Language maintenance and use in south Florida Hispanic university students: Do educational programs matter?

This study examined the long-term effects of bilingual education/ESOL instruction on Hispanic university students' subsequent Spanish language maintenance using sociolinguistic methodology as its framework. The study investigated whether or not Hispanic university students who had participated in bilingual or ESOL classes in their elementary schooling maintained Spanish as young adults. Maintenance included using Spanish in their personal and professional lives and demonstrating written competence in Spanish, as well as whether subjects considered themselves to be bilingual, how they rated their ability in different skill areas for the two languages, and if they exhibited positive attitudes toward language and education as compared to Hispanic students who had experienced an all English classroom situation. A Language and Education Survey was developed to collect data pertaining to these areas. ^ A convenience sample of 202 Hispanic undergraduate university students enrolled in education classes at Florida International University during the 2000–2001 academic year participated in the study. Subjects were grouped according to the type of program they had experienced at the elementary school level, Bilingual/ESOL and All English. ^ Statistically significant differences were found between the groups in subjects' self-ratings of their abilities in speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. No statistically significant differences were found with respect to the continuation of Spanish language study at the secondary school or college levels although there was a significant difference in number of semesters for those who planned to do so. ^ In language use, there were statistically significant differences overall as there were in the personal domain, but none were found in the professional domain; nor were there any statistically significant differences between the groups with respect to attitudes regarding education and language. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups for communicative competence in written Spanish. These statistically significant findings in language ability, language use and written communicative competence indicated that Hispanic university students who were enrolled in bilingual programs/ESOL in their earlier schooling did maintain Spanish as their native language as compared to Hispanic students who did not participate in such programs. ^

Teacher efficacy of special education teachers of English language learners with disabilities

This research examined the perceived teacher efficacy of special education teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) with educational disabilities by surveying 202 elementary special education teachers using the EXCEL Teacher Inventory. EXCEL consists of 20 teacher efficacy items, three open-ended questions, and participant demographic items. ^ Overall participant teacher efficacy scores were high. Of the variables assessed, a statistically significant difference in perceived efficacy was found with self-reported proficiency in the language of the target students. No statistically significant differences in teacher efficacy scores were found for (a) levels of teacher preparation; (b) number of years of teaching experience; or (c) socioeconomic status of the students. A multiple regression analysis indicated that, of the variables listed above, proficiency in the language of the target students accounted for significant variance in predicting the level of teachers' perceived efficacy. ^ Responses to the open-ended questions about what was most helpful when working with ELLs with disabilities yielded two major themes: organizational issues and teacher issues. Participants wrote numerous comments about the value of support from educational professionals and parents. Many participants recommended individuals in preservice programs take ESOL content specific courses. ^ The results demonstrate the positive correlation between proficiency in the language of the target students and teacher efficacy. This suggests that teachers of ELLs with disabilities have proficiency in the ELLs' native language (or have support from others who are language proficient) that allows them to distinguish between language difference and language disability and provide instruction in the native language when needed. Further, results from open-ended questions suggest that special education teacher preparation programs should include courses related specifically to strategies for teaching ELLs with disabilities, not just ELLs. ^

An investigation of mathematics and science instruction in English and Spanish for English language learners

The contextual demands of language in content area are difficult for ELLS. Content in the native language furthers students' academic development and native language skills, while they are learning English. Content in English integrates pedagogical strategies for English acquisition with subject area instruction. The following models of curriculum content are provided in most Miami Dade County Public Schools: (a) mathematics instruction in the native language with science instruction in English or (b) science instruction in the native language with mathematics instruction in English. The purpose of this study was to investigate which model of instruction is more contextually supportive for mathematics and science achievement. ^ A pretest and posttest, nonequivalent group design was used with 94 fifth grade ELLs who received instruction in curriculum model (a) or (b). This allowed for statistical analysis that detected a difference in the means of .5 standard deviations with a power of .80 at the .05 level of significance. Pretreatment and post-treatment assessments of mathematics, reading, and science achievement were obtained through the administration of Aprenda-Segunda Edición and the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test. ^ The results indicated that students receiving mathematics in English and Science in Spanish scored higher on achievement tests in both Mathematics and Science than the students who received Mathematics in Spanish and Science in English. In addition, the mean score of students on the FCAT mathematics examination was higher than their mean score on the FCAT science examination regardless of the language of instruction. ^

Language learning strategy use by colombian adult English language learners: A phenomenological study

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe how Colombian adult English language learners (ELL) select and use language learning strategies (LLS). This study used Oxford’s (1990a) taxonomy for LLS as its theoretical framework. Semi-structured interviews and a focus group interview, were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed for 12 Colombian adult ELL. A communicative activity known as strip story (Gibson, 1975) was used to elicit participants’ use of LLS. This activity preceded the focus group session. Additionally, participants’ reflective journals were collected and analyzed. Data were analyzed using inductive, deductive, and comparative analyses. Four themes emerged from the inductive analysis of the data: (a) learning conditions, (b) problem-solving resources, (c) information processing, and (d) target language practice. Oxford’s classification of LLS was used as a guide in deductively analyzing data concerning the participants’ experiences. The deductive analysis revealed that participants do not use certain strategies included in Oxford’s taxonomy at the third level. For example, semantic mapping, or physical response or sensation was not reported by participants. The findings from the inductive and deductive analyses were then compared to look for patterns and answers to the research questions. The comparative analysis revealed that participants used additional LLS that are not included in Oxford’s taxonomy. Some examples of these strategies are: using sound transcription in native language and help from children. The study was conducted at the MDC InterAmerican campus in South Florida, one of the largest Hispanic-influenced communities in the U.S. Based on the findings from this study, the researcher proposed a framework to study LLS that includes both external (i.e., learning context, community) and internal (i.e., culture, prior education) factors that influence the selection and use of LLS. The findings from this study imply that given the importance of the both external and internal factors in learners’ use of LLS, these factors should be considered for inclusion in any study of language learner strategies use by adult learners. Implications for teaching and learning as well as recommendations for further research are provided.

Engagement experiences of Hispanic Generation 1.5 English language learners at a Massachusetts community college

Hispanic Generation 1.5 students are foreign-born, U.S. high school graduates who are socialized in the English dominant K-12 school system while still maintaining the native language and culture at home (Allison, 2006; Blumenthal, 2002; Harklau, Siegal, & Losey, 1999; Rumbault & Ima, 1988). When transitioning from high school to college, these students sometimes assess into ESL courses based on their English language abilities, and because of this ESL placement, Hispanic Generation 1.5 students might have different engagement experiences than their mainstream peers. Engagement is a critical factor in student success and long-term retention because students’ positive and negative engagement experiences affect their membership and sense of belonging at the institution. The purpose of this study was to describe the engagement and membership experiences of Hispanic Generation 1.5 students’ at a Massachusetts community college. This study employed naturalistic inquiry within an embedded descriptive case study design that included three units of analysis: the students’ engagement experiences in (a) ESL courses, (b) developmental courses, and (c) mainstream courses. The main source of data was in-depth interviews with Hispanic Generation 1.5 students at Commonwealth of Massachusetts Community College. Criterion sampling was used to select the interview participants, ensuring that all participants were native Spanish speakers and were taking or had taken at least one ESL course at the institution. The study findings show that these Hispanic Generation 1.5 students at the college did not perceive peer engagement as critical to academic success. Most times the participants avoided peer engagement outside of the classroom, especially with fellow Hispanic students, who they felt would deter them from their English language development and general academic work. Engagement with ESL faculty and ESL academic support staff played the most critical role in the participants’ sense of belonging and success, and students who were required to engage with faculty and academic support staff outside of the classroom were the most satisfied with their educational experiences. While the participants were all disappointed with some aspect of their ESL placement, they valued the ESL engagement experiences more than the engagement experiences while completing developmental and credit coursework.

XML storage and retrieval using the semantic binary object -oriented database system (SEM-ODB)

Over the past five years, XML has been embraced by both the research and industrial community due to its promising prospects as a new data representation and exchange format on the Internet. The widespread popularity of XML creates an increasing need to store XML data in persistent storage systems and to enable sophisticated XML queries over the data. The currently available approaches to addressing the XML storage and retrieval issue have the limitations of either being not mature enough (e.g. native approaches) or causing inflexibility, a lot of fragmentation and excessive join operations (e.g. non-native approaches such as the relational database approach). ^ In this dissertation, I studied the issue of storing and retrieving XML data using the Semantic Binary Object-Oriented Database System (Sem-ODB) to leverage the advanced Sem-ODB technology with the emerging XML data model. First, a meta-schema based approach was implemented to address the data model mismatch issue that is inherent in the non-native approaches. The meta-schema based approach captures the meta-data of both Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and Sem-ODB Semantic Schemas, thus enables a dynamic and flexible mapping scheme. Second, a formal framework was presented to ensure precise and concise mappings. In this framework, both schemas and the conversions between them are formally defined and described. Third, after major features of an XML query language, XQuery, were analyzed, a high-level XQuery to Semantic SQL (Sem-SQL) query translation scheme was described. This translation scheme takes advantage of the navigation-oriented query paradigm of the Sem-SQL, thus avoids the excessive join problem of relational approaches. Finally, the modeling capability of the Semantic Binary Object-Oriented Data Model (Sem-ODM) was explored from the perspective of conceptually modeling an XML Schema using a Semantic Schema. ^ It was revealed that the advanced features of the Sem-ODB, such as multi-valued attributes, surrogates, the navigation-oriented query paradigm, among others, are indeed beneficial in coping with the XML storage and retrieval issue using a non-XML approach. Furthermore, extensions to the Sem-ODB to make it work more effectively with XML data were also proposed. ^

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. ^

Data compilation on the biological response to ocean acidification: environmental and experimental context of data sets and related literature

The exponential growth of studies on the biological response to ocean acidification over the last few decades has generated a large amount of data. To facilitate data comparison, a data compilation hosted at the data publisher PANGAEA was initiated in 2008 and is updated on a regular basis (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.149999). By January 2015, a total of 581 data sets (over 4 000 000 data points) from 539 papers had been archived. Here we present the developments of this data compilation five years since its first description by Nisumaa et al. (2010). Most of study sites from which data archived are still in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of archived data from studies from the Southern Hemisphere and polar oceans are still relatively low. Data from 60 studies that investigated the response of a mix of organisms or natural communities were all added after 2010, indicating a welcomed shift from the study of individual organisms to communities and ecosystems. The initial imbalance of considerably more data archived on calcification and primary production than on other processes has improved. There is also a clear tendency towards more data archived from multifactorial studies after 2010. For easier and more effective access to ocean acidification data, the ocean acidification community is strongly encouraged to contribute to the data archiving effort, and help develop standard vocabularies describing the variables and define best practices for archiving ocean acidification data.

Commandeering Aesop’s Bamboo Canon: A 19th Century Confederacy of Creole Fugitive Fables

In my thesis, “Commandeering Aesop’s Bamboo Canon: A 19th Century Confederacy of Creole Fugitive Fables,” I ask and answer the ‘Who? What? Where? When? Why?” of Creole Literature using the 19th century production of Aesopian fables as clues to resolve a set of linguistic, historical, literary, and geographical enigmas pertaining the ‘birth-place(s)’ of Creolophone Literatures in the Caribbean Sea, North and South America, as well as the Indian Ocean. Focusing on the fables in Martinique (1846), Reunion Island (1826), and Mauritius (1822), my thesis should read be as an attempt capture the links between these islands through the creation of a particular archive defined as a cartulary-chronicle, a diplomatic codex, or simply a map in which I chart and trace the flight of the founding documents relating to the lives of the individual authors, editors, and printers in order to illustrate the articulation of a formal and informal confederation that enabled the global and local institutional promotion of Creole Literature. While I integrate various genres and multi-polar networks between the authors of this 19th century canon comprised of sacred and secular texts such as proclamations, catechisms, and proverbs, the principle literary genre charted in my thesis are collections of fables inspired by French 17th century French Classical fabulist, Jean de la Fontaine. Often described as the ‘matrix’ of Creolophone Literature, these blues and fables constitute the base of the canon, and are usually described as either ‘translated,’ ‘adapted,’ and even ‘cross-dressed’ into Creole in all of the French Creolophone spaces. My documentation of their transnational sprouting offers proof of an opaque canonical formation of Creole popular literature. By constituting this archive, I emphasize the fact that despite 200 years of critical reception and major developments and discoveries on behalf of Creole language pedagogues, literary scholars, linguists, historians, librarians, archivist, and museum curators, up until now not only have none have curated this literature as a formal canon. I also offer new empirical evidence in order to try and solve the enigma of “How?” the fables materially circulated between the islands, and seek to come to terms with the anonymous nature of the texts, some of which were published under pseudonyms. I argue that part of the confusion on the part of scholars has been the result of being willfully taken by surprise or defrauded by the authors, or ‘bamboozled’ as I put it. The major paradigmatic shift in my thesis is that while I acknowledge La Fontaine as the base of this literary canon, I ultimately bypass him to trace the ancient literary genealogy of fables to the infamous Aesop the Phrygian, whose biography – the first of a slave in the history of the world – and subsequent use of fables reflects a ‘hidden transcript’ of ‘masked political critique’ between ‘master and slave classes’ in the 4th Century B.C.E. Greece.

This archive draws on, connects and critiques the methodologies of several disciplinary fields. I use post-colonial literary studies to map the literary genealogies Aesop; use a comparative historical approach to the abolitions of slavery in both the 19th century Caribbean and the Indian Ocean; and chart the early appearance of folk music in early colonial societies through Musicology and Performance Studies. Through the use of Sociolinguistics and theories of language revival, ecology, and change, I develop an approach of ‘reflexive Creolistics’ that I ultimately hope will offer new educational opportunities to Creole speakers. While it is my desire that this archive serves linguists, book collectors, and historians for further scientific inquiry into the innate international nature of Creole language, I also hope that this innovative material defense and illustration of Creole Literature will transform the consciousness of Creolophones (native and non-native) who too remain ‘bamboozled’ by the archive. My goal is to erase the ‘unthinkability’ of the existence of this ancient maritime creole literary canon from the collective cultural imaginary of readers around the globe.

From labelling to social aid for immigrants in the 21st Century

Migration is as old as humanity, but since the 1990s migration flows in Western Europe have led to societies that are not just multicultural but so-called «super-diverse». As a result, Western towns now have very complex social structures, with amongst others large amounts of small immigrant communities that are in constant change. In this paper we argue that for social workers to be able to offer adequate professional help to non-native residents in town, they will need balanced view of ‘culture’ and of the role culture plays in social aid. Culture is never static, but is continually changing. By teaching social workers about how to look at cultural backgrounds of immigrant groups and about the limitations of then role that culture plays in communication, they will be better equipped to provide adequate aid and will contribute to making various groups grow towards each other and to avoid people thinking in terms of ‘out-group-homogeneity’. Nowadays, inclusion is a priority in social work that almost every social worker supports. Social workers should have an open attitude to allow them to approach every individual as a unique person. They will see the other person as the person they are, and not as a part of a specific cultural group. Knowledge about the others makes them see the cultural heterogeneity in every group. The social sector, though, must be aware not to fall into the trap of the ‘inclusion mania’! This will cause the social deprivation of a particular group to be forgotten. An inclusive policy requires an inclusive society. Otherwise, this could result in even more deprivation of other groups, already discriminated against. Emancipation of deprived people demands a certain target-group policymaking. Categorized aid will raise efficiency of working with immigrants and of acknowledging the cultural identity of the non-natives group. It will also create the possibility to work on fighting social deprivation, in which most immigrants can be found.

The structure of biogenic habitat and epibiotic assemblages associated with the global invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida in comparison to native macroalgae

Kelp forests dominate temperate and polar rocky coastlines and represent critical marine habitats because they support elevated rates of primary and secondary production and high biodiversity. A major threat to the stability of these ecosystems is the proliferation of non-native species, such as the Japanese kelp Undariapinnatifida (‘Wakame’), which has recently colonised natural habitats in the UK. We quantified the abundance and biomass of U. pinnatifida on a natural rocky reef habitat over 10 months to make comparisons with three native canopy-forming brown algae (Laminaria ochroleuca, Saccharina latissima, and Saccorhiza polyschides). We also examined the biogenic habitat structure provided by, and epibiotic assemblages associated with, U. pinnatifida in comparison to native macroalgae. Surveys conducted within the Plymouth Sound Special Area of Conservation indicated that U. pinnatifida is now a dominant and conspicuous member of kelp-dominated communities on natural substrata. Crucially, U. pinnatifida supported a structurally dissimilar and less diverse epibiotic assemblage than the native perennial kelp species. However, U. pinnatifida-associated assemblages were similar to those associated with Saccorhiza polyschides, which has a similar life history and growth strategy. Our results suggest that a shift towards U. pinnatifida dominated reefs could result in impoverished epibiotic assemblages and lower local biodiversity, although this could be offset, to some extent, by the climate-driven proliferation of L. ochroleuca at the poleward range edge, which provides complex biogenic habitat and harbours relatively high biodiversity. Clearly, greater understanding of the long-term dynamics and competitive interactions between these habitat-forming species is needed to accurately predict future biodiversity patterns.

The structure of biogenic habitat and epibiotic assemblages associated with the global invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida in comparison to native macroalgae

Kelp forests dominate temperate and polar rocky coastlines and represent critical marine habitats because they support elevated rates of primary and secondary production and high biodiversity. A major threat to the stability of these ecosystems is the proliferation of non-native species, such as the Japanese kelp Undariapinnatifida (‘Wakame’), which has recently colonised natural habitats in the UK. We quantified the abundance and biomass of U. pinnatifida on a natural rocky reef habitat over 10 months to make comparisons with three native canopy-forming brown algae (Laminaria ochroleuca, Saccharina latissima, and Saccorhiza polyschides). We also examined the biogenic habitat structure provided by, and epibiotic assemblages associated with, U. pinnatifida in comparison to native macroalgae. Surveys conducted within the Plymouth Sound Special Area of Conservation indicated that U. pinnatifida is now a dominant and conspicuous member of kelp-dominated communities on natural substrata. Crucially, U. pinnatifida supported a structurally dissimilar and less diverse epibiotic assemblage than the native perennial kelp species. However, U. pinnatifida-associated assemblages were similar to those associated with Saccorhiza polyschides, which has a similar life history and growth strategy. Our results suggest that a shift towards U. pinnatifida dominated reefs could result in impoverished epibiotic assemblages and lower local biodiversity, although this could be offset, to some extent, by the climate-driven proliferation of L. ochroleuca at the poleward range edge, which provides complex biogenic habitat and harbours relatively high biodiversity. Clearly, greater understanding of the long-term dynamics and competitive interactions between these habitat-forming species is needed to accurately predict future biodiversity patterns.

Grammar in dictionaries revisited: the case of verbs with se

This paper is a study about the way in which se structures are represented in 20 verb entries of nine dictionaries of Spanish language. There is a large number of these structures and they are problematic for native and non native speakers. Verbs of the analysis are middle-high frequency and, in the most part of the cases, very polysemous, and this allows to observe interconnections between the different se structures and the different meanings of each verb. Data of the lexicographic analysis are cross-checked with corpus analysis of the same units. As a result, it is observed that there is a large variety in the data which are offered in each dictionary and in the way they are offered, inter and intradictionary. The reasons range from the theoretical overall of each Project to practical performance. This leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to further progress in the dictionary model it is being handled, in order to offer lexico-grammatical phenomenon such as se verbs in an accurate, clear and exhaustive way.

Assessment of the EEE-4 oral test: a discourse analysis based on complex networks.

With the development of information technology, the theory and methodology of complex network has been introduced to the language research, which transforms the system of language in a complex networks composed of nodes and edges for the quantitative analysis about the language structure. The development of dependency grammar provides theoretical support for the construction of a treebank corpus, making possible a statistic analysis of complex networks. This paper introduces the theory and methodology of the complex network and builds dependency syntactic networks based on the treebank of speeches from the EEE-4 oral test. According to the analysis of the overall characteristics of the networks, including the number of edges, the number of the nodes, the average degree, the average path length, the network centrality and the degree distribution, it aims to find in the networks potential difference and similarity between various grades of speaking performance. Through clustering analysis, this research intends to prove the network parameters’ discriminating feature and provide potential reference for scoring speaking performance.

Deictic Demonstratives in Japanese, Finnish and Swedish : First and Third Language Perspectives

The goal of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, it investigates the actual, native use of spatial-deictic demonstratives in Japanese, Finnish and Swedish. Secondly, it investigates and elucidates the interlanguage of Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking learners of Japanese regarding their use of Japanese spatial-deictic demonstratives in the light of respective native use and, in comparison to the descriptions of demonstratives in the teaching materials used. Thus, the present study deals with analyses of two sets of empirical data: data produced by native-speaking informants (L1 data) and data produced by language learners (L2 data). These were elicited by Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs) designed, collected and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods by the author. The results showed that the actual use of demonstratives by the native informants was not always in accordance with the way described in grammars. The typological similarities between Japanese and Finnish were in this study not reflected in the native use of demonstratives, and some uses were not solely based on the spatial relations between the referent, the speaker and the addressee, but rather on social-interactional factors. The main findings regarding the learner data revealed some differences in the usage rate of the demonstratives between the two Finnish-speaking groups and the one Swedish-speaking learner group studied. There were, however, no particular differences found between them regarding the type of demonstrative used. It is suggested that these differences are first and foremost connected both with the teaching materials used and the more or less heterogeneous linguistic environment in which the learners reside, and only thereafter with the typological similarities or differences between their respective native languages, Finnish and Swedish, and the target language, Japanese. It is further argued that the learners’ use of the different Japanese demonstratives, that is the type of demonstrative used, could be explained in terms of familiarity with the grammar. That is, when the situations used in the DCTs were exemplified in teaching materials and were familiar to them, the learners seemed to use Japanese demonstratives as they are described in the teaching materials and as the native Japanese speakers use them. When the situations used in the DCTs were not exemplified in the teaching materials, the learners seem to rely more on their native language. The results, thus, suggest that the learners’ interlanguage is influenced by the grammar of the target language known to the learners, but also by the number of languages (or varieties) that the learners have contact with at the time of learning. The results of the present study have implications for the teaching of Japanese in at least two ways. Firstly, the importance of grammar instruction must be emphasized since its effect on the learners’ language is apparent. Secondly, the contents of teaching materials should be revised on the basis of the native speakers’ actual use of the grammar.