The present study present study explored the relationships among language use, phonological skill, and vocabulary development for 36 Cuban and Puerto Rican ELL preschoolers. Family-level variables included mother's education level and mother's language ability. Three-way ANOVAs were used to investigate the relationships among child- and family-level variables and children's performance on articulation (completeness of phonetic inventory (CPI) and proportion of whole-word proximity (PWP)) and language measures (Picture Vocabulary (PV) and Memory for Sentences (MS) subtests of the WLPB-R) in English and Spanish. Regression and correlational analyses were conducted to describe relationships between variables. Findings indicated that children in all language groups (predominantly English speaking, predominantly Spanish speaking and bilingual) demonstrated strong phonological skills, as measured by CPI and PWP, in both languages. Strength in phonological skill appeared to be related to frequency of language use, especially in English. Similarities in children's phonetic inventories across languages suggested that exposure to two languages does not interfere with phonological development in ELL children. The fact that English and Spanish share many of the same phonemes may contribute to this finding. Results for the PWPs were consistent with the findings from the CPI analyses. PWPs were found to predict children's English vocabulary level in the early stages of dual language learning. A predictive relationship was found between mother's English language ability and child's phonological skill, suggesting that when more English was used in the home, children exhibited greater English phonological production skills. In addition, mother's Spanish language ability was shown to predict child's Spanish vocabulary knowledge. This finding supports the use of the native language in the home. While phonological skill was a strength, language skills, as measured by the PV and MS subtests, were significantly below average. With the exception of the PE group in English, all children performed more than 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for both subtests in both languages, suggesting that they are not acquiring sufficient vocabulary knowledge to support academic learning in either language. It is suggested that delivery of adequate vocabulary instruction that meets the needs of these ELL children requires collaboration between teachers and speech-language pathologists.

Multiple imputation (MI) is a commonly used approach to impute missing data. This thesis studies missing covariates in recurrent event data, and discusses ways to include the survival outcomes in the imputation model. Some MI methods under consideration are the event indicator D combined with, respectively, the right-censored event times T, the logarithm of T and the cumulative baseline hazard H0(T). After imputation, we can then proceed to the complete data analysis. The Cox proportional hazards (PH) model and the PWP model are chosen as the analysis models, and the coefficient estimates are of substantive interest. A Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted to compare different MI methods, the relative bias and mean square error will be used in the evaluation process. Furthermore, an empirical study based on cardiovascular disease event data which contains missing values will be conducted. Overall, the results show that MI based on the Nelson-Aalen estimate of H0(T) is preferred in most circumstances.

In the context of the high unemployment and poverty rates in South Africa, this research was undertaken to explore the best practices of successful international public works programmes (PWPs) around the world. The aim was to develop a strategy for poverty alleviation and job creation with respect to the infrastructure sector of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa. The purpose of the EPWP is to make the unemployed more employable through offering beneficiaries temporary employment and training opportunities. In the literature review, the strategy for poverty alleviation and job creation was formulated in terms of the design elements and implementation aspects of PWPs. This strategy was then used to evaluate the infrastructure sector of the EPWP. The data collection took the form of interviews with key informants who are directly involved with the infrastructure sector of the EPWP. The nature of the enquiry was qualitative, with narrative and content analysis used to explore the data. The research found that, overall, the design elements and the implementation aspects of the infrastructure sector of the EPWP are not appropriate for enabling the unemployed to become more employable on a large scale. Based on the international best practices, recommendations were then put forward as improvements which would enable the infrastructure sector of the EPWP to achieve its objectives more effectively. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted