Limited English Language Skills Research Articles

Reading against all odds: creative coping strategies of international students in HE

ABSTRACT Many overseas students in Higher Education in the UK struggle to understand the compulsory texts for their course, and obtain lower scores for their modules than their monolingual peers. While the existence of this achievement gap is well established in the literature, little is known about the ways in which overseas students in HE with limited English language and literacy skills meet the challenges posed by the compulsory reading on their course. The current study is novel because we focus on a postgraduate Law module and use a mixed methods approach to study the relationship between students’ language and literacy profiles and their academic achievement. The results show that students’ vocabulary sizes did not provide enough lexical coverage for them to understand the set texts and that the language and literacy profiles of our students did not correlate with their module scores. In-depth interviews revealed that students with IELTS scores of 6.0 or lower used ‘creative reading’ strategies such as machine translation, to pass assignments, while staff used ‘compassionate marking’ strategies in the case of struggling writers, which means module scores for some students were likely inflated. Implications for admissions tutors and teachers in HE are formulated at the end.

Language-adaptive artificial intelligence: assessing CHATGPT'S answer to frequently asked questions on total hip arthroplasty questions.

ChatGPT is reported to be an acceptable tool to answer a majority of frequently asked patient questions. ChatGPT also converses in other languages including Urdu, which offers immense potential for the education of Pakistani patients. Therefore, this study evaluated ChatGPT's Urdu answers to the ten most frequently asked questions on Total Hip Arthroplasty, which were then rated by an expert. Out of 10 answers in English, 9 (90%) were satisfactory requiring minimal clarification and 1 (10%) was satisfactory requiring moderate clarification. In both Roman and Nastaliq script Urdu, 1 (10%) answer was satisfactory requiring moderate clarification, while 9 (90%) were unsatisfactory requiring substantial clarification. In conclusion, as opposed to ChatGPT English responses, Urdu responses were much less rigorous, generic, and lacked scientific rigor. We have a long way to go before Pakistani patients with limited English language skills could benefit from AI chatbots like ChatGPT.

A PHENOMENOLOGY OF ACADEMIC CONSTRAINTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES LEARNERS

This phenomenological study dealt with the academic constraints faced by senior high school learners in the field of humanities and social sciences regarding their English language proficiency. The research aimed to explore the lived experiences of these learners as they navigated the challenges posed by limited English language skills in their academic pursuits. Through in-depth interviews and rigorous data analysis, the following were the essential themes: Constraints in English Language Learning, English Language Skills, English Language Learning Tools and Engagement, Sense of Utility, and Intrinsically Rewarding. This study sought to uncover the intricate web of factors that contributed to the difficulties these students encountered in mastering the English language and how these constraints impacted their educational journey. The findings of this research shed light on the unique perspective of learners within the humanities and social sciences, adding depth to our understanding of the multifaceted nature of English language proficiency challenges in diverse academic contexts.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/lit/0798/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

From refugee to pharmacist: Insights for better care

PurposeThis reflection utilizing Gibb's model offers insight into the lived experience of a Vietnamese child refugee who, many years later, found herself working as a pharmacist with Afghan refugees.Description.Through this piece, the author describes her childhood experience with the United States (US) healthcare system as a refugee, her experience as a pharmacist caring for refugees, and explores her thoughts and feelings about the experience. Analysis/interpretationThe author evaluates the positive and negative aspects of the situation and analyzes the experience to make sense of the situation. ConclusionsAfter reflecting on what she learned through her experience combined with findings in the literature, the author offers recommendations to pharmacists as they care for refugees, emphasizing the need for trauma-informed care for refugees with limited English language skills who are trying to navigate the complex US healthcare system. ImplicationsThis piece offers insights for pharmacists caring for refugees on how to offer better care.

The duration of untreated psychosis among U.S. Latinxs and social and clinical correlates.

This study (a) documents the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and (b) examines both social and clinical correlates of DUP in a sample of U.S. Latinxs with first-episode psychosis (FEP). Data were collected for a longitudinal study evaluating a community education campaign to help primarily Spanish-speaking Latinxs recognize psychotic symptoms and reduce the DUP, or the delay to first prescribed antipsychotic medication after the onset of psychotic symptoms. Social and clinical variables were assessed at first treatment presentation. A sequential hierarchical regression was conducted using √DUP to identify independent predictors of the DUP. A structural equation model was used to explore the association between DUP predictors, DUP, and clinical and social correlates. In a sample of 122 Latinxs with FEP, the median DUP was 39 weeks (M = 137.78, SD = 220.31; IQR = 160.39-5.57). For the full sample, being an immigrant and having self-reported relatively poor English-speaking proficiency and self-reported strong Spanish-speaking proficiency were related to a longer delay to first prescribed medication after psychosis onset. For the immigrant subgroup, being older at the time of migration was related to a longer delay. Self-reported English-speaking proficiency emerged as an independent predictor of the DUP. Although the DUP was not related to symptomatology, it was associated with poorer social functioning. Low self-reported English-speaking ability is associated with poorer social functioning via the DUP. Latinxs with limited English language skills are especially at high risk for experiencing prolonged delays to care and poor social functioning. Intervention efforts to reduce the delay in Latinx communities should pay particular attention to this subgroup.

Teaching about climate change: Possibilities and challenges in Australian adult literacy programs

AbstractAustralia's natural environment poses challenges for human inhabitants and will continue to pose novel challenges in an era of climate change. However, the resources that people can access to respond to climate change are diverse and unequally distributed. While this suggests a role for education, especially for those who are most socially and economically vulnerable, integrating climate change literacy into educational programs is not straightforward in all sectors. Studies have shown that increased standardization of curricula constrain teacher autonomy and pose dilemmas for teachers faced with tensions between curricular requirements and their professional judgment about appropriate pedagogy and curricula. This article considers the possibility of educational intervention for socially and economically disadvantaged adults with limited English language and literacy skills by investigating how a group of teachers in accredited literacy courses viewed their role in addressing climate change and environmental literacy in their literacy classes.

Persona profiles of Latinx living in Boston: Applications for information organizations

AbstractBased on data and initial findings of a larger phenomenological project focused on the experiences of Latinx living in the Boston area, we created two persona profiles. The persona profiles are based on preliminary results of the analysis of 13 interviews with members of the Latinx community in Boston, which identified two distinct groups among the participants. These groups were defined by socioeconomic class, as identified by two main indicators: educational attainment and English language skills. Those belonging to the lower socioeconomic class had low educational attainment and limited English language skills compared to those in the middle socioeconomic class group made up of Latinx who had high educational attainment and were fully bilingual. The persona profiles created by using the interview data have potential applications for those working in information organizations, and to help researchers and practitioners in information organizations design better services for urban Latinx communities. This approach aligns with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which among many goals, intends to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Promotoras Voice Their Challenges in Fulfilling Their Role as Community Health Workers.

Promotoras de salud (Spanish for female community health workers) are integral to efforts to enhance the health and well-being of Latinx individuals, families, and communities. The purpose of this study was to describe the challenges that promotoras face and the proposed solutions from the perspective of the promotoras themselves. Five promotoras who worked for a year as volunteers in a community-based participatory research study, Lazos Hispanos, participated in two group interviews. Eight challenges emerged-balancing their new work with their family commitments, handling their perceived imbalance of power with men, managing the emotional impact of hearing participants' problems, facing and handling the barriers imposed by having limited English language skills, feeling discouraged by the perception of ethnocentric beliefs and discrimination from some providers, feeling disheartened by the cultural beliefs of some Latinx participants, handling the lack of transportation for themselves and for the participants, and managing the burden of data collection for the research aspect of the program. The explanation of these challenges and the practical solutions they proposed are embedded in their intersecting identities. The solutions are a valuable addition to the practice of health promotion and community-based participatory research, particularly within Latinx communities.

Access to and interventions to improve maternity care services for immigrant women: a narrative synthesis systematic review

BackgroundIn 2016, over one-quarter of births in the UK (28.2%) were to foreign-born women. Maternal and perinatal mortality are disproportionately higher among some immigrants depending on country of origin, indicating the presence of deficits in their care pathways and birth outcomes.ObjectivesOur objective was to undertake a systematic review and narrative synthesis of empirical research that focused on access and interventions to improve maternity care for immigrant women, including qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies.Review methodsAn information scientist designed the literature database search strategies (limited to retrieve literature published from 1990 to 2018). All retrieved citations (45,954) were independently screened by two or more team members using a screening tool. We searched grey literature reported in related databases and websites. We contacted stakeholders with subject expertise. In this review we define an immigrant as a person who relocates to the destination country for a minimum of 1 year, with the goal of permanent residence.ResultsWe identified 40 studies for inclusion. Immigrant women tended to book and access antenatal care later than the recommended first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Primary factors included limited English-language skills, lack of awareness of availability of the services, lack of understanding of the purpose of antenatal appointments, immigration status and income barriers. Immigrant women had mixed perceptions regarding how health-care professionals (HCPs) had delivered maternity care services. Those with positive perceptions felt that HCPs were caring, confidential and openly communicative. Those with negative views perceived HCPs as rude, discriminatory or insensitive to their cultural and social needs; these women therefore avoided accessing maternity care. We found very few interventions that had focused on improving maternity care for these women and the effectiveness of these interventions has not been rigorously evaluated.LimitationsOur review findings are limited by the available research evidence related to our review questions. There may be many aspects of immigrant women’s experiences that we have not addressed. For example, few studies exist for perinatal mental health in immigrant women from Eastern European countries (in the review period). Many studies included both immigrant and non-immigrant women.ConclusionsAvailable evidence suggests that the experiences of immigrant women in accessing and using maternity care services in the UK are mixed; however, women largely had poor experiences. Contributing factors included a lack of language support, cultural insensitivity, discrimination and poor relationships between immigrant women and HCPs. Furthermore, a lack of knowledge of legal entitlements and guidelines on the provision of welfare support and maternity care to immigrants compounds this.Future workStudies are required on the development of interventions and rigorous scientific evaluation of these interventions. Development and evaluation of online antenatal education resources in multiple languages. Development and appraisal of education packages for HCPs focused on the provision of culturally safe practice for the UK’s diverse population. The NHS in the UK has a hugely diverse workforce with a vast untapped linguistic resource; strategies could be developed to harness this resource.Study registrationThis study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42015023605.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full inHealth Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 14. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Are We All Speaking the Same Language? Exploring Language Interactions in the Homes of Young Latino DLLs Living in the U.S.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The Latino population within the U.S. is heterogeneous with diversity in education level, country of origin, and English language fluency. Latino children often enter school with limited English language skills. In the current study, we surveyed 448 Latino families of Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican descent regarding their home language use providing an in-depth look at the language interactions within Latino families residing in the U.S. Adults were matched on the language used with each other and with the target child. Six main findings are reported: (1) Mother–father language matched in 94% of the homes. Frequency distributions and cross-tab analysis identified Spanish as the primary language spoken in 56% of the homes, (2) Children and parents matched in language spoken in less than 21% of the homes, (3) Fathers play an important role in language use at home, (4) Approximately half of the mothers report no English fluency, (5) Latino children prefer to speak English at home, and (6) Maternal English fluency is related to overall language use. Practice or Policy: Early Childhood professionals should carefully structure language experiences in the classroom to aid the language acquisition of DLLs while promoting bilingualism. In addition, programs must take into consideration language spoken at home when establishing communication with the families.

A Regulatory Policy Strategy for Protecting Immigrant Workers

Immigration has become a focal point of many political campaigns, most notably that of President Trump in 2016 and again in 2020. Populist rhetoric also decries immigrant workers for taking Americans’ jobs and depressing wages for US-born workers. Yet immigrants serve a constructive role by working in some of the most dangerous occupations in the country. In fact, it is well-known that immigrant workers, particularly those from Mexico with limited English language skills, face a higher workplace fatality rate than native workers. Efforts to reverse this trend have long been the focus of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which undertook numerous policy initiatives under the Bush and Obama Administrations to reduce immigrant fatalities in the workplace. Using three different datasets, this article empirically shows that, while job safety has improved for immigrant workers, more gains are required to reduce immigrant fatality rates to align with those of native workers. In reaching this result, we make several contributions to the literature. First, we use recent data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) to show that immigrants, particularly those from Mexico, experienced higher fatality rates than native-born workers in 2003, 2007, and 2015. Second, we empirically demonstrate that a large group of recent immigrants to the United States reported in the New Immigrant Survey either remain in high-risk jobs or increase their fatality risks over time. In doing so, this study is the first to exploit the longitudinal nature of the New Immigrant Survey to assess whether immigrant workers progressed into safer jobs between 2003 and 2007. Finally, we provide updated estimates of the Value of Statistical Life for immigrant workers using recent fatality data from the 2015 CFOI. Here, we show that unlike native-born workers, immigrant workers—especially those from Mexico—are not only in higher risk jobs but are also not compensated with hazard pay for workplace fatality risks. In conjunction, these results show that, while OSHA’s outreach programs toward immigrants have served a constructive function, more can be done to communicate job risks to immigrant workers to help them progress into safer jobs. In particular, since immigrant workers who lack English proficiency suffer most in the labor market, we recommend that OSHA target its outreach programs toward providing safety materials in an immigrant worker’s native language to alert workers to the hazards that are present and to promote safety training that immigrant workers can understand. Additionally, we also suggest that OSHA conduct a benefit-cost analysis to assess alternative regulatory policies that mandate employers to provide safety and training materials into other languages, such as Spanish.

"Doctor, teacher, translator:" International medical students' experiences of clinical teaching on an English language undergraduate medical course in China.

Like many Chinese universities, Ningbo University (NBU) has two undergraduate medical courses - one taught in Mandarin for domestic students, and one taught in English for international students. This study examines the experiences of medical students who recently completed the English language program that has a particular focus on clinical placements. In-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 final year medical students at NBU in April 2019. Transcripts were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. All medical student participants were non native English speakers and had a limited grasp of Chinese. Their clinical teachers were all fluent in Chinese and had variable command of English. The large majority of patients in the teaching hospitals where placements took place spoke only in Chinese. Despite the obvious challenges arising from this, students still had predominantly positive experiences of clinical placements. Although students recognized that their clinical teachers' English proficiency was variable, they felt that other attributes, such as enthusiasm, interactivity, and a desire to teach were more important factors to their learning experiences. Despite challenging linguistic circumstances, non native English-speaking students were able to navigate the challenges of studying clinical medicine from teachers with limited English language skills and with patients who spoke virtually no English. Further studies should explore the perceptions of teachers of the program, and graduate outcomes when these students enter the workplace. Educators involved in supporting international medical students should note that non technical curricular areas such as professionalism may require greater attention where language barriers exist.

Implementation of CIPP Model for Quality Evaluation at Zawia University

The limited English language skills among Libyan learners threatens their ability to interact with the international environment. Therefore, improvement in the provision of foreign language programmes is imperative, and can be carried out using different methods such as evaluation to critically examine a programme in order to improve its effectiveness. This study aims to evaluate the current English language teaching (ELT) provision provided by the English department in the faculties of education at Zawia University in Libya. It seeks to establish whether the current English language programme has ever been validated or updated. Moreover, this study will design a framework that will enhance the quality of the English language provision at Zawia University by indicating the strengths and weaknesses of the current English language programme. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect the data, which were gathered through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The evaluation of the current English as a foreign language programme at Zawia University revealed a number of inadequacies in terms of programme delivery, teaching resources, the balance of language skills taught and students work assessment.

Medical Countermeasure Comics: Visualizing a Public Health Emergency Response.

The article discusses the potential benefits that are associated with the use of medical countermeasure (MCM)-related comic strips (comics) to help individuals visualize public health emergency responses, and it mentions how comics combine dialogue, symbols, and images to provide clarity to medical issues. The illustration of an MCM-based point of dispensing (POD) is addressed, along with information for people with lower literacy and limited English language skills.

Gender and racial differences in peer effects of limited English students: a story of language or ethnicity?

There is a perception among native born parents in the USA that the increasing number of immigrant students in schools creates negative peer effects on their children. In North Carolina, there has been a significant increase in immigrants, especially those with limited English language skills. Recent data suggests that North Carolina has the eighth largest English-language learner (ELL) student population and over 60 % of immigrants are from Latin America and the Caribbean. While past research suggests negative though negligible peer effects of Limited English (LE) students and black students on the achievement of other students, potential peer effects of students from Latin America in general have not been considered. In this paper, we attempt to identify both LE student and Latin American (LA) student peer effects by separately utilizing fixed effects methods that allow us to deal with the potential selectivity across time and schools. On average, we find no evidence of negative peer effects of LE students on females and white students but note small negative effects on average on males and black students. We also find that, holding constant other factors, an increase in the share of LA students does not create negative peer effects on native students’ achievement. Rather, it is the limited English language skills of some of these students that lead to small, negative peer effects on natives.JEL Classification: I20, I21, J15, J24.

Hiv-Exposed but Uninfected Infants: Identifying Developmental Delay and the challenges faced in Accessing Developmental Services from a Canadian Tertiary Centre

Abstract BACKGROUND: Children born to HIV-positive mothers but are HIV uninfected (HEU) are at increased risk for adverse developmental outcomes. The literature suggests that the increased risk is more related to social determinants of health rather than effects of perinatal exposures to HIV and antiretrovirals. Developmental screening and early referral do result in improved outcomes and so HEUs should benefit from anticipatory guidance and early specialist referral. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify the rate of development screening, identification and referral of developmental concern, and referral completion in a provincial family-centered HIV clinic caring for 20-30 HIV exposed newborns per year and secondarily identify barriers to referral completion. DESIGN/METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of all of the HEU cared for at this outpatient clinic born between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2013 to examine the frequency of developmental concerns, referral rates for children with documented concerns, and referral outcomes. RESULTS: We reviewed 112 subjects: 64 (57%) male; 87 (77%) born at term (>37 weeks). 78 (66%) of the families had one or more social vulnerabilities (parental ill health apart from HIV, poverty, limited literacy, limited English language skills, etc), including 43 (38%) who had some involvement with child protection services. 104 (92.8%) had at least one documented developmental assessment using standardized tools. Among these 104, 46 (44.2%) were noted to have a developmental concern and of those, 40 (87.0%) were referred to at least one developmental service provider or general pediatrician. There were a total of 43 referrals to developmental service providers; 58.1% occurred at time of study completion, and 60.0% for which recommendations were formally communicated. Of 36 referrals to general pediatricians, 69.4% had occurred, 92.0% of which recommendations communicated back to the clinic. Barriers to referral completion included inability to contact caregivers (7.3%), patient no-show (13.0%), waiting lists (23.2%), and other (56.5%). CONCLUSION: The large majority of patients were screened and referred when indicated, but a significant number of patients either were not assessed by the secondary provider, or no information was communicated back to the clinic. Multiple barriers at the clinic, patient, and referral centre level were identified. The discrepancy in referral completion between developmental service provider referrals and general pediatrician referrals, may further highlight the difficulty HEU families have navigating our provincial developmental services. Future work will examine how to overcome these barriers in a vulnerable population.

Gender and Racial Differences in Peer Effects of Limited English Students: A Story of Language or Ethnicity?

There is a perception among native born parents in the U.S. that the increasing number of immigrant students in schools creates negative peer effects on their children. In North Carolina there has been a significant increase in immigrants especially those with limited English language skills and recent data suggest that North Carolina has the 8th largest ELL student population with over 60 percent of immigrants coming from Latin America and the Caribbean. While past research suggests negative though negligible peer effects of Limited English (LE) students on achievement of other students, potential peer effects of student from Latin America in general has not been considered. In this paper we attempt to identify both LE student and Latin American (LA) student peer effects separately utilizing fixed effects methods that allow us to deal with the potential selectivity across time and schools. On average we find no evidence of negative peer effects of LE students on females and white students but note small negative effects on average on males and black students. We also find that, holding constant other factors, an increase in the share of LA students share does not create negative peer effects on native students' achievement. Rather, it is the limited English language skills of some of these students that leads to small, negative peer effects on natives.

PMM.83 Maternal epilepsy not to be forgotten

Epilepsy is the commonest serious neurological condition affecting pregnancy.It is associated with a maternal mortality rate of 0.61 per 100 000 maternities.Deaths from epilepsy have been a recurrent theme in...

Moral mediation in interpreted health care consultations

This paper reports on the moral work done in routine diabetes review consultations in primary care with nurses. Consultations with fluent English speakers are compared with consultations where an interpreter was present, largely involving patients of Bangladeshi origin. The study setting was Tower Hamlets in London, where type 2 diabetes is particularly common. Existing research has shown some dissatisfaction with diabetes care amongst Bangladeshi patients, and studies of care providers in other locations suggest that they at times experience the care of this group as particularly challenging. Through analysis of video-recorded consultations recorded in 2010–2011 we shed light on possible reasons for these difficulties. The 12 non-English speakers often experienced difficulties in raising issues that concerned them, particularly if their interpreter did not translate their utterance because it was deemed to be unrelated to diabetes. These difficulties were not shared by the 24 fluent English speakers, who also found it easier to convey a positive moral reputation and to excuse behaviour that deviated from recommended self-management practices. Interpreters at times also acted as moral mediators. For example, where a participant in the consultation made statements that appeared to convey a negative moral judgement of an other participant, these would often go untranslated. Probably, neither health care providers nor patients are fully aware of the nature of their communication difficulties. Given this, interpreters possess considerable power to influence matters. Understanding the moral work of consultations is important in explaining the findings of other studies showing difficulties in the provision of diabetes care to people with limited English language skills.

Effectiveness of a Spanish Language Clinic for Hispanic Youth with Type 1 Diabetes

A pilot study was undertaken to determine whether establishment of a Spanish Language Diabetes Clinic (SLDC) for Spanish-speaking families conducted by a team of Spanish-speaking, Hispanic and nonHispanic clinicians provides a means to improve control of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The first 21 Hispanic pediatric patients with T1D who enrolled in the SLDC were matched to 21 Hispanic patients treated in the English Language Diabetes Clinic (ELDC) based on age and duration of diabetes. The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to gender, body mass index (BMI), or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Patients in both groups were followed for 12 months. The mean (± standard deviation) baseline glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level in the SLDC group (8.4 ± 1.0%) was similar to that in the ELDC group (8.6 ± 1.4%, P = .83). HbA1c levels fell by 0.5 ± 1.0% (P = .01) during the year following enrollment in the SLDC but did not change significantly from baseline during the year of follow-up in the ELDC group (decrease of 0.2 ± 0.9%, P = .1). At the start of the study, only 5 patients (23%) in the SLDC group and 7 patients (33%) in the ELDC group met the ≤7.5% target HbA1c level. After 1 year, 10 of the SLDC patients (48%) and 4 of ELDC patients (19%) had HbA1c levels ≤7.5% (P = .01). Our preliminary findings support the hypothesis that overcoming language barriers by the establishment of a SLDC can be an effective means of improving metabolic control in youth with T1D in Hispanic families with limited English language skills.