Using Technology to Reduce a Healthcare Disparity

2019 ◽  
pp. 175-183
Author(s):  
Nilmini Wickramasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Healthcare Disparities ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Meaningful Use ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Healthcare Disparity ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
English Speaking

Superior healthcare delivery requires good communication. For people who have English as a second language, this is particularly challenging. Given the advances in technology, most especially with Web 2.0 and cloud computing, the following proffers a technology-mediated solution to address communication barriers that result when delivering healthcare to non-English speakers or limited-proficiency English-speaking patients. This solution serves to reduce healthcare disparities, satisfy meaningful use requirements, and provide superior healthcare delivery that is efficient, effective, and efficacious.

Using Technology to Reduce a Healthcare Disparity

2018 ◽  
pp. 3725-3732
Author(s):  
Nilmini Wickramasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Healthcare Disparities ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Meaningful Use ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Healthcare Disparity ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
English Speaking

Superior healthcare delivery requires good communication. For people who have English as a second language this is particularly challenging. Given the advances in technology most especially with Web 2.0 and cloud computing, the following proffers a technology mediated solution to address communication barriers that results when delivering healthcare to non-English speakers or limited proficient english speaking patients. this solution serves to reduce healthcare disparities, satisfy Meaningful use requirements and provide superior healthcare delivery that is efficient, effective and efficacious.

scholarly journals The Choice of Tense in Translation into the Second Language

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Meng-Lin Chen ◽  
Dahui Dong
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
English Writing ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking

<p><em>English tense is widely believed as one of the most problematic areas in the “interlanguage”, which includes non-native English speakers’ English writing and translations into the translator’s second language. This study aims to investigate the relationships between the tense choice in translation, the tense in the Chinese source text, and the translation competence of translators. A small Chinese-English parallel corpus has been built with 127 translations of Chinese press editorials by experienced native English speaking translators, experienced native Chinese speaking translators, and novice native Chinese speaking translators. Cross-tabulate analyses of this study have shown that the three groups of translators differ from one another significantly in their handling of marked Chinese past tense verbs, while they do not when translating Chinese sentences with contextually marked tense. This study suggests that in order to improve their translation </em><em>quality</em><em>, (1) experienced native Chinese speaking translators need to increase the</em><em> percentages</em><em> of Present Simple, Present Progress, Present Perfect, and Past Simple, and reduce the</em><em> percentag</em><em>e</em><em>s</em><em> of Past Perfect</em><em> in their translation</em><em>; (2) novice native Chinese speaking translators need to increase the</em><em> percentages</em><em> of Present Simple, and Present Progress, and reduce the </em><em>percentages</em><em> of Past Perfect, Past Simple, and Present Perfect</em><em> in their translation.</em><em> </em></p>

Language and Play of Preschool Children Learning English as a Second Language and Native English Speakers

1982 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shavaun M. Wall ◽  
Sarah M. Pickert
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Free Play ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Solitary Play ◽  
Parallel Play ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Group Play ◽  
Learning English

To study the frequency and complexity of language in relation to levels of social play, 5 preschool children learning English as a second language and 5 English-speaking peers were observed during free play in the fall and 6 mo. later in the spring. In the fall native English speakers were observed proportionately more often in group play. In the spring, both groups were observed more in group play and less in solitary play. All children spoke more often and used more complex speech during group play than during solitary or parallel play. Observed social interactions were primarily positive for both groups. The relation between developing language and play is discussed in the context of the total social environment.

Does learning Spanish grammatical gender change English-speaking adults' categorization of inanimate objects?

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELENA KURINSKI ◽  
MARIA D. SERA
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Cognitive Change ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
The Body ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
English Speaking

Second language acquisition studies can contribute to the body of research on the influence of language on thought by examining cognitive change as a result of second language learning. We conducted a longitudinal study that examined how the acquisition of Spanish grammatical gender influences categorization in native English-speaking adults. We asked whether learning the grammatical gender of Spanish affects adult native English speakers' attribution of gender to inanimate objects. College students enrolled in beginning Spanish participated in two tasks repeatedly (four times) throughout one academic year. One task examined their acquisition of grammatical gender. The other examined their categorization of inanimate objects. We began to observe changes in participants' grammatical gender acquisition and in categorization after ten weeks of Spanish instruction. Results indicate that learning a second language as an adult can change the way one categorizes objects. However, the effect of Spanish grammatical gender was more limited in Spanish learners than in native Spanish speakers; it was not observed for all kinds of objects nor did it increase with learners' proficiency, suggesting that adults learning Spanish reach a plateau beyond which changes in categorization do not occur.

Production of Subject-Verb Agreement in Spanish as a Second Language

2003 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Nicol ◽  
Delia Greth
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Semantic Variables ◽  
Advanced Proficiency

Abstract. In this paper, we report the results of a study of English speakers who have learned Spanish as a second language. All were late learners who have achieved near- advanced proficiency in Spanish. The focus of the research is on the production of subject-verb agreement errors and the factors that influence the incidence of such errors. There is some evidence that English and Spanish subject-verb agreement differ in susceptibility to interference from different types of variables; specifically, it has been reported that Spanish speakers show a greater influence of semantic factors in their implementation of subject-verb agreement ( Vigliocco, Butterworth, & Garrett, 1996 ). In our study, all participants were tested in English (L1) and Spanish (L2). Results indicate nearly identical error patterns: these speakers show no greater influence of semantic variables in the computation of agreement when they are speaking Spanish than when they are speaking English.

The visual signature of non-understanding: A systematic replication of McDonough, Trofimovich, Lu, and Abashidze ()

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Kim McDonough ◽  
Rachael Lindberg ◽  
Pavel Trofimovich ◽  
Oguzhan Tekin
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Replication Study ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Visual Cue ◽  
Systematic Replication ◽  
Dynamic Movement

Abstract This replication study seeks to extend the generalizability of an exploratory study (McDonough et al., 2019) that identified holds (i.e., temporary cessation of dynamic movement by the listener) as a reliable visual cue of non-understanding. Conversations between second language (L2) English speakers in the Corpus of English as a Lingua Franca Interaction (CELFI; McDonough & Trofimovich, 2019) with non-understanding episodes (e.g., pardon?, what?, sorry?) were sampled and compared with understanding episodes (i.e., follow-up questions). External raters (N = 90) assessed the listener's comprehension under three rating conditions: +face/+voice, −face/+voice, and +face/−voice. The association between non-understanding and holds in McDonough et al. (2019) was confirmed. Although raters distinguished reliably between understanding and non-understanding episodes, they were not sensitive to facial expressions when judging listener comprehension. The initial and replication findings suggest that holds remain a promising visual signature of non-understanding that can be explored in future theoretically- and pedagogically-oriented contexts.

Phonetic feature size in second language acquisition: Examining VOT in voiceless and voiced stops

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110089
Author(s):  
Daniel J Olson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Voiceless Stop ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Featural approaches to second language phonetic acquisition posit that the development of new phonetic norms relies on sub-phonemic features, expressed through a constellation of articulatory gestures and their corresponding acoustic cues, which may be shared across multiple phonemes. Within featural approaches, largely supported by research in speech perception, debate remains as to the fundamental scope or ‘size’ of featural units. The current study examines potential featural relationships between voiceless and voiced stop consonants, as expressed through the voice onset time cue. Native English-speaking learners of Spanish received targeted training on Spanish voiceless stop consonant production through a visual feedback paradigm. Analysis focused on the change in voice onset time, for both voiceless (i.e. trained) and voiced (i.e. non-trained) phonemes, across the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. The results demonstrated a significant improvement (i.e. reduction) in voice onset time for voiceless stops, which were subject to the training paradigm. In contrast, there was no significant change in the non-trained voiced stop consonants. These results suggest a limited featural relationship, with independent voice onset time (VOT) cues for voiceless and voices phonemes. Possible underlying mechanisms that limit feature generalization in second language (L2) phonetic production, including gestural considerations and acoustic similarity, are discussed.

scholarly journals From “No, she does” to “Yes, she does”: Negation processing in negative yes–no questions by Mandarin speakers of English

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Haoruo Zhang ◽  
Norbert Vanek
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Negative Questions

Abstract In response to negative yes–no questions (e.g., Doesn’t she like cats?), typical English answers (Yes, she does/No, she doesn’t) peculiarly vary from those in Mandarin (No, she does/Yes, she doesn’t). What are the processing consequences of these markedly different conventionalized linguistic responses to achieve the same communicative goals? And if English and Mandarin speakers process negative questions differently, to what extent does processing change in Mandarin–English sequential bilinguals? Two experiments addressed these questions. Mandarin–English bilinguals, English and Mandarin monolinguals (N = 40/group) were tested in a production experiment (Expt. 1). The task was to formulate answers to positive/negative yes–no questions. The same participants were also tested in a comprehension experiment (Expt. 2), in which they had to answer positive/negative questions with time-measured yes/no button presses. In both Expt. 1 and Expt. 2, English and Mandarin speakers showed language-specific yes/no answers to negative questions. Also, in both experiments, English speakers showed a reaction-time advantage over Mandarin speakers in negation conditions. Bilingual’s performance was in-between that of the L1 and L2 baseline. These findings are suggestive of language-specific processing of negative questions. They also signal that the ways in which bilinguals process negative questions are susceptible to restructuring driven by the second language.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document