Language Growth in English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Children from 2.5 to 5 Years.

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Hoff, Erika; Ribot, Krystal M

2017-11-01

To describe the trajectories of English and Spanish language growth in typically developing children from bilingual homes and compare those with the trajectories of English growth in children from monolingual homes, to assess effects of dual language exposure on language growth in typically developing children. Expressive vocabularies were assessed at 6-month intervals from age 30 to 60 months, in English for monolinguals and English and Spanish for bilinguals. Use of English and Spanish in the home was assessed via parental report. Multilevel modeling, including parent education as a covariate, revealed that children from bilingual homes lagged 6 months to 1 year behind monolingual children in English vocabulary growth. The size of the lag was related to the relative amount of English use in the home, but the relation was not linear. Increments in English use conferred the greatest benefit most among homes with already high levels of English use. These homes also were likely to have 1 parent who was a native English speaker. Bilingual children showed stronger growth in English than in Spanish. Bilingual children can lag 6 months to 1 year behind monolingual children in normal English language development. Such lags may not necessarily signify clinically relevant delay if parents report that children also have skills in the home language. Shorter lags are associated with 2 correlated factors: more English exposure and more exposure from native English speakers. Early exposure to Spanish in the home does not guarantee acquisition of Spanish. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cross-Cultural Transfer in Gesture Frequency in Chinese-English Bilinguals

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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…

The iPad as a Research Tool for the Understanding of English Plurals by English, Chinese, and Other L1 Speaking 3- and 4-Year-Olds.

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Xu Rattanasone, Nan; Davies, Benjamin; Schembri, Tamara; Andronos, Fabia; Demuth, Katherine

2016-01-01

Learning about what young children with limited spoken language know about the grammar of their language is extremely challenging. Researchers have traditionally used looking behavior as a measure of language processing and to infer what overt choices children might make. However, these methods are expensive to setup, require specialized training, are time intensive for data analysis and can have considerable dropout rates. For these reasons, we have developed a forced choice task delivered on an iPad based on our eye-tracking studies with English monolinguals (Davies et al., 2016, under review). Using the iPad we investigated 3- and 4-year-olds' understanding of the English plural in preschool centers. The primary aim of the study was to provide evidence for the usefulness of the iPad as a language research tool. We evaluated the usefulness of the iPad with second language (L2) learning children who have limited L2 language skills. Studies with school aged Chinese-speaking children show below native performance on English inflectional morphology despite 5-6 years of immersion (Jia, 2003; Jia and Fuse, 2007; Paradis et al., 2016). However, it is unclear whether this is specific only to children who speak Chinese as their first language (L1) or if younger preschoolers will also show similar challenges. We tested three groups of preschoolers with different L1s (English, Chinese, and other languages). L1 Chinese children's performance was below both English monolinguals and children speaking Other L1 languages, providing evidence that English inflections are specifically challenging for Chinese-speaking children. The results provide further evidence to support previous eye-tracking findings with monolinguals and studies with older bilinguals. The study provides evidence for the usefulness of iPads as research tool for studying language acquisition. Implications for future application of the iPad as a teaching and intervention tool, and limitations for the method, are

Verb Errors of Bilingual and Monolingual Basic Writers

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Griswold, Olga

2017-01-01

This study analyzed the grammatical control of verbs exercised by 145 monolingual English and Generation 1.5 bilingual developmental writers in narrative essays using quantitative and qualitative methods. Generation 1.5 students made more errors than their monolingual peers in each category investigated, albeit in only 2 categories was the…

Psychometric Properties of the Working Memory Rating Scale for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

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Guzman-Orth, Danielle; Grimm, Ryan; Gerber, Michael; Orosco, Michael; Swanson, H. Lee; Lussier, Cathy

2015-01-01

The Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS) was designed as a behavioral rating tool to assist teachers in identifying students at risk of working memory difficulties. The instrument was originally normed on 417 monolingual English-speaking children from the United Kingdom. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the WMRS…

Bilingual and Monolingual Children Prefer Native-Accented Speakers

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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.

Bilingual and monolingual children prefer native-accented speakers.

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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.

Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation.

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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.

Predictors of Processing-Based Task Performance in Bilingual and Monolingual Children

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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

Predicting English Word Reading Skills for Spanish-Speaking Students in First Grade.

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Páez, Mariela; Rinaldi, Claudia

2006-10-01

This article describes the word reading skills in English and Spanish for a sample of 244 Spanish-speaking, English-learning (hence, bilingual) students in first grade and presents a predictive model for English word reading skills. The children in the study were assessed at the end of kindergarten and first grade, respectively. Data were gathered with 3 subtests of the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery and a researcher-developed phonological awareness task. Results showed that, on average, children's English word reading skills were similar to monolingual norms whereas their Spanish word reading skills averaged 1 SD below the mean. English vocabulary, English phonological awareness, and Spanish word reading skills in kindergarten were found to be significant predictors of English word reading skills in first grade. Educational implications for screening language and reading skills and promising areas for targeted instruction for this population are discussed.

Filial Therapy with Monolingual Spanish-Speaking Mothers: A Phenomenological Study

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Sangganjanavanich, Varunee Faii; Cook, Katrina; Rangel-Gomez, Maria

2010-01-01

This article describes a phenomenological study of filial therapy with monolingual, Spanish-speaking mothers living in the United States. Four mothers participated in a 5-week training in filial therapy. Data from the interviews revealed four emergent themes. These include (a) challenges in integrating play therapy skills in everyday life, (b)…

An Action Research Study into the Role of Student Negotiation in Enhancing Perceived Student Engagement during English Speaking Classes at University Level in Turkey

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Uztosun, Mehmet Sercan; Skinner, Nigel; Cadorath, Jill

2018-01-01

A major issue in English language teaching in Turkey and other monolingual countries is the teaching of spoken English. This article reports the initial and final stages of an action research study which used student negotiation to enhance student engagement in speaking classes. The research was conducted in the English Language Teaching…

Temporal features of word-initial /s/+stop clusters in bilingual Mandarin-English children and monolingual English children and adults.

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Yang, Jing

2018-03-01

This study investigated the durational features of English word-initial /s/+stop clusters produced by bilingual Mandarin (L1)-English (L2) children and monolingual English children and adults. The participants included two groups of five- to six-year-old bilingual children: low proficiency in the L2 (Bi-low) and high proficiency in the L2 (Bi-high), one group of age-matched English children, and one group of English adults. Each participant produced a list of English words containing /sp, st, sk/ at the word-initial position followed by /a, i, u/, respectively. The absolute durations of the clusters and cluster elements and the durational proportions of elements to the overall cluster were measured. The results revealed that Bi-high children behaved similarly to the English monolinguals whereas Bi-low children used a different strategy of temporal organization to coordinate the cluster components in comparison to the English monolinguals and Bi-high children. The influence of language experience and continuing development of temporal features in children were discussed.

Expressive Vocabulary Development in Children from Bilingual and Monolingual Homes: A Longitudinal Study from Two to Four Years.

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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.

The Comparison of the Monolingual and Bilingual Japanese Students in The English Achievement

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Ienneke Indra Dewi

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Article is intended to know whether the monolingual or bilingual Japanese students are better in the English achievement and whether the exposure of English influences the ability. The data were taken from 60 Japanese students who are supposed to fill in the questionnaires regarding their language background. The English achievement data were taken from the students’ scores in Senior High School National Examination and the data further were compared to the TOEFL English score. The analysis is carried out using ANOVA analysis. This research indicates that monolinguals are better learners in English and exposure is proved to influence the students’ ability in English.                                                  

My Hesitation to Speak English

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Oda, Naruha

2015-01-01

Even though English was the author's favorite subject, she was not good at speaking in English, and always tried to avoid it. However, it did not matter because she did not have to speak to demonstrate her English ability. After entering university, her lack of confidence in speaking English became a major issue, and other students face the same…

Analyzing cognitive and spelling skills in Spanish-speaking English-language learners and English-speaking Canadian learners Analizando procesos cognitivos y de escritura en niños hispano-parlantes que aprenden inglés como segunda lengua y niños canadienses de habla inglesa

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Isabel O’Shanahan

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The principal purpose of this study has been to analyze the cognitive processes and spelling skills in Spanish-speaking English-language learners. A sample of English-speaking Canadian learners and Spanish-speaking English-language learners was selected from different Canadian schools in the Vancouver District within British Columbia's province. We examined cognitive and spelling skills of English-speaking students and Spanish-speaking English language learners in the primary grades. We hypothesized that there would be a positive transfer from cognitive and linguistic processes from L1 to L2 spelling skills development, if no significant differences were observed among native English speakers and Spanish-language learners on these measures. There were no significant differences between the English –language learners and the native English speakers on measures of phonological awareness and spelling skills. However, English-speaking Canadian learners performed better than Spanish-speaking English-language learners on vocabulary and syntactic awareness. El objetivo principal de este estudio ha sido analizar los procesos cognitivos y de escritura de niños hispano-parlantes que aprenden el inglés como segunda lengua. Para ello se seleccionó a una muestra de niños canadienses de habla inglesa y otra de hispano-parlantes que reciben instrucción en inglés como segunda lengua en escuelas canadienses del distrito de Vancouver en la provincia canadiense de Columbia Británica (British Columbia. Se tomaron medidas de competencia lingu?ística (vocabulario y conciencia sintáctica, memoria de trabajo, conciencia fonológica y escritura de palabras y pseudopalabras en inglés para el grupo de monolingu?es, y las mismas medidas en los idiomas inglés y español para el grupo de hispano-parlantes. Nuestra predicción es que si existe un efecto de transferencia de L1 sobre L2 entonces existiría relación entre los procesos cognitivos y de escritura que

English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language.

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Whiteside, Katie E; Gooch, Debbie; Norbury, Courtenay F

2017-05-01

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) often experience lower academic attainment than monolingual peers. In this study, teachers provided ratings of English language proficiency and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning for 782 children with EAL and 6,485 monolingual children in reception year (ages 4-5). Academic attainment was assessed in reception and Year 2 (ages 6-7). Relative to monolingual peers with comparable English language proficiency, children with EAL displayed fewer social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in reception, were equally likely to meet curriculum targets in reception, and were more likely to meet targets in Year 2. Academic attainment and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in children with EAL are associated with English language proficiency at school entry. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation

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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

Students’ Motivation in Speaking English

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Mas Darul Ihsan

2016-05-01

Full Text Available As the English teacher in the classroom, there will be some problems or conditions need to be accomplished. Teacher will see some of the students are very motivated, motivated or even feeling ignored in studying English. The learners who have contacted with English will find that some features are quite easy and extremely difficult. One of the more complicated problems of second or foreign languages learning and  teaching has been to define and apply the construct of motivation in the classroom. Motivation is a concept without physical reality, we cannot see motivation; we see effort, interest, attitude and desire. For speaking, it is important first to give competence and then performance. Competence is more likely to the extent a communicator is motivated to be so. Motivation is the extent to which a communicator is drawn towards or pushed away from communicating competently in a given context then performed. This is a descriptive  quantitative research. The data obtained from the questionnaire distributed and analyzed to get the result.  The date taken from the students of Muhammadiyah 1 Senior High School Gresik in Easy-Speaking course. The researcher wanted to know the students’ motivation in practicing speaking English in Easy-Speaking course. The results show that 1 the learners effort in practicing speaking English is 56.1 %. 2 The learners’ interest in practicing speaking English is 49.7 %. 3 The learners’ attitude towards practicing speaking English is 59.9 %. 4 The learners’ desire in practicing speaking English is 71.43 %. Then, some suggestions are made: 1 Using media is very important both to increase the learners’ motivation and to give a big opportunity to learners to explore their idea. 2 Giving more variations techniques in teaching and learning process in order do not monotonous. 3 Giving prizes, encouraging and giving extra points for learners who can express their idea by speaking English well. 4 Creating

Orthographic Context Sensitivity in Vowel Decoding by Portuguese Monolingual and Portuguese-English Bilingual Children

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Vale, Ana Paula

2011-01-01

This study examines the pronunciation of the first vowel in decoding disyllabic pseudowords derived from Portuguese words. Participants were 96 Portuguese monolinguals and 52 Portuguese-English bilinguals of equivalent Portuguese reading levels. The results indicate that sensitivity to vowel context emerges early, both in monolinguals and in…

The relationship between spoken English proficiency and participation in higher education, employment and income from two Australian censuses.

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Blake, Helen L; Mcleod, Sharynne; Verdon, Sarah; Fuller, Gail

2018-04-01

Proficiency in the language of the country of residence has implications for an individual's level of education, employability, income and social integration. This paper explores the relationship between the spoken English proficiency of residents of Australia on census day and their educational level, employment and income to provide insight into multilingual speakers' ability to participate in Australia as an English-dominant society. Data presented are derived from two Australian censuses i.e. 2006 and 2011 of over 19 million people. The proportion of Australians who reported speaking a language other than English at home was 21.5% in the 2006 census and 23.2% in the 2011 census. Multilingual speakers who also spoke English very well were more likely to have post-graduate qualifications, full-time employment and high income than monolingual English-speaking Australians. However, multilingual speakers who reported speaking English not well were much less likely to have post-graduate qualifications or full-time employment than monolingual English-speaking Australians. These findings provide insight into the socioeconomic and educational profiles of multilingual speakers, which will inform the understanding of people such as speech-language pathologists who provide them with support. The results indicate spoken English proficiency may impact participation in Australian society. These findings challenge the "monolingual mindset" by demonstrating that outcomes for multilingual speakers in education, employment and income are higher than for monolingual speakers.

Turkish- and English-speaking children display sensitivity to perceptual context in the referring expressions they produce in speech and gesture

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Demir, Özlem Ece; So, Wing-Chee; Özyürek, Asli; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2012-01-01

Speakers choose a particular expression based on many factors, including availability of the referent in the perceptual context. We examined whether, when expressing referents, monolingual English- and Turkish-speaking children: (1) are sensitive to perceptual context, (2) express this sensitivity in language-specific ways, and (3) use co-speech gestures to specify referents that are underspecified. We also explored the mechanisms underlying children’s sensitivity to perceptual context. Children described short vignettes to an experimenter under two conditions: The characters in the vignettes were present in the perceptual context (perceptual context); the characters were absent (no perceptual context). Children routinely used nouns in the no perceptual context condition, but shifted to pronouns (English-speaking children) or omitted arguments (Turkish-speaking children) in the perceptual context condition. Turkish-speaking children used underspecified referents more frequently than English-speaking children in the perceptual context condition; however, they compensated for the difference by using gesture to specify the forms. Gesture thus gives children learning structurally different languages a way to achieve comparable levels of specification while at the same time adhering to the referential expressions dictated by their language. PMID:22904588

English Speakers Attend More Strongly than Spanish Speakers to Manner of Motion when Classifying Novel Objects and Events

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Kersten, Alan W.; Meissner, Christian A.; Lechuga, Julia; Schwartz, Bennett L.; Albrechtsen, Justin S.; Iglesias, Adam

2010-01-01

Three experiments provide evidence that the conceptualization of moving objects and events is influenced by one's native language, consistent with linguistic relativity theory. Monolingual English speakers and bilingual Spanish/English speakers tested in an English-speaking context performed better than monolingual Spanish speakers and bilingual…

Influence of Current Input-Output and Age of First Exposure on Phonological Acquisition in Early Bilingual Spanish-English-Speaking Kindergarteners

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Ruiz-Felter, Roxanna; Cooperson, Solaman J.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Peña, Elizabeth D.

2016-01-01

Background: Although some investigations of phonological development have found that segmental accuracy is comparable in monolingual children and their bilingual peers, there is evidence that language use affects segmental accuracy in both languages. Aims: To investigate the influence of age of first exposure to English and the amount of current…

Environmental Considerations: Home and School Comparison of Spanish-English Speakers' Vocalizations

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Jackson, Carla W.; Callender, Maya F.

2014-01-01

This study examined differences in the quantity of child vocalizations (CVs) between preschool and home environments using the Language Environmental Analysis (LENA). The sample included monolingual English-speaking children (n = 27) and Spanish-English speaking dual language learners (n = 30). A two-way mixed effects analysis of variance with one…

Visual perceptual abilities of Chinese-speaking and English-speaking children.

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Lai, Mun Yee; Leung, Frederick Koon Shing

2012-04-01

This paper reports an investigation of Chinese-speaking and English-speaking children's general visual perceptual abilities. The Developmental Test of Visual Perception was administered to 41 native Chinese-speaking children of mean age 5 yr. 4 mo. in Hong Kong and 35 English-speaking children of mean age 5 yr. 2 mo. in Melbourne. Of interest were the two interrelated components of visual perceptual abilities, namely, motor-reduced visual perceptual and visual-motor integration perceptual abilities, which require either verbal or motoric responses in completing visual tasks. Chinese-speaking children significantly outperformed the English-speaking children on general visual perceptual abilities. When comparing the results of each of the two different components, the Chinese-speaking students' performance on visual-motor integration was far better than that of their counterparts (ES = 2.70), while the two groups of students performed similarly on motor-reduced visual perceptual abilities. Cultural factors such as written language format may be contributing to the enhanced performance of Chinese-speaking children's visual-motor integration abilities, but there may be validity questions in the Chinese version.

Satisfaction With Communication in Primary Care for Spanish-Speaking and English-Speaking Parents.

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Flower, Kori B; Skinner, Asheley C; Yin, H Shonna; Rothman, Russell L; Sanders, Lee M; Delamater, Alan; Perrin, Eliana M

Effective communication with primary care physicians is important yet incompletely understood for Spanish-speaking parents. We predicted lower satisfaction among Spanish-speaking compared to English-speaking Latino and non-Latino parents. Cross-sectional analysis at 2-month well visits within the Greenlight study at 4 pediatric resident clinics. Parents reported satisfaction with 14 physician communication items using the validated Communication Assessment Tool (CAT). High satisfaction was defined as "excellent" on each CAT item. Mean estimations compared satisfaction for communication items among Spanish- and English-speaking Latinos and non-Latinos. We used generalized linear regression modeling, adjusted for parent age, education, income, and clinic site. Among Spanish-speaking parents, we compared visits conducted in Spanish with and without an interpreter, and in English. Compared to English-speaking Latino (n = 127) and non-Latino parents (n = 432), fewer Spanish-speaking parents (n = 303) reported satisfaction with 14 communication items. No significant differences were found between English-speaking Latinos and non-Latinos. Greatest differences were found in the use of a greeting that made the parent comfortable (59.4% of Spanish-speaking Latinos endorsing "excellent" vs 77.5% English-speaking Latinos, P English-speaking Latinos, P < .01). After adjusting for parent age, education, income, and study site, Spanish-speaking Latinos were still less likely to report high satisfaction with these communication items. Satisfaction was not different among Spanish-speaking parents when the physician spoke Spanish versus used an interpreter. Satisfaction with physician communication was associated with language but not ethnicity. Spanish-speaking parents less frequently report satisfaction with communication, and innovative solutions to enhance communication quality are needed. Copyright © 2017 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All

Developing the Students’ English Speaking Ability Through Impromptu Speaking Method.

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Lumettu, A.; Runtuwene, T. L.

2018-01-01

Having multi -purposes, English mastery has becomea necessary for us.Of the four language skills, speaking skill should get the first priority in English teaching and speaking skills development cannot be separated from listening.One communicative way of developing speaking skill is impromptu speaking,a method sudden speaking which depends only on experience and insight by applying spontaneity or improvisation. It is delivered based on the need of the moment of speaking using simple language.This research aims to know (1). Why impromptu speaking is necessary in teaching speaking? (2). How can impromptu speaking develop the students’ speaking skills.The method of this research is qualitative method and the techniques of data collection are: observation,interview and documentation. The results of data analysis using Correlation shows a strong relation between the students’ speaking ability and impromptu speaking method (r = 0.80).The research show that by using impromptu speaking method, the students are trained to interact faster naturally and spontaneously and enrich their vocabulary and general science to support speaking development through interview, speech, presentation, discussion and storytelling.

Enhancing Students' Speaking Skills through Peer Team Teaching: A Student Centered Approach

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Vani, V. Vijaya

2016-01-01

The present paper attempts to establish that peer team teaching of a prescribed English lesson of 1st year B.Tech course by the students will provide more opportunities to enhance their public speaking skills. This kind of classroom activity will also help them to develop their vocabulary, reading skills, team working skills, etc. It is assumed…

An Examination of English Speaking Tests and Research on English Speaking Ability.

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Nakamura, Yuji

This paper examines both overseas and domestic tests of English speaking ability from the viewpoint of the crucial testing elements such as definition of speaking ability, validity, reliability, and practicality. The paper points out problems to be solved and proposes suggestions for constructing an oral proficiency test in order to determine the…

Articulation Skills in Spanish-Speaking Children.

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Linares, Thomas A.

The purpose of the research was to develop an articulation test for Spanish-speakers and to field-test the instrument in both a monolingual Spanish-speaking environment and a bilingual Spanish/English environment. Such a test is needed because there has been little available to enable the diagnostician, whose clientele includes Spanish-speakers,…

Development and Use of English Evaluative Expressions in Narratives of Chinese-English Bilinguals

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Chen, Liang; Yan, Ruixia

2011-01-01

This study compares the development and use of evaluative expressions in the English narratives elicited from 80 Chinese-English bilinguals and 80 American monolingual peers at four ages--five, eight, ten, and young adults--using the wordless picture book "Frog, where are you?" (Mayer, 1969). Results revealed both similarities and differences…

English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual Language-minority Children, Children with Dyslexia and Monolingual Typical Readers.

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Bonifacci, Paola; Canducci, Elisa; Gravagna, Giulia; Palladino, Paola

2017-05-01

The present study was aimed at investigating literacy skills in English as a foreign language in three different groups of children: monolinguals with dyslexia (n = 19), typically developing bilinguals (language-minority) (n = 19) and a control group of monolinguals (Italian) (n = 76). Bilinguals were not expected to fail in English measures, and their gap with monolinguals would be expected to be limited to the instructional language, owing to underexposure. All participants were enrolled in Italian primary schools (fourth and fifth grades). A non-verbal reasoning task and Italian and English literacy tasks were administered. The Italian battery included word and non-word reading (speed and accuracy), word and non-word writing, and reading comprehension; the English battery included similar tasks, except for the non-word writing. Bilingual children performed similarly to typical readers in English tasks, whereas in Italian tasks, their performance was similar to that of typical readers in reading speed but not in reading accuracy and writing. Children with dyslexia underperformed compared with typically developing children in all English and Italian tasks, except for reading comprehension in Italian. Profile analysis and correlational analyses were further discussed. These results suggest that English as a foreign language might represent a challenge for students with dyslexia but a strength for bilingual language-minority children. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

29 CFR 1606.7 - Speak-English-only rules.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Speak-English-only rules. 1606.7 Section 1606.7 Labor... BECAUSE OF NATIONAL ORIGIN § 1606.7 Speak-English-only rules. (a) When applied at all times. A rule requiring employees to speak only English at all times in the workplace is a burdensome term and condition...

STUDENTS’ ATTRIBUTIONS ON THEIR ENGLISH SPEAKING ENHANCEMENT

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Yustinus Mali

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Attribution refers to explanations and reasons that people provide for progress, achievement, and even failure towards something they have experienced, particularly in their language learning. This study aimed to investigate the attributions that students had for their English-speaking enhancement. The participants of the study were eighteen students at Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata Ambarukmo Yogyakarta (STIPRAM. Open-ended questionnaire and interview were used as the instruments to collect the data. On the questionnaire, the participants were specifically asked to provide written responses to three statements, while in the interview process, the researcher involved three participants to provide further clarification toward their written responses on the questionnaire. The data analysis revealed that a clear purpose of doing particular English speaking activities, strategy, and the positive motivation/encouragement from friends as well as from the teacher became the major students’ attributions on their English-speaking enhancement. Besides, this study would seem to indicate that a teacher took an essential role in the enhancement of the students’ English speaking skill. Eventually, this study proposed some pedagogical implications for the development of teaching and learning in English speaking classes specifically in Indonesian context.

Improving English Speaking Ability Through Classroom Discussion

OpenAIRE

Afrizal, M

2015-01-01

Speaking is one of important parts in teaching language because it includes one of four basic language skills. Nevertheless, in MA NU BANAT Kudus, the writer found that most of students there still get the difficulties in studying speaking. It may be caused by the method used in teaching English, especially speaking. Classroom Discussion is a method that can be applied in teaching English, especially to improve the ability of speaking. In this method, hopefully, the students get a big opportu...

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS): The Speaking Test.

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Ingram, D. E.

1991-01-01

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) assesses proficiency in English both generally and for special purposes of non-native English speakers studying, training, or learning English in English-speaking countries. The Speaking subtest of the IELTS measures a candidate's general proficiency in speaking in everyday situations via a…

Executive Functioning in Spanish- and English-Speaking Head Start Preschoolers

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White, Lisa J.; Greenfield, Daryl B.

2017-01-01

A growing percentage of low-income children in the United States come from Spanish-speaking homes and are dual language learners (DLLs). Recent research shows that bilingual children, compared to monolinguals, have enhanced executive functioning (EF), a set of foundational cognitive skills that predict higher social-emotional competence and…

Improving English Speaking Fluency: The Role of Six Factors

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Gholamhossein Shahini

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This qualitative study, using an open interview, set out to investigate the roles six factors, including age, university education, teachers of English Language institutes, teaching English, dictionary, and note-taking, played in improving English speaking fluency of seventeen fluent Iranian EFL speakers. The participants were chosen purposefully based on the speaking scale of Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL. The findings indicated that early age had a great impact on the participants’ speaking fluency. They mentioned that they could not pick up fluency if they had started learning English at older ages. Moreover, university education had no effect on enhancing their fluency. They stated that not having enough opportunities to speak English in classrooms, being exposed to wrong amounts of input from their classmates or even from some university instructors, having no access to English native speakers in English Language Departments, professors’ talking in native language out of classes, in their offices or even sometimes in classes all led to their losing motivation after entering the university. In contrast, teachers in English language institutes had a supportive role in increasing the participants’ English learning. Although two participants quit teaching English since it had a negative influence on their speaking, it had a positive impact on improving speaking ability of the rest. And finally, fruitful strategies were suggested on how to use dictionaries and note-takings.

The Influence of Peer Assessment and the Use of Corpus for the Development of Speaking Skills in In-Service Teachers

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Gómez Sará, Mary Mily

2016-01-01

This article reports on how the use of peer-assessment and a corpus influence the development of the spontaneous interactive speaking of 14 adults with an A1 English level. The data, that were collected through video recordings, two peer-assessment forms, and a teacher's journal, evidenced the development of three enhancement strategies…

Comparison of Iranian Monolingual and Bilingual EFL Students' Listening Comprehension in Terms of Watching English Movie with Latinized Persian Subtitles

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Yamchi, Roghayeh; Kumar, Vishal

2016-01-01

The main concern of the present study was to compare Iranian monolingual and bilingual EFL students' listening comprehension in terms of Latinized Persian subtitling of English movie to see whether there was a significant difference between monolinguals and bilinguals on immediate linguistic comprehension of the movie. Latinized Persian subtitling…

THE DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS USED IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS

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Muhammad Khatib Bayanuddin

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This research discusses about an analysis of the directive speech acts used in english speaking class at the third semester of english speaking class of english study program of IAIN STS Jambi. The aims of this research are to describe the types of directive speech acts and politeness strategies that found in English speaking class. This research used descriptive qualitative method. This method used to describe clearly about the types and politeness strategies of directive speech acts based on the data in English speaking class. The result showed that in English speaking class that there are some types and politeness strategies of directive speech acts, such as: requestives, questions, requirements, prohibitives, permissives, and advisores as types, as well as on-record indirect strategies (prediction statement, strong obligation statement, possibility statement, weaker obligation statement, volitional statement, direct strategies (imperative, performative, and nonsentential strategies as politeness strategies. The achievement of this research are hoped can be additional knowledge about linguistics study, especially in directive speech acts and can be developed for future researches. Key words: directive speech acts, types, politeness strategies.

The Disfluent Speech of Bilingual Spanish–English Children: Considerations for Differential Diagnosis of Stuttering

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Bedore, Lisa M.; Ramos, Daniel

2015-01-01

Purpose The primary purpose of this study was to describe the frequency and types of speech disfluencies that are produced by bilingual Spanish–English (SE) speaking children who do not stutter. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluent speech is mediated by language dominance and/or language produced. Method Spanish and English narratives (a retell and a tell in each language) were elicited and analyzed relative to the frequency and types of speech disfluencies produced. These data were compared with the monolingual English-speaking guidelines for differential diagnosis of stuttering. Results The mean frequency of stuttering-like speech behaviors in the bilingual SE participants ranged from 3% to 22%, exceeding the monolingual English standard of 3 per 100 words. There was no significant frequency difference in stuttering-like or non-stuttering-like speech disfluency produced relative to the child's language dominance. There was a significant difference relative to the language the child was speaking; all children produced significantly more stuttering-like speech disfluencies in Spanish than in English. Conclusion Results demonstrate that the disfluent speech of bilingual SE children should be carefully considered relative to the complex nature of bilingualism. PMID:25215876

Improving Students’ Speaking Skill through Communication Game, Recorded Role Play and Peer Feedback

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Friska Arismayang

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This study aims to improve students’ speaking skills using the combined strategies of communication game, recorded role play and peer feedback activities. This action research took place at an English institution in Jakarta, Indonesia and collected the data by observing the learning process with the collaborator, analyzing the video during the class, making field notes, conducting tests (pretest and post test and interviewing students. There were three cycles in this study. Results of the tests showed that students’ speaking skills improved. The mean score of pre-test was 3.1, while the mean score of post-test in cycle one was 3.3, cycle two 3.5 and cycle three 3.6. Based on the interview, all students were interested in and excited about the use of the three strategies above. However, there was a problem with the implementation of peer feedback activities; it was time consuming. The results of this study can not only promote an idea for EFL teachers to use the strategies as an alternative approach to teaching speaking skills but also inspire EFL teachers to be more creative in using these three strategies

The Effectiveness of Immersive Multimedia Learning with Peer Support on English Speaking and Reading Aloud

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Muslem, Asnawi; Abbas, Merza

2017-01-01

This study investigated the impacts of the immersive multimedia learning strategy with peer support on production skills in reading and speaking. Moreover, the effects of it on performance were investigated by student achievement. The quasi-experimental design with post-test was employed for the study. 80 first-year university students enrolled in…

Inclusion of non-English-speaking patients in research: A single institution experience.

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Bernier, Rachel; Halpin, Erin; Staffa, Steven J; Benson, Lindsey; DiNardo, James A; Nasr, Viviane G

2018-05-01

Considering the recent increase in medical care provided to patients from foreign countries and the diversity of languages spoken by families living within the United States, it is important to determine whether non-English-speaking patients have access to participate in clinical research from which they may benefit. We aimed to determine the number of non-English-speaking patients presenting to Boston Children's Hospital for medical care between 2011 and 2016, the number of clinical research protocols active within the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine approved to enroll non-English-speaking patients, as well as the number of both non-English- and English-speaking patients approached and enrolled in these studies. Furthermore, we attempted to determine barriers that may have prevented non-English-speaking patients from inclusion in clinical research. We conducted a retrospective review of various data sources during a 5-year period. Data included the number of non-English-speaking patients presenting to Boston Children's Hospital for care as well as the number of English- and non-English-speaking patients approached for studies at the Department of Anesthesiology each year. Additionally, we reviewed data from the IRB which included the justification that research teams provided when opting to exclude non-English-speaking participants. In addition, we attempted to determine the barriers that may have prevented these patients from inclusion in research protocols. We found that the number of non-English-speaking patients presenting to Boston Children's Hospital increased over time. However, the number of studies approved to enroll non-English-speaking patients within the Department of Anesthesiology and the rate of enrollment of these patients did not increase at the same rate. In order to increase the number of non-English-speaking patients approached to participate in research, we must improve cultural awareness and provide investigators

Feedback in online course for non-native English-speaking students

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Olesova, Larisa

2013-01-01

Feedback in Online Course for Non-Native English-Speaking Students is an investigation of the effectiveness of audio and text feedback provided in English in an online course for non-native English-speaking students. The study presents results showing how audio and text feedback can impact on non-native English-speaking students' higher-order learning as they participate in an asynchronous online course. It also discusses the results of how students perceive both types of the feedback provided. In addition, the study examines how the impact and perceptions differ when the instructor giving the

Using Mobile Phone to Overcome Students’ Anxiety in Speaking English

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Machmud Karmila

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research is to discover whether the use of mobile phone can minimize students’ anxiety in speaking English and in turn will improve their speaking skill. Anxiety has become a major problem for students when asked to speak in a speaking class. Using quasi experimental method, the data of this research was collected through questionnaire of foreign language anxiety classroom scale, and oral test for speaking ability. Factorial design 2 x2 using ANOVA is used to analyze the data of this research. The result has shown: (1 the score of students’ learning achievement in speaking English who were taught by using mobile phone application was higher than the students’ who were taught by using conventional teaching. It means that the use of mobile phone application results in better influence towards students’ speaking ability; (2 The learning achievement of the students with high anxiety in speaking English who were taught by using mobile phone application was higher than the high-anxiety students who were taught by conventional teaching; (3 The learning achievement in speaking English of low anxiety students who were taught by using mobile phone application was higher than low anxiety students’ who were taught by conventional teaching.

Multilingual Researchers Internationalizing Monolingual English-Only Education through Post-Monolingual Research Methodologies

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Michael Singh

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The argument advanced in this Special Issue of Education Sciences favors democratizing knowledge production and dissemination across the humanities and social sciences through the mainstreaming of multilingual researchers capabilities for theorizing using their full linguistic repertoire. An important contribution of the papers in this Special Issue is the promise that post-monolingual research methodology holds for collaborative projects among multilingual and monolingual researchers that tap into intercultural divergences across languages. Together these papers give warrant to multilingual researchers, including Higher Degree Researchers develop their capabilities for theorizing using their full linguistic repertoire, an educational innovation that could be of immense benefit to scholars working predominantly monolingual universities. Through their thought provoking papers presented in this Special Issue, these researchers invites those working in the education sciences to seriously consider the potential benefits of multiplying the intellectual resources used for theorizing that is possible through activating, mobilizing and deploying researchers’ multilingual resources in knowledge production and dissemination.

A Case Study of Peer Review Practices of Four Adolescent English Language Learners in Face-to-Face and Online Contexts

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Vorobel, Oksana

2013-01-01

Peer review is a complex collaborative activity, which may engage English language learners in reading, writing, listening, and speaking and carry many potential benefits for their language learning (Hu, 2005). While many research studies focused on peer review practices of adult language learners in academic settings in the USA or abroad in…

Tornado hazard communication disparities among Spanish-speaking individuals in an English-speaking community.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahlborn, Leslie; Franc, Jeffrey Michael

2012-02-01

The state of Oklahoma, known for destructive tornados, has a native Spanish-speaking (NSS) population of approximately 180,241, of which 50% report being able to speak English "very well" (US Census Bureau). With almost 50% of these native Spanish-speaking persons being limited English proficient (LEP), their reception of tornado hazard communications may be restricted. This study conducted in northeast Oklahoma (USA) evaluates the association between native language and receiving tornado hazard communications. This study was a cross-sectional survey conducted among a convenience sample of NSS and native English-speaking (NES) adults at Xavier Clinic and St. Francis Trauma Emergency Center in Tulsa, OK, USA from September 2009 through December 2009. Of the 82 surveys administered, 80 were returned, with 40 NES and 40 NSS participants. A scoring system (Severe Weather Information Reception (SWIR)) was developed to quantify reception of hazard information among the study participants (1-3 points=poor reception, 4-5=adequate reception, 6-8=excellent reception). Pearson's chi-squared test was used to calculate differences between groups with Yates' continuity correction applied where appropriate, and SWIR scores were analyzed using ANOVA. P-valuestornado siren. NSS were less likely to have Internet access (Ptornado warning reception between NSS and NES. Poor English proficiency was noted to be 75% among NSS, which is approximately 25% more than estimated by the US Census Bureau. This study demonstrates a need for emergency managers to recognize when appropriate and overcome communication disparities among limited English proficient populations.

Rater Judgment and English Language Speaking Proficiency. Research Report

Science.gov (United States)

Chalhoub-Deville, Micheline; Wigglesworth, Gillian

2005-01-01

The paper investigates whether there is a shared perception of speaking proficiency among raters from different English speaking countries. More specifically, this study examines whether there is a significant difference among English language learning (ELL) teachers, residing in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the USA when rating speech samples of…

English-Speaking and Spanish-Speaking Domestic Violence Perpetrators: An MMPI-2 Assessment

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Scott, Ronald L.; Flowers, John V.; Bulnes, Alejandro; Olmsted, Eileen; Carbajal-Madrid, Pedro

2009-01-01

The use of assessments to characterize domestic violence perpetrators continues to develop with an emphasis on increasing the effectiveness of domestic violence interventions. The present study examines and compares Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-2 responses from 41 English-speaking and 48 Spanish-speaking men who were in…

Variable Production of English Past Tense Morphology: A Case Study of a Thai-Speaking Learner of English

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Prapobaratanakul, Chariya; Pongpairoj, Nattama

2016-01-01

The study investigated variable production of English past tense morphology by an L1 Thai-speaking learner of English. Due to the absence of the past tense inflectional morphology in the Thai language, production of English past tense morphemes poses a persistent problem for L1 Thai-speaking learners of English. Hypotheses have been made in…

Marking of verb tense in the English of preschool English-Mandarin bilingual children: evidence from language development profiles within subgroups on the Singapore English Action Picture Test.

Science.gov (United States)

Brebner, Chris; McCormack, Paul; Liow, Susan Rickard

2016-01-01

The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this population. To examine the marking of verb tense in the English of two groups of bilingual pre-schoolers learning these languages in a multilingual setting where the main educational language is English. The main research question addressed was: are there differences in the rate and pattern of acquisition of verb-tense marking for English-language 1 children compared with Mandarin-language 1 children? Spoken language samples in English from 481 English-Mandarin bilingual children were elicited using a 10-item action picture test and analysed for each child's use of verb tense markers: present progressive '-ing', regular past tense '-ed', third-person singular '-s', and irregular past tense and irregular past-participle forms. For 4-6 year olds the use of inflectional markers by the different language dominance groups was compared statistically using non-parametric tests. This study provides further evidence that bilingual language development is not the same as monolingual language development. The results show that there are very different rates and patterns of verb-tense marking in English for English-language 1 and Mandarin-language 1 children. Furthermore, they show that bilingual language development in English in Singapore is not the same as monolingual language development in English, and that there are differences in development depending on language dominance. Valid and reliable assessment of bilingual children's language skills needs to consider the characteristics of all languages spoken, obtaining accurate information on language use over time and accurately establishing language dominance is essential in order to make a

EIGHT KEYS BEFORE LEARNING TO SPEAK ENGLISH: (A Proposal for Motivating EFL Speaking Learners in Indonesia

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Abd Wafi

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Being able to speak English fluently is as measuring rod for someone who is said to be good at English. In Indonesian context, English is still as foreign language and this becomes problem for them who want to learn it. The problem could be caused by the difficulty of the English itself, the learners’ personality and the process in learning it. There are ample solutions to deal with those difficulties; however, the writer provides a solution as a proposal for motivating the learners; there are 8 keys to be possessed by the learners before they learn to speak English. They are (1 Listen up, (2 be good at imitating, (3 use the mouth, (4 check the voice, (5 have the motion, (6 smile, (7 thank God, and (8 love. The solution is as inner drive or  instrinsic motivation for the learners and it can also be used by the teachers, tutors and lecturers as reference for motivatingthe learners in learning or in mastering English speaking.

Quantifying risk: verbal probability expressions in Spanish and English.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohn, Lawrence D; Vázquez, Miguel E Cortés; Alvarez, Adolfo

2009-01-01

To investigate how Spanish- and English-speaking adults interpret verbal probability expressions presented in Spanish and English (eg, posiblemente and possibly, respectively). Professional translators and university students from México and the United States read a series of likelihood statements in Spanish or English and then estimated the certainty implied by each statement. Several terms that are regarded as cognates in English and Spanish elicited significantly different likelihood ratings. Several language equivalencies were also identified. These findings provide the first reported evaluation of Spanish likelihood terms for use in risk communications directed towards monolingual and bilingual Spanish speakers.

Pre-Service English Teachers' Beliefs on Speaking Skill Based on Motivational Orientations

Science.gov (United States)

Dinçer, Ali; Yesilyurt, Savas

2013-01-01

This study aimed to explore pre-service English teachers' perceptions of teaching speaking in Turkey, the importance they give to this language skill, and their self-evaluation of their speaking competence. With case design and maximum variation sampling approach, seven pre-service English teachers' beliefs about speaking skills were gathered in…

Effects of the Differences between Native and Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers on Students' Attitudes and Motivation toward Learning English

Science.gov (United States)

Pae, Tae-Il

2017-01-01

This study presents findings on three research agendas: (1) the difference between native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) in students' attitudes toward and motivation for learning English, (2) the moderating effect of the type of class (i.e., English Conversation vs. Practical English) on the…

On the Awareness of English Polysemous Words by Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners

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Sulafah Abdul Salam Alnamer

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study measures the extent to which Arabic-speaking EFL learners are aware of polysemy in English. It also investigates whether the English proficiency level of Arabic-speaking EFL learners plays a role in their ability to distinguish between the various meanings of English polysemous words, and whether they face problems when they encounter these words in unusual contexts (i.e. the contexts that employ the extended meanings of the target polysemous words. To these ends, a translation test in which the participants were asked to give full Arabic translation for fifteen English sentences was designed. The words open, run, and make were the target polysemous words in this study. The Results show that Arabic-speaking EFL learners have little awareness of polysemy in English, and their English proficiency level does play a role in their ability to distinguish between the different meanings of English polysemous words. It was also found that Arabic-speaking EFL learners have no problems guessing the primary meaning of the English polysemous words. However, they face difficulty guessing the extended meanings of polysemous words in unusual contexts. Moreover, some Arabic-speaking EFL learners can guess the extended meanings of the polysemous words they encounter in familiar contexts, or when they understand some cues provided to disambiguate these words. This study concludes with some pedagogical implications and recommendations for further studies.

Total and Conceptual Vocabulary in Spanish–English Bilinguals From 22 to 30 Months: Implications for Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Core, Cynthia; Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Señor, Melissa

2015-01-01

Purpose Vocabulary assessment holds promise as a way to identify young bilingual children at risk for language delay. This study compares 2 measures of vocabulary in a group of young Spanish–English bilingual children to a single-language measure used with monolingual children. Method Total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were used to measure mean vocabulary size and growth in 47 Spanish–English bilingually developing children from 22 to 30 months of age based on results from the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993) and the Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (Jackson-Maldonado et al., 2003). Bilingual children’s scores of total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were compared with CDI scores for a control group of 56 monolingual children. Results The total vocabulary measure resulted in mean vocabulary scores and average rate of growth similar to monolingual growth, whereas conceptual vocabulary scores were significantly smaller and grew at a slower rate than total vocabulary scores. Total vocabulary identified the same proportion of bilingual children below the 25th percentile on monolingual norms as the CDI did for monolingual children. Conclusion These results support the use of total vocabulary as a means of assessing early language development in young bilingual Spanish–English speaking children. PMID:24023382

Using Smartphone-Integrated Model of Teaching to Overcome Students’ Speaking Anxiety in Learning English as a Foreign Language

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Karmila Machmud

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research is to investigate the effect of a model of teaching that integrating the use of Smartphone towards the learning achievement of both high and low anxiety students. We found it hard to ask students to speak English during the teaching and learning process. This is caused by their anxiety and also the limitation of time allotment provided to teach speaking skill in schools. The use of Smartphone in teaching speaking is suggested to minimize students’ anxiety from a peer pressure, as well as to overcome the limitation of the time allotment in teaching speaking. Using quasi experimental method, the data of this research was collected from 63 middle school students using questionnaire of foreign language anxiety classroom scale. This questionnaire is used to classify the students into the group of high anxiety and low anxiety students. Oral test for speaking ability is used to measure the students’ learning achievement. Factorial design 2 x2 using ANOVA is utilized to analyze the data of this research. The result has shown that both high and low anxiety groups of students achieve higher score when they are taught by using Smartphone compare to their score when they are taught by using conventional model of teaching. This means that the use of Smartphone integrated model of teaching can overcome the students’ anxiety in speaking English.

Monolingual accounting dictionaries for EFL text production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Sandro

2006-01-01

Monolingual accounting dictionaries are important for producing financial reporting texts in English in an international setting, because of the lack of specialised bilingual dictionaries. As the intended user groups have different factual and linguistic competences, they require specific types...... text production. The monolingual accounting dictionary needs to include information about UK, US and international accounting terms, their grammatical properties, their potential for being combined with other words in collocations, phrases and sentences in order to meet user requirements. Data items...... of information. By identifying and analysing the users' factual and linguistic competences, user needs, use-situations and the stages involved in producing accounting texts in English as a foreign language, lexicographers will have a sound basis for designing the optimal English accounting dictionary for EFL...

Monolingual Accounting Dictionaries for EFL Text Production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Sandro

2009-01-01

Monolingual accounting dictionaries are important for producing financial reporting texts in English in an international setting, because of the lack of specialised bilingual dictionaries. As the intended user groups have different factual and linguistic competences, they require specific types...... text production. The monolingual accounting dictionary needs to include information about UK, US and international accounting terms, their grammatical properties, their potential for being combined with other words in collocations, phrases and sentences in order to meet user requirements. Data items...... of information. By identifying and analysing the users' factual and linguistic competences, user needs, use-situations and the stages involved in producing accounting texts in English as a foreign language, lexicographers will have a sound basis for designing the optimal English accounting dictionary for EFL...

The comprehension skills of children learning English as an additional language.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgoyne, K; Kelly, J M; Whiteley, H E; Spooner, A

2009-12-01

Data from national test results suggests that children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) experience relatively lower levels of educational attainment in comparison to their monolingual, English-speaking peers. The relative underachievement of children who are learning EAL demands that the literacy needs of this group are identified. To this end, this study aimed to explore the reading- and comprehension-related skills of a group of EAL learners. Data are reported from 92 Year 3 pupils, of whom 46 children are learning EAL. Children completed standardized measures of reading accuracy and comprehension, listening comprehension, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Results indicate that many EAL learners experience difficulties in understanding written and spoken text. These comprehension difficulties are not related to decoding problems but are related to significantly lower levels of vocabulary knowledge experienced by this group. Many EAL learners experience significantly lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge which has a significant impact on their ability to understand written and spoken text. Greater emphasis on language development is therefore needed in the school curriculum to attempt to address the limited language skills of children learning EAL.

Investigating the impact of SMS speak on the written work of English first language and English second language high school learners

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Winzker, Kristy

2009-12-01

Full Text Available This study examined the impact of SMS speak on the written work of English first language (L1 and English second language (L2 grade 8s and 11s. The aim was to establish whether these learners make use of features of SMS speak in their English written work. The participants, 88 learners from an English-Afrikaans dual medium school, completed questionnaires from which the frequency and volume of their SMS use were determined, as well as the features of SMS speak they reportedly use while SMSing. In addition, samples of their English essays were examined for the following features of SMS speak: (deliberate spelling errors; lack of punctuation; over-punctuation; omission of function words; and use of abbreviation, acronyms, emoticons and rebus writing. The questionnaires indicated that these learners are avid users of the SMS. All participants reported using features of SMS speak in their SMSes, and more than 40% reported using SMS speak in their written school work. Despite this, features of SMS speak infrequently occurred in the written work of the learners, which could indicate that the learners are able to assess when it is and is not appropriate to use a certain variety of language. That said, a number of SMS speak features were indeed present in the samples, which indicates that SMS speak had some impact on the written work of these learners. Not all of the nonstandard features of their written English could, however, necessarily be attributed to the influence of SMS speak; specifically some of the spelling and punctuation errors could have occurred in the written English of high school learners from before the advent of cell phones.

The Attitudes and Perceptions of Non-Native English Speaking ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

native English speaking adults toward explicit grammar instruction (EGI). The factors influencing those attitudes and perceptions are also explored. The data collected in this study indicate that adult English as a second language (ESL) students ...

MAIN ASPECTS IN LANGUAGE TRAINING OF NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING AIRMEN

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Nataliya Pazyura

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In the globalized world and rapid development of technical progress aviation industry has been gaining more importance for humanity and requires a deeper understanding of the English language, its basic characteristics and mechanisms of functioning. Purpose: The aim of the article is to study the influence of the proficiency of English on flight safety, to consider the main communication problems of non-English speaking aviation personnel, highlight possible directions for training English-speaking personnel. In the article the author tries to show the disadvantage at which non-English speaking airline staff work in case of emergency. The article highlights the issue about high level aviation English proficiency necessary to avoid communication problem. Methods: For the research scientific general methods have been used which are main ways of studying scientific sources, and comparative method for synchronic comparison of events in the different regions. Results: The author concludes that at the same time it is necessary for aviation personnel to master plain language for understanding context of communication, to minimize uncertainty and improve understanding between the controller and pilot. Discussion: It stresses the idea that the language proficiency level that exceeds the minimum standards according to ICAO, contributes significantly to the reduction of communication problems and in such a way ensures safety.

Factors that enhance English-speaking speech-language pathologists' transcription of Cantonese-speaking children's consonants.

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Lockart, Rebekah; McLeod, Sharynne

2013-08-01

To investigate speech-language pathology students' ability to identify errors and transcribe typical and atypical speech in Cantonese, a nonnative language. Thirty-three English-speaking speech-language pathology students completed 3 tasks in an experimental within-subjects design. Task 1 (baseline) involved transcribing English words. In Task 2, students transcribed 25 words spoken by a Cantonese adult. An average of 59.1% consonants was transcribed correctly (72.9% when Cantonese-English transfer patterns were allowed). There was higher accuracy on shared English and Cantonese syllable-initial consonants /m,n,f,s,h,j,w,l/ and syllable-final consonants. In Task 3, students identified consonant errors and transcribed 100 words spoken by Cantonese-speaking children under 4 additive conditions: (1) baseline, (2) +adult model, (3) +information about Cantonese phonology, and (4) all variables (2 and 3 were counterbalanced). There was a significant improvement in the students' identification and transcription scores for conditions 2, 3, and 4, with a moderate effect size. Increased skill was not based on listeners' proficiency in speaking another language, perceived transcription skill, musicality, or confidence with multilingual clients. Speech-language pathology students, with no exposure to or specific training in Cantonese, have some skills to identify errors and transcribe Cantonese. Provision of a Cantonese-adult model and information about Cantonese phonology increased students' accuracy in transcribing Cantonese speech.

More Limitations to Monolingualism: Bilinguals Outperform Monolinguals in Implicit Word Learning.

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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.

DIFFICULTIES OF SPEAKING THAT ARE ENCOUNTERED BY ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS AT AL MARGEB UNIVERSITY

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Mohamed Dalem

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to explore the speaking difficulties encountered by English language students at Al Margeb University, and to discover the causes of such difficulties. Speaking English has been a vital importance in international communication. Speaking fluent English is a common problem among the nonnative speakers. The second language learners have gone through a variety of cases to learn how to speak not only correct grammar and using the right vocabulary but with correct accent and pronunciation. Many obstacles, therefore, have been known as the predictors of such a problem among the language learners.  According to the review of literature, appropriate speaking instruction was found to be the learners' priority and a field in which they need more attention. In this paper the writer highlight the speaking difficulties encountered by English language students at Al Margeb University, which are considered to be the most urgent for every teacher, such as fear of mistakes, shyness, anxiety, lack of confidence and lack of motivation. This paper can be useful to teachers to consider their language learners' speaking needs in English language teaching and learning context.

Noun and verb knowledge in monolingual preschool children across 17 languages: Data from Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT).

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Haman, Ewa; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Hansen, Pernille; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Chiat, Shula; Bjekić, Jovana; Blažienė, Agnė; Chyl, Katarzyna; Dabašinskienė, Ineta; Engel de Abreu, Pascale; Gagarina, Natalia; Gavarró, Anna; Håkansson, Gisela; Harel, Efrat; Holm, Elisabeth; Kapalková, Svetlana; Kunnari, Sari; Levorato, Chiara; Lindgren, Josefin; Mieszkowska, Karolina; Montes Salarich, Laia; Potgieter, Anneke; Ribu, Ingeborg; Ringblom, Natalia; Rinker, Tanja; Roch, Maja; Slančová, Daniela; Southwood, Frenette; Tedeschi, Roberta; Tuncer, Aylin Müge; Ünal-Logacev, Özlem; Vuksanović, Jasmina; Armon-Lotem, Sharon

2017-01-01

This article investigates the cross-linguistic comparability of the newly developed lexical assessment tool Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT). LITMUS-CLT is a part the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) battery (Armon-Lotem, de Jong & Meir, 2015). Here we analyse results on receptive and expressive word knowledge tasks for nouns and verbs across 17 languages from eight different language families: Baltic (Lithuanian), Bantu (isiXhosa), Finnic (Finnish), Germanic (Afrikaans, British English, South African English, German, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Swedish), Romance (Catalan, Italian), Semitic (Hebrew), Slavic (Polish, Serbian, Slovak) and Turkic (Turkish). The participants were 639 monolingual children aged 3;0-6;11 living in 15 different countries. Differences in vocabulary size were small between 16 of the languages; but isiXhosa-speaking children knew significantly fewer words than speakers of the other languages. There was a robust effect of word class: accuracy was higher for nouns than verbs. Furthermore, comprehension was more advanced than production. Results are discussed in the context of cross-linguistic comparisons of lexical development in monolingual and bilingual populations.

Mobility limitations and fear of falling in non-English speaking older Mexican-Americans.

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James, Eric G; Conatser, Phillip; Karabulut, Murat; Leveille, Suzanne G; Hausdorff, Jeffrey M; Cote, Sarah; Tucker, Katherine L; Barton, Bruce; Bean, Jonathan F; Al Snih, Soham; Markides, Kyriakos S

2017-10-01

To determine whether older Mexican-Americans who cannot speak and/or understand spoken English have higher rates of mobility limitations or fear of falling than their English-speaking counterparts. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1169 community-dwelling Mexican-Americans aged 72-96 years from the 2000-2001 wave of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly. Mobility limitations were defined as having a Short Physical Performance Battery score ≤9, and fear of falling by participant report of being somewhat, fairly, or very afraid of falling. We determined the rates and odds ratios, for having mobility limitations and fear of falling as a function of English ability in those who were 72-96, English 85.7% had mobility limitations and 61.6% were afraid of falling, compared to 77.6% and 57.5%, respectively, of English speakers. Before adjusting for covariates, participants who did not speak and/or understand spoken English were more likely to have mobility limitations (odds ratio: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3-2.4) but not fear of falling, compared to English speakers. Among those aged ≥80 years, but not those English were more likely to have mobility limitations (odds ratio: 4.8; 95% CI:2.0-11.5) and fear of falling (odds ratio: 2.0; 95% CI:1.3-3.1). Older Mexican-Americans who do not speak or understand spoken English have a higher rate of mobility limitations and fear of falling than their English-speaking counterparts.

The English Monolingual Dictionary: Its Use among Second Year Students of University Technology of Malaysia, International Campus, Kuala Lumpur

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Manan, Amerrudin Abd.; Al-Zubaidi, Khairi Obaid

2011-01-01

This research was conducted to seek information on English Monolingual Dictionary (EMD) use among 2nd year students of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, Kuala Lumpur (UTMKL). Specifically, the researchers wish to discover, firstly, the students' habit and attitude in EMD use; secondly, to discover their knowledge with regard to…

Cheater's Guide to Speaking English Like a Native

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De Mente, Boye

2007-01-01

Native English-speakers use a large number of proverbs and colloquial expressions in their daily conversations. These common sayings, which evolved over the centuries, are like "codes" that reveal the cultural values and attitudes of the speakers. To fully understand and communicate in English, it's necessary to be familiar with these expressions and know how and when to use them. The Cheater's Guide to Speaking English like a Native is a shortcut to achieving that goal.

The Efficacy of Child-Centered Play Therapy with Hispanic Spanish-Speaking Children when Conducted by a Monolingual English-Speaking Counselor

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McGee, Lola V.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy as an intervention when the client and the counselor do not speak the same language. The participants of the study were 34 Spanish-speaking children of Hispanic descent ranging in age from 4 to 8 who were referred to counseling for exhibiting…

Online English-English Learner Dictionaries Boost Word Learning

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Nurmukhamedov, Ulugbek

2012-01-01

Learners of English might be familiar with several online monolingual dictionaries that are not necessarily the best choices for the English as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) context. Although these monolingual online dictionaries contain definitions, pronunciation guides, and other elements normally found in general-use dictionaries, they are…

Beating the Odds: A Longitudinal Investigation of Low-Income Dual-Language and Monolingual Children's English Language and Literacy Performance

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Han, Myae; Vukelich, Carol; Buell, Martha; Meacham, Sohyun

2014-01-01

Research Findings: The current study reports on the results of a longitudinal investigation of the language and early literacy development of a sample of dual-language learners (DLLs) and monolingual English speakers from low-income families who received an Early Reading First intervention during their Head Start preschool year. A total of 62…

Tips to Students for Speaking English Effectively in Multicultures

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刘萍

2002-01-01

There exists great confusion among students about the choice of words in speaking English.They feel it difficult to express themselves very effectively and clearly.In a highly competitive society with strong tendency to merge in multicultures,one my fail to attain his goal in life if he/she turns a blind eye to the importance of effectively speaking international language-English because English is an indispensble communicating means in colorful world.This article offers criteria that can be used by English speaders to measure whether their words contribute to an effective oral style.Language is symbolic,so the words contribute to an effective oral style.Language is symbolic,so the words we use in our speeches represent ideas,objects and feelings,The resders,not only the students,can be informed of the fact that ideas are clarified through vivid,emphatic and appropriate expressions in addition to precise,specific,concrete,simple language.

Language and EFL Teacher Preparation in Non-English-Speaking Environments.

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Peretz, Arna S.

Linguistic and paralinguistic problems faced by non-native-English speakers training to be teachers of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) in non-English-speaking environments are discussed. Relevant theories of second language learning and acquisition are reviewed, and the affective factors and sociocultural variables that appear to…

A comparison of proficiency levels in 4-year-old monolingual and trilingual speakers of Afrikaans, isiXhosa and South African English across SES boundaries, using LITMUS-CLT.

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Perold Potgieter, Anneke; Southwood, Frenette

2016-01-01

This study investigated how trilinguals fare on the cross-linguistic lexical tasks (CLT)-Afrikaans, -isiXhosa and -South African English (SAE) (cf. Haman et al., 2015) compared to monolingual controls, and whether the CLT-Afrikaans renders comparable results across socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. The LITMUS-CLTs were administered to 41 low SES 4-year-olds (11 trilinguals; 10 monolingual speakers of Afrikaans, isiXhosa and SAE) and the LITMUS-CLT-Afrikaans to 11 mid-SES 4-year-old monolinguals. Results (a) indicate that trilinguals' proficiency in their exposure-dominant language did not differ significantly from monolinguals' proficiency, but their proficiency in their additional two languages was significantly lower than monolinguals' proficiency; (b) reflect the extent, but not current amount, of exposure trilinguals had had over time to each of their languages; and (c) show that low and mid-SES monolinguals differed significantly on noun-related, but not verb-related, CLT measures. Possible reasons for and the clinical implications of these results are discussed.

The Effects and Perceptions of Trained Peer Feedback in L2 Speaking: Impact on Revision and Speaking Quality

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Rodríguez-González, Eva; Castañeda, Martha E.

2018-01-01

The present study examined the impact of trained peer feedback on Spanish as a second language (L2) in terms of language performance, nature of feedback, and perceptions of peer feedback in speaking tasks. Participants in the study included 17 intermediate L2 Spanish learners enrolled in a conversation course that incorporated peer feedback…

Increasing Senior High School Students’ Ability In Speaking English Through Contextual Storytelling Method

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Meyke Machrita Mamahit

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This research aimed (1 to increase the ability of students XII Grade Science 6 Senior High School state 7 Manado in speaking English through contextual storytelling method, (2 to increase the motivation and interest of students XII Grade Science 6 Senior High School state 7 Manado in speaking English through contextual storytelling method. This research is Classroom Action Research. The population was 325 students and the sample was 30 students. The research data was collected using performance test of cycle 1, 2, 3 and questionnaire. The research results indicated that the use of contextual storytelling method in learning English significantly increased the ability, interest and motivation of students XII Grade Science 6 Senior High School state 7 Manado in speaking English. The percentage of students who achieved the minimum score increased from 60 % in the first cycle became 70 % in the second cycle, and it increased 90 % in the third cycle. The students’ interest and motivation in speaking English increased from 70 % in first cycle became 80 % in the second cycle and it became 90 % in the third cycle.

Listening to middle-school Spanish-speaking English language learners: A qualitative study of their perspectives of science

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Lopez-Ferrao, Julio E.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding and explanation of the science achievement gap between Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) and their mainstream peers. The sample of purposefully selected participants (N = 23) included students representing eight Spanish-speaking countries who attended three middle schools (grades 6th-8th), 11 boys and 12 girls, with different years of schooling in the United States, English proficiency levels, and science achievement levels. Data gathering strategies included individual interviews with participants, classroom observations, and analysis of secondary data sources on students' English language proficiency and science achievement. Data interpretation strategies using a critical-interpretive perspective consisted of coding and narrative analysis, including analyses of excerpts and case studies. Two major findings emerge from the study: (1) An inverse relation between participants' number of years of exposure to science learning in an English-only learning environment and their science achievement levels; and (2) specific participant-identified problems, such as learning the science vocabulary, writing in science, the use of mathematics in science, and the lack of sense making in the science classroom. Key recommendations comprise: (1) Acknowledging the value of dual language education; (2) supporting the science-literacy connection; (3) ensuring high-quality science through research-informed instructional strategies; and (4) assessing ELLs' science achievement.

An Exploratory Case Study of Young Children's Interactive Play Behaviours with a Non-English Speaking Child

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Lee, Joohi; Md-Yunus, Sham'ah; Son, Won In; Meadows, Michelle

2009-01-01

This study is an examination of preschool-age English speaking children's interactive play behaviours with a non-English speaking child (NEC). The play types of a NEC were reported using the Parten's categories of solitary, parallel and interactive play. In addition, English-speaking children's interactive play with a NEC were reported in this…

Professional Development in Japanese Non-Native English Speaking Teachers' Identity and Efficacy

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Takayama, Hiromi

2015-01-01

This mixed methods study investigates how Japanese non-native English speaking teachers' (NNESTs) efficacy and identity are developed and differentiated from those of native English speaking teachers (NESTs). To explore NNESTs' efficacy, this study focuses on the contributing factors, such as student engagement, classroom management, instructional…

English vowel identification and vowel formant discrimination by native Mandarin Chinese- and native English-speaking listeners: The effect of vowel duration dependence.

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Mi, Lin; Tao, Sha; Wang, Wenjing; Dong, Qi; Guan, Jingjing; Liu, Chang

2016-03-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between English vowel identification and English vowel formant discrimination for native Mandarin Chinese- and native English-speaking listeners. The identification of 12 English vowels was measured with the duration cue preserved or removed. The thresholds of vowel formant discrimination on the F2 of two English vowels,/Λ/and/i/, were also estimated using an adaptive-tracking procedure. Native Mandarin Chinese-speaking listeners showed significantly higher thresholds of vowel formant discrimination and lower identification scores than native English-speaking listeners. The duration effect on English vowel identification was similar between native Mandarin Chinese- and native English-speaking listeners. Moreover, regardless of listeners' language background, vowel identification was significantly correlated with vowel formant discrimination for the listeners who were less dependent on duration cues, whereas the correlation between vowel identification and vowel formant discrimination was not significant for the listeners who were highly dependent on duration cues. This study revealed individual variability in using multiple acoustic cues to identify English vowels for both native and non-native listeners. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY IN ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLUB (ECC PROGRAM AT THE 3rd SEMESTER

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M. Fadhly Farhy Abbas

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This research is based on students’ speaking ability who had followed the EnglishConversation Club (ECC program especially for the third semester of English Department. Thepurpose of this study was to analyze the students’ speaking ability at the 3rd semester in the EnglishConversation Club FKIP UNILAK Pekanbaru. The type of the research was mixed method in typeof explanatory design. The number of participant was 53 students. The researcher used twoinstruments, those were test and interview. In analyzing the data, it used in descriptive statistics.The result of the analysis showed that the average score of 3rd semester students’ speaking abilitywas 45.42. It can be concluded that the students’ speaking ability was categorized into failed . Thescore of Standard Deviation was 7.02, Variance was 49.30, and Range was 36 points . It meansthat the students’ speaking ability was homogeneous. According to the Z-Score, it can be seen that49.06% students’ ability was higher than average and 50.94% students ability was below theaverage. In conclusion, the students’ ability in learning speaking English was failed, it had beenaffected by some factors, those were lack of vocabulary, grammar and motivation. It was supportedby the interview, eventhough the students’ perception to English Conversation Club (ECCprogram was positive, but in fact, the students’ frequency to speak English was seldom, they wereless practice speaking English everyday.Keywords : Speaking , English Conversation Club (ECC

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.

The Development and Validation of the "Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS)" for Non-Native English Speaking Graduate Students

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Schroeder, Rui M.

2016-01-01

This study reports on the three-year development and validation of a new assessment tool--the Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS). The questionnaire is the first of its kind to assess the listening and speaking strategy use of non-native English speaking (NNES) graduate students. A combination of sources was used to develop the…

Health services utilisation disparities between English speaking and non-English speaking background Australian infants

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Chen Jack

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To examine the differences in health services utilisation and the associated risk factors between infants from non-English speaking background (NESB and English speaking background (ESB within Australia. Methods We analysed data from a national representative longitudinal study, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC which started in 2004. We used survey logistic regression coupled with survey multiple linear regression to examine the factors associated with health services utilisation. Results Similar health status was observed between the two groups. In comparison to ESB infants, NESB infants were significantly less likely to use the following health services: maternal and child health centres or help lines (odds ratio [OR] 0.56; 95% confidence intervals [CI], 0.40-0.79; maternal and child health nurse visits (OR 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49-0.95; general practitioners (GPs (OR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.40-0.83; and hospital outpatient clinics (OR 0.54; 95% CI, 0.31-0.93. Multivariate analysis results showed that the disparities could not be fully explained by the socioeconomic status and language barriers. The association between English proficiency and the service utilised was absent once the NESB was taken into account. Maternal characteristics, family size and income, private health insurance and region of residence were the key factors associated with health services utilisation. Conclusions NESB infants accessed significantly less of the four most frequently used health services compared with ESB infants. Maternal characteristics and family socioeconomic status were linked to health services utilisation. The gaps in health services utilisation between NESB and ESB infants with regard to the use of maternal and child health centres or phone help, maternal and child health nurse visits, GPs and paediatricians require appropriate policy attentions and interventions.

Limits on Monolingualism? A comparison of monolingual and bilingual infants’ abilities to integrate lexical tone in novel word learning.

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Leher eSingh

2016-05-01

Full Text Available To construct their first lexicon, infants must determine the relationship between native phonological variation and the meanings of words. This process is arguably more complex for bilingual learners who are often confronted with phonological conflict: phonological variation that is lexically relevant in one language may be lexically irrelevant in the other. In a series of four experiments, the present study investigated English-Mandarin bilingual infants’ abilities to negotiate phonological conflict introduced by learning both a tone and a non-tone language. In a novel word learning task, bilingual children were tested on their sensitivity to tone variation in English and Mandarin contexts. Their abilities to interpret tone variation in a language-dependent manner were compared to those of monolingual Mandarin learning infants. Results demonstrated that at 12 to 13 months, bilingual infants demonstrated the ability to bind tone to word meanings in Mandarin, but to disregard tone variation when learning new words in English. In contrast, monolingual learners of Mandarin did not show evidence of integrating tones into word meanings in Mandarin at the same age even though they were learning a tone language. However, a tone discrimination paradigm confirmed that monolingual Mandarin learning infants were able to tell these tones apart at 12 to 13 months under a different set of conditions. Later, at 17 to 18 months, monolingual Mandarin learners were able to bind tone variation to word meanings when learning new words. Our findings are discussed in terms of cognitive adaptations associated with bilingualism that may ease the negotiation of phonological conflict and facilitate precocious uptake of certain properties of each language.

Pinyin and English Invented Spelling in Chinese-Speaking Students Who Speak English as a Second Language.

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Ding, Yi; Liu, Ru-De; McBride, Catherine A; Fan, Chung-Hau; Xu, Le; Wang, Jia

2018-05-07

This study examined pinyin (the official phonetic system that transcribes the lexical tones and pronunciation of Chinese characters) invented spelling and English invented spelling in 72 Mandarin-speaking 6th graders who learned English as their second language. The pinyin invented spelling task measured segmental-level awareness including syllable and phoneme awareness, and suprasegmental-level awareness including lexical tones and tone sandhi in Chinese Mandarin. The English invented spelling task manipulated segmental-level awareness including syllable awareness and phoneme awareness, and suprasegmental-level awareness including word stress. This pinyin task outperformed a traditional phonological awareness task that only measured segmental-level awareness and may have optimal utility to measure unique phonological and linguistic features in Chinese reading. The pinyin invented spelling uniquely explained variance in Chinese conventional spelling and word reading in both languages. The English invented spelling uniquely explained variance in conventional spelling and word reading in both languages. Our findings appear to support the role of phonological activation in Chinese reading. Our experimental linguistic manipulations altered the phonological awareness item difficulties.

Strategies of Learning Speaking Skill by Indonesian Learners of English and Their Contribution to Speaking Proficiency

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Mistar, Junaidi; Umamah, Atik

2014-01-01

This paper was a subset report of a research project on skill-based English learning strategies by Indonesian EFL learners. It focusses on the attempts to reveal: (1) the differences in the use of strategies of learning speaking skill by male and female learners, and (2) the contribution of strategies of learning speaking skill on the learners'…

Proficiency in English sentence stress production by Cantonese speakers who speak English as a second language (ESL).

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Ng, Manwa L; Chen, Yang

2011-12-01

The present study examined English sentence stress produced by native Cantonese speakers who were speaking English as a second language (ESL). Cantonese ESL speakers' proficiency in English stress production as perceived by English-speaking listeners was also studied. Acoustical parameters associated with sentence stress including fundamental frequency (F0), vowel duration, and intensity were measured from the English sentences produced by 40 Cantonese ESL speakers. Data were compared with those obtained from 40 native speakers of American English. The speech samples were also judged by eight native listeners who were native speakers of American English for placement, degree, and naturalness of stress. Results showed that Cantonese ESL speakers were able to use F0, vowel duration, and intensity to differentiate sentence stress patterns. Yet, both female and male Cantonese ESL speakers exhibited consistently higher F0 in stressed words than English speakers. Overall, Cantonese ESL speakers were found to be proficient in using duration and intensity to signal sentence stress, in a way comparable with English speakers. In addition, F0 and intensity were found to correlate closely with perceptual judgement and the degree of stress with the naturalness of stress.

Differential Language Functioning of Monolinguals and Bilinguals on Positive-Negative Emotional Expression

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Kheirzadeh, Shiela; Hajiabed, Mohammadreza

2016-01-01

The present interdisciplinary research investigates the differential emotional expression between Persian monolinguals and Persian-English bilinguals. In other words, the article was an attempt to answer the questions whether bilinguals and monolinguals differ in the expression of positive and negative emotions elicited through sad and happy…

Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom.

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Mieszkowska, Karolina; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Kołak, Joanna; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Wodniecka, Zofia; Haman, Ewa

2017-01-01

Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children's vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5-6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ) in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests), and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report). The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third) language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills similar to those of

Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom

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Karolina Mieszkowska

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children’s vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5–6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests, and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report. The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills

Monolingual accounting dictionaries for EFL text production

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Sandro Nielsen

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Monolingual accounting dictionaries are important for producing financial reporting texts in English in an international setting, because of the lack of specialised bilingual dictionaries. As the intended user groups have different factual and linguistic competences, they require specific types of information. By identifying and analysing the users' factual and linguistic competences, user needs, use-situations and the stages involved in producing accounting texts in English as a foreign language, lexicographers will have a sound basis for designing the optimal English accounting dictionary for EFL text production. The monolingual accounting dictionary needs to include information about UK, US and international accounting terms, their grammatical properties, their potential for being combined with other words in collocations, phrases and sentences in order to meet user requirements. Data items that deal with these aspects are necessary for the international user group as they produce subject-field specific and register-specific texts in a foreign language, and the data items are relevant for the various stages in text production: draft writing, copyediting, stylistic editing and proofreading.

Effects of Length, Complexity, and Grammatical Correctness on Stuttering in Spanish-Speaking Preschool Children

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Jennifer B.; Byrd, Courtney T.; Carlo, Edna J.

2011-01-01

Purpose: To explore the effects of utterance length, syntactic complexity, and grammatical correctness on stuttering in the spontaneous speech of young, monolingual Spanish-speaking children. Method: Spontaneous speech samples of 11 monolingual Spanish-speaking children who stuttered, ages 35 to 70 months, were examined. Mean number of syllables,…

The South African English Smartphone Digits-in-Noise Hearing Test: Effect of Age, Hearing Loss, and Speaking Competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Potgieter, Jenni-Marí; Swanepoel, De Wet; Myburgh, Hermanus Carel; Smits, Cas

2017-11-20

This study determined the effect of hearing loss and English-speaking competency on the South African English digits-in-noise hearing test to evaluate its suitability for use across native (N) and non-native (NN) speakers. A prospective cross-sectional cohort study of N and NN English adults with and without sensorineural hearing loss compared pure-tone air conduction thresholds to the speech reception threshold (SRT) recorded with the smartphone digits-in-noise hearing test. A rating scale was used for NN English listeners' self-reported competence in speaking English. This study consisted of 454 adult listeners (164 male, 290 female; range 16 to 90 years), of whom 337 listeners had a best ear four-frequency pure-tone average (4FPTA; 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) of ≤25 dB HL. A linear regression model identified three predictors of the digits-in-noise SRT, namely, 4FPTA, age, and self-reported English-speaking competence. The NN group with poor self-reported English-speaking competence (≤5/10) performed significantly (p English-speaking competence for the N and NN groups (≥6/10) and NN group alone (≤5/10). Logistic regression models, which include age in the analysis, showed a further improvement in sensitivity and specificity for both groups (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.962 and 0.903, respectively). Self-reported English-speaking competence had a significant influence on the SRT obtained with the smartphone digits-in-noise test. A logistic regression approach considering SRT, self-reported English-speaking competence, and age as predictors of best ear 4FPTA >25 dB HL showed that the test can be used as an accurate hearing screening tool for N and NN English speakers. The smartphone digits-in-noise test, therefore, allows testing in a multilingual population familiar with English digits using dynamic cutoff values that can be chosen according to self-reported English-speaking competence and age.

Turkish Senior Nursing Students' Communication Experience With English-Speaking Patients.

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Guvenc, Gulten; Unver, Vesile; Basak, Tulay; Yuksel, Cigdem; Ayhan, Hatice; Kok, Gulsah; Konukbay, Dilek; Kose, Gulsah; Aslan, Ozlem; Tastan, Sevinc; Iyigun, Emine

2016-02-01

Simulation has been widely accepted as a valuable learning method in nursing education programs so that nursing students can learn and develop communication skills. The aim of this study was to evaluate nursing students' communication experience with an English-speaking standardized patient in the context of the Rational Administration of Medicines course. Involving both quantitative and qualitative research designs, this descriptive study was conducted with 104 nursing students in Ankara, Turkey, from September 2012 to July 2013. The majority (98.1%) of the participants stated the necessity of improving their English to communicate with English-speaking patients. Three overarching categories, including seven themes, emerged from the description of nursing students' experience: recognition of emotions, experiences during the simulation, and gains. Standardized patient practice emphasized the significance of cultural differences, of knowing and using a foreign language, of communication, and of patient safety. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

African American English-speaking students: an examination of the relationship between dialect shifting and reading outcomes.

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Craig, Holly K; Zhang, Lingling; Hensel, Stephanie L; Quinn, Erin J

2009-08-01

In this study, the authors evaluated the contribution made by dialect shifting to reading achievement test scores of African American English (AAE)-speaking students when controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), general oral language abilities, and writing skills. Participants were 165 typically developing African American 1st through 5th graders. Half were male and half were female, one third were from low-SES homes, and two-thirds were from middle-SES homes. Dialect shifting away from AAE toward Standard American English (SAE) was determined by comparing AAE production rates during oral and written narratives. Structural equation modeling evaluated the relative contributions of AAE rates, SES, and general oral language and writing skills on standardized reading achievement scores. AAE production rates were inversely related to reading achievement scores and decreased significantly between the oral and written narratives. Lower rates in writing predicted a substantial amount of the variance in reading scores, showing a significant direct effect and a significant indirect effect mediated by measures of oral language comprehension. The findings support a dialect shifting-reading achievement hypothesis, which proposes that AAE-speaking students who learn to use SAE in literacy tasks will outperform their peers who do not make this linguistic adaptation.

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.

Advanced Cantonese ESL Learners' Use of a Monolingual ...

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monolingual dictionaries by Hong Kong advanced Cantonese ESL learners in the production of .... (COBUILD6), and one using Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5th ...... A Contrastive Study of Pocket Electronic Diction- aries and ...

Variation Theory and the Reception of Chinese Literature in the English-speaking World

OpenAIRE

Cao, Shunqing

2015-01-01

In his article "Variation Theory and Reception of Chinese Literature in the English-Speaking World" Shunqing Cao introduces "variation theory" he developed and suggests that the framework can be applied in studying the dissemination and reception of Chinese literature in the English-speaking world. Cao argues that cultural and literary differences produce variations in literary exchanges among different cultures and variation theory concentrates on these variations. With unique perspectives o...

Improving Speaking by Listening Cultivating English Thinking and Expression--Probe into the Teaching of "Business English Listening"

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Sun, Wencheng

2009-01-01

The comprehensive listening curriculum occupies an important position in elementary teaching stage for English major. How could we arrange the listening class better? Considering the characteristics of comprehensive listening curriculum for English major, teachers can help students improve speaking by listening, cultivating their thinking and…

Attitudes toward Suicide among English-Speaking Urban Canadians.

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Domino, George; Leenars, Antoon A.

1995-01-01

A sample of 196 English-speaking Canadian adults residing in 6 major cities of Canada were administered the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire. Results are discussed along 10 major dimensions: stigma of suicide, normality, the right to die, acceptability, cry for help, mental illness, religion, antecedents, impulsivity, and incidence. (JPS)

Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Down Syndrome: Insights From a Case Study

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Burgoyne, Kelly; Duff, Fiona J.; Nielsen, Dea; Ulicheva, Anastasia

2016-01-01

We present the case study of MB—a bilingual child with Down syndrome (DS) who speaks Russian (first language [L1]) and English (second language [L2]) and has learned to read in two different alphabets with different symbol systems. We demonstrate that, in terms of oral language, MB is as proficient in Russian as English, with a mild advantage for reading in English, her language of formal instruction. MB's L1 abilities were compared with those of 11 Russian‐speaking typically developing monolinguals and her L2 abilities to those of 15 English‐speaking typically developing monolinguals and six monolingual English‐speaking children with DS; each group achieving the same level of word reading ability as MB. We conclude that learning two languages in the presence of a learning difficulty need have no detrimental effect on either a child's language or literacy development. PMID:27917003

Constraints on Tone Sensitivity in Novel Word Learning by Monolingual and Bilingual Infants: Tone Properties Are More Influential than Tone Familiarity

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Burnham, Denis; Singh, Leher; Mattock, Karen; Woo, Pei J.; Kalashnikova, Marina

2018-01-01

This study compared tone sensitivity in monolingual and bilingual infants in a novel word learning task. Tone language learning infants (Experiment 1, Mandarin monolingual; Experiment 2, Mandarin-English bilingual) were tested with Mandarin (native) or Thai (non-native) lexical tone pairs which contrasted static vs. dynamic (high vs. rising) tones or dynamic vs. dynamic (rising vs. falling) tones. Non-tone language, English-learning infants (Experiment 3) were tested on English intonational contrasts or the Mandarin or Thai tone contrasts. Monolingual Mandarin language infants were able to bind tones to novel words for the Mandarin High-Rising contrast, but not for the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast; and they were insensitive to both the High-Rising and the Rising-Falling tone contrasts in Thai. Bilingual English-Mandarin infants were similar to the Mandarin monolinguals in that they were sensitive to the Mandarin High-Rising contrast and not to the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast. However, unlike the Mandarin monolinguals, they were also sensitive to the High Rising contrast in Thai. Monolingual English learning infants were insensitive to all three types of contrasts (Mandarin, Thai, English), although they did respond differentially to tone-bearing vs. intonation-marked words. Findings suggest that infants' sensitivity to tones in word learning contexts depends heavily on tone properties, and that this influence is, in some cases, stronger than effects of language familiarity. Moreover, bilingual infants demonstrated greater phonological flexibility in tone interpretation. PMID:29354077

Native-English Speaking Instructors Teaching Writing in China

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Liu, Qing; Zhou, Xiaodi; Fu, Danling

2015-01-01

This article presents two separate but related studies on native-English speaking (NES) instructors' teaching writing practice in Chinese universities. One study is a case study that explores the teaching practice of three NES instructors' writing instruction in a southern Chinese university as well as students' responses to their practice.…

Evaluation and comparison of epidural analgesia in labour related information on French and English-speaking websites.

Science.gov (United States)

Espitalier, Fabien; De Lamer, Sabine; Barbaz, Mathilde; Laffon, Marc; Remérand, Francis

2018-01-31

The medical information on the Internet is better in English than in other languages. The information about Epidural Analgesia In Labour (EAIL) available on French-speaking websites is of poor quality. The quality of the information about EAIL should be better in English, but there is no comparison available. This study has assessed and compared the quality of the information about EAIL available on French and English-speaking websites. Keywords "epidural", "épidurale" and/or "péridurale" were used in the French, Canadian and American Google ® and Yahoo ® search engines. Two independent assessors assessed the 20 first websites for each engine search. They used an evaluation form created from French, Canadian and American recommendations. This form assessed the structure quality (Structure Score/25) and the medical information quality (Medical Information Score/30) of the websites. The addition of both scores gives the Global Score (/55). Seventy-one websites were assessed, 39 French-speaking and 32 English-speaking websites. Structure, Medical Information and Global Scores (expressed as mean (SD)) were respectively 11 (4), 13 (5), 24 (8) for the French-speaking websites and 11 (4), 12 (4), 23 (7) for the English-speaking websites. There was no statistical significant difference between both languages. Information about EAIL available on French and English-speaking websites is of poor quality and there is no difference in the information quality, whatever the language. A consideration on Internet medical information improvement is needed. A high quality dedicated website should be created and broadcasted. Copyright © 2018 Société française d'anesthésie et de réanimation (Sfar). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Effects of primary and secondary morphological family size in monolingual and bilingual word processing

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Mulder, K.; Dijkstra, A.F.J.; Schreuder, R.; Baayen, Harald

2014-01-01

This study investigated primary and secondary morphological family size effects in monolingual and bilingual processing, combining experimentation with computational modeling. Family size effects were investigated in an English lexical decision task for Dutch-English bilinguals and English

Comparing Narrative Microstructure between Bilingual Balochi-Persian and Monolingual Persian Preschoolers

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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.

Validation of self-reported health literacy questions among diverse English and Spanish-speaking populations.

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Sarkar, Urmimala; Schillinger, Dean; López, Andrea; Sudore, Rebecca

2011-03-01

Limited health literacy (HL) contributes to poor health outcomes and disparities, and direct measurement is often time-intensive. Self-reported HL questions have not been validated among Spanish-speaking and diverse English-speaking populations. To evaluate three self-reported questions: 1 "How confident are you filling out medical forms?"; 2 "How often do you have problems learning about your medical condition because of difficulty understanding written information?"; and 3 "How often do you have someone help you read hospital materials?" Answers were based on a 5-point Likert scale. This was a validation study nested within a trial of diabetes self-management support in the San Francisco Department of Public Health. English and Spanish-speaking adults with type 2 diabetes receiving primary care. Using the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (s-TOFHLA) in English and Spanish as the reference, we classified HL as inadequate, marginal, or adequate. We calculated the C-index and test characteristics of the three questions and summative scale compared to the s-TOFHLA and assessed variations in performance by language, race/ethnicity, age, and education. Of 296 participants, 48% were Spanish-speaking; 9% were White, non-Hispanic; 47% had inadequate HL and 12% had marginal HL. Overall, 57% reported being confident with forms "somewhat" or less. The "confident with forms" question performed best for detecting inadequate (C-index = 0.82, (0.77-0.87)) and inadequate plus marginal HL (C index = 0.81, (0.76-0.86); pSpanish and English speakers with adequate HL and those with inadequate and/or inadequate plus marginal HL. The "confident with forms" question or the summative scale may be useful for estimating HL in clinical research involving Spanish-speaking and English-speaking, chronically-ill, diverse populations.

Peer Tutoring Effects on Omani Students' English Self-Concept

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Alrajhi, Marwa N.; Aldhafri, Said S.

2015-01-01

Based on the social cognitive learning theory (1997), peer learning can be viewed as an effective way of enhancing learning. In this study, peer tutoring, a form of peer learning, was examined. The current study investigated the influence of a peer tutoring program implemented at Sultan Qaboos University on students' English self-concept. 125…

Chinese Students' Perceptions of Native English-Speaking Teachers in EFL Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Zhenhui

2010-01-01

The article reports the views of 20 Chinese English as a foreign Language (EFL) students on the strengths and weaknesses of native English-speaking (NES) teachers in EFL teaching. Responding to an open-ended questionnaire and in-depth interviews, EFL students named the following as NES teachers' strengths: native language authenticity, cultural…

Using Public Speaking Tasks in English Language Teaching

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Iberri-Shea, Gina

2009-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions for using public speaking tasks in English language teaching (ELT) and to highlight some of their many advantages. For the purpose of this article, the author will focus on two types of these tasks: student presentations and debates. Student presentations may consist of either individual or…

Preschool Predictors of Kindergarten Language Outcomes

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Anne Walk

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study is to explore a variety of cognitive and social variables which are most relevant to children’s linguistic success in an educational setting. The study examines kindergarten English language outcomes in classrooms containing monolingual English speaking children and bilingual children who speak English and one other language. Data from the National Center for Early Development and Learning Multistate Study of Pre-Kindergarten (2001-2003 regarding classroom and student characteristics were used for bilingual (N = 120 and monolingual (N = 534 children. Hierarchical regression analysis (Study 1 and path analysis (Study 2 were conducted to determine the cognitive and social variables present in preschool that are most predictive of English skills in kindergarten. The results of the studies demonstrate that social variables were important for both monolingual and bilingual children. Personality variables were more predictive for monolingual children, whereas teacher relationship variables were more important for bilingual children. Simple and routine adult interaction was predictive of English skills in both groups, which may indicate the importance of implicit learning over explicit instruction in early language acquisition. The present studies found different predictors of English language skills for monolingual and bilingual kindergarteners.

Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals.

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Emily Byers

Full Text Available Vowel reduction is a prominent feature of American English, as well as other stress-timed languages. As a phonological process, vowel reduction neutralizes multiple vowel quality contrasts in unstressed syllables. For bilinguals whose native language is not characterized by large spectral and durational differences between tonic and atonic vowels, systematically reducing unstressed vowels to the central vowel space can be problematic. Failure to maintain this pattern of stressed-unstressed syllables in American English is one key element that contributes to a "foreign accent" in second language speakers. Reduced vowels, or "schwas," have also been identified as particularly vulnerable to the co-articulatory effects of adjacent consonants. The current study examined the effects of adjacent sounds on the spectral and temporal qualities of schwa in word-final position. Three groups of English-speaking adults were tested: Miami-based monolingual English speakers, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and late Spanish-English bilinguals. Subjects performed a reading task to examine their schwa productions in fluent speech when schwas were preceded by consonants from various points of articulation. Results indicated that monolingual English and late Spanish-English bilingual groups produced targeted vowel qualities for schwa, whereas early Spanish-English bilinguals lacked homogeneity in their vowel productions. This extends prior claims that schwa is targetless for F2 position for native speakers to highly-proficient bilingual speakers. Though spectral qualities lacked homogeneity for early Spanish-English bilinguals, early bilinguals produced schwas with near native-like vowel duration. In contrast, late bilinguals produced schwas with significantly longer durations than English monolinguals or early Spanish-English bilinguals. Our results suggest that the temporal properties of a language are better integrated into second language phonologies than

Initial Spanish Proficiency and English Language Development among Spanish-Speaking English Learner Students in New Mexico. REL 2018-286

Science.gov (United States)

Arellano, Brenda; Liu, Feng; Stoker, Ginger; Slama, Rachel

2018-01-01

To what extent do Spanish-speaking English learner students develop English proficiency and grade-level readiness in English language arts and math from early elementary school to upper elementary school? Is there a relationship between proficiency in a student's primary home language, Spanish, and the amount of time needed to attain fluency in…

Examining Oral Reading Fluency Trajectories Among English Language Learners and English Speaking Students

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Shane R. Jimerson

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Students’ oral reading fluency growth from first through fourth grade was used to predict their achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test (9th ed.; SAT-9 Reading using a latent growth model. Two conditional variables related to student status were used to determine the effects on reading performance - English language learners (ELLs with low socioeconomic status and low socioeconomic (SES status alone. Results revealed that both types of student status variables reliably predicted low performance on initial first grade oral reading fluency, which later predicted fourth grade performance on the SAT-9. However, the reading fluency trajectories of the ELLs and monolingual English students were not significantly different. In addition, when both student status variables and letter naming fluency were used to predict initial oral reading fluency, letter naming fluency dominated the prediction equation, suggesting that an initial pre-reading skill, letter naming fluency, better explained fourth grade performance on the SAT-9 than either ELL with low SES or low SES alone. The discussion focuses on how to better enable these readers and how oral reading fluency progress monitoring can be used to assist school personnel in determining which students need additional instructional assistance.

Trends of development of monolingualism and bilingualism in the educational policy of the United States

OpenAIRE

Bakhov, Ivan

2017-01-01

The article analyzes the monolingualism policy opposed to the policy of bilingualism inthe language policy of the United States. The author considers the historical background,issues and implementation mechanisms of the monolingualism policy in the multiethnic state,the result of which is directed against cultural diversity and immigrant minority languages.The article defines sources of English monolingualism ideology, racial hostility of majoritytoward minority, ethnic conflict between the m...

Differences between Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children in their calculation of entailment-based scalar implicatures

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Kristen Syrett

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we extend investigations of the possible effects of cross-linguistic influence at the pragmatics-syntax interface (Hulk & Müller 2000; Müller & Hulk 2001; Serratrice, Sorace & Paoli 2004, by presenting two experiments designed to probe how Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual preschool-age children approach the ‘some, but not all’ 'scalar implicature '(SI associated with 'algunos '(‘some’. We compare 'algunos 'and 'unos '(also a ‘some’ indefinite, but one that is not context-linked and does not induce an SI, and 'algunos 'and 'todos '(the universal quantifier ‘every/all’. The performance of the children is compared to fluent adult Spanish heritage speakers. Experiment 1 is a variation of Noveck’s (2001 statement evaluation task, also replicated by Guasti et al'. '(2005. Experiment 2 is a forced-choice picture selection task. Results demonstrate that adults were the only group to consistently calculate the SI associated with 'algunos '– a finding that was expected to some extent, given that our tasks were stripped of the contextual support that could benefit children’s pragmatic reasoning. While bilingual and monolingual children displayed comparable performance across tasks, bilinguals in Experiment 2 appeared to experience difficulty with judgments related to 'todos '– a pattern we attribute (in light of independent findings to the cognitive overload in the task, not the lexical entry of this quantifier. We conclude that young monolingual and bilingual children confront the same challenges when called upon to deploy pragmatic skills in a discourse context. This article is part of the special collection:Acquisition of Quantification

Perceptions of the Pediatric Hospice Experience among English- and Spanish-Speaking Families.

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Thienprayoon, Rachel; Marks, Emily; Funes, Maria; Martinez-Puente, Louizza Maria; Winick, Naomi; Lee, Simon Craddock

2016-01-01

Many children who die are eligible for hospice enrollment but little is known about parental perceptions of the hospice experience, the benefits, and disappointments. The objective of this study was to explore parental perspectives of the hospice experience in children with cancer, and to explore how race/ethnicity impacts this experience. We held 20 semistructured interviews with 34 caregivers of children who died of cancer and used hospice. Interviews were conducted in the caregivers' primary language: 12 in English and 8 in Spanish. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using accepted qualitative methods. Both English and Spanish speakers described the importance of honest, direct communication by medical providers, and anxieties surrounding the expectation of the moment of death. Five English-speaking families returned to the hospital because of unsatisfactory symptom management and the need for additional supportive services. Alternatively, Spanish speakers commonly stressed the importance of being at home and did not focus on symptom management. Both groups invoked themes of caregiver appraisal, but English-speaking caregivers more commonly discussed themes of financial hardship and fear of insurance loss, while Spanish-speakers focused on difficulties of bedside caregiving and geographic separation from family. The intense grief associated with the loss of a child creates shared experiences, but Spanish- and English-speaking parents describe their hospice experiences in different ways. Additional studies in pediatric hospice care are warranted to improve the care we provide to children at the end of life.

Motivation to Speak English: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Dincer, Ali; Yesilyurt, Savas

2017-01-01

Based on a modern motivation theory of learning, self-determination theory (SDT), this study aimed to investigate the relationships between English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' motivation to speak, autonomous regulation, autonomy support from teachers, and classroom engagement, with both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The…

Characteristics of number transcoding errors of Chinese- versus English-speaking Alzheimer's disease patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Ting, Simon Kang Seng; Chia, Pei Shi; Kwek, Kevin; Tan, Wilnard; Hameed, Shahul

2016-10-01

Number processing disorder is an acquired deficit in mathematical skills commonly observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), usually as a consequence of neurological dysfunction. Common impairments include syntactic errors (800012 instead of 8012) and intrusion errors (8 thousand and 12 instead of eight thousand and twelve) in number transcoding tasks. This study aimed to understand the characterization of AD-related number processing disorder within an alphabetic language (English) and ideographical language (Chinese), and to investigate the differences between alphabetic and ideographic language processing. Chinese-speaking AD patients were hypothesized to make significantly more intrusion errors than English-speaking ones, due to the ideographical nature of both Chinese characters and Arabic numbers. A simplified number transcoding test derived from EC301 battery was administered to AD patients. Chinese-speaking AD patients made significantly more intrusion errors (p = 0.001) than English speakers. This demonstrates that number processing in an alphabetic language such as English does not function in the same manner as in Chinese. The impaired inhibition capability likely contributes to such observations due to its competitive lexical representation in brain for Chinese speakers.

Erasmus Students Using English as a "Lingua Franca": Does Study Abroad in a Non-English-Speaking Country Improve L2 English?

Science.gov (United States)

Llanes, Àngels; Arnó, Elisabet; Mancho-Barés, Guzman

2016-01-01

There is a lack of research on the impact of study abroad (SA) on the development of L2 English when students study in non-anglophone countries. The aim of the present study is to fill this gap by examining 39 Catalan/Spanish students who, as part of an Erasmus exchange, spent a term at universities in non-English-speaking European countries. In…

Exploration of open educational resources in non-English speaking communities

OpenAIRE

Cristobal Cobo

2013-01-01

Over the last decade, open educational resources (OER) initiatives have created new possibilities for knowledge-sharing practices. This research examines how, where, and when OER are attracting attention in the higher education sector and explores to what extent the OER discussion has moved beyond the English-speaking world. This study analysed English, Spanish, and Portuguese OER queries over a long-term period (2007-2011). The data retrieval was conducted using four online platforms: two ac...

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ENGLISH STUDENTS’ SPEAKING STRATEGIES AND MOTIVATION ON THEIR SPEAKING ABILITY AT TARBIYAH FACULTY OF IAIN IMAM BONJOL PADANG

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Martin Kustati

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The aims of the study are to describe: 1. Speaking strategies that are most frequently used by the students of the English Department in Tarbiyah Faculty; 2. The contribution of Students’ Speaking-Related LLS in developing their speaking ability; and, 3. The contribution of students’ learning motivation in the development of their speaking skills. speaking test, strategy inventory for language learning (SILL, and learning motivation questionnaire were employed to collect the data. The research findings revealed that there were thirty-four speaking strategies which were most frequently used by high, average, and low achievement students. The findings also showed that bothe students’ speaking strategies and motivation give significant contribution on students’ speaking ability.  Thus, speaking lecturers are expected to be able to implement innovative and varied teaching techniques.

Impacts of a Literacy-Focused Preschool Curriculum on the Early Literacy Skills of Language-Minority Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodrich, J Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J; Farver, Jo Ann M

Spanish-speaking language-minority (LM) children are at an elevated risk of struggling academically and display signs of that risk during early childhood. Therefore, high-quality research is needed to identify instructional techniques that promote the school readiness of Spanish-speaking LM children. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention that utilized an experimental curriculum and two professional development models for the development of English and Spanish early literacy skills among LM children. We also evaluated whether LM children's proficiency in one language moderated the effect of the intervention on early literacy skills in the other language, as well as whether the intervention was differentially effective for LM and monolingual English-speaking children. Five hundred twenty-six Spanish-speaking LM children and 447 monolingual English-speaking children enrolled in 26 preschool centers in Los Angeles, CA participated in this study. Results indicated that the intervention was effective for improving LM children's code-related but not language-related English early literacy skills. There were no effects of the intervention on children's Spanish early literacy skills. Proficiency in Spanish did not moderate the effect of the intervention for any English early literacy outcomes; however, proficiency in English significantly moderated the effect of the intervention for Spanish oral language skills, such that the effect of the intervention was stronger for children with higher proficiency in English than it was for children with lower proficiency in English. In general, there were not differential effects of the intervention for LM and monolingual children. Taken together, these findings indicate that high-quality, evidence-based instruction can improve the early literacy skills of LM children and that the same instructional techniques are effective for enhancing the early literacy skills of LM and monolingual

The Comparison of Politeness Strategies in Chinese Culture and in Eng-lish Speaking Context

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

李庆龄

2015-01-01

In contemporary society, as the development of globalization a growing tendency of how to communication effective⁃ly between different culture and languages has becoming a matter of fact. Even though a great number of communication strate⁃gies used to reduce the culture shock, obstacles in cultural exchanges still remains due to the culture differences. Politeness theory, as an important communication strategy, is still the most important and influential theory for cross-cultural communication. While there still has a few controversial arguments being conducted. It results in the issue of this article:Is there different compar⁃ing Chinese culture with English Speaking Culture in Terms of Politeness Strategies? In this paper, I will present a general review of classic politeness theories including Brown&Levinson, Leech’s research in English speaking culture and Gu and Xu’s findings in Chinese culture. Among their theories some specific politeness strategies such as face-saving strategy, politeness principle and its maxims will be used to give an image of the difference between Chinese culture and English speaking culture in terms of po⁃liteness strategies. In the definition of‘politeness’, two characteristics are worth mentioning:universality as well as culture-specif⁃ic. Therefore the article concludes by the arguing that, in spite of a few similarities, there are differences between in Chinese cul⁃ture and in English speaking context in politeness.

Designing a Competence-Based Syllabus for Turkish Speaking Learners of English in Terms of Accessibility to Universal Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Seker, Emrullah

2016-01-01

This study focuses on designing an English grammar syllabus for Turkish speaking English learners, which is based on the assumption that learning English grammar will be simpler and easier for Turkish speaking learners if it is introduced in a way by which they can achieve accessibility to Universal Grammar. In this study, I analyze almost all…

Teaching English Speaking Skills to the Arab Students in the Saudi School in Kuala Lumpur: Problems and Solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Sobhi, Bandar Mohammad Saeed; Preece, Abdul Shakour

2018-01-01

Of the four English language skills, speaking enjoys a superior status. Accordingly, it should be given high priority while teaching. In spite of its importance, teaching English speaking skill to Arab EFL learners has always been an exacting task for Arab teachers of English because it is considered a foreign language, i.e. not widely spoken or…

Surmounting the Tower of Babel: Monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds' understanding of the nature of foreign language words.

Science.gov (United States)

Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Chen, Ke Heng; Xu, Fei

2014-03-01

Languages function as independent and distinct conventional systems, and so each language uses different words to label the same objects. This study investigated whether 2-year-old children recognize that speakers of their native language and speakers of a foreign language do not share the same knowledge. Two groups of children unfamiliar with Mandarin were tested: monolingual English-learning children (n=24) and bilingual children learning English and another language (n=24). An English speaker taught children the novel label fep. On English mutual exclusivity trials, the speaker asked for the referent of a novel label (wug) in the presence of the fep and a novel object. Both monolingual and bilingual children disambiguated the reference of the novel word using a mutual exclusivity strategy, choosing the novel object rather than the fep. On similar trials with a Mandarin speaker, children were asked to find the referent of a novel Mandarin label kuò. Monolinguals again chose the novel object rather than the object with the English label fep, even though the Mandarin speaker had no access to conventional English words. Bilinguals did not respond systematically to the Mandarin speaker, suggesting that they had enhanced understanding of the Mandarin speaker's ignorance of English words. The results indicate that monolingual children initially expect words to be conventionally shared across all speakers-native and foreign. Early bilingual experience facilitates children's discovery of the nature of foreign language words. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Greek Loans in English and the Teaching of Modern Greek to English Speaking Students (within a Communicative Language Teaching Framework).

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Hatzipanayiotidou, A.; And Others

In constructing a syllabus for the teaching of Modern Greek as a foreign language to English-speaking students, it is suggested that some lexical items be taught from the corpus of Greek loan words in English. These words fall into the following categories: direct loans; words that, in joining English, have acquired a different meaning, which was…

Intervention for bilingual speech sound disorders: A case study of an isiXhosa-English-speaking child.

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Rossouw, Kate; Pascoe, Michelle

2018-03-19

 Bilingualism is common in South Africa, with many children acquiring isiXhosa as a home language and learning English from a young age in nursery or crèche. IsiXhosa is a local language, part of the Bantu language family, widely spoken in the country. Aims: To describe changes in a bilingual child's speech following intervention based on a theoretically motivated and tailored intervention plan. Methods and procedures: This study describes a female isiXhosa-English bilingual child, named Gcobisa (pseudonym) (chronological age 4 years and 2 months) with a speech sound disorder. Gcobisa's speech was assessed and her difficulties categorised according to Dodd's (2005) diagnostic framework. From this, intervention was planned and the language of intervention was selected. Following intervention, Gcobisa's speech was reassessed. Outcomes and results: Gcobisa's speech was categorised as a consistent phonological delay as she presented with gliding of/l/in both English and isiXhosa, cluster reduction in English and several other age appropriate phonological processes. She was provided with 16 sessions of intervention using a minimal pairs approach, targeting the phonological process of gliding of/l/, which was not considered age appropriate for Gcobisa in isiXhosa when compared to the small set of normative data regarding monolingual isiXhosa development. As a result, the targets and stimuli were in isiXhosa while the main language of instruction was English. This reflects the language mismatch often faced by speech language therapists in South Africa. Gcobisa showed evidence of generalising the target phoneme to English words. Conclusions and implications: The data have theoretical implications regarding bilingual development of isiXhosa-English, as it highlights the ways bilingual development may differ from the monolingual development of this language pair. It adds to the small set of intervention studies investigating the changes in the speech of bilingual

Intervention for bilingual speech sound disorders: A case study of an isiXhosa–English-speaking child

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kate Rossouw

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Bilingualism is common in South Africa, with many children acquiring isiXhosa as a home language and learning English from a young age in nursery or crèche. IsiXhosa is a local language, part of the Bantu language family, widely spoken in the country.   Aims: To describe changes in a bilingual child’s speech following intervention based on a theoretically motivated and tailored intervention plan.   Methods and procedures: This study describes a female isiXhosa–English bilingual child, named Gcobisa (pseudonym (chronological age 4 years and 2 months with a speech sound disorder. Gcobisa’s speech was assessed and her difficulties categorised according to Dodd’s (2005 diagnostic framework. From this, intervention was planned and the language of intervention was selected. Following intervention, Gcobisa’s speech was reassessed.   Outcomes and results: Gcobisa’s speech was categorised as a consistent phonological delay as she presented with gliding of/l/in both English and isiXhosa, cluster reduction in English and several other age appropriate phonological processes. She was provided with 16 sessions of intervention using a minimal pairs approach, targeting the phonological process of gliding of/l/, which was not considered age appropriate for Gcobisa in isiXhosa when compared to the small set of normative data regarding monolingual isiXhosa development. As a result, the targets and stimuli were in isiXhosa while the main language of instruction was English. This reflects the language mismatch often faced by speech language therapists in South Africa. Gcobisa showed evidence of generalising the target phoneme to English words.   Conclusions and implications: The data have theoretical implications regarding bilingual development of isiXhosa–English, as it highlights the ways bilingual development may differ from the monolingual development of this language pair. It adds to the small set of intervention studies

Advanced Cantonese ESL Learners' Use of a Monolingual ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article reports on the results of a research study which investigated the use of monolingual dictionaries by Hong Kong advanced Cantonese ESL learners in the production of target language sentences. Thirty-one English majors participated in a sentence completion task and a sentence construction task with and ...

Parent Training and Skill Acquisition and Utilization Among Spanish- and English-Speaking Latino Families.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramos, Giovanni; Blizzard, Angela M; Barroso, Nicole E; Bagner, Daniel M

2018-01-01

In the U.S., there is a growing Latino population, in which parents primarily speak Spanish to their children. Despite the evidence that language preference is associated with level of acculturation and influences parenting practices in these families, no study has compared how Spanish-and English-speaking Latino families acquire and utilize the skills taught during parent-training programs such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Twenty-seven mother-infant Latino dyads received a home-based adaptation of the Child-Directed Interaction (CDI) phase of PCIT as part of a larger randomized control trial. Most infants were male (63%), and their average age was 13.7 months ( SD = 1.43). Most families (52%) lived below the poverty line. The Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System-Third Edition (DPICS-III) was employed to evaluate PCIT skills at baseline and post-treatment, as well as at 3- and 6-month follow-up, assessments. We conducted multiple linear regression analyses among Spanish-speaking (55%) and English-speaking (45%) families to examine differences in acquisition and utilization of do and don't skills at each assessment while controlling for mother's education. Results yielded no group differences in the acquisition rate of do or don't skills at any time point. However, Spanish-speaking mothers used significantly more don't skills than English-speaking mothers at each assessment. Specifically, Spanish-speaking families used significantly more commands at baseline, post-treatment, and the 6-month followup assessments, as well as more questions at post-treatment and at the 6-month follow-up assessments. These findings highlight the importance of addressing cultural values such as respeto to ensure culturally robust parent-training programs for Latino families.

Survey of Native English Speakers and Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners in Tertiary Introductory Statistics

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Lesser, Lawrence M.; Wagler, Amy E.; Esquinca, Alberto; Valenzuela, M. Guadalupe

2013-01-01

The framework of linguistic register and case study research on Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) learning statistics informed the construction of a quantitative instrument, the Communication, Language, And Statistics Survey (CLASS). CLASS aims to assess whether ELLs and non-ELLs approach the learning of statistics differently with…

Do Chinese- and English-Speaking Preschoolers Think Differently about Language?

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Yao; Farrar, M. Jeffrey

2016-01-01

Metalinguistic awareness is the ability to identify, reflect upon, and manipulate linguistic units. It plays a critical role in reading development. The present study investigated Chinese- and English-speaking preschoolers' metalinguistic awareness development and the role of cognitive and linguistic abilities in its development. Forty-two…

Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Vowel reduction is a prominent feature of American English, as well as other stress-timed languages. As a phonological process, vowel reduction neutralizes multiple vowel quality contrasts in unstressed syllables. For bilinguals whose native language is not characterized by large spectral and durational differences between tonic and atonic vowels, systematically reducing unstressed vowels to the central vowel space can be problematic. Failure to maintain this pattern of stressed-unstressed syllables in American English is one key element that contributes to a “foreign accent” in second language speakers. Reduced vowels, or “schwas,” have also been identified as particularly vulnerable to the co-articulatory effects of adjacent consonants. The current study examined the effects of adjacent sounds on the spectral and temporal qualities of schwa in word-final position. Three groups of English-speaking adults were tested: Miami-based monolingual English speakers, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and late Spanish-English bilinguals. Subjects performed a reading task to examine their schwa productions in fluent speech when schwas were preceded by consonants from various points of articulation. Results indicated that monolingual English and late Spanish-English bilingual groups produced targeted vowel qualities for schwa, whereas early Spanish-English bilinguals lacked homogeneity in their vowel productions. This extends prior claims that schwa is targetless for F2 position for native speakers to highly-proficient bilingual speakers. Though spectral qualities lacked homogeneity for early Spanish-English bilinguals, early bilinguals produced schwas with near native-like vowel duration. In contrast, late bilinguals produced schwas with significantly longer durations than English monolinguals or early Spanish-English bilinguals. Our results suggest that the temporal properties of a language are better integrated into second language phonologies than spectral

Health Care Disparities Among English-Speaking and Spanish-Speaking Women With Pelvic Organ Prolapse at Public and Private Hospitals: What Are the Barriers?

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Alas, Alexandriah N; Dunivan, Gena C; Wieslander, Cecelia K; Sevilla, Claudia; Barrera, Biatris; Rashid, Rezoana; Maliski, Sally; Eilber, Karen; Rogers, Rebecca G; Anger, Jennifer Tash

The objective of this study was to compare perceptions and barriers between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking women in public and private hospitals being treated for pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Eight focus groups, 4 in English and 4 in Spanish, were conducted at 3 institutions with care in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. Standardized questions were asked regarding patients' emotions to when they initially noticed the POP, if they sought family support, and their response to the diagnosis and treatment. Transcripts were analyzed using grounded theory qualitative methods. Thirty-three women were Spanish-speaking and 25 were English-speaking. Spanish speakers were younger (P = 0.0469) and less likely to have a high school diploma (P speaking women had more concerns that the bulge or treatments could lead to cancer, were more resistant to treatment options, and were less likely to be offered surgery. Women in the private hospital desired more information, were less embarrassed, and were more likely to be offered surgery as first-line treatment. The concept emerged that patient care for POP varied based on socioeconomic status and language and suggested the presence of disparities in care for underserved women with POP. The discrepancies in care for Spanish-speaking women and women being treated at public hospitals suggest that there are disparities in care for POP treatment for underserved women. These differences may be secondary to profit-driven pressures from private hospitals or language barriers, low socioeconomic status, low health literacy, and barriers to health care.

Improving advance care planning for English-speaking and Spanish-speaking older adults: study protocol for the PREPARE randomised controlled trial

Science.gov (United States)

Sudore, Rebecca L; Barnes, Deborah E; Le, Gem M; Ramos, Roberto; Osua, Stacy J; Richardson, Sarah A; Boscardin, John; Schillinger, Dean

2016-01-01

Introduction Advance care planning (ACP) is a process that allows patients to identify their goals for medical care. Traditionally, ACP has focused on completing advance directives; however, we have expanded the ACP paradigm to also prepare patients to communicate their wishes and make informed decisions. To this end, we created an ACP website called PREPARE (http://www.prepareforyourcare.org) to prepare diverse English-speaking and Spanish-speaking older adults for medical decision-making. Here, we describe the study protocol for a randomised controlled efficacy trial of PREPARE in a safety-net setting. The goal is to determine the efficacy of PREPARE to engage diverse English-speaking and Spanish-speaking older adults in a full spectrum of ACP behaviours. Methods and analysis We include English-speaking and Spanish-speaking adults from an urban public hospital who are ≥55 years old, have ≥2 chronic medical conditions and have seen a primary care physician ≥2 times in the last year. Participants are randomised to the PREPARE intervention (review PREPARE and an easy-to-read advance directive) or the control arm (only the easy-to-read advance directive). The primary outcome is documentation of an advance directive and/or ACP discussion. Secondary outcomes include ACP behaviour change processes measured with validated surveys (eg, self-efficacy, readiness) and a broad range of ACP actions (eg, choosing a surrogate, identifying goals for care, discussing ACP with clinicians and/or surrogates). Using blinded outcome ascertainment, outcomes will be measured at 1 week and at 3, 6 and 12 months, and compared between study arms using mixed-effects logistic regression and mixed-effects linear, Poisson or negative binomial regression. Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Boards and is guided by input from patient and clinical advisory boards and a data safety monitoring board. The results of this study will

A case study of an ESL Student learning English in an English Speaking Country

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wahyu Taufiq

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Different students who learn English as the second language has various problems and strategies to overcome. A case study on an international student who learns English as a second language in an English speaking country raised some problems he had and offered some strategies he used during the process of learning. The progress of learning from the first time coming and studying at a college in Australia was mainly the core data collected on this study. The data copes from his formal academic learning experience and also from informal situation that he met at his everyday life. This study applied qualitative research method and use interview and recording as the instruments. The data were analized through three stages: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The results of the study show that the learner experiences a range of English learning problems which happened after his coming to Australia and some strategies he used to overcome.

Phoneme Awareness, Vocabulary and Word Decoding in Monolingual and Bilingual Dutch Children

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Janssen, Marije; Bosman, Anna M. T.; Leseman, Paul P. M.

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate whether bilingually raised children in the Netherlands, who receive literacy instruction in their second language only, show an advantage on Dutch phoneme-awareness tasks compared with monolingual Dutch-speaking children. Language performance of a group of 47 immigrant first-grade children with various…

Multilingualism in the English-Language Classroom: Pedagogical Considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Cummins, Jim

2009-01-01

This article addresses the issue of whether TESOL should clearly articulate a set of pedagogical principles that challenge the assumption that English language teaching (ELT) should be conducted monolingually through English. This "monolingual principle" emphasizes instructional use of the target language (TL) to the exclusion of students' home…

Language and executive functioning in the context of specific language impairment and bilingualism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laloi, A.

2015-01-01

The present thesis has investigated how French-speaking monolingual and bilingual children with SLI (specific language impairment) performed on various tasks examining language and executive functioning (EF) abilities, in comparison to monolingual and bilingual peers without SLI. Language was

The Effect of Pecha Kucha Presentations on Students' English Public Speaking Anxiety

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Coskun, Abdullah

2017-01-01

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the Pecha Kucha presentation format on English as foreign language learners' public speaking anxiety. The participants were 49 students in the English Translation and Interpretation Department of a state university in Turkey. A pre- and post-test experimental research design was used in…

Post-Monolingual Research Methodology: Multilingual Researchers Democratizing Theorizing and Doctoral Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Singh

2017-02-01

dissemination of theoretical knowledge and the capabilities for theorizing. Often, from an English-only monolingual mindset, difference and divergence are seen as a recipe for deficits and dissonance. However, this paper challenges such mistaken beliefs by showing that multilingual HDRs can deepen and extend their capabilities for theorizing by using their own linguistic repertoires. Post-monolingual research methodology is to be of enormous benefit to multilingual researchers and scholars engaged in intellectual labor in predominantly English-only monolingual universities.

Does the Consecutive Interpreting Approach enhance medical English communication skills of Japanese-speaking students?

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Iizuka, Hideki; Lefor, Alan K

2018-04-19

To determine if the Consecutive Interpreting Approach enhances medical English communication skills of students in a Japanese medical university and to assess this method based on performance and student evaluations.  This is a three-phase study using a mixed-methods design, which starts with four language reproduction activities for 30 medical and 95 nursing students, followed by a quantitative analysis of perfect-match reproduction rates to assess changes over the duration of the study and qualitative error analysis of participants' language reproduction. The final stage included a scored course evaluation and free-form comments to evaluate this approach and to identify effective educational strategies to enhance medical English communication skills. Mean perfect-match reproduction rates of all participants over four reproduction activities differed statistically significantly (repeated measures ANOVA, pEnglish communication skills are enhanced using this approach. Participants expressed positive feedback regarding this instruction method. This approach may be effective to enhance the language skills of non-native English-speaking students seeking to practice medicine in English speaking countries.

Rate of multilingual phonological acquisition: Evidence from a cross-sectional study of English-Mandarin-Malay.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Hui W; Wells, Bill; Howard, Sara

2015-01-01

Early child multilingual acquisition is under-explored. Using a cross-sectional study approach, the present research investigates the rate of multilingual phonological acquisition of English-Mandarin-Malay by 64 ethnic Chinese children aged 2;06-4;05 in Malaysia--a multiracial-multilingual country of Asia. The aims of the study are to provide clinical norms for speech development in the multilingual children and to compare multilingual acquisition with monolingual and bilingual acquisition. An innovative multilingual phonological test which adopts well-defined scoring criteria drawing upon local accents of English, Mandarin and Malay is proposed and described in this article. This procedure has been neglected in the few existing Chinese bilingual phonological acquisition studies resulting in peculiar findings. The multilingual children show comparable phonological acquisition milestones to that of monolingual and bilingual peers acquiring the same languages. The implications of the present results are discussed. The present findings contribute to the development of models and theories of child multilingual acquisition.

The Impact of Multiple Intelligences-Based Instruction on Developing Speaking Skills of the Pre-Service Teachers of English

Science.gov (United States)

Salem, Ashraf Atta M. S.

2013-01-01

The current study investigates the impact of multiple intelligences-based Instruction on developing speaking skills of the pre-service teachers of English. Therefore, the problem of the current study can be stated in the lack of speaking skills of the pre-service teachers of English in Hurgada faculty of Education, South Valley University. To…

Improving advance care planning for English-speaking and Spanish-speaking older adults: study protocol for the PREPARE randomised controlled trial

OpenAIRE

Sudore, RL; Barnes, DE; Le, GM; Ramos, R; Osua, SJ; Richardson, SA; Boscardin, J; Schillinger, D

2016-01-01

Introduction Advance care planning (ACP) is a process that allows patients to identify their goals for medical care. Traditionally, ACP has focused on completing advance directives; however, we have expanded the ACP paradigm to also prepare patients to communicate their wishes and make informed decisions. To this end, we created an ACP website called PREPARE (http://www.prepareforyourcare.org) to prepare diverse English-speaking and Spanish-speaking older adults for medical decision-making. H...

Neuropsychological test performance and prediction of functional capacities among Spanish-speaking and English-speaking patients with dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Loewenstein, D A; Rubert, M P; Argüelles, T; Duara, R

1995-03-01

Neuropsychological measures have been widely used by clinicians to assist them in making judgments regarding a cognitively impaired patient's ability to independently perform important activities of daily living. However, important questions have been raised concerning the degree to which neuropsychological instruments can predict a broad array of specific functional capacities required in the home environment. In the present study, we examined 127 English-speaking and 56 Spanish-speaking patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and determined the extent to which various neuropsychological measures and demographic variables were predictive of performance on functional measures administered within the clinical setting. Among English-speaking AD patients, Block Design and Digit-Span of the WAIS-R, as well as tests of language were among the strongest predictors of functional performance. For Spanish-speakers, Block Design, The Mini-Mental State Evaluation (MMSE) and Digit Span had the optimal predictive power. When stepwise regression was conducted on the entire sample of 183 subjects, ethnicity emerged as a statistically significant predictor variable on one of the seven functional tests (writing a check). Despite the predictive power of several of the neuropsychological measures for both groups, most of the variability in objective functional performance could not be explained in our regression models. As a result, it would appear prudent to include functional measures as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation for dementia.

"Nobody Told Me They Didn't Speak English!": Teacher Language Views and Student Linguistic Repertoires in Hutterite Colony Schools in Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Sterzuk, Andrea; Nelson, Cynthia A.

2016-01-01

This article presents a qualitative study of five monolingual teachers' understandings of the linguistic repertoires of their multilingual students. These teachers deliver the Saskatchewan provincial curricula in English to Hutterite colony students who are users of three languages: (a) spoken Hutterisch as a home and community language, (b)…

Phonological Awareness and Vocabulary Performance of Monolingual and Bilingual Preschool Children with Hearing Loss

Science.gov (United States)

Lund, Emily; Werfel, Krystal L.; Schuele, C. Melanie

2015-01-01

This pilot study compared the phonological awareness skills and vocabulary performance of English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children with and without hearing loss. Preschool children with varying degrees of hearing loss (n = 18) and preschool children without hearing loss (n = 19) completed measures of phonological awareness and…

Auditory Processing, Linguistic Prosody Awareness, and Word Reading in Mandarin-Speaking Children Learning English

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda; Bidelman, Gavin M.

2017-01-01

This study examined language-specific links among auditory processing, linguistic prosody awareness, and Mandarin (L1) and English (L2) word reading in 61 Mandarin-speaking, English-learning children. Three auditory discrimination abilities were measured: pitch contour, pitch interval, and rise time (rate of intensity change at tone onset).…

The Knowledge Base of Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers: Perspectives of Teachers and Administrators

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Fengjuan; Zhan, Ju

2014-01-01

This study explores the knowledge base of non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) working in the Canadian English as a second language (ESL) context. By examining NNESTs' experiences in seeking employment and teaching ESL in Canada, and investigating ESL program administrators' perceptions and hiring practices in relation to NNESTs, it…

Cochlear-implanted children from homes where English is an additional language: findings from a recent audit in one London centre.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahon, M; Vickers, D; McCarthy, K; Barker, R; Merritt, R; Szagun, G; Mann, W; Rajput, K

2011-05-01

A 5-year retrospective audit of demographic, audiological, and other records of 147 children implanted at one London centre was conducted. The aim was to detail the number of children implanted, with a specific focus on children from families with English as an additional language (EAL), and to compare these children with children from monolingual English-speaking families on a variety of characteristics known to affect paediatric cochlear implant outcomes. In all, 28% of children were from families where English is an additional language, with 15 different languages recorded. There were no differences between EAL and English-speaking children with respect to age of implantation; bilateral versus unilateral implants or hearing levels in better ear. There were differences between these groups in aetiology, in the occurrence of additional needs, and in educational placements. Information about speech and language outcomes was difficult to gather. Conclusions indicate the need for more detailed record-keeping especially about children's home languages for purposes of planning intervention and for the inclusion of children with EAL in future studies.

Clinically speaking: A communication skills program for students from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Miguel, Caroline San; Rogan, Fran; Kilstoff, Kathleen; Brown, Di

2006-09-01

This paper reports on the design, delivery and evaluation of an innovative oral communication skills program for first year students in a Bachelor of Nursing degree at an Australian university. This program was introduced in 2004 to meet the needs of first year undergraduate students from non-English speaking backgrounds who had experienced difficulties with spoken English while on clinical placement. The program consisted of early identification of students in need of communication development, a series of classes incorporated into the degree program to address students' needs, followed by a clinical placement block. This paper describes the structure of the program, discusses some of the major problems encountered by students in the clinical setting and presents some of the teaching strategies used to address these problems. Evaluations of the program suggest that students' communication skills and confidence improved, resulting in a more positive clinical experience for the majority of students.

Influence of current input-output and age of first exposure on phonological acquisition in early bilingual Spanish-English-speaking kindergarteners.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Felter, Roxanna; Cooperson, Solaman J; Bedore, Lisa M; Peña, Elizabeth D

2016-07-01

Although some investigations of phonological development have found that segmental accuracy is comparable in monolingual children and their bilingual peers, there is evidence that language use affects segmental accuracy in both languages. To investigate the influence of age of first exposure to English and the amount of current input-output on phonological accuracy in English and Spanish in early bilingual Spanish-English kindergarteners. Also whether parent and teacher ratings of the children's intelligibility are correlated with phonological accuracy and the amount of experience with each language. Data for 91 kindergarteners (mean age = 5;6 years) were selected from a larger dataset focusing on Spanish-English bilingual language development. All children were from Central Texas, spoke a Mexican Spanish dialect and were learning American English. Children completed a single-word phonological assessment with separate forms for English and Spanish. The assessment was analyzed for segmental accuracy: percentage of consonants and vowels correct and percentage of early-, middle- and late-developing (EML) sounds correct were calculated. Children were more accurate on vowel production than consonant production and showed a decrease in accuracy from early to middle to late sounds. The amount of current input-output explained more of the variance in phonological accuracy than age of first English exposure. Although greater current input-output of a language was associated with greater accuracy in that language, English-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in English than Spanish on late sounds, whereas Spanish-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in Spanish than English on early sounds. Higher parent and teacher ratings of intelligibility in Spanish were correlated with greater consonant accuracy in Spanish, but the same did not hold for English. Higher intelligibility ratings in English were correlated with greater current English

National Institutes of Health Toolbox Emotion Battery for English- and Spanish-speaking adults: normative data and factor-based summary scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Babakhanyan, Ida; McKenna, Benjamin S; Casaletto, Kaitlin B; Nowinski, Cindy J; Heaton, Robert K

2018-01-01

The National Institutes of Health Toolbox Emotion Battery (NIHTB-EB) is a "common currency", computerized assessment developed to measure the full spectrum of emotional health. Though comprehensive, the NIHTB-EB's 17 scales may be unwieldy for users aiming to capture more global indices of emotional functioning. NIHTB-EB was administered to 1,036 English-speaking and 408 Spanish-speaking adults as a part of the NIH Toolbox norming project. We examined the factor structure of the NIHTB-EB in English- and Spanish-speaking adults and developed factor analysis-based summary scores. Census-weighted norms were presented for English speakers, and sample-weighted norms were presented for Spanish speakers. Exploratory factor analysis for both English- and Spanish-speaking cohorts resulted in the same 3-factor solution: 1) negative affect, 2) social satisfaction, and 3) psychological well-being. Confirmatory factor analysis supported similar factor structures for English- and Spanish-speaking cohorts. Model fit indices fell within the acceptable/good range, and our final solution was optimal compared to other solutions. Summary scores based upon the normative samples appear to be psychometrically supported and should be applied to clinical samples to further validate the factor structures and investigate rates of problematic emotions in medical and psychiatric populations.

The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals.

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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.

Noninitiation and Noncompletion of HPV Vaccine Among English- and Spanish-Speaking Parents of Adolescent Girls: A Qualitative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Albright, Karen; Barnard, Juliana; O'Leary, Sean T; Lockhart, Steven; Jimenez-Zambrano, Andrea; Stokley, Shannon; Dempsey, Amanda; Kempe, Allison

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends routine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for female adolescents aged 11 to 12 years, yet vaccination rates remain low. We conducted a qualitative study to understand English- and Spanish-speaking parents' reasons for noninitiation or noncompletion of the HPV vaccine series for their daughters. Parents of female adolescents aged 12 to 15 years who had not initiated or not completed the HPV vaccine series were identified through administrative data in 2 large urban safety net health care systems in Colorado. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with English-speaking parents and in-depth interviews were conducted with Spanish-speaking parents. All data were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content by experienced analysts using established qualitative content analysis techniques. Forty-one parents participated in the study. Thirty parents participated in individual interviews and 11 parents participated in 1 of 2 focus groups. The most common reasons for noninitiation and noncompletion among English-speaking parents included a low perceived risk of HPV infection, vaccine safety concerns, and distrust of government and/or medicine. In contrast, Spanish-speaking parents most often reported that providers had either not encouraged initiation of the HPV vaccine series or had not explained the necessity of completing the series. Some noninitiating parents, particularly Spanish-speaking ones, also cited concerns that vaccination would encourage sexual activity. The reasons for noninitiation and noncompletion of the HPV vaccine series differed substantially between English- and Spanish-speaking parents. To maximize uptake of HPV vaccine, varying approaches might be needed to effectively target specific populations. Copyright © 2017 Academic Pediatric Association. All rights reserved.

Prosody teaching matters in developing speaking skills for Farsi-English interpreter trainees : An experimental study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yenkimaleki, M.; V.J., van Heuven

2016-01-01

The present study investigates the effect of explicit teaching of prosody on developing speaking skills for Farsi-English interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at

The Home Language Environment of Monolingual and Bilingual Children and Their Language Proficiency

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Scheele, Anna F.; Leseman, Paul P. M.; Mayo, Aziza Y.

2010-01-01

This study investigated the relationships between home language learning activities and vocabulary in a sample of monolingual native Dutch (n = 58) and bilingual immigrant Moroccan-Dutch (n = 46) and Turkish-Dutch (n = 55) 3-year-olds, speaking Tarifit-Berber, a nonscripted language, and Turkish as their first language (L1), respectively. Despite…

So They Want Us to Learn French: Promoting and Opposing Bilingualism in English-Speaking Canada

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Hayday, Matthew

2015-01-01

Since the 1960s, bilingualism has become a defining aspect of Canadian identity. And yet, fifty years after the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was formed and with over forty years of federal government funding and supports for second-language education, relatively few English Canadians speak or choose to speak French. What…

Learning foreign labels from a foreign speaker: the role of (limited) exposure to a second language.

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Akhtar, Nameera; Menjivar, Jennifer; Hoicka, Elena; Sabbagh, Mark A

2012-11-01

Three- and four-year-olds (N = 144) were introduced to novel labels by an English speaker and a foreign speaker (of Nordish, a made-up language), and were asked to endorse one of the speaker's labels. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared to bilingual children and English-speaking children who were regularly exposed to a language other than English. All children tended to endorse the English speaker's labels when asked 'What do you call this?', but when asked 'What do you call this in Nordish?', children with exposure to a second language were more likely to endorse the foreign label than monolingual and bilingual children. The findings suggest that, at this age, exposure to, but not necessarily immersion in, more than one language may promote the ability to learn foreign words from a foreign speaker.

Language of Instruction as a Moderator for Transfer of Reading Comprehension Skills among Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

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Carlo, María S.; Barr, Christopher D.; August, Diane; Calderón, Margarita; Artzi, Lauren

2014-01-01

This three-year longitudinal study investigated the role of language of instruction in moderating the relationships between initial levels of English oral language proficiency and Spanish reading comprehension and growth in English reading comprehension. The study followed Spanish-speaking English language learners in English-only literacy…

Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers in the United States: Issues of Identity

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Diniz de Figueiredo, Eduardo Henrique

2011-01-01

The present study investigated how nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) working in K-12 schools in the United States perceive their identities in relation to the school environment and its norms, their coworkers and administrators and the students and their families. Specific attention was given to the teachers' concerns prior to arrival…

Language-Rich Discussions for English Language Learners

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Zhang, Jie; Anderson, Richard C.; Nguyen-Jahiel, Kim

2013-01-01

A study involving 75 Spanish-speaking fifth graders from a school in the Chicago area investigated whether a peer-led, open-format discussion approach, known as Collaborative Reasoning, would accelerate the students' English language development. Results showed that, after participating in eight discussions over a four-week period, the CR group…

The Use of a Monolingual Dictionary for Meaning Determination by Advanced Cantonese ESL Learners in Hong Kong

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Chan, Alice Y. W.

2012-01-01

This article reports on the results of a study which investigated advanced Cantonese English as a Second Language (ESL) learners' use of a monolingual dictionary for determining the meanings of familiar English words used in less familiar contexts. Thirty-two university English majors in Hong Kong participated in a dictionary consultation task,…

How Do Chinese ESL Learners Recognize English Words during a Reading Test? A Comparison with Romance-Language-Speaking ESL Learners

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Li, Hongli; Suen, Hoi K.

2015-01-01

This study examines how Chinese ESL learners recognize English words while responding to a multiple-choice reading test as compared to Romance-language-speaking ESL learners. Four adult Chinese ESL learners and three adult Romance-language-speaking ESL learners participated in a think-aloud study with the Michigan English Language Assessment…

A Model of Critical Peer Feedback to Facilitate Business English Writing Using Qzone Weblogs among Chinese Undergraduates

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Xianwei, Gao; Samuel, Moses; Asmawi, Adelina

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore critical thinking skills in peer feedback for Business English writing in order to facilitate the quality of peer feedback and quality of Business English writing. "Critical peer feedback" was conceptualized with the integration of "critical thinking" and "peer feedback" in…

The importance of a near-native accent. : Do the Dutch speak English or Double Dutch?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

drs. Frans Hermans

2014-01-01

The importance of a near-native accent. This talk will discuss whether or not it is important for EFL-teachers to try and achieve a near-native generally accepted accent for their students. The focus will be on the credibility of non-native speakers of English while speaking English in a

ADHD and adolescent EFL learners’ speaking complexity, accuracy, and fluency in English

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Hamid Marashi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This study was an attempt to investigate the relationships among Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD and speaking complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF among Iranian EFL learners. To fulfill the purpose of this study, the teachers and parents of 593 male students were given the Farsi version of the CSI-4 ADHD diagnostic questionnaire, out of which 61 students scored above the cut-off score of nine in both the teacher and parent questionnaires. These students then sat for a sample speaking section of the Key English Test (KET; the interviews were scored by two raters according to the measures of CAF. The data were thus analyzed and the results revealed a significant positive correlation between ADHD and speaking fluency; in contrast, a significant negative correlation was observed between ADHD and speaking complexity and ADHD and speaking accuracy. The regressions disclosed that ADHD is a significant predictor of complexity, accuracy, and fluency in speaking. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for both parents and teachers in contact with students with ADHD with respect to the importance of identifying such students and thus planning and monitoring their progress.

The Interpretation of "in Context" Verbal Probability Expressions Used in International Accounting Standards: A Comparison of English and Chinese Students Studying at English Speaking Universities

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Salleh, Safrul Izani Mohd; Gardner, John C.; Sulong, Zunaidah; McGowan, Carl B., Jr.

2011-01-01

This study examines the differences in the interpretation of ten "in context" verbal probability expressions used in accounting standards between native Chinese speaking and native English speaking accounting students in United Kingdom universities. The study assesses the degree of grouping factors consensus on the numerical…

Predicting First Grade Reading Achievement for Spanish-Speaking Kindergartners: Is Early Literacy Screening in English Valid?

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Ford, Karen L.; Invernizzi, Marcia A.; Huang, Francis

2014-01-01

This study explored the viability of using kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and orthographic knowledge, administered in English, to predict first grade reading achievement of Spanish-speaking English language learners. The primary research question was: Do kindergarten measures of early literacy skills in…

Enhancing Students` Speaking Skill through Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT at English Tadris Department of STAIN Kerinci

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Heri Mudra

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This paper reports a classroom action research which conducted in an EFL classroom. The problem of this study is that teaching and learning process tends to be monotonous due to the single method used by English teachers. The learners` speaking course is familiarized with English structures. It requires a communicative and constructive method such as TBLT. The purpose of this study is to describe the effectiveness of TBLT in enhancing students` speaking skill. 30 EFL learners at the seventh semester at STAIN Kerinci took a part in this study. The instruments used to collect the data were speaking test, observation, and field-note. The results of the study showed that there were 2 cycles needed to implement the method. The process of teaching and learning in the first cycle indicates that TBLT improved learners` speaking skill, though some problems were needed to be solved. Unlike the cycle I, the process in the cycle II was improved in term of learners` speaking score and their motivation to attend the course if compared with those in cycle I. So, it is concluded that TBLT is an appropriate method to improve learners` speaking skill.

The Challenges and Opportunities for Chinese Overseas Postgraduates in English Speaking Universities

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Liu, Xu

2015-01-01

An increasing number of Chinese students pursue their higher education degree in an overseas university. This research paper sets out to raise a discussion about some of the major challenges that such Chinese postgraduates might experience when studying at universities in English speaking countries drawing from ethnographic and sociological…

Haunting Native Speakerism? Students' Perceptions toward Native Speaking English Teachers in Taiwan

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Wu, Kun-huei; Ke, Chung

2009-01-01

This paper intends to explore how Taiwanese university students perceive their native-speaking English teachers (NESTs). Mutual expectations between the NESTs and students are also investigated. Collected data include questionnaires from 107 students and interviews with three NESTs and 19 students who have filled out the questionnaire. The result…

Intelligibility in Context Scale: Normative and Validation Data for English-Speaking Preschoolers.

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McLeod, Sharynne; Crowe, Kathryn; Shahaeian, Ameneh

2015-07-01

The purpose of this study was to describe normative and validation data on the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS; McLeod, Harrison, & McCormack, 2012c) for English-speaking children. The ICS is a 7-item, parent-report measure of children's speech intelligibility with a range of communicative partners. Data were collected from the parents of 803 Australian English-speaking children ranging in age from 4;0 (years;months) to 5;5 (37.0% were multilingual). The mean ICS score was 4.4 (SD = 0.7) out of a possible total score of 5. Children's speech was reported to be most intelligible to their parents, followed by their immediate family, friends, and teachers; children's speech was least intelligible to strangers. The ICS had high internal consistency (α = .94). Significant differences in scores were identified on the basis of sex and age but not on the basis of socioeconomic status or the number of languages spoken. There were significant differences in scores between children whose parents had concerns about their child's speech (M = 3.9) and those who did not (M = 4.6). A sensitivity of .82 and a specificity of .58 were established as the optimal cutoff. Test-retest reliability and criterion validity were established for 184 children with a speech sound disorder. There was a significant low correlation between the ICS mean score and percentage of phonemes correct (r = .30), percentage of consonants correct (r = .24), and percentage of vowels correct (r = .30) on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (Dodd, Hua, Crosbie, Holm, & Ozanne, 2002). Thirty-one parents completed the ICS related to English and another language spoken by their child with a speech sound disorder. The significant correlations between the scores suggest that the ICS may be robust between languages. This article provides normative ICS data for English-speaking children and additional validation of the psychometric properties of the ICS. The robustness of the ICS was suggested

Narrative Development among Language-Minority Children: The Role of Bilingual versus Monolingual Preschool Education

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Schwartz, Mila; Shaul, Yehudit

2013-01-01

The development of script schema, as a source of narrative knowledge, is an essential stage in this knowledge construction. This study focused on the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education in the development of script schema knowledge in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among Russian/Hebrew-speaking children in Israel. The preschool…

Vocabulary Use by Low, Moderate, and High ASL-Proficient Writers Compared to Hearing ESL and Monolingual Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Singleton, Jenny L; Morgan, Dianne; DiGello, Elizabeth; Wiles, Jill; Rivers, Rachel

2004-01-01

The written English vocabulary of 72 deaf elementary school students of various proficiency levels in American Sign Language (ASL) was compared with the performance of 60 hearing English-as-a-second-language (ESL) speakers and 61 hearing monolingual speakers of English, all of similar age. Students were asked to retell "The Tortoise and the Hare" story (previously viewed on video) in a writing activity. Writing samples were later scored for total number of words, use of words known to be highly frequent in children's writing, redundancy in writing, and use of English function words. All deaf writers showed significantly lower use of function words as compared to their hearing peers. Low-ASL-proficient students demonstrated a highly formulaic writing style, drawing mostly on high-frequency words and repetitive use of a limited range of function words. The moderate- and high-ASL-proficient deaf students' writing was not formulaic and incorporated novel, low-frequency vocabulary to communicate their thoughts. The moderate- and high-ASL students' performance revealed a departure from findings one might expect based on previous studies with deaf writers and their vocabulary use. The writing of the deaf writers also differed from the writing of hearing ESL speakers. Implications for deaf education and literacy instruction are discussed, with special attention to the fact that ASL-proficient, deaf second-language learners of English may be approaching English vocabulary acquisition in ways that are different from hearing ESL learners.

Observing Pair-Work Task in an English Speaking Class

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Diana Achmad

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on students’ pair-work interactions to develop their speaking skills in an ELT classroom which consisted of international learners. A number of 16 learners of intermediate proficiency with IELTS score band 5.5 were observed. The teacher had paired those he considered among them to be the more competent ones (hereafter, stronger with the less competent ones (hereafter, weaker; therefore, eight pairs were observed during the lesson. The task given to the students was to express ‘Agree and Disagree’ in the context of giving opinions related to social life. Based on the observations, the task was successfully implemented by six pairs; thus, the two others faced some problems. From the first pair, it was seen that the stronger student had intimated the weaker one into speaking during the task. The other pair, who was both of the same native, did not converse in English as expected and mostly used their native language to speak with one another presumably due to respect from the stronger student towards the weaker one. In situations like this, when pair-work becomes unproductive, rotating pairs is recommended to strengthen information sharing and assigning roles to avoid a student from taking over the activity from his or her pair. In conclusion, pairing international learners with mixed speaking proficiency by teachers must be conducted as effectively as possible by initially identifying their ability and learning culture to profoundly expand the students’ language resources.

A Model Of Critical Peer Feedback To Facilitate Business English Writing Using Qzone Weblogs Among Chinese Undergraduates

OpenAIRE

Gao Xianwei; Moses Samuel; Adelina Asmawi

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore critical thinking skills in peer feedback for Business English writing in order to facilitate the quality of peer feedback and quality of Business English writing. “Critical peer feedback” was conceptualized with the integration of “critical thinking” and “peer feedback” in order to improve the quality of peer feedback. This study explored the process, content and factors of critical peer feedback through Qzone weblogs, and summarized the model of crit...

Vowel reduction patterns of early Spanish- English bilinguals receiving continuous L1 and L2 input

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Byers Emily

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the production of three morphophonetic variations of schwa in American English: the plural allomorph {-s} as in watches, the possessive allomorph {-s} as in Sasha’s, and word-finally as in Russia. The production of these three allomorphs were examined in Miami’s English monolingual and early Spanish-English bilingual populations. Our purpose was to determine how native-like early Spanish-English bilinguals′ spectral qualities and reduced vowel durations were compared to Miami English monolinguals during a reading task. Results indicate that early bilinguals′ reduced vowels followed the same overall pattern as monolinguals, but had different acoustic properties.

Development of a Cognate Awareness Measure for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Malabonga, Valerie; Kenyon, Dorry M.; Carlo, Maria; August, Diane; Louguit, Mohammed

2008-01-01

This paper describes the development and validation of the Cognate Awareness Test (CAT), which measures cognate awareness in Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) in fourth and fifth grade. An investigation of differential performance on the two subtests of the CAT (cognates and noncognates) provides evidence that the instrument is…

Results of the 2015 Relationship Testing Workshop of the English Speaking Working Group

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Susanne Lunøe; Hallenberg, Charlotte; Simonsen, Bo Thisted

2015-01-01

Annually, members of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics are invited to participate in a Relationship Testing Workshop. In 2015, 64 laboratories participated. Here, we present the results from the 2015 workshop, which included relationship testing...

To Speak Like a TED Speaker--A Case Study of TED Motivated English Public Speaking Study in EFL Teaching

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Li, Yingxia; Gao, Ying; Zhang, Dongyu

2016-01-01

This paper intends to investigate the effectiveness of a new course pattern--TED-motivated English Public Speaking Course in EFL teaching in China. This class framework adopts TED videos as the learning materials to stimulate students to be a better speaker. Meanwhile, it aims to examine to what extent the five aspects of language skills are…

Difficulties Using Standardized Tests to Identify the Receptive Expressive Gap in Bilingual Children's Vocabularies.

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Gibson, Todd A; Oller, D Kimbrough; Jarmulowicz, Linda

2018-03-01

Receptive standardized vocabulary scores have been found to be much higher than expressive standardized vocabulary scores in children with Spanish as L1, learning L2 (English) in school (Gibson et al., 2012). Here we present evidence suggesting the receptive-expressive gap may be harder to evaluate than previously thought because widely-used standardized tests may not offer comparable normed scores. Furthermore monolingual Spanish-speaking children tested in Mexico and monolingual English-speaking children in the US showed other, yet different statistically significant discrepancies between receptive and expressive scores. Results suggest comparisons across widely used standardized tests in attempts to assess a receptive-expressive gap are precarious.

Teaching a Growing a Population of Non-Native English-Speaking Students in American Universities: Cultural and Linguistic Challenges

OpenAIRE

Maria Cristina Fava

2016-01-01

The increasing number of non-native English speaking students in American universities, mostly from Asian countries, presents unprecedented challenges and calls for an in-depth study on how we teach western art music history. This essay challenges some aspects of liberal multiculturalism and proposes the creation of channels of communication that allow non-native English speaking students to understand the premises of a Eurocentric system of knowledge without undermining their own cultural ba...

Peer-Reviewed Veterinary Journals From Arabic-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review.

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Robertson, Kristen M; Bowser, Jacquelyn E; Bernstein, Joshua; Aboul-Enein, Basil H

The prevalence of diseases of foodborne and zoonotic origin in Arabic-speaking countries highlights the importance of collaboration between human and animal health professionals. However, accessibility of research and evidence-based practices in these countries is not well characterized. This brief report determines the availability of professional veterinary journals within the Arabic-speaking region. An electronic search using 6 databases assessed for publication period, activity status, and available languages incorporated all aspects of veterinary medicine and specialties. Among 29 veterinary journals identified, the oldest current publication originated 63 years ago, with 10 journals currently interrupted or ceased. All 19 currently active journals are available electronically as open access, with 8 also offered in paper format. Veterinary journals published within Arabic-speaking countries are predominantly produced in Egypt, Iraq, and Sudan. Electronic access is lacking compared with English-speaking countries, and there is a lack of journals with an Arabic-language option. The reasons associated with language options in veterinary publications are not immediately apparent, yet may highlight differences among public health, health education, and zoonotic professionals and the populations they serve. Veterinary journals in Arabic-speaking countries do not adequately represent the overall region and are limited in access. Further evaluation of regional culture and publisher preferences is indicated to identify new collaboration opportunities among health professionals and local stakeholders. Copyright © 2017 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teaching Effectiveness of Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers in Business Disciplines: Intercultural Communication Apprehension and Ethnocentrism

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Abayadeera, Nadana; Mihret, Dessalegn Getie; Hewa Dulige, Jayasinghe

2018-01-01

Teaching effectiveness of non-native English-speaking teachers (NNEST) in accounting, economics and finance has become a significant issue due to the increasing trend of hiring NNEST in business schools. However, the literature has focused on the English language competence of NNEST, which is only one element of the factors that influence teaching…

EMPOWERING NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEACHERS THROUGH CRITICAL PEDAGOGY

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Nur Hayati

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach that aims to develop students’ critical thinking, political and social awareness, and self esteem through dialogue learning and reflection. Related to the teaching of EFL, this pedagogy holds the potential to empower non native English speaking teachers (NNESTs when incorporated into English teacher education programs. It can help aspiring NNESTs to grow awareness of the political and sociocultural implications of EFL teaching, to foster their critical thinking on any concepts or ideas regarding their profession, and more importantly, to recognize their strengths as NNESTs. Despite the potential, the role of critical pedagogy in improving EFL teacher education program in Indonesia has not been sufficiently discussed. This article attempts to contribute to the discussion by looking at a number of ways critical pedagogy can be incorporated in the programs, the rationale for doing so, and the challenges that might come on the way.

Teaching a Growing a Population of Non-Native English-Speaking Students in American Universities: Cultural and Linguistic Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Cristina Fava

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The increasing number of non-native English speaking students in American universities, mostly from Asian countries, presents unprecedented challenges and calls for an in-depth study on how we teach western art music history. This essay challenges some aspects of liberal multiculturalism and proposes the creation of channels of communication that allow non-native English speaking students to understand the premises of a Eurocentric system of knowledge without undermining their own cultural backgrounds.

Novel Morpheme Learning in Monolingual and Bilingual Children

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Gross, Megan; Sheena, Enanna; Roman, Rachel

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of a novel morpheme learning task for indexing typical language abilities in children characterized by diverse language backgrounds. Method Three groups of 5- to 6-year-old children were tested: monolingual speakers of English, native speakers of Spanish who also spoke English (Spanish-L1 bilinguals), and native speakers of English who also spoke Spanish (English-L1 bilinguals). All children were taught a new derivational morpheme /ku/ marking part–whole distinction in conjunction with English nouns. Retention was measured via a receptive task, and sensitivity and reaction time (RT) data were collected. Results All three groups of children learned the novel morpheme successfully and were able to generalize its use to untaught nouns. Furthermore, language characteristics (degree of exposure and levels of performance on standardized measures) did not contribute to bilingual children's learning outcomes. Conclusion Together, the findings indicate that this particular version of the novel morpheme learning task may be resistant to influences associated with language background and suggest potential usefulness of the task to clinical practice. PMID:28399578

Orthography-Induced Transfer in the Production of English-Speaking Learners of Spanish

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Rafat, Yasaman

2016-01-01

This article reports on a study on the effect of orthography on L1-based phonological transfer in L2 production in 40 novice English-speaking learners of Spanish. In particular, the role of auditory-orthographic training and production and the influence of grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences are examined. Data elicited via a picture-naming task…

Manifestations of developmental dyslexia in monolingual Persian speaking students.

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Pouretemad, Hamid R; Khatibi, Ali; Zarei, Mojtaba; Stein, John

2011-07-01

Manifestations of dyslexia depend on language systems and scripts. This study explored the prevalence and clinical features of developmental dyslexia among monolingual Persian students and provided insights on mechanisms involved in reading Persian. To measure reading ability we developed a new instrument, Analysis of Persian Reading Ability, which had acceptable validity and reliability. A total of 1562 children aged 6 ½ - 14 were randomly selected from a population of 109696 primary school students in the city of Qom, Iran. Using a variety of statistical and clinical criteria, 82 (5.2%) of the sample were classified as dyslexics. A detailed analysis of reading errors revealed eight types of errors related to three categories. The most frequent category in both dyslexic and the matched control group was phonological, followed by pragmatic and visual errors. The observed prevalence rate of dyslexia and reading error categories would suggest that Persian in vowel-free format is an opaque language and predominant use of a sub-lexical strategy is involved when reading Persian.

English Textbooks in Japan and Korea

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Yuasa, Katsura

2010-01-01

English education in Japan and Korea are similar in some respects. Although both countries are not completely but mostly monolingual societies, where citizens do not need English in their daily life, they have begun to realize the importance of English as a tool for international communication, and as a result their English education is becoming…

Teaching Speaking Through Debate Technique

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. Suranto

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract : Teaching Speaking Through Debate Technique. Speaking is one of the basic competence from the other fourth basic competence (listening, speaking, reading and writing. Speaking ability should be mastered by every students, in order to achieve that competence students should be given the right technique to study sepaking. The successfull of the students speaking can be seen from their ability to express idea, thought and feeling through speaking. The objective of this Action Research is to improve students’s oral communication skill through the debate technique. This study was conducted at MA Ma’arif Nu 5 Sekampung Lampung Timur from March to April 2014. The research data were taken from students in the eleventh class, with 28 students and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The research findings indicate that there are improvements in students’ english speaking skill through the debate technique. By analyzing data qualitatively and quantitatively from the end of the first cycle to the second cycle and it was found that the students’ English speaking skill increased 20,9% over the standard that has been determined by the researcher that is 65%. The researcher concludes that the students’ english speaking skill can be improve through the debate technique in learning process.   Key words : action research, debate technique, english speaking skill

Differences in the Association between Segment and Language: Early Bilinguals Pattern with Monolinguals and Are Less Accurate than Late Bilinguals

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Blanco, Cynthia P.; Bannard, Colin; Smiljanic, Rajka

2016-01-01

Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers of the L2, but most work on cross-language speech perception has focused on isolated segments, and typically only on neighboring vowels or stop contrasts. In tasks that include sounds in context, listeners’ success is more variable, so segment discrimination in isolation may not adequately represent the phonetic detail in stored representations. The current study explores the relationship between language experience and sensitivity to segmental cues in context by comparing the categorization patterns of monolingual English listeners and early and late Spanish–English bilinguals. Participants categorized nonce words containing different classes of English- and Spanish-specific sounds as being more English-like or more Spanish-like; target segments included phonemic cues, cues for which there is no analogous sound in the other language, or phonetic cues, cues for which English and Spanish share the category but for which each language varies in its phonetic implementation. Listeners’ language categorization accuracy and reaction times were analyzed. Our results reveal a largely uniform categorization pattern across listener groups: Spanish cues were categorized more accurately than English cues, and phonemic cues were easier for listeners to categorize than phonetic cues. There were no differences in the sensitivity of monolinguals and early bilinguals to language-specific cues, suggesting that the early bilinguals’ exposure to Spanish did not fundamentally change their representations of English phonology. However, neither did the early bilinguals show more sensitivity than the monolinguals to Spanish sounds. The late bilinguals however, were significantly more accurate than either of the other groups. These findings indicate that listeners with varying exposure to English and Spanish are able to use language-specific cues in a nonce-word language categorization

The Heart of the Matter: Methodological Challenges in Developing a Contemporary 257-269 Reading Programme for Monolingual Lexicography, from the Perspective of the Dictionary Unit for South African English

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Leela Pienaar

2011-10-01

Full Text Available

Abstract: This article argues the importance of the reading programme as the pivotal issue inthe lexicographic process. It is essentially a practical article which outlines strategies for developingand implementing a reading programme for monolingual lexicography. The arguments are informedby theory, together with an examination of the data-collection procedures followed by theDictionary Unit for South African English (DSAE and a survey of current practice in major Englishdictionary units around the world, namely the Oxford English Dictionary, the Canadian OxfordDictionary, the Australian National Dictionary Centre and the New Zealand Dictionary Centre.The reading programme for the DSAE is first defined and contextualized within its mission statement.The article then explores the challenges inherent in sampling contemporary written and spokenEnglish in the South African multilingual context. It is intended to inform the DSAE's intakepolicy, in terms of the following critical issues:

— the definition of South African English,

— the monitoring and selection of print, oral and electronic sources,

— the excerpting of citations and relevant bibliographic information, and

— the recruiting and training of readers.

These interlinked aspects of the reading programme have crucial implications for the quality andauthority of the monolingual dictionary on historical principles.

Keywords: READING PROGRAMME, MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARY, HISTORICAL PRINCIPLES, CONTEMPORARY, INTAKE, CITATIONS, STRATEGIES

Opsomming: Die kern van die saak: Metodologiese uitdagings by die ontwikkelingvan 'n eietydse leesprogram vir eentalige leksikografie, uit dieperspektief van die Dictionary Unit for South African English. Hierdie artikelbepleit die belangrikheid van die leesprogram as die kernsaak in die leksikografiese proses. Dit ishoofsaaklik 'n praktiese artikel wat stategieë vir die ontwikkeling en implementering van 'n

Phoneme Error Pattern by Heritage Speakers of Spanish on an English Word Recognition Test.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Lu-Feng

2017-04-01

Heritage speakers acquire their native language from home use in their early childhood. As the native language is typically a minority language in the society, these individuals receive their formal education in the majority language and eventually develop greater competency with the majority than their native language. To date, there have not been specific research attempts to understand word recognition by heritage speakers. It is not clear if and to what degree we may infer from evidence based on bilingual listeners in general. This preliminary study investigated how heritage speakers of Spanish perform on an English word recognition test and analyzed their phoneme errors. A prospective, cross-sectional, observational design was employed. Twelve normal-hearing adult Spanish heritage speakers (four men, eight women, 20-38 yr old) participated in the study. Their language background was obtained through the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire. Nine English monolingual listeners (three men, six women, 20-41 yr old) were also included for comparison purposes. Listeners were presented with 200 Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words in quiet. They repeated each word orally and in writing. Their responses were scored by word, word-initial consonant, vowel, and word-final consonant. Performance was compared between groups with Student's t test or analysis of variance. Group-specific error patterns were primarily descriptive, but intergroup comparisons were made using 95% or 99% confidence intervals for proportional data. The two groups of listeners yielded comparable scores when their responses were examined by word, vowel, and final consonant. However, heritage speakers of Spanish misidentified significantly more word-initial consonants and had significantly more difficulty with initial /p, b, h/ than their monolingual peers. The two groups yielded similar patterns for vowel and word-final consonants, but heritage speakers made significantly

Exploration of Open Educational Resources in Non-English Speaking Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristobal Cobo

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Over the last decade, open educational resources (OER initiatives have created new possibilities for knowledge-sharing practices. This research examines how, where, and when OER are attracting attention in the higher education sector and explores to what extent the OER discussion has moved beyond the English-speaking world. This study analysed English, Spanish, and Portuguese OER queries over a long-term period (2007-2011. The data retrieval was conducted using four online platforms: two academic journal databases (Web of Knowledge and Scopus, one video-sharing Web site (YouTube, and one document-sharing Web site (Scribd. The number (more than 32,860 of search results collected indicate an increasing interest in online OER discussion across languages, particularly outside academic journal databases. Additionally, a widening ‘language gap’ between OER discussions in English and other languages was identified in several platforms. This research reports some of the cultural and language challenges caused by the expansion of the OER discussion and highlights relevant findings in this field.

Peer-reviewed public health journals from Arabic-speaking countries: An updated snapshot.

OpenAIRE

Aboul-Enein, BH; Bernstein, J; Bowser, JE

2017-01-01

There is a positive association between availability of regional peer-reviewed public health information systems and progressive change in community and population health. The objective of this brief report was to identify public health journals in Arabic-speaking countries actively publishing as of 2016. We conducted an electronic search in several electronic database records for public health journals using a combination of search terms. We excluded journals that focused on human medicine, ...

Making out in English (English phrasebook)

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Crownover, Richard

2011-01-01

Making Out in English is a fun, accessible and thorough English phrase book and guide to the English language as it's really spoken. If you are a student, businessman or tourist traveling to the English speaking world and would like to have an authentic and meaningful experience, the key is being able to speak like a local. This friendly and easy-to-use English phrasebook makes this possible. Making Out in English has been revised and redesigned to act as a guide to modern colloquial English for use in everyday informal interactions—giving access to the sort of catchy English expressions that

An intersectional approach for understanding the vulnerabilities of English-speaking heterosexual Caribbean youth to HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections: Prevention and intervention strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Sutherland, Marcia Elizabeth

2016-01-01

Caribbean youth comprise about 30 percent of the English-speaking Caribbean population, and about 81,000 Caribbean and Latin American youth are HIV infected. AIDS is the leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-old English-speaking Caribbean youth. This article relies on intersectionality theory in the assessment of the macro-level, or structural variables, and micro-level, or individual level, variables that influence the risk-taking sexual behaviors of heterosexual English-speaking Caribbean youth and increase their vulnerability to HIV/sexually transmitted infections. This article offers macro- and micro-level prevention/intervention strategies for reducing the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in English-speaking Caribbean youth, including the promotion of condom use, voluntary male circumcision, and HIV testing and counseling. Suggestions are offered for future research investigations to explore the contributing factors to youth’s vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections and to empirically verify the relationship between and among variables that account for desired outcomes, including decreases in risky sexual behaviors. PMID:28070411

Native Speakers in Linguistic Imperialism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Phillipson, Robert

2016-01-01

An investigation of Native English Speaking Teachers’ performance in schemes in six Asian contexts, commissioned by the British Council, and undertaken by three British academics, is subjected to critical evaluation. Key issues for exploration are the issue of a monolingual approach to English le...... the economic and geopolitical agenda behind this English teaching business, there is clear evidence of linguistic imperialism in the functions of this global professional service. These activities serve to strengthen Western interests.......An investigation of Native English Speaking Teachers’ performance in schemes in six Asian contexts, commissioned by the British Council, and undertaken by three British academics, is subjected to critical evaluation. Key issues for exploration are the issue of a monolingual approach to English...... learning and teaching, and the inappropriate qualifications of those sent to education systems when they are unfamiliar with the learners’ languages, cultures, and pedagogical traditions. Whether the schemes involved constitute linguistic imperialismis analysed. Whereas the need for multilingual competence...

Non-native english speaking elementary ell teachers’ culturally responsive leadership profile in an ESL context

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Valentin Ekiaka Nzai

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Culturally responsive instruction has been suggested as quality education (Edwards, 2003 for minority students in subtractive and additivebilingualism settings. However, analytical curriculum development of several official English programs revealed that the gender-centric (malecentricand Ethno-centric (Euro/Western-centric approaches were deeply embedded in most English textbooks of curriculum development.The intent of partial mixed methods paper consisted of exploring some non-native English speaking teachers English teachers’ culturallyresponsive leadership profile in order to further the discussion on not only how to promote English curriculum transformation in English assecond language (ESL and English as foreign language (EFL settings, but also to effectively train culturally responsive non-native Englishspeaking (NNES English pre-service teachers. Comparative data analysis suggested that there were no causal relationship between NNESEnglish teachers’ culturally responsive leadership styles and their abilities to perform multicultural transformation of English curriculums. To behighly effective in transforming English curriculum, NNES English teachers needed to be systematically trained on how to do so. Implicationsfor NNES English pre-service teacher education are framed from the culturally responsive and anti-oppressive education approaches.

A study of the effects of English language proficiency and scientific reasoning skills on the acquisition of science content knowledge of Hispanic English language learners and native English language-speaking students participating in grade 10 science classes

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Torres, Hector Neftali, Sr.

2000-11-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of English language proficiency and levels of scientific reasoning skills of Hispanic English language learners and native English language speaking students on their acquisition of science content knowledge as measured by a state-wide standardized science test. The researcher studied a group of high school Hispanic English language learners and native English language speaking students participating in Grade 10 science classes. The language proficiency of the students was to be measured through the use of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) instrument. A Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning developed by Lawson (1978) was administered in either English or Spanish to the group of Hispanic English language learners and in English to the group of native English language-speaking students in order to determine their levels of scientific reasoning skills. The students' acquisition of science content knowledge was measured through the use of statewide-standardized science test developed by the State's Department of Education. This study suggests that the levels of English language proficiency appear to influence the acquisition of science content knowledge of Hispanic English language learners in the study. The results of the study also suggest that with regards to scientific reasoning skills, students that showed high levels or reflective reasoning skills for the most part performed better on the statewide-standardized science test than students with intuitive or transitional reasoning skills. This assertion was supported by the studies conducted by Lawson and his colleagues, which showed that high levels of reasoning or reflective reasoning skills are prerequisite for most high school science courses. The findings in this study imply that high order English language proficiency combined with high levels of reasoning skills enhances students' abilities to learn science content subject matter. This

Language-Specific Effects on Story and Procedural Narrative tasks between Korean-speaking and English-speaking Individuals with Aphasia

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Jee Eun Sung

2015-04-01

Results suggested that Korean-speaking individuals with aphasia produced more numbers of different verbs, number of verbs per utterance and higher VNRs than English speakers. Both groups generated more words in story. The significant two-way interactions between the language group and task type suggested that there are task-specific effects on linguistic measures across the groups. The study implied that the linguistic characteristics differentially affected language symptoms of aphasia across the different languages and task types.

The Potential of Dual-Language Cross-Cultural Peer Review

Science.gov (United States)

Ruecker, Todd

2011-01-01

This article explores the potential of dual-language cross-cultural peer review and how it improves on traditional monolingual and monocultural peer review. Drawing on scholarship related to international exchange programmes, peer review, and two-way immersion programmes in the United States as well as data collected while facilitating the…

The moderating effect of orthographic consistency on oral vocabulary learning in monolingual and bilingual children.

Science.gov (United States)

Jubenville, Kathleen; Sénéchal, Monique; Malette, Melissa

2014-10-01

Two studies were conducted to assess whether (a) the incidental presence of print facilitates the acquisition of oral vocabulary, (b) the facilitative effect of print is moderated by phoneme-to-grapheme consistency, and (c) the findings obtained with monolingual children generalize to bilingual children. In total, 71 monolingual French-speaking children (M age = 9 years 2 months) in Study 1 and 64 bilingual children (M age = 9 years 3 months) in Study 2 participated in one of three conditions: consistent print, inconsistent print, or no print. Children were to learn novel labels for unfamiliar objects in a paired-associate paradigm. In both studies, print facilitated the acquisition and recall of expressive vocabulary. The effect of print consistency, however, varied across studies. As expected, monolingual children exposed to consistent print learned more novel labels than children exposed to inconsistent print. In contrast, bilingual children exposed to inconsistent print learned and recalled more labels than children exposed to consistent print. These intriguing findings might be due to differences in attention allocation during training. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavioral Problems and Reading Difficulties among Language Minority and Monolingual Urban Elementary School Students

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Pierce, Margaret E.; Wechsler-Zimring, Adrianna; Noam, Gil; Wolf, Maryanne; Katzir, Tami

2013-01-01

This study examined the potentially compounding effect of language minority (LM) status on problem behaviors among urban second and third grade-level poor readers. Univariate analyses showed that a disproportionate percentage of both LM and English monolingual (L1) poor readers already displayed clinically significant levels of anxiety, social…

Multicultural issues in test interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Langdon, Henriette W; Wiig, Elisabeth H

2009-11-01

Designing the ideal test or series of tests to assess individuals who speak languages other than English is difficult. This article first describes some of the roadblocks-one of which is the lack of identification criteria for language and learning disabilities in monolingual and bilingual populations in most countries of the non-English-speaking world. This lag exists, in part, because access to general education is often limited. The second section describes tests that have been developed in the United States, primarily for Spanish-speaking individuals because they now represent the largest first-language majority in the United States (80% of English-language learners [ELLs] speak Spanish at home). We discuss tests developed for monolingual and bilingual English-Spanish speakers in the United States and divide this coverage into two parts: The first addresses assessment of students' first language (L1) and second language (L2), usually English, with different versions of the same test; the second describes assessment of L1 and L2 using the same version of the test, administered in the two languages. Examples of tests that fit a priori-determined criteria are briefly discussed throughout the article. Suggestions how to develop tests for speakers of languages other than English are also provided. In conclusion, we maintain that there will never be a perfect test or set of tests to adequately assess the communication skills of a bilingual individual. This is not surprising because we have yet to develop an ideal test or set of tests that fits monolingual Anglo speakers perfectly. Tests are tools, and the speech-language pathologist needs to know how to use those tools most effectively and equitably. The goal of this article is to provide such guidance. Thieme Medical Publishers.

A Model Of Critical Peer Feedback To Facilitate Business English Writing Using Qzone Weblogs Among Chinese Undergraduates

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Gao Xianwei

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to explore critical thinking skills in peer feedback for Business English writing in order to facilitate the quality of peer feedback and quality of Business English writing. “Critical peer feedback” was conceptualized with the integration of “critical thinking” and “peer feedback” in order to improve the quality of peer feedback. This study explored the process, content and factors of critical peer feedback through Qzone weblogs, and summarized the model of critical peer feedback. A qualitative case study was conducted with a group of six junior students majoring in Business English for one semester in a Chinese university. Three models of critical thinking including Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, Paul-Elder Model and Reichenbach’s Six Steps Model, were transferred to the participants in the workshops. Three kinds of data including semi-structured interview transcripts, six writing assignments and artifacts of critical peer feedback, were analyzed by QSR NVivo 8. The findings revealed that the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is more acceptable for the beginners of critical peer feedback which provides a six-step model of critical thinking. The process of critical peer feedback in online context was summarized as four steps- “intake”, “critical thinking”, “output”, and “post-output”. Each of the four steps had several mental processes in critical peer feedback. This study may be significant for the knowledge of higher-order peer feedback to facilitate the quality of higher-level writing.

When the Asian Girl Speaks: A Comparative Analysis of Two Young Adult Novels in English Written by Asian Women

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Lalaine Yanilla Aquino

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes two contemporary award winning young adult novels in English: Sing to the Dawn by Minfong Ho, and A Step from Heaven by An Na. Sing to the Dawn, published in Singapore, won first prize in the 1975 Council of Interracial Books for Children in New York; while A Step from Heaven, published in New York, won the 2002 Michael L. Printz Award. By using feminist and critical stylistics, this paper aims to answer the following questions: Do Asians retain their “voice” even when they write in English and live in foreign lands? Given this situation, how do they make their voice heard? How do the two women Asian writers represent the voice of their young female protagonists? Is the voice still distinctly Asian in spite of speaking in English and being written by Asian writers who have long lived in America? When the Asian girl speaks, who listens? Literally and figuratively speaking, has the Asian female finally found her voice?By answering these questions, this paper aims to identify at least some aspects of the Asian “voice” in English and determine the Asian female identity represented in the two young adult novels.

An Exploration of the Scientific Writing Experience of Nonnative English-Speaking Doctoral Supervisors and Students Using a Phenomenographic Approach

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Elizabeth Dean

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Nonnative English-speaking scholars and trainees are increasingly submitting their work to English journals. The study’s aim was to describe their experiences regarding scientific writing in English using a qualitative phenomenographic approach. Two focus groups (5 doctoral supervisors and 13 students were conducted. Participants were nonnative English-speakers in a Swedish health sciences faculty. Group discussion focused on scientific writing in English, specifically, rewards, challenges, facilitators, and barriers. Participants were asked about their needs for related educational supports. Inductive phenomenographic analysis included extraction of referential (phenomenon as a whole and structural (phenomenon parts aspects of the transcription data. Doctoral supervisors and students viewed English scientific writing as challenging but worthwhile. Both groups viewed mastering English scientific writing as necessary but each struggles with the process differently. Supervisors viewed it as a long-term professional responsibility (generating knowledge, networking, and promotion eligibility. Alternatively, doctoral students viewed its importance in the short term (learning publication skills. Both groups acknowledged they would benefit from personalized feedback on writing style/format, but in distinct ways. Nonnative English-speaking doctoral supervisors and students in Sweden may benefit from on-going writing educational supports. Editors/reviewers need to increase awareness of the challenges of international contributors and maximize the formative constructiveness of their reviews.

Early Oral Language and Later Reading Development in Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners: Evidence from a Nine-Year Longitudinal Study

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Kieffer, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Using nationally-representative, longitudinal data on a cohort of Spanish-speaking English language learners in the U.S., this study investigated the extent to which early oral language proficiency in Spanish and English predicts later levels and rates of growth in English reading. Latent growth models indicated that both Spanish and English…

The Effects of Phonological Awareness of Zulu-Speaking Children Learning to Spell in English: A Study of Cross-Language Transfer

Science.gov (United States)

De Sousa, Diana Soares; Greenop, Kirston; Fry, Jessica

2010-01-01

Background: Emergent bilingual Zulu-English speaking children in South Africa have spoken but no written proficiency in Zulu (L1), yet are required to learn to spell English (L2) via English-only literacy instruction. Little research exists on emergent bilingual's phonological awareness (PA) and spelling development, with no L1 formal literacy…

Formality as a Feature of Postcolonial English in Kenya: a Contrastive Analysis Based on the International Corpus of English

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Natalia Budohoska

2011-08-01

Full Text Available In monolingual countries where English is the native language of the majority of population, it is used across all domains and registers, and by all members of society. In post-colonial, multilingual countries it comes to be used as a lingua franca in more restricted contexts. Because there is a significant difference between the role and use of English in a native and monolingual environment and a non-native, multilingual environment (Trudgill 1999 the following paper concentrates on differences in the formality level of English in postcolonial Kenya and Great Britain on the basis of parameters set up for this study. The data for this paper come from the International Corpus of English for East Africa and for Great Britain. The conclusions concerning the formality of English were drawn basing on a quantitative study employing the chi square test for evaluating significance of the features discussed and revealed a higher level of formality of English in the ICE-K. This study is an introduction to further qualitative research of characteristic morpho-syntactic features of English in Kenya.

A Classroom-Based Assessment Method to Test Speaking Skills in English for Specific Purposes

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Alberola Colomar, María Pilar

2014-01-01

This article presents and analyses a classroom-based assessment method to test students' speaking skills in a variety of professional settings in tourism. The assessment system has been implemented in the Communication in English for Tourism course, as part of the Tourism Management degree programme, at Florida Universitaria (affiliated to the…

An intersectional approach for understanding the vulnerabilities of English-speaking heterosexual Caribbean youth to HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections: Prevention and intervention strategies

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Marcia Elizabeth Sutherland

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Caribbean youth comprise about 30 percent of the English-speaking Caribbean population, and about 81,000 Caribbean and Latin American youth are HIV infected. AIDS is the leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-old English-speaking Caribbean youth. This article relies on intersectionality theory in the assessment of the macro-level, or structural variables, and micro-level, or individual level, variables that influence the risk-taking sexual behaviors of heterosexual English-speaking Caribbean youth and increase their vulnerability to HIV/sexually transmitted infections. This article offers macro- and micro-level prevention/intervention strategies for reducing the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in English-speaking Caribbean youth, including the promotion of condom use, voluntary male circumcision, and HIV testing and counseling. Suggestions are offered for future research investigations to explore the contributing factors to youth’s vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections and to empirically verify the relationship between and among variables that account for desired outcomes, including decreases in risky sexual behaviors.

Protective and risk factors associated with adolescent sexual and reproductive health in the English-speaking Caribbean: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Pilgrim, Nanlesta A; Blum, Robert Wm

2012-01-01

To identify risk and protective factors associated with adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in the English-speaking Caribbean through a structured literature review. Peer-reviewed articles published between January 1998 and December 2009 focused on the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents, aged 10-19 years, were included in this review. Articles were organized according to Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. Research gaps were also identified. A total of 30 studies assessed ASRH. At the individual level, gender, psychosocial well-being, and mental health were key factors associated with ASRH. Within the microsystem, the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, the presence of violence, substance abuse or mental health problems in the family, and peer relationships were important determinants of ASRH. Within the macrosystem, cultural attitudes had an effect on youth's sexual behavior and generally, safer sex practices appear to be increasing. Within the chronosystem, a history of physical and sexual abuse was associated with several ASRH outcomes. A research agenda that incorporates a multisystem approach and advocates for the inclusion of socially marginalized youth is needed to fully understand and adequately address ASRH in the Caribbean. Copyright © 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Co-creating a Peer Education program to improve skin health in older people from diverse communities: An innovation in health promotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogrin, Rajna; Brasher, Kathleen; Occleston, Jessica; Byrne, Jennifer

2017-06-01

Chronic wounds, debilitating and costly to manage, are more common in older people. Prevention is possible through improving skin health. We developed, implemented and evaluated an innovative health promotion program to improve skin health of older adults. A one-hour, peer education program was co-created and delivered to culturally diverse community-dwelling older people. A mixed-methods evaluation approach comprised objective measures of skin health and barrier function at commencement and six weeks posteducation, and focus groups posteducation. Seventy-three participants participated in the study (mean age 74.38 ± 11.80 years). Hydration significantly improved at follow-up for English speaking participants (t(27) = -2.90, P = 0.007). The majority of participants reported the education to be informative and useful in supporting behaviour changes. The peer education program improved skin hydration in older English speaking individuals. Peer education may effectively deliver health promotion information in some groups. © 2017 AJA Inc.

Conceptualising English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a tertiary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Department of English Studies, University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 2, Hof 8. 1090 Vienna .... warning tone on the use of English as medium of higher education as regards various concerns ... of monolingual English speakers will surely not work.

Exploring the Roles of Google.doc and Peer e-Tutors in English Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Wen-Chuan; Yang, Shu Ching

2013-01-01

This study explored college students' experiences with and perceptions of integrating both the Google.doc and peer e-tutors into an English writing course. This socio-cultural study employed online collaborative learning mechanisms with an attempt to develop students' English writing skills and motivation over the course of one year. Participants…

Bilingualised or Monolingual Dictionaries? Preferences and Practices of Advanced ESL Learners in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Alice Y. W.

2011-01-01

This article reports on the results of a questionnaire and interview survey on Cantonese ESL learners' preference for bilingualised dictionaries or monolingual dictionaries. The questionnaire survey was implemented with about 160 university English majors in Hong Kong and three focus group interviews were conducted with 14 of these participants.…

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ SELF-ESTEEM AND SPEAKING ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE EFL STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF ISLAMIC STATE UNIVERSITY OF RADEN FATAH PALEMBANG

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joni gunawan

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of the present study was to empirically investigate the possible correlation and the influence between students’ self-esteem and speaking achievement. Students in the fifth semester were selected from among undergraduate EFL students of English Education study program at UIN Raden Fatah Palembang as the sample. Speaking test was done to measure students’ speaking achievement. By using oral Proficiency categories from Brown (2004 students’ speaking achievement was scored the five subskills of vocabulary, structure, pronunciation, fluency and comprehensibility. An adult version of Coopersmith self-esteem inventory (CSEI which modified by Ryden (1978 for measuring self-esteem containing 58 items were also administered to the participants. Pearson product moment and regression analysis were used to find out the correlation and the influence between variables. The result showed that there was a significant correlation between students’ self-esteem and speaking achievement with r = .635. Besides, there was also a significant influence of self-esteem on speaking achievement with 40,4%. This study could have implications for English language teachers, course designers, learners, and text book writers. Index Terms - self-esteem, speaking achievement, testing speaking, UIN learners of English

“When I speak English, I feel international”. Exchange students’ construction of social identity in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cancino, Rita

“When I speak English, I feel international”. Exchange students’ construction of social identity in Denmark. Students from various countries participate in the English courses for Ph.D. and Master students at Aalborg University, Denmark. Here they try to achieve a fluency in English that permits...... them to participate in classes and to pass their exams in English, write their thesis in English, etc. The students have different nationalities and identities. While learning English, they try to adapt to Denmark and the Danish culture and language. English plays the role as the lingua franca per se...... in the globalized world and in Denmark aswell. Studies show that language influence a person’s social identity. In this paper I will present the case of a group of foreign students and the construction of identity while participating in English courses. Particularly interesting is the ‘international identity...

The Contribution of Lexical Diversity to College-Level Writing

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González, Melanie C.

2017-01-01

This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which lexical frequency and lexical diversity contribute to writing proficiency scores on monolingual English-speaking writers' and advanced multilingual writers' academic compositions. The data consist of essays composed by 104 multilingual English learners enrolled in advanced…

Satisfaction with care and decision making among parents/caregivers in the pediatric intensive care unit: a comparison between English-speaking whites and Latinos.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, David; Unger, Jennifer B; Ornelas, Beatriz; Chang, Jennifer C; Markovitz, Barry P; Dodek, Peter M; Heyland, Daren K; Gold, Jeffrey I

2015-04-01

Because of previously documented health care disparities, we hypothesized that English-speaking Latino parents/caregivers would be less satisfied with care and decision making than English-speaking non-Latino white (NLW) parents/caregivers. An intensive care unit (ICU) family satisfaction survey, Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit Survey (pediatric, 24 question version), was completed by English-speaking parents/caregivers of children in a cardiothoracic ICU at a university-affiliated children's hospital in 2011. English-speaking NLW and Latino parents/caregivers of patients, younger than 18 years, admitted to the ICU were approached to participate on hospital day 3 or 4 if they were at the bedside for greater than or equal to 2 days. Analysis of variance, χ(2), and Student t tests were used. Cronbach αs were calculated. Fifty parents/caregivers completed the survey in each group. Latino parents/caregivers were younger, more often mothers born outside the United States, more likely to have government insurance or no insurance, and had less education and income. There were no differences between the groups' mean overall satisfaction scores (92.6 ± 8.3 and 93.0 ± 7.1, respectively; P = .80). The Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit Survey (pediatric, 24 question version) showed high internal consistency reliability (α = .95 and .91 for NLW and Latino groups, respectively). No disparities in ICU satisfaction with care and decision making between English-speaking NLW and Latino parents/caregivers were found. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The English-Language and Reading Achievement of a Cohort of Deaf Students Speaking and Signing Standard English: A Preliminary Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Diane Corcoran; Luetke, Barbara; McLean, Meigan; Stryker, Deborah

2016-01-01

Research suggests that English-language proficiency is critical if students who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) are to read as their hearing peers. One explanation for the traditionally reported reading achievement plateau when students are D/HH is the inability to hear insalient English morphology. Signing Exact English can provide visual access to these features. The authors investigated the English morphological and syntactic abilities and reading achievement of elementary and middle school students at a school using simultaneously spoken and signed Standard American English facilitated by intentional listening, speech, and language strategies. A developmental trend (and no plateau) in language and reading achievement was detected; most participants demonstrated average or above-average English. Morphological awareness was prerequisite to high test scores; speech was not significantly correlated with achievement; language proficiency, measured by the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 (Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003), predicted reading achievement.

Children’s Third-Party Understanding of Communicative Interactions in a Foreign Language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Narges Afshordi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Two studies explored young children’s understanding of the role of shared language in communication by investigating how monolingual English-speaking children interact with an English speaker, a Spanish speaker, and a bilingual experimenter who spoke both English and Spanish. When the bilingual experimenter spoke in Spanish or English to request objects, four-year-old children, but not three-year-olds, used her language choice to determine whom she addressed (e.g. requests in Spanish were directed to the Spanish speaker. Importantly, children used this cue – language choice – only in a communicative context. The findings suggest that by four years, monolingual children recognize that speaking the same language enables successful communication, even when that language is unfamiliar to them. Three-year-old children’s failure to make this distinction suggests that this capacity likely undergoes significant development in early childhood, although other capacities might also be at play.

Effects of traditional teaching vs a multisensory instructional package on the science achievement and attitudes of English language learners middle-school students and English-speaking middle-school students

Science.gov (United States)

Crosley, Haver

This research was designed to determine the relative effectiveness of a Multi-sensory Instructional Package (MIP) (Dunn & Dunn, 1992) versus Traditional Teaching (TT) on the science achievement- and attitude-test scores of middle-school English Language Learner (ELL) and English-speaking sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade middle-school students. The dependent variables were students' science- and attitude-test scores. The independent variables were the two instructional strategies, ELL and English-speaking (Non-ELL) status, and three grade levels. The sample consisted of 282 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade ELL and Non-ELL middle-school students. Learning Styles: The Clue to You! (LS: CY) (Burke & Dunn, 1998) was administered to determine learning-style preferences. The control groups were taught sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade science lessons traditionally and the experimental groups were instructed on the same units using MIPs. The Semantic Differential Scale (SDS) (Pizzo, 1981) was administered to reveal attitudinal differences. All three groups experienced both traditional and multi-sensory instruction in all three sub-units. The data subjected to statistical analyses supported the use of an MIP rather than a traditional approach for teaching science content to both ELLs and English-speaking middle-school students. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a positive and significant impact on achievement scores. Furthermore, the students indicated significantly more positive attitudes when instructed with an MIP approach.

Relationship between Performance on Oral Narrative Retells and Vocabulary Assessments for Spanish-English Speaking Children

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Wood, Carla; Wofford, Mary Claire; Schatschneider, Christopher

2018-01-01

This project aimed to describe oral narrative retells of Spanish-English speaking dual language learners (DLLs) and examine relationships with standardized vocabulary assessments. Investigators described oral narrative retells of 145 DLLs in kindergarten and first grade by number of different words (NDW), words per minute (WPM), and…

TEACHING SPEAKING BY ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fadilah Fadilah

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The students often find some problems in practising English speaking. The problem frequently found is that their native language causes them difficult to use the foreign language. Other reason is because of motivation lack to practice the second language in daily conversation. They are also too shy and afraid to take part in the conversation. Many factors can cause the problem of the students’ speaking skills namely the students’ interest, the material, and the media among others including the technique in teaching English. There are many ways that can be done by the students to develop their ability in speaking English. The appropriate technique used by the English teacher also supports their interested in practising their speaking. One of the techniques that can be applied is role play.

Relationship between speaking English as a second language and agitation in people with dementia living in care homes: Results from the MARQUE (Managing Agitation and Raising Quality of life) English national care home survey

OpenAIRE

Cooper, C.; Rapaport, P.; Robertson, S.; Marston, L.; Barber, J.; Manela, M.; Livingston, G.

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVE: As not speaking English as a first language may lead to increased difficulties in communication with staff and other residents, we (1) tested our primary hypotheses that care home residents with dementia speaking English as a second language experience more agitation and overall neuropsychiatric symptoms, and (2) explored qualitatively how staff consider that residents' language, ethnicity, and culture might impact on how they manage agitation. METHODS: We interviewed st...

Perspectives on the "Silent Period" for Emergent Bilinguals in England

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Bligh, Caroline; Drury, Rose

2015-01-01

This article draws together the research findings from two ethnographic studies as a means to problematize the "silent period" as experienced by young bilingual learners in two English speaking early-years settings in England. Most teachers and senior early-years practitioners in England are monolingual English speakers. The children…

Afrikaans, American and British models for South African English ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article examines the treatment of racial labels in monolingual English dictionaries of South Africa. Considering past controversies regarding racist language in Afrikaans dictionaries and considering the changing role of English in democratic South Africa, we can expect that English dictionaries will be more carefully ...

Internet-based developmental screening: a digital divide between English- and Spanish-speaking parents.

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Hambidge, Simon J; Phibbs, Stephanie; Beck, Arne; Bergman, David Aaron

2011-10-01

Internet-based developmental screening is being implemented in pediatric practices across the United States. Little is known about the application of this technology in poor urban populations. We describe here the results of focus groups, surveys, and in-depth interviews during home visits with families served by an urban safety-net organization to address the question of whether it is possible to use Internet or e-mail communication for medical previsit engagement in a population that is majority Hispanic, of low socioeconomic status, and has many non-English-speaking families. This study included families in 4 clinics within a safety-net health care system. The study design included the use of (1) parental surveys (n = 200) of a convenience sample of parents whose children received primary care in the clinics, (2) focus groups (n = 7 groups) with parents, and (3) in-depth interviews during home visits with 4 families. We used χ(2) and multivariate analyses to compare Internet access in English- and Spanish-speaking families. Standard qualitative methods were used to code focus-group texts and identify convergent themes. In multivariate analysis, independent factors associated with computer use were English versus Spanish language (odds ratio: 3.2 [95% confidence interval: 1.4-6.9]) and education through at least high school (odds ratio: 4.7 [95% confidence interval: 2.3-9.7]). In focus groups, the concept of parental previsit work, such as developmental screening tests, was viewed favorably by all groups. However, many parents expressed reservations about doing this work by using the Internet or e-mail and stated a preference for either paper or telephone options. Many Spanish-speaking families discussed lack of access to computers and printers. In this economically disadvantaged population, language and maternal education were associated with access to the Internet. Given the potential power of previsit work to tailor well-child visits to the needs of

English-Chinese Cross-Language IR Using Bilingual Dictionaries

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

specialized dictionaries together contain about two million entries [6]. 4 Monolingual Experiment The Chinese documents and the Chinese translations of... monolingual performance. The main performance-limiting factor is the limited coverage of the dictionary used in query translation. Some of the key con...English-Chinese Cross-Language IR using Bilingual Dictionaries Aitao Chen , Hailing Jiang , and Fredric Gey School of Information Management

Effects of Using Mobile Devices on English Listening Diversity and Speaking for EFL Elementary Students

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Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Huang, Yueh-Min; Shadiev, Rustam; Wu, Sheng-Yi; Chen, Shu-Lin

2014-01-01

This study designed learning activities supported by a mobile learning system for students to develop listening and speaking skills in English as a foreign language (EFL). How students perceive learning activities and a mobile learning system were examined in this study. Additionally, how different practices relate to students' language…

Differential Item Functioning (DIF) among Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) in State Science Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Ilich, Maria O.

Psychometricians and test developers evaluate standardized tests for potential bias against groups of test-takers by using differential item functioning (DIF). English language learners (ELLs) are a diverse group of students whose native language is not English. While they are still learning the English language, they must take their standardized tests for their school subjects, including science, in English. In this study, linguistic complexity was examined as a possible source of DIF that may result in test scores that confound science knowledge with a lack of English proficiency among ELLs. Two years of fifth-grade state science tests were analyzed for evidence of DIF using two DIF methods, Simultaneous Item Bias Test (SIBTest) and logistic regression. The tests presented a unique challenge in that the test items were grouped together into testlets---groups of items referring to a scientific scenario to measure knowledge of different science content or skills. Very large samples of 10, 256 students in 2006 and 13,571 students in 2007 were examined. Half of each sample was composed of Spanish-speaking ELLs; the balance was comprised of native English speakers. The two DIF methods were in agreement about the items that favored non-ELLs and the items that favored ELLs. Logistic regression effect sizes were all negligible, while SIBTest flagged items with low to high DIF. A decrease in socioeconomic status and Spanish-speaking ELL diversity may have led to inconsistent SIBTest effect sizes for items used in both testing years. The DIF results for the testlets suggested that ELLs lacked sufficient opportunity to learn science content. The DIF results further suggest that those constructed response test items requiring the student to draw a conclusion about a scientific investigation or to plan a new investigation tended to favor ELLs.

Multilingual students' acquisition of English as their L3

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Samal Jalal, Rawand

with regard to English proficiency. The current study conducted in Denmark investigated multilingual students’ English proficiency compared to their monolingual peers’, and examined which learning strategies proficient L3 learners utilize. The sample was comprised of 9-graders who are monolinguals (N = 82......) and multilinguals with Turkish L1 (N = 134). The participants provided basic demographic information, and were tested in their general English proficiency. Out of the 70 multilinguals with Turkish L1, 12 participants were selected for further testing; i.e., the four participants who scored the lowest, four...... participants with intermediate scores, and the four who scored the highest, on a test of English proficiency. These participants were tested in their L1 (Turkish) and their L2 (Danish) in order to examine whether their proficiency in their L1 and L2 was associated with English proficiency. Furthermore, the 12...

The Impact of a Systematic and Explicit Vocabulary Intervention in Spanish with Spanish-Speaking English Learners in First Grade

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Cena, Johanna; Baker, Doris Luft; Kame'enui, Edward J.; Baker, Scott K.; Park, Yonghan; Smolkowski, Keith

2013-01-01

This study examined the impact of a 15-min daily explicit vocabulary intervention in Spanish on expressive and receptive vocabulary knowledge and oral reading fluency in Spanish, and on language proficiency in English. Fifty Spanish-speaking English learners who received 90 min of Spanish reading instruction in an early transition model were…

Structural brain differences between monolingual and multilingual patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease: Evidence for cognitive reserve.

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Duncan, Hilary D; Nikelski, Jim; Pilon, Randi; Steffener, Jason; Chertkow, Howard; Phillips, Natalie A

2018-01-31

Two independent lines of research provide evidence that speaking more than one language may 1) contribute to increased grey matter in healthy younger and older adults and 2) delay cognitive symptoms in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer disease (AD). We examined cortical thickness and tissue density in monolingual and multilingual MCI and AD patients matched (within Diagnosis Groups) on demographic and cognitive variables. In medial temporal disease-related (DR) areas, we found higher tissue density in multilingual MCIs versus monolingual MCIs, but similar or lower tissue density in multilingual AD versus monolingual AD, a pattern consistent with cognitive reserve in AD. In areas related to language and cognitive control (LCC), both multilingual MCI and AD patients had thicker cortex than the monolinguals. Results were largely replicated in our native-born Canadian MCI participants, ruling out immigration as a potential confound. Finally, multilingual patients showed a correlation between cortical thickness in LCC regions and performance on episodic memory tasks. Given that multilinguals and monolinguals were matched on memory functioning, this suggests that increased gray matter in these regions may provide support to memory functioning. Our results suggest that being multilingual may contribute to increased gray matter in LCC areas and may also delay the cognitive effects of disease-related atrophy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Designing acoustics for linguistically diverse classrooms: Effects of background noise, reverberation and talker foreign accent on speech comprehension by native and non-native English-speaking listeners

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Peng, Zhao Ellen

The current classroom acoustics standard (ANSI S12.60-2010) recommends core learning spaces not to exceed background noise level (BNL) of 35 dBA and reverberation time (RT) of 0.6 second, based on speech intelligibility performance mainly by the native English-speaking population. Existing literature has not correlated these recommended values well with student learning outcomes. With a growing population of non-native English speakers in American classrooms, the special needs for perceiving degraded speech among non-native listeners, either due to realistic room acoustics or talker foreign accent, have not been addressed in the current standard. This research seeks to investigate the effects of BNL and RT on the comprehension of English speech from native English and native Mandarin Chinese talkers as perceived by native and non-native English listeners, and to provide acoustic design guidelines to supplement the existing standard. This dissertation presents two studies on the effects of RT and BNL on more realistic classroom learning experiences. How do native and non-native English-speaking listeners perform on speech comprehension tasks under adverse acoustic conditions, if the English speech is produced by talkers of native English (Study 1) versus native Mandarin Chinese (Study 2)? Speech comprehension materials were played back in a listening chamber to individual listeners: native and non-native English-speaking in Study 1; native English, native Mandarin Chinese, and other non-native English-speaking in Study 2. Each listener was screened for baseline English proficiency level, and completed dual tasks simultaneously involving speech comprehension and adaptive dot-tracing under 15 acoustic conditions, comprised of three BNL conditions (RC-30, 40, and 50) and five RT scenarios (0.4 to 1.2 seconds). The results show that BNL and RT negatively affect both objective performance and subjective perception of speech comprehension, more severely for non

Auxiliary BE Production by African American English-Speaking Children with and without Specific Language Impairment

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Garrity, April W.; Oetting, Janna B.

2010-01-01

Purpose: To examine 3 forms ("am," "is," "are") of auxiliary BE production by African American English (AAE)-speaking children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Thirty AAE speakers participated: 10 six-year-olds with SLI, 10 age-matched controls, and 10 language-matched controls. BE production was examined through…

Influence of English-Language Proficiency on the Cognitive Processing of Survey Questions

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Park, Hyunjoo; Sha, M. Mandy; Willis, Gordon

2016-01-01

When recruiting respondents for cognitive interviews testing translated survey questionnaires, researchers often recommend interviewing monolingual non-English speakers because they are the likely users of the translations. However, these individuals are hard to recruit, and there is no standard definition of monolingual. Using cognitive interview…

The English Monolingual Dictionary: Its Use among Second Year Students of University Technology of Malaysia, International Campus, Kuala Lumpur

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Amerrudin Abd. Manan

2011-07-01

Full Text Available This research was conducted to seek information on English Monolingual Dictionary (EMD use among 2nd year students of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, Kuala Lumpur (UTMKL. Specifically, the researchers wish to discover, firstly the students’ habit and attitude in EMD use; secondly, to discover their knowledge with regard to the language learning resources available in EMD; thirdly, to discover their skill in using EMD, and finally, to discover whether there were formal instructions in EMD use when they were studying in their former schools and tertiary education. One hundred and ninety-six students took part in the survey by answering a questionnaire. The results of the study reveal that the respondents were poor users of EMD. They rarely consulted the EMD; their knowledge of the language learning resources in the EMD was limited; most perceived their EMD skill as average, and there was no instruction in EMD when they were at tertiary education and previously when they were at school.

Online Features of Qzone Weblog for Critical Peer Feedback to Facilitate Business English Writing

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Gao, Xianwei; Samuel, Moses; Asmawi, Adelina

2016-01-01

Qzone weblog is one of the most popular weblogs in China. This study explores Qzone weblog for critical peer feedback to facilitate Business English writing among the Chinese undergraduates. A qualitative case study is conducted by NVivo 8 to analyze the three research data of semistructured interviews, Business English writing assignments, and…

"If I speak English, what am I? I am full man, me": Emotional impact and barriers for refugees and asylum seekers learning English.

Science.gov (United States)

Salvo, Tania; de C Williams, Amanda C

2017-01-01

Lack of proficiency in the language of the host country predicts distress among refugees, but many refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom have less than functional English. This study examined how learning English affected refugees' and asylum seekers' lives, particularly their emotional wellbeing, to explore what factors, particularly psychological ones, facilitated or impeded their learning English. We recruited 16 refugees and asylum seekers from an inner-city National Health Service trauma service and from a charity providing one-to-one English classes. All participants were interviewed in English. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis from a critical realist perspective. Interviewees provided consistent accounts of their efforts to learn English, integrated into often unsettled and difficult lives. The analysis generated six themes in two domains. The impact of learning English was mainly positive, associated with autonomy, sense of achievement, and aspirations. Barriers to learning English consisted of other problems affecting refugees' capacity to learn, limited opportunities to speak English, and a sense of shame associated with perceived lack of English language competence. Findings highlight the need to provide adequate psychological support for refugees and asylum seekers learning English, recognising its importance in promoting both their integration in the UK and their individual psychological well-being.

Cognitive reserve in Parkinson's disease: the effects of welsh-english bilingualism on executive function.

Science.gov (United States)

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.

Validity of Montreal Cognitive Assessment in non-english speaking patients with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnan, Syam; Justus, Sunitha; Meluveettil, Radhamani; Menon, Ramshekhar N; Sarma, Sankara P; Kishore, Asha

2015-01-01

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment is a brief and easy screening tool for accurately testing cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. We tested its validity for use in non-English (Malayalam) speaking patients with Parkinson's disease. We developed a Malayalam (a south-Indian language) version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment and applied to 70 patients with Parkinson's disease and 60 age- and education-matched healthy controls. Metric properties were assessed, and the scores were compared with the performance in validated Malayalam versions of Mini Mental Status Examination and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Malayalam showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability and its scores correlated with Mini Mental Status Examination (patients: R = 0.70; P speaking Parkinson's disease patients for early screening and potential future interventions for cognitive dysfunction.

ELL Excel: Using Peer Mentoring to Help English Language Learners Excel in American Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Turney, Kristilynn M.

2013-01-01

This action research study describes implementation of a peer mentorship program to improve the performance of English language learners at the research site, a suburban high school in Ohio. With the rapidly increasing number of English language learners at the research site as well as schools across the country and the expectations of No Child…

Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, Andrea A. N.; Castellanos-Ryan, Natalie; Parent, Sophie; Jacques, Sophie; Séguin, Jean R.

2017-01-01

Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, multilingual children show different vocabulary sizes or rates of vocabulary growth, (3) the age of onset of second-language acquisition for multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth, and (4) the sociolinguistic context of the languages spoken by multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth. Results showed increases in vocabulary size across time for all children, with a steeper increase prior to school entry. A significant difference between monolingual and multilingual children who speak a minority language was observed with regards to vocabulary size at school entry and vocabulary growth prior to school entry, but growth rate differences were no longer present following school entry. Taken together, results suggest that which languages children speak may matter more than being multilingual per se. PMID:29354017

Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry.

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, Andrea A N; Castellanos-Ryan, Natalie; Parent, Sophie; Jacques, Sophie; Séguin, Jean R

2018-01-01

Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, multilingual children show different vocabulary sizes or rates of vocabulary growth, (3) the age of onset of second-language acquisition for multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth, and (4) the sociolinguistic context of the languages spoken by multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth. Results showed increases in vocabulary size across time for all children, with a steeper increase prior to school entry. A significant difference between monolingual and multilingual children who speak a minority language was observed with regards to vocabulary size at school entry and vocabulary growth prior to school entry, but growth rate differences were no longer present following school entry. Taken together, results suggest that which languages children speak may matter more than being multilingual per se.

Monolingual or bilingual intervention for primary language impairment? A randomized control trial.

Science.gov (United States)

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

Cognitive Reserve in Parkinson’s Disease: The Effects of Welsh-English Bilingualism on Executive Function

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.

Comparing the Effect of Using Monolingual versus Bilingual Dictionary on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners' Vocabulary Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Ahangari, Saeideh; Dogolsara, Shokoufeh Abbasi

2015-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the effect of using two types of dictionaries (monolingual and bilingual) on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning. An OPT (Oxford placement test, 2001) was administered among 90 students 60 of whom were selected as the participants of this study. They were sophomore students studying English as a…

Skype™ Conference Calls: A Way to Promote Speaking Skills in the Teaching and Learning of English

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yeferson Romaña Correa

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of a research project on the teaching and learning of English through the use of Skype™ conference calls. The research was carried out with a group of 12 English as a foreign language adult learners in the language institute of Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Bogotá, Colombia. The findings of this study suggest that Skype™ conference calls might be considered as an influential computer-mediated communication tool in order to promote English as a foreign language adult A1 learners’ speaking skill, especially for social interaction purposes and oral reinforcement of both language fluency and course contents outside of classroom settings.

The Impact of Structural Competence towards Speaking Competence of the Fourth Semester Students of English Department

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Muhammad Nafi Annury

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper tries to define any impact of structural competence towards speaking competence. In this research, the writer used descriptive co-relational method. It was used to describe whether there was an impact between two variables, i.e. structural competence (X as independent variable and speaking competence (Y as dependent variable. The subject of study was the fourth semester students of English department of Tarbiyah Faculty IAIN Walisongo Semarang. After the data had been analyzed, it was found that there was significant impact of structural competence especially in appropriateness. It helped students to arrange words into sentences that they utter.

Peer-reviewed public health journals from Arabic-speaking countries: An updated snapshot.

Science.gov (United States)

Aboul-Enein, Basil H; Bernstein, Joshua; Bowser, Jacquelyn E

2017-02-01

There is a positive association between availability of regional peer-reviewed public health information systems and progressive change in community and population health. The objective of this brief report was to identify public health journals in Arabic-speaking countries actively publishing as of 2016. We conducted an electronic search in several electronic database records for public health journals using a combination of search terms. We excluded journals that focused on human medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing, and other discipline-specific or clinical health professions. We identified twenty-five public health journals for review. Five journals were interrupted or discontinued. Only three journals had a consistent, uninterrupted active publication history of greater than 20 years. Most journals were not in the regional native language. Introduction of regional public health-dedicated journals with in-print and electronic availability and also to be published in region-native languages may require interdisciplinary partnerships. Region-wide public health journals such as the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal could serve as an ideal model for the establishment of additional local and regional public health journals in Arabic-speaking countries.

Socialization Goals, Parenting Practices, and Peer Competence in Chinese and English Preschoolers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Emma; Rao, Nirmala

2003-01-01

Examined relations between Hong Kong and English mothers' socialization goals and childrearing practices and their impact upon preschool peer competence. Found significant correlations between socialization toward filial piety and authoritarian practices, and valuing socioemotional development and authoritative parenting for both groups. Chinese…

The Evolution of beliefs and opinions on matters related to marriage and sexual behaviour among French-speaking Catholic Quebecers and English-speaking Protestant Ontarians

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Miller, Caia

2006-01-01

Full Text Available EnglishThe authors argue that the important changes in behaviour related to family andsexual life that were seen in Quebec during the second half of the 20th centuryare a consequence of a major transformation of the foundation of the normativesystem shared by the members of Quebec's main socio-religious group, French speakingCatholics. Using data from Gallup polls, the authors compare theevolution of the opinions of French-speaking Quebec Catholics and English speakingOntario Protestants on matters related to sexual and family behaviourfrom the 1950s to the beginning of the 2000s. The general result is that theevolution of the differences between the two groups is compatible with thehypothesis.FrenchLes auteurs proposent d’expliquer les importants changements qui se sontproduits, dans le Québec de la deuxième moitié du 20e siècle, dans lescomportements liés à la famille et à la vie sexuelle par la transformation dusystème normatif des membres de son principal groupe socio-religieux, lesfrancophones catholiques. À partir des données de sondages Gallup, ilscomparent l'évolution des opinions des francophones catholiques du Québec etdes anglophones protestants de l’Ontario sur des questions liées à la famille etau comportement sexuel et de famille des années 1950 à 2000. L’évolution desdifférences entre les deux groupes est compatible avec l’hypothèse.

Cognitive Reserve in Parkinson's Disease: The Effects of Welsh-English Bilingualism on Executive Function

OpenAIRE

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 ...

A Tale of Two Features: Perception of Cantonese Lexical Tone and English Lexical Stress in Cantonese-English Bilinguals

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Xiuli; Burnham, Denis

2015-01-01

This study investigated the similarities and differences in perception of Cantonese tones and English stress patterns by Cantonese-English bilingual children, adults, and English monolingual adults. All three groups were asked to discriminate pairs of syllables that minimally differed in either Cantonese tone or in English stress. Bilingual children’s performance on tone perception was comparable to their performance on stress perception. By contrast, bilingual adults’ performance on tone perception was lower than their performance on stress perception, and there was a similar pattern in English monolingual adults. Bilingual adults tended to perform better than English monolingual adults on both the tone and stress perception tests. A significant correlation between tone perception and stress perception performance was found in bilingual children but not in bilingual adults. All three groups showed lower accuracy in the high rising-low rising contrast than any of the other 14 Cantonese tone contrasts. The acoustic analyses revealed that average F0, F0 onset, and F0 major slope were the critical acoustic correlates of Cantonese tones, whereas multiple acoustic correlates were salient in English stress, including average F0, spectral balance, duration and intensity. We argue that participants’ difficulty in perceiving high rising-low rising contrasts originated from the contrasts’ similarities in F0 onset and average F0; indeed the difference between their major slopes was the only cue with which to distinguish them. Acoustic-perceptual correlation analyses showed that although the average F0 and F0 onset were associated with tone perception performance in all three groups, F0 major slope was only associated with tone perception in the bilingual adult group. These results support a dynamic interactive account of suprasegmental speech perception by emphasizing the positive prosodic transfer between Cantonese tone and English stress, and the role that level of

BRINGING POP-CULTURE INTO CLASSROOM: SPEAKING 3’S GOT TALENT ACTIVITY TO ENHANCE SPEAKING SKILL OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

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Muhamad Hasbi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Following the widespread and growing popularity of English communication across the globe, the implementation of and the research on innovation in language teaching is mushrooming, especially in the teaching of English speaking. This study aims at measuring how far pop-culture themed classroom activity named Speaking 3’s Got Talent gives impacts for students speaking skill improvement at IAIN Salatiga, through an observation of a class in the English Department with a number of students of 30 undertaking Speaking 3 course in the odd-semester of the academic year of 2016/2017. Using a quantitative approach, this research utilizes questionnaire and direct observation for collecting data, and makes use of three methods of data analysis namely questionnaire scale-analysis, CEFR (The Common European Framework speaking grid, and teacher’s made rubric for speaking for assessment which pinpoint three key measured variables namely students’ attitude toward the activity, teacher’s assessment toward students’ performance referring to both CEFR and teacher’s made rubric. This research finds that students had positive (excellent and very good attitude towards the time, English, avatar, expertise and assessment variables of the activity and viewed that it is effective in downgrading their degree of stage fright; secondly, students obtain excellent and very good assessment in both the CEFR and teacher’s made rubric model. The three methods of measurements implied its affectivity in enhancing university students’ speaking skill and both student and teacher assessment recommend this activity to be applied in English classrooms. Keywords: speaking skill, pop-cultural activity, attitude, stage fright, assessment

A report of the 2000 and 2001 paternity testing workshops of the English speaking working group of the international society for forensic genetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hallenberg, Charlotte; Morling, Niels

2002-01-01

During the last 10 years, the English Speaking Working Group (ESWG) of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) has once a year arranged a Paternity Testing Workshop in which blood samples as well as a questionnaire concerning laboratory strategies were distributed to the participat......During the last 10 years, the English Speaking Working Group (ESWG) of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) has once a year arranged a Paternity Testing Workshop in which blood samples as well as a questionnaire concerning laboratory strategies were distributed...

English- and Spanish-speaking Latina mothers' beliefs about food, health, and mothering.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomel, Jessica N; Zamora, Angela

2007-10-01

Parent beliefs regarding food, health, and child feeding behaviors among Latinos have not been well-documented. A series of eight focus groups were conducted with English-speaking and Spanish-speaking low-income Latina mothers of preschoolers to investigate their beliefs regarding how food and food preparation are related to their children's health and to their own roles as mothers. Systematic content analysis using NUDIST 6 revealed seven themes discussed by the focus groups. Integration of these themes revealed three major areas of consideration: (1) a lack of connection between the domains of eating, overweight, and health outcomes; (2) the role of parent modeling of eating behaviors; and (3) the use of feeding strategies that may not be conducive to the development of healthy eating behaviors. Furthermore, the data suggest that there are important distinctions among Latinos based on language preference, and that a "one-size-fits-all" approach to modeling Latino mothers' feeding beliefs may not be appropriate.

German Migrant Teachers in Australia: Insights into the Largest Cohort of Non-English Speaking Background Teachers

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Bense, Katharina

2015-01-01

The research reported in this paper investigates the situation of German migrant teachers in Australia. Although German born teachers represent the largest group of non-English speaking background teachers in Australia, there is no study of the circumstances and experiences of these teachers in Australia. This study aims to fill this gap. It…

Effects of Classroom Bilingualism on Task-Shifting, Verbal Memory, and Word Learning in Children

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Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana

2014-01-01

We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual-immersion schooling for an average of 2 years. The groups were compared on a…

The growth of peer support: an international charter.

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Stratford, Anthony C; Halpin, Matt; Phillips, Keely; Skerritt, Frances; Beales, Anne; Cheng, Vincent; Hammond, Magdel; O'Hagan, Mary; Loreto, Catherine; Tiengtom, Kim; Kobe, Benon; Harrington, Steve; Fisher, Dan; Davidson, Larry

2017-07-06

While mental health peer support originated in its contemporary form in English-speaking countries, it is now spreading rapidly across the globe. This rapid growth presents two major challenges. The first pertains to "role integrity" and the second to the possible culture-bound nature of peer support; a concern which has attended the emergence of peer support in countries that have significantly different worldviews. Recognizing the growth of peer support and the resulting challenges, this report results from the convening of an international consortium of peer leaders from six continents (all but Antarctica). Following an environmental scan of the state of peer support globally, this group moved to develop consensus on a common, core set of guiding principles and values to ensure a robust future for the development of effective, culturally responsive forms of peer support. Key principles, values and practices considered essential to peer support are presented. Assuming that sufficient political and community support are generated, there can be considerable enthusiasm for the expansion of peer support around the globe. Peer leaders are encouraged, however, to develop and deliver peer support both with integrity to its founding values in a civil rights and social justice framework and with responsiveness to local cultural worldviews.

Developmental trajectories of preschool early literacy skills: a comparison of language-minority and monolingual-English children.

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Lonigan, Christopher J; Farver, Joann M; Nakamoto, Jonathan; Eppe, Stefanie

2013-10-01

This study utilized latent growth-curve analyses to determine if the early literacy skills of children who were Spanish-speaking language-minority (LM) followed a similar quantitative growth profile over a preschool year as that of a group of children from a comparable socioeconomic (SES) background but who were not LM. Participants, who ranged in age from 37 to 60 months (M = 50.73; SD = 5.04), included 540 Spanish-speaking LM and 408 non-LM children (47% girls) who were enrolled in 30 Head Start classrooms. Scores on a measure of oral language and measures of code-related skills (i.e., phonological awareness, print knowledge) were lower for LM children than for non-LM children. LM children experienced significantly faster growth in oral language skills than did non-LM children. Growth for print knowledge and blending was similar for LM and non-LM children, whereas LM children experienced slightly less growth than non-LM children on elision. The inclusion of child (i.e., initial language scores, age, nonverbal cognitive ability) and family (i.e., maternal/paternal education, 2-parent household, father employment) variables eliminated initial differences between LM and non-LM children on the code-related variables, and the effect was due primarily to children's initial oral language skills. These results indicate that the early risk for reading-related problems experienced by Spanish-speaking LM children is due both to low SES and to their LM status, and they highlight the critical need for the development, evaluation, and deployment of early instructional programs for LM children with limited English oral language proficiency.

EFL LEARNERS REPAIR SEQUENCE TYPES ANALYSIS AS PEER- ASSESSMENT IN ORAL PERFORMANCE

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Novia Trisanti

2017-04-01

Full Text Available There are certain concerns that EFL teacher needs to observe in assessing students oral performance, such as the amount of words which the learners utter, the grammatical errors that they make, the hesitation and certain expression that they produce. This paper attempts to give overview of research results using qualitative method which show the impacts of repair sequence types analysis on those elements needed to be observed as students peer and self-assessment to enhance their speaking ability. The subject was tertiary level learners of English Department, State University of Semarang, Indonesia in 2012. Concerning the repair types, there are four repair sequences as reviewed by Buckwalter (2001, they are Self-Initiated Self Repair (SISR, Self-Initiated Other Repair (SIOR, Other-Initiated Self Repair (OISR, and Other-Initiated Other Repair (OIOR. Having the repair sequences types anaysis, the students investigated the repair sequence of their peers while they performed in class conversation. The modified peer- assessment guideline as proposed by Brown (2004 was used in identifying, categorizing and classifying the types of repair sequences in their peers oral performance. While, the peer-assessment can be a valuable additional means to improve students speaking since it is one of the motives that drive peer- evaluation, along with peer- verification, also peer and self- enhancement. The analysis results were then interpreted to see whether there was significant finding related to the students’ oral performance enhancement.

Self-Regulation Abilities and Spanish-Speaking Preschoolers' Vocabulary and Letter-Word Skills in Spanish and English

Science.gov (United States)

Palermo, Francisco; Mikulski, Ariana M.; Conejo, L. Diego

2017-01-01

Research Findings: This study examined the heterogeneity in Spanish-speaking children's (N = 117; M age = 53 months; SD = 5 months; 57% boys) vocabulary and letter-word skills in English and Spanish after one year of preschool and the extent to which early self-regulation abilities (i.e., executive function and effortful control) were associated…

Conceptual scoring of receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children.

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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.

Non-Native & Native English Teachers

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İrfan Tosuncuoglu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In many countries the primary (mother tongue language is not English but there is a great demand for English language teachers all over the world. The demand in this field is try to be filled largely by non-native English speaking teachers who have learned English in the country or abroad, or from another non native English peaking teachers. In some countries, particularly those where English speaking is a a sign of status, the students prefer to learn English from a native English speaker. The perception is that a non-native English speaking teacher is a less authentic teacher than a native English speaker and their instruction is not satifactory in some ways. This paper will try to examine the literature to explore whether there is a difference in instructional effectiveness between NNESTs and native English teachers.

Neurocognitive performance and symptom profiles of Spanish-speaking Hispanic athletes on the ImPACT test.

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Ott, Summer; Schatz, Philip; Solomon, Gary; Ryan, Joseph J

2014-03-01

This study documented baseline neurocognitive performance of 23,815 athletes on the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) test. Specifically, 9,733 Hispanic, Spanish-speaking athletes who completed the ImPACT test in English and 2,087 Hispanic, Spanish-speaking athletes who completed the test in Spanish were compared with 11,955 English-speaking athletes who completed the test in English. Athletes were assigned to age groups (13-15, 16-18). Results revealed a significant effect of language group (p Spanish-speaking athletes completing the test in Spanish scored more poorly than Spanish-speaking and English-speaking athletes completing the test in English, on all Composite scores and Total Symptom scores. Spanish-speaking athletes completing the test in English also performed more poorly than English-speaking athletes completing the test in English on three Composite scores. These differences in performance and reported symptoms highlight the need for caution in interpreting ImPACT test data for Hispanic Americans.

A Program to Provide Vocational Training to Limited English Speaking Adults in a Correctional Setting. Final Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Lane

The Windham School System implemented a pilot project designed to provide bilingual vocational training to limited English-speaking adults in a correctional setting. Inmate students enrolled in Windham bilingual academic classes on the Eastham Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections were interviewed, and procedures for student screening and…

The Model of the Development of Instructional Material for Enhancing Students' English Speaking Skills at Elementary Schools in Bandar Lampung

OpenAIRE

Sutiyono, Akhmad

2014-01-01

The main problem of the research is what instructional material that should be developed to enhance students' speaking skills. The main objective of this research is to develop English instructional material for enhancing students' speaking skills at elementary schools. In conducting the research, the writer used Research and Development method. The data of the research were collected through observation, questionnaire, interview, test, and documentation. The validation of the model was carri...

Excitatory and inhibitory priming by attended and ignored non-recycled words with monolinguals and bilinguals.

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Neumann, Ewald; Nkrumah, Ivy K; Chen, Zhe

2018-03-03

Experiments examining identity priming from attended and ignored novel words (words that are used only once except when repetition is required due to experimental manipulation) in a lexical decision task are reported. Experiment 1 tested English monolinguals whereas Experiment 2 tested Twi (a native language of Ghana, Africa)-English bilinguals. Participants were presented with sequential pairs of stimuli composed of a prime followed by a probe, with each containing two items. The participants were required to name the target word in the prime display, and to make a lexical decision to the target item in the probe display. On attended repetition (AR) trials the probe target item was identical to the target word on the preceding attentional display. On ignored repetition (IR) trials the probe target item was the same as the distractor word in the preceding attentional display. The experiments produced facilitated (positive) priming in the AR trials and delayed (negative) priming in the IR trials. Significantly, the positive and negative priming effects also replicated across both monolingual and bilingual groups of participants, despite the fact that the bilinguals were responding to the task in their non-dominant language.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Monolingual, Bilingual, and "Bilingualised" Dictionaries in the Comprehension and Production of New Words.

Science.gov (United States)

Laufer, Batia; Hadar, Linor

1997-01-01

Examines the differences in effectiveness of three types of dictionaries--monolingual, bilingual, and "bilingualised" in the comprehension and production of new words by learners of English as a foreign language. The study tested participants on the comprehension of target words and on their ability to use these words in their own sentences. (16…

The Unified Language Testing Plan: Speaking Proficiency Test. Spanish and English Pilot Validation Studies. Report Number 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Thornton, Julie A.

This report describes one segment of the Federal Language Testing Board's Unified Language Testing Plan (ULTP), the validation of speaking proficiency tests in Spanish and English. The ULTP is a project to increase standardization of foreign language proficiency measurement and promote sharing of resources among testing programs in the federal…

Do Peer Tutors Help Teach ESL Students to Learn English as a Second Language More Successfully?

Science.gov (United States)

Lyttle, LeighAnne

2011-01-01

This research study tries to understand the information processing model and social learning theory in regards to teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to Spanish speakers by using peer teaching methods. This study will examine each theory's concepts and frameworks to better comprehend what teaching methods support English language learning.…

The Effect of Peer Support on University Level Students' English Language Achievements

Science.gov (United States)

Sari, Irfan; Çeliköz, Nadir; Ünal, Süleyman

2017-01-01

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of peer support on university level students' English language achievements. An experimental model with pretest-posttest experimental and control group was used with 800 students who were studying at a university in Istanbul vicinity. As experiment group, 400 students (200 of whom…

THE USE OF SKIT TECHNIQUE TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ SELF-CONFIDENCE IN SPEAKING

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Dini Deswarni

2017-12-01

The study aimed to know the use of Skit Technique to increase students’ self-confidence in speaking English. Speaking is one of important skills in English. Self-Confidence is really need to speak in English. Someone needs self-confidence to express their idea and their feelings in a foreign language especially in English. Not all of the people have good self-confidence in using English to express or to share their idea and their opinion. The aim of this study is to know whether the Skit Technique can increase self- confidence in speaking English. In other words Skit Technique can help to increase self-confidence in speaking English. The design of this research is experiment. The population of the research is 46 students at the eight grade students of MTs Darul Ihsan Duri. The sample technique is random sampling. From the data, it can be seen that Ttable < Tvalue (2.101 < 12.466. It means Ha is accepted and Skit Technique done in experiment class.

Value of Web-based learning activities for nursing students who speak English as a second language.

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Jane; Salamonson, Yenna; Du, Hui Yun; Andrew, Sharon; Frost, Steven A; Dunncliff, Kirstin; Davidson, Patricia M

2011-07-01

There is an increasing need to address the educational needs of students with English as a second language. The authors assessed the value of a Web-based activity to meet the needs of students with English as a second language in a bioscience subject. Using telephone contact, we interviewed 21 Chinese students, 24 non-Chinese students with English as a second language, and 7 native English-speaking students to identify the perception of the value of the intervention. Four themes emerged from the qualitative data: (1) Language is a barrier to achievement and affects self-confidence; (2) Enhancement intervention promoted autonomous learning; (3) Focusing on the spoken word increases interaction capacity and self-confidence; (4) Assessment and examination drive receptivity and sense of importance. Targeted strategies to promote language acculturation and acquisition are valued by students. Linking language acquisition skills to assessment tasks is likely to leverage improvements in competence. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Performance on Auditory and Visual Tasks of Inhibition in English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Adults: Do Bilinguals Have a Cognitive Advantage?

Science.gov (United States)

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…

Maori English

Science.gov (United States)

Maclagan, Margaret; King, Jeanette; Gillon, Gail

2008-01-01

The Maori language is the language of the indigenous people of New Zealand. Today, not all Maori speak the Maori language, and many Maori as well as non-Maori speak Maori English, the fastest growing of the main varieties of New Zealand English. This paper provides a background to the linguistic situation of the Maori populace in New Zealand,…

Is bilingualism associated with a lower risk of dementia in community-living older adults? Cross-sectional and prospective analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

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.

English and Persian Cognates/Pseudo Cognates-A Cross-Linguistic Investigation

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Amin Marzban

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Different world languages have a lot of contact with each other and have had different influences on one another. Cognates, words which are similar across two or more languages in some aspects, especially with regard to pronunciation, portray an interesting and relevant aspect of foreign/second language translation and research. This study intended to identify a type of cognate words called false cognates in Persian and English, words which have the same form in two languages but represent different meanings, and tried to study and determine the historical relations between English and Persian words. It also aimed to trace their route back from Proto Indo-European languages to the modern languages. To this end, the related literature was gone through and a sufficient corpus of information has been revealed. Afterwards, authentic monolingual dictionaries in both Farsi and English languages were consulted to provide definitions for the cognates and allow for their cross-linguistic comparison. The findings revealed that most of such problematic cognates with different meanings in Farsi and English as found through this study are likely to be confusing and deceptive for Farsi-speaking EFL learners. The findings also pointed to the need for this line of research to receive more scholarly attention. The study of true and false cognates has some implications for contrastive analysts, error analysts, translators, translation theorists, foreign language teachers, curriculum designers, as well as lexicographers and lexicologists.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY

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Irwan

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The use of English in Indonesia has developed quickly in all of the fields. It is affected by many things in many ways. The need of English has also increased quickly in many parts of Indonesian life. To face it, teaching English at young ages or studentseems like the solution. Speaking is one of the skills that should be tough to the student. To get effective learning, it's useful to know what are factors contributing to the student speaking development. This research showed that there are some contributing factors to the students’ speaking development. Those factors are Teacher, Daily Practice, Listening to English Music, Family Support, Watching English Video and Movie, Motivation to Learn, Classroom Environment, Learning Material. Such as a good teacher would provide good learning. Support of the family would also give an effective outcome for the student's development. So, the factors should be known to get a better outcome for the students

EFL Speaking Anxiety among Senior High School Students and Policy Recommendations

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Amirul Mukminin

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This report drew on a larger study which was to describe and understand the sources of senior high school students’ English language speaking anxiety at senior high schools in Jambi, Indonesia. The purpose of this paper was to report some of findings from the qualitative interview data on the sources of senior high school students’ English language speaking anxiety at one senior high school in Jambi, Indonesia. Data were collected through demographic profiles and semi-structured interview with senior high school students. The demographic data were analysed descriptively while the interview data were transcribed and analysed line by line to generate and develop codes and themes. An analysis of the interview data revealed that five major themes were related to students’ English language speaking anxiety, including (1 low speaking skill due to lack of vocabulary and grammar, (2 fear of negative responses from others, (3 low self-esteem to speak in English, (4 fear of being evaluated by teachers, and (5 cultural influences to speak English due to a more teacher-centred style. Suggestions and policy implications are also discussed.

A Cultural Perspective on Sexual Health: HIV Positive and Negative Monolingual Hispanic Women in South Florida.

Science.gov (United States)

Villar-Loubet, Olga M; Vamos, Szonja; Jones, Deborah L; Lopez, Eliot; Weiss, Stephen M

2011-06-01

This study explored feelings and attitudes with regard to HIV and sexual health among 82 monolingual Spanish-speaking, HIV-positive ( n = 30) and at-risk women ( n = 52), participating in the NOW en Español Project-a cognitive behavioral sexual risk-reduction intervention in Miami, Florida. Hispanic cultural values and beliefs, such as machismo, marianismo, and sexual silence, emerged throughout the intervention as important determinants of sexual behavior. Recommendations for integrating these culture-specific issues in sexual health interventions for Hispanic women are provided.

L2 vs. L3 Initial State: A Comparative Study of the Acquisition of French DPs by Vietnamese Monolinguals and Cantonese-English Bilinguals

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Yan-Kit Ingrid

2005-01-01

This paper compares the initial state of second language acquisition (L2A) and third language acquisition (L3A) from the generative linguistics perspective. We examine the acquisition of the Determiner Phrase (DP) by two groups of beginning French learners: an L2 group (native speakers of Vietnamese who do not speak any English) and an L3 group…

Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors. Volume 1: Main Report

Science.gov (United States)

2007-02-01

understand forms to military personnel and monolingual English-speaking analysts in response to direct or implicit requests. Human, Social, Cultural, and... dictionary defines “disruptive” as the adjective form of the verb disrupts, which means to interrupt, separate forcefully, or shatter. In application to

Effects of Recurrent Otitis Media on Language, Speech, and Educational Achievement in Menominee Indian Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Thielke, Helen M.; Shriberg, Lawrence D.

1990-01-01

Among 28 monolingual English-speaking Menominee Indian children, a history of otitis media was associated with significantly lower scores on measures of language comprehension and speech perception and production at ages 3-5, and on school standardized tests 2 years later. Contains 38 references. (SV)

Action video games improve reading abilities and visual-to-auditory attentional shifting in English-speaking children with dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Franceschini, Sandro; Trevisan, Piergiorgio; Ronconi, Luca; Bertoni, Sara; Colmar, Susan; Double, Kit; Facoetti, Andrea; Gori, Simone

2017-07-19

Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties in learning to read and there is some evidence that action video games (AVG), without any direct phonological or orthographic stimulation, improve reading efficiency in Italian children with dyslexia. However, the cognitive mechanism underlying this improvement and the extent to which the benefits of AVG training would generalize to deep English orthography, remain two critical questions. During reading acquisition, children have to integrate written letters with speech sounds, rapidly shifting their attention from visual to auditory modality. In our study, we tested reading skills and phonological working memory, visuo-spatial attention, auditory, visual and audio-visual stimuli localization, and cross-sensory attentional shifting in two matched groups of English-speaking children with dyslexia before and after they played AVG or non-action video games. The speed of words recognition and phonological decoding increased after playing AVG, but not non-action video games. Furthermore, focused visuo-spatial attention and visual-to-auditory attentional shifting also improved only after AVG training. This unconventional reading remediation program also increased phonological short-term memory and phoneme blending skills. Our report shows that an enhancement of visuo-spatial attention and phonological working memory, and an acceleration of visual-to-auditory attentional shifting can directly translate into better reading in English-speaking children with dyslexia.

Overview of “Splendid Speaking” Website (http://splendid-speaking.com

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Peter Travis

2011-03-01

Full Text Available It is natural for adult learners preparing for upper-intermediate and advanced speaking examinations like the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE, the Business English Certificate (BEC or International English Language Teaching System (IELTS to feel daunted by the Speaking examination. Having their spoken English assessed ‘live’ in a high stakes situation can be quite stressful. To perform at their best in the exam learners need to be able to contribute fully to the various task formats within their spoken exam.Students preparing for these exams need to have regular practice in responding fully to questions, working cooperatively with a partner, and generally taking the opportunity to showcase their use of English. In our experience there was little in the way of freely-available structured materials for advanced speaking skills online. We decided we would like to help learners preparing for their respective exams as well as general upper intermediate to advanced students wishing to develop their speaking skills. We launched splendid-speaking.com in 2006.

Young Learners' Response Processes When Taking Computerized Tasks for Speaking Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Shinhye; Winke, Paula

2018-01-01

We investigated how young language learners process their responses on and perceive a computer-mediated, timed speaking test. Twenty 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old non-native English-speaking children (NNSs) and eight same-aged, native English-speaking children (NSs) completed seven computerized sample TOEFL® Primary™ speaking test tasks. We investigated…

Monolingual Lexicography and Linguistic Variation in Shona

African Journals Online (AJOL)

R.B. Ruthven

when working on monolingual Shona dictionaries. ... ciplines often refer to the term variation. ... phers of monolingual dictionaries encounter in their work. 2. ..... used or the literal sense first and the rarely used or the metaphorical sense(s).

Shared antenatal care fails to rate well with women of non-English-speaking backgrounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Small, R; Lumley, J; Yelland, J; Rice, P L

1998-01-05

To compare the views of women from non-English-speaking backgrounds who received antenatal care at a public hospital clinic with those whose care was shared between a public hospital clinic and a general practitioner. Structured interviews in the language of the woman's choice. Women were recruited from the postnatal wards of three maternity teaching hospitals in Melbourne between July 1994 and November 1995, and interviewed six to nine months later. Women born in Vietnam, Turkey and the Philippines who gave birth to a live healthy baby (over 1500 g) were eligible. Of 435 women recruited, 318 (Vietnamese [32.7%], Filipino [33.6%] and Turkish [33.6%]) completed the study. Women's ratings of their antenatal care overall and views on specific aspects of their antenatal care. Women in shared care (n = 151) were not more likely than women in public clinic care (n = 143) to rate their care as "very good" (odds ratio [OR], 1.38; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.72-2.63). Satisfaction with particular aspects of care (waiting times, opportunity to ask questions, whether caregivers were rushed, whether concerns were taken seriously) did not differ significantly between those in shared care and those in public clinic care. Women in shared care were not happier with their medical care than women in public clinic care (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.35-1.96), but were more likely to see a caregiver who spoke their language (OR, 17.69; 95% CI, 6.15-69.06), although two-thirds still saw a GP who spoke only English. Shared antenatal care is not more satisfying than public clinic care for women from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Further evaluation of shared care is clearly needed.

A systematic review of the experiences of undergraduate nursing students choosing to study at an English speaking university outside their homeland.

Science.gov (United States)

Terwijn, Ruth; Pearce, Susanne; Rogers-Clark, Catherine

Increasingly overseas students are attending university nursing programs in English-speaking countries to gain additional tertiary qualifications that may not be available in their homeland and also to fill the international nursing shortfall. For these students, some common issues identified and affirmed in qualitative research papers include loneliness, discriminatory experiences, developing communication, and academic skills. This systematic review will help identify and synthesise current issues through exploring the existing literature, giving an insight into the lives of international nursing students. Given the large and increasing number of these students, it is important to acknowledge and improve learning and other outcomes for them. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the best available evidence in relation to the experiences of undergraduate nursing students choosing to study at an English speaking university outside their homeland. This review sought high quality studies aimed at exploring the experience of undergraduate nursing students studying outside their homeland at an English speaking university. Both qualitative research studies and opinion-based text were considered for this review. An extensive search of the literature was conducted to identify research studies published between January 1990 and April 2011 in English and indexed in 37 major databases. All included articles were assessed independently by two reviewers (RT and SP), using the appropriate critical appraisal tool from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Data were extracted from included papers using appropriate standardised data extraction tools developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. Data from qualitative studies and textual and opinion papers were meta-synthesised separately using standardised instruments. Data synthesis of all included studies involved the pooling of findings and then grouping into categories on a basis of similarity of meaning. The categories

English reading and writing performance of Xitsonga-speaking Grade 7 learners in township schools: A case study

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Manyike, Tintswalo V.

2010-12-01

Full Text Available A clear preference for English as language of teaching and learning (LoLT is evident in most South African schools. However, discrepancies exist between language policy aims and educational outcomes with regard to the successful acquisition of English among English second language (ESL learners. Effective participation in all learning activities is closely linked to learners’ proficiency in the LoLT; poor English proficiency leads to underachievement across the curriculum. In the light of this, a case study as conducted to investigate the English reading and writing performance of Grade 7 Xitsonga-speaking learners in three selected township schools in the Tshwane metropolitan area, Gauteng Province. Firstly, a literature review was undertaken to explore the importance of reading and writing skills in the classroom with particular reference to the demands made on ESL learners. Following this, standardised tests were used to assess the learners’ English reading and writing performance. Findings indicated that learners performed poorly in both reading and writing; however, no significant relationship could be demonstrated between reading and writing, possibly due to the nature of the components of the test. The overall lack of reading and writing competence in English holds implications for learners’ academic achievement in all learning areas in situations in which English is used as the LoLT.

Cross-Linguistic Influence in French-English Bilingual Children's Possessive Constructions

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Nicoladis, Elena

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article was to test the predictions of a speech production model of cross-linguistic influence in French-English bilingual children. A speech production model predicts bidirectional influence (i.e., bilinguals' greater use of periphrastic constructions like the hat of the dog relative to monolinguals in English and reversed…

Multilingualism in Brussels: "I'd Rather Speak English"

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O'Donnell, Paul; Toebosch, AnneMarie

2008-01-01

Language is both a divisive and a unifying force in Brussels. Historically predominantly Dutch-speaking, surrounded by the officially Dutch-speaking federal state of Flanders, located in a majority Dutch-speaking nation-state, and with the majority of its Belgian citizens Francophone, Brussels has officially been bilingual Dutch-French since 1962.…

Presentation of self and symptoms in primary care consultations involving patients from non-English speaking backgrounds.

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Roberts, Celia; Sarangi, Srikant; Moss, Becky

2004-01-01

This paper draws on the PLEDGE research project (Patients with Limited English and Doctors in General Practice) 1 The Patients with Limited English and Doctors in General Practice (PLEDGE) project was funded by Sir Siegmund Warburg's Voluntary Settlement (2001-2003). The research team was: Celia Roberts, Roger Jones, Becky Moss, Srikant Sarangi and Val Wass. which has a database of 232 video-recorded interactions from GP surgeries in South East London. We focus on the opening episodes-the first opportunity the patient has to report on why they have come to see the doctor-to explore some of the contrasts in self presentation and the interactional work that doctors do when faced with the unexpected. Patients who speak a local London or standard variety of English present three aspects: a description of symptoms, the context in which they occurred, and an affective or epistemic stance. These 'micro discourse routines' are accomplished interactionally through the design of figure/ground relationships, framing and metacommunication and presentation of the 'moral self'. Although some patients from non-English speaking backgrounds use broadly similar 'micro discourse routines', the majority configure the relationship between medically salient facts, adequate contextual information and the stance which conveys the 'moral self' in different and apparently less 'orderly' ways. So openings often become protracted and harder work interactionally for both sides. While conversation analytic studies and communication skills textbooks represent the medical consultations as orderly, we suggest that such apparent orderliness must, at least, be partly the result of ironing out linguistic and cultural diversity. Interactional sociolinguistic analysis is used to shed light on the design of these routines and to provide analytic frameworks for doctors in reflecting on their own practice in ways which challenge patient-centred models.

What Dictionary to Use? A Closer Look at the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary," the "Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English" and the "Longman Lexicon of Contempory English."

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Shaw, A. M.

1983-01-01

Three dictionaries are compared for their usefulness to teachers of English as a foreign language, teachers in training, students, and other users of English as a foreign language. The issue of monolingual versus bilingual dictionary format is discussed, and a previous analysis of the two bilingual dictionaries is summarized. Pronunciation…

Cross-Cultural Adjustment of Native-Speaking English Teachers (NETs) in Hong Kong: A Factor in Attrition and Retention

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Chu, Chau Kan; Morrison, Keith

2011-01-01

This paper argues that, despite government support in financial and contractual matters, ongoing problems of retention of Native-speaking English Teachers (NETs) in Hong Kong stem, in part, from problems of cross-cultural adjustment. The paper reports a small-scale qualitative investigation into the experiences of NETS in Hong Kong and finds…

A New Vision for Integrated Breast Care

Science.gov (United States)

2001-09-01

culturally competent and sensitive educational materials for monolingual non-English speaking patients. Our goal is to begin with materials in Spanish, Russian...Data elements/data dictionary A fundamental aspect of any database is the database design, which encompasses both the data tables and the data elements

Large Grain Instruction and Phonological Awareness Skill Influence Rime Sensitivity, Processing Speed, and Early Decoding Skill in Adult L2 Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, Christine; Booth, James R.

2015-01-01

Linguistic knowledge, cognitive ability, and instruction influence how adults acquire a second orthography yet it remains unclear how different forms of instruction influence grain size sensitivity and subsequent decoding skill and speed. Thirty-seven monolingual, literate English-speaking adults were trained on a novel artificial orthography…

Home and Community Language Proficiency in Spanish-English Early Bilingual University Students.

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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.

Monolingual Lexicography and Linguistic Variation in Shona

African Journals Online (AJOL)

R.B. Ruthven

Abstract: This article focuses on the problems lexicographers of monolingual dictionaries face when dealing with a language characterised by differences associated with geographical variation. The article specifically seeks to explore problems with which Shona lexicographers are confronted when working on monolingual ...

Psychological Problems and Challenge In EFL Speaking Classroom

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Win Listyaningrum Arifin

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Psychological aspect regarding to learning attitudes plays in determining learning achievement. Psychological problems also involve not only to the students but also teacher. Less-confidence, speech anxiety, and low self-esteem are almost common problem in classroom, and occur on both teachers and students. Students who have low of self-confidence are often hardly able to control themselves for public speaking in the classroom, like, Governing his/ her behavior on that his/her peers think, lose belief on self, thinking that his/her friends dis-appraising, afraid of getting mistakes, etc. However, teachers which are low self-esteem and confidence also lose their performance and ability to manage their classroom optimally. Low self-esteem may caused by teacher’s poor understanding on subject matter. Both of psychological problems impact on dis-effectiveness of classroom activities. This paper takes accounts of some psychological problems of students and teachers in English speaking classroom, and some guidelines to overcome. At the last discus, this paper also provides some keys of how to make good classroom atmosphere.

Teaching English through English: Proficiency, Pedagogy and Performance

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Richards, Jack C.

2017-01-01

Most of the world's English language teachers speak English as a second or third language rather than as their first language. For many, their level of proficiency in English may not reach benchmarks established by their employers, raising the issue that is the focus of this article, namely, what kind of proficiency in English is necessary to be…

Investigation of Cross-cultural Communication between Native English-speaking Lecturers and their Students in Turkish Tertiary Education

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Berrin Uçkun¹

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Cultural diversity between students and teachers may be a source of “miscommunication” that compromises the learning/teaching environment. In such cases, students may be accused of poor performance or teachers may be blamed for inadequate methodology. This comparative study aims to examine the education culture in two Turkish universities involving native teachers, English speaking foreign teachers and their Turkish students in an attempt to understand the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges faced by both students and teachers. Four versions of the questionnaire were administered to 15 teachers and 228 students. All four versions focused on classroom management and examination procedures, pedagogy, and other affective factors. The authors aimed to investigate students’ and teachers’ mutual beliefs, perceptions and expectations of each other within the educational context and whether any differences could be accounted for by cultural differences between the two parties. This study was designed by both a Turkish academic and a native English speaking instructor, a collaboration which serves to temper cultural biases inherent to any culturally based inquiry. We hoped to maximize the effectiveness of cross-cultural classrooms as well as to suggest directions for further research

Educating Information Professionals in a Multicultural Information Society.

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Jorna, Kerstin

2002-01-01

Discusses the neglect of foreign languages by LIS (library and information science) departments in English-speaking countries and the problems this will cause in an increasingly multicultural environment. Topics include monolingualism in United Kingdom LIS departments; and suggestions for how to integrate new modules into LIS courses to overcome…

Results of the 2009 Paternity Testing Workshop of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Susanne Lunøe; Hallenberg, Charlotte; Simonsen, Bo Thisted

2009-01-01

Here we present the results of the 2009 Paternity Testing Workshop of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics. The exercise included paternity testing of blood samples from a mother, a child and two alleged fathers. The laboratories were encouraged...

SOLVING THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PROBLEM IN DELIVERING ENGLISH PRESENTATION THROUGH 3-P TECHNIQUE

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Nadif Ulfia

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Solving the Students’ Speaking Problem in Delivering English Presentation Through 3-P Technique. The aims of this study were to (1 identify whether and to what extent 3-P Technique can improve the students’ speaking competence in delivering presentation;(2 describe the teaching and learning when 3-P technique is implemented in English class. This research was conducted at the eleventh grades of MAN 1 Bojonegoro. The subjects of the research were the teacher and the students in the academic year 2016/2017. This study applied 3 cycle action research. In collecting the data, the researcher used observations through field notes, video recording, questionnaire and interview. To analyze the quantitative data, the researcher applied descriptive statistics. Besides, to analyze qualitative data, the researcher applied constant comparative method as suggested by Garner. The findings shows that: (1 3-P Technique can improve students’ speaking competence in delivering presentation in terms of students achievement, fluency, pronunciation, ability to express their opinions, arguments, and ideas using appropriate vocabulary and grammatical form, using appropriate body language, voice control, gesture, and eye contact; and (2 3-P technique can improve classroom situation in terms of increasing students’ motivation and participation, creating live teaching atmosphere, and increasing teacher motivation. Key words: Speaking, 3 P technique, Action research Abstrak: Memecahkan Masalah Keterampilan Berbicara Siswa dalam Menyampaikan Presentasi Berbahasa Inggris Melalui Teknik 3-P. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk (1 mengidentifikasi dan mengetahui sejauh mana teknik 3-P dapat meningkatkan kemampuan berbicara para siswa dalam menyampaikan sebuah presentasi; (2 mendeskripsikan kegiatan pembelajaran dalam penerapan teknik 3-P dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris. Penelitian ini dilakukan pada kelas sebelas MAN 1 Bojonegoro. Subyek  penelitian ini

Language Proficiency and Sustained Attention in Monolingual and Bilingual Children with and without Language Impairment

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Tessel Boerma

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Background: The language profiles of children with language impairment (LI and bilingual children can show partial, and possibly temporary, overlap. The current study examined the persistence of this overlap over time. Furthermore, we aimed to better understand why the language profiles of these two groups show resemblance, testing the hypothesis that the language difficulties of children with LI reflect a weakened ability to maintain attention to the stream of linguistic information. Consequent incomplete processing of language input may lead to delays that are similar to those originating from reductions in input frequency.Methods: Monolingual and bilingual children with and without LI (N = 128, aged 5–8 years old, participated in this study. Dutch receptive vocabulary and grammatical morphology were assessed at three waves. In addition, auditory and visual sustained attention were tested at wave 1. Mediation analyses were performed to examine relationships between LI, sustained attention, and language skills.Results: Children with LI and bilingual children were outperformed by their typically developing (TD and monolingual peers, respectively, on vocabulary and morphology at all three waves. The vocabulary difference between monolinguals and bilinguals decreased over time. In addition, children with LI had weaker auditory and visual sustained attention skills relative to TD children, while no differences between monolinguals and bilinguals emerged. Auditory sustained attention mediated the effect of LI on vocabulary and morphology in both the monolingual and bilingual groups of children. Visual sustained attention only acted as a mediator in the bilingual group.Conclusion: The findings from the present study indicate that the overlap between the language profiles of children with LI and bilingual children is particularly large for vocabulary in early (preschool years and reduces over time. Results furthermore suggest that the overlap may be

Results of the 2007 Paternity Testing Workshop of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hallenberg, C.; Langkjær, Rikke B.; Jensen, Peter Bjødstrup

2008-01-01

We present the results of the 2007 Paternity Testing Workshop of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics. The exercise included paternity testing of blood samples from a mother, a child and an alleged father. The laboratories were encouraged to answer...

Predictors and Outcomes of Early vs. Later English Language Proficiency Among English Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Halle, Tamara; Hair, Elizabeth; Wandner, Laura; McNamara, Michelle; Chien, Nina

2011-01-01

The development of English language learners (ELLs) was explored from kindergarten through eighth grade within a nationally representative sample of first-time kindergartners (N = 19,890). Growth curve analyses indicated that, compared to native English speakers, ELLs were rated by teachers more favorably on approaches to learning, self control, and externalizing behaviors in kindergarten and generally continued to grow in a positive direction on these social/behavioral outcomes at a steeper rate compared to their native English-speaking peers, holding other factors constant. Differences in reading and math achievement between ELLs and native English speakers varied based on the grade at which English proficiency is attained. Specifically, ELLs who were proficient in English by kindergarten entry kept pace with native English speakers in both reading and math initially and over time; ELLs who were proficient by first grade had modest gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native English speakers that closed narrowly or persisted over time; and ELLs who were not proficient by first grade had the largest initial gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native speakers but the gap narrowed over time in reading and grew over time in math. Among those whose home language is not English, acquiring English proficiency by kindergarten entry was associated with better cognitive and behavioral outcomes through eighth grade compared to taking longer to achieve proficiency. Multinomial regression analyses indicated that child, family, and school characteristics predict achieving English proficiency by kindergarten entry compared to achieving proficiency later. Results are discussed in terms of policies and practices that can support ELL children’s growth and development. PMID:22389551

Taiwan-Educated Teachers of English: Their Linguistic Capital, Agency, and Perspectives on Their Identities as Legitimate English Teachers

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Liao, Pei Chia

2017-01-01

NNESTs have diverse educational backgrounds. For example, a number of non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) have obtained their degrees abroad in English-speaking countries and have returned to their countries in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts, working alongside NNESTs who have been educated domestically. Yet, little is known…

Predictive Validity of Curriculum-Based Measures for English Learners at Varying English Proficiency Levels

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Kim, Jennifer Sun; Vanderwood, Michael L.; Lee, Catherine Y.

2016-01-01

This study examined the predictive validity of curriculum-based measures in reading for Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) at various levels of English proficiency. Third-grade Spanish-speaking EL students were screened during the fall using DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) and Daze. Predictive validity was examined in relation to spring…

Speaking

CERN Document Server

Schofield, James

2011-01-01

Make yourself understood in business. This brand new self-study book is the perfect way for business people who spend a lot of time on the phone or in meetings and want to improve their spoken English, getting their message across effectively. The focus is on the key language required to speak English accurately in business. 'Collins English for Business' is a new series of self-study skills books which focus on the language you really need to do business in English - wherever you are in the world. Each title includes tips on how to communicate effectively and how to communicate inter-culturally. Other titles in the series: Listening and Writing. * Powered by COBUILD - using the real language of business English * Contents: Twenty 4-page units cover the key areas, such as Networking and Small Talk, Telephoning, Telephone and Video Conferencing, Presentations and Interviews. * Each unit contains: - Exercises focused on vocabulary or key structures - Grammar tips - Key phrases * Audio CD: dialogues are recorded...

Language-Based Social Preferences among Children in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Kinzler, Katherine D.; Shutts, Kristin; Spelke, Elizabeth S.

2012-01-01

Monolingual English-speaking children in the United States express social preferences for speakers of their native language with a native accent. Here we explore the nature of children's language-based social preferences through research with children in South Africa, a multilingual nation. Like children in the United States, Xhosa South African…

Language Teacher Supply: A Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage across the "Anglobubble"

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Shannon; Matas, Cristina Poyatos

2016-01-01

In the monolingual English-speaking world referred to as the "Anglobubble," governments are finally recognising the advantages of a citizenry able to engage in and between multiple languages and cultures. As a result, increased efforts are being made to introduce and expand educational programs to teach languages. Thus, now more than…

Independent Contributions of Mothers' and Fathers' Language and Literacy Practices: Associations with Children's Kindergarten Skills across Linguistically Diverse Households

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Jacqueline; Coley, Rebekah Levine

2016-01-01

Research Findings: Home language and literacy inputs have been consistently linked with enhanced language and literacy skills among children. Most studies have focused on maternal inputs among monolingual populations. Though the proportion of American children growing up in primarily non-English-speaking homes is growing and the role of fathers in…

The Effect of English Verbal Songs on Connected Speech Aspects of Adult English Learners’ Speech Production

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Farshid Tayari Ashtiani

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of English verbal songs on connected speech aspects of adult English learners’ speech production. 40 participants were selected based on the results of their performance in a piloted and validated version of NELSON test given to 60 intermediate English learners in a language institute in Tehran. Then they were equally distributed in two control and experimental groups and received a validated pretest of reading aloud and speaking in English. Afterward, the treatment was performed in 18 sessions by singing preselected songs culled based on some criteria such as popularity, familiarity, amount, and speed of speech delivery, etc. In the end, the posttests of reading aloud and speaking in English were administered. The results revealed that the treatment had statistically positive effects on the connected speech aspects of English learners’ speech production at statistical .05 level of significance. Meanwhile, the results represented that there was not any significant difference between the experimental group’s mean scores on the posttests of reading aloud and speaking. It was thus concluded that providing the EFL learners with English verbal songs could positively affect connected speech aspects of both modes of speech production, reading aloud and speaking. The Findings of this study have pedagogical implications for language teachers to be more aware and knowledgeable of the benefits of verbal songs to promote speech production of language learners in terms of naturalness and fluency. Keywords: English Verbal Songs, Connected Speech, Speech Production, Reading Aloud, Speaking

STUDENTS POSITIVE RESPONSE THROUGH THINK PAIR SHARE STRATEGY ON ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

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Iin Baroroh Ma’arif

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Harmonious communication has an important role in teaching and learning process, especially in encouraging the success of teaching and learning process in the classroom. This research was conducted to know the student's response to the implementation of Think Pair Share strategy in Speaking course. This strategy emphasizes how students are more active in communicating using English in the classroom. The purpose of this research is 1 how the implementation of Think Pair Share strategy in class; 2 how students respond to the Think Pair Share strategy in the classroom; The design of this study is descriptive-qualitative to answer these questions. In this study, researchers themselves are the main instrument. In collecting data, researchers used observation sheets, and field notes.

7 CFR 247.13 - Provisions for non-English or limited-English speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Provisions for non-English or limited-English speakers... § 247.13 Provisions for non-English or limited-English speakers. (a) What must State and local agencies do to ensure that non-English or limited-English speaking persons are aware of their rights and...

Dialect Variation of Copula and Auxiliary Verb BE: African American English-Speaking Children with and without Gullah/Geechee Heritage

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Jessica R.; Oetting, Janna B.

2017-01-01

Purpose: We compared copula and auxiliary verb BE use by African American English-speaking children with and without a creole heritage, using Gullah/Geechee as the creole criterion, to determine if differences exist, the nature of the differences, and the impact of the differences on interpretations of ability. Method: Data came from 38 children,…

Removing obstacles for African American English-speaking children through greater understanding of language difference.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Barbara Zurer; Conner, Tracy; Jackson, Janice E

2013-01-01

Language difference among speakers of African American English (AAE) has often been considered language deficit, based on a lack of understanding about the AAE variety. Following Labov (1972), Wolfram (1969), Green (2002, 2011), and others, we define AAE as a complex rule-governed linguistic system and briefly discuss language structures that it shares with general American English (GAE) and others that are unique to AAE. We suggest ways in which mistaken ideas about the language variety add to children's difficulties in learning the mainstream dialect and, in effect, deny them the benefits of their educational programs. We propose that a linguistically informed approach that highlights correspondences between AAE and the mainstream dialect and trains students and teachers to understand language varieties at a metalinguistic level creates environments that support the academic achievement of AAE-speaking students. Finally, we present 3 program types that are recommended for helping students achieve the skills they need to be successful in multiple linguistic environments.

Regulatory risk in the utilities industry: An empirical study of the English-speaking countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaggero, Alberto A.

2007-01-01

The economic theory on regulation suggests that firms subject to incentive regulation, such as price cap, bear more risk than firms subject to cost plus regulation, such as rate of return regulation. This hypothesis is tested empirically using a sample of 93 regulated companies operating in six English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK and USA, during the period 1995-2004. I replicate the methodology of the existing literature and also apply panel data techniques to my sample. The results obtained do not support the hypothesis that price cap regulation imposes more risk. (author)

IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ABILITY IN SPEAKING BY USING ROLE PLAYING METHOD IN THE DRAMA LESSON OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AT 2015/2016 ACADEMIC YEARS

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Diani Syahputri

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to describe the improvement of the students’ achievement in speaking by Role Playing at Drama lesson at English department at Faculty of Teacher Training and Education University of Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara. The specific aim was how using to apply role play in studying drama and how the role play method can improve the students’ achievement in speaking. This research was used an action research that used two cycles. The subject of the study was 42 students at Academic 2015 – 2016 from English Department. The instrument of research was speaking test, questioners and observation to collect the data. Technique for collecting data was descriptive qualitative and quantitative. Technique for analyzing data was used descriptive which describe the finding of research which used some tables, frequency which was benefit to describe the achievements of the students in speaking from pre-test, and cycle 1 up to cycle 2. The finding of research was the students’ achievement in speaking were good by using Role playing which conducted one semester. Based on the data, the students’ achievements got improvement in every cycle. The students got A was 23.8 %, B/A and B 76, 1 % and there were not students got C/B and D and E. It meant the indicators of this research could achieve by using Role playing at drama lesson when we compared with conventional method. The study by using role playing is more interested than conventional method.

The Use of Retelling Stories Technique in Developing English Speaking Ability of Grade 9 Students

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Sasitorn Praneetponkrang

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This article aims to advocate retelling stories technique for developing speaking ability of grade 9 students in Thailand. Morrow’s theory (1981 and other scholars in retelling stories technique are presented. This technique is integrated in the lesson plans following Morrow’s framework. Narrative text of short stories which refer to daily life and social including pictures have been used for each lesson plan.  Students are trained to work as a group using story’s mind map, illustrations, and role-playing activities in class. There are three main steps of teaching retelling stories: before retelling (alternative techniques, while retelling (students’ practice by using activities of brainstorming, role play, and discussion and retelling story. The lesson plans will be piloted with 15 9th graders. This preliminary study is expected to provide an example of useful techniques in improving speaking ability, thus, it is expected to be used in other foundation English courses for Thai students.

Global Professional Identity in Deterretorialized Spaces: A Case Study of a Critical Dialogue between Expert and Novice Nonnative English Speaker Teachers (Identidad profesional global en espacios desterritorializados: un estudio de caso de los diálogos críticos entre profesores de inglés no nativos)

Science.gov (United States)

Guerrero Nieto, Carmen Helena; Meadows, Bryan

2015-01-01

This study analyzes the online, peer-peer dialogue between two groups of nonnative English-speaking teachers who are attending graduate programs in Colombia and the United States. Framed by the theoretical concepts of critical pedagogy and global professional identity, a qualitative analysis of the data shows that their expert vs. novice roles…

Multilingual Effects on EFL Learning: A Comparison of Foreign Language Anxiety Experienced by Monolingual and Bilingual Tertiary Students in the Lao PDR

Science.gov (United States)

Phongsa, Manivone; Mohamed Ismail, Shaik Abdul Malik; Low, Hui Min

2018-01-01

Foreign language anxiety is common among adult learners, especially those who lack exposure to the language that they are learning. In this study, we compared the foreign language anxiety experienced by monolingual and bilingual tertiary students in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) who were learning English as a Foreign Language. The…

Age as an Affective Factor in Influencing Public Speaking Anxiety of English Language Learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University

Science.gov (United States)

Gaibani, Ahmed; Elmenfi, Fadil

2016-01-01

The study is to show how age factor can influence public speaking anxiety among English Language Learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University. To indicate the influence of age factor a questionnaire was distributed to the participants of the study. As well as correlation was also undertaken to the data collected to investigate the influence of age…

Beyond stuttering: Speech disfluencies in normally fluent French-speaking children at age 4.

Science.gov (United States)

Leclercq, Anne-Lise; Suaire, Pauline; Moyse, Astrid

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to establish normative data on the speech disfluencies of normally fluent French-speaking children at age 4, an age at which stuttering has begun in 95% of children who stutter (Yairi & Ambrose, 2013). Fifty monolingual French-speaking children who do not stutter participated in the study. Analyses of a conversational speech sample comprising 250-550 words revealed an average of 10% total disfluencies, 2% stuttering-like disfluencies and around 8% non-stuttered disfluencies. Possible explanations for these high speech disfluency frequencies are discussed, including explanations linked to French in particular. The results shed light on the importance of normative data specific to each language.

Bilingualised Dictionaries: How Learners Really Use Them.

Science.gov (United States)

Laufer, Batia; Kimmel, Michal

1997-01-01

Seventy native Hebrew-speaking English-as-a-Second-Language students participated in a study that investigated what part of an entry second-language learners read when they look up an unfamiliar word in a bilingualised dictionary: the monolingual, the bilingual, or both. Results suggest the bilingualised dictionary is very effective because it is…

Assessment of Working Memory Capacity in Preschool Children Using the Missing Scan Task

Science.gov (United States)

Roman, Adrienne S.; Pisoni, David B.; Kronenberger, William G.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and validity of a modified version of Buschke's missing scan methodology, the Missing Scan Task (MST), to assess working memory capacity (WMC) and cognitive control processes in preschool children 3-6?years in age. Forty typically developing monolingual English-speaking children between…

White-matter development is different in bilingual and monolingual children: a longitudinal DTI study.

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Seyede Ghazal Mohades

Full Text Available Although numerous people grow up speaking more than one language, the impact of bilingualism on brain developing neuroanatomy is still poorly understood. This study aimed to determine whether the changes in the mean fractional-anisotropy (MFA of language pathways are different between bilingual and monolingual children. Simultaneous-bilinguals, sequential-bilinguals and monolingual, male and female 10-13 years old children participated in this longitudinal study over a period of two years. We used diffusion tensor tractography to obtain mean fractional-anisotropy values of four language related pathways and one control bundle: 1-left-inferior-occipitofrontal fasciculus/lIFOF, 2-left-arcuate fasciculus/lAF/lSLF, 3-bundle arising from the anterior part of corpus-callosum and projecting to orbital lobe/AC-OL, 4-fibres emerging from anterior-midbody of corpus-callosum (CC to motor cortices/AMB-PMC, 5- right-inferior-occipitofrontal fasciculus rIFOF as the control pathway unrelated to language. These values and their rate of change were compared between 3 groups. FA-values did not change significantly over two years for lAF/lSLF and AC-OL. Sequential-bilinguals had the highest degree of change in the MFA value of lIFOF, and AMB-PMC did not present significant group differences. The comparison of MFA of lIFOF yielded a significantly higher FA-value in simultaneous bilinguals compared to monolinguals. These findings acknowledge the existing difference of the development of the semantic processing specific pathway between children with different semantic processing procedure. These also support the hypothesis that age of second language acquisition affects the maturation and myelination of some language specific white-matter pathways.

A Study of Effect of Dramatic Activities on Improving English Communicative Speaking Skill of Grade 11th Students

Science.gov (United States)

Iamsaard, Prisana; Kerdpol, Sakon

2015-01-01

This paper aimed to reexamine the current EFL communicative speaking skill in high school level in Thailand due to the coming of the entry to ASEAN at the end of the year 2015. Thai students need to be well prepared for workforce in the future since English is used as the working language in ASEAN. The purposes of this paper were to study the…

English in Economy World: an Overview of English Learning

OpenAIRE

Setyaningsih, Ani; Kurniasih, Siwi Karmadi

2007-01-01

English is not a language for the English-speaking countries anymore. English has spread worldwide to the countries in the five continents. One of the reasons is economy. People need to acquire English since it is one way to cope with the communication in economy trend. English is needed to process information, analyze, evaluate, experiment, negotiate and collaborate in economy. The awareness of English importance in the globalization era has made people learn this universal language consciou...

Diagnostic accuracy of repetition tasks for the identification of specific language impairment (SLI) in bilingual children: evidence from Russian and Hebrew.

Science.gov (United States)

Armon-Lotem, Sharon; Meir, Natalia

2016-11-01

Previous research demonstrates that repetition tasks are valuable tools for diagnosing specific language impairment (SLI) in monolingual children in English and a variety of other languages, with non-word repetition (NWR) and sentence repetition (SRep) yielding high levels of sensitivity and specificity. Yet, only a few studies have addressed the diagnostic accuracy of repetition tasks in bilingual children, and most available research focuses on English-Spanish sequential bilinguals. To evaluate the efficacy of three repetition tasks (forward digit span (FWD), NWR and SRep) in order to distinguish mono- and bilingual children with and without SLI in Russian and Hebrew. A total of 230 mono- and bilingual children aged 5;5-6;8 participated in the study: 144 bilingual Russian-Hebrew-speaking children (27 with SLI); and 52 monolingual Hebrew-speaking children (14 with SLI) and 34 monolingual Russian-speaking children (14 with SLI). Parallel repetition tasks were designed in both Russian and Hebrew. Bilingual children were tested in both languages. The findings confirmed that NWR and SRep are valuable tools in distinguishing monolingual children with and without SLI in Russian and Hebrew, while the results for FWD were mixed. Yet, testing of bilingual children with the same tools using monolingual cut-off points resulted in inadequate diagnostic accuracy. We demonstrate, however, that the use of bilingual cut-off points yielded acceptable levels of diagnostic accuracy. The combination of SRep tasks in L1/Russian and L2/Hebrew yielded the highest overall accuracy (i.e., 94%), but even SRep alone in L2/Hebrew showed excellent levels of sensitivity (i.e., 100%) and specificity (i.e., 89%), reaching 91% of total diagnostic accuracy. The results are very promising for identifying SLI in bilingual children and for showing that testing in the majority language with bilingual cut-off points can provide an accurate classification. © 2016 Royal College of Speech and Language

Relationship between speaking English as a second language and agitation in people with dementia living in care homes: Results from the MARQUE (Managing Agitation and Raising Quality of life) English national care home survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, C; Rapaport, P; Robertson, S; Marston, L; Barber, J; Manela, M; Livingston, G

2018-03-01

As not speaking English as a first language may lead to increased difficulties in communication with staff and other residents, we (1) tested our primary hypotheses that care home residents with dementia speaking English as a second language experience more agitation and overall neuropsychiatric symptoms, and (2) explored qualitatively how staff consider that residents' language, ethnicity, and culture might impact on how they manage agitation. We interviewed staff, residents with dementia, and their family carers from 86 care homes (2014-2015) about resident's neuropsychiatric symptoms, agitation, life quality, and dementia severity. We qualitatively interviewed 25 staff. Seventy-one out of 1420 (5%) of care home residents with dementia interviewed spoke English as a second language. After controlling for dementia severity, age, and sex, and accounting for care home and staff proxy clustering, speaking English as a second language compared with as a first language was associated with significantly higher Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (adjusted difference in means 8.3, 95% confidence interval 4.1 to 12.5) and Neuropsychiatric inventory scores (4.1, 0.65 to 7.5). Staff narratives described how linguistic and culturally isolating being in a care home where no residents or staff share your culture or language could be for people with dementia, and how this sometimes caused or worsened agitation. Considering a person with dementia's need to be understood when selecting a care home and developing technology resources to enable dementia-friendly translation services could be important strategies for reducing distress of people with dementia from minority ethnic groups who live in care homes. © 2017 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Language experience differentiates prefrontal and subcortical activation of the cognitive control network in novel word learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Kailyn A L; King, Kelly E; Hernandez, Arturo E

2013-02-15

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive control mechanisms in adult English speaking monolinguals compared to early sequential Spanish-English bilinguals during the initial stages of novel word learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a lexico-semantic task after only 2h of exposure to novel German vocabulary flashcards showed that monolinguals activated a broader set of cortical control regions associated with higher-level cognitive processes, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), as well as the caudate, implicated in cognitive control of language. However, bilinguals recruited a more localized subcortical network that included the putamen, associated more with motor control of language. These results suggest that experience managing multiple languages may differentiate the learning strategy and subsequent neural mechanisms of cognitive control used by bilinguals compared to monolinguals in the early stages of novel word learning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Maximising Asian ESL Learners’ Communicative Oral English via Drama

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Chamkaur Gill

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes that activities based on a variety of drama-based techniques could be valuable in giving Asian ESL learners opportunities to use communicative spoken English confidently and without restraint during their time in English-language-speaking countries. These learners often get anxious when in situations where they are required to speak in English. Fears about making errors related to grammar, fluency and clarity that might cause them to be embarrassed stand in the way of unencumbered speech output. In addition, cultural issues linked to voice-projection and body language can hinder oral interaction in English and hamper their motivation to speak. They are, therefore, deprived of much-needed speaking practice. I find that drama lets my students speak communicatively, free of the dread of constant correction, in a relaxed and enjoyable learner-centred environment that appears to help diminish their anxiety and inhibitions. As a result, their motivation to speak increases, leading to extended speech production. Keywords: ESL, Asian students’ traits, communicative oral English, drama variations

Research on demand-oriented Business English learning method

OpenAIRE

Zhou Yuan

2016-01-01

Business English is integrated with visual-audio-oral English, which focuses on the application for English listening and speaking skills in common business occasions, and acquire business knowledge and improve skills through English. This paper analyzes the Business English Visual-audio-oral Course, and learning situation of higher vocational students’ learning objectives, interests, vocabulary, listening and speaking, and focuses on the research of effective methods to guide the higher voca...

Language profiles of monolingual and bilingual Finnish preschool children at risk for language impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Westman, Martin; Korkman, Marit; Mickos, Annika; Byring, Roger

2008-01-01

A large proportion of children are exposed to more than one language, yet research on simultaneous bilingualism has been relatively sparse. Traditionally, there has been concern that bilingualism may aggravate language difficulties of children with language impairment. However, recent studies have not found specific language impairment (SLI) or language-related problems to be increased by bilingualism. The topic of bilingualism and its effects has high actuality in Finland, where increasing numbers of children in the country's 6% Swedish-speaking minority grow up in bilingual families, where one parent's primary language is Swedish and the other's Finnish. The present study aimed at exploring the influence of such bilingualism on the language profiles of children from this population at risk for language impairment (LI). Participants were recruited from a language screening of 339 children from kindergartens with instruction only in Swedish, from the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. Of these children, 33 (9.7%) were defined as a Risk Group for LI, whereas 48 non-risk children were randomly selected to form a control group. When subdividing the children according to home language, 35 were found to be monolingual, Swedish-speaking, and 46 were Swedish-Finnish bilingual. The children underwent neuropsychological assessment during their preschool year. Assessment methods included subtests from the Wechsler Primary and Preschool Scale of Intelligence - Revised and the NEPSY Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment. A repeated-measures multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed a significant effect of risk of LI on the NEPSY language scores. The effect of home language was not significant and there was no interaction between home language and risk for LI. Non-verbal IQ was controlled for. Across groups, bilingual children scored lower than monolingual children only on measures of vocabulary and sentence repetition. Although a slight general cost of

Research on demand-oriented Business English learning method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhou Yuan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Business English is integrated with visual-audio-oral English, which focuses on the application for English listening and speaking skills in common business occasions, and acquire business knowledge and improve skills through English. This paper analyzes the Business English Visual-audio-oral Course, and learning situation of higher vocational students’ learning objectives, interests, vocabulary, listening and speaking, and focuses on the research of effective methods to guide the higher vocational students to learn Business English Visual-audio-oral Course, master Business English knowledge, and improve communicative competence of Business English.

Speaking Two Languages Enhances an Auditory but Not a Visual Neural Marker of Cognitive Inhibition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mercedes Fernandez

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend our original findings of enhanced neural inhibitory control in bilinguals. We compared English monolinguals to Spanish/English bilinguals on a non-linguistic, auditory Go/NoGo task while recording event-related brain potentials. New to this study was the visual Go/NoGo task, which we included to investigate whether enhanced neural inhibition in bilinguals extends from the auditory to the visual modality. Results confirmed our original findings and revealed greater inhibition in bilinguals compared to monolinguals. As predicted, compared to monolinguals, bilinguals showed increased N2 amplitude during the auditory NoGo trials, which required inhibitory control, but no differences during the Go trials, which required a behavioral response and no inhibition. Interestingly, during the visual Go/NoGo task, event related brain potentials did not distinguish the two groups, and behavioral responses were similar between the groups regardless of task modality. Thus, only auditory trials that required inhibitory control revealed between-group differences indicative of greater neural inhibition in bilinguals. These results show that experience-dependent neural changes associated with bilingualism are specific to the auditory modality and that the N2 event-related brain potential is a sensitive marker of this plasticity.

BREAKING THE SILENCE: UTILIZING PECHA KUCHA TO PROMOTE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS

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Aloisius Wisnu Mahendra

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This study aims to report the utility of Pecha Kucha in promoting students’ speaking skills in the general English course. As English known as the international language for communication, Indonesians expect to master English in order to broaden their future career opportunities. Most of them seek for English courses providing various communicative activities with the hope that they can improve and sharpen their speaking skills. Although the course has been designed for communication purpose, some students still are not be able to express their ideas freely during the speaking activities. They may feel afraid of making grammatical errors resulting to their low speaking performance. To facilitate students’ learning and encourage them to practice their speaking skills, Pecha Kucha has been utilized during the course. The study was conducted in the Language Institute of Sanata Dharma University in 2017. Recorded learning activities utilizing Pecha Kucha and field notes were collected through the classroom teaching-learning practices. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to explore the findings and the analysis. The findings shows that the students actively engage with the utilization of Pecha Kucha by being able to explore their ideas and practice their speaking skills, and enjoy the learning process eventually.

Does Teaching Grammar Really Hinder Students＇ Speaking Abilities？

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Kazumi Araki

2015-01-01

In the history of formal English education in Japan, grammar used to be the mainstream. In the secondary education system, teachers used to spend many hours teaching grammar to the students. However, it has been replaced by the aural/oral method of teaching a foreign language. There was even a remark that teaching grammar hinders students from communicating fluently. Literally, there was a time when grammar was set aside in formal English education. However, the author noticed that in grammar classes, the students speak English more loudly and confidently without much hesitation than in other types of English classes. One of the reasons is that they are not worried about the contents of the speeches. They are simply concentrating on the forms. They are not afraid of making major mistakes, and the errors they make are minor so they do not feel embarrassed in public. The atmosphere of the grammar classes is very positive and the students enjoy speaking English. In this paper, the author shows how grammar classes can contribute to the acquisition of the students＇ speaking abilities and manners. ＂Learning grammar was a precious experience＂, one student reported after the course.

The Role of Social Evaluation in Influencing Public Speaking Anxiety of English Foreign Language Learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University

Science.gov (United States)

Elmenfi, Fadil; Gaibani, Ahmed

2016-01-01

This study investigates the effect of social evaluation on Public Speaking Anxiety of English foreign language learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University in Libya. A random sample of 111 students was used in the study. To analyse the collected data, means, standard deviations, a three-way ANOVA analysis, and the correlation coefficients were used with…

Radiological English

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ribes, R. [Hospital Reina Sofia, Cordoba (Spain). Servicio de Radiologia; Ros, P.R. [Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States). Div. of Radiology

2007-07-01

The book is an introductory book to radiological English on the basis that there are a lot of radiologists, radiology residents, radiology nurses, radiology students, and radiographers worldwide whose English level is indeterminate because their reading skills are much higher than their fluency. It is intended to help those health care professionals who need English for their work but do not speak English on a day-to-day basis. (orig.)

Radiological English

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ribes, R.; Ros, P.R.

2007-01-01

The book is an introductory book to radiological English on the basis that there are a lot of radiologists, radiology residents, radiology nurses, radiology students, and radiographers worldwide whose English level is indeterminate because their reading skills are much higher than their fluency. It is intended to help those health care professionals who need English for their work but do not speak English on a day-to-day basis. (orig.)

Test-Taking Strategies in L2 Assessment: The Test of English for International Communication Speaking Test.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Heng-Tsung Danny

2016-08-01

This research explored the test-taking strategies associated with the Test of English for International Communication Speaking Test (TOEIC-S) and their relationship with test performance. Capitalizing on two sets of TOEIC-S and a custom-made strategy inventory, the researcher collected data from a total of 215 Taiwanese English learners consisting of 84 males and 131 females with an average age of 20.1 years (SD = 2.6). Quantitative data analysis gave rise to three major findings. First, TOEIC-S test-taking strategy use constituted a multi-faceted construct that involved multiple types of strategic behaviors. Second, these strategic behaviors matched those allowing test-takers to communicate both in real life and in the workplace. Third, communication strategy use and cognitive strategy use both contributed significantly to TOEIC-S performance. © The Author(s) 2016.

English Language Learners: Development and Intervention--An Introduction

Science.gov (United States)

McCardle, Peggy; Leung, Christy Y.Y.

2006-01-01

Nearly one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home; among Americans speaking languages other than English, the largest single language group is Spanish speaking (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004). The increase in the total group of language minority individuals has been dramatic, with their proportion in the U.S. population…

Development and preliminary evaluation of a pediatric Spanish-English speech perception task.

Science.gov (United States)

Calandruccio, Lauren; Gomez, Bianca; Buss, Emily; Leibold, Lori J

2014-06-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a task to evaluate children's English and Spanish speech perception abilities in either noise or competing speech maskers. Eight bilingual Spanish-English and 8 age-matched monolingual English children (ages 4.9-16.4 years) were tested. A forced-choice, picture-pointing paradigm was selected for adaptively estimating masked speech reception thresholds. Speech stimuli were spoken by simultaneous bilingual Spanish-English talkers. The target stimuli were 30 disyllabic English and Spanish words, familiar to 5-year-olds and easily illustrated. Competing stimuli included either 2-talker English or 2-talker Spanish speech (corresponding to target language) and spectrally matched noise. For both groups of children, regardless of test language, performance was significantly worse for the 2-talker than for the noise masker condition. No difference in performance was found between bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingual children performed significantly better in English than in Spanish in competing speech. For all listening conditions, performance improved with increasing age. Results indicated that the stimuli and task were appropriate for speech recognition testing in both languages, providing a more conventional measure of speech-in-noise perception as well as a measure of complex listening. Further research is needed to determine performance for Spanish-dominant listeners and to evaluate the feasibility of implementation into routine clinical use.

A report of the 2002-2008 paternity testing workshops of the English speaking working group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Anni Rønfeldt; Hallenberg, Charlotte; Simonsen, Bo Thisted

2009-01-01

The English Speaking Working Group (ESWG) of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) offers an annual Paternity Testing Workshop open to all members of the group. Blood samples, a questionnaire and a paper challenge are sent to the participants. Here, we present the results...

Validity Study of the "Preschool Language Scale-4" with English-Speaking Hispanic and European American Children in Head Start Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Cathy H.; Marley, Scott C.

2011-01-01

The purpose of the study was to examine the psychometric properties of the "Preschool Language Scale-4" (PLS-4) with a sample of English-speaking Hispanic and European American children who attended Head Start programs. Participants were 440 children between the ages of 3 and 5 years (52% male; 86% Hispanic and 14% European American).…

CLASSROOM INTERACTION ANALYSIS IN INDONESIAN EFL SPEAKING CLASS

OpenAIRE

Sinta Hoerun Nisa

2014-01-01

This study entitles “Classroom Interaction Analysis in the EFL Speaking Class” aimed at analyzing the categories of teacher talk, student talk and classroom interaction types used during EFL speaking class. The research employed a qualitative design and applied a case study. Subjects of the research were an English teacher and 25 students at the second semester of English Education Department of the University of Kuningan. The data were gained through naturalistic observation and document ana...

Flipping between Languages? An Exploratory Analysis of the Usage by Spanish-Speaking English Language Learner Tertiary Students of a Bilingual Probability Applet

Science.gov (United States)

Lesser, Lawrence M.; Wagler, Amy E.; Salazar, Berenice

2016-01-01

English language learners (ELLs) are a rapidly growing part of the student population in many countries. Studies on resources for language learners--especially Spanish-speaking ELLs--have focused on areas such as reading, writing, and mathematics, but not introductory probability and statistics. Semi-structured qualitative interviews investigated…

The Use of Reported Speech in Children's Narratives: A Priming Study

Science.gov (United States)

Serratrice, Ludovica; Hesketh, Anne; Ashworth, Rachel

2015-01-01

This study investigated the long-term effects of structural priming on children's use of indirect speech clauses in a narrative context. Forty-two monolingual English-speaking 5-year-olds in two primary classrooms took part in a story-retelling task including reported speech. Testing took place in three individual sessions (pre-test, post-test 1,…

The Effects of Peer Tutoring on University Students' Success, Speaking Skills and Speech Self-Efficacy in the Effective and Good Speech Course

Science.gov (United States)

Uzuner Yurt, Serap; Aktas, Elif

2016-01-01

In this study, the effects of the use of peer tutoring in Effective and Good Speech Course on students' success, perception of speech self-efficacy and speaking skills were examined. The study, designed as a mixed pattern in which quantitative and qualitative research approaches were combined, was carried out together with 57 students in 2014 to…

EXPLORING MOTIVATION OF LEARNING ENGLISH (A STUDY OF A JAPANESE TEACHER

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Indriyati Hadiningrum

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Motivation, in general, can be described as a reason for doing something; and in language learning this refers to learners‘ need to master a second or foreign language. It is one of causal factors (e.g. age, environment in a language learning, especially in learning the English language. Students or individuals who learn English in a non-English speaking country must have high motivation to be able to speak using the English language. This study is aimed at describing motivation of a native Japanese who is able to speak English. Basically, she speaks Japanese most of the time with her colleagues and students since she teaches Japanese. The result shows that she is eager to learn Englishbecause she wants to have a relationship with many people around the world especially when she has to teach Japanese in some English-speaking countries. She has positive attitudes towards the English language although she realises that her pronunciation is sometimes difficult to understand because she cannot utter /l/ (she utters /r/ instead.

Prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus among women in two English-speaking Caribbean countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Andall-Brereton, Glennis; Brown, Eulynis; Slater, Sherian; Holder, Yvette; Luciani, Silvana; Lewis, Merle; Irons, Beryl

2017-06-08

To characterize high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in a sample of women in two small English-speaking Caribbean countries: Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Sexually active women ≥ 30 years old attending primary care health facilities participated in the study. Each participant had a gynecological examination, and two cervical specimens were collected: (1) a specimen for a Papanicolaou (Pap) test and (2) a sample of exfoliated cervical cells for HPV DNA testing, using the HPV High Risk Screen Real-TM (Sacace). High-risk HPV genotypes were assessed in 404 women in Saint Kitts and Nevis and 368 women in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. High-risk HPV was detected in 102 of 404 (25.2%) in Saint Kitts and Nevis and in 109 of 368 (29.6%) in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. High-risk HPV genotypes 52, 35, 51, 45, and 31 were the most common high-risk types in Saint Kitts and Nevis. In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the most common high-risk HPV genotypes were 45, 35, 31, 18, and 51. Current age was found to be significantly associated with high-risk HPV infection in both countries. In addition, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, high parity (> 3 pregnancies) and having had an abnormal Pap smear were found to be independent risk factors for high-risk HPV. These results contribute to the evidence on HPV prevalence for small island states of the Caribbean and support the accelerated introduction of the 9-valent HPV vaccine in the two countries and elsewhere in the English-speaking Caribbean. Use of the study's results to guide the development of policy regarding implementation of HPV testing as the primary screening modality for older women is recommended.

Prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus among women in two English-speaking Caribbean countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glennis Andall-Brereton

2017-06-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective To characterize high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV infections in a sample of women in two small English-speaking Caribbean countries: Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Methods Sexually active women ≥ 30 years old attending primary care health facilities participated in the study. Each participant had a gynecological examination, and two cervical specimens were collected: (1 a specimen for a Papanicolaou (Pap test and (2 a sample of exfoliated cervical cells for HPV DNA testing, using the HPV High Risk Screen Real-TM (Sacace. High-risk HPV genotypes were assessed in 404 women in Saint Kitts and Nevis and 368 women in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Results High-risk HPV was detected in 102 of 404 (25.2% in Saint Kitts and Nevis and in 109 of 368 (29.6% in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. High-risk HPV genotypes 52, 35, 51, 45, and 31 were the most common high-risk types in Saint Kitts and Nevis. In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the most common high-risk HPV genotypes were 45, 35, 31, 18, and 51. Current age was found to be significantly associated with high-risk HPV infection in both countries. In addition, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, high parity (> 3 pregnancies and having had an abnormal Pap smear were found to be independent risk factors for high-risk HPV. Conclusions These results contribute to the evidence on HPV prevalence for small island states of the Caribbean and support the accelerated introduction of the 9-valent HPV vaccine in the two countries and elsewhere in the English-speaking Caribbean. Use of the study’s results to guide the development of policy regarding implementation of HPV testing as the primary screening modality for older women is recommended.

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.

Pragmatic Activities for the Speaking Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Siegel, Joseph

2016-01-01

Being able to speak naturally and appropriately with others in a variety of situations is an important goal for many English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Because the skill of speaking invariably involves interaction with people and using language to reach objectives (e.g., ordering food, making friends, asking for favors), it is crucial…

English Training

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 03 March to 28 June 2003 (2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: tel.73127 or Mr. Liptow: tel.72957. Writing Professional Documents in English This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English. Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) For registration and further information, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Tessa Osborne: Tessa.Osborne@cern. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, rol...

English Training

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 03 March to 28 June 2003 (2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: tel.73127 or Mr. Liptow: tel.72957. Writing Professional Documents in English This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English. Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) For registration and further information, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Tessa Osborne: Tessa.Osborne@cern. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-p...

Perceived language proficiency and pain assessment by registered and student nurses in native English-speaking and EAL children aged 4-7 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Azize, Pary M; Cattani, Allegra; Endacott, Ruth

2018-03-01

To identify the factors that influence decisions made by health professionals when assessing the pain of native English speaking and children whose English is an additional language. Pain assessment in children is often poorly executed following acute injury. Whilst a range of pain assessment tools have been developed, little guidance is provided for assessing pain in children with English as an additional language. Factorial survey design. Twenty minor injuries unit nurses and 20 children's nursing students participated in an electronic survey to make judgements on 12 scenarios describing a child attending a minor injuries unit following an incident, accompanied by a parent. Respondents had to decide the most important form of pain assessment, and whether they would ask a parent or an interpreter to assess the pain of the child. An open-ended question asked about the difficulties found in making a judgement. Observation of the child's behaviour was the most common pain assessment reported. The visual analogue scale was significantly associated with children with proficient English. Respondents were significantly more likely to involve parents in the assessment if they could speak English well compared to parents with poor English skills. Moreover, nursing students were significantly more likely than registered nurses to call for support from an interpreter. Thematic analysis identified three themes related to difficulties with pain assessment: contrasting approaches, differing perceptions of pain and overcoming challenges. The reduced ability to communicate between child, parent and healthcare professional highlights the need to identify forms of assessment based on individual cases. The number of children with English as an additional language has seen a marked rise over the last decade. In situations where communication ability is reduced, assessment of pain should be tailored to meet the needs of the child. This may require timely access to interpreter services

Restrictive Language Policy in Practice: English Learners in Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Heineke, Amy J.

2016-01-01

As the most restrictive language policy context in the United States, Arizona's monolingual and prescriptive approach to teaching English learners continues to capture international attention. More than five school years after initial implementation, this study uses qualitative data from the individuals doing the policy work to provide a holistic…

Paper-pen peer-correction versus wiki-based peer-correction

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Froldova Vladimira

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study reports on the comparison of the students’ achievement and their attitudes towards the use of paper-pen peer-correction and wiki-based peer-correction within English language lessons and CLIL Social Science lessons at the higher secondary school in Prague. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were utilized to gather information. The data suggests that students made considerable use of wikis and showed higher degrees of motivation in wiki-based peer-correction during English language lessons than in CLIL Social Science lessons. In both cases wikis not only contributed to developing students’ writing skills, but also helped students recognize the importance of collaboration.

The Effect of a Simplified English Language Dictionary on a Reading Test. LEP Projects Report 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Albus, Deb; Bielinski, John; Thurlow, Martha; Liu, Kristin

This study was conducted to examine whether using a monolingual, simplified English dictionary as an accommodation on a reading test with limited-English-proficient (LEP) Hmong students improved test performance. Hmong students were chosen because they are often not literate in their first language. For these students, bilingual dictionaries are…

Are Danish doctors comfortable teaching in English?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nilas, Lisbeth; Løkkegaard, Ellen Christine Leth; Laursen, Jacob Brink

2016-01-01

English skills was perceived low. Conclusion Teaching in English was rated as 30 % more difficult than in Danish, and a significant subgroup of doctors had difficulties in all forms of communication in English, resulting in challenges when introducing international students in non-native English speaking...... medical departments. Keywords International students Clinical teaching Teaching in foreign language Doctors’ English skills Self-assessment......Background From 2012–2015, the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of Pediatrics at the University of Copenhagen conducted a project, “Internationalization at Home ”, offering clinical teaching in English. The project allowed international students to work with Danish speaking students...

Speaking Strategies Employed by Second Year Students at Mettu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Communicative language teaching should not just aim to teach learners the ... the speaking strategies employed by second year English major students at Mettu ... activities and strategy training in teaching learning process of speaking skills.

A Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 among English- and Spanish-speaking Latinas

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Merz, Erin L.; Malcarne, Vanessa L.; Roesch, Scott C.; Riley, Natasha; Sadler, Georgia Robins

2014-01-01

Depression is a significant problem for ethnic minorities that remains understudied partly due to a lack of strong measures with established psychometric properties. One screening tool, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), which was developed for use in primary care has also gained popularity in research settings. The reliability and validity of the PHQ-9 has been well established among predominantly Caucasian samples, in addition to many minority groups. However, there is little evidence regarding its utility among Hispanic Americans, a large and growing cultural group in the United States. In this study, we investigated the reliability and structural validity of the PHQ-9 in Hispanic American women. A community sample of 479 Latina women from southern California completed the PHQ-9 in their preferred language of English or Spanish. Cronbach’s alphas suggested that there was good internal consistency for both the English- and Spanish-language versions. Structural validity was investigated using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results support a similar one-factor structure with equivalent response patterns and variances among English- and Spanish-speaking Latinas. These results suggest that the PHQ-9 can be used with confidence in both English and Spanish versions to screen Latinas for depression. PMID:21787063

Idea Sharing: Using Peer Assessment to Teach How to Make Oral Summaries in English Language Classes

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Ivanova, Olimpiada F.

2014-01-01

In this "Idea Sharing" article, the author describes the techniques used when teaching oral summary making to second-year students studying Business English at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. The techniques are based on peer assessment, which…

Teaching English to Immigrant Students in the United States: A Brief Summary of Programs and Methods

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Francisco Ramos Calvo

2003-11-01

Full Text Available Nearly ten per cent of the students currently attending public schools in the United States are classified as English Language Learners (ELL; that is to say, students who are learning English. The most important challenge this population brings to the educational authorities of their school districts and the schools they attend, is to find the most effective ways to teach them both English and the academic content pertaining to their grade. Since the methods traditionally used did not teach them either the vocabulary or the content needed for subjects such as Math or Science, they fell behind their English-speaking peers. It was necessary, then, to evolve toward a better integration of the language and the lesson content. The present article summarizes the objectives of the traditional methods, details the changes that have taken place in the last decades to improve the simultaneous teaching of English and academic content, and concludes with an explanation of the techniques most used today.

Parent-child reading interactions among English and English as a second language speakers in an underserved pediatric clinic in Hawai'i.

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Kitabayashi, Kristyn M; Huang, Gary Y; Linskey, Katy R; Pirga, Jason; Bane-Terakubo, Teresa; Lee, Meta T

2008-10-01

The purpose of this study was to compare reading patterns between English-speaking and English as a Second Language (ESL) families in a health care setting in Hawai'i. A cross-sectional study was performed at an underserved pediatric primary care clinic in Hawai'i. Caregivers of patients between the ages of 6 months to 5 years were asked questions regarding demographics and parent-child reading interactions. Respondents were categorized into English-speaking or ESL groups based on primary language spoken at home. Pearson chi2 tests and Fisher exact tests were performed to compare demographic differences, reading frequency, and reading attitudes between groups. One-hundred three respondents completed the survey Fifty percent were ESL. All ESL respondents were of Asian-Pacific Islander (API) or mixed Asian ethnicity. All Caucasians in the study (n = 9) were in the English-speaking group. Between the English-speaking (n = 52) and ESL (n = 51) groups, there were no significant statistical differences in age or gender of the child, reading attitudes, or parent's educational status. Parents in the ESL group read to their children significantly fewer days per week than their English-speaking counterparts, had significantly fewer books in the home, and lived significantly fewer years in the United States. The findings suggest that API immigrant families share similar attitudes about reading as English-speaking families in Hawai'i but have significantly fewer books in their household and read significantly less frequently Physicians working with API populations should be aware that immigrant children may have fewer reading interactions and should counsel parents on the importance of reading daily.

Chiropractic claims in the English-speaking world.

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Ernst, Edzard; Gilbey, Andrew

2010-04-09

Some chiropractors and their associations claim that chiropractic is effective for conditions that lack sound supporting evidence or scientific rationale. This study therefore sought to determine the frequency of World Wide Web claims of chiropractors and their associations to treat, asthma, headache/migraine, infant colic, colic, ear infection/earache/otitis media, neck pain, whiplash (not supported by sound evidence), and lower back pain (supported by some evidence). A review of 200 chiropractor websites and 9 chiropractic associations' World Wide Web claims in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States was conducted between 1 October 2008 and 26 November 2008. The outcome measure was claims (either direct or indirect) regarding the eight reviewed conditions, made in the context of chiropractic treatment. We found evidence that 190 (95%) chiropractor websites made unsubstantiated claims regarding at least one of the conditions. When colic and infant colic data were collapsed into one heading, there was evidence that 76 (38%) chiropractor websites made unsubstantiated claims about all the conditions not supported by sound evidence. Fifty-six (28%) websites and 4 of the 9 (44%) associations made claims about lower back pain, whereas 179 (90%) websites and all 9 associations made unsubstantiated claims about headache/migraine. Unsubstantiated claims were made about asthma, ear infection/earache/otitis media, neck pain, The majority of chiropractors and their associations in the English-speaking world seem to make therapeutic claims that are not supported by sound evidence, whilst only 28% of chiropractor websites promote lower back pain, which is supported by some evidence. We suggest the ubiquity of the unsubstantiated claims constitutes an ethical and public health issue.

Investigating Correlates of Self-Regulation in Early Childhood with a Representative Sample of English-Speaking American Families.

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Piotrowski, Jessica Taylor; Lapierre, Matthew A; Linebarger, Deborah L

2013-04-01

Children who possess less self-regulatory skill are at a disadvantage when compared to children who demonstrate greater skill at regulating their emotions, cognitions and behavior. Children with these regulatory deficits have difficulty connecting with peers, generating relationships with teachers, negotiating their social world, and succeeding academically. By understanding the correlates of self-regulatory abilities, interventions can be developed to ensure that children at-risk for poor self-regulation receive the support necessary to enhance their regulatory skills. Using data from a nationally representative survey of English-speaking American parents with children between the ages of two and eight ( n  = 1,141), we evaluated a host of demographic and parenting variables to isolate the correlates of self-regulation. Older children were found to have fewer regulatory problems than younger children while children from low-income homes and male children were found to have greater problems with self-regulation. Minority status, household composition (single vs multi-parent), and parental education were not significant correlates of self-regulation. Findings also illustrate the powerful relationship between parenting style and self-regulation. Parents who rely on nurturing parenting practices that reinforce the child's sense of autonomy while still maintaining a consistent parenting presence (i.e., authoritative parenting) have children who demonstrate stronger self-regulatory skills. Parents who exert an excess of parental control (i.e., authoritarian parents) have children with weaker self-regulatory skills. And lastly, parents who have notable absence of control (i.e., permissive parents) are more likely to have children with considerable regulatory deficits. Results offer implications for both practitioners and scholars.

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.

Adaptation and Assessment of a Public Speaking Rating Scale

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Iberri-Shea, Gina

2017-01-01

Prominent spoken language assessments such as the Oral Proficiency Interview and the Test of Spoken English have been primarily concerned with speaking ability as it relates to conversation. This paper looks at an additional aspect of spoken language ability, namely public speaking. This study used an adapted form of a public speaking rating scale…

Qzone Weblog for Critical Peer Feedback to Improve Business English Writing: A Case of Chinese Undergraduates

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Xianwei, Gao; Samuel, Moses; Asmawi, Adelina

2016-01-01

This study explores Qzone weblog for critical peer feedback (CPF) in Business English writing (BEW) among the Chinese undergraduates. A qualitative case study is conducted by Nvivo 8 to analyze the three research data of semi-structured interviews, BEW writing assignments, and CPF artifacts on Qzone weblog. Three research questions are focused to…

A cross-sectional analysis of perinatal depressive symptoms among Punjabi-speaking women: are they at risk?

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Sanghera, Raman; Wong, Sabrina T; Brown, Helen

2015-07-22

Depression is the leading cause of disability for childbearing women. We examined three specific research questions among Punjabi-speaking women residing in the Fraser Health Authority: 1) What are the prevalence rates of prenatal depressive symptoms? 2) Do Punjabi-speaking women have a higher likelihood of reporting depressive symptoms compared to English-speaking women after controlling for age, level of education and financial worries, and 3) Given the same level of exposure to level of education and financial worries, do Punjabi-speaking women have the same likelihood of reporting depressive symptoms? Data originated from the Fraser Health Authority prenatal registration database consisting of pregnant women (n = 9684) who completed a prenatal registration form between June 2009 and August 2010; 9.1 % indicated speaking Punjabi. The Whooley Depression Screen measured depressive symptoms. Chi-square tests and logistic multiple regression were used to examine the rates of reporting depressive symptoms among Punjabi-speaking women compared to English-speaking women. Punjabi-speaking women are at a higher risk for perinatal depressive symptoms. Women needing an interpreter were more likely to report prenatal depressive symptoms compared to English-speaking women. All registrants who reported financial worries had four and a half times the odds of reporting depressive symptoms. The impact of financial worries was significantly greater in the English-speaking women compared to the Punjabi-speaking women needing an interpreter. Using an established screening device, Punjabi-speaking women were found to be at higher risk for prenatal depressive symptoms.

Scientific impact of presentations from the EURAPS and the AAPS meetings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khorasani, Hoda; Lassen, Mats Højbjerg; Kuzon, William

2017-01-01

and for English speaking vs. non-English speaking countries. RESULTS: Seventy-two percent (n = 246) of the abstracts from the AAPS were published in peer-reviewed journals. The most published subspecialty was "Craniofacial surgery" followed by "Breast surgery." Mean time to publication was 22.1 months (range -72...... was 17.3 months (range -67-111 months). The most common journal for publication was PRS. Differences between the two societies' publication status were not observed (p = 0.157), but EURAPS abstracts had a significantly shorter time to publication (p = 0.007). Differences between English-speaking and non-English-speaking......INTRODUCTION: Presentation at scientific meetings is the usual first step to communicate new research findings. However, without subsequent, peer-reviewed publication, the wider propagation and the permanent documentation of important scholarly work may be lost. Our aim was to analyze and compare...

POLITENESS ON WHATSAPP: THE RESPONSES TO GREETINGS AND CONGRATULATIONS BY ENGLISH SPEAKING GROUPS IN INDONESIA

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Budi Purnomo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the last three years, WhatsApp (WA has become one of the most popular means of instant communication between individuals and the most preferred medium for contact among people who belong to a specific group. This tool provides the opportunity to send and receive text, audio and visual messages. Guidelines for writing WA messages are not available, and people may often be unsure which politeness and languages are appropriate. This research is intended to investigate the politeness markers used by English speaking groups in Indonesia to respond greetings and congratulations. This study is of a qualitative and descriptive nature. The data were the responses on behalf of 50 group members of English Student Club, 200 ones of English Teachers and 50 ones of English Lecturers, as evidenced in the politeness markers they respond to greetings and congratulations posted on the WA. Furthermore, the data were analyzed by using the parameter of politeness markers (Spencer-Oatey, 2008. The research findings show that the group members used various politeness markers on one occasion, but violate them on another occasion. The politeness markers they used from the most to the least frequency are politeness markers to greet, to agree, to give compliments, to express gratitude, to give notice, to apologize, to request, to give alternative suggestions, to command and to refuse. The value of this study contributes towards understanding politeness in online environments, such as WA, which is used for smooth communication through the establishment and maintenance of interpersonal relationships.

Influence of Second Language Cherokee Immersion on Children's Development of Past Tense in Their First Language, English

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Hirata-Edds, Tracy

2011-01-01

Metalinguistic skills may develop differently in multilingual and monolingual children. This study investigated effects of immersion in Cherokee as a second language on young children's (4;5-6;1) skills of noticing morphological forms/patterns in English, their first language, by comparing English past tense skills on two nonword and two real-word…

The Development of English as a Second Language With and Without Specific Language Impairment: Clinical Implications.

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Paradis, Johanne

2016-02-01

The purpose of this research forum article is to provide an overview of typical and atypical development of English as a second language (L2) and to present strategies for clinical assessment with English language learners (ELLs). A review of studies examining the lexical, morphological, narrative, and verbal memory abilities of ELLs is organized around 3 topics: timeframe and characteristics of typical English L2 development, comparison of the English L2 development of children with and without specific language impairment (SLI), and strategies for more effective assessment with ELLs. ELLs take longer than 3 years to converge on monolingual norms and approach monolingual norms asynchronously across linguistic subdomains. Individual variation is predicted by age, first language, language learning aptitude, length of exposure to English in school, maternal education, and richness of the English environment outside school. ELLs with SLI acquire English more slowly than ELLs with typical development; their morphological and nonword repetition abilities differentiate them the most. Use of strategies such as parent questionnaires on first language development and ELL norm referencing can result in accurate discrimination of ELLs with SLI. Variability in the language abilities of ELLs presents challenges for clinical practice. Increased knowledge of English language learning development with and without SLI together with evidence-based alternative assessment strategies can assist in overcoming these challenges.

Swahili Learners' Views on the Need for a Monolingual Swahili ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

monolingual Swahili learners' dictionary specifically designed for them. The paper discusses the need for a monolingual Swahili pedagogical dictionary which helps the foreigner learn the language. A pedagogical dictionary is oriented towards encoding Swahili, hence it is logical that some Swahili grammatical aspects are ...

The Role of Developmental Levels in Examining the Effect of Subject Types on the Production of Auxiliary "Is" in Young English-Speaking Children

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Guo, Ling-Yu; Van Horne, Amanda J. Owen; Tomblin, J. Bruce

2011-01-01

Purpose: Prior work (Guo, Owen, & Tomblin, 2010) has shown that at the group level, auxiliary "is" production by young English-speaking children was symmetrical across lexical noun and pronominal subjects. Individual data did not uniformly reflect these patterns. On the basis of the framework of the gradual morphosyntactic learning (GML)…

EFL Students' and Teachers' Attitudes toward Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety: A Look at NESTs and Non-NESTs

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Han, Turgay; Tanriöver, Ahmet Serkan; Sahan, Özgür

2016-01-01

Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) have been employed in various English language teaching (ELT) positions and departments at private and state universities in Turkey, particularly over the last three decades. However, undergraduate EFL students' attitudes toward NESTs and Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (Non-NESTs) remain seriously…

A report of the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Paternity Testing Workshops of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hallenberg, C; Morling, N

2001-01-01

We present the results of the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Paternity Testing Workshops of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics. The numbers of participating laboratories were 24 (1997), 31 (1998) and 32 (1999). In 1997, all laboratories drew the correct...

What is India speaking? Exploring the "Hinglish" invasion

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Parshad, Rana D.; Bhowmick, Suman; Chand, Vineeta; Kumari, Nitu; Sinha, Neha

2016-05-01

Language competition models help understand language shift dynamics, and have effectively captured how English has outcompeted various local languages, such as Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and Mandarin in Singapore. India, with a 125 million English speakers boasts the second largest number of English speakers in the world, after the United States. The 1961-2001 Indian censuses report a sharp increase in Hindi/English Bilinguals, suggesting that English is on the rise in India. To the contrary, we claim supported by field evidence, that these statistics are inaccurate, ignoring an emerging class who do not have full bilingual competence and switch between Hindi and English, communicating via a code popularly known as "Hinglish". Since current language competition models occlude hybrid practices and detailed local ecological factors, they are inappropriate to capture the current language dynamics in India. Expanding predator-prey and sociolinguistic theories, we draw on local Indian ecological factors to develop a novel three-species model of interaction between Monolingual Hindi speakers, Hindi/English Bilinguals and Hinglish speakers, and explore the long time dynamics it predicts. The model also exhibits Turing instability, which is the first pattern formation result in language dynamics. These results challenge traditional assumptions of English encroachment in India. More broadly, the three-species model introduced here is a first step towards modeling the dynamics of hybrid language scenarios in other settings across the world.

Developing A Method of Learning English Speaking Skills Based on the Language Functions Used in the Food and Beverage Service

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Denok Lestari

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This research is aimed to analyse language functions in  English, specifically those which are used in the context of Food and Beverage Service. The findings of the analysis related to the language functions are then applied in a teaching method which is designed to improve the students’ abilities in speaking English. There are two novelties in this research. The first one is  the theory of language functions which is reconstructed in accordance with the Food and Beverage Service context. Those language functions are: permisive (to soften utterances, to avoid repetition, and  to adjust intonation; interactive (to greet, to have small talks, and farewell; informative (to introduce, to show, to state, to explain, to ask, to agree, to reject, and to confirm; persuasive (to offer, to promise, to suggest, and to persuade; directive (to tell, to order, and to request; indicative (to praise, to complain, to thank, and to apologize. The second  novelty which is more practical is the design  of the ASRI method which consists of four basic components, namely: Aims (the purpose in communicating; Sequence (the operational procedure in handling guests in the restaurant; Role play (the simmulation activities in language learning; and Interaction (the interactive communications between participants. The method of ASRI with the application of the language functions in its ABCD procedure, namely Acquire, Brainstorm, Chance and Develop is proven to be effective in improving the students’ abilities in speaking English, specifically in the context of  Food and Beverage Service.

Which English? Whose English? An Investigation of "Non-Native" Teachers' Beliefs about Target Varieties

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Young, Tony Johnstone; Walsh, Steve

2010-01-01

This study explored the beliefs of "non-native English speaking" teachers about the usefulness and appropriacy of varieties such as English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), compared with native speaker varieties. The study therefore addresses the current theoretical debate concerning "appropriate" target…

The Implementation of Role Play to Improve EFL Speaking Skill of the Second Semester Students of Akademi Bahasa Asing Balikpapan

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Muhammad Rochman

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Speaking is an important skill learned by English student although English covers four skills namely speaking, listening, speaking and writing. Speaking is the main bridge for the students to master English. Unfortunately the fact has shown that the students were quite difficult to improve their speaking skill because they were accustomed to use their native language language in their daily life than using English. The above facts signify that the lecturer should apply the techniques that can motivate students to speak and engage students in encouraging activities. One of the techniques that encourage students to speak is role play. Role play is the choice implemented by the researcher in improving the speaking skill of the first year students at ABA Balikpapan since using role play, the students can express their idea, opinion, and feeling well in their performance without being worried to make mistake. Based on the result of the study, it can be concluded that the result of this research was satisfying. This research claims that it was successful in the effort in improving students’ English speaking skill through Role-Play. Role-Play activity could increase the students’ motivation in joining the teaching and learning activity. Their motivation is reflected in their efforts in preparing the Role-Play.

Swedish or English? Migrants' Experiences of the Exchangeability of Language Resources

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Henry, Alastair

2016-01-01

Patterns of transmigration emerging as a consequence of globalization are creating new and complex markets for communicative resources in which languages and language varieties are differently valued. In a Swedish context, where lingua franca English can facilitate communication but where monolingual norms prevail and Swedish is positioned as the…

How Does L1 and L2 Exposure Impact L1 Performance in Bilingual Children? Evidence from Polish-English Migrants to the United Kingdom

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Ewa Haman

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Most studies on bilingual language development focus on children’s second language (L2. Here, we investigated first language (L1 development of Polish-English early migrant bilinguals in four domains: vocabulary, grammar, phonological processing, and discourse. We first compared Polish language skills between bilinguals and their Polish non-migrant monolingual peers, and then investigated the influence of the cumulative exposure to L1 and L2 on bilinguals’ performance. We then examined whether high exposure to L1 could possibly minimize the gap between monolinguals and bilinguals. We analyzed data from 233 typically developing children (88 bilingual and 145 monolingual aged 4;0 to 7;5 (years;months on six language measures in Polish: receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, receptive grammar, productive grammar (sentence repetition, phonological processing (non-word repetition, and discourse abilities (narration. Information about language exposure was obtained via parental questionnaires. For each language task, we analyzed the data from the subsample of bilinguals who had completed all the tasks in question and from monolinguals matched one-on-one to the bilingual group on age, SES (measured by years of mother’s education, gender, non-verbal IQ, and short-term memory. The bilingual children scored lower than monolinguals in all language domains, except discourse. The group differences were more pronounced on the productive tasks (vocabulary, grammar, and phonological processing and moderate on the receptive tasks (vocabulary and grammar. L1 exposure correlated positively with the vocabulary size and phonological processing. Grammar scores were not related to the levels of L1 exposure, but were predicted by general cognitive abilities. L2 exposure negatively influenced productive grammar in L1, suggesting possible L2 transfer effects on L1 grammatical performance. Children’s narrative skills benefitted from exposure to two languages

Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children.

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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.

Reading and reading instruction for children from low-income and non-English-speaking households.

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Lesaux, Nonie K

2012-01-01

Although most young children seem to master reading skills in the early grades of elementary school, many struggle with texts as they move through middle school and high school. Why do children who seem to be proficient readers in third grade have trouble comprehending texts in later grades? To answer this question, Nonie Lesaux describes what is known about reading development and instruction, homing in on research conducted with children from low-income and non-English-speaking homes. Using key insights from this research base, she offers two explanations. The first is that reading is a dynamic and multifaceted process that requires continued development if students are to keep pace with the increasing demands of school texts and tasks. The second lies in the role of reading assessment and instruction in U.S. schools. Lesaux draws a distinction between the "skills-based competencies" that readers need to sound out and recognize words and the "knowledge-based competencies" that include the conceptual and vocabulary knowledge necessary to comprehend a text's meaning. Although U.S. schools have made considerable progress in teaching skills-based reading competencies that are the focus of the early grades, most have made much less progress in teaching the knowledge-based competencies students need to support reading comprehension in middle and high school. These knowledge-based competencies are key sources of lasting individual differences in reading outcomes, particularly among children growing up in low-income and non-English-speaking households. Augmenting literacy rates, Lesaux explains, will require considerable shifts in the way reading is assessed and taught in elementary and secondary schools. First, schools must conduct comprehensive reading assessments that discern learners' (potential) sources of reading difficulties--in both skills-based and knowledge-based competencies. Second, educators must implement instructional approaches that offer promise for

Validating TOEFL[R] iBT Speaking and Setting Score Requirements for ITA Screening

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Xi, Xiaoming

2007-01-01

Although the primary use of the speaking section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based test (TOEFL[R] iBT Speaking) is to inform admissions decisions at English medium universities, it may also be useful as an initial screening measure for international teaching assistants (ITAs). This study provides criterion-related…

A Comparison of English and Mandarin-Speaking Preschool Children’s Imitation of Motion Events

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Zhidan Wang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Typically in English, a “satellite-framed” language, manner is expressed in the verb and path is expressed in supporting words. Past studies using looking time techniques suggest that English-speaking 3-year-olds show language-specific action processing, but 2.5-year-olds preferentially attend to path regardless of native language. In Study 1, we test whether language-specific action component preferences will be reflected in children’s imitation, as a more explicit measure. Children who spoke English saw an adult move an object along a series of platforms using one of two paths and manners. Then, the children were given the opportunity to move the object on a different test platform, which was designed to force them to choose to reproduce either the demonstrated path or the manner. The results showed that 3-year-olds, but not 2.5-year-olds, were more likely to imitate the manner versus the path. In Study 2, we extend the investigation to a less commonly studied language within this domain, Mandarin. Typically in Mandarin, an “equipollently framed” language, both manner and path are expressed within equally significant verbs. The results indicated that 3-year-olds did not show a consistent preference to imitate either the path or the manner. In contrast, 2.5-year-olds were more likely to imitate the path than the manner. This research highlights the potential for the imitation choice paradigm, as an explicit measure, to understand how language affects cognition, and suggests a new language-specific pattern in action interpretation.

English course

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2011-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next sessions will take place: From 3rd October 2011 to beginning of February 2012 (break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister, tel. 70896. Oral Expression The next sessions will take place from 3rd October 2011 to beginning of February 2012 (break at Christmas). This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to enhance their speaking skills. There will be on average of 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Kerstin Fuhrmeister, tel. 70896. Writing Professional Documents in English - Administrative Wr...

English courses

CERN Multimedia

2013-01-01

Cours d'anglais général et professionnel La prochaine session se déroulera du 4 mars jusqu’au 21 juin 2013. Ces cours s'adressent à toute personne travaillant au CERN ainsi qu'à leur conjoint. Pour le détail des cours proposés, consultez nos pages web. Oral Expression The next sessions will take place from 4 March to 21 June 2013. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to enhance their speaking skills. There will be on average of 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. More information here. Writing Professional Documents in English - Administrative Writing Professional Documents in English - Technical The next sessions will take place from 4 March to 21 June 2013. These courses are designed for people with a goo...

Bridging the language gap: Exploring science teachers' dual role as teachers of content and English literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, Suzanne C.

Responsibility for educating English language learners is increasingly falling on the shoulders of content specialists at the secondary level, as students are mainstreamed into classes. Therefore, providing these students an opportunity to achieve academic success depends largely on the quality of mainstream instruction (Cornell, 1995). Most teachers receive little or no preparation in how to work with English language learners. In my study, I address the instructional issues confronting three white, monolingual English-speaking middle school science teachers who must meet the demands of an increasing English language learner population. Specifically, this study explores teacher beliefs and enactment of reform-oriented science and sheltered instructional approaches to develop English language learners scientific and English literacy skills. I also explore the relationships that exist between these two dynamics in an effort to determine the extent to which teachers take on a dual role as teachers promoting English language and science proficiency. Using a participant observation case study method and my adaptation of Schwab's commonplaces heuristic, I analyzed the relationship between teacher beliefs, milieu, subject matter, and enactment in bridging the language gap in the science classroom for English language learners. The most noteworthy finding of this study was the significant role of milieu in enacting lessons that bridge the language gap and foster the development of English language learners science and English literacy skills. The findings suggest that greater attention be given to helping teachers establish a relationship-driven classroom milieu. You can provide all kinds of courses or professional learning experiences to improve teachers' instructional practices, but they must also recognize the importance of establishing relationships with their students; the coursework they take will not supplant the need to foster a warm and safe environment for all

The Attitudes of Students From ESL And EFL Countries To English

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Hasbi

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This research is to study the attitudes of English students from English as a Second Language (ESL and English as a Foreign Language (EFL country in English and Foreign Languages University (EFL University, Hyderabad to English. This is a descriptive-quantitative research with a survey method. The attitudes researched include those to listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The data was taken through questionnaire consisting of 20 questions. The findings of this study showed that the English students in EFL University have neutral-to-positive attitudes to Listening, positive attitudes to Speaking, positive attitudes to Reading, and poor attitudes to Writing. In addition, the English students from ESL country have better attitudes to Reading (positive and Writing (neutral and those from EFL country have better attitudes to Speaking (neutral-to-positive and Listening (neutral-to-positive.

The Attitudes of Students from ESL and EFL Countries to English

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhamad Hasbi

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This research is to study the attitudes of English students from English as a Second Language (ESL and English as a Foreign Language (EFL country in English and Foreign Languages University (EFL University, Hyderabad to English. This is a descriptive-quantitative research with a survey method. The attitudes researched include those to listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The data was taken through questionnaire consisting of 20 questions. The findings of this study showed that the English students in EFL University have neutral-to-positive attitudes to Listening, positive attitudes to Speaking, positive attitudes to Reading, and poor attitudes to Writing. In addition, the English students from ESL country have better attitudes to Reading (positive and Writing (neutral and those from EFL country have better attitudes to Speaking (neutral-to-positive and Listening (neutral-to-positive.