The shortage of bilingual counselors is one barrier to young Latina/o children receiving mental health services. Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is a developmentally responsive intervention based on the premise that play is children's natural means of communication across cultures. This randomized controlled study examined the effects of CCPT with young Spanish-speaking Latina/o children exhibiting clinical levels of school behavior problems. Participants were 57 pre-K to kindergarten Latina/o children (72% male; mean age = 4.0) randomly assigned to three treatment groups: CCPT with Spanish-speaking, bilingual counselors; CCPT with English-speaking, monolingual counselors; or active control (bilingual mentoring). Monolingual counselors participated in cultural competency training and supervision with bilingual counselors and supervisors. According to independent observers and teachers blinded to children's group assignment, both the bilingual CCPT group and the monolingual CCPT group demonstrated moderate treatment effects over bilingual mentoring, yet between-group differences were not statistically significant. Analysis of within-group change over time indicated that children in both CCPT interventions demonstrated statistically significant improvement, while the mentoring group did not. The percentage of children in each treatment group who improved from clinical to normal behavioral functioning suggests the clinical significance of the findings: 80% bilingual CCPT, 70% monolingual CCPT, 15% bilingual mentoring. Overall, findings indicate that CCPT, whether delivered by bilingual counselors or culturally-competent, monolingual counselors, is a promising intervention for young Latina/o children exhibiting behavior problems.

This semantic typology study investigates the intentionality of causation event descriptions of ten native British English speakers (NBES) and ten native Castilian Spanish speakers (NCSS). Through a methodology that implements a picture story as non-verbal stimuli and verbal event descriptions, statistical data are gathered on the form and function of the participants’ descriptions. Inferred and inscribed characteristics of constructions are collected through a description task, a narration task, and a post-task interview. The results show that the NBES participants consistently were more varied in their choice of constructions, especially when the picture showed or implied an accidental action in the causation event. The frequent use of all constructions for a single picture might indicate that English does not provide a clear means for expressing what speakers want to voice in terms of intentionality. The functional characteristics attributed to the constructions were for the NCSS participants more unified than the NBES participants; all the Spanish constructions demonstrated a clear representing majority characteristic. Having more fine-grained distinctions to represent intentionality, as the NCSS participants have at their disposal, could potentially lead to less constructional variation, as there are options available to speakers for expressing the right intention with the use of a more specific construction. These fine-grained constructions also likely provide the speakers with more certainty in their judgements since they do not need to select a construction ad hoc that best fits the described event. / Denna semantiska typologistudie undersöker intentionaliteten i beskrivningar av orsakshändelser av tio infödda brittiska engelsktalande (NBES) och tio infödda kastilianska spansktalande (NCSS). Genom en metod som implementerar en bildberättelse som icke-verbala stimuli och verbala händelsebeskrivningar samlas statistiska data om formen och funktionen för deltagarnas beskrivningar. Uttydda och inskrivna egenskaper hos konstruktioner samlas genom en beskrivningsuppgift, en berättandeuppgift och en intervju. Resultaten visar att NBES-deltagarna konsekvent var mer varierade i deras val av konstruktioner, särskilt när bilden visade eller antydde en oavsiktlig handling i orsakssammanhanget. Den frekventa användningen av alla konstruktioner för en enskild bild kan tyda på att engelska inte ger ett tydligt sätt att uttrycka vad talare vill uttrycka i termer av avsikt. De funktionella egenskaperna som tillskrivs konstruktionerna var för NCSS-deltagarna mer enhetliga än NBES-deltagarna; alla de spanska konstruktionerna visade en tydlig representativ majoritetsegenskap. Att ha mer detaljerade skillnader för att representera avsiktlighet, som NCSS-deltagarna har till sitt förfogande, kan potentiellt leda till mindre konstruktionsvariation, eftersom det finns alternativ tillgängliga för talare för att uttrycka rätt avsikt med användning av en mer specifik konstruktion. Dessa finkorniga konstruktioner ger sannolikt också talarna större säkerhet i sina bedömningar eftersom de inte behöver välja en konstruktion ad hoc som bäst passar den beskrivna händelsen.

Published in TESOL Quarterly a decade ago, the Academic Word List (AWL) (Coxhead, 2000) has become increasingly influential in the field of TESOL. With more than 82% of the AWL comprised of words of Latin and Greek, much of this important list logically consists of English-Spanish cognates because Spanish originated from Latin. In order to serve Spanishspeaking English language learners (SSELLs) better, their teachers need to know which AWL words are cognates. Using published sources and linguistic analysis of the 570 items in the AWL, the research in this thesis has resulted in a newly reorganized AWL divided into four categories that are more useful for our Spanish-speaking English language learners as well as their instructors, curriculum designers, and materials writers: English-Spanish true cognates, partial cognates, false cognates, and non-cognates

Usage-based theories of language development underscore the importance of children using language to learn language. Few investigations have applied usage-based theories to dual language learners (DLLs), who comprise a growing share of children attending early education programs in the U.S. Three studies were carried out to investigate the role of DLLs’ language usage during preschool. Specifically, the studies examined: 1) classrooms factors that predicted Spanish and English usage, 2) the relationships among Spanish and English usage in classrooms and children’s oral language skills, and 3) the relationships among exposure to and usage of Spanish and English at home and in classrooms and children’s oral language skills. Participants were selected from a larger study of language and literacy development of DLLs attending Head Start and public prekindergarten programs. Hierarchical linear models were conducted to examine predictive relationships among the variables of interest in each study. Results of the first study indicated that the amount of Spanish and English that DLLs used in classrooms was strongly influenced by how often their lead teachers and assistant teachers used Spanish and English. Findings from the second study revealed that English usage in classrooms promoted the development of oral language skills in English but negatively affected Spanish expressive vocabulary. The third study found that usage of Spanish and English was important across environmental settings, and that language usage exerted a greater effect on oral language skills than language exposure. Collectively, the results of these studies reinforce the applicability of usage-based theories to DLL children. Moreover, the results signify the importance of providing DLLs numerous opportunities to use both languages in order to promote bilingual language development.

The purpose of the study was to determine what methods and techniques seem to be the best in helping the beginning Latin-American child to understand the written and oral English as taught by our schools today and to what extent these methods and techniques meed democratic and psychological criteria governing such a program.

This paper provides analysis of a series of email correspondences between secondary newcomer immigrant students and Latino business professionals within the same urban community. The author, using James Gee's discourse theory (1990, 1996, 1999, 2004) contends that school-based discourses and structures have historically operated as barriers to academic success and societal acceptance for the vast majority of secondary English Language Learners, indicating the systemic perpetuation of a racist, classist, xenophobic social order through the public schools. When an attempt is made to sidestep these school-based discourses and put students in direct contact with mature, successful practitioners of English outside of the education community, the students encounter "mentor talk," a set of discourses that uncritically embrace the notions of a neutral, meritocratic, knowledge-based socioeconomic order. At the same time, students encounter language that can be appropriated for their own creative constructions of identity as they seek to position themselves in a new society. Even when there exists a strong alignment between the student's socially-situated identity presentation and the ideological thrust of "mentor talk," many societal barriers stand in the pathway of social and educational advancement. More often, the student identities express resistance, often subtle, to the standard, hegemonizing guidelines for success they have been offered. / text

Recent research suggests that the college-going trajectories of English language learners (ELLs) may be improved by focusing on their academic abilities rather than their English limitations; that ELLs are capable of high-track, college preparatory coursework. Most research draws on feedback or observations of current high school students. This qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to elicit retrospective perspectives of three Latina college students placed in English as a second language (ESL) during high school. These three former ELLs were able to navigate from ESL courses to higher-track, advanced placement (AP) courses, which prepared them for college. Results suggest that relatively short times spent in ESL may positively influence ELLs’ access to college preparatory coursework and integration with native English speaking (NES) peers who possess college-going social capital. Results also suggest that ELLs’ perceptions of teachers’ high expectations and college-going assistance may provide important social capital facilitating ELLs’ access to higher-tracks and college. / text

"September 2008". / Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics and Psychology, Dept. of Linguistics, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 189-196. / The purpose of this research was to analyse the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic development of language groups at different proficiency levels and investigate the relationship between interlanguage pragmatics and grammatical competence. For this study, 36 native Spanish speaking EFL learners at different proficiency levels were asked to respond in English to 24 different situations which called for the speech acts of request and apology. Their English performances were compared to those of 12 American English native speakers in order to provide base-line cultural data. Thirty six Mexican Spanish native speakers also participated as a control group in order to analyse the role of the mother tongue in the performances of the EFL learners. The data, collected using a carton oral production task (COPT), were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results showed three important findings that illuminate the relationship between pragmatic development and grammatical competence and lent support to Kasper and Rose's (2003) claim of a universal pragmatic principle. The first finding suggested that basic adult learners possess a previous pragmatic knowledge in their L1 that allows them to focus on the intended meaning and, in most cases, and to assemble (from the linguistic structures available to them) an utterance that conveys a pragmatic intention and satisfies the communicative demands of a social situation. The second finding revealed that there are two essential conditions to communicate a linguistic action: the knowledge of the relevant linguistic rules and the knowledge of how to use them appropriately and effectively in a specific context. Without an elementary knowledge of the linguistic rules, it is impossible to select the forms to realize a speech act in a target-like manner. The findings further suggested that advanced learners possess the grammatical knowledge to produce an illocutionary act, but they need to learn the specific L2 pragmatic conventions that enable them to know when to use these grammatical forms and under what circumstances. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xi, 238 p. ill

[pt] Este trabalho tem como principal objetivo descrever estruturas de abertura,fechamento e sustentação de conversação em língua portuguesa utilizadas por hispano-falantes aprendizes de português como segunda língua em situações de cumprimentos, despedidas e manutenção de interação dialogada com seus aspectos sócio- interacionais subjacentes. Para tal, a fundamentação teórica deste trabalho se concentra em conceitos da Sociolingüística Interacional em interface com a Análise da Conversação, além do Funcionalismo de base Pragmática. A análise de dados incide sobre um corpus de gravações em áudio de três situações dialogadas em dois grupos de informantes: brasileiros e aprendizes hispânicos de português como segunda língua. Por meio dessa análise, procura-se confrontar os rituais de cumprimentos, despedidas e sustentação de conversação que hispano- falantes aprendizes de português para estrangeiros utilizam com os que brasileiros empregam nos mesmos contextos situacionais, levando-se em consideração dados culturais e interacionais. Os resultados apontam que a interferência do espanhol no nível lingüístico-estrutural tende a diminuir mais rapidamente que no nível sócio-interacional. Portanto, esta pesquisa propõe subsídios para que aprendizes de português falantes de espanhol como língua materna consigam usar naturalmente essas estruturas na língua alvo sem traduções literais nem interferências da cultura subjetiva do espanhol. / [en] This paper intends to describe the structures of opening, closing and maintenance in Portuguese conversation held by native Spanish speakers learning Portuguese as a second language in situations of greetings, farewells and maintenance of dialogued interaction with their underlying socio-interactional aspects. With that aim in view, the theoretical foundation of this work focuses on the concepts of sociolinguistics in connection with conversation analysis and pragmatic-based functionalism. The analyzed data originated from an audio recording corpus of three dialogued situations including two groups of informants: native Brazilian Portuguese speakers and native Spanish speakers learning Portuguese as a second language. By means of this analysis, this paper seeks to compare the rituals of greetings, farewells and maintenance of conversation that native Spanish speakers do with those performed by Brazilians in the same situational context, taking into account cultural and interactional data. The results show that interferences of the Spanish language at the level of linguistic structures tend to decrease more rapidly than at the socio-interactional level. Therefore, this research proposes instruments to cause native Spanish speakers learning Portuguese to effectively use those structures in the target language naturally without either literal translation or inferences of subjective Spanish culture. / [es] Esta investigación tiene el objetivo de describir estructuras de apertura, clausura y sostenimiento de conversación en lengua portuguesa empleadas por hispano hablantes aprendices de portugués como segunda lengua en situaciones de saludos, despedidas y de mantenimiento de interacción dialogada con sus aspectos sociointeraccionales subyacentes. Para ello, la fundamentación teórica de este trabajo se basa en conceptos de la Sociolingüística Interaccional, además del Análisis del Discurso y del Funcionalismo de base Pragmático. El corpus para el análisis de los datos se compone de grabaciones en audio de tres diálogos situacionales en dos grupos de informantes: brasileños y aprendices hispánicos de portugués como segunda lengua. Por medio de ese análisis, se busca confrontar los rituales de saludos, despedidas y sostenimiento de conversación que los hispano hablantes alumnos de portugués para extranjeros utilizan con los que los brasileños usan en los mismos contextos situacionales, teniendo en cuenta datos culturales e interaccionales. Los resultados señalan que la interferencia del español en el nivel lingüístico- estructural disminuye más rápido que en el nivel sociointeraccional. Por lo tanto, esta investigación propone subsidios para que aprendices estudiantes de portugués para extranjeros hablantes de español como lengua materna logren usar naturalmente esas estructuras en lengua extranjera sin traducciones literales ni interferencias de la cultura subjetiva del español.

English Learners experience challenges related to comprehension of science text particularly at the high school level. The language of science differs significantly from that of conversation and expository text. Students benefit from collaborative interpretation of readings. Additionally, there appears to be a need to train adolescents in the oral language skills requisite for academic discourse. This study employed a sample of high school physical science students (N = 75) whose first language was Spanish and who were currently developing English language proficiency. It used quasi-experimental methodology with treatment and comparison groups, during the normal operations of the public school classroom. It tested the effect of training with a textbook summarization method and with an academic conversation strategy on the comprehension of state-adopted science textbook readings. Posttest scores of both groups were analyzed using an ANOVA. Posttest scores of treatment group members were analyzed in relation to prior science knowledge, reading level, gender, and level of English proficiency using a factorial ANOVA. Findings suggest that the treatment had a positive impact on the achievement of students who had a low level of English language proficiency. In light of the at-risk nature of this population, given low socioeconomic status and that a high percentage of families are migrant workers, this in encouraging. The basic premise of the treatment appears promising. Evidence collected pertaining to its effect relative to students’ general ESOL level, science background knowledge, literacy skills, and gender neither confirmed nor denied the viability of the strategy. The further significance of this study is that it adds to the body of research on strategies to support English Learners.