WorldWideScience

Sample records for monolingual spanish-speaking children

  1. 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,…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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)…

  3. Articulation Skills in Spanish-Speaking Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  4. Cognitive Development in Bilingual and Monolingual Lower-Class Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Barbara; Goldstein, David

    1979-01-01

    The cognitive development of lower-class English-speaking monolingual and English-Spanish speaking bilingual children in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades was compared by means of standard verbal and nonverbal measures. The verbal ability of bilingual children was assessed in both English and Spanish. Their scores in both languages were low.…

  5. Young Spanish-English Speaking Children's Reading Attitudes in Relation to Language Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Carla L.; Gabas, Clariebelle M.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Reading attitudes are recognised as an influencing factor on the language and literacy achievement of school age monolingual English-speaking children. The relationship between reading attitudes and achievement in young Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) remains understudied. Purpose: The aim of the current study was to describe…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  8. 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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  12. Measuring growth in bilingual and monolingual children's english productive vocabulary development: the utility of combining parent and teacher report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vagh, Shaher Banu; Pan, Barbara Alexander; Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette

    2009-01-01

    This longitudinal study examined growth in the English productive vocabularies of bilingual and monolingual children between ages 24 and 36 months and explored the utility and validity of supplementing parent reports with teacher reports to improve the estimation of children's vocabulary. Low-income, English-speaking and English/Spanish-speaking parents and Early Head Start and Head Start program teachers completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, Words and Sentences for 85 children. Results indicate faster growth rates for monolingual than for bilingual children and larger vocabularies for bilingual children who spoke mostly English than mostly Spanish at home. Parent-teacher composite reports, like parent reports, significantly related to children's directly assessed productive vocabulary at ages 30 and 36 months, but parent reports fit the model better. Implications for vocabulary assessment are discussed.

  13. 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

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  15. Development and Validation of Extract the Base: An English Derivational Morphology Test for Third through Fifth Grade Monolingual Students and Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodwin, Amanda P.; Huggins, A. Corinne; Carlo, Maria; Malabonga, Valerie; Kenyon, Dorry; Louguit, Mohammed; August, Diane

    2012-01-01

    This study describes the development and validation of the Extract the Base test (ETB), which assesses derivational morphological awareness. Scores on this test were validated for 580 monolingual students and 373 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) in third through fifth grade. As part of the validation of the internal structure,…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  17. Exploring problem solving strategies on multiple-choice science items: Comparing native Spanish-speaking English Language Learners and mainstream monolinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kachchaf, Rachel Rae

    The purpose of this study was to compare how English language learners (ELLs) and monolingual English speakers solved multiple-choice items administered with and without a new form of testing accommodation---vignette illustration (VI). By incorporating theories from second language acquisition, bilingualism, and sociolinguistics, this study was able to gain more accurate and comprehensive input into the ways students interacted with items. This mixed methods study used verbal protocols to elicit the thinking processes of thirty-six native Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs), and 36 native-English speaking non-ELLs when solving multiple-choice science items. Results from both qualitative and quantitative analyses show that ELLs used a wider variety of actions oriented to making sense of the items than non-ELLs. In contrast, non-ELLs used more problem solving strategies than ELLs. There were no statistically significant differences in student performance based on the interaction of presence of illustration and linguistic status or the main effect of presence of illustration. However, there were significant differences based on the main effect of linguistic status. An interaction between the characteristics of the students, the items, and the illustrations indicates considerable heterogeneity in the ways in which students from both linguistic groups think about and respond to science test items. The results of this study speak to the need for more research involving ELLs in the process of test development to create test items that do not require ELLs to carry out significantly more actions to make sense of the item than monolingual students.

  18. Longitudinal analysis of receptive vocabulary growth in young Spanish English-speaking children from migrant families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Carla Wood; Schatschneider, Christopher; Leacox, Lindsey

    2014-01-01

    The authors of this study described developmental trajectories and predicted kindergarten performance of Spanish and English receptive vocabulary acquisition of young Latino/a English language learners (ELLs) from socioeconomically disadvantaged migrant families. In addition, the authors examined the extent to which gender and individual initial performance in Spanish predict receptive vocabulary performance and growth rate. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling of 64 children's receptive vocabulary performance to generate growth trajectories, predict performance at school entry, and examine potential predictors of rate of growth. The timing of testing varied across children. The ELLs (prekindergarten to 2nd grade) participated in 2-5 testing sessions, each 6-12 months apart. The ELLs' average predicted standard score on an English receptive vocabulary at kindergarten was nearly 2 SDs below the mean for monolingual peers. Significant growth in the ELLs' receptive vocabulary was observed between preschool and 2nd grade, indicating that the ELLs were slowly closing the receptive vocabulary gap, although their average score remained below the standard score mean for age-matched monolingual peers. The ELLs demonstrated a significant decrease in Spanish receptive vocabulary standard scores over time. Initial Spanish receptive vocabulary was a significant predictor of growth in English receptive vocabulary. High initial Spanish receptive vocabulary was associated with greater growth in English receptive vocabulary and decelerated growth in Spanish receptive vocabulary. Gender was not a significant predictor of growth in either English or Spanish receptive vocabulary. ELLs from low socioeconomic backgrounds may be expected to perform lower in English compared with their monolingual English peers in kindergarten. Performance in Spanish at school entry may be useful in identifying children who require more intensive instructional support for English vocabulary

  19. 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.

  20. Bilingual and Monolingual Children Prefer Native-Accented Speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andre L. eSouza

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Adults and young children prefer to affiliate with some individuals rather than others. Studies have shown that monolingual children show in-group biases for individuals who speak their native language without a foreign accent (Kinzler, Dupoux, & Spelke, 2007. Some studies have suggested that bilingual children are less influenced than monolinguals by language variety when attributing personality traits to different speakers (Anisfeld & Lambert, 1964, which could indicate that bilinguals have fewer in-group biases and perhaps greater social flexibility. However, no previous studies have compared monolingual and bilingual children’s reactions to speakers with unfamiliar foreign accents. In the present study, we investigated the social preferences of 5-year-old English and French monolinguals and English-French bilinguals. Contrary to our predictions, both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers preferred to be friends with native-accented speakers over speakers who spoke their dominant language with an unfamiliar foreign accent. This result suggests that both monolingual and bilingual children have strong preferences for in-group members who use a familiar language variety, and that bilingualism does not lead to generalized social flexibility.

  1. Multinational Validation of the Spanish Bracken Basic Concept Scale for Cross-Cultural Assessments.

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    Bracken, Bruce A.; And Others

    1990-01-01

    Investigated construct validity of the Spanish translation of the Bracken Basic Concept Scale (BBCS) in Latino children (n=293) including monolingual Spanish-speaking children from Puerto Rico and Venezuela and Spanish-dominant bilingual Latino children from Texas. Results provided support for construct validity of the Spanish version of the…

  2. Measuring Early Communication in Spanish Speaking Children: The Communication Complexity Scale in Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atwood, Erin; Brady, Nancy C; Esplund, Amy

    There is a great need in the United States to develop presymbolic evaluation tools that are widely available and accurate for individuals that come from a bilingual and/or multicultural setting. The Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) is a measure that evaluates expressive presymbolic communication including gestures, vocalizations and eye gaze. Studying the effectiveness of this tool in a Spanish speaking environment was undertaken to determine the applicability of the CCS with Spanish speaking children. Methods & Procedures: In 2011-2012, researchers from the University of Kansas and Centro Ann Sullivan del Perú (CASP) investigated communication in a cohort of 71 young Spanish speaking children with developmental disabilities and a documented history of self-injurious, stereotyped and aggressive behaviors. Communication was assessed first by parental report with translated versions of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS), a well-known assessment of early communication, and then eleven months later with the CCS. We hypothesized that the CCS and the CSBS measures would be significantly correlated in this population of Spanish speaking children. The CSBS scores from time 1 with a mean participant age of 41 months were determined to have a strong positive relationship to the CCS scores obtained at time 2 with a mean participant age of 52 months. The CCS is strongly correlated to a widely accepted measure of early communication. These findings support the validity of the Spanish version of the CCS and demonstrate its usefulness for children from another culture and for children in a Spanish speaking environment.

  3. Causal Coherence in the Oral Narratives of Spanish-Speaking Children.

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    Gutierrez-Clellen, Vera F.; Iglesias, Aquiles

    1992-01-01

    Forty-six Spanish-speaking children ages four, six, or eight years viewed a short silent film and told what happened in the film. The stories of older children included more narrative actions, more mental state/goal causes, more three-clause causal sequences, and a lower proportion of unrelated statements than those of younger children.…

  4. 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

  5. Relations between Early Reading and Writing Skills among Spanish-Speaking Language Minority Children

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    Goodrich, J. Marc; Farrington, Amber L.; Lonigan, Christopher J.

    2016-01-01

    Although there is a growing body of literature on the development of reading skills of Spanish-speaking language minority children, little research has focused on the development of writing skills in this population. This study evaluated whether children's Spanish early reading skills (i.e., print knowledge, phonological awareness, oral language)…

  6. Notable Books in Spanish for Children and Young Adults from Spanish-Speaking Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schon, Isabel

    1985-01-01

    Presents a bibliography of books recently published in Mexico, Spain, Argentina, and Peru for Spanish-speaking children and young adults. The books are grouped by the following levels: (1) preschool and primary grades; (2) grades 3 to 6; (3) junior high and up; and (4) young adult. (SED)

  7. Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers.

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    Kan, Pui Fong; Sadagopan, Neeraja

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan et al., 2014), the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals' retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals' retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals' language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words.

  8. Writing Disabilities in Spanish-Speaking Children: Introduction to the Special Series.

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    Jiménez, Juan E

    This special issue of the Journal of Learning Disabilities focuses on studies of writing disabilities in Spanish-speaking children. The World Health Organization (2001) included writing difficulties as one of the problems considered to constitute an impediment to school participation, a significant element in the normal developmental process of the child. In this introduction, I describe the background of a larger project promoted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This special series offers recent findings on writing disabilities in Spanish-Speaking children within the UNESCO project. The pilot study was carried out in the Canary Islands, an autonomous Spanish region located between three continents and composed of seven islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the current empirical evidence on writing disabilities comes from English, a language with deep orthography; therefore, it is very relevant to investigate the writing process in Spanish, a language with shallow, fine-grained orthography. Included are a number of articles that form a conspectus on writing disabilities in the Spanish language. Topics center on early grade writing assessment, prevalence of writing disabilities, handwriting and keyboarding, transcription and text generation, graphonomic and handwriting analysis, and instructional practices with an learning disabled population.

  9. Syntax in Spanish-speaking children with Williams syndrome.

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    Benítez-Burraco, Antonio; Garayzábal, Elena; Cuetos, Fernando

    2016-01-01

    The syntactic skills of Spanish-speaking children with Williams syndrome (WS) were assessed in different areas (phrase structure, recursion, and bound anaphora). Children were compared to typically-developing peers matched either in chronological age (CA-TD) or in verbal age (VA-TD). In all tasks children with WS performed significantly worse than CA-TD children, but similarly to VA-TD children. However, significant differences were observed in specific domains, particularly regarding sentences with cross-serial dependencies. At the same time, children with WS were less sensitive to syntactic constraints and exhibited a poorer knowledge of some functional words (specifically, of nonreflexive pronouns). A processing bottleneck or a computational constraint may account for this outcome. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  11. Perception of audio-visual speech synchrony in Spanish-speaking children with and without specific language impairment.

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    Pons, Ferran; Andreu, Llorenç; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Buil-Legaz, Lucía; Lewkowicz, David J

    2013-06-01

    Speech perception involves the integration of auditory and visual articulatory information, and thus requires the perception of temporal synchrony between this information. There is evidence that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty with auditory speech perception but it is not known if this is also true for the integration of auditory and visual speech. Twenty Spanish-speaking children with SLI, twenty typically developing age-matched Spanish-speaking children, and twenty Spanish-speaking children matched for MLU-w participated in an eye-tracking study to investigate the perception of audiovisual speech synchrony. Results revealed that children with typical language development perceived an audiovisual asynchrony of 666 ms regardless of whether the auditory or visual speech attribute led the other one. Children with SLI only detected the 666 ms asynchrony when the auditory component preceded [corrected] the visual component. None of the groups perceived an audiovisual asynchrony of 366 ms. These results suggest that the difficulty of speech processing by children with SLI would also involve difficulties in integrating auditory and visual aspects of speech perception.

  12. Assessment of health literacy and numeracy among Spanish-Speaking parents of young children: validation of the Spanish Parental Health Literacy Activities Test (PHLAT Spanish).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, H Shonna; Sanders, Lee M; Rothman, Russell L; Mendelsohn, Alan L; Dreyer, Benard P; White, Richard O; Finkle, Joanne P; Prendes, Stefania; Perrin, Eliana M

    2012-01-01

    To assess the health literacy and numeracy skills of Spanish-speaking parents of young children and to validate a new Spanish language health literacy assessment for parents, the Spanish Parental Health Literacy Activities Test (PHLAT Spanish). Cross-sectional study of Spanish-speaking caregivers of young children (validated tests of health literacy (S-TOFHLA) and numeracy (WRAT-3 Arithmetic). Psychometric analysis was used to examine item characteristics of the PHLAT-10 Spanish, to assess its correlation with sociodemographics and performance on literacy/numeracy assessments, and to generate a shorter 8-item scale (PHLAT-8). Of 176 caregivers, 77% had adequate health literacy (S-TOFHLA), whereas only 0.6% had 9th grade or greater numeracy skills. Mean PHLAT-10 score was 41.6% (SD 21.1). Fewer than one-half (45.5%) were able to read a liquid antibiotic prescription label and demonstrate how much medication to administer within an oral syringe. Less than one-third (31.8%) were able to interpret a food label to determine whether it met WIC (Special supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children) guidelines. Greater PHLAT-10 score was associated with greater years of education (r = 0.49), S-TOFHLA (r = 0.53), and WRAT-3 (r = 0.55) scores (P Spanish-speaking parents have difficulty performing health-related literacy and numeracy tasks. The Spanish PHLAT demonstrates good psychometric characteristics and may be useful for identifying parents who would benefit from receiving low-literacy child health information. Copyright © 2012 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pui Fong eKan

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan, Sadagopan, Janich, & Andrade, 2014, the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals’ fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals’ fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals’ retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals’ retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals’ language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words.

  14. Syntactic Universals and the Acquisition of Spanish Word Order by Quechua-Speaking Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lujan, Marta; Liliana Minaya

    Because of the syntactic differences between Spanish and Quechua, Quechua-speaking children must make major word order adjustments to learn the Peruvian Spanish taught in school. This study investigates whether the order or time sequence in which these changes are adopted reflects any general constraint, or is in any way predicted by a theory of…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  16. What Can Errors Tell Us about Differences between Monolingual and Bilingual Vocabulary Learning?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2018-01-01

    Error patterns in vocabulary learning data were used as a window into the mechanisms that underlie vocabulary learning performance in bilinguals vs. monolinguals. English--Spanish bilinguals (n = 18) and English-speaking monolinguals (n = 18) were taught novel vocabulary items in association with English translations. At testing, participants…

  17. Assessing Working Memory in Spanish-Speaking Children: Automated Working Memory Assessment Battery Adaptation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Injoque-Ricle, Irene; Calero, Alejandra D.; Alloway, Tracy P.; Burin, Debora I.

    2011-01-01

    The Automated Working Memory Assessment battery was designed to assess verbal and visuospatial passive and active working memory processing in children and adolescents. The aim of this paper is to present the adaptation and validation of the AWMA battery to Argentinean Spanish-speaking children aged 6 to 11 years. Verbal subtests were adapted and…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  19. Novel Morpheme Learning in Monolingual and Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  20. 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…

  1. Inhibitory Control of Spanish-Speaking Language-Minority Preschool Children: Measurement and Association With Language, Literacy, and Math Skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonigan, Christopher J; Allan, Darcey M; Goodrich, J Marc; Farrington, Amber L; Phillips, Beth M

    Children's self-regulation, including components of executive function such as inhibitory control, is related concurrently and longitudinally with elementary school children's reading and math abilities. Although several recent studies have examined links between preschool children's self-regulation or executive function and their academic skill development, few included large numbers of Spanish-speaking language-minority children. Among the fastest growing segments of the U.S. school-age population, many of these children are at significant risk of academic difficulties. We examined the relations between inhibitory control and academic skills in a sample containing a large number of Spanish-speaking preschoolers. Overall, the children demonstrated substantial academic risk based on preschool-entry vocabulary scores in the below-average range. Children completed assessments of language, literacy, and math skills in English and Spanish, when appropriate, at the start and end of their preschool year, along with a measure of inhibitory control, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task, which was administered at the start of the preschool year in the child's dominant conversational language. Scores on this last measure were lower for children for whom it was administered in Spanish. For both English and Spanish outcomes, those scores were significantly and uniquely associated with higher scores on measures of phonological awareness and math skills but not vocabulary or print knowledge skills.

  2. Validity of a parent-report measure of vocabulary and grammar for Spanish-speaking toddlers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thal, D; Jackson-Maldonado, D; Acosta, D

    2000-10-01

    The validity of the Fundación MacArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas: Palabras y Enunciados (IDHC:PE) was examined with twenty 20- and nineteen 28-month-old, typically developing, monolingual, Spanish-speaking children living in Mexico. One measure of vocabulary (number of words) and two measures of grammar (mean of the three longest utterances and grammatical complexity score) from the IDHC:PE were compared to behavioral measures of vocabulary (number of different words from a language sample and number of objects named in a confrontation naming task) and one behavioral measure of grammar (mean length of utterance from a language sample). Only vocabulary measures were assessed in the 20-month-olds because of floor effects on the grammar measures. Results indicated validity for assessing expressive vocabulary in 20-month-olds and expressive vocabulary and grammar in 28-month-olds.

  3. The Monolingual Cataloging Monolith: A Barrier to Library Access for Readers of Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jensen, Bruce

    2003-01-01

    Asserts that despite growing awareness of frontline public service concerns in accommodating Spanish speakers, little care is invested in the technical processing side of the library's responsibility to Spanish speakers. Examines the usefulness and accessibility of online public access catalogs for monolingual Spanish readers, focusing on records…

  4. 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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  6. Personality and Creativity: A Study in Spanish-Speaking Children

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    Gabriela Krumm

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This work aimed at studying the relationship between personality from the Big Five Personality model and creativity through different techniques (i.e., a paper and pencil task, and scales and informants (i.e., the child and parents. We evaluated a sample of 359 Spanish-speaking school children of both genders, aged 9 to 13 years. Personality was assessed with the Argentine Questionnaire of children’s Personality (CAPI. Creativity was evaluated using the following instruments: The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking-Figural Form B; and the Creative Personality Scale (EPC. Pearson correlations and multiple linear regressions consistently showed that Neuroticism related negatively to creativity while competence has a positive relation. The results suggested that more creative children presented less vulnerability, irritability and psychological distress, eventually becoming more independent, competent and emotionally self-regulated in coping with environmental demands.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  9. Development of early numerical abilities of Spanish-speaking Mexican preschoolers: A new assessment tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beltrán-Navarro, Beatriz; Abreu-Mendoza, Roberto A; Matute, Esmeralda; Rosselli, Monica

    2018-01-01

    This article presents a tool for assessing the early numerical abilities of Spanish-speaking Mexican preschoolers. The Numerical Abilities Test, from the Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil-Preescolar (ENI-P), evaluates four core abilities of number development: magnitude comparison, counting, subitizing, and basic calculation. We evaluated 307 Spanish-speaking Mexican children aged 2 years 6 months to 4 years 11 months. Appropriate internal consistency and test-retest reliability were demonstrated. We also investigated the effect of age, children's school attendance, maternal education, and sex on children's numerical scores. The results showed that the four subtests captured development across ages. Critically, maternal education had an impact on children's performance in three out of the four subtests, but there was no effect associated with children's school attendance or sex. These results suggest that the Numerical Abilities Test is a reliable instrument for Spanish-speaking preschoolers. We discuss the implications of our outcomes for numerical development.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  13. 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…

  14. Early Lexical Development in Spanish-Speaking Infants and Toddlers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson-Maldonado, Donna; And Others

    1993-01-01

    The development of a new parent report instrument, Inventario del Desarollo de Habilidades Communicativas, is reported and 5 studies carried out with the instrument for 328 children aged 8 months to 2 years/7 months are presented. Among the findings are similar trajectories of development for Spanish- and English-speaking children and for children…

  15. Prevention of adolescent depression in the Spanish-speaking world

    OpenAIRE

    Horn, Andrea B; Canizares, Catalina; Gomez, Yvonne

    2014-01-01

    This paper aims at presenting programs targeted at the prevention of adolescent depression applied with Spanish-speaking populations that have been developed in Spanish-speaking countries and are mostly published in Spanish. These programs have been developed under different cultural contexts in Spain and Latin-America. The main goal of this paper is to make the studies and movements of the Spanish-speaking literature in this field accessible to the non-Spanish-speaking part of the research c...

  16. How Do Children Ascribe Gender to Nouns? A Study of Spanish-Speaking Children with and without Specific Language Impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Raquel T.; Lockowitz, Alison

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this investigation was to identify how Spanish-speaking preschool children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) use the various cues available for ascribing a noun's inherent gender in the language. Via an invented word task, four types of cues were isolated and presented to each child: (1) two types of noun-internal…

  17. Examining the Relationship between Emergent Literacy Skills and Invented Spelling in Prekindergarten Spanish-Speaking Dual Language Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pendergast, Meghan; Bingham, Gary; Patton-Terry, Nicole

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to examine associations among English and Spanish emergent literacy skills of prekindergarten (pre-K) Spanish-speaking dual language learners in relation to their English invented spelling. Study participants included 141 Spanish-speaking 4-year-old children enrolled in state-funded pre-K programs in a large…

  18. Interface strategies in monolingual and end-state L2 Spanish grammars are not that different

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Carmen eParafita Couto

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This study explores syntactic, pragmatic, and lexical influences on adherence to SV and VS orders in native and fluent L2 speakers of Spanish. A judgment task examined 20 native monolingual and 20 longstanding L2 bilingual Spanish speakers’ acceptance of SV and VS structures. Seventy-six distinct verbs were tested under a combination of syntactic and pragmatic constraints. Our findings challenge the hypothesis that internal interfaces are acquired more easily than external interfaces (Sorace, 2005, 2011; Sorace & Filiaci, 2006; White 2006. Additional findings are that (a bilinguals' judgments are less firm overall than monolinguals' (i.e., monolinguals are more likely to give extreme yes or no judgments and (b individual verbs do not necessarily behave as predicted under standard definitions of unaccusatives and unergatives. Correlations of the patterns found in the data with verb frequencies suggest that usage-based accounts of grammatical knowledge could help provide insight into speakers' knowledge of these constructs.

  19. Interface strategies in monolingual and end-state L2 Spanish grammars are not that different.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parafita Couto, María C; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C; Stadthagen-González, Hans

    2014-01-01

    This study explores syntactic, pragmatic, and lexical influences on adherence to SV and VS orders in native and fluent L2 speakers of Spanish. A judgment task examined 20 native monolingual and 20 longstanding L2 bilingual Spanish speakers' acceptance of SV and VS structures. Seventy-six distinct verbs were tested under a combination of syntactic and pragmatic constraints. Our findings challenge the hypothesis that internal interfaces are acquired more easily than external interfaces (Sorace, 2005, 2011; Sorace and Filiaci, 2006; White, 2006). Additional findings are that (a) bilinguals' judgments are less firm overall than monolinguals' (i.e., monolinguals are more likely to give extreme "yes" or "no" judgments) and (b) individual verbs do not necessarily behave as predicted under standard definitions of unaccusatives and unergatives. Correlations of the patterns found in the data with verb frequencies suggest that usage-based accounts of grammatical knowledge could help provide insight into speakers' knowledge of these constructs.

  20. 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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  2. Prevention of Adolescent Depression in the Spanish-Speaking World

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea B. Horn

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims at presenting programs targeted at the prevention of adolescent depression applied with Spanish-speaking populations that have been developed in Spanish-speaking countries and are mostly published in Spanish. These programs have been developed under different cultural contexts in Spain and Latin-America. The main goal of this paper is to make the studies and movements of the Spanish-speaking literature in this field accessible to the non-Spanish-speaking part of the research community. Therefore, after an introduction referring to possible cultural differences regarding depression in general and epidemiological basics, several programs are introduced. In total 11 programs will be shortly presented and discussed. After revising the programs it can be concluded that in the Spanish-speaking world many programs have been developed and conducted following current state of the art-approaches for adolescent depression prevention. Further research is needed especially targeting possible cultural and contextual aspects of prevention measures and their efficacy and efficiency.

  3. Prevention of adolescent depression in the Spanish-speaking world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horn, Andrea B; Cañizares, Catalina; Gómez, Yvonne

    2014-05-27

    This paper aims at presenting programs targeted at the prevention of adolescent depression applied with Spanish-speaking populations that have been developed in Spanish-speaking countries and are mostly published in Spanish. These programs have been developed under different cultural contexts in Spain and Latin-America. The main goal of this paper is to make the studies and movements of the Spanish-speaking literature in this field accessible to the non-Spanish-speaking part of the research community. Therefore, after an introduction referring to possible cultural differences regarding depression in general and epidemiological basics, several programs are introduced. In total 11 programs will be shortly presented and discussed. After revising the programs it can be concluded that in the Spanish-speaking world many programs have been developed and conducted following current state of the art-approaches for adolescent depression prevention. Further research is needed especially targeting possible cultural and contextual aspects of prevention measures and their efficacy and efficiency.

  4. Teaching Low-Income Spanish-Speaking Caregivers to Implement EMT en Español With Their Young Children With Language Impairment: A Pilot Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peredo, Tatiana Nogueira; Zelaya, Maria Isabel; Kaiser, Ann P

    2018-02-06

    This study examined the effectiveness of teaching low-income Spanish-speaking caregivers of young children with language impairment a naturalistic language intervention, EMT en Español. A single-case, multiple-baseline, across-behaviors design replicated across 3 caregiver-child dyads was used to examine the effects of teaching core EMT en Español strategies. The training program utilized the Teach-Model-Coach-Review instructional approach to teach strategies to support children's language development in Spanish. All sessions were at home and in Spanish. Caregivers increased their use of matched turns, target talk, expansions, and a communication elicitation procedure following training on each specific skill. Additionally, caregivers generalized increased use of matched turns and target talk to an untrained activity during the intervention period and maintained their behavior 1 month after completing intervention. Two of 3 caregivers generalized their use of expansions, and 1 caregiver generalized her use of a communication elicitation procedure. Modest effects on the child's number of different words were observed for 2 of the 3 target children over the course of the intervention sessions. All 3 children demonstrated increases in total spontaneous words. Spanish-speaking caregivers were able to implement naturalistic language teaching strategies with their young children with language impairment in a relatively short-term intervention.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  6. 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

  7. Maryland environmental public health tracking outreach with Spanish-speaking persons living in Baltimore city or county.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braggio, John T; Mitchell, Clifford S; Fierro-Luperini, Sonia

    2015-01-01

    The 2000 Pew reports became the impetus for the National Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program, but there was no mention that Spanish-speaking persons are at increased risk of exposure to environmental hazards. To undertake successful EPHT outreach on Spanish-speaking persons (Hispanics), it is necessary to better understand their environmental health profile and barriers to health care access. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey questions were administered orally in Spanish to Spanish-speaking study participants. Volunteers were tested at a non-for-profit social service and referral agency in Baltimore. To control for acculturation, only Spanish-speaking persons who had lived in the United States for less than 10 years were selected. Responses to 40 BRFSS survey questions asked during the assessment and completion of 3 intervention activities. This study provides new information about Spanish-speaking persons, most of whom (85.3%) would not have been included in the landline administration of the BRFSS survey. Although 29.9% of the participants reported indoor pesticide use and another 9.2% reported outdoor pesticide use, lifetime (3.5%) and current (1.2%) asthma prevalence was significantly lower than asthma prevalence reported by Maryland Hispanics and all Maryland residents. There were significantly lower cholesterol screening (21.5%) and a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes (12.5%) in Spanish-speaking participants than in Maryland Hispanics and all Maryland residents. Among study participants, only 7.8% had health insurance and 39.9% reported that they could not see a doctor. Of the 3 outreach efforts completed, the most promising one involved asking Spanish-English-speaking health care professionals to distribute Spanish comic books about pesticides exposures and health outcomes in community settings where Spanish-only speakers and children were found. The effectiveness of passive and community-based EPHT

  8. 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.

  9. Language Usage and Culture Maintenance: A Study of Spanish-Speaking Immigrant Mothers in Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mejía, Glenda

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the usage of the Spanish language by Hispanic mothers with their children, their views on language maintenance and culture within their bilingual families and their opinions on the benefits of bilingualism in a globalised world. Drawing upon detailed case studies of 16 native Spanish-speaking mothers married to…

  10. How Important Is Teaching Phonemic Awareness to Children Learning to Read in Spanish?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldenberg, Claude; Tolar, Tammy D.; Reese, Leslie; Francis, David J.; Bazán, Antonio Ray; Mejía-Arauz, Rebeca

    2014-01-01

    This comparative study examines relationships between phonemic awareness and Spanish reading skill acquisition among three groups of Spanish-speaking first and second graders: children in Mexico receiving reading instruction in Spanish and children in the United States receiving reading instruction in either Spanish or English. Children were…

  11. Enticing Spanish-Speaking Adolescents: Recent Books in Spanish for Every Taste/Cautivar a los Adolescentes Hispanohablantes: Libros Recientes en Espanol Para Todos los Gustos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schon, Isabel

    1999-01-01

    Argues that books in Spanish can engage Spanish-speaking students in the reading process, and that fostering the love of reading is a necessary first step to reading proficiency in any language. Offers brief descriptions of 16 recently published books in Spanish, and describes a large database of recommended books for children and adolescents in…

  12. Developmental Eye Movement (DEM Test Norms for Mandarin Chinese-Speaking Chinese Children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yachun Xie

    Full Text Available The Developmental Eye Movement (DEM test is commonly used as a clinical visual-verbal ocular motor assessment tool to screen and diagnose reading problems at the onset. No established norm exists for using the DEM test with Mandarin Chinese-speaking Chinese children. This study aims to establish the normative values of the DEM test for the Mandarin Chinese-speaking population in China; it also aims to compare the values with three other published norms for English-, Spanish-, and Cantonese-speaking Chinese children. A random stratified sampling method was used to recruit children from eight kindergartens and eight primary schools in the main urban and suburban areas of Nanjing. A total of 1,425 Mandarin Chinese-speaking children aged 5 to 12 years took the DEM test in Mandarin Chinese. A digital recorder was used to record the process. All of the subjects completed a symptomatology survey, and their DEM scores were determined by a trained tester. The scores were computed using the formula in the DEM manual, except that the "vertical scores" were adjusted by taking the vertical errors into consideration. The results were compared with the three other published norms. In our subjects, a general decrease with age was observed for the four eye movement indexes: vertical score, adjusted horizontal score, ratio, and total error. For both the vertical and adjusted horizontal scores, the Mandarin Chinese-speaking children completed the tests much more quickly than the norms for English- and Spanish-speaking children. However, the same group completed the test slightly more slowly than the norms for Cantonese-speaking children. The differences in the means were significant (P0.05; compared with Spanish-speaking children, the scores were statistically significant (P0.05. DEM norms may be affected by differences in language, cultural, and educational systems among various ethnicities. The norms of the DEM test are proposed for use with Mandarin Chinese-speaking

  13. 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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  15. Validity of a parent vocabulary checklist for young Spanish speaking children of Mexican immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiberson, Mark

    2008-01-01

    The primary objective of the current investigation was to examine the concurrent and predictive validity of a parent vocabulary checklist with young Spanish speaking children of Mexican immigrants. This study implemented a longitudinal approach. Nineteen families participated when children were 15-16 months of age, and then again at 30-32 months of age. The Spanish version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (Inventarios del Desarrollo de Habilidades Communicativas, INV) and spontaneous language samples collected during naturalistic play were used to examine the relationship between observed and reported vocabulary. Vocabulary reported through the INV-II and vocabulary observed at 30-32 months were significantly correlated, suggesting that the INV-II captures a valid representation of vocabulary at this age. Comparatively, vocabulary reported on the INV-I, was not correlated with observed vocabulary at 15-16 months of age or reported or observed vocabulary at 30-32 months of age. These results suggest that the INV-I, when used with 14-16-month-olds, demonstrates limited concurrent and predictive validity. Implications for the clinical use of the INV-I and INV-II are presented.

  16. Validation of the Spanish SIRS with monolingual Hispanic outpatients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Correa, Amor A; Rogers, Richard; Hoersting, Raquel

    2010-09-01

    Psychologists are faced with formidable challenges in making their assessment methods relevant to growing numbers of Hispanic clients for whom English is not the primary or preferred language. Among other clinical issues, the determination of malingering has profound consequences for clients. In this investigation, we evaluated a Spanish translation of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS; Rogers, Bagby, & Dickens, 1992) with 80 Spanish-speaking Hispanic American outpatients. Using a between-subjects simulation design, the Spanish SIRS was found to produce reliable results with small standard errors of measurement. Regarding validity, very large effect sizes (mean Cohen's d= 2.00) were observed between feigners and honest responders for the SIRS primary scales. We consider the potential role of the Spanish SIRS with reference to Spanish translations for other assessment instruments.

  17. Reading, syntactic, orthographic, and working memory skills of bilingual Arabic-English speaking Canadian children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu-Rabia, Salim; Siegel, Linda S

    2002-11-01

    This study assessed the reading, language, and memory skills of 56 bilingual Arab-Canadian children age's 9-14. English was their main instructional language, and Arabic was the language spoken at home. All children attended a Heritage Language Program in Toronto where they were taught to read and write Arabic. The children were administered word and pseudo-word reading, language, and working memory tests in English and Arabic. The majority of the children showed at least adequate proficiency in both languages. There was a significant relationship between the acquisition of word and pseudo-word reading working memory, and syntactic awareness skills in the two languages. The poor readers in Arabic had lower scores on all linguistic tasks, except the visual task. There were no significant differences between bilingual English Arabic children and monolingual English-speaking children on the reading, language, and memory tasks. However, bilingual English Arabic children who had reading problems in English had higher scores on English pseudo-word reading and spelling tasks than monolingual English-speaking children with reading disabilities, probably because of positive transfer from the regular nature of Arabic orthography. In this case, bilingualism does not appear to have negative consequences for the development of language reading skills in both languages--Arabic and English--despite the different nature of the two orthographies.

  18. Acquisition of stress and pitch accent in English-Spanish bilingual children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sahyang; Andruski, Jean; Nathan, Geoffrey S.; Casielles, Eugenia; Work, Richard

    2005-09-01

    Although understanding of prosodic development is considered crucial for understanding of language acquisition in general, few studies have focused on how children develop native-like prosody in their speech production. This study will examine the acquisition of lexical stress and postlexical pitch accent in two English-Spanish bilingual children. Prosodic characteristics of English and Spanish are different in terms of frequent stress patterns (trochaic versus penultimate), phonetic realization of stress (reduced unstressed vowel versus full unstressed vowel), and frequent pitch accent types (H* versus L*+H), among others. Thus, English-Spanish bilingual children's prosodic development may provide evidence of their awareness of language differences relatively early during language development, and illustrate the influence of markedness or input frequency in prosodic acquisition. For this study, recordings from the children's one-word stage are used. Durations of stressed and unstressed syllables and F0 peak alignment are measured, and pitch accent types in different accentual positions (nuclear versus prenuclear) are transcribed using American English ToBI and Spanish ToBI. Prosodic development is compared across ages within each language and across languages at each age. Furthermore, the bilingual children's productions are compared with monolingual English and Spanish parents' productions.

  19. 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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  20. 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.

  1. 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.

  2. Development and transfer of vocabulary knowledge in Spanish-speaking language minority preschool children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodrich, J Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J; Kleuver, Cherie G; Farver, Joann M

    2016-09-01

    In this study we evaluated the predictive validity of conceptual scoring. Two independent samples of Spanish-speaking language minority preschoolers (Sample 1: N = 96, mean age = 54·51 months, 54·3% male; Sample 2: N = 116, mean age = 60·70 months, 56·0% male) completed measures of receptive, expressive, and definitional vocabulary in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages at two time points approximately 9-12 months apart. We examined whether unique L1 and L2 vocabulary at time 1 predicted later L2 and L1 vocabulary, respectively. Results indicated that unique L1 vocabulary did not predict later L2 vocabulary after controlling for initial L2 vocabulary. An identical pattern of results emerged for L1 vocabulary outcomes. We also examined whether children acquired translational equivalents for words known in one language but not the other. Results indicated that children acquired translational equivalents, providing partial support for the transfer of vocabulary knowledge across languages.

  3. Behavioral and Electrophysiological Differences in Executive Control between Monolingual and Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barac, Raluca; Moreno, Sylvain; Bialystok, Ellen

    2016-01-01

    This study examined executive control in sixty-two 5-year-old children who were monolingual or bilingual using behavioral and event-related potentials (ERPs) measures. All children performed equivalently on simple response inhibition (gift delay), but bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on interference suppression and complex response…

  4. Symbol Digit Modalities Test: Normative data for Spanish-speaking pediatric population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arango-Lasprilla, J C; Rivera, D; Trapp, S; Jiménez-Pérez, C; Hernández Carrillo, C L; Pohlenz Amador, S; Vergara-Moragues, E; Rodríguez-Agudelo, Y; Rodriguez-Irizarry, W; García de la Cadena, C; Galvao-Carmona, A; Galarza-Del-Angel, J; Llerena Espezúa, X; Torales Cabrera, N; Flor-Caravia, P; Aguayo Arelis, A; Saracostti Schwartzman, M; Barranco Casimiro, R; Albaladejo-Blázquez, N

    2017-01-01

    To generate normative data for the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) in Spanish-speaking pediatric populations. The sample consisted of 4,373 healthy children from nine countries in Latin America (Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Puerto Rico) and Spain. Each participant was administered the SDMT as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. SDMT scores were normed using multiple linear regressions and standard deviations of residual values. Age, age2, sex, and mean level of parental education (MLPE) were included as predictors in the analyses. The final multiple linear regression models showed main effects for age in all countries, such that score increased linearly as a function of age. In addition, age2 had a significant effect in all countries, except in Honduras and Puerto Rico. Models indicated that children whose parent(s) had a MLPE >12 years of education obtained higher score compared to children whose parent(s) had a MLPE ≤12 years for Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, and Spain. Sex affected SDMT score for Paraguay and Spain. This is the largest Spanish-speaking pediatric normative study in the world, and it will allow neuropsychologists from these countries to have a more accurate interpretation of the SDMT with pediatric populations.

  5. Spanish-speaking patients' satisfaction with clinical pharmacists' communication skills and demonstration of cultural sensitivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim-Romo, Dawn N; Barner, Jamie C; Brown, Carolyn M; Rivera, José O; Garza, Aida A; Klein-Bradham, Kristina; Jokerst, Jason R; Janiga, Xan; Brown, Bob

    2014-01-01

    OBJECTIVE To assess Spanish-speaking patients' satisfaction with their clinical pharmacists' communication skills and demonstration of cultural sensitivity, while controlling for patients' sociodemographic, clinical, and communication factors, as well as pharmacist factors, and to identify clinical pharmacists' cultural factors that are important to Spanish-speaking patients. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Central Texas during August 2011 to May 2012. PARTICIPANTS Spanish-speaking patients of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) A Spanish-translated survey assessed Spanish-speaking patients' satisfaction with their clinical pharmacists' communication skills and demonstration of cultural sensitivity. RESULTS Spanish-speaking patients (N = 101) reported overall satisfaction with their clinical pharmacists' communication skills and cultural sensitivity. Patients also indicated that pharmacists' cultural rapport (e.g., ability to speak Spanish, respectfulness) was generally important to Spanish speakers. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that cultural rapport was significantly related to satisfaction with pharmacists' communication skills and demonstration of cultural sensitivity. CONCLUSION Overall, patients were satisfied with pharmacists' communication skills and cultural sensitivity. Patient satisfaction initiatives that include cultural rapport should be developed for pharmacists who provide care to Spanish-speaking patients with limited English proficiency.

  6. When learning a second language does not mean losing the first: bilingual language development in low-income, Spanish-speaking children attending bilingual preschool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winsler, A; Díaz, R M; Espinosa, L; Rodríguez, J L

    1999-01-01

    This article discusses two investigations which explored the bilingual language development outcomes of comparable groups of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican American children who either did or did not attended a bilingual (Spanish/English) preschool. Study 1 is a replication of a study by Rodríguez, Díaz, Duran, and Espinosa, involving a new sample of 26 children who attended bilingual preschool for one year and 20 control children who remained at home. Study 2 represents a 1-year, longitudinal follow-up of Rodríguez et al.'s, sample of children during and after the children spent another year at home or in the preschool. In both investigations, standardized, objective measures of three components of children's language proficiency (productive language, receptive language, and language complexity) in English and Spanish were obtained at the beginning and end of the academic year. Contrary to fears that have been expressed by some that early exposure to English would lead to children's native language loss, the results of both studies offered no evidence of Spanish proficiency loss for children attending bilingual preschool. Children who attended bilingual preschool, compared to those who remained at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish language development as well as significant and greater increases in English language proficiency over time. Results are discussed in terms of the need for more systematic research to be conducted in this area to inform policy and practice in the early education and development of language-minority children.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  8. 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.

  9. Validation of a home food inventory among low-income Spanish- and Somali-speaking families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hearst, Mary O; Fulkerson, Jayne A; Parke, Michelle; Martin, Lauren

    2013-07-01

    To refine and validate an existing home food inventory (HFI) for low-income Somali- and Spanish-speaking families. Formative assessment was conducted using two focus groups, followed by revisions of the HFI, translation of written materials and instrument validation in participants’ homes. Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, USA. Thirty low-income families with children of pre-school age (fifteen Spanish-speaking; fifteen Somali-speaking) completed the HFI simultaneously with, but independently of, a trained staff member. Analysis consisted of calculation of both item-specific and average food group kappa coefficients, specificity, sensitivity and Spearman’s correlation between participants’ and staff scores as a means of assessing criterion validity of individual items, food categories and the obesogenic score. The formative assessment revealed the need for few changes/additions for food items typically found in Spanish-speaking households. Somali-speaking participants requested few additions, but many deletions, including frozen processed food items, non-perishable produce and many sweets as they were not typical food items kept in the home. Generally, all validity indices were within an acceptable range, with the exception of values associated with items such as ‘whole wheat bread’ (k = 0.16). The obesogenic score (presence of high-fat, high-energy foods) had high criterion validity with k = 0.57, sensitivity = 91.8%, specificity = 70.6% and Spearman correlation = 0.78. The revised HFI is a valid assessment tool for use among Spanish and Somali households. This instrument refinement and validation process can be replicated with other population groups.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  11. The impact of language barriers and immigration status on the care experience for Spanish-speaking caregivers of patients with pediatric cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamora, Eduardo R; Kaul, Sapna; Kirchhoff, Anne C; Gwilliam, Vannina; Jimenez, Ornella A; Morreall, Deborah K; Montenegro, Roberto E; Kinney, Anita Y; Fluchel, Mark N

    2016-12-01

    An increasing proportion of pediatric cancer patients in the United States are Latino and many have Spanish-speaking immigrant parents with limited English proficiency (LEP). Little is known about how language or undocumented immigration status impacts their care experience. A cross-sectional survey was administered to English (N = 310) and Spanish-speaking LEP (N = 56) caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. To assess differences in healthcare experiences between the language groups, t-tests and chi-square statistics were used. Multivariable logistic regression evaluated associations between primary language and knowledge of clinical trial status. Spanish-speaking caregivers were more likely to report higher rates of quitting or changing jobs as a direct result of their child's cancer, and their children were more likely to experience a delay in education. Although Spanish-speaking caregivers reported higher satisfaction with care, 32% reported feeling that their child would have received better care if English was their primary language. Spanish-speaking caregivers were more likely to incorrectly identify whether their child was on a clinical trial compared with English-speaking caregivers. The majority of Spanish-speaking caregivers reported at least one undocumented caregiver in the household and 11% of them avoided or delayed medical care for their child due to concerns over their undocumented immigration status. Language barriers and undocumented immigration status may negatively impact the quality of informed decision-making and the care experience for Spanish-speaking LEP caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. These families may benefit from culturally appropriate Spanish language resources to improve communication and open a dialogue regarding undocumented immigration status. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Working with Spanish-Speaking Latin American Students in Toronto

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duran, Marcela S.

    1978-01-01

    The problems affecting the reception, adjustment, and placement of Spanish-speaking students into the Toronto school system are discussed, and include immigration patterns, Spanish values, and the Latin American school. (Author/HP)

  13. Effectiveness evaluation of Contra Caries Oral Health Education Program for improving Spanish-speaking parents’ preventive oral health knowledge and behaviors for their young children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoeft, Kristin S.; Barker, Judith C.; Shiboski, Stephen; Guzman, Estela Pantoja; Hiatt, Robert A.

    2016-01-01

    Objectives To determine the effectiveness of the Contra Caries Oral Health Education Program (CCOHEP) for improving low-income, Spanish-speaking parents’ oral health knowledge and behaviors for their young children. Mexican American children in the United States suffer disproportionately high prevalence and severity of early childhood caries, yet few evaluated, theory-based behavioral interventions exist for this population. CCOHEP is a theory-based curriculum consisting of four 2-hour interactive classes designed for and by Spanish speakers and led by designated community health educators (promotoras). Topics included children’s oral hygiene, caries etiology, dental procedures, nutrition, child behavior management and parent skill-building activities. Methods Low-income Spanish-speaking parents/caregivers of children aged 0–5 years were recruited through community services in an agricultural city in California. Survey questions from the Oral Health Basic Research Facts Questionnaire measuring oral health related behaviors and knowledge were verbally administered before, immediately after, and 3 months after attendance at CCOHEP. Five questions measured aspects of parental tooth brushing for their children (frequency, using fluoridated toothpaste, brushing before bed, not drinking or eating after nighttime brushing, adult assistance), three questions measured other oral health behaviors, and 16 questions measured oral health-related knowledge. Analyses of within-person changes between pre- and posttests, and again between post-test and three month follow up consisted of McNemar’s test for binary outcomes and sign tests for ordinal outcomes. Results Overall, 105 caregivers participated in CCOHEP (n= 105 pretest, n=95 posttest, n=79 second posttest). At baseline, all parents self-reported doing at least one aspect of toothbrushing correctly, but only 13% reported performing all five aspects according to professional guidelines. At posttest, 44% of parents

  14. SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY OF THE BILINGUAL CHILDREN WITH MILD INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nenad GLUMBIKJ

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Semantic verbal fluency test is reliable instrument for detection of various kinds of neuropsychological deficits. Participants’ attainments in this test are influenced by array of socio-cultural factors. The occurrence of “twofold semilingualism” belongs to these cultural factors.The objective of this research is to determine differences between monolingual and bilingual children with mild mental retardation in semantic verbal fluency test.The sample consisted of 90 participants with mild mental retardation, of both sexes, aged from 12 to 15. The whole sample was divided into three subsets: 30 monolingual children (M1, who speak only Serbian, 30 monolingual Roma children who do not speak Romany (M2 and 30 bilingual Roma children who speak both, Romany and Serbian language (B.It was found that both groups of monolingual children have better performances in semantic fluency tasks than bilingual children.

  15. Comprehension of idiomatic expressions by Russian speaking typically developing children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliseeva N.N.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Background. The ability to understand idiomatic expressions begins to develop at an early age. However, such skill is not achieved within the same age and at the same pace in children speaking di erent languages. Objective. This study assesses comprehension of idiomatic expressions by Russian-speaking monolingual children aged 4 to 12 and monitoring the age dynamics of gurative language understanding. Design. 80 children were split in 4 age groups balanced for gender and level of formal education. e participants were asked to identify the correct non-literal meaning of 10 idioms. For each idiomatic expression, children heard three potential interpretations (one correct, and two incorrect ones of which one was literal while the other was overtly wrong. Results. Age-related di erences were analysed by performing a series of univariate ANOVAs. ese analyses showed that already at preschool age children begin to understand some kinds of idiomatic expressions and that such ability slowly develops throughout childhood. Interestingly, until the age of 6 children predominantly interpreted idioms literally. By the age of 7 their ability to correctly understand the non-literal meanings of idiomatic expressions enhanced signi cantly until it reached a plateau around the age of 12. Conclusion. The results of the study are in line with those found for children speaking other languages. The findings are interpreted in light of recent theories of language and cognitive development. Potential limitations of the study are also discussed.

  16. 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

  17. Effectiveness evaluation of Contra Caries Oral Health Education Program for improving Spanish-speaking parents' preventive oral health knowledge and behaviors for their young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoeft, K S; Barker, J C; Shiboski, S; Pantoja-Guzman, E; Hiatt, R A

    2016-12-01

    To determine the effectiveness of the Contra Caries Oral Health Education Program (CCOHEP) for improving low-income, Spanish-speaking parents' oral health knowledge and behaviors for their young children. Mexican American children in the United States suffer disproportionately high prevalence and severity of early childhood caries, yet few evaluated, theory-based behavioral interventions exist for this population. CCOHEP is a theory-based curriculum consisting of four 2-h interactive classes designed for and by Spanish speakers and led by designated community health educators (promotoras). Topics included children's oral hygiene, caries etiology, dental procedures, nutrition, child behavior management, and parent skill-building activities. Low-income Spanish-speaking parents/caregivers of children aged 0-5 years were recruited through community services in an agricultural city in California. Survey questions from the Oral Health Basic Research Facts Questionnaire measuring oral health-related behaviors and knowledge were verbally administered before, immediately after, and 3 months after attendance at CCOHEP. Five questions measured aspects of parental toothbrushing for their children (frequency, using fluoridated toothpaste, brushing before bed, not drinking or eating after nighttime brushing, adult assistance), three questions measured other oral health behaviors, and 16 questions measured oral health-related knowledge. Analyses of within-person changes between pre- and post-tests and again between post-test and 3-month follow-up consisted of McNemar's test for binary outcomes and sign tests for ordinal outcomes. Overall, 105 caregivers participated in CCOHEP (n = 105 pretest, n = 95 post-test, n = 79 second post-test). At baseline, all parents self-reported doing at least one aspect of toothbrushing correctly, but only 13% reported performing all five aspects according to professional guidelines. At post-test, 44% of parents reported completing all aspects of

  18. Monolingual versus multilingual acquisition of English morphology: what can we expect at age 3?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholls, Ruth J; Eadie, Patricia A; Reilly, Sheena

    2011-01-01

    age. The findings have important implications for researchers and clinicians involved in the management of linguistically diverse populations by advancing knowledge of early multilingual English morpheme acquisition and building awareness of acquisition patterns among multilingual and monolingual English-speaking children at 3 years of age. © 2011 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.

  19. Influences on preschool children's oral health-related quality of life as reported by English and Spanish-speaking parents and caregivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Born, Catherine D; Divaris, Kimon; Zeldin, Leslie P; Rozier, R Gary

    2016-09-01

    This study examined young, preschool children's oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among a community-based cohort of English and Spanish-speaking parent-child dyads in North Carolina, and sought to quantify the association of parent/caregiver characteristics, including spoken language, with OHRQoL impacts. Data from structured interviews with 1,111 parents of children aged 6-23 months enrolled in the Zero-Out Early Childhood Caries study in 2010-2012 were used. OHRQoL was measured using the overall score (range: 0-52) of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS). We examined associations with parents' sociodemographic characteristics, spoken language, self-reported oral and general health, oral health knowledge, children's dental attendance, and dental care needs. Analyses included descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate methods based upon zero-inflated negative binomial regression. To determine differences between English and Spanish speakers, language-stratified model estimates were contrasted using homogeneity χ 2 tests. The mean overall ECOHIS score was 3.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.6-4.2]; 4.7 among English-speakers and 1.5 among Spanish speakers. In multivariate analyses, caregivers' education showed a positive association with OHRQoL impacts among Spanish speakers [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.12 (95% CI = 1.03-1.22), for every added year of schooling], whereas caregivers' fair/poor oral health showed a positive association among English speakers (PR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.02-1.41). The overall severity of ECOHIS impacts was low among this population-based sample of young, preschool children, and substantially lower among Spanish versus English speakers. Further studies are warranted to identify sources of these differences in - actual or reported - OHRQoL impacts. © 2016 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  1. Library Service to the Spanish Speaking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Anita R.

    This manual was developed to formalize Inglewood Public Library's existing policies and programs regarding library services to the Spanish speaking, and to define future program goals. The introduction discusses why such services have been initiated, why the manual was developed, and the potential benefits the manual has for library…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  3. Prosodic Abilities in Spanish and English Children with Williams Syndrome: A Cross-Linguistic Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Castilla, Pastora; Stojanovik, Vesna; Setter, Jane; Sotillo, Maria

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to compare the prosodic profiles of English- and Spanish-speaking children with Williams syndrome (WS), examining cross-linguistic differences. Two groups of children with WS, English and Spanish, of similar chronological and nonverbal mental age, were compared on performance in expressive and receptive prosodic tasks…

  4. 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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  6. Bilingualism does not alter cognitive decline or dementia risk among Spanish-speaking immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zahodne, Laura B; Schofield, Peter W; Farrell, Meagan T; Stern, Yaakov; Manly, Jennifer J

    2014-03-01

    Clinic-based studies suggest that dementia is diagnosed at older ages in bilinguals compared with monolinguals. The current study sought to test this hypothesis in a large, prospective, community-based study of initially nondemented Hispanic immigrants living in a Spanish-speaking enclave of northern Manhattan. Participants included 1,067 participants in the Washington/Hamilton Heights Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP) who were tested in Spanish and followed at 18-24 month intervals for up to 23 years. Spanish-English bilingualism was estimated via both self-report and an objective measure of English reading level. Multilevel models for change estimated the independent effects of bilingualism on cognitive decline in 4 domains: episodic memory, language, executive function, and speed. Over the course of the study, 282 participants developed dementia. Cox regression was used to estimate the independent effect of bilingualism on dementia conversion. Covariates included country of origin, gender, education, time spent in the United States, recruitment cohort, and age at enrollment. Independent of the covariates, bilingualism was associated with better memory and executive function at baseline. However, bilingualism was not independently associated with rates of cognitive decline or dementia conversion. Results were similar whether bilingualism was measured via self-report or an objective test of reading level. This study does not support a protective effect of bilingualism on age-related cognitive decline or the development of dementia. In this sample of Hispanic immigrants, bilingualism is related to higher initial scores on cognitive tests and higher educational attainment and may not represent a unique source of cognitive reserve. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  7. Predictors of Reading Comprehension for Struggling Readers: The Case of Spanish Speaking Language Minority Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Lesaux, Nonie K.

    2010-01-01

    This longitudinal study examined the process of English reading comprehension at age 11 years for 173 low-achieving Spanish-speaking children. The influence of growth rates, from early childhood (age 4.5 years) to pre-adolescence (age 11 years), in vocabulary and word reading skills on this complex process were evaluated with structural equation…

  8. Acquisition of German pluralization rules in monolingual and multilingual children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eugen Zaretsky

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Existing studies on plural acquisition in German have relied on small samples and thus hardly deliver generalizable and differentiated results. Here, overgeneralizations of certain plural allomorphs and other tendencies in the acquisition of German plural markers are described on the basis of test data from 7,394 3- to 5-yearold monolingual German and bi/multilingual immigrant children tested with a modified, validated version of the Marburger Sprachscreening (MSS language test and 476 children tested with the SETK 3-5 language test. Classified correct and wrong answers to MSS and SETK 3-5 plural items were compared. The acquisition patterns of immigrants corresponded to those of younger German children. Both monolingual German and immigrant children demonstrated generally the same universal frequency and phonetically/phonologically based error patterns, irrespective of their linguistic background, but with different tendencies such as overgeneralization of -s by German children only.

  9. Patient satisfaction among Spanish-speaking patients in a public health setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welty, Elisabeth; Yeager, Valerie A; Ouimet, Claude; Menachemi, Nir

    2012-01-01

    Despite the growing literature on health care quality, few patient satisfaction studies have focused upon the public health setting; where many Hispanic patients receive care. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in satisfaction between English and Spanish-speaking patients in a local health department clinical setting. We conducted a paper-based satisfaction survey of patients that visited any of the seven Jefferson County Department of Health primary care centers from March 19 to April 19, 2008. Using Chi-squared analyses we found 25% of the Spanish-speaking patients reported regularly having problems getting an appointment compared to 16.8% among English-speakers (p speaking patients controlling for center location, purpose of visit, and time spent waiting. Specifically, Spanish speaking patients were more likely to report problems getting an appointment and less likely to report having their medical problems resolved when leaving their visit as compared to those who spoke English. Findings presented herein may provide insight regarding the quality of care received, specifically regarding patient satisfaction in the public health setting. © 2011 National Association for Healthcare Quality.

  10. 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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  12. 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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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 two years. The groups were compared on a measure of non-linguistic task-shifting; measures of verbal short-term and working memory; and measures of word-learning. The two groups of children did not differ on measures of non-linguistic task-shifting and verbal short-term memory. However, the classroom-exposure bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on the measure of verbal working memory and a measure of word-learning. Together, these findings indicate that while exposure to a second language in a classroom setting may not be sufficient to engender changes in cognitive control, it can facilitate verbal memory and verbal learning. PMID:24576079

  14. Juegos y Diversiones. (Games Collected and Adapted to Teach Spanish to Children.)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marquez, Nancy, Ed.; And Others

    Games, both from the folklore heritage of children in Spanish-speaking countries and those created in the classroom, are excellent ways to teach language to children because they accomplish their language goals while entertaining and involving the children, often physically. Most games, because they are rigidly patterned and repetitious, are…

  15. Preliminary Evaluation of the Validity and Reliability of the Spanish Version of the Therapeutic Alliance with Clinician (TAC) Questionnaire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bedregal, Luis E.; Paris, Manuel Jr.; Anez, Luis M.; Shahar, Golan; Davidson, Larry

    2006-01-01

    As part of a broader study aimed at evaluating perceived alliance with service providers and level of satisfaction with services received, 103 monolingual Spanish speaking Hispanic women were interviewed. Participants were receiving ongoing behavioral health treatment at three different community service provider sites located in the greater New…

  16. The Needs of the Spanish Speaking Mujer [Woman] in Woman-Manpower Training Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nieto-Gomez, Anna

    Although the Spanish Speaking woman is usually considered to be outside the labor market, 36 percent of the 52 percent Spanish Speaking women were in the labor force in March 1972. These women suffer economic-sexist discrimination due to ascription of work according to sex and race by a racial-sexual hierarchy existing within the traditional…

  17. Food marketing to children on U.S. Spanish-language television.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunkel, Dale; Mastro, Dana; Ortiz, Michelle; McKinley, Christopher

    2013-01-01

    Latino children in particular are at risk of childhood obesity. Because exposure to televised food marketing is a contributor to childhood obesity, it is important to examine the nutritional quality of foods advertised on Spanish-language children's programming. The authors analyzed a sample of 158 Spanish-language children's television programs for its advertising content and compared them with an equivalent sample of English-language advertising. The authors evaluated nutritional quality of each advertised product using a food rating system from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, the authors assessed compliance with industry self-regulatory pledges. The authors found that amount of food advertising on Spanish-language channels (M = 2.2 ads/hour) was lower than on English-language programs, but the nutritional quality of food products on Spanish-language channels was substantially poorer than on English channels. Industry self-regulation was less effective on Spanish-language channels. The study provides clear evidence of significant disparities. Food advertising targeted at Spanish-speaking children is more likely to promote nutritionally poor food products than advertising on English-language channels. Industry self-regulation is less effective on Spanish-language television channels. Given the disproportionately high rate of childhood obesity among Latinos, the study's findings hold important implications for public health policy.

  18. Traditional foods and practices of Spanish-speaking latina mothers influence the home food environment: Implications for future interventions

    Science.gov (United States)

    The goal of this study was to obtain in-depth information from low income, Spanish-speaking Latino families with young children to guide the development of culturally appropriate nutrition interventions. Focus groups were used to assess parent’s knowledge about healthful eating, the home food enviro...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  20. Enhancing Hispanic participation in mental health clinical research: development of a Spanish-speaking depression research site.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aponte-Rivera, Vivianne; Dunlop, Boadie W; Ramirez, Cynthia; Kelley, Mary E; Schneider, Rebecca; Blastos, Beatriz; Larson, Jacqueline; Mercado, Flavia; Mayberg, Helen; Craighead, W Edward

    2014-03-01

    Hispanics, particularly those with limited English proficiency, are underrepresented in psychiatric clinical research studies. We developed a bilingual and bicultural research clinic dedicated to the recruitment and treatment of Spanish-speaking subjects in the Predictors of Remission in Depression to Individual and Combined Treatments (PReDICT) study, a large clinical trial of treatment-naïve subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD). Demographic and clinical data derived from screening evaluations of the first 1,174 subjects presenting for participation were compared between the Spanish-speaking site (N = 275) and the primary English-speaking site (N = 899). Reasons for ineligibility (N = 888) for the PReDICT study were tallied for each site. Compared to English speakers, Spanish speakers had a lower level of education and were more likely to be female, uninsured, and have uncontrolled medical conditions. Clinically, Spanish speakers demonstrated greater depression severity, with higher mean symptom severity scores, and a greater number of previous suicide attempts. Among the subjects who were not randomized into the PReDICT study, Spanish-speaking subjects were more likely to have an uncontrolled medical condition or refuse participation, whereas English-speaking subjects were more likely to have bipolar disorder or a non-MDD depressive disorder. Recruitment of Hispanic subjects with MDD is feasible and may enhance efforts at signal detection, given the higher severity of depression among Spanish-speaking participants presenting for clinical trials. Specific approaches for the recruitment and retention of Spanish-speaking participants are required. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. The utilization of oncology web-based resources in Spanish-speaking Internet users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simone, Charles B; Hampshire, Margaret K; Vachani, Carolyn; Metz, James M

    2012-12-01

    There currently are few web-based resources written in Spanish providing oncology-specific information. This study examines utilization of Spanish-language oncology web-based resources and evaluates oncology-related Internet browsing practices of Spanish-speaking patients. OncoLink (http://www.oncolink.org) is the oldest and among the largest Internet-based cancer information resources. In September 2005, OncoLink pioneered OncoLink en español (OEE) (http://es.oncolink.org), a Spanish translation of OncoLink. Internet utilization data on these sites for 2006 to 2007 were compared. Visits to OncoLink rose from 4,440,843 in 2006 to 5,125,952 in 2007. OEE had 204,578 unique visitors and 240,442 visits in 2006, and 351,228 visitors and 412,153 visits in 2007. Although there was no time predilection for viewing OncoLink, less relative browsing on OEE was conducted during weekends and early morning hours. Although OncoLink readers searched for information on the most common cancers in the United States, OEE readers most often search for gastric, vaginal, osteosarcoma, leukemia, penile, cervical, and testicular malignancies. Average visit duration on OEE was shorter, and fewer readers surveyed OEE more than 15 minutes (4.5% vs. 14.9%, P users of web-based oncology resources are increasingly using the Internet to supplement their cancer knowledge. Limited available resources written in Spanish contribute to disparities in information access and disease outcomes. Spanish-speaking oncology readers differ from English-speaking readers in day and time of Internet browsing, visit duration, Internet search patterns, and types of cancers searched. By acknowledging these differences, content of web-based oncology resources can be developed to best target the needs of Spanish-speaking viewers.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    OpenAIRE

    Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Burridge, Andrea; Ribot, Krystal M.; Welsh, Stephanie N.

    2014-01-01

    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 [ns = 15 and 11]) and in an SES-equivalent group of children ...

  4. 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.

  5. Compositions in English: Comparing the Works of Monolinguals, Passive Bilinguals, and Active Bilinguals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Eka Rini

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This study tries to see whether the subjects’ “monolingualism” and “bilingualism” (monolinguals learning an L2 and bilinguals learning an L3 influence their study on English, especially writing. The term “bilinguals” also means “multilinguals” in this study. Bilinguals in this paper are classified into two; first, passive bilinguals who are only exposed to another local language, besides speaking Bahasa Indonesia at home, and second, active bilinguals who are exposed to and also speak other language(s and Bahasa Indonesia at home. The findings show that the monolingual and the active bilingual are better than the passive one; the active bilingual is better than the monolingual. However, if the passive and the active bilingual are combined, the monolingual is better than the bilinguals.

  6. Helpdesk for Spanish Speaking Telecentre Communities in Peru ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Helpdesk for Spanish Speaking Telecentre Communities in Peru and Latin America. IDRC's telecentre.org supports various efforts to strengthen the capacity of people working in telecentres across the world through knowledge-sharing, collaboration and networking. Through these efforts, strong telecentre networks in Africa ...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  9. Exploratory factor analysis of borderline personality disorder criteria in monolingual Hispanic outpatients with substance use disorders†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, Daniel F.; Añez, Luis Miguel; Paris, Manuel; Grilo, Carlos M.

    2009-01-01

    This study examined the factor structure of the DSM-IV criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) in Hispanic patients. Subjects were 130 monolingual Hispanic adults who had been admitted to a specialty outpatient clinic that provides psychiatric and substance abuse services to Spanish-speaking individuals. All were reliably assessed with the Spanish-Language Version of the Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders. After evaluating internal consistency of the BPD criterion set, an exploratory factor analysis was performed using principal axis factoring. Results suggested a unidimensional structure, and were consistent with similar studies of the DSM-IV criteria for BPD in non-Hispanic samples. These findings have implications for understanding borderline psychopathology in this population, and for the overall validity of the DSM-IV BPD construct. PMID:20472296

  10. Language Proficiency and Executive Control in Proactive Interference: Evidence from Monolingual and Bilingual Children and Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bialystok, Ellen; Feng, Xiaojia

    2009-01-01

    Two studies are reported in which monolingual and bilingual children (Study 1) and adults (Study 2) completed a memory task involving proactive interference. In both cases, the bilinguals attained lower scores on a vocabulary test than monolinguals but performed the same on the proactive interference task. For the children, bilinguals made fewer…

  11. The Disfluent Speech of Bilingual Spanish-English Children: Considerations for Differential Diagnosis of Stuttering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrd, Courtney T.; 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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  13. Counseling Spanish-speaking patients: Atlanta pharmacists' cultural sensitivity, use of language-assistance services, and attitudes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muzyk, Andrew J; Muzyk, Tara L; Barnett, Candace W

    2004-01-01

    To document the types of language-assistance services available in pharmacies and the perceptions of pharmacists regarding the effectiveness of these services, and to measure the attitudes toward counseling Spanish-speaking patients and cultural sensitivity of pharmacists. Cross-sectional assessment. Metropolitan Atlanta, Ga. Registered Georgia pharmacists residing in metropolitan Atlanta. Mailed survey, with repeat mailing 2 weeks later. 38 survey items measuring demographic and practice-site characteristics, types of language-assistance services available with an assessment of the effectiveness of each measured on a nominal scale, and attitudinal items concerning counseling of Spanish-speaking patients and pharmacists' cultural sensitivity using a 5-point Likert-type response scale. Of 1,975 questionnaires mailed, 608 were returned, a 30.8% response rate. Nearly two thirds of the pharmacists had recently counseled a Spanish-speaking patient, but only one fourth of those respondents considered their interactions effective. Nearly all pharmacists, 88.0%, worked in pharmacies with language-assistance services. Of seven types of these services, a mean of 2.19 were available in pharmacies, and the majority of pharmacists (84.4% or more) identifying a service considered it to be effective. The pharmacists were neutral about counseling Spanish-speaking patients (mean = 2.94) and indifferent toward other cultures (mean = 3.28); however, they agreed they had a responsibility to counsel Spanish-speaking patients, and they believed that use of language-assistance services would constitute a reasonable effort to counsel these patients. Pharmacists have an opportunity to address barriers to communication with the Spanish-speaking population through use of language-assistance services and educational measures within the profession.

  14. The Smoking Consequences Questionnaire: Factor structure and predictive validity among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidrine, Jennifer Irvin; Vidrine, Damon J; Costello, Tracy J; Mazas, Carlos; Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Mejia, Luz Maria; Wetter, David W

    2009-11-01

    Much of the existing research on smoking outcome expectancies has been guided by the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire (SCQ ). Although the original version of the SCQ has been modified over time for use in different populations, none of the existing versions have been evaluated for use among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States. The present study evaluated the factor structure and predictive validity of the 3 previously validated versions of the SCQ--the original, the SCQ-Adult, and the SCQ-Spanish, which was developed with Spanish-speaking smokers in Spain--among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in Texas. The SCQ-Spanish represented the least complex solution. Each of the SCQ-Spanish scales had good internal consistency, and the predictive validity of the SCQ-Spanish was partially supported. Nearly all the SCQ-Spanish scales predicted withdrawal severity even after controlling for demographics and dependence. Boredom Reduction predicted smoking relapse across the 5- and 12-week follow-up assessments in a multivariate model that also controlled for demographics and dependence. Our results support use of the SCQ-Spanish with Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  16. Screening for bipolar disorders in Spanish-speaking populations: sensitivity and specificity of the Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale-Spanish Version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vázquez, Gustavo Héctor; Romero, Ester; Fabregues, Fernando; Pies, Ronald; Ghaemi, Nassir; Mota-Castillo, Manuel

    2010-01-01

    Bipolar disorder is commonly misdiagnosed, perhaps more so in Latin American and Spanish-speaking populations than in the United States. The Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS) is a 19-item screening instrument designed to assist in screening for all types of bipolar disorder. The authors investigated the sensitivity of a Spanish-language version of the BSDS in a cohort of 65 outpatients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, based on a semi-structured interview and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision criteria. To determine specificity, we assessed a control group of 36 outpatients with diagnosis of unipolar major depressive disorder. The overall sensitivity of the BSDS Spanish version with bipolar disorders types I, II, and NOS was 0.70, which was slightly lower than the sensitivity in the study using the English version of the BSDS (0.76). The specificity was 0.89. When the threshold was decreased from 13 to 12, the sensitivity of the Spanish BSDS increased to 0.76 and specificity dropped to 0.81. The Spanish version of the BSDS is promising as a screening instrument in Spanish-speaking populations. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. 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.

  18. Communication barriers among Spanish-speaking women with pelvic floor disorders: lost in translation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Aqsa A; Sevilla, Claudia; Wieslander, Cecilia K; Moran, Meghan B; Rashid, Rezoana; Mittal, Brita; Maliski, Sally L; Rogers, Rebecca G; Anger, Jennifer T

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of our study was to evaluate barriers in communication and disease understanding among office staff and interpreters when communicating with Spanish-speaking women with pelvic floor disorders. We conducted a qualitative study to evaluate barriers to communication with Spanish-speaking women with pelvic floor disorders among office staff and interpreters. Sixteen office staff and interpreters were interviewed; interview questions focused on experiences with Spanish-speaking patients with pelvic floor disorders in the clinic setting. Interview transcripts were analyzed qualitatively using grounded theory methodology. Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed several barriers in communication as identified by office staff and interpreters. Three major classes were predominant: patient, interpreter, and system-related barriers. Patient-related barriers included a lack of understanding of anatomy and medical terminology and inhibited discussions due to embarrassment. Provider-related barriers included poor interpreter knowledge of pelvic floor vocabulary and the use of office staff without interpreting credentials. System-related barriers included poor access to information. From these preliminary themes, an emergent concept was revealed: it is highly likely that Spanish-speaking women with pelvic floor disorders have poor understanding of their condition owing to multiple obstacles in communication. There are many levels of barriers to communications with Latin women treated for pelvic floor disorders, arising from the patient, interpreter, and the system itself. These barriers contribute to a low level of understanding of their diagnosis, treatment options, and administered therapies.

  19. Manifestations of developmental dyslexia in monolingual Persian speaking students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  20. Validity of the WISC-IV Spanish for a clinically referred sample of Hispanic children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    San Miguel Montes, Liza E; Allen, Daniel N; Puente, Antonio E; Neblina, Cris

    2010-06-01

    The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is the most commonly used intelligence test for children. Five years ago, a Spanish version of the WISC-IV was published (WISC-IV Spanish; Wechsler, 2005), but a limited amount of published information is available regarding its utility when assessing clinical samples. The current study included 107 children who were Spanish speaking and of Puerto Rican descent that had been administered the WISC-IV Spanish. They were subdivided into a clinical sample of 35 children with diagnoses of various forms of brain dysfunction (primarily learning disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and epilepsy) and a comparison group made up of 72 normal children who were part of the WISC-IV Spanish version standardization sample. Comparisons between these groups and the standardization sample were performed for the WISC-IV Spanish index and subtest scores. Results indicated that the clinical sample performed worse than the comparison samples on the Working Memory and Processing Speed Indexes, although findings varied to some extent depending on whether the clinical group was compared with the normal comparison group or the standardization sample. These findings provide support for the criterion validity of the WISC-IV Spanish when it is used to assess a clinically referred sample with brain dysfunction.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  2. Quantitative and qualitative differences in the lexical knowledge of monolingual and bilingual children on the LITMUS-CLT task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altman, Carmit; Goldstein, Tamara; Armon-Lotem, Sharon

    2017-01-01

    While bilingual children follow the same milestones of language acquisition as monolingual children do in learning the syntactic patterns of their second language (L2), their vocabulary size in L2 often lags behind compared to monolinguals. The present study explores the comprehension and production of nouns and verbs in Hebrew, by two groups of 5- to 6-year olds with typical language development: monolingual Hebrew speakers (N = 26), and Russian-Hebrew bilinguals (N = 27). Analyses not only show quantitative gaps between comprehension and production and between nouns and verbs, with a bilingual effect in both, but also a qualitative difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in their production errors: monolinguals' errors reveal knowledge of the language rules despite temporary access difficulties, while bilinguals' errors reflect gaps in their knowledge of Hebrew (L2). The nature of Hebrew as a Semitic language allows one to explore this qualitative difference in the semantic and morphological level.

  3. Developmental Screening Disparities for Languages Other than English and Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knuti Rodrigues, Kristine; Hambidge, Simon J; Dickinson, Miriam; Richardson, Douglas B; Davidson, Arthur J

    2016-01-01

    Limited English proficiency (LEP) is a known barrier to preventive care. Children from families with LEP face socioeconomic circumstances associated with increased odds of developmental delays and decreased participation in early care and education programs. Little is known about developmental surveillance and screening for children from families who speak languages other than English and Spanish. We sought to compare developmental surveillance and screening at well-child visits (WCVs) by preferred parental language. Using a retrospective cohort (n = 15,320) of children aged 8 to 40 months with ≥2 WCVs from January 1, 2006, to July 1, 2010, in a community health system, 450 children from 3 language groups (150 English, 150 Spanish, and 150 non-English, non-Spanish) were randomly selected. Chart review assessed 2 primary outcomes, developmental surveillance at 100% of WCVs and screened with a standardized developmental screening tool, and also determined whether children were referred for diagnostic developmental evaluation. Bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted. Compared to the English-speaking group, the non-English, non-Spanish group had lower odds of receiving developmental surveillance at 100% of WCVs (odds ratio, 0.3; 95% confidence interval, 0.2, 0.5) and of being screened with a standardized developmental screening tool (odds ratio, 0.1; 95% confidence interval, 0.1, 0.2). There were no differences between the English- and Spanish-speaking groups. Though underpowered, no differences were found for referral. Improved developmental surveillance and screening are needed for children from families who speak languages other than English and Spanish. Lack of statistically significant differences between English- and Spanish-speaking groups suggests that improved translation and interpretation resources may decrease disparities. Copyright © 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Report from a Multi-Institutional Randomized Clinical Trial Examining Computer-Assisted Problem-Solving Skills Training for English- and Spanish-Speaking Mothers of Children with Newly Diagnosed Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahler, Olle Jane Z.; Sherman, Sandra A.; Fairclough, Diane L.; Butler, Robert W.; Katz, Ernest R.; Dolgin, Michael J.; Varni, James W.; Noll, Robert B.; Phipps, Sean

    2009-01-01

    Objectives To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a handheld personal digital assistant (PDA)-based supplement for maternal Problem-Solving Skills Training (PSST) and to explore Spanish-speaking mothers’ experiences with it. Methods Mothers (n = 197) of children with newly diagnosed cancer were randomized to traditional PSST or PSST + PDA 8-week programs. Participants completed the Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Profile of Mood States, and Impact of Event Scale-Revised pre-, post-treatment, and 3 months after completion of the intervention. Mothers also rated optimism, logic, and confidence in the intervention and technology. Results Both groups demonstrated significant positive change over time on all psychosocial measures. No between-group differences emerged. Despite technological “glitches,” mothers expressed moderately high optimism, appreciation for logic, and confidence in both interventions and rated the PDA-based program favorably. Technology appealed to all Spanish-speaking mothers, with younger mothers showing greater proficiency. Conclusions Well-designed, supported technology holds promise for enhancing psychological interventions. PMID:19091804

  5. Rethinking Spanish: Understanding Spanish Speakers Motivations and Reasons to Opt for Either an English Only or a Dual English-Spanish Educational Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Adrienne C.

    2017-01-01

    Spanish-speaking parents choose to enroll their children in either an English only or English-Spanish dual immersion program when presented with both choices. This ethnographic study explored parent's perceptions of the purpose, advantages, and disadvantages of learning in school in English only or in a dual English-Spanish. Through focus group…

  6. 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…

  7. Using an iPad for Basic Communication Between Spanish-Speaking Families and Nurses in Pediatric Acute Care: A Feasibility Pilot Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Kylie H; Mixer, Sandra J

    2017-08-01

    The growing number of Spanish speakers in the United States poses communication challenges for healthcare providers. Language barriers in pediatric acute care have been associated with an increased risk for adverse events, longer hospital stays, and decreased quality of care. In addition, clinicians' usage of interpreter services is inconsistent. In fact, nurses often lack interpreter support during daily bedside care. Nursing staff at a pediatric children's hospital in the southeastern United States identified bedside communication with Spanish-speaking patients and families as a clinical challenge. To address this challenge, a basic communication interface, UTalk version 1.0 (the author is the owner and proprietor), supported by an Apple iPad, was developed by the researcher with input from nursing staff, a certified medical interpreter, and Spanish-speaking community members. A feasibility pilot study of the interface's usability and engagement was conducted on the hospital's pediatric medical-surgical unit through qualitative interviews with nurse-family dyads. Three themes emerged from the data: UTalk-facilitated communication, UTalk needs improvement, and interpreter miscommunication. These findings indicate that a mobile digital device interface is a feasible method for augmenting bedside communication with Spanish-speaking patients and families. These results also may serve as a reference for the development of similar mobile device interfaces. Further research with a larger sample size is needed.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  9. Spanish Language Self-Efficacy Beliefs among Spanish-Speaking Social Workers: Implications for Social Work Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arriaza, Pablo

    2015-01-01

    Limited research exists about Spanish-speaking social workers that provide bilingual social work services. To date, studies have not exclusively focused on actual language competence of bilingual social workers or even their self-perceived language beliefs. This study reviews the results of a cross-sectional Internet-based survey exploring…

  10. Measuring Disparities: Bias in the SF-36v2 among Spanish-speaking Medical Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudano, Joseph J.; Perzynski, Adam; Love, Thomas E.; Lewis, Steven A.; Murray, Patrick M.; Huber, Gail; Ruo, Bernice; Baker, David W.

    2011-01-01

    Background Many national surveys have found substantial differences in self-reported overall health (SROH) between Spanish-speaking Hispanics and other racial/ethnic groups. However, because cultural and language differences may create measurement bias, it is unclear whether observed differences in SROH reflect true differences in health. Objectives This study uses a cross-sectional survey to investigate psychometric properties of the SF-36v2 for subjects across four racial/ethnic and language groups. Multi-group latent variable modeling was used to test increasingly stringent criteria for measurement equivalence. Subjects Our sample (N = 1281) included 383 non-Hispanic whites, 368 non-Hispanic blacks, 206 Hispanics interviewed in English and 324 Hispanics interviewed in Spanish recruited from outpatient medical clinics in two large urban areas. Results We found weak factorial invariance across the four groups. However, there was no strong factorial invariance. The overall fit of the model was substantially worse (change in CFI > .02, RMSEA change > .003) after requiring equal intercepts across all groups. Further comparisons established that the equality constraints on the intercepts for Spanish-speaking Hispanics were responsible for the decrement to model fit. Conclusions Observed differences between SF-36v2 scores for Spanish speaking Hispanics are systematically biased relative to the other three groups. The lack of strong invariance suggests the need for caution when comparing SF-36v2 mean scores of Spanish-speaking Hispanics with those of other groups. However, measurement equivalence testing for this study supports correlational or multivariate latent variable analyses of SF-36v2 responses across all four subgroups, since these analyses require only weak factorial invariance. PMID:21430580

  11. Cognitive profiles in bilingual children born to immigrant parents and Italian monolingual native children with specific learning disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Riva A

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Anna Riva, Renata Nacinovich, Nadia Bertuletti, Valentina Montrasi, Sara Marchetti, Francesca Neri, Monica Bomba Child and Adolescent Mental Health Department, University of Milan Bicocca, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children® – fourth edition IV (WISC IV intellectual profile of two groups of children with specific learning disorder, a group of bilingual children and a group of monolingual Italian children, in order to identify possible significant differences between them. Patients and methods: A group of 48 bilingual children and a group of 48 Italian monolingual children were included in this study. A preliminary comparison showed the homogeneity of the two groups regarding learning disorder typology and sociodemographic characteristics (age at WISC IV assessment, sex and years of education in Italy with the exception of socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status was then used as a covariate in the analysis. Results: Even if the two groups were comparable in specific learning disorder severity and, in particular, in the text comprehension performance, our findings showed that the WISC IV performances of the bilingual group were significantly worse than the Italian group in Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (P=0.03, in General Ability Index (P=0.03, in Working Memory Index (P=0.009 and in some subtests and clusters requiring advanced linguistic abilities. Conclusion: These results support the hypothesis of a weakness in metalinguistic abilities in bilingual children with specific learning disorders than monolinguals. If confirmed, this result must be considered in the rehabilitation treatment. Keywords: children, bilingualism, WISC IV, SLD

  12. Effects of Phonological and Musical Training on the Reading Readiness of Native- and Foreign-Spanish-Speaking Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrera, Lucia; Lorenzo, Oswaldo; Defior, Sylvia; Fernandez-Smith, Gerard; Costa-Giomi, Eugenia

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a music training program on children's phonological awareness and naming speed in Spanish. Participants were preschool children whose first language was either Spanish (n = 45) or Tamazight ( n = 52), a Berber dialect spoken in Morocco's Rif area. The two-year pretest/posttest study…

  13. 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; Senor, Melissa

    2013-01-01

    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…

  14. Measuring Nutrition Literacy in Spanish-Speaking Latinos: An Exploratory Validation Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, Heather D; Camargo, Juliana M T B; Owens, Sarah; Gajewski, Byron; Cupertino, Ana Paula

    2017-11-21

    Nutrition is important for preventing and treating chronic diseases highly prevalent among Latinos, yet no tool exists for measuring nutrition literacy among Spanish speakers. This study aimed to adapt the validated Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument for Spanish-speaking Latinos. This study was developed in two phases: adaptation and validity testing. Adaptation included translation, expert item content review, and interviews with Spanish speakers. For validity testing, 51 participants completed the Short Assessment of Health Literacy-Spanish (SAHL-S), the Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument in Spanish (NLit-S), and socio-demographic questionnaire. Validity and reliability statistics were analyzed. Content validity was confirmed with a Scale Content Validity Index of 0.96. Validity testing demonstrated NLit-S scores were strongly correlated with SAHL-S scores (r = 0.52, p internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's α = 0.92). The NLit-S demonstrates validity and reliability for measuring nutrition literacy among Spanish-speakers.

  15. Case, Inflection, and Subject Licensing in Child Catalan and Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grindstead, John

    2000-01-01

    Development of specified tense and number morphology in child Catalan and Spanish was found to correlate with the onset of overt subject use in one monolingual child Spanish speaker and four monolingual child Catalan speakers who were studied longitudinally. (Author/VWL)

  16. 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.

  17. Mathematics Curriculum Guide for Spanish-Speaking Students, Levels A, B, C, D, Field Test. Working Draft = Guia didactica de Matematicas, Niveles A, B, C, D. Edicion Experimental.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chicago Board of Education, IL. Dept. of Curriculum.

    The introductory level curriculum guide for bilingual education for Spanish-speaking children in the Chicago public schools is divided into four difficulty levels and is designed to facilitate acquisition of mathematical concepts by presenting them in the children's native language. At each level, the concepts covered include the meaning of…

  18. Processing and Comprehension of Accented Speech by Monolingual and Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonald, Margarethe; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana; Batko, Michelle; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2018-01-01

    This study tested the effect of Spanish-accented speech on sentence comprehension in children with different degrees of Spanish experience. The hypothesis was that earlier acquisition of Spanish would be associated with enhanced comprehension of Spanish-accented speech. Three groups of 5-6-year-old children were tested: monolingual…

  19. Predictors of Reading Comprehension for Struggling Readers: The Case of Spanish-speaking Language Minority Learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Lesaux, Nonie K

    2010-08-01

    This longitudinal study examined the process of English reading comprehension at age 11 for 173 low achieving Spanish-speaking children. The influence of growth rates, from early childhood (age 4.5) to pre-adolescence (age 11), in vocabulary and word reading skills on this complex process were evaluated using structural equation modeling. Standardized measures of word reading accuracy and productive vocabulary were administered annually, in English and Spanish, and English reading comprehension measures were administered at age 11. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that English skills accounted for all unique variance in English reading comprehension outcomes. Further, expected developmental shifts in the influence of word reading and vocabulary skills over time were not shown, likely on account of students' below grade level reading comprehension achievement. This work underscores the need for theoretical models of comprehension to account for students' skill profiles and abilities.

  20. How much exposure to English is necessary for a bilingual toddler to perform like a monolingual peer in language tests?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cattani, Allegra; Abbot-Smith, Kirsten; Farag, Rafalla; Krott, Andrea; Arreckx, Frédérique; Dennis, Ian; Floccia, Caroline

    2014-11-01

    Bilingual children are under-referred due to an ostensible expectation that they lag behind their monolingual peers in their English acquisition. The recommendations of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) state that bilingual children should be assessed in both the languages known by the children. However, despite these recommendations, a majority of speech and language professionals report that they assess bilingual children only in English as bilingual children come from a wide array of language backgrounds and standardized language measures are not available for the majority of these. Moreover, even when such measures do exist, they are not tailored for bilingual children. It was asked whether a cut-off exists in the proportion of exposure to English at which one should expect a bilingual toddler to perform as well as a monolingual on a test standardized for monolingual English-speaking children. Thirty-five bilingual 2;6-year-olds exposed to British English plus an additional language and 36 British monolingual toddlers were assessed on the auditory component of the Preschool Language Scale, British Picture Vocabulary Scale and an object-naming measure. All parents completed the Oxford Communicative Development Inventory (Oxford CDI) and an exposure questionnaire that assessed the proportion of English in the language input. Where the CDI existed in the bilingual's additional language, these data were also collected. Hierarchical regression analyses found the proportion of exposure to English to be the main predictor of the performance of bilingual toddlers. Bilingual toddlers who received 60% exposure to English or more performed like their monolingual peers on all measures. K-means cluster analyses and Levene variance tests confirmed the estimated English exposure cut-off at 60% for all language measures. Finally, for one additional language for which we had multiple participants, additional language CDI production scores were

  1. 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

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  3. Stroop Color-Word Interference Test: Normative data for Spanish-speaking pediatric population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivera, D; Morlett-Paredes, A; Peñalver Guia, A I; Irías Escher, M J; Soto-Añari, M; Aguayo Arelis, A; Rute-Pérez, S; Rodríguez-Lorenzana, A; Rodríguez-Agudelo, Y; Albaladejo-Blázquez, N; García de la Cadena, C; Ibáñez-Alfonso, J A; Rodriguez-Irizarry, W; García-Guerrero, C E; Delgado-Mejía, I D; Padilla-López, A; Vergara-Moragues, E; Barrios Nevado, M D; Saracostti Schwartzman, M; Arango-Lasprilla, J C

    2017-01-01

    To generate normative data for the Stroop Word-Color Interference test in Spanish-speaking pediatric populations. The sample consisted of 4,373 healthy children from nine countries in Latin America (Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Puerto Rico) and Spain. Each participant was administered the Stroop Word-Color Interference test as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. The Stroop Word, Stroop Color, Stroop Word-Color, and Stroop Interference scores were normed using multiple linear regressions and standard deviations of residual values. Age, age2, sex, and mean level of parental education (MLPE) were included as predictors in the analyses. The final multiple linear regression models showed main effects for age on all scores, except on Stroop Interference for Guatemala, such that scores increased linearly as a function of age. Age2 affected Stroop Word scores for all countries, Stroop Color scores for Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Spain; Stroop Word-Color scores for Ecuador, Mexico, and Paraguay; and Stroop Interference scores for Cuba, Guatemala, and Spain. MLPE affected Stroop Word scores for Chile, Mexico, and Puerto Rico; Stroop Color scores for Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain; Stroop Word-Color scores for Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain; and Stroop-Interference scores for Ecuador, Mexico, and Spain. Sex affected Stroop Word scores for Spain, Stroop Color scores for Mexico, and Stroop Interference for Honduras. This is the largest Spanish-speaking pediatric normative study in the world, and it will allow neuropsychologists from these countries to have a more accurate approach to interpret the Stroop Word-Color Interference test in pediatric populations.

  4. 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

  5. Do eye movements reveal differences between monolingual and bilingual children's first-language and second-language reading? A focus on word frequency effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitford, Veronica; Joanisse, Marc F

    2018-09-01

    An extensive body of research has examined reading acquisition and performance in monolingual children. Surprisingly, however, much less is known about reading in bilingual children, who outnumber monolingual children globally. Here, we address this important imbalance in the literature by employing eye movement recordings to examine both global (i.e., text-level) and local (i.e., word-level) aspects of monolingual and bilingual children's reading performance across their first-language (L1) and second-language (L2). We also had a specific focus on lexical accessibility, indexed by word frequency effects. We had three main findings. First, bilingual children displayed reduced global and local L1 reading performance relative to monolingual children, including larger L1 word frequency effects. Second, bilingual children displayed reduced global and local L2 versus L1 reading performance, including larger L2 word frequency effects. Third, both groups of children displayed reduced global and local reading performance relative to adult comparison groups (across their known languages), including larger word frequency effects. Notably, our first finding was not captured by traditional offline measures of reading, such as standardized tests, suggesting that these measures may lack the sensitivity to detect such nuanced between-group differences in reading performance. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that bilingual children's simultaneous exposure to two reading systems leads to eye movement reading behavior that differs from that of monolingual children and has important consequences for how lexical information is accessed and integrated in both languages. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Trust Development With the Spanish-Speaking Mexican American Patient: A Grounded Theory Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Sharon M

    2018-06-01

    Interpersonal trust between patient and nurse is important in patient-centered care. Trust development may be more difficult if the patient and nurse do not speak the same language. In this grounded theory study, Spanish-speaking Mexican American adults ( n = 20) hospitalized on a medical-surgical or obstetric unit in the Midwestern United States were interviewed. Through data analysis, a model of how trust develops between nurse and patient revealed eight categories and the core category Caring for Me Well Even When Not Understanding Me. The beginning phase had four categories: Asking for Help, Bothering, Communicating, and Understanding. The middle phase had two categories: Platicando (chatting) and Being Available. The end point category was Having Trust, and outcomes were Feeling Comfortable and Feeling Supported. The language barrier was a hindrance to trust development but the nurse's way of being (personality) was more important. Therefore, the patient did develop trust with nurses who did not speak Spanish.

  7. Spanish Instruction in Head Start and Dual Language Learners' Academic Achievement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Elizabeth B

    2017-09-01

    Data from the Head Start Impact Study ( N = 1,141) and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, 2009 Cohort ( N = 825) were used to investigate whether Spanish instruction in Head Start differentially increased Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners' (DLLs) academic achievement. Although hypothesized that Spanish instruction would be beneficial for DLLs' early literacy and math skills, results from residualized growth models showed there were no such positive associations. Somewhat surprisingly, DLL children instructed in Spanish had higher English receptive vocabulary skills at the end of the Head Start year than those not instructed, with children randomly assigned to Head Start and instructed in Spanish having the highest scores. Policy implications for Head Start-eligible Spanish-speaking DLLs are discussed.

  8. 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.

  9. 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

  10. 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.

  11. 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...

  12. 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.

  13. Production and Processing of Subject-Verb Agreement in Monolingual Dutch Children with Specific Language Impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Elma; Vasic, Nada; de Jong, Jan

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated whether errors with subject-verb agreement in monolingual Dutch children with specific language impairment (SLI) are influenced by verb phonology. In addition, the productive and receptive abilities of Dutch acquiring children with SLI regarding agreement inflection were compared. Method: An SLI…

  14. Item analysis of the Spanish version of the Boston Naming Test with a Spanish speaking adult population from Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Stella H; Strutt, Adriana M; Olabarrieta-Landa, Laiene; Lequerica, Anthony H; Rivera, Diego; De Los Reyes Aragon, Carlos Jose; Utria, Oscar; Arango-Lasprilla, Juan Carlos

    2018-02-23

    The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is a widely used measure of confrontation naming ability that has been criticized for its questionable construct validity for non-English speakers. This study investigated item difficulty and construct validity of the Spanish version of the BNT to assess cultural and linguistic impact on performance. Subjects were 1298 healthy Spanish speaking adults from Colombia. They were administered the 60- and 15-item Spanish version of the BNT. A Rasch analysis was computed to assess dimensionality, item hierarchy, targeting, reliability, and item fit. Both versions of the BNT satisfied requirements for unidimensionality. Although internal consistency was excellent for the 60-item BNT, order of difficulty did not increase consistently with item number and there were a number of items that did not fit the Rasch model. For the 15-item BNT, a total of 5 items changed position on the item hierarchy with 7 poor fitting items. Internal consistency was acceptable. Construct validity of the BNT remains a concern when it is administered to non-English speaking populations. Similar to previous findings, the order of item presentation did not correspond with increasing item difficulty, and both versions were inadequate at assessing high naming ability.

  15. Stuttering on function words in bilingual children who stutter: A preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gkalitsiou, Zoi; Byrd, Courtney T; Bedore, Lisa M; Taliancich-Klinger, Casey L

    2017-01-01

    Evidence suggests young monolingual children who stutter (CWS) are more disfluent on function than content words, particularly when produced in the initial utterance position. The purpose of the present preliminary study was to investigate whether young bilingual CWS present with this same pattern. The narrative and conversational samples of four bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking CWS were analysed. All four bilingual participants produced significantly more stuttering on function words compared to content words, irrespective of their position in the utterance, in their Spanish narrative and conversational speech samples. Three of the four participants also demonstrated more stuttering on function compared to content words in their narrative speech samples in English, but only one participant produced more stuttering on function than content words in her English conversational sample. These preliminary findings are discussed relative to linguistic planning and language proficiency and their potential contribution to stuttered speech.

  16. Factors that Influence Comprehension of Connectives among Language Minority Children from Spanish-Speaking Backgrounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crosson, Amy C.; Lesaux, Nonie K.; Martiniello, Maria

    2008-01-01

    This study explores factors influencing the degree to which language minority (LM) children from Spanish-dominant homes understand how connectives, such as "in contrast" and "because", signal relationships between text propositions. Standardized tasks of vocabulary, listening comprehension, word reading, and a researcher-designed text cohesion…

  17. 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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  19. Psychometric validation of the Columbia-Suicide Severity rating scale in Spanish-speaking adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serrani Azcurra, Daniel

    2017-12-30

    Adolescent suicide is a major public health issue, and early and accurate detection is of great concern. There are many reliable instruments for this purpose, such as the Columbia-Suicide severity rating scale (C-SSRS), but no validation exists for Spanish speaking Latin American adolescents. To assess psychometric properties and cut-off scores of the C-SSRS in Spanish speaking adolescents. Exploratory assessment with principal component analysis (PCA) and Varimax rotation, and confirmatory analysis (CFA) were performed on two groups with 782 and 834 participants respectively (N=1616). Mean age was 24.8 years. A Receiver operator analysis was applied to distinguish between control and suicide-risk subgroups adolescents. Promax rotation yielded two 10-items factors, for suicide ideation and behavior respectively. C-SSRS was positively correlated with other suicide risk scales, such as Beck Depression Inventory-II, Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised, or PHQ-9. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution as the best goodness of fit model. C-SSRS showed adequate ability to detect suicide risk group with positive predictive value of 68.3%. ROC analyses showed cutoff scores of ≥ 6 and ≥ 4 for suicide ideation and behavior scales respectively. This research offers data supporting psychometric validity and reliability of C-SSRS in nonclinical Spanish-speaking students. Added benefits are flexible scoring and management easiness. This questionnaire yields data on distinct aspects of suicidality, being more parsimonious than separate administration of a bunch of questionnaires.

  20. 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

  1. Impact of Test-Taking Behaviors on Full-Scale IQ Scores from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV Spanish Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oakland, Thomas; Harris, Josette G.

    2009-01-01

    Research on children's counterproductive test behavior supports a three-factor model for behaviors: inattentiveness, avoidance, and uncooperative mood. In this study, test behaviors measured by the Guide to the Assessment of Test Session Behaviors (GATSB) are rated on a sample of 110 Hispanic Spanish-speaking children included in the Wechsler…

  2. 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…

  3. Concurrent validity of caregiver/parent report measures of language for children who are learning both English and Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchman, Virginia A; Martine-Sussmann, Carmen

    2002-10-01

    The validity of two analogous caregiver/parent report measures of early language development in young children who are learning both English and Spanish is examined. Caregiver/parent report indices of vocabulary production and grammar were obtained for 26 children using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words & Sentences (CDI; Fenson et al., 1994) and the Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas: Palabras y Enunciados (IDHC; Jackson-Maldonado, Bates, & Thal, 1992). Scores were significantly correlated with analogous laboratory measures in both English and Spanish, including a real-object naming task and spontaneous language use during free-play. The findings offer evidence that the CDI and IDHC provide valid assessments of early language milestones in young English- and Spanish-speaking children. Factors that may influence the validity of these tools for use with this population are also discussed.

  4. Usability evaluation and adaptation of the e-health Personal Patient Profile-Prostate decision aid for Spanish-speaking Latino men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, Donna L; Halpenny, Barbara; Bosco, Jaclyn L F; Bruyere, John; Sanda, Martin G

    2015-07-24

    The Personal Patient Profile-Prostate (P3P), a web-based decision aid, was demonstrated to reduce decisional conflict in English-speaking men with localized prostate cancer early after initial diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to explore and enhance usability and cultural appropriateness of a Spanish P3P by Latino men with a diagnosis of prostate cancer. P3P was translated to Spanish and back-translated by three native Spanish-speaking translators working independently. Spanish-speaking Latino men with a diagnosis of localized prostate cancer, who had made treatment decisions in the past 24 months, were recruited from two urban clinical care sites. Individual cognitive interviews were conducted by two bilingual research assistants as each participant used the Spanish P3P. Notes of user behavior, feedback, and answers to direct questions about comprehension, usability and perceived usefulness were analyzed and categorized. Seven participants with a range of education levels identified 25 unique usability issues in navigation, content comprehension and completeness, sociocultural appropriateness, and methodology. Revisions were prioritized to refine the usability and cultural and linguistic appropriateness of the decision aid. Usability issues were discovered that are potential barriers to effective decision support. Successful use of decision aids requires adaptation and testing beyond translation. Our findings led to revisions further refining the usability and linguistic and cultural appropriateness of Spanish P3P.

  5. Spanish-Language Community-Based Mental Health Treatment Programs, Policy-Required Language-Assistance Programming, and Mental Health Treatment Access Among Spanish-Speaking Clients

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClellan, Sean R.

    2013-01-01

    Objectives. We investigated the extent to which implementing language assistance programming through contracting with community-based organizations improved the accessibility of mental health care under Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) for Spanish-speaking persons with limited English proficiency, and whether it reduced language-based treatment access disparities. Methods. Using a time series nonequivalent control group design, we studied county-level penetration of language assistance programming over 10 years (1997–2006) for Spanish-speaking persons with limited English proficiency covered under Medi-Cal. We used linear regression with county fixed effects to control for ongoing trends and other influences. Results. When county mental health plans contracted with community-based organizations, those implementing language assistance programming increased penetration rates of Spanish-language mental health services under Medi-Cal more than other plans (0.28 percentage points, a 25% increase on average; P language-related disparities. Conclusions. Mental health treatment programs operated by community-based organizations may have moderately improved access after implementing required language assistance programming, but the programming did not reduce entrenched disparities in the accessibility of mental health services. PMID:23865663

  6. Spanish-language community-based mental health treatment programs, policy-required language-assistance programming, and mental health treatment access among Spanish-speaking clients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snowden, Lonnie R; McClellan, Sean R

    2013-09-01

    We investigated the extent to which implementing language assistance programming through contracting with community-based organizations improved the accessibility of mental health care under Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid program) for Spanish-speaking persons with limited English proficiency, and whether it reduced language-based treatment access disparities. Using a time series nonequivalent control group design, we studied county-level penetration of language assistance programming over 10 years (1997-2006) for Spanish-speaking persons with limited English proficiency covered under Medi-Cal. We used linear regression with county fixed effects to control for ongoing trends and other influences. When county mental health plans contracted with community-based organizations, those implementing language assistance programming increased penetration rates of Spanish-language mental health services under Medi-Cal more than other plans (0.28 percentage points, a 25% increase on average; P language-related disparities. Mental health treatment programs operated by community-based organizations may have moderately improved access after implementing required language assistance programming, but the programming did not reduce entrenched disparities in the accessibility of mental health services.

  7. Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  8. Tonal Targets in Early Child English, Spanish, and Catalan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astruc, Lluisa; Payne, Elinor; Post, Brechtje; Vanrell, Maria del Mar; Prieto, Pilar

    2013-01-01

    This study analyses the scaling and alignment of low and high intonational targets in the speech of 27 children--nine English-speaking, nine Catalan-speaking and nine Spanish-speaking--between the ages of two and six years. We compared the intonational patterns of words controlled for number of syllables and stress position in the child speech to…

  9. Validation and Diagnostic Efficiency of the Mini-SPIN in Spanish-Speaking Adolescents.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LuisJoaquín Garcia-Lopez

    Full Text Available Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD is one of the most common mental disorders in adolescence. Many validated psychometric tools are available to diagnose individuals with SAD efficaciously. However, there is a demand for shortened self-report instruments that identify adolescents at risk of developing SAD. We validate the Mini-SPIN and its diagnostic efficiency in overcoming this problem in Spanish-speaking adolescents in Spain.The psychometric properties of the 3-item Mini-SPIN scale for adolescents were assessed in a community (study 1 and clinical sample (study 2.Study 1 consisted of 573 adolescents, and found the Mini-SPIN to have appropriate internal consistency and high construct validity. Study 2 consisted of 354 adolescents (147 participants diagnosed with SAD and 207 healthy controls. Data revealed that the Mini-SPIN has good internal consistency, high construct validity and adequate diagnostic efficiency.Our findings suggest that the Mini-SPIN has good psychometric properties on clinical and healthy control adolescents and general population, which indicates that it can be used as a screening tool in Spanish-speaking adolescents. Cut-off scores are provided.

  10. Validation and Diagnostic Efficiency of the Mini-SPIN in Spanish-Speaking Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Lopez, LuisJoaquín; Moore, Harry T A

    2015-01-01

    Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is one of the most common mental disorders in adolescence. Many validated psychometric tools are available to diagnose individuals with SAD efficaciously. However, there is a demand for shortened self-report instruments that identify adolescents at risk of developing SAD. We validate the Mini-SPIN and its diagnostic efficiency in overcoming this problem in Spanish-speaking adolescents in Spain. The psychometric properties of the 3-item Mini-SPIN scale for adolescents were assessed in a community (study 1) and clinical sample (study 2). Study 1 consisted of 573 adolescents, and found the Mini-SPIN to have appropriate internal consistency and high construct validity. Study 2 consisted of 354 adolescents (147 participants diagnosed with SAD and 207 healthy controls). Data revealed that the Mini-SPIN has good internal consistency, high construct validity and adequate diagnostic efficiency. Our findings suggest that the Mini-SPIN has good psychometric properties on clinical and healthy control adolescents and general population, which indicates that it can be used as a screening tool in Spanish-speaking adolescents. Cut-off scores are provided.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  12. Lexicalisation Patterns in Danish and Spanish

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Woldersgaard, Casper A. G

    In this dissertation, I investigate the theoretical framework by Leonard Talmy (2000b) on lexicalisation patterns in Motion events. I examine his characterisations of Co-event languages (e.g., Danish) and Path-event languages (e.g., Spanish), and I relate his work to a Danish language setting....... Furthermore, my objective is to determine whether the predictions set forth by Talmy apply to Danish and Spanish from an empirical perspective, i.e., in a Danish monolingual reference corpus, Korpus-DK, and a Spanish monolingual reference corpus, CORPES. I present different methods for testing Talmy’s theory....... As a consequence, to identify Motion events and discard false positives is an extremely time-consuming process. I suggest that a context-free grammar is a way to facilitate the retrieval and analysis of linguistic data that contain Motion events. Thus, I implement a context-free grammar for Spanish. More...

  13. Object and Action Naming: A Study on Persian-Speaking Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reza Nilipour

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Nouns and verbs are the central conceptual linguistic units of language acquisition in all human languages. While the noun-bias hypothesis claims that nouns have a privilege in children’s lexical development across languages, studies on Mandarin and Korean and other languages have challenged this view. More recent cross-linguistic naming studies on children in German, Turkish, English and Korean demonstrate that all languages, including Korean show a noun advantage however the degree of this discrepancy differs between languages. The aim of this study wasto look at object and action naming in normal Persian children as a measure of conceptual developmentin preschool children and its possible use for screening and therapeutic procedures. Methods: In this analytical study, noun bias and processing dissociation of object and action naming in 64 three to six year old healthy monolingual Persian-speaking children was investigated. A black and white picture naming task, consisting of 36 nouns (natural and man-made, and 36 verbs (transitive and intransitive was designed using DMDX software to measure response accuracy and reaction time of the subjects. Results: The results indicate a significant noun advantage with regard to accuracy and naming latencies. The results also reveal that transitive verbs are named more accurately than intransitive ones in Persianspeaking children. Also,the data indicate that accuracy of object and action namingimprove with age (P=0.000. Discussion: Based on the resultswe recommended that a standardized Persian object and action naming battery be used. Such a tool would have the potential of screening lexical development delay and possible noun-verb performance gap in preschool children.

  14. Diversity of Language Ideologies in Spanish-Speaking Youth of Different Origins in Catalonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trenchs-Parera, Mireia; Newman, Michael

    2009-01-01

    To explore language attitudes and ideologies in urban Catalonia, focus group structured interviews were conducted with two groups of adolescents of Spanish-speaking origins: the Autochthonous group, descendents of mid-late twentieth century immigrants from other parts of Spain, and the Immigrant group, who came from Latin America. The…

  15. THE MOTHER TONGUE IN MONOLINGUAL AND MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyuchukov, H.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The study presents a small research project on Russian monolingual children in Moscow, and Turkish bilingual children living in Berlin, Germany. The children were examined with using the Test of Early Language Development (3rd ed., and despite the limitations of the study, the findings point up interesting tendencies. In the comprehension section of the test, the Russian monolinguals did much better than the Turkish bilinguals; however, in the section testing production, both groups of children had the same results. All children had difficulties in acquisition of abstract terms, certain prepositions, complex sentences and retelling or creating a story narrative from pictures. Bilingualism is not an obstacle for mother tongue development, but it seems there are universal factors which influence the process of language acquisition.

  16. Las Voces Nuevas del Sudoeste (New Voices of the Southwest). Symposium: "The Spanish-Speaking Child in the Schools of the Southwest" (Tucson, Arizona, October 30, 31, 1966).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, Elinor, Ed.

    The symposium was held to publicize the positive efforts which were being undertaken to solve the problems of Spanish-speaking children and to provide a catalyst for the further action that was needed. The problems were explored from various points of view with two questions in mind: "What was being done?" and "What more could be…

  17. Bilingualism accentuates children's conversational understanding.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  18. The Prevalence of English Monolingualism and Its Association with Generational Status among Hmong Americans, 2005-2009

    OpenAIRE

    Yang Sao Xiong; Nao Xiong

    2011-01-01

    Using the American Community Survey's multi-year (2005-2009) Public Use Microdata Sample, we estimate the prevalence of English monolingualism and statistically analyze the association between English monolingualism and generational status within the U.S. Hmong population. Our findings show that the odds of speaking only English among the second generation is almost three times more compared to the first generation. Data from the 2009 ACS PUMS further indicate that there is a linear an...

  19. The Role of Accessibility of Semantic Word Knowledge in Monolingual and Bilingual Fifth-Grade Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremer, M.; Schoonen, R.

    2013-01-01

    The influences of word decoding, availability, and accessibility of semantic word knowledge on reading comprehension were investigated for monolingual "("n = 65) and bilingual children ("n" = 70). Despite equal decoding abilities, monolingual children outperformed bilingual children with regard to reading comprehension and…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  2. The Spanish Version of the Self-Statements during Public Speaking Scale: Validation in Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivero, Raul; Garcia-Lopez, Luisjoaquin; Hofmann, Stefan G

    2010-01-01

    Contemporary theories of social anxiety emphasize the role of cognitive processes. Although social anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental health problems in adolescents, there are very few self-report instruments available to measure cognitive processes related to social anxiety in adolescents, let alone non-English instruments. The Self-Statements during Public Speaking Scale (SSPS; Hofmann & DiBartolo, 2000) is a brief self-report measure designed to assess self-statements related to public speaking, the most commonly feared social performance situation. In order to fill this gap in the literature, we translated the SSPS into Spanish and administered it to 1,694 adolescents from a community sample, a clinical sample composed of 71 subjects with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder; and a clinical control group consisting of 154 patients. The scale showed good psychometric properties, supporting the use of the Spanish version of the SSPS in adolescents.

  3. Internal Structure and Development of Keyboard Skills in Spanish-Speaking Primary-School Children with and without LD in Writing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez, Juan E.; Marco, Isaac; Suárez, Natalia; González, Desirée

    2017-01-01

    This study had two purposes: examining the internal structure of the "Test Estandarizado para la Evaluación Inicial de la Escritura con Teclado" (TEVET; Spanish Keyboarding Writing Test), and analyzing the development of keyboarding skills in Spanish elementary school children with and without learning disabilities (LD) in writing. A…

  4. Community College Developmental Education Services: Perspectives of Spanish-Speaking Latino Early Childhood Educators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eberly, John E.

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this single-case study was to understand the perceptions of Latino Spanish-speaking English learners on the efficacy of developmental education services at a Western U.S. community college. The primary data collection method was in-depth individual interviews of a purposeful sample of nine successful students. Findings indicated…

  5. Television viewing by young Latino children: Evidence of heterogeneity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Darcy A.; Sibinga, Erica M.S.; Jennings, Jacky M.; Bair-Merritt, Megan H.; Christakis, Dimitri A.

    2010-01-01

    Objective To determine if hours of daily television viewed by varying age groups of young children with Latina mothers differs by maternal language preference (English/Spanish) and to compare these differences to young children with non-Latina white mothers. Design Cross-sectional analysis of data collected in 2000 from the National Survey of Early Childhood Health. Setting Nationally representative sample. Participants 1,347 mothers of children 4-35 months. Main Exposure Subgroups of self-reported maternal race/ethnicity (non-Latina white (white), Latina) and within Latinas, stratification by maternal language preference (English/Spanish). Outcome Measure Hours of daily television viewed by the child. Results Bivariate analyses showed children of English- versus Spanish-speaking Latinas watch more daily television (1.88 versus 1.31 hours,ptelevision. However, among children 12-23 and 24-35 months, children of English-speaking Latinas watched more television than children of Spanish-speaking Latinas (IRR=1.61,CI=1.17-2.22; IRR=1.66,CI=1.10-2.51, respectively). Compared to children of white mothers, children of both Latina subgroups watched similar amounts among the 4-11 month olds. However, among 12-23 month olds, children of English-speaking Latinas watched more compared to children of white mothers (IRR=1.57,CI=1.18-2.11). Among 24-35 month olds, children of English-speaking Latinas watched similar amounts compared to children of white mothers, but children of Spanish-speaking Latinas watched less (IRR=0.69,CI=0.50-0.95). Conclusions Television viewing amounts among young children with Latina mothers vary by child age and maternal language preference supporting the need to explore sociocultural factors that influence viewing in Latino children. PMID:20124147

  6. Validation and Diagnostic Efficiency of the Mini-SPIN in Spanish-Speaking Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Lopez, LuisJoaquín; Moore, Harry T. A.

    2015-01-01

    Objectives Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is one of the most common mental disorders in adolescence. Many validated psychometric tools are available to diagnose individuals with SAD efficaciously. However, there is a demand for shortened self-report instruments that identify adolescents at risk of developing SAD. We validate the Mini-SPIN and its diagnostic efficiency in overcoming this problem in Spanish-speaking adolescents in Spain. Methods The psychometric properties of the 3-item Mini-SPIN scale for adolescents were assessed in a community (study 1) and clinical sample (study 2). Results Study 1 consisted of 573 adolescents, and found the Mini-SPIN to have appropriate internal consistency and high construct validity. Study 2 consisted of 354 adolescents (147 participants diagnosed with SAD and 207 healthy controls). Data revealed that the Mini-SPIN has good internal consistency, high construct validity and adequate diagnostic efficiency. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the Mini-SPIN has good psychometric properties on clinical and healthy control adolescents and general population, which indicates that it can be used as a screening tool in Spanish-speaking adolescents. Cut-off scores are provided. PMID:26317695

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  8. Spanish translation and validation of the Preschool Activity Card Sort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoffel, Ashley; Berg, Christine

    2008-05-01

    Few standardized assessments exist for children living in the United States who are Hispanic/Latino. This study reports the Spanish translation process for the Preschool Activity Card Sort (PACS), which is a measure of participation in preschool children, and examines content, construct, and concurrent validity. Methods of verifying accuracy of translation included expert review and back translation and supported content validity of the Tarjetas de Actividades Preescolares (TAP). Subsequently, a sample of 37 parents of children between 3 and 6 years of age completed the PACS/TAP by structured interview. Twenty-six parents were Spanish speaking, and 11 were English speaking. A comparison of reported participation by Spanish- and English-speaking children provides initial construct validity of the TAP. Results indicate that the TAP differentiates among children of recent immigrants as compared to preschoolers who were born in the United States on domains of self-care, high and low demand leisure, and educational activities. Results emphasize the importance of considering sociocultural influences when assessing participation. PACS/TAP scores were moderately correlated with Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory scores for the self-care domain, but did not correlate with the mobility or social function domains. The PACS/TAP appears to provide a useful means of understanding preschoolers' participation. Future research is needed to further establish the validity of this assessment.

  9. Influence of Language and Culture in the Primary Care of Spanish-Speaking Latino Adults with Poorly Controlled Diabetes: A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamudio, Cindy D; Sanchez, Gabriela; Altschuler, Andrea; Grant, Richard W

    2017-01-01

    We examined the role of language and culture in the interactions between Spanish-speaking Latino patients with poorly controlled diabetes - a fast-growing population in the United States - and their primary care providers. We conducted four focus groups with 36 non-US born Spanish-speaking patients with elevated HbA1c. Participants were insured health plan members with either English-speaking (2 groups) or Spanish-speaking (2 groups) primary care providers. Moderated discussions focused on visit preparation, communication during visit, and role of other care team members. Key themes derived from these discussions were then linked to corresponding Latino cultural constructs. Patients had a mean age of 57.9 (±11.2) years and last measured HbA1c was 8.6% (1.5%). Two communication-related themes (reluctance to switch providers and use of intermediaries) and two visit-related themes (provider-driven visit agendas and problem-based visits) emerged from our analyses. These themes reflected the cultural constructs of confianza (trust), familismo (family), respeto (deference), and simpatía (harmonious relationship). Trust in the patient-provider relationship led many participants to remain with English-speaking providers who treated them well. Patients with either language concordant and discordant providers reported reliance on family or other intermediaries to close communication gaps. Deference to physician expertise and authority led to visit expectations that it is the doctor's job to know what to ask and that visits were intended to address specific, often symptom-driven problems. Spanish-speaking Latino patients' cultural expectations play an important role in framing their primary care interactions. Recognizing culturally influenced visit expectations is an important step toward improving patient-provider communication.

  10. Preschool language interventions for latino dual language learners with language disorders: what, in what language, and how.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon-Cereijido, Gabriela

    2015-05-01

    About a quarter of young children in the United States are dual language learners. The large majority are Latino children who are exposed to Spanish in their homes. The language needs of Latino dual language preschoolers are different from the needs of monolingual English-speaking children. As a group, they are likely to live in environments that put them at risk of delays in language development. This situation is direr for dual language preschoolers with language impairment. Recent findings from studies on interventions for Spanish-English preschoolers with language impairment suggest that a bilingual approach does not delay English vocabulary and oral language learning and promotes Spanish maintenance. Targets and strategies for different language domains are described. The effects of pullout versus push-in interventions for this population are preliminarily explored. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  11. Internal Structure and Development of Keyboard Skills in Spanish-Speaking Primary-School Children With and Without LD in Writing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez, Juan E; Marco, Isaac; Suárez, Natalia; González, Desirée

    This study had two purposes: examining the internal structure of the Test Estandarizado para la Evaluación Inicial de la Escritura con Teclado (TEVET; Spanish Keyboarding Writing Test), and analyzing the development of keyboarding skills in Spanish elementary school children with and without learning disabilities (LD) in writing. A group of 1,168 elementary school children carried out the following writing tasks: writing the alphabet in order from memory, allograph selection, word copying, writing dictated words with inconsistent spelling, writing pseudowords from dictation, and independent composition of sentence. For this purpose, exploratory factor analysis for the TEVET was conducted. Principal component analysis with a varimax rotation identified three factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0. Based on factorial analysis, we analyzed the keyboarding skills across grades in Spanish elementary school children with and without LD (i.e., poor handwriters compared with poor spellers, who in turn were compared with mixed compared with typically achieving writers). The results indicated that poor handwriters did not differ from typically achieving writers in phonological processing, visual-orthographic processing, and sentence production components by keyboarding. The educational implications of the findings are analyzed with regard to acquisition of keyboarding skills in children with and without LD in transcription.

  12. Adaptation and validation of the Spanish Versión of the "Survey Work-Home Interaction - NijmeGen" (SWING to Spanish speaking countries

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    Marina Romeo

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is the adaptation and validation of the "Survey Work-Home Interaction - NijmeGen" (SWING developed by Geurts and colleagues to Spanish speaking countries (SWING-SSC. In order to analyze the questionnaire's psychometnc properties, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA was carried out with a sample of 203 employees from various Spanish-speaking countries. Criterion related validity was tested by examining correlations between the SWING-SSC, and the theoretically relevant variables: health, role conflict, role clarity and supervisor support. Finally, reliability was tested analyzing the internal consistency of the scales. The analyses carried out indicate that SWING-SSC has good psychometric properties. In addition, the present results support the relation of the construct with health, role conflict, role clarity, and supervisor support. This study offers evidence for a sound work-life balance measure that contributes to encourage adequate conditions in the workplace, to reduce the conflict between the two spheres of professional and personal life, and to enhance positive relationships.

  13. Survey of US Veterinary Students on Communicating with Limited English Proficient Spanish-Speaking Pet Owners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landau, Ruth E; Beck, Alan; Glickman, Larry T; Litster, Annette; Widmar, Nicole J Olynk; Moore, George E

    2015-01-01

    Veterinary schools and colleges generally include communication skills training in their professional curriculum, but few programs address challenges resulting from language gaps between pet owners and practitioners. Due to shifting US demographics, small animal veterinary practices must accommodate an increasing number of limited English proficient (LEP) Spanish-speaking pet owners (SSPOs). A national survey was conducted to assess the interest and preparedness of US veterinary students to communicate with LEP SSPOs when they graduate. This online survey, with more than 2,000 first-, second-, and third-year US veterinary students, revealed that over 50% of students had worked at a practice or shelter that had LEP Spanish-speaking clients. Yet fewer than 20% of these students described themselves as prepared to give medical information to an LEP SSPO. Over three-fourths of respondents agreed that communication with LEP SSPOs was important for veterinarians in general, and two-thirds agreed that communication with LEP SSPOs was important for themselves personally. Ninety percent of students who described themselves as conversant in Spanish agreed that they would be able to communicate socially with SSPOs, while only 55% said they would be able to communicate medically with such clients. Overall, two-thirds of students expressed interest in taking Spanish for Veterinary Professionals elective course while in school, with the strongest interest expressed by those with advanced proficiency in spoken Spanish. Bridging language gaps has the potential to improve communication with LEP SSPOs in the veterinary clinical setting and to improve patient care, client satisfaction, and the economic health of the veterinary profession.

  14. Oral vocabulary training program for Spanish third-graders with low socio-economic status: A randomized controlled trial.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clara Gomes-Koban

    Full Text Available Although the importance of vocabulary training in English speaking countries is well recognized and has been extensively studied, the same is not true for Spanish-few evidence based vocabulary studies for Spanish-speaking children have been reported. Here, two rich oral vocabulary training programs (definition and context, based on literature about vocabulary instruction for English-speaking children, were developed and applied in a sample of 100 Spanish elementary school third-graders recruited from areas of predominantly low socio-economic status (SES. Compared to an alternative read-aloud method which served as the control, both explicit methods were more effective in teaching word meanings when assessed immediately after the intervention. Nevertheless, five months later, only the definition group continued to demonstrate significant vocabulary knowledge gains. The definition method was more effective in specifically teaching children word meanings and, more broadly, in helping children organize and express knowledge of words. We recommend the explicit and rich vocabulary instruction as a means to fostering vocabulary knowledge in low SES children.

  15. The semantic network, lexical access, and reading comprehension in monolingual and bilingual children : An individual differences study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Spätgens, T.; Schoonen, R.

    Using a semantic priming experiment, the influence of lexical access and knowledge of semantic relations on reading comprehension was studied in Dutch monolingual and bilingual minority children. Both context-independent semantic relations in the form of category coordinates and context-dependent

  16. Stress Judgment and Production in English Derivation, and Word Reading in Adult Mandarin-Speaking English Learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda

    2017-08-01

    For monolingual English-speaking children, judgment and production of stress in derived words, including words with phonologically neutral (e.g., -ness) and non-neutral suffixes (e.g., -ity), is important to both academic vocabulary growth and to word reading. For Mandarin-speaking adult English learners (AELs) the challenge of learning the English stress system might be complicated by cross-linguistic differences in prosodic function and features. As Mandarin-speakers become more proficient in English, patterns similar to those seen in monolingual children could emerge in which awareness and use of stress and suffix cues benefit word reading. A correlational design was used to examine the contributions of English stress in derivation with neutral and non-neutral suffixes to English word and nonword reading. Stress judgment in non-neutral derivation predicted word reading after controlling for working memory and English vocabulary; whereas stress production in neutral derivation contributed to word reading and pseudoword decoding, independent of working memory and English vocabulary. Although AELs could use stress and suffix cues for word reading, AELs were different from native English speakers in awareness of non-neutral suffix cues conditioning lexical stress placement. AELs may need to rely on lexical storage of primary stress in derivations with non-neutral suffixes.

  17. Descubriendo La Lectura: An Application of Reading Recovery in Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escamilla, Kathy; Andrade, Anna

    1992-01-01

    Research suggests that use of a child's native language in initial literacy instruction is beneficial. The Descubriendo la Lectura (DLL) Spanish-language application of the English Reading Recovery Program is described as implemented for one Spanish-speaking first grade boy. The DLL program capitalizes on strengths children demonstrate in reading.…

  18. A comparison of the responses to three comprehension and three production tasks assessing the morpho-syntactic abilities of Afrikaans-speaking preschoolers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Southwood, Frenette

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The lack of standardised assessment instruments for assessing the morpho-syntactic abilities of Afrikaans-speaking children often leads to the use of informal assessment tools and/or spontaneous language samples. The question that this paper addresses is how best to assess these morpho-syntactic abilities when using nonstandardised assessment instruments of this kind. The general aim of the present study was to answer this question. Eight typically developing, monolingual children (one boy and one girl of 3, 4, 5, and 6 years from monolingual Afrikaans-speaking homes participated. Tasks were administered to assess comprehension and production of grammatical features related to number, person, case, and tense, as well as questions forms, binding relations and passive constructions. The comprehension tasks entailed picture selection, judging the (incorrectness of utterances produced by the researcher, and question answering, whereas the production tasks consisted of sentence completion, question asking and a language sample. A specific aim of the study was to determine which method(s rendered the highest number of (i correct responses and (ii usable responses (i.e., responses strictly related to the aspect under assessment by these typically developing participants. The results indicate that picture selection elicited the highest number of both correct and usable responses in the comprehension tasks. The production task that provided the highest number of both correct and usable responses was language sample elicitation. This suggests that these tasks should receive precedence when assessing the morpho-syntactic abilities of Afrikaans-speaking preschool children.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  20. Reliability and validity of the Spanish Language Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3rd Edition) in a sample of American, urban, Spanish-speaking Hispanics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renteria, Laura; Li, Susan Tinsley; Pliskin, Neil H

    2008-05-01

    The utility of the Spanish WAIS-III was investigated by examining its reliability and validity among 100 Spanish-speaking participants. Results indicated that the internal consistency of the subtests was satisfactory, but inadequate for Letter Number Sequencing. Criterion validity was adequate. Convergent and discriminant validity results were generally similar to the North American normative sample. Paired sample t-tests suggested that the WAIS-III may underestimate ability when compared to the criterion measures that were utilized to assess validity. This study provides support for the use of the Spanish WAIS-III in urban Hispanic populations, but also suggests that caution be used when administering specific subtests, due to the nature of the Latin America alphabet and potential test bias.

  1. Vocabulary knowledge, phonological representations and phonological sensitivity in Spanish-speaking low-and middle-SES preschoolers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatriz Diuk

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among vocabulary knowledge, phonological representations and phonological sensitivity in 80 Spanish-speaking preschool children from middle- and low-SES families. Significant social class differences were obtained on all tasks except syllable matching. Regression analyses were carried out to test the predictive power of vocabulary knowledge and accuracy of phonological representations on the phonological sensitivity measures. Receptive vocabulary predicted rhyme identification. Syllable matching was predicted by a task tapping accuracy of phonological representations. The fact that rhyme identification was predicted by vocabulary knowledge but syllable matching was predicted by a measure tapping accuracy of phonological representations in both groups suggests that early lexical development sets the stage for the development of the lower levels of phonological sensitivity but identification of smaller units requires more accurate and segmented phonological representations.

  2. Development and evaluation of an instrument to measure community pharmacists' self-efficacy beliefs about communicating with Spanish-speaking patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Henry N; Hwang, Monica J; Dilworth, Thomas J; Mott, David; Cox, Elizabeth D; Moreno, Megan A

    2011-12-01

    Hispanics are the largest growing population in the United States, and their use of prescription medications can be influenced by the education and counseling they receive from pharmacists. However, little is known about pharmacists' communication with patients who speak Spanish or factors that can influence such communication. The objective of the study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure pharmacists' self-efficacy in communicating with Spanish-speaking patients. An initial pool of 15 items developed from previous research and suggestions from communication experts and practicing pharmacists was subjected to cognitive interviewing. Nine retained items were administered to 1022 licensed pharmacists by mail survey. Summary statistics and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted. Retained factors were determined by the examination of eigenvalues and scree test results. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated to assess internal consistency. A total of 540 community pharmacists completed the survey. Item means ranged from 2.93±1.47 to 1.58±0.88 based on a 5-point scale (1: not at all confident to 5: extremely confident). EFA resulted in a 2-factor solution, accounting for 71% of the variance. The 2 factors consisted of health and drug information (alpha=0.92) and opening the encounter (alpha=0.75). The alpha for the overall scale was 0.88. The results provide evidence to support the reliability and validity of an instrument to measure pharmacists' self-efficacy beliefs about communicating with Spanish-speaking patients in community practice. Practitioners and researchers may use this instrument to inform pharmacy education, pharmacy practice improvement, and research efforts around communicating with Spanish-speaking clients. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. "La CLAve" to Increase Psychosis Literacy of Spanish-Speaking Community Residents and Family Caregivers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Steven R.; Lara, Ma. Del Carmen; Kopelowicz, Alex; Solano, Susana; Foncerrada, Hector; Aguilera, Adrian

    2009-01-01

    The authors developed and tested a 35-min psychoeducational program with the goal of increasing Spanish-speaking persons' literacy of psychosis. The program uses popular cultural icons derived from music, art, and videos, as well as a mnemonic device--La CLAve (The Clue)--to increase (a) knowledge of psychosis, (b) efficacy beliefs that one can…

  4. Tense Marking and Spontaneous Speech Measures in Spanish Specific Language Impairment: A Discriminant Function Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grinstead, John; Baron, Alisa; Vega-Mendoza, Mariana; De la Mora, Juliana; Cantu-Sanchez, Myriam; Flores, Blanca

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: To test the proposal that the tense deficit that has been demonstrated for children with specific language impairment (SLI) in other languages is also found in child Spanish and that low performance on tense-related measures can distinguish Spanish-speaking children with SLI from those without. Method: The authors evaluated evidence from…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  6. 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…

  7. Acceptability and practicality of a Spanish translation of paediatric Gait Arms Legs and Spine (pGALS) in Peruvian children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abernethy, Katrina; Jandial, Sharmila; Hill, Lucy; Sánchez, Ernesto Salazar; Foster, Helen

    2014-01-01

    The paediatric Gait, Arms, Legs and Spine (pGALS) musculoskeletal examination tool is validated for use in school-aged English Speaking children and shown to be practical and effective in acute paediatric practice in the UK and Malawi. Our aim was to assess the acceptability and practicality of a Spanish translation of pGALS in an acute paediatric setting in Peru. Fifty-three school-aged children presenting to Hospital Regional de Loreto, Peru were recruited to undergo a pGALS examination using a Spanish translation of the instructions. The pGALS examination was completed in 92.5% (49/53), with the time taken (median 4.42 minutes) being acceptable to most parents (98.1%, 52/53). Most children (88.7%, 47/53), found the pGALS examination caused 'little' or 'no additional discomfort'. Using pGALS, significant findings were observed in 18/53 (34%) children; these related to fractures (4/18), hypermobility (4/18), infectious causes (5/18) and soft tissue trauma (5/18). Using this Spanish translation, pGALS assessment was practical, acceptable and effective in detecting musculoskeletal changes in many children.

  8. Libros de Ciencias en Espanol (A Selection of Recent Science Trade Books in Spanish)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schon, Isabel

    2005-01-01

    Teachers who have Spanish-speaking students in their science class, will likely be interested in learning about the recent releases of Spanish trade books for children. From appealing paperback series about colors, opposites, shapes, and numbers to smooth Spanish renditions of Isaac Asimov's engaging overview of the universe, these books are just…

  9. Spanish Oral Language Guide: Kindergarten Level. Espanol como Segundo Idioma. Teacher's Guide: Level I.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corbell, Gloria; And Others

    This teacher's guide to Spanish language at the kindergarten level includes a recommended subject presentation sequence for the Spanish curriculum, a sample schedule, a grouping of students using three stations, and a classroom layout. The grouping would be effective when at least one-third of the children are Spanish-speaking or bilingual. The…

  10. Availability and quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation information for Spanish-speaking population on the Internet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Kirsten Y; Haukoos, Jason S; Sasson, Comilla

    2014-01-01

    Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a vital link in the chain of survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA); however, there are racial/ethnic disparities in the provision of bystander CPR. Approximately 32% of Hispanics perform CPR when confronted with cardiac arrest, whereas approximately 41% of non-Hispanics perform CPR. Public education, via the Internet, may be critical in improving the performance of bystander CPR among Hispanics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the availability and quality of CPR-related literature for primary Spanish-speaking individuals on the Internet. Two search engines (Google and Yahoo!) and a video-site (YouTube) were searched using the following terms: "resucitacion cardiopulmonar" and "reanimacion cardiopulmonar." Inclusion criteria were: education of CPR technique. Exclusion criteria were: instruction on pediatric CPR technique, failure to provide any instruction on CPR technique, or duplicated website. Data elements were collected on the content and quality of the websites and videos, such as assessing scene safety, verifying responsiveness, activating EMS, properly positioning hands on chest, performing accurate rate and depth of compressions. Of the 515 websites or videos screened, 116 met criteria for inclusion. The majority of websites (86%; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 79-92%) educated viewers on traditional bystander CPR (primarily, 30:2 CPR), while only 14% (95% CI 9-21%) taught hands-only CPR. Of websites that used video (N=62), 84% were conducted in Spanish and 16% in English. The quality of CPR education was generally poor (median score of 3/6, IQR of 3.0). Only half of websites properly educated on how to check responsiveness, activate EMS and position hands on chest. Eighty-eight percent of websites failed to educate viewers on assessing scene safety. The majority of websites had improper or no education on both rate and depth of compressions (59% and 63%, respectively). Only 16% of

  11. The Persian version of phonological test of diagnostic evaluation articulation and phonology for Persian speaking children and investigating its validity and reliability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Talieh Zarifian

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Speech and language pathologists (SLP often refer to phonological data as part of their assessment protocols in evaluating the communication skills of children. The aim of this study was to develop the Persian version of the phonological test in evaluating and diagnosing communication skills in Persian speaking children and to evaluate its validity and reliability.Methods: The Persian phonological test (PPT was conducted on 387 monolingual Persian speaking boys and girls (3-6 years of age who were selected from 12 nurseries in the northwest region of Tehran. Content validity ratio (CVR and content validity index (CVI were assessed by speechtherapists and linguists. Correlation between speech and language pathologists experts' opinions and Persian phonological test results in children with and without phonological disorders was evaluated to investigate the Persian phonological test validity. In addition, the Persian phonological test test-retest reliability was investigated.Results: Both content validity ratio and content validity index were found to be acceptable (CVR≥94.71 and CVI=97.35. The PPT validity was confirmed by finding a good correlation between s peech and language pathologists experts' opinions and Persian phonological test results ( r Kappa =0.73 and r Spearman =0.76. The percent of agreement between transcription and analyzing error patterns in test-retest (ranging from 86.27%-100% and score-rescore (ranging from 94.28%-100% showed that Persian phonological test had a very high reliability.Conclusion: The results of this study show that the Persian phonological test seems to be a suitable tool in evaluating phonological skills of Persian speaking children in clinical settings and research projects.

  12. Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia in Pre-Service and In-Service Spanish-Speaking Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soriano-Ferrer, Manuel; Echegaray-Bengoa, Joyce; Joshi, R. Malathesa

    2016-01-01

    The present study investigated knowledge, misconceptions, and lack of information about dyslexia among pre-service (PST) and in-service (IST) Spanish-speaking teachers in Spain and Peru. Two hundred and forty-six pre-service teachers and 267 in-service teachers completed the Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia Scale (KBDDS).…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  14. The Acquisition of Clitic Pronouns in the Spanish Interlanguage of Peruvian Quechua Speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klee, Carol A.

    1989-01-01

    Analysis of four adult Quechua speakers' acquisition of clitic pronouns in Spanish revealed that educational attainment and amount of contact with monolingual Spanish speakers were positively related to native-like norms of competence in the use of object pronouns in Spanish. (CB)

  15. Reaching Spanish-speaking smokers online: a 10-year worldwide research program

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    Ricardo Felipe Muñoz

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To describe a 10-year proof-of-concept smoking cessation research program evaluating the reach of online health interventions throughout the Americas. METHODS: Recruitment occurred from 2002 - 2011, primarily using Google.com AdWords. Over 6 million smokers from the Americas entered keywords related to smoking cessation; 57 882 smokers (15 912 English speakers and 41 970 Spanish speakers were recruited into online self-help automated intervention studies. To examine disparities in utilization of methods to quit smoking, cessation aids used by English speakers and Spanish speakers were compared. To determine whether online interventions reduce disparities, abstinence rates were also compared. Finally, the reach of the intervention was illustrated for three large Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas-Argentina, Mexico, and Peru-and the United States of America. RESULTS: Few participants had utilized other methods to stop smoking before coming to the Internet site; most reported using no previous smoking cessation aids: 69.2% of Spanish speakers versus 51.8% of English speakers (P < 0.01. The most used method was nicotine gum, 13.9%. Nicotine dependence levels were similar to those reported for in-person smoking cessation trials. Overall observed quit rate for English speakers was 38.1% and for Spanish speakers, 37.0%; quit rates in which participants with missing data were considered to be smoking were 11.1% and 10.6%, respectively. Neither comparison was significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: The systematic use of evidence-based Internet interventions for health problems could have a broad impact throughout the Americas, at little or no cost to individuals or to ministries of health.

  16. Associations of Work Stress, Supervisor Unfairness, and Supervisor Inability to Speak Spanish with Occupational Injury among Latino Farmworkers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clouser, Jessica Miller; Bush, Ashley; Gan, Wenqi; Swanberg, Jennifer

    2017-06-22

    Little is known about how psychosocial work factors such as work stress, supervisor fairness, and language barriers affect risk of occupational injury among Latino farmworkers. This study attempts to address these questions. Surveys were administered via interviews to 225 Latino thoroughbred farmworkers. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of occupational injury in the past year in relation to occupational characteristics. Work stress (OR 6.70, 95% CI 1.84-24.31), supervisor unfairness (OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.14-9.73), longer tenure at farm (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.13-6.34), and supervisor inability to speak Spanish (OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.05-5.00) were significantly associated with increased odds of occupational injury. Due to the associations between work stress, supervisor unfairness, supervisor inability to speak Spanish and injury, supervisor training to improve Spanish language ability and equitable management practices is merited. Future research is needed to understand the antecedents of work stress for Latino farmworkers.

  17. 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.

  18. Assessing Spanish-Speaking Immigrant Parents' Perceptions of Climate at a New Language Immersion School: A Critical Analysis Using "Thinking with Theory"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguayo, David; Dorner, Lisa M.

    2017-01-01

    Parent involvement in schools is often developed through one-way, deficit-oriented relationships, where information flows from schools "to" families and parents are perceived to lack some capacity or knowledge. However, little is known about the conditions facing Spanish-speaking families at Spanish language immersion schools, which…

  19. A Narrative Evaluation of Mandarin-Speaking Children With Language Impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Ying; Sheng, Li; Zhang, Yiwen; Jiang, Fan; de Villiers, Jill; Lee, Wendy; Liu, Xueman Lucy

    2018-02-15

    We aimed to study narrative skills in Mandarin-speaking children with language impairment (LI) to compare with children with LI speaking Indo-European languages. Eighteen Mandarin-speaking children with LI (mean age 6;2 [years;months]) and 18 typically developing (TD) age controls told 3 stories elicited using the Mandarin Expressive Narrative Test (de Villiers & Liu, 2014). We compared macrostructure-evaluating descriptions of characters, settings, initiating events, internal responses,plans, actions, and consequences. We also studied general microstructure, including productivity, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, and grammaticality. In addition, we compared the use of 6 fine-grained microstructure elements that evaluate particular Mandarin linguistic features. Children with LI exhibited weaknesses in 5 macrostructure elements, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, and 3 Mandarin-specific, fine-grained microstructure elements. Children with LI and TD controls demonstrated comparable performance on 2 macrostructure elements, productivity, grammaticality, and the remaining 3 fine-grained microstructure features. Similarities and differences are noted in narrative profiles of children with LI who speak Mandarin versus those who speak Indo-European languages. The results are consistent with the view that profiles of linguistic deficits are shaped by the ambient language. Clinical implications are discussed.

  20. 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…

  1. Gesture, Play, and Language Development of Spanish-Speaking Toddlers with Developmental Language Disorders: A Preliminary Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiberson, Mark

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this preliminary study was to (a) examine relationships between the symbolic and language skills of a mixed (developmental language disordered [DLD] and typical language [TL]) Spanish-speaking sample; (b) describe gesture, play, and language skills of DLD and TL groups; (c) compare the development between groups; and (d) explore…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  3. 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)

  4. Bilingualism Alters Children's Frontal Lobe Functioning for Attentional Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arredondo, Maria M.; Hu, Xiao-Su; Satterfield, Teresa; Kovelman, Ioulia

    2017-01-01

    Bilingualism is a typical linguistic experience, yet relatively little is known about its impact on children's cognitive and brain development. Theories of bilingualism suggest early dual-language acquisition can improve children's cognitive abilities, specifically those relying on frontal lobe functioning. While behavioral findings present much conflicting evidence, little is known about its effects on children's frontal lobe development. Using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the findings suggest that Spanish-English bilingual children (n=13, ages 7-13) had greater activation in left prefrontal cortex during a non-verbal attentional control task relative to age-matched English monolinguals. In contrast, monolinguals (n=14) showed greater right prefrontal activation than bilinguals. The present findings suggest early bilingualism yields significant changes to the functional organization of children's prefrontal cortex for attentional control and carry implications for understanding how early life experiences impact cognition and brain development. PMID:26743118

  5. [Monolingualism, an overlooked multilingual?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, E

    There has been some emphasis on the practice of multi­lingualism. It is seen as encouraging children creativity, lin­guis­­tic sensitivity and openness. In this article, we seek to find out if the different qualities demonstrated in multilingualism can also be developed in a monolingualism context. Despite the fact that it is a single language system - where grammar, accents, the rhythm of the sentence remain unchanged - it will be interesting to draw some parallels with multilingualism. This will lead us to study the processes of oral and written language acquisition in children. The associations with stuttering will also be mentioned.

  6. The Impact of a Collaborative Family Involvement Program on Latino Families and Children's Educational Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Donnell, Julie; Kirkner, Sandra L.

    2014-01-01

    Latino families highly value education and are committed to their children's educational success; however, Latino students often experience educational challenges. Well-designed family involvement programs can encourage Latino families, especially new immigrants or monolingual Spanish-speakers, to increase their involvement resulting in positive…

  7. The Health Literacy and ESL study: a community-based intervention for Spanish-speaking adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soto Mas, Francisco; Ji, Ming; Fuentes, Brenda O; Tinajero, Josefina

    2015-04-01

    Although Hispanics have a documented high risk of limited health literacy, there is a scarcity of research with this population group, and particularly with Hispanic immigrants who generally confront language barriers that have been related to low health literacy. The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy identified community-based English-language instruction as a strategy that can facilitate a health literate society. However, the literature lacks discussion on this type of intervention. This randomized control trial aimed to test the feasibility of using conventional English-as-a-second-language (ESL) instruction for improving health literacy among Spanish-speaking adults. Objectives included the development, implementation, and evaluation of a health literacy/ESL curriculum. The Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) in English was used to assess health literacy levels. Analyses included independent sample t test, chi-square, and multiple linear regression. A total of 155 people participated. Results showed a significantly higher increase in the TOFHLA posttest score in the intervention group (p = .01), and noticeable differences in health literacy levels between groups. Results indicate that ESL constitutes a promising venue for improving health literacy among Spanish-speaking adults. Incorporating health literacy-related content may provide additional benefits.

  8. The Health Literacy and ESL Study: A Community-Based Intervention for Spanish-Speaking Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    MAS, FRANCISCO SOTO; JI, MING; FUENTES, BRENDA O.; TINAJERO, JOSEFINA

    2015-01-01

    Although Hispanics have a documented high risk of limited health literacy, there is a scarcity of research with this population group, and particularly with Hispanic immigrants who generally confront language barriers that have been related to low health literacy. The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy identified community-based English-language instruction as a strategy that can facilitate a health literate society. However, the literature lacks discussion on this type of intervention. This randomized control trial aimed to test the feasibility of using conventional English-as-a-second-language (ESL) instruction for improving health literacy among Spanish-speaking adults. Objectives included the development, implementation, and evaluation of a health literacy/ESL curriculum. The Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) in English was used to assess health literacy levels. Analyses included independent sample t test, chi-square, and multiple linear regression. A total of 155 people participated. Results showed a significantly higher increase in the TOFHLA posttest score in the intervention group (p = .01), and noticeable differences in health literacy levels between groups. Results indicate that ESL constitutes a promising venue for improving health literacy among Spanish-speaking adults. Incorporating health literacy-related content may provide additional benefits. PMID:25602615

  9. Supplement for Curriculum Guide for Mathematics: Spanish-Speaking Students, Grades 4-6 = Supplemento de la guia didactica de matematicas para los estudiantes de habla hispana, cuatro-sexto grados. Field Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chicago Board of Education, IL.

    This supplementary math curriculum guide for use with Spanish-speaking, fouth through sixth grade students in Chicago public schools employs a contrastive analysis approach. Lessons are presented for objectives for which the instructional strategies used in the United States differ from those used in Spanish-speaking countries. (Objectives for…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  11. Children's identification of graphic symbols representing four basic emotions: comparison of Afrikaans-speaking and Sepedi-speaking children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeKlerk, Hester M; Dada, Shakila; Alant, Erna

    2014-01-01

    Speech language pathologists recommend graphic symbols for AAC users to facilitate communication, including labelling and expressing emotions. The purpose of the current study was to describe and compare how 5- to 6-year-old Afrikaans- and Sepedi-speaking children identify and choose graphic symbols to depict four basic emotions, specifically happy, sad, afraid, and angry. Ninety participants were asked to select the graphic symbol from a 16-matrix communication overlay that would represent the emotion in response to 24 vignettes. The results of the t-tests indicated that the differences between the two groups' selection of target symbols to represent the four emotions are statistically significant. The results of the study indicate that children from different language groups may not perceive graphic symbols in the same way. The Afrikaans-speaking participants more often choose target symbols to represent target basic emotions than did the Sepedi-speaking participants. The most preferred symbols per emotion were identified and these different symbols were analysed in terms of facial features that distinguish them. Readers of this article will (1) recognise the importance of expressing basic emotions for children, particularly those that use AAC, (2) identify the possible limitations of line drawings for expressing and labelling basic emotions in typically developing children and (3) recognise the importance of cultural influences on recognition of basic emotions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. A Longitudinal Investigation of Reading Development from Kindergarten to Grade Eight in a Spanish-Speaking Bilingual Population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimm, Ryan P.; Solari, Emily J.; Gerber, Michael M.

    2018-01-01

    This longitudinal study used latent growth curve modeling to investigate English literacy development in a sample of Spanish-speaking language minority students from third through eighth grade. This study also compared the sample's literacy development to the entire population of California students using state standardized test data. Second, this…

  13. Developmental change in tone perception in Mandarin monolingual, English monolingual, and Mandarin-English bilingual infants: Divergences between monolingual and bilingual learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Leher; Fu, Charlene S L; Seet, Xian Hui; Tong, Ashley P Y; Wang, Joelle L; Best, Catherine T

    2018-09-01

    Most languages use lexical tone to discriminate the meanings of words. There has been recent interest in tracking the development of tone categories during infancy. These studies have focused largely on monolingual infants learning either a tone language or a non-tone language. It remains to be seen how bilingual infants learning one tone language (e.g., Mandarin) and one non-tone language (e.g., English) discriminate tones. Here, we examined infants' discrimination of two Mandarin tones pairs: one salient and one subtle. Discrimination was investigated in three groups: Mandarin-English bilinguals, English monolinguals, and Mandarin monolinguals at 6 months and 9 months of age in a cross-sectional design. Results demonstrated relatively strong Mandarin tone discrimination in Mandarin monolinguals, with salient tone discrimination at 6 months and both salient and subtle tone discrimination at 9 months. English monolinguals discriminated neither contrast at 6 months but discriminated the salient contrast at 9 months. Surprisingly, there was no evidence for tone discrimination in Mandarin-English bilingual infants. In a second experiment, 12- and 13-month-old Mandarin-English bilingual and English monolingual infants were tested to determine whether bilinguals would demonstrate tone sensitivity at a later age. Results revealed a lack of tone sensitivity at 12 or 13 months in bilingual infants, yet English monolingual infants were sensitive to both salient and subtle Mandarin tone contrasts at 12 or 13 months. Our findings provide evidence for age-related convergence in Mandarin tone discrimination in English and Mandarin monolingual infants and for a distinct pattern of tone discrimination in bilingual infants. Theoretical implications for phonetic category acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Una guia a los padres acerca del sistema educacional = A Parent's Guide to Education. Spanish Edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowch, Nancy

    A guide for Spanish-speaking parents of elementary and secondary school students in Nebraska provides in Spanish, and then in English, information concerning education in the state. Topics covered include: state policy concerning enrolling children in school, medical requirements for enrollment and attendance, the school curriculum requirements…

  15. Latin-American writing initiatives in engineering from Spanish-speaking countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Narváez-Cardona

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes Latin-American publications from Spanish Speaking countries to map programs pursued in the Region and then provide a context to envision further research agendas for Latin-American Writing Studies in engineering. The analysis of 22 publications suggests that initiatives and studies in engineering are recent (as of 2009. The sample reveals an emphasis on pedagogically-oriented publications focused on engineering as one field. The trends suggest that the Latin-American writing advocates in engineering might benefit by incorporating theoretical frameworks for a exploring and understanding different roles of writing across time and curriculum in student learning and by engineering subfields and, b exploring theoretical approaches to understand genres beyond individual texts (i.e., genre repertoires and genre systems.

  16. Nursing as a career choice: perceptions of school students speaking Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Turkish or Vietnamese at home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, K C; Duffield, C; Chen, X C; Choucair, S; Creegan, R; Mak, C; Lesley, G

    1999-01-01

    Australia is a multicultural society and nowhere is this more evident than in Sydney where 25% of the population speaks a language other than English. In one of the largest area health services in New South Wales, the five most frequently spoken languages at home are Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Turkish or Vietnamese, with these language groups comprising 12% of Sydney's population. Yet nurses speaking one of these five languages comprise less than 1% of the nursing workforce. A cost-effective method of addressing the shortage of nurses speaking languages other than English is to recruit students who already speak another language into the profession. This study examined high school students' perceptions of nursing in order to determine appropriate methods of recruiting students speaking one of these languages. Implications for the design of recruitment campaigns are also discussed.

  17. 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…

  18. Moving In and Out of Bilingualism: Investigating Native Language Maintenance and Shift in Mexican-Descent Children. Research Report: 6.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pease-Alvarez, Lucinda

    A study investigated patterns and influences in Mexican-American children's Spanish language maintenance and shift toward English dominance or monolingualism. Subjects were 64 Mexican-descent children, ages 8-9, of varying immigration backgrounds (Mexican-born, U.S.-born of Mexican-born parents, U.S.-born of U.S.-born parents), and their families…

  19. Supplement for Curriculum Guide for Mathematics: Spanish-Speaking Students, Grades 7-8 = Supplemento de la guia didactica de matematicas para los estudiantes de habla hispana, septimo y octavo grados. Field Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chicago Board of Education, IL.

    This supplementary math curriculum guide for use with Spanish-speaking students in Chicago public schools' seventh and eighth grade classes employs a contrastive analysis approach. Lessons are presented for objectives for which the instructional strategies used in the United States differ from those in Spanish-speaking countries. (Objectives for…

  20. The Effect of Ethnolinguistic Differences on Proximity between Cantonese and Mandarin Speaking Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Lanna Oi-Ling; Lewis, George F.

    1999-01-01

    Examined effects of ethnolinguistic differences on social proximity between Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking Chinese children in a day care center. Found that each group of children was more likely to be in closer proximity to children speaking their own language than to children speaking the other language during free choice floor- and group-time…

  1. Lithuanian speaking childrens' bilingualism. language situation and policy

    OpenAIRE

    Paškauskaitė, Ieva

    2017-01-01

    Lithuanian Speaking Childrens' Bilingualism. Language Situation and Policy The purpose of this study is to investigate the language situation of Lithuanian speaking children in Sweden and its causes. This study is specifically concerned with the subjects of bilingualism and family language policy: language strategies and methods. The concept of bilingualism is complex and can be defined in different ways, therefore this study is based on a table which was introduced by T. Skutnabb-Kangas in 1...

  2. Supplement for Curriculum Guide for Mathematics: Spanish-Speaking Students, Grades 2-3 = Supplemento de la guia didactica de matematicas para los estudiantes de habla hispana, segundo y tercer grados. Field Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chicago Board of Education, IL.

    A contrastive analysis approach is used in this supplementary math curriculum guide for Spanish-speaking second and third grade students in Chicago public schools. Lessons are presented for those objectives for which the instructional strategies used in the United States differ from those used in Spanish-speaking countries. (Objectives for which…

  3. Children's Literature Studytour of Spanish America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shachter, Jacqueline

    1975-01-01

    Describes a tour of several Spanish American countries to study the children's literature and culture. Discussion focuses on the children's literature found in theatrical performances, government-sponsored magazines, schools, and libraries. Also discussed are the writers and illustrators who create for children. (JMB)

  4. Psychometric properties of the Plutchik´s Violence Risk Scale on adolescent sample of Spanish-speaking population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcázar-Córcoles, Miguel Á; Verdejo-García, Antonio; Bouso-Sáiz, José C

    2016-01-01

    The objective of the present study was the validation and scaling of the Plutchik's Violence Risk Scale (EV) in adolescent Spanish-speaking population. For this purpose, a sample of adolescents from El Salvador, Mexico and Spain was obtained. The sample consisted of 1035 participants with a mean age of 16.2. There were 450 adolescents from forensic population (those who committed crime) and 585 adolescents from normal population (no crime committed). The internal consistency of the EV was estimated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and with a value of 0.782. As for validity, the factorial structures found explain a large proportion of the variance (53.385%); the convergent validity was estimated by the correlation between the dimensions found, the EV and sociodemographic, criminological and personality variables. The developed scales are presented, for the first time in a cross-cultural sample, differentiating between gender and continent. Consequently, the obtained results suggest that the EV is a valid and reliable instrument within adolescent Spanish-speaking population. Furthermore, it is a quick scale, easy to apply, which is something valuable in forensic assessment.

  5. Developing Sustainable and Impactful Mobile Phone HIV Testing Interventions for Spanish-Speaking Men Who Have Sex With Men in the United States: Lessons Learned From Informative Interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Jason; Torres, Maria Beatriz; Asmar, Lucy; Danh, Thu; Horvath, Keith J

    2018-04-24

    Although many men who have sex with men (MSM) test for HIV at least once in their lifetime, opportunities to improve regular HIV testing, particularly among Hispanic or Latino MSM, is needed. Many mHealth interventions in development, including the ones on HIV testing, have primarily focused on English-speaking white, black, and MSM of other races. To date, no studies have assessed app use, attitudes, and motivations for downloading and sustaining use of mobile apps and preferences with respect to HIV prevention among Spanish-speaking, Hispanic MSM in the United States. The primary aims of this study were to determine what features and functions of smartphone apps do Hispanic, Spanish-speaking MSM believe are associated with downloading apps to their smartphones, (2) what features and functions of smartphone apps are most likely to influence men's sustained use of apps over time, and (3) what features and functions do men prefer in a smartphone app aimed to promote regular testing for HIV. Interviews (N=15) were conducted with a racially diverse group of sexually active, HIV-negative, Spanish-speaking, Hispanic MSM in Miami, Florida. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated back to English, and de-identified for analysis. A constant-comparison method (ie, grounded theory coding) was employed to examine themes that emerged from the interviews. Personal interest was the primary reason associated with whether men downloaded an app. Keeping personal information secure, cost, influence by peers and posted reviews, ease of use, and functionality affected whether they downloaded and used the app over time. Men also reported that entertainment value and frequency of updates influenced whether they kept and continued to use an app over time. There were 4 reasons why participants chose to delete an app-dislike, lack of use, cost, and lack of memory or space. Participants also shared their preferences for an app to encourage regular HIV testing by

  6. 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,…

  7. Parental attitudes regarding analgesic use for children: differences in ethnicity and language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortier, Michelle A; Martin, Sarah R; Kain, Danielle I; Tan, Edwin T

    2011-11-01

    The aim of this study was to identify the impact of ethnicity and language on parental attitudes regarding analgesic use to treat children's pain. A total of 206 parents of children undergoing outpatient surgery were recruited to complete the Medication Attitudes Questionnaire, a measure of parental beliefs about using analgesic medications to treat children's pain. Parents were grouped into one of 3 categories according to ethnicity and primary language spoken: English-speaking white, English-speaking Hispanic, and Spanish-speaking Hispanic. Group differences in pain medication attitudes were examined. After controlling for socioeconomic status, English-speaking Hispanic parents endorsed higher levels of misconceptions about pain medication use, including a tendency to avoid analgesic use for children, compared with English-speaking white and Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents. This study highlights parental characteristics, including ethnicity and language, which may place children at higher risk for undertreatment of acute pain based on misconceptions about analgesic use for children. Specifically, English-speaking Hispanic parents may be most likely to undertreat children's pain at home. Future studies are needed to identify the most appropriate means of providing education to counter parental misconceptions and support optimal pain management of children's pain in the home setting. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. 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.

    2016-01-01

    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…

  9. Spanish Validation of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orgiles, Mireia; Mendez, Xavier; Spence, Susan H.; Huedo-Medina, Tania B.; Espada, Jose P.

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the factorial structure and psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in a sample of 1,708 Spanish children aged between 8 and 12 years. The SCAS was demonstrated to have satisfactory internal consistency with the Spanish sample, and factor analysis confirmed the six-factor…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  11. Measurement Properties and Classification Accuracy of Two Spanish Parent Surveys of Language Development for Preschool-Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiberson, Mark; Rodriguez, Barbara L.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: To describe the concurrent validity and classification accuracy of 2 Spanish parent surveys of language development, the Spanish Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ; Squires, Potter, & Bricker, 1999) and the Pilot Inventario-III (Pilot INV-III; Guiberson, 2008a). Method: Forty-eight Spanish-speaking parents of preschool-age children…

  12. Preschool Predictors of Kindergarten Language Outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  13. "Mi Bebé y Yo": A Primary Care Group for Latina/o Infants and Their Spanish-Speaking Caregivers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margolis, Kate L.; Dunn, Dena M.; Herbst, Rachel Becker; Bunik, Maya; Buchholz, Melissa; Martinez, Dailyn; Talmi, Ayelet

    2015-01-01

    Culturally informed health interventions for linguistic minorities are crucial in promoting optimal child development. "Mi Bebé y Yo" is a primary care group for Spanish-speaking, Latina/o caregivers and their babies during their first year. Group visits occur in conjunction with well-baby checks and are designed to support families with…

  14. The Latino Physician Shortage: How the Affordable Care Act Increases the Value of Latino Spanish-Speaking Physicians and What Efforts Can Increase Their Supply.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daar, David A; Alvarez-Estrada, Miguel; Alpert, Abigail E

    2018-02-01

    The United States Latino population is growing at a rapid pace and is set to reach nearly 30% by 2050. The demand for culturally and linguistically competent health care is increasing in lockstep with this growth; however, the supply of doctors with skills and experience suited for this care is lagging. In particular, there is a major shortage of Latino Spanish-speaking physicians, and the gap between demand and supply is widening. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has increased the capacity of the US healthcare system to care for the growing Latino Spanish-speaking population, through health insurance exchanges, increased funding for safety net institutions, and efforts to improve efficiency and coordination of care, particularly with Accountable Care Organizations and the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. With these policies in mind, the authors discuss how the value of Latino Spanish-speaking physicians to the healthcare system has increased under the environment of the ACA. In addition, the authors highlight key efforts to increase the supply of this physician population, including the implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, premedical pipeline programs, and academic medicine and medical school education initiatives to increase Latino representation among physicians.

  15. Cognitive Processing Therapy for Spanish-speaking Latinos: A Formative Study of a Model-Driven Cultural Adaptation of the Manual to Enhance Implementation in a Usual Care Setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valentine, Sarah E; Borba, Christina P C; Dixon, Louise; Vaewsorn, Adin S; Guajardo, Julia Gallegos; Resick, Patricia A; Wiltsey Stirman, Shannon; Marques, Luana

    2017-03-01

    As part of a larger implementation trial for cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a community health center, we used formative evaluation to assess relations between iterative cultural adaption (for Spanish-speaking clients) and implementation outcomes (appropriateness and acceptability) for CPT. Qualitative data for the current study were gathered through multiple sources (providers: N = 6; clients: N = 22), including CPT therapy sessions, provider fieldnotes, weekly consultation team meetings, and researcher fieldnotes. Findings from conventional and directed content analysis of the data informed refinements to the CPT manual. Data-driven refinements included adaptations related to cultural context (i.e., language, regional variation in wording), urban context (e.g., crime/violence), and literacy level. Qualitative findings suggest improved appropriateness and acceptability of CPT for Spanish-speaking clients. Our study reinforces the need for dual application of cultural adaptation and implementation science to address the PTSD treatment needs of Spanish-speaking clients. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Connective processing by bilingual children and monolinguals with specific language impairment : distinct profiles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mak, W.M.; Tribushinina, E.; Lomako, Julia; Gagarina, N.; Abrosova, Ekaterina; Sanders, T.J.M.

    2017-01-01

    Production studies show that both Russian-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and bilingual children for whom Russian is a non-dominant language have difficulty distinguishing between the near-synonymous connectives i ‘and’ and a ‘and/but’. I is a preferred connective when

  17. nalysis of the criminalization of cybercrime in Spanish-speaking countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rojas Parra, Jaime Hernán

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes an analysis of the criminalization and prosecution of criminal conduct related to cybercrime in each of the 20 spanish-speaking countries worldwide, as well as the description of the normalization of its laws regarding instruments and international agreements related to the regulation of the use of information technology. This analysis is done from the following three perspectives: study of existing criminal law and force, identification of established computer crime, selection of computer crime with greater penalties and participation of each of the countries investigated in the agreement cybercrime Budapest (as a world reference in this field. It also, offered the tables and graphs comparisons between the countries being studied, whereby countries with major and minor amount of established computer crime and the range of maximum and minimum in each of the same penalty are identified countries.

  18. Latin-American writing initiatives in engineering from Spanish-speaking countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Narváez-Cardona

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2016v69n3p223 This article analyzes Latin-American publications from Spanish Speaking countries to map programs pursued in the Region and then provide a context to envision further research agendas for Latin-American Writing Studies in engineering. The analysis of 22 publications suggests that initiatives and studies in engineering are recent (as of 2009. The sample reveals an emphasis on pedagogically-oriented publications focused on engineering as one field. The trends suggest that the Latin-American writing advocates in engineering might benefit by incorporating theoretical frameworks for a exploring and understanding different roles of writing across time and curriculum in student learning and by engineering subfields and, b exploring theoretical approaches to understand genres beyond individual texts (i.e., genre repertoires and genre systems.

  19. The Influence of Spanish Vocabulary and Phonemic Awareness on Beginning English Reading Development: A Three-Year (K-2nd) Longitudinal Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, Michael F.; Roe, Mary; Blanchard, Jay; Atwill, Kim

    2015-01-01

    This investigation examined the influence of varying levels of Spanish receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness ability on beginning English vocabulary, phonemic awareness, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension development across kindergarten through second grade. The 80 respondents were Spanish speaking children with no English…

  20. 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.

  1. Influence of Productivity on the Acquisition of Inflectional Markers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjærbæk, Laila; Basbøll, Hans; Christensen, René dePont

    -Productive to Fully Productive PL markers. Empirical data Task 1: semi-naturalistic picture based elicitation task formed as semi-structured interviews. Participants: 80 monolingual Danish-speaking children between 3-9 years. Task 2: picture based elicitation task. The test material consists of 48 stimulus items....... Participants: 160 monolingual Danish-speaking children between 3-10 years. Results and conclusion The study shows that PL acquisition is affected by morphophonological category: children produce more correct PL forms of nouns with a Fully Productive PL marker than of nouns with a Semi...

  2. Acquisition of mental state language in Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tardif, T; Wellman, H M

    2000-01-01

    Children's theory of mind appears to develop from a focus on desire to a focus on belief. However, it is not clear (a) whether this pattern is universal and (b) whether it could also be explained by linguistic and sociocultural factors. This study examined mental state language in 10 Mandarin-speaking (21-27 months) and 8 Cantonese-speaking (18-44 months) toddlers. The results suggest a pattern of theory-of-mind development similar to that in English, with early use of desire terms followed by other mental state references. However, the Chinese-speaking children used desire terms much earlier, and the use of terms for thinking was very infrequent, even for Mandarin-speaking adults. This finding suggests a consistency in the overall sequence, but variation in the timing of beginning and end points, in children's theory-of-mind development across cultures.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  4. Language Planning in the Spanish-Speaking World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchez, Aquilino; Duenas, Maria

    2002-01-01

    Reviews diffusion and promotion of the Spanish language from the first Spanish colonizers in the Americas to the present. Describes the situation of Spanish within Spain as a form of internal colonialization and reviews language policies. Analyzes present-day institutional efforts at maintaining language co-existence within different autonomous…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. A Progress Evaluation of Four Bilingual Children's Television Shows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Stephen P.; And Others

    An evaluation of a bilingual education TV series was conducted involving 6-year-old English speaking, Spanish speaking, and bilingual children at four sites. Children were assigned to control and experimental groups with the latter group seeing four 30 minute shows. A pretest-posttest design was employed with the pretest serving as the covariate…

  8. Narrative competence in Spanish-speaking adults with Williams syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diez-Itza, Eliseo; Martínez, Verónica; Antón, Aránzazu

    2016-08-01

    Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability and characterised by displaying an atypical neuropsychological profile, with peaks and valleys, where language skills seem better preserved than non-verbal intelligence. This study researches the narrative competence of nine Spanish-speaking adults with WS. Oral narratives were elicited from a silent film, and narrative coherence was analysed as a function of sequential order of the events narrated at three structure levels, while narrative cohesion was assessed through the frequency of use and type of discourse markers. WS subjects were able to remember a significant proportion of the events from the film, but coherence of narratives, i.e., sequential order of events, was more impaired. Consistently with their linguistic abilities, cohesion of narratives was better preserved, as they used discourse markers to introduce a high proportion of events. Construction of mental models of the narratives may be constrained in WS by non-verbal cognitive abilities, but narrative competence is also determined by textual pragmatic abilities to organize discourse, which should be addressed by specific intervention in narrative competence.

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. Working Memory Structure in Children: Comparing Different Models During Childhood (Estructura de la Memoria Operativa: Comparando diferentes modelos en la infancia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Injoque-Ricle

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Working Memory (WM is an active memory system responsible for the temporary storage and concurrent processing of information. Different authors have considered WM as a complex but unitary system, whereas others have suggested that the system is multidimensional. In this line, the model developed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974 is one of the most well known; it proposes two modality-specific components - the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad - and a supervisory executive system - the central executive. This paper contributes to the debate on WM structure by investigating three groups of children of different ages and assessing different models using confirmatory factor analysis. The Working Memory Assessment Battery Test (Alloway, 2007; Injoque-Ricle, Calero, Alloway & Burin, 2011 was administered to 180 monolingual Spanish-speaking children. The three age groups consisted of 6-, 8-, and 11-year-old children (n = 60 participants per group. The results suggest that the WM structure is not uniform across the different age groups tested, showing progressive differentiation and specialization during childhood. This structure would appear to form between the ages of 6 and 8 years and become more complex as adolescence is approached.

  12. Word Order Acquisition in Persian Speaking Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nahid Jalilevand

    2017-06-01

    Discussion: Despite the fact that the spoken-Persian language has no strict word order, Persian-speaking children tend to use other logically possible orders of subject (S, verb (V, and object (O lesser than the SOV structure.

  13. Food purchasing selection among low-income, Spanish-speaking Latinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortés, Dharma E; Millán-Ferro, Andreina; Schneider, Karen; Vega, Rodolfo R; Caballero, A Enrique

    2013-03-01

    In the U.S., poverty has been linked to both obesity and disease burden. Latinos in the U.S. are disproportionately affected by poverty, and over the past 10 years, the percentage of overweight U.S. Latino youth has approximately doubled. Buying low-cost food that is calorie-dense and filling has been linked to obesity. Low-income individuals tend to favor energy-dense foods because of their low cost, and economic decisions made during food purchasing have physiologic repercussions. Diets based on energy-dense foods tend to be high in processed staples, such as refined grains, added sugars, and added fats. These diets have been linked to a higher risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This pilot study conducted ethnographic qualitative analyses combined with quantitative analyses to understand grocery shopping practices among 20 Spanish-speaking, low-income Latino families. The purpose was to analyze food selection practices in order to determine the effect of nutrition education on changes in shopping practices to later develop educational tools to promote selection of healthier food options. Participants received tailored, interactive, nutrition education during three to five home visits and a supermarket tour. Grocery store receipts for grocery purchases collected at baseline and at the end of the project were analyzed for each family to extract nutritional content of purchased foods. Nutritional content was measured with these factors in mind: quantity, calories, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and percentage of sugary beverages and processed food. Data were collected in 2010-2011 and analyzed in 2011-2012. After receiving between three and five home-based nutrition education sessions and a supermarket tour over a 6-month period, many families adopted instructions on buying budget-friendly, healthier alternative foods. Findings indicate that participating families decreased the total number of calories and calories per dollar

  14. The Interpretation of Pronouns across Spanish-Speaking Populations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Baauw

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we will present data from both Spanish acquisition and aphasia on the Pronoun Interpretation Problem (PIP, according to which children allow pronouns to be identified with local c-commanding antecedents. Although it has recently been claimed that the PIP is, to a great extent, an experimental artifact, there are good reasons to believe that there is something “real” in the effect. As with many phenomena from acquisition, researchers have tried to explain this development in terms of “learning”, or more concretely, in terms of “parameter setting”. Children either must set the right local domain for the application of Principle B or they must set a +/− Principle B parameter. However, considering the PIP as an acquisition problem is problematic since it is difficult to see how children can converge on the target grammar without negative evidence. In this paper, we will defend an alternative approach, according to which the PIP is portrayed as the result of interplay between properties of predicates and different kinds of pronouns on the one hand, and language processing factors on the other.

  15. 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

  16. "Necesita una vacuna": what Spanish-speakers want in text-message immunization reminders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahlers-Schmidt, Carolyn R; Chesser, Amy; Brannon, Jennifer; Lopez, Venessa; Shah-Haque, Sapna; Williams, Katherine; Hart, Traci

    2013-08-01

    Appointment reminders help parents deal with complex immunization schedules. Preferred content of text-message reminders has been identified for English-speakers. Spanish-speaking parents of children under three years old were recruited to develop Spanish text-message immunization reminders. Structured interviews included questions about demographic characteristics, use of technology, and willingness to receive text reminders. Each participant was assigned to one user-centered design (UCD) test: card sort, needs analysis or comprehension testing. Respondents (N=54) were female (70%) and averaged 27 years of age (SD=7). A card sort of 20 immunization-related statements resulted in identification of seven pieces of critical information, which were compiled into eight example texts. These texts were ranked in the needs assessment and the top two were assessed for comprehension. All participants were able to understand the content and describe intention to act. Utilizing UCD testing, Spanish-speakers identified short, specific text content that differed from preferred content of English-speaking parents.

  17. Spanish-English Speech Perception in Children and Adults: Developmental Trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brice, Alejandro E.; Gorman, Brenda K.; Leung, Cynthia B.

    2013-01-01

    This study explored the developmental trends and phonetic category formation in bilingual children and adults. Participants included 30 fluent Spanish-English bilingual children, aged 8-11, and bilingual adults, aged 18-40. All completed gating tasks that incorporated code-mixed Spanish-English stimuli. There were significant differences in…

  18. ""Una Persona Derechita" (Staying Right in the Mind)": Perceptions of Spanish-Speaking Mexican American Older Adults in South Texas "Colonias"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharkey, Joseph R.; Sharf, Barbara F.; St. John, Julie A.

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: This study describes the perceptions of brain health among older Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans who reside in colonia areas of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Design and Methods: In 2007, 33 Mexican American older adults (9 men and 24 women) were recruited by "promotoras" (community health workers) from clusters of…

  19. Attitudes toward science: measurement and psychometric properties of the Test of Science-Related Attitudes for its use in Spanish-speaking classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro, Marianela; Förster, Carla; González, Caterina; González-Pose, Paulina

    2016-06-01

    Understanding attitudes toward science and measuring them remain two major challenges for science teaching. This article reviews the concept of attitudes toward science and their measurement. It subsequently analyzes the psychometric properties of the Test of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA), such as its construct validity, its discriminant and concurrent validity, and its reliability. The evidence presented suggests that TOSRA, in its Spanish-adapted version, has adequate construct validity regarding its theoretical referents, as well as good indexes of reliability. In addition, it determines the attitudes toward science of secondary school students in Santiago de Chile (n = 664) and analyzes the sex variable as a differentiating factor in such attitudes. The analysis by sex revealed low-relevance gender difference. The results are contrasted with those obtained in English-speaking countries. This TOSRA sample showed good psychometric parameters for measuring and evaluating attitudes toward science, which can be used in classrooms of Spanish-speaking countries or with immigrant populations with limited English proficiency.

  20. Perception of Risk for Developing Diabetes Among Foreign-Born Spanish-Speaking US Latinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joiner, Kevin L; Sternberg, Rosa Maria; Kennedy, Christine M; Fukuoka, Yoshimi; Chen, Jyu-Lin; Janson, Susan L

    2016-08-01

    The purpose of the study was to describe perception of risk for developing diabetes among foreign-born Spanish-speaking US Latinos. Participants (N = 146), recruited at food-pantry distribution events and free clinics, were surveyed using the Risk Perception Survey for Developing Diabetes in Spanish. Type 2 diabetes risk factors measured included body mass index, physical activity, and A1C. Sample characteristics were mean (SD) age of 39.5 (9.9) years, 58% with less than a high school graduate-level education, and 65% with a family income less than $15,000/year. Prevalence of risk factors was 81% overweight or obese, 47% less than 150 minutes/week moderate/vigorous-intensity physical activity, and 12% A1C consistent with prediabetes. Of the 135 participants with complete data, 31% perceived a high/moderate risk for developing diabetes. In univariate logistic regression analyses, 9 of 18 potential variables were significant (P perception of risk. When these 9 variables were entered into a multiple logistic regression model, 5 were significant predictors of perception of risk: history of gestational diabetes, high school graduate or above, optimistic bias, worry, and perceived personal disease risk. Use of the Spanish-language translation of the Risk Perception Survey for Developing Diabetes revealed factors influencing perception of risk for developing diabetes. Results can be used to promote culturally acceptable type 2 diabetes primary prevention strategies and provide a useful comparison to other populations. © 2016 The Author(s).

  1. Idiom Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsieh, Shelley Ching-Yu; Hsu, Chun-Chieh Natalie

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the effect of familiarity, context, and linguistic convention on idiom comprehension in Mandarin speaking children. Two experiments (a comprehension task followed by a comprehension task coupled with a metapragmatic task) were administered to test participants in three age groups (6 and 9-year-olds, and an adult control group).…

  2. The Struggle of Being Toba in Contemporary Argentina: Processes of Ethnic Identification of Indigenous Children in Contexts of Language Shift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecht, Ana Carolina

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this article is to study how children experience their ethnic identifications in relation to their knowledge of the Toba language through daily interactions with peers and adults (both indigenous and non-indigenous). The study is focused on an urban setting in Buenos Aires (Argentina) where monolingual (Spanish) practices are replacing…

  3. California Conference on High Blood Pressure Control in the Spanish-Speaking Community (Los Angeles, California, April 1-2, 1978). Summary Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Institutes of Health (DHEW), Bethesda, MD. High Blood Pressure Information Center.

    As part of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program effort, the conference explored the implications and impact of the prevalence of hypertension in Spanish-speaking populations in California. Approximately 150 experts in health fields, representing all levels of government, public and private health care providers, consumers, and health…

  4. Perception of Risk for Developing Diabetes among Foreign-Born Spanish-Speaking U.S. Latinos

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joiner, Kevin L.; Sternberg, Rosa Maria; Kennedy, Christine M.; Fukuoka, Yoshimi; Chen, Jyu-Lin; Janson, Susan L.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe perception of risk for developing diabetes among foreign-born Spanish-speaking U.S. Latinos. Methods Participants (N=146), recruited at food-pantry distribution events and free clinics, were surveyed using the Risk Perception Survey for Developing Diabetes in Spanish. Type 2 diabetes risk factors measured included: Body Mass Index, physical activity, and Hemoglobin A1C. Results Sample characteristics were mean age 39.5 (±9.9) years old, 58% with less than a high school graduate level education, and 65% with a family income less than $15,000/year. Prevalence of risk factors was 81% overweight or obese, 47% risk for developing diabetes. In univariate logistic regression analyses, 9 of 18 potential variables were significant (pperception of risk. When these 9 variables were entered into a multiple logistic regression model, 5 were significant predictors of perception of risk: history of gestational diabetes, ≥ high school graduate, optimistic bias, worry, and perceived personal disease risk. Conclusions This is the first study using the Risk Perception Survey for Developing Diabetes in Spanish in this population and reveals factors that influence perception of risk for developing diabetes. The results can be used to promote culturally acceptable type 2 diabetes primary prevention strategies and provide a useful comparison to other populations. PMID:27150605

  5. Mothers' attitudes toward adolescent confidential services: development and validation of scales for use in English- and Spanish-speaking populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tebb, Kathleen P; Pollack, Lance M; Millstein, Shana; Otero-Sabogal, Regina; Wibbelsman, Charles J

    2014-09-01

    To explore parental beliefs and attitudes about confidential services for their teenagers; and to develop an instrument to assess these beliefs and attitudes that could be used among English and Spanish speakers. The long-term goal is to use this research to better understand and evaluate interventions to improve parental knowledge and attitudes toward their adolescent's access and utilization of comprehensive confidential health services. The instrument was developed using an extensive literature review and theoretical framework followed by qualitative data from focus groups and in-depth interviews. It was then pilot tested with a random sample of English- and Spanish-speaking parents and further revised. The final instrument was administered to a random sample of 1,000 mothers. The psychometric properties of the instrument were assessed for Spanish and English speakers. The instrument consisted of 12 scales. Most Cronbach alphas were >.70 for Spanish and English speakers. Fewer items for Spanish speakers "loaded" for the Responsibility and Communication scales. Parental Control of Health Information failed for Spanish speakers. The Parental Attitudes of Adolescent Confidential Health Services Questionnaire (PAACS-Q) contains 12 scales and is a valid and reliable instrument to assess parental knowledge and attitudes toward confidential health services for adolescents among English speakers and all but one scale was applicable for Spanish speakers. More research is needed to understand key constructs with Spanish speakers. Copyright © 2014 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Cancer Health Literacy Test-30-Spanish (CHLT-30-DKspa), a New Spanish-Language Version of the Cancer Health Literacy Test (CHLT-30) for Spanish-Speaking Latinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Echeverri, Margarita; Anderson, David; Nápoles, Anna María

    2016-01-01

    This article describes the adaptation and initial validation of the Cancer Health Literacy Test (CHLT) for Spanish speakers. A cross-sectional field test of the Spanish version of the CHLT (CHLT-30-DKspa) was conducted among healthy Latinos in Louisiana. Diagonally weighted least squares was used to confirm the factor structure. Item response analysis using 2-parameter logistic estimates was used to identify questions that may require modification to avoid bias. Cronbach's alpha coefficients estimated scale internal consistency reliability. Analysis of variance was used to test for significant differences in CHLT-30-DKspa scores by gender, origin, age and education. The mean CHLT-30-DKspa score (N = 400) was 17.13 (range = 0-30, SD = 6.65). Results confirmed a unidimensional structure, χ(2)(405) = 461.55, p = .027, comparative fit index = .993, Tucker-Lewis index = .992, root mean square error of approximation = .0180. Cronbach's alpha was .88. Items Q1-High Calorie and Q15-Tumor Spread had the lowest item-scale correlations (.148 and .288, respectively) and standardized factor loadings (.152 and .302, respectively). Items Q19-Smoking Risk, Q8-Palliative Care, and Q1-High Calorie had the highest item difficulty parameters (difficulty = 1.12, 1.21, and 2.40, respectively). Results generally support the applicability of the CHLT-30-DKspa for healthy Spanish-speaking populations, with the exception of 4 items that need to be deleted or revised and further studied: Q1, Q8, Q15, and Q19.

  7. 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

  8. Relations between School Performance and Depressive Symptoms in Spanish Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orgiles, Mireia; Gomez, Marta; Piqueras, Jose A.; Espada, Jose P.

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: Despite data showing the relationship between depression and decreased school performance, there is a lack of studies with Spanish children. The objective of this research is to examine school performance as a function of depression and gender. Method: Participants were 658 Spanish children aged between 8 and 12 years, 49.6% male,…

  9. The phonological development of Danish-speaking children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clausen, Marit Carolin; Fox-Boyer, Annette

    2017-01-01

    . This was accomplished through a cross-sectional study, i.e. by collecting normative data on types and age of occurrence of children’s phonological processes as well as on the acquisition of phones and clusters. 443 Danish-speaking children aged 2;6-4;11 years from all regions of Denmark were assessed using a picture......Detailed knowledge of children’s speech development is of great importance for speech and language therapists since it provides a baseline for the evaluation of whether a child shows typical, delayed or deviant speech development. As previous studies have shown that differences are seen...... in the speech development across languages, language-specific data are of great importance in order to understand how the phonological system of the ambient language affects the children’s speech acquisition. To date, little is known about the typical speech development in Danish-speaking children...

  10. Assessment of satisfaction with care and decision-making among English and Spanish-speaking family members of neuroscience ICU patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagerty, Thomas A; Velázquez, Ángela; Schmidt, J Michael; Falo, Cristina

    2016-02-01

    Patients' and family members' experiences of hospital care are important indicators of quality. "Black, Asian, and Hispanic patients are more at risk than White patients for decreased satisfaction with care." In addition, of any of these groups, Hispanic patients were most likely to report a lack of patient-centered care. In the intensive care setting, (ICU) previous research has indicated that the needs and satisfaction of family members of neurological ICU patients are different from those of family members of other types of ICU patients. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any differences between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking family members of patients in a neurological ICU. This study was a single center prospective study conducted over a 10-month period from April 2013 to February 2014 in the 18-bed neuroscience ICU of a large, urban, academic medical center. The Family Satisfaction with ICU (FS-ICU) questionnaire was used; it provides an overall score and has two factors: satisfaction with care and satisfaction with decision-making. There was no statistical significance between the two groups in overall satisfaction or in satisfaction with care, however Spanish-speakers (n=22) were significantly less satisfied (p=.04) than English-speakers (n=50) with decision-making. There were three other discreet variables in which Spanish-speakers were also less satisfied: (a) management of patients' pain (OR 3.16, 95% CI [1.12, 8.9]) (b) management of patients' breathlessness (OR 3.5, 95% CI [1.23, 9.96]) as well as (c) ease of getting information (OR 3.25, 95% CI [1.09, 9.64]). Using a standardized survey it was found that Spanish-speakers were statistically less satisfied with decision-making than English-speakers. Additionally, Spanish-speakers were statistically less satisfied with management of patients' pain and breathlessness and ease of getting information. Based on these findings, increased vigilance is recommended regarding decision

  11. French-speaking Children's Freely Produced Labels for Facial Expressions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reem eMaassarani

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we investigated the labeling of facial expressions in French-speaking children. The participants were 137 French-speaking children, between the ages of 5 and 11 years, recruited from three elementary schools in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The facial expressions included expressions of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust. Participants were shown one facial expression at a time, and asked to say what the stimulus person was feeling. Participants’ responses were coded by two raters who made judgments concerning the specific emotion category in which the responses belonged. Five- and 6-year-olds were quite accurate in labeling facial expressions of happiness, anger, and sadness but far less accurate for facial expressions of fear, surprise, and disgust. An improvement in accuracy as a function of age was found for fear and surprise only. Labeling facial expressions of disgust proved to be very difficult for the children, even for the 11-year-olds. In order to examine the fit between the model proposed by Widen and Russell (2003 and our data, we looked at the number of participants who had the predicted response patterns. Overall, 88.52% of the participants did. Most of the participants used between 3 and 5 labels, with correspondence percentages varying between 80.00% and 100.00%. Our results suggest that the model proposed by Widen and Russell is not limited to English-speaking children, but also accounts for the sequence of emotion labeling in French-Canadian children.

  12. Speech task effects on acoustic measure of fundamental frequency in Cantonese-speaking children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Estella P-M; Lam, Nina L-N

    2015-12-01

    Speaking fundamental frequency (F0) is a voice measure frequently used to document changes in vocal performance over time. Knowing the intra-subject variability of speaking F0 has implications on its clinical usefulness. The present study examined the speaking F0 elicited from three speech tasks in Cantonese-speaking children. The study also compared the variability of speaking F0 elicited from different speech tasks. Fifty-six vocally healthy Cantonese-speaking children (31 boys and 25 girls) aged between 7.0 and 10.11 years participated. For each child, speaking F0 was elicited using speech tasks at three linguistic levels (sustained vowel /a/ prolongation, reading aloud a sentence and passage). Two types of variability, within-session (trial-to-trial) and across-session (test-retest) variability, were compared across speech tasks. Significant differences in mean speaking F0 values were found between speech tasks. Mean speaking F0 value elicited from sustained vowel phonations was significantly higher than those elicited from the connected speech tasks. The variability of speaking F0 was higher in sustained vowel prolongation than that in connected speech. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Ethnicity and parental report of postoperative behavioral changes in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortier, Michelle A; Tan, Edwin T; Mayes, Linda C; Wahi, Aditi; Rosenbaum, Abraham; Strom, Suzanne; Santistevan, Ricci; Kain, Zeev N

    2013-05-01

    To examine the role of ethnicity and language in parent report of children's postoperative behavioral recovery. To compare incidence of new onset negative behavior change in English- and Spanish-speaking White and Hispanic children following outpatient surgery. Postoperative behavioral change in children is common; however, it is unknown whether cultural variables including ethnicity and language may influence parent report of children's behavioral recovery. Participants included 288 parents (English-speaking White, English-speaking Hispanic, Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents) of children undergoing outpatient elective surgery. Parents completed the post-hospitalization behavior questionnaire (PHBQ) and parents' postoperative pain measure (PPPM) on postoperative days one, three, and seven at home. Most parents (83%) reported onset of new negative behavioral change in children postoperatively. Generalized estimating equations revealed significant group differences in overall behavior change [Wald χ(2)(12) = 375.69, P children compared to English-speaking White (ESW) parents (day 1: P children's postoperative behavioral recovery may be influenced by cultural variables, such as ethnicity and language. The present results contribute to a growing body of evidence that highlights the need for culturally sensitive assessment and care of families in the medical setting. The findings may reflect differences in cultural values such as stoicism; however, future studies would benefit from examination of the factors that may account for the differences in reported behavior change after surgery (i.e., report bias, cultural values). © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  15. 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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  18. The Use of Grammatical Morphemes by Mandarin-Speaking Children with High Functioning Autism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Peng; Crain, Stephen; Gao, Liqun; Tang, Ye; Jia, Meixiang

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigated the production of grammatical morphemes by Mandarin-speaking children with high functioning autism. Previous research found that a subgroup of English-speaking children with autism exhibit deficits in the use of grammatical morphemes that mark tense. In order to see whether this impairment in grammatical morphology…

  19. Los Ninos y el Mundo: Children's Books in Spanish from around the World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schon, Isabel

    2001-01-01

    Offers brief descriptions of 32 children's books (or book series) in Spanish that introduce children to numerous countries around the world. Notes a web site address listing high-quality books in Spanish for children and adolescents. (SR)

  20. Type 2 Diabetes Self-management Among Spanish-Speaking Hispanic Immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith-Miller, Cheryl A; Berry, Diane C; DeWalt, Darren; Miller, Cass T

    2016-12-01

    This article describes the quantitative findings of a mixed-methods study that examined the relationship among knowledge, self-efficacy, health promoting behaviors, and type 2 diabetes self-management among recent Spanish-speaking, limited English proficient immigrants to the US. This population is at risk for both a higher incidence of disease and increased barriers to successful disease management compared to the general US population. Distinguishing aspects of this study compared to the available literature are the comprehensive nature of the data collected, the theoretical component, and the analysis and modeling approach. Social cognitive theory provides the framework for the study design and analysis. An innovative community-based recruiting strategy was used, a broad range of physiological measures related to health were observed, and instruments related to knowledge, self-efficacy, and healthy lifestyle behaviors were administered orally in Spanish to 30 participants. A broad range of statistical analysis methods was applied to the data, including a set of three structural equation models. The study results are consistent with the importance of education, health knowledge, and healthy lifestyle practices for type 2 diabetes self-management. With the usual cautions associated with applying structural equation modeling to modest sample sizes, multiple elements of the posited theoretical model were consistent with the data collected. The results of the investigation of this under-studied population indicate that, on average, participants were not effectively managing their disease. The results suggest that clinical interventions focused on improving knowledge, nutrition, and physical activity, reducing stress, and leveraging the importance of interpersonal relations could be effective intervention strategies to improve self-management among this population.

  1. Descubriendo la Lectura: An Application of Reading Recovery in Spanish. [Final Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escamilla, Kathy

    A study investigated the utility of a set of Spanish-language instructional materials, "Decsubriendo la Lectura," in compensatory or remedial literacy education for Spanish-speaking elementary students. The reading recovery approach, used with English-speaking first-graders, was adapted for Spanish. Program development included…

  2. Social Identity in New Mexicans of Spanish-Speaking Descent Highlights Limitations of Using Standardized Ethnic Terminology in Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunley, Keith; Edgar, Heather; Healy, Meghan; Mosley, Carmen; Cabana, Graciela S; West, Frankie

    2017-07-01

    In this study, we evaluated the extent to which regional history has shaped the social identity nomenclature in New Mexicans of Spanish-speaking descent (NMSD). We asked 507 NMSD to list the social-identity terms they used to describe themselves and their parents, and we examined the correspondence between these choices and family ties to the region, birthplace, and continental ancestry. NMSD frequently identified using the regional terms "Nuevomexicano/a" (15%) and "Spanish" (12%). These individuals reported family ties to the region that predate New Mexican statehood. They and their parents were frequently born in New Mexico, frequently chose the other of the two terms as a secondary descriptor, and frequently ascribed one of the two terms to their parents. About 10% of NMSD identified as "Mexican American" and "Mexican." About 25% of these individuals, and more than half of their parents, were born in Mexico. They also frequently chose the other of the two terms as a secondary descriptor and frequently ascribed one of the two terms to their parents. Compared to NMSD who identified as "Mexican" and "Mexican American," individuals who identified as "Nuevomexicano/a" and "Spanish" had higher European ancestry and lower Native American and African ancestry. Our results also suggest that the term "Hispanic," frequently chosen as both a primary and secondary social identity term by NMSD, may, as it continues to rise in prominence, mask more deeply rooted and potential socially relevant aspects of social identity in New Mexico. More broadly, these results indicate that regional history influences social identity nomenclatures in ways that are potentially incompatible with US Office of Management and Budget standards. This incompatibility may adversely affect the ability of researchers in the social sciences to assess the causes of social inequality and health disparities in individuals of Spanish-speaking descent in different regions of the United States. We argue that

  3. A Spanish language and culture initiative for a doctor of pharmacy curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanTyle, W Kent; Kennedy, Gala; Vance, Michael A; Hancock, Bruce

    2011-02-10

    To implement a Spanish language and culture initiative in a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum that would improve students' Spanish language skills and cultural competence so that graduates could provide competent pharmaceutical care to Spanish-speaking patients. Five elective courses were created and introduced to the curriculum including 2 medical Spanish courses; a medical Spanish service-learning course; a 2-week Spanish language and cultural immersion trip to Mexico; and an advanced practice pharmacy experience (APPE) at a medical care clinic serving a high percentage of Spanish-speaking patients. Advisors placed increased emphasis on encouraging pharmacy students to complete a major or minor in Spanish. Enrollment in the Spanish language courses and the cultural immersion trip has been strong. Twenty-three students have completed the APPE at a Spanish-speaking clinic. Eleven percent of 2010 Butler University pharmacy graduates completed a major or minor in Spanish compared to approximately 1% in 2004 when the initiative began. A Spanish language and culture initiative started in 2004 has resulted in increased Spanish language and cultural competence among pharmacy students and recent graduates.

  4. Internalized HIV Stigma and Disclosure Concerns: Development and Validation of Two Scales in Spanish-Speaking Populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernansaiz-Garrido, Helena; Alonso-Tapia, Jesús

    2017-01-01

    Internalized stigma and disclosure concerns are key elements for the study of mental health in people living with HIV. Since no measures of these constructs were available for Spanish population, this study sought to develop such instruments, to analyze their reliability and validity and to provide a short version. A heterogeneous sample of 458 adults from different Spanish-speaking countries completed the HIV-Internalized Stigma Scale and the HIV-Disclosure Concerns Scale, along with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale and other socio-demographic variables. Reliability and correlation analyses, exploratory factor analyses, path analyses with latent variables, and ANOVAs were conducted to test the scales' psychometric properties. The scales showed good reliability in terms of internal consistency and temporal stability, as well as good sensitivity and factorial and criterion validity. The HIV-Internalized Stigma Scale and the HIV-Disclosure Concerns Scale are reliable and valid means to assess these variables in several contexts.

  5. Does simultaneous bilingualism aggravate children's specific language problems?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korkman, Marit; Stenroos, Maria; Mickos, Annika; Westman, Martin; Ekholm, Pia; Byring, Roger

    2012-09-01

    There is little data on whether or not a bilingual upbringing may aggravate specific language problems in children. This study analysed whether there was an interaction of such problems and simultaneous bilingualism. Participants were 5- to 7-year-old children with specific language problems (LANG group, N = 56) or who were typically developing (CONTR group, N = 60). Seventy-three children were Swedish-Finnish bilingual and 43 were Swedish-speaking monolingual. Assessments (in Swedish) included tests of expressive language, comprehension, repetition and verbal memory. Per definition, the LANG group had lower scores than the CONTR group on all language tests. The bilingual group had lower scores than the monolingual group only on a test of body part naming. Importantly, the interaction of group (LANG or CONTR) and bilingualism was not significant on any of the language scores. Simultaneous bilingualism does not aggravate specific language problems but may result in a slower development of vocabulary both in children with and without specific language problems. Considering also advantages, a bilingual upbringing is an option also for children with specific language problems. In assessment, tests of vocabulary may be sensitive to bilingualism, instead tests assessing comprehension, syntax and nonword repetition may provide less biased methods. © 2012 The Author(s)/Acta Paediatrica © 2012 Foundation Acta Paediatrica.

  6. Development and Validation of the Spanish Numeracy Understanding in Medicine Instrument.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Elizabeth A; Walker, Cindy M; Miller, Tamara; Fletcher, Kathlyn E; Ganschow, Pamela S; Imbert, Diana; O'Connell, Maria; Neuner, Joan M; Schapira, Marilyn M

    2016-11-01

    The Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. is large and growing and is known to have lower health literacy than the English-speaking population. Less is known about the health numeracy of this population due to a lack of health numeracy measures in Spanish. we aimed to develop and validate a short and easy to use measure of health numeracy for Spanish-speaking adults: the Spanish Numeracy Understanding in Medicine Instrument (Spanish-NUMi). Items were generated based on qualitative studies in English- and Spanish-speaking adults and translated into Spanish using a group translation and consensus process. Candidate items for the Spanish NUMi were selected from an eight-item validated English Short NUMi. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) was conducted to evaluate equivalence between English and Spanish items. Cronbach's alpha was computed as a measure of reliability and a Pearson's correlation was used to evaluate the association between test scores and the Spanish Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA) and education level. Two-hundred and thirty-two Spanish-speaking Chicago residents were included in the study. The study population was diverse in age, gender, and level of education and 70 % reported Mexico as their country of origin. Two items of the English eight-item Short NUMi demonstrated DIF and were dropped. The resulting six-item test had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.72, a range of difficulty using classical test statistics (percent correct: 0.48 to 0.86), and adequate discrimination (item-total score correlation: 0.34-0.49). Scores were positively correlated with print literacy as measured by the S- TOFHLA (r = 0.67; p Spanish NUMi is a reliable and valid measure of important numerical concepts used in communicating health information.

  7. Relationship between stuttering severity in children and their mothers’ speaking rate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Dehqan

    Full Text Available CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Stuttering is a complex disease that influences occupational, social, academic and emotional achievements. The aim of this study was to correlate the stuttering severity index with speaking rates of mothers and children. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study, at the child rehabilitation clinics of Tehran city. METHODS: 35 pairs of mothers and their children who stuttered were studied. There were 29 boys and six girls, of mean age 8.5 years (range: 5.1-12.0. Speech samples from the mother-child pairs were audiotaped for approximately 15 minutes, until a reciprocal verbal interaction had been obtained. This sample was then analyzed in accordance with a stuttering severity index test and speaking rate parameters. RESULTS: The research results outlined a significant relationship between the mothers’ speaking rate and their children’s stuttering severity. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the mothers’ speaking rate should be incorporated in the assessment and treatment of stuttering.

  8. Diagnostic accuracy of language sample measures with Persian-speaking preschool children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazemi, Yalda; Klee, Thomas; Stringer, Helen

    2015-04-01

    This study examined the diagnostic accuracy of selected language sample measures (LSMs) with Persian-speaking children. A pre-accuracy study followed by phase I and II studies are reported. Twenty-four Persian-speaking children, aged 42 to 54 months, with primary language impairment (PLI) were compared to 27 age-matched children without PLI on a set of measures derived from play-based, conversational language samples. Results showed that correlations between age and LSMs were not statistically significant in either group of children. However, a majority of LSMs differentiated children with and without PLI at the group level (phase I), while three of the measures exhibited good diagnostic accuracy at the level of the individual (phase II). We conclude that general LSMs are promising for distinguishing between children with and without PLI. Persian-specific measures are mainly helpful in identifying children without language impairment while their ability to identify children with PLI is poor.

  9. 38 CFR 3.950 - Helpless children; Spanish-American and prior wars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Helpless children; Spanish-American and prior wars. 3.950 Section 3.950 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief DEPARTMENT OF... § 3.950 Helpless children; Spanish-American and prior wars. Marriage is not a bar to the payment of...

  10. Spanish and English Early Literacy Profiles of Preschool Latino English Language Learner Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Jorge; Pollard-Durodola, Sharolyn; Saenz, Laura; Soares, Denise; Davis, Heather; Resendez, Nora; Zhu, Leina

    2016-01-01

    Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine within-group individual differences in the code-related and oral language abilities of an economically stressed Spanish-speaking English language learner (ELL) preschool sample and to evaluate the predictive relationship of these differences to later listening comprehension. Latent class…

  11. Fluid intake in Spanish children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study

    OpenAIRE

    Fenández-Alvira, Juan Miguel; Iglesia, Iris; Ferreira-Pego, Cíntia; Babio, Nancy; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Moreno, Luis A.

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: Some studies demonstrated that dehydration process is prevalent among young populations and subsequently, a cause of concern. However, the evaluation of the fluid consumption pattern of children and adolescent populations has not been widely assessed. Objective: To evaluate the total fluid intake from different types of beverages in Spanish children and adolescents. Methods: A total of 238 children and adolescents aged 3-17 years were randomly recruited from all Spanish regions....

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  13. Filling the Void: Community Spanish Language Programs in Los Angeles Serving to Preserve the Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carreira, Maria M.; Rodriguez, Rey M.

    2011-01-01

    An extensive body of research documents the successes of immigrant groups in establishing community language schools. Studied within this tradition, Latino immigrant communities appear to come up short, because of the scarcity of such schools for Spanish-speaking children. However, as we show in this paper, Latino immigrant communities do have…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  15. Early Reading Development in Chinese-Speaking Children with Hearing Loss

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Yi-Chih; Yang, You-Jhen

    2018-01-01

    This study aims to explore early reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking children with hearing loss (HL) by examining character recognition and linguistic comprehension. Twenty-five children with HL received three measures relevant to character reading: phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), and character recognition; two…

  16. Assessing the adaptation and implementation fidelity of an Online Tobacco Cessation Training Program for Healthcare Professionals in three Spanish-speaking Latin American countries: The Fruitful Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Martínez

    2017-05-01

    This study has been funded by Global Bridges Mayo Clinic (Pfizer Medical Group; GB-13520139: Development and Dissemination of a Tobacco Cessation Training Program for Healthcare Professionals in Spanish-speaking Countries. Moreover, CM and EF are also funded by the Spanish Government (Instituto de Salut Carlos III, grant PI15-00875 and the Catalan Government (Xarxa Catalana d’Hospitals sense fum, Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, contracte Nº 2015VAR171

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  18. Age of acquisition and allophony in Spanish-English bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barlow, Jessica A.

    2014-01-01

    This study examines age of acquisition (AoA) in Spanish-English bilinguals’ phonetic and phonological knowledge of /l/ in English and Spanish. In English, the lateral approximant /l/ varies in darkness by context [based on the second formant (F2) and the difference between F2 and the first formant (F1)], but the Spanish /l/ does not. Further, English /l/ is overall darker than Spanish /l/. Thirty-eight college-aged adults participated: 11 Early Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English before the age of 5 years, 14 Late Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English after the age of 6 years, and 13 English monolinguals. Participants’ /l/ productions were acoustically analyzed by language and context. The results revealed a Spanish-to-English phonetic influence on /l/ productions for both Early and Late bilinguals, as well as an English-to-Spanish phonological influence on the patterning of /l/ for the Late Bilinguals. These findings are discussed in terms of the Speech Learning Model and the effect of AoA on the interaction between a bilingual speaker’s two languages. PMID:24795664

  19. Development and Validation of the Biomedical Research Trust Scale (BRTS) in English and Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baik, Sharon H; Arevalo, Mariana; Gwede, Clement; Meade, Cathy D; Jacobsen, Paul B; Quinn, Gwendolyn P; Wells, Kristen J

    2016-10-01

    This study developed and validated the Biomedical Research Trust Scale (BRTS), a 10-item measure of global trust in biomedical research, in English and Spanish (BRTS-SP). In total, 85 English- and 85 Spanish-speaking participants completed the BRTS or BRTS-SP, as well as measures of biobanking attitudes, self-efficacy, receptivity, and intentions to donate blood or urine. Results indicated the BRTS and BRTS-SP showed adequate internal consistency in both English and Spanish. In addition, greater levels of trust in biomedical research were significantly associated with greater self-efficacy, receptivity, attitudes, and intentions to donate blood and urine in English-speaking participants, and self-efficacy and intention to donate urine in Spanish-speaking participants. These results support the use of the BRTS and BRTS-SP among English- and Spanish-speaking community members.

  20. Ciencias en Espanol, 1995-96 (Sciences in Spanish, 1995-96). Research Report on Educational Grants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houston Independent School District, TX. Dept. of Research and Evaluation.

    An elementary science program was taught in Spanish for English-speaking children to give them the opportunity to acquire second language skills through hands-on science instruction. The program included 4 classes of approximately 22 students at kindergarten and first-grade levels in the gifted and talented program at the Gary Herod Elementary…

  1. Development of an easy-to-use Spanish Health Literacy test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Shoou-Yih D; Bender, Deborah E; Ruiz, Rafael E; Cho, Young Ik

    2006-08-01

    The study was intended to develop and validate a health literacy test, termed the Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Spanish-speaking Adults (SAHLSA), for the Spanish-speaking population. The design of SAHLSA was based on the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), known as the most easily administered tool for assessing health literacy in English. In addition to the word recognition test in REALM, SAHLSA incorporates a comprehension test using multiple-choice questions designed by an expert panel. Validation of SAHLSA involved testing and comparing the tool with other health literacy instruments in a sample of 201 Spanish-speaking and 202 English-speaking subjects recruited from the Ambulatory Care Center at UNC Health Care. With only the word recognition test, REALM could not differentiate the level of health literacy in Spanish. The SAHLSA significantly improved the differentiation. Item response theory analysis was performed to calibrate the SAHLSA and reduce the instrument to 50 items. The resulting instrument, SAHLSA-50, was correlated with the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults, another health literacy instrument, at r=0.65. The SAHLSA-50 score was significantly and positively associated with the physical health status of Spanish-speaking subjects (peducation. The instrument displayed good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.92) and test-retest reliability (Pearson's r=0.86). The new instrument, SAHLSA-50, has good reliability and validity. It could be used in the clinical or community setting to screen for low health literacy among Spanish speakers.

  2. 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).

  3. A cross-cultural comparison of tonal synchrony and pitch imitation in the vocal dialogs of Belgian Flemish-speaking and Mexican Spanish-speaking mother-infant dyads.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Puyvelde, Martine; Loots, Gerrit; Gillisjans, Lobcke; Pattyn, Nathalie; Quintana, Carmen

    2015-08-01

    This study reports a cross-cultural comparison of the vocal pitch patterns of 15 Mexican Spanish-speaking and 15 Belgian Flemish-speaking dyads, recorded during 5min of free-play in a laboratory setting. Both cultures have a tradition of dyadic face-to-face interaction but differ in language origins (i.e., Romanic versus Germanic). In total, 374 Mexican and 558 Flemish vocal exchanges were identified, analyzed and compared for their incidence of tonal synchrony (harmonic/pentatonic series), non-tonal synchrony (with/without imitations) and pitch and/or interval imitations. The main findings revealed that dyads in both cultures rely on tonal synchrony using similar pitch ratios and timing patterns. However, there were significant differences in the infants' vocal pitch imitation behavior. Additional video-analyzes on the contingency patterns involved in pitch imitation showed a cross-cultural difference in the maternal selective reinforcement of pitch imitation. The results are interpreted with regard to linguistic, developmental and cultural aspects and the 'musilanguage' model. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. 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.

  5. The Lack of Omission of Clitics in Greek Children with SLI: An Experimental Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Manika, S.; Varlokosta, S.; Wexler, K.

    2010-01-01

    Object clitics are not uniformly acquired across languages; French-, Italian, Catalan- speaking TD children show late acquisition of clitics, omission and a preference for using full DPs in contrast to Spanish-, Romanian- and Greek-speaking ones. This variation has been explained through the

  6. Deferred Imitation and Social Communication in Speaking and Nonspeaking Children with Autism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strid, Karin; Heimann, Mikael; Gillberg, Christopher; Smith, Lars; Tjus, Tomas

    2013-01-01

    Deferred imitation and early social communication skills were compared among speaking and nonspeaking children with autism and children developing typically. Overall, the children with autism showed a lower frequency on measures of deferred imitation and social communication compared with typically developing children. Deferred imitation was…

  7. Nonadjacent Dependency Learning in Cantonese-Speaking Children With and Without a History of Specific Language Impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iao, Lai-Sang; Ng, Lai Yan; Wong, Anita Mei Yin; Lee, Oi Ting

    2017-03-01

    This study investigated nonadjacent dependency learning in Cantonese-speaking children with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI) in an artificial linguistic context. Sixteen Cantonese-speaking children with a history of SLI and 16 Cantonese-speaking children with typical language development (TLD) were tested with a nonadjacent dependency learning task using artificial languages that mimic Cantonese. Children with TLD performed above chance and were able to discriminate between trained and untrained nonadjacent dependencies. However, children with a history of SLI performed at chance and were not able to differentiate trained versus untrained nonadjacent dependencies. These findings, together with previous findings from English-speaking adults and adolescents with language impairments, suggest that individuals with atypical language development, regardless of age, diagnostic status, language, and culture, show difficulties in learning nonadjacent dependencies. This study provides evidence for early impairments to statistical learning in individuals with atypical language development.

  8. Spanish and the Church: Intergenerational Language Maintenance in a Hispanic Religious Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guglani, Laura

    2011-01-01

    Spanish is being lost at an alarming rate in the United States, for most immigrant families within two to three generations of arrival. Previous research indicates that the third generation of Hispanic immigrants typically becomes English monolingual (Veltman 2000; Appel & Muysken 1987; Fishman 1978). This investigation examines the role…

  9. 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 ...

  10. Assessment of second language proficiency in bilingual children with specific language impairment: a clinical perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhoeven, Ludo; Steenge, Judit; van Weerdenburg, Marjolijn; van Balkom, Hans

    2011-01-01

    The goal of this study was to examine to what extent the conditions of restricted input of L2 and SLI have an additive impact on language acquisition. Therefore, the Dutch language achievement of 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old bilingual children with SLI was compared with that of typically developing monolingual Dutch children, typically developing bilingual children, and monolingual Dutch children with SLI. Assuming that speaking a language in varying environments involves distinct subskills that can be acquired in differential patterns, the achievement of phonological, lexical, morphosyntactic and textual abilities were assessed separately. For each of these abilities, it was determined to what extent the conditions of restricted input (first vs. second language) and language deficit (typically developing vs. SLI) cause stagnation or a delay in language acquisition. Bilingual children with SLI perform at a lower level than the other groups in almost all aspects of achievement in Dutch. For language tasks related to the mental lexicon and grammar, an additional disadvantage was evidenced as a result of the combination of learning Dutch as second language and having SLI. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Dysarthria in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Cerebral Palsy: Speech Subsystem Profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Li-Mei; Hustad, Katherine C.; Kent, Ray D.; Lin, Yu Ching

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: This study explored the speech characteristics of Mandarin-speaking children with cerebral palsy (CP) and typically developing (TD) children to determine (a) how children in the 2 groups may differ in their speech patterns and (b) the variables correlated with speech intelligibility for words and sentences. Method: Data from 6 children…

  12. Exploratory Study Investigating the Opinions of Russian-Speaking Parents on Maintaining their Children's Use of the Russian Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sue Kraftsoff

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This study explored why and how Russian speaking parents in an Irish context maintained the Russian language in their school-age children. Using a self-administered unstandardised questionnaire, the opinions of 16 Russian-speaking parents, reporting on 24 children, were surveyed. Of this sample, five parents were then interviewed using focus group methodology. The main findings revealed that Russian-speaking parents living in Ireland strongly supported Russian language maintenance in their families and wanted their children to be as fluent as possible in the Russian language. The reasons for the support of Russian language were: cultural preservation, general knowledge of languages in addition to English, and communication with the homeland. Methods employed to maintain the Russian language included conversing with children through Russian, reading and watching Russian TV/DVD. Although most parents spoke only Russian to their children, just three children were considered by their parents to have sufficient language skills to interact through Russian in Russian speaking countries. Interestingly, 15 children were thought to have adequate skills in Russian to speak with those outside their immediate family when in Ireland. Congruent with other studies of bilingualism, development of English, or the secondary, majority language, was also important to parents, as they lived in a dominant English-speaking society.

  13. Teaching Units for Consumer Home Economics. Topic: Housing and Interior Decorating, Bilingual/Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernadt, Ruth

    The instructional aids in this packet were designed to be used by high school home economics teachers who have Spanish speaking students with limited English skills mainstreamed into their regular classes. The teaching aids can be used by both English and Spanish speaking students at the same time because both Spanish and English are presented on…

  14. Diagnostic Utility of the ADI-R and DSM-5 in the Assessment of Latino Children and Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magaña, Sandy; Vanegas, Sandra B

    2017-05-01

    Latino children in the US are systematically underdiagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); therefore, it is important that recent changes to the diagnostic process do not exacerbate this pattern of under-identification. Previous research has found that the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) algorithm, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), has limitations with Latino children of Spanish speaking parents. We evaluated whether an ADI-R algorithm based on the new DSM-5 classification for ASD would be more sensitive in identifying Latino children of Spanish speaking parents who have a clinical diagnosis of ASD. Findings suggest that the DSM-5 algorithm shows better sensitivity than the DSM-IV-TR algorithm for Latino children.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  16. Performance of Low-Income Dual Language Learners Attending English-Only Schools on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition, Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barragan, Beatriz; Castilla-Earls, Anny; Martinez-Nieto, Lourdes; Restrepo, M Adelaida; Gray, Shelley

    2018-04-05

    The aim of this study was to examine the performance of a group of Spanish-speaking, dual language learners (DLLs) who were attending English-only schools and came from low-income and low-parental education backgrounds on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition, Spanish (CELF-4S; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2006). Spanish-speaking DLLs (N = 656), ages 5;0 (years;months) to 7;11, were tested for language impairment (LI) using the core language score of the CELF-4S and the English Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test (Dawson, Stout, & Eyer, 2003). A subsample (n = 299) was additionally tested using a Spanish language sample analysis and a newly developed Spanish morphosyntactic measure, for identification of children with LI and to conduct a receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. Over 50% of the sample scored more than 1 SD below the mean on the core language score. In our subsample, the sensitivity of the CELF-4S was 94%, and specificity was 65%, using a cutoff score of 85 as suggested in the manual. Using an empirically derived cutoff score of 78, the sensitivity was 86%, and the specificity was 80%. Results suggest that the CELF-4S overidentifies low-income Spanish-English DLLs attending English-only schools as presenting with LI. For this sample, 1 in every 3 Latino children from low socioeconomic status was incorrectly identified with LI. Clinicians should be cautious when using the CELF-4S to evaluate low-income Spanish-English DLLs and ensure that they have converging evidence before making diagnostic decisions.

  17. Ethnic differences in ecological concerns: Spanish-speaking Hispanics are more concerned than others

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burger, Joanna; Greenberg, Michael

    2006-01-01

    We postulated that environmental concern encompasses a wide range of different issues, often lumping pollution with habitat loss (or land use) and ecological resources (fish and wildlife). In this paper, we compare perceptions about a range of environmental and ecological resource issues, and explore ethnic/racial differences. We surveyed 1513 residents of New Jersey about 'environmental concerns', using both general environmental questions (two questions: How serious are environmental problems in New Jersey? Are you concerned about the loss of open space?) and ecological resource questions (12 questions: e.g., how important is planting trees in your neighborhood, how concerned are you about loss of breeding and feeding habitat for fish and birds?) in New Jersey. Not all concerns were rated equally. For the ecological questions, there were no ethnic differences in concerns over preserving areas around water supplies, loss of places to hunt and fish, and loss of places for quiet walks and cycling, but there were for the other 9 ecological concerns. For eight of these nine concerns, Spanish-speaking Hispanics were more concerned than others (including English-speaking Hispanics). We divided the ecological resources into three categories: ecological services (clean water and safety), ecological resources (fish and wildlife), and recreational services. The strongest correlates of people's association with enlarging and enhancing recreational services were Spanish-speaking Hispanics, who are supportive of regulations and believe local government is not doing enough for environmental problems. People concerned about the loss of ecological resources and open space believe the federal government and the state are not doing enough for the environment, were non-Hispanic White, want continued environmental regulations, were longer-term residents, were high school graduates, and were older (45-54 years). People interested in ecological services were college-educated, non

  18. Non-adjacent dependency learning in Cantonese-speaking\\ud children with and without a history of specific language\\ud impairment

    OpenAIRE

    Iao, L-S; Ng, LY; Wong, AMY; Lee, OT

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: This study investigated non-adjacent dependency learning in Cantonese-speaking children with and without a history of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in an artificial linguistic context.\\ud \\ud Method: Sixteen Cantonese-speaking children with SLI history and 16 Cantonese-speaking children with typical language development (TLD) were tested with a non-adjacent dependency learning task using artificial languages that mimic Cantonese.\\ud \\ud Results: Children with TLD performed above...

  19. From "Pinocho" to "Papa Noel": Recent Children's Books in Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schon, Isabel

    2002-01-01

    Provides a list of recently published books in Spanish for children and adolescents. A tentative grade level is indicated for each book, but it is suggested that the individual child's Spanish-reading ability, interest, taste, and purpose should be the main criteria for determining the true level of each book. (Author/VWL)

  20. [Comparison of Spanish gypsy and foreign immigrant maltreated children admitted to protection centers].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliván-Gonzalvo, Gonzalo

    2004-01-01

    To determine whether there are differences between Spanish gypsy and foreign immigrant children admitted to protection centers in the characteristics of the maltreatment, social and familial factors linked to maltreatment, and health status. The social and health reports of 83 Spanish gypsy and 105 foreign immigrant children admitted to protection centers of the Aragonese Institute for Social Services (Instituto Aragones de Servicios Sociales [IASS]) because of maltreatment from January 1994 to December 2003 were reviewed. Maltreatment, its types, and warning signs were defined and assessed according to the guidelines drawn up by the IASS. The social and familial risk factors associated with maltreatment were determined according to national studies. Health status was assessed following protocols used by the IASS. A descriptive and comparative statistical study was performed. The Spanish gypsy children were mostly in the age group of 0-5 years, while foreign immigrants were mostly in the age group of 12-17 years. Spanish gypsy children showed a greater frequency of physical and emotional neglect and/or abandonment (p social and health risk factor (OR = 9.3; 95%CI, 3.8-22.8). Spanish gypsy children showed a greater frequency of neurological disorders, disabling diseases, absent or incomplete immunizations, and dermatologic diseases. Foreign immigrant children showed a greater frequency of physical and psychological and/or sexual abuse (p social services in charge of developing intervention strategies for the prevention and early detection of maltreatment, as well as for professionals in charge of the health of these children during their stay in a protection center.

  1. Word Family Size and French-Speaking Children's Segmentation of Existing Compounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicoladis, Elena; Krott, Andrea

    2007-01-01

    The family size of the constituents of compound words, or the number of compounds sharing the constituents, affects English-speaking children's compound segmentation. This finding is consistent with a usage-based theory of language acquisition, whereby children learn abstract underlying linguistic structure through their experience with particular…

  2. Bilingualism and performance on two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlsson, Linda C; Soveri, Anna; Räsänen, Pekka; Kärnä, Antti; Delatte, Sonia; Lagerström, Emma; Mård, Lena; Steffansson, Mikaela; Lehtonen, Minna; Laine, Matti

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigated the effect of bilingualism on the two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition (NEPSY-II) in children. The sample consisted of 100 Finland-Swedish children in two age groups. About half (n = 52) of the participants were early simultaneous bilinguals, and the other half (n = 48) were monolinguals. As no Finland-Swedish versions of the tests are available at the moment, both tests were translated and adapted to suit this population. The results revealed no difference in the performance between bilingual and monolingual children. This speaks against a cognitive advantage in bilingual children and indicates that development of separate norms for monolingual and bilingual children is not needed for clinical use.

  3. "Una persona derechita (staying right in the mind)": perceptions of Spanish-speaking Mexican American older adults in South Texas colonias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharkey, Joseph R; Sharf, Barbara F; St John, Julie A

    2009-06-01

    This study describes the perceptions of brain health among older Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans who reside in colonia areas of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In 2007, 33 Mexican American older adults (9 men and 24 women) were recruited by promotoras (community health workers) from clusters of colonias in Hidalgo County to participate in focus group discussions conducted in Spanish. After participants completed a 19-item questionnaire (in Spanish), a bilingual and bicultural researcher from the community, trained as a moderator, conducted 4 focus groups using a semistructured interview guide, culturally modified with the assistance of promotoras. All discussions were audio recorded; audio recordings were transcribed verbatim in Spanish and then translated into English. Analyses were conducted in English. Almost 85% had less than a high school education and 100% reported a household income less than $20,000/year. Groups attached cultural meaning to aging well. The idea of "staying straight in the mind" resonated as a depiction of brain health. Participants also mentioned the types of activities they could do to stay "right in the mind." Particular attention must be focused on development of programs that provide satisfying culturally appropriate activities for older participants and the delivery of health messages that take into consideration culture and language.

  4. Remarks on the elaboration of an English–Spanish ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Spanish word-combination dictionary examined here, some concluding remarks are made with regard to the educational implications of this kind of dictionary primarily aimed at intermediate- to advanced-level Spanish-speaking EFL learners.

  5. Linguistic validation of the US Spanish work productivity and activity impairment questionnaire, general health version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gawlicki, Mary C; Reilly, Margaret C; Popielnicki, Ana; Reilly, Kate

    2006-01-01

    There are no measures of health-related absenteeism and presenteeism validated for use in the large and increasing US Spanish-speaking population. Before using a Spanish translation of an available English-language questionnaire, the linguistic validity of the Spanish version must be established to ensure its conceptual equivalence to the original and its cultural appropriateness. The objective of this study was to evaluate the linguistic validity of the US Spanish version of the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire, General Health Version (WPAI:GH). A US Spanish translation of the US English WPAI:GH was created through a reiterative process of creating harmonized forward and back translations by independent translators. Spanish-speaking and English-speaking subjects residing in the US self-administered the WPAI:GH in their primary language and were subsequently debriefed by a bilingual (Spanish-English) interviewer. US Spanish subjects (N = 31) and English subjects (N = 35), stratified equally by educational level, with and without a high school degree participated in the study. The WPAI-GH item comprehension rate was 98.6% for Spanish and 99.6% for English. Response revision rates during debriefing were 1.6% for Spanish and 0.5% for English. Responses to hypothetical scenarios indicated that both language versions adequately differentiate sick time taken for health and non-health reasons and between absenteeism and presenteeism. Linguistic validity of the US Spanish translation of the WPAI:GH was established among a diverse US Spanish-speaking population, including those with minimal education.

  6. 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.

  7. The Complex Relationship between Bilingual Home Language Input and Kindergarten Children's Spanish and English Oral Proficiencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cha, Kijoo; Goldenberg, Claude

    2015-01-01

    This study examined how emergent bilingual children's English and Spanish proficiencies moderated the relationships between Spanish and English input at home (bilingual home language input [BHLI]) and children's oral language skills in each language. The sample comprised over 1,400 Spanish-dominant kindergartners in California and Texas. BHLI was…

  8. HIV-Related Stigma Among Spanish-speaking Latinos in an Emerging Immigrant Receiving City.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolwick Grieb, Suzanne M; Shah, Harita; Flores-Miller, Alejandra; Zelaya, Carla; Page, Kathleen R

    2017-08-01

    HIV-related stigma has been associated with a reluctance to test for HIV among Latinos. This study assessed community HIV-related stigma within an emerging Latino immigrant receiving city. We conducted a brief survey among a convenience sample of 312 Spanish-speaking Latinos in Baltimore, Maryland. HIV-related stigma was assessed through six items. Associations between stigma items, socio-demographic characteristics, and HIV testing history were considered. Gender, education, and religiosity were significantly associated with stigmatizing HIV-related beliefs. For example, men were 3.4 times more likely to hold more than three stigmatizing beliefs than women, and were also twice as likely as women to report feeling hesitant to test for HIV for fear of people's reaction if the test is positive. These findings can help inform future stigma interventions in this community. In particular, we were able to distinguish between drivers of stigma such as fear and moralistic attitudes, highlighting specific actionable items.

  9. Moroccan Children and Arabic in Spanish Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Bernabe Lopez; Molina, Laura Mijares

    This paper discusses classical Arabic as a minority language for Moroccan children in Spanish schools. It highlights programs of "education des langues et cultures d'origine" (ELCO), which specifically target these students. ELCO is the only public program in Spain recognizing Arabic as an immigrant minority language. Intercultural…

  10. Language and memory abilities of internationally adopted children from China: evidence for early age effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delcenserie, Audrey; Genesee, Fred

    2014-11-01

    The goal of the present study was to examine if internationally adopted (IA) children from China (M = 10;8) adopted by French-speaking families exhibit lags in verbal memory in addition to lags in verbal abilities documented in previous studies (Gauthier & Genesee, 2011). Tests assessing verbal and non-verbal memory, language, non-verbal cognitive ability, and socio-emotional development were administered to thirty adoptees. Their results were compared to those of thirty non-adopted monolingual French-speaking children matched on age, gender, and socioeconomic status. The IA children scored significantly lower than the controls on language, verbal short-term memory, verbal working memory, and verbal long-term memory. No group differences were found on non-verbal memory, non-verbal cognitive ability, and socio-emotional development, suggesting language-specific difficulties. Despite extended exposure to French, adoptees may experience language difficulties due to limitations in verbal memory, possibly as a result of their delayed exposure to that language and/or attrition of the birth language.

  11. Bilingual Phonological Awareness: Multilevel Construct Validation among Spanish-Speaking Kindergarteners in Transitional Bilingual Education Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Branum-Martin, Lee; Mehta, Paras D.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Carlson, Coleen D.; Ortiz, Alba; Carlo, Maria; Francis, David J.

    2006-01-01

    The construct validity of English and Spanish phonological awareness (PA) tasks was examined with a sample of 812 kindergarten children from 71 transitional bilingual education program classrooms located in 3 different types of geographic regions in California and Texas. Tasks of PA, including blending nonwords, segmenting words, and phoneme…

  12. Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padilla, Claudia; Mendez, Mario F; Jimenez, Elvira E; Teng, Edmond

    2016-11-24

    Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289) and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339) Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.

  13. Validation of the Omni Scale of Perceived Exertion in a sample of Spanish-speaking youth from the USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suminski, Richard R; Robertson, Robert J; Goss, Fredric L; Olvera, Norma

    2008-08-01

    Whether the translation of verbal descriptors from English to Spanish affects the validity of the Children's OMNI Scale of Perceived Exertion is not known, so the validity of a Spanish version of the OMNI was examined with 32 boys and 36 girls (9 to 12 years old) for whom Spanish was the primary language. Oxygen consumption, ventilation, respiratory rate, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate, and ratings of perceived exertion for the overall body (RPE-O) were measured during an incremental treadmill test. All response values displayed significant linear increases across test stages. The linear regression analyses indicated RPE-O values were distributed as positive linear functions of oxygen consumption, ventilation, respiratory rate, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate, and percent of maximal oxygen consumption. All regression models were statistically significant. The Spanish OMNI Scale is valid for estimating exercise effort during walking and running amongst Hispanic youth whose primary language is Spanish.

  14. How age of bilingual exposure can change the neural systems for language in the developing brain: a functional near infrared spectroscopy investigation of syntactic processing in monolingual and bilingual children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jasinska, K K; Petitto, L A

    2013-10-01

    Is the developing bilingual brain fundamentally similar to the monolingual brain (e.g., neural resources supporting language and cognition)? Or, does early-life bilingual language experience change the brain? If so, how does age of first bilingual exposure impact neural activation for language? We compared how typically-developing bilingual and monolingual children (ages 7-10) and adults recruit brain areas during sentence processing using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging. Bilingual participants included early-exposed (bilingual exposure from birth) and later-exposed individuals (bilingual exposure between ages 4-6). Both bilingual children and adults showed greater neural activation in left-hemisphere classic language areas, and additionally, right-hemisphere homologues (Right Superior Temporal Gyrus, Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus). However, important differences were observed between early-exposed and later-exposed bilinguals in their earliest-exposed language. Early bilingual exposure imparts fundamental changes to classic language areas instead of alterations to brain regions governing higher cognitive executive functions. However, age of first bilingual exposure does matter. Later-exposed bilinguals showed greater recruitment of the prefrontal cortex relative to early-exposed bilinguals and monolinguals. The findings provide fascinating insight into the neural resources that facilitate bilingual language use and are discussed in terms of how early-life language experiences can modify the neural systems underlying human language processing. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  15. Spanish Readability Formulas for Elementary-Level Texts: A Validation Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Richard I.; Hasbrouck, Jan E.; Weaver, Laurie

    2001-01-01

    Uses two formulas developed for Spanish language text to analyze 9 stories that were read by 36 Spanish-speaking second graders with limited English proficiency. Finds that the Spanish readability formulas only weakly predicted student performance, indicating the need to pursue broader, qualitative indices of difficulty for Spanish text. (SG)

  16. Riddle Appreciation and Reading Comprehension in Cantonese-Speaking Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Ivy N. Y.; To, Carol K. S.; Weekes, Brendan S.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Inference-making skills are necessary for reading comprehension. Training in riddle appreciation is an effective way to improve reading comprehension among English-speaking children. However, it is not clear whether these methods generalize to other writing systems. The goal of the present study was to investigate the relationship between…

  17. A Preliminary Study of a Spanish Graphic Novella Targeting Hearing Loss Prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiberson, Mark; Wakefield, Emily

    2017-09-18

    This preliminary study developed a digital graphic novella targeting hearing protection beliefs of Spanish-speaking agricultural workers. Researchers used pretest-posttest interview surveys to establish if the novella had an immediate influence on the participants' beliefs about noise-induced hearing loss and usage of hearing protection devices. Researchers developed a digital graphic novella directed to increase knowledge about noise-induced hearing loss and increase the proper use of hearing protection devices. The novella was tailored to meet the specific linguistic and literacy needs of Spanish-speaking agricultural workers. Thirty-one Spanish-speaking farmworkers of Mexican nationality participated. This study included an interview survey with specific questions on noise-induced hearing loss, myths, and hearing protection device usage. A pretest-posttest design was applied to measure the graphic novella's immediate influence on workers. The posttest scores on Hearing Protection Beliefs statements were significantly better than pretest scores, with a large effect size observed. Digital media may be an effective way to overcome language and literacy barriers with Spanish-speaking workers when providing health education and prevention efforts.

  18. The Role of Oral Language Skills in Reading and Listening Comprehension of Text: A Comparison of Monolingual (L1) and Bilingual (L2) Speakers of English Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babayigit, Selma

    2014-01-01

    The study examined the role of oral language skills in reading comprehension and listening comprehension levels of 125 monolingual (L1) and bilingual (L2) English-speaking learners (M = 121.5 months, SD = 4.65) in England. All testing was conducted in English. The L1 learners outperformed their L2 peers on the measures of oral language and text…

  19. Prevalence and distribution of inactivity and weight excess in Spanish scholar children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arturo Rodríguez-Hernández

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This work aims to study the distribution of leisure time physical activity pattern and weight status of Spanish schoolchildren. The sample corresponds to 6,803 school-aged children (3,491 boys and 3,312 girls, who took part in the Spanish National Health Survey 2006, being representative of the Spanish scholar population. It has assessed their pattern of physical activity and weight status through international body mass index cut offs. The relationship between the variables studied has been established through a multinomial logistic regression analysis. Physical inactivity is more prevalent in children that exceed a healthy weight, and there are regional differences in the distribution of a sedentary lifestyle and weight excess, as well as in different age groups and sex. Globally, 49.7% of Spanish schoolchildren have an unhealthy leisure time physical activity pattern, and 28.9% of them exceed the recommended weight for their age.

  20. Verb Errors of Bilingual and Monolingual Basic Writers

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. Systeme de fautes et correction phonetique par la methode verbo-tonale des francophones belges qui apprenent l'espagnol (Phonetic Correction and the Verbo-tonal Method for Teaching Spanish to French-speaking Belgians)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarmiento Padilla, Jose

    1974-01-01

    Describes experiments in the field of phonetic correction. Several techniques used at the University of Mons for teaching Spanish pronunciation to French-speaking Belgians are explained. (Text is in French.) (PMP)

  2. Initial validation of the Personality Assessment Inventory-Spanish version with clients from Mexican American communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, R; Flores, J; Ustad, K; Sewell, K W

    1995-04-01

    Psychological assessment of Hispanic populations are thwarted by the absence of clinical research on comparability of Spanish translations and the stability of their findings. In this study we examined the potential usefulness of the Spanish Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) for Hispanic clients residing in Mexican American communities. We administered the Spanish version on two occasions to 48 monolingual clients and the Spanish and English versions to 21 bilingual clients. Results indicated that the clinical scales had a moderate to good correspondence for Spanish-English (M r = .72) and good test-retest reliability for Spanish-Spanish (M r = .79). Much more variation was observed for the validity scales and the treatment/interpersonal scales. Also more variability was observed in the convergence of elevations across administrations. Because of these mixed results, we discuss the potential usefulness of the PAI clinical scales to screen for major psychopathology.

  3. Comparison of Measures of Morphosyntactic Complexity in French-Speaking School-Aged Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mimeau, Catherine; Plourde, Vickie; Ouellet, Andrée-Anne; Dionne, Ginette

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the validity and reliability of different measures of morphosyntactic complexity, including the Morphosyntactic Complexity Scale (MSCS), a novel adaptation of the Developmental Sentence Scoring, in French-speaking school-aged children. Seventy-three Quebec children from kindergarten to Grade 3 completed a definition task and a…

  4. 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

  5. Bilingualism yields language-specific plasticity in left hemisphere's circuitry for learning to read in young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jasińska, K K; Berens, M S; Kovelman, I; Petitto, L A

    2017-04-01

    How does bilingual exposure impact children's neural circuitry for learning to read? Theories of bilingualism suggests that exposure to two languages may yield a functional and neuroanatomical adaptation to support the learning of two languages (Klein et al., 2014). To test the hypothesis that this neural adaptation may vary as a function of structural and orthographic characteristics of bilinguals' two languages, we compared Spanish-English and French-English bilingual children, and English monolingual children, using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy neuroimaging (fNIRS, ages 6-10, N =26). Spanish offers consistent sound-to-print correspondences ("phonologically transparent" or "shallow"); such correspondences are more opaque in French and even more opaque in English (which has both transparent and "phonologically opaque" or "deep" correspondences). Consistent with our hypothesis, both French- and Spanish-English bilinguals showed hyperactivation in left posterior temporal regions associated with direct sound-to-print phonological analyses and hypoactivation in left frontal regions associated with assembled phonology analyses. Spanish, but not French, bilinguals showed a similar effect when reading Irregular words. The findings inform theories of bilingual and cross-linguistic literacy acquisition by suggesting that structural characteristics of bilinguals' two languages and their orthographies have a significant impact on children's neuro-cognitive architecture for learning to read. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  6. Evidential Uses in the Spanish of Quechua Speakers in Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escobar, Anna Maria

    1994-01-01

    Analysis of recordings of spontaneous speech of native speakers of Quechua speaking Spanish as a second language reveals that, using verbal morphological resources of Spanish, they have grammaticalized an epistemic marking system resembling that of Quechua. Sources of this process in both Quechua and Spanish are analyzed. (MSE)

  7. Semantic and Conceptual Factors in Spanish-English Bilinguals' Processing of Lexical Categories in Their Two Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gathercole, Virginia C. Mueller; Stadthagen-González, Hans; Pérez-Tattam, Rocío; Yava?, Feryal

    2016-01-01

    This study examines possible semantic interaction in fully fluent adult simultaneous and early second language (L2) bilinguals. Monolingual and bilingual speakers of Spanish and English (n = 144) were tested for their understanding of lexical categories that differed in their two languages. Simultaneous bilinguals came from homes in which Spanish…

  8. El Arte de Aprender: Una Aventura Cooperativa. Un guia de recursos para trabajar con ninos jovenes. (Learning: A Cooperative Adventure. A Resource Guide for Working with Young Children.)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arizona State Dept. of Education, Phoenix.

    Due to the large numbers of children from Spanish-speaking homes, many districts send both English and Spanish written communication to parents and community members. Therefore this booklet, a Spanish translation of "Learning: A Cooperative Adventure" (ED 119 868), was prepared to provide parents and preschool and kindergarten staff members with…

  9. Cross-cultural validation of the parent-patient activation measure in low income Spanish- and English-speaking parents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeCamp, Lisa Ross; Leifheit, Kathryn; Shah, Harita; Valenzuela-Araujo, Doris; Sloand, Elizabeth; Polk, Sarah; Cheng, Tina L

    2016-12-01

    (1) To measure healthcare activation among low-income parents by language (English/Spanish); and (2) to assess the psychometrics of the Parent-Patient Activation Measure (P-PAM) in the study population. We surveyed parents/guardians of publicly-insured children who were established patients at a pediatrics clinic for ≥6months. Surveys included the Parent-Patient Activation Measure (P-PAM), a 13-item measure adapted from the well-validated Patient Activation Measure (PAM). Of 316 surveys, 68% were completed in Spanish. Mean activation score in the English-language survey group was 79.1 (SD 16.2); mean score in the Spanish-language group was 70.7 (SD 17.9) (pSpanish α=0.93). The P-PAM had acceptable test-retest reliability, but no previously reported PAM factor structure fit the study data adequately for either language. Healthcare activation among low-income parents was greater for parents surveyed in English compared with those surveyed in Spanish. The P-PAM has acceptable reliability and validity in English and Spanish, but a different factor structure than the PAM. Activation as measured by the P-PAM may not have the same associations with or impact on health/healthcare outcomes in pediatrics compared with adults owing to possible measure differences between the P-PAM and PAM. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  10. Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised: Effects of Education and Age. Normative Data for the Spanish Speaking Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nieto, Antonieta; Galtier, Iván; Hernández, Edith; Velasco, Pedro; Barroso, José

    2016-07-29

    Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised is a brief test battery for the detection and classification of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. The aims were to investigate the influence of age and education on the Spanish version of the ACE-R and to propose normative data for the Spanish speaking population. Three hundred thirty-four normal healthy volunteers were included in the study. They were classified in three age groups (48-64, 65-75, and 75-89 years of age) and four educational level groups (≤3; 4-8; 9-12, and ≥13 years of education). They were assessed with the version of ACE-R validated in Argentina with some modifications in order to adapt it to the Spanish population. Significant differences were obtained between all age groups in Total ACE-R, Memory, Fluency, and Language indexes. Differences were observed among the 48-64 and 76-89 age groups in the Attention-Orientation and Visuospatial indexes. Regarding education, significant difference between ≤3 years of education and the remaining groups were obtained in Total ACE-R and in all the indexes. Additionally, the group of 4-8 years of education performed significantly worse than the 9-12 and ≥13 groups in Total, Memory, Fluency, and Language indexes. Adjusted scores by education were obtained and percentiles for each age group were calculated. The results show that both age and education have an important effect on ACE-R performance. Consequently, age and education should be taken into account when interpreting results in ACE-R to improve diagnostic accuracy. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  11. Validation of the Spanish and English versions of the asthma portion of the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen Plus among Hispanics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, Carolyn A; Quinn, Kelly; Wolf, Raoul; Mosnaim, Giselle; Shalowitz, Madeleine

    2005-07-01

    The health and health care needs of non-English-speaking Hispanic families with children are poorly understood, in part because they are often excluded from research owing to language barriers. Instruments that are valid in English and Spanish are necessary to accurately evaluate the magnitude of asthma prevalence and morbidity among Hispanics. To establish the sensitivity and specificity of the English and Spanish versions of the asthma portion of the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen Plus (BPAS+) in a low-income Hispanic population. The validation sample consisted of 145 children whose parents completed the BPAS+ in Spanish and 78 whose parents completed it in English. Bilingual clinicians conducted the examinations on which the clinical assessments were based. We compared the BPAS+ results with the clinical assessment findings to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the BPAS + among Hispanics in terms of identifying children who warrant further medical evaluation for asthma. The sensitivity and specificity of the asthma portion of the Spanish BPAS+ were 74% and 86%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the asthma portion of the English BPAS+ were 61% and 83%, respectively. The asthma portion of the BPAS+, a valid screen for identifying children who are in need of further evaluation for potentially undiagnosed asthma, is valid for low-income Hispanics in Spanish and English. As the Hispanic population continues to grow, it is imperative that researchers have English and Spanish instruments that are valid for this population.

  12. A Narrative Enrichment Programme in literacy development of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    speaking Grade 3 learners in monolingual rural schools. Irene Brand ... used to assess how learners recount the various narrative components and the chronology. Keywords: children, meaning-making, drawings, early writings, multimodal pedagogies ...

  13. Adaptation and Validation of the Spanish Version of OSA-18, a Quality of Life Questionnaire for Evaluation of Children with Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiner, Eusebi; Landete, Pedro; Sancho-Chust, José Norberto; Martínez-García, Miguel Ángel; Pérez-Ferrer, Patricia; Pastor, Esther; Senent, Cristina; Arlandis, Mar; Navarro, Cristina; Selma, María José

    2016-11-01

    To analyze the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the OSA-18 quality of life questionnaire in children with apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS). Children with suspected SAHS were studied with polysomnography (PSG) before and after adenotonsillectomy (AA). Age, gender, clinical data, PSG, anthropometric data, and Mallampati and Brodsky scales were analyzed. OSA-18 was administered at baseline and 3-6months post AA. After translation and backtranslation by bilingual professionals, the internal consistency, reliability, construct validity, concurrent validity, predictive validity and sensitivity to change of the questionnaire was assessed. In total, 45 boys and 15 girls were evaluated, showing BMI 18±4, neck 28±5, Brodsky (0: 7%; 50 to 75%: 6%), AHI 12±7 pre AA. Global Cronbach alpha was 0.91. Correlations between domains were significant except for emotional aspects, although the total scores correlated with all domains (0.50 to 0.90). The factorial analysis was virtually identical to the original structure. The total scores showed good correlation for concurrent validity (0.2-0.45). With regard to predictive validity, the questionnaire adequately differentiated levels of severity according to Mallampati (ANOVA P=.002) and apnea-hypopnea index (ANOVA P=.006). Test-retest reliability was excellent, as was sensitivity to change, both in the total scores (P<.001) and in each domain (P<.001). The Spanish adaptation of the OSA-18 and its psychometric characteristics suggest that the Spanish version is equivalent to the original and can be used in Spanish-speaking countries. Copyright © 2016 SEPAR. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  15. Interpretation of Errors Made by Mandarin-Speaking Children on the Preschool Language Scales--5th Edition Screening Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Yonggang; Rattanasone, Nan Xu; Wyver, Shirley; Hinton, Amber; Demuth, Katherine

    2016-01-01

    We investigated typical errors made by Mandarin-speaking children when measured by the Preschool Language Scales-fifth edition, Screening Test (PLS-5 Screening Test). The intention was to provide preliminary data for the development of a guideline for early childhood educators and psychologists who use the test with Mandarin-speaking children.…

  16. A robust demonstration of the cognate facilitation effect in first-language and second-language naming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheng, Li; Lam, Boji Pak Wing; Cruz, Diana; Fulton, Aislynn

    2016-01-01

    The cognate facilitation effect refers to the phenomenon that in bilinguals performance on various vocabulary tasks is enhanced for cross-linguistic cognates as opposed to noncognates. However, research investigating the presence of the cognate advantage in bilingual children remains limited. Most studies with children conducted to date has not included a control group or rigorously designed stimuli, which may jeopardize the validity and robustness of the emerging evidence. The current study addressed these methodological problems by examining performance in picture naming tasks in 34 4- to 7-year-old Spanish-English bilinguals and 52 Mandarin-English bilinguals as well as 37 English-speaking monolinguals who served as controls. Stimuli were controlled for phonology, word frequency, and length. The Spanish-English bilinguals performed better for cognates than for noncognates and exhibited a greater number of doublet responses (i.e., providing correct responses in both languages) in naming cognate targets than in naming noncognates. The control groups did not show differences in performance between the two sets of words. These findings provide compelling evidence that cross-linguistic similarities at the phonological level allow bootstrapping of vocabulary learning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. How to achieve informed consent for research from Spanish-speaking individuals with low literacy: a qualitative report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortés, Dharma E; Drainoni, Mari-Lynn; Henault, Lori E; Paasche-Orlow, Michael K

    2010-01-01

    Investigators have the responsibility to ensure that prospective participants are fully informed about a research protocol prior to consenting to participate, yet many researchers face challenges when obtaining consent, since the majority of the general population has limited or no familiarity with research studies. These challenges are further magnified when obtaining consent from individuals with low literacy levels and who speak languages other than English. In this article we present findings from a qualitative study conducted with Spanish-speaking individuals with low-literacy designed to refine the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Informed Consent and Authorization Toolkit for Minimal Risk Research. Findings from this study indicate that familiarity with providing informed consent and authorization for research or the experience of being a research participant appear to play key roles in an individual's ability to understand the consent and authorization process. While the text of the consent and authorization documents can be simplified using plain language principles, comprehension of several fundamental ideas such as risk and privacy need to be safeguarded with a consent process that confirms comprehension. Recommendations are provided to address the informational needs of individuals with low literacy levels and limited or no experience with research participation.

  18. A retrospective study of phonetic inventory complexity in acquisition of Spanish: Implications for phonological universals

    OpenAIRE

    Cataño, Lorena; Barlow, Jessica A.; Moyna, María Irene

    2009-01-01

    This study evaluates 39 different phonetic inventories of 16 Spanish-speaking children (ages 0;11 to 5;1) in terms of hierarchical complexity. Phonetic featural differences are considered in order to evaluate the proposed implicational hierarchy of Dinnsen et al.’s phonetic inventory typology for English. The children’s phonetic inventories are examined independently and in relation to one another. Five hierarchical complexity levels are proposed, similar to those of English and other languag...

  19. The auditory attention status in Iranian bilingual and monolingual people

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  20. Speaking with (Dis)respect: A Study of Reactions to Mock Spanish

    Science.gov (United States)

    Callahan, Laura

    2010-01-01

    This paper reports on an investigation into the reactions of 147 participants of various ethnicities to a language practice in the USA that has been characterized as Mock Spanish, a special register in which Spanish words or phrases are used to evoke humor by indexing an often unflattering image of Spanish speakers. Research questions include…

  1. The prevalence and structure of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder in Hispanic psychiatric outpatients

    OpenAIRE

    Ansell, Emily B.; Pinto, Anthony; Crosby, Ross D.; Becker, Daniel F.; Añez, Luis M.; Paris, Manuel; Grilo, Carlos M.

    2010-01-01

    This study sought to confirm a multi-factor model of Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) in a Hispanic outpatient sample and to explore associations of the OCPD factors with aggression, depression, and suicidal thoughts. One hundred and thirty monolingual, Spanish-speaking participants were recruited from a community mental health center and were assessed by bilingual doctoral level clinicians. OCPD was highly prevalent (26%) in this sample. Multi-factor models of OCPD were teste...

  2. Bilingual skills of deaf/hard of hearing children from Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiberson, Mark

    2014-03-01

    This study described the first language (L1) and second language (L2) skills of a group of Spanish deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) children who were bilingual. Participants included parents of 51 DHH children from Spain. Parents completed an electronic survey that included questions on background, details on child's hearing loss, and bilingual status and L2 exposure. Parents also completed the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, a rating scale that describes language skills. DHH bilingual children demonstrated L1 skills that were stronger than their monolingual DHH peers. Bilingual children demonstrated a wide range of L2 proficiency, and most were exposed to an L2 through parents and/or schooling. The majority of parents reported that their children demonstrated L2 skills that were either better than or at the level they had expected. These results correspond with earlier studies that indicate the DHH children are capable of becoming bilingual. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

  3. Spanish language content on reproductive endocrinology and infertility practice websites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Londra, Laura C; Tobler, Kyle J; Omurtag, Kenan R; Donohue, Michael B

    2014-11-01

    To analyze the use of Spanish language translation on the websites of reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) practices in the context of evidence of underuse of infertility services by minority populations. Cross-sectional survey of websites from REI practices. Not applicable. None. None. Assessment of the relationship between having a Spanish-translated website and REI practice characteristics. Variables included concurrent use of social media, size of the practice, Spanish-speaking practitioner in the practice, being a private or a university-based practice, being in a mandated insurance state, and being in an area with different levels of percentage of Hispanic population, adjusted for annual income levels of the population. Of the 376 REI practice websites analyzed, 101 (27%) offered at least some information in Spanish. We identified 97 Spanish-speaking practitioners at 71 REI practices. Having a Spanish-translated website was significantly associated with the practice's use of social media, having an international/out-of-town web page, and having a Spanish-speaking physician in the practice. The size of the practice, as measured in number of cycles reported per year, was not associated with having a translated website. In practices located in the top 60 metropolitan areas by Hispanic population, the odds of having a Spanish-translated website were only related to the percentage of Hispanic population after adjusting for state-mandated insurance and average annual income level of the Hispanic population. Sixty-six of the websites with Spanish-translated content had been automatically translated. An additional eight websites were partially translated automatically. REI practices in metropolitan areas with a higher percentage of Hispanics were more likely to reach out to this minority population by translating their website content into Spanish. These practices were also more likely to use social media. Future studies are needed to determine whether

  4. Demoralization Scale in Spanish-Speaking Palliative Care Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudilla, David; Galiana, Laura; Oliver, Amparo; Barreto, Pilar

    2016-04-01

    Among the approaches to the demoralization syndrome, the one proposed by Kissane et al. is prevalent in the literature. These authors developed the Demoralization Scale (DS) to assess emotional distress, conceived as demoralization. To present the Spanish adaptation of the Demoralization Scale in palliative care patients, with a new and more comprehensive approach to its factorial structure. A cross-sectional study was carried out in 226 Spanish palliative care patients in three different settings: hospital, home care unit, and continued care unit. Outcome measures included the DS and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Analyses comprised confirmatory factor analyses to test the original, German, and Irish structure of the DS, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), estimations of internal consistency, and multivariate analyses of variance for criterion-related validity. The confirmatory factor analyses showed inappropriate fit for the previous structures when studied in the Spanish version of the DS. With ESEM, the best fitting structure was the five-factor solution, without item 18. Reliability results offered good estimations of internal consistency for all the dimensions except for sense of failure. Cronbach alpha coefficients were appropriate for the dimensions of loss of meaning (0.86), helplessness (0.79), disheartenment (0.88), and dysphoria (0.80), but low reliability was found for sense of failure (0.62). Convergent and discriminant validity showed positive correlations between demoralization, anxiety, and depression. Patients with higher levels of anxiety had higher scores on every dimension of demoralization, and those with higher levels of depression had higher scores on loss of meaning, disheartenment, and sense of failure, but not on dysphoria or helplessness. The Spanish adaptation of the DS has shown appropriate psychometric properties. It has been useful to differentiate between depression and the demoralization syndrome, pointing

  5. Spanish parents' emotion talk and their children's understanding of emotion

    OpenAIRE

    Aznar, Ana; Tenenbaum, Harriet R.

    2013-01-01

    Relations between parent-child emotion talk and children's emotion understanding were examined in 63 Spanish mothers and fathers and their 4- (M = 53.35 months, SD = 3.86) and 6-year-old (M = 76.62 months, SD = 3.91) children. Parent-child emotion talk was analyzed during two storytelling tasks: a play-related storytelling task and a reminiscence task (conversation about past experiences). Children's emotion understanding was assessed twice through a standardized test of emotion comprehension...

  6. E-Books as a Support for Young Children's Language and Literacy: The Case of Hebrew-Speaking Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korat, Ofra; Shamir, Adina; Segal-Drori, Ora

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we present a series of studies performed in the last decade that examined the contribution of e-books reading to the language and literacy of young Hebrew-speaking children. Children worked with two e-books designed by the researchers to achieve this aim. We present the effect of reading these e-books on the language and literacy of…

  7. Intervention for a lexical reading and spelling difficulty in two Greek-speaking primary age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terzopoulos, Aris R; Niolaki, Georgia Z; Masterson, Jackie

    2018-05-14

    An intervention study was carried out with two nine-year-old Greek-speaking dyslexic children. Both children were slow in reading single words and text and had difficulty in spelling irregularly spelled words. One child was also poor in non-word reading. Intervention focused on spelling in a whole-word training using a flashcard technique that had previously been found to be effective with English-speaking children. Post-intervention assessments conducted immediately at the end of the intervention, one month later and then five months later showed a significant improvement in spelling of treated words that was sustained over time. In addition, both children showed generalisation of improvement to untrained words and an increase in scores in a standardised spelling assessment. The findings support the effectiveness of theoretically based targeted intervention for literacy difficulties.

  8. Arte: Un Programa Creativo Para Ninos Pre-Escolares (Art: A Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creative Associates, Inc., Washington, DC.

    Written in Spanish and focusing on art activities for early childhood education, this manual provides guidelines for Spanish-speaking teachers of preschool and primary school children. The content of the manual is oriented to the learning styles and special interests of Spanish-speaking children. Part One defines artistic activity in the preschool…

  9. 'Dar' + gerund in Ecuadorian Highland Spanish: contact-induced grammaticalization?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Olbertz, H.

    2008-01-01

    The benefactive construction dar + gerund is used in the North Andean region only and is unknown elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world. Based on the analysis of spontaneous data from Ecuadorian Highland Spanish, this paper provides a linguististic description of dar + gerund and of the social and

  10. "Voices" and "Voces": Cultural and Linguistic Dimensions of Giftedness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Ellen Riojas; Gonzalez, Virginia

    1998-01-01

    Assessments of a 6-year-old Spanish monolingual and 5-year-old bilingual children included a home-language survey, parents' and teachers' ratings, cartoon conservation scales, and standardized tests. Nonverbal cognitive development was shown to influence language acquisition. Cultural and linguistic factors affected children differently. (SK)

  11. 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 ...

  12. Neural processing of speech in children is influenced by bilingual experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krizman, Jennifer; Slater, Jessica; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina

    2014-01-01

    Language experience fine-tunes how the auditory system processes sound. For example, bilinguals, relative to monolinguals, have more robust evoked responses to speech that manifest as stronger neural encoding of the fundamental frequency (F0) and greater across-trial consistency. However, it is unknown whether such enhancements increase with increasing second language experience. We predict that F0 amplitude and neural consistency scale with dual-language experience during childhood, such that more years of bilingual experience leads to more robust F0 encoding and greater neural consistency. To test this hypothesis, we recorded auditory brainstem responses to the synthesized syllables ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ in two groups of bilingual children who were matched for age at test (8.4+/−0.67 years) but differed in their age of second language acquisition. One group learned English and Spanish simultaneously from birth (n=13), while the second group learned the two languages sequentially (n=15), spending on average their first four years as monolingual Spanish speakers. We find that simultaneous bilinguals have a larger F0 response to ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ and a more consistent response to ‘ba’ compared to sequential bilinguals. We also demonstrate that these neural enhancements positively relate with years of bilingual experience. These findings support the notion that bilingualism enhances subcortical auditory processing. PMID:25445377

  13. Cognitive Advantages of Bilingual Children in Different Sociolinguistic Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Elma; Boerma, Tessel; Bosma, Evelyn; Cornips, Leonie; Everaert, Emma

    2017-01-01

    Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6–7 years, with a monolingual control group. We were specifically interested in testing whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is modulated by the sociolinguistic context of language use. All three bilingual groups were exposed to a minority language besides the nation’s dominant language (Dutch). Two bilingual groups were exposed to a regional language (Frisian, Limburgish), and a third bilingual group was exposed to a migrant language (Polish). All children participated in two working memory tasks (verbal, visuospatial) and two attention tasks (selective attention, interference suppression). Bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on selective attention. The cognitive effect of bilingualism was most clearly present in the Frisian-Dutch group and in a subgroup of migrant children who were relatively proficient in Polish. The effect was less robust in the Limburgish-Dutch sample. Investigation of the response patterns of the flanker test, testing interference suppression, suggested that bilingual children more often show an effect of response competition than the monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children attend to different aspects of the task than monolingual children. No bilingualism effects emerged for verbal and visuospatial working memory. PMID:28484403

  14. Cognitive Advantages of Bilingual Children in Different Sociolinguistic Contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Elma; Boerma, Tessel; Bosma, Evelyn; Cornips, Leonie; Everaert, Emma

    2017-01-01

    Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6-7 years, with a monolingual control group. We were specifically interested in testing whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is modulated by the sociolinguistic context of language use. All three bilingual groups were exposed to a minority language besides the nation's dominant language (Dutch). Two bilingual groups were exposed to a regional language (Frisian, Limburgish), and a third bilingual group was exposed to a migrant language (Polish). All children participated in two working memory tasks (verbal, visuospatial) and two attention tasks (selective attention, interference suppression). Bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on selective attention. The cognitive effect of bilingualism was most clearly present in the Frisian-Dutch group and in a subgroup of migrant children who were relatively proficient in Polish. The effect was less robust in the Limburgish-Dutch sample. Investigation of the response patterns of the flanker test, testing interference suppression, suggested that bilingual children more often show an effect of response competition than the monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children attend to different aspects of the task than monolingual children. No bilingualism effects emerged for verbal and visuospatial working memory.

  15. Social Skills Deficits in a Virtual Environment Among Spanish Children With ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Castellar, Rosa; Jara-Jiménez, Pilar; Sánchez-Chiva, Desirée; Mikami, Amori Y

    2018-06-01

    Research assessing the social skills of children with ADHD has predominantly relied upon North American samples. In addition, most existing work has been conducted using methodology that fails to use a controlled peer stimulus; such methods may be more vulnerable to cultural influence. We examined the social skills of 52 Spanish children (ages 8-12) with and without ADHD using a controlled Chat Room Task, which simulates a virtual social environment where peers' responses are held constant, so that participants' social skills may be assessed. After statistical control of typing and reading comprehension skills, Spanish children with ADHD gave fewer prosocial comments and had greater difficulty remembering central details from the conversation between the peers, relative to comparison children. The virtual Chat Room Task may be useful to assess social skills deficits using a controlled paradigm, resulting in the identification of common social deficiencies cross-culturally.

  16. Reliability and validity of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale for Arabic-speaking children: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Housseiny, Azza A; Alsadat, Farah A; Alamoudi, Najlaa M; El Derwi, Douaa A; Farsi, Najat M; Attar, Moaz H; Andijani, Basil M

    2016-04-14

    Early recognition of dental fear is essential for the effective delivery of dental care. This study aimed to test the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS). A school-based sample of 1546 children was randomly recruited. The Arabic version of the CFSS-DS was completed by children during class time. The scale was tested for internal consistency and test-retest reliability. To test criterion validity, children's behavior was assessed using the Frankl scale during dental examination, and results were compared with children's CFSS-DS scores. To test the scale's construct validity, scores on "fear of going to the dentist soon" were correlated with CFSS-DS scores. Factor analysis was also used. The Arabic version of the CFSS-DS showed high reliability regarding both test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.83, p children with negative behavior had significantly higher fear scores (t = 13.67, p fear of invasive dental procedures," "fear of less invasive dental procedures" and "fear of strangers." The Arabic version of the CFSS-DS is a reliable and valid measure of dental fear in Arabic-speaking children. Pediatric dentists and researchers may use this validated version of the CFSS-DS to measure dental fear in Arabic-speaking children.

  17. "You Know Spanish, Right?": Language for Specific Purposes and the Challenge of Teaching Content Areas and Lexical Domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Douglas A.; Polchow, Shannon M.

    2015-01-01

    In a typically monolingual state, those students who do possess a second language are poised to better integrate themselves into the international business community, yet, possessing (for example) a Spanish degree does not indicate proficiency. Unless students have been exposed to a variety of subjects relating to law, health care, business, and…

  18. The Impact of Multilingualism on Spanish Language Acquisition among Immigrants in Spain

    OpenAIRE

    Budría, Santiago; Swedberg, Pablo

    2014-01-01

    This article uses micro-data from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey to analyze the acquisition of Spanish language skills for immigrants in Spain. The motivation of the paper is threefold. Language skills are important for an individual's labour market performance, Spain offers an important non-English speaking country instance and the main novelty of our paper is to explore the impact of speaking multiple foreign languages on host language learning for immigrants. The results reveal a st...

  19. Print Knowledge in Yucatec Maya-Spanish Bilingual Children: An Initial Inquiry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bengochea, Alain; Justice, Laura M.; Hijlkema, Maria J.

    2017-01-01

    This study serves as an initial inquiry regarding the early print knowledge of emergent bilingual preschool-age children living in an Indigenous community in Mexico. In this research, we examine various dimensions of print knowledge with Yucatec Maya-Spanish bilingual children for whom one of their languages (Yucatec Maya) is seldom seen in print…

  20. Lo Que los Padres Necesitan Saber sobre...Reconocer y Animar los Intereses, las Capacidades, y los Talentos de los Ninos Dotados Jovenes. Guia Practica B0212 (What Parents Need To Know about...Recognizing and Encouraging Interests, Strengths, and Talents of Young Gifted Children. Practitioners' Guide B0212).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delcourt, Marcia A. B.

    This pamphlet, written in Spanish, is designed to help Spanish-speaking parents recognize and encourage their gifted preschool children. It begins by discussing some of the interests of very young children and lists strategies for facilitating and supporting those interests, including: provide the child with opportunities to find out about a…

  1. Viva Nuestra Amistad IV: Spanish Activity Packet (Long Live our Friendship).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cobb, Hubert

    This Spanish activity packet was designed to be used with the map study portion of each of twelve units in a second year course in Spanish. Each unit deals with a different Spanish-speaking country or place, such as Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, or Peru. Included here are worksheets, games, map outlines, crossword puzzles, skits, and cultural…

  2. Speech Analysis of Bengali Speaking Children with Repaired Cleft Lip & Palate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakrabarty, Madhushree; Kumar, Suman; Chatterjee, Indranil; Maheshwari, Neha

    2012-01-01

    The present study aims at analyzing speech samples of four Bengali speaking children with repaired cleft palates with a view to differentiate between the misarticulations arising out of a deficit in linguistic skills and structural or motoric limitations. Spontaneous speech samples were collected and subjected to a number of linguistic analyses…

  3. Language Assessment of Latino English Learning Children: A Records Abstraction Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraemer, Robert; Fabiano-Smith, Leah

    2017-01-01

    The researchers examined how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in a small northern California school district assessed Spanish speaking English learning (EL) Latino children suspected of language impairments. Specifically we sought to (1) determine whether SLPs adhered to federal, state, and professional guidelines during initial assessments and…

  4. Validation of the Asthma Illness Representation Scale-Spanish (AIRS-S).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidora-Arcoleo, Kimberly Joan; Feldman, Jonathan; Serebrisky, Denise; Spray, Amanda

    2010-05-01

    To expand knowledge surrounding parental illness representations (IRs) of their children's asthma, it is imperative that culturally appropriate survey instruments are developed and validated for use in clinical and research settings. The Asthma Illness Representation Scale (AIRS) provides a structured assessment of the key components of asthma IRs, allowing the health care provider (HCP) to quickly identify areas of discordance with the professional model of asthma management. The English AIRS was developed and validated among a geographically and ethnically diverse sample. The authors present the validation results of the AIRS-S (Spanish) from a sample of Mexican and Puerto Rican parents. The AIRS was translated and back translated per approved methodologies. Factor analysis, internal reliability, external validity, and 2-week test-retest reliability (on a subsample) were carried out and results compared with the validated English version. Data were obtained from 80 Spanish-speaking Mexican and Puerto Rican parents of children with asthma. The sample was recruited from two school-based health centers and a free medical clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, and a hospital-based asthma clinic in Bronx, New York. The original Nature of Asthma Symptoms, Facts About Asthma, and Attitudes Towards Medication Use subscales emerged. Remaining factors were a mixture of items with no coherent or theoretical distinction between them. Interpretation of results is limited due to not meeting the minimum requirement of 5 observations/item. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the total score (alpha = .77) and majority of subscales (alpha range = .53-.77) were acceptable and consistent with the English version. Parental reports of a positive relationship with the HCP significantly predicted AIRS scores congruent with the professional model; longer asthma duration was associated with beliefs aligned with the lay model; and AIRS scores congruent with the professional model were related to lower

  5. Teaching and sharing about the Sun in the United States and with Spanish language resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peticolas, L. M.; Craig, N.; Hawkins, I.; Walker, C.

    2007-05-01

    The United States has many different scientific agencies that fund research on solar science, including the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Because there is a large population of Spanish-speaking people in the US, some of the resources developed by the education components of research projects take into account broader cultural perspectives on science and are developed in Spanish. We will describe the education and outreach programs of three solar programs funded by NASA and NSF, the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) program, the "We Are One Under the Sun" Program, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) education program. The STEREO program aims to teach about the Sun through different venues including teacher workshops and courses, teacher materials, turning solar data from STEREO into sound, working with museums, and creating solar posters, CDs, DVDs, and lenticulars. The "We are One Under the Sun" program focuses on Native Americans and Hispanics of Native heritage. It works by merging culture, ancient observatories, and the latest NASA solar science to engage children, youth, and the general public in science and technology through solar traditions in their own indigenous culture. The NOAO Educational Outreach Program was established to make the science and scientists of NOAO more accessible to the K-12 and college-level communities. We will focus on the NOAO solar projects and Spanish-Language Astronomy Materials Educational Center program, which provides multiple types of Spanish- language materials for teachers. These programs have had different levels of outreach in Spanish-speaking countries, namely Mexico (STEREO and "We are One Under the Sun") and Chile (NOAO). We will describe these efforts and give links to the Spanish and English resources available to learn and teach about the Sun.

  6. The relationship of expressive language development and social skills in 4-6-year-old Persian-speaking children

    OpenAIRE

    Maryam Vahab; Sima Shahim; Mohammad Majid Oryadizanjani; Salime Jafari; Maryam Faham

    2012-01-01

    Background and Aim: Social interaction plays an essential role in acquisition of speech and language as one of the most important developmental factors. The recent studies indicated that language abilities have a close relationship to social skills. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of development of expressive language and dimensions of social skills in 4-6-years-old Persian-speaking children.Methods: In this study, 123 normal Persian-speaking 4-6-year-old children (76 ...

  7. Psychometric properties of Spanish-language adult dental fear measures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heaton Lisa J

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background It would be useful to have psychometrically-sound measures of dental fear for Hispanics, who comprise the largest ethnic minority in the United States. We report on the psychometric properties of Spanish-language versions of two common adult measures of dental fear (Modified Dental Anxiety Scale, MDAS; Dental Fear Survey, DFS, as well as a measure of fear of dental injections (Needle Survey, NS. Methods Spanish versions of the measures were administered to 213 adults attending Hispanic cultural festivals, 31 students (who took the questionnaire twice, for test-retest reliability, and 100 patients at a dental clinic. We also administered the questionnaire to 136 English-speaking adults at the Hispanic festivals and 58 English-speaking students at the same college where we recruited the Spanish-speaking students, to compare the performance of the English and Spanish measures in the same populations. Results The internal reliabilities of the Spanish MDAS ranged from 0.80 to 0.85. Values for the DFS ranged from 0.92 to 0.96, and values for the NS ranged from 0.92 to 0.94. The test-retest reliabilities (intra-class correlations for the three measures were 0.69, 0.86, and 0.94 for the MDAS, DFS, and NS, respectively. The three measures showed moderate correlations with one another in all three samples, providing evidence for construct validity. Patients with higher scores on the measures were rated as being more anxious during dental procedures. Similar internal reliabilities and correlations were found in the English-version analyses. The test-retest values were also similar in the English students for the DFS and NS; however, the English test-retest value for the MDAS was better than that found in the Spanish students. Conclusion We found evidence for the internal reliability, construct validity, and criterion validity for the Spanish versions of the three measures, and evidence for the test-retest reliability of the Spanish

  8. Amount of Hispanic youth exposure to food and beverage advertising on Spanish- and English-language television.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleming-Milici, Frances; Harris, Jennifer L; Sarda, Vishnudas; Schwartz, Marlene B

    2013-08-01

    Exposure to large numbers of television advertisements for foods and beverages with little or no nutritional value likely contributes to poor diet among youth. Given higher rates of obesity and overweight for Hispanic youth, it is important to understand the amount and types of food advertising they view. To quantify the amount of food and beverage advertising viewed by Hispanic youth on Spanish- and English-language television and compare it with the amount of food and beverage advertising viewed by non-Hispanic youth. Data on gross rating points that measured advertising viewed on national broadcast and cable television in 2010 using a Nielsen panel of television-viewing households of Hispanic and non-Hispanic preschoolers (2-5 years), children (6-11 years), and adolescents (12-17 years). Food and beverage television advertisements viewed on English- and Spanish-language television by product category and television-viewing times by age and language preference. EXPOSURE Food and beverage advertising on Spanish- and English-language television. RESULTS In 2010, Hispanic preschoolers, children, and adolescents viewed, on average, 11.6 to 12.4 television food ads per day; the majority of these ads (75%-85%) appeared on English-language television. Fast food represented a higher proportion of food ads on Spanish-language television. Consistent with television-viewing patterns, Hispanic preschoolers saw more Spanish-language food advertisements than did Hispanic children and adolescents. Owing to somewhat less food advertising on Spanish-language television, Hispanic children and adolescents viewed 14% and 24% fewer food ads overall, respectively, compared with non-Hispanic youth. Spanish-language television viewing was highly concentrated among youth who primarily speak Spanish. Both Hispanic and non-Hispanic youth view large numbers of television advertisements for nutrient-poor categories of food and beverage. Although Hispanic children and adolescents see somewhat

  9. [Parenting style in Spanish parents with children aged 6 to 14].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso-Geta, Petra María

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper was to establish which parenting style of Spanish families is associated with optimum children's outcomes. A random Spanish sample of 1,103 parents of children and teenagers from 6 to 14 years of age, of whom 47% were females, reported on their child-rearing practices. Families were classified into 1 of 4 groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful) based on the parents' answers. Socialization outcomes were 6 indicators of interpersonal relationship quality, 9 indicators of psychological adjustment, 7 indicators of personal competence, and 12 indicators of behavior problems. Results showed that indulgent and authoritative parenting styles were associated with better outcomes than authoritarian and neglectful parenting. Overall, our results supported the idea that, in Spain, the optimum parenting style is the indulgent one, as scores in the four sets of socialization outcomes among children and teenagers from indulgent families were always equal to, or even better than, the authoritative parenting style.

  10. [Translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the Salt Knowledge Questionnaire to the Spanish language].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinteros-Reyes, C; Marcionelli-Sandhaus, T; Mayta-Tristán, P

    2017-11-03

    In order to reduce salt consumption in Spanish speaking countries it is necessary to know the level of salt knowledge in the population. However, there are no tools in Spanish to measure salt knowledge, but the only valid tool of measurement is the 'Salt Knowledge Questionnaire' (SKQ) developed in Australia, in English. A validation study was conducted in three phases: (Phase1) Translation of the original Australian version into Spanish; (Phase2) Cultural adaptation based on a Spanish-speaking population such as Peru and following criteria used in the development of the original questionnaire which was evaluated by a panel of experts; (Phase3) Construct validity by comparing the scores of three groups (experts, medical students and non-experts) and reliability by performing a test retest. The translation of the SKQ into Spanish maintained a semantic equivalence with the original questionnaire and a panel of experts accepted the cultural adaptation. The SKQ enables discrimination between those who know and those who do not because differences of scores were found between the group of experts, students and non-experts (P.05). The SKQ questionnaire in Spanish is valid, reliable and is a suitable first tool to measure knowledge about salt in the Spanish language. It is considered possible to adapt it culturally to the Spanish-speaking country that wishes to use it. Copyright © 2017 SEH-LELHA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  11. Swahili learners' views on the need for a monolingual Swahili ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Swahili is a second language to many East and Central Africans, and a foreign language to its learners from Europe, America, Asia and other parts of Africa as well. Yet it lacks a monolingual Swahili learners' dictionary specifically designed for them. The paper discusses the need for a monolingual Swahili pedagogical ...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  13. 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…

  14. Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Padilla

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. Methods We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289 and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339 Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. Results After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p < 0.001. Group differences on the 3MS were driven by language/executive and language/praxis factors. Within the bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. Conclusions These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.

  15. English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese? Code Choice and Austrian Export

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavric, Eva; Back, Bernhard

    2009-01-01

    This article deals with how "export oriented Austrian companies effect code choice in their business relationships with customers from Romance language speaking countries". The focus lies on the most widespread Romance languages, therefore on French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese speaking customers.The question of code choice in export…

  16. 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.

  17. Unsupervised Word Mapping Using Structural Similarities in Monolingual Embeddings

    OpenAIRE

    Aldarmaki, Hanan; Mohan, Mahesh; Diab, Mona

    2017-01-01

    Most existing methods for automatic bilingual dictionary induction rely on prior alignments between the source and target languages, such as parallel corpora or seed dictionaries. For many language pairs, such supervised alignments are not readily available. We propose an unsupervised approach for learning a bilingual dictionary for a pair of languages given their independently-learned monolingual word embeddings. The proposed method exploits local and global structures in monolingual vector ...

  18. Development and evaluation of an intermediate-level elective course on medical Spanish for pharmacy students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Robert

    The Spanish-speaking population in the United States is increasing rapidly, and there is a need for additional educational efforts, beyond teaching basic medical Spanish terminology, to increase the number of Spanish-speaking pharmacists able to provide culturally appropriate care to this patient population. This article describes the development and evaluation of an intermediate-level elective course where students integrated pharmacy practice skills with Spanish-language skills and cultural competency. Educational Activity and Setting: Medical Spanish for Pharmacists was developed as a two-credit elective course for pharmacy students in their third-professional-year who possessed a certain level of Spanish language competence. The course was designed so that students would combine patient care skills such as obtaining a medication list and providing patient education, and pharmacotherapy knowledge previously learned in the curriculum, along with Spanish-language skills, and apply them to simulated Spanish-speaking patients. Elements to promote cultural competency were integrated throughout the course through a variety of methods, including a service learning activity. Successful attainment of course goals and objectives were demonstrated through quizzes, assignments, examinations, and an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Based on these course assessments, students performed well during both offerings of the course. While the class cohort size was small in the two offerings of the course, the Medical Spanish for Pharmacists elective may still serve as an example for other pharmacy programs as an innovative approach in combining Spanish language, specific pharmacy skills, cultural competency, and service learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. The importance of oral Spanish teaching to multilingual students: A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper explores important aspects of teaching Spanish, both spoken and written, to multilingual students, with specific reference to United Sates International University (USIU), a private institution located in Nairobi, Kenya. The beginner students of Spanish at the University speak at least 3 languages, one of which is ...

  20. 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

  1. Comparing Bilingual to Monolingual Learners on English Spelling: A Meta-analytic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jing; Quiroz, Blanca; Dixon, L Quentin; Joshi, R Malatesha

    2016-08-01

    This study reports on a meta-analysis to examine how bilingual learners compare with English monolingual learners on two English spelling outcomes: real-word spelling and pseudo-word spelling. Eighteen studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2014 were retrieved. The study-level variables and characteristics (e.g. sample size, study design and research instruments) were coded, and 29 independent effect sizes across the 18 retrieved studies were analysed. We found that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on real-word spelling overall and more so in early grades, but monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on pseudo-word spelling. Further, bilinguals at risk for reading difficulties did better on real-word spelling than monolinguals at risk for reading difficulties. Having investigated systematic sources of variability in effect sizes, we conclude that in comparison with their monolingual peers, bilingual learners, especially those from alphabetic L1 backgrounds, are able to master constrained skills, such as English spelling, in the current instructional context. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  2. SYNONYMS IN GERMAN ONLINE MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paloma Sánchez Hernández

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This study includes both theoretical and qualitative research and falls within the framework of semantics and lexicography. It is based on work conducted as a part of the COMBIDIGILEX research project: MINECO-FEDER FFI2015-64476-P. The lexicographical description proposed in the COMBIDIGILEX project is based on the foundations of bilingual lexicography from an onomasiological perspective, including paradigmatic information and syntagmatic analysis, which is useful to users creating texts for students at an advanced level. The project analyses verbal lexemes in German and Spanish based on a paradigmatic, syntagmatic, orthographic and morphological perspective (among others. Subsequently, a contrastive analysis was conducted between both languages. In this contribution, we first analyse what paradigmatic information is, including its relevance to a dictionary. Paradigmatic information includes not only synonyms and antonyms but also hyperonyms and hyponyms, which often complete the lexicographical article in a general dictionary. Paradigmatic relations can be observed in light of semantic definitions or may independently become part of the lexical entry. Forming the paradigmatic information of an entry in an independent manner is known as “intentionelle Paradigmatik”, and it constitutes a series of advantages in the dictionary (Hausmann 1991b: 2794. This type of information aids the processes of production and expands vocabulary. Next, we examine the appearance of synonyms in three German online monolingual dictionaries – DWDS, WORTSCHATZLEXIKON and DUDEN ONLINE – from the semantic perspective of cognition verbs. The primary objective of the study is to demonstrate the relevance of this type of information as well as the needs it covers from a user’s perspective. Offering the user a series of lexical elements along with information on semantic relations of a paradigmatic nature thus addresses the issue of users having an array of

  3. Development and validation of a Spanish version of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, ACSI-28.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graupera Sanz, José Luis; Ruiz Pérez, Luis Miguel; García Coll, Virginia; Smith, Ronald E

    2011-08-01

    This study involved the translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28) for a Spanish-speaking sport environment. The sample was made up of 1,253 Spanish athletes, 967 males and 286 females. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the 7-factor structure found in the English version was replicated in the Spanish translation in both males and females. Likewise, the reliability coefficients were similar to those of the English version, with values exceeding .80 for the total score. Several of the subscales correlated positively with sports experience and performance level. The Spanish version of the ACSI-28 thus maintains the factor structure of the original and exhibits similar psychometric properties. Consequently, it can reliably be applied to Spanish-speaking athletes for research and evaluation purposes.

  4. Children's Expressive Language Skills and Their Impact on the Relation between First-and Second-Language Phonological Awareness Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodrich, J. Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J.; Farver, JoAnn M.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the cross-language relations between the phonological awareness (PA) skills of preschool children learning more than one language are dependent upon their first-and second-language oral language skills. Four hundred sixty-six Spanish-speaking language minority children participated in this study.…

  5. Contributions of Phonological Processing Skills to Reading Skills in Arabic Speaking Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taibah, Nadia J.; Haynes, Charles W.

    2011-01-01

    This cross-sectional study investigated contributions of phonological awareness (Elision and blending), rapid naming (object, color, letter, and digit), and phonological memory (nonword repetition and Digit Span) to basic decoding and fluency skills in Arabic. Participants were 237 Arabic speaking children from Grades K-3. Dependent measures…

  6. Early preschool processing abilities predict subsequent reading outcomes in bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguilar-Mediavilla, Eva; Buil-Legaz, Lucía; Pérez-Castelló, Josep A; Rigo-Carratalà, Eduard; Adrover-Roig, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have severe language difficulties without showing hearing impairments, cognitive deficits, neurological damage or socio-emotional deprivation. However, previous studies have shown that children with SLI show some cognitive and literacy problems. Our study analyses the relationship between preschool cognitive and linguistic abilities and the later development of reading abilities in Spanish-Catalan bilingual children with SLI. The sample consisted of 17 bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI and 17 age-matched controls. We tested eight distinct processes related to phonological, attention, and language processing at the age of 6 years and reading at 8 years of age. Results show that bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI show significantly lower scores, as compared to typically developing peers, in phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN), together with a lower outcome in tasks measuring sentence repetition and verbal fluency. Regarding attentional processes, bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI obtained lower scores in auditory attention, but not in visual attention. At the age of 8 years Spanish-Catalan children with SLI had lower scores than their age-matched controls in total reading score, letter identification (decoding), and in semantic task (comprehension). Regression analyses identified both phonological awareness and verbal fluency at the age of 6 years to be the best predictors of subsequent reading performance at the age of 8 years. Our data suggest that language acquisition problems and difficulties in reading acquisition in bilingual children with SLI might be related to the close interdependence between a limitation in cognitive processing and a deficit at the linguistic level. After reading this article, readers will be able to: identify their understanding of the relation between language difficulties and reading outcomes; explain how processing

  7. Physical activity maintenance among Spanish-speaking Latinas in a randomized controlled trial of an Internet-based intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartman, Sheri J; Dunsiger, Shira I; Bock, Beth C; Larsen, Britta A; Linke, Sarah; Pekmezi, Dori; Marquez, Becky; Gans, Kim M; Mendoza-Vasconez, Andrea S; Marcus, Bess H

    2017-06-01

    Spanish-speaking Latinas have some of the lowest rates of meeting physical activity guidelines in the U.S. and are at high risk for many related chronic diseases. The purpose of the current study was to examine the maintenance of a culturally and individually-tailored Internet-based physical activity intervention for Spanish-speaking Latinas. Inactive Latinas (N  =  205) were randomly assigned to a 6-month Tailored Physical Activity Internet Intervention or a Wellness Contact Control Internet Group, with a 6-month follow-up. Maintenance was measured by assessing group differences in minutes per week of self-reported and accelerometer measured moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at 12 months after baseline and changes in MVPA between the end of the active intervention (month 6) and the end of the study (month 12). Potential moderators of the intervention were also examined. Data were collected between 2011 and 2014, and were analyzed in 2015 at the University of California, San Diego. The Intervention Group engaged in significantly more minutes of MVPA per week than the Control Group at the end of the maintenance period for both self-reported (mean diff. = 30.68, SE = 11.27, p = .007) and accelerometer measured (mean diff. = 11.47, SE = 3.19, p = .01) MVPA. There were no significant between- or within-group changes in MVPA from month 6 to 12. Greater intervention effects were seen for those with lower BMI (BMI × intervention = -6.67, SE = 2.88, p = .02) and lower perceived places to walk to in their neighborhood (access × intervention = -43.25, SE = 19.07, p = .02), with a trend for less family support (social support × intervention = -3.49, SE = 2.05, p = .08). Acculturation, health literacy, and physical activity related psychosocial variables were not significant moderators of the intervention effect during the maintenance period. Findings from the current study support the efficacy of an Internet

  8. False belief understanding in Cantonese-speaking children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tardif, Twila; Wellman, Henry M; Cheung, Kar Man

    2004-11-01

    The present study investigates the performance of 96 Cantonese-speaking three- to five-year-old preschoolers on three false belief tasks - a deceptive object, a change of location, and an unexpected contents task encompassing a variety of task factors. Most importantly, the research examines the possibility that false belief performance depends on specific linguistic factors such as the type of verb used in the test question--an explicitly false vs. a neutral belief verb. Cantonese was chosen as particularly useful for examining this question because it explicitly codes belief status as either neutral (nam5) or false (ji5wai4), and because it offers additional linguistic and cultural contrasts to research conducted on false belief with children learning English and other Indo-European languages. As expected, a strong age effect was found, as well as a significant advantage for children who received the explicit false belief (ji5wai4) wording and for those who were asked to explain rather than predict the protagonist's actions. Interestingly, there was also a strong task difference with children performing better on the deceptive object task than on the other two false belief tasks. We argue that these results point both to universal trajectories in theory of mind development and to interesting, but localized, effects of language and culture on children's false belief understanding.

  9. Differential item functioning of the patient-reported outcomes information system (PROMIS®) pain interference item bank by language (Spanish versus English).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paz, Sylvia H; Spritzer, Karen L; Reise, Steven P; Hays, Ron D

    2017-06-01

    About 70% of Latinos, 5 years old or older, in the United States speak Spanish at home. Measurement equivalence of the PROMIS ® pain interference (PI) item bank by language of administration (English versus Spanish) has not been evaluated. A sample of 527 adult Spanish-speaking Latinos completed the Spanish version of the 41-item PROMIS ® pain interference item bank. We evaluate dimensionality, monotonicity and local independence of the Spanish-language items. Then we evaluate differential item functioning (DIF) using ordinal logistic regression with item response theory scores estimated from DIF-free "anchor" items. One of the 41 items in the Spanish version of the PROMIS ® PI item bank was identified as having significant uniform DIF. English- and Spanish-speaking subjects with the same level of pain interference responded differently to 1 of the 41 items in the PROMIS ® PI item bank. This item was not retained due to proprietary issues. The original English language item parameters can be used when estimating PROMIS ® PI scores.

  10. Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents: Psychometric Characteristics in a Spanish Sample

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perpina, Conxa; Cebolla, Ausias; Botella, Cristina; Lurbe, Empar; Torro, Maria-Isabel

    2011-01-01

    The aims of this study were to validate the Emotional Eating Scale version for children (EES-C) in a Spanish population and study the differences in emotional eating among children with binge eating (BE), overeating (OE), and no episodes of disordered eating (NED). The questionnaire was completed by 199 children aged 9 to 16 years. Confirmatory…

  11. Language Skills of Bidialectal and Bilingual Children: Considering a Strengths-Based Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee-James, Ryan; Washington, Julie A.

    2018-01-01

    This article examines the language and cognitive skills of bidialectal and bilingual children, focusing on African American English bidialectal speakers and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. It contributes to the discussion by considering two themes in the extant literature: (1) linguistic and cognitive strengths can be found in speaking two…

  12. Cognitive advantages of bilingual children in different sociolinguistic contexts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blom, E.; Boerma, T.; Bosma, E.; Cornips, L.M.E.A.; Everaert, E.

    2017-01-01

    Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6–7 years, with a monolingual control

  13. El Discurso de Pasado en el Espanol de Houston: Imperfectividad Y Perfectividad Verbal en una Situacion de Contacto (Past Tense in the Discourse of Spanish Speakers in Houston: Use of Preterite and Imperfect in a Language Contact Situation).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mrak, N. Ariana

    1998-01-01

    Investigates whether, due to the language contact situation in Houston in a group of a Mexican-American speakers, the imperfect forms of subordinate language (Spanish) are going through a process of reduction in favor of the forms of the superordinate language (English) when compared to the speech of Spanish monolinguals. (Author/VWL)

  14. Psychometric evaluation of the Spanish version of the MPI-SCI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soler, M D; Cruz-Almeida, Y; Saurí, J; Widerström-Noga, E G

    2013-07-01

    Postal surveys. To confirm the factor structure of the Spanish version of the MPI-SCI (MPI-SCI-S, Multidimensional Pain Inventory in the SCI population) and to test its internal consistency and construct validity in a Spanish population. Guttmann Institute, Barcelona, Spain. The MPI-SCI-S along with Spanish measures of pain intensity (Numerical Rating Scale), pain interference (Brief Pain Inventory), functional independence (Functional Independence Measure), depression (Beck Depression Inventory), locus of control (Multidimensional health Locus of Control), support (Functional Social Support Questionnaire (Duke-UNC)), psychological well-being (Psychological Global Well-Being Index) and demographic/injury characteristics were assessed in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and chronic pain (n=126). Confirmatory factor analysis suggested an adequate factor structure for the MPI-SCI-S. The internal consistency of the MPI-SCI-S subscales ranged from acceptable (r=0.66, Life Control) to excellent (r=0.94, Life Interference). All MPI-SCI-S subscales showed adequate construct validity, with the exception of the Negative and Solicitous Responses subscales. The Spanish version of the MPI-SCI is adequate for evaluating chronic pain impact following SCI in a Spanish-speaking population. Future studies should include additional measures of pain-related support in the Spanish-speaking SCI population.

  15. 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.

  16. Receptive Language Skills in Slovak-Speaking Children With Intellectual Disability: Understanding Words, Sentences, and Stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polišenská, Kamila; Kapalková, Svetlana; Novotková, Monika

    2018-06-05

    The study aims to describe receptive language skills in children with intellectual disability (ID) and to contribute to the debate on deviant versus delayed language development. This is the 1st study of receptive skills in children with ID who speak a Slavic language, providing insight into how language development is affected by disability and also language typology. Twenty-eight Slovak-speaking children participated in the study (14 children with ID and 14 typically developing [TD] children matched on nonverbal reasoning abilities). The children were assessed by receptive language tasks targeting words, sentences, and stories, and the groups were compared quantitatively and qualitatively. The groups showed similar language profiles, with a better understanding of words, followed by sentences, with the poorest comprehension for stories. Nouns were comprehended better than verbs; sentence constructions also showed a qualitatively similar picture, although some dissimilarities emerged. Verb comprehension was strongly related to sentence comprehension in both groups and related to story comprehension in the TD group only. The findings appear to support the view that receptive language skills follow the same developmental route in children with ID as seen in younger TD children, suggesting that language development is a robust process and does not seem to be differentially affected by ID even when delayed.

  17. Impact of orthographic transparency on typical and atypical reading development: evidence in French-Spanish bilingual children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lallier, Marie; Valdois, Sylviane; Lassus-Sangosse, Delphine; Prado, Chloé; Kandel, Sonia

    2014-05-01

    The present study aimed to quantify cross-linguistic modulations of the contribution of phonemic awareness skills and visual attention span (VA Span) skills (number of visual elements that can be processed simultaneously) to reading speed and accuracy in 18 Spanish-French balanced bilingual children with and without developmental dyslexia. The children were administered two similar reading batteries in French and Spanish. The deficits of the dyslexic children in reading accuracy were mainly visible in their opaque orthography (French) whereas difficulties indexed by reading speed were observed in both their opaque and transparent orthographies. Dyslexic children did not exhibit any phonemic awareness problems in French or in Spanish, but showed poor VA Span skills compared to their control peers. VA span skills correlated with reading accuracy and speed measures in both Spanish and French, whereas phonemic awareness correlated with reading accuracy only. Overall, the present results show that the VA Span is tightly related to reading speed regardless of orthographic transparency, and that it accounts for differences in reading performance between good and poor readers across languages. The present findings further suggest that VA Span skills may play a particularly important role in building-up specific word knowledge which is critical for lexical reading strategies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Infants and Toddlers with Hearing Loss from Bilingual Homes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine Yoshinaga-Itano

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This article provides information about intervention strategies for children who are deaf or hard of hearing in non-English speaking homes with research data on children in Spanish-speaking homes living in the United States.  A description of the language learning environment of these families are compared to children with typical development in Spanish-speaking homes, children who are deaf or hard of hearing in English-speaking homes and children with typical development in English-speaking homes.  The language learning environment includes the average number of adult words, of conversational turns, and child vocalizations in an average day, as well as the percent of the day in silence, in noise, with TV/radio, with distant language and meaningful language. 

  19. Age of dementia diagnosis in community dwelling bilingual and monolingual Hispanic Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawton, Deborah M; Gasquoine, Philip G; Weimer, Amy A

    2015-05-01

    Bilingualism has been reported to delay the age of retrospective report of first symptom in dementia. This study determined if the age of clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia occurred later for bilingual than monolingual, immigrant and U.S. born, Hispanic Americans. It involved a secondary analysis of the subset of 81 bi/monolingual dementia cases identified at yearly follow-up (1998 through 2008) using neuropsychological test results and objective diagnostic criteria from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging that involved a random sampling of community dwelling Hispanic Americans (N = 1789). Age of dementia diagnosis was analyzed in a 2 × 2 (bi/monolingualism × immigrant/U.S. born) ANOVA that space revealed both main effects and the interaction were non-significant. Mean age of dementia diagnosis was descriptively (but not significantly) higher in the monolingual (M = 81.10 years) than the bilingual (M = 79.31) group. Overall, bilingual dementia cases were significantly better educated than monolinguals, but U.S. born bilinguals and monolinguals did not differ significantly in education. Delays in dementia symptomatology pertaining to bilingualism are less likely to be found in studies: (a) that use age of clinical diagnosis vs. retrospective report of first dementia symptom as the dependent variable; and (b) involve clinical cases derived from community samples rather than referrals to specialist memory clinics. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Using the Hemophilia Joint Health Score for assessment of children: Reliability of the Spanish version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    R, Cuesta-Barriuso; A, Torres-Ortuño; S, Pérez-Alenda; J, Carrasco Juan; F, Querol; J, Nieto-Munuera; Ja, López-Pina

    2018-02-27

    Numerous measuring instruments for the evaluation of hemophilic arthropathy have been developed. One of the most used systems is the Hemophilia Joint Health Score (HJHS) given its sensitivity to clinical changes appearing in the joints because of recurrent hemarthrosis. Assessing the interrater reliability, using the Spanish version of the HJHS (version 2.1) in children with hemophilia. Reliability study to assess the interrater reliability of the Spanish version of HJHS. A sample of 36 children aged 7-13 years diagnosed with hemophilia A or B was used. Two physiotherapists performed physical assessments with the Spanish version of the HJHS. Descriptive statistics (range, mean, standard deviation) and the analysis of interrater reliability were calculated. The interrater reliability was heterogeneous since the Kappa coefficient range (ĸ), although significant (p reliability of the Spanish population version of the HJHS is high. This scale should be used generically in evaluating musculoskeletal pediatric patients with hemophilia.

  1. Lo que los Padres Necesitan Saber sobre...Reconocer y Animar los Intereses, las Capacidades, y los Talentos de los Ninos Dotados de la Escuela Primaria. Guia Practica B0213 (What Parents Need To Know about...Recognizing and Encouraging Interests, Strengths, and Talents of Gifted Elementary School Children. Practitioners' Guide B0213).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delcourt, Marcia A. B.

    This brochure, written in Spanish, discusses strategies that Spanish-speaking parents can use to support the interests of their children and how to recognize and extend their children's talents. Parents are urged to: (1) be aware of what their child likes to do and be patient with the changing patterns as the child explores areas of interests and…

  2. Degree of Bilingualism Modifies Executive Control in Hispanic Children in the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas-Sunesson, Danielle; Hakuta, Kenji; Bialystok, Ellen

    2018-01-01

    Past studies examining the cognitive function of bilingual school-aged children have pointed to enhancements in areas of executive control relative to age-matched monolingual children. The majority of these studies has tested children from a middle-class background and compared performance of bilinguals as a discrete group against monolinguals.…

  3. Parent Reports of Young Spanish-English Bilingual Children's Productive Vocabulary: A Development and Validation Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Gámez, Perla B.; Vagh, Shaher Banu; Lesaux, Nonie K.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This 2-phase study aims to extend research on parent report measures of children's productive vocabulary by investigating the development (n = 38) of the Spanish Vocabulary Extension and validity (n = 194) of the 100-item Spanish and English MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories Toddler Short Forms and Upward Extension…

  4. Verbal fluency in bilingual Spanish/English Alzheimer's disease patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvatierra, Judy; Rosselli, Monica; Acevedo, Amarilis; Duara, Ranjan

    2007-01-01

    Studies have demonstrated that in verbal fluency tests, monolinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show greater difficulties retrieving words based on semantic rather than phonemic rules. The present study aimed to determine whether this difficulty was reproduced in both languages of Spanish/English bilinguals with mild to moderate AD whose primary language was Spanish. Performance on semantic and phonemic verbal fluency of 11 bilingual AD patients was compared to the performance of 11 cognitively normal, elderly bilingual individuals matched for gender, age, level of education, and degree of bilingualism. Cognitively normal subjects retrieved significantly more items under the semantic condition compared to the phonemic, whereas the performance of AD patients was similar under both conditions, suggesting greater decline in semantic verbal fluency tests. This pattern was produced in both languages, implying a related semantic decline in both languages. Results from this study should be considered preliminary because of the small sample size.

  5. Proyecto Leer Bulletin, Number 11.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tome, Martha V., Ed.

    Educational materials for students of Spanish and the Spanish speaking are listed in this bulletin. A general information section lists reference materials on bilingual children, the blind and physically handicapped, comics, consumer education, employment, health, heritage of the Spanish speaking, Mexican American biography, Mexican American film…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Singh

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on the ground-breaking research in the study of languages in doctoral education. It argues for democratizing the production and dissemination of original contributions to knowledge through activating and mobilizing multilingual Higher Degree Researchers’ (HDRs capabilities for theorizing through them using their full linguistic repertoire. This paper contributes to this study’s development of post-monolingual research methodology which provides a theoretic-pedagogical framework for multilingual HDRs (a to use their full linguistic repertoire in their research; (b to develop their capabilities for theorizing and (c to construct potentially valuable theoretical tools using metaphors, images, concepts and modes of critique. This paper is based on a longitudinal program of collaborative research whereby monolingual Anglophone and multilingual HDRs jointly developed their capabilities for theorizing through producing Anglo-Chinese analytical tools, and the associated pedagogies for using their languages in doctoral research. This longitudinal research program has been undertaken in the field of doctoral education to further a defining feature of democracy, namely linguistic diversity. This research has been conducted with the aims of promoting the multilingualism of Australian universities and activating linguistic communities of scholars to use their full linguistic repertoire in their research. The main finding arising from this program of research has been the development of post-monolingual research methodology which (a uses the divergences within and between languages to undertake theorizing and (b in co-existence with the tensions posed by monolingualism, especially the insistence on using extant theories available in only one language. Doctoral pedagogies of intellectual/racial equality provide multilingual HDRs with insights into the debates about the geopolitics governing the use of languages in the production and

  7. "Michael Jackson y Otros Cuentos": An Approach to Literacy Development for Bilingual Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brisk, Maria Estela

    A program in which Spanish-speaking first grade children were encouraged to write stories about subjects of interest to them, using microcomputers and composing a personal storybook, has the advantages of using little-used computers, providing a link between oral and written language, encouraging creativity in students often perceived as learning…

  8. 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...

  9. 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...

  10. Using Cognitive Interviews to Evaluate the Spanish-Language Translation of Dietary Questionnaire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerry Levin

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available We present results from a qualitative evaluation of the Spanish-language version of a dietary intake questionnaire and characterize the types of findings which emerged from several rounds of cognitive testing. Cognitive interviews were used to test the Spanish translation of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS Cancer Control Supplement dietary questions, with 36 Spanish-speaking and 9 English-speaking participants. Analyses of the results identified (a translation issues, (b culture-specific issues, and (c general design issues that affected both English and Spanish speakers. Results indicated that general design-oriented difficulties were particularly frequent. Our findings suggest that when appropriately structured, cognitive interviews that feature flexible probing can be useful for identifying a range of problems in survey translations, even after translations have been developed using currently accepted methods. We make several recommendations concerning practices that may be optimal in the conduct of empirical cross-cultural questionnaire evaluations.

  11. Expressive Morphological Skills of Dual Language Learning and Monolingual German Children: Exploring Links to Duration of Preschool Attendance, Classroom Quality, and Classroom Composition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lilly-Marlen Bihler

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available A growing body of research has been documenting environmental factors that support preschoolers’ vocabulary skills. However, less is known about how environmental factors are related to morphological skills of dual language learners (DLLs and single language learners (SLLs. We examined connections with preschool experiences by investigating the effects of duration of preschool attendance, classroom quality, and classroom composition variables (percentage of DLLs and percentage of children from families with a low socio-economic status on preschoolers’ expressive morphological skills. Several multilevel regression models were estimated using cross-sectional data from 835 children (n = 255 DLLs aged 30–47 months. These children were nested in 169 preschool classrooms in Germany. As a control task, we also investigated children’s phonological processing abilities, for which we found, as expected, no differences between DLLs and SLLs. Our main finding was that DLL children scored lower in expressive morphological skills than their German monolingual peers, but this difference was considerably smaller in classrooms that scored high in instructive teacher–child interactions (measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System for pre-kindergarten children; CLASS Pre-K. Taken together, these results support the notion that supportive teacher–child instructive interactions have a positive impact on the development of DLLs’ morphological skills.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  13. Spanish parents' emotion talk and their children's understanding of emotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aznar, Ana; Tenenbaum, Harriet R

    2013-01-01

    Relations between parent-child emotion talk and children's emotion understanding were examined in 63 Spanish mothers and fathers and their 4- (M = 53.35 months, SD = 3.86) and 6-year-old (M = 76.62 months, SD = 3.91) children. Parent-child emotion talk was analyzed during two storytelling tasks: a play-related storytelling task and a reminiscence task (conversation about past experiences). Children's emotion understanding was assessed twice through a standardized test of emotion comprehension (TEC; Pons et al., 2004), once before one of the two parent-child storytelling sessions and again 6 months later. Mothers' use of emotion labels during the play-related storytelling task predicted children's emotion understanding after controlling for children's previous emotion understanding. Whereas fathers' use of emotion labels during the play-related storytelling task was correlated with children's emotion understanding, it did not predict children's emotion understanding after controlling for previous emotion understanding. Implications of these findings for future research on children's socioemotional development are discussed.

  14. Novel-word learning deficits in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with specific language impairments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yuchun; Liu, Huei-Mei

    2014-01-01

    Children with SLI exhibit overall deficits in novel word learning compared to their age-matched peers. However, the manifestation of the word learning difficulty in SLI was not consistent across tasks and the factors affecting the learning performance were not yet determined. Our aim is to examine the extent of word learning difficulties in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI, and to explore the potent influence of existing lexical knowledge on to the word learning process. Preschool children with SLI (n=37) and typical language development (n=33) were exposed to novel words for unfamiliar objects embedded in stories. Word learning tasks including the initial mapping and short-term repetitive learning were designed. Results revealed that Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI performed as well as their age-peers in the initial form-meaning mapping task. Their word learning difficulty was only evidently shown in the short-term repetitive learning task under a production demand, and their learning speed was slower than the control group. Children with SLI learned the novel words with a semantic head better in both the initial mapping and repetitive learning tasks. Moderate correlations between stand word learning performances and scores on standardized vocabulary were found after controlling for children's age and nonverbal IQ. The results suggested that the word learning difficulty in children with SLI occurred in the process of establishing a robust phonological representation at the beginning stage of word learning. Also, implicit compound knowledge is applied to aid word learning process for children with and without SLI. We also provide the empirical data to validate the relationship between preschool children's word learning performance and their existing receptive vocabulary ability. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Stroop Color-Word Interference Test: Normative data for the Latin American Spanish speaking adult population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivera, D; Perrin, P B; Stevens, L F; Garza, M T; Weil, C; Saracho, C P; Rodríguez, W; Rodríguez-Agudelo, Y; Rábago, B; Weiler, G; García de la Cadena, C; Longoni, M; Martínez, C; Ocampo-Barba, N; Aliaga, A; Galarza-Del-Angel, J; Guerra, A; Esenarro, L; Arango-Lasprilla, J C

    2015-01-01

    To generate normative data on the Stroop Test across 11 countries in Latin America, with country-specific adjustments for gender, age, and education, where appropriate. The sample consisted of 3,977 healthy adults who were recruited from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and, Puerto Rico. Each subject was administered the Stroop Test, as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. A standardized five-step statistical procedure was used to generate the norms. The final multiple linear regression models explained 14-36% of the variance in Stroop Word scores, 12-41% of the variance in the Stoop Color, 14-36% of the variance in the Stroop Word-Color scores, and 4-15% of variance in Stroop Interference scores. Although t-tests showed significant differences between men and women on the Stroop test, none of the countries had an effect size larger than 0.3. As a result, gender-adjusted norms were not generated. This is the first normative multicenter study conducted in Latin America to create norms for the Stoop Test in a Spanish-Speaking sample. This study will therefore have important implications for the future of neuropsychology research and practice throughout the region.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  17. Spanish translation and validation of four short pelvic floor disorders questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treszezamsky, Alejandro D; Karp, Deborah; Dick-Biascoechea, Madeline; Ehsani, Nazanin; Dancz, Christina; Montoya, T Ignacio; Olivera, Cedric K; Smith, Aimee L; Cardenas, Rosa; Fashokun, Tola; Bradley, Catherine S

    2013-04-01

    Globally, Spanish is the primary language for 329 million people; however, most urogynecologic questionnaires are available in English. We set out to develop valid Spanish translations of the Questionnaire for Urinary Incontinence Diagnosis (QUID), the Three Incontinence Questions (3IQ), and the short Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20) and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ-7). The TRAPD method (translation, review, adjudication, pretesting, and documentation) was used for translation. Eight native Spanish-speaking translators developed Spanish versions collaboratively. These were pretested with cognitive interviews and revised until optimal. For validation, bilingual patients at seven clinics completed Spanish and English questionnaire versions in randomized order. Participants completed a second set of questionnaires later. The Spanish versions' internal consistency and reliability and Spanish-English agreement were measured using Cronbach's alpha, weighted kappa, and intraclass correlation coefficients. A total of 78 subjects were included; 94.9 % self-identified as Hispanic and 73.1 % spoke Spanish as their primary language. The proportion of per-item missing responses was similar in both languages (median 1.3 %). Internal consistency for Spanish PFDI-20 subscales was acceptable to good and for PFIQ-7 and QUID excellent. Test-retest reliability per item was moderate to near perfect for PFDI-20, substantial to near perfect for PFIQ-7 and 3IQ, and substantial for QUID. Spanish-English agreement for individual items was substantial to near perfect for all questionnaires (kappa range 0.64-0.95) and agreement for PFDI-20, PFIQ-7, and QUID subscales scores was high [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) range 0.92-0.99]. We obtained valid Spanish translations of the PFDI-20, PFIQ-7, QUID, and 3IQ. These results support their use as clinical and research assessment tools in Spanish-speaking populations.

  18. Locus and Nature of Perceptual Phonological Deficit in Spanish Children with Reading Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz, Rosario; Jimenez, Juan E.; Miranda, Eduardo Garcia; Rosquete, Remedios Guzman; Hernandez-Valle, Isabel; Rodrigo, Mercedes; Estevez, Adelina; Diaz, Alicia; Exposito, Sergio Hernandez

    2007-01-01

    The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether Spanish children with reading disabilities (RD) show a speech perception deficit and (b) to explore the locus and nature of this perceptive deficit. A group of 29 children with RD, 41 chronological age-matched controls, and 27 reading ability-matched younger controls were tested on tasks of…

  19. Phonological recovery in Spanish developmental dyslexics through the tip-of-the-tongue paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez-Coalla, Paz; Collazo Alonso, Aida; González-Nosti, María

    2013-01-01

    Developmental dyslexics have difficulties accessing and retrieving the phonological form of words, in the absence of a deficit at the semantic level. The aim of this work was to study, through the Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) paradigm, the problems of lexical access in Spanish-speaking developmental dyslexics and the relationship with their phonological awareness. A group of developmental dyslexics (14) and other children without reading difficulties (14), aged 7 to 12, performed a picture naming task of medium and low frequency and a task of phonological awareness. The results indicated that dyslexic children generally show a greater number of TOT phenomena than the control group. Despite being able to provide semantic information of the drawing, they had difficulties retrieving partial phonological information. These results indicate that developmental dyslexic children have particular difficulty in accessing the phonological form of words, which may be interesting for the development of intervention programs for these children.

  20. Topicality and Complexity in the Acquisition of Norwegian Object Shift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderssen, Merete; Bentzen, Kristine; Rodina, Yulia

    2012-01-01

    This article investigates the acquisition of object shift in Norwegian child language. We show that object shift is complex derivationally, distributionally, and referentially, and propose a new analysis in terms of IP-internal topicalization. The results of an elicited production study with 27 monolingual Norwegian-speaking children (ages…

  1. Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Children: an adaptation and validation of the Spanish version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broc, Miguel Ángel

    2014-10-01

    Harter´s Self-Perception Profile for Children was translated into Spanish and was administered to representative students from the Aragon Community, 1,058 elementary and junior high school children from 3rd to 8th grades, respectively. Following the same statistical procedures used by Harter, similar and interesting results were obtained for the factor structure of the specific self-perception subscales, the self-worth subscale, the correlations among specific subscales and the reliability of their items across different Spanish subsamples, using the Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses. This empirical research compare and complete other work carried out in Spain, and permitted the use of the Harter scale outside the United States, although some conceptual issues need further attention.

  2. 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...

  3. Quien es Quien: A Who's Who of Spanish-Heritage Librarians in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trejo, Arnulfo D., Ed.; Lodwick, Kathleen L.

    Identified are 245 librarians who speak Spanish, come from Hispanic backgrounds, and hold degrees in librarianship. Names are listed alphabetically. Each listing includes birthdate, source of degree, level of fluency in Spanish, professional specialization, work experience, professional memberships, publications, honors, home address, and present…

  4. A Comparison between Verbal Working Memory and Vocabulary in Bilingual and Monolingual South African School Beginners: Implications for Bilingual Language Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cockcroft, Kate

    2016-01-01

    This study compared bilingual and monolingual school beginners on measures of simple and complex verbal working memory and receptive and expressive vocabulary. The aim was to determine whether the tests of working memory are fairer measures of language ability than the vocabulary tests for bilingual children when tested in their second language.…

  5. Adjective production by Russian-speaking children with specific language impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tribushinina, Elena; Dubinkina, Elena

    2012-06-01

    Research on specific language impairment (SLI) has primarily focused on the acquisition of nouns and verbs. Less attention has been given to other content-word classes, such as adjectives and adverbs. This article investigates adjective production by 7- to 10-year-old Russian-speaking children with SLI and their typically developing (TD) peers and focuses on the production of antonymous adjectives and degree markers in an elicitation experiment. The results show that degree morphology is more impaired in SLI than antonymy. In antonym production, children with SLI were able to catch up with their TD peers by age 8. In the domain of degree, however, the SLI group lagged behind the TD controls across all ages studied. Error analysis indicates that language-impaired children have particular difficulty with agreement inflection and affixal negations. They also substitute adjectives with specific meanings by more general terms. The implications of this study for the morphological-richness hypothesis are discussed.

  6. Working memory span in Persian-speaking children with speech sound disorders and normal speech development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afshar, Mohamad Reza; Ghorbani, Ali; Rashedi, Vahid; Jalilevand, Nahid; Kamali, Mohamad

    2017-10-01

    The aim of this study was to compare working memory span in Persian-speaking preschool children with speech sound disorder (SSD) and their typically speaking peers. Additionally, the study aimed to examine Non-Word Repetition (NWR), Forward Digit Span (FDS) and Backward Digit Span (BDS) in four groups of children with varying severity levels of SSD. The participants in this study comprised 35 children with SSD and 35 typically developing (TD) children -matched for age and sex-as a control group. The participants were between the age range of 48 and 72 months. Two components of working memory including phonological loop and central executive were compared between two groups. We used two tasks (NWR and FDS) to assess phonological loop component, and one task (BDS) to assess central executive component. Percentage of correct consonants (PCC) was used to calculate the severity of SSD. Significant differences were observed between the two groups in all tasks that assess working memory (p working memory between the various severity groups indicated significant differences between different severities of both NWR and FDS tasks among the SSD children (p  0.05). The result showed that PCC scores in TD children were associated with NWR (p  0.05). The working memory skills were weaker in SSD children, in comparison to TD children. In addition, children with varying levels of severity of SSD differed in terms of NWR and FSD, but not BDS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Internal consistency of the CHAMPS physical activity questionnaire for Spanish speaking older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosario, Martín G; Vázquez, Jenniffer M; Cruz, Wanda I; Ortiz, Alexis

    2008-09-01

    The Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) is a physical activity monitoring questionnaire for people between 65 to 90 years old. This questionnaire has been previously translated to Spanish to be used in the Latin American population. To adapt the Spanish version of the CHAMPS questionnaire to Puerto Rico and assess its internal consistency. An external review committee adapted the existent Spanish version of the CHAMPS to be used in the Puerto Rican population. Three older adults participated in a second phase with the purpose of training the research team. After the second phase, 35 older adults participated in a third content adaptation phase. During the third phase, the preliminary Spanish version for Puerto Rico of the CHAMPS was given to the 35 participants to assess for clarity, vocabulary and understandability. Interviews to each participant in the third phase were carried out to obtain feedback and create a final Spanish version of the CHAMPS for Puerto Rico. After analyses of this phase, the external review committee prepared a final Spanish version of the CHAMPS for Puerto Rico. The final version was administered to 15 older adults (76 +/- 6.5 years) to assess the internal consistency by using Cronbach's Alpha analysis. The questionnaire showed a strong internal consistency of 0.76. The total time to answer the questionnaire was 17.4 minutes. The Spanish version of the CHAMPS questionnaire for Puerto Rico suggested being an easy to administer and consistent measurement tool to assess physical activity in older adults.

  8. The Role of Emergent Bilingualism in the Development of Morphological Awareness in Arabic and Hebrew.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Mila; Taha, Haitham; Assad, Hanan; Khamaisi, Ferdos; Eviatar, Zohar

    2016-08-01

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of dual language development and cross-linguistic influence on morphological awareness in young bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2). We examined whether (a) the bilingual children (L1/L2 Arabic and L1/L2 Hebrew) precede their monolingual Hebrew- or Arabic-speaking peers in L1 and L2 morphological awareness, and (b) 1 Semitic language (Arabic) has cross-linguistic influence on another Semitic language (Hebrew) in morphological awareness. The study sample comprised 93 six-year-old children. The bilinguals had attended bilingual Hebrew-Arabic kindergartens for 1 academic year and were divided into 2 groups: home language Hebrew (L1) and home language Arabic (L1). These groups were compared to age-matched monolingual Hebrew speakers and monolingual Arabic speakers. We used nonwords similar in structure to familiar words in both target languages, representing 6 inflectional morphological categories. L1 Arabic and L1 Hebrew bilinguals performed significantly better than Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking monolinguals in the respective languages. Differences were not found between the bilingual groups. We found evidence of cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness from Arabic to Hebrew in 2 categories-bound possessives and dual number-probably because these categories are more salient in Palestinian Spoken Arabic than in Hebrew. We conclude that children with even an initial exposure to L2 reveal acceleration of sensitivity to word structure in both of their languages. We suggest that this is due to the fact that two Semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew, share a common core of linguistic features, together with favorable contextual factors and instructional factors.

  9. Adequacy of Usual Vitamin and Mineral Intake in Spanish Children and Adolescents: ENALIA Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana M. López-Sobaler

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Background: The National Dietary Survey on the Child and Adolescent Population in Spain (ENALIA provides data to assess the usual micronutrient intake among Spanish infants, children, and adolescents. Methods: Cross-sectional survey (November 2012–July 2014 of a representative sample of Spanish children and adolescents (six months–17 years (n = 1862. Dietary information was collected using two non-consecutive one-day food diaries (six months–10 years old or two 24 h dietary recalls (11 years and older separated by at least 14 days. Estimates were calculated using the Iowa State University method and PC-SIDE software (version 1.0, department of statistics, center for agricultural and rural development, Ames, IA, USA to account for within- and between-person variation. Results: Usual intake of vitamin D was insufficient in practically all individuals. Vitamin E, folate, and calcium were insufficient, especially from nine years of age, and magnesium and iodine from 14 years of age. The percentage of subjects with insufficient intakes was higher among females. Sodium intake was excessive in a considerable percentage of the population, especially in males, and it increased with age. Finally, over half of children under four years of age had zinc usual intakes that exceeded the Tolerable Upper Level. Conclusion: Vitamin and mineral intake in Spain should be improved, especially in late childhood and adolescence. Nutritional intervention and educational strategies are needed to promote healthy eating habits and correct micronutrient inadequacies in Spanish children and adolescents.

  10. Ensenanzas en un gimnasio: an investigation of modeling and verbal rehearsal on the motor performance of Hispanic limited English proficient children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meaney, K S; Edwards, R

    1996-03-01

    This study investigated the effects of modeling and verbal rehearsal on the motor performance of English-speaking and limited English proficient (LEP) children. Children (N = 64) in 4th-grade classes were randomly assigned to conditions in a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 (Gender x Primary Language x Model Type x Rehearsal) factorial design. Boys and girls whose primary language was English or Spanish were assigned to either a verbal model or no-model condition as well as to a verbal rehearsal or no-rehearsal condition of the motor skills required to be performed. Analysis of variance revealed a significant Model Type x Primary Language interaction as well as a significant Rehearsal x Primary Language interaction. Follow-up analyses revealed that English-speaking children provided with a verbal rehearsal strategy recalled significantly more skills than English-speaking children in the no-rehearsal condition; for LEP children, there were no differences due to rehearsal. Moreover, LEP children presented with a verbal model recalled significantly more skills than LEP children in the no-model condition; for English-speaking children, there were no differences attributed to model type. These results indicate that effective modeling conditions that are provided with verbal cues in English are related to children's primary language.

  11. The Home Literacy Environment and the English Narrative Development of Spanish-English Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bitetti, Dana; Hammer, Carol Scheffner

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the home literacy environment (HLE) on the English narrative development of Spanish-English bilingual children from low-income backgrounds. Method: Longitudinal data were collected on 81 bilingual children from preschool through 1st grade. English narrative skills were assessed in the…

  12. Anthropomorphically Speaking: On Communication between Teachers and Children in Early Childhood Biology Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thulin, Susanne; Pramling, Niklas

    2009-01-01

    In this study a particular kind of figurative language, so-called anthropomorphic speech, is analysed in the context of science activities in a preschool setting. Anthropomorphism means speaking about something non-human in human terms. Can any systematic pattern be seen with regard to when such speech is used? Do children and/or teachers…

  13. 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…

  14. Does Spanish instruction for emergency medicine resident physicians improve patient satisfaction in the emergency department and adherence to medical recommendations?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stoneking LR

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available LR Stoneking,1 AL Waterbrook,1 J Garst Orozco,2 D Johnston,1 A Bellafiore,1 C Davies,3 T Nuño,1 J Fatás-Cabeza,4 O Beita,5 V Ng,1 KH Grall,6 W Adamas-Rappaport7 1Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Sinai Health System, Chicago, IL, 3Department of Emergency Medicine, Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, 4Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 5Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 6Department of Emergency Medicine, Regions Hospital, St Paul, MN, 7Department of Surgery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA Background: After emergency department (ED discharge, Spanish-speaking patients with limited English proficiency are less likely than English-proficient patients to be adherent to medical recommendations and are more likely to be dissatisfied with their visit.Objectives: To determine if integrating a longitudinal medical Spanish and cultural competency curriculum into emergency medicine residency didactics improves patient satisfaction and adherence to medical recommendations in Spanish-speaking patients with limited English proficiency.Methods: Our ED has two Emergency Medicine Residency Programs, University Campus (UC and South Campus (SC. SC program incorporates a medical Spanish and cultural competency curriculum into their didactics. Real-time Spanish surveys were collected at SC ED on patients who self-identified as primarily Spanish-speaking during registration and who were treated by resident physicians from both residency programs. Surveys assessed whether the treating resident physician communicated in the patient’s native Spanish language. Follow-up phone calls assessed patient satisfaction and adherence to discharge instructions.Results: Sixty-three patients self-identified as primarily Spanish-speaking from August 2014 to July 2015 and were initially included in this pilot study

  15. Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural effects on verbal working memory and vocabulary: testing language-minority children with an immigrant background.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Abreu, Pascale M J Engel; Baldassi, Martine; Puglisi, Marina L; Befi-Lopes, Debora M

    2013-04-01

    In this study, the authors explored the impact of test language and cultural status on vocabulary and working memory performance in multilingual language-minority children. Twenty 7-year-old Portuguese-speaking immigrant children living in Luxembourg completed several assessments of first (L1)- and second-language (L2) vocabulary (comprehension and production), executive-loaded working memory (counting recall and backward digit recall), and verbal short-term memory (digit recall and nonword repetition). Cross-linguistic task performance was compared within individuals. The language-minority children were also compared with multilingual language-majority children from Luxembourg and Portuguese-speaking monolinguals from Brazil without an immigrant background matched on age, sex, socioeconomic status, and nonverbal reasoning. Results showed that (a) verbal working memory measures involving numerical memoranda were relatively independent of test language and cultural status; (b) language status had an impact on the repetition of high- but not on low-wordlike L2 nonwords; (c) large cross-linguistic and cross-cultural effects emerged for productive vocabulary; (d) cross-cultural effects were less pronounced for vocabulary comprehension with no differences between groups if only L1 words relevant to the home context were considered. The study indicates that linguistic and cognitive assessments for language-minority children require careful choice among measures to ensure valid results. Implications for testing culturally and linguistically diverse children are discussed.

  16. Connections between children's speaking and singing behaviours : implications for education and therapy

    OpenAIRE

    Rinta, Tiija Elisabet

    2008-01-01

    Abstract The putpose of the study was to investigate potential connections between children's speaking and singing behaviouts, as well as to explore the potential use of such connections in speech or voice therapy and in educational settings. The objectives of the study were addressed through an exploratory approach. In the literature review, potential connections between the two vocal behaviours were investigated theoretically from the physiological (including neurological)...

  17. Story retelling skills in Persian speaking hearing-impaired children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarollahi, Farnoush; Mohamadi, Reyhane; Modarresi, Yahya; Agharasouli, Zahra; Rahimzadeh, Shadi; Ahmadi, Tayebeh; Keyhani, Mohammad-Reza

    2017-05-01

    Since the pragmatic skills of hearing-impaired Persian-speaking children have not yet been investigated particularly through story retelling, this study aimed to evaluate some pragmatic abilities of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children using a story retelling test. 15 normal-hearing and 15 profound hearing-impaired 7-year-old children were evaluated using the story retelling test with the content validity of 89%, construct validity of 85%, and reliability of 83%. Three macro structure criteria including topic maintenance, event sequencing, explicitness, and four macro structure criteria including referencing, conjunctive cohesion, syntax complexity, and utterance length were assessed. The test was performed with live voice in a quiet room where children were then asked to retell the story. The tasks of the children were recorded on a tape, transcribed, scored and analyzed. In the macro structure criteria, utterances of hearing-impaired students were less consistent, enough information was not given to listeners to have a full understanding of the subject, and the story events were less frequently expressed in a rational order than those of normal-hearing group (P hearing students who obtained high scores, hearing-impaired students failed to gain any scores on the items of this section. These results suggest that Hearing-impaired children were not able to use language as effectively as their hearing peers, and they utilized quite different pragmatic functions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Spanish translation and linguistic validation of the quality of life in neurological disorders (Neuro-QoL) measurement system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Correia, H; Pérez, B; Arnold, B; Wong, Alex W K; Lai, J S; Kallen, M; Cella, D

    2015-03-01

    The quality of life in neurological disorders (Neuro-QoL) measurement system is a 470-item compilation of health-related quality of life domains for adults and children with neurological disorders. It was developed and cognitively debriefed in English and Spanish, with general population and clinical samples in the USA. This paper describes the Spanish translation and linguistic validation process. The translation methodology combined forward and back-translations, multiple reviews, and cognitive debriefing with 30 adult and 30 pediatric Spanish-speaking respondents in the USA. The adult Fatigue bank was later also tested in Spain and Argentina. A universal approach to translation was adopted to produce a Spanish version that can be used in various countries. Translators from several countries were involved in the process. Cognitive debriefing results indicated that most of the 470 Spanish items were well understood. Translations were revised as needed where difficulty was reported or where participants' comments revealed misunderstanding of an item's intended meaning. Additional testing of the universal Spanish adult Fatigue item bank in Spain and Argentina confirmed good understanding of the items and that no country-specific word changes were necessary. All the adult and pediatric Neuro-QoL measures have been linguistically validated with Spanish speakers in the USA. Instruments are available for use at www.assessmentcenter.net.

  19. A Study of the Spanish Translation of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised with Puerto Rican Children and Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Maria D.; And Others

    Two studies were performed with Puerto Rican children and adolescents in Puerto Rico and Connecticut to determine the reliability and predictive validity of the Spanish translation of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, the Escala de Inteligencia Wechsler para Ninos-Revisada (EIWN-R). Results suggest that the EIWN-R is a reliable…

  20. Concurrent and Longitudinal Effects of Morphological Awareness on Reading Comprehension among Chinese-Speaking Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Haomin

    2016-01-01

    This study explored the concurrent and longitudinal effects of morphological awareness on the development of reading comprehension among Chinese-speaking children (N = 123, mean[subscript age] = 8.1 at Time 2). Drawing upon multivariate analyses, the study found that morphological awareness and lexical inferencing ability were intertwined together…