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PubMed2003

Adequacy of an English version of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale based on back translation and testing bilingual subjects.

An English version, a translation of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale written originally in Arabic, was prepared. Several cycles of translation and back translation were carried out. Bilingual Arab college students, studying English language and literature (N=74) responded to the two versions of this scale in counterbalanced order. The correlation between the two forms was .96 denoting high cross-language equivalence. The nonsignificant mean difference for total scores between the two versions was an indication that they functioned as equivalent stimuli. Thus, the English version of the scale is highly recommended for use with English-speaking subjects.

Anxiety↗
PubMed2004

Testing a social psychological model of strategy use with students of english as a foreign language.

This replication study tested MacIntyre's Social Psychological Model of Strategy Use. Participants were 137 first-year college students (100 men and 37 women), all in their late teens or early 20s, learning English as a foreign language in a university in Taiwan. McIntyre specified three conditions for use of language-learning strategies in his model: awareness of the strategy, having a reason to use it, and not having a reason not to use it. Stepwise multiple regression analyses of data measured by Oxford's 50-item Strategy Inventory for Language Learning partially support this model because only Knowledge about the Strategy (representing the first condition) and Difficulty about Using It (representing the third condition) made significant independent contributions to the prediction of use of most of the 50 strategies. Close examination of the results poses questions about MacIntyre and Noels' thesis, as implied in their revised model, that reason to use the strategy and reason not to use the strategy are independent. The present replication suggests a need for further revision of the model. Use of methods more advanced than the multiple regression is recommended to test and refine the model.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

English language ability and mental health service utilisation: a census.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between English language proficiency and mental health service utilisation. METHODS: In September 1993, a sample census was conducted of all mental health services in the State of Victoria, including public and private hospital wards, outpatient consultations provided by psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, and primary mental health care provided by general practitioners. Response rates ranged from 37% for monolingual general practitioners (GPs) to 96% for inpatient units. Particular emphasis was placed on patients' English language proficiency and the role played by bilingual clinicians. RESULTS: Over 80% of inpatients received a diagnosis of either dementia or psychosis. This proportion was even greater in the case of patients with English language difficulties. The latter group of patients underutilised specialist outpatient services, and those using these services were less likely to receive psychotherapy than fluent English speakers. They utilised GPs for mental disorder at at least the same rate as other patients. There was a marked preference for bilingual GPs, with 80% of patients with poor English language skills consulting GPs who spoke their native language. CONCLUSION: There appears to be considerable underutilisation of specialist mental health services by patients who are not fluent in English. The liaison-consultation model of psychiatric care may be an effective way of addressing this problem, given the important role already played by billingual GPs in the psychiatric care of those whose native language is not English.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Bilingual professionals in community mental health services.

OBJECTIVE: This paper presents results from research that explored the roles of bilingual professionals in community mental health services in the Sydney metropolitan area of New South Wales. There were two main objectives to the research: (i) to identify and describe the roles of bilingual professionals that are important in improving the quality of community mental health services for clients from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB); and (ii) to identify and describe the factors that facilitate and inhibit the conduct of these roles. METHOD: Data collection involved indepth interviews with bilingual professionals and team leaders in community mental health services and various other community health services; and various staff responsible for policy and service development with regard to cultural diversity. RESULTS: Bilingual mental health workers were found to have at least four critical roles. These were (i) direct clinical service provision to NESB clients; (ii) mental health promotion and community development; (iii) cultural consultancy; and (iv) service development. Respondents reported that the latter three roles were seriously underdeveloped compared to the clinical service provision role. CONCLUSIONS: It is critical that service managers implement strategies to make better use of the linguistic and cultural skills of bilingual professionals. In addition to their role in clinical service provision ways must be found to facilitate the community-focused, cultural consultancy and service development roles of bilingual professionals employed in mental health services.

Case Management↗
PubMed2001

The developmental acquisition of English grammar as an additional language.

The results are presented here of an investigation into the development of receptive and expressive English grammar when this is acquired as a second language. A cross-sectional survey using standardised assessments was conducted. 103 children were randomly selected from three local primary schools. These children were aged between 5 and 11 years and were acquiring English sequentially. Data relating to the receptive and expressive grammar of English as a second language was collected from each child. Analysis of this data revealed preliminary developmental patterns that appear to be specific to the sequential acquisition of English grammar. This data confirms the importance of not using data pertaining to the acquisition of first language English for English that is acquired as a second language.

Asia↗
PubMed1997

Bilingualism and specific language impairment in children attending language units.

Bilingual children were found to form a distinct subgroup within a large cohort of children with specific language-impairment (SLI) attending language units across England. They differed from the cohort as a whole, and from a language-matched monolingual 'control' group, on measures including language profile on entry to the unit, performance on standardised tests, emotional-behavioural state and probable future educational placement. This paper sets out the nature of these differences in more detail, and suggests some possible explanations for them.

Child↗
PubMed1998

The development of a bilingual phonology assessment.

This paper describes the development of a phonological assessment procedure for children speaking Mirpuri, Punjabi or Urdu in combination with English. The Rochdale Assessment of Mirpuri Phonology (RAMP) was produced in response to the practical difficulties of a monolingual therapist wishing to assess a child's phonological systems across all languages used. The assessment is currently being used both as a clinical tool within the Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust Speech and Language Therapy Department and as a research tool in collaboration with the Department of Speech, University of Newcastle to provide further data on patterns of bilingual phonological acquisition. Outcomes include therapy targeted more accurately at deficits within each phonological system.

Child↗
PubMed1998

Language dominance in dual language children--do we need to bother assessing it?

As part of a doctoral investigation, the receptive lexical proficiency of 392 Dual Language (DL) primary school children in Gibraltar was studied. Using the resultant data, the subjects' lexical proficiency was measured in Gibraltarian Spanish (Yanito) their first language (L1) and in English their second language (L2). Their receptive lexical dominance was also calculated. This paper focuses on the results of analyses conducted to calculate the subjects' receptive lexical dominance and dominance shift over the years. The results of these analyses are reported and some implications briefly discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1998

'Bilinguality' in dual language schoolchildren and its implications.

As part of a doctoral investigation, the receptive lexical proficiency of 392 Dual Language (DL) primary school children in Gibraltar was studied. Using the resultant data, the subjects' lexical proficiency was measured in their first language (L1) Gibraltarian Spanish (Yanito) and in their second language (L2) English. Their bilinguality was also calculated. This paper focuses on the results of several analyses conducted to calculate the subjects' bilinguality. The results of these analyses are reported and some of their practical implications briefly discussed.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Access to Spanish-speaking physicians in California: supply, insurance, or both.

BACKGROUND: National studies report patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) have difficulty finding bilingual physicians; however, it is unclear whether this situation is primarily a result of an inadequate supply of bilingual physicians or a lack of the insurance coverage necessary to gain access to bilingual physicians. In California, 12% of urban residents are Spanish-speaking with some limited proficiency in English. The majority of these residents (67%) are uninsured or on Medicaid. METHODS: In 2001, we performed a mailed survey of a probability sample of primary care and specialist physicians practicing in California. We received 1364 completed questionnaires from 2240 eligible physicians (61%). Physicians were asked about their demographics, practice characteristics, whether they were fluent in Spanish, and whether they had Medicaid or uninsured patients in their practice. RESULTS: Twenty-six percent of primary care and 22% of specialist physicians in the 13 urban study counties reported that they were fluent in Spanish. This represented 146 primary care and 66 specialist physicians who spoke Spanish for every 100,000 Spanish-speaking LEP residents. In contrast to the general population, there were only 48 Spanish-speaking primary care and 29 specialist physician equivalents available for every 100,000 Spanish-speaking LEP patients on Medicaid and even fewer (34 primary care and 4 specialist) Spanish-speaking physician equivalents for every 100,000 Spanish-speaking physician equivalents for uninsured Spanish-speaking LEP patients. CONCLUSION: Although the supply of Spanish-speaking physicians in California is relatively high, the insurance status of LEP Spanish-speaking patients limits their access to the physicians. Addressing health insurance-related barriers to care for those on Medicaid and the uninsured is critical to improving health care for Spanish-speaking LEP patients.

California↗
PubMed2001

Mapping of receptive language cortex in bilingual volunteers by using magnetic source imaging.

OBJECT: There are conflicting claims in the functional imaging literature concerning whether different languages are represented by distinct brain mechanisms in individuals who are proficient in more than one language. This interesting theoretical issue has practical implications when functional imaging methods are used for presurgical language mapping. To address this issue the authors compared the location and extent of receptive language cortex specific to English and Spanish in neurologically intact bilingual volunteers by using magnetic source imaging. METHODS: Areas of the cortex that were specialized for receptive language functions were identified separately for each language in 11 healthy adults who were bilingual in English and Spanish. The authors performed exactly the same procedures used routinely for presurgical receptive language mapping. In each bilingual individual, the receptive language-specific map always encompassed the posterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus. In every case, however, substantial differences in the receptive language maps were also observed for the two languages, regardless of whether each participant's first language was English or Spanish. CONCLUSIONS: Although the reasons for such differences and their ultimate significance in identifying the cerebral mechanisms of language are subject to continuing investigation, their presence is noteworthy and has practical implications for the surgical management of patients with lesions in the temporal and parietal regions of the dominant hemisphere.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Organization of language areas in bilingual patients: a cortical stimulation study.

OBJECT: In an attempt to gain a better understanding of how multiple languages are represented in the human brain, the authors studied bilingual patients who underwent surgery for brain tumors, during which the authors mapped cortical language sites by using electrostimulation. METHODS: Reading, counting, and word retrieval tasks were studied in 12 right-handed bilingual patients with no language deficit. All bilingual patients were native to France. One patient spoke four languages. The patients constituted a nonhomogeneous group in terms of language proficiency or age of acquisition. Languages were evaluated and classified into three major groups, depending on proficiency and date of acquisition. Strict conditions of language site validation were applied, separating typical anomia sites from speech arrest or other language sites (such as hesitation sites). A total of 30 speech arrest sites, 16 anomia sites, and three sites of language difficulties (not typically classified as speech arrest) were found throughout the 26 language studies performed. Strict overlapping of language areas (for all language tasks) was found in five patients, whereas the remaining seven had at least one area that was language-specific and sometimes task-specific. Specific areas for a particular language were found for word retrieval tasks (anomia) in eight sites (50%) but also in six (20%) of the reading or counting sites (speech arrest), either in frontal (three patients) or in temporoparietal (four patients) regions. Among the four early bilingual patients tested (languages acquired before the age of 7 years), three had language-specific cortical areas. Interestingly, six patients in this series who had a discrepancy between two languages did not have more cortical areas devoted to the less proficient language (with acknowledgment of the limit in cortical exposure available for testing by the craniotomy). CONCLUSIONS: In this series, the authors found that bilingual patients could have common but also different cortical areas for both languages in temporoparietal areas and in frontal areas. In some cases, the authors found that language tasks such as counting, reading, or word retrieval in different languages can be sustained by language- and task-specific cortical areas. In bilingual patients, cortical mapping should ideally be performed using different language tasks in all languages in which the patient is fluent.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Functional separation of languages in the bilingual brain: a comparison of electrical stimulation language mapping in 25 bilingual patients and 117 monolingual control patients.

OBJECT: The aim of this investigation was to address three questions in bilingualism research: 1) are multiple languages functionally separated within the bilingual brain; 2) are these languages similarly organized; and 3) does language organization in bilinguals mirror that in monolinguals? 9: During awake dominant-hemisphere craniotomy in each of 25 bilingual patients, the authors mapped both languages by using identical object-naming stimuli. Essential sites for primary (L1) and secondary (L2) languages were compared. Sites were photographically recorded and plotted onto an anatomically referenced grid system. Language organization in bilinguals was then compared with that in 117 monolinguals and 11 monolingual children. CONCLUSIONS: The authors found distinct language-specific sites as well as shared sites that support both languages. The L1 and L2 representations were similar in total cortical extent but significantly different in anatomical distribution. The L2-specific sites were located exclusively in the posterior temporal and parietal regions, whereas the L1 and shared sites could be found throughout the mapped regions. Bilinguals possessed seven perisylvian language zones, in which L2 sites were significantly underrepresented when compared with the distribution of language sites in monolinguals. These L2-restricted zones overlapped the primary language areas found in monolingual children, indicating that these zones become dedicated to L1 processing. These findings support three conclusions. First, it is necessary to map both languages in bilinguals because L1 and L2 sites are functionally distinct. Second, differences exist in the organization of L1 and L2 sites, with L2-specific sites located exclusively in the posterior temporal and parietal lobes. Third, language organization comparisons in bilingual and monolingual brains demonstrate the presence of L2-restricted zones, which are dedicated to L1.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

The effects of stating problems in bilingual students' first and second languages on solving mathematical word problems.

Researchers have suggested that among bilinguals, solving word problems in mathematics is influenced by linguistic factors (K. Durkin & B. Shire, 1991; L. Verschaffel, B. Greer, & E. De Corte, 2000). Others have suggested that students exhibit a strong tendency to exclude real-world constraints in solving mathematics word problems (L. Verschaffel, E. De Corte, & S. Lasure, 1994). In the present study, the authors explored the effects of stating word problems in either Filipino or English on how Filipino-English bilingual students solved word problems in which the solution required the application of real-world knowledge. The authors asked bilingual students to solve word problems in either their first or second language. For some of the word problems, real-life constraints prevented straightforward application of mathematical procedures. The authors analyzed the students' solutions to determine whether the language of the word problems affected the tendency to apply real-life constraints in the solution. Results showed that the bilingual students (a) rarely considered real-life constraints in their solutions, (b) were more successful in understanding and solving word problems that were stated in their first language, and (c) were more likely to experience failure in finding a solution to problems stated in their second language. The results are discussed in terms of the relationship between linguistic and mathematical problem-solving processes among bilinguals.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Language and modeling word problems in mathematics among bilinguals.

The study was conducted to determine whether the language of math word problems would affect how Filipino-English bilingual problem solvers would model the structure of these word problems. Modeling the problem structure was studied using the problem-completion paradigm, which involves presenting problems without the question. The paradigm assumes that problem solvers can infer the appropriate question of a word problem if they correctly grasp its problem structure. Arithmetic word problems in Filipino and English were given to bilingual students, some of whom had Filipino as a first language and others who had English as a first language. The problem-completion data and solution data showed similar results. The language of the problem had no effect on problem-structure modeling. The results were discussed in relation to a more circumscribed view about the role of language in word problem solving among bilinguals. In particular, the results of the present study showed that linguistic factors do not affect the more mathematically abstract components of word problem solving, although they may affect the other components such as those related to reading comprehension and understanding.

Child↗
PubMed2004

The Chinese in Canada: a study in ethnic change with emphasis on gender roles.

The authors investigated the impact of ethnic change experienced by Chinese Canadian couples on gender-role attitude, household task-role expectations and performance. The authors presented acculturation and Chinese ethnic identification as the two discriminant facets of ethnic change. Results indicated a nonsignificant role of acculturation in bringing about modifications of the gender-role attitudes of husbands and of their household task-role expectations. In contrast, the acculturation of Chinese Canadian wives proved to be a significant factor in promoting more modern (less traditional) gender-role attitudes, which in turn led to role expectations that they should contribute less to the performance of the tasks that traditionally fall in the female domain whereas their husbands should contribute more. Subsequent results also revealed that the acculturation of wives was directly linked to the role expectation that they should assume a greater share of responsibility in taking care of the traditionally husband-responsible tasks whereas their husbands should contribute a smaller share. Moreover, Chinese ethnic identification emerged as a significant determinant of husbands' gender-role attitudes and influenced their role expectation that husbands should contribute more to the performance of the tasks that traditionally fall in the male domain whereas their wives should contribute less.

Acculturation↗
PubMed2003

Revitalization of minority languages as a way to promote well-being in the North.

BACKGROUND: In this paper I discuss the interdependence between the revitalization of minority languages and well-being at the population level. OBJECTIVES: The paper aims to describe the history and current status of three northern minority languages, Kven, Meänkieli and Viena Karelian, and the ways in which revitalization of these languages and restoration of their linguistic rights could enhance the well-being of the speakers of these languages. METHODS: A number of research findings are presented to show that being a minority language speaker constitutes an economic, social and health risk. The potential psychic and physical adverse effects of linguistic exploitation are also discussed. RESULTS: It is further demonstrated in the paper that non-existent linguistic rights may have a negative impact, not only on the overall well-being of the minority, but also on the group's economic status. Positive findings on minority status are presented concerning the speakers of Swedish in Finland and the speakers of French in Canada. CONCLUSION: It is also shown that the development of a minority language and functional linguistic rights may prolong the life expectancy and well-being of the minority members and have a positive economic impact, not only on the minority, but also on society as a whole.

Culture↗