche psycholinguistique. Les modèles actuels de la production verbale bilingue proposent des arguments contradictoires concernant le mécanisme et le lieu de la sélection des langues. La présente recherche vise à fournir une analyse de corpus mettant l’accent sur les mécanismes d’autoréparation dans le contexte d’alternance codique dans la production verbale
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Guiberson, Mark
2013-06-01
The purpose of the present study was (a) to describe factors and trends associated with Spanish parents’ choice of communication modality and spoken language bilingualism for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and (b) to identify if bilingual variables predict children’s bilingual status in a country where bilingualism is common. Seventy-one Spanish parents of children who are DHH completed an online survey that included questions about demographics, family and professional involvement and support, accessibility to information and services, and bilingual background and beliefs. Analyses were completed to describe groups and to examine how variables were associated with parents’ decisions. Thirty-eight percent of parents chose to raise their children to be spoken-language bilingual. Most parents indicated that they believed being bilingual was beneficial for their children and that children who are DHH are capable of becoming bilingual in spoken languages. Parent’s bilingual score, beliefs about raising children who are DHH bilingually, and encouragement to do so, were significantly associated with children’s bilingual status. In communities where bilingualism is common, bilingual parents will often choose to raise children who are DHH bilingual in spoken languages. Implications for practice and future studies in the United States are provided.
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Garza, Armando; Langman, Juliet
2014-01-01
Considering a Latin@ fifth-grade dual-language classroom (Spanish/English) as a community of practice, this paper explores how a bilingual teacher and her bilingual students, as members of such community, utilize translanguaging (García, 2009) as a learning and teaching tool in social studies and science classes. In this particular classroom, the…
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An Understanding of the Concept and Conditions of Bilingualism: A Study in an EFL Setting
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Sandra Patricia Lastra R.
2015-07-01
Full Text Available This paper presents a study carried out at a private school that implemented a bilingual program more than a decade ago. The main aim of the project was to find out how the school community understands the concept of bilingualism and the conditions required to fulfill the goals of a bilingual curriculum at the school. Data were collected through surveys and focus groups made up of different members of the school community. The results showed that bilingualism is associated with a high intensification of English classes and the necessity of having English-speaking employees. Results also depict some theoretical issues about bilingualism and important conditions for implementing a bilingual program.
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Age of dementia diagnosis in community dwelling bilingual and monolingual Hispanic Americans.
Lawton, Deborah M; Gasquoine, Philip G; Weimer, Amy A
2015-05-01
Bilingualism has been reported to delay the age of retrospective report of first symptom in dementia. This study determined if the age of clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia occurred later for bilingual than monolingual, immigrant and U.S. born, Hispanic Americans. It involved a secondary analysis of the subset of 81 bi/monolingual dementia cases identified at yearly follow-up (1998 through 2008) using neuropsychological test results and objective diagnostic criteria from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging that involved a random sampling of community dwelling Hispanic Americans (N = 1789). Age of dementia diagnosis was analyzed in a 2 × 2 (bi/monolingualism × immigrant/U.S. born) ANOVA that space revealed both main effects and the interaction were non-significant. Mean age of dementia diagnosis was descriptively (but not significantly) higher in the monolingual (M = 81.10 years) than the bilingual (M = 79.31) group. Overall, bilingual dementia cases were significantly better educated than monolinguals, but U.S. born bilinguals and monolinguals did not differ significantly in education. Delays in dementia symptomatology pertaining to bilingualism are less likely to be found in studies: (a) that use age of clinical diagnosis vs. retrospective report of first dementia symptom as the dependent variable; and (b) involve clinical cases derived from community samples rather than referrals to specialist memory clinics. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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A New Measure to Assess Linguistic Self-Esteem in Adolescent Latino Bilinguals
Neugebauer, Sabina Rak
2011-01-01
Present conceptualizations and measures of self-esteem do not account for linguistic self-esteem, an aspect of the self specifically relevant for bilingual students. This study examines the utility of a newly developed measure of linguistic self-esteem. This novel measure is compared with a commonly used self-esteem measure, two standardized…
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Yeung, Caleb M; St John, Philip D; Menec, Verena; Tyas, Suzanne L
2014-01-01
The aim of this study was to determine whether bilingualism is associated with dementia in cross-sectional or prospective analyses of older adults. In 1991, 1616 community-living older adults were assessed and were followed 5 years later. Measures included age, sex, education, subjective memory loss (SML), and the modified Mini-mental State Examination (3MS). Dementia was determined by clinical examination in those who scored below the cut point on the 3MS. Language status was categorized based upon self-report into 3 groups: English as a first language (monolingual English, bilingual English) and English as a Second Language (ESL). The ESL category had lower education, lower 3MS scores, more SML, and were more likely to be diagnosed with cognitive impairment, no dementia at both time 1 and time 2 compared with those speaking English as a first language. There was no association between being bilingual (ESL and bilingual English vs. monolingual) and having dementia at time 1 in bivariate or multivariate analyses. In those who were cognitively intact at time 1, there was no association between being bilingual and having dementia at time 2 in bivariate or multivariate analyses. We did not find any association between speaking >1 language and dementia.
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Syntactic mixing across generations in an environment of community-wide bilingualism
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Sabine eStoll
2015-02-01
Full Text Available A quantitative analysis of a trans-generational, conversational corpus of Chintang (Tibeto-Burman speakers with community-wide bilingualism in Nepali (Indo-European reveals that children show more code-switching into Nepali than older speakers. This confirms earlier proposals in the literature that code-switching in bilingual children decreases when they gain proficiency in their dominant language, especially in vocabulary. Contradicting expectations from other studies, our corpus data also reveal that for adults, multi-word insertions of Nepali into Chintang are just as likely to undergo full syntactic integration as single-word insertions. Speakers of younger generations show less syntactic integration. We propose that this reflects a change between generations, from strongly asymmetrical, Chintang-dominated bilingualism in older generations to more balanced bilingualism where Chintang and Nepali operate as clearly separate systems in younger generations. This change is likely to have been triggered by the increase of Nepali presence over the past few decades.
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Orthographic learning and self-teaching in a bilingual and biliterate context.
Schwartz, Mila; Kahn-Horwitz, Janina; Share, David L
2014-01-01
The aim of this study was to examine self-teaching in the context of English as a foreign language literacy acquisition. Three groups comprising 88 sixth-grade children participated. The first group consisted of Russian-Hebrew-speaking bilinguals who had acquired basic reading skills in Russian as their first language (L1) and literacy and who were literate in Hebrew as a second language. The second group consisted of Russian-Hebrew-speaking bilinguals who had not learned to read in their native Russian but had acquired Hebrew as their first literate language. The third group consisted of Hebrew-speaking monolingual children who were literate in Hebrew. This design facilitated examining the effect of biliteracy and bilingualism on basic English reading skills. We hypothesized that due to the proximity between the Russian and English orthographies as opposed to the Hebrew-English "distance," the Russian-Hebrew-speaking biliterate group who acquired basic reading and spelling skills in L1 Russian would have superior self-teaching in English as opposed to the two other groups. The standard two-session self-teaching paradigm was employed with naming (speed and accuracy) and orthographic choice as posttest measures of orthographic learning. Results showed that after 4 years of English instruction, all three groups showed evidence of self-teaching on naming speed and orthographic recognition. The Russian-Hebrew-speaking biliterate group, moreover, showed a partial advantage over the comparison groups for initial decoding of target pseudowords and clear-cut superiority for measures of later orthographic learning, thereby showing self-teaching while supporting the script dependence hypothesis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Factors Influencing Title VII Bilingual Program Institutionalization.
Lewis, Gerald R.; And Others
1985-01-01
This study of the primary restraining and driving forces that influence Title VII bilingual education programs found the external environment, the local community, to be the main factor influencing institutionalization and self-renewal. The internal environment--the local school, and the local school's organization or central office, school board,…
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Being Bilingual: Issues for Cross-Language Research
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Bogusia Temple
2006-01-01
Full Text Available The current political debates in England highlight the role of language in citizenship, social exclusion, and discrimination. Similar debates can also be found around the world. Correspondingly, research addressing different language communities is burgeoning. Service providers and academics are increasingly employing bilingual community researchers or interpreters to carry out research. However, there is very little written about the effect of working with bilingual researchers. What it means to be bilingual is often essentialised and rarely problematised. Bilingual researchers are seen as unproblematically acting as bridges between communities just because they are bilingual. Their ties to communities, their use of language, and their perspectives on the research are rarely investigated. Language is tied in an unproblematic way to meaning, values, and beliefs. In this article, I use examples from my own research to question what it means to be bilingual and to do cross-language research. I argue that there is no straightforward way in which meanings can be read off from researchers’ ties to language and that being bilingual is not the same for everyone.
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[The psychopathology of bilingual children in a sample of a Community Mental Health Center].
Papadakis, J; Christodoulou, A; Paleologou, M; Vlassopoulos, M; Lazaratou, H; Anagnostopoulos, Dc; Ploumpidis, D N
2009-07-01
Thoughts and views of one's internal self can be materialized via verbal symbols. Therefore literal people can use these verbal symbols as a means of recording their ideas and experiences in order for them to be passed on and read by others. Evidently the abovementioned mental operations can be reflected in speech and language. It is not yet known whether bilingualism is the sum of two monolingual situations or whether they coexist. The way each language is organized is also not known, neither are the psychological operations that may influence the organization of each language, memory and the relationship with each language. During childhood and adolescence, language is a very important tool via which one communicates, materializes emotional behavior and organizes oneself. Linguistic development and identity formation both follow a parallel and connected line in view of the internal psychological organization. However, in the bilingual person, this relationship is influenced both by the two different cultural stimuli and by the two different linguistic stimuli (i.e. language). However, in the case where children grow up in a bilingual environment there are some particularities and special issues affecting these children. Under such circumstances, the accomplishment of the feeling of coherence and stability of the self becomes an even more difficult task for the child. Nowadays, in Greek reality, the phenomenon of bilingualism tends to be associated with economic immigration. In the sample used, five fourths of children consist of children coming from families of economic immigrants. The composition of the student population in Greece is characterized by linguistic and cultural polymorphism. The presence and existence of a large number of immigrants has changed the setting in Greece in many regions of the country and in turn, the composition of the school population. Any public school allover in Greece consists, among others, of children coming from families of
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Hunt, George
2007-01-01
This paper discusses an attempt to establish community literacy procedures in an Eastern Cape community school. The school hosts the Additive Bilingual Education (ABLE) project, a cooperation between UK and South African universities and the school trust. The community literacy strand of the project encourages family members to contribute oral…
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The role of the bilingual/bicultural worker in dementia education, support and care.
Boughtwood, Desiree; Shanley, Christopher; Adams, Jon; Santalucia, Yvonne; Kyriazopoulos, Helena; Rowland, Jeffrey; Pond, Dimity
2013-01-01
Members of minority populations often have difficulty knowing about and accessing dementia services. One of the strategies used to promote access is the employment of bilingual/bicultural workers (sometimes referred to as multicultural, link or outreach workers). This study involved interviews with 24 bilingual/bicultural workers in south western Sydney, Australia to gain a better understanding of their role within the dementia field. Seven themes emerged: importance of working with family; process of building trust when moving between two cultures; importance of understanding the culture; self-care and culture; flexibility of their role; linking community members; and linking communities to mainstream services. Bilingual/bicultural workers play a significant and complex role in supporting individuals and families within their community who are affected by dementia. The significance of their role needs to be more clearly acknowledged in the development of policy, further research and service provision within the dementia field.
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Gollan, Tamar H.; Weissberger, Gali H.; Runnqvist, Elin; Montoya, Rosa I.; Cera, Cynthia M.
2012-01-01
This study investigated correspondence between different measures of bilingual language proficiency contrasting self-report, proficiency interview, and picture naming skills. Fifty-two young (Experiment 1) and 20 aging (Experiment 2) Spanish-English bilinguals provided self-ratings of proficiency level, were interviewed for spoken proficiency, and…
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Challenging Inquiry and Building Community: Analyzing ESL and Bilingual Teachers' Narratives
Musanti, Sandra I.
2017-01-01
The study explores English as a second language (ESL) and bilingual teachers' narratives within a learning community as they collectively engage in reflecting on practices to more effectively support English learners. This longitudinal qualitative study integrates narrative inquiry approach and critical incident methodology. Participants were…
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The Hannibal Community Survey; A Case Study in a Community Development Technique.
Croll, John A.
Disturbed by the community's negative attitude toward its prospects for progress, the Hannibal (Missouri) Chamber of Commerce initiated a community self-survey to improve the situation. The questionnaire survey concentrated on felt needs relationg to city government, retail facilities and services, recreation, religion, education, industrial…
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Language, Culture and Identity: A Sociolinguistic Study of Bilingual ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
This paper explores the dynamics of bilingual speech in the Lagos Island speech community in Central Lagos. Against the background of the unique social motivations for bilingual behaviour in this cosmopolitan community, this study explores the various sociolinguistic acts utilized by the Yoruba-English bilinguals in the ...
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Bullock, Emma
2017-01-01
Background A growing number of online communities have been established to support those who self-harm. However, little is known about the therapeutic affordances arising from engagement with these communities and resulting outcomes. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the presence of therapeutic affordances as reported by members of self-harm online support communities. Methods In total, 94 respondents (aged 13-63 years, mean=23.5 years; 94% female) completed an online survey exploring their experiences of engaging with a self-harm online support community. Respondents varied in terms of how long they had been accessing an online community, with 22% (21/94) accessing less than 1 year, 39% (37/94) 1 to 2 years, 14% (13/94) 2 to 3 years, and 24.5% (23/94) more than 3 years. Responses were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. Results The results of our analysis describe each of the five therapeutic affordances that were present in the data, namely (1) connection, the ability to make contact with others who self-harm for the purposes of mutual support and in so doing reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation; (2) adaptation, that is, how use of online support varies in relation to the personal circumstances of the individual user; (3) exploration, that is, the ability to learn about self-harm and learn about strategies to reduce or stop self-harming behavior; (4) narration, that is, the ability to share experiences, as well as read about the experiences of others; and (5) self-presentation, that is, how and what users present about themselves to others in the online community. Conclusions Our findings suggest that engagement with self-harm online support communities may confer a range of therapeutic benefits for some users, which may serve to minimize the psychosocial burden of self-harm and promote positive coping strategies. In addition, the online nature of the support available may be helpful to those who are unable to access face
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Bilingualism does not alter cognitive decline or dementia risk among Spanish-speaking immigrants.
Zahodne, Laura B; Schofield, Peter W; Farrell, Meagan T; Stern, Yaakov; Manly, Jennifer J
2014-03-01
Clinic-based studies suggest that dementia is diagnosed at older ages in bilinguals compared with monolinguals. The current study sought to test this hypothesis in a large, prospective, community-based study of initially nondemented Hispanic immigrants living in a Spanish-speaking enclave of northern Manhattan. Participants included 1,067 participants in the Washington/Hamilton Heights Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP) who were tested in Spanish and followed at 18-24 month intervals for up to 23 years. Spanish-English bilingualism was estimated via both self-report and an objective measure of English reading level. Multilevel models for change estimated the independent effects of bilingualism on cognitive decline in 4 domains: episodic memory, language, executive function, and speed. Over the course of the study, 282 participants developed dementia. Cox regression was used to estimate the independent effect of bilingualism on dementia conversion. Covariates included country of origin, gender, education, time spent in the United States, recruitment cohort, and age at enrollment. Independent of the covariates, bilingualism was associated with better memory and executive function at baseline. However, bilingualism was not independently associated with rates of cognitive decline or dementia conversion. Results were similar whether bilingualism was measured via self-report or an objective test of reading level. This study does not support a protective effect of bilingualism on age-related cognitive decline or the development of dementia. In this sample of Hispanic immigrants, bilingualism is related to higher initial scores on cognitive tests and higher educational attainment and may not represent a unique source of cognitive reserve. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.
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Butler, Jacqueline; McGinty, John
The Southwest Evaluation and Research Division conducted a survey of 165 purchasers of bilingual instructional materials produced by SEDL to determine which information channels predominate in the curriculum adoption-decision process. The findings of this survey may be useful in the selection of the most efficient ways to communicate information…
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Use of Language Resources by Teachers at Bilingual Schools in Prekmurje
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Iztok Kosem
2018-01-01
Full Text Available The paper presents the results of a survey on the use of different language resources (dictionaries, orthographies, thesauri, etc. by teachers at bilingual schools in Prekmurje. The survey was conducted as part of the project focussed on developing a concept of a new comprehensive Slovenian-Hungarian dictionary. The dictionary aims to meet the needs of a wider community, as well as needs specific to bilingual education. The main aim of the survey was thus to establish how well teachers know language resources available to them, how often they use them during their work, and which types of dictionary information do they find useful. Furthermore, the survey also tried to find out which communication activities in the Hungarian language pose most problems to teachers. The analysis of the survey has shown that majority of teachers know available language resources, and also used them at their work. Due to various problems with communication in Hungarian, teachers need to use a wide variety of language resources, both bilingual and monolingual. The fact that many of the existing resources, especially bilingual ones, are not available in digital form, is definitely a major obstacle. Teachers consider all types of dictionary information to be important/useful, but especially translation equivalents, indication of the correct spelling, explanations of word meanings, and dictionary examples. Importantly, the types of information not available in existing resources, such as audio pronunciation and whole-sentence examples, are considered to be very useful. The survey findings will be considered in the preparation of a new comprehensive Slovenian-Hungarian dictionary, from headword selection to selecting the parts of dictionary microstructure. However, even more important is the fact that the findings have made us consider a more substantial inclusion of contents relevant for language production, gradual publication of the dictionary, prioritizing the
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Coulson, Neil S; Bullock, Emma; Rodham, Karen
2017-10-13
A growing number of online communities have been established to support those who self-harm. However, little is known about the therapeutic affordances arising from engagement with these communities and resulting outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore the presence of therapeutic affordances as reported by members of self-harm online support communities. In total, 94 respondents (aged 13-63 years, mean=23.5 years; 94% female) completed an online survey exploring their experiences of engaging with a self-harm online support community. Respondents varied in terms of how long they had been accessing an online community, with 22% (21/94) accessing less than 1 year, 39% (37/94) 1 to 2 years, 14% (13/94) 2 to 3 years, and 24.5% (23/94) more than 3 years. Responses were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. The results of our analysis describe each of the five therapeutic affordances that were present in the data, namely (1) connection, the ability to make contact with others who self-harm for the purposes of mutual support and in so doing reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation; (2) adaptation, that is, how use of online support varies in relation to the personal circumstances of the individual user; (3) exploration, that is, the ability to learn about self-harm and learn about strategies to reduce or stop self-harming behavior; (4) narration, that is, the ability to share experiences, as well as read about the experiences of others; and (5) self-presentation, that is, how and what users present about themselves to others in the online community. Our findings suggest that engagement with self-harm online support communities may confer a range of therapeutic benefits for some users, which may serve to minimize the psychosocial burden of self-harm and promote positive coping strategies. In addition, the online nature of the support available may be helpful to those who are unable to access face-to-face support. ©Neil S Coulson, Emma Bullock, Karen Rodham
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Farmworkers at the border: a bilingual initiative for occupational health and safety.
Acosta, Martha Soledad Vela; Sechrest, Lee; Chen, Mei-Kuang
2009-01-01
Bilingual and bicultural occupational health and safety interventions for Hispanic farmworkers are extremely rare and, because of language barriers and cultural differences, issues important to their health and safety on the job remain unaddressed. We designed, conducted, and assessed the first bilingual occupational health and safety education program for farmworkers attending High School Equivalency Programs (HEPs). We took an interdisciplinary participatory approach by integrating educators and researchers with a community advisory board to guide development, evaluation, and implementation of Work Safely-Trabaje con Cuidado Curriculum (Curriculum), a bilingual occupational health and safety curriculum. We created a quasi-experimental design using mixed-method evaluation (quantitative and qualitative elements) via pre- and posttest comparisons, follow-up surveys, and focus groups assessing the Curriculum effect on knowledge, safety risk perception (SRP), and safety behavior. Focus groups and follow-up surveys reflected success and acceptance of the Curriculum among participating farmworkers under the study's logic model. Completion of the Curriculum resulted in statistically significant improvements in the combined score of knowledge and SRP at the posttest (p = 0.001) and follow-up survey (p = 0.02) in the intervention group. After completing this study, the Curriculum was permanently adopted by the two high school equivalency sites involved. The participatory approach resulted in integration of community and applied research partnership. The potential to expand use of this Curriculum by other HEP sites can further assess effectiveness and external validity among underserved minority groups.
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Riggs, Nathaniel R; Shin, Hee-Sung; Unger, Jennifer B; Spruijt-Metz, Donna; Pentz, Mary Ann
2014-10-01
The study purpose was to test 1-year prospective associations between English-Spanish bilingualism and executive function in 5th to 6th grade students while controlling for biculturalism. Participants included 182 US Latino students (50 % female). Self-report surveys assessed biculturalism, bilingualism, and executive function (i.e., working memory, organizational skills, inhibitory control, and emotional control, as well as a summary executive function score). General linear model regressions demonstrated that bilingualism significantly predicted the summary executive function score as well as working memory such that bilingual proficiency was positively related to executive function. Results are the first to demonstrate (a) prospective associations between bilingualism to executive function while controlling for the potential third variable of biculturalism, and (b) a principal role for working memory in this relationship. Since executive function is associated with a host of health outcomes, one implication of study findings is that bilingualism may have an indirect protective influence on youth development.
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Towards culturally competent health care: language use of bilingual staff.
Johnson, M; Noble, C; Matthews, C; Aguilar, N
1998-01-01
The presence of diverse language skills within health staff provides opportunities to better meet the needs of a multicultural population. A cross-sectional survey of all staff within the South Western Sydney Area Health Service was undertaken to compare language skills with population needs and examine the context of language use. Thirty-one per cent of staff (n = 964) were bilingual or multilingual, with the predominant languages spoken being Tagalog (Filipino), Cantonese, Hindi, Spanish, Vietnamese and Italian. Thirty-seven per cent of bilingual staff used their language skills at least weekly, predominantly in situations of simple conversation and giving directions. Bilingual staff are a valuable resource for the organisation and the presence of a similar overall proportion of bilingual and bicultural staff may engender tolerance and adaptability in providing care to a diverse population. However, supply does not directly match community demand. This mismatch will continue unless recruitment is focused towards identified language groups. The high proportion of staff who rarely used their language skills (37%) may be due to lack of opportunity or limited need, and suggests that further research needs to examine service models that locate bilingual workers close to client need. This study takes a crucial first step towards realising equitable and culturally appropriate care utilising the principles of productive diversity.
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Baker, Colin
2011-01-01
The fifth edition of this bestselling book provides a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education. In a compact and clear style, its 19 chapters cover all the crucial issues in bilingualism at individual, group and national levels. These include: (1) defining who is bilingual and multilingual; (2) testing language abilities…
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RELATION OF DEAF PERSONS TOWARDS BILINGUALISM AS COMMUNICATION MODE
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Naim Salkić
2013-02-01
Full Text Available Bilingualism of a deaf child implies concurrent cognition and usage of sign language, as community language and oral-voice language as language of greater community in which deaf persons live. Today, most authors consider that deaf persons should know both of these languages and that deaf persons need to be educated in both languages, because of their general communication and complete psycho-social development. Through research on sample of 80 deaf examinees, we affirmed the kind of relation that deaf persons have towards bilingualism, bilingual way of education and communication. The research results have shown that bilingualism and bilingual way of education and communication is acceptable to deaf persons and that there is no statistically significant difference between the sub-samples of examinees.
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Bilingual Education and Language Use among the Shipibo of the Peruvian Amazon.
Tacelosky, Kathleen
2001-01-01
Investigates how language choice for education contributes to changes in the way a society views and uses language in the context of the Peruvian Amazon. Oral surveys were administered to Shipibo people in 13 communities along the Ucayali River of eastern Peru where a transition type bilingual education program was introduced several decades ago.…
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Language awareness in the bilingual healthcare setting: a national survey.
Roberts, Gwerfyl Wyn; Irvine, Fiona Elizabeth; Jones, Peter Reece; Spencer, Llinos Haf; Baker, Colin Ronald; Williams, Cen
2007-09-01
The significance of effective interpersonal communication in healthcare is well established, as is the importance of overcoming language barriers. This has a particular bearing for minority language speakers, where denying language choice can compromise the quality of healthcare provision. Nevertheless, there is limited empirical research exploring language awareness in healthcare and the factors that influence language choice for minority language speakers. This paper reports on the nurses, midwives and health visitors (NMHV) data set of the first phase of a large-scale national study, commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government, to examine the nature and extent of Welsh language awareness amongst healthcare professionals in Wales, UK. The study involved a questionnaire survey of healthcare professionals working in the public, private and voluntary sectors of healthcare. A stratified random sample of 3358 healthcare professionals was surveyed, of which 1842 (55%) were nurses, midwives and health visitors. The researcher-designed self-administered questionnaire was distributed by post to participants between July and September 2003. A total of 1042 (57%) NMHV returned their questionnaires for analysis. A strong positive correlation is identified between the NMHV use of the Welsh language in practice and their Welsh language proficiency (planguage attitudes (planguage region (planguage attitude scores are more positive than expected, particularly amongst those with limited Welsh language proficiency and those working in regions with the lowest proportions of Welsh speakers. In view of the universal drive for culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare practice, the findings have important implications for bilingual and multilingual healthcare settings worldwide. The evidence emerging from this survey confirms that cross-cultural communication is enhanced by NMHV language attitudes as well as their proficiency levels. Language awareness training is
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Chung, Grace Y; Brown, Gina; Gibson, Desmond
2015-10-01
Melanoma incidence is increasing among Hispanics/Latinos in California. This community-based project reached out to a rural Hispanic/Latino community in North San Diego County to provide melanoma prevention and screening education. At a local community health fair, bilingual volunteer lay health workers led 10- to 15-minute-long information sessions on melanoma disease, risk factors, and skin self-examination techniques. Pearson chi-square analyses of participants' (N = 34) responses to pre- and postintervention evaluation surveys indicate significant increases in knowledge, risk awareness, and self-efficacy for self-screening. The results revealed that Hispanics/Latinos in a low socioeconomic stratum might be at moderate to high risk for developing melanoma. Their low annual income, low level of education, occupational sun-exposure, and lack of access to health care are likely factors that deter at-risk Hispanics/Latinos from seeking health care. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.
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Liu, Meihua
2018-01-01
The present research explored bilingual/multilingual students' willingness to communicate in Chinese (WTCC) and foreign language anxiety (FLA) when speaking Chinese and their associations with self-rated proficiency in Chinese in a university in Beijing. The study recruited 167 bilingual and multilingual learners of Chinese to fill in a battery of…
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Language choice in bimodal bilingual development
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Diane eLillo-Martin
2014-10-01
Full Text Available Bilingual children develop sensitivity to the language used by their interlocutors at an early age, reflected in differential use of each language by the child depending on their interlocutor. Factors such as discourse context and relative language dominance in the community may mediate the degree of language differentiation in preschool age children.Bimodal bilingual children, acquiring both a sign language and a spoken language, have an even more complex situation. Their Deaf parents vary considerably in access to the spoken language. Furthermore, in addition to code-mixing and code-switching, they use code-blending – expressions in both speech and sign simultaneously – an option uniquely available to bimodal bilinguals. Code-blending is analogous to code-switching sociolinguistically, but is also a way to communicate without suppressing one language. For adult bimodal bilinguals, complete suppression of the non-selected language is cognitively demanding. We expect that bimodal bilingual children also find suppression difficult, and use blending rather than suppression in some contexts. We also expect relative community language dominance to be a factor in children’s language choices.This study analyzes longitudinal spontaneous production data from four bimodal bilingual children and their Deaf and hearing interlocutors. Even at the earliest observations, the children produced more signed utterances with Deaf interlocutors and more speech with hearing interlocutors. However, while three of the four children produced >75% speech alone in speech target sessions, they produced <25% sign alone in sign target sessions. All four produced bimodal utterances in both, but more frequently in the sign sessions, potentially because they find suppression of the dominant language more difficult.Our results indicate that these children are sensitive to the language used by their interlocutors, while showing considerable influence from the dominant
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter seeks to promote the concept of bilingual-bicultural education. Among its articles are "The Indispensable Community Contribution,""Meaningful, Enjoyable Musical Experience,""A Breakthrough for Bilingual Science," and "Six Readers for Spanish-Speaking Fourth-Graders." There is a short essay on the importance of local participation…
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Prevalence and pattern of self-medication in Karachi: A community survey
Afridi, M. Iqbal; Rasool, Ghulam; Tabassum, Rabia; Shaheen, Marriam; Siddiqullah; Shujauddin, M.
2015-01-01
Objective: To study the prevalence and pattern of self-medication among adult males and females in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This cross-sectional community- based survey was carried out at five randomly selected towns of Karachi (Defence, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, North Nazimabad, Malir, Orangi town) over a period of 3 months (October, November & December 2012). A sample size of 500 adult cases (250 males & 250 females), with systemic random selection from different towns of Karachi were inducted in this study. The city was divided in 5 zones and one town from each zone was selected by systemic randomization. First available male and female from each randomly selected house were included in the study. After consent and confidentiality assurance they were interviewed on semi-structured Performa designed for this purpose. Results were analyzed and tabulated through SPSS v14.0. Result: The prevalence of self-medication in males and females in Karachi is found to be 84.8% (males 88.4% and females 81.2%). The most frequent symptoms for which self-medication used were headache (32.7%), fever (23.3%) and the medicines used were painkillers (28.8%), fever reducer medicines (19.8%). The most common reason 33.3% was previous experience with similar symptom. Conclusion: Self-medication is highly prevalent (84.8%) in Karachi. It was frequently used for headache followed by fever. Predominantly painkillers, fever reducer and cough syrups were used in the form of tablets and syrups. Main source of medicines for males were friends and for females were relatives. PMID:26649022
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Development of bilingual tools to assess functional health patterns.
Krozy, R E; McCarthy, N C
1999-01-01
The theory and process of developing bilingual assessment tools based on Gordon's 11 functional health patterns. To facilitate assessing the individual, family, and community in a student clinical practicum in a Spanish-speaking country. Multiple family and community health promotion theories; translation theories, Gordon's Manual of Nursing Diagnosis (1982); translation/back-translation involving Ecuadorian faculty and students; student community assessments; faculty and staff workshops in Ecuador. Bilingual, culturally sensitive health assessment tools facilitate history taking, establish nursing diagnoses and interventions, and promote mutual learning. These outcomes demonstrate potential application to other systems in the international nursing community.
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A Survey of Job Loss in Selected Communities around ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
A Survey of Job Loss in Selected Communities around Johannesburg, South Africa. ... They experienced a feeling of lowered self-esteem. However, although seriously afflicted by the ravages of job loss within their communities, the majority of the respondents did not express a desire to relocate to other places.
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Effects of Marathi-Hindi Bilingualism on Neuropsychological Performance
Kamat, Rujvi; Ghate, Manisha; Gollan, Tamar H.; Meyer, Rachel; Vaida, Florin; Heaton, Robert K.; Letendre, Scott; Franklin, Donald; Alexander, Terry; Grant, Igor; Mehendale, Sanjay; Marcotte, Thomas D.
2013-01-01
The present study aimed to examine if bilingualism affects executive functions and verbal fluency in Marathi and Hindi, two major languages in India, with a considerable cognate (e.g., activity is actividad in Spanish) overlap. A total of 174 native Marathi speakers from Pune, India, with varying levels of Hindi proficiency were administered tests of executive functioning and verbal performance in Marathi. A bilingualism index was generated using self-reported Hindi and Marathi proficiency. After controlling for demographic variables, the association between bilingualism and cognitive performance was examined. Degree of bilingualism predicted better performance on the switching (Color Trails-2) and inhibition (Stroop Color-Word) components of executive functioning; but not for the abstraction component (Halstead Category Test). In the verbal domain, bilingualism was more closely associated with noun generation (where the languages share many cognates) than verb generation (which are more disparate across these languages), as predicted. However, contrary to our hypothesis that the bilingualism “disadvantage” would be attenuated on noun generation, bilingualism was associated with an advantage on these measures. These findings suggest distinct patterns of bilingualism effects on cognition for this previously unexamined language pair, and that the rate of cognates may modulate the association between bilingualism and verbal performance on neuropsychological tests. PMID:22206622
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Effects of Marathi-Hindi bilingualism on neuropsychological performance.
Kamat, Rujvi; Ghate, Manisha; Gollan, Tamar H; Meyer, Rachel; Vaida, Florin; Heaton, Robert K; Letendre, Scott; Franklin, Donald; Alexander, Terry; Grant, Igor; Mehendale, Sanjay; Marcotte, Thomas D
2012-03-01
The present study aimed to examine if bilingualism affects executive functions and verbal fluency in Marathi and Hindi, two major languages in India, with a considerable cognate (e.g., activity is actividad in Spanish) overlap. A total of 174 native Marathi speakers from Pune, India, with varying levels of Hindi proficiency were administered tests of executive functioning and verbal performance in Marathi. A bilingualism index was generated using self-reported Hindi and Marathi proficiency. After controlling for demographic variables, the association between bilingualism and cognitive performance was examined. Degree of bilingualism predicted better performance on the switching (Color Trails-2) and inhibition (Stroop Color-Word) components of executive functioning; but not for the abstraction component (Halstead Category Test). In the verbal domain, bilingualism was more closely associated with noun generation (where the languages share many cognates) than verb generation (which are more disparate across these languages), as predicted. However, contrary to our hypothesis that the bilingualism "disadvantage" would be attenuated on noun generation, bilingualism was associated with an advantage on these measures. These findings suggest distinct patterns of bilingualism effects on cognition for this previously unexamined language pair, and that the rate of cognates may modulate the association between bilingualism and verbal performance on neuropsychological tests.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ingrid FINGER
2014-12-01
Full Text Available This article presents a language experience and self-assessment of proficiency questionnaire for hearing teachers who use Brazilian Sign Language and Portuguese in their teaching practice. By focusing on hearing teachers who work in Deaf education contexts, this questionnaire is presented as a tool that may complement the assessment of linguistic skills of hearing teachers. This proposal takes into account important factors in bilingualism studies such as the importance of knowing the participant’s context with respect to family, professional and social background (KAUFMANN, 2010. This work uses as model the following questionnaires: LEAP-Q (MARIAN; BLUMENFELD; KAUSHANSKAYA, 2007, SLSCO – Sign Language Skills Classroom Observation (REEVES et al., 2000 and the Language Attitude Questionnaire (KAUFMANN, 2010, taking into consideration the different kinds of exposure to Brazilian Sign Language. The questionnaire is designed for bilingual bimodal hearing teachers who work in bilingual schools for the Deaf or who work in the specialized educational department who assistdeaf students.
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Wang, Qi; Shao, Yi; Li, Yexin Jessica
2010-01-01
This study examined the relation of language to the development of a cultural self. Bilingual children ages 8-14 from Hong Kong (N = 125) were interviewed in either English or Chinese. They recalled autobiographical events and described themselves, and indicated their agreement with Chinese interdependent versus Western independent values.…
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Arriaza, Pablo
2015-01-01
Limited research exists about Spanish-speaking social workers that provide bilingual social work services. To date, studies have not exclusively focused on actual language competence of bilingual social workers or even their self-perceived language beliefs. This study reviews the results of a cross-sectional Internet-based survey exploring…
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Bilingualism in the English of tertiary students: A sine-qua-non for ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Effects of Bilingualism on the English of Tertiary Students as a mentorship and entrepreneurial tool were investigated. The term bilingualism is the use of two languages (repertoire) of an individual or a speech community. An important feature of bilingualism is that it is a consequence of language in contact which deals with ...
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Lovell, Sarah A; Gray, Andrew R; Boucher, Sara E
2017-12-01
Community-level interventions dominate contemporary public health responses to health inequalities as a lack of political will has discouraged action at a structural level. Health promoters commonly leverage community capacity to achieve programme goals, yet the health implications of low community capacity are unknown. In this study, we analyse perceptions of community capacity at the individual-level to explore how place-based understandings of identity and connectedness are associated with self-rated health. We examine associations between individual community capacity, self-rated health and income using a cross-sectional survey that was disseminated to 303 residents of four small (populations 1500-2000) New Zealand towns. Evidence indicating a relationship between individual community capacity and self-reported health was unconvincing once the effects of income were incorporated. That is, people who rated their community's capacity higher did not have better self-rated health. Much stronger evidence supported the relationship between income and both higher individual community capacity and higher self-rated health. We conclude that individual community capacity may mediate the positive association between income and health, however, overall we find no evidence suggesting that intervening to enhance individual community capacity is likely to improve health outcomes.
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Schiller, N.O.
2009-01-01
This study addresses how verbal self-monitoring and the Error-Related Negativity (ERN) are affected by time pressure when a task is performed in a second language as opposed to performance in the native language. German–Dutch bilinguals were required to perform a phoneme-monitoring task in Dutch
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tina Loughlin
2013-03-01
Full Text Available This research investigated the relationship between adolescent afterschool program attendance, self-esteem and feelings of community connectedness. Thirty-nine of the 61 at-risk adolescents enrolled in two federally funded, community based afterschool programs participated in the study. Participants completed a 10-item self-esteem questionnaire and a 5-item section of the Youth Involved in Community Issues Survey (YICI to measure perceptions of community connectedness. Attendance records were also collected from the sites. Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlations. Results indicated that there was not a significant relationship between the total variables. The individual item analysis, however, did find a significant relationship between adolescent community connectedness and self esteem items. Findings suggest that there is a relationship to be explored and strengthened through means of community outreach for adolescents. Conclusions from this study have important implications for youth practice. Specifically, program leaders need to help adolescents get involved in the community as contributing members.
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Knowledge of Some Derivational Processes in Two Samples of Bilingual Children
Marckworth, M. Lois
1978-01-01
A report on a study concerning the bilingual child in a monolingual community. It investigates the acquisition of a set of English derivational morphemes by bilingual children and the effect of external factors, such as school, exposure time, age and home, in the children's language experience. (AMH)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sarah A. Lovell
2017-12-01
Full Text Available Community-level interventions dominate contemporary public health responses to health inequalities as a lack of political will has discouraged action at a structural level. Health promoters commonly leverage community capacity to achieve programme goals, yet the health implications of low community capacity are unknown. In this study, we analyse perceptions of community capacity at the individual-level to explore how place-based understandings of identity and connectedness are associated with self-rated health. We examine associations between individual community capacity, self-rated health and income using a cross-sectional survey that was disseminated to 303 residents of four small (populations 1500–2000 New Zealand towns. Evidence indicating a relationship between individual community capacity and self-reported health was unconvincing once the effects of income were incorporated. That is, people who rated their community's capacity higher did not have better self-rated health. Much stronger evidence supported the relationship between income and both higher individual community capacity and higher self-rated health. We conclude that individual community capacity may mediate the positive association between income and health, however, overall we find no evidence suggesting that intervening to enhance individual community capacity is likely to improve health outcomes.
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Brown, Sharon A.; Garcia, Alexandra A.; Kouzekanani, Kamiar; Hanis, Craig L.
2002-01-01
In a culturally competent diabetes self-management intervention in Starr County, Texas, bilingual Mexican American nurses, dieticians, and community workers provided weekly instruction on nutrition, self-monitoring, exercise and other self-care topics. A biweekly support group promoted behavior change. Interviews and examinations with 256 Mexican…
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Bilingual teaching in nursing education in China: evolution, status, and future directions.
He, Wei; Xu, Yu; Zhu, Jianhua
2011-09-01
Based on Chinese published literature and personal observations, this article reviews the history of bilingual teaching in nursing education in China, describes its current status and challenges, and predicts its future directions. Bilingual teaching in nursing education enjoys increasing popularity in China. The major factors that affect bilingual teaching are bilingual educators, students' English-language levels, bilingual teaching materials, and teaching models. Based on surveys of nursing schools, the English-language proficiency of the nursing educators varies greatly. The main issues with the teaching methods lie in over-translation, cramming, and limited interaction between the students and the teachers. Despite relatively inadequate English-language proficiency among Chinese nursing students, their interest can be strengthened greatly if international exchanges are available and promoted. Bilingual textbooks are more suitable in China's national context because of pricing and relevance. Although immersive bilingual teaching is the ideal, it is more feasible to begin with infiltrative bilingual teaching and move progressively towards increased English-language penetration. Future directions for improving bilingual teaching include training teaching faculty members, strengthening international exchanges, providing better bilingual study atmospheres, and gradually implementing bilingual textbooks. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
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“ALL IN ALL, I AM BILINGUAL” A STUDY OF BILINGUALISM
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Zeynep CANLI
2016-04-01
Full Text Available he aim of the study is to investigate whether EFL instructors in a university preparatory school consider themselves bilingual, or not; and the reasons for the EFL instructors to consider themselves bilingual or not. For the purpose of the study, a qualitative research was carried out. Thirty EFL instructors participated in this study. The data were collected via an open-ended questionnaire. Analyzing the results indicated that most of the participants considered themselves bilingual. The results of the study emphasized the importance of awareness of being bilingual in order to empower EFL instructors, encourage them to use more L2 in the classroom, and raise their self-esteem as non native speakers of English. The findings help instructors to make them less concerned about the grammar and focus more on communication, and explain their students that they would be bilingual too. This study might be of pedagogical help and significance to teachers interested in bilingualism in EFL context.
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Print Knowledge in Yucatec Maya-Spanish Bilingual Children: An Initial Inquiry
Bengochea, Alain; Justice, Laura M.; Hijlkema, Maria J.
2017-01-01
This study serves as an initial inquiry regarding the early print knowledge of emergent bilingual preschool-age children living in an Indigenous community in Mexico. In this research, we examine various dimensions of print knowledge with Yucatec Maya-Spanish bilingual children for whom one of their languages (Yucatec Maya) is seldom seen in print…
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Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Sixth Edition
Baker, Colin; Wright, Wayne E.
2017-01-01
The sixth edition of this bestselling textbook has been substantially revised and updated to provide a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education in the 21st century. Written in a compact and clear style, the book covers all the crucial issues in bilingualism at individual, group and societal levels. Updates to the new…
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Gollan, Tamar H; Salmon, David P; Montoya, Rosa I; Galasko, Douglas R
2011-12-01
The current study investigated the relationship between bilingual language proficiency and onset of probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 44 Spanish-English bilinguals at the UCSD Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Degree of bilingualism along a continuum was measured using Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores in each language. Higher degrees of bilingualism were associated with increasingly later age-of-diagnosis (and age of onset of symptoms), but this effect was driven by participants with low education level (a significant interaction between years of education and bilingualism) most of whom (73%) were also Spanish-dominant. Additionally, only objective measures (i.e., BNT scores), not self-reported degree of bilingualism, predicted age-of-diagnosis even though objective and self-reported measures were significantly correlated. These findings establish a specific connection between knowledge of two languages and delay of AD onset, and demonstrate that bilingual effects can be obscured by interactions between education and bilingualism, and by failure to obtain objective measures of bilingualism. More generally, these data support analogies between the effects of bilingualism and "cognitive reserve" and suggest an upper limit on the extent to which reserve can function to delay dementia. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Implicit orientation toward family and school among bilingual Latino college students.
Devos, Thierry; Blanco, Karla; Muñoz, Cynthia; Dunn, Roger; Ulloa, Emilio C
2008-08-01
The authors examined the associations that underlie the orientations of bilingual Latino college students toward family and school. Participants completed, in English or Spanish, 3 implicit association tests assessing their attitude toward family vs. school, identifications with these concepts, and self-esteem. Results revealed a more positive attitude toward, and stronger identification with, family than school. Identification with family was stronger among participants who completed the study in English, suggesting self-definition in terms of distinctions from the context. Last, the more participants valued family over school and identified with family rather than school, the higher was their self-esteem. These findings shed light on the subtle, yet crucial, mechanisms by which cultural knowledge is incorporated in the self-concept of bilingual Latino college students.
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How bilingualism protects the brain from aging: Insights from bimodal bilinguals.
Li, Le; Abutalebi, Jubin; Emmorey, Karen; Gong, Gaolang; Yan, Xin; Feng, Xiaoxia; Zou, Lijuan; Ding, Guosheng
2017-08-01
Bilingual experience can delay cognitive decline during aging. A general hypothesis is that the executive control system of bilinguals faces an increased load due to controlling two languages, and this increased load results in a more "tuned brain" that eventually creates a neural reserve. Here we explored whether such a neuroprotective effect is independent of language modality, i.e., not limited to bilinguals who speak two languages but also occurs for bilinguals who use a spoken and a signed language. We addressed this issue by comparing bimodal bilinguals to monolinguals in order to detect age-induced structural brain changes and to determine whether we can detect the same beneficial effects on brain structure, in terms of preservation of gray matter volume (GMV), for bimodal bilinguals as has been reported for unimodal bilinguals. Our GMV analyses revealed a significant interaction effect of age × group in the bilateral anterior temporal lobes, left hippocampus/amygdala, and left insula where bimodal bilinguals showed slight GMV increases while monolinguals showed significant age-induced GMV decreases. We further found through cortical surface-based measurements that this effect was present for surface area and not for cortical thickness. Moreover, to further explore the hypothesis that overall bilingualism provides neuroprotection, we carried out a direct comparison of GMV, extracted from the brain regions reported above, between bimodal bilinguals, unimodal bilinguals, and monolinguals. Bilinguals, regardless of language modality, exhibited higher GMV compared to monolinguals. This finding highlights the general beneficial effects provided by experience handling two language systems, whether signed or spoken. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4109-4124, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Bilingual skills of deaf/hard of hearing children from Spain.
Guiberson, Mark
2014-03-01
This study described the first language (L1) and second language (L2) skills of a group of Spanish deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) children who were bilingual. Participants included parents of 51 DHH children from Spain. Parents completed an electronic survey that included questions on background, details on child's hearing loss, and bilingual status and L2 exposure. Parents also completed the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, a rating scale that describes language skills. DHH bilingual children demonstrated L1 skills that were stronger than their monolingual DHH peers. Bilingual children demonstrated a wide range of L2 proficiency, and most were exposed to an L2 through parents and/or schooling. The majority of parents reported that their children demonstrated L2 skills that were either better than or at the level they had expected. These results correspond with earlier studies that indicate the DHH children are capable of becoming bilingual. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.
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Advertising to Italian English Bilinguals in Australia: Attitudes and Response to Language Selection
Santello, Marco
2015-01-01
This article explores attitudes and response to language selection in advertising targeting Italian bilinguals who belong to a defined speech community. The research builds upon (i) research on multilingual advertising by investigating its attitudinal correlates, and (ii) studies on advertising to bilinguals through the verification of the…
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Chertkow, Howard; Whitehead, Victor; Phillips, Natalie; Wolfson, Christina; Atherton, Julie; Bergman, Howard
2010-01-01
A recent paper by Bialystok et al in Neuropsychologia (vol. 45, pgs. 459 to 464) suggested that early bilingualism produced a statistically significant 4.1-year delay in onset of memory loss symptoms in older individuals with Alzheimer disease, possibly reflecting an increase in the cognitive reserve of these individuals. That study focused on multilingual elderly patients of whom 90% were immigrants. Our memory clinic, in Montreal Canada, has the advantage of having a large set of individuals who are either multilingual immigrants to Canada, or who are nonimmigrants but raised in both official languages of Canada--French and English. We thus attempted to replicate the above findings using a larger cohort in a different setting. We examined age at diagnosis of Alzheimer disease and age at symptom onset for all unilingual versus multilingual participants, and then for those who were nonimmigrant English/French bilinguals. Overall, we found a small but significant protective effect of more than 2 languages spoken, but we found no significant benefit in bilinguals overall in relation to age at diagnosis or age at symptom onset. However, in the immigrant group, the results mirrored those of Bialystok et al with 2 or more languages delaying the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease by almost 5 years. A trend toward the same effect was also seen in nonimmigrants whose first language was French. In contrast, in nonimmigrants whose first language was English, no such effect was found. These results are discussed in relation to the earlier findings and the theory of cognitive reserve.
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Gollan, Tamar H.; Salmon, David P.; Montoya, Rosa I.; Galasko, Douglas R.
2011-01-01
The current study investigated the relationship between bilingual language proficiency and onset of probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in 44 Spanish-English bilinguals at the UCSD Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Degree of bilingualism along a continuum was measured using Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores in each language. Higher degrees of bilingualism were associated with increasingly later age-of-diagnosis (and age of onset of symptoms), but this effect was driven by participants with low education level (a significant interaction between years of education and bilingualism) most of whom (73%) were also Spanish-dominant. Additionally, only objective measures (i.e., BNT scores), not self-reported degree of bilingualism, predicted age-of-diagnosis even though objective and self-reported measures were significantly correlated. These findings establish a specific connection between knowledge of two languages and delay of AD onset, and demonstrate that bilingual effects can be obscured by interactions between education and bilingualism, and by failure to obtain objective measures of bilingualism. More generally, these data support analogies between the effects of bilingualism and “cognitive reserve” and suggest an upper limit on the extent to which reserve can function to delay dementia. PMID:22001315
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Predictors of Early Community Involvement: Advancing the Self and Caring for Others.
Lawford, Heather L; Ramey, Heather L
2017-03-01
Recent research on community involvement points to the importance of both agentic (advancing the self) and communal motives (serving others) as key predictors, though few studies have examined both simultaneously. At the same time, research has identified generativity, defined as concern for future generations as a legacy of the self, as particularly relevant for community involvement. Moreover, generativity involves both agentic and communal motives, meaning that advancing personal goals and caring for others are integrated in this construct. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how individual differences in attributes pertaining to self and to others-specifically, self-esteem, initiative, and empathy-related to both generativity and community involvement. A sample of adolescents (N = 160; 64% female, M age = 17) and a sample of young adults (N = 237; 84% female, M age = 20) completed a survey including measures of community involvement and generativity. Generative concern fully mediated the associations between individual differences (self-esteem, initiative, and empathy) and community involvement, suggesting that the early generativity has a role in fostering capacities and contribution in youth. These developmental indicators pertaining to self and others link to actions that benefit the community through a desire to benefit future generations. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.
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Review and Analysis of the Colombian Foreign Language Bilingualism Policies and Plans
Gómez Sará, Mary Mily
2017-01-01
This article reviews the background of the foreign language bilingualism in Colombia, as well as the Colombian bilingualism plans and the policy launched between 2004 and 2016. Then, these plans and policy are analyzed taking into account the most common criticisms from the academic community. In this sense, aspects such as the lack of continuity,…
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Self-reported sexual assault in convicted sex offenders and community men.
Widman, Laura; Olson, Michael A; Bolen, Rebecca M
2013-05-01
Although self-reported sexual assault perpetrated by men against women has been well documented among college men, less is known about self-reported perpetration among convicted sex offenders and community men. This study provides unique descriptive and comparative information on sexual assaults in these understudied populations. Participants were 40 convicted sex offenders and 49 demographically comparable community men who completed the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Abbey, Parkhill, & Koss, 2005; Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987) and other surveys to capture the promiscuous sex and hostile masculinity pathways posited by the confluence model (Malamuth, 2003). We found notably few differences between sex offenders and community men in the rate and severity of sexual assault perpetration and the tactics used to obtain unwanted sexual contact. Specifically, 68% of sex offenders and 59% of community men acknowledged they had perpetrated sexual assault. Both groups used guilt and anger as the most frequent tactics to obtain unwanted sexual activity from their female victims. Consistent with the confluence model, an impersonal orientation toward sexual relationships was associated with sexual assault for both sex offenders and community men. Future directions for research on sexual assault perpetration and violence prevention efforts are discussed in light of these findings.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Julia Eka Rini
2010-01-01
Full Text Available This study tries to see whether the subjects’ “monolingualism” and “bilingualism” (monolinguals learning an L2 and bilinguals learning an L3 influence their study on English, especially writing. The term “bilinguals” also means “multilinguals” in this study. Bilinguals in this paper are classified into two; first, passive bilinguals who are only exposed to another local language, besides speaking Bahasa Indonesia at home, and second, active bilinguals who are exposed to and also speak other language(s and Bahasa Indonesia at home. The findings show that the monolingual and the active bilingual are better than the passive one; the active bilingual is better than the monolingual. However, if the passive and the active bilingual are combined, the monolingual is better than the bilinguals.
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Assessing Bilingual Knowledge Organization in Secondary Science Classrooms =
Wu, Jason S.
Improving outcomes for English language learners (ELLs) in secondary science remains an area of high need. The purpose of this study is to investigate bilingual knowledge organization in secondary science classrooms. This study involved thirty-nine bilingual students in three biology classes at a public high school in The Bronx, New York City. Methods included an in-class survey on language use, a science content and English proficiency exam, and bilingual free-recalls. Fourteen students participated in bilingual free-recalls which involved a semi-structured process of oral recall of information learned in science class. Free-recall was conducted in both English and Spanish and analyzed using flow-map methods. Novel methods were developed to quantify and visualize the elaboration and mobilization of ideas shared across languages. It was found that bilingual narratives displayed similar levels of organizational complexity across languages, though English recalls tended to be longer. English proficiency was correlated with narrative complexity in English. There was a high degree of elaboration on concepts shared across languages. Finally, higher Spanish proficiency correlated well with greater overlapping elaboration across languages. These findings are discussed in light of current cognitive theory before presenting the study's limitations and future directions of research.
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The Bilingual Advantage in L3 Learning: A Developmental Study of Rhotic Sounds
Kopecková, Romana
2016-01-01
Facilitative effects of bilingualism on general aspects of third language (L3) proficiency have been demonstrated in numerous studies conducted in bilingual communities and classrooms around the world. When it comes to L3 phonology, however, empirical evidence has been scarce and inconclusive in respect to the question of whether and/or how…
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Bilingual Experience in the Hungarian and German Immigrant Communities of the San Francisco Bay Area
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gergely Tóth
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Studies on the interaction of languages are gaining importance in today’s world, characterized by accelerated migration and increasing cultural exchange. Unlike most research in this field, which concentrate on one embedded language against a matrix language, this fieldwork-based study examines the linguistic life in two immigrant populations, Hungarian and German, against the background of English. The primary focus of this article is the description of the bilingual and bicultural experience of the two groups. The discussion of language and identity will take a central place in the paper, and diglossia, bilingualism, loyalty, and language as social behavior will also be touched upon (section 4. This is complemented by a socio-historical portrayal of these speech communities of San Francisco, set forth in the preceding section 3. Section 5 provides an outline of the informant sets, spanning three generations in each linguistic cohort, and illustrates the subjects’ attitude towards maintenance. The final, sixth section offers qualitative and quantitative comparative statements about the results of linguistic interference and the ongoing attrition process, thus contributing to our understanding of contact linguistic mechanisms, and shedding light on specific grammatical and lexical features that are most prone to attritional forces.
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de Groot, A.M.B.; Chapelle, C.A.
2013-01-01
Scientific interest in the effects of (individual) bilingualism on cognition dates back to at least the first quarter of the 20th century, as illustrated by two articles that were published in 1923 on the relation between bilingualism and mental development (Smith, 1923) and between bilingualism and
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Clough, Alan R; MacLaren, David J; Robertson, Jan A; Ivers, Rowena G; Conigrave, Katherine M
2011-03-01
In remote Indigenous Australian communities measuring individual tobacco use can be confounded by cultural expectations, including sharing. We compared self-reported tobacco consumption with community-level estimates in Arnhem Land (Northern Territory). In a cross-sectional survey in three communities (population 2319 Indigenous residents, aged ≥16 years), 400 Indigenous residents were interviewed (206 men, 194 women). Eight community stores provided information about tobacco sold during the survey. To gauge the impact of 255 non-Indigenous residents on tobacco turnover, 10 were interviewed (five men, five women). Breath carbon monoxide levels confirmed self-reported smoking. Self-reported number of cigarettes smoked per day was compared with daily tobacco consumption per user estimated using amounts of tobacco sold during 12 months before the survey (2007-2008). 'Lighter smokers' (Indigenous study participants, 305 (76%) used tobacco; four chewed tobacco. Of 301 Indigenous smokers, 177 (58%) provided self-reported consumption information; a median of 11-11.5 cigarettes per day in men and 5.5-10 cigarettes per day in women. Men were three times (odds ratio=2.9) more likely to be 'heavier smokers'. Store turnover data indicated that Indigenous tobacco users consumed the equivalent of 9.2-13.1 cigarettes per day; very similar to self-reported levels. Sixty per cent (=6/10) of non-Indigenous residents interviewed were smokers, but with little impact on tobacco turnover overall (2-6%). Smoking levels reported by Indigenous Australians in this study, when sharing tobacco was considered, closely reflected quantities of tobacco sold in community stores. © 2010 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.
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Salem, Mylene Tewtel; Abdulrahim, Sawsan; Zurayk, Huda
2009-12-01
This study extends the debate on self-rated health by using different sources of data in the same study to explore the meanings of self-rated health among women who live in socio-economically disadvantaged communities in Beirut, Lebanon. Using data from the Urban Health Study, a cross-sectional household survey of 1,869 women between 15 and 59 years of age, multiple logistic regression models were developed to assess factors associated with self-rated health. Also, open-ended data was used to analyze women's explanations of their self-rated health ratings. Self-rated health was found to be a complex concept, associated not only with physical health but also with a combination of social, psychological, and behavioral factors. This open-ended analysis revealed new meanings of self-rated health that are often not included in self-rated health epidemiologic research, such as women's experiences with pain and fatigue, as well as exposure to financial stressors and the legacy of wars. We argue that triangulating survey and open-ended data provides a better understanding of the context-specific social and cultural meanings of self-rated health.
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Wellness and illness self-management skills in community corrections.
Kelly, Patricia J; Ramaswamy, Megha; Chen, Hsiang-Feng; Denny, Donald
2015-02-01
Community corrections provide a readjustment venue for re-entry between incarceration and home for inmates in the US corrections system. Our goal was to determine how self-management skills, an important predictor of re-entry success, varied by demographic and risk factors. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed responses of 675 clients from 57 community corrections programs run by the regional division of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. A self-administered survey collected data on self-management skills, demographics, and risk factors; significant associations were applied in four regression models: the overall self-management score and three self-management subscales: coping skills, goals, and drug use. Over one-quarter (27.2%/146) of participants had a mental health history. White race, no mental health history and high school education were associated with better overall self-management scores; mental health history and drug use in the past year were associated with lower coping scores; female gender and high school education were associated with better self-management goals; female gender was associated with better self-management drug use scores. Self-management programs may need to be individualized for different groups of clients. Lower scores for those with less education suggest an area for targeted, nurse-led interventions.
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Language proficiency and health status: are bilingual immigrants healthier?
Schachter, Ariela; Kimbro, Rachel T; Gorman, Bridget K
2012-03-01
Bilingual immigrants appear to have a health advantage, and identifying the mechanisms responsible for this is of increasing interest to scholars and policy makers in the United States. Utilizing the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS; n = 3,264), we investigate the associations between English and native-language proficiency and usage and self-rated health for Asian and Latino U.S. immigrants from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. The findings demonstrate that across immigrant ethnic groups, being bilingual is associated with better self-rated physical and mental health relative to being proficient in only English or only a native language, and moreover, these associations are partially mediated by socioeconomic status and family support but not by acculturation, stress and discrimination, or health access and behaviors.
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Anderson, John A E; Mak, Lorinda; Keyvani Chahi, Aram; Bialystok, Ellen
2018-02-01
Research examining the cognitive consequences of bilingualism has expanded rapidly in recent years and has revealed effects on aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, these effects are difficult to find in studies investigating young adults. One problem is that there is no standard definition of bilingualism or means of evaluating degree of bilingualism in individual participants, making it difficult to directly compare the results of different studies. Here, we describe an instrument developed to assess degree of bilingualism for young adults who live in diverse communities in which English is the official language. We demonstrate the reliability and validity of the instrument in analyses based on 408 participants. The relevant factors for describing degree of bilingualism are: (1) the extent of non-English language proficiency and use at home, and (2) non-English language use socially. We then use the bilingualism scores obtained from the instrument to demonstrate their association with: (1) performance on executive function tasks, and (2) previous classifications of participants into categories of monolinguals and bilinguals.
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Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina — These are the answers to the 2015 Community Survey.A comprehensive summary of the survey results can be found here.The survey asked town members to address their...
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BILINGUAL EDUCATION: LINGUO-DIDACTIC ASPECTS
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Natalia Zakordonets
2016-12-01
Full Text Available The article presents the research of linguo-didactic aspects and models of bilingual education. On the basis of the study of scientific literature the definition analysis of the notions «bilingualism» «bilingual teaching» and «bilingual education» has been carried out. Didactic-methodological bases and approaches to the content of bilingual teaching at higher educational institutions have been determined. This article considers theoretical and methodological foundations of the concept of bilingual teaching. There have been outlined the peculiarities and problems of the designing and implementing bilingual programs and curriculum materials development. It has been stated that characteristics of the latest stage of elaboration of theory and practice of bilingual education have been framed in terms of the transition to a multi-perspectival paradigm of polycultural education. This paper deals with the common didactic fundamentals of personality-oriented philosophy of higher education. The distinctions that require the formulation of specific principles of bilingual teaching have been considered.
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Language control in different contexts: the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
David William Green
2011-05-01
Full Text Available This paper proposes that different experimental contexts (single or dual language contexts permit different neural loci at which words in the target language can be selected. However, in order to develop a fuller understanding of the neural circuit mediating language control we need to consider the community context in which bilingual speakers typically use their two languages (the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers. The contrast between speakers from code-switching and non-code switching communities offers a way to increase our understanding of the cortical, subcortical and, in particular, cerebellar structures involved in language control. It will also help us identify the non-verbal behavioural correlates associated with these control processes.
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Young Adults' Perceptions and Use of Bilingualism as a Function of an Early Immersion Program
Pilotti, Maura; Gutierrez, Anna; Klein, Eric; Mahamame, Salif
2015-01-01
The main aim of the present study was to examine whether perceptions of bilingualism differed between two bilingual groups, those whose elementary education was shaped by a Spanish immersion program and those who had received an English-focused education. A structured interview was administered to gather information about self-perceived language…
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Bilingual Intercultural Teacher Education: "Nuevos Maestros Para Bolivia"
Delany-Barmann, Gloria
2009-01-01
Educational reform efforts in Bolivia have created possibilities for teacher-training institutions to focus on bilingual intercultural education. How teacher trainers and future teachers embark upon this endeavor differs somewhat depending on the sociolinguistic, historical, and institutional contexts of each community. This article reports…
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Peter Jones (IT-CDA-WF)
2016-01-01
IT-CDA is gathering information to more accurately form a snapshot of the CERN IT user community and we would appreciate you taking time to complete the following survey. We want to use this survey to better understand how the user community uses their devices and our services, and how the delivery of those services could be improved. You will need to authenticate to complete the survey. However please note that your responses are confidential and will be compiled together and analysed as a group. You can also volunteer to offer additional information if you so wish. This survey should take no longer than 5 minutes. Thanks in advance for your collaboration.
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Bilingualism as a Model for Multitasking.
Poarch, Gregory J; Bialystok, Ellen
2015-03-01
Because both languages of bilinguals are constantly active, bilinguals need to manage attention to the target language and avoid interference from the non-target language. This process is likely carried out by recruiting the executive function (EF) system, a system that is also the basis for multitasking. In previous research, bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals on tasks requiring EF, suggesting that the practice using EF for language management benefits performance in other tasks as well. The present study examined 203 children, 8-11 years old, who were monolingual, partially bilingual, bilingual, or trilingual performing a flanker task. Two results support the interpretation that bilingualism is related to multitasking. First, bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on the conflict trials in the flanker task, confirming previous results for a bilingual advantage in EF. Second, the inclusion of partial bilinguals and trilinguals set limits on the role of experience: partial bilingual performed similarly to monolinguals and trilinguals performed similarly to bilinguals, suggesting that degrees of experience are not well-calibrated to improvements in EF. Our conclusion is that the involvement of EF in bilingual language processing makes bilingualism a form of linguistic multitasking.
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Bilingualism and Musicianship Enhance Cognitive Control
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Scott R. Schroeder
2016-01-01
Full Text Available Learning how to speak a second language (i.e., becoming a bilingual and learning how to play a musical instrument (i.e., becoming a musician are both thought to increase executive control through experience-dependent plasticity. However, evidence supporting this effect is mixed for bilingualism and limited for musicianship. In addition, the combined effects of bilingualism and musicianship on executive control are unknown. To determine whether bilingualism, musicianship, and combined bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control, we tested 219 young adults belonging to one of four groups (bilinguals, musicians, bilingual musicians, and controls on a nonlinguistic, nonmusical, visual-spatial Simon task that measured the ability to ignore an irrelevant and misinformative cue. Results revealed that bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians showed an enhanced ability to ignore a distracting cue relative to controls, with similar levels of superior performance among bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians. These results indicate that bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control and have implications for educational and rehabilitation programs that use music and foreign language instruction to boost cognitive performance.
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Bilingualism and Musicianship Enhance Cognitive Control.
Schroeder, Scott R; Marian, Viorica; Shook, Anthony; Bartolotti, James
2016-01-01
Learning how to speak a second language (i.e., becoming a bilingual) and learning how to play a musical instrument (i.e., becoming a musician) are both thought to increase executive control through experience-dependent plasticity. However, evidence supporting this effect is mixed for bilingualism and limited for musicianship. In addition, the combined effects of bilingualism and musicianship on executive control are unknown. To determine whether bilingualism, musicianship, and combined bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control, we tested 219 young adults belonging to one of four groups (bilinguals, musicians, bilingual musicians, and controls) on a nonlinguistic, nonmusical, visual-spatial Simon task that measured the ability to ignore an irrelevant and misinformative cue. Results revealed that bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians showed an enhanced ability to ignore a distracting cue relative to controls, with similar levels of superior performance among bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians. These results indicate that bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control and have implications for educational and rehabilitation programs that use music and foreign language instruction to boost cognitive performance.
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Hund, Lauren; Soto Mas, Francisco
2016-01-01
In the United States, data confirm that Spanish-speaking immigrants are particularly affected by the negative health outcomes associated with low health literacy. Although the literature points to variables such as age, educational background and language, only a few studies have investigated the factors that may influence health literacy in this group. Similarly, the role that bilingualism and/or multilingualism play in health literacy assessment continues to be an issue in need of further research. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of English health literacy among adult Hispanic immigrants whose self-reported primary language is Spanish, but who live and function in a bilingual community. It also explored issues related to the language of the instrument. An analysis of data collected through a randomized controlled study was conducted. Results identified English proficiency as the strongest predictor of health literacy (p sociolinguistic environment affect health literacy in language minority adults; proposes language approaches that may be more appropriate for measuring health literacy in these populations; and recommends further place-based research to determine whether the connection between language proficiency and health is generalizable to border communities. PMID:27127416
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Jacobson, Holly E; Hund, Lauren; Soto Mas, Francisco
In the United States, data confirm that Spanish-speaking immigrants are particularly affected by the negative health outcomes associated with low health literacy. Although the literature points to variables such as age, educational background and language, only a few studies have investigated the factors that may influence health literacy in this group. Similarly, the role that bilingualism and/or multilingualism play in health literacy assessment continues to be an issue in need of further research. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of English health literacy among adult Hispanic immigrants whose self-reported primary language is Spanish, but who live and function in a bilingual community. It also explored issues related to the language of the instrument. An analysis of data collected through a randomized controlled study was conducted. Results identified English proficiency as the strongest predictor of health literacy (p sociolinguistic environment affect health literacy in language minority adults; proposes language approaches that may be more appropriate for measuring health literacy in these populations; and recommends further place-based research to determine whether the connection between language proficiency and health is generalizable to border communities.
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Developing the language of argument: a bilingual approach | Cattell ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Instruction in bilingualism was initiated at Rand Afrikaans University's (currently the University of Johannesburg) foundation course, Afrikaans as Akademiese Taal (Afrikaans for Academic Purposes), in response to the context challenges of a parallel-medium university and the multilingual South African community.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jennyfer Paola Camargo Cely
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Throughout time, the predominant use of certain languages has allowed some nations to take control over others and assure for them a privileged position. This study unveiled how certain practices and ideologies in regard to bilingualism have influenced teachers’ professional development. Data were collected through discussion group sessions, reflective journals, and protocols from five teachers from a private K-11 school in Bogota. Analysis indicated participants’ discourses drew on hegemonic, colonial, and manipulative ideas. Nevertheless, when dialoguing and peer coaching, a discourse of resistance was constituted. The study suggested further research into teachers’ professional growth, bilingualism, and bilingual education in monolingual contexts as the Colombian one.
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Kay-Raining Bird, Elizabeth; Trudeau, Natacha; Sutton, Ann
Children with DD must and do become bilingual, but the research reported in this special issue raises questions about equitable access to bilingual opportunities and provision of appropriate supports to ensure optimal bilingual growth in these children. The purpose of the present article was to apply the findings from our international collaboration to inform policy and practice on bilingualism in children with developmental disabilities (DD). To do this, we first overview the research presented in detail in other articles of this special issue: a narrative literature review, a review of site policies and practices related to special education and language education, a qualitative analysis of key informant interviews, and a quantitative analysis of surveys of practitioners. From these overviews emerge a complex set of contextual factors that impact bilingual development in children with DD. We then use the Bioecological Systems model of Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2007) and conceptual maps (C-maps) to examine the particular circumstances of three hypothetical children with DD who are in very different bilingual contexts. In so doing, areas of both positive and negative influence on lasting bilingualism are identified for each child. We end with recommendations for increasing access to and support for bilingualism in children with DD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Bilingualism without Diglossia: The Indian Community in Singapore
Vaish, Viniti
2007-01-01
This paper tells a tentative story from the preliminary findings of The Sociolinguistic Survey of Singapore, 2006 (SSS 2006). Though the main study reports on language use amongst Chinese, Malay and Indian communities, my focus is only on Indian homes. The paper reports results from five domains: school, family and friends, media, public space and…
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Evans-Agnew, Robin A; Postma, Julie; Camacho, Ariana Ochoa; Hershberg, Rachel M; Trujilio, Elsa; Tinajera, Maria
2018-01-01
Childhood marks the highest risk for allergic sensitization to asthma triggers. Hispanic/Latino children are at higher risk for hospitalization for asthma than non-Hispanic White children. Childcare providers lack knowledge about reducing asthma triggers. The purpose of this paper is to describe a community-based participatory research (CBPR) initiative aimed at developing and pilot testing a bilingual walk-through assessment tool for asthma-friendly childcare environments. Ten Latina mothers of children with asthma living in the Pacific Northwest collaborated with research partners to develop and pilot test a Childcare Environmental Health (CEH) assessment walk-through survey.Results and Lessons Learned: The women innovated the survey with photography and structural examinations of stress and provision of basic needs. The survey tool identified environmental threats to asthma in all three childcares surveyed. Parents are well-positioned to build trust with childcare providers, assess asthma triggers, and recommend practical mitigation strategies.
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The effect of childhood bilingualism on episodic and semantic memory tasks.
Kormi-Nouri, Reza; Shojaei, Razie-Sadat; Moniri, Sadegheh; Gholami, Ali-Reza; Moradi, Ali-Reza; Akbari-Zardkhaneh, Saeed; Nilsson, Lars-Göran
2008-04-01
Kormi-Nouri, Moniri and Nilsson (2003) demonstrated that Swedish-Persian bilingual children recalled at a higher level than Swedish monolingual children, when they were tested using Swedish materials. The present study was designed to examine the bilingual advantage of children who use different languages in their everyday life but have the same cultural background and live in their communities in the same way as monolingual children. In four experiments, 488 monolingual and bilingual children were compared with regard to episodic and semantic memory tasks. In experiments 1 and 2 there were 144 boys and 144 girls in three school groups (aged 9-10 years, 13-14 years and 16-17 years) and in three language groups (Persian monolingual, Turkish-Persian bilingual, and Kurdish-Persian bilingual). In experiments 3 and 4, there were 200 male students in two school groups (aged 9-10 years and 16-17 years) and in two language groups (Persian monolingual and Turkish-Persian bilingual). In the episodic memory task, children learned sentences (experiments 1-3) and words (Experiment 4). Letter and category fluency tests were used as measures of semantic memory. To change cognitive demands in memory tasks, in Experiment 1, the integration of nouns and verbs within sentences was manipulated by the level of association between verb and noun in each sentence. At retrieval, a recognition test was used. In experiments 2 and 3, the organization between sentences was manipulated at encoding in Experiment 2 and at both encoding and retrieval in Experiment 3 through the use of categories among the objects. At retrieval, free recall or cued recall tests were employed. In Experiment 4, the bilingual children were tested with regard to both their first and their second language. In all four experiments, a positive effect of bilingualism was found on episodic and semantic memory tasks; the effect was more pronounced for older than younger children. The bilingual advantage was not affected by
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Ro, Young Sun; Shin, Sang Do; Song, Kyoung Jun; Hong, Sung Ok; Kim, Young Taek; Cho, Sung-Il
2016-08-01
We hypothesized that recent hands-on practice for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) would be strongly associated with a higher likelihood of self-efficacy in bystander CPR among laypersons according to age and gender group. We used the National Korean Community Health Survey database of 228921 representatively sampled responders from 253 counties in 2012. Laypersons who had previous CPR training were eligible. Exposure variables were having had CPR training with hands-on practice session with a manikin (Practical-CPR-Training) and CPR training within the last 2 years (Recent-CPR-Training). Primary outcome was self-efficacy in bystander CPR. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed. The final model with an interaction term was evaluated to compare the effects of CPR training across different age and gender groups. Of 62425 eligible respondents who have had CPR training, 20213 (32.4%) had Practical-CPR-Training. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for self-efficacy were 4.08 (3.78-4.41) in Practical-CPR-Training, 2.61 (2.50-2.73) in male, 1.26 (1.16-1.36) in good self-rated health, 1.19 (1.10-1.29) in high school graduate, 1.19 (1.01-1.39) in persons living with stroke patients in household, and 1.17 (1.10-1.24) in Recent-CPR-Training. In interaction models, Practical-CPR-Training showed higher self-efficacy in all age and gender groups, whereas Recent-CPR-Training was not associated with better self-efficacy in elderly group, male (AOR, 0.90 [0.69-1.18]) and female (AOR, 0.94 [0.72-1.23]). Self-efficacy in bystander CPR was higher in person with recent CPR training with hands-on practice with a manikin. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Bilingual-Bicultural Education: A Handbook for Attorneys and Community Workers.
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Center for Law and Education.
The 1967 Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VII generated national attention to the demands of Chicano, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Native American, and other groups for bilingual-bicultural education. The May 1970 Memorandum clarified the availability of the 1964 Civil Rights Act Title VI to advocates seeking such programs. In Lau v.…
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Bilingualism: Research and Policy
McCardle, Peggy
2015-01-01
Bilingualism, commonplace throughout the world, is not well accepted or supported in many parts of the United States. Education policies and practices regarding bilingualism are often based on myths and attitudes rather than facts, despite scientific evidence on both the disadvantages and advantages of bilingualism. Based on a brief overview of…
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Bak, Thomas
2016-01-01
Within the current debates on cognitive reserve, cognitive aging and dementia, showing increasingly a positive effect of mental, social and physical activities on health in older age, bilingualism remains one of the most controversial issues. Some reasons for it might be social or even ideological. However, one of the most important genuine problems facing bilingualism research is the high number of potential confounding variables. Bilingual communities often differ from monolingual ones in a...
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Altman, Carmit
2015-04-01
Two indices of bilingualism, crossover memories and codeswitching (CS), were explored in five groups of immigrant (English-Hebrew, Georgian-Hebrew Russian-Hebrew) and indigenous bilinguals (Arabic-Hebrew, Hebrew-English). Participants recalled memories in response to cue words and then were asked to report the language of retrieval and provide a more elaborate narrative. More memories were 'same language' memories, recalled in the language of the experimental session/cue word, but as many as 48 % of the memories were crossovers, i.e. memories reported in a language other than the language of the session/cue word. In an effort to examine the ecological validity of the self-reported language of the memories, the frequency of CS in the elaborated narratives was investigated. For the entire sample, more CS was found for self-reported crossover memories in L2 sessions. In a further analysis of CS in crossover memories, collapsed across L1 and L2 sessions, significant differences emerged between immigrants and indigenous bilinguals. Differences between immigrant and non-immigrant bilinguals are discussed in terms of the role of activation in crossover memories.
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Self-testing for cancer: a community survey
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wilson, Sue; Ryan, Angela V; Greenfield, Sheila M; Clifford, Sue C; Holder, Roger L; Pattison, Helen M; Fitzmaurice, David A; McManus, Richard J
2008-01-01
Cancer-related self-tests are currently available to buy in pharmacies or over the internet, including tests for faecal occult blood, PSA and haematuria. Self-tests have potential benefits (e.g. convenience) but there are also potential harms (e.g. delays in seeking treatment). The extent of cancer-related self-test use in the UK is not known. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cancer-related self-test use. Adults (n = 5,545) in the West Midlands were sent a questionnaire that collected socio-demographic information and data regarding previous and potential future use of 18 different self-tests. Prevalence rates were directly standardised to the England population. The postcode based Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004 was used as a proxy measure of deprivation. 2,925 (54%) usable questionnaires were returned. 1.2% (95% CI 0.83% to 1.66%) of responders reported having used a cancer related self test kit and a further 36% reported that they would consider using one in the future. Logistic regression analyses suggest that increasing age, deprivation category and employment status were associated with cancer-related self-test kit use. We conclude that one in 100 of the adult population have used a cancer-related self-test kit and over a third would consider using one in the future. Self-test kit use could alter perceptions of risk, cause psychological morbidity and impact on the demand for healthcare
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Positive Reading Attitudes of Low-Income Bilingual Latinos
Bussert-webb, Kathy M.; Zhang, Zhidong
2018-01-01
Many assume low-income, emergent bilingual Latinos have poor reading attitudes. To investigate this issue, we surveyed 1,503 Texas public high school students through stratified cluster sampling to determine their reading attitudes. Most represented Latinos and mixed-race Latinos/Whites who heard Spanish at home and whose mother tongue was…
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Sandoval Brotons, Alfonso Victor
2015-01-01
Bilingualism and its reference methodology: CLIL are spreading at a very fast pace all through educative systems from some years on. The young status of bilingual programmes leads to little research about how bilingualism is influencing real learning contexts and which factors play important roles in that influence. In this way, this study aims to…
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Yow, W Quin; Li, Xiaoqian
2015-01-01
Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition) on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-years-old English-Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function (EF) tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number-letter switching, and n-back task) that measure the EF components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages) on the Stroop and number-letter task (mixing cost only), indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related EFs such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global set-shifting.
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Yow, W. Quin; Li, Xiaoqian
2015-01-01
Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition) on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-years-old English–Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function (EF) tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number–letter switching, and n-back task) that measure the EF components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages) on the Stroop and number–letter task (mixing cost only), indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related EFs such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global set-shifting. PMID:25767451
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
W. Quin eYow
2015-02-01
Full Text Available Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-year-old English-Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number-letter switching and n-back task that measure the executive function components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages on the Stroop and number-letter task (mixing cost only, indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related executive functions such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global
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Mullol, Joaquim; Alobid, Isam; Mari?o-S?nchez, Franklin; Quint?, Lloren?; de Haro, Josep; Bernal-Sprekelsen, Manuel; Valero, Antonio; Picado, C?sar; Marin, Concepci?
2012-01-01
Objectives: To investigate olfaction in general population, prevalence of olfactory dysfunction and related risk factors. Design: Cross-sectional population-based survey, distributing four microencapsulated odorants (rose, banana, musk and gas) and two self-administered questionnaires (odour description; epidemiology/health status). Setting: The survey was distributed to general population through a bilingual (Catalan, Spanish) newspaper in Catalonia (Spain), on December 2003. Participants: N...
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Challenging Spanish: ways for nurses to become bilingual.
Oderkirk, W
1999-01-01
A desire to provide culturally competent care to an increasing population of non-English-speakers may lead some nurses to consider learning another language as a way to minimize cross-cultural communication barriers. Nurses wishing to learn a second language may be surprised at the variety of ways to acquire bilingual skills, particularly in Spanish, the most common foreign language encountered in the United States. Reasons to learn Spanish are discussed and ways to do so are reviewed. Learning Spanish or another language can enrich the nurse-patient relationship, enhance nurses' self-esteem, and advance nurses' employment opportunities. Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish (or another language) should be regarded as an authentic clinical skill supporting nurses' cultural and clinical competencies.
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Does Bilingualism Influence Cognitive Aging?
Bak, Thomas H; Nissan, Jack J; Allerhand, Michael M; Deary, Ian J
2014-01-01
Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including later onset of dementia. However, monolinguals and bilinguals might have different baseline cognitive ability. We present the first study examining the effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition controlling for childhood intelligence. We studied 853 participants, first tested in 1947 (age = 11 years), and retested in 2008–2010. Bilinguals performed significantly better than predicted from their baseline cognitive abilities, with strongest effects on general intelligence and reading. Our results suggest a positive effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition, including in those who acquired their second language in adulthood. PMID:24890334
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Bilingual Language Assessment: Contemporary Versus Recommended Practice in American Schools.
Arias, Graciela; Friberg, Jennifer
2017-01-01
The purpose of this study was to identify current practices of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the United States for bilingual language assessment and compare them to American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) best practice guidelines and mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004). The study was modeled to replicate portions of Caesar and Kohler's (2007) study and expanded to include a nationally representative sample. A total of 166 respondents completed an electronic survey. Results indicated that the majority of respondents have performed bilingual language assessments. Furthermore, the most frequently used informal and standardized assessments were identified. SLPs identified supports, and barriers to assessment, as well as their perceptions of graduate preparation. The findings of this study demonstrated that although SLPs have become more compliant to ASHA and IDEA guidelines, there is room for improvement in terms of adequate training in bilingual language assessment.
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Language Control Abilities of Late Bilinguals
Festman, Julia
2012-01-01
Although all bilinguals encounter cross-language interference (CLI), some bilinguals are more susceptible to interference than others. Here, we report on language performance of late bilinguals (Russian/German) on two bilingual tasks (interview, verbal fluency), their language use and switching habits. The only between-group difference was CLI:…
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Fielding, Ruth
2016-01-01
This paper discusses how teachers in a bilingual education programme see their pedagogies and interactions influencing student connection to the languages of the bilingual programme. The teacher perception of the classroom is explored because the classroom is one of the principal settings in which the students negotiate their bilingual identities.…
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Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Emily Byers
spectral qualities. Finally, we examined the role of nonstructural variables (e.g. linguistic history measures in predicting native-like vowel duration. These factors included: Age of L2 learning, amount of L1 use, and self-reported bilingual dominance. Our results suggested that different sociolinguistic factors predicted native-like reduced vowel duration than predicted native-like vowel qualities across multiple phonetic environments.
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Bilingualism and National Development in Malaysia.
Ozog, A. Conrad K.
1993-01-01
Malaysia's long tradition of English medium instruction and bilingualism officially ended in 1970. This paper reviews the role of bilingualism in the development of the country, including the role of a bilingual population in national development and the possible effects of the abandonment of bilingual education. (Contains 38 references.)…
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Un Bosquejo del Proyecto Bilingue (Outline of a Bilingual Project).
Compton City Schools, CA.
Bilingual education in English and Spanish is intended to give native speakers of both languages insights into two cultures, a broader background, and greater life opportunities. Spanish-speaking students in bilingual programs can retain their language ties and the ability to communicate with their families and older relatives. The directors of…
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Misra-Hebert, Anita D; Santurri, Laura; DeChant, Richard; Watts, Brook; Sehgal, Ashwini R; Aron, David C
2015-10-01
To assess health status among student veterans at a community college utilizing a partnership between a Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a community college. Student veterans at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, in January to April 2013. A health assessment survey was sent to 978 veteran students. Descriptive analyses to assess prevalence of clinical diagnoses and health behaviors were performed. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess for independent predictors of functional limitations. 204 students participated in the survey (21% response rate). Self-reported depression and unhealthy behaviors were high. Physical and emotional limitations (45% and 35%, respectively), and pain interfering with work (42%) were reported. Logistic regression analyses confirmed the independent association of self-reported depression with functional limitation (odds ratio [OR] = 3.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-7.8, p statistic 0.72) and of post-traumatic stress disorder with pain interfering with work (OR 3.9, CI 1.1-13.6, p statistic 0.75). A health assessment survey identified priority areas to inform targeted health promotion for student veterans at a community college. A partnership between a Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a community college can be utilized to help understand the health needs of veteran students. Reprint & Copyright © 2015 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.
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Dyad conversations about self-stigma in two Scottish communities.
Mackay, Rob; Bradstreet, Simon; McArthur, Andy; Dunion, Linda
2015-06-01
This study explored self-stigma in 2 Scottish communities and strategies for challenging stigma and discrimination. A mixed-methods approach was used encompassing a survey including the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory (ISMI) and facilitated dyad conversations with people with lived experience of mental illness. Self-reported experience of self-stigma across 2 communities was most closely associated with the ISMI Alienation cluster, accompanied by a high level of agreement with the Stigma Resistance cluster. Some 44% agreed that stereotypes about people with mental health problems applied to them, and almost 2/3 felt that having a mental health problem had spoiled their lives. Many participants reported reduced confidence, loss of hope, a sense of failure, and protecting oneself through social withdrawal. The findings also offer hope through narratives from people who have "pushed back" and are striving to reduce their own self-stigma by engaging with others and managing their own recovery journey. The journey through self-stigma and beyond has to be informed by what we know works with recovery from a mental health problem. At a policy and practice level, we recommend emphasis on 4 priorities: (a) refocusing antistigma and discrimination efforts more on the experiences of people who report stigma, (b) rights-based approaches, (c) identity-based work, and (d) information sharing and educational strategies. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
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Dual Coding and Bilingual Memory.
Paivio, Allan; Lambert, Wallace
1981-01-01
Describes study which tested a dual coding approach to bilingual memory using tasks that permit comparison of the effects of bilingual encoding with verbal-nonverbal dual encoding items. Results provide strong support for a version of the independent or separate stories view of bilingual memory. (Author/BK)
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RELATION OF DEAF PERSONS TOWARDS BILINGUALISM AS COMMUNICATION MODE
Naim Salkić
2013-01-01
Bilingualism of a deaf child implies concurrent cognition and usage of sign language, as community language and oral-voice language as language of greater community in which deaf persons live. Today, most authors consider that deaf persons should know both of these languages and that deaf persons need to be educated in both languages, because of their general communication and complete psycho-social development. Through research on sample of 80 deaf examinees, we affirmed the kind...
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Bilingual Advertising in Melbourne Chinatown
Chen, Sherry Yong
2014-01-01
This paper explores the function of bilingual advertising by analyzing a case study of bilingual advertising in the Chinatown of Melbourne, Australia. The use of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting differentiates itself from those in Asian settings where English is not used by dominant proportion of speakers in the society, and this…
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Mathews, Tracy A.
2017-01-01
This quantitative correlation survey study investigated the relationship between teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of school principals as instructional leaders in professional learning communities (PLCs) and self-efficacy beliefs of teachers. Social Cognitive Theory, self-efficacy concept, and Adult Learning Theory were at the core of…
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Brown, Ivan; Sachdev, Itesh
2009-01-01
Although the Japanese community in London is relatively small, its composition is stable and reflects several aspects of Japan's relationship with the international community. Yet there appears to have been no systematic research exploring patterns of bilingual behaviour in relation to social psychological processes amongst Japanese nationals in…
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The making of a bilingual science educator: An autobiographical study
Chacon, Hugo Alejandro
This qualitative study explores the journey of a Latino educator in becoming a bilingual high school science teacher and university professor. It focuses on discovering how the practice of teaching and learning is shaped through social, psychological, and cultural factors. Through the use of an autobiographical method known as currere, the researcher recounts personal and educational experiences that address important issues in education related to language, science, culture, and social class through the perspective of one doing the work. The study reviews the literature on autobiographical forms of research in the field of education and suggests how autobiography in education, an emerging genre, holds the promise for creating new meanings of the self while at the same time attempts to develop a theory of autobiography that acknowledges the importance of people of color and other marginalized groups. Data collected include 22 hours of audiotaped recordings, conversations, and educational artifacts including notes from innovative classroom projects, lesson plans, conference presentations, computer files, graduate coursework, classroom videotaping, university course evaluations, and department memos. Findings of this study revealed that: (a) the process of becoming a transformative educator involves critical self-reflection on one's cultural/ethnic identity and linguistic heritage; (b) the importance of self-reflection on one's teaching is a critical component in moving towards a more culturally and linguistically responsive curriculum; (c) the bilingual educator can achieve a greater understanding of the important role in the maintenance, implementation, and promotion of minority language education through a reflective practice; and (d) the development of the underrepresented voice in education and the awakening to one's personal and philosophical worldviews is as important as the preparation one receives in becoming a bilingual teacher.
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Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals
2017-01-01
qualities. Finally, we examined the role of nonstructural variables (e.g. linguistic history measures) in predicting native-like vowel duration. These factors included: Age of L2 learning, amount of L1 use, and self-reported bilingual dominance. Our results suggested that different sociolinguistic factors predicted native-like reduced vowel duration than predicted native-like vowel qualities across multiple phonetic environments. PMID:28384234
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Baratz Lea
2015-05-01
Full Text Available The current study investigated the attitudes of students in a teacher training college training regarding the bilingual presentation of children's literature -- in Hebrew and Amharic. A questionnaire on the importance of bilingual books was used with a group of students of Ethiopian descent (of the Beta Israel community and a group of students who do not belong to this community, with the expectation that a substantial difference would be found between the attitudes of the two groups. The study population, students training to be literature teachers, was aware of the qualities that make "a good story". The main findings emphasize that participants have a substantial understanding of the significance of bilingual books, both in terms of its function in the curriculum and in building a cultural narrative in order to break out of the silenced identity and eliminate cultural visibility.
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Evaluating Classifiers in Detecting 419 Scams in Bilingual Cybercriminal Communities
Mbaziira, Alex V.; Abozinadah, Ehab; Jones Jr, James H.
2015-01-01
Incidents of organized cybercrime are rising because of criminals are reaping high financial rewards while incurring low costs to commit crime. As the digital landscape broadens to accommodate more internet-enabled devices and technologies like social media, more cybercriminals who are not native English speakers are invading cyberspace to cash in on quick exploits. In this paper we evaluate the performance of three machine learning classifiers in detecting 419 scams in a bilingual Nigerian c...
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Bilingual education in Slovakia: A Case Study
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Silvia Pokrivčáková
2013-06-01
Full Text Available Bilingual education is one of the areas in contemporary education that brings out some important controversies (philosophical, conceptual, sociological, political, economical, etc. and thus calls for extensive and intensive debate. Bilingual education in Europe (and here the European Union countries are meant has gained a very different status, due to the general European policy of developing language diversity and promoting “European plurilingualism and multilingualism”. In Slovakia, one of the younger members of the EU, bilingual education became an extraordinarily popular instrument for the fulfilment of this task. Since the specifically defined topic of bilingual education and its current status in Slovakia has not been studied and systematically reviewed yet, the research presented in this paper was designed as a single-phenomenon revelatory case study investigating seven research areas: reflection of bilingual education in school legislation and state pedagogical documents, purposes of bilingual education in Slovakia, its organization (levels and types of schools, foreign languages incorporated, teachers, structure of bilingual schools curricula, types of bilingual education applied at Slovak bilingual schools, and how bilingual education is both reflected in and saturated by the latest research findings. The conclusions presented in the paper were collected from multiple sources: state curriculum, statistical data published by the Slovak Ministry of Education or its partner institutions, international treaties on establishing and supporting bilingual sections of schools, bilingual schools curricula, interviews with school directors, teachers, and learners, direct observations at bilingual schools, research studies and research reports, etc. In the conclusion, bilingual education in Slovakia is identified as a unique, dynamically developing system which is both significantly shaped by the foreign language education policy promoted by
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RiSA: A Science Festival for the Bilingual and Bicultural Rio Grande Valley
Key, Joey Shapiro; Torres, Cristina; Stone, Robert
2014-03-01
The Rio Grande Science and Arts (RiSA) Festival organized by the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) will use a wide variety of artforms to bring physics and science topics to the bilingual and bicultural population of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. The science and art faculty at UTB will partner with art and education professionals to create an annual community event celebrating science though art. Music, dance, poetry, and visual arts will headline the festival activities. Festival events and products will be produced in both English and Spanish to attract and inform the bilingual local community. The RiSA Festival is supported by the Science Festival Alliance and the Sloan Foundation. Supported by the Science Festival Alliance and the Sloan Foundation.
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Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging?
Bak, Thomas H; Nissan, Jack J; Allerhand, Michael M; Deary, Ian J
2014-06-01
Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including later onset of dementia. However, monolinguals and bilinguals might have different baseline cognitive ability. We present the first study examining the effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition controlling for childhood intelligence. We studied 853 participants, first tested in 1947 (age = 11 years), and retested in 2008-2010. Bilinguals performed significantly better than predicted from their baseline cognitive abilities, with strongest effects on general intelligence and reading. Our results suggest a positive effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition, including in those who acquired their second language in adulthood. © 2014 The Authors Annals of Neurology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Neurological Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Holly E. Jacobson
2016-03-01
Full Text Available In the United States, data confirm that Spanish-speaking immigrants are particularly affected by the negative health outcomes associated with low health literacy. Although the literature points to variables such as age, educational background and language, only a few studies have investigated the factors that may influence health literacy in this group. Similarly, the role that bilingualism and/or multilingualism play in health literacy assessment continues to be an issue in need of further research. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of English health literacy among adult Hispanic immigrants whose self-reported primary language is Spanish, but who live and function in a bilingual community. It also explored issues related to the language of the instrument. An analysis of data collected through a randomized controlled study was conducted. Results identified English proficiency as the strongest predictor of health literacy (p < 0.001. The results further point to the importance of primary and secondary language in the assessment of heath literacy level. This study raises many questions in need of further investigation to clarify how language proficiency and sociolinguistic environment affect health literacy in language minority adults; proposes language approaches that may be more appropriate for measuring health literacy in these populations; and recommends further place-based research to determine whether the connection between language proficiency and health is generalizable to border communities.
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Speech and language intervention in bilinguals
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Eliane Ramos
2011-12-01
Full Text Available Increasingly, speech and language pathologists (SLPs around the world are faced with the unique set of issues presented by their bilingual clients. Some professional associations in different countries have presented recommendations when assessing and treating bilingual populations. In children, most of the studies have focused on intervention for language and phonology/ articulation impairments and very few focus on stuttering. In general, studies of language intervention tend to agree that intervention in the first language (L1 either increase performance on L2 or does not hinder it. In bilingual adults, monolingual versus bilingual intervention is especially relevant in cases of aphasia; dysarthria in bilinguals has been barely approached. Most studies of cross-linguistic effects in bilingual aphasics have focused on lexical retrieval training. It has been noted that even though a majority of studies have disclosed a cross-linguistic generalization from one language to the other, some methodological weaknesses are evident. It is concluded that even though speech and language intervention in bilinguals represents a most important clinical area in speech language pathology, much more research using larger samples and controlling for potentially confounding variables is evidently required.
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Musanti, Sandra I.; Rodríguez, Alma D.
2017-01-01
Translanguaging, or the complex, dynamic, and integrated linguistic practices of bilinguals have been recently identified as a pedagogical strategy to facilitate learning in bilingual classrooms. Given its potential implications for teacher preparation, a qualitative case study was conducted at a university on the Texas-Mexico border to explore…
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Ek, Lucila D.; Chávez, Guadalupe Domínguez
2015-01-01
Using theories of figured worlds, we demonstrate how Proyecto Bilingüe, a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction program, constructs a figured world of bilingual education for Latina/o bilingual teachers. We drew from a larger qualitative study to conduct a thematic analysis of interviews with Latina/o bilingual teachers, their written…
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Normal and abnormal aging in bilinguals
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alfredo Ardila
Full Text Available Abstract Bilinguals use two different language systems to mediate not only social communication, but also cognitive processes. Potential differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in task-solving strategies and patterns of cognitive decline during normal and abnormal aging have been suggested. Main contribution: A research review of the area suggests that normal aging is associated with increased interference between the two languages and tendency to retreat to a single language. General cognitive functioning has been found to be higher in demented bilingual patients if communication is carried out in L1 rather than in L2. Recent research has reported that bilingualism can have a protective effect during aging, attenuating the normal cognitive decline associated with aging, and delaying the onset of dementia. Conclusions: Regardless of the significant heterogeneity of bilingualism and the diversity of patterns in language use during life-span, current research suggests that bilingualism is associated with preserved cognitive test performance during aging, and potentially can have some protective effect in dementia.
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Information Architecture for Bilingual Web Sites.
Cunliffe, Daniel; Jones, Helen; Jarvis, Melanie; Egan, Kevin; Huws, Rhian; Munro, Sian
2002-01-01
Discusses creating an information architecture for a bilingual Web site and reports work in progress on the development of a content-based bilingual Web site to facilitate shared resources between speech and language therapists. Considers a structural analysis of existing bilingual Web designs and explains a card-sorting activity conducted with…
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Semantic facilitation in bilingual first language acquisition.
Bilson, Samuel; Yoshida, Hanako; Tran, Crystal D; Woods, Elizabeth A; Hills, Thomas T
2015-07-01
Bilingual first language learners face unique challenges that may influence the rate and order of early word learning relative to monolinguals. A comparison of the productive vocabularies of 435 children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years-181 of which were bilingual English learners-found that monolinguals learned both English words and all-language concepts faster than bilinguals. However, bilinguals showed an enhancement of an effect previously found in monolinguals-the preference for learning words with more associative cues. Though both monolinguals and bilinguals were best fit by a similar model of word learning, semantic network structure and growth indicated that the two groups were learning English words in a different order. Further, in comparison with a model of two-monolinguals-in-one-mind, bilinguals overproduced translational equivalents. Our results support an emergent account of bilingual first language acquisition, where learning a word in one language facilitates its acquisition in a second language. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Sotelo-Dynega, Marlene
2015-01-01
The present study explored the credentialing practices for bilingual school psychologists in the United States. Credentialing agencies of school psychologists, mostly State Departments of Education, across the 50 states and the District of Columbia were contacted via telephone by trained graduate student research assistants. Only two of the…
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Tadaka, Etsuko; Kono, Ayumi; Ito, Eriko; Kanaya, Yukiko; Dai, Yuka; Imamatsu, Yuki; Itoi, Waka
2016-11-28
Among older people in developed countries, social isolation leading to solitary death has become a public health issue of vital importance. Such isolation could be prevented by monitoring at-risk individuals at the neighborhood level and by implementing supportive networks at the community level. However, a means of measuring community confidence in these measures has not been established. This study is aimed at developing the Community's Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES; Mimamori scale in Japanese) for community members preventing social isolation among older people. The CSES is a self-administered questionnaire developed on the basis of Bandura's self-efficacy theory. The survey was given to a general population (GEN) sample (n = 6,000) and community volunteer (CVOL) sample (n = 1,297). Construct validity was determined using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The Generative Concern Scale (GCS-R) and Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) were also administered to assess criterion-related validity of the CSES. In total, 3,484 and 859 valid responses were received in the GEN and CVOL groups, respectively. The confirmatory factor analysis identified eight items from two domains-community network and neighborhood watch-with goodness of fit index = 0.984, adjusted goodness of fit index = 0.970, comparative fit index = 0.988, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.047. Cronbach's alpha for the entire CSES was 0.87 and for the subscales was 0.80 and higher. The score of the entire CSES was positively correlated with the GCS-R in both the GEN (r = 0.80, p social isolation among older people. The scale is potentially useful for promoting health policies, practices, and interventions within communities. This may help prevent social isolation among older people and contribute to overall well-being in aging societies in Japan and abroad.
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Political-pedagogical unfoldings of bilingualism for deaf people: reflexions and directing
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sueli Fernandes
2009-09-01
Full Text Available The article talks about bilingualism for deaf people, it’s implications in the educational process, as well as in some of the inclusive linguistic politics unfoldings proposed officially from the end of the decade of 1990 for this segment. The sociocultural and linguistic characteristics of the Brazilian deaf people communities are argued and also the importance of the same ones to be known and socially valued. Some lines of direction and challenges are pointed for the access and remaining of the deaf students in the school educational process. Finally, the text reflects about the bilingual education programs for deaf students, considering that these are complex, specially because it crosses economic ideological, cultural contradictory and heterogeneous interests.
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Bilingualism and Creativity in Early Childhood
Leikin, Mark; Tovli, Esther
2014-01-01
This study examined the possible effect of bilingualism on creativity in nonmathematical and mathematical problem solving among bilingual and monolingual preschoolers. Two groups of children (M age = 71.9 months, SD = 3.6) from the same monolingual kindergartens participated in this study: 15 Russian/Hebrew balanced bilinguals and 16 native…
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Deaf Children's Bimodal Bilingualism and Education
Swanwick, Ruth
2016-01-01
This paper provides an overview of the research into deaf children's bilingualism and bilingual education through a synthesis of studies published over the last 15 years. This review brings together the linguistic and pedagogical work on bimodal bilingualism to inform educational practice. The first section of the review provides a synthesis of…
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Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late bilinguals.
Pelham, Sabra D; Abrams, Lise
2014-03-01
Previous research has documented advantages and disadvantages of early bilinguals, defined as learning a 2nd language by school age and using both languages since that time. Relative to monolinguals, early bilinguals manifest deficits in lexical access but benefits in executive function. We investigated whether becoming bilingual after childhood (late bilinguals) can produce the cognitive advantages and disadvantages typical of early bilinguals. Participants were 30 monolingual English speakers, 30 late English-Spanish bilinguals, and 30 early Spanish-English bilinguals who completed a picture naming task (lexical access) and an attentional network task (executive function). Late and early bilinguals manifested equivalent cognitive effects in both tasks, demonstrating lexical access deficits and executive function benefits. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that cognitive effects associated with bilingualism arise as the result of proficient, habitual use of 2 languages and not of developmental changes associated with becoming bilingual during childhood.
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Narendorf, Sarah C; Santa Maria, Diane M; Ha, Yoonsook; Cooper, Jenna; Schieszler, Christine
2016-12-01
Communities across the United States are increasing efforts to find and count homeless youth. This paper presents findings and lessons learned from a community/academic partnership to count homeless youth and conduct an in depth research survey focused on the health needs of this population. Over a 4 week recruitment period, 632 youth were counted and 420 surveyed. Methodological successes included an extended counting period, broader inclusion criteria to capture those in unstable housing, use of student volunteers in health training programs, recruiting from magnet events for high risk youth, and partnering with community agencies to disseminate findings. Strategies that did not facilitate recruitment included respondent driven sampling, street canvassing beyond known hotspots, and having community agencies lead data collection. Surveying was successful in gathering data on reasons for homelessness, history in public systems of care, mental health history and needs, sexual risk behaviors, health status, and substance use. Youth were successfully surveyed across housing types including shelters or transitional housing (n = 205), those in unstable housing such as doubled up with friends or acquaintances (n = 75), and those who were literally on the streets or living in a place not meant for human habitation (n = 140). Most youth completed the self-report survey and provided detailed information about risk behaviors. Recommendations to combine research data collection with counting are presented.
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Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brain.
Bialystok, Ellen; Craik, Fergus I M; Luk, Gigi
2012-04-01
Building on earlier evidence showing a beneficial effect of bilingualism on children's cognitive development, we review recent studies using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods to examine the effects of bilingualism on cognition in adulthood and explore possible mechanisms for these effects. This research shows that bilingualism has a somewhat muted effect in adulthood but a larger role in older age, protecting against cognitive decline, a concept known as 'cognitive reserve'. We discuss recent evidence that bilingualism is associated with a delay in the onset of symptoms of dementia. Cognitive reserve is a crucial research area in the context of an aging population; the possibility that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve is therefore of growing importance as populations become increasingly diverse. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Kim, Ah-Young; Park, Anne; Lust, Barbara
2018-01-01
The current study compares simultaneous vs. successive bilingualism through a mixed-method research design with four four-year-old Korean-English bilingual children who were born and raised in the USA. Two simultaneous bilinguals were exposed to Korean and English from birth, whereas two successive bilinguals were exposed to Korean from birth, but…
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Deaf Parents of Cochlear-Implanted Children: Beliefs on Bimodal Bilingualism
Mitchiner, Julie Cantrell
2015-01-01
This study investigated 17 Deaf families in North America with cochlear-implanted children about their attitudes, beliefs, and practices on bimodal bilingualism (defined as using both a visual/manual language and an aural/oral language) in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. A survey and follow-up interviews with 8 families were conducted.…
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New York City Board of Education, Brooklyn, NY. Office of Bilingual Education.
The manual contains forms, handouts, checklists, and other materials used in and developed by the Bilingual Screening and Reading Clinic Demonstration Project of New York City's Community School District 3. The materials are provided for teachers and administrators to use or modify for working with bilingual school populations in need of…
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Impact of Bilingualism on Cognitive Outcome After Stroke.
Alladi, Suvarna; Bak, Thomas H; Mekala, Shailaja; Rajan, Amulya; Chaudhuri, Jaydip Ray; Mioshi, Eneida; Krovvidi, Rajesh; Surampudi, Bapiraju; Duggirala, Vasanta; Kaul, Subhash
2016-01-01
Bilingualism has been associated with slower cognitive aging and a later onset of dementia. In this study, we aimed to determine whether bilingualism also influences cognitive outcome after stroke. We examined 608 patients with ischemic stroke from a large stroke registry and studied the role of bilingualism in predicting poststroke cognitive impairment in the absence of dementia. A larger proportion of bilinguals had normal cognition compared with monolinguals (40.5% versus 19.6%; Pdementia and vascular mild cognitive impairment (monolinguals 77.7% versus bilinguals 49.0%; Pbilinguals 10.5%; P=0.354). Bilingualism was found to be an independent predictor of poststroke cognitive impairment. Our results suggest that bilingualism leads to a better cognitive outcome after stroke, possibly by enhancing cognitive reserve. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.
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Does Bilingualism Delay the Development of Dementia?
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Amy L Atkinson
2016-08-01
Full Text Available It has been suggested that bilingualism (where individuals speak two languages may delay the development of dementia. However, much of the research is inconclusive. Some researchers have reported that bilingualism delays the onset and diagnosis of dementia, whilst other studies have found weak or even detrimental effects. This paper reviews a series of nine empirical studies, published up until March 2016, which investigated whether bilingualism significantly delays the onset of dementia. The article also explores whether the inconsistent findings can be attributed to differences in study designs or the definitions of bilingualism used between studies. Based on current evidence, it appears that lifelong bilingualism, where individuals frequently use both languages, may be protective against dementia. However, becoming bilingual in adulthood or using the second language infrequently is unlikely to substantially delay onset of the disease.
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Gasquoine, Philip Gerard
2016-11-01
To review the current literature on the effects of bilingualism on vocabulary, executive functions, age of dementia onset, and regional brain structure. PubMed and PsycINFO databases were searched (from January 1999 to present) for relevant original research and review articles on bilingualism (but not multilingualism) paired with each target neuropsychological variable published in English. A qualitative review of these articles was conducted. It has long been known that mean scores of bilinguals fall below those of monolinguals on vocabulary and other language, but not visual-perceptual, format cognitive tests. Contemporary studies that have reported higher mean scores for bilinguals than monolinguals on executive function task-switching or inhibition tasks have not always been replicated, leading to concerns of publication bias, statistical flaws, and failures to match groups on potentially confounding variables. Studies suggesting the onset of Alzheimer's disease occurred about 4 years later for bilinguals versus monolinguals have not been confirmed in longitudinal, cohort, community-based, incidence studies that have used neuropsychological testing and diagnostic criteria to establish an age of dementia diagnosis. Neuroimaging studies of regional gray and white matter volume in bilinguals versus monolinguals show inconsistencies in terms of both the regions of difference and the nature of the difference. Resolving inconsistencies in the behavioral data is necessary before searching in the brain for neuroanatomical correlation. Comparisons of balanced versus language-dominant groups within the same ethnoculture combined with objective measurement of bilingualism could better match groups on potentially confounding variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).
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Chan-Golston, Alec M; Friedlander, Scott; Glik, Deborah C; Prelip, Michael L; Belin, Thomas R; Brookmeyer, Ron; Santos, Robert; Chen, Jie; Ortega, Alexander N
2016-01-01
The employment of professional interviewers from academic survey centers to conduct surveys has been standard practice. Because one goal of community-engaged research is to provide professional skills to community residents, this paper considers whether employing locally trained lay interviewers from within the community may be as effective as employing interviewers from an academic survey center with regard to unit and item nonresponse rates and cost. To study a nutrition-focused intervention, 1035 in-person household interviews were conducted in East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights, 503 of which were completed by lay community interviewers. A chi-square test was used to assess differences in unit nonresponse rates between professional and community interviewers and Welch's t tests were used to assess differences in item nonresponse rates. A cost comparison analysis between the two interviewer groups was also conducted. Interviewers from the academic survey center had lower unit nonresponse rates than the lay community interviewers (16.2% vs. 23.3%; p < 0.01). However, the item nonresponse rates were lower for the community interviewers than the professional interviewers (1.4% vs. 3.3%; p < 0.01). Community interviewers cost approximately $415.38 per survey whereas professional interviewers cost approximately $537.29 per survey. With a lower cost per completed survey and lower item nonresponse rates, lay community interviewers are a viable alternative to professional interviewers for fieldwork in community-based research. Additional research is needed to assess other important aspects of data quality interviewer such as interviewer effects and response error.
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Priestley, Karen; Enns, Charlotte; Arbuckle, Shauna
2018-01-01
Bimodal-bilingual programs are emerging as one way to meet broader needs and provide expanded language, educational and social-emotional opportunities for students who are deaf and hard of hearing (Marschark, M., Tang, G. & Knoors, H. (Eds). (2014). Bilingualism and bilingual Deaf education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Paludneviciene & Harris, R. (2011). Impact of cochlear implants on the deaf community. In Paludneviciene, R. & Leigh, I. (Eds.), Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 3-19). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press). However, there is limited research on students' spoken language development, signed language growth, academic outcomes or the social-emotional factors associated with these programs (Marschark, M., Tang, G. & Knoors, H. (Eds). (2014). Bilingualism and bilingual Deaf education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Nussbaum, D & Scott, S. (2011). The cochlear implant education center: Perspectives on effective educational practices. In Paludneviciene, R. & Leigh, I. (Eds.) Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 175-205). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. The cochlear implant education center: Perspectives on effective educational practices. In Paludnevicience & Leigh (Eds). Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 175-205). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press; Spencer, P. & Marschark, M. (Eds.) (2010). Evidence-based practice in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press). The purpose of this case study was to look at formal and informal student outcomes as well as staff and parent perceptions during the first 3 years of implementing a bimodal-bilingual (ASL and spoken English) program within an ASL milieu at a small school for the deaf. Speech and language assessment results for five students were analyzed over a 3-year period and indicated that the students made significant positive gains in all areas, although results were variable. Staff and parent
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Freedom, invisibility, and community: a qualitative study of self-identification with asexuality.
MacNeela, Pádraig; Murphy, Aisling
2015-04-01
A significant body of research is now emerging on the subjective meaning of asexuality. This study explored how self-identification as asexual is managed, both as a threat to the self-concept and a source of personal meaning. A total of 66 self-identified asexuals were recruited from an asexuality internet community and responded to open-ended questions on an online survey. Of these, 31 participants identified as female, 15 as male, 18 gave a different label such as genderqueer or androgynous, and two did not provide information on gender. A thematic analysis of the transcripts resulted in three themes. Socially, asexuality attracted denial and resistance due to incompatibility with heteronormative societal expectations. Despite the threat to self-integrity arising from asexuality being socially rejected, it was typically assimilated as a valued and meaningful orientation on an intra-personal level, aided by information and support from the online community. A second level of threat to self arose whereby other self-identifications, especially gender, had to be reconciled with a non-sexual persona. The accommodation made to other elements of the self was reflected in complex sub-identities. The findings were interpreted using identity process theory to understand how threats arising from self-identifying as asexual are managed. Although asexuality emerges as an orientation to sexuality that can be reconciled with the self, its invisibility or outright rejection in society constitute an on-going challenge.
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Self-medication in Central Saudi Arabia. Community pharmacy consumers' perspectives.
Aljadhey, Hisham; Assiri, Ghada A; Mahmoud, Mansour A; Al-Aqeel, Sinaa; Murray, Michael
2015-03-01
To determine the prevalence of self-medication and assess the knowledge, attitudes, and perception of consumers toward self-medication. This cross-sectional survey was conducted over 4 weeks in May 2011 in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Community pharmacies within 5 areas of the city (North, South, West, East, and Middle) were randomly selected for the study. All consumers were approached to participate in the study, with the exception of those buying cosmetic and medicinal equipments. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. A total of 538 out of 707 consumers attending community pharmacies in Riyadh city, agreed to participate in the study. Most responders were male (73%), 23-33 years old (35%), and college graduates (42%). A total of 285 medications were bought without a prescription. Of these, 149 (49%) medications should be dispensed by prescription only, and 155 (51%) were over the counter medications. The most common prescription medications dispensed without prescriptions were antibiotics (22%) and analgesics/antipyretics (19%). The most common reasons for buying medications without a prescription were that the symptoms were too minor to visit a doctor (54%), time saving (40%), and minor illnesses for which the participants knew the required treatment (40%). Overall, most participants had poor knowledge, and negative perceptions regarding self-medication. More than 68% of participants did not know whether the medicine they bought is a prescription-only or over the counter medication. Irresponsible self-medication is common in Saudi Arabia. Future studies should focus on improving the consumers' awareness of self-medication and the proper use of medications.
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Hopp, Toby; Barker, Valerie; Schmitz Weiss, Amy
2015-08-01
This study explored the relationship between interdependent self-construal, video game self-efficacy, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) community involvement, and self-reported learning outcomes. The results suggested that self-efficacy and interdependent self-construal were positive and significant predictors of MMORPG community involvement. For its part, MMORPG community involvement was a positive predictor of self-reported learning in both focused and incidental forms. Supplementary analyses suggested that self-efficacy was a comparatively more robust predictor of MMORPG community involvement when compared to self-construal. Moreover, the present data suggest that community involvement significantly facilitated indirect relationships between self-construal, game-relevant self-efficacy, and both focused and incidental learning.
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A national survey on health department capacity for community engagement in emergency preparedness.
Schoch-Spana, Monica; Selck, Frederic W; Goldberg, Lisa A
2015-01-01
Limited systematic knowledge exists about how public health practitioners and policy makers can best strengthen community engagement in public health emergency preparedness ("CE-PHEP"), a top priority for US national health security. To investigate local health department (LHD) adoption of federally recommended participatory approaches to PHEP and to identify LHD organizational characteristics associated with more intense CE-PHEP. National survey in 2012 of LHDs using a self-administered Web-based questionnaire regarding LHD practices and resources for CE-PHEP ("The Community Engagement for Public Health Emergency Preparedness Survey"). Differences in survey responses were examined, and a multivariate analysis was used to test whether LHD organizational characteristics were associated with differences in CE-PHEP intensity. A randomized sample of 754 LHDs drawn from the 2565 LHDs that had been invited to participate in the 2010 National Profile of LHDs. Sample selection was stratified by the size of population served and geographic location. Emergency preparedness coordinators reporting on their respective LHDs. CE-PHEP intensity as measured with a scoring system that rated specific CE-PHEP practices by LHD according to the relative degrees of public participation and community capacity they represented. Survey response rate was 61%. The most common reported CE-PHEP activity was disseminating personal preparedness materials (90%); the least common was convening public forums on PHEP planning (22%). LHD characteristics most strongly associated with more intense CE-PHEP were having a formal CE-PHEP policy, allocating funds for CE-PHEP, having strong support from community-based organizations, and employing a coordinator with prior CE experience. Promising ways to engage community partners more fully in the PHEP enterprise are institutionalizing CE-PHEP objectives, employing sufficient and skilled staff, leveraging current community-based organization support, and
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Dash, Tanya; Kar, Bhoomika R
2014-01-01
Bilingualism results in an added advantage with respect to cognitive control. The interaction between bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control systems can also be understood by studying executive control among individuals with bilingual aphasia. objectives: The current study examined the subcomponents of cognitive control in bilingual aphasia. A case study approach was used to investigate whether cognitive control and language control are two separate systems and how factors related to bilingualism interact with control processes. Four individuals with bilingual aphasia performed a language background questionnaire, picture description task, and two experimental tasks (nonlinguistic negative priming task and linguistic and nonlinguistic versions of flanker task). A descriptive approach was used to analyse the data using reaction time and accuracy measures. The cumulative distribution function plots were used to visualize the variations in performance across conditions. The results highlight the distinction between general purpose cognitive control and bilingual language control mechanisms. All participants showed predominant use of the reactive control mechanism to compensate for the limited resources system. Independent yet interactive systems for bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control were postulated based on the experimental data derived from individuals with bilingual aphasia.
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Discourses on Bilingualism in Canadian French Immersion Programs
Roy, Sylvie; Galiev, Albert
2011-01-01
The present article examines discourses on bilingualism in French immersion schools and connects local ideologies of bilingualism to a more global view of what it means to be bilingual in Canada. Bilingualism is usually regarded as two isolated monolingualisms (or monolingual systems) in which there is no place for code-switching, uneven language…
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Health assessment of the Arab American community in southwest Brooklyn.
Sarsour, Linda; Tong, Virginia S; Jaber, Omar; Talbi, Mohammed; Julliard, Kell
2010-12-01
Data on Arab American health is lacking nationwide. This survey of the Arab American community in southwest Brooklyn assessed perceptions of health status, needs, behaviors, and access to services. Bilingual interviewers administered a structured survey to community members in public gathering places. Of 353 surveyed, 43% were men and 57% women, most spoke Arabic and were Muslim, and most had moved to the U.S. after 1990. One quarter were unemployed. Over 50% reported household incomes below federal poverty level. Nearly 30% had no health insurance. 58% reported choosing their health care venue based on language considerations. 43% reported problems in getting health care, including ability to pay, language barriers, and immigration. 42% of men, and 8% of women reported current smoking. Almost half of respondents never exercised. Rates of poverty, lack of health insurance, and smoking in men are cause for concern and were high even for immigrant groups.
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Cognitive Advantages of Bilingual Children in Different Sociolinguistic Contexts
Blom, Elma; Boerma, Tessel; Bosma, Evelyn; Cornips, Leonie; Everaert, Emma
2017-01-01
Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6–7 years, with a monolingual control group. We were specifically interested in testing whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is modulated by the sociolinguistic context of language use. All three bilingual groups were exposed to a minority language besides the nation’s dominant language (Dutch). Two bilingual groups were exposed to a regional language (Frisian, Limburgish), and a third bilingual group was exposed to a migrant language (Polish). All children participated in two working memory tasks (verbal, visuospatial) and two attention tasks (selective attention, interference suppression). Bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on selective attention. The cognitive effect of bilingualism was most clearly present in the Frisian-Dutch group and in a subgroup of migrant children who were relatively proficient in Polish. The effect was less robust in the Limburgish-Dutch sample. Investigation of the response patterns of the flanker test, testing interference suppression, suggested that bilingual children more often show an effect of response competition than the monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children attend to different aspects of the task than monolingual children. No bilingualism effects emerged for verbal and visuospatial working memory. PMID:28484403
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Cognitive Advantages of Bilingual Children in Different Sociolinguistic Contexts.
Blom, Elma; Boerma, Tessel; Bosma, Evelyn; Cornips, Leonie; Everaert, Emma
2017-01-01
Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6-7 years, with a monolingual control group. We were specifically interested in testing whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is modulated by the sociolinguistic context of language use. All three bilingual groups were exposed to a minority language besides the nation's dominant language (Dutch). Two bilingual groups were exposed to a regional language (Frisian, Limburgish), and a third bilingual group was exposed to a migrant language (Polish). All children participated in two working memory tasks (verbal, visuospatial) and two attention tasks (selective attention, interference suppression). Bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on selective attention. The cognitive effect of bilingualism was most clearly present in the Frisian-Dutch group and in a subgroup of migrant children who were relatively proficient in Polish. The effect was less robust in the Limburgish-Dutch sample. Investigation of the response patterns of the flanker test, testing interference suppression, suggested that bilingual children more often show an effect of response competition than the monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children attend to different aspects of the task than monolingual children. No bilingualism effects emerged for verbal and visuospatial working memory.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Butterworth Peter
2010-03-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Traumatic or serious brain injury (BI has persistent and well documented adverse outcomes, yet 'mild' or 'moderate' BI, which often does not result in hospital treatment, accounts for half the total days of disability attributed to BI. There are currently few data available from community samples on the incidence and correlates of these injuries. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the 1 incidence of self-reported mild (not requiring hospital admission and moderate (admitted to hospital brain injury (BI, 2 causes of injury 3 physical health scores and 4 relationship between BI and problematic alcohol or marijuana use. Methods An Australian community sequential-cohort study (cohorts aged 20-24, 40-44 and 60-64 years at wave one used a survey methodology to assess BI and substance use at baseline and four years later. Results Of the 7485 wave one participants, 89.7% were re-interviewed at wave two. There were 56 mild (230.8/100000 person-years and 44 moderate BI (180.5/100000 person-years reported between waves one and two. Males and those in the 20-24 year cohort had increased risk of BI. Sports injury was the most frequent cause of BI (40/100 with traffic accidents being a greater proportion of moderate (27% than mild (7% BI. Neither alcohol nor marijuana problems at wave one were predictors of BI. BI was not a predictor of developing substance use problems by wave two. Conclusions BI were prevalent in this community sample, though the incidence declined with age. Factors associated with BI in community samples differ from those reported in clinical samples (e.g. typically traumatic brain injury with traffic accidents the predominate cause. Further, detailed evaluation of the health consequences of these injuries is warranted.
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Bilingualism accentuates children's conversational understanding.
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Michael Siegal
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although bilingualism is prevalent throughout the world, little is known about the extent to which it influences children's conversational understanding. Our investigation involved children aged 3-6 years exposed to one or more of four major languages: English, German, Italian, and Japanese. In two experiments, we examined the children's ability to identify responses to questions as violations of conversational maxims (to be informative and avoid redundancy, to speak the truth, be relevant, and be polite. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In Experiment 1, with increasing age, children showed greater sensitivity to maxim violations. Children in Italy who were bilingual in German and Italian (with German as the dominant language L1 significantly outperformed Italian monolinguals. In Experiment 2, children in England who were bilingual in English and Japanese (with English as L1 significantly outperformed Japanese monolinguals in Japan with vocabulary age partialled out. CONCLUSIONS: As the monolingual and bilingual groups had a similar family SES background (Experiment 1 and similar family cultural identity (Experiment 2, these results point to a specific role for early bilingualism in accentuating children's developing ability to appreciate effective communicative responses.
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Bilingual Education Model in Prekmurje, and the Dictionary as a Teaching Aid
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Jutka Rudaš
2018-01-01
Full Text Available The model of bilingual education is one of the two-way models of preserving two languages and cultures. This paper describes the successful implementation of a bilingual education process, with a short developmental span and an emphasis on the key deficiencies of the model. By getting to know two cultures and two social relationships and by understanding them, pupils develop a positive attitude to cultural diversity as well as intercultural relationships. Within the framework of school subjects, we teach professional terminology in both languages and thus educate speakers in a way that they experience linguistic and cultural diversity in the ethnically mixed area of Prekmurje. The model of the two-way preservation of the mother tongue makes sense only if the community and the society benefit from bilingualism, and if important and above-average intercultural and social competences that contribute to peaceful coexistence of different cultures are allowed access. Practice shows that so far these goals have not been fully implemented, that there is no ideal relationship between the languages of instruction and that the desired results are not implemented. We have found that there are two shortcomings in this respect: the incomplete didactic aspect and the inadequate competence of teachers in bilingual educational institutions owing to the lack of possibility of acquiring the appropriate competences, particularly in the Hungarian language. Among the most important means for the efficiency of the language structure acquisition and language use are bilingual textbooks and other teaching aids. Based on these findings, this paper presents cognitive and other skills that enable the integration of a bilingual dictionary into the teaching process. As this is a demanding and important skill, it is crucial that teachers and pupils are trained in this activity. The dictionary as a didactic tool is not merely a means of information but also a basis for the
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Li, Le; Abutalebi, Jubin; Zou, Lijuan; Yan, Xin; Liu, Lanfang; Feng, Xiaoxia; Wang, Ruiming; Guo, Taomei; Ding, Guosheng
2015-05-01
Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed that bilingualism induces both structural and functional neuroplasticity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the left caudate nucleus (LCN), both of which are associated with cognitive control. Since these "control" regions should work together with other language regions during language processing, we hypothesized that bilingualism may also alter the functional interaction between the dACC/LCN and language regions. Here we tested this hypothesis by exploring the functional connectivity (FC) in bimodal bilinguals and monolinguals using functional MRI when they either performed a picture naming task with spoken language or were in resting state. We found that for bimodal bilinguals who use spoken and sign languages, the FC of the dACC with regions involved in spoken language (e.g. the left superior temporal gyrus) was stronger in performing the task, but weaker in the resting state as compared to monolinguals. For the LCN, its intrinsic FC with sign language regions including the left inferior temporo-occipital part and right inferior and superior parietal lobules was increased in the bilinguals. These results demonstrate that bilingual experience may alter the brain functional interaction between "control" regions and "language" regions. For different control regions, the FC alters in different ways. The findings also deepen our understanding of the functional roles of the dACC and LCN in language processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Dash, Tanya; Kar, Bhoomika R.
2014-01-01
Background. Bilingualism results in an added advantage with respect to cognitive control. The interaction between bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control systems can also be understood by studying executive control among individuals with bilingual aphasia. Objectives. The current study examined the subcomponents of cognitive control in bilingual aphasia. A case study approach was used to investigate whether cognitive control and language control are two separate systems and how factors related to bilingualism interact with control processes. Methods. Four individuals with bilingual aphasia performed a language background questionnaire, picture description task, and two experimental tasks (nonlinguistic negative priming task and linguistic and nonlinguistic versions of flanker task). Results. A descriptive approach was used to analyse the data using reaction time and accuracy measures. The cumulative distribution function plots were used to visualize the variations in performance across conditions. The results highlight the distinction between general purpose cognitive control and bilingual language control mechanisms. Conclusion. All participants showed predominant use of the reactive control mechanism to compensate for the limited resources system. Independent yet interactive systems for bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control were postulated based on the experimental data derived from individuals with bilingual aphasia. PMID:24982591
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Intercultural bilingual education in Chile
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Williams Ibarra Figueroa
2016-08-01
Full Text Available This article is based on analysis of the actions of public bodies and institutions that are being created in Chile to meet demand in Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE. The aim is to analyze the practical training of students in initial teacher training in intercultural basic education at the Catholic University of Temuco. In addition, reveal the working methods of collaborative field between family-school- community partnership in key initial identification and subsequent components and devices in the proper relationship of individuals, in order to establish criteria by biopsychosocial processes from the identity the Other and You as host in the plural diversity of human beings, with aim is to recommend a public policy with an emphasis on multicultural values of each community, enriching the human condition and biopolitics regarding the integration from the educational training and the role that fits the state.
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Exemplification in the prepositional entries of bilingual dictionaries. Theory and practice
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Witold Ucherek
2012-01-01
Full Text Available The first part of the article deals with the function of the examples in bilingual dictionaries, compared to their function in monolingual ones. First, it is argued that examples in an active bilingual dictionary should principally exemplify the use of the headword’s translation equivalents rather than the headword itself, as it is in the case of monolingual dictionaries. Then a survey is made dealing with examples selected from all simple preposition entries in a recent Polish-French dictionary, taking into consideration both the structure and the function of these examples. The general conclusion is that in the investigated entries exemplifi cation fails seriously enough to make it impossible for users to choose the appropriate equivalent of a particular preposition.
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Hablo Inglés y Español: Cultural Self-Schemas as a Function of Language.
Rodríguez-Arauz, Gloriana; Ramírez-Esparza, Nairán; Pérez-Brena, Norma; Boyd, Ryan L
2017-01-01
Research has demonstrated that bilingual individuals experience a "double personality," which allows them to shift their self-schemas when they are primed with different language modes. In this study, we examine whether self-schemas change in Mexican-American ( N = 193) bilinguals living in the U.S. when they provide open-ended personality self-descriptions in both English and Spanish. We used the Meaning Extraction Helper (MEH) software to extract the most salient self-schemas that influence individuals' self-defining process. Following a qualitative-inductive approach, words were extracted from the open-ended essays and organized into semantic clusters, which were analyzed qualitatively and named. The results show that as expected, language primed bilinguals to think about different self-schemas. In Spanish, their Mexican self-schemas were more salient; whereas, in English their U.S. American self-schemas were more salient. Similarities of self-schemas across languages were assessed using a quantitative approach. Language differences and similarities in theme definition and implications for self-identity of bilinguals are discussed.
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Quality of life and self-esteem among the elderly in the community.
Tavares, Darlene Mara Dos Santos; Matias, Thaís Gabriela Cruz; Ferreira, Pollyana Cristina Dos Santos; Pegorari, Maycon Sousa; Nascimento, Janaina Santos; Paiva, Mariana Mapelli de
2016-11-01
This study sought to investigate the association between the scores for quality of life (QoL) and self-esteem among the elderly in an urban community. A cross-sectional, quantitative and analytical household survey was conducted with 1,691 elderly persons resident in an urban area in a county in Minas Gerais state. The World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), the World Health Organization Quality of Life OLD (WHOQOL-OLD) questionnaires and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used in this study. A descriptive statistical analysis and a linear regression model (p self-esteem scores showed an average of 9.36 ± 4.09. Associations were evident for the lower scores of quality of life in all the WHOQOL-BREF domains and WHOQOL-OLD aspects (except death and dying) with lower levels of self-esteem (p self-esteem, thus providing information for the development of health strategies.
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Bilingualism: Consequences for Mind and Brain
Bialystok, Ellen; Craik, Fergus I. M.; Luk, Gigi
2012-01-01
Building on earlier evidence showing a beneficial effect of bilingualism on children’s cognitive development, we review recent studies using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods to examine the effects of bilingualism on cognition in adulthood and explore possible mechanisms for these effects. This research shows that bilingualism has a somewhat muted effect in adulthood but a larger role in older age, protecting against cognitive decline, a concept known as “cognitive reserve”. We discuss...
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The Effect of Script Similarity on Executive Control in Bilinguals
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Emily L Coderre
2014-09-01
Full Text Available The need for executive control (EC during bilingual language processing is thought to enhance these abilities, conferring a ‘bilingual advantage’ on EC tasks. Recently, the reliability and robustness of the bilingual advantage has been questioned, with many variables reportedly affecting the size and presence of the bilingual advantage. This study investigates one further variable that may affect bilingual EC abilities: the similarity of a bilingual’s two languages. We hypothesize that bilinguals whose two languages have a larger degree of orthographic overlap will require greater EC to manage their languages compared to bilinguals who use two languages with less overlap. We tested three groups of bilinguals with language pairs ranging from high- to low-similarity (German-English (GE, Polish-English (PE, and Arabic-English (AE, respectively and a group of English monolinguals on a Stroop and Simon task. Two components of the bilingual advantage were investigated: an interference advantage, such that bilinguals have smaller interference effects than monolinguals; and a global RT advantage, such that bilinguals are faster overall than monolinguals. Between bilingual groups, these effects were expected to be modulated by script similarity. AE bilinguals showed the smallest Stroop interference effects, but the longest overall RTs in both tasks. These seemingly contradictory results are explained by the presence of cross-linguistic interference in the Stroop task. We conclude that similar-script bilinguals demonstrated more effective domain-general EC than different-script bilinguals, since high orthographic overlap creates more cross-linguistic activation and increases the daily demands on cognitive control. The role of individual variation is also discussed. These results suggest that script similarity is an important variable to consider in investigations of bilingual executive control abilities.
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Metalinguistic Aspects of Bilingual Processing.
Bialystok, Ellen
2001-01-01
Examines differences in metalinguistic development between monolingual and bilingual children in terms of three subcategories: word awareness, syntactic awareness, and phonological awareness. In each case, some studies have reported advantages for bilingual children, while others have found either no difference between the groups or monolingual…
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Bilingual Language Switching: Production vs. Recognition
Mosca, Michela; de Bot, Kees
2017-01-01
This study aims at assessing how bilinguals select words in the appropriate language in production and recognition while minimizing interference from the non-appropriate language. Two prominent models are considered which assume that when one language is in use, the other is suppressed. The Inhibitory Control (IC) model suggests that, in both production and recognition, the amount of inhibition on the non-target language is greater for the stronger compared to the weaker language. In contrast, the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model proposes that, in language recognition, the amount of inhibition on the weaker language is stronger than otherwise. To investigate whether bilingual language production and recognition can be accounted for by a single model of bilingual processing, we tested a group of native speakers of Dutch (L1), advanced speakers of English (L2) in a bilingual recognition and production task. Specifically, language switching costs were measured while participants performed a lexical decision (recognition) and a picture naming (production) task involving language switching. Results suggest that while in language recognition the amount of inhibition applied to the non-appropriate language increases along with its dominance as predicted by the IC model, in production the amount of inhibition applied to the non-relevant language is not related to language dominance, but rather it may be modulated by speakers' unconscious strategies to foster the weaker language. This difference indicates that bilingual language recognition and production might rely on different processing mechanisms and cannot be accounted within one of the existing models of bilingual language processing. PMID:28638361
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Granda Mercha?n, Sebastia?n
2014-01-01
En el 2004, luego de 10 an?os de experiencia en los pa?ramos andinos de la Provincia de Cotopaxi, la Universidad Polite?cnica Salesiana oferta la Carrera de Educacio?n Intercultural Bilingu?e en la ciudad de Cayambe con el objetivo de atender las demandas de formacio?n de los docentes de las escuelas y colegios de la Jurisdiccio?n de Educacio?n Intercultural Bilingu?e de la zona. Para ese entonces, habi?an transcurrido ya 15 an?os desde que se institucionalizo? la Educacio?n Intercultural Bil...
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Troped, P J; Saunders, R P; Pate, R R; Reininger, B; Ureda, J R; Thompson, S J
2001-02-01
To effectively promote physical activIty, researchers and policy makers have advocated for greater use of environmental approaches, such as the construction of community paths and trails. However, research on the use of these facilities is limited. In this cross-sectional community study, we examined associations between self-reported and objective physical environmental variables and use of the Minuteman Bikeway (Arlington, MA) in a random sample of 413 adults. Sociodemographic and perceived environmental variables were measured with a mail survey during September 1998. Geographic information system (GIS) data were used to geocode survey respondents' homes and create three objective environmental variables: distance to the Bikeway, steep hill barrier, and a busy street barrier. In logistic models, age and female gender showed statistically significant inverse associations with Bikeway use over the previous 4-week period. Increases in self-reported (OR = 0.65) and GIS distance (OR = 0.57) were associated with decreased likelihood of Bikeway use. Absence of self-reported busy street (OR = 2.01) and GIS steep hill barriers (OR = 1.84) were associated with Bikeway use. Environmental barriers such as travel distance and hilly terrain should be considered when planning community trails. A better understanding of such factors may lead to more effective promotion of trail use. Copyright 2001 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.
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Micikas, Mary; Foster, Jennifer; Weis, Allison; Lopez-Salm, Alyse; Lungelow, Danielle; Mendez, Pedro; Micikas, Ashley
2015-07-01
Despite the high prevalence of diabetes in rural Guatemala, there is little education in diabetes self-management, particularly among the indigenous population. To address this need, a culturally relevant education intervention for diabetic patients was developed and implemented in two rural communities in Guatemala. An evaluative research project was designed to investigate if the structured, community-led diabetes self-management intervention improved selected health outcomes for participants. A one-group, pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational intervention by comparing measures of health, knowledge, and behavior in patients pre- and postintervention. A survey instrument assessed health beliefs and practices and hemoglobin A1c (HgA1c) measured blood glucose levels at baseline and 4 months post initiation of intervention (n = 52). There was a significant decrease (1.2%) in the main outcome measure, mean HgA1c from baseline (10.1%) and follow-up (8.9%; p = .001). Other survey findings were not statistically significant. This study illustrates that a culturally specific, diabetes self-management program led by community health workers may reduce HgA1c levels in rural populations of Guatemala. However, as a random sample was not feasible for this study, this finding should be interpreted with caution. Limitations unique to the setting and patient population are discussed in this article. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.
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Longitudinal effects of bilingualism on dual-tasking.
Sörman, Daniel Eriksson; Josefsson, Maria; Marsh, John E; Hansson, Patrik; Ljungberg, Jessica K
2017-01-01
An ongoing debate surrounds whether bilinguals outperform monolinguals in tests of executive processing. The aim of this study was to investigate if there are long-term (10 year) bilingual advantages in executive processing, as indexed by dual-task performance, in a sample that were 40-65 years at baseline. The bilingual (n = 24) and monolingual (n = 24) participants were matched on age, sex, education, fluid intelligence, and study sample. Participants performed free-recall for a 12-item list in three dual-task settings wherein they sorted cards either during encoding, retrieval, or during both encoding and retrieval of the word-list. Free recall without card sorting was used as a reference to compute dual-task costs. The results showed that bilinguals significantly outperformed monolinguals when they performed card-sorting during both encoding and retrieval of the word-list, the condition that presumably placed the highest demands on executive functioning. However, dual-task costs increased over time for bilinguals relative to monolinguals, a finding that is possibly influenced by retirement age and limited use of second language in the bilingual group.
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Strategies for Educators of Bilingual Students: A Critical Review of Literature
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Chris Sclafani
2017-04-01
Full Text Available The education of bilingual students is a rather popular topic among educators in today's schools. Frequently, articles and research focus upon a singular phenomenon or strategy in this field. This literature review is aimed at providing teachers of students of all grade levels and ages with a guide containing prevalent theories and ideas related to providing high quality instruction to students with bilingual backgrounds. Educational practices such as translanguaging and the integration of biliteracy can assist students in using their native tongues along with the dominant language of their given settings. Additionally, the usage of cooperative groups and language buddies not only creates a sense of “fitting in” for new bilinguals, but also recognizes the ideology that young learners will learn the social aspects of a new language prior to learning the more academic and formalized version of speaking. Both new and experienced teachers would benefit from training that relates to these culturally responsive teaching strategies. There are also sections within this piece that promote the usage of community and parent outreach methods that aim to improve the school experience for all involved parties. The overarching goal of this literature review is providing teachers with a variety of literature connected to relevant theory and useful strategies that could potentially assist them in better understanding bilingual students, as well as enhance their overall knowledge base of this subject matter.
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter is intended to promote the cause of bilingual-bicultural education. It contains a poem celebrating the birthday of Abraham Lincoln and articles on "Exploring Modern Bilingual Biology,""New Covers on the ESL Scene,""Bilingual-Bicultural Education: Background and Foreground," and "Field-Testing…
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Does simultaneous bilingualism aggravate children's specific language problems?
Korkman, Marit; Stenroos, Maria; Mickos, Annika; Westman, Martin; Ekholm, Pia; Byring, Roger
2012-09-01
There is little data on whether or not a bilingual upbringing may aggravate specific language problems in children. This study analysed whether there was an interaction of such problems and simultaneous bilingualism. Participants were 5- to 7-year-old children with specific language problems (LANG group, N = 56) or who were typically developing (CONTR group, N = 60). Seventy-three children were Swedish-Finnish bilingual and 43 were Swedish-speaking monolingual. Assessments (in Swedish) included tests of expressive language, comprehension, repetition and verbal memory. Per definition, the LANG group had lower scores than the CONTR group on all language tests. The bilingual group had lower scores than the monolingual group only on a test of body part naming. Importantly, the interaction of group (LANG or CONTR) and bilingualism was not significant on any of the language scores. Simultaneous bilingualism does not aggravate specific language problems but may result in a slower development of vocabulary both in children with and without specific language problems. Considering also advantages, a bilingual upbringing is an option also for children with specific language problems. In assessment, tests of vocabulary may be sensitive to bilingualism, instead tests assessing comprehension, syntax and nonword repetition may provide less biased methods. © 2012 The Author(s)/Acta Paediatrica © 2012 Foundation Acta Paediatrica.
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Bilingual and Monolingual Children Prefer Native-Accented Speakers
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Andre L. eSouza
2013-12-01
Full Text Available Adults and young children prefer to affiliate with some individuals rather than others. Studies have shown that monolingual children show in-group biases for individuals who speak their native language without a foreign accent (Kinzler, Dupoux, & Spelke, 2007. Some studies have suggested that bilingual children are less influenced than monolinguals by language variety when attributing personality traits to different speakers (Anisfeld & Lambert, 1964, which could indicate that bilinguals have fewer in-group biases and perhaps greater social flexibility. However, no previous studies have compared monolingual and bilingual children’s reactions to speakers with unfamiliar foreign accents. In the present study, we investigated the social preferences of 5-year-old English and French monolinguals and English-French bilinguals. Contrary to our predictions, both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers preferred to be friends with native-accented speakers over speakers who spoke their dominant language with an unfamiliar foreign accent. This result suggests that both monolingual and bilingual children have strong preferences for in-group members who use a familiar language variety, and that bilingualism does not lead to generalized social flexibility.
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Bilingual and monolingual children prefer native-accented speakers.
Souza, André L; Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Poulin-Dubois, Diane
2013-01-01
Adults and young children prefer to affiliate with some individuals rather than others. Studies have shown that monolingual children show in-group biases for individuals who speak their native language without a foreign accent (Kinzler et al., 2007). Some studies have suggested that bilingual children are less influenced than monolinguals by language variety when attributing personality traits to different speakers (Anisfeld and Lambert, 1964), which could indicate that bilinguals have fewer in-group biases and perhaps greater social flexibility. However, no previous studies have compared monolingual and bilingual children's reactions to speakers with unfamiliar foreign accents. In the present study, we investigated the social preferences of 5-year-old English and French monolinguals and English-French bilinguals. Contrary to our predictions, both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers preferred to be friends with native-accented speakers over speakers who spoke their dominant language with an unfamiliar foreign accent. This result suggests that both monolingual and bilingual children have strong preferences for in-group members who use a familiar language variety, and that bilingualism does not lead to generalized social flexibility.
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Costumero, Víctor; Rodríguez-Pujadas, Aina; Fuentes-Claramonte, Paola; Ávila, César
2015-12-01
The existence of a behavioral advantage of bilinguals over monolinguals during executive tasks is controversial. A new approach to this issue is to investigate the effect of bilingualism on neural control when performing these tasks as a window to understand when behavioral differences are produced. Here, we tested if early bilinguals use more language-related networks than monolinguals while performing a go/no-go task that includes infrequent no-go and go trials. The RTs and accuracy in both groups did not differ. An independent component analyses (ICA) revealed, however, that bilinguals used the left fronto-parietal network and the salience network more than monolinguals while processing go infrequent cues and no-go cues, respectively. It was noteworthy that the modulation of these networks had opposite correlates with performance in bilinguals and monolinguals, which suggests that between-group differences were more qualitative than quantitative. Our results suggest that bilinguals may differently develop the involvement of the executive control networks that comprise the left inferior frontal gyrus during cognitive control tasks than monolinguals. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Agirdag, O.
2014-01-01
In this study, we examine the largely neglected long-term effects of bilingualism for students with roots in immigration. Our central research question is whether students' bilingual proficiencies have an impact on their future earnings in the USA. For this purpose, we used two different data-sets,
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Neuroanatomical profiles of bilingual children.
Archila-Suerte, Pilar; Woods, Elizabeth A; Chiarello, Christine; Hernandez, Arturo E
2018-02-26
The goal of the present study was to examine differences in cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume between bilingual children who are highly proficient in two languages (i.e., English and Spanish) and bilingual children who are mainly proficient in one of the languages (i.e., Spanish). All children (N = 49) learned Spanish as a native language (L1) at home and English as a second language (L2) at school. Proficiency of both languages was assessed using the standardized Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery. Five-minute high-resolution anatomical scans were acquired with a 3-Tesla scanner. The degree of discrepancy between L1 and L2 proficiency was used to classify the children into two groups: children with balanced proficiency and children with unbalanced proficiency. The groups were comparable on language history, parental education, and other variables except English proficiency. Values of cortical thickness and surface area of the transverse STG, IFG-pars opercularis, and MFG, as well as subcortical volume of the caudate and putamen, were extracted from FreeSurfer. Results showed that children with balanced bilingualism had thinner cortices of the left STG, left IFG, left MFG and a larger bilateral putamen, whereas unbalanced bilinguals showed thicker cortices of the same regions and a smaller putamen. Additionally, unbalanced bilinguals with stronger foreign accents in the L2 showed reduced surface areas of the MFG and STS bilaterally. The results suggest that balanced/unbalanced bilingualism is reflected in different neuroanatomical characteristics that arise from biological and/or environmental factors. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
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Beachboard, Martine Robinson; Beachboard, John C.; Li, Wenling; Adkison, Stephen R.
2011-01-01
This study examines whether feelings of relatedness constitute a substantial means by which learning communities (cohorts) improve learning outcomes in higher education. It applies Ryan and Deci's Self-Determination Theory to an analysis of the National Survey of Student Engagement. The SDT hypothesizes that environments that support perceptions…
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Alvarez, Steven; Alvarez, Sara P.
2016-01-01
Research examining ethnolinguistic community schools (García, Zakharia, & Otcu, 2013) proposes that local spaces not directly affiliated with schools sustain bilingualism and identity. Though researchers often theorize about how community schools sustain home language literacies, less research examines how local public spaces sustain…
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Assessing multilingual children: disentangling bilingualism from language impairment
Armon-Lotem, S.; de Jong, J.; Meir, N.
2015-01-01
This book presents a comprehensive set of tools for assessing the linguistic abilities of bilingual children. It aims to disentangle effects of bilingualism from those of Specific Language Impairment (SLI), making use of both models of bilingualism and models of language impairment.
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A longitudinal study of memory advantages in bilinguals.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jessica K Ljungberg
Full Text Available Typically, studies of cognitive advantages in bilinguals have been conducted previously by using executive and inhibitory tasks (e.g. Simon task and applying cross-sectional designs. This study longitudinally investigated bilingual advantages on episodic memory recall, verbal letter and categorical fluency during the trajectory of life. Monolingual and bilingual participants (n=178 between 35-70 years at baseline were drawn from the Betula Prospective Cohort Study of aging, memory, and health. Results showed that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals at the first testing session and across time both in episodic memory recall and in letter fluency. No interaction with age was found indicating that the rate of change across ages was similar for bilinguals and monolinguals. As predicted and in line with studies applying cross-sectional designs, no advantages associated with bilingualism were found in the categorical fluency task. The results are discussed in the light of successful aging.
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Input and language development in bilingually developing children.
Hoff, Erika; Core, Cynthia
2013-11-01
Language skills in young bilingual children are highly varied as a result of the variability in their language experiences, making it difficult for speech-language pathologists to differentiate language disorder from language difference in bilingual children. Understanding the sources of variability in bilingual contexts and the resulting variability in children's skills will help improve language assessment practices by speech-language pathologists. In this article, we review literature on bilingual first language development for children under 5 years of age. We describe the rate of development in single and total language growth, we describe effects of quantity of input and quality of input on growth, and we describe effects of family composition on language input and language growth in bilingual children. We provide recommendations for language assessment of young bilingual children and consider implications for optimizing children's dual language development. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.
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Validity of Self-reported Healthcare Utilization Data in the Community Health Survey in Korea
Rim, Hwayoung; Lee, Kunsei; Chang, Sounghoon; Hovell, Melbourne F; Kim, Young-Taek; Kim, Yuna; Kang, Gilwon; Tak, Yangju; Im, Jeehye
2011-01-01
To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of Community Health Survey (CHS), we analyzed data from 11,217 participants aged ≥ 19 yr, in 13 cities and counties in 2008. Three healthcare utilization indices (admission, outpatient visits, dental visits) as comparative variables and the insurance benefit claim data of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service as the gold-standard were used. The sensitivities of admission, outpatient visits, and dental visits in CHS were 54.8%, 52.1%, and 61.0%, respectively. The specificities were 96.4%, 85.6%, and 82.7%, respectively. This is the first study to evaluate the validity of nationwide health statistics resulting from questionnaire surveys and shows that CHS needs a lot of efforts to reflect the true health status, health behavior, and healthcare utilization of the population. PMID:22065895
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Attitudes towards bilingualism : the case of two Greek islands
Kostoulas-Makrakis, Nelly; Karantzola, Eleni; Athanassiadis, Elias
2006-01-01
Bilingualism, and more recently plurilingualism, is attracting considerable attention due to the increasing influx of people with different ethnolinguistic background to Western societies as well as the fact that we live in a globalised world. This study presents the results of a large-scale survey administered to 1,727 students enrolled in Greek schools in the islands of Rhodes and Symi during the scholastic year 2002-2003. Using an adapted version of Baker’s questionnaire ...
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Gkaintartzi, Anastasia; Kiliari, Angeliki; Tsokalidou, Roula
2015-01-01
This paper presents data from two studies--a nationwide quantitative research and an ethnographic study--on Greek schoolteachers' attitudes towards immigrant pupils' bilingualism. The quantitative data come from a large-scale questionnaire survey, which aimed at the investigation of the needs and requirements for the implementation of a pilot…
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Usability of Low-Cost Android Data Collection System for Community-Based Participatory Research.
Salihu, Hamisu M; Salinas-Miranda, Abraham; Turner, DeAnne; King, Lindsey; Paothong, Arnut; Austin, Deborah; Berry, Estrellita Lo
2016-01-01
Android tablet computers can be valuable tools for data collection, but their usability has not been evaluated in community-based participatory research (CBPR). This article examines the usability of a low-cost bilingual touchscreen computerized survey system using Android tablets, piloted with a sample of 201 community residents in Tampa, Florida, from November 2013 to March 2014. Needs assessment questions were designed with the droidSURVEY software, and deployed using Android tablet computers. In addition, participants were asked questions about system usability. The mean system usability was 77.57 ± 17.66 (range, 0-100). The mean completion time for taking the 63 survey questions in the needs assessment was 23.11 ± 9.62 minutes. The survey completion rate was optimal (100%), with only 6.34% missingness per variable. We found no sociodemographic differences in usability scores. Our findings indicate that Android tablets could serve as useful tools in CBPR studies.
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The relationships among work stress, strain and self-reported errors in UK community pharmacy.
Johnson, S J; O'Connor, E M; Jacobs, S; Hassell, K; Ashcroft, D M
2014-01-01
Changes in the UK community pharmacy profession including new contractual frameworks, expansion of services, and increasing levels of workload have prompted concerns about rising levels of workplace stress and overload. This has implications for pharmacist health and well-being and the occurrence of errors that pose a risk to patient safety. Despite these concerns being voiced in the profession, few studies have explored work stress in the community pharmacy context. To investigate work-related stress among UK community pharmacists and to explore its relationships with pharmacists' psychological and physical well-being, and the occurrence of self-reported dispensing errors and detection of prescribing errors. A cross-sectional postal survey of a random sample of practicing community pharmacists (n = 903) used ASSET (A Shortened Stress Evaluation Tool) and questions relating to self-reported involvement in errors. Stress data were compared to general working population norms, and regressed on well-being and self-reported errors. Analysis of the data revealed that pharmacists reported significantly higher levels of workplace stressors than the general working population, with concerns about work-life balance, the nature of the job, and work relationships being the most influential on health and well-being. Despite this, pharmacists were not found to report worse health than the general working population. Self-reported error involvement was linked to both high dispensing volume and being troubled by perceived overload (dispensing errors), and resources and communication (detection of prescribing errors). This study contributes to the literature by benchmarking community pharmacists' health and well-being, and investigating sources of stress using a quantitative approach. A further important contribution to the literature is the identification of a quantitative link between high workload and self-reported dispensing errors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights
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Bidinotto, Augusto Bacelo; D'Ávila, Otávio Pereira; Martins, Aline Blaya; Hugo, Fernando Neves; Neutzling, Marilda Borges; Bairros, Fernanda de Souza; Hilgert, Juliana Balbinot
2017-01-01
There's a shortage of evidence on the oral health of quilombolas. This study aims to describe oral health self-perception, as well as to verify its associated factors in quilombola communities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The data for this cross-sectional health survey were collected by application of a questionnaire. Since this study was part of a survey on nutritional security, the probabilistic cluster sample was estimated for the outcome of nutritional insecurity, comprising 583 individuals across quilombola communities in Rio Grande do Sul. The association between the outcome of negative oral health self-perception and sociodemographic, general health, and oral health variables was measured by prevalence ratios obtained through Poisson regressions with robust variance and 95% confidence intervals. Negative self-rated oral health was reported by 313 (53.1%) of the individuals. Satisfaction with chewing ability and satisfaction with oral appearance were associated with a higher prevalence of negative perception of oral health, while there was no association between the outcome and number of teeth. Use of alcohol had a borderline association with the outcome. Satisfaction with appearance and chewing ability are factors associated with oral-health self-perception of the quilombolas in Rio Grande do Sul.
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Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children.
Carlson, Stephanie M; Meltzoff, Andrew N
2008-03-01
Advanced inhibitory control skills have been found in bilingual speakers as compared to monolingual controls (Bialystok, 1999). We examined whether this effect is generalized to an unstudied language group (Spanish-English bilingual) and multiple measures of executive function by administering a battery of tasks to 50 kindergarten children drawn from three language groups: native bilinguals, monolinguals (English), and English speakers enrolled in second-language immersion kindergarten. Despite having significantly lower verbal scores and parent education/income level, Spanish-English bilingual children's raw scores did not differ from their peers. After statistically controlling for these factors and age, native bilingual children performed significantly better on the executive function battery than both other groups. Importantly, the relative advantage was significant for tasks that appear to call for managing conflicting attentional demands (Conflict tasks); there was no advantage on impulse-control (Delay tasks). These results advance our understanding of both the generalizability and specificity of the compensatory effects of bilingual experience for children's cognitive development.
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The concept of a bilingual dictionary
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Tarp, Sven
2005-01-01
The term bilingual dictionary is widely used, not only by librarians and dictionary users en general but also by professional lexicographers dedicated to the theory and practice of dictionary making. For this reason it should be expected that there were a common and well-established definition...... of the concept of a bilingual dictionary. It is evident that most people has an intuitive idea of what is meant by «bilingual dictionary». But science-based lexicographic theory - at least if it wants to be considered as such - must go beyond intuition and furnish precise definitions of the concepts used...... chapters, various definitions will be discussed and related to dictionary practice and, subsequently, the very concept of a bilingual dictionary will be examined in the light of a dictionary typology based upon the modern theory of lexicographic functions....
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Bilingualism and Cognition: Informing Research, Pedagogy, and Policy
Garcia, Eugene E.; Nanez, Jose E., Sr.
2011-01-01
In the United States, approximately 7% to 10% of children are raised in bilingual households. Despite inherent advantages to bilingualism, some bilingual children experience a significant lag in academic success relative to other groups. Bridging the fields of cognitive psychology and education, this volume presents research-based knowledge on…
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Narratives of Self in Older Bilingual Adults Diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease
López de Victoria Rodríguez, Patria C.
2016-01-01
As the boom in the older adult population continues to grow, so too grows the number of persons suffering from cognitive diseases, such as dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). Older Latinos diagnosed with the disease make up 4 percent (200,000) of the current population; however, little research on bilinguals with DAT has been carried out…
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The effects of bilingualism on children's perception of speech sounds
Brasileiro, I.
2009-01-01
The general topic addressed by this dissertation is that of bilingualism, and more specifically, the topic of bilingual acquisition of speech sounds. The central question in this study is the following: does bilingualism affect children’s perceptual development of speech sounds? The term bilingual
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Immersive bilingualism reshapes the core of the brain.
Pliatsikas, Christos; DeLuca, Vincent; Moschopoulou, Elisavet; Saddy, James Douglas
2017-05-01
Bilingualism has been shown to affect the structure of the brain, including cortical regions related to language. Less is known about subcortical structures, such as the basal ganglia, which underlie speech monitoring and language selection, processes that are crucial for bilinguals, as well as other linguistic functions, such as grammatical and phonological acquisition and processing. Simultaneous bilinguals have demonstrated significant reshaping of the basal ganglia and the thalamus compared to monolinguals. However, it is not clear whether these effects are due to learning of the second language (L2) at a very young age or simply due to continuous usage of two languages. Here, we show that bilingualism-induced subcortical effects are directly related to the amount of continuous L2 usage, or L2 immersion. We found significant subcortical reshaping in non-simultaneous (or sequential) bilinguals with extensive immersion in a bilingual environment, closely mirroring the recent findings in simultaneous bilinguals. Importantly, some of these effects were positively correlated to the amount of L2 immersion. Conversely, sequential bilinguals with comparable proficiency and age of acquisition (AoA) but limited immersion did not show similar effects. Our results provide structural evidence to suggestions that L2 acquisition continuously occurs in an immersive environment, and is expressed as dynamic reshaping of the core of the brain. These findings propose that second language learning in the brain is a dynamic procedure which depends on active and continuous L2 usage.
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Drunken Speech and the Construction of Meaning: Bilingual Competence in the Southern Peruvian Andes.
Harvey, Penelope M.
1991-01-01
Examination of the language use of drunken speakers in a bilingual Southern Peruvian Andes community found that drunken speakers were less constrained in their linguistic choices by individual linguistic competence and of differential status between speaker and addressee, and they exploited the ambiguities in implicit social meanings that normally…
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Bilingualism as a kind of therapy?
Hulk, A.; Unsworth, S.
2010-01-01
In her very interesting Keynote Article, Johanne Paradis gives a clear overview of recent research at the interface of bilingual development and child language disorders, and highlights its theoretical and clinical implications. She raises the challenging question of "whether bilingualism can be
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Main Trands and Prospects of Bilingual Education Development
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Y. Solntseva-Nakova
2015-02-01
Full Text Available The paper deals with the system of bilingual education, its development history, causes and effects of transformation of multi-ethnical education into polycultural one. The correlation between the bilingual and polycultural teaching is emphasized, its intensification resulting from the historical and socio-cultural background, as well as the global trends in philosophy, pedagogy and psychology. The author specifies the term of bilingual teaching; examines its various models emphasizing that their preferences depend on the particular socio-lingual backgrounds; demonstrates the relevance of bilingual teaching resulted from the general trend of economic, cultural and political integration. The advantages of bilingual education are enumerated: the access to information in various spheres and in a broader scale, continuing educational growth and competitiveness in the European and world labor markets.
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Main Trands and Prospects of Bilingual Education Development
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Y. Solntseva-Nakova
2012-01-01
Full Text Available The paper deals with the system of bilingual education, its development history, causes and effects of transformation of multi-ethnical education into polycultural one. The correlation between the bilingual and polycultural teaching is emphasized, its intensification resulting from the historical and socio-cultural background, as well as the global trends in philosophy, pedagogy and psychology. The author specifies the term of bilingual teaching; examines its various models emphasizing that their preferences depend on the particular socio-lingual backgrounds; demonstrates the relevance of bilingual teaching resulted from the general trend of economic, cultural and political integration. The advantages of bilingual education are enumerated: the access to information in various spheres and in a broader scale, continuing educational growth and competitiveness in the European and world labor markets.
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Does Bilingualism Delay the Development of Dementia?
Amy L Atkinson
2016-01-01
It has been suggested that bilingualism (where individuals speak two languages) may delay the development of dementia. However, much of the research is inconclusive. Some researchers have reported that bilingualism delays the onset and diagnosis of dementia, whilst other studies have found weak or even detrimental effects. This paper reviews a series of nine empirical studies, published up until March 2016, which investigated whether bilingualism significantly delays the onset of dementia. Th...
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A CLOSE LOOK AT BILINGUALISM RESEARCH IN ASIA
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Evynurul Laily Zen
2017-09-01
Full Text Available Asia is a ‘homeland’ for bilingualism research in regards to its diversity. It is considered as a vivid research site where there is significant growth of academic areas of exploration. Yet, there are very few scientific attempts to map bilingualism research in an Asian context so far. Thus, I bring the idea of mapping previous works through this literature study by specifically scrutinizing (a bilingualism research in Southeast Asia, (b bilingualism research in other parts of Asia, and (c lessons to learn as a stepping stone to define the future of Indonesian bilingualism. The general data mapping I have explored includes Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam and other parts of Asia (China, India, Israel, and Kazakhstan. The findings from the 33 previous works can be considered as empirical evidence that I will use to portray the research trends in Asia’s bilingualism. The trends show that 19 (55% works have approached bilingual data from sociolinguistics perspective, whereas the other 14 (45% have framed their analysis under psycholinguistic approach. Based on the methodological concerns from these works, I propose two major areas of exploration: Family Language Policy (FLP and trilingual acquisition. FLP in Indonesian is a promising ground, as it brings together issues in language maintenance and shift that instigate a wider aspect of investigation; these aspects include bilingual language dominance, cross language influence, and so forth. Trilingual acquisition, the situation most Indonesian children are growing with, has a potentially significant impact on education, especially where a language curriculum is carefully planned and implemented. In conclusion, this mapping will hopefully shed a light on how bilingualism has academically been very appealing and will continue to fascinate more researchers.
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Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers.
Kan, Pui Fong; Sadagopan, Neeraja
2014-01-01
The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan et al., 2014), the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals' retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals' retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals' language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words.
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Influence of Bilinguism on Socio-Cognitive Personality Development
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
I. V. Sokolova
2012-01-01
Full Text Available The paper gives an overeview of foreign studies devoted to bilinguism and its influence on socio-cognitive personality development. Experimental research conducted in the recent years has broken the myth of negative influence of childhood bilinguism. Moreover, based on the comparative analysis, the present research shows the advantages of children and adults grown up in the bilingual environment. Their advantages compared with the monolingual peers include the well-developed meta-lingual abilities and executive functions - executive control, attention, planning, concentration, rejection of inessential information - necessary for fulfilling verbal tasks and activity control. The paper emphasizes the influence of bilinguism on cognitive decentration, ability to learn foreign languages and develop higher social sensitivity regarding both verbal and non-verbal communication (i.e. interpretation of mimics, gestures, intonations, and more adequate reaction to communicative behavior of surrounding people.The author concludes that bilinguism stimulates creativity, facilitates divergent thinking necessary for observing a variety of possible solutions and creative ideas development. Bilingual skills broaden children’s mental horizons leaving them more prepared for adult life compared to their monolingual peers.
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Bilingualism provides a neural reserve for aging populations.
Abutalebi, Jubin; Guidi, Lucia; Borsa, Virginia; Canini, Matteo; Della Rosa, Pasquale A; Parris, Ben A; Weekes, Brendan S
2015-03-01
It has been postulated that bilingualism may act as a cognitive reserve and recent behavioral evidence shows that bilinguals are diagnosed with dementia about 4-5 years later compared to monolinguals. In the present study, we investigated the neural basis of these putative protective effects in a group of aging bilinguals as compared to a matched monolingual control group. For this purpose, participants completed the Erikson Flanker task and their performance was correlated to gray matter (GM) volume in order to investigate if cognitive performance predicts GM volume specifically in areas affected by aging. We performed an ex-Gaussian analysis on the resulting RTs and report that aging bilinguals performed better than aging monolinguals on the Flanker task. Bilingualism was overall associated with increased GM in the ACC. Likewise, aging induced effects upon performance correlated only for monolinguals to decreased gray matter in the DLPFC. Taken together, these neural regions might underlie the benefits of bilingualism and act as a neural reserve that protects against the cognitive decline that occurs during aging. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The influence of bilingualism on statistical word learning.
Poepsel, Timothy J; Weiss, Daniel J
2016-07-01
Statistical learning is a fundamental component of language acquisition, yet to date, relatively few studies have examined whether these abilities differ in bilinguals. In the present study, we examine this issue by comparing English monolinguals with Chinese-English and English-Spanish bilinguals in a cross-situational statistical learning (CSSL) task. In Experiment 1, we assessed the ability of both monolinguals and bilinguals on a basic CSSL task that contained only one-to-one mappings. In Experiment 2, learners were asked to form both one-to-one and two-to-one mappings, and were tested at three points during familiarization. Overall, monolinguals and bilinguals did not differ in their learning of one-to-one mappings. However, bilinguals more quickly acquired two-to-one mappings, while also exhibiting greater proficiency than monolinguals. We conclude that the fundamental SL mechanism may not be affected by language experience, in accord with previous studies. However, when the input contains greater variability, bilinguals may be more prone to detecting the presence of multiple structures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Interference Control In Elderly Bilinguals: Appearances Can Be Misleading.
Ansaldo, Ana Inés; Ghazi-Saidi, Ladan; Adrover-Roig, Daniel
2015-01-01
Bilingualism has been associated with successful aging. In particular, research on the cognitive advantages of bilingualism suggests that it can enhance control over interference and help delay the onset of dementia signs. However, the evidence on the so-called cognitive advantage is not unanimous; furthermore, little is known about the neural basis of this supposed cognitive advantage in bilingual as opposed to monolingual elderly populations. In this study, elderly bilingual and monolingual participants performed a visuospatial interference control task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. Response times and accuracy rates were calculated for congruent and incongruent conditions of the Simon task, and the neurofunctional correlates of performance on the Simon task were examined. The results showed equivalent performance on the Simon task across groups but different underlying neural substrates in the two groups. With incongruent trials, monolinguals activated the right middle frontal gyrus, whereas bilinguals relied upon the left inferior parietal lobule. These results show that elderly bilinguals and monolinguals have equivalent interference control abilities, but relay on different neural substrates. Thus, while monolinguals show a classical PASA (posterior-anterior shift in aging) effect, recruiting frontal areas, bilinguals activate visuospatial processing alone and thus do not show this posterior-anterior shift. Moreover, a modulation of frontal activity with task-dynamic control of interference, observed in the elderly bilingual group alone, suggests that elderly bilinguals deal with interference control without recruiting a circuit that is particularly vulnerable to aging.
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Beneficial effect of bilingualism on Alzheimer's disease CSF biomarkers and cognition.
Estanga, Ainara; Ecay-Torres, Mirian; Ibañez, Almudena; Izagirre, Andrea; Villanua, Jorge; Garcia-Sebastian, Maite; Iglesias Gaspar, M Teresa; Otaegui-Arrazola, Ane; Iriondo, Ane; Clerigue, Monserrat; Martinez-Lage, Pablo
2017-02-01
Bilingualism as a component of cognitive reserve has been claimed to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, its effect on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD-biomarkers has not been investigated. We assessed cognitive performance and CSF AD-biomarkers, and potential moderation effect of bilingualism on the association between age, CSF AD-biomarkers, and cognition. Cognitively healthy middle-aged participants classified as monolinguals (n = 100, n CSF = 59), early (n = 81, n CSF = 55) and late bilinguals (n = 97, n CSF = 52) were evaluated. Models adjusted for confounders showed that bilinguals performed better than monolinguals on digits backwards (early-bilinguals p = 0.003), Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO) (early-bilinguals p = 0.018; late-bilinguals p = 0.004), and Trail Making Test-B (late-bilinguals p = 0.047). Early bilingualism was associated with lower CSF total-tau (p = 0.019) and lower prevalence of preclinical AD (NIA-AA classification) (p = 0.02). Bilingualism showed a moderation effect on the relationship between age and CSF AD-biomarkers and the relationship between age and executive function. We conclude that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve enhancing executive and visual-spatial functions. For the first time, this study reveals that early bilingualism is associated with more favorable CSF AD-biomarker profile. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The effects of bilingual growth on toddlers' executive function.
Crivello, Cristina; Kuzyk, Olivia; Rodrigues, Monyka; Friend, Margaret; Zesiger, Pascal; Poulin-Dubois, Diane
2016-01-01
The mastery of two languages provides bilingual speakers with cognitive benefits over monolinguals, particularly on cognitive flexibility and selective attention. However, extant research is limited to comparisons between monolinguals and bilinguals at a single point in time. This study investigated whether growth in bilingual proficiency, as shown by an increased number of translation equivalents (TEs) over a 7-month period, improves executive function. We hypothesized that bilingual toddlers with a larger increase of TEs would have more practice in switching across lexical systems, boosting executive function abilities. Expressive vocabulary and TEs were assessed at 24 and 31 months of age. A battery of tasks, including conflict, delay, and working memory tasks, was administered at 31 months. As expected, we observed a task-specific advantage in inhibitory control in bilinguals. More important, within the bilingual group, larger increases in the number of TEs predicted better performance on conflict tasks but not on delay tasks. This unique longitudinal design confirms the relation between executive function and early bilingualism. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Bilingualism, dementia, cognitive and neural reserve.
Perani, Daniela; Abutalebi, Jubin
2015-12-01
We discuss the role of bilingualism as a source of cognitive reserve and we propose the putative neural mechanisms through which lifelong bilingualism leads to a neural reserve that delays the onset of dementia. Recent findings highlight that the use of more than one language affects the human brain in terms of anatomo-structural changes. It is noteworthy that recent evidence from different places and cultures throughout the world points to a significant delay of dementia onset in bilingual/multilingual individuals. This delay has been reported not only for Alzheimer's dementia and its prodromal mild cognitive impairment phase, but also for other dementias such as vascular and fronto-temporal dementia, and was found to be independent of literacy, education and immigrant status. Lifelong bilingualism represents a powerful cognitive reserve delaying the onset of dementia by approximately 4 years. As to the causal mechanism, because speaking more than one language heavily relies upon executive control and attention, brain systems handling these functions are more developed in bilinguals resulting in increases of gray and white matter densities that may help protect from dementia onset. These neurocognitive benefits are even more prominent when second language proficiency and exposure are kept high throughout life.
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Ada, Alma Flor; Baker, Colin
This book provides a practical introduction to questions about bilingualism. It is for parents and teachers who are themselves bilingual, for monolinguals who want to know more, for those with some intuitive understanding of bilingual situations and for those who are starting from the very beginning. The book poses questions that people often ask…
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A Case for Multidimensional Bilingual Assessment
Sanchez, Serafin V.; Rodriguez, Billie Jo; Soto-Huerta, Mary Esther; Villarreal, Felicia Castro; Guerra, Norma Susan; Flores, Belinda Bustos
2013-01-01
Current assessment practices in the United States are not able to accurately capture the total linguistic, cognitive, and achievement abilities of bilingual learners. There are psychometric complexities involved when assessing and interpreting test results of bilingual students, which impact the validity of this practice. Further, the compromise…
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Desjardins, Jamie L.; Fernandez, Francisco
2018-01-01
Purpose: Bilingual individuals have been shown to be more proficient on visual tasks of inhibition compared with their monolingual counterparts. However, the bilingual advantage has not been evidenced in all studies, and very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences inhibitory control in the perception of auditory information. The…
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Enhanced music sensitivity in 9-month-old bilingual infants
Liu, L.; Kager, R.W.J.
This study explores the influence of bilingualism on the cognitive processing of language and music. Specifically, we investigate how infants learning a non-tone language perceive linguistic and musical pitch and how bilingualism affects cross-domain pitch perception. Dutch monolingual and bilingual
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Teaching Mathematics Bilingually for Kindergarten Students with Teaching Aids Based on Local Wisdom
Ambarini, Ririn; Setyaji, Arso; Suneki, Sri
2018-01-01
Language and Mathematics are both skills and knowledge that need to master well so that it can be the provision for students' future life when mingling with the community or society. Because of that the integration of teaching both language and Mathematics in bilingual Math learning will give many benefits to the students. They will learn not only…
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Becoming Bilingual: A View Towards Communicative Competence
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lilla Musyahda
2003-01-01
Full Text Available The phenomenon of foreign language mastery shall always be the main issue in the pedagogy since it has numerous advantages in human life, especially in terms of economic value. The definition of bilingualism is connected with the speaking of two languages or expression in two languages and it can be used to describe societies or individuals (Lyon, 1995. The way that a bilingual adapts to a certain condition leads to a certain phenomenon, which is quite interesting to analyze. The texture of the bilingual's creativity is essentially the result of the process of translation and transcreation, and insightful approaches to stylistics-its theory and methodology must be take into consideration. When people speak more than one languages, they may have different levels of proficiency in each of the languages, and use them for very different social purposes and in different situations. The languages that a bilingual speaks affect each other in various ways, so much that there is a regular study of what happens when one language comes into contact with another. In educational setting, it is important to know how a bilingual's first language may affect the function of other languages. The paper will discuss the phenomenon of bilingual and the implication towards communicative competence which would consists, minimally, of four areas of knowledge and skills; grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence.
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Becoming Bilingual: A View Towards Communicative Competence
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lilla Musyanda
2002-01-01
Full Text Available Abstract: The phenomenon of foreign language mastery shall always be the main issue in the pedagogy since it has numerous advantages in human life, especially in terms of economic value. The definition of bilingualism is connected with the speaking of two languages or expression in two languages and it can be used to describe societies or individuals (Lyon, 1995. The way that a bilingual adapts to a certain condition leads to a certain phenomenon, which is quite interesting to analyze. The texture of the bilingual's creativity is essentially the result of the process of translation and transcreation, and insightful approaches to stylistics-its theory and methodology must be take into consideration. When people speak more than one languages, they may have different levels of proficiency in each of the languages, and use them for very different social purposes and in different situations. The languages that a bilingual speaks affect each other in various ways, so much that there is a regular study of what happens when one language comes into contact with another. In educational setting, it is important to know how a bilingual's first language may affect the function of other languages. The paper will discuss the phenomenon of bilingual and the implication towards communicative competence which would consists, minimally, of four areas of knowledge and skills; grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence.
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Bilingualism and age are continuous variables that influence executive function.
Incera, Sara; McLennan, Conor T
2018-05-01
We analyzed the effects of bilingualism and age on executive function. We examined these variables along a continuum, as opposed to dichotomizing them. We investigated the impact that bilingualism and age have on two measures of executive control (Stroop and Flanker). The mouse-tracking paradigm allowed us to examine the continuous dynamics of the responses as participants completed each trial. First, we found that the Stroop effect was reduced with younger age and higher levels of bilingualism; however, no Bilingualism by Age interaction emerged. Second, after controlling for baseline, the Flanker effect was not influenced by bilingualism or age. These results support the notion that bilingualism is one way of enhancing some aspects of executive function - specifically those related to the Stroop task - across the adult life span. In sum, different levels of bilingualism, and different ages, result in varying degrees of executive function as measured by the Stroop task.
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Semantic Convergence in the Bilingual Lexicon
Ameel, Eef; Malt, Barbara C.; Storms, Gert; Van Assche, Fons
2009-01-01
Bilinguals' lexical mappings for their two languages have been found to converge toward a common naming pattern. The present paper investigates in more detail how semantic convergence is manifested in bilingual lexical knowledge. We examined how semantic convergence affects the centers and boundaries of lexical categories for common household…
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Bilingual Enhancements Have No Socioeconomic Boundaries
Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Kraus, Nina
2016-01-01
To understand how socioeconomic status (SES) and bilingualism simultaneously operate on cognitive and sensory function, we examined executive control, language skills, and neural processing of sound in adolescents who differed in language experience (i.e. English monolingual or Spanish-English bilingual) and level of maternal education (a proxy…
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Bilingual education as a way to decolonization
Cocco, Elisa; Prip, Kasper; Arenas, Marisol; Todorova, Natalyia; Pedersen, Stefan
2014-01-01
This paper concerns the link between a post-colonial nation and a bilingual education and more specifically how bilingual education methods can be used as a means towards decolonization and a decolonized identity . The scope of our work is purposely focused on Peru in order to solve our problem formulation, which sounds: ‘‘Is it possible to create a conscious decolonized identity through a bilingual education program?’’ Comparative analyses of different relevant non-fiction literature as well...
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Rising to the Bilingual Challenge: Self-Reported Experiences of Managing Life with Two Languages
Tytus, Agnieszka Ewa
2018-01-01
A recent surge of findings on bilingual cognitive advantage has attracted attention from both researchers and the media. An advantage has been demonstrated with regard to, inter alia, inhibiting, switching, monitoring and updating. However, Paap et al. argue that the advantage does not exist or is only limited to executive functioning. Both sides…
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Cognitive advantages of bilingual children in different sociolinguistic contexts
Blom, E.; Boerma, T.; Bosma, E.; Cornips, L.M.E.A.; Everaert, E.
2017-01-01
Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6–7 years, with a monolingual control
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Working with Bilingual Learners: An Introduction
Willenberg, Ingrid
2015-01-01
This article seeks to provide a theoretical overview of bilingualism and discuss the key concepts and theories that inform classroom pedagogy with bilingual learners. Although some specific classroom strategies are introduced, the primary purpose is not to offer strategies, but rather to offer guiding principles based on theory and research to…
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Lifelong bilingualism maintains neural efficiency for cognitive control in aging.
Gold, Brian T; Kim, Chobok; Johnson, Nathan F; Kryscio, Richard J; Smith, Charles D
2013-01-09
Recent behavioral data have shown that lifelong bilingualism can maintain youthful cognitive control abilities in aging. Here, we provide the first direct evidence of a neural basis for the bilingual cognitive control boost in aging. Two experiments were conducted, using a perceptual task-switching paradigm, including a total of 110 participants. In Experiment 1, older adult bilinguals showed better perceptual switching performance than their monolingual peers. In Experiment 2, younger and older adult monolinguals and bilinguals completed the same perceptual task-switching experiment while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed. Typical age-related performance reductions and fMRI activation increases were observed. However, like younger adults, bilingual older adults outperformed their monolingual peers while displaying decreased activation in left lateral frontal cortex and cingulate cortex. Critically, this attenuation of age-related over-recruitment associated with bilingualism was directly correlated with better task-switching performance. In addition, the lower blood oxygenation level-dependent response in frontal regions accounted for 82% of the variance in the bilingual task-switching reaction time advantage. These results suggest that lifelong bilingualism offsets age-related declines in the neural efficiency for cognitive control processes.
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Creating a Translanguaging Space for High School Emergent Bilinguals
Li, Shuzhan; Luo, Wenjing
2017-01-01
Translanguaging is a rapidly developing concept in bilingual education. Working from the theoretical background of dynamic bilingualism, a translanguaging lens posits that bilingual learners draw on a holistic linguistic repertoire to make sense of the world and to communicate effectively with texts. What is relatively underdeveloped is the…
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Cognitive Advantages and Disadvantages in Early and Late Bilinguals
Pelham, Sabra D.; Abrams, Lise
2014-01-01
Previous research has documented advantages and disadvantages of early bilinguals, defined as learning a 2nd language by school age and using both languages since that time. Relative to monolinguals, early bilinguals manifest deficits in lexical access but benefits in executive function. We investigated whether becoming bilingual "after"…
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Language preference and development of dementia among bilingual individuals.
McMurtray, Aaron; Saito, Erin; Nakamoto, Beau
2009-10-01
In bilingual individuals, regression to a primary language may be associated with development of cognitive impairment and increased risk for development of dementia. This report describes two bilingual patients who presented with early symptoms of dementia after regression to their primary language. The results of this study may help clinicians identify aging bilingual patients who are beginning to develop cognitive impairment or dementia and suggest that further studies on the long term cognitive effects of bilingualism and interactions with the aging process are indicated.
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Hsu, Hsiu-Ling
2017-08-01
We conducted three experiments investigating in more detail the interaction between the two effects of bilingualism and L1-L2 similarity in the speech performance of balanced and unbalanced bilinguals. In Experiment 1, L1 Mandarin monolinguals and two groups of Hakka and Minnan balanced bilinguals (Hakka: more similar to Mandarin) performed a non-contextual single-character reading task in Mandarin, which required more inhibitory control. The two bilingual groups outperformed the monolinguals, regardless of their L1 background. However, the bilingual advantage was not found in a contextual multi-word task (Experiment 2), but instead the effect of cross-linguistic similarity emerged. Furthermore, in Experiment 3, the Hakka unbalanced bilinguals showed an advantage in the non-contextual task, while their Minnan counterparts did not, and the impact of L1-L2 similarity emerged in both tasks. These results unveiled the way the two effects dynamically interplayed depending on the task contexts and the relative degrees of using L1 and L2.
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Training Bilingual Educators at a PBI
Montes, Amanda Lira Gordenstein; Valenciano, Cynthia Kay; Fernandez, Miguel
2018-01-01
While Bilingual Education has traditionally been associated with linguistic diversity, the rise of the number of African-American teacher candidates in a Bilingual Education program at a mid-west Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) is causing the authors to reevaluate the input of this program's curriculum and the output of the candidates'…
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Contribution of Bilingualism in Language Teaching
Sipra, Muhammad Aslam
2013-01-01
This study is an investigation into the contribution of the use of bilingualism as an aid in learning/teaching English as a foreign language and bilingualism in EFL classroom does not reduce students' communicative abilities but in effect can assist in teaching and learning process. The study employed a qualitative, interpretive research design…
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Cognitive control, cognitive reserve, and memory in the aging bilingual brain
Grant, Angela; Dennis, Nancy A.; Li, Ping
2014-01-01
In recent years bilingualism has been linked to both advantages in executive control and positive impacts on aging. Such positive cognitive effects of bilingualism have been attributed to the increased need for language control during bilingual processing and increased cognitive reserve, respectively. However, a mechanistic explanation of how bilingual experience contributes to cognitive reserve is still lacking. The current paper proposes a new focus on bilingual memory as an avenue to explo...
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Jasinska, K K; Petitto, L A
2013-10-01
Is the developing bilingual brain fundamentally similar to the monolingual brain (e.g., neural resources supporting language and cognition)? Or, does early-life bilingual language experience change the brain? If so, how does age of first bilingual exposure impact neural activation for language? We compared how typically-developing bilingual and monolingual children (ages 7-10) and adults recruit brain areas during sentence processing using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging. Bilingual participants included early-exposed (bilingual exposure from birth) and later-exposed individuals (bilingual exposure between ages 4-6). Both bilingual children and adults showed greater neural activation in left-hemisphere classic language areas, and additionally, right-hemisphere homologues (Right Superior Temporal Gyrus, Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus). However, important differences were observed between early-exposed and later-exposed bilinguals in their earliest-exposed language. Early bilingual exposure imparts fundamental changes to classic language areas instead of alterations to brain regions governing higher cognitive executive functions. However, age of first bilingual exposure does matter. Later-exposed bilinguals showed greater recruitment of the prefrontal cortex relative to early-exposed bilinguals and monolinguals. The findings provide fascinating insight into the neural resources that facilitate bilingual language use and are discussed in terms of how early-life language experiences can modify the neural systems underlying human language processing. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
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Bilingual First Language Acquisition: Exploring the Limits of the Language Faculty.
Genesee, Fred
2001-01-01
Reviews current research in three domains of bilingual acquisition: pragmatic features of bilingual code mixing, grammatical constraints on child bilingual code mixing, and bilingual syntactic development. Examines implications from these domains for the understanding of the limits of the mental faculty to acquire language. (Author/VWL)
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Measuring sexual function in community surveys: development of a conceptual framework.
Mitchell, Kirstin R; Wellings, Kaye
2013-01-01
Among the many psychometric measures of sexual (dys)function, none is entirely suited to use in community surveys. Faced with the need to include a brief and non-intrusive measure of sexual function in a general population survey, a new measure was developed. Findings from qualitative research with men and women in the community designed to inform the conceptual framework for this measure are presented. Thirty-two semi-structured interviews with individuals recruited from a general practice, an HIV/AIDS charity, and a sexual problems clinic were conducted. From their accounts, 31 potential criteria of a functional sex life were identified. Using evidence from qualitative data and the existing literature, and applying a set of decision rules, the list was reduced to 13 (eight for those not in a relationship), and a further eight criteria were added to enable individuals to self-rate their level of function and indicate the severity of difficulties. These criteria constitute a conceptual framework that is grounded in participant perceptions; is relevant to all, regardless of sexual experience or orientation; provides opportunity to state the degree of associated distress; and incorporates relational, psychological, and physiological aspects. It provides the conceptual basis for a concise and acceptable measure of sexual function.
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Thompson, Geoff
1987-01-01
Monolingual dictionaries have serious disadvantages in many language teaching situations; bilingual dictionaries are potentially more efficient and more motivating sources of information for language learners. (Author/CB)
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Is bilingualism losing its advantage? A bibliometric approach.
Sanchez-Azanza, Victor A; López-Penadés, Raúl; Buil-Legaz, Lucía; Aguilar-Mediavilla, Eva; Adrover-Roig, Daniel
2017-01-01
This study uses several bibliometric indices to explore the temporal course of publication trends regarding the bilingual advantage in executive control over a ten-year window. These indices include the number of published papers, numbers of citations, and the journal impact factor. According to the information available in their abstracts, studies were classified into one of four categories: supporting, ambiguous towards, not mentioning, or challenging the bilingual advantage. Results show that the number of papers challenging the bilingual advantage increased notably in 2014 and 2015. Both the average impact factor and the accumulated citations as of June 2016 were equivalent between categories. However, of the studies published in 2014, those that challenge the bilingual advantage accumulated more citations in June 2016 than those supporting it. Our findings offer evidence-based bibliometric information about the current state of the literature and suggest a change in publication trends regarding the literature on the bilingual advantage.
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A comparison of bilingual education and generalist teachers' approaches to scientific biliteracy
Garza, Esther
The purpose of this study was to determine if educators were capitalizing on bilingual learners' use of their biliterate abilities to acquire scientific meaning and discourse that would formulate a scientific biliterate identity. Mixed methods were used to explore teachers' use of biliteracy and Funds of Knowledge (Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N., 1992; Gonzales, Moll, & Amanti, 2005) from the students' Latino heritage while conducting science inquiry. The research study explored four constructs that conceptualized scientific biliteracy. The four constructs include science literacy, science biliteracy, reading comprehension strategies and students' cultural backgrounds. There were 156 4th-5th grade bilingual and general education teachers in South Texas that were surveyed using the Teacher Scientific Biliteracy Inventory (TSBI) and five teachers' science lessons were observed. Qualitative findings revealed that a variety of scientific biliteracy instructional strategies were frequently used in both bilingual and general education classrooms. The language used to deliver this instruction varied. A General Linear Model revealed that classroom assignment, bilingual or general education, had a significant effect on a teacher's instructional approach to employ scientific biliteracy. A simple linear regression found that the TSBI accounted for 17% of the variance on 4th grade reading benchmarks. Mixed methods results indicated that teachers were utilizing scientific biliteracy strategies in English, Spanish and/or both languages. Household items and science experimentation at home were encouraged by teachers to incorporate the students' cultural backgrounds. Finally, science inquiry was conducted through a universal approach to science learning versus a multicultural approach to science learning.
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Chen, Katherine Hoi Ying
2008-01-01
Li Wei (1995) notes that relatively little sociolinguistic work on bilingualism has attempted to analyze and compare the complex relationships between aspects of language choice and code-switching among subgroups of the same community. This study aims to investigate the co-existence of two structurally different Cantonese-English code-switching…
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How does the bilingual experience sculpt the brain?
Costa, Albert; Sebastián-Gallés, Núria
2014-05-01
The ability to speak two languages often marvels monolinguals, although bilinguals report no difficulties in achieving this feat. Here, we examine how learning and using two languages affect language acquisition and processing as well as various aspects of cognition. We do so by addressing three main questions. First, how do infants who are exposed to two languages acquire them without apparent difficulty? Second, how does language processing differ between monolingual and bilingual adults? Last, what are the collateral effects of bilingualism on the executive control system across the lifespan? Research in all three areas has not only provided some fascinating insights into bilingualism but also revealed new issues related to brain plasticity and language learning.
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Nonsuicidal Self-Harm among Community Adolescents: Understanding the "Whats" and "Whys" of Self-Harm
Laye-Gindhu, Aviva; Schonert-Reichl, Kimberly A.
2005-01-01
This study examines self-harm in a community sample of adolescents. More specifically, the study identifies the prevalence and types of self-harm, elucidates the nature and underlying function of self-harm, and evaluates the relation of psychological adjustment, sociodemographic, and health-risk variables to self-harm. Self-report questionnaires…
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Bilingualism--A Sanguine Step in ELT
Anil, Beena
2014-01-01
Bilingualism can be used as a teaching aid in teaching and learning English language in an Indian classroom and to improve the language accuracy, fluency, and clarity of learners. Bilingualism can aid the teaching and learning process productively in the classroom. In India, most of the students consider English as a subject rather than a tool of…
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Effects of bilingualism on white matter integrity in older adults.
Anderson, John A E; Grundy, John G; De Frutos, Jaisalmer; Barker, Ryan M; Grady, Cheryl; Bialystok, Ellen
2018-02-15
Bilingualism can delay the onset of dementia symptoms and has thus been characterized as a mechanism for cognitive or brain reserve, although the origin of this reserve is unknown. Studies with young adults generally show that bilingualism is associated with a strengthening of white matter, but there is conflicting evidence for how bilingualism affects white matter in older age. Given that bilingualism has been shown to help stave off the symptoms of dementia by up to four years, it is crucial that we clarify the mechanism underlying this reserve. The current study uses diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to compare monolinguals and bilinguals while carefully controlling for potential confounds (e.g., I.Q., MMSE, and demographic variables). We show that group differences in Fractional Anisotropy (FA) and Radial Diffusivity (RD) arise from multivariable interactions not adequately controlled for by sequential bivariate testing. After matching and statistically controlling for confounds, bilinguals still had greater axial diffusivity (AD) in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus than monolingual peers, supporting a neural reserve account for healthy older bilinguals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Morimoto, Yasuko; Harada, Shinichi; Nakamoto, Kazuo; Tokuyama, Shogo
2013-01-01
The usefulness as one of the tools for self-medication of oral rehydration therapy (ORT), recommended as a safe and effective therapy for mild to moderate dehydration, was surveyed by questionnaire for pharmacists in community pharmacies. ORT products were sold in 112 pharmacies (61%), and the common product was OS-1(®). Approximately 50% of sellers answered that they had no particular difficulty in explaining ORT. Percentage to answer "hard to describe" is significantly higher in pharmacists who believe there is a need to consider underlying health conditions of customers or patients when implementing ORT. Around 77% of pharmacists considered ORT to be useful in patients as a method of self-medication. A significant number of pharmacists selling ORT products depends on the consultation from customers or patients and provide advice to them confirming that ORT was useful. From these results, it was suggested that further information concerning ORT, such as its use in patients with chronic disorders or signs for completion, and the initiative of pharmacists to participate are necessary for spread the efficacy of ORT for self-medication in patients.
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The impact of bilingualism on working memory in pediatric epilepsy
Veenstra, Amy L.; Riley, Jeffrey D.; Barrett, Lauren E.; Muhonen, Michael G.; Zupanc, Mary; Romain, Jonathan E.; Lin, Jack J.; Mucci, Grace
2016-01-01
Impairments in executive skills broadly span across multiple childhood epilepsy syndromes and can adversely affect quality of life. Bilingualism has been previously shown to correlate with enhanced executive functioning in healthy individuals. This study seeks to determine whether the bilingual advantage in executive functioning exists in the context of pediatric epilepsy. We retrospectively analyzed neuropsychological data in 52 children with epilepsy and compared executive function scores in monolingual versus bilingual children with epilepsy, while controlling for socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Bilingual children performed significantly better on the Working Memory scale than did monolingual children. There were no significant differences on the remaining executive function variables. The bilingual advantage appears to persist for working memory in children with epilepsy. These findings suggest that bilingualism is potentially a protective variable in the face of epilepsy-related working memory dysfunction. PMID:26720703
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Bi-Lingual Newspaper as an Expression of a Fake Multicultural Educational Policy in Israel
Baratz, Lea; Reingold, Roni; Abuhatzira, Hannah
2011-01-01
The current paper analyzes a unique educational text that may be used to follow the educational policy of the State of Israel towards the community of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. The text which was analyzed was a bi-lingual newspaper called "Nugget News" which is published under the sponsorship of the Israeli Ministry of Education,…
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Patterns of self-medication in customers of a community pharmacy in the Antofagasta city
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alejandrina Alucema
2013-12-01
Full Text Available Context: Self-medication is the use of unprescribed drugs; this means that people obtain drugs on their own initiative and without the assistance of health professionals. This is an increasingly common practice among the population that can cause numerous problems, becoming a public health problem. Aims: To determine the patterns of self-medication in customers who frequented a community pharmacy in the city of Antofagasta. Methods: A survey was conducted to 297 users over 18 years and with adequate mental and communicative power to answer the questions, and attending the pharmacy to buy a drug without a prescription. Results: The study revealed that of the 297 people who practiced self-medication, 41% do it with a frequency of at least once a month. The woman practiced in 64% and the men in 36%. The range of age of the studied group was between 31-50 years. The main reason to practice the self medication was to recognize symptoms (33%, within the most notable was the headache (11%. The therapeutic group of the most requested medicines was the NSAIDs (20%, and of them the paracetamol was the most used. Conclusions: The results reveal that a high percentage of customers surveyed self-medicate, which shows this practice as a real problem, so it is necessary to educate people.
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Cognitive flexibility in drawings of bilingual children.
Adi-Japha, Esther; Berberich-Artzi, Jennie; Libnawi, Afaf
2010-01-01
A. Karmiloff-Smith's (1990) task of drawing a nonexistent object is considered to be a measure of cognitive flexibility. The notion of earlier emergence of cognitive flexibility in bilingual children motivated the current researchers to request 4- and 5-year-old English-Hebrew and Arabic-Hebrew bilingual children and their monolingual peers to draw a flower and a house that do not exist (N=80). Bilinguals exhibited a significantly higher rate of interrepresentational flexibility in their drawings (e.g., "a giraffe flower,"a chair-house," found in 28 of 54 drawings), whereas the level of complex intrarepresentational change was similar across groups. Interrepresentational drawings were previously reported only for children older than 7 years. The specific mechanisms by which bilinguals' language experience may lead to interrepresentational flexibility are discussed. © 2010 The Authors. Child Development © 2010 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
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Can bilingual two-year-olds code-switch?
Lanza, E
1992-10-01
Sociolinguists have investigated language mixing as code-switching in the speech of bilingual children three years old and older. Language mixing by bilingual two-year-olds, however, has generally been interpreted in the child language literature as a sign of the child's lack of language differentiation. The present study applies perspectives from sociolinguistics to investigate the language mixing of a bilingual two-year-old acquiring Norwegian and English simultaneously in Norway. Monthly recordings of the child's spontaneous speech in interactions with her parents were made from the age of 2;0 to 2;7. An investigation into the formal aspects of the child's mixing and the context of the mixing reveals that she does differentiate her language use in contextually sensitive ways, hence that she can code-switch. This investigation stresses the need to examine more carefully the roles of dominance and context in the language mixing of young bilingual children.
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Luxton, David D; Armstrong, Christina M; Fantelli, Emily E; Thomas, Elissa K
2011-09-01
Web-based self-care resources have a number of potential benefits for military service members (SMs) and their families such as convenience, anonymity, and immediate 24/7 access to useful information. There is limited data available, however, regarding SM and military healthcare provider use of online self-care resources. Our goal with this study was to conduct a preliminary survey assessment of self-care Web site awareness, general attitudes about use, and usage behaviors of Web-based self-care resources among SMs and military healthcare providers. Results show that the majority of SMs and providers use the Internet often, use Internet self-care resources, and are willing to use additional Web-based resources and capabilities. SMs and providers also indicated a preference for Web-based self-care resources as adjunct tools to face-to-face/in-person care. Data from this preliminary study are useful for informing additional research and best practices for integrating Web-based self-care for the military community.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Siriporn Chooarerom
2016-09-01
Full Text Available The purposes of this study were to ; 1 Study the status and problem of an through attitude the ASEAN community for grade 6 students. 2 Develop training programs to enhance their positive attitude towards the ASEAN community and self-responsibility for grade 6 students. 3 Experiment training program to enhance their positive attitude towards the ASEAN community and self-responsibility for grade 6 students. The samples of this study were 21 students. They were selected though cluster random sampling method. The research instruments used in the study were the Training programs to enhance their positive attitude towards the ASEAN community and self-responsibility. Surveys of problems from the event ASEAN week. Lenarning ASEAN. Measuring a positive attitude towards the ASEAN community scale with discriminating power ranging 0.375 – 0.793 and Measuring self-responsibility scale with discriminating power ranging 0.411 – 0.893 and a reliability of 0.973. The statistics used for analyzing the collected data were mean, standard deviation, and One-way repeated measure MANOVA The study showed that 1 Study of the attitude of the ASEAN community condition survey found that teachers have trouble understanding, Interested to attend the event and have admired and awareness in preparation the ASEAN community, the levels are minimal. The students realized in preparation, understanding about . Attention to participation and appreciation the ASEAN community, the levels are minimal 2 Training programs to enhance their positive attitude toward the ASEAN community and self-responsibility for grade 6 students was created by. Activities focus on the students involved and take action. Remove group activities used in the event. Stage one consists of two steps leading to the involvement step 3 step 4 step by step analysis and application of the five-stage process and evaluation. By 5 experts have evaluated the overall level more appropriate. 3 Students attend their
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Lithuanian speaking childrens' bilingualism. language situation and policy
Paškauskaitė, Ieva
2017-01-01
Lithuanian Speaking Childrens' Bilingualism. Language Situation and Policy The purpose of this study is to investigate the language situation of Lithuanian speaking children in Sweden and its causes. This study is specifically concerned with the subjects of bilingualism and family language policy: language strategies and methods. The concept of bilingualism is complex and can be defined in different ways, therefore this study is based on a table which was introduced by T. Skutnabb-Kangas in 1...
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The impact of bilingualism on working memory in pediatric epilepsy.
Veenstra, Amy L; Riley, Jeffrey D; Barrett, Lauren E; Muhonen, Michael G; Zupanc, Mary; Romain, Jonathan E; Lin, Jack J; Mucci, Grace
2016-02-01
Impairments in executive skills broadly span across multiple childhood epilepsy syndromes and can adversely affect quality of life. Bilingualism has been previously shown to correlate with enhanced executive functioning in healthy individuals. This study sought to determine whether the bilingual advantage in executive functioning exists in the context of pediatric epilepsy. We retrospectively analyzed neuropsychological data in 52 children with epilepsy and compared executive function scores in monolingual versus bilingual children with epilepsy while controlling for socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Bilingual children performed significantly better on the Working Memory Index than did monolingual children. There were no significant differences on the remaining executive function variables. The bilingual advantage appears to persist for working memory in children with epilepsy. These findings suggest that bilingualism is potentially a protective variable in the face of epilepsy-related working memory dysfunction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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L1 and L2 Picture Naming in Mandarin-English Bilinguals: A Test of Bilingual Dual Coding Theory
Jared, Debra; Poh, Rebecca Pei Yun; Paivio, Allan
2013-01-01
This study examined the nature of bilinguals' conceptual representations and the links from these representations to words in L1 and L2. Specifically, we tested an assumption of the Bilingual Dual Coding Theory that conceptual representations include image representations, and that learning two languages in separate contexts can result in…
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Enhanced music sensitivity in 9-month-old bilingual infants.
Liu, Liquan; Kager, René
2017-02-01
This study explores the influence of bilingualism on the cognitive processing of language and music. Specifically, we investigate how infants learning a non-tone language perceive linguistic and musical pitch and how bilingualism affects cross-domain pitch perception. Dutch monolingual and bilingual infants of 8-9 months participated in the study. All infants had Dutch as one of the first languages. The other first languages, varying among bilingual families, were not tone or pitch accent languages. In two experiments, infants were tested on the discrimination of a lexical (N = 42) or a violin (N = 48) pitch contrast via a visual habituation paradigm. The two contrasts shared identical pitch contours but differed in timbre. Non-tone language learning infants did not discriminate the lexical contrast regardless of their ambient language environment. When perceiving the violin contrast, bilingual but not monolingual infants demonstrated robust discrimination. We attribute bilingual infants' heightened sensitivity in the musical domain to the enhanced acoustic sensitivity stemming from a bilingual environment. The distinct perceptual patterns between language and music and the influence of acoustic salience on perception suggest processing diversion and association in the first year of life. Results indicate that the perception of music may entail both shared neural network with language processing, and unique neural network that is distinct from other cognitive functions.
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Survey of community pharmacy residents' perceptions of transgender health management.
Leach, Caitlin; Layson-Wolf, Cherokee
2016-01-01
1) To measure the general perceptions and attitudes of community pharmacy residents toward transgender patients and health; 2) to identify gaps in didactic education regarding transgender health care among residents; and 3) to evaluate residents' level of support for pharmacists receiving education in transgender health care. This study was a cross-sectional survey delivered online. Community residency directors were e-mailed a cover letter and a 34-question online survey. The directors were asked to forward the survey to their residents for completion within 4 weeks. Responses were anonymous with no identifiers collected on the survey. Survey responses used a combination of open-response, multiple-choice, and Likert-scale questions aimed at gathering respondents' demographic information, perceptions of managing transgender patients and the need for receiving additional education in transgender health care. Overall, the results of the survey indicated that community pharmacy residents support integrating transgender health management into pharmacy education and recognize that the overwhelming barriers to care for these patients include discrimination and lack of provider knowledge. Significant findings include: 82.7% of community residents think that community pharmacists play an important role in providing care for transgender patients; 98.2% think that they have a responsibility to treat transgender patients; and 71.4% were not educated about transgender patient issues in pharmacy school. Only 36.2% of community residents felt confident in their ability to treat transgender patients. Community pharmacy residents list discrimination and lack of provider knowledge as the major barriers to care for transgender patients. Residents do not feel confident in their ability to treat and manage transgender patients. The majority of residents were not educated about transgender patient issues while in pharmacy school and think that community pharmacists need more education
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The bilingual brain: Flexibility and control in the human cortex
Buchweitz, Augusto; Prat, Chantel
2013-12-01
The goal of the present review is to discuss recent cognitive neuroscientific findings concerning bilingualism. Three interrelated questions about the bilingual brain are addressed: How are multiple languages represented in the brain? how are languages controlled in the brain? and what are the real-world implications of experience with multiple languages? The review is based on neuroimaging research findings about the nature of bilingual processing, namely, how the brain adapts to accommodate multiple languages in the bilingual brain and to control which language should be used, and when. We also address how this adaptation results in differences observed in the general cognition of bilingual individuals. General implications for models of human learning, plasticity, and cognitive control are discussed.
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Burgaleta, Miguel; Sanjuán, Ana; Ventura-Campos, Noelia; Sebastian-Galles, Núria; Ávila, César
2016-01-15
Naturally acquiring a language shapes the human brain through a long-lasting learning and practice process. This is supported by previous studies showing that managing more than one language from early childhood has an impact on brain structure and function. However, to what extent bilingual individuals present neuroanatomical peculiarities at the subcortical level with respect to monolinguals is yet not well understood, despite the key role of subcortical gray matter for a number of language functions, including monitoring of speech production and language control - two processes especially solicited by bilinguals. Here we addressed this issue by performing a subcortical surface-based analysis in a sample of monolinguals and simultaneous bilinguals (N=88) that only differed in their language experience from birth. This analysis allowed us to study with great anatomical precision the potential differences in morphology of key subcortical structures, namely, the caudate, accumbens, putamen, globus pallidus and thalamus. Vertexwise analyses revealed significantly expanded subcortical structures for bilinguals compared to monolinguals, localized in bilateral putamen and thalamus, as well as in the left globus pallidus and right caudate nucleus. A topographical interpretation of our results suggests that a more complex phonological system in bilinguals may lead to a greater development of a subcortical brain network involved in monitoring articulatory processes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Does bilingualism contribute to cognitive reserve? Cognitive and neural perspectives.
Guzmán-Vélez, Edmarie; Tranel, Daniel
2015-01-01
Cognitive reserve refers to how individuals actively utilize neural resources to cope with neuropathology to maintain cognitive functioning. The present review aims to critically examine the literature addressing the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive reserve to elucidate whether bilingualism delays the onset of cognitive and behavioral manifestations of dementia. Potential neural mechanisms behind this relationship are discussed. PubMed and PsycINFO databases were searched (through January 2014) for original research articles in English or Spanish languages. The following search strings were used as keywords for study retrieval: "bilingual AND reserve," "reserve AND neural mechanisms," and "reserve AND multilingualism." Growing scientific evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve and delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, allowing bilingual individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease to live an independent and richer life for a longer time than their monolingual counterparts. Lifelong bilingualism is related to more efficient use of brain resources that help individuals maintain cognitive functioning in the presence of neuropathology. We propose multiple putative neural mechanisms through which lifelong bilinguals cope with neuropathology. The roles of immigration status, education, age of onset, proficiency, and frequency of language use on the relationship between cognitive reserve and bilingualism are considered. Implications of these results for preventive practices and future research are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.
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Does Bilingualism Contribute to Cognitive Reserve? Cognitive and Neural Perspectives
Guzmán-Vélez, Edmarie; Tranel, Daniel
2015-01-01
Objective Cognitive reserve refers to how individuals actively utilize neural resources to cope with neuropathology in order to maintain cognitive functioning. The present review aims to critically examine the literature addressing the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive reserve in order to elucidate whether bilingualism delays the onset of cognitive and behavioral manifestations of dementia. Potential neural mechanisms behind this relationship are discussed. Method Pubmed and PsychINFO databases were searched (through January 2014) for original research articles in English or Spanish languages. The following search strings were employed as keywords for study retrieval: ‘bilingual AND reserve’, ‘reserve AND neural mechanisms’, and ‘reserve AND multilingualism’. Results Growing scientific evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve and delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, allowing bilingual individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease to live an independent and richer life for a longer time than their monolingual counterparts. Lifelong bilingualism is related to more efficient use of brain resources that help individuals maintain cognitive functioning in the presence of neuropathology. We propose multiple putative neural mechanisms through which lifelong bilinguals cope with neuropathology. The roles of immigration status, education, age of onset, proficiency and frequency of language use on the relationship between cognitive reserve and bilingualism are considered. Conclusions Implications of these results for preventive practices and future research are discussed. PMID:24933492
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The relationship of bilingualism to cognitive decline: The Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
Mukadam, Naaheed; Jichi, Fatima; Green, David; Livingston, Gill
2018-02-01
We wished to clarify the link between bilingualism and cognitive decline, and examine whether improved executive function due to bilingualism may be a factor in preventing cognitive decline. We used the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing which collected data on 2087 participants aged over 65 over 20 years. We compared baseline demographics, health, and social characteristics between bilingual and non-bilingual participants. We used linear mixed models analysis to explore the effect of bilingualism on MMSE score over time and linear regression to explore the effect of bilingualism on baseline MMSE scores, controlling for pre-specified potential confounders. Bilingual participants had lower baseline MMSE scores than the non-bilingual population (mean difference = -2.3 points; 95% confidence intervals = 1.56-2.90). This was fully explained by education and National Adult Reading Test scores (17.4; standard deviation [SD] =7.7 versus 28.1; SD = 8.2) which also partly explained baseline executive function test scores differences. Bilingual and non-bilingual participants did not differ in MMSE decline over time (-0.33 points, P = 0.31) nor on baseline tests of executive function (-0.26, P = 0.051). In this cohort, education rather than bilingualism was a predictor of MMSE score, and being bilingual did not protect from cognitive decline. We conclude that bilingualism is complex, and when it is not the result of greater educational attainment, it does not always protect from cognitive decline. Neuroprotective effects of bilingualism over time may be attributable to the precise patterns of language use but not to bilingualism per se. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Translanguaging and the Writing of Bilingual Learners
Velasco, Patricia; García, Ofelia
2014-01-01
This article makes the case for using translanguaging in developing the academic writing of bilinguals. It reviews the emerging literature on learning and teaching theories of translanguaging and presents theoretical understandings of biliteracy development and specifically on the teaching of writing to bilingual learners. The article analyzes…
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Communities, self-causation and the natural lottery.
Loewy, E H
1988-01-01
This paper examines the various notions of community, and of the 'natural lottery' as well as investigating the role that 'self-causation' plays in communal obligations. In examining community, two opposing views are juxtaposed: (1) the view that community consists merely of persons united by duties of refraining from harm one to another, resulting in autonomy based justice which makes freedom an absolute condition of mortality; and (2) a broader view which sees the concept of community as entailing obligations of beneficence, resulting in beneficence based justice and which, therefore, sees freedom as a value to be cautiously traded with other values. In examining the 'natural lottery' in the light of community, the various consequences of viewing the lottery in various ways and the impact that our view of community has on these consequences, is explored. A third option, the option that the 'natural lottery' as the cause of illness and health is a shaky concept, is offered. Self-causation of illness and its linkage to concepts of community and of the 'natural lottery' is then briefly examined. It is concluded that (1) community implies a social contract which, in order to be conceived in the first place, necessitates more than a minimalist ethic: to come about, a degree of beneficence inspiring trust is presupposed; (2) conceiving community narrowly is neither what we ordinarily do when we think of the term nor, for that matter, workable in our world.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Bilingualism modulates dual mechanisms of cognitive control: Evidence from ERPs.
Morales, Julia; Yudes, Carolina; Gómez-Ariza, Carlos J; Bajo, M Teresa
2015-01-01
Recent behavioral findings with the AX-Continous Performance Task (AX-CPT; Morales et al., 2013) show that bilinguals only outperform monolinguals under conditions that require the highest adjustment between monitoring (proactive) and inhibitory (reactive) control, which supports the idea that bilingualism modulates the coordination of different control mechanisms. In an ERP experiment we aimed to further investigate the role that bilingualism plays in the dynamic combination of proactive and reactive control in the AX-CPT. Our results strongly indicate that bilingualism facilitates an effective adjustment between both components of cognitive control. First, we replicated previous behavioral results. Second, ERP components indicated that bilingualism influences the conflict monitoring, response inhibition and error monitoring components of control (as indexed by the N2 and P3a elicited by the probe and the error-related negativity following incorrect responses, respectively). Thus, bilinguals exerted higher reactive control than monolinguals but only when they needed to overcome the competing cue-information. These findings join others in suggesting that a better understanding of the cognitive benefits of bilingualism may require consideration of a multi-component perspective. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The joint effect of bilingualism and ADHD on executive functions.
Mor, Billy; Yitzhaki-Amsalem, Sarin; Prior, Anat
2015-06-01
The current study investigated the combined effect of ADHD, previously associated with executive function (EF) deficits, and of bilingualism, previously associated with EF enhancement, on EF. Eighty University students, Hebrew monolinguals and Russian Hebrew bilinguals, with and without ADHD participated. Inhibition tasks were a Numeric Stroop task and a Simon arrows task. Shifting tasks were the Trail Making Test (TMT) and a task-switching paradigm. Participants with ADHD performed worse than controls, but we did not find a bilingual advantage in EF. The negative impact of ADHD was more pronounced for bilinguals than for monolinguals, but only in interference suppression tasks. Bilingual participants with ADHD had the lowest performance. Bilingualism might prove to be an added burden for adults with ADHD, leading to reduced EF abilities. Alternatively, the current findings might be ascribed to over- or under-diagnosis of ADHD due to cultural differences between groups. These issues should be pursued in future research. © 2014 SAGE Publications.
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Plasticity, Variability and Age in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism.
Birdsong, David
2018-01-01
Much of what is known about the outcome of second language acquisition and bilingualism can be summarized in terms of inter-individual variability, plasticity and age. The present review looks at variability and plasticity with respect to their underlying sources, and at age as a modulating factor in variability and plasticity. In this context we consider critical period effects vs. bilingualism effects, early and late bilingualism, nativelike and non-nativelike L2 attainment, cognitive aging, individual differences in learning, and linguistic dominance in bilingualism. Non-uniformity is an inherent characteristic of both early and late bilingualism. This review shows how plasticity and age connect with biological and experiential sources of variability, and underscores the value of research that reveals and explains variability. In these ways the review suggests how plasticity, variability and age conspire to frame fundamental research issues in L2 acquisition and bilingualism, and provides points of reference for discussion of the present Frontiers in Psychology Research Topic.
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Bilingualism Alters Children's Frontal Lobe Functioning for Attentional Control
Arredondo, Maria M.; Hu, Xiao-Su; Satterfield, Teresa; Kovelman, Ioulia
2017-01-01
Bilingualism is a typical linguistic experience, yet relatively little is known about its impact on children's cognitive and brain development. Theories of bilingualism suggest early dual-language acquisition can improve children's cognitive abilities, specifically those relying on frontal lobe functioning. While behavioral findings present much conflicting evidence, little is known about its effects on children's frontal lobe development. Using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the findings suggest that Spanish-English bilingual children (n=13, ages 7-13) had greater activation in left prefrontal cortex during a non-verbal attentional control task relative to age-matched English monolinguals. In contrast, monolinguals (n=14) showed greater right prefrontal activation than bilinguals. The present findings suggest early bilingualism yields significant changes to the functional organization of children's prefrontal cortex for attentional control and carry implications for understanding how early life experiences impact cognition and brain development. PMID:26743118
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Cognitive advantage in bilingualism: an example of publication bias?
de Bruin, Angela; Treccani, Barbara; Della Sala, Sergio
2015-01-01
It is a widely held belief that bilinguals have an advantage over monolinguals in executive-control tasks, but is this what all studies actually demonstrate? The idea of a bilingual advantage may result from a publication bias favoring studies with positive results over studies with null or negative effects. To test this hypothesis, we looked at conference abstracts from 1999 to 2012 on the topic of bilingualism and executive control. We then determined which of the studies they reported were subsequently published. Studies with results fully supporting the bilingual-advantage theory were most likely to be published, followed by studies with mixed results. Studies challenging the bilingual advantage were published the least. This discrepancy was not due to differences in sample size, tests used, or statistical power. A test for funnel-plot asymmetry provided further evidence for the existence of a publication bias. © The Author(s) 2014.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Viola Krebs
2009-01-01
autres contextes socioculturels, particulièrement en Afrique (Mali, Sénégal, Tanzanie et Cameroun. Tous ces pays ont un passé colonial où l’anglais a soit le rôle de la lingua franca soit de langue internationale.Sur la base de ces observations, nous proposerons des recommandations permettant d’accroître les chances de succès de nouveaux programmes de bilinguisme scolaire.In an increasingly interconnected world, where people are more and more mobile, interpersonal communication and the mastering of multiple languages are of growing importance. This might be one reason why, in the past few years, an increasing number of scientific studies on bi- and multilingualism have been published. They show that bilingual education is a good way of transmitting multiple languages and that it is positive for the cognitive development of a child. Even if multilingualism is essential for modern communication, only relatively few programs of generalized bilingual education in public school systems exist internationally. This is particularly striking in regions where different linguistic communities live in the same area. Contrary to what one might think, these communities often do not mix very well. In many cases, power struggles develop between communities, thus creating a situation where bilingual school systems cannot easily be implemented. In this article, we look at arguments developed in the context of two popular referendums. In two very different regions of the world, California (United States of America and Fribourg (Switzerland, popular votes have outlawed bilingual education. Arguments brought forward in the written press and by individuals in both cases clearly show that the degree of resistance to bilingual education is directly linked to the perception of the other language. Hence, this perception has a strong influence on the success of bilingual programs in schools. We also look at the specific role the English language is playing in both of theses cases, comparing it
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Variation among heritage speakers: Sequential vs. simultaneous bilinguals
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Teresa Lee
2013-08-01
Full Text Available This study examines the differences in the grammatical knowledge of two types of heritage speakers of Korean. Early simultaneous bilinguals are exposed to both English and the heritage language from birth, whereas early sequential bilinguals are exposed to the heritage language first and then to English upon schooling. A listening comprehension task involving relative clauses was conducted with 51 beginning-level Korean heritage speakers. The results showed that the early sequential bilinguals exhibited much more accurate knowledge than the early simultaneous bilinguals, who lacked rudimentary knowledge of Korean relative clauses. Drawing on the findings of adult and child Korean L1 data on the acquisition of relative clauses, the performance of each group is discussed with respect to attrition and incomplete acquisition of the heritage language.
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Drafting. A Bilingual Text = Dibujo Mecanico. Un Texto Bilingue.
Los Angeles Unified School District, CA. Div. of Career and Continuing Education.
This bilingual instructional text, one in a series of six texts covering various vocational and technical topics, provides secondary level English and Spanish instruction in drafting. Addressed in the individual units are the following topics: safety, drafting tools and techniques, sketching, geometric construction, working drawings, sectioning,…
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Miller, Jon F.; Iglesias, Aquiles; Rojas, Raul
2010-01-01
Assessing the language development of bilingual children can be a challenge--too often, children in the complex process of learning both Spanish and English are under- or over-diagnosed with language disorders. SLPs can change that with "SALT 2010 Bilingual S/E Version" for grades K-3, the first tool to comprehensively assess children's language…
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The Value of Bilingualism in Pupils' Understanding of Scientific Language.
Kearsey, John; Turner, Sheila
1999-01-01
Argues that, although some bilingual pupils may be at a disadvantage in understanding scientific language, there may be some circumstances where being bilingual is an advantage in understanding scientific language. Presents evidence of circumstances where being bilingual was an advantage and circumstances where it was a disadvantage in…
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Bilingualism in children with developmental disorders: A narrative review.
Kay-Raining Bird, Elizabeth; Genesee, Fred; Verhoeven, Ludo
Children with developmental disabilities (DD) often need and sometimes opt to become bilingual. The context for bilingual acquisition varies considerably and can impact outcomes. In this first article of the special issue, we review research on the timing and amount of bilingual exposure and outcomes of either direct language intervention or educational placements in three groups of children with DD: Specific Language Impairment (SLI), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Down syndrome (DS). Children with SLI have been studied more than the other two groups. Findings showed that, on the one hand, the communication skills of simultaneous bilinguals and matched monolinguals with DD were similar for all groups when the stronger language or both languages of the bilingual children were considered. On the other hand, similar to typically developing children, sequential bilinguals and matched monolinguals with SLI (other groups not studied) differed on some but not all second language (L2) measures; even after an extended period of exposure, differences in L2 outcomes were not completely resolved. There is emerging evidence that the typological similarity of the languages being learned influences L2 development in sequential bilinguals, at least in children with SLI. Increasing the frequency of exposure seems to be more related to development of the weaker language in bilinguals with DD than their stronger language. Language intervention studies show the efficacy of interventions but provide little evidence for transfer across languages. In addition, only one (unpublished) study has compared the language and academic outcomes of children with DD in different language education programs. Research on bilingual children with DD in different educational settings/programs is limited, probably as a result of restricted inclusion of these children in some educational settings. We argue for the implementation of full inclusion policies that provide increased access to dual
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Bilingualism and increased attention to speech: Evidence from event-related potentials.
Kuipers, Jan Rouke; Thierry, Guillaume
2015-10-01
A number of studies have shown that from an early age, bilinguals outperform their monolingual peers on executive control tasks. We previously found that bilingual children and adults also display greater attention to unexpected language switches within speech. Here, we investigated the effect of a bilingual upbringing on speech perception in one language. We recorded monolingual and bilingual toddlers' event-related potentials (ERPs) to spoken words preceded by pictures. Words matching the picture prime elicited an early frontal positivity in bilingual participants only, whereas later ERP amplitudes associated with semantic processing did not differ between groups. These results add to the growing body of evidence that bilingualism increases overall attention during speech perception whilst semantic integration is unaffected. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Detection of bilingual plagiarism
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Frank Zamora R.
2016-06-01
Full Text Available In this paper a computational algorithm for text alignment in the task of automatically detecting bilingual plagiarism is proposed. The method of detecting bilingual plagiarism uses machine translation services, in order to have the documents in question a base language, and apply techniques of monolingual plagiarism. The algorithm was tested with The corpus belonging to the International Competition Plagiarism 2013, with the objective of evaluating the step of detecting monolingual plagiarism. Besides it’s experimented with the collection of texts EUROPARL, a collection of documents pertaining to the meeting the European Parliament, specifically it´s to English and Spanish documents.
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Executive function and bilingualism in young and older adults
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Shanna eKousaie
2014-07-01
Full Text Available Research suggests that being bilingual results in advantages on executive control processes and disadvantages on language tasks relative to monolinguals. Furthermore, the executive function advantage is thought to be larger in older than younger adults, suggesting that bilingualism may buffer against age-related changes in executive function. However, there are potential confounds in some of the previous research, as well as inconsistencies in the literature. The goal of the current investigation was to examine the presence of a bilingual advantage in executive control and a bilingual disadvantage on language tasks in the same sample of young and older monolingual anglophones, monolingual francophones, and French/English bilinguals. Participants completed a series of executive function tasks, including a Stroop task, a Simon task, a sustained attention to response task (SART, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST, and the digit span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and language tasks, including the Boston Naming Test (BNT, and category and letter fluency. The results do not demonstrate an unequivocal advantage for bilinguals on executive function tasks and raise questions about the reliability, robustness and/or specificity of previous findings. The results also did not demonstrate a disadvantage for bilinguals on language tasks. Rather, they suggest that there may be an influence of the language environment. It is concluded that additional research is required to fully characterize any language group differences in both executive function and language tasks.
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter, intended to promote the cause of bilingual-bicultural education, contains articles on "Chicano Federation and Bilingual-Bicultural Education,""Have I Got a Math Series for You!,""Puerto Rican Social Studies Perspective," and "Multilingual Assessment Program Builds Better Testing Mousetrap." The first article appears in Spanish and…
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Linguistic Predictors of Cultural Identification in Bilinguals
Schroeder, Scott R.; Lam, Tuan Q.; Marian, Viorica
2017-01-01
Most of the world's population has knowledge of at least two languages. Many of these bilinguals are also exposed to and identify with at least two cultures. Because language knowledge enables participation in cultural practices and expression of cultural beliefs, bilingual experience and cultural identity are interconnected. However, the specific…
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Chinese Translation Errors in English/Chinese Bilingual Children's Picture Books
Huang, Qiaoya; Chen, Xiaoning
2012-01-01
The aim of this study was to review the Chinese translation errors in 31 English/Chinese bilingual children's picture books. While bilingual children's books make definite contributions to language acquisition, few studies have examined the quality of these books, and even fewer have specifically focused on English/Chinese bilingual books.…
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Bilingualism and Creativity: Benefits in Convergent Thinking Come with Losses in Divergent Thinking
Hommel, Bernhard; Colzato, Lorenza S.; Fischer, Rico; Christoffels, Ingrid K.
2011-01-01
Bilingualism is commonly assumed to improve creativity but the mechanisms underlying creative acts, and the way these mechanisms are affected by bilingualism, are not very well understood. We hypothesize that learning to master multiple languages drives individuals toward a relatively focused cognitive-control state that exerts strong top-down impact on information processing and creates strong local competition for selection between cognitive codes. Considering the control requirements posed by creativity tasks tapping into convergent and divergent thinking, this predicts that high-proficient bilinguals should outperform low-proficient bilinguals in convergent thinking, while low-proficient bilinguals might be better in divergent thinking. Comparing low- and high-proficient bilinguals on convergent-thinking and divergent-thinking tasks indeed showed a high-proficient bilingual advantage for convergent thinking but a low-proficient bilingual advantage for fluency in divergent thinking. These findings suggest that bilingualism should not be related to “creativity” as a unitary concept but, rather, to the specific processes and mechanisms that underlie creativity. PMID:22084634
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Bilingualism and creativity: Benefits in convergent thinking come with losses in divergent thinking
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Bernhard eHommel
2011-11-01
Full Text Available Bilingualism is commonly assumed to improve creativity but the mechanisms underlying creative acts, and the way these mechanisms are affected by bilingualism, are not very well understood. We hypothesize that learning to master multiple languages drives individuals towards a strongly focused cognitive-control state that exerts strong top-down impact on information processing and creates strong local competition for selection between cognitive codes. Considering the control requirements posed by creativity tasks tapping into convergent and divergent thinking, this predicts that high-proficient bilinguals should outperform low-proficient bilinguals in convergent thinking, while low-proficient bilinguals might be better in divergent thinking. Comparing low- and high-proficient bilinguals on convergent-thinking and divergent-thinking tasks indeed showed a high-proficient bilingual advantage for convergent thinking but a low-proficient bilingual advantage for fluency in divergent thinking. These findings suggest that bilingualism should not be related to creativity as a unitary concept but, rather, to the specific processes and mechanisms that underlie creativity.
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Milman, Lisa H; Faroqi-Shah, Yasmeen; Corcoran, Chris D; Damele, Deanna M
2018-04-17
Performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), among the most widely used global screens of adult cognitive status, is affected by demographic variables including age, education, and ethnicity. This study extends prior research by examining the specific effects of bilingualism on MMSE performance. Sixty independent community-dwelling monolingual and bilingual adults were recruited from eastern and western regions of the United States in this cross-sectional group study. Independent sample t tests were used to compare 2 bilingual groups (Spanish-English and Asian Indian-English) with matched monolingual speakers on the MMSE, demographically adjusted MMSE scores, MMSE item scores, and a nonverbal cognitive measure. Regression analyses were also performed to determine whether language proficiency predicted MMSE performance in both groups of bilingual speakers. Group differences were evident on the MMSE, on demographically adjusted MMSE scores, and on a small subset of individual MMSE items. Scores on a standardized screen of language proficiency predicted a significant proportion of the variance in the MMSE scores of both bilingual groups. Bilingual speakers demonstrated distinct performance profiles on the MMSE. Results suggest that supplementing the MMSE with a language screen, administering a nonverbal measure, and/or evaluating item-based patterns of performance may assist with test interpretation for this population.
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Lemberger, Nancy; Reyes-Carrasquillo, Angela
2011-01-01
This descriptive exploratory study looked at the certification process, test-taking experiences, and instructional practices of a group of graduate bilingual education (BE) and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers to understand why some had problems passing teacher certification tests after completing their degrees. The study surveyed 63 BE…
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The Development of Bimodal Bilingualism: Implications for Linguistic Theory.
Lillo-Martin, Diane; de Quadros, Ronice Müller; Pichler, Deborah Chen
2016-01-01
A wide range of linguistic phenomena contribute to our understanding of the architecture of the human linguistic system. In this paper we present a proposal dubbed Language Synthesis to capture bilingual phenomena including code-switching and 'transfer' as automatic consequences of the addition of a second language, using basic concepts of Minimalism and Distributed Morphology. Bimodal bilinguals, who use a sign language and a spoken language, provide a new type of evidence regarding possible bilingual phenomena, namely code-blending, the simultaneous production of (aspects of) a message in both speech and sign. We argue that code-blending also follows naturally once a second articulatory interface is added to the model. Several different types of code-blending are discussed in connection to the predictions of the Synthesis model. Our primary data come from children developing as bimodal bilinguals, but our proposal is intended to capture a wide range of bilingual effects across any language pair.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Natalie Hiromi Brito
2014-12-01
Full Text Available The specificity of the bilingual advantage in memory was examined by testing groups of monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual 24-month-olds on tasks tapping cued recall, memory generalization and working memory. For the cued recall and memory generalization conditions, there was a 24-hour delay between time of encoding and time of retrieval. In addition to the memory tasks, parent-toddler dyads completed a picture-book reading task, in order to observe emotional responsiveness, and a parental report of productive vocabulary. Results indicated no difference between language groups on cued recall, working memory, emotional responsiveness, or productive vocabulary, but a significant difference was found in the memory generalization condition with only the bilingual group outperforming the baseline control group. These results replicate and extend results from past studies (Brito and Barr, 2012; 2014; Brito et al., in press and suggest a bilingual advantage specific to memory generalization.
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Brito, Natalie H; Grenell, Amanda; Barr, Rachel
2014-01-01
The specificity of the bilingual advantage in memory was examined by testing groups of monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual 24-month-olds on tasks tapping cued recall, memory generalization and working memory. For the cued recall and memory generalization conditions, there was a 24-h delay between time of encoding and time of retrieval. In addition to the memory tasks, parent-toddler dyads completed a picture-book reading task, in order to observe emotional responsiveness, and a parental report of productive vocabulary. Results indicated no difference between language groups on cued recall, working memory, emotional responsiveness, or productive vocabulary, but a significant difference was found in the memory generalization condition with only the bilingual group outperforming the baseline control group. These results replicate and extend results from past studies (Brito and Barr, 2012, 2014; Brito et al., 2014) and suggest a bilingual advantage specific to memory generalization.
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Mady, Callie
2011-01-01
This study compares the willingness to communicate (WTC) of Canadian Anglophone and Francophone students to measures of their self-assessed, multiskilled second language proficiency and strategy use before and after a short-term intracountry bilingual exchange experience. The central question is whether a student's WTC exists before an opportunity…
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Bilingualism protects anterior temporal lobe integrity in aging.
Abutalebi, Jubin; Canini, Matteo; Della Rosa, Pasquale A; Sheung, Lo Ping; Green, David W; Weekes, Brendan S
2014-09-01
Cerebral gray-matter volume (GMV) decreases in normal aging but the extent of the decrease may be experience-dependent. Bilingualism may be one protective factor and in this article we examine its potential protective effect on GMV in a region that shows strong age-related decreases-the left anterior temporal pole. This region is held to function as a conceptual hub and might be expected to be a target of plastic changes in bilingual speakers because of the requirement for these speakers to store and differentiate lexical concepts in 2 languages to guide speech production and comprehension processes. In a whole brain comparison of bilingual speakers (n = 23) and monolingual speakers (n = 23), regressing out confounding factors, we find more extensive age-related decreases in GMV in the monolingual brain and significantly increased GMV in left temporal pole for bilingual speakers. Consistent with a specific neuroprotective effect of bilingualism, region of interest analyses showed a significant positive correlation between naming performance in the second language and GMV in this region. The effect appears to be bilateral though because there was a nonsignificantly different effect of naming performance on GMV in the right temporal pole. Our data emphasize the vulnerability of the temporal pole to normal aging and the value of bilingualism as both a general and specific protective factor to GMV decreases in healthy aging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Writing and Reading Knowledge of Spanish/English Second-Generation Bilinguals
Ardila, Alfredo; Garcia, Krystal; Garcia, Melissa; Mejia, Joselyn; Vado, Grace
2017-01-01
Written bilingualism represents a particular type of bilingualism that is not frequently approached. The aim of this study was to investigate the writing and reading abilities of second-generation immigrants, Spanish-English bilinguals in South Florida. 58 participants (36 females, 22 males; 18-39 years of age) were selected. Both parents were…
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Cognitive Flexibility in Drawings of Bilingual Children
Adi-Japha, Esther; Berberich-Artzi, Jennie; Libnawi, Afaf
2010-01-01
A. Karmiloff-Smith's (1990) task of drawing a nonexistent object is considered to be a measure of cognitive flexibility. The notion of earlier emergence of cognitive flexibility in bilingual children motivated the current researchers to request 4- and 5-year-old English-Hebrew and Arabic-Hebrew bilingual children and their monolingual peers to…
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New Directions in ASL-English Bilingual Ebooks
Stone, Adam
2014-01-01
The widespread adoption of smartphones and tablet computers have enabled the rapid creation and distribution of innovative American Sign Language (ASL) and written English bilingual ebooks, aimed primarily at deaf and hard-of-hearing children. These sign-print bilingual ebooks are unique in how they take advantage of digital platforms to display…
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A survey of community child health audit.
Spencer, N J; Penlington, E
1993-03-01
Community child health medical audit is established in most districts surveyed. A minority have integrated audit with hospital paediatric units. Very few districts use an external auditor. Subject audit is preferred to individual performance audit and school health services were the most common services subjected to medical audit. The need for integrated audit and audit forms suitable for use in the community services is discussed.
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Singh, Leher; Fu, Charlene S L; Seet, Xian Hui; Tong, Ashley P Y; Wang, Joelle L; Best, Catherine T
2018-09-01
Most languages use lexical tone to discriminate the meanings of words. There has been recent interest in tracking the development of tone categories during infancy. These studies have focused largely on monolingual infants learning either a tone language or a non-tone language. It remains to be seen how bilingual infants learning one tone language (e.g., Mandarin) and one non-tone language (e.g., English) discriminate tones. Here, we examined infants' discrimination of two Mandarin tones pairs: one salient and one subtle. Discrimination was investigated in three groups: Mandarin-English bilinguals, English monolinguals, and Mandarin monolinguals at 6 months and 9 months of age in a cross-sectional design. Results demonstrated relatively strong Mandarin tone discrimination in Mandarin monolinguals, with salient tone discrimination at 6 months and both salient and subtle tone discrimination at 9 months. English monolinguals discriminated neither contrast at 6 months but discriminated the salient contrast at 9 months. Surprisingly, there was no evidence for tone discrimination in Mandarin-English bilingual infants. In a second experiment, 12- and 13-month-old Mandarin-English bilingual and English monolingual infants were tested to determine whether bilinguals would demonstrate tone sensitivity at a later age. Results revealed a lack of tone sensitivity at 12 or 13 months in bilingual infants, yet English monolingual infants were sensitive to both salient and subtle Mandarin tone contrasts at 12 or 13 months. Our findings provide evidence for age-related convergence in Mandarin tone discrimination in English and Mandarin monolingual infants and for a distinct pattern of tone discrimination in bilingual infants. Theoretical implications for phonetic category acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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DeAnda, Stephanie; Poulin-Dubois, Diane; Zesiger, Pascal; Friend, Margaret
2016-06-01
A rich body of work in adult bilinguals documents an interconnected lexical network across languages, such that early word retrieval is language independent. This literature has yielded a number of influential models of bilingual semantic memory. However, extant models provide limited predictions about the emergence of lexical organization in bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA). Empirical evidence from monolingual infants suggests that lexical networks emerge early in development as children integrate phonological and semantic information. These findings tell us little about the interaction between 2 languages in early bilingual memory. To date, an understanding of when and how languages interact in early bilingual development is lacking. In this literature review, we present research documenting lexical-semantic development across monolingual and bilingual infants. This is followed by a discussion of current models of bilingual language representation and organization and their ability to account for the available empirical evidence. Together, these theoretical and empirical accounts inform and highlight unexplored areas of research and guide future work on early bilingual memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).
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Language Assessment of a Farsi-Norwegian Bilingual Speaker with Aphasia
Koumanidi Knoph, Monica I.
2011-01-01
The increased occurrence of strokes combined with the high incidence of bilingualism in many regions of the world has led to an increasing number of bilingual adults with aphasia. The literature on bilingual aphasia shows the need for valid, comprehensive and reliable assessment tools for diagnostic and treatment purposes. In spite of a growing…
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Otero-Espinar, M. V.; Seoane, L. F.; Nieto, J. J.; Mira, J.
2013-12-01
An in-depth analytic study of a model of language dynamics is presented: a model which tackles the problem of the coexistence of two languages within a closed community of speakers taking into account bilingualism and incorporating a parameter to measure the distance between languages. After previous numerical simulations, the model yielded that coexistence might lead to survival of both languages within monolingual speakers along with a bilingual community or to extinction of the weakest tongue depending on different parameters. In this paper, such study is closed with thorough analytical calculations to settle the results in a robust way and previous results are refined with some modifications. From the present analysis it is possible to almost completely assay the number and nature of the equilibrium points of the model, which depend on its parameters, as well as to build a phase space based on them. Also, we obtain conclusions on the way the languages evolve with time. Our rigorous considerations also suggest ways to further improve the model and facilitate the comparison of its consequences with those from other approaches or with real data.
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Making Bilingualism Work: Developments in Bilingual Education in ASEAN.
Pakir, Ann
1993-01-01
Systems of bilingual education in three neighboring countries, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam are examined in an attempt to understand basic issues. These are all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries that fall into the category of Small Young Countries as discussed in Pakir (1992a). (Contains 43 references.) (JL)
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The effect of lifelong bilingualism on regional grey and white matter volume.
Olsen, Rosanna K; Pangelinan, Melissa M; Bogulski, Cari; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Luk, Gigi; Grady, Cheryl L; Bialystok, Ellen
2015-07-01
Lifelong bilingualism is associated with the delayed diagnosis of dementia, suggesting bilingual experience is relevant to brain health in aging. While the effects of bilingualism on cognitive functions across the lifespan are well documented, less is known about the neural substrates underlying differential behaviour. It is clear that bilingualism affects brain regions that mediate language abilities and that these regions are at least partially overlapping with those that exhibit age-related decline. Moreover, the behavioural advantages observed in bilingualism are generally found in executive function performance, suggesting that the frontal lobes may also be sensitive to bilingualism, which exhibit volume reductions with age. The current study investigated structural differences in the brain of lifelong bilingual older adults (n=14, mean age=70.4) compared with older monolinguals (n=14, mean age=70.6). We employed two analytic approaches: 1) we examined global differences in grey and white matter volumes; and, 2) we examined local differences in volume and cortical thickness of specific regions of interest previously implicated in bilingual/monolingual comparisons (temporal pole) or in aging (entorhinal cortex and hippocampus). We expected bilinguals would exhibit greater volume of the frontal lobe and temporal lobe (grey and white matter), given the importance of these regions in executive and language functions, respectively. We further hypothesized that regions in the medial temporal lobe, which demonstrate early changes in aging and exhibit neural pathology in dementia, would be more preserved in the bilingual group. As predicted, bilinguals exhibit greater frontal lobe white matter compared with monolinguals. Moreover, increasing age was related to decreasing temporal pole cortical thickness in the monolingual group, but no such relationship was observed for bilinguals. Finally, Stroop task performance was positively correlated with frontal lobe white
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Worthy, Jo; Nuñez, Idalia; Espinoza, Katherine
2016-01-01
Much research has focused on the reasons and mechanisms for immigrant language loss. However, there is a scarcity of research about influences on language maintenance over time, and much of this work employs survey data. With the current study, we aim to contribute to this body of research with a qualitative study of a bilingual individual,…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yasir Bdaiwi Jasim Al-Shujairi
2016-02-01
Full Text Available An increasing body of studies suggests that bilingual persons are better than monolinguals on a variety of cognitive measures. Thus, the present study investigates the relationship between the onset age of bilingual and the development of cognitive control among Nigerians. 10 bilingual students studying at University Putra Malaysia have been selected to participate in this study. They are divided into two groups: 5 early and 5 late bilinguals. The data are collected using online English proficiency test and E-prime software as instruments. Both groups are examined for English proficiency and performance on a flanker task. The result demonstrates that early bilinguals are more proficient in English than late bilinguals. Moreover, early bilingual performs better than late bilingual on flanker task. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that being early active bilinguals tend to have greater advantages in cognitive control and higher language proficiency. Keywords: onset age, bilingualism, and cognitive control
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Catt, Susan; Sheward, J; Sheward, E; Harder, H
2018-04-05
Exercise levels often decline following cancer diagnosis despite growing evidence of its benefits. Treatment side effects, older age, lack of confidence and opportunity to exercise with others in similar circumstances influence this. Our study explored the experiences of people attending a cancer-specific community-based exercise programme (CU Fitter™). A survey distributed to those attending the programme gathered demographic/clinical information, self-reported exercise levels, information provision and barriers to/benefits of exercise. Sixty surveys were evaluable from 65/100 returned (62% female, 68% > 60 years, 66% breast/prostate cancer). Most (68%) were receiving treatment. Sixty-eight percent attended classes once or twice weekly. Fifty-five percent received exercise advice after diagnosis, usually from their hospital doctor/nurse. More (73%) had read about exercising, but less used the Internet to source information (32%). Self-reported exercise levels were higher currently than before diagnosis (p = 0.05). Forty-eight percent said their primary barrier to exercising was the physical impact of cancer/treatment. Improving fitness/health (40%) and social support (16%) were the most important gains from the programme. Many (67%) had made other lifestyle changes and intented to keep (50%) or increase (30%) exercising. This community-based cancer-specific exercise approach engaged people with cancer and showed physical, psychological, and social benefits. Community-grown exercise initiatives bring cancer survivors together creating their own supportive environment. Combining this with instructors familiar with the population and providing an open-ended service may prove particularly motivating and beneficial. Further work is required to provide evidence for this.
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Bilingual children with primary language impairment: 3 months after treatment.
Pham, Giang; Ebert, Kerry Danahy; Kohnert, Kathryn
2015-01-01
. Differences in rates of change between languages and between treatment conditions are discussed in terms of social and cognitive processes that impact children's language systems. The main findings have at least two implications for clinical practice: (1) therapy that emphasizes focused practice in language and cognitive processing skills may promote gains in children's language learning abilities; and (2) bilingual treatment does not detract from outcomes in English, the language of the majority community for study participants. © 2014 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
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Bilingual children with primary language impairment: 3 months after treatment
Pham, Giang; Ebert, Kerry Danahy; Kohnert, Kathryn
2018-01-01
to examine longer-term treatment effects for bilingual school-age children with PLI. Differences in rates of change between languages and between treatment conditions are discussed in terms of social and cognitive processes that impact children’s language systems. The main findings have at least two implications for clinical practice: (1) therapy that emphasizes focused practice in language and cognitive processing skills may promote gains in children’s language learning abilities; and (2) bilingual treatment does not detract from outcomes in English, the language of the majority community for study participants. PMID:25134887
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter seeks to promote the concept of bilingual-bicultural education. Among its articles are "Arguments Against Bilingual Education,""Portuguese Reading Materials on Parade,""A Spanish Omnibus," and "Carrascolendas Makes Debut on Educational Television." There are announcements of the opening of a Portuguese materials resource center in…
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Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua; Bond, Michael Harris
2010-11-01
The issue of whether personality changes as a function of language is controversial. The present research tested the cultural accommodation hypothesis by examining the impact of language use on personality as perceived by the self and by others. In Study 1, Hong Kong Chinese-English bilinguals responded to personality inventories in Chinese or English on perceived traits for themselves, typical native speakers of Chinese, and typical native speakers of English. Study 2 adopted a repeated measures design and collected data at three time points from written measures and actual conversations to examine whether bilinguals exhibited different patterns of personality, each associated with one of their two languages and the ethnicity of their interlocutors. Self-reports and behavioral observations confirmed the effects of perceived cultural norms, language priming, and interlocutor ethnicity on various personality dimensions. It is suggested that use of a second language accesses the perceived cultural norms of the group most associated with that language, especially its prototypic trait profiles, thus activating behavioral expressions of personality that are appropriate in the corresponding linguistic-social context.
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Turning Local Bilingualism into a Touristic Experience
Schedel, Larissa Semiramis
2018-01-01
Local languages/varieties play a key role in the construction of an authentic and local tourism experience. This is also the case in the bilingual town of Murten, which uses its situation at the language border between the French- and the German-speaking part of Switzerland and the local bilingualism to attract and entertain tourists in different…
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Stuttering Characteristics of German-English Bilingual Speakers
Schafer, Martina; Robb, Michael P.
2012-01-01
The purpose of this study was to examine stuttering behavior in German-English bilingual people who stutter (PWS), with particular reference to the frequency of stuttering on content and function words. Fifteen bilingual PWS were sampled who spoke German as the first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2). Conversational speech was…
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Theory of Mind and Executive Functions in Young Bilingual Children.
Dahlgren, SvenOlof; Almén, Helena; Dahlgren Sandberg, Annika
2017-01-01
Few studies have explored the relationship between theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF), and bilingualism at the same time. In this study 14 young bilingual children were compared with monolingual children on a test battery composed of 5 ToM tests, 5 EF tests, and 1 test of general language ability. The result showed that despite significantly lower verbal ability, the bilingual children outperformed the monolingual ones on tests of EF. There were no differences in ToM performance. The authors argue that there is a strong relationship between bilingualism and EF, but, contrary to results from earlier studies, they could not find any relationship between bilingualism and ToM. EF did not predict ToM performance. Lack of a significant relationship could be due to the children's young age and consequently their low scores on the ToM tasks.
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Wang, Li-Fen
2014-01-01
This paper aims to identify how Taiwanese and Mandarin (the two dominant languages in Taiwan) are used as interactional resources by Vietnamese female spouses in bilingual Taiwanese families. Three Vietnamese-Taiwanese transnational families (a total of seventeen people) participated in the research, and mealtime talks among the Vietnamese wives…
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Camargo Cely, Jennyfer Paola
2018-01-01
Throughout time, the predominant use of certain languages has allowed some nations to take control over others and assure for them a privileged position. This study unveiled how certain practices and ideologies in regard to bilingualism have influenced teachers' professional development. Data were collected through discussion group sessions,…
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Differential bilingual laterality: mythical monster found in Wales.
Evans, Judith; Workman, Lance; Mayer, Peter; Crowley, Kevin
2002-11-01
Paradis (1992) likens studies of bilingual laterality to reported sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, in that although some studies claim differential laterality much conflicting research evidence does not-and like the mythical Scottish monster, what reason have we to suspect that any such phenomenon might exist? This study reexamines differential bilingual laterality using four groups of English-Welsh bilinguals which differ in their age of acquisition and in their environment of acquisition. Using a split visual field paradigm we present evidence which, supports the notion of greater right hemisphere processing in a later learned language. Our findings also suggest the pattern of lateralization in bilinguals is strongly affected by the specific language environment during development such that the shift toward greater right hemisphere involvement for the later learned language will be more pronounced in individuals which are brought up in areas where that language is not regularly heard.
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The Literature Review on the Bilingualism in China from a Sociolinguistic View
Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)
康硕
2015-01-01
Against the background of globalization,sociolinguists have long been dediated in the study of bilingualism.The Chinese-English bilingualism is demonstrated through a literature review,and analyzed from a sociolinguistic view in this paper.It explores an umber of published articles,analyzes the bilingual education abd the phenomenon of Chinese-English bilingualism in China on the basis of literature review.
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The Literature Review on the Bilingualism in China from a Sociolinguistic View
Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)
康硕
2015-01-01
Against the background of globalization, sociolinguists have long been dedicated in the study of bilingualism.The Chinese-English bilingualism is demonstrated through a literature review,and analyzed from a sociolinguistic view in this paper.It explores a number of published articles,analyzes the bilingual education abd the phenomenon of Chinese-English bilingualism in China on the basis of literature review.
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Lallier, Marie; Acha, Joana; Carreiras, Manuel
2016-01-01
This study investigates whether orthographic consistency and transparency of languages have an impact on the development of reading strategies and reading sub-skills (i.e. phonemic awareness and visual attention span) in bilingual children. We evaluated 21 French (opaque)-Basque (transparent) bilingual children and 21 Spanish (transparent)-Basque…
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Lee, Scott; Watt, Ron; Frawley, Jack
2015-01-01
There is little research in the developing countries of South East Asia on the effectiveness of bilingual education programmes that use first language instruction for ethnic minority children. This study investigated the effectiveness of a bilingual education programme involving ethnic minority children in Cambodia by comparing their performance…
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Bilingual children's social preferences hinge on accent.
DeJesus, Jasmine M; Hwang, Hyesung G; Dautel, Jocelyn B; Kinzler, Katherine D
2017-12-01
Past research finds that monolingual and bilingual children prefer native speakers to individuals who speak in unfamiliar foreign languages or accents. Do children in bilingual contexts socially distinguish among familiar languages and accents and, if so, how do their social preferences based on language and accent compare? The current experiments tested whether 5- to 7-year-olds in two bilingual contexts in the United States demonstrate social preferences among the languages and accents that are present in their social environments. We compared children's preferences based on language (i.e., English vs. their other native language) and their preferences based on accent (i.e., English with a native accent vs. English with a non-native [yet familiar] accent). In Experiment 1, children attending a French immersion school demonstrated no preference between English and French speakers but preferred American-accented English to French-accented English. In Experiment 2, bilingual Korean American children demonstrated no preference between English and Korean speakers but preferred American-accented English to Korean-accented English. Across studies, bilingual children's preferences based on accent (i.e., American-accented English over French- or Korean-accented English) were not related to their own language dominance. These results suggest that children from diverse linguistic backgrounds demonstrate social preferences for native-accented speakers. Implications for understanding the potential relation between social reasoning and language acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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National Research Council Canada - National Science Library
Savych, Bogdan; Klerman, Jacob A; Loughran, David S
2008-01-01
This technical report explores recent trends in the unemployment of recent veterans as estimated from two nationally representative surveys, the Current Population Survey "CPS" and the American Community Survey "ACS...
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Verbal intelligence in bilinguals when measured in L1 and L2.
Ardila, Alfredo; Lopez-Recio, Alexandra; Sakowitz, Ariel; Sanchez, Estefania; Sarmiento, Stephanie
2018-04-04
This study was aimed at studying the Verbal IQ in two groups of Spanish/English bilinguals: simultaneous and early sequential bilinguals. 48 Spanish/English bilinguals born in the U.S. or Latin American countries but moving to United States before the age of 10 were selected. The verbal subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (English and Spanish) - Third Edition (WAIS-III) was administered. Overall, performance was significantly better in English for both groups of bilinguals. Verbal IQ difference when tested in Spanish and English was about one standard deviation higher in English for simultaneous bilinguals, and about half standard deviation for early sequential bilinguals. In both groups, Verbal IQ in English was about 100; considering the level of education of our sample (bachelor degree, on average), it can be assumed that Verbal IQ in English was lower than expected, suggesting that bilinguals may be penalized even when evaluated in the dominant language.
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Bilingual instruction in early childhood education, can it better develop children?
Djahimo Santri E. P.; Indahri Yulia
2018-01-01
This is a case study of teaching and learning using bilingual instruction in two schools of Early Childhood Education in Kupang-NTT, Indonesia. The aims of this study are to find out whether or not bilingual instruction in Early Childhood Education can better develop children (the outcomes) and if the issue of ‘the younger, the better” in children’s language acquisition in bilingual setting is acceptable and true. 4 students from one bilingual and one monolingual schools have been observed. I...
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Autism and Bilingualism: A Qualitative Interview Study of Parents' Perspectives and Experiences.
Hampton, Sarah; Rabagliati, Hugh; Sorace, Antonella; Fletcher-Watson, Sue
2017-02-01
Research into how bilingual parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make choices about their children's language environment is scarce. This study aimed to explore this issue, focusing on understanding how bilingual parents of children with ASD may make different language exposure choices compared with bilingual parents of children without ASD. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 bilingual parents with a child with ASD and 18 bilingual parents with a typically developing (TD) child. Thematic analysis revealed that, in contrast to parents of TD children, parents with a child with ASD expressed concerns that a bilingual environment would cause confusion for their child and exacerbate language delays. This was particularly common for parents of children with lower verbal ability. Parents also identified potential benefits of bilingualism, particularly in terms of maintaining a close and affectionate bond with their child. Parents of children with ASD have concerns about bilingualism not present for parents of TD children, and these concerns are greater for parents of children with lower verbal ability. Future research in this area should take into account factors such as parent-child bonds as well as communication and language development.
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Age of acquisition and allophony in Spanish-English bilinguals
Barlow, Jessica A.
2014-01-01
This study examines age of acquisition (AoA) in Spanish-English bilinguals’ phonetic and phonological knowledge of /l/ in English and Spanish. In English, the lateral approximant /l/ varies in darkness by context [based on the second formant (F2) and the difference between F2 and the first formant (F1)], but the Spanish /l/ does not. Further, English /l/ is overall darker than Spanish /l/. Thirty-eight college-aged adults participated: 11 Early Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English before the age of 5 years, 14 Late Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English after the age of 6 years, and 13 English monolinguals. Participants’ /l/ productions were acoustically analyzed by language and context. The results revealed a Spanish-to-English phonetic influence on /l/ productions for both Early and Late bilinguals, as well as an English-to-Spanish phonological influence on the patterning of /l/ for the Late Bilinguals. These findings are discussed in terms of the Speech Learning Model and the effect of AoA on the interaction between a bilingual speaker’s two languages. PMID:24795664
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Hornberger, Nancy H.
2014-01-01
Drawing from long-term ethnographic research in the Andes, this paper examines one Quechua-speaking Indigenous bilingual educator's trajectory as she traversed (and traverses) from rural highland communities of southern Peru through development as teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and advocate for Indigenous identity and language…
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Community Based Survey on Psychiatric Morbidity in Eastern Nepal
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Pramod Mohan Shyangwa
2014-12-01
Conclusions: Community prevalence rate of some common psychiatric disorders is high which calls for special attention to address depressive and alcohol related disorder from all quarters of society particularly from government. Keywords: community survey; mental illness; psychiatric morbidity.
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THE BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF BILINGUALISM IN VISUAL MEDIA
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Aliva Rosdiana
2017-04-01
Full Text Available Bilingualism is a phenomenon that affects people throughout the world. People use bilingualism in particular situations in society such as in education, job, mass media, etc. People who speak bilingualism means that they get second language learning. Radio, televison, and YouTube are important vehicles of mass communication. Mass communication differs from the studies of other forms of communication, such as interpersonal communication, in that it focuses on a single source transmitting information to a large group of receivers. The study of bilingualism in visual media is chiefly concerned with how the content of visual media persuades or otherwise affects either behavior, attitude, opinion, or emotion of the person or people receiving the information. The beneficial effect is the development of bilingualism. Watching video affects children‘s acquisition of their native language and hasten language shift to the majority language. By watching the video, it also enrich our knowledge to particular vocabularies based on particular topics. The Internet makes it possible to have conversations across countries and continents. Individuals have multiple identities and belong to other speakers of their heritage language. So, the linguistic competence will develop as a by-product of the interest. In addition, it brings people closer.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maryam Arabpour
2017-06-01
Full Text Available Background: To date, with rapid increase of bilingual children, more attention about different patterns of the bilingual children narratives is needed. The aim of this study was to compare microstructure level of narratives generated by typical developing kindergarten children who were bilingual in Persian and Balochi with monolingual Persian speakers. Method: Thirty Persian-speaking monolingual and thirteen available bilingual children (aged 48 months old participated in this study. Children’s story telling was audio-recorded and analyzed using the Persian-NAP (Narrative Assessment Protocol guidelines. Results: All of the NAP indicators include of group structure, phrase structure, modifiers, noun and verbs didn’t show significant difference between monolingual and bilingual children (0.06≤p≤0.5. Conclusion: We didn’t find different performance in the five NAP indicators between bilingual and monolingual children. It may be suggested that the different patterns of creating phrases and sentences in two languages don’t affect the grammatical use of them in second language.
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter is designed to promote the concept of bilingual-bicultural education. Included in this issue are articles on "Bilingual Education: Acceptance and Allocation,""A World History Reference,""History Teachers, Take Heart,""Social Studies Materials in Spanish," and "Pride of Aztlan." Articles appear in Spanish and English. Included is a…
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter is designed to promote the needs and interests of bilingual-bicultural education. This issue contains the following articles: (1) What in the World Is a Team-Teaching, Continuous Progress, Non-Graded, Open Classroom in Bilingual Bicultural Education?, (2) Laughter and Anaya's "Lenguaje," (3) "Alegrias" and the Language Experience…
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter seeks to promote the concept of bilingual-bicultural education. Among its articles are "Steps Toward Effective Bilingualism,""A 'Used' Teacher's View of New Language Arts Materials,""Rich Resources for Reading," and "Tidbits to Turn On Science Students and Teachers." Book reviews and a list of recommended reading materials are…
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Nunez, Mario A.
This report explores two bilingual educational approaches currently in use in Mexico and the United States. The study pursues a limited comparison between two modalities of bilingual instruction, as observed and reported in the consulted literature. The U.S. model featured is known as the two-way bilingual model, an additive approach to…
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Bilingualism and Cognitive Decline: A Story of Pride and Prejudice.
Woumans, Evy; Versijpt, Jan; Sieben, Anne; Santens, Patrick; Duyck, Wouter
2017-01-01
In a recent review, Mukadam, Sommerlad, and Livingston (2017) argue that bilingualism offers no protection against cognitive decline. The authors examined the results of 13 studies (five prospective, eight retrospective) in which monolinguals and bilinguals were compared for cognitive decline and onset of dementia symptoms. Analysis of four of the five prospective studies resulted in the conclusion that there was no difference between monolinguals and bilinguals, whereas seven of the eight retrospective studies actually showed bilingualism to result in a four-to-five year delay of symptom onset. The authors decided to ignore the results from the retrospective studies in favor of those from the prospective studies, reasoning that the former may be confounded by participants' cultural background and education levels. In this commentary, we argue that most of these studies actually controlled for these two variables and still found a positive effect of bilingualism. Furthermore, we argue that the meta-analysis of the prospective studies is not complete, lacking the results of two crucial reports. We conclude that the literature offers substantial evidence for a bilingual effect on the development of cognitive decline and dementia.
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The auditory attention status in Iranian bilingual and monolingual people
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Nayiere Mansoori
2013-05-01
Full Text Available Background and Aim: Bilingualism, as one of the discussing issues of psychology and linguistics, can influence the speech processing. Of several tests for assessing auditory processing, dichotic digit test has been designed to study divided auditory attention. Our study was performed to compare the auditory attention between Iranian bilingual and monolingual young adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 students including 30 Turkish-Persian bilinguals and 30 Persian monolinguals aged between 18 to 30 years in both genders. Dichotic digit test was performed on young individuals with normal peripheral hearing and right hand preference. Results: No significant correlation was found between the results of dichotic digit test of monolinguals and bilinguals (p=0.195, and also between the results of right and left ears in monolingual (p=0.460 and bilingual (p=0.054 groups. The mean score of women was significantly more than men (p=0.031. Conclusion: There was no significant difference between bilinguals and monolinguals in divided auditory attention; and it seems that acquisition of second language in lower ages has no noticeable effect on this type of auditory attention.
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Psychosocial adaptation of adolescent migrants in a Swiss community survey.
Steinhausen, Hans-Christoph; Bearth-Carrari, Cinzia; Winkler Metzke, Christa
2009-04-01
The aim of this study was to compare psychosocial adaptation in adolescent (first generation) migrants, double-citizens (mainly second generation with one migrant parent), and native Swiss, and to compare migrants from various European regions. Data from a community survey were based on 1,239 participants (mean age 13.8, SD = 1.6 years) with 996 natives, 55 double-citizens, and 188 migrants. The adolescents completed the youth self-report measuring emotional and behavioural problems, and various questionnaires addressing life events, personality variables, perceived parental behaviour (PPB), family functioning, school environment, and social network. Adolescent migrants had significantly higher scores for internalizing and externalizing problems. There was a pattern of various unfavourable psychosocial features including life events, coping, self-related cognitions, and PPB that was more common among adolescent migrants than natives. Double-citizens were similar to natives in all domains. Young adolescents from South and South-East Europe differed from natives in terms of more unfavourable psychosocial features. Migrant status was best predicted by adverse psychosocial features rather than emotional and behavioural problems. There is some indication that certain migrant adolescents are at risk of psychosocial mal-adaptation. Obviously, ethnic origin is an important moderator.
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A Multidimensional Review of Bilingual Aphasia as a Language Disorder
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Mohsen Akbari
2014-04-01
Full Text Available Aphasia as a multifaceted language disorder associated with the complicated links between language and brain has been and is of interest and significance to the stream of research in different disciplines including neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive studies and language acquisition. Along with explorations into the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual speakers, bilingual aphasia has similarly become the most current form of this language disorder due to the rising number of bilingual speakers in recent decades all over the world and the probability of facing bilinguals suffering from this language deficit. To paint a picture of this multidimensional linguistic impairment and to get out of the labyrinth of aphasia and in particular bilingual aphasia, the present review study aims to provide a summary of aphasia-related studies in different contexts worldwide and run through the variables affecting the manifestations and language recovery patterns in bilingual aphasic speakers.
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Influence of Bilingualism on Memory Generalization during Infancy
Brito, Natalie; Barr, Rachel
2012-01-01
Very few studies have examined the cognitive advantages of bilingualism during the first two years of development, and a majority of the studies examining bilingualism throughout the lifespan have focused on the relationship between multiple languages and cognitive control. Early experience with multiple language systems may influence…
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Bilingual Education: A Reference Handbook. Contemporary Education Issues.
Feinberg, Rosa Castro
This book describes the evolution of bilingual education in the United States, emphasizing its relationship to educational and civil rights reform. Federal, state, and district policies affecting the implementation of bilingual programs are identified, along with related legal, political, demographic, and economic factors and controversies.…
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Bilingual Education Act: Background and Reauthorization Issues. CRS Report for Congress.
Aleman, Steven R.
The Bilingual Education Act (BEA) title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), is the federal program intended to help children who are limited English proficient (LEP) learn English. BEA activities focus on transitional bilingual education; developmental bilingual education; special alternative instruction (such as English as…
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Costs and Benefits of Bilingual Education in Guatemala: A Partial Analysis
Patrinos, Harry Anthony; Velez, Eduardo
2009-01-01
The benefits of bilingual education for a disadvantaged indigenous population as an investment in human capital are significant. Students of bilingual schools in Guatemala have higher attendance and promotion rates, and lower repetition and dropout rates. Bilingual students receive higher scores on all subject matters, including mastery of…
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Polish-German bilingualism at school. A Polish perspective
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Pulaczewska, Hanna
2014-03-01
Full Text Available This article presents the institutional frames for the acquisition of Polish literacy skills in Germany and the maintenance of Polish-German bilingualism after the repatriation of bilingual children to Poland. These processes are examined in the context of recent developments in the European domestic job market. While the European Union has placed proficiency in several languages among its educational objectives, and foreign languages have been made obligatory school subjects in all member countries, the potential advantages of internal European migrations for producing high-proficiency bilinguals are being ignored. Bilingualism resulting from migration and biculturalism enjoys little social prestige in the host countries. In Germany, there is significant regional variation in how school authorities react to challenges posed by the presence of minority languages. In many cases, the linguistic potential of many second-generation migrants and re-emigrants gets largely wasted because of lacking interest and incentives from German and Polish institutions alike.
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Bilingualism changes children's beliefs about what is innate.
Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Garcia, Bianca
2015-03-01
Young children engage in essentialist reasoning about natural kinds, believing that many traits are innately determined. This study investigated whether personal experience with second language acquisition could alter children's essentialist biases. In a switched-at-birth paradigm, 5- and 6-year-old monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children expected that a baby's native language, an animal's vocalizations, and an animal's physical traits would match those of a birth rather than of an adoptive parent. We predicted that sequential bilingual children, who had been exposed to a new language after age 3, would show greater understanding that languages are learned. Surprisingly, sequential bilinguals showed reduced essentialist beliefs about all traits: they were significantly more likely than other children to believe that human language, animal vocalizations, and animal physical traits would be learned through experience rather than innately endowed. These findings suggest that bilingualism in the preschool years can profoundly change children's essentialist biases. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana; Kaushanskaya, Margarita
2014-11-01
The authors examined the effects of conceptual scoring on the performance of simultaneous and sequential bilinguals on standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and Spanish. Participants included 40 English-speaking monolingual children, 39 simultaneous Spanish-English bilingual children, and 19 sequential bilingual children, ages 5-7. The children completed standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and also in Spanish for those who were bilingual. After the standardized administration, bilingual children were given the opportunity to respond to missed items in their other language to obtain a conceptual score. Controlling for group differences in socioeconomic status (SES), both simultaneous and sequential bilingual children scored significantly below monolingual children on single-language measures of English receptive and expressive vocabulary. Conceptual scoring removed the significant difference between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children in the receptive modality but not in the expressive modality; differences remained between monolingual and sequential bilingual children in both modalities. However, in both bilingual groups, conceptual scoring increased the proportion of children with vocabulary scores within the average range. Conceptual scoring does not fully ameliorate the bias inherent in single-language standardized vocabulary measures for bilingual children, but the procedures employed here may assist in ruling out vocabulary deficits, particularly in typically developing simultaneous bilingual children.
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Diane Kendall
2015-06-01
Full Text Available Introduction: The aim of this study is contribute to clinical practice of bilinguals around the globe, as well as to add to our understanding of bilingual aphasia processing, by analysing confrontation naming data from four Afrikaans/English bilingual individuals with acquired aphasia due to a left hemisphere stroke. Methods: This is a case series analysis of four Afrikaans/English bilingual aphasic individuals following a left cerebrovascular accident. Error analysis of confrontation naming data in both languages was performed. Research questions were directed toward the between language differences in lexical retrieval abilities, types of errors produced and degree of cognate overlap. Results: Three of the four participants showed significantly higher naming accuracy in first acquired language (L1 relative to the second acquired language (L2 and the largest proportion of error type for those three participants in both L1 and L2 was omission. One of the four participants (linguistically balanced showed no between language accuracy difference. Regarding cognate overlap, there was a trend for higher accuracy for higher cognate words (compared to low. Discussion: This study showed that naming performance in these four individuals was reflective of their relative language proficiency and use patterns prior to their stroke. These findings are consistent with the hierarchical model, in normal bilingual speakers and with persons with bilingual aphasia.
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Saravanan, Vanithamani
2001-01-01
Surveyed groups of Chinese, Malay and Tamil families, their use of community languages or mother tongue, and their speaking, reading, and writing proficiency. Found that when parents' community language proficiency in speaking is lower they tend to choose English as preferred language. Children's language confidence affected their language choice.…
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter seeks to promote the concept of bilingual-cultural education. Among its articles are "Political Power and Bilingualism,""Saturday Fun for Joao and Maria,""Student Selected Geography Texts," and "To Become Aware of One's Reality." Included is a list of distributors of educational materials in Spanish and Portuguese. Some of the…
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Education, Ethnic Identity, and Acculturation as Predictors of Self-Esteem in Latino Adolescents
Cavazos-Rehg, Patricia A.; DeLucia-Waack, Janice L.
2009-01-01
This study examines the self-esteem, acculturation, and ethnic identity of 150 Latino adolescents enrolled in either a bilingual or traditional education program. Bilingual education programs were established to ensure that academic failure was not the product of limited English proficiency. Grade point average (GPA), acculturation, and ethnic…
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Electrophysiological explorations of the bilingual advantage: evidence from a Stroop task.
Coderre, Emily L; van Heuven, Walter J B
2014-01-01
Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this 'bilingual advantage' behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a 'conflict-specific advantage') was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300-500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a 'non-conflict-specific advantage') was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings) between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment.
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Electrophysiological explorations of the bilingual advantage: evidence from a Stroop task.
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Emily L Coderre
Full Text Available Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this 'bilingual advantage' behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a 'conflict-specific advantage' was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300-500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a 'non-conflict-specific advantage' was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment.
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The Effects of Bilingualism on Toddlers' Executive Functioning
Poulin-Dubois, Diane; Blaye, Agnes; Coutya, Julie; Bialystok, Ellen
2011-01-01
Bilingual children have been shown to outperform monolingual children on tasks measuring executive functioning skills. This advantage is usually attributed to bilinguals' extensive practice in exercising selective attention and cognitive flexibility during language use because both languages are active when one of them is being used. We examined…
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The impact of bilingualism on brain reserve and metabolic connectivity in Alzheimer's dementia.
Perani, Daniela; Farsad, Mohsen; Ballarini, Tommaso; Lubian, Francesca; Malpetti, Maura; Fracchetti, Alessandro; Magnani, Giuseppe; March, Albert; Abutalebi, Jubin
2017-02-14
Cognitive reserve (CR) prevents cognitive decline and delays neurodegeneration. Recent epidemiological evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism may act as CR delaying the onset of dementia by ∼4.5 y. Much controversy surrounds the issue of bilingualism and its putative neuroprotective effects. We studied brain metabolism, a direct index of synaptic function and density, and neural connectivity to shed light on the effects of bilingualism in vivo in Alzheimer's dementia (AD). Eighty-five patients with probable AD and matched for disease duration (45 German-Italian bilingual speakers and 40 monolingual speakers) were included. Notably, bilingual individuals were on average 5 y older than their monolingual peers. In agreement with our predictions and with models of CR, cerebral hypometabolism was more severe in the group of bilingual individuals with AD. The metabolic connectivity analyses crucially supported the neuroprotective effect of bilingualism by showing an increased connectivity in the executive control and the default mode networks in the bilingual, compared with the monolingual, AD patients. Furthermore, the degree of lifelong bilingualism (i.e., high, moderate, or low use) was significantly correlated to functional modulations in crucial neural networks, suggesting both neural reserve and compensatory mechanisms. These findings indicate that lifelong bilingualism acts as a powerful CR proxy in dementia and exerts neuroprotective effects against neurodegeneration. Delaying the onset of dementia is a top priority of modern societies, and the present in vivo neurobiological evidence should stimulate social programs and interventions to support bilingual or multilingual education and the maintenance of the second language among senior citizens.
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Prevalence of Stuttering in Javanroud\\'s Bilingual Students
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Hiva Mohammadi
2008-04-01
Full Text Available Objective: Study of prevalence of stuttering in Iranian bilingual societies is essential for determine the effects of linguistic factors in stuttering and therapy demands in these bilingual societies. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of stuttering among Javanrud’s bilingual students. Materials & Methods: In this cross- sectional, descriptive and analytical study, all of bilingual students of Javanrud’s schools were examined and in order to this purpose, teacher referral method was used for the primary screening of speech disorders at all. Essential information about speech disorders specifically stuttering had been given to teachers before this primary step. Then researcher diagnosed stuttering students based on personal interview, reading, spontaneous speech and description of serial images that tell a story in Kurdish and Persian. Data were analysed by statistical tests such as Chi-square and Logistic Regression. Results: Among 11425 bilingual students of Javanrud’s schools, 129 students were identified as stutterers. These findings indicated that overall prevalence of stuttering in this population is 1/13 percent. Among primary, guidance and high school students the prevalence of stuttering was 2/06, 0/87 and 0/5 percent respectively. Prevalence of stuttering among boys was 1/35 and among girls was 0/88 percent. An overall male/female ratio was 1/5. Prevalence of stuttering in primary, guidance and high school was differ from each other significantly (P<0/001. Prevalence of stuttering in male was higher than female significantly (P=0/034. Conclusion: Prevalence of stuttering among Javanrood’s bilingual students was higher than accepted prevalence in monolinguals (1%. Risk of being stuttering in male was higher than female.
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Bilingualism delays the onset of behavioral but not aphasic forms of frontotemporal dementia.
Alladi, Suvarna; Bak, Thomas H; Shailaja, Mekala; Gollahalli, Divyaraj; Rajan, Amulya; Surampudi, Bapiraju; Hornberger, Michael; Duggirala, Vasanta; Chaudhuri, Jaydip Ray; Kaul, Subhash
2017-05-01
Bilingualism has been found to delay onset of dementia and this has been attributed to an advantage in executive control in bilinguals. However, the relationship between bilingualism and cognition is complex, with costs as well as benefits to language functions. To further explore the cognitive consequences of bilingualism, the study used Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) syndromes, to examine whether bilingualism modifies the age at onset of behavioral and language variants of Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) differently. Case records of 193 patients presenting with FTD (121 of them bilingual) were examined and the age at onset of the first symptoms were compared between monolinguals and bilinguals. A significant effect of bilingualism delaying the age at onset of dementia was found in behavioral variant FTD (5.7 years) but not in progressive nonfluent aphasia (0.7 years), semantic dementia (0.5 years), corticobasal syndrome (0.4 years), progressive supranuclear palsy (4.3 years) and FTD-motor neuron disease (3 years). On dividing all patients predominantly behavioral and predominantly aphasic groups, age at onset in the bilingual behavioral group (62.6) was over 6 years higher than in the monolingual patients (56.5, p=0.006), while there was no difference in the aphasic FTD group (60.9 vs. 60.6 years, p=0.851). The bilingual effect on age of bvFTD onset was shown independently of other potential confounding factors such as education, gender, occupation, and urban vs rural dwelling of subjects. To conclude, bilingualism delays the age at onset in the behavioral but not in the aphasic variants of FTD. The results are in line with similar findings based on research in stroke and with the current views of the interaction between bilingualism and cognition, pointing to advantages in executive functions and disadvantages in lexical tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Bilinguals Have Different Hemispheric Lateralization in Visual Word Processing from Monolinguals
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Sze-Man Lam
2011-05-01
Full Text Available Previous bilingual studies showed reduced hemispheric asymmetry in visual tasks such as face perception in bilinguals compared with monolinguals, suggesting experience in reading one or two languages could be a modulating factor. Here we examined whether difference in hemispheric asymmetry in visual tasks can also be observed in bilinguals who have different language backgrounds. We compared the behavior of three language groups in a tachistoscopic English word sequential matching task: English monolinguals (or alphabetic monolinguals, A-Ms, bilinguals with an alphabetic-L1 and English-L2 (alphabetic-alphabetic bilinguals, AA-Bs, and bilinguals with Chinese-L1 and English-L2 (logographic-alphabetic bilinguals, LA-Bs. The results showed that AA-Bs had a stronger right visual field/ left hemispheric (LH advantage than A-Ms and LA-Bs, suggesting that different language learning experiences can influence how visual words are processed in the brain. In addition, we showed that this effect could be accounted for by a computational model that implements a theory of hemispheric asymmetry in perception (i.e., the Double Filtering by Frequency theory; Ivry & Robertson, 1998; the modeling data suggested that this difference may be due to both the difference in participants' vocabulary size and the difference in word-to-sound mapping between alphabetic and logographic languages.
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Joyner, JaNae; Moore, Ashley R; Mount, David L; Simmons, Debra R; Ferrario, Carlos M; Cline, David M
2012-12-01
Patient inertia is defined as an individual's failure to take responsibility for proactive lifestyle change and health conditions including hypertension. Generalized and hypertension-specific patient inertia factors were compared in 110 patients (48% women; 52% African American) from a Forsyth County, NC, emergency department (ED) and 104 community members (79% women; 70% African American) using the patient inertia-facilitated survey Patient Inertia-36. Statistically, more ED than community participants added salt to food at the table and consumed fast foods 5 to 7 days a week. ED patients agreed less often with health literacy questions about salt and BP. Hypertension associated Patient inertia questions asked of 45 ED and 40 community participants with a personal history of hypertension revealed a statistically higher sense of hopelessness surrounding blood pressure management in ED participants. Past BP control experiences of family members had statistically greater impact on community participants regarding their own BP control. Using a logistic regression model, advancing age and being surveyed in the ED were correlated with hopelessness towards BP control. ED patients make unhealthier diet choices and possess heightened generalized and hypertension-specific patient inertia including hopelessness towards controlling their BP that increases with age. These factors may contribute to this population's poor BP control, particularly self-efficacy barriers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Validating Models of Clinical Word Recognition Tests for Spanish/English Bilinguals
Shi, Lu-Feng
2014-01-01
Purpose: Shi and Sánchez (2010) developed models to predict the optimal test language for evaluating Spanish/English (S/E) bilinguals' word recognition. The current study intended to validate their conclusions in a separate bilingual listener sample. Method: Seventy normal-hearing S/E bilinguals varying in language profile were included.…
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Examining the Text Quality of English/Chinese Bilingual Children's Picture Books
Huang, Qiaoya; Chen, Xiaoning
2016-01-01
As a branch of multicultural literature, bilingual children's picture books present a special opportunity for readers to expand their horizons and knowledge of other cultures. The researchers took a closer look at the text quality of 31 English/Chinese bilingual children's picture books. These bilingual books were examined on the aspects of the…
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Language Mediated Concept Activation in Bilingual Memory Facilitates Cognitive Flexibility
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin
2017-06-01
Full Text Available This is the first attempt of empirical investigation of language mediated concept activation (LMCA in bilingual memory as a cognitive mechanism facilitating divergent thinking. Russian–English bilingual and Russian monolingual college students were tested on a battery of tests including among others Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults assessing divergent thinking traits and translingual priming (TLP test assessing the LMCA. The latter was designed as a lexical decision priming test, in which a prime and a target were not related in Russian (language of testing, but were related through their translation equivalents in English (spoken only by bilinguals. Bilinguals outperformed their monolingual counterparts on divergent thinking trait of cognitive flexibility, and bilinguals’ performance on this trait could be explained by their TLP effect. Age of second language acquisition and proficiency in this language were found to relate to the TLP effect, and therefore were proposed to influence the directionality and strength of connections in bilingual memory.
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Working memory in multilingual children: is there a bilingual effect?
Engel de Abreu, Pascale M J
2011-07-01
This research investigates whether early childhood bilingualism affects working memory performance in 6- to 8-year-olds, followed over a longitudinal period of 3 years. The study tests the hypothesis that bilinguals might exhibit more efficient working memory abilities than monolinguals, potentially via the opportunity a bilingual environment provides to train cognitive control by combating interference and intrusions from the non-target language. A total of 44 bilingual and monolingual children, matched on age, sex, and socioeconomic status, completed assessments of working memory (simple span and complex span tasks), fluid intelligence, and language (vocabulary and syntax). The data showed that the monolinguals performed significantly better on the language measures across the years, whereas no language group effect emerged on the working memory and fluid intelligence tasks after verbal abilities were considered. The study suggests that the need to manage several language systems in the bilingual mind has an impact on children's language skills while having little effects on the development of working memory.
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Graphic Arts. A Bilingual Text = Artes Graficas. Un Texto Bilingue.
Los Angeles Unified School District, CA. Div. of Career and Continuing Education.
This bilingual instructional text, one in a series of six texts covering various vocational and technical topics, provides secondary level English and Spanish instruction in graphic arts. Addressed in the individual sections are basic graphic arts (composition, stone and press work, offset printing, silk screen, and photography) and allied graphic…
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Motivations For Code-Switching Among Igboenglish Bilinguals: A ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Studies have shown that code-switching is not a manifestation of mental confusion but a rule-governed behaviour among bilinguals which is motivated by various socio-psychological as well as linguistic factors. It has been observed that code-switching is more predominant among Igbo-English bilinguals compared to any ...
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Bilingualism and performance on two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries.
Karlsson, Linda C; Soveri, Anna; Räsänen, Pekka; Kärnä, Antti; Delatte, Sonia; Lagerström, Emma; Mård, Lena; Steffansson, Mikaela; Lehtonen, Minna; Laine, Matti
2015-01-01
The present study investigated the effect of bilingualism on the two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition (NEPSY-II) in children. The sample consisted of 100 Finland-Swedish children in two age groups. About half (n = 52) of the participants were early simultaneous bilinguals, and the other half (n = 48) were monolinguals. As no Finland-Swedish versions of the tests are available at the moment, both tests were translated and adapted to suit this population. The results revealed no difference in the performance between bilingual and monolingual children. This speaks against a cognitive advantage in bilingual children and indicates that development of separate norms for monolingual and bilingual children is not needed for clinical use.
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Educating "Good Citizenship" through Bilingual Children Literature Arabic and Hebrew
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sara Zamir
2013-11-01
Full Text Available The aim of the research has been to evaluate the contribution of the genre of bilingual literature, Arabic and Hebrew, to citizenship education. Since the Israeli society is a multicultural society comprised of both nations, Arabs and Jews who live in conflicted environment, one must regard those textbooks as civic agents. Literature is a socialization agent and as such it is an active influential factor in children's mental environment. The responsible citizens act responsibly in their community. They obey rules and regulation, acts kindly to his surroundings and occasionally donates out of their own resources. The participatory citizen actually participates in the social life of the community, at local, state and national levels by joining established systems. The justice citizen calls for attention to matters of injustice and to the importance of pursuing social goals. The content analysis procedure, revealed that most the stories, hence, ten out the thirteen deal with the two elevated types of citizenship, namely, the participatory citizen and the justice citizen. Inspire of the fact  that we are dealing with children's literature, the authors of bilingual children literature do not belittle the capacity of children to grasp their role as citizens in multicultural society.
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Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua; Benet-Martínez, Verónica; Harris Bond, Michael
2008-07-01
The present investigation examined the impact of bicultural identity, bilingualism, and social context on the psychological adjustment of multicultural individuals. Our studies targeted three distinct types of biculturals: Mainland Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong, Filipino domestic workers (i.e., sojourners) in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese college students. Individual differences in Bicultural Identity Integration (BII; Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002) positively predicted psychological adjustment for all the samples except sojourners even after controlling for the personality traits of neuroticism and self-efficacy. Cultural identification and language abilities also predicted adjustment, although these associations varied across the samples in meaningful ways. We concluded that, in the process of managing multiple cultural environments and group loyalties, bilingual competence, and perceiving one's two cultural identities as integrated are important antecedents of beneficial psychological outcomes.
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INTERCULTURAL FEATURES AND THE THEME OF TRAVELLING IN BILINGUAL MATHEMATICS LESSONS
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Zuzana Naštická
2016-08-01
Full Text Available The present qualitative research is focused on bilingual mathematics education. The research presents findings of a case study of one bilingual Slovak and English mathematics 40-minute lesson within an after school elective bilingual mathematics course running weekly since October, 2015. The lesson took place in March, 2016, and was attended by nine learners aged 12-13, eight boys and one girl. The learners are cases of successive school additive bilingual education. The elective course as a whole is a case of immerse bilingual educational programme. In terms of sociolinguistic settings, the course lessons are cases of bilingual education with external second language. The researcher designed and realized the course lessons in terms of CLIL approach, i.e. Content and Language Integrated Learning. The main aim of the case study was to examine if bilingual mathematics instruction does or does not prevent learners from solving math word problems. Secondly, the analysis of transcription of the lesson audio-record served for identification of intercultural features which might hinder the learning process. The analysis of the transcribed audio-record indicates that the bilingual context did not prevent students from solving math word problems, although each of the students worked at their individual rate. On the other hand, some students were confused by the comma as a thousands-separator in multi-digit numbers, and this actually hindered their learning and problem solving process. This fact has been identified as an intercultural difference which had to be explicitly explained to the students. In order to lessen the possible negative influences of bilingual context on mathematics education, teachers need to predict students’ responses to various intercultural differences which students are unfamiliar with.
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The effect of bilingualism on amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
Ossher, Lynn; Bialystok, Ellen; Craik, Fergus I M; Murphy, Kelly J; Troyer, Angela K
2013-01-01
Previous reports have found that lifelong bilingualism is associated with a delay in the onset of dementia, including Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (DAT). Because amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is often a transition stage between normal aging and DAT, our aim in this paper was to establish whether this delay in symptom onset for bilinguals would also be seen in the onset of symptoms of aMCI and whether this delay would be consistent in different subtypes of aMCI. We examined the effect of bilingualism on the age of diagnosis in individuals with single- or multiple-domain aMCI who were administered a battery of neuropsychological tests and questionnaires about their language and social background. Our results showed an interaction between aMCI type and language history. Only individuals diagnosed with single-domain aMCI demonstrated a later age of diagnosis for bilinguals (M = 79.4 years) than monolinguals (M = 74.9 years). This preliminary evidence suggests that the early protective advantage of bilingualism may be specific to single-domain aMCI, which is the type of aMCI most specifically associated with progression to DAT.
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Kowoll, Magdalena Eva; Degen, Christina; Gladis, Saskia; Schröder, Johannes
2015-01-01
Bilingualism is associated with enhanced executive functioning and delayed onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we investigated neuropsychological differences between mono- and bilingual patients with MCI and AD as well as the respective effects of dementia on the dominant and non-dominant language of bilinguals. 69 patients with MCI (n = 22) or AD (n = 47) and 17 healthy controls were included. 41 subjects were classified as lifelong bilinguals (mean age: 73.6; SD = 11.5) and 45 as monolinguals (mean age: 78.1; SD = 10.9). Neuropsychological performance was assessed on the CERAD-NP, the clock-drawing test, and the logical memory subscale of the Wechsler Memory Scale. Neuropsychological profiles showed only minor nonsignificant differences between mono- and bilingual subjects when compared between diagnostic groups. Bilingual MCI patients scored significantly lower on the verbal fluency and picture naming task in their dominant language than bilingual controls. Bilingual AD patients showed a reduced performance in their nondominant language when compared to bilingual MCI patients and bilingual controls (main effect language dominance: verbal fluency task p Bilingual MCI and AD patients show a similar pattern of neuropsychological deficits as monolingual patients do. The dominant language appears to be compromised first in bilingual MCI patients, while severe deficits of the nondominant language develop later in the course with manifestation of AD. These findings are important for the diagnostic work up of bilingual patients and the development of improved care concepts for bilingual patients such as migrant populations.
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Perez-Leroux, Ana T.; Pirvulescu, Mihaela; Roberge, Yves
2009-01-01
Where do the two languages of the bilingual child interact? The literature has debated whether bilingual children have delays in the acquisition of direct objects. The variety of methods and languages involved have prevented clear conclusions. In a transitivity-based approach, null objects are a default structural possibility, present in all…
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Escaping Capture: Bilingualism Modulates Distraction from Working Memory
Hernandez, Mireia; Costa, Albert; Humphreys, Glyn W.
2012-01-01
We ask whether bilingualism aids cognitive control over the inadvertent guidance of visual attention from working memory and from bottom-up cueing. We compare highly-proficient Catalan-Spanish bilinguals with Spanish monolinguals in three visual search conditions. In the working memory (WM) condition, attention was driven in a top-down fashion by…
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English Verb Accuracy of Bilingual Cantonese-English Preschoolers
Rezzonico, Stefano; Goldberg, Ahuva; Milburn, Trelani; Belletti, Adriana; Girolametto, Luigi
2017-01-01
Purpose: Knowledge of verb development in typically developing bilingual preschoolers may inform clinicians about verb accuracy rates during the 1st 2 years of English instruction. This study aimed to investigate tensed verb accuracy in 2 assessment contexts in 4- and 5-year-old Cantonese-English bilingual preschoolers. Method: The sample included…
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Breaking down the Bilingual Cost in Speech Production
Sadat, Jasmin; Martin, Clara D.; Magnuson, James S.; Alario, François-Xavier; Costa, Albert
2016-01-01
Bilinguals have been shown to perform worse than monolinguals in a variety of verbal tasks. This study investigated this bilingual verbal cost in a large-scale picture-naming study conducted in Spanish. We explored how individual characteristics of the participants and the linguistic properties of the words being spoken influence this performance…
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Unfinished dreams: community healing and the reality of aboriginal self-government
National Research Council Canada - National Science Library
Warry, Wayne
1998-01-01
... of community development and cultural revitalization that are essential precursors to self-government. Warry's notion of 'community healing' involves efforts to rebuild the human foundations for self-governing Aboriginal societies. The book analyses key areas such as health care and the judicial and political systems where Aboriginal peoples ...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kyuhyun Yoon
2015-01-01
Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: Obesity is a well-recognized risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM among young and middle-aged adults in South Korea. To elaborate on the association between obesity and Diabetes mellitus (DM, subjective data from self-reporting survey or objective data from health examination is generally used. This study was conducted to validate the change of association from using these different measurements. METHODS: Community Health Survey data and Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, as subjective and objective data respectively, were used. Population, resident in Seoul and over 45 aged, were selected for the study and the association between obesity and DM were defined by using multivariate logistic regression model. RESULTS: In subjective data, DM prevalence was 12.4% (male, 14.7; female, 10.6 and obesity prevalence was 26.0% (male, 29.2; female, 23.4. Whereas, in objective data, DM prevalence was 15.0% (male, 17.8; female, 12.9, and obese population was 32.4% (male, 34.4; female, 30.8. Based on the effect of obesity on DM prevalence from each data, using objective data increased the impact of obesity. Difference of relative risk of obesity between from subjective data and from objective was bigger in female than male and statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The differences of association pattern between subjective and objective data were found, due to higher obesity prevalence in objective data, and discrepancies of socio-economic status. These discrepancies could be inevitable Therefore we have to face them proactively, and understand the different aspect of various variables from different measurement.
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Hindle, John V; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Martyr, Anthony; Whitaker, Christopher J; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Thomas, Enlli M; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C; Clare, Linda
2015-01-01
Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF) and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson's disease (PD). Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n = 57) and bilingual Welsh/English (n = 46) speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of the degree of daily usage of each language and the degree of bilingualism. Results. Monolinguals showed an advantage in performance of language tests. There were no differences in performance of EF tests in monolinguals and bilinguals. Those who used Welsh less in daily life had better performance on one test of English vocabulary. The degree of bilingualism correlated with one test of nonverbal reasoning and one of working memory but with no other tests of EF. Discussion. The reasons why the expected benefit in EF in Welsh-English bilinguals with PD was not found require further study. Future studies in PD should include other language pairs, analysis of the effects of the degree of bilingualism, and longitudinal analysis of cognitive decline or dementia together with structural or functional neuroimaging.
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Bilingualism and cognitive decline : a story of pride and prejudice
Woumans, Evy; Versijpt, Jan; Sieben, Anne; Santens, Patrick; Duyck, Wouter
2017-01-01
In a recent review, Mukadam, Sommerlad, and Livingston (2017) argue that bilingualism offers no protection against cognitive decline. The authors examined the results of 13 studies (five prospective, eight retrospective) in which monolinguals and bilinguals were compared for cognitive decline and onset of dementia symptoms. Analysis of four of the five prospective studies resulted in the conclusion that there was no difference between monolinguals and bilinguals, whereas seven of the eight re...
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Aguilar-Palacio, Isabel; Carrera-Lasfuentes, Patricia; Rabanaque, M José
2015-01-01
To identify the trend in self-rated health in Spain by autonomous communities (AC) in the period 2001-2012, as well as differences by gender and age, and the influence of educational level. A cross sectional study was carried out using data from the National Health Surveys from 2001 to 2011-12 and the 2009 European Survey. A descriptive analysis was conducted that included gender, age, educational level, and the AC of residence. Logistic regression analyses were developed to explore the temporal trend and the association between educational level and self-rated health. The predictive capacity of the model was calculated using the C statistic. The prevalence of low self-rated health was higher in women with low educational level. Self-rated health improved in women with high educational level (2001:18.6% vs. 2012:14.6%). The highest prevalence of low self-rated health was observed in Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Galicia and Murcia, with differences by gender. Low educational level was associated with low self-rated health in most AC, with good predictive capacity. In all AC except Asturias, low self-rated health was more frequent in women than in men. In Spain, the prevalence of self-rated health showed no variations in the period analyzed and improved in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, and Madrid. The prevalence of self-rated health in Spain differed by AC. Although health was unchanged during the period considered, inequalities were found in its temporal trend by educational level and gender, which could lead to an increase in health inequalities in women according educational level. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.
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Recognizing the Effects of Language Mode on the Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ziying Yu
2018-03-01
Full Text Available For bilinguals, it is argued that a cognitive advantage can be linked to the constant management and need for conflict resolution that occurs when the two languages are co-activated (Bialystok, 2015. Language mode (Grosjean, 1998, 2001 is a significant variable that defines and shapes the language experiences of bilinguals and consequently, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Previous work, however, has not sufficiently tested the effects of language mode on the bilingual experience. In this brief conceptual analysis, we discuss the significance of language mode in bilingual work on speech perception, production, and reading. We offer possible explanations for conflicting findings and ways in which future work should control for its modulating effects.
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Recognizing the Effects of Language Mode on the Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism
Yu, Ziying; Schwieter, John W.
2018-01-01
For bilinguals, it is argued that a cognitive advantage can be linked to the constant management and need for conflict resolution that occurs when the two languages are co-activated (Bialystok, 2015). Language mode (Grosjean, 1998, 2001) is a significant variable that defines and shapes the language experiences of bilinguals and consequently, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Previous work, however, has not sufficiently tested the effects of language mode on the bilingual experience. In this brief conceptual analysis, we discuss the significance of language mode in bilingual work on speech perception, production, and reading. We offer possible explanations for conflicting findings and ways in which future work should control for its modulating effects. PMID:29615949
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Recognizing the Effects of Language Mode on the Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism.
Yu, Ziying; Schwieter, John W
2018-01-01
For bilinguals, it is argued that a cognitive advantage can be linked to the constant management and need for conflict resolution that occurs when the two languages are co-activated (Bialystok, 2015). Language mode (Grosjean, 1998, 2001) is a significant variable that defines and shapes the language experiences of bilinguals and consequently, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Previous work, however, has not sufficiently tested the effects of language mode on the bilingual experience. In this brief conceptual analysis, we discuss the significance of language mode in bilingual work on speech perception, production, and reading. We offer possible explanations for conflicting findings and ways in which future work should control for its modulating effects.
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Translanguaging Pedagogies for Positive Identities in Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education
García-Mateus, Suzanne; Palmer, Deborah
2017-01-01
Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language and identity are powerfully intertwined. A monolingual solitudes understanding of bilingualism undermines children's bilingual identities, yet in most bilingual education classrooms, academic instruction is segregated by language and children are encouraged to engage in…
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Cockcroft, Kate
2016-01-01
This study compared bilingual and monolingual school beginners on measures of simple and complex verbal working memory and receptive and expressive vocabulary. The aim was to determine whether the tests of working memory are fairer measures of language ability than the vocabulary tests for bilingual children when tested in their second language.…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Michael Aditya
2017-03-01
Full Text Available Background: Infectious diseases escalation in developing countries especially in Indonesia lead to increasing use of antibiotics in the community. Self-medication with antibiotics may increase the risk of resistant bacteria and irrational use of antibiotics. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between socioeconomic -demographic characteristics with antibiotic self-medication. Methods: An analytical cross sectional study was conducted on people from Sayang Village in West Java Indonesia aged over 18 years and had experience in using antibiotics. A total of 146 respondents were selected as the sample of this study. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analysed by using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test to analyze the relationship between socioeconomic demographic characteristics with antibiotic self-medication. Results: Out of 146 questionnaires that were completed, 111 were female and 35 male respondents, 75 respondents had experience in using antibiotics without prescription. The survey showed significant relation between antibiotics use with monthly income (p=0,031 and source of income (p=0,009. Conclusions: The study confirms that there is relation between monthly income and source of income with antibiotic self-medication.
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Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Pui Fong eKan
2014-09-01
Full Text Available The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan, Sadagopan, Janich, & Andrade, 2014, the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals’ fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals’ fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals’ retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals’ retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals’ language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Erika-Mária Tódor
2015-07-01
Full Text Available This paper presents the specific features of a school population in Romania for whom Romanian is a non-native language, their mother tongue being Hungarian. The first part of the study offers a description of the main characteristics of the verbal behaviour of this bilingual population. The first subheading will discuss, on the one hand, the linguistic profile of the subjects (linguistic interference, linguistic pseudo-creativity etc. and, on the other hand, it will present the main aspects of the socio-affective dimension of verbal behaviour (such as communicational anguish, displacement of communicational intention, linguistic code switching etc.. Practically, these features can be followed in the case of other bi(multilingual speakers as well. The second part of the paper presents certain lexical and semantic interference and vocabulary activating habits in the case of bilingual persons, relating them to the linguistic context and the linguistic landscape.The formulated data and observations represent a synthesis of empirical research carried out between 2000–2013 through different methods, such as: observation, case studies (within the context of the data referring to the profile of language behaviour, structured interviews and questionnaires (employed in the study of the linguistic landscape. The main aim of this study is to offer a socio- and psycholinguistic profile of Hungarian-Romanian bilingualism set in a holistic context.
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Families and Educators Supporting Bilingualism in Early Childhood
Rodríguez, M. Victoria
2015-01-01
This article explores the strategies that three Latino families in the U.S. employed in raising their children bilingually in Spanish and English. It also looks at their rationale for bilingualism as well as the challenges the parents failed to anticipate in implementing their strategies. The data were gleaned from comparative case studies over a…
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Neural processing of speech in children is influenced by bilingual experience
Krizman, Jennifer; Slater, Jessica; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina
2014-01-01
Language experience fine-tunes how the auditory system processes sound. For example, bilinguals, relative to monolinguals, have more robust evoked responses to speech that manifest as stronger neural encoding of the fundamental frequency (F0) and greater across-trial consistency. However, it is unknown whether such enhancements increase with increasing second language experience. We predict that F0 amplitude and neural consistency scale with dual-language experience during childhood, such that more years of bilingual experience leads to more robust F0 encoding and greater neural consistency. To test this hypothesis, we recorded auditory brainstem responses to the synthesized syllables ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ in two groups of bilingual children who were matched for age at test (8.4+/−0.67 years) but differed in their age of second language acquisition. One group learned English and Spanish simultaneously from birth (n=13), while the second group learned the two languages sequentially (n=15), spending on average their first four years as monolingual Spanish speakers. We find that simultaneous bilinguals have a larger F0 response to ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ and a more consistent response to ‘ba’ compared to sequential bilinguals. We also demonstrate that these neural enhancements positively relate with years of bilingual experience. These findings support the notion that bilingualism enhances subcortical auditory processing. PMID:25445377
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Developing the Bilingual Competence in Learning Foreign Languages
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
T. A. Znamenskaya
2013-01-01
Full Text Available The paper considers the problem of bilingualism and its effect on the personality of the speaker. Various types of bilingualism are described along with the factors determining the bilingual competence formation: age, individual experience, socio-cultural conditions of the native and foreign language interaction. The author points out both the positive and negative impact on the native language as the result of the second language learning. The special emphasis is on language interference in the process of learning a foreign language. To make sure the students achieve the adequate degree of its authenticity, and therefore the bilingual competence, the teacher should take into account the specificity of national styles, communicative strategies and speech tactics of both languages. A comparative analysis of linguistic differences of the English and Russian languages is demonstrated on the level of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar and national communicative stylistics. The author maintains that successful inter-language and cross-cultural communication requires the integrative cross-disciplinary approach, consolidation of the linguistic theory and methods of foreign language teaching.
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Bilingual infants control their languages as they listen.
Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Morin-Lessard, Elizabeth; Lew-Williams, Casey
2017-08-22
Infants growing up in bilingual homes learn two languages simultaneously without apparent confusion or delay. However, the mechanisms that support this remarkable achievement remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that infants use language-control mechanisms to preferentially activate the currently heard language during listening. In a naturalistic eye-tracking procedure, bilingual infants were more accurate at recognizing objects labeled in same-language sentences ("Find the dog!") than in switched-language sentences ("Find the chien !"). Measurements of infants' pupil size over time indicated that this resulted from increased cognitive load during language switches. However, language switches did not always engender processing difficulties: the switch cost was reduced or eliminated when the switch was from the nondominant to the dominant language, and when it crossed a sentence boundary. Adults showed the same patterns of performance as infants, even though target words were simple and highly familiar. Our results provide striking evidence from infancy to adulthood that bilinguals monitor their languages for efficient comprehension. Everyday practice controlling two languages during listening is likely to explain previously observed bilingual cognitive advantages across the lifespan.
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Studying bilingual students’ literacy
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Laursen, Helle Pia
2012-01-01
In the official educational discourse in the Nordic countries literacy teaching has become a central and contested issue. In both public and political debate literacy seems to be constructed as a unified concept streamlined for administration and measurement (Prinsloo & Baynham, 2008...... conceived of as a threat to a school’s profile (Rampton, Harris & Leung, 2001). In this paper, I focus on different conceptualizations of literacy and discuss the implications for research on bilingual children's literacy acquisition and the need to expand the understanding of literacy in ways, which might...... contribute to lift the basic understanding of bilinguals’ literacy out of a disqualifying political discourse. Drawing on the ongoing study Sign of Language (Laursen, 2011), I reflect on how a social semiotic framework might help open new research perspectives on bilingual children’s literacy acquisition...
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Weighted Evolving Networks with Self-organized Communities
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Xie Zhou; Wang Xiaofan; Li Xiang
2008-01-01
In order to describe the self-organization of communities in the evolution of weighted networks, we propose a new evolving model for weighted community-structured networks with the preferential mechanisms functioned in different levels according to community sizes and node strengths, respectively. Theoretical analyses and numerical simulations show that our model captures power-law distributions of community sizes, node strengths, and link weights, with tunable exponents of ν ≥ 1, γ > 2, and α > 2, respectively, sharing large clustering coefficients and scaling clustering spectra, and covering the range from disassortative networks to assortative networks. Finally, we apply our new model to the scientific co-authorship networks with both their weighted and unweighted datasets to verify its effectiveness
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Bilingual child acquisition through the lens of sociolinguistic approaches
Cornips, L.; Miller, David; Bayram, Fatih; Rothman, Jason; Serratrice, Ludovica
2018-01-01
This paper entails a perspective on bilingual child acquisition through the lens of sociolinguistic approaches. A discussion of the concepts of monolingual language ideology and power dynamics is undertaken in order to reveal their important consequences on studying bilingual child acquisition, in
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Verbal fluency in bilingual Spanish/English Alzheimer's disease patients.
Salvatierra, Judy; Rosselli, Monica; Acevedo, Amarilis; Duara, Ranjan
2007-01-01
Studies have demonstrated that in verbal fluency tests, monolinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show greater difficulties retrieving words based on semantic rather than phonemic rules. The present study aimed to determine whether this difficulty was reproduced in both languages of Spanish/English bilinguals with mild to moderate AD whose primary language was Spanish. Performance on semantic and phonemic verbal fluency of 11 bilingual AD patients was compared to the performance of 11 cognitively normal, elderly bilingual individuals matched for gender, age, level of education, and degree of bilingualism. Cognitively normal subjects retrieved significantly more items under the semantic condition compared to the phonemic, whereas the performance of AD patients was similar under both conditions, suggesting greater decline in semantic verbal fluency tests. This pattern was produced in both languages, implying a related semantic decline in both languages. Results from this study should be considered preliminary because of the small sample size.
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Hindle, John V.; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A.; Bastable, Alexandra J. M.; Pye, Kirstie L.; Martyr, Anthony; Whitaker, Christopher J.; Craik, Fergus I. M.; Bialystok, Ellen; Thomas, Enlli M.; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C.; Clare, Linda
2015-01-01
Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF) and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson's disease (PD). Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n = 57) and bilingual Welsh/English (n = 46) speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of ...
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Prevalence of the use of cancer related self-tests by members of the public: a community survey
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marriott John
2006-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Self-tests are those where an individual can obtain a result without recourse to a health professional, by getting a result immediately or by sending a sample to a laboratory that returns the result directly. Self-tests can be diagnostic, for disease monitoring, or both. There are currently tests for more than 20 different conditions available to the UK public, and self-testing is marketed as a way of alerting people to serious health problems so they can seek medical help. Almost nothing is known about the extent to which people self-test for cancer or why they do this. Self-tests for cancer could alter perceptions of risk and health behaviour, cause psychological morbidity and have a significant impact on the demand for healthcare. This study aims to gain an understanding of the frequency of self-testing for cancer and characteristics of users. Methods Cross-sectional survey. Adults registered in participating general practices in the West Midlands Region, will be asked to complete a questionnaire that will collect socio-demographic information and basic data regarding previous and potential future use of self-test kits. The only exclusions will be people who the GP feels it would be inappropriate to send a questionnaire, for example because they are unable to give informed consent. Freepost envelopes will be included and non-responders will receive one reminder. Standardised prevalence rates will be estimated. Discussion Cancer related self-tests, currently available from pharmacies or over the Internet, include faecal occult blood tests (related to bowel cancer, prostate specific antigen tests (related to prostate cancer, breast cancer kits (self examination guide and haematuria tests (related to urinary tract cancers. The effect of an increase in self-testing for cancer is unknown but may be considerable: it may affect the delivery of population based screening programmes; empower patients or cause unnecessary anxiety
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American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates for Coastal Geographies
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing statistical survey that samples a small percentage of the population every year. These data have been apportioned...
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San Diego City Schools, CA.
This newsletter is designed to promote the needs and aims of bilingual-bicultural education. This issue contains articles on: (1) Multi-ethnic Cooperation in Bilingual Education, (2) A Primary-Level Poetry Volume, (3) "Mi Escuela" for Your School, (4) An "Enciclopedia" That Is Also a "Tesoro," (5) Sample Lesson for "Abecedario Disney", (6) Bird of…
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Whittaker, Karen A; Cowley, Sarah
2012-11-01
To examine parental self-efficacy experiences for users of a parenting support programme and consider the pertinence of self-efficacy theory to health visiting (public health nursing) practice. Commonly, successful parenting training programmes are underpinned by social learning principles and aim to strengthen parental self-efficacy. However, research examining programme effectiveness rarely discusses how self-efficacy outcomes are achieved. A descriptive survey was completed as the first part of a realistic evaluation study examining how a UK parenting support programme worked. The first part of the realistic evaluation involved validating outcome measures (the Parenting Self-Agency Measure and Self-Efficacy for Parenting Tasks Index subscales) and administering a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was completed by adults accessing a parenting support programme during a 10-month period (n = 168). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Women were the main users of the programme, which included informal drop-in groups as well as more formalised health visiting services and parenting training courses. The Parenting Self-Agency Measure results indicated good general parental self-efficacy; however, the task-specific Self-Efficacy for Parenting Tasks Indexes scales suggested that parents were less self-efficacious in disciplining children. Lower self-efficacy scores correlated with high ratings for 'feeling tired', 'receiving negative comments' and 'giving-in to a child's demands'. Study results indicate that the domain general and task-specific measures provide different, but helpful, insights into parental self-efficacy experiences. By identifying factors associated with the levels of general and task-specific parental self-efficacy, health visitors can gain a fuller appreciation of support needs. To maximise potential through parenting support, attention should be given to addressing factors associated with poorer self
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Bilingualism delays clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease
Woumans, Evy; Santens, Patrick; Sieben, Anne; Versijpt, Jan; Stevens, Michaël; Duyck, Wouter
2015-01-01
The current study investigated the effects of bilingualism on the clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a European sample of patients. We assessed all incoming AD patients in two university hospitals within a specified timeframe. Sixty-nine monolinguals and 65 bilinguals diagnosed with probable AD were compared for time of clinical AD manifestation and diagnosis. The influence of other potentially interacting variables was also examined. Results indicated a significant delay f...
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Bilingualism and Working Memory Capacity: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis
Grundy, John G.; Timmer, Kalinka
2017-01-01
Bilinguals often outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks, including tasks that tap cognitive flexibility, conflict monitoring, and task-switching abilities. Some have suggested that bilinguals also have greater working memory capacity than comparable monolinguals, but evidence for this suggestion is mixed. We therefore conducted a…
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Maturation of Executive Functioning Skills in Early Sequential Bilingualism
Kalashnikova, Marina; Mattock, Karen
2014-01-01
Previous research has demonstrated that being bilingual from birth is advantageous for the development of skills of social cognition, executive functioning, and metalinguistic awareness due to bilingual children's extensive experience of processing and manipulating two linguistic systems. The present study investigated whether these cognitive…
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Bilingualism Alters Children's Frontal Lobe Functioning for Attentional Control
Arredondo, Maria M.; Hu, Xiao-Su; Satterfield, Teresa; Kovelman, Ioulia
2017-01-01
Bilingualism is a typical linguistic experience, yet relatively little is known about its impact on children's cognitive and brain development. Theories of bilingualism suggest that early dual-language acquisition can improve children's cognitive abilities, specifically those relying on frontal lobe functioning. While behavioral findings present…
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Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Burridge, Andrea; Ribot, Krystal M; Welsh, Stephanie N
2014-10-01
The early course of language development among children from bilingual homes varies in ways that are not well described and as a result of influences that are not well understood. Here, we describe trajectories of relative change in expressive vocabulary from 22 to 48 months and vocabulary achievement at 48 months in two groups of children from bilingual homes (children with one and children with two native Spanish-speaking parents [ n s = 15 and 11]) and in an SES-equivalent group of children from monolingual English homes ( n = 31). The two groups from bilingual homes differed in their mean levels of English and Spanish skills, in their developmental trajectories during this period, and in the relation between language use at home and their vocabulary development. Children with two native Spanish-speaking parents showed steepest gains in total vocabulary and were more nearly balanced bilinguals at 48 months. Children with one native Spanish- and one native English-speaking parent showed trajectories of relative decline in Spanish vocabulary. At 48 months, mean levels of English skill among the bilingual children were comparable to monolingual norms, but children with two native Spanish-speaking parents had lower English scores than the SES-equivalent monolingual group. Use of English at home was a significant positive predictor of English vocabulary scores only among children with a native English-speaking parent. These findings argue that efforts to optimize school readiness among children from immigrant families should facilitate their access to native speakers of the community language, and efforts to support heritage language maintenance should include encouraging heritage language use by native speakers in the home.
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Bilingual Intercultural Education in Ecuador: A Study of Social Demand
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marcelo Bastidas Jiménez
2015-12-01
Full Text Available The Intercultural Bilingual Education System in Ecuador is guaranteed by the Constitution and assured by the Organic Law of Intercultural Bilingual Education, in a process that took a few decades to the indigenous population. The Ecuadorian state currently counts with a Model of Intercultural Bilingual Education that has its own structure, attached to the Ministry of Education and responsible for generating educational guidelines for 35 indigenous nationalities that coexist in the country. The objective of this study is to analyze the social demand for the Bachelor in Intercultural Bilingual Education, offered by Universidad Politécnica Salesiana. The analysis was carried out through two studies, one of them quantitative, addressed to educational institutions, and the other one qualitative and directed to government officials. The research objectives were to determine the need for graduates in Intercultural Bilingual Education, identify the desired profile of graduates of the career and academic requirements for a successful career. The results highlighted that the current presence of professionals in bilingual intercultural education is 0,65 per institution, with an average necessity of 1,85, which determines the existence of a demand in the next three years of 3 315 professionals. The main conclusion is that there is a significant demand for this career. Although the deficiencies of the current educational system, there in a strengthening trend.
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To electrify bilingualism: Electrophysiological insights into bilingual metaphor comprehension.
Jankowiak, Katarzyna; Rataj, Karolina; Naskręcki, Ryszard
2017-01-01
Though metaphoric language comprehension has previously been investigated with event-related potentials, little attention has been devoted to extending this research from the monolingual to the bilingual context. In the current study, late proficient unbalanced Polish (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals performed a semantic decision task to novel metaphoric, conventional metaphoric, literal, and anomalous word pairs presented in L1 and L2. The results showed more pronounced P200 amplitudes to L2 than L1, which can be accounted for by differences in the subjective frequency of the native and non-native lexical items. Within the early N400 time window (300-400 ms), L2 word dyads evoked delayed and attenuated amplitudes relative to L1 word pairs, possibly indicating extended lexical search during foreign language processing, and weaker semantic interconnectivity for L2 compared to L1 words within the memory system. The effect of utterance type was observed within the late N400 time window (400-500 ms), with smallest amplitudes evoked by literal, followed by conventional metaphoric, novel metaphoric, and anomalous word dyads. Such findings are interpreted as reflecting more resource intensive cognitive mechanisms governing novel compared to conventional metaphor comprehension in both the native and non-native language. Within the late positivity time window (500-800 ms), Polish novel metaphors evoked reduced amplitudes relative to literal utterances. In English, on the other hand, this effect was observed for both novel and conventional metaphoric word dyads. This finding might indicate continued effort in information retrieval or access to the non-literal route during novel metaphor comprehension in L1, and during novel and conventional metaphor comprehension in L2. Altogether, the present results point to decreased automaticity of cognitive mechanisms engaged in non-native and non-dominant language processing, and suggest a decreased sensitivity to the levels of
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Habib, Rima R; Elzein, Kareem; Hojeij, Safa
2013-01-01
This research evaluated the association between women's self-rated health and a number of socioeconomic and environmental health indicators relating to drinking water services in an underserved Lebanese community. A population-based, cross-sectional survey using interviews was adopted to obtain information from female homemakers of 2,223 households in the town of Bebnine, Lebanon. The questionnaire included indicators on self-rated health, satisfaction with water quality, source of drinking water, occurrence of diarrhea, and socioeconomic variables, such as education, occupation, and perceived economic status. Self-rated health was categorized as poor, fair, and good. Odds ratios for poor and fair compared to good self-rated health values were calculated using multinomial logistic regression. A total of 712 women (32%) reported poor self-rated health. Women who perceived their household income to be worse than others in town were four times as likely to report poor health. Compared to women who were satisfied with drinking water quality, dissatisfied women were 42% more likely to report poor health. Women living in households reporting recent episodes of diarrheal illness had poorer health ratings than those without. The findings suggest a positive relationship between individual perceptions of water quality and self-rated health. Community concerns over their surrounding environment serve as a primary guide for infrastructural development and government policy.
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Autism and Bilingualism: A Qualitative Interview Study of Parents' Perspectives and Experiences
Hampton, Sarah; Rabagliati, Hugh; Sorace, Antonella; Fletcher-Watson, Sue
2017-01-01
Purpose: Research into how bilingual parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make choices about their children's language environment is scarce. This study aimed to explore this issue, focusing on understanding how bilingual parents of children with ASD may make different language exposure choices compared with bilingual parents of…
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The Longitudinal Effect of Bilingual Immersion Schooling on Cognitive Control and Intelligence
Woumans, Evy; Surmont, Jill; Struys, Esli; Duyck, Wouter
2016-01-01
Throughout the past century, the effects of bilingualism on general cognition have been extensively explored. Studies evolved from a negative to a more positive perspective, but longitudinal assessments of effects of bilingualism are scarce. This study investigated the long-term effect of becoming a bilingual on the development of general…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Haochu Li
2017-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Community engagement strategies are often integrated in public health interventions designed to promote condom use among men who have sex with men (MSM, a key population for HIV prevention. However, the ways in which condom use peer norms and self-efficacy play a role in the association between community engagement and condom use is unclear. This study examines the potential mediating roles of peer norms and self-efficacy in this association. Methods A nationwide cross-sectional online survey was conducted among Chinese MSM in 2015. Recruitment criteria included being born biologically male, being older than 16 years, having had anal sex with a man at least once during their lifetime, and having had condomless anal or vaginal sex in the past three months. Mplus 6.11 was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis and path modeling analysis to examine the structural relationships between HIV/sexual health community engagement (e.g., joining social media and community events related to HIV and sexual health services, condom use peer norms, condom use self-efficacy, and frequency of condom use. Results The study found that HIV/sexual health community engagement, condom use peer norms, condom use self-efficacy, and frequency of condom use were mutually correlated. A good data model was achieved with fit index: CFI = 0.988, TLI = 0.987, RMSEA = 0.032, 90% CI (0.028, 0.036. HIV/sexual health community engagement was associated with frequency of condom use, which was directly mediated by condom use peer norms and indirectly through self-efficacy. Conclusion The study suggests that condom use peer norms and self-efficacy may be mediators in the pathway between community engagement and condom use, and suggests the importance of peer-based interventions to improve condom use.
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Li, Haochu; Xue, Li; Tucker, Joseph D; Wei, Chongyi; Durvasula, Maya; Hu, Wenqi; Kang, Dianming; Liao, Meizhen; Tang, Weiming; Ma, Wei
2017-08-07
Community engagement strategies are often integrated in public health interventions designed to promote condom use among men who have sex with men (MSM), a key population for HIV prevention. However, the ways in which condom use peer norms and self-efficacy play a role in the association between community engagement and condom use is unclear. This study examines the potential mediating roles of peer norms and self-efficacy in this association. A nationwide cross-sectional online survey was conducted among Chinese MSM in 2015. Recruitment criteria included being born biologically male, being older than 16 years, having had anal sex with a man at least once during their lifetime, and having had condomless anal or vaginal sex in the past three months. Mplus 6.11 was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis and path modeling analysis to examine the structural relationships between HIV/sexual health community engagement (e.g., joining social media and community events related to HIV and sexual health services), condom use peer norms, condom use self-efficacy, and frequency of condom use. The study found that HIV/sexual health community engagement, condom use peer norms, condom use self-efficacy, and frequency of condom use were mutually correlated. A good data model was achieved with fit index: CFI = 0.988, TLI = 0.987, RMSEA = 0.032, 90% CI (0.028, 0.036). HIV/sexual health community engagement was associated with frequency of condom use, which was directly mediated by condom use peer norms and indirectly through self-efficacy. The study suggests that condom use peer norms and self-efficacy may be mediators in the pathway between community engagement and condom use, and suggests the importance of peer-based interventions to improve condom use.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marilda C. CAVALCANTI
1999-01-01
Full Text Available This paper aims at presenting a state-of-the-art of a subarea in Applied Linguistics, i.e., bilingual education studies in Brazil or yet education in bilingual settings such as indigenous communities, immigrant, frontier and deaf communities. These settings usually have more than two languages in use as well as language varieties. The paper shows a sociolinguistic panorama of the country and of the studies about education in linguistic minority contexts and draws implications for teacher education and language diversity.
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Bilingual Teaching Research and Practice of Complex Function Theory
Ma, Lixin
2011-01-01
Mathematics bilingual teaching is assisted in Chinese with English teaching, and gradually enables students to independently use English to learn, study, reflect and exchange Mathematics. In order to better carry out mathematics teaching, department of mathematics in Dezhou University forms discussion groups and launches bilingual teaching…
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Using What Matters to Students in Bilingual Mathematics Problems
Dominguez, Higinio
2011-01-01
In this study, the author represented what matters to bilingual students in their everyday lives--namely bilingualism and everyday experiences--in school-based mathematical problems. Solving problems in pairs, students demonstrated different patterns of organizing and coordinating talk across problem contexts and across languages. Because these…
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English word frequency and recognition in bilinguals: Inter-corpus comparison and error analysis.
Shi, Lu-Feng
2015-01-01
This study is the second of a two-part investigation on lexical effects on bilinguals' performance on a clinical English word recognition test. Focus is on word-frequency effects using counts provided by four corpora. Frequency of occurrence was obtained for 200 NU-6 words from the Hoosier mental lexicon (HML) and three contemporary corpora, American National Corpora, Hyperspace analogue to language (HAL), and SUBTLEX(US). Correlation analysis was performed between word frequency and error rate. Ten monolinguals and 30 bilinguals participated. Bilinguals were further grouped according to their age of English acquisition and length of schooling/working in English. Word frequency significantly affected word recognition in bilinguals who acquired English late and had limited schooling/working in English. When making errors, bilinguals tended to replace the target word with a word of a higher frequency. Overall, the newer corpora outperformed the HML in predicting error rate. Frequency counts provided by contemporary corpora predict bilinguals' recognition of English monosyllabic words. Word frequency also helps explain top replacement words for misrecognized targets. Word-frequency effects are especially prominent for bilinguals foreign born and educated.
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The effects of bilingualism on conflict monitoring, cognitive control, and garden-path recovery.
Teubner-Rhodes, Susan E; Mishler, Alan; Corbett, Ryan; Andreu, Llorenç; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Trueswell, John C; Novick, Jared M
2016-05-01
Bilinguals demonstrate benefits on non-linguistic tasks requiring cognitive control-the regulation of mental activity to resolve information-conflict during processing. This "bilingual advantage" has been attributed to the consistent management of two languages, yet it remains unknown if these benefits extend to sentence processing. In monolinguals, cognitive control helps detect and revise misinterpretations of sentence meaning. Here, we test if the bilingual advantage extends to parsing and interpretation by comparing bilinguals' and monolinguals' syntactic ambiguity resolution before and after practicing N-back, a non-syntactic cognitive-control task. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on a high-conflict but not a no-conflict version of N-back and on sentence comprehension, indicating that the advantage extends to language interpretation. Gains on N-back conflict trials also predicted comprehension improvements for ambiguous sentences, suggesting that the bilingual advantage emerges across tasks tapping shared cognitive-control procedures. Because the overall task benefits were observed for conflict and non-conflict trials, bilinguals' advantage may reflect increased cognitive flexibility. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Musical training, bilingualism, and executive function: working memory and inhibitory control.
D'Souza, Annalise A; Moradzadeh, Linda; Wiseheart, Melody
2018-01-01
The current study investigated whether long-term experience in music or a second language is associated with enhanced cognitive functioning. Early studies suggested the possibility of a cognitive advantage from musical training and bilingualism but have failed to be replicated by recent findings. Further, each form of expertise has been independently investigated leaving it unclear whether any benefits are specifically caused by each skill or are a result of skill learning in general. To assess whether cognitive benefits from training exist, and how unique they are to each training domain, the current study compared musicians and bilinguals to each other, plus to individuals who had expertise in both skills, or neither. Young adults ( n = 153) were categorized into one of four groups: monolingual musician; bilingual musician; bilingual non-musician; and monolingual non-musician. Multiple tasks per cognitive ability were used to examine the coherency of any training effects. Results revealed that musically trained individuals, but not bilinguals, had enhanced working memory. Neither skill had enhanced inhibitory control. The findings confirm previous associations between musicians and improved cognition and extend existing evidence to show that benefits are narrower than expected but can be uniquely attributed to music compared to another specialized auditory skill domain. The null bilingual effect despite a music effect in the same group of individuals challenges the proposition that young adults are at a performance ceiling and adds to increasing evidence on the lack of a bilingual advantage on cognition.
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The gender congruency effect during bilingual spoken-word recognition
Morales, Luis; Paolieri, Daniela; Dussias, Paola E.; Valdés kroff, Jorge R.; Gerfen, Chip; Bajo, María Teresa
2016-01-01
We investigate the ‘gender-congruency’ effect during a spoken-word recognition task using the visual world paradigm. Eye movements of Italian–Spanish bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals were monitored while they viewed a pair of objects on a computer screen. Participants listened to instructions in Spanish (encuentra la bufanda / ‘find the scarf’) and clicked on the object named in the instruction. Grammatical gender of the objects’ name was manipulated so that pairs of objects had the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) gender in Italian, but gender in Spanish was always congruent. Results showed that bilinguals, but not monolinguals, looked at target objects less when they were incongruent in gender, suggesting a between-language gender competition effect. In addition, bilinguals looked at target objects more when the definite article in the spoken instructions provided a valid cue to anticipate its selection (different-gender condition). The temporal dynamics of gender processing and cross-language activation in bilinguals are discussed. PMID:28018132
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Padilla, Claudia; Mendez, Mario F; Jimenez, Elvira E; Teng, Edmond
2016-11-24
Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289) and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339) Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.
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Supporting self management of type 2 diabetes: is there a role for the community pharmacist?
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dhippayom T
2015-07-01
Full Text Available Teerapon Dhippayom,1 Ines Krass21Pharmaceutical Care Research Unit, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand; 2Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, AustraliaBackground: Evidence supports the efficacy of pharmacy services in type 2 diabetes (T2D. However, little is known about consumer perspectives on the role of community pharmacists in diabetes care. The objectives of this study were to identify potential unmet needs and explore preferences for pharmacist-delivered support for T2D.Methods: A qualitative study using focus groups was conducted in Sydney, Australia. Patients with T2D who were members of the Australian Diabetes Council in Sydney, Australia, were recruited through a survey on medication use in T2D. Five focus groups with a total of 32 consumers with T2D were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed.Results: The key themes were 1 the experiences of diabetes services received, 2 the potential to deliver self-management services, and 3 the suggested role of pharmacist in supporting diabetes management. Gaps in understanding and some degree of nonadherence to self-management signaled a potential for self-management support delivered by pharmacists. However, consumers still perceive that the main role of pharmacists in diabetes care centers on drug management services, with some enhancements to support adherence and continuity of supply. Barriers to diabetes care services included time constraints and a perceived lack of interest by pharmacists.Conclusion: Given the unmet needs in diabetes self-management, opportunities exist for pharmacists to be involved in diabetes care. The challenge is for pharmacists to upgrade their diabetes knowledge and skills, organize their workflow, and become proactive in delivering diabetes care support.Keywords: diabetes care, community pharmacy, community pharmacist, self-management, preference
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Requirements for an "ideal" bilingual L1 →L2 translation- oriented ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
The major aim of this article is to outline the requirements for an "ideal" bilingual L1 →L2 dictionary of the general vocabulary specifically designed for the purposes of professional translation. The article challenges three commonly accepted beliefs: (a) a bilingual dictionary equals a translation dictionary; (b) a bilingual ...
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Predictors of Processing-Based Task Performance in Bilingual and Monolingual Children
Buac, Milijana; Gross, Megan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita
2016-01-01
In the present study we examined performance of bilingual Spanish-English-speaking and monolingual English-speaking school-age children on a range of processing-based measures within the framework of Baddeley’s working memory model. The processing-based measures included measures of short-term memory, measures of working memory, and a novel word-learning task. Results revealed that monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on the short-term memory tasks but not the working memory and novel word-learning tasks. Further, children’s vocabulary skills and socioeconomic status (SES) were more predictive of processing-based task performance in the bilingual group than the monolingual group. Together, these findings indicate that processing-based tasks that engage verbal working memory rather than short-term memory may be better-suited for diagnostic purposes with bilingual children. However, even verbal working memory measures are sensitive to bilingual children’s language-specific knowledge and demographic characteristics, and therefore may have limited clinical utility. PMID:27179914
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Examining Bilingual Children's Gender Ideologies through Critical Discourse Analysis
Martinez-Roldan, Carmen M.
2005-01-01
This article presents a case study of young bilingual students' discussions of literature in a second-grade Spanish/English bilingual classroom in the US. Sociocultural, critical, and Chicana feminist perspectives informed an analysis of the ways the children worked at understanding, marking, and resisting gender boundaries. This critical…
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Identity Constructions in Bilingual Advertising: A Critical-Cognitive Approach
Li, Songqing
2017-01-01
Does English always play an important role in constructing identities within the multimodal ad? This question has wide-ranging implications for the study of identity constructions in bilingual advertising in particular, and for bilingualism and multilingualism generally. This article presents a critical-cognitive approach that is an evidence-based…
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Oral Narratives in Monolingual and Bilingual Preschoolers with SLI
Rezzonico, Stefano; Chen, Xi; Cleave, Patricia L.; Greenberg, Janice; Hipfner-Boucher, Kathleen; Johnson, Carla J.; Milburn, Trelani; Pelletier, Janette; Weitzman, Elaine; Girolametto, Luigi
2015-01-01
Background: The body of literature on narratives of bilingual children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) is growing. However, little is known about the narrative abilities of bilingual preschool children with SLI and their patterns of growth. Aims: To determine the similarities and differences in narrative abilities between…
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Code-switching among chiShona-English bilinguals in courtroom ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
As has become the norm in bilingual situations, code-switching in both formal and informal contexts has increased recognition as a verbal mode of communication. This article presents a parsimonious exegesis of the patterns and functions of code-switching in the courtroom discourse of chiShona-English bilinguals.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
John V. Hindle
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF and delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson’s disease (PD. Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n=57 and bilingual Welsh/English (n=46 speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of the degree of daily usage of each language and the degree of bilingualism. Results. Monolinguals showed an advantage in performance of language tests. There were no differences in performance of EF tests in monolinguals and bilinguals. Those who used Welsh less in daily life had better performance on one test of English vocabulary. The degree of bilingualism correlated with one test of nonverbal reasoning and one of working memory but with no other tests of EF. Discussion. The reasons why the expected benefit in EF in Welsh-English bilinguals with PD was not found require further study. Future studies in PD should include other language pairs, analysis of the effects of the degree of bilingualism, and longitudinal analysis of cognitive decline or dementia together with structural or functional neuroimaging.
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Iwasaki, Riho; Arimoto, Azusa; Naruse, Takashi; Nagata, Satoko; Murashima, Sachiyo
Women who rear children have two types of roles: the maternal role and the self-role. Previous studies have suggested that maternal role satisfaction is related to anxiety, but the importance of self-role satisfaction in promoting the health of mothers has received less attention. The changing roles of women in society, especially in urban areas, have altered mothers' views of child-rearing. Our primary focus was on the relationship between maternal/self-role satisfaction and anxiety in mothers. To examine this, we conducted a cross-sectional survey using self-administered questionnaires that were distributed in 2011 to 2,342 mothers attending the 18-month health checkup of their children, in 7 cities of the Tokyo metropolitan area. A total of 881 responded (effective response rate = 38.0%). Multiple regression analysis revealed that maternal role satisfaction and self-role satisfaction were both significantly and negatively associated with anxiety. Thus, self-role satisfaction should be considered alongside maternal role satisfaction in evaluating and reducing anxiety. Health care professionals in community settings should conduct comprehensive assessments of maternal role satisfaction and self-role satisfaction.
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Does bilingualism increase brain or cognitive reserve in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy?
Reyes, Anny; Paul, Brianna M; Marshall, Anisa; Chang, Yu-Hsuan A; Bahrami, Naeim; Kansal, Leena; Iragui, Vicente J; Tecoma, Evelyn S; Gollan, Tamar H; McDonald, Carrie R
2018-05-01
Bilingual healthy adults have been shown to exhibit an advantage in executive functioning (EF) that is associated with microstructural changes in white matter (WM) networks. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) often show EF deficits that are associated with WM compromise. In this study, we investigate whether bilingualism can increase cognitive reserve and/or brain reserve in bilingual patients with TLE, mitigating EF impairment and WM compromise. Diffusion tensor imaging was obtained in 19 bilingual and 26 monolingual patients with TLE, 12 bilingual healthy controls (HC), and 21 monolingual HC. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were calculated for the uncinate fasciculus (Unc) and cingulum (Cing), superior frontostriatal tract (SFS), and inferior frontostriatal tract (IFS). Measures of EF included Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B) and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Color-Word Inhibition/Switching. Analyses of covariance were conducted to compare FA and MD of the Unc, Cing, SFS, and IFS and EF performance across groups. In bilingual patients, FA was lower in the ipsilateral Cing and Unc compared to all other groups. For both patient groups, MD of the ipsilateral Unc was higher relative to HC. Despite more pronounced reductions in WM integrity, bilingual patients performed similarly to monolingual TLE and both HC groups on EF measures. By contrast, monolingual patients performed worse than HC on TMT-B. In addition, differences in group means between bilingual and monolingual patients on TMT-B approached significance when controlling for the extent of WM damage (P = .071; d = 0.62), suggesting a tendency toward higher performance for bilingual patients. Despite poorer integrity of regional frontal lobe WM, bilingual patients performed similarly to monolingual patients and HC on EF measures. These findings align with studies suggesting that bilingualism may provide a protective factor for individuals with neurological disease, potentially
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The Bilingual Adaptation: How Minds Accommodate Experience
Bialystok, Ellen
2017-01-01
According to some estimates, more than half of the world’s population is multilingual to some extent. Because of the centrality of language use to human experience and the deep connections between linguistic and nonlinguistic processing, it would not be surprising to find that there are interactions between bilingualism and cognitive and brain processes. The present review uses the framework of experience-dependent plasticity to evaluate the evidence for systematic modifications of brain and cognitive systems that can be attributed to bilingualism. The review describes studies investigating the relation between bilingualism and cognition in infants and children, younger and older adults, and patients, using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. Excluded are studies whose outcomes focus primarily on linguistic abilities because of their more peripheral contribution to the central question regarding experience-dependent changes to cognition. Although most of the research discussed in the review reports some relation between bilingualism and cognitive or brain outcomes, several areas of research, notably behavioral studies with young adults, largely fail to show these effects. These discrepancies are discussed and considered in terms of methodological and conceptual issues. The final section proposes an account based on “executive attention” to explain the range of research findings and to set out an agenda for the next steps in this field. PMID:28230411
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More Limitations to Monolingualism: Bilinguals Outperform Monolinguals in Implicit Word Learning.
Escudero, Paola; Mulak, Karen E; Fu, Charlene S L; Singh, Leher
2016-01-01
To succeed at cross-situational word learning, learners must infer word-object mappings by attending to the statistical co-occurrences of novel objects and labels across multiple encounters. While past studies have investigated this as a learning mechanism for infants and monolingual adults, bilinguals' cross-situational word learning abilities have yet to be tested. Here, we compared monolinguals' and bilinguals' performance on a cross-situational word learning paradigm that featured phonologically distinct word pairs (e.g., BON-DEET) and phonologically similar word pairs that varied by a single consonant or vowel segment (e.g., BON-TON, DEET-DIT, respectively). Both groups learned the novel word-referent mappings, providing evidence that cross-situational word learning is a learning strategy also available to bilingual adults. Furthermore, bilinguals were overall more accurate than monolinguals. This supports that bilingualism fosters a wide range of cognitive advantages that may benefit implicit word learning. Additionally, response patterns to the different trial types revealed a relative difficulty for vowel minimal pairs than consonant minimal pairs, replicating the pattern found in monolinguals by Escudero et al. (2016) in a different English accent. Specifically, all participants failed to learn vowel contrasts differentiated by vowel height. We discuss evidence for this bilingual advantage as a language-specific or general advantage.
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Lehtonen, Minna; Hulten, Annika; Rodriguez-Fornells, Antoni; Cunillera, Toni; Tuomainen, Jyrki; Laine, Matti
2012-01-01
We investigated the behavioral and brain responses (ERPs) of bilingual word recognition to three fundamental psycholinguistic factors, frequency, morphology, and lexicality, in early bilinguals vs. monolinguals. Earlier behavioral studies have reported larger frequency effects in bilinguals' nondominant vs. dominant language and in some studies…
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Specifying the Needs of a "Bilingual" Developmentally Disabled Population: Issues and Case Studies.
Greenlee, Mel
Linguistic and cognitive assessment of children whose home language is not English involves a number of complex issues: minority labeling, the relationship between cognition and bilingualism, "normal" data on bilingual development, and monolingual versus bilingual environment for children experiencing delay. This paper concentrates on reviewing…
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Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status.
Alladi, Suvarna; Bak, Thomas H; Duggirala, Vasanta; Surampudi, Bapiraju; Shailaja, Mekala; Shukla, Anuj Kumar; Chaudhuri, Jaydip Ray; Kaul, Subhash
2013-11-26
The purpose of the study was to determine the association between bilingualism and age at onset of dementia and its subtypes, taking into account potential confounding factors. Case records of 648 patients with dementia (391 of them bilingual) diagnosed in a specialist clinic were reviewed. The age at onset of first symptoms was compared between monolingual and bilingual groups. The influence of number of languages spoken, education, occupation, and other potentially interacting variables was examined. Overall, bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than the monolingual ones. A significant difference in age at onset was found across Alzheimer disease dementia as well as frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia, and was also observed in illiterate patients. There was no additional benefit to speaking more than 2 languages. The bilingual effect on age at dementia onset was shown independently of other potential confounding factors such as education, sex, occupation, and urban vs rural dwelling of subjects. This is the largest study so far documenting a delayed onset of dementia in bilingual patients and the first one to show it separately in different dementia subtypes. It is the first study reporting a bilingual advantage in those who are illiterate, suggesting that education is not a sufficient explanation for the observed difference. The findings are interpreted in the context of the bilingual advantages in attention and executive functions.
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The Impact of Early Bilingualism on Face Recognition Processes.
Kandel, Sonia; Burfin, Sabine; Méary, David; Ruiz-Tada, Elisa; Costa, Albert; Pascalis, Olivier
2016-01-01
Early linguistic experience has an impact on the way we decode audiovisual speech in face-to-face communication. The present study examined whether differences in visual speech decoding could be linked to a broader difference in face processing. To identify a phoneme we have to do an analysis of the speaker's face to focus on the relevant cues for speech decoding (e.g., locating the mouth with respect to the eyes). Face recognition processes were investigated through two classic effects in face recognition studies: the Other-Race Effect (ORE) and the Inversion Effect. Bilingual and monolingual participants did a face recognition task with Caucasian faces (own race), Chinese faces (other race), and cars that were presented in an Upright or Inverted position. The results revealed that monolinguals exhibited the classic ORE. Bilinguals did not. Overall, bilinguals were slower than monolinguals. These results suggest that bilinguals' face processing abilities differ from monolinguals'. Early exposure to more than one language may lead to a perceptual organization that goes beyond language processing and could extend to face analysis. We hypothesize that these differences could be due to the fact that bilinguals focus on different parts of the face than monolinguals, making them more efficient in other race face processing but slower. However, more studies using eye-tracking techniques are necessary to confirm this explanation.
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Wyche, Karen Fraser; Pfefferbaum, Rose L; Pfefferbaum, Betty; Norris, Fran H; Wisnieski, Deborah; Younger, Hayden
2011-01-01
Community resilience activities were assessed in workplace teams that became first responders for Hurricane Katrina survivors. Community resilience was assessed by a survey, focus groups, and key informant interviews. On the survey, 90 first responders ranked their team's disaster response performance as high on community resilience activities. The same participants, interviewed in 11 focus groups and 3 key informant interviews, discussed how their teams engaged in community resilience activities to strengthen their ability to deliver services. Specifically, their resilient behaviors were characterized by: shared organizational identity, purpose, and values; mutual support and trust; role flexibility; active problem solving; self-reflection; shared leadership; and skill building. The implications for research, policy, practice, and education of professionals are discussed. © 2011 American Orthopsychiatric Association.
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Markle-Reid, Maureen; Ploeg, Jenny; Fraser, Kimberly D; Fisher, Kathryn A; Bartholomew, Amy; Griffith, Lauren E; Miklavcic, John; Gafni, Amiram; Thabane, Lehana; Upshur, Ross
2018-02-01
To compare the effect of a 6-month community-based intervention with that of usual care on quality of life, depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-efficacy, self-management, and healthcare costs in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and 2 or more comorbidities. Multisite, single-blind, parallel, pragmatic, randomized controlled trial. Four communities in Ontario, Canada. Community-dwelling older adults (≥65) with T2DM and 2 or more comorbidities randomized into intervention (n = 80) and control (n = 79) groups (N = 159). Client-driven, customized self-management program with up to 3 in-home visits from a registered nurse or registered dietitian, a monthly group wellness program, monthly provider team case conferences, and care coordination and system navigation. Quality-of-life measures included the Physical Component Summary (PCS, primary outcome) and Mental Component Summary (MCS, secondary outcome) scores of the Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). Other secondary outcome measures were the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10), Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA), Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease, and healthcare costs. Morbidity burden was high (average of eight comorbidities). Intention-to-treat analyses using analysis of covariance showed a group difference favoring the intervention for the MCS (mean difference = 2.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.28-5.09, P = .03), SDSCA (mean difference = 3.79, 95% CI = 1.02-6.56, P = .01), and CES-D-10 (mean difference = -1.45, 95% CI = -0.13 to -2.76, P = .03). No group differences were seen in PCS score, anxiety, self-efficacy, or total healthcare costs. Participation in a 6-month community-based intervention improved quality of life and self-management and reduced depressive symptoms in older adults with T2DM and comorbidity without increasing total healthcare costs.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Anna eSoveri
2011-08-01
Full Text Available Several studies have suggested a bilingual advantage in executive functions, presumably due to bilinguals’ massive practice with language switching that requires executive resources, but the results are still somewhat controversial. Previous studies are also plagued by the inherent limitations of a natural groups design where the participant groups are bound to differ in many ways in addition to the variable used to classify them. In an attempt to introduce a complementary analysis approach, we employed multiple regression to study whether the performance of 30-75-year-old Finnish-Swedish bilinguals (n= 38 on tasks measuring different executive functions (inhibition, updating, and set shifting could be predicted by the frequency of language switches in everyday life (as measured by a language switching questionnaire, L2 age of acquisition, or by the self-estimated degree of use of both languages in everyday life. Most consistent effects were found for the set shifting task where a higher rate of everyday language switches was related to a smaller mixing cost in errors. Mixing cost is thought to reflect top-down management of competing task sets, thus resembling the bilingual situation where decisions of which language to use has to be made in each conversation. These findings provide additional support to the idea that some executive functions in bilinguals are affected by a lifelong experience in language switching and, perhaps even more importantly, suggest a complementary approach to the study of this issue.
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Multiple literacies: Linking the research on bilingualism and biliteracies to the practical.
Dufresne, Therese; Masny, Diana
2006-11-01
The present article addresses the fundamental developmental differences between monolingualism and bilingualism, as outlined in the literature. It takes into account research using qualitative and quantitative methodologies and reviews the advantages and possible disadvantages of bilingualism in preschool children. It then moves on to biliteracies in early childhood education. The questions addressed are: Will the early learning of a second language delay a child's language development? What effect does bilingualism have on the development of phonemic awareness, and does that have an impact on reading development? Do bilingual children have an advantage over monolingual children? What happens when a child with language impairment is called upon to develop two languages? What are some challenges regarding the acquisition of biliteracies? The present article concludes with recommendations for physicians who counsel bilingual families regarding early childhood literacy promotion and development.
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On the Economic Approach to Bilingual Education in China
Xiong, Zhiwei; Shao, Cheng
2009-01-01
In the process of globalization, each country culture retains an independence from the others besides in reality a fusion of several cultures. Bilingual education as an effective means and intangible resource, which have long been neglected, will play an important part in social and economic development in China. Bilingual education, in this…
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Bilingual Lexical Interactions in an Unsupervised Neural Network Model
Zhao, Xiaowei; Li, Ping
2010-01-01
In this paper we present an unsupervised neural network model of bilingual lexical development and interaction. We focus on how the representational structures of the bilingual lexicons can emerge, develop, and interact with each other as a function of the learning history. The results show that: (1) distinct representations for the two lexicons…
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Cognitive Development in Bilingual and Monolingual Lower-Class Children.
Myers, Barbara; Goldstein, David
1979-01-01
The cognitive development of lower-class English-speaking monolingual and English-Spanish speaking bilingual children in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades was compared by means of standard verbal and nonverbal measures. The verbal ability of bilingual children was assessed in both English and Spanish. Their scores in both languages were low.…
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Latino Bilingual Teachers: Negotiating the Figured World of Masculinity
Lara, Gilberto P.; Fránquiz, María E.
2015-01-01
This article focuses on a group of male teachers from Proyecto Bilingüe, a professional development master's degree program for bilingual teachers. The study is guided by one broad research question: How do Latino male bilingual teachers negotiate their identities in a gendered profession? Specifically the study addresses: What spaces for…
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Colonial Bilingual Heritage and Post-Colonial Myths in Cameroon's ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Thus, the study traces and shows that an uncritical support of the existing school bilingualism, a aspect of the general political objective of national unity and integration, hinges on a fictitious collective post-colonial dream about using the bilingual heritage of French and English, and the cultures that lie behind them, ...
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Silencing Bilingualism: A Day in a Life of a Bilingual Practitioner
Robertson, Leena H.; Drury, Rose; Cable, Carrie
2014-01-01
Based on sociocultural theories of learning, this paper draws on findings from a research project "a day in a life of a bilingual practitioner". It explores how two multilingual practitioners in English early years settings supported the learning of young 3-4 year-old children, and their parents and teachers. The paper challenges the…
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The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals.
Coderre, Emily L; VAN Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy
2013-04-01
Executive control abilities and lexical access speed in Stroop performance were investigated in English monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Predictions were based on a bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, implicating cognitive control ability as the critical factor determining Stroop interference; and two bilingual lexical disadvantage hypotheses, focusing on lexical access speed. Importantly, each hypothesis predicts different response patterns in a Stroop task manipulating stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). There was evidence for a bilingual cognitive advantage, although this effect was sensitive to a number of variables including proficiency, language immersion, and script. In lexical access speed, no differences occurred between monolinguals and bilinguals in their native languages, but there was evidence for a delay in L2 processing speed relative to the L1. Overall, the data highlight the multitude of factors affecting executive control and lexical access speed in bilinguals.
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Cognate costs in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mirjam Broersma
2016-09-01
Full Text Available This study investigates cross-language lexical competition in the bilingual mental lexicon. It provides evidence for the occurrence of inhibition as well as the commonly reported facilitation during the production of cognates (words with similar phonological form and meaning in two languages in a mixed picture naming task by highly proficient Welsh-English bilinguals. Previous studies have typically found cognate facilitation. It has previously been proposed (with respect to non-cognates that cross-language inhibition is limited to low-proficient bilinguals; therefore, we tested highly proficient, early bilinguals. In a mixed naming experiment (i.e., picture naming with language switching, 48 highly proficient, early Welsh-English bilinguals named pictures in Welsh and English, including cognate and non-cognate targets. Participants were English-dominant, Welsh-dominant, or had equal language dominance. The results showed evidence for cognate inhibition in to ways. First, both facilitation and inhibition were found on the cognate trials themselves, compared to non-cognate controls, modulated by the participants’ language dominance. The English-dominant group showed cognate inhibition when naming in Welsh (and no difference between cognates and controls when naming in English, and the Welsh-dominant and equal dominance groups generally showed cognate facilitation. Second, cognate inhibition was found as a behavioral adaptation effect, with slower naming for non-cognate filler words in trials after cognates than after non-cognate controls. This effect was consistent across all language dominance groups and both target languages, suggesting that cognate production involved cognitive control even if this was not measurable in the cognate trials themselves. Finally, the results replicated patterns of symmetrical switch costs, as commonly reported for balanced bilinguals. We propose that cognate processing might be affected by two different
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“ALL IN ALL, I AM BILINGUAL” A STUDY OF BILINGUALISM
Zeynep CANLI; Bekir CANLI
2016-01-01
he aim of the study is to investigate whether EFL instructors in a university preparatory school consider themselves bilingual, or not; and the reasons for the EFL instructors to consider themselves bilingual or not. For the purpose of the study, a qualitative research was carried out. Thirty EFL instructors participated in this study. The data were collected via an open-ended questionnaire. Analyzing the results indicated that most of the participants considered themselves bilingual. The res...
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A Progress Evaluation of Four Bilingual Children's Television Shows.
Klein, Stephen P.; And Others
An evaluation of a bilingual education TV series was conducted involving 6-year-old English speaking, Spanish speaking, and bilingual children at four sites. Children were assigned to control and experimental groups with the latter group seeing four 30 minute shows. A pretest-posttest design was employed with the pretest serving as the covariate…
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Pittsburgh American Community Survey Data 2015 - Household Types
Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — The data on relationship to householder were derived from answers to Question 2 in the 2015 American Community Survey (ACS), which was asked of all people in...
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Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity - American Community Survey
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — This dataset includes select data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) on the percent of adults who bike or walk to work. This data is used...
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Guo, Tian-Chao; Li, Xuemei
2016-11-01
Previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding the relationship between individuality and social identity, indicating this area requires further examination. This study constructed a research model to help understand the positive role of individualized behavior and social identity in virtual communities. The results of an online survey conducted to assess our theoretical research model indicated that social identity can be expressed in two ways: self-categorization and social identification. Furthermore, we found individualized behavior was positively related to social identification, while self-categorization was directly derived from social identification.
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Spaces of homotopy self-equivalences a survey
Rutter, John W
1997-01-01
This survey covers groups of homotopy self-equivalence classes of topological spaces, and the homotopy type of spaces of homotopy self-equivalences. For manifolds, the full group of equivalences and the mapping class group are compared, as are the corresponding spaces. Included are methods of calculation, numerous calculations, finite generation results, Whitehead torsion and other areas. Some 330 references are given. The book assumes familiarity with cell complexes, homology and homotopy. Graduate students and established researchers can use it for learning, for reference, and to determine the current state of knowledge.
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Errors in the Production of Adult Early and Late Bilinguals
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Teresa Lee
2014-08-01
Full Text Available This study examines the grammatical knowledge of adult second language (L2 learners and heritage speakers. Given the differences in the mode and age of acquisition between L2 learners (late bilinguals and heritage speakers (early bilinguals, the question arises as to whether and how these groups differ from each other in their knowledge of Korean. To address this question, the present study looks at the production of Korean relative clauses by three groups of learners (26 L2 learners, 11 simultaneous bilinguals, and 38 early sequential bilinguals. The results of a written production task showed that all three groups made similar types of errors such as those involving the use of incorrect word order and case markers. Yet differences were also observed in the nature of errors made by these three groups. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications are drawn for classroom instruction.
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Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation
Gangopadhyay, Ishanti; McDonald, Margarethe; Ellis Weismer, Susan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita
2018-01-01
We examined the role of verbal mediation in planning performance of English–Spanish-speaking bilingual children and monolingual English-speaking children, between the ages of 9 and 12 years. To measure planning, children were administered the Tower of London (ToL) task. In a dual-task paradigm, children completed ToL problems under three conditions: with no secondary task (baseline), with articulatory suppression, and with non-verbal motor suppression. Analyses revealed generally shorter planning times for bilinguals than monolinguals but both groups performed similarly on number of moves and execution times. Additionally, bilingual children were more efficient at planning throughout the duration of the task while monolingual children showed significant gains with more practice. Children’s planning times under articulatory suppression were significantly shorter than under motor suppression as well as the baseline condition, and there was no difference in planning times between monolingual and bilingual children during articulatory suppression. These results demonstrate that bilingualism influences performance on a complex EF measure like planning, and that these effects are not related to verbal mediation. PMID:29593620
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Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation.
Gangopadhyay, Ishanti; McDonald, Margarethe; Ellis Weismer, Susan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita
2018-01-01
We examined the role of verbal mediation in planning performance of English-Spanish-speaking bilingual children and monolingual English-speaking children, between the ages of 9 and 12 years. To measure planning, children were administered the Tower of London (ToL) task. In a dual-task paradigm, children completed ToL problems under three conditions: with no secondary task (baseline), with articulatory suppression, and with non-verbal motor suppression. Analyses revealed generally shorter planning times for bilinguals than monolinguals but both groups performed similarly on number of moves and execution times. Additionally, bilingual children were more efficient at planning throughout the duration of the task while monolingual children showed significant gains with more practice. Children's planning times under articulatory suppression were significantly shorter than under motor suppression as well as the baseline condition, and there was no difference in planning times between monolingual and bilingual children during articulatory suppression. These results demonstrate that bilingualism influences performance on a complex EF measure like planning, and that these effects are not related to verbal mediation.
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Nicolaidis, Christina; Raymaker, Dora; McDonald, Katherine; Dern, Sebastian; Ashkenazy, Elesia; Boisclair, Cody; Robertson, Scott; Baggs, Amanda
2012-01-01
Background Most community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects involve local communities defined by race, ethnicity, geography, or occupation. Autistic self-advocates, a geographically dispersed community defined by disability, experience issues in research similar to those expressed by more traditional minorities. Objectives We sought to build an academic–community partnership that uses CBPR to improve the lives of people on the autistic spectrum. Methods The Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE) includes representatives from academic, self-advocate, family, and professional communities. We are currently conducting several studies about the health care experiences and well-being of autistic adults. Lessons Learned We have learned a number of strategies that integrate technology and process to successfully equalize power and accommodate diverse communication and collaboration needs. Conclusions CBPR can be conducted successfully with autistic self-advocates. Our strategies may be useful to other CBPR partnerships, especially ones that cannot meet in person or that include people with diverse communication needs. PMID:21623016
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Evaluation of speech and language assessment approaches with bilingual children.
De Lamo White, Caroline; Jin, Lixian
2011-01-01
British society is multicultural and multilingual, thus for many children English is not their main or only language. Speech and language therapists are required to assess accurately the speech and language skills of bilingual children if they are suspected of having a disorder. Cultural and linguistic diversity means that a more complex assessment procedure is needed and research suggests that bilingual children are at risk of misdiagnosis. Clinicians have identified a lack of suitable assessment instruments for use with this client group. This paper highlights the challenges of assessing bilingual children and reviews available speech and language assessment procedures and approaches for use with this client group. It evaluates different approaches for assessing bilingual children to identify approaches that may be more appropriate for carrying out assessments effectively. This review discusses and evaluates the efficacy of norm-referenced standardized measures, criterion-referenced measures, language-processing measures, dynamic assessment and a sociocultural approach. When all named procedures and approaches are compared, the sociocultural approach appears to hold the most promise for accurate assessment of bilingual children. Research suggests that language-processing measures are not effective indicators for identifying speech and language disorders in bilingual children, but further research is warranted. The sociocultural approach encompasses some of the other approaches discussed, including norm-referenced measures, criterion-referenced measures and dynamic assessment. The sociocultural approach enables the clinician to interpret results in the light of the child's linguistic and cultural background. In addition, combining approaches mitigates the weaknesses inherent in each approach. © 2011 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Claudia Padilla
2016-11-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. Methods We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289 and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339 Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. Results After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p < 0.001. Group differences on the 3MS were driven by language/executive and language/praxis factors. Within the bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. Conclusions These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.
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Exploring Critical Factors of Self Concept among High Income Community College Graduates
Rasul, Mohamad Sattar; Nor, Ahmad Rosli Mohd; Amat, Salleh; Rauf, Rose Amnah Abdul
2015-01-01
This study was undertaken to explore the critical factors influencing the self-concept of community college graduates in the development of their careers. Individuals with a positive self-concept are often associated with a good career choices and a well-panned career development path. Hence community college students should be girded with a…
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Community Survey Q5: Public safety - Police services
Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina — This question is from the 2015 Chapel Hill Community Survey.Using a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 means “Very Satisfied” and 1 means “Very Dissatisfied,” residents were...
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Ro, Young Sun; Shin, Sang Do; Song, Kyoung Jun; Hong, Sung Ok; Kim, Young Taek; Lee, Dong-Woo; Cho, Sung-Il
2016-05-01
This study aims to test the association between capacity of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at community level and survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Emergency medical service (EMS)-treated OHCAs with cardiac etiology in Korea between 2012 and 2013 were analyzed, excluding cases witnessed by EMS providers. Exposure variables were five indexes of community CPR capacity: awareness of CPR (CPR-Awareness), any training experience of CPR (CPR-Any-Training), recent CPR training within the last 2 years (CPR-Recent-Training), CPR training with a manikin (CPR-Manikin-Training), and CPR self-efficacy (CPR-Self-Efficacy). All measures of capacity were calculated as aggregated values for each county level using the national Korean Community Health Survey database of 228,921 responders sampled representatively from 253 counties in 2012. Endpoints were bystander CPR (BCPR) and survival to discharge. We calculated adjusted odds ratios (AORs) per 10% increment in community CPR capacity using multi-level logistic regression models, adjusting for potential confounders at individual levels. Of 29,052 eligible OHCAs, 11,079 (38.1%) received BCPR. Patients were more likely to receive BCPR in communities with higher proportions of residents with CPR-Awareness, CPR-Any-Training, CPR-Recent-Training, CPR-Manikin-Training, and CPR-Self-Efficacy (all pCPR-Awareness, 1.10 (1.04-1.15) for CPR-Any-Training, and 1.08 (1.03-1.13) for CPR-Self-Efficacy. For survival to discharge, AORs (95% CIs) were 1.34 (1.23-1.47) per 10% increment in CPR-Awareness, 1.36 (1.20-1.54) for CPR-Any-Training, and 1.29 (1.15-1.45) for CPR-Self-Efficacy. Higher CPR capacity at community level was associated with higher bystander CPR and survival to discharge rates after OHCA. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The Cultured Word: Cultural Background, Bilingualism, and the School Library.
Agosto, Denise E.
2001-01-01
Presents major research related to cultural background as a framework for textual meaning-making, bilingualism, and literacy development. Discusses bilingualism, literacy, and social context; considers why these issues are important to school librarians; and offers suggestions for making multicultural materials central aspects of school library…
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Clare, Linda; Whitaker, Christopher J; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Martyr, Anthony; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Quinn, Catherine; Thomas, Enlli M; Gathercole, Virginia C Mueller; Hindle, John V
2016-09-01
The observation of a bilingual advantage in executive control tasks involving inhibition and management of response conflict suggests that being bilingual might contribute to increased cognitive reserve. In support of this, recent evidence indicates that bilinguals develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) later than monolinguals, and may retain an advantage in performance on executive control tasks. We compared age at the time of receiving an AD diagnosis in bilingual Welsh/English speakers (n = 37) and monolingual English speakers (n = 49), and assessed the performance of bilinguals (n = 24) and monolinguals (n = 49) on a range of executive control tasks. There was a non-significant difference in age at the time of diagnosis, with bilinguals being on average 3 years older than monolinguals, but bilinguals were also significantly more cognitively impaired at the time of diagnosis. There were no significant differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in performance on executive function tests, but bilinguals appeared to show relative strengths in the domain of inhibition and response conflict. Bilingual Welsh/English speakers with AD do not show a clear advantage in executive function over monolingual English speakers, but may retain some benefits in inhibition and management of response conflict. There may be a delay in onset of AD in Welsh/English bilinguals, but if so, it is smaller than that found in some other clinical populations. In this Welsh sample, bilinguals with AD came to the attention of services later than monolinguals, and reasons for this pattern could be explored further. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.
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Disclosure of sensitive behaviors across self-administered survey modes: a meta-analysis.
Gnambs, Timo; Kaspar, Kai
2015-12-01
In surveys, individuals tend to misreport behaviors that are in contrast to prevalent social norms or regulations. Several design features of the survey procedure have been suggested to counteract this problem; particularly, computerized surveys are supposed to elicit more truthful responding. This assumption was tested in a meta-analysis of survey experiments reporting 460 effect sizes (total N =125,672). Self-reported prevalence rates of several sensitive behaviors for which motivated misreporting has been frequently observed were compared across self-administered paper-and-pencil versus computerized surveys. The results revealed that computerized surveys led to significantly more reporting of socially undesirable behaviors than comparable surveys administered on paper. This effect was strongest for highly sensitive behaviors and surveys administered individually to respondents. Moderator analyses did not identify interviewer effects or benefits of audio-enhanced computer surveys. The meta-analysis highlighted the advantages of computerized survey modes for the assessment of sensitive topics.
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Translanguaging, TexMex, and Bilingual Pedagogy: Emergent Bilinguals Learning through the Vernacular
Sayer, Peter
2013-01-01
This article presents an ethnographic study of how bilingual teachers and children use their home language, TexMex, to mediate academic content and standard languages. From the premise that TESOL educators can benefit from a fuller understanding of students' linguistic repertoires, the study describes language practices in a second-grade classroom…
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Bilingualism modulates the white matter structure of language-related pathways.
Hämäläinen, Sini; Sairanen, Viljami; Leminen, Alina; Lehtonen, Minna
2017-05-15
Learning and speaking a second language (L2) may result in profound changes in the human brain. Here, we investigated local structural differences along two language-related white matter trajectories, the arcuate fasciculus and the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), between early simultaneous bilinguals and late sequential bilinguals. We also examined whether early exposure to two languages might lead to a more bilateral structural organization of the arcuate fasciculus. Fractional anisotropy, mean and radial diffusivities (FA, MD, and RD respectively) were extracted to analyse tract-specific changes. Additionally, global voxel-wise effects were investigated with Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). We found that relative to late exposure, early exposure to L2 leads to increased FA along a phonology-related segment of the arcuate fasciculus, but induces no modulations along the IFOF, associated to semantic processing. Late sequential bilingualism, however, was associated with decreased MD along the bilateral IFOF. Our results suggest that early vs. late bilingualism may lead to qualitatively different kind of changes in the structural language-related network. Furthermore, we show that early bilingualism contributes to the structural laterality of the arcuate fasciculus, leading to a more bilateral organization of these perisylvian language-related tracts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The impact of late, non-balanced bilingualism on cognitive performance.
Vega-Mendoza, Mariana; West, Holly; Sorace, Antonella; Bak, Thomas H
2015-04-01
We present a study examining cognitive functions in late non-balanced bilinguals with different levels of second language proficiency. We examined in two experiments a total of 193 mono- and bilingual university students. We assessed different aspects of attention (sustained, selective and attentional switching), verbal fluency (letter and category) as well as picture-word association as a measure of language proficiency. In Experiment 2 we also compared students in their first/initial (Y1) and fourth/final (Y4) year of either language or literature studies. There were no differences between both groups in category fluency. In selective attention, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in Y1 and this difference remained significant in Y4 despite overall improvement in both groups. Contrasting results were found in attentional switching and letter fluency: while no differences were found in Y1 in both tasks, in Y4 there was an advantage for bilinguals in attentional switching and for monolinguals in letter fluency. We conclude that overall late-acquisition non-balanced bilinguals experience similar cognitive effects as their early-acquisition balanced counterparts. However, different cognitive effects may appear at different stages of adult second language acquisition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Elite vs. Folk Bilingualism: The Mismatch between Theories and Educational and Social Conditions
Guerrer, Carmen Helena
2010-01-01
This article aims at contributing to the ongoing discussion about how bilingualism is understood in the current National Bilingualism Plan (PNB for its initials in Spanish). Based on previous research and discussions held at academic events, it is evident that the promoters of the PNB use the term "bilingualism" in a rather…
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BILINGUALISM AMONG THE ADOLESCENTS IN BADUNG REGENCY, BALI
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I Nyoman Muliana
2015-01-01
Full Text Available This paper presents a discussion of bilingualism among the adolescents in Badung Regency, the Province of Bali. It aims to explore the bilingualism situation and the existence of Balinese Language among them. The discussion is based on participant observation to the adolescents and it is based on Sociolinguistic Theory. The result of the discussion shows that the adolescents in Badung Regency are bilinguals of Balinese and Indonesian languages. They use Balinese language in all their communicative activities, except some females occasionally showed the use of Indonesian language. Their conversations both in Balinese and Indonesian languages are also followed by code mixing of the words and phrase of Indonesian, Balinese, and English languages. The result of the discussion also indicates that Balinese language still used and maintained by the adolescents in Badung Regency.
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Katsumata, Yuriko; Arai, Asuna; Tomimori, Masashi; Ishida, Kozo; Lee, Romeo B; Tamashiro, Hiko
2011-07-01
This cross-sectional study examined the relationships of fear of falling and falls self-efficacy with higher-level competence among community-dwelling senior citizens in Japan. Of the 822 registered senior citizens, 731 (89%) community dwellers were requested to participate in the survey using a mailed self-accomplished questionnaire. Data from 648 respondents with duly accomplished questionnaires were analyzed using R(2) , the coefficient of determination, based on a multivariate regression analysis. Fear of falling, low falls self-efficacy and higher-level functional disability were observed among respondents. Of the hypothesized relationships examined by sex, fear of falling was significantly associated with disability among male respondents and low falls self-efficacy among both sexes. Several confounding variables were strongly associated with competence. While the data underscore the strategic importance of promoting higher-level competence among the senior citizens, there is much to suggest that their competence is likely to be maintained if their fear of falling and falls self-efficacy were modified. Programs must also consider a wide array of intervening factors. © 2011 Japan Geriatrics Society.
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Bilingualism modulates infants' selective attention to the mouth of a talking face.
Pons, Ferran; Bosch, Laura; Lewkowicz, David J
2015-04-01
Infants growing up in bilingual environments succeed at learning two languages. What adaptive processes enable them to master the more complex nature of bilingual input? One possibility is that bilingual infants take greater advantage of the redundancy of the audiovisual speech that they usually experience during social interactions. Thus, we investigated whether bilingual infants' need to keep languages apart increases their attention to the mouth as a source of redundant and reliable speech cues. We measured selective attention to talking faces in 4-, 8-, and 12-month-old Catalan and Spanish monolingual and bilingual infants. Monolinguals looked more at the eyes than the mouth at 4 months and more at the mouth than the eyes at 8 months in response to both native and nonnative speech, but they looked more at the mouth than the eyes at 12 months only in response to nonnative speech. In contrast, bilinguals looked equally at the eyes and mouth at 4 months, more at the mouth than the eyes at 8 months, and more at the mouth than the eyes at 12 months, and these patterns of responses were found for both native and nonnative speech at all ages. Thus, to support their dual-language acquisition processes, bilingual infants exploit the greater perceptual salience of redundant audiovisual speech cues at an earlier age and for a longer time than monolingual infants. © The Author(s) 2015.
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Methods for Identifying Specific Language Impairment in Bilingual Populations in Germany
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Cornelia Hamann
2017-10-01
Full Text Available This study investigates the performance of 22 monolingual and 54 bilingual children with and without specific language impairment (SLI, in a non-word repetition task (NWRT and a sentence repetition task (SRT. Both tasks were constructed according to the principles for LITMUS tools (Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings developed within COST Action IS0804 and incorporated phonological or syntactic structures that are linguistically complex and have been shown to be difficult for children with SLI across languages. For phonology these are in particular (nonwords containing consonant clusters. In morphosyntax, complexity has been attributed to factors such as embedding and/or syntactic movement. Tasks focusing on such structures are expected to identify SLI in bilinguals across language combinations. This is notoriously difficult because structures that are problematic for typically developing bilinguals (BiTDs and monolingual children with SLI (MoSLI often overlap. We show that the NWRT and the SRT are reliable tools for identification of SLI in bilingual contexts. However, interpretation of the performance of bilingual children depends on background information as provided by parental questionnaires. To evaluate the accuracy of our tasks, we recruited children in ordinary kindergartens or schools and in speech language therapy centers and verified their status with a battery of standardized language tests, assessing bilingual children in both their languages. We consider a bilingual child language impaired if she shows impairments in two language domains in both her languages. For assessment, we used tests normed for monolinguals (with one exception and adjusted the norms for bilingualism and for language dominance. This procedure established the following groups: 10 typical monolinguals (MoTD, 12 MoSLI, 46 BiTD, and 8 bilingual children with SLI (BiSLI. Our results show that both tasks target relevant structures: monolingual
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Elite Vs. Folk Bilingualism: The Mismatch between Theories and Educational and Social Conditions
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Carmen Helena Guerrero
2010-12-01
Full Text Available This article aims at contributing to the ongoing discussion about how bilingualism is understood in the current National Bilingualism Plan (PNB for its initials in Spanish. Based on previous research and discussions held at academic events, it is evident that the promoters of the PNB use the term “bilingualism” in a rather indiscriminate way, without adopting a clear approach or definition. This ambiguity in conceptualization has serious consequences in the way the PNB is implemented around the country. The main contribution of this reflection article is, then, to explore from a theoretical perspective two opposite types of bilingualism: elite/folk bilingualism to show that even though on the surface the PNB seems to aim at an elite bilingualism, the educational and social conditions show otherwise.
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Perceived Requirements of MIS Curriculum Implementation in Bilingual Developing Countries
Kabeil, Magdy M.
2005-01-01
This paper addresses additional requirements associated with implementing a standard curriculum of Management Information Systems (MIS) in bilingual developing countries where both students and workplace users speak English as a second language. In such countries, MIS graduates are required to develop bilingual computer applications and to…
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Perceptions of Cataloguers and End-Users towards Bilingual Authority Files.
Abdoulaye, Kaba
2002-01-01
Analyzes and describes bilingual authority files at the main library of the International Islamic University of Malaysia. Highlights include a review of multilingual research; perceptions of end users and catalogers; problems with bilingual files; and use of the OPAC (online public access catalog) by users. (Author/LRW)
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Positive Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism and Multilingualism on Cerebral Function: a Review.
Quinteros Baumgart, Cibel; Billick, Stephen Bates
2018-06-01
A review of the current literature regarding bilingualism demonstrates that bilingualism is linked to higher levels of controlled attention and inhibition in executive control and can protect against the decline of executive control in aging by contributing to cognitive reserve. Bilinguals may also have smaller vocabulary size and slower lexical retrieval for each language. The joint activation theory is proposed to explain these results. Older trilingual adults experience more protection against cognitive decline and children and young adults showed similar cognitive advantages to bilinguals in inhibitory control. Second language learners do not yet show cognitive changes associated with multilingualism. The Specificity Principle states that the acquisition of multiple languages is moderated by multiple factors and varies between experiences. Bilingualism and multilingualism are both associated with immigration but different types of multilingualism can develop depending on the situation. Cultural cues and language similarity also play a role in language switching and multiple language acquisition.
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Use of Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries among Students of English
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Monika Kavalir
2010-12-01
Full Text Available The study of dictionary use in 32 firstyear students of English at the University of Ljubljana in the academic year 2009/2010 shows that students use a variety of dictionaries with a slight preponderance of monolingual dictionaries over bilingual ones. The bilingual dictionaries listed do not include some of the most recent and most comprehensive dictionaries while some of the most frequently used resources are quite modest sized. The students are already predominantly users of electronic and online dictionaries with a lower frequency of printed resources – a trend which is only likely to accelerate with the advent of new bilingual online dictionaries. These results have practical relevance for teachers in all sectors, from primary and secondary schools to universities, as they point towards a need for additional training in the use of bilingual dictionaries. The transition from printed to electronic and online resources can also be expected to induce changes in EFL methodology at all levels.
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Winsler, A; Díaz, R M; Espinosa, L; Rodríguez, J L
1999-01-01
This article discusses two investigations which explored the bilingual language development outcomes of comparable groups of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican American children who either did or did not attended a bilingual (Spanish/English) preschool. Study 1 is a replication of a study by Rodríguez, Díaz, Duran, and Espinosa, involving a new sample of 26 children who attended bilingual preschool for one year and 20 control children who remained at home. Study 2 represents a 1-year, longitudinal follow-up of Rodríguez et al.'s, sample of children during and after the children spent another year at home or in the preschool. In both investigations, standardized, objective measures of three components of children's language proficiency (productive language, receptive language, and language complexity) in English and Spanish were obtained at the beginning and end of the academic year. Contrary to fears that have been expressed by some that early exposure to English would lead to children's native language loss, the results of both studies offered no evidence of Spanish proficiency loss for children attending bilingual preschool. Children who attended bilingual preschool, compared to those who remained at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish language development as well as significant and greater increases in English language proficiency over time. Results are discussed in terms of the need for more systematic research to be conducted in this area to inform policy and practice in the early education and development of language-minority children.
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A Comparative Analysis of Methods in the Research of Bilingual Semantic Memory
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Tanja Gulan
2016-11-01
Full Text Available The facts that cognitive functioning of the bilingual speakers is different from that of the monolinguals, and that there is a growing number of bilinguals motivated us to write this paper. Such knowledge sets requirements on researchers to include bilingualism as an important variable in their research, even if the bilingualism is not the primary topic of their interest. However, the main topic of this paper was concerned with the methodology and was pointed toward researchers who are new to this area, as well as to those who are more experienced and wish to improve their research in the field of bilingualism. Taken that there is an increase in a number of published papers dealing with the bilingualism, especially regarding the organization of bilingual mental lexicon, we felt the need to offer a review of the most often used research paradigms and findings from this area of research. This paper consists of three major parts. In the first part, we briefly defined main concepts in the field of bilingualism research followed by a brief discussion on the most important research questions. In the second part of this paper, we gave a review of the most important methods that are used in order to answer the aforementioned research questions. The methods were evaluated with regard to the scope they could be used to answer research questions. Moreover, this paper offered further recommendations for adequate method selection. And finally, the third part of the paper referred to the key methodological factors which a researcher needs to take into account while conceptualizing research and designing the experiment. Also, we gave some recommendations for how to control or annul the effects of those factors on the dependent variable.
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Monolingual or bilingual intervention for primary language impairment? A randomized control trial.
Thordardottir, Elin; Cloutier, Geneviève; Ménard, Suzanne; Pelland-Blais, Elaine; Rvachew, Susan
2015-04-01
This study investigated the clinical effectiveness of monolingual versus bilingual language intervention, the latter involving speech-language pathologist-parent collaboration. The study focuses on methods that are currently being recommended and that are feasible within current clinical contexts. Bilingual children with primary language impairment who speak a minority language as their home language and French as their second (n=29, mean age=5 years) were randomly assigned to monolingual treatment, bilingual treatment, and no-treatment (delayed-treatment) conditions. Sixteen sessions of individual language intervention were offered, targeting vocabulary and syntactic skills in French only or bilingually, through parent collaboration during the clinical sessions. Language evaluations were conducted before and after treatment by blinded examiners; these evaluations targeted French as well as the home languages. An additional evaluation was conducted 2 months after completion of treatment to assess maintenance of gains. Both monolingual and bilingual treatment followed a focused stimulation approach. Results in French showed a significant treatment effect for vocabulary but no difference between treatment conditions. Gains were made in syntax, but these gains could not be attributed to treatment given that treatment groups did not improve more than the control group. Home language probes did not suggest that the therapy had resulted in gains in the home language. The intervention used in this study is in line with current recommendations of major speech-language pathology organizations. However, the findings indicate that the bilingual treatment created through collaboration with parents was not effective in creating a sufficiently intense bilingual context to make it significantly different from the monolingual treatment. Further studies are needed to assess the gains associated with clinical modifications made for bilingual children and to search for effective ways
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Minimalism and Bilingualism: How and Why Bilingualism Could Benefit Children with SLI
Roeper, Thomas
2012-01-01
We begin with the hypothesis that all people are "bilingual" because every language contains ingredients from several grammars, just as English exhibits both an Anglo-Saxon and a Latinate vocabulary system. We argue that the dominant grammar is defined by productivity and recursion in particular. Although current evidence is sparse, in principle,…
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The Bilingual Advantage: Language, Literacy and the US Labor Market
Callahan, Rebecca M., Ed.; Gándara, Patricia C., Ed.
2014-01-01
The Bilingual Advantage draws together researchers from education, economics, sociology, anthropology and linguistics to examine the economic and employment benefits of bilingualism in the US labor market, countering past research that shows no such benefits exist. Collectively, the authors draw on novel methodological approaches and new data to…
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HOW CAN BILINGUAL EDUCATION CONTRIBUTE TO LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN THE 21st CENTURY?
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José Ignacio Vila Mendiburu
2010-10-01
Full Text Available This article is a reflection about the future which does not obviate all the knowledge acquired in nearly a hundred years time of research about bilingualism and bilingual education. In the first part, it considers the psycho-educational base where bilingualism lies on. In the second part, this article shows the possibilities and the limits of bilingual education in societies which are more and more diversified on linguistic terms. Finally, it reviews some of the guidelines about linguistic education both in Europe and in this country, while it points out some methods to promote the multilingual competence of students.
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Quam, Carolyn; Creel, Sarah C
2017-01-01
Previous research has mainly considered the impact of tone-language experience on ability to discriminate linguistic pitch, but proficient bilingual listening requires differential processing of sound variation in each language context. Here, we ask whether Mandarin-English bilinguals, for whom pitch indicates word distinctions in one language but not the other, can process pitch differently in a Mandarin context vs. an English context. Across three eye-tracked word-learning experiments, results indicated that tone-intonation bilinguals process tone in accordance with the language context. In Experiment 1, 51 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 26 English speakers without tone experience were taught Mandarin-compatible novel words with tones. Mandarin-English bilinguals out-performed English speakers, and, for bilinguals, overall accuracy was correlated with Mandarin dominance. Experiment 2 taught 24 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 25 English speakers novel words with Mandarin-like tones, but English-like phonemes and phonotactics. The Mandarin-dominance advantages observed in Experiment 1 disappeared when words were English-like. Experiment 3 contrasted Mandarin-like vs. English-like words in a within-subjects design, providing even stronger evidence that bilinguals can process tone language-specifically. Bilinguals (N = 58), regardless of language dominance, attended more to tone than English speakers without Mandarin experience (N = 28), but only when words were Mandarin-like-not when they were English-like. Mandarin-English bilinguals thus tailor tone processing to the within-word language context.
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Syntactic bootstrapping in children with Down syndrome: the impact of bilingualism.
Cleave, Patricia L; Kay-Raining Bird, Elizabeth; Trudeau, Natacha; Sutton, Ann
2014-01-01
The purpose of the study was to add to our knowledge of bilingual learning in children with Down syndrome (DS) using a syntactic bootstrapping task. Four groups of children and youth matched on non-verbal mental age participated. There were 14 bilingual participants with DS (DS-B, mean age 12;5), 12 monolingual participants with DS (DS-M, mean age 10;10), 9 bilingual typically developing children (TD-B; mean age 4;1) and 11 monolingual typically developing children (TD-M; mean age 4;1). The participants completed a computerized syntactic bootstrapping task involving unfamiliar nouns and verbs. The syntactic cues employed were a for the nouns and ing for the verbs. Performance was better on nouns than verbs. There was also a main effect for group. Follow-up t-tests revealed that there were no significant differences between the TD-M and TD-B or between the DS-M and DS-B groups. However, the DS-M group performed more poorly than the TD-M group with a large effect size. Analyses at the individual level revealed a similar pattern of results. There was evidence that Down syndrome impacted performance; there was no evidence that bilingualism negatively affected the syntactic bootstrapping skills of individuals with DS. These results from a dynamic language task are consistent with those of previous studies that used static or product measures. Thus, the results are consistent with the position that parents should be supported in their decision to provide bilingual input to their children with DS. Readers of this article will identify (1) research evidence regarding bilingual development in children with Down syndrome and (2) syntactic bootstrapping skills in monolingual and bilingual children who are typically developing or who have Down syndrome. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Davenport, Tracey A; Burns, Jane M; Hickie, Ian B
2017-01-01
Background Web-based self-report surveying has increased in popularity, as it can rapidly yield large samples at a low cost. Despite this increase in popularity, in the area of youth mental health, there is a distinct lack of research comparing the results of Web-based self-report surveys with the more traditional and widely accepted computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Objective The Second Australian Young and Well National Survey 2014 sought to compare differences in respondent response patterns using matched items on CATI versus a Web-based self-report survey. The aim of this study was to examine whether responses varied as a result of item sensitivity, that is, the item’s susceptibility to exaggeration on underreporting and to assess whether certain subgroups demonstrated this effect to a greater extent. Methods A subsample of young people aged 16 to 25 years (N=101), recruited through the Second Australian Young and Well National Survey 2014, completed the identical items on two occasions: via CATI and via Web-based self-report survey. Respondents also rated perceived item sensitivity. Results When comparing CATI with the Web-based self-report survey, a Wilcoxon signed-rank analysis showed that respondents answered 14 of the 42 matched items in a significantly different way. Significant variation in responses (CATI vs Web-based) was more frequent if the item was also rated by the respondents as highly sensitive in nature. Specifically, 63% (5/8) of the high sensitivity items, 43% (3/7) of the neutral sensitivity items, and 0% (0/4) of the low sensitivity items were answered in a significantly different manner by respondents when comparing their matched CATI and Web-based question responses. The items that were perceived as highly sensitive by respondents and demonstrated response variability included the following: sexting activities, body image concerns, experience of diagnosis, and suicidal ideation. For high sensitivity items, a regression
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Milton, Alyssa C; Ellis, Louise A; Davenport, Tracey A; Burns, Jane M; Hickie, Ian B
2017-09-26
Web-based self-report surveying has increased in popularity, as it can rapidly yield large samples at a low cost. Despite this increase in popularity, in the area of youth mental health, there is a distinct lack of research comparing the results of Web-based self-report surveys with the more traditional and widely accepted computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). The Second Australian Young and Well National Survey 2014 sought to compare differences in respondent response patterns using matched items on CATI versus a Web-based self-report survey. The aim of this study was to examine whether responses varied as a result of item sensitivity, that is, the item's susceptibility to exaggeration on underreporting and to assess whether certain subgroups demonstrated this effect to a greater extent. A subsample of young people aged 16 to 25 years (N=101), recruited through the Second Australian Young and Well National Survey 2014, completed the identical items on two occasions: via CATI and via Web-based self-report survey. Respondents also rated perceived item sensitivity. When comparing CATI with the Web-based self-report survey, a Wilcoxon signed-rank analysis showed that respondents answered 14 of the 42 matched items in a significantly different way. Significant variation in responses (CATI vs Web-based) was more frequent if the item was also rated by the respondents as highly sensitive in nature. Specifically, 63% (5/8) of the high sensitivity items, 43% (3/7) of the neutral sensitivity items, and 0% (0/4) of the low sensitivity items were answered in a significantly different manner by respondents when comparing their matched CATI and Web-based question responses. The items that were perceived as highly sensitive by respondents and demonstrated response variability included the following: sexting activities, body image concerns, experience of diagnosis, and suicidal ideation. For high sensitivity items, a regression analysis showed respondents who were male
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A comparative study on students' attitudes towards bilingualism
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Marina Furlan
2010-11-01
Full Text Available The aim of the research was to assess the existence of differences between attitudes towards bilingualism held by students of the Faculty of Humanities Koper and those held by students of Italian language and literacy from the Faculty of Philosophy in Split (Croatia. We investigated whether there are differences between attitudes towards bilingualism of both groups and if attitudes towards bilingualism held by students from Split are more favorable than those held by students from the Faculty of Humanities Koper. The results confirmed the first hypothesis partially, and the second one completely. 11 items out of 20 have shown to conduct to statistically different attitudes, whereas in one case a tendency towards statistically significant difference is to be found. In all cases, where statistically significant differences are to be found, attitudes held by students from Split are more positive, if compared to those held by students from Koper.
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The perception and expression of verb morphology in bilinguals with specific language impairment
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Hourieh Ahadi
2014-04-01
Full Text Available Background and Aim: Most of the researches are about bilingual children with specific language impairment and importance of it in recognition and treatment. This study aimed to assess verb morphology in bilinguals with specific language impairment (SLI and compare them with normal bilinguals.Methods: Six bilingual (Azeri and Persian children with specific language impairment at the age of 7-8 years were collected from clinics of Tehran, Iran. They were evaluated about verb morphology using narrative speech and specific language impairment test and then, compared with six age-matched and six other language-matched children as control group. Children with specific language impairment were diagnosed by exhibiting a significant delay (more than one year in language that can not be explained by intelligence deficits, hearing loss or visual impairment. We used Man-Whitney test for comparing the groups.Results: Bilingual children with specific language impairment had delay in comparison with their age-matched group in subject-verb agreement (p=0.020 and articulating tense morphemes (p=0.019. They also had meaningful delay in using proper tense of verbs (past, present, and future in comparison with language-matched control group (p=0.029.Conclusion: Comparison of typical development of bilingual children and bilinguals with specific language impairment shows that verb morphology is a good clinical marker for diagnosing and treatment of these children.
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Toppelberg, Claudio O; Medrano, Laura; Peña Morgens, Liana; Nieto-Castañon, Alfonso
2002-06-01
To investigate (1) the prevalence of language deficits and disorders and (2) the relationship of bilingual language skills and psychopathology, in Spanish-English bilingual children referred for child and adolescent psychiatry services. Bilingual language skills, emotional/behavioral problems, sociodemographics, immigration variables, and nonverbal IQ were studied in 50 consecutively referred children. Estimated prevalence was high for language deficits (48%) and disorders (41%), with most cases (>79%) being of the mixed receptive-expressive type. In children with clinically significant emotional/behavioral problems, bilingual language skills were strongly and inversely correlated with problem scores, particularly global problems (r = -0.67, p or = -0.54; p language disorders and delays and (2) the close tie between poor language skills and emotional/behavioral problems. The data strongly suggest the clinical importance and feasibility of language assessment and the significance of receptive problems in bilingual children referred for psychiatric services. A safe approach is to fully assess language skills, rather than misattributing these children's language delays to normal bilingual acquisition processes.
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Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina
2014-01-01
Auditory processing is presumed to be influenced by cognitive processes - including attentional control - in a top-down manner. In bilinguals, activation of both languages during daily communication hones inhibitory skills, which subsequently bolster attentional control. We hypothesize that the heightened attentional demands of bilingual communication strengthens connections between cognitive (i.e., attentional control) and auditory processing, leading to greater across-trial consistency in the auditory evoked response (i.e., neural consistency) in bilinguals. To assess this, we collected passively-elicited auditory evoked responses to the syllable [da] in adolescent Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals and separately obtained measures of attentional control and language ability. Bilinguals demonstrated enhanced attentional control and more consistent brainstem and cortical responses. In bilinguals, but not monolinguals, brainstem consistency tracked with language proficiency and attentional control. We interpret these enhancements in neural consistency as the outcome of strengthened attentional control that emerged from experience communicating in two languages. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Cross-Cultural Transfer in Gesture Frequency in Chinese-English Bilinguals
So, Wing Chee
2010-01-01
The purpose of this paper is to examine cross-cultural differences in gesture frequency and the extent to which exposure to two cultures would affect the gesture frequency of bilinguals when speaking in both languages. The Chinese-speaking monolinguals from China, English-speaking monolinguals from America, and Chinese-English bilinguals from…
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Teacher Beliefs regarding Bilingualism in an English Medium Reading Program
Vaish, Viniti
2012-01-01
Reading classes in schools where English is the medium of instruction are increasingly servicing a linguistically diverse population; however, teacher-training for English teachers lacks a focus on bilingualism. Using the context of Singapore, this paper analyses beliefs on bilingualism of English teachers in an early intervention reading program.…
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Emergent Bilingualism and Working Memory Development in School Aged Children
Hansen, Laura Birke; Macizo, Pedro; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni; Saldaña, David; Carreiras, Manuel; Fuentes, Luis J.; Bajo, M. Teresa
2016-01-01
The present research explores working memory (WM) development in monolingual as well as emergent bilingual children immersed in an L2 at school. Evidence from recent years suggests that bilingualism may boost domain-general executive control, but impair nonexecutive linguistic processing. Both are relevant for verbal WM, but different paradigms…