Picture-based vocabulary assessment versus parental questionnaires: A cross-linguistic study of bilingual assessment methods

Purpose: As a contribution to the endeavour of developing appropriate tools for bilingual language assessment, this paper investigates the concurrence between two new tools from the recent COST Action IS0804 (Bi-SLI), and the differences between children across two different migrant communities. Approach: Two new tools from the battery Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) were used: the direct assessment tool Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (CLT) and the reporting instrument Parents of Bilingual Children Questionnaire (PaBiQ), which offers an indirect measure of overall language skills. Data: The participants were 36 children (4;2–6;6) of Polish immigrants to Norway or the UK. Correlations were investigated with Kendall’s rank correlation, and comparisons carried out with Wilcoxon rank sum tests. Findings: The results from the two tools correlated. The CLT results were higher in the minority language (Polish) than in the majority language, with no difference between the groups. Still, the parents in the UK judged their children as less proficient in Polish than those in Norway did. Two different accounts for this incongruity are discussed. Firstly, parents in the UK may set higher benchmarks for their children’s minority language skills than the parents in Norway. Alternative accounts of this interpretation related to differences in the parents’ socio-economic background, minority language proficiency or language attitudes are discussed. Secondly, parental report may indicate early stages of attrition of the minority language among the children in the UK that the direct lexical assessment tool may not be sensitive enough to uncover. Originality: The study used two new tools designed for multilingual children to compare two groups of children of a recent and growing immigration group, whose language development is currently underinvestigated. Implications: The findings underscore the complexity of assessing bilingual children’s full language competence. The cross-cultural differences documented call for further longitudinal research comparing immigrant children from different language backgrounds.

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KORELASI ANTARA SIKAP BAHASA DAN KEMAHIRAN MERESPON BAHASA KAIDAH BAHASA INDONESIA PARA GURU BAHASA INDONESIA TINGKAT SMP DI MEDAN

UNDAS: Jurnal Hasil Penelitian Bahasa dan Sastra ◽

10.26499/und.v14i1.1137 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 80

Author(s):

Nur Elide

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Junior High School ◽

Junior High ◽

Language Attitudes ◽

Language Skills ◽

Multiple Correlation Coefficient ◽

School Level ◽

High School Level ◽

Bahasa Indonesia

This research is conducted on the basis of the importance of factors to respond to the rules of the language in supporting the effectiveness of the achievement of Indonesian language proficiency on educators. This research is conducted to prove whether there is a correlation between the activities of responding to the language rules with the language skills on the teacher of junior high school level. This research uses correlational quantitative approach. With the number of respondents 70 educators. Data collection activities were conducted using (1) questionnaires in the form of questions about language rules and (2) Indonesian language proficiency test. From the results of correlation coefficients with SPSS program data analysis process about the correlation between the proficiency of responding the rules of language with the language skills of Indonesia by using the formula of multiple correlation coefficient (multiple corelation). Correlation of proficiency respond to Indonesian rule with correlation attitude of language of educator level junior high school in Medan that is equal to 0,221. The value of 0.221 shows a weak correlation between the proficiency of responding to Indonesian rules with the correlation of language attitudes of junior high school educators in Medan City Still weak.

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Ethnic Networks and Language Proficiency Among Immigrants

Foundations of Migration Economics ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198788072.003.0013 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 301-322

Author(s):

George J. Borjas ◽

Barry R. Chiswick ◽

George J. Borjas ◽

Barry R. Chiswick ◽

George J. Borjas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

Language Skills ◽

Minority Language ◽

Data Set ◽

English Writing ◽

English Reading ◽

Ethnic Network ◽

Concentration Measure ◽

Ethnic Press

Recent research on the linguistic adjustment of minority-language-speaking immigrants in several destinations has found that acquisition of destination language skills is inhibited by living in an area where many others speak the same minority language. This chapter uses a unique data set for Australia (1988) that includes a variety of ethnic network variables to analyze the role of the language concentration measure. These ethnic variables, in particular, ethnic press, relatives in Australia, and spouse's origin language, are highly statistically significant. Their inclusion in the equation eliminates the effect of the minority-language concentration variable. The model for analyzing the determinants of English reading and English writing skills in Australia is also shown to be very similar to the model for speaking fluency, including the effect of the ethnic network variables.

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Tweetalig Onderwijs In Friesland

Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen ◽

10.1075/ttwia.26.04emm ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 39-50

Author(s):

Yolande Emmelot ◽

Dolly van Kooten ◽

René Appel

Keyword(s):

Bilingual Education ◽

Language Use ◽

Language Maintenance ◽

Language Attitudes ◽

Language Skills ◽

Multiple Choice ◽

Minority Language ◽

Positive Influence ◽

Multiple Choice Items ◽

6Th Graders

In general the use of minority language in schools is supposed to contribute to the maintenance of that language. The present study investigates whether this assumption is true for bilingual education in Friesland (i.e. the use of both Frisian and Dutch as media of instruction and communication). To this end 39 bilingually and 31 monolingually Dutch educated 6th graders were questioned on their language attitudes and usage (in various domains) and skills with respect to both Frisian and Dutch by means of a questionaire with multiple choice items. Analyses indicated that bilingual education in Friesland does not have a positive influence on attitudes and skills with respect to Frisian (as reported by the children). Usage of Frisian was more frequently reported by the bilingually educated group, although mainly in the expected school domain. Bilingual education in Friesland does not seem to contribute to the maintenance of the Friesian language. This study did reveal a stron. indication of the importance of Frisian as a subject for language maintenance based on the relation found between language skills in Frican and language use and attitudes. Because of its explorator nature, the conclusion of this study must be tentative.

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The Implementation of CLIL and Attitudes Towards Trilingualism

ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.2143/itl.157.0.2042586 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 157 ◽

pp. 23-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

David Lasagabaster

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Secondary Students ◽

Language Attitudes ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Minority Language ◽

Educational Systems ◽

Autonomous Community ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Inherent Feature ◽

Official Languages

Abstract Linguistic and cultural diversity is becoming an inherent feature of most schools in Europe. This is specially so in contexts such as the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain, where the presence of two official languages (Basque and Spanish) is complemented by the early teaching of English, which sets out as early as the age of four in the majority of schools. Nevertheless, the low foreign language command of Spanish students in general and the Basque students in particular has led to the implementation of CLIL experiences, which have been mushrooming in the last decade. Some voices have been raised though against the ever increasing presence of English due to its probable negative impact on language attitudes, especially on attitudes towards Basque. Many efforts have been made to normalize the situation of Basque at school and some scholars consider that these achievements can be jeopardized if the minority language yields too much space to the two international languages (Spain and English). In this paper the effect of CLIL programmes on attitudes towards trilingualism is examined through a holistic questionnaire completed by 277 secondary students. The results obtained demonstrate that CLIL can help to boost positive attitudes towards trilingualism at school, a matter of the utmost importance due to the ever increasing number of multilingual educational systems in Europe.

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Children with deficit in executive abilities have risk for emerging weakness in grammar understanding

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.1019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

S Kiselev

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Control Group ◽

Specific Language ◽

Specific Language Impairments ◽

Design Fluency ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Executive Abilities

Abstract Background Children with specific language impairment have difficulties producing and understanding language (Bishop, 1997). Specifically, these children have deficit in grammar understanding. The goal of this research was to examine the hypothesis that children at the age of 5-6 with deficit in executive abilities have a risk for emerging weakness in grammar understanding at the age of 8-9. Methods 136 children at the age of 5-6 were assessed using 5 subtests from NEPSY (Tower, Auditory Attention and Response Set, Visual Attention, Statue, Design Fluency), which are designed to assess executive abilities in children. We have revealed 27 children with deficit in executive abilities. These children were included in the experimental group. The control group included 27 children with no deficit in executive abilities. In the framework of longitudinal research children at the age of 8-9 from both groups were assessed by Grammar Understanding Test from Luria's neuropsychological assessment technique. Results One-way ANOVA has revealed significant differences (p<.05) between groups for scores in Grammar Understanding Test. Children from experimental group had low level of grammar understanding. Conclusions This research has shown that deficit in executive abilities can predict the delay in development of grammar understanding in children. These results provided insight into cognitive mechanisms in typically developing and the underlying nature of specific language impairments, helping to elucidate the nature of impaired mechanism in this disorder. It can be assumed that deficit in executive abilities is one of the risk factors for emerging weakness in grammar understanding in children. Key messages Deficit in executive abilities is one of the risk factors for emerging weakness in grammar understanding in children. There is relationship between grammar understanding and executive abilities in children.

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Military Veterans and Welfare Reform: Bridging Two Policy Worlds through Qualitative Longitudinal Research

Social Policy and Society ◽

10.1017/s1474746421000166 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Lisa Scullion ◽

Katy Jones ◽

Peter Dwyer ◽

Celia Hynes ◽

Philip Martin

Keyword(s):

Welfare Reform ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Military Veterans ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Veterans Affairs ◽

Civilian Life ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Social ◽

The Uk

There has been an increasing focus in the UK on the support provided to the Armed Forces community, with the publication of the Armed Forces Covenant (2011), the Strategy for our Veterans (2018) and the first ever Office for Veterans’ Affairs (2019). There is also an important body of research – including longitudinal research – focusing on transitions from military to civilian life, much of which is quantitative. At the same time, the UK has witnessed a period of unprecedented welfare reform. However, research focused on veterans’ interactions with the social security system has been largely absent. This article draws on the authors’ experiences of undertaking qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) to address this knowledge gap. We reflect on how QLR was essential in engaging policy makers enabling the research to bridge the two parallel policy worlds of veterans’ support and welfare reform, leading to significant policy and practice impact.

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In-work Universal Credit: Claimant Experiences of Conditionality Mismatches and Counterproductive Benefit Sanctions

Journal of Social Policy ◽

10.1017/s0047279420000562 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

SHARON WRIGHT ◽

PETER DWYER

Keyword(s):

Social Security ◽

Job Search ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Working Hours ◽

Unique Contribution ◽

Working Age ◽

Micro Level ◽

Benefit Sanctions ◽

The Uk ◽

Over Time

Abstract Universal Credit is the UK’s globally innovative social security reform that replaces six means tested benefits with one monthly payment for working age claimants - combining social security and tax credit systems. Universal Credit expands welfare conditionality via mandatory job search conditions to enhance ‘progression’ amongst working claimants by requiring extra working hours or multiple jobs. This exposes low paid workers to tough benefit sanctions for non-compliance, which could remove essential income indefinitely or for fixed periods of up to three years. Our unique contribution is to establish how this new regime is experienced at micro level by in-work claimants over time. We present findings from Qualitative Longitudinal Research (141 interviews with 58 claimants, 2014-17), to demonstrate how UC impacts on in-work recipients and how conditionality produces a new coerced worker-claimant model of social support. We identify a series of welfare conditionality mismatches and conclude that conditionality for in-work claimants is largely counterproductive. This implies a redesign of the UK system and serves as an international warning to potential policy emulators.

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Charting the Rough Journey to ‘Home’: The Contribution of Qualitative Longitudinal Research to Understandings of Homelessness in Austerity

Social Policy and Society ◽

10.1017/s147474642100018x ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Emma Davidson ◽

Briege Nugent ◽

Sarah Johnsen

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Research ◽

Support Service ◽

Added Value ◽

Small Scale ◽

Deep Insight ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Analytical Potential ◽

Longitudinal Approach ◽

The Uk ◽

Insight Into

This article reflects on the contribution of qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) to understandings of homeless peoples’ experiences of support service interventions in an era of austerity in the UK. It brings into ‘analytic conversation’ data from qualitative longitudinal evaluations of homeless support projects operated by voluntary sector organisations in Scotland. With fieldwork spanning 2014-2019, the analysis expands the analytical potential of pooling small-scale studies through an interrogation of individuals’ ‘journeys’ through homelessness services and their rough path to ‘home’. By reflecting on our substantive findings, the article explores the added value and challenges of a longitudinal approach. It concludes that while QLR can deliver deep insight into lives lived by vulnerable populations and potentially reduce the distance between policy makers and those affected, its benefits must be balanced against pragmatism and the ethical responsibilities associated with the method.

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