An invited article: Bilingual education of majority-language children: The Immersion experiments in review

1983 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Genesee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Immersion Program ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
School Programs ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Evaluative Research ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTSecond-language “Immersion” school programs that have been developed in Canada and the United States during the last two decades are described and the results of evaluative research pertaining to them are reviewed. Major Immersion program alternatives (i.e., Early, Delayed, and Late variants) along with their theoretical bases and pedagogical characteristics are described first. Research findings are then discussed with respect to the impact of participation in an Immersion program on the students' native-language development, academic achievement, second-language proficiency, and on their attitudes and second-language use. Also, the suitability of Immersion in different geographical/social settings and for students with distinctive, potentially handicapping characteristics is considered. It is concluded that second-language Immersion programs are feasible and effective forms of education for majority-language children with diverse characteristics.

Listener Proficiency and Shared Background Effects on the Accentedness, Comprehensibility and Intelligibility of Four Varieties of English

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette G. Hansen Edwards ◽  
Mary L. Zampini ◽  
Caitlin Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Speech Characteristics ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Impact

This study examines the impact of Hong Kong listeners’ English language proficiency on the intelligibility and perceived accentedness and comprehensibility of speakers of English from Hong Kong, China, Singapore and the United States. The study had two main aims: (1) to examine how proficiency impacts listeners’ perceptions of how accented and comprehensible different varieties of English are and how this differs from speech intelligibility; (2) to examine whether listeners benefited from a shared background effect differently by proficiency level. The research findings have pedagogical implications as they can improve understanding of which proficiency levels may benefit most from instruction and how a shared background may mitigate proficiency effects. They also help researchers understand the extent to which listeners’ own English proficiency impacts their evaluations of the speech characteristics of other speakers of English, an area of research that is still relatively unexplored.

scholarly journals Cry Wolf Effect? Evaluating the Impact of False Alarms on Public Responses to Tornado Alerts in the Southeastern United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 549-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
JungKyu Rhys Lim ◽  
Brooke Fisher Liu ◽  
Michael Egnoto
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
False Alarm ◽  
Protective Action ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Protective Behavior ◽  
Tornado Warnings ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Impact

Abstract On average, 75% of tornado warnings in the United States are false alarms. Although forecasters have been concerned that false alarms may generate a complacent public, only a few research studies have examined how the public responds to tornado false alarms. Through four surveys (N = 4162), this study examines how residents in the southeastern United States understand, process, and respond to tornado false alarms. The study then compares social science research findings on perceptions of false alarms to actual county false alarm ratios and the number of tornado warnings issued by counties. Contrary to prior research, findings indicate that concerns about false alarm ratios generating a complacent public may be overblown. Results show that southeastern U.S. residents estimate tornado warnings to be more accurate than they are. Participants’ perceived false alarm ratios are not correlated with actual county false alarm ratios. Counterintuitively, the higher individuals perceive false alarm ratios and tornado alert accuracy to be, the more likely they are to take protective behavior such as sheltering in place in response to tornado warnings. Actual country false alarm ratios and the number of tornado warnings issued did not predict taking protective action.

scholarly journals Migration and Food Consumption: The Impact of Culture and Country of Origin on Obesity as an Indicator of Human Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7567
Author(s):  
Yuval Arbel ◽  
Chaim Fialkoff ◽  
Amichai Kerner
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Type I ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Conventional Measure ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Overweight Prevalence

Previous research demonstrates that the 1965 American immigration wave has tended to attenuate the obesity pandemic in the United States. Based on a survey carried out by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) in 2012 and 2016, we observe the correlation between BMI, age, native language, and years-since-migration to Israel. BMI (=kgm2) is a conventional measure of obesity, where BMI ≥ 25 is considered overweight and BMI ≥ 30 as type I obesity. The results indicate that compared to 11 groups of immigrants, the median BMI among native Israelis is lower. While the prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25) among Hebrew speakers is below 50%, in 11 groups of immigrants, the prevalence of overweight is above 50%. A noteworthy exception is the immigrants from Ethiopia, who exhibit lower overweight prevalence compared to native Israelis and all other population groups. Finally, while male Hebrew and Russian speakers cross the overweight benchmark at the same age (35 years), native Israeli women (Hebrew speakers) cross this benchmark only when they reach 50 years (15 years after the males) and Russian women cross this benchmark only five years after the Russian men. These research findings may be of assistance in public health and culture-oriented medicine.

scholarly journals Latent variable evidence on the interplay between language switching frequency and executive control in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 912-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor A. Sanchez-Azanza ◽  
Raúl López-Penadés ◽  
Eva Aguilar-Mediavilla ◽  
Daniel Adrover-Roig
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Switching Frequency ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Second Language Proficiency ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
The Impact

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: We characterized the impact of several bilingualism-related factors on the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals. Design/methodology/approach: Participants self-reported information regarding their age of acquisition, second language proficiency and frequency of natural language switching, and performed non-linguistic tasks tapping into specific executive control subcomponents, including inhibition, switching and updating. Data and analysis: Data were analyzed by means of a structural equation model (SEM) approach. Findings/conclusions: Results revealed that the frequency of natural language switching positively modulated the executive control performance of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals, while neither age of acquisition nor second language proficiency had an effect. Moreover, we found that the impact of natural language switching exerted general-processing influences, affecting all subcomponents of executive control. Findings are discussed in relation to context-specific effects on the cognitive system of a particular bilingual population. Originality: The current study applied an SEM approach to provide new evidence on the previously ambiguous relation between bilingualism-related factors and executive control. Significance/implications: Our findings suggest that the frequency of natural language switching does globally influence the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals.

Bringing Intergenerational Social Mobility Research into the Twenty-first Century: Why Mothers Matter

2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Beller
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Family Background ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Conventional Models ◽  
Measurement Strategies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cohort Change

Conventional social mobility research, which measures family social class background relative to only fathers' characteristics, presents an outmoded picture of families—a picture wherein mothers' economic participation is neither common nor important. This article demonstrates that such measurement is theoretically and empirically untenable. Models that incorporate both mothers' and fathers' characteristics into class origin measures fit observed mobility patterns better than do conventional models, and for both men and women. Furthermore, in contrast to the current consensus that conventional measurement strategies do not alter substantive research conclusions, analyses of cohort change in social mobility illustrate the distortions that conventional practice can produce in stratification research findings. By failing to measure the impact of mothers' class, the current practice misses a recent upturn in the importance of family background for class outcomes among men in the United States. The conventional approach suggests no change between cohorts, but updated analyses reveal that inequality of opportunity increased significantly for men born since the mid-1960s compared with those born earlier in the century.

scholarly journals The impact of the objectives of Arabic language learners as a second language and their involvement in the learning engagement on their language proficiency- field study on two Malaysian universities – Malaysia: علاقة الدافعية بتحسين الكفايات اللغوية لمتعلمي اللغة العربية كلغةٍ ثانيةٍ وانخراطهم في العملية التعلمية - دراسة ميدانية على طلبة جامعتي العلوم الإسلامية الماليزية والإسلامية العالمية الماليزيتين-

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikail Ibrahim, Zainalabidin Hajib, Yuslina Mohammad, Essamo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

This research aims to study the correlative relationships between the orientation towards the goal and engage in the learning process, and their relationship to the acquisition of Arabic language skills as a second language between students of the University of Islamic Science Malaysia and International Islamic University Malaysia. The study followed the correlative approach. The questionnaire consisted of a questionnaire that was distributed to a random stratified sample. The study population consisted of students from the University of Islamic Sciences Malaysia and the International Islamic University Malaysia. It reached 451 students (males = 170, females = 281). The researchers used the typical structural equation for statistical treatments. The result of the analysis showed a statistically significant relationship between the goal of empowerment, the goal of performance on the one hand, and linguistic competence on the other. While the negative relationship between avoiding schoolwork and language competence. The study also revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between engaging in the learning process mentally, behaviorally, emotionally and linguistic competence, and the behavioral involvement factor obtained the strongest relationship in determining the fate of the language learning process. Finally, the analysis showed that females are more capable than males. In light of the results, the current study recommended the application of such studies in some countries where Arabic is considered a second language to ensure the validity and consistency of the scale, and the possibility of generalizing it. Developing the skills of Arabic language teachers through training workshops and introducing them to modern teaching methods in teaching the Arabic language.

scholarly journals What vocabulary size tells us about pronunciation skills: Issues in assessing L2 learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Paolo Mairano ◽  
Fabian Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Speaking Skills

AbstractMeasures of second language (L2) learners’ vocabulary size have been shown to correlate with language proficiency in reading, writing and listening skills, and vocabulary tests are sometimes used for placement purposes. However, the relation between learners’ vocabulary knowledge and their speaking skills has been less thoroughly investigated, and even less so in terms of pronunciation. In this article, we compare vocabulary and pronunciation measures for 25 Italian instructed learners of L2 French. We measure their receptive (Dialang score) and productive (vocd-D, MTLD) vocabulary size, and calculate the following pronunciation indices: acoustic distance and overlap of realizations for selected L2 French vowel pairs, ratings of nasality for ratings of foreign-accentedness, fluency metrics. We find that vocabulary measures show low to medium correlations with fluency metrics and ratings of foreign-accentedness, but not with vowel metrics. We then turn our attention to the impact of research methods on the study of vocabulary and pronunciation. More specifically, we discuss the possibility that these results are due to pitfalls in vocabulary and pronunciation indices, such as the failure of Dialang to take into account the effect of L1-L2 cognates, and the lack of measures for evaluating consonants, intonation and perception skills.

scholarly journals Brain white matter structure and COMT gene are linked to second-language learning in adults

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (26) ◽  
pp. 7249-7254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping C. Mamiya ◽  
Todd L. Richards ◽  
Bradley P. Coe ◽  
Evan E. Eichler ◽  
Patricia K. Kuhl
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Fractional Anisotropy ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Radial Diffusivity ◽  
Immersion Program ◽  
Brain White Matter ◽  
The Relationship

Adult human brains retain the capacity to undergo tissue reorganization during second-language learning. Brain-imaging studies show a relationship between neuroanatomical properties and learning for adults exposed to a second language. However, the role of genetic factors in this relationship has not been investigated. The goal of the current study was twofold: (i) to characterize the relationship between brain white matter fiber-tract properties and second-language immersion using diffusion tensor imaging, and (ii) to determine whether polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene affect the relationship. We recruited incoming Chinese students enrolled in the University of Washington and scanned their brains one time. We measured the diffusion properties of the white matter fiber tracts and correlated them with the number of days each student had been in the immersion program at the time of the brain scan. We found that higher numbers of days in the English immersion program correlated with higher fractional anisotropy and lower radial diffusivity in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. We show that fractional anisotropy declined once the subjects finished the immersion program. The relationship between brain white matter fiber-tract properties and immersion varied in subjects with different COMT genotypes. Subjects with the Methionine (Met)/Valine (Val) and Val/Val genotypes showed higher fractional anisotropy and lower radial diffusivity during immersion, which reversed immediately after immersion ended, whereas those with the Met/Met genotype did not show these relationships. Statistical modeling revealed that subjects’ grades in the language immersion program were best predicted by fractional anisotropy and COMT genotype.

scholarly journals Cost-effectiveness of US National Institute of Health and European Union FP7 Projects on Active Ageing and Elderly Quality of Life-Author's reply

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Giovanni Carta ◽  
Michela Atzeni ◽  
Alessandra Perra ◽  
Quirico Mela ◽  
Martina Piras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Scientific Productivity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Funding Programs ◽  
European Projects ◽  
Evaluative Research ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Number Of Citations ◽  
The Impact

Background: The use of bibliometric analysis to assess scientific productivity and impact is particularly relevant for EU funding programs. The objective of the present study is to assess the impact on scientific literature by focusing specifically on the cost-effectiveness of FP7 and NHI projects in the fields of AA and QoL, respectively. Methods: Twenty projects were randomly selected from the CORDIS database in accordance with the following criteria: funded by the FP7; accepted from 1st January 2007 to 31st December 2012; concluded by 31st August 2017; For each project selected, we determined: number of publications in Scopus and Google databases attributable to the project; number of papers published in Q1 quartile of the SCIMAGO rank; number of citations found in Scopus and Scholar Google; amount of funds allocated. Results: The study has confirmed the results of the previous one, namely that the number of publications and the number of citations per project on active ageing are similar in projects funded by the NHI in the United States and those funded by the FP7 in Europe. However, when it comes to cost-effectiveness, it results that European projects have a cost ten times higher than the Americans ones. Conclusion: Our study shows lower cost-effectiveness of FP7-European projects than the American-NIH on active aging. The results of this research, albeit with the limits already outlined, will have to be taken into consideration in the evaluative research of the future.

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