The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of the competencies which are needed by teachers of the hearing impaired in 1980. A survey instrument containing 92 competency statements that were originally developed by Romaine Mackie in a study she conducted in 1956, was utilized in this inquiry. Subjective judgments as to the importance of the competency statements were made by current teachers of the hearing impaired and administrators of programs for hearing impaired students. In addition, the teachers rated their self-proficiency in each of the competencies.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Heather R. Bailey / Bilingualism refers to an ability to speak two or more languages and the daily experience involved in coordinating these two languages can have a strong effect on bilinguals’ cognition. For decades, research strongly supported the idea of bilingual advantage; however, recent studies have found no bilingual advantage. Not surprisingly, such conflicting findings raised concerns about the validity of previous research as well as several other methodological issues. For instance, simple cognitive tasks like the Simon task are commonly used in bilingualism research, but they may not best capture bilinguals’ daily experience using the two languages. Bilinguals are constantly suppressing one language while engaged in other tasks, which is better captured by complex working memory (WM) tasks. Most importantly, previous work has not empirically evaluated the effects of language mode on bilinguals’ cognitive performance. Language mode refers to the state of activation of each language. Bilinguals may be in monolingual mode if only one of their languages is activated, whereas they may be in bilingual mode if both of their languages are activated. Previous work has proposed that language mode can have an effect on performance. Thus, the main objective of this dissertation was to evaluate the possible effects of bilingualism on complex WM performance while controlling for language mode and various demographic variables. The Pretest provided initial evidence that language mode affected performance on a simple cognitive task like MPWI. Therefore, a similar language mode manipulation was used in the Main study while testing performance on several complex WM tasks (CSPAN, OSPAN, and RotSpan) and the Simon task for monolinguals, bilinguals in bilingual mode, and bilinguals in monolingual mode. No significant differences were observed between all bilinguals and all monolinguals on any of the measures. However, significant differences were observed once language mode was accounted for. That is, bilingual participants in bilingual mode outperformed both bilingual participants in monolingual mode and monolingual participants on measures of complex WM. Further, there were no differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in monolingual mode. Thus, being in monolingual mode and fully suppressing one language may require more inhibition resources than bilingual mode in which both languages are active, and as a result, there may be fewer resources left to complete the complex WM span tasks. Importantly, the current work shed light on the hotly debated issue of the existence of a bilingual advantage by identifying a third variable that may explain the conflicting results in the literature. That is, no bilingual advantage was observed, but the current data provide evidence of a bilingual mode advantage.

This thesis explores EMI students’ perspective on the role of the English language, multilingualism and language proficiency focusing on EMI students at five different schools in the UAE and Sweden. In order to explore the students’ perspectives a survey was conducted using a questionnaire that was distributed via e-mails. Overall the results demonstrate that a clear majority of the 94 informants have a positive attitude towards attending EMI schools and multilingualism. 20 different languages are reported as first language or languages used in different contexts. Even so, English is undoubtedly the language most of the students declare as their strongest language- Also, English proficiency is regarded to be significant for future undertakings such as university studies and employment locally and internationally.

INTRODUCTION: Language barriers between providers and low English proficiency (LEP) families in pediatric hospital care can reduce the quality of care provided to LEP patients/families. Boston Medical Center serves a population with a large LEP patient base. Currently, there is no existing model of care that efficiently and effectively incorporates interpreters on all morning rounds to optimize communication for all patients, especially LEP patients/families. OBJECTIVE: To improve communication between providers and LEP families on morning rounds in the Pediatric Inpatient Unit of Boston Medical Center. The aim for the QI initiative was to increase the percentage of rounding episodes with LEP patients/families in which the care plan was discussed between providers and families through the use of an in-person interpreter during morning rounds by 50% by February 28, 2015. METHODS: A quality improvement initiative utilizing residents, medical students, the unit coordinator and the ward assistant to introduce, streamline and standardize a process to incorporate interpreters on all morning rounds as needed for LEP families. The Model for Improvement was used for testing this initiative. Four Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles of testing were conducted between October 21, 2014 and February 20, 2015. The primary outcome was the proportion of rounding episodes for LEP patients/families in which the care plan was discussed between the provider and patients/families through an in-person interpreter. This data was collected through a newly created "Interpreter Rounding Form" (IRF) that served as a checklist for the process. The secondary outcome looked at patient satisfaction for both LEP and English proficient (EP) patients. This data was collected through survey questions from the CAHPS and AHRQ patient surveys. Process measures included if interpreter was requested, if interpreter was used and if any change in care management due to having in-person interpreter present. Balancing measures included duration of rounds, interpreter arrival time, and resident satisfaction. Language being included in resident verbal signouts and written signouts between teams was also tracked. Run charts were analyzed for all outcomes and measures to determine the effectiveness of changes tested. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: For the first three PDSAs, there was a significant amount of variation in data measurement, which required focused efforts on better operationalizing our measurement framework. Changes were made after each PDSA to streamline the process and enforce completion of IRF, with which data was collected. For the fourth PDSA, starting in January 2015, completion rates for the IRF slowly increased to a median of 40%. Primary outcome data for PDSA 1-4 showed a median of 52% based on the rounding episodes that were recorded on the IRF forms, which suggests that the aim for a 50% increase in using an in-person interpreter on all morning rounds was achieved by February 28, 2015. However, this data may not reflect all the requests and encounters in which an in-person interpreter was used due to the missing data from a low completion rate of forms before PDSA 4. Further analysis of PDSA 4 data showed that though an in-person interpreter was used at a median of 38% of all encounters with LEP patients/families, providers were communicating with patients/families in their preferred language at 100% of the time; if did not request interpreter, providers used a resident or medical student who spoke the family's language 43% of the time. Patient survey data suggested that out of all patients in the unit, 80% of patients/families reported having "Always" understood the doctors, with LEP patients/families at a slightly higher percent than EP patients (100% vs 88%). Patients reported "Good" or higher for the quality of the information that was provided by the doctors on morning rounds at a median of 84%, with LEP patients at 100% compared to 84% for English-speaking patients. Qualitative analysis of patient responses showed that LEP patients liked the explanations and information provided in the morning rounds while EP patients mostly liked the attitude and approach of the doctors. One major limitation to our process was the constantly rotating residents/medical students and the need to train new teams. The project is ongoing with a focus on further standardization until a goal of 90% completion rate for IRF and 80% for primary outcome can be reached. Future PDSAs will encourage using medical interpreters for all LEP patient encounters and family-centered rounding.

abstract: This investigation's goal was to add to the small body of research on pragmalinguistic acquisition of L2 Spanish. Specifically, it centered on the production of complaints in Spanish. Data was collected via a written Discourse Completion Task (DCT) of a complaint-provoking situation presented in a website voiceboard to two non-native speaker (NNS) students groups of different proficiency levels and to a native speaker (NS) control group. The lower proficiency group was comprised of 11 NNS enrolled in a 200 level beginning/intermediate Spanish grammar class and the advanced proficiency group of 11 NNS enrolled in a 400 level advanced Spanish conversation and composition class. Neither group contained any participants who had studied abroad or lived in a Spanish-speaking country for more than 3 months. The control group consisted of 10 NSs of Spanish who were all natives or current residents of Northern Mexico. Data from the DCT was categorized into strategies which were organized into Head Acts and Supporting Moves, Deference and Solidarity Politeness systems, according to the frameworks of Blum-Kulka, et al. (1989) and Scollon and Scollon (1983), respectively. The results of the analysis revealed that all three groups of participants have overarching similarities in the use of multiple Head Acts, some used several times throughout a response, to realize a complaint and used some Supporting Moves to mitigate these Head Acts. The lower proficiency group diverged from the advanced proficiency group and NS control group in that lower proficiency students not only used a fewer total strategies and strategy types, but also preferred Head Acts and Supporting Moves that expressed discomfort or dislike over strategies that expressed criticism, or requested a solution from the listener, these being the primary strategies preferred by the advanced proficiency and control group participants. It was also found that the percentage of Supporting Moves decreased with the raise in proficiency level, also. After a discussion of the results, pedagogical implications are given based on these results to help students notice and acquire pragmalinguistcally appropriate responses to complaint-provoking situations. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Spanish 2012

abstract: Identification of primary language impairment (PLI) in sequential bilingual children is challenging because of the interaction between PLI and second language (L2) proficiency. An important step in improving the accurate diagnosis of PLI in bilingual children is to investigate how differences in L2 performance are affected by a length of L2 exposure and how L2 assessment contributes to differentiation between children with and without PLI at different L2 proficiency levels. Sixty one children with typical language development (TD) ages 5;3-8 years and 12 children with PLI ages 5;5-7;8 years participated. Results revealed that bilingual children with and without PLI, who had between 1 and 3 years of L2 exposure, did not differ in mean length of utterance (MLU), number of different words, percent of maze words, and performance on expressive and receptive grammatical tasks in L2. Performance on a grammaticality judgment task by children with and without PLI demonstrated the largest effect size, indicating that it may potentially contribute to identification of PLI in bilingual populations. In addition, children with PLI did not demonstrate any association between the length of exposure and L2 proficiency, suggesting that they do not develop their L2 proficiency in relation to length of exposure in the same manner as children with TD. Results also indicated that comprehension of grammatical structures and expressive grammatical task in L2 may contribute to differentiation between the language ability groups at the low and intermediate-high proficiency levels. The discriminant analysis with the entire sample of bilingual children with and without PLI revealed that among L2 measures, only MLU contributed to the discrimination between the language ability groups. However, poor classification accuracy suggested that MLU alone is not a sufficient predictor of PLI. There were significant differences among L2 proficiency levels in children with TD in MLU, number of different words, and performance on the expressive and receptive grammatical tasks in L2, indicating that L2 proficiency level may potentially impact the differentiation between language difficulties due to typical L2 acquisition processes and PLI. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Speech and Hearing Science 2012

This study surveys a sample of second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade teachers' proficiencies in three areas of standardized achievement test information—knowledge of standardized test terminology, interpretation of standardized tests, and application of standardized test results in program planning. A comparison is also made of teacher knowledge of standardized tests and public school administrators' expectations of teachers' skills. The purposes of the study were to determine elementary teachers' knowledge of standardized achievement test terminology, interpretation and application of test score information. This determination was made across the three variables, grade level taught, highest degree earned, and the number of years teaching experience.

[pt] O objetivo desta tese é analisar um dos aspectos da escolaridade das crianças brasileiras: a defasagem idade- série. No primeiro capítulo, analisamos a influência dos fatores familiares. Usamos os dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios 1996 (PNAD/IBGE) e seu suplemento de mobilidade social, com indicadores sobre os avós. Identificamos o efeito da renda e do nível educacional dos pais sobre a defasagem das crianças usando três instrumentos: a oferta educacional dos pais, fatores familiares permanentes e a mudança no sistema educacional de 1971. Mostra-se que a renda familiar per capita e o nível educacional, dos pais têm efeito negativo na probabilidade da criança ter defasagem. Numa estimação probit ou de mínimos quadrados ordinários, o viés da escolaridade dos pais é para cima enquanto o da renda familiar é para baixo. No segundo capítulo, estudamos o efeito do status nutricional das crianças sobre a probabilidade de entrarem com atraso na escola usando a Pesquisa de Padrões de Vida (PPV/IBGE). Mostra- se que controlando pela renda e considerando a endogeneidade do status nutricional, crianças com uma melhor medida de altura/peso padronizada têm maior probabilidade de ingressarem aos 7 anos na escola. O terceiro capítulo aborda relações entre a proficiência do aluno da 4ª série e a dispersão de idade nas turmas. Usamos a base de dados do Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica 2003 (SAEB/INEP-MEC) e uma técnica que controla fatores não observados da escola. Mostra-se que turmas mais heterogêneas na idade têm proficiência mais baixa e ter professor com nível de pós-graduação reduz o impacto negativo da dispersão sobre a proficiência. / [en] The objective of this thesis is to analyze one of the main aspects of children education in Brazil: age-degree delay. Chapter on shows that family factors have an influence in children education using the 1996´s national survey Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD/IBGE) and its mobility supplement, which has some grandfathers and grandmother´s indicators. An income effect and a parent´s education effect in children schooling delay are identified using three instruments: parent´s school supply, permanent family factors and the 1971 educational reform. Per capita family income and parent´s education have a negative effect in the child´s probability of being behind at school. Probit and ordinary least squares (without considering endogeneity) results present evidence that there is an upward bias in the parent´s education coefficient and a downward bias in the family income coefficient. Chapter two analyzes the impact of child´s nutritional status in school entrance delay using the survey Pesquisa de Padrões de Vida (PPV/IBGE). We show that, controlling for family income and considering the endogeneity of nutritional status, children who have a better indicator of height for age, have a larger probability of going to school whit exactly 7 years of age. Chapter three studies the relationship between student´s proficiency in the 4th grade of primary education and student´s age dispersion in the class, using the survey Sistema de Avaliação de Educação Básica 2003 (SAEB/INEP-MEC) and a method to control for unobserved factors in school. We show that students in more heterogeneous classes in terms of student´s age have less proficiency. We also show that having a teacher with a pos- graduation level reduces the negative impact of age dispersion on student´s proficiency.

A formação de professores é atualmente uma área de investigação bastante explorada, mas quando envolve bilinguismo, principalmente quando essa forma de bilinguismo envolve modalidades e culturas diferentes, observa-se que essa área é pouco explorada. Nesse contexto, o presente estudo teve como objetivo geral traçar um panorama da formação linguística bilíngue bimodal e da proficiência em Libras (Língua Brasileira de Sinais) de professores ouvintes que atuam na docência em escolas de surdos. A partir desse objetivo geral, foi aplicado o QueHLAP – Questionário de Histórico de Linguagem e Autoavaliação de Proficiência (FLORES; FINGER, 2014), um questionário que integra 30 perguntas fechadas e 5 perguntas abertas. São consideradas sete áreas nos grupos de perguntas, a saber: (a) Identificação Pessoal; (b) Características Familiares; (c) Formação Acadêmica; (d) Formação Linguística; (e) Proficiência; (f) Uso e Interação entre/de Línguas; e (g) Metalinguagem. As áreas de investigação do QueHLAP são constituídas a partir de características percebidas nos estudos bilíngues e/ou em estudos surdos, fornecendo dados valiosos para compreender a formação linguística individual e do coletivo. Os critérios de participação na pesquisa incluíram (a) ser professor ouvinte; (b) atuar em escola de surdos que utilize a Libras como primeira língua de instrução, cujas aulas sejam ministradas sem a presença ou necessidade de Tradutor/Intérprete de Libras; e (c) preencher pelo menos 90% do QueHLAP. Participaram deste estudo 65 docentes ouvintes bilíngues Libras/Português Brasileiro, de escolas da rede particular, estadual e municipal do Rio Grande do Sul, compreendendo as regiões da Serra Gaúcha, Litoral Norte, Vale dos Sinos, metropolitana e a capital do estado. Os participantes atuam desde a Educação Infantil aos diferentes níveis da Educação Básica em escolas de surdos e ou escolas com classes especiais para surdos. A amostra final foi composta por professores bilíngues com idade entre 21 e 61 (Média = 43,08; Desvio Padrão = 9,06); constituído por 90% (n = 58) são do sexo feminino, e apenas 11% (n = 7) possui familiar surdo. Esses 11% com familiares surdos são na sua maioria parentes fora do núcleo familiar de casa. Para análise de dados utilizou-se o SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), para estudos de correlação de variáveis, que gerou correlações da proficiência autoavaliada com qualidade de uso de aspectos gramaticais, e outras váriaveis correlacionadas como escrita de sinais; formação formal e aprendizagem através da experiência docente; e comparação entre grupos com formação de professores para surdos e com formação de Tradutor/Intérprete de Libras. Os resultados sugerem que a formação linguística dos professores ouvintes seja repensada para contribuir de uma forma mais efetiva na qualidade de uso dos aspectos gramaticiais da Libras, bem como aumento da proficiência autoavaliada no ato de ensino-aprendizagem, para que a comunicação entre docentes ouvintes e discentes surdos possa ser ainda mais qualificada. / Teaching training is a widely explored area of study, but when it comes to bilingualism, more precisely in cases in which being bilingual involves two different language modalities and cultures, research production sees to have received less attention. The present study aims at providing an overview of the bimodal bilingual linguistic training and proficiency in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) of hearing teachers who work in deaf schools. To fulfill this goal, the QheHLAP – Language History and Self-Assessment Questionnaire (FLORES; FINGER, 2004) was applied to a group of bimodal bilingual teachers. The questionnaire has 30 closed questions and 5 open questions grouped into seven areas, as follows: (a) Personal Identification; (b) Family characteristics; (c) Academic Training; (d) Linguistic Training; (e) Proficiency; (f) Usage and Interaction among/in between the Languages; and (g) Metalanguage. The areas investigated in the QueHLAP comprised characteristics observed in Bilingualism and/or in Deaf Studies, and provide valuable data to understand individual and group linguistic training. The criteria to participate in this research included (a) to be a hearing teacher; (b) to work in schools for deaf people who use Brazilian Sign Language as the fist language of instruction, where classes are taught without the presence or the need for a sign language interpreter of Brazilian Sign Language; and (c) to fill in at least 90% of QueHLAP. Sixty five bilingual Brazilian Sign Language-Portuguese hearing teachers who work private schools, local municipal schools and state schools participated in this study. Participants work in all levels of education in schools for deaf people or in schools which provide special classes for the deaf. The sample was made up by bilingual teachers aged in between 21 and 61 (M = 43,08; SD = 9,06); 90% of which female (n = 58). In addition to that only 11% (n = 7) of the sample reported having a deaf family member, who in most cases is a relative who does not live in the same house. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used to carry on the analyses of the data, which consisted of variables correlation. Through correlations of the self-assessed proficiency with quality of usage of grammatical aspects and other correlated variables such as sign writing, formal training and learning through teaching experience, and teacher training and sign language interpreters courses. The results suggest that linguistic training of hearing teachers needs improvement in order to contribute to a more effective quality of usage of Brazilian Sign Language, as well as for the improvement of self-assessed proficiency during the act of teaching and learning, in order for the communication between hearing teachers and deaf students to be even more qualified.

xv, 169 p. ; ill. (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Improvements in neuroimaging techniques have made it possible to answer questions regarding the neural organization for the processing of syntax in normal participants. In this series of experiments we examined the effects of linguistic proficiency and age of second language acquisition on neural organization for syntactic processing. We examined these factors using two complementary methodologies: event-related potentials (ERPs), which affords a temporal resolution on the order of milliseconds, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with spatial resolution on the order of millimeters. In order to compare results across methodologies, we used an auditory syntactic violation paradigm with similar experimental parameters in each methodology. In Chapter II we examined neural organization for syntactic processing using ERPs in monolingual native speakers of higher and lower proficiency and found that violations elicited an early onset (100 ms) anterior negativity (EOAN) followed by a later positivity (P600) in all participants. Compared to lower proficiency participants, higher proficiency participants showed an EOAN that was more focal spatially and temporally, and showed a larger P600. These results were supported by a correlational analysis of a larger group of monolingual native speakers with a wide range of proficiency scores. This analysis also found a relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and the recruitment of the EOAN over left hemisphere sites, raising the hypothesis that effects of childhood experience may endure into adulthood. In Chapter III we examined the effects of age of acquisition on syntactic processing by recruiting a group of late learners of English who were matched for proficiency with a group of monolingual native speakers from Chapter II. While in native speakers violations elicited a robust EOAN, this effect was absent in the late learner group, suggesting that early language exposure is important for the recruitment of resources reflected in this effect and independently of proficiency. In Chapter IV we gathered ERP and fMRI data from monolingual native speakers and found proficiency differences in the recruitment for syntactic processing of left inferior frontal and posterior regions. We linked proficiency-related modulations in the different ERP syntactic effects to specific fMRI activations indexing syntactic processing. / Adviser: Helen J. Neville