Lithuanian Saturday Schools in Chicago: Student Proficiency, Generational Shift, and Community Involvement

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-133
Author(s):  
Aurelija Tamosiunaite
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Community Activities

This article explores the Lithuanian heritage speakers’ community in the United States. It aims to look at the correlations between generation or age of arrival in the United States, and self-reported language proficiency. Usage of Internet materials in Lithuanian and involvement in Lithuanian activities are also addressed. The case study contrasts findings from two different sources: a survey conducted in two Chicago-area Lithuanian Saturday schools in 2007 and an Internet Survey administered to Lithuanian-American middle, high school, and college students via Survey Monkey in 2008. The empirical data indicate that Lithuanian heritage speakers form a diverse linguistic community having different linguistic competences in the heritage language. Consistent with the findings of other heritage languages (Carreira & Kagan, 2011), Lithuanian heritage speakers exhibit high oral proficiency but lack writing and reading skills. The correlation between the age of arrival and linguistic competence in Lithuanian was also observed: the younger the age of arrival in the United States, the weaker competence in Lithuanian was reported. Findings on Lithuanian heritage speakers’ involvement in the heritage community indicate that most of the respondents are highly involved in community activities. All of the third-generation (G3) respondents reported their involvement in Lithuanian Saturday schools, which indicates that Lithuanian education is still actively promoted among G3 heritage speakers.

scholarly journals Use of English in Ph.D. programs in Social Work in the United States. An illustrative case study of idiomatic hegemony

2021 ◽  
pp. 165-186
Author(s):  
Smitha Rao ◽  
◽  
Carlos Andrade ◽  
Javier Reyes-Martínez ◽  
Ignacio Eissmann-Araya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Illustrative Case Study ◽  
Work Education

This study reviews the experiences of non-native English-speaking students in Doctoral Social Work Education in the United States. The research, through a qualitative case study, interrogates regarding the centrality of English in education processes, and generates recommendations for improving them. Findings show that English can play a hegemonic role in Social Work Education and that some educators can exert discrimination based on language proficiency. Among recommendations are the need to promote reflexivity to contribute that educators reconnect with discipline principles as well as review the way their power is exerted in the classroom.

scholarly journals The Production of /p, t, k/ among Heritage Speakers of Spanish in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oihane Muxika-Loitzate
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
The United States ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Degree Of Dominance ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish

The present study explores whether heritage speakers of Spanish in the United States pronounce voiceless stops (/p, t, k/) differently in cognate words and non-cognate words in Spanish and in English depending on their degree of dominance in both languages. The acoustic measurement used to determine whether /p, t, k/ are pronounced differently or not is the Voice Onset Time (or VOT), which is longer for word initial /p, t, k/ in English whereas it is shorter in Spanish (Lisker & Abramson, 1964). This study analyzes the production data of 8 heritage speakers who completed the Bilingual Language Profile (or BLP) Questionnaire (Birdsong et al., 2012), a read-aloud task, and a follow-up interview. The results show that informants pronounce /p, t, k/ differently in English and in Spanish. Moreover, informants’ linguistic dominance influences their production of voiceless stops in English, but not as much in Spanish. A closer look at the data shows that informants’ language proficiency could be influencing their pronunciation of /p, t, k/ in Spanish. Furthermore, this study shows that there is an overall effect of cognate words in the production of voiceless stops in Spanish and English. The current study is of interest because it focuses on heritage speakers’ phonemic inventories, an understudied area of linguistics (Rao & Ronquest, 2015; Kim, 2018) and it combines the BLP Questionnaire and the follow-up interview to retrieve information about heritage speakers’ degree of bilingualism and linguistic attitudes. This methodology allows to explore how sociolinguistic attributes influence heritage speakers’ pronunciation.

scholarly journals Analysis of Acculturative Stress and Sociocultural Adaptation Among International Students at a Non-Metropolitan University

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajara Mahmood ◽  
Monica Galloway Burke
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Acculturative Stress ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sociocultural Adaptation ◽  
Metropolitan University

This quantitative descriptive study analyzed levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation among international students at a non-metropolitan university in the United States related to certain demographic characteristics. Surveys were used to measure international students’ levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation, including five subscales of sociocultural adaptation (N = 413). Demographic questions included gender, age, and country of origin, length of stay in the United States, degree level, and English language comfort. Results indicated a negative correlation between students’ levels of sociocultural adaptation and acculturative stress. Particularly, increased competency among the five sociocultural adaptation subscales (interpersonal communication, academic/work performance, personal interests and community involvement, ecological adaptation, and language proficiency) decreased levels of acculturative stress among the students.

A Case Study of the Use of Newsela PRO Among Adult, Emergent Bi/Multilingual Learners in a Precollege Program

2020 ◽  
pp. 104515952095947
Author(s):  
David A. Housel ◽  
Nevair Oranjian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Educational Technology ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Adult Literacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Literacy Programs ◽  
Instructional Use

Adult literacy and English as an Additional Language (EAL) programs are often challenged to find suitable and authentic reading texts and instructional materials for their students. Newsela PRO, an entirely online resource, provides high-interest fiction, timely news articles, and other nonfiction texts in both English and Spanish that focus on developing reading and critical thinking skills by providing students with five levels of reading difficulty. Although originally designed for younger learners, the use of Newsela PRO has recently expanded into adult literacy programs. This convergent mixed-methods study investigated the usability and instructional use of this educational technology in an intensive, precollege EAL program in a community college in the northeastern United States. This case study found that instructors felt the detailed reports provided by Newsela PRO enhanced their instruction and feedback and enabled them to differentiate instruction more effectively. Regardless of language-proficiency level, students found Newsela “easy to very-easy-to-use.” They were motivated to read more extensively and developed more confidence in their academic skills and English-language proficiency. These preliminary findings justify the additional cost of Newsela PRO as well as exploring its expanded use in other adult education, EAL, and literacy programs, especially Spanish-language literacy programs, both in the United States and internationally. As many adult and higher education programs were mandated to transition to distance learning exclusively during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the effective instructional use of educational technology has become critical.

Gendered differences in emigration and mobility perspectives among European researchers working abroad

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Scheibelhofer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Highly Skilled

This paper focuses on gendered mobilities of highly skilled researchers working abroad. It is based on an empirical qualitative study that explored the mobility aspirations of Austrian scientists who were working in the United States at the time they were interviewed. Supported by a case study, the paper demonstrates how a qualitative research strategy including graphic drawings sketched by the interviewed persons can help us gain a better understanding of the gendered importance of social relations for the future mobility aspirations of scientists working abroad.

‘A Routh O’ Auld Nick-Nackets’ – the antiquarian collection of John Rae

2015 ◽  
Vol 36-37 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-183
Author(s):  
Paul Taylor
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Moral Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Case ◽  
National Museums ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

John Rae, a Scottish antiquarian collector and spirit merchant, played a highly prominent role in the local natural history societies and exhibitions of nineteenth-century Aberdeen. While he modestly described his collection of archaeological lithics and other artefacts, principally drawn from Aberdeenshire but including some items from as far afield as the United States, as a mere ‘routh o’ auld nick-nackets' (abundance of old knick-knacks), a contemporary singled it out as ‘the best known in private hands' (Daily Free Press 4/5/91). After Rae's death, Glasgow Museums, National Museums Scotland, the University of Aberdeen Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, as well as numerous individual private collectors, purchased items from the collection. Making use of historical and archive materials to explore the individual biography of Rae and his collection, this article examines how Rae's collecting and other antiquarian activities represent and mirror wider developments in both the ‘amateur’ antiquarianism carried out by Rae and his fellow collectors for reasons of self-improvement and moral education, and the ‘professional’ antiquarianism of the museums which purchased his artefacts. Considered in its wider nineteenth-century context, this is a representative case study of the early development of archaeology in the wider intellectual, scientific and social context of the era.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document