Improving the Preparation of Teachers Wishing to Work in Two-Way Bilingual Education Programs: Listening to the Practitioners

Two-way bilingual school principals were interviewed to find out their views on staffing. Finding candidates proficient in Spanish to provide content area instruction in this language was their greatest challenge. They suggested that the university offer content courses taught in Spanish and courses focusing on the mechanics of the language.

Two -way direction of influence in mother-infant interaction as denoted by concurrent reciprocal learning processes

This series of 5 single-subject studies used the operant conditioning paradigm to investigate, within the two-way influence process, how (a) contingent infant attention can reinforce maternal verbal behaviors during a period of mother-infant interaction and under subsequent experimental manipulation. Differential reinforcement was used to determine if it is possible that an infant attending to the mother (denoted by head-turns towards the image of the mother plus eye contact) increases (reinforces) the mother's verbal response (to a cue from the infant) upon which the infant behavior is contingent. There was also (b) an evaluation during the contrived parent-infant interaction for concurrent operant learning of infant vocal behavior via contingent verbal responding (reinforcement) implemented by the mother. Further, it was noted (c) whether or not the mother reported being aware that her responses were influenced by the infant's behavior. Findings showed: the operant conditioning of the maternal verbal behaviors were reinforced by contingent infant attention; and the operant conditioning of infant vocalizations was reinforced by contingent maternal verbal behaviors. No parent reported (1) being aware of the increase in their verbal response reinforced during operant conditioning of parental behavior nor a decrease in those responses during the DRA reversal phase, or (2) noticing a contingency between infant's and mother's response. By binomial 1-tail tests, the verbal-behavior patterns of the 5 mothers were conditioned by infant reinforcement (p < 0.02) and, concurrently, the vocal-response patterns of the 5 infants were conditioned by maternal reinforcement (p < 0.02). A program of systematic empirical research on the determinants of concurrent conditioning within mother-child interaction may provide a way to evaluate the differential effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving parent-child interactions. The work conducted in the present study is one step in this direction. ^

Differential outcomes of two -way and transitional programs on English language learners at different entry levels

This study investigated the effects of two types of bilingual education programs (two-way and transitional) on the academic performance, attitudes, and metacognitive awareness of 5th grade students who entered kindergarten or first grade with different levels of English proficiency. The multi-stage sample consisted of students who had participated in each program for a period of at least five years. A mixed model design allowed for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data that were analyzed accordingly and integrated. ^ The findings indicated no significant differences between the two groups on measures of academic achievement in English. Significant differences were found in the number of semesters required for the students to become proficient English speakers. An important conclusion, based on these findings, was that the students enrolled in the two-way bilingual education (TWBE) programs learned English faster. Moreover, they maintained a high level of proficiency in Spanish, scoring significantly higher than the transitional bilingual education group on measures of Spanish reading ability.^ Questionnaire and interview data indicated that the students in the two-way bilingual education programs tended to use more Spanish for recreational purposes and tended to rate themselves as more proficient Spanish speakers than their peers. Conversely, the students enrolled in the transitional bilingual education programs tended to rate themselves as more proficient in English than their peers. ^ The level of English language proficiency upon entering school (five years later) was found to make a difference in academic achievement, as measured by standardized tests. Five years of schooling did not fully eliminate the gap in academic performance between students with different ESOL entry levels at kindergarten. However, entry level did not have an effect on attitudes towards bilingualism. ^ It is concluded that, although there was no significant difference between the two groups on measures of academic achievement in English, TWBE and transitional programs have differential effects. Students in the TWBE programs acquired oral language at a faster rate, developed literacy skills in their native language, and acquired more positive attitudes towards bilingualism. Theoretical, methodological, and policy implications of the findings are discussed. ^

Network construction and graph theoretical analysis of functional language networks in pediatric epilepsy

This dissertation introduces a new approach for assessing the effects of pediatric epilepsy on the language connectome. Two novel data-driven network construction approaches are presented. These methods rely on connecting different brain regions using either extent or intensity of language related activations as identified by independent component analysis of fMRI data. An auditory description decision task (ADDT) paradigm was used to activate the language network for 29 patients and 30 controls recruited from three major pediatric hospitals. Empirical evaluations illustrated that pediatric epilepsy can cause, or is associated with, a network efficiency reduction. Patients showed a propensity to inefficiently employ the whole brain network to perform the ADDT language task; on the contrary, controls seemed to efficiently use smaller segregated network components to achieve the same task. To explain the causes of the decreased efficiency, graph theoretical analysis was carried out. The analysis revealed no substantial global network feature differences between the patient and control groups. It also showed that for both subject groups the language network exhibited small-world characteristics; however, the patient's extent of activation network showed a tendency towards more random networks. It was also shown that the intensity of activation network displayed ipsilateral hub reorganization on the local level. The left hemispheric hubs displayed greater centrality values for patients, whereas the right hemispheric hubs displayed greater centrality values for controls. This hub hemispheric disparity was not correlated with a right atypical language laterality found in six patients. Finally it was shown that a multi-level unsupervised clustering scheme based on self-organizing maps, a type of artificial neural network, and k-means was able to fairly and blindly separate the subjects into their respective patient or control groups. The clustering was initiated using the local nodal centrality measurements only. Compared to the extent of activation network, the intensity of activation network clustering demonstrated better precision. This outcome supports the assertion that the local centrality differences presented by the intensity of activation network can be associated with focal epilepsy.^

Network Construction and Graph Theoretical Analysis of Functional Language Networks in Pediatric Epilepsy

This dissertation introduces a new approach for assessing the effects of pediatric epilepsy on the language connectome. Two novel data-driven network construction approaches are presented. These methods rely on connecting different brain regions using either extent or intensity of language related activations as identified by independent component analysis of fMRI data. An auditory description decision task (ADDT) paradigm was used to activate the language network for 29 patients and 30 controls recruited from three major pediatric hospitals. Empirical evaluations illustrated that pediatric epilepsy can cause, or is associated with, a network efficiency reduction. Patients showed a propensity to inefficiently employ the whole brain network to perform the ADDT language task; on the contrary, controls seemed to efficiently use smaller segregated network components to achieve the same task. To explain the causes of the decreased efficiency, graph theoretical analysis was carried out. The analysis revealed no substantial global network feature differences between the patient and control groups. It also showed that for both subject groups the language network exhibited small-world characteristics; however, the patient’s extent of activation network showed a tendency towards more random networks. It was also shown that the intensity of activation network displayed ipsilateral hub reorganization on the local level. The left hemispheric hubs displayed greater centrality values for patients, whereas the right hemispheric hubs displayed greater centrality values for controls. This hub hemispheric disparity was not correlated with a right atypical language laterality found in six patients. Finally it was shown that a multi-level unsupervised clustering scheme based on self-organizing maps, a type of artificial neural network, and k-means was able to fairly and blindly separate the subjects into their respective patient or control groups. The clustering was initiated using the local nodal centrality measurements only. Compared to the extent of activation network, the intensity of activation network clustering demonstrated better precision. This outcome supports the assertion that the local centrality differences presented by the intensity of activation network can be associated with focal epilepsy.