Would your decision-making be different if you used your foreign language? This is a topic that has gained attention in the field of cognitive psychology in recent years. Work today often involves two or more languages and at times requiring processing of information in a language that is not ones native. This raises a question; does use of a foreign language influence reasoning? The study aims to explore how a foreign language affects reasoning in a bi and multilingual population, looking specifically at age of acquisition, which order participants rank their foreign language and if linguistic distance has associations to performance on a reasoning task. The present study examines fifty Swedish bi and multilingual participants with the languages English and Meänkieli. Unequal years of education makes the results of the reasoning task inconclusive. A possible relationship with the order and age of acquisition, and linguistic distance could be found. Overall, results suggest further research is needed to explore the variables in detail.

As the inclusion of Hispanic labor in the Mississippi workforce increses, it is necessary to prepare our students to communicate with these workers. The purpose of this study was to determine the attitude toward Spanish speakers, their culture, and the study of Spanish among agricultural students at Mississippi State University. The study also sought to discover cultural differences that could affect communication between American managers and the Hispanic workforce.The Friedman (1997) questionnaire was administered to 204 students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Additionally, open interviews were conducted with 10 participants: four Mexican Hispanci workers, two community leaders, two students, a crew leader, and a farmer. In regard to students' attitude toward foreign language learning, the results suggested that agricultural students at Mississippi State University have a positive attitude toward study of the language. Results revealed that students have considerably high instrumental motivation, but not integrative motivation. The results also revealed that the students have fairly stereotypical perceptions of native Spanish speakers and their culture; among the most marked stereotype found was the perception that Spanish speakers are hard workers. A few of the stronger sterotype found in previous study and portrayed by the media, were not so obvious in this study. Among these the perceptions of Hispanics as lazy (Cozens 1981; Jackson, 1995; Marin, 1984) and tardy (Friedman 1997; Marin 1984; Ortu(&ntild);o, 1991) the former was not found in this study,students surveyed were undecided about the latter. Like previous studies (Cozens, 1981; Friedman, 1997; Jackson, 1995; Marin, 1984)this study revealed that American students surveyed tended to think of hispanics as poor, dirty, conservative, and non-materialistic. They also assumed Hispanics live in non-developed areas. Interviews revealed Americans assume that everybody is literate in his or her own language, and that Spanish is the only language among Mexicans and Central Americans. American interviwees also had difficulty recognizing hierarchy among workers, and a different connotation in alcohol consumption. In addition, they did not understand that in the Hispanic culture respect is more personal than in the USA.

The purpose of this study was to survey Mississippi foreign language teachers in regards to demographic information pertaining to their educational and professional experiences and how often they employ certain activities taken from the Mississippi Foreign Language Curriculum Framework (2000). The data were then examined to see if a relationship existed between specific teacher demographic data and how they implemented the state-mandated curriculum. A researcher-designed survey instrument was developed. In order to establish the validity and reliability of the instrument two samples were taken: Mississippi foreign language teachers and teachers subscribing to the on-line listserv FLTEACH. A total sample of n= 323 was obtained for reliability and confirmatory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to empirically justify the reduction of the survey items into 4 of the strands found in the curriculum framework. The Mississippi teachers' surveys were separated from the total, retaining a sample of n = 116 for further study. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, and cross-tabulations, were used to analyze the data. Demographic data indicated that the majority of the foreign language teachers surveyed have obtained more than the minimum requirements in language study and pedagogy for certification in Mississippi. The survey also indicated that the majority of teachers surveyed employed a variety of instructional activities for their students, but that they relied most on vocabulary and grammar activities. A MANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis that increased teacher education in subject area and/or pedagogy did not increase the frequency of specific instructional choices of foreign language teachers. Results indicated that the frequency of certain instructional choices did increase as the number of hours in content hours of study increased, but it was not found to be statistically significant at an alpha of á = .05.

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