Patterns of some measured mental abilities among persian bilingual and monolingual children

The purpose of this study was to provide some empirical answers regarding the effects of home and school language upon some cognitive abilities of elementary school bilinguals where the two languages involved do not bear any resembalance.A Persian translation of CTMM adjusted to Persian population was administered to elementary school children of two types of bilingual and one Persian monolingual school. The results indicate that within bilingual schools home language does not show any consistent effect upon non-language abilities. The only consistent effect was in the language measure of Delayed recall, in favor of Persian speaking homes. Comparison of various schools indicate that in the third and sixth grades Persian control was superior to both type of bilingual schools in terms of Immediate recall and to immersion schools in terms of Delayed recall. An exposure variable to Persian was then defined showing a direct relationship with amount of retention. This relationship was explained by resistence to forgetting due to the degrees of overlearning of Persian in various groups.     

Behavior and emotional problems among Jamaican children and adolescents: an epidemiological survey of parent, teacher, and self-reports for ages 6–18 years

The study compared general population samples of Jamaican children ages 6–18 years, via Jamaican versions of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) parent-, teacher-, and self-report forms. Repeated measures ANOVAs with informant as a repeated measures factor, assessed base-rate problem score differences according to children’s area of residence (i.e., urban vs rural), gender, and age. No between subjects residence effects emerged for total problem score. However, adolescents self-reported higher total problem scores compared to the ratings they received from their parents and teachers. No gender total problem score effects emerged for any of the three informants, but girls received higher internalizing, and Somatic Complaints scores. Similar total problem scores across genders, and the high ratio of boys to girls in clinic samples suggest that Jamaican girls may not be receiving adequate services. Age X within subjects interactions revealed higher teacher reported problem scores for young adolescents, reflecting possible developmental changes within the classroom context and teachers’ low thresholds toward these problems. The d statistic revealed base rate syndrome, internalizing, externalizing, and total problem score differences in most Jamaican vs US sub-samples. In addition to the non-CBCL problems observed in earlier studies, these findings clearly indicate a need to ascertain syndrome structure and other psychometric properties of the Jamaican instruments.     

Vocational identity development among unaccompanied refugee minors

This study examined educational aspirations and vocational identity formation among unaccompanied refugees in Norway. In Phase 1 we employed questionnaire data from 918 unaccompanied refugees to investigate the effects of demographic information, pre-migration trauma, mental health and acculturation-related factors on their educational aspirations. In Phase 2, data from Identity Status Interviews (ISI) with 29 participants was analyzed to obtain information about vocational identity status distribution and to examine core themes and contextual factors underlying their vocational choices. The findings from Phase 1 showed that none of the theoretically and empirically based included variables had a significant effect on their aspirations. Moreover, the overall regression model was non-significant. We discussed these findings in relation to the strong motivation among unaccompanied minors to create better lives for themselves than they could have in the countries they fled from, irrespective of their traumatic experiences and mental health problems. In Phase 2 the most important themes emerging from the ISIs revolved around age, time, and economics. The remedial education to bridge the pre-flight gap in formal education meant that the unaccompanied refugee youth entered upper secondary school at substantially older ages than their classmates. Their older ages then led them to prioritize economic considerations in making vocational choices, since the support from the Child Welfare Services is discontinued when they reach the age of majority. Consequently, most of them chose short vocational paths toward earning a living, rather than complex roads that led to the realization of their own long-term aspirations. This may have limited the social mobility of unaccompanied refugees.     

Investigating Pragmatic Competence,Metapragmatic Awareness and Speech Act Strategies among Turkmen-Persian Bilingual and Persian Monolingual EFL Learners: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effect of bilinguality on pragmatic production and metapragmatic awareness in third language learning. Thus, 59 Turkmen-Persian bilinguals (using Turkmen as their L1 and Persian as their L2) learning English as a third language and 55 Persian monolinguals learning English as their second language were selected and given a WDCT and a metapragmatic awareness questionnaire. The results showed that bilingual EFL learners outperformed monolingual EFL learners in pragmatic production and metapragmatic awareness. The findings also confirm the pragmatic differences among the three languages and the bilinguals’ advantage over monolinguals concerning the appropriate use of speech act strategies.     

You Gotta Represent¡ Ethnic Identity Development among Hispanic Adolescents

Hispanic students' awareness of cultural, linguistic, and sociopolitical issues are influenced by their experiences in schools and affect their sense of identity. An examination of student discourse between bilingual gifted and bilingual general education students in an urban middle school is presented, with particular attention given to how participating bilingual students relate to each other, peers (in general and gifted education), teachers, administrators, families, and communities, and how they perceive themselves. A discussion of the core issues that emerged, including students' reawakening to their ethnic identity, differing rationales for using native language, and observed differences in self-perceptions between the gifted and general education bilingual Hispanic students is provided, along with results and implications for future research.     

Predictors of psychosocial adjustment in Syrian refugee children attending Lebanese public schools

To recognize the role schools play in the acclimatization of refugee children to their new life in the host country, we sought to investigate the psychosocial adjustment of Syrian refugee students enrolled in Lebanese public schools. Psychosocial adjustment involves both the emotional and behavioral wellbeing of children and is measured using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Psychosocial adjustment is also consistently linked to school belonging which, in turn, can be assessed using the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale. The aim of this study is to identify associations between psychosocial adjustment, determined by the SDQ and PSSM scale, and both (1) sociodemographics (age, gender, parental level of education and length of stay in the host country) and (2) classroom environment in Lebanese public schools in the greater Beirut area. A total of 410 Syrian refugee students (222 females) with a mean age of 11.4 years, who arrived in Lebanon between the years 2011 and 2017, were included in the study. The results showed a very weak correlation between older age and psychosocial maladjustment measured using the SDQ (r = .10, p = .04). Additionally, girls had a better psychosocial adjustment than boys (mean PSSM-scale score: 70.7 ± 10.1 Vs. 67.4 ± 11.8, p = .0014). On multivariate linear regression, there was a strong positive correlation between the classroom environment and psychosocial adjustment (p < .001). Policies addressing the emotional needs of Syrian refugee children in Lebanese public schools and promoting their psychosocial adjustment are needed.     

The role of observational learning in the development of personal spaceEl rol del aprendizaje por medio de observación en el desarrollo del espacio personal.Le rôle de l'apprentissage observationel dans le développement de l'espace personnel.

Considerable research has been done on personal space, its determinants, methods of measurement, and traits of personality related to it. It is quite certain that personal space aspects are learned, and this accounts for the cultural differences found. This study was an attempt to consider the role of vicarious learning in establishing and changing children's personal space. A second purpose of the experiment was to gather some data on Brazilian boys and girls' personal space dimensions. Subjects: Forty-eight boys and 48 girls attending fifth grade with a mean age of 11 years and five months. Method: Personal space of subjects was measured twice using the Pedersen Personal Space Measure (a simulated pencil and paper measure of personal space). Between the two measurements subjects were submitted to one of the four experimental conditions: Group I saw a model being punished for invasion of personal space; Group II saw the model being rewarded; Group III saw no consequences happen to the model; and Group IV had no exposure to models. Results: The differences between the first and second measurements of personal space revealed that the four groups differed significantly: Group I increased personal space; Group II and group III decreased it; While group IV did not change. The hypothesis that vicarious learning influences the formation and modification of personal space was thus confirmed. As for the exploration on Brazilian children's personal space, it was found that although there were no differences due to sex of the subject, both boys and girls kept significantly smaller distances from girls than from boys, probably revealing social influences.     

A comparison of sex differences in career and achievement motivation in Iran and the U.S.

Differences in career and achievement motivation of U.S. and Iranian male and female college and high school students were compared, employing recently developed cross-cultural methodology. Of particular interest was the differential shift in achievement orientation at different age levels in the two cultural samples. Whereas achieving and career orientations were found to be higher in the U.S. college than in U.S. high school samples, the reverse was true in the Iranian samples. Compatible with observations made elsewhere, this suggests that age-related waxing and waning of achieving orientations occur in different cycles in different cultures. Also of interest was that the culture main effect was not significant but that the culture × sex interaction was. Thus, overall, achieving orientations between the culture samples were not different but Iranian males and females exhibited greater differences in achieving orientations than did U.S. subjects, as was predicted.     

The Symbolic Boundary of Sports: Middle School Athletic Culture and Mexican Immigrant Girls

In this article the author presents an analysis of the hidden curriculum of school sports in mediating the achievement of Mexican immigrant girls in middle schools in the southwestern United States. Using Bourdieu's theory of taste, the author shows how symbolic boundaries expressed by students and teachers legitimize cultural practices that privilege youth who value sports while marginalizing those who do not.     

Cross-cultural influence on communication effectiveness and user interface design

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of cultural diversity on communication effectiveness with different communication styles and to apply the results in the field of user interface design for computer-based communication systems. The scope of this study was limited to the relationship between context and verbal/nonverbal communication, and also the relationship between power distance and communication interaction. The results indicated that high context people (HCP) had better communication effectiveness in comprehending nonverbal clues than low context people (LCP), while LCP had better communication effectiveness in verbal communication than their counterparts. It was also found that high power distance people (HPDP) could not communicate as effectively as low power distance people (LPDP) during communication with interaction, but there was no significant difference between HPDP and LPDP in dealing with communication without interaction.     

Migrant Philippine teachers in Indonesia: the nexus between precarious skilled work,illegal mobility and the cosmopolitan

This article examines the nexus between the illegal migration of Filipino teachers as a form of precarious skilled employment in conjunction with the mobility of choice and hope found in the adoption of cosmopolitan outlooks. Catering to the aspirations of Indonesia’s rising middle class, privately managed “international” schools actively recruit trained teachers from the Philippines. Many of these teachers are migrants negotiating journeys of financial independence. These migrant teachers often find themselves arriving in Indonesia being required to work in the absence of work visas that were initially promised by their employers. Migrant Philippine teachers working in Indonesia compensate for these “shocks” encountered during their employment by cultivating a sense of cosmopolitan sociability as they aspire to utilize their professional and cultural experiences in Indonesia for better employment opportunities beyond Indonesia.     

A Study of the Level of Intercultural Communicative Competence and Intercultural Sensitivity of Iranian Medical Students Based on Ethnicity

Competence and sensitivity at intercultural communication are essential for an effective and appropriate communication in the context of health care. The present study sought to survey the levels of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and intercultural sensitivity (IS) of 400 Iranian medical students based on their ethnic backgrounds (i.e. Fars, Turkish, Kurdish, and Lor). The findings of this study indicated that the four ethnic groups had moderate levels of ICC and IS, and that the Lor ethnic group had the lowest mean scores on the four dimensions of ICC (i.e. knowledge, attitude, skills, and awareness). Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

The Philosophical Conflict between the School of Baghdad and the School of Khorasan in the Tenth Century: Towards a New Understanding of the Development of Islamic Philosophy

Historians often present the evolution of Islamic philosophy through a limited number of philosophers beginning with al-Kindī and concluding with Ibn Rushd. This practice tacitly asserts that Islamic philosophy developed only in accordance with this “sequential” or “chronological” context that assumes it was the inevitable evolution of Aristotelian thought in Arabic. However, most of those who present Islamic philosophy in this manner appear to have overlooked the fact that it developed in the context of a philosophical conflict that emerged between the two schools to which the majority of Islamic philosophers belonged – the School of Baghdad and the School of Khorasan, which appeared in the tenth century and introduced philosophy to Islam and Muslims. This study stands apart from earlier attempts to present Islamic philosophy by considering these two schools and the frequently violent disputes that occurred between them. It is based on an historical-analytical approach accompanied by a rereading of numerous historical and literary texts and presents a reinterpretation of the works of Ibn Sīnā that differs from past interpretations of the history of Islamic philosophy. The study concludes with a thorough examination of the texts and contexts, which demonstrates the existence of the two philosophical schools and their significant contributions to the development of Islamic philosophy, albeit with their own distinctive elements. The study also argues that the philosophical School of Baghdad migrated to Morocco and Andalusia and arrived, in some respects, in Europe through Ibn Rushd, whereas the School of Khorasan appeared in Suhrawardī’s Philosophy of Illumination and in modern Iranian philosophy.     

The relationship between bilingual proficiency and self-esteem

Proposing that bilingual proficiency should produce a more favorable attitude toward bilingualism and should enhance one's self-esteem, the authors compared 57 bilingual and 67 unilingual students from grades 9, 10, and 11, measuring their opinions about bilingualism and their self-esteem. The bilingual students are substantially more favorably disposed toward bilingualism than the unilingual students are. On the Janis-Field scale of self-esteem, the bilingual students show greater self-esteem than the unilingual students. The largest differences between the groups are on questions that measure self-confidence and social ease; differences are less pronounced on questions about self-worth and about shyness. We speculate that bilingual proficiency offers some psychological advantages to students who achieve it.     

Re-envisioning media literacy education as feminist arts-activism

ABSTRACT

This project interrogates the premises of media literacy education – the predominant approach to equipping K-12 students to navigate the contemporary media environment – by moving it beyond teaching students to critique commercial media toward undermining ideological messages about health, violence, race, and gender embedded in media discourses. This participatory programme evaluation uses mixed-methods to assess the effectiveness of an alternative, performing arts education-based approach to media literacy called The Girl Project (TGP), a feminist artist-activist programme based at a non-profit community theatre in Versailles, Kentucky. The 12–18 high school-aged girls who participate in TGP every year are engaged in workshops by guest artists from around the nation to express what they think is important for their audiences to understand about their lived experiences as girls in a conservative sociopolitical environment.

The project employed “youth-adult partnership model” to programme evaluation that involved working with programme alumni as co-researchers to evaluate TGP 2017. In June 2017, a team of eight co-researchers comprising alumni from the 2014, 2015, and 2016 classes met to develop evaluation questions and make data collection decisions. Data collection included surveys and interviews conducted pre- and post-programme with participants, field notes of the co-researchers’ observations of workshops and rehearsals, and feedback from guest artists and audience members. The team met again in January 2018 to collaboratively analyse how the data answered their evaluation questions. The survey data allowed us to see that girls’ statistical scores on mental health and body confidence measurements significantly improved after their participation in TGP, meaning that girls are less vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. In talking with participants and audience members, we learned that TGP participation increases girls’ self-confidence and ability to set boundaries in friendships, family relationships, and romantic relationships.     

Risky behaviors and educational attainment among young Mexican-origin mothers: The role of acculturative stress and the educational aspiration–expectation gap

The current longitudinal study examined how Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’ (N = 204) reports of acculturative stress during late adolescence were associated with their educational attainment and engagement in risky behaviors in young adulthood, 4 years post-partum; we also examined whether this association was mediated by discrepancies between adolescents’ educational aspirations and expectations. Findings revealed that mothers’ greater reports of stress regarding English competency pressures and pressures to assimilate were associated with a larger gap between their aspirations and expectations. Mothers’ reports of greater stress from pressures against assimilation, however, were associated with a smaller gap between aspirations and expectations. As expected, a larger gap between aspirations and expectations was associated with lower educational attainment and increased engagement in risky behaviors. Finally, significant mediation emerged, suggesting that the influence of stress from English competency pressures and pressures to assimilate on young mothers’ educational attainment and engagement in risky behaviors was mediated through the aspiration–expectation gap. Findings are discussed with respect to understanding discrepancies between young mothers’ aspirations and expectations in the context of acculturative stress.     

Research into Ethnocentrism and Intercultural Willingness to Communicate of Iraqi and Iranian Medical Students in Iran

ABSTRACT

Ethnocentrism and intercultural willingness to communicate (IWTC) can contribute to the success or failure of intercultural communication in the context of health care. The present study aims to survey and compare the levels of 180 Iraqi and Iranian medical students’ ethnocentrism and IWTC based on the participants’ nationality and gender, in Iran. The findings of this study revealed that Iraqi medical students were more ethnocentric and less willing to communicate interculturally than their Iranian counterparts. Both Iraqi male and female students were significantly more ethnocentric than Iranian male and female medical students. Iraqi male students were significantly less intercultural willing to communicate than their female compatriots and Iranian male and female peers. These findings were explained considering the context of Iraq and Iran, participants’ degree of religious practice, and their degree of foreign language proficiency. Practical implications, direction, and limitations are discussed.     

Navigating multiple worlds of Ghanaina-born immigrant adolescent girls in US urban schools

African immigrant populations are among the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States, yet they are understudied and are invisible immigrant group in the educational literature, particularly, in the context of educational discourses in the United States urban schools. Drawing on Phelan et al.’s multiple worlds model, we analyzed individual and focus group interviews of forty students, thirty-six parents, and twelve teachers from two schools. Findings showed that Ghanaian-born immigrant students undergo several complex transitional paradigms combining two worlds (school and home) of Ghanaian culture, past educational experiences, family values, and adapting to new school environments to achieve success in American educational systems. In addition, they faced racial and ethnic discrimination and stereotypes from peers, which negatively impacted their academic progress and social adjustments in school. The authors recommend that teachers should establish new ways of understanding the multiple worlds of African-born adolescent immigrant girls by accounting for their culturally diverse ways of navigating their worlds of school, peers, and families to achieve academic success in US schools.