One of the main findings of research on bilingualism in the last twenty years is the fact that both languages are always active, to some extent, and interact with each other. This interaction gives rise to a computationally complex feature of the bilingual mind, namely that the two languages compete with each other. Many studies have addressed the linguistic consequences of this competition (e.g. differences in linguistic attainment), while others have instead addressed the cognitive consequences (e.g. training effects on cognitive control). These two strands of research, when brought together, can shed light on the dynamics of language processing and of its relationship with other cognitive abilities; however, they do not often converge. The first aim of this thesis is to seam them together. The second aim of this thesis is to understand the effects of specific aspects of language experience on linguistic and non linguistic abilities. A critical assumption I make is that bilingualism is not a dichotomous variable, but rather a continuum, characterised by several aspects such as linguistic proficiency, age of acquisition, and daily exposure. All of these factors interact with each other to give rise to potentially infinite types of bilingual experiences, and arguably modulate how bilinguals deal with competing languages. However, the effects of these factors on linguistic and non linguistic abilities are poorly understood. Hence, in this thesis I examine if the bilingual experience affects other cognitive abilities (study 1), how the ability to handle this competition is modulated by experience (study 2), and how it affects language processing (study 3). To examine how specific dimensions of the bilingual continuum affect these abilities, I compare four populations of bilinguals, whose linguistic experience ranges from late bilinguals who are immersed in their native language and are passive users of their second language, to early highly proficient bilinguals who use both languages actively. My first study examines cognitive control performance and shows that high active proficiency and early age of acquisition, together, represent beneficial circumstances for the ability to modulate cognitive control; however, their effects are not strong enough to override individual variability. The second study investigates how the bilingual experience modulates the ability to access the two languages separately, overcoming the competition between them at different levels. This could be at a local level, i.e. the level of the individual linguistic representation (e.g. naming time of a specific word), or at a global or whole language level (e.g. overall naming latencies across languages). The results show that proficiency affects local competition, and age of acquisition affects global competition, whereas daily language exposure regulates competition at both the local and the global levels. My third study examines the processing of pronouns, which are particularly demanding linguistic structures. It shows that active proficiency and age of acquisition, together, define circumstances in which pronoun processing may vary between individuals, independently of structural differences between their languages. This suggests that bilinguals with long-term exposure to more than one language and high active proficiency may use some linguistic structures in the same way as individuals with different linguistic backgrounds, i.e. explicitly interpret them in similar ways, but process them in marginally different ways. Through these studies, this thesis brings together research on linguistic and cognitive aspects of bilingualism by identifying three dimensions of the bilingual experience - proficiency, exposure and age of acquisition - and their effects on language processing, language control and cognitive control.

Os ensaios de proficiências são amplamente utilizados para avaliar a capacidade analítica de laboratórios e também como parte dos processos de acreditação. Por esta razão, são importantes ferramentas para o controle dos resultados analíticos obtidos nos laboratórios que atuam diretamente com as empresas exportadoras de pescado. No Brasil não há provedores de ensaios de proficiência para metais potencialmente tóxicos em pescado. Neste trabalho serão descritos todos os passos utilizados para a produção de materiais de referência a serem utilizados em um estudo piloto de ensaios de proficiência para As, Cd, Pb e Hg em tecido de peixe in natura, seguindo as recomendações do Guia ISO 35. O esquema de preparação consistiu na seleção de indivíduos, limpeza, trituração, homogeneização e fortificação com As, Cd e Pb em dois níveis de concentração. A preparação resultou em 164 sachês de 10 g cada. A fim de avaliar o efeito da irradiação gama na conservação das amostras 52 sachês foram irradiados com uma fonte gamacell de cobalto 60 (60Co) (10,00 ± 1,05 KGy) e 52 não irradiadas, ambos selecionados aleatóriamente foram separados para os estudos de homogeneidade e estabilidade. O restante 60 sachês foram utilizados no ensaio de proficiência. Os resultados demonstraram que ambos os materiais foram homogêneos e apresentaram boa estabilidade (durante um período de 45 dias). No entanto, o material irradiado, apresentou uma melhor integridade foi um passo era crucial para assegurar a preservação da integridade, para a degradação biológica, quando armazenado em temperatura ambiente. Por esta razão, eles foram usados para o programa piloto de ensaios de proficiência. Dez laboratórios participaram do estudo piloto de ensaios de proficiência e os resultados foram avaliados por meio dos seguintes testes: z-score, a confiança elipse e erro normalizado. Este trabalho demonstra a capacidade do laboratório para a produção de materiais de referência, bem como para organizar e realizar testes de proficiência. / The proficiency tests are widely used to evaluate the analytical capacity of laboratories and also as part of the accreditation process. For this reason, are important tools for the control of the quality of the analytical results obtained in the laboratories that work directly with seafood companies. In Brazil there are no providers of proficiency testing for metals potentially toxics in fish tissues. In this work will be described all steps used for the production of reference materials to be used in a proficiency testing pilot study for As, Cd, Pb and Hg in fish tissue following the recommendations of the ISO Guide 35. He preparation scheme consisted in selecting the individuals, cleaning, grinding, homogenization and fortification with As, Cd and Pb in two concentration levels. The preparation resulted in 164 sachets of 10 g each. In order to evaluate the effect of gamma irradiation in the samples conservation 52 sachets were irradiated with 60Co (10.00 ± 1.05 kGy) in a gamma cell. This material with others non irradiated 52 sachets were used for the homogeneity and stability studies. The remaining 60 were used for the proficiency testing. The results demonstrated that both materials were homogeneous and presented good stability (during a period of 45 days). However, the irradiated material present better integrity, concerning biological degradation, when stored in ambient temperature. For this reason they were used to the proficiency testing pilot program. Ten laboratories participated in the proficiency testing pilot study and the results were evaluated using the following tests: zscore, confidence ellipse and En numbers. This work demonstrates the capability of the laboratory to produce reference materials as well as to organize and conduct proficiency testing.

Prior studies suggest that raters' familiarity with test-takers' first language (L1) can be a potential source of bias in rating speaking tests. However, there is still no consensus between researchers on how and to what extent that familiarity affects the scores. This study investigates raters' performance and focuses on not only how raters' second language (L2) proficiency level interacts with examinees' L1, but also if raters' teaching experience has any effect on the scores. Speaking samples of 58 ESL learners with L1s of Spanish (n = 30) and three Asian languages (Korean, n = 12; Chinese, n = 8; and Japanese, n = 8) of different levels of proficiency were rated by 16 trained raters with varying levels of Spanish proficiency (Novice to Advanced) and different degrees of teaching experience (between one and over 10 semesters). The ratings were analyzed using Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM). The results suggest that extensive rater training can be quite effective: there was no significant effect of either raters' familiarity with examinees' L1, or raters' teaching experience on the scores. However, even after training, the raters still exhibited different degrees of leniency/severity. Therefore, the main conclusion of this study is that even trained raters may consistently rate differently. The recommendation is to (a) have further rater training and calibration; and/or (b) use MFRM with fair average to compensate for the variance.

This study aims to study how teachers of English, in years 7-9 focus on various language skills in their lessons. To do this it is necessary to answer several questions. The first question is what language skills are the most important, according to research and steering documents. The second question is what language skills the teachers see as the most important and whether these are the same skills that they focus their teaching on. The third question is what reason the teachers have to focus on certain language skills. The fourth question is what methods the teachers use to teach these language skills. These questions are answered through theories of English foreign language teaching, especially the communicative approach. Previous research shows that all skills are important for English language proficiency. However, the results from the interviews show that the teachers tend to focus on reading, writing and to a lesser extent listening. This is according to the teachers because it is the skills that the students are least proficient in. Furthermore, there are several methods presented that explain how certain language skills may be taught. The language skills studied are reading, writing, speaking and listening. The results have been reached through semi-structured qualitative interviews with teachers working at a single school. The teachers’ answers, together with the theoretical background, have given several results. A result that emerged in this study was that there is a dissonance between what language skills teachers consider the most important and what language skills they teach in their classrooms.

The primary goal of the current study was to investigate the impact of different first language backgrounds on early Chinese reading development by comparing a group of children who spoke a dialect at home and learned to speak and read Mandarin as a second language as soon as they attended Mandarin immersion programs with their Mandarin-speaking monolingual counterparts. The comparison involved five variables, two of which were measures of reading outcomes, word reading accuracy and vocabulary knowledge, and the other three were measures related to processing spoken languages, including rapid automatized naming, phonological awareness, and morphological awareness. The study was carried out in two phases. Participants in Phase One consisted of 30 dialect-dominant (DD) and 30 Mandarin-monolingual (MD) children from one kindergarten. Half of them were in their second year (K2), and the other half were in their third year of kindergarten (K3). Participants in Phase Two consisted of 218 dialect-dominant children from the third-year kindergarten to the third grade in one school. The assessments in Phase One were administered from March to April in 2011, and the assessments in Phase Two were administered from May to July in 2011. The current study added to extant literature by yielding several important findings with an under-represented population in Chinese reading research. First, the strong link between morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge, which has been documented in previous studies, is now extended to the group of DD children. Second, the current study revealed that in comparison to the MD group the DD group performed significantly poorer on Mandarin morphological construction in K2, indicating an impact of language proficiency in the development of morphological awareness. This impact appeared to affect the DD children's subsequent vocabulary development. Third, the current study showed grade variability in the rapid automatized naming (RAN)-Chinese reading relation and suggested that the component of language proficiency might affect children's rapid naming speed and moderate the relation of RAN to reading outcomes. Limitations of the current study and directions for future research are presented.

Community college leaders have spent years trying to improve success rates for students in developmental mathematics (DM) courses, but with little progress. This quantitative study, using a pre-experimental static-group research design, examined if a change in a community college district's policy and practices for student placement into DM courses could improve student success in online DM courses. Bounded rationality theory provided the lens to view how students' decision making is influenced by the lack of timely and appropriate information during the placement process. The study addressed whether a composite placement score, the result of combining the ACCUPLACER placement scores for elementary algebra and reading comprehension, would improve predicting student success in the online DM courses of basic arithmetic and introductory algebra. Logistic regression was used to analyze archival data from a student population of 39,585 students from which 767 participants were identified using a stratified random sampling method. The findings indicated that the composite score was a statistically significant predictor of the likelihood of student success only for the online basic arithmetic course (β = .024, Exp(β) = 1.024, p < .0005), which means the higher the composite placement score, the greater the likelihood of success. Providing DM students with information on reading proficiency's influence can increase student success rates. The social change implications are that when students are placed properly in a DM course they complete the sequence in less time, reach their academic goals sooner, and spend less money. In turn, the community college and local community also benefit.

A lack of evaluation and evidence of effectiveness prompted this study of the Distributed Common Ground System's (DCGS) proficiency maintenance tool, Ready Intelligence Program (RIP). The goal was to close the gap between research and practice and inform stakeholders at the local Distributed Ground Station (DGS) of evaluation results. Guided by a logic model as the theoretical foundation, this study examined how proficiency is perceived by DCGS crewmembers because of RIP at a military installation with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. This qualitative study used an outcomes-based program evaluation report based on interviews with 5 crewmembers, observations of program participant activities, and reviews of training documents and program reports. Data were transcribed into NVivo 10 for organization, and inductive code words and categories were applied. Data interpretations were confirmed via triangulation and then sent to the participants for member-checking. An external evaluator reviewed the study's methodology, data, and findings for veracity. The project that resulted from the study was a program evaluation report that identified 4 overarching themes. It was concluded that (a) there was a lack of awareness of RIP, (b) RIP had minimal impact on perception of proficiency, (c) the program was occasionally applied ineffectively, and (d) management of the program was insufficient. It is recommended that existing RIP training be emphasized to crewmembers to increase awareness. Additionally, an ongoing program evaluation is recommended with a quantitative measure of proficiency achievement. This study promotes social change by improving attitudes toward positional proficiency and RIP as a maintenance tool, improving program maintenance, and facilitating regular program evaluations.

English learners (ELs) at a middle school in California were not meeting federal accountability requirements in English language arts (ELA). ELs lacking proficiency in ELA often drop out of high school and live in poverty as adults. The purpose of the study was to examine teachers' perceptions of their self-efficacy to implement effective pedagogical strategies to help ELs develop ELA proficiency. A case study design was used to investigate the problem through the lens of second language acquisition theory. The purposeful sample included 11 middle school language arts teachers. Participants completed an online anonymous survey, and responses were analyzed using open coding and analytical coding. The following 3 themes emerged from the data: teachers varied in their perceptions of their efficacy to support ELs, teachers perceived their teacher preparation and professional development experiences to be inadequate in preparing them to support ELs, and teachers blamed students and parents for the lack of proficiency in ELA. A professional development project was designed to address the findings and to help build teachers' pedagogical skills and self-efficacy in instructing ELs. Positive social change may be promoted by increasing teachers' ability to effectively instruct ELs, which will increase their efficacy with this population. ELs will benefit by possessing the reading, writing, and communication skills necessary for high school and postsecondary success and to be competitive in the workforce.

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Broadening the term augmented testing to include a combination of multiple measures to assess examinee performance on a single construct, the issues of IRT item parameter and proficiency estimates were investigated. The intent of this dissertation is to determine if different IRT calibration designs result in differences to item and proficiency parameter estimates and to understand the nature of those differences. Examinees were sampled from a testing program in which each examinee was administered three mathematics assessments measuring a broad mathematics domain at the high school level. This sample of examinees was used to perform a real data analysis to investigate the item and proficiency estimates. A simulation study was also conducted based upon the real data. The factors investigated for the real data study included three IRT calibration designs and two IRT models. The calibration designs included: separately calibrating each assessment, calibrating all assessments in one joint calibration, and separately calibrating items in three distinct content areas. Joint calibration refers to the use of IRT methodology to calibrate two or more tests, which have been administered to a single group, together so as to place all of the items on a common scale. The two IRT models were the one- and three-parameter logistic model. Also investigated were five proficiency estimators: maximum likelihood estimates, expected a posteriori, maximum a posteriori, summed-score EAP, and test characteristic curve estimates. The simulation study included the same calibration designs and IRT models but the data were simulated with varying levels of correlations among the proficiencies to determine the affect upon the item parameter estimates. The main findings indicate that item parameter and proficiency estimates are affected by the IRT calibration design. The discrimination parameter estimates of the three-parameter model were larger when calibrated under the joint calibration design for one assessment but not for the other two. Noting that equal item discrimination is an assumption of the 1-PL model, this finding raises questions as to the degree of model fit when the 1-PL model is used. Items on a second assessment had lower difficulty parameters in the joint calibration design while the item parameter estimates of the other two assessments were higher. Differences in proficiency estimates between calibration designs were also discovered, which were found to result in examinees being inconsistently classified into performance categories. Differences were observed in regards to the choice of IRT model. Finally, as the level of correlation among proficiencies increased in the simulation data, the differences observed in the item parameter estimates were decreased. Based upon the findings, IRT item parameter estimates resulting from differing calibrations designs should not be used interchangeably. Practitioners who use item pools should base the pool refreshment calibration design upon the one used to originally create the pool. Limitations to this study include the use of a single dataset consisting of high school examinees in only one subject area, thus the degree of generalization regarding research findings to other content areas of grade levels should be made with caution.