Contextual and linguistic challenges for French business schools to achieve international accreditation: experts as boundary-spanners

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the contextual and linguistic challenges that French business schools face when preparing for international accreditation and to shed light on the different ways in which experts facilitate these accreditation processes, particularly with respect to how they capitalize on their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning competences. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed 12 key players at four business schools in France engaged in international accreditations and in three specific categories: senior management, tenured faculty and administrative staff. The interview-based case study design used semi-structured questions and an insider researcher approach to study an underexplored sector of analysis. Findings The findings suggest that French business schools have been particularly impacted by the colonizing effects of English as the mandatory language of the international accreditation bodies espousing a basically Anglophone higher education philosophy. Consequently, schools engage external experts for their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning expertise to facilitate accreditation processes. Originality/value The authors contribute to language-sensitive research through a critical perspective on marginalization within French business schools due to the use of English as the mandatory lingua franca of international accreditation processes and due to the underlying higher-education philosophy from the Anglophone academic sphere within these processes. As a result, French business schools resort to external experts to mediate their knowledge and competency gaps.

Developmental Language Disorder and the Assessment of Signed Language

In recent years, deaf and/or hard of hearing (D/HH) children with atypical signed language abilities have become the focus of attention by researchers and educators, especially clinicians in programs that focus on bilingual (signed-written/spoken) education. Studies have shown that Deaf children with a language disorder present with a myriad of linguistic challenges, including struggles with fingerspelling comprehension, complex morphology, or lexical processing. This chapter highlights methods commonly used in assessing children suspected of having a developmental signed language disorder. In addition, it outlines issues that are critical for working with D/HH children, such as considering the possible role of co-occurring disabilities (such as attention deficits and autism) and obtaining information and support from parents and educators/clinicians. Finally, the chapter outlines suggestions for researchers and clinicians working together to identify and provide intervention for children suspected of having a developmental signed language disorder.

Spiritual Experience in Dementia From the Health Care Provider Perspective: Implications for Intervention

Spiritual care seeks to counter negative outcomes from spiritual distress and is notably needed in dementia. Such care needs disease-appropriate customization. Employing “cognitive apprenticeship” theory’s focus on learning from contrast, we explored spiritual needs salient within dementia as related to other disease states; we aimed to inform future dementia-focused spiritual care design. Accordingly, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 24 providers who serve older adults inclusive of persons with dementia. We sampled participants purposively by discipline (chaplains, nursing staff, social workers, activities professionals) and religious tradition (for chaplains). Our interview guide inquired about the nature of spiritual needs in dementia and stakeholders’ roles in addressing them. Hybrid inductive/deductive thematic analysis was employed. A thematic structure emerged with two themes: 1) spiritual experience in dementia compared to other medical conditions (sub-themes: the salience of (a) fear; (b) loss of self; (c) dementia’s progressive and incurable nature; (d) dementia’s impact on accessing faith); and 2) the need for spiritual intervention at the mild stage of dementia (sub-themes: (a) awareness in mild dementia and its influence on spiritual distress; (b) a window of opportunity). These findings pointed to possibilities for the “what” of spiritual needs and the “who” and “when” of implementing spiritual care. Implications included the imperative for dementia-specific spiritual assessment tools, interventions targeting fear and loss early in the disease, and stakeholder training. Researchers should study the “how” of dementia-appropriate spiritual care given recipients’ cognitive and linguistic challenges. Conjointly, these efforts could promote the spiritual well-being of persons with dementia worldwide.

Combating Social Isolation among Older Immigrant Adults: A Qualitative Interpretive Meta-Synthesis

Older immigrants totaled 7.3 million in 2018, representing 13.9 percent of the population of seniors in the U.S. While this population is found to contribute significantly to society, along with new opportunities comes circumstantial challenges. Of these, one of the most salient issues for foreign-born older adults is social isolation. Additionally, this population may be at an increased risk for social isolation with poor mental health because migrating to a new country might results in resettlement challenges. Despite these concerns, less is known about the consequences of social isolation among older immigrant adults. Guided by the Population Interest Context (PICO) framework and the Qualitative Interpretive Meta-Synthesis (QIMS) guidelines, this study seeks to explore consequences of social isolation among older immigrant, as well as interventions to combat isolation. The final sample of six full text articles were published between 2011 and 2021, totaling 180 participants with ages ranging from 61 to 93 years old. Findings from the study indicated that older immigrants are at risk of social isolation and loneliness because they have fewer social connections due to leaving behind their familiar social group in the home country, encounter linguistic challenges that negatively contribute to greater social isolation and poor mental health. Despite these difficulties older immigrants reported various social interventions, i.e., access to senior centers, community programs and services to be of greater importance in building social networks. Authors discuss opportunities for future research, such as exploring evidence-based studies on interventions for social isolation and loneliness of older immigrant populations.

Language effects in early development of number writing and reading

Reading and writing multidigit numbers requires accurate switching between Arabic numbers and spoken number words. This is particularly challenging in languages with number-word inversion such as German (24 is pronounced as four-and-twenty), as reported by Zuber, Pixner, Moeller, and Nuerk (2009, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2008.04.003). The current study aimed to replicate the qualitative error analysis by Zuber et al. and further extended their study: 1) A cross-linguistic (German, English) analysis enabled us to differentiate between language-dependent and more general transcoding challenges. 2) We investigated whether specific number structures influence accuracy rates. 3) To consider both transcoding directions (from Arabic numbers to number words and vice versa), we assessed performance for number reading in addition to number writing. 4) Our longitudinal design allowed us to investigate transcoding development between Grades 1 and 2. We assessed 170 German- and 264 English-speaking children. Children wrote and read the same set of 44 one-, two- and three-digit numbers, including the same number structures as Zuber et al. For German, we confirmed that a high amount of errors in number writing was inversion-related. For English, the percentage of inversion-related errors was very low. Accuracy rates were strongly related to number syntax. The impact of number structures was independent of transcoding direction or grade level and revealed cross-linguistic challenges of transcoding multidigit numbers. For instance, transcoding of three-digit numbers containing syntactic zeros (e.g., 109) was significantly more accurate than transcoding of items with lexical zeros (e.g., 190). Based on our findings, we suggest adaptations of current transcoding models.

Reduced semantic context and signal-to-noise ratio increase listening effort as measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy

Objectives: Understanding speech in noise can be highly effortful. Decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of speech increases listening effort, but it is relatively unclear if decreasing the level of semantic context does as well. The current study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to evaluate two primary hypotheses: (1) listening effort (operationalized as oxygenation of the left lateral PFC) increases as the SNR decreases and (2) listening effort increases as context decreases. Design: Twenty-eight younger adults with normal hearing completed the Revised Speech Perception in Noise (R-SPIN) Test, in which they listened to sentences and reported the final word. These sentences either had an easy SNR (+4 dB) or a hard SNR (-2 dB), and were either low in semantic context (e.g., “Tom could have thought about the sport”) or high in context (e.g., “She had to vacuum the rug”). PFC oxygenation was measured throughout using fNIRS. Results: Accuracy on the R-SPIN Test was worse when the SNR was hard than when it was easy, and worse for sentences low in semantic context than high in context. Similarly, oxygenation across the entire PFC (including the left lateral PFC) was greater when the SNR was hard, and left lateral PFC oxygenation was greater when context was low. Conclusions: These results suggest that activation of the left lateral PFC (interpreted here as reflecting listening effort) increases to compensate for acoustic and linguistic challenges. This may reflect the increased engagement of domain-general and domain-specific processes subserved by the DLPFC (e.g., cognitive control) and IFG (e.g., predicting the sensory consequences of articulatory gestures), respectively.

A Qualitative Exploration of Acculturation Practices of Pakistani Scholars in Dutch Society

The psychosocial adaptation of international scholars is a growing area of inquiry in social sciences. Currently, almost 47,164 Pakistani international scholars are enrolled in various universities worldwide but there is a dearth of literature concerning their psychosocial adjustment. This qualitative inquiry focuses on Pakistani graduate and postgraduate international scholars’ insights concerning their adaptation practices in Dutch culture and society. The study is grounded in a sociocultural adaptation model. The primary data was collected through in-depth interviews with ten Pakistani international students who are currently registered in three Dutch universities. The seven central themes that emerged out of in-depth interviews were the perception of cultural disparity, linguistic challenges, limited interaction with host nationals, discrimination, difficulties practicing religious obligations, acculturation attitudes, and participants’ coping strategies applied during the adjustment process. The findings of the current study highlight both barriers and protective factors within the scope of theoretical assumptions and literature. The current study contributes to the gap in the available literature concerning Pakistani international scholars’ experiences. A limited number of studies have discussed acculturation practices of Muslim students and from a specific region. The present findings would be useful for Pakistani international scholars who intend to study abroad and the administration of the host universities receiving Pakistani international scholars to facilitate their adjustment to the new context.