Approaches to Language Variation: Goals and Objectives of the Spanish Heritage Language Syllabus

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Sara M. Beaudrie

Traditionally, teaching standard Spanish has been at the center of Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) instruction (Bernal-Enríquez & Hernández-Chávez, 2003; Hidalgo, 1990, 1997; Leeman, 2005; Martínez, 2003; Valdés, 1978, 1997; Villa 1996, 2002). A growing number of SHL scholars, however, have advocated for shifting the focus of instruction to the students’ language varieties and to dialect awareness (Bernal-Enríquez & Hernández-Chávez, 2003; Leeman, 2005; Villa, 2000). In the fall of 2011, a total of 62 SHL syllabi were collected from four-year public and private universities located in 15 different U.S. states. A content analysis of the course goals and objectives was employed to determine the approach to language variation that each course adopted (eradication, expansion, appreciation, appropriateness-based, or critical). In order to establish reliability, two coders independently categorized the course goals and objectives in all syllabi, obtaining an acceptable inter-rater agreement level. Findings show that earlier eradication approaches have almost disappeared while appreciation approaches are gaining popularity. Other more recent approaches have been adopted in only a small number of syllabi. The results corroborate prior research showing that the teaching of the standard continues to be a central goal in SHL education (Valdés et al., 2006). In addition, SHL courses have been slow to adopt sociolinguistically rich practices.

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn Martínez

The present paper argues that while the Spanish for Heritage Learners (SHL) profession has given ample attention to sociolinguistic issues such as linguistic standards and language variation in teacher training, it has not yet given sufficient attention to the promotion of dialect awareness among heritage learners themselves. After discussing the role of dialect in heritage language pedagogy, I review some of the ways in which dialect awareness has been fostered in existing SHL textbooks and ancillary materials. I argue that these approaches can be sharpened by attending to the social functions of language variation. I present a critical applied linguistic approach to dialect awareness that focuses on the indexical aspects of language variation in society. I discuss three strands of this approach to dialect awareness: functions of dialects, distributions of dialects, and evaluation of dialects. Finally, I suggest some activities to present these strands in a first year college level Spanish for heritage learners class.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Oluwafunmilayo Obalade ◽  
Kayode Kingsley Arogundade

The study was borne out of the need to assess the effect of ethical climate on deviant behavior among employees in the educational institutions and the need to ascertain whether workplace deviant behavior has a force to bear with institutional ownership. Questionnaires (375) were distributed among the academic and administrative staff of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) and Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin (EU); selected using multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics (table, percentage) and inferential statistics (simple regression) were employed to analyse the data. Simple regression was used to analyse the data. Based on the test of the hypothesis, the study found that deviant behavior among employees of selected public and private universities can be significantly determined by ethical climate factors. Ethical climate contributed significantly to deviant behaviors in the public and private universities showing probability of t-statistic (.012 &.022) lesser than 5%. Hence, it is concluded that the ethical climate or wrong ethical system is the major determinant of deviant behaviors in selected public and private universities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026565902199553
Author(s):  
Camilla Nilsson ◽  
Jill Nyberg ◽  
Sofia Strömbergsson

The aims of this study were to identify children’s reactions towards speech sound disorders (SSD) in other children and whether these reactions can be related to specific speech characteristics. Six audio samples, each containing minute-long resumes of short animated film by five children with SSDs and one child with typical speech (TS), aged 5–9 years, were played back to 17 10–11-year-olds, during four focus group interviews. The transcribed interviews underwent a qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in five identified main themes of listener reactions, concerning the experiences as a listener, the perspective of the speaker, as well as observations of speech characteristics. Reactions of empathy were expressed towards a perceived misalignment between speaker age and speech production proficiency. Awareness of peer reactions are clinically useful, for the understanding and acknowledgement of everyday contextual factors of children with SSDs, during planning and motivation of speech intervention. The children’s self-selected terminology may serve future quantitative investigations to further determine the boundaries of acceptability towards SSDs as well as towards non-standard sociolects or language varieties.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Shamima Yesmin .

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the websites of university libraries to ascertain that libraries are effectively utilizing their respective websites to provide easy access to all electronic resources available in the library. The objective was also to a represent a comparative analysis between public and private university library websites regarding the presence of electronic resources with their easy access via the internet. For the purpose of this study, a research instrument in the form of comprehensive checklist of eighteen e-resources was developed to evaluate their accessibility in the websites of public and private university libraries. Twenty university library websites, comprised of ten top-ranked public and ten top-ranked private universities in Bangladesh, were studied for data collection using content analysis method. The findings demonstrate that the presence of e-resources on selected university library websites is still in its early stage, but it has been growing rapidly. The private university library websites are ahead of public university libraries in terms of the integration of web-resources. It is hoped that the findings of this paper will serve to assist the University librarians and other similar institutions in choosing, selecting and acquiring the most appropriate format of information resources, and making these available to their websites, which will both satisfy the needs of their library users and fit within their library budget.


2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 550-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Duarte Canever ◽  
Maria Renata Martínez Barral ◽  
Felipe Garcia Ribeiro

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the causal links between public and private university environments and the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of students. Design/methodology/approach The impact of different university environments on the students’ EI was checked using a model adapted from Krueger et al. (2000). The study comprised a sample of students enrolled in business administration from three public and three private universities at first semester (freshmen) and at the last two semesters (senior) in Brazil. The model was measured through various questions and later assessed by principal component analysis to build constructs. Via t-test and path analysis the EI and the antecedents were subjected to a comparative analysis to test the equality of the models across the four categories emerged. Findings The two main types of Brazilian university environments (public and private) do not present significant differences in the way they influence EI and its antecedents. Both the tests of means and the tests of measurement of the structural relations between constructs confirm this finding with only a few exceptions. The result of this study is opposed to other studies carried out in Brazil, by showing that the public university environment is not worse for the entrepreneurship than the private. The environmental effects are mostly equal and they as a whole are not conducive to the development of EI. Research limitations/implications The study comprises business students only, and enrolled on regular universities. It is worth highlighting that evidence was brought to the debate for a group of universities in Brazil. Replicating the study with students from other areas and other universities, as well as students in Master’s and Doctorate programs could enrich the analyses. Practical implications This study provides insight into entrepreneurship education, as to which the university environment is conducive to the entrepreneurship. It brings insights for the development of entrepreneurial universities. Originality/value This study contributes to understanding the differences between the public and private universities environment regarding students’ EI.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Naser Jamal Khdour ◽  
Omar Durrah ◽  
Martin Harris

<p>This study seeks to shed light on the phenomenon of job burnout, and its prevalence amongst the staff and seeks to address the issue of the level of job satisfaction in Jordanian universities, together with the examination of the effect of job burnout on job satisfaction. The study adopted a descriptive analytical approach through a comparative study between public universities and private universities, and used the questionnaire as basic tool for data collection, which was distributed to a sample of (200) members of the administrative staff in Jordanian public and private universities. The study found that the degree of job burnout experienced by the administrative staff in the university sector was more than average, Showed that low personal performance dimension has ranked the first as the most persistent job burnout dimension then physical and emotional exhaustion then negative attitude towards relationships. It observed that the degree of job burnout in public universities was greater than in the private universities. The level of staff job satisfaction in the public universities was less than that observed in private universities. The study showed that no dimension of job morally affects on employees satisfaction in public universities. while only one dimension (low personal achievement) affects employees satisfaction in private universities.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-145
Author(s):  
Bayasgalan Tsogtsuren

The aim of this study is to analyze the requirements for effective performance of employees in higher educational institutions of Mongolia. This paper proposed the use of organizational OCTAPACE /Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Authenticity, Pro-active, Autonomy, Collaboration; Experimentation/culture and workplace structure models evaluate job satisfaction and commitment of academic staff. An organizational OCTAPACE culture model is a fairly new concept and experience in Mongolia. This model has been studied and is wellknown in India, Malaysia and western countries. In Mongolia the subject of study has been developed at a low level. This study proposed that an employee' job satisfaction and commitment influence the effective performance of the overall educational institution. Data analysis results indicated that OCTAPACE culture influences job satisfaction and commitment, workplace structure (support, supervisor support) as well as significantly influencing on the job satisfaction and commitment. Based on the collected data, job satisfaction and organizational commitment significantly influence job performance. Mongolia has 17 public and 94 private universities (Mongolian ministry of education, culture and science website). In terms of participants in this study, a theoretical and empirical survey conducted in 160 Mongolian public and in 143 private universities including university professors. Data was estimated by SPSS 21 and Smart PLS 2.0 statistic programs.


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