Relative Proficiency Research Articles

FORMATION OF READINESS FOR COMMUNICATION IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE OF FUTURE NAVIGATORS

The relevance of this study is determined by the fact that the legislation emphasizes the importance of English proficiency in relation to safety at sea. The analysis of Federal state educational standard of higher education in the specialty 26.05.05 «Navigation» (specialty) showed that among the necessary skills is a readiness to communicate in oral and written forms in foreign languages for solving tasks of professional activity and English language mastering to perform the certain duties. Therefore, the purpose of this article is study the main aspects of formation of readiness to communicate in foreign language in future navigators at the university. The active methods of intercultural communication for developing skills of communication in oral and written form in a foreign language for the decision of tasks of professional activity were proposed. It is concluded that the proposed forms of training are necessary to improve the level of formation of communicative skills of future navigators.

An fMRI study of executive control during translation and oral reading in Cantonese-English bilingual speakers

An fMRI study of executive control during translation and oral reading in Cantonese-English bilingual speakers

Relative language proficiency affects language production in unimodal and bimodal bilinguals

Relative language proficiency affects language production in unimodal and bimodal bilinguals

The influence of language differences on power dynamics in multinational teams

Based on 90 interviews with leaders and members of 15 multinational teams, this study explores the influence of language differences on power dynamics in multinational teams. First, we establish hierarchical position and professional expertise as general sources of power in teamwork. Subsequently, we demonstrate how different language policies, the degree of formality in language structures, and language proficiency disparity moderate team members’ capacity to capitalize on these power sources. Our study elucidates the complexity of linguistic influences on power dynamics in teamwork, reveals previously neglected differences in language structures, emphasizes the importance of relative proficiency and carries significant practical implications.

Supply chain criticality in sustainable and resilient enterprises

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to broadly explore the contributions of supply chain proficiency in relation to sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness (SEER2).Design/methodology/approachA pre-existing SEER2 model, referred to as the Springboard to SEER2, is put under the microscope to determine specific interactions of supply chain proficiency with six key areas of the Springboard: triple top-line strategy and governance; strategy execution via policies, processes and partnerships; financial and marketplace performance and impact; sustainability performance and impact; human ecology and capital performance and impact; and social-ecological and general innovation and continuous improvement performance and impact.FindingsSupply chain proficiency is integral to attainment of SEER2. As such, supply chain proficiency must be thoughtfully and strategically approached, with success critical to enterprise contribution to mitigation or solution of wicked global challenges ranging from climate change, to food insecurity, to societal conflict.Originality/valueThis paper reveals in depth the centrality of supply chain proficiency to SEER2, suggesting that such models as those behind America's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the European Quality Award might be enhanced by more deeply considering supply chain contributions to business and performance excellence. Supply chains are at present peripheral to such models, thereby providing essentially isolated views of enterprises in an age where supply chain collaboration is increasingly the norm.

Monolingual and bilingual children’s resolution of referential conflicts: Effects of bilingualism and relative language proficiency

Monolingual children follow pointing over labeling when these are in conflict in object selection tasks. Specifically, when a speaker labels one object, but points at another object, monolinguals select the object pointed at. Here, we ask whether (i) bilingual children show the same behavior as monolinguals and (ii) relative language proficiency affects bilinguals’ conflict resolution. 35 monolingual and 32 bilingual two- to four-year-olds performed an experiment involving a conflict between pointing and labeling. The bilinguals were tested in Dutch and in English. The bilinguals had a stronger preference for pointing over labeling and selected both objects less often than the monolinguals. Point following was stronger in the bilinguals’ weaker language than in their stronger language. These results support earlier findings on bilinguals’ increased sensitivity to socio-pragmatic cues and weaker reliance on mutual exclusivity, and show that previously acquired language knowledge affects how children weigh socio-pragmatic and lexical cues.

The relationship between motor proficiency and mental health outcomes in young adults: A test of the Environmental Stress Hypothesis

Growing evidence has highlighted the importance of motor proficiency in relation to psychosocial outcomes including self-perceived competence in various domains, perceived social support, and emotional areas such as anxiety and depression. The Environmental Stress Hypothesis-elaborated (Cairney, Rigoli, & Piek, 2013) is a proposed theoretical framework for understanding these relationships and recent studies have begun examining parts of this model using child and adolescent populations. However, the extent to which the relationships between these areas exist, persist or change during early adulthood is currently unclear. The current study aimed to investigate the Environmental Stress Hypothesis in a sample of 95 young adults aged 18–30years and examined the mediating role of physical self-worth and perceived social support in the relationship between motor proficiency and internalising symptoms. The McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (McCarron, 1997) was used to assess motor proficiency, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) provided a measure of internalising symptoms, and the Physical Self Perceptions Profile (Fox & Corbin, 1989) and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) were used to investigate the possible mediating role of physical self-worth and perceived social support respectively. Potential confounding variables such as age, gender and BMI were also considered in the analysis. Structural Equation Modelling revealed that perceived social support mediated the relationship between motor proficiency and internalising symptoms, whereas, the mediating role of physical self-worth was non-significant. The current results provide support for part of the model pathways as described in the Environmental Stress Hypothesis and suggest an important relationship between motor proficiency and psychosocial outcomes in young adults. Specifically, the results support previous literature regarding the significant role of perceived social support for mental well-being and suggest that an intervention that considers social support may also indirectly influence mental health outcomes in young adults who experience movement difficulties.

Theorizing the Value of English Proficiency in Cross-Cultural Rhetorics of Health and Medicine

This study reports the results of 12 recent interviews with nonnative-English-speaking (NNES) authors who have conducted research and written articles on health and medical subjects. Analyzing the interview transcripts through the theoretical lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s forms of capital, this study expands on previous research by offering a more precise and theoretically grounded understanding of how NNES authors perceive the value of English proficiency in relation to their success as scientific researchers. This theorization of the varying ways in which authors perceive the value of English proficiency affords new perspectives on the inequities that NNES authors encounter in the global publishing economy and their rhetorical strategies for overcoming these inequities. The study concludes by reflecting on theoretical and practical implications for researchers, teachers, and other stakeholders in the global publishing industry.

Early Detection of English Attrition in Korean-English Bilingual Children

This longitudinal case study utilized a body-part picture-naming task (Hawaii Assessment of Language Access project) to assess the changing proficiencies and dominance of Korean and English from two Korean sisters who returned back to Korea after living in Honolulu, Hawaii for two years. The task consisted of two strata based on the frequency of body-part vocabularies: high-frequency and low-frequency items. Children's accuracy and response time were gauged to demonstrate the participants' relative proficiency in English and Korean over three sessions starting from 18 months after their return until the 25th month after return. Since infrequent language use limits accessibility to that language, which in turn eventually causes further language loss(O'Grady et al., 2009), less frequently used words would be more vulnerable to proficiency change than high-frequency words. The result of this study suggests that lexical accessibility is one of the earliest linguistic aspects influenced by attrition, which can show up as early as around 21 months after their return to Korea.

Amateur, professional and proto‐practices: a contribution to ‘the proficiency debate’

With increasing disciplinary interest in amateur practice, and growing geographical use of artistic practice as a research method, ideas of proficiency are increasingly coming under scrutiny. In this paper, I explore and unsettle different classifications of proficiency in relation to empirical data from practice‐based research with art practitioners. I focus on the role and nature of experimentation within artistic practices across different levels of proficiency, and suggest that this leads to increasingly individualised practices over time, which can be characterised by features from outside the conventions of a field (proto‐practices) irrespective of formal attributions of proficiency. I suggest an alternative understanding of proficiency that characterises the practice rather than the practitioner in terms of experimental style rather than skill, which has theoretical and methodological implications for geographical research into both amateur and artistic practices.

Effects of language experience, use, and cognitive functioning on bilingual word production and comprehension

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Considerable research has investigated how bilinguals produce and comprehend words, focusing mainly on how bilinguals are able to select words from the appropriate language. Less research, however, has investigated whether production and comprehension involve the same underlying mechanisms. The present study explores this issue by examining whether production and comprehension, in the first language (L1) and second language (L2), are similarly influenced by factors relating to language experience, language use, and cognitive functioning. Design/methodology/approach Spanish-English bilinguals living in an English-speaking environment completed a picture naming task and a lexical decision task in their L1 and L2. In addition, participants completed the Operation Span task testing working memory and the Flanker task testing inhibitory control, and completed a language history questionnaire probing their language experience, relative proficiency, and codeswitching behavior. Data and analysis: Performance on all tasks was submitted to correlation analyses and the impact of individual difference measures on word production and comprehension was assessed via regression analyses. Findings/conclusions: Results showed that (1) production and comprehension were more closely linked in L1 than in L2; (2) production in L1 and L2 was predicted by language proficiency; and (3) comprehension in L1 and L2 was predicted by working memory. Originality: This is the first study to compare lexical processing in production and comprehension in both L1 and L2 and how these processes are influenced by language experience, use, and cognitive factors. Significance/implications: Word production and comprehension appear to be more tightly linked in L1 than L2, but seem to rely on different processing mechanisms.

Utility of the General Ability Index (GAI) and Cognitive Proficiency Index (CPI) with survivors of pediatric brain tumors: Comparison to Full Scale IQ and premorbid IQ estimates

ABSTRACTIntroduction. Pediatric brain tumor survivors are at risk for working memory and processing speed impairment. The General Ability Index (GAI) provides an estimate of intellectual functioning that is less influenced by working memory and processing speed than a Full Scale IQ (FSIQ). The Cognitive Proficiency Index (CPI) provides a measure of efficient information processing derived from working memory and processing speed tasks. We examined the utility of the GAI and CPI to quantify neurocognitive outcomes in a sample of pediatric brain tumor survivors. Method. GAI, CPI, and FSIQ scores from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Fourth Edition (WISC–IV) were examined for 57 pediatric brain tumor survivors (ages 6–16 years) treated with cranial radiation therapy (RT). Results. GAI scores were higher than FSIQ and CPI scores, both p < .001. Lower CPI scores were associated with history of craniospinal irradiation and time since RT. Lower FSIQ and GAI scores were associated with higher RT dose and time since RT. The rate of clinically significant GAI–FSIQ discrepancies in our sample was greater than that observed in the WISC–IV standardization sample, p < .001. Estimated premorbid IQ scores were higher than GAI, p < .01, and FSIQ scores, p < .001. Conclusions. Pediatric brain tumor survivors exhibit weaker cognitive proficiency than that expected for age, while general reasoning ability remains relatively spared. The GAI may be useful to quantify the intellectual potential of a survivor when appropriate accommodations are in place for relative cognitive proficiency weaknesses. The CPI may be a particularly sensitive outcome measure of treatment-related cognitive change in this population.

Correlates of English Proficiency Among Christian and Muslim Education Students of MSU-Maguindanao

This study intended to find out whether students’ I.Q., students’ regard for English proficiency in relation to their human needs, and cultural orientation contribute to the English proficiency of the students at MSU-Maguindanao, Philippines. The study used the qualitative-quantitative method. Twenty-five (25) Christian and twenty-five Muslim students of MSU-Maguindanao were the respondents of the study. Four (4) research instruments were used which are the Versant Pro-Speaking Test, the OTIS Lennon Ability Test, the Survey Questionnaire on students’ regard for English proficiency in relation to their human needs, and the interview guide questionnaire on students’ regard for English proficiency in relation to their human needs. The results indicated that the Christian Education students’ intelligence is average, if combined the intelligence level of both groups the result is low. In terms of the students’ regard for English proficiency in relation to their human needs, the Christian and the Muslim students have moderate need of English proficiency to attain their physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs and self-actualization. The English proficiency test results of both groups show that the Muslim students and Christian students have an English proficiency level of fair. The English fluency of the Christian and Muslim students is significantly related to sentence mastery, vocabulary, pronunciation and listening comprehension. Further the findings indicate that the students’ intelligence level and cultural orientation are predictors of students’ English proficiency.

Language dominance as a factor in loanword phonology

The aim of this paper is to examine the role of language dominance in loanword phonology. It is investigated how onset clusters in loanwords are integrated into Turkish by two groups: English-Turkish bilinguals in Turkey and Swedish-Turkish bilinguals in Sweden. It is hypothesised that the bilinguals in Sweden will display significantly higher rates of cluster adoption because Turkish is not the dominant language there. The data were collected through an oral loanword elicitation task, a text recitation task in the second languages and a questionnaire on language proficiency and use. The study had 53 participants (24 in Turkey and 29 in Sweden). The material consisted of 29 loanwords from English and French, and of 50 structurally comparable words in the bilinguals’ second languages. The data were analysed auditively by the author and subjected to an interrater reliability test. The results confirmed the hypothesis as the bilinguals in Sweden displayed significantly higher cluster adoption rates. The difference between the groups’ medians was 36.5 percentage points. Furthermore, it was shown that in individual speakers the combination of accurate second-language pronunciation, and clearly higher proficiency in the second language (corresponding to the donor language) compared to the L1 (i.e. the recipient language) guaranteed very high cluster adoption rates. This paper provides the first rigorous quantitative proof for the theoretical assumption that accurate pronunciation is not sufficient for structural adoption in loanword phonology but needs to be complemented with sociolinguistic variables. Furthermore, it demonstrates in greater detail than before how societal and individual dominance are connected and through which channels they impact loanword integration. Self-reported relative proficiency in the donor language was shown to be a powerful predictor of the sociolinguistic incentive to adopt and could therefore be used as a quick and reliable alternative to elaborate and time-consuming attitude investigations in loanword phonology.

BILINGUALISM AND THE ROLE OF L1 IN CURRICULUM DESIGNING FOR BILINGUAL LANGUAGE LEARNING

Multilingualism is not limited to certain areas in Iran. This indicates a significant message for education and pedagogy designers to pay special attention to bilingual learners. On their arrival at school, non-Persian students do not find any trace of their first language (L1/native language/mother tongue) in the formal Persian curriculum because the organization of the material is based on Persian, which fails to create any connection with the students’ previous experiences. Informal communication can be established through the first language (L1). Such a dissociation between the formal language of the school and the learners’ informal L1 hinders the process of self-motivated communication. Until 1960, bilingualism was considered an obstacle in the educational development of the children. In this vein, scholars argued that bilingual children had a weaker performance in comparison to monolingual children. However, contemporary research shows that childhood bilingualism can strengthen linguistic and non-linguistic abilities. Most researchers believe that a child is able to reach relative proficiency in two languages if the learning of the two languages is continued in parallel with each other and is proportionate to the mental and educational abilities of the learner. In such cases, each language can enrich the other and the skills learnt in one language can be transformed and generalized into the learning of the other language. However, in Iran, bilingual children at the age of 6-7 years old must learn Persian (Farsi) as their second language. Given the research on linguistic abilities and the linguistic competence threshold hypothesis, it is clear that bilingual children ought to reach the linguistic competence threshold first, which necessitates appropriate educational opportunities and efficient learning conditions.

Using dictation to measure language proficiency: A Rasch analysis

Groups are used widely in the language classroom and, particularly in classes where there is a wide range of English proficiency among students, teachers may want to construct balanced groups based on the language proficiency of individual students. In order to construct such groups, teachers need a reliable measure that effectively differentiates between different levels of proficiency, and yet there are contexts where information regarding student proficiency may not be available. This paper reports on the use of an in-house dictation test to measure the English proficiency of students in a Japanese university. Rasch analysis was used to determine the degree to which the dictation differentiated between the range of proficiencies in the classes, and to assess the reliability of the test. Correlation with scores from TOEIC and SLEP tests was used to confirm that the dictation tests English proficiency. Results show that dictation is a simple, cheap, and effective means of assessing the relative proficiency of students in this context, and can be used for constructing balanced groups.

Relative second language proficiency and the giving and receiving of written peer feedback

Abstract Peer feedback is a potentially beneficial yet highly complex process that can be influenced by a variety of social, historical and cultural factors. Here, we focus on learner proficiency and learners' perceptions of their own and their peer's proficiency, in addition to other factors, and we describe how these factors may influence the quantity and type of feedback given and utilized during feedback sessions. In the context of an undergraduate academic writing course, data was collected from six undergraduate Japanese learners of English who participated in dyadic peer feedback. Written texts, interview data and classroom observation formed a triangulated data set that was used to inform our inquiry. The writers' initial and revised drafts and the reviewers' comments were used in individual interviews as a basis for discussing the feedback process and the factors that influenced it. Differences in language proficiency and perceived relative proficiencies of the peers appeared to be important factors influencing the process. The results of the study are discussed with reference to pedagogical applications during peer feedback.

Reactive and proactive control in bilingual word production: An investigation of influential factors

The present study examined how reactive control (indexed by switching costs) and proactive control (indexed by mixing costs) during bilingual language production was modulated by three factors reflected by different time-courses of stimulus presentation. In three experiments, unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals named digits in Chinese or English according to a naming cue. In Experiment 1, switching costs reduced when participants had longer preparation time to select the target language to name digits (during the Cue-Stimulus interval, CSI), indicating that longer preparation time helps overcome reactive inhibition. In addition, mixing costs declined drastically at a longer preparation time, indicating that a tiny amount of preparation time allows bilinguals to overcome costs associated with proactively preparing two languages. In Experiment 2, the stimuli were presented prior to the cues, so that participants were given different amounts of time to activate the target lexical nodes in both languages before they were informed of the naming language (during the Stimulus-Cue interval, SCI). Symmetrical switching and mixing costs were observed, indicating that bilinguals can strategically boost activation of the target lexical item in the second language (L2) and attempt to equalize it with its translation equivalent in the native language (L1), when they know previously the specific lexical items to be prepared in two languages. In Experiment 3, different Response-Cue intervals (RCIs) were provided after participants named a digit. It was found that the switching cost asymmetry was more prominent when the time to resolve competition was shorter, while the mixing cost asymmetry emerged only with the longest waiting time. These findings provide the first piece of evidence for the dissipation of the reactive inhibition over time, and suggest that longer preparation would allow the proactive control mechanism to be sensitive the relative proficiency levels of the two languages, leading to stronger proactive control on the dominant language. Taken together, the findings in the present study suggest the dynamic nature of reactive and proactive control in unbalanced bilinguals and have important implications for the current models of bilingual language production, which do not explicitly distinguish the two types of control or address how they adapt to the fine-grained time course of the situation.

Designing Success: Motivating and Measuring Successful 1L Student Engagement in an Optional, Proficiency-Based Program Teaching Grammar and Punctuation

Clear, error-free writing is an essential skill for attorneys and crucial point of evaluation by potential employers, clients, and judges. But does ability to identify and correct errors of punctuation and grammar correlate with outcomes in law school and on the bar? What role, if any, does student motivation play? Can a course intended to improve skills for all students, but particularly to increase relative proficiency in lower-performing students, designed as optional, motivated by students' aspirations for a professional future, and whose goal is proficiency, not a grade, enhance autonomy and engagement in ways that pay off in student buy-in and performance? This paper examines these questions and presents the results of a study of five first-year (1L) law school classes, totaling nearly 1500 students.The study tracked each student's skill in grammar and punctuation on pre- and post-instruction assessments, attendance at optional classes and office hours, first-year legal writing grade, first-year GPA, cumulative GPA, and first-time bar passage. The data provide insight into how to predict student success both from an engagement perspective and an initial-skills perspective. Further, the data support the efficacy of self-regulated and mastery learning for fundamental skills that provides students with both the power and the responsibility to shape their own learning in the context of a professional requirement of proficiency. Finally, the data dispel fears that this approach based on proficiency, not ranking, will reduce student motivation, even in the context of the highly competitive law-school environment.

Gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1: A comparison of search methods and prospects for detection with advanced detectors

The low-mass X-ray binary Scorpius X-1 (Sco X-1) is potentially the most luminous source of continuous gravitational-wave radiation for interferometers such as LIGO and Virgo. For low-mass X-ray binaries this radiation would be sustained by active accretion of matter from its binary companion. With the Advanced Detector Era fast approaching, work is underway to develop an array of robust tools for maximizing the science and detection potential of Sco X-1. We describe the plans and progress of a project designed to compare the numerous independent search algorithms currently available. We employ a mock-data challenge in which the search pipelines are tested for their relative proficiencies in parameter estimation, computational efficiency, robust- ness, and most importantly, search sensitivity. The mock-data challenge data contains an ensemble of 50 Scorpius X-1 (Sco X-1) type signals, simulated within a frequency band of 50-1500 Hz. Simulated detector noise was generated assuming the expected best strain sensitivity of Advanced LIGO and Advanced VIRGO ($4 \times 10^{-24}$ Hz$^{-1/2}$). A distribution of signal amplitudes was then chosen so as to allow a useful comparison of search methodologies. A factor of 2 in strain separates the quietest detected signal, at $6.8 \times 10^{-26}$ strain, from the torque-balance limit at a spin frequency of 300 Hz, although this limit could range from $1.2 \times 10^{-25}$ (25 Hz) to $2.2 \times 10^{-26}$ (750 Hz) depending on the unknown frequency of Sco X-1. With future improvements to the search algorithms and using advanced detector data, our expectations for probing below the theoretical torque-balance strain limit are optimistic.