Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 158-167).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-77). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-167). Also available in print.

This study explores the factors that influence the English language learning motivation of first generation immigrant students from a low socio-economic class in the city of Växjö, Sweden. Qualitative research methods are applied and semi-structured, in-depth individual as well as group interviews are used to collect the empirical data. The results indicate that students from socio-economically disadvantaged background feel excluded from the society and lack intrinsic motivation to learn English. This lack of motivation is explained in connection with their socio-economic background and the roadblocks currently existing in the Swedish education policy. The findings are analyzed using a theoretical framework consisting of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, social comparison theory and some aspects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. A concluding discussion is presented in the end.

The aim of this thesis was to better understand English as second language Nigerian children’s reading comprehension attainment, the first such study to be conducted in Nigeria. In the thesis three studies were conducted to investigate the influence of cognitive and decoding/reading skills on the children’s reading comprehension attainment, namely the preliminary study (Chapter-3) with one primary school in Nigeria, the main study (Chapter-4) with 13 state-run primary schools, and the control study (Chapter-5) including four primary schools in London, respectively. It was found that English as second language children’s reading comprehension performance is significantly influenced by cognitive, decoding and chronological age. The development of cognitive skills which is necessary for success in reading comprehension development is also dependent upon chronological age. That is, age-related increase in cognitive skills brings about increased engagement and more efficient reading comprehension attainment in the children. The normal cognitive development of the children had a positive role also on the children’s performance on language tests necessary for text comprehension. The study found that school socioeconomic background played a significant impact in the performance of Nigerian English as second language children – the better the socioeconomic background of the school the higher the reading comprehension attainment of the children. Furthermore gender was not a factor in the performance and development of reading comprehension by English as Second Language Nigerian children. This implies that parents, teachers and schools motivate and support children irrespective of being boys or girls to realise their full potentials without any discrimination. Having reviewed few theories of reading acquisition/development, the Simple view of reading (SVR) was found to be more appropriate for adoption in this study of Nigerian English as second language children’s reading comprehension attainment. The theory postulates that text comprehension is achieved when children have decoding skills and linguistic comprehension knowledge. The results obtained in Chapters 3 and 4 were in line with the Simple view of reading’s assertion – text comprehension depends on decoding and cognitive skills.

My diploma work deals with the relationship between the oral health condition of patients and their socio-economic status. The theoretical section of my work is focussed on stomatology and its division, oral cavity disorders and their treatment, prevention and prophylaxis, the distribution of teeth defects and their treatment. The practical section is based on a hypothesis. The objective of my paper consists in the evaluation of the impact of the socio-economic status of a person on his or her KPE index value. The hypothesis has been evaluated on the basis of a secondary analysis of data acquired from the case histories of patients attending a dental practice as well as on a questionnaire survey. The oral health evaluation has been supported by KPE index and the supplementary CPITN and API indexes. Goldthorp´s class diagram has been used for the purposes of the respondents´ socio-economic status evaluation. The status creating factors applied in my research have been the standard and level of education and professional training of a respondent, family income, his or her share in the power and decision sphere etc. It has been found that there is a correlation between a higher level of achieved education and professional training, a higher social status, a higher income on the one side and more favourable KPE index values as well as a better overall dental health on the other side. Primarily, the research presents the basis of my diploma work. It may also be published in a journal for stomatologists, nurses and dental hygienists. It is also aimed at internal use in the dental practice.

This research tested the hypothesis that militarization of societies, as defined by the percent of national budgets spent on military expenditures, has adverse effects on women's economic status relative to men's. This study also examined other predictor variables known to affect women's status. Data from sixty different nations were analyzed by means of multiple regression techniques. Results show that the militarization variable increased women's share of agriculture, which suggests that as men are mobilized into military activities, women are left to produce food for the country, a situation which can have contradictory effects on women's economic status. What is more important than militarization in predicting women's economic status relative to men's are high birth rates and sex ratios, which clearly depress women's economic opportunities.

Background: Lower respiratory illnesses (LRIs) and asthma are common diseases in children < 5 years of age. Few studies have investigated the relationships between multiple, home-based social and environmental risk factors and asthma and LRIs in children. Of those that have, none have focused exclusively on children < 5 years of age, who are more physiologically vulnerable and spend more time at home compared to older children. Further, no studies have done so at the community level. Methods: We modeled relationships between emergency department visits and hospitalization rates for asthma and LRIs for children < 5 years and geographic risk factors, including socio-economic and housing characteristics, ambient air pollution levels, and population density in Maricopa and Pima Counties, Arizona, from 2005 to 2009. We used a generalized linear model with a negative binomial observation distribution and an offset for the population of very young children in each tract. To reduce multicollinearity among predictors, socio-economic characteristics, and ambient air pollutant levels were combined into unit-less indices using the principal components analysis (PCA). Housing characteristics variables did not exhibit moderate-to-high correlations and thus were not included in PCA. Spatial autocorrelation among regression model residuals was assessed with the Global Moran's I test. Results: Following the regression analyses, almost all predictors were significantly related to at least one disease outcome. Lower socio-economic status (SES) and reduced population density were associated with asthma hospitalization rates and both LRI outcomes (p values < 0.001). After adjusting for differences between counties, Pima County residence was associated with lower asthma and LRI hospitalization rates. No spatial autocorrelation was found among multiple regression model residuals (p values > 0.05). Conclusions: Our study revealed complex, multi-factorial associations between predictors and outcomes. Findings indicate that many rural areas with lower SES have distinct factors for childhood respiratory diseases that require further investigation. County-wide differences in maternal characteristics or agricultural land uses (not tested here) may also play a role in Pima County residence protecting against hospitalizations, when compared to Maricopa County. By better understanding this and other relationships, more focused public health interventions at the community level could be developed to reduce and better control these diseases in children < 5 years, who are more physiologically vulnerable.

Enhancing primary care is key to the Canadian health care reform. Considered as an indicator of primary care access and quality, hospitalisations for ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions are commonly reported by Canadian organisations as sentinel events signaling problems with the delivery of primary care. However, the literature calls for further research to identify what lies behind ACS hospitalisation rates in regions with a predominantly urban population benefiting from universal access to health care. A theoretical model was built and, using an ecological design, multiple regressions were implemented to identify which neighbourhood characteristics explained the socio-economic gradient in ACS hospitalisation rates observed in Ottawa. Among these neighbourhoods, healthy behaviour and - to a certain extent - health status were significantly associated with ACS hospitalisation rates. Evidence of an association with primary care accessibility was also signaled for the more rural neighbourhoods. Smoking prevention and cessation campaigns may be the most relevant health care strategies to push forward by policy makers hoping to prevent ACS hospitalisations in Ottawa. From a health care equity perspective, targeting these campaigns to neighbourhoods of low socio-economic status may contribute to closing the gap in ACS hospitalisations described in this current study. Reducing the socio-economic inequalities of neighbourhoods would also contribute to health equity.

Afrikaans: Die doel van dié studie is om die verbale en nie-verbale kommunikasie gedrag, wat moeders vanuit lae sosio-ekonomiese omstandighede teenoor hul nege maande oue babas gebruik, te beskryf. Ten einde aan die doel te beantwoord, is 'n literatuurstudie en empiriese studie onderneem. Die literatuurstudie verskaf 'n oorsig van moeder-kind kommunikasie interaksie as basis van taalverwerwing. Die verwantskap tussen die aard van interaksie en die sosiaal¬interaktiewe konteks waarin moeders met 'n lae opvoedingspeil en inkomste hulle plaaslik bevind, is beklemtoon. Hierdie verwantskap voorsien 'n raamwerk waarbinne die waargenome interaksie patrone toepaslik geïnterpreteer kan word. Daar is ook verwys na die problematiek wat die Kleurlinggemeenskap as minderheidsgroep in Suid-Afrika tipeer, ter ondersteuning van die belang van konteks sensitiewe interpretering van data. Die navorsingsmetodiek het, met behulp van drie gevallestudies van moeders met hul pre-verbale kinders, kwalitatiewe beskrywende data jeens moeder-kind kommunikasie interaksie verskaf. 'n Data-insamelingsprotokol is op grond van die literatuur en bestaande evaluasie materiaaI saamgesteI, om agtergrondsinligting van die proefpersone in te win asook insig aangaande moeders se kommunikasie gedrag te ontwikkel. Hierdie inligting is bekom deur middel van onderhoude en video-waamemings van spelinteraksies en versorgingsaktiwiteite, wat op die data-insamelingsprotokoI vasgelê is. Die resultate van hierdie studie het onvoldoende interaksionele vaardighede by proefpersoon moeders aangedui. ' n Gebrek aan responsiewe gedrag op hul babas se vokale gedrag en ongemakseine soweI as beperkte verbale stimulasie, blyk daartoe aanleiding te gee dat voorlopers van taalvaardighede nie genoegsaam by die pre-verbale kinders gefasiliteer word nie. Daar is verder bevind dat moeders se persepsies aangaande vroeë verbale stimulasie, spel en gesamentlike boeklees betreklik eng voorkom, wat waarskynlik verband hou met beperkte kennis weens lae opvoedingspeiI en gebrekkige blootsteIIing aan spraak-taalterapeutiese oudiologiese dienste in hulle gemeenskap. Gevolglik is die bewusmaking en lewering van vroeë kommunikasie intervensie dienste in Eersterus en soortgelyke lae sosio-ekonomiese gemeenskappe noodsaaklik. Die bekendstelling van Kommunikasiepatologie en motivering vir vroeë kommunikasieintervensie behoort ook professionele persone vanuit mediese en opvoedkundige beroepe sowel as beleidsbepalers op distriks en nasionale vlak, in te sluit. Die implikasies voortspruitend was van teoretiese en kliniese aard. Die kliniese implikasies het aanpassings in die struktuur van diensverskaffing, asook inhoud van familiegebaseerde tuisprogramme tydens vroeë kommunikasie intervensie in die gemeenskap, voorgestel. Die verkreë inligting word as waardevol vir vroeë intervensie terapeute betrokke by families van lae sosio-ekonomiese omstandighede, beskou, aangesien spraak-taalterapeutiese en oudiologiese dienslewering, deur die gebruik van sodanige konteks toepaslike data, bevoordeel kan word. Hierbenewens is voorstelIe vir verdere navorsing, om databasisse rondom moeder-kind kommunikasie interaksie in lae sosio-ekonomiese gemeenskappe uit te brei en kommunikasie agterstande te voorkom of te verminder, aan die hand gedoen. English: The aim of this study is to describe the verbal and non-verbal communicative behaviour of mothers with low socioeconomic status towards their nine month-old babies. In order to achieve this aim a literature review, as well as an empirical study, was undertaken. The literature review provides an overview through which mother-infant communication interaction can be viewed as the key element in language acquisition. The relationship between the nature of the interaction and the specific socio-interactive context within which mothers with low levels of income and education find themselves is emphasised. This relationship provides a framework for the appropriate interpretation of observed patterns of interaction. To support contextually sensitive interpretation of data reference is also made to the problems typical to a minority group in South Africa, such as the colored community. Qualitative descriptive data regarding mother-infant communication interaction was obtained through research methodology, by means of three case studies of mothers with their pre-verbal children. In order to collect background information on participants and to develop insight into their communicative behaviour, a data collection protocol was compiled based on a literature review and on existing evaluation material. The information was obtained through interviews and video recordings of play and caregiving interaction based in this data collection protocol. The results of this study indicate that mothers demonstrate insufficient interaction skills. Limited Response to their infants' vocal and discomfort cues as well as limited verbal stimulation of infants appears to contribute to the fact that language skill precursors are not facilitated sufficiently appropriately in these pre-verbal children. Furthermore, it is apparent that mothers' perceptions with regard to early verbal stimulation, play and joint book-reading are fairly limited. These findings may be as a result of insufficient knowledge due to low levels of education as well as limited exposure to speech-language therapy and audiological services in their community. Thus, the development of public awareness and the provision of early communication intervention services in Eersterus and similar low socioeconomic communities are essential. The introduction of Communication Pathology and motivation for early communication intervention has to include medical and educational professionals as well as policy makers on a district and national level. The resulting implications are theoretical and clinical in nature. The clinical implications recommend that adaptations be made to the structure of service delivery, especially regarding the content of family-centred home programmes in this community. The data obtained may be viewed as valuable by early intervention therapists working in families with low socioeconomic status, since a database which is contextually appropriate may benefit speech-language therapy and audiological services. Future research topics are proposed in order to further develop databases on mother-infant communication interaction in low socio-economic communities communities and in order to prevent or reduce communication deficits. / Dissertation (MA (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / unrestricted