Search results

The American schools are more racially and ethnically diverse and increasing at a faster pace than in the past. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [NCLB] defines diversity in terms of group differences, not individual variability. Common groupings are white, African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American. However, each state is free to select their own groupings for diversity and several states include limited English proficient students as a subgroup. This chapter examines the fastest growing addition to+ American public schools, immigrant students with limited English proficiency and in need of bilingual education. I examine how the states hope to close the achievement gap for students with Limited English Proficiency under NCLB

One out of four foodservice employees speaks a foreign language at home. Furthermore, 37 percent of those employees speak limited English. Given this, hospitality managers must find ways to effectively communicate with their employees. This paper seeks to address these issues.

The methodology employed a perspective‐taking manipulation. Participants were placed in the role of an individual that does not speak the native language that is used in the workplace. Groups were measured on performance, quality, and accuracy. Groups were video‐taped to measure frequency of non‐verbal behaviors. Participants were surveyed to measure their levels of positivity.

The results of this study identified effective non‐verbal communication strategies for managers (combination of gestures, demonstrating, and pointing). When the leader used these strategies, the groups were able to complete the recipes faster. Managers who spoke another language expressed a more positive behavior towards the group. The group also expressed more positive behaviors towards each other when they had a second language leader.

A limitation is that data were collected from students and the methodology simulated an environment of limited language proficiency. Although this method has been shown to be effective, the true experiences of what non‐English speaking workers might face include more complex processes.

This research suggests that non‐verbal tools are effective when communication barriers exist. Managers who are multiculturally competent are more efficient in leading employees. Positive feedback must be given even if it is non‐verbal.

This research offers valuable strategies for hospitality managers to communicate with those employees who speak limited English.

The motivation for the current exploration follows from the fact that one-third of the population in Saudi Arabia (SA) is expatriates. According to the Saudi General Authority for Statistic (https://www.stats.gov.sa/en), the total population in SA in 2021 is estimated at 33,413,660 people, 20,768,627 of whom are Saudi citizens whereas 12,645,033 are expatriates coming from different countries across the world, such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Sri Lanka, among many others. In this study, the author targeted limited English and Arabic proficiency patients (LEAPPs) from only three countries in the Near East: (1) Bangladesh, (2) India and (3) Pakistan. The author selected these three countries because they represent the high number of expatriates in SA. According to www.globalmediainsight.com, the population of the abovementioned nationalities in SA in 2021 is as follows: India (2,550,000 million), Pakistan (2,450,000 million) and Bangladesh (1,300,000 million) (see https://bit.ly/3NR6SfT). The main official languages for Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are Urdu, Hindu and Bengali respectively. Although the English language is the second official language in both Pakistan and India, it comes as a second language, not as a mother tongue. In other words, these LEAPPs are unlikely to have a full command of the English language.

The current study makes use of both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative component follows from the use of questionnaires whereas the qualitative part comes from the execution of face-to-face interviews. This mixed approach has been influential in earlier explorations (see, e.g. Terrel, 2012; Dawadi et al., 2021) and was used in this study to achieve two objectives: (1) to explore whether LEAPPs suffer linguistically when they visit a Saudi hospital, and this data can be elicited via questionnaires, and (2) to gain insights from LEAPPs' experience and attend to their suggestions towards the improvement of the linguistic landscape of the Saudi health system, and this can be gleaned from the interviews.

Based on questionnaires and interviews, the study shows that 64.5% of LEAPPs cannot express their health issues to Arabic-speaking physicians, while 54.8% cannot understand the details of their diagnoses and the guidelines of the prescriptions. Although there is a strong consensus among LEAPPs that interpretation services should be introduced to the Saudi health sector to achieve a better experience, 67.7% are generally satisfied with the current healthcare. Contra previous claims that patients are concerned about their privacy with the introduction of interpreters (see, e.g. Hadziabdic, 2011; Floyd and Sakellariou, 2017; MacFarlane et al. 2020), the present study shows that 70.9% of LEAPPs express no concerns regarding their privacy, whereas 19.3% adopt a neutral position.

Unlike Al-Khathami et al. (2010) who explored the perspective of Saudi patients towards nonArabic speaking nurses and contra Alhammami (2020) who examined the attitudes of the nonArabic speaking doctors towards Saudi patients, the current study shed more light on a neglected sample, namely the laborers, janitors and other craftsmen who have limited knowledge of both Arabic and English and who visited a Saudi clinic/hospital and were met by Arabic-speaking physicians.

Language use is a highly controversial issue in the United States (Schmidt, 2000). Among all the linguistic access issues (e.g., bilingual education, multilingual ballots), however, the issue of access to justice is probably the least contentious. Most people in the United States seem to agree and appreciate the fact that access to justice premises on the ability of court users to understand the process in which they participate. The integrity of the legal process, particularly for the common law system (like the American legal system), which features an adversarial trial process, would be compromised if litigants were unable to communicate with or understand the judge, witnesses, or opposing parties or counsel. The guiding theory behind the common law is that adversarial trials set up two or more parties to be in conflict with one another in a zero-sum game; it is therefore important for all participating parties to be on equal footing (Thibaut & Walker, 1975).

Mastery of spoken English is a priority for many learners of English in Iran. Opportunities to acquire spoken English through the public school system are very limited, hence many students enroll in “conversation” courses in private institutes. The purpose of this paper is to report a study of how institute teachers address the teaching of spoken English.

Eighty-nine teachers completed a questionnaire on how they teach spoken English. The information was supplemented with interviews and classroom observation.

Results suggest that institute courses reflect a poor understanding of the nature of spoken interaction, which is reflected in speaking courses that are unfocused and that do not address key aspects of conversational interaction.

Suggestions are given for a re-examination of the differences between “conversation” and “discussion” in spoken English classes as the basis for designing spoken English classes and materials, as well as for the use of out-of-class learning opportunities to enhance the learning of spoken English in Iran and elsewhere.

This paper is based on the authors’ original research, and the authors believe this is the first study of its kind in the Iranian context.

Purpose – To provide differentiated teaching models and a set of instructional reading strategies and materials for current and future classroom teachers to help them enhance the quality of reading instruction for English Learners (ELs).

Design/methodology/approach – The instructional reading strategies and materials and differentiated teaching models presented in this chapter are drawn from a body of current literature on ELs' English language development and on effective reading instruction for ELs. The instructional reading strategies and materials are categorized into five subcomponents of reading instruction: sight words, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Findings – Provides differentiated teaching models and specific instructional strategies and materials that target each of the five specific subcomponents of reading instruction for ELs (i.e., sight words, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension).

Research limitations/implications – Some publications related to instructional reading strategies and materials may be limited to specific ELs in United States who speak a predominate native language (i.e., Spanish). These instructional reading strategies and materials may not be appropriate for ELs speaking another native language.

Practical implications – A very useful source of differentiated teaching models and practical instructional reading strategies and materials for current and future classroom teachers of ELs.

Originality/value – This chapter provides specific information and resources for current and future classroom teachers of ELs to support them in delivering high quality reading instruction.

With growing concerns about an academic literacy crisis plaguing the education system in South Africa, tertiary institutions have to find ways to strengthen the academic literacy skills of underprepared students transitioning into higher education. This is more pressing for low socioeconomic status students who are linguistically marginalised and face historically poor graduation prospects. In response, this chapter offers a snapshot of two studies conducted in South Africa that sought to test the efficacy of a purposefully designed academic literacy intervention (Reading to Learn (RtL)). The intervention sought to address inequitable academic literacy skills development of linguistically marginalised students, who are also socioeconomically disadvantaged. Two small-scale, longitudinal studies were run in two separate educational contexts in South Africa – a senior secondary school context and a tertiary context with largely first-generation undergraduate students. Results of both studies showed the RtL intervention to be successful at raising the level of academic writing skills of the research participants. Furthermore, similar to other RtL studies conducted globally, the two studies found weaker-performing students made the greatest gains in their academic writing skills, showing evidence of a convergence effect – more equitable learning outcomes being exhibited in the English classroom.

The increasing number of Hispanic immigrant employee workers in the hospitality industry in the USA has led to some imperative issues and questions, such as how communication barriers and culture gaps influence work injuries. The purpose of this study is to examine factors that influence the extent to which immigrant employees report work injuries to their managers.

Using survey methodology, 154 full‐time employees working at a hospitality operation were requested to participate (60 percent were Hispanic immigrant employees, 40 percent were US born). Participants were given a Spanish or English language survey that contained the measures of interests, as well as demographic questions, and a debriefing statement.

The results showed that immigrant workers reported fewer injuries to their supervisors/managers than US‐born workers and the extent to which Hispanic immigrants speak English was related to the frequency of reporting work injuries. Immigrant climate moderated the relationship between Hispanic immigrant workers' English fluency and the frequency of reporting work injuries. The effect of English fluency was more pronounced for a negative climate work environment than a positive climate work environment.

This study provides support for the view that limited English fluency has a negative influence on Hispanic immigrant workers' reporting of injuries in the workplace.

The current research shows that language barriers can be a possible explanation as to why immigrant workers report fewer work injuries to management than US‐born workers. Both English fluency and immigrant climate influenced the extent to which Hispanic immigrant employees reported injuries to management.

Observes that, in some public schools in the USA, dual language instead of English only is being promoted as a plus and not the drawback it was once seen to be. Stresses there is still opposition to dual language or other languages being used in the US. Reckons that educated parents are the likeliest to seek dual‐language education for their children. Uses tables and figures to show the dual language options and variances. Concludes that there is potential for two‐way immersion to expand.

Fiji is a multicultural and linguistically multi-competent country. Historical ethnic divisions have socialised students into language friendships based around common languages. Recent changes to educational policy, specifically the mandating of students learning all three of the Standard languages of Fiji (Fijian, Hindi, and English), have been introduced in hope that cross-linguistic understanding will encourage a greater sense of national identity amongst all Fijians regardless of ethnicity. This study explores one multilingual school environment considering students’ language use, attitudes and friendships in light of these policies.

A convergent mixed-methods research design using surveying, artefact collection, students’ drawing and observation was employed.

The majority of students reported some proficiency in the language of their inter-ethnic peers; however, students’ inter-ethnic friendships predominantly relied on English language use. It was observed that most friendships amongst these Fijian primary school students were still established according to main language use at home; however, inter-ethnic peer interaction in English was observed to be friendly and respectful. These language use patterns and friendship behaviours were potentially reinforced by individual and societal multilingualism, in addition to the school environment.

The chapter presents the first research linking Fijian primary school students’ language choices and friendship development.