Portuguese Speaking Research Articles

Identifying Risk Factors for Drug Abuse among Portuguese Speaking Youth in the Boston Area: A Preliminary Assessment Using Key Informant Networks

This article presents the results of a key-informant mail survey conducted with thirty-nine community leaders and local workers of the three main groups of the Boston area Portuguese speaking community, namely Brazilians, Cape Verdeans, and Portuguese. They were asked to rank on the questionnaire the frequency with which some youth problems-identified in the literature as risk factors for substance abuse-were present in the community. Six of the ten most cited problems were family-related, such as inter-generational cultural differences, poor family management skills, and social isolation of family.

Reviews and Materials Received

Abstract The Teaching and Learning of History and Geography: Aspects of Primary Education Series #4., by Her Majesty's Inspectorate, Department of Education and Science, Government of England and Wales. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1989. Paperbound. 41 pages. P.O. Box 276, London SW8 5DT, England. Order from HMSO Books. £ 4.25. A Geography of World Economy, by Anthony R. de Souza Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing Co. 1990. Glossary, refs., index. 497 pp. ISBN 0675-205654-01. World Regional Geography, by Robert E. Norris St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company. 1990.624 pp. ISBN 0-314-48133-8. Atlantic Islanders of the Azores and Madeiras, by Francis M. Rogers North Quincy, MA: Christopher Publishing House. 1979. Illus., tables, maps, biblio., index. 464 pp. $17.50 Atlantic Peeks: An Ethnographic Guide to the Portuguese Speaking Atlantic Islands, by Jean E. Ludtke Hanover, MA: Christopher Publishing House. 1989. Maps, tables, appendices, biblio., index. 408 pp. $24.95. Connections: Linking Population with the Environment, by Kimberly A. Crews and Patricia Cancellier Population Reference Bureau 1875 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Suite 520, Washington D.C. 20009-5726. Complete teachers kit $13.00

The Validity of the Portuguese Speaking Test for Use in a Summer Study Abroad Program

men study program. The study has three main ence expressed a significantly greaten degree of foci: a) to determine the validity of the ACTFLcomfort when using the language in a listening or based Portuguese Speaking Test as a placement speaking situation. tool for a short study abroad program; and b) to The findings of Carroll and Graman affirm assess gains in oral proficiency among particithe important role foreign study plays in depants in the University of Tennessee's summer veloping language skills that are needed for study abroad program in Brazil; and c) to assess, advanced language courses. While efforts have where possible, other issues related to the initial been made to make the foreign language classstudy abroad experience, room more communicative and to improve student's proficiency so as to better prepare Overview of Research students for advanced language classes, foreign study serves as an irreplaceable linguistic and John Carroll (1967) in his study of the lancultural experience. guage proficiency of foreign language majors in The traditional foreign study program detheir senior year, noted that most of the majors in signed for language learners includes study at a his sample had at least one foreign study expeniforeign institution in regular or specially deence. Even with this experience, most did not signed classes, placement with families, and surpass the level of 2+ on the FSI scale. This often additional scheduled travel. The cost of rating is equivalent to a scone of Advanced Plus these programs coupled with the time students on the ACTFL scale (Liskin-Gasparro, 1987). must commit to foreign study has led to a shorten, Graman (1987) noted the same phenomenon more intensive version of foreign study, the _________ summer study program. Unlike academic year 5Members are invited to send material to: Dr. Douglas K. programs, summer programs typically arrange Benson, Dept. of Modern Languages, Eisenhower Hall 104, for special classes for students at foreign instituKansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS 66506. Maximum tions that would normally be on vacation. Sumlength is 15 double-spaced pages, in either 1985 MLA or men study is attractive to faculty and students linguistics format. Please send a typed original and acopy alikebecauseitnequineslesstimeandlessmoney. for each paper submitted, and include a self-addressed envelope and loose stamps to cover return mailing of the However, summer study programs have been manuscript, criticized for their brevity, intensity, and lack of

Portuguese Speaking Test

Portuguese Speaking Test

The Development and Validation of the Portuguese Speaking Test

During the past decade, thanks primarily to the efforts of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Educational Testing Service (ETS), and with the assistance of several government language training agencies under the auspices of the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR), a major theoretical and practical development in the field of foreign language assessment has taken place. This development is the application of a orientation in the testing of foreign language competence. This movement has also brought about the adoption of a proficiency approach to language instruction in many quarters. Two standards lie at the heart of the oral proficiency testing movement: the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and the ACTFL/ILR speaking proficiency guidelines. The OPI is a direct face-to-face evaluation of the learner's second language competence conducted by trained interviewers and raters. [For information on the direct oral proficiency interview used by the government the reader is referred to Wilds (1975) and Sollenberger (1978). For information on the ACTFL oral interview see Higgs (1984), and Stansfield and Harmon (1987)]. The ACTFL proficiency guidelines (ACTFL 1986), based on the earlier developed ILR guidelines, provide the criteria against which language proficiency is rated. Between 1980 and 1988, ACTFL trained approximately 1,600 oral proficiency interviewers and raters in the major foreign languages taught in the United States: Spanish, French, German, and Russian. As a result, oral proficiency testing is widely available to examinees in need of a rating of their competency in these languages. However for less commonly taught languages such as Portuguese, the scarce number of trained interviewers makes it difficult if not impractical to connect an interviewer in one part of the country with an examinee in another part of the country. This situation impedes the availability of an oral proficiency interview to an individual who may have need for such a rating. The Portuguese Speaking Test (PST), a semi-direct test of oral proficiency, was developed in response to this need. Semi-direct testing (using recorded and printed stimuli and recording examinee responses) is the most efficient and feasible approach to proficiency measurement in the less commonly taught languages. This approach eliminates the need to sustain a costly and labor intensive face-to-face (direct) Oral Proficiency Interview program for low-volume languages whose enrollment figures may be unstable from year to year. However, semidirect testing does provide the benefits derived from a continual assessment program, and it can serve as the impetus for competency-based learning on the part of students of these languages. There have been several efforts to develop semi-direct tests of oral proficiency in foreign languages. One of the earliest was the Recorded Oral Proficiency Examination (ROPE), designed and described by Lowe and Clifford (1980). In the ROPE, the examinee hears a series of tape-recorded questions in the target

Portuguese Speaking Test

Portuguese Speaking Test

Becoming True to Ourselves: Cultural Decolonization and National Identity in the Literature of the Portuguese Speaking World

Introduction Portugal Portugese Women and Decolonization Brazil Portugese Speaking Africa Conclusions Bibliography Index