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1 – 10 of over 9000This paper notes that the rapid rate of demographic change in the United States of America population means that librarians must integrate Spanish language materials into their…
Abstract
This paper notes that the rapid rate of demographic change in the United States of America population means that librarians must integrate Spanish language materials into their collections now if they have not already done so. It attempts to compile a current collection of high quality resources that will assist librarians in their Spanish language collection building. The paper takes an inclusive perspective and no distinction is made between Chicano, Puerto Rican, Filipino, and other geographic or cultural sub‐groups of Spanish speakers.
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Juan Miguel Rosa González, Michelle Barker and Dhara Shah
Despite over 50 years of expatriation research, the implications of expatriation for identity remains an under-researched topic in mainstream international human resource…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite over 50 years of expatriation research, the implications of expatriation for identity remains an under-researched topic in mainstream international human resource management (IHRM) literature. Expatriation can cause disruption to expatriates' familiar sociocultural environment, which can often pose challenges to their self-concept and identity. The study underpinned by identity and social identity theories explores the perceptions of Spanish self-initiated expatriate (SIE) nurses living in Germany and other Spanish nurses who repatriated from Germany to understand the influence of expatriation on their self-concept and identity.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Spanish SIE nurses in Germany (n = 20) and others who had repatriated from Germany (n = 10). Data analysis was assisted by NVivo software.
Findings
The study identified that low proficiency in the host country language (HCL) and the problematic workplace interactions that ensued, challenged the participants' self-conceptions as competent professionals and prompted their reliance on social networks of fellow Spaniards for social validation.
Research limitations/implications
Although focused on a specific context, the study not only enhances practical understanding of Spanish SIE nurses in Germany but also offers valuable insights to organisations working with SIEs. It adds to extant knowledge on language and identity in the expatriation context and discusses the implications for global HRM related to underutilisation of SIEs' knowledge and skills within organisations.
Originality/value
The study contributes to theory building on the under-researched link between expatriation and identity, while adding to the growing literature on SIEs.
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Sonia Osorio Angel, Adriana Peña Pérez Negrón and Aurora Espinoza-Valdez
Most studies on Sentiment Analysis are performed in English. However, as the third most spoken language on the Internet, Sentiment Analysis for Spanish presents its challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
Most studies on Sentiment Analysis are performed in English. However, as the third most spoken language on the Internet, Sentiment Analysis for Spanish presents its challenges from a semantic and syntactic point of view. This review presents a scope of the recent advances in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review on Sentiment Analysis for the Spanish language was conducted on recognized databases by the research community.
Findings
Results show classification systems through three different approaches: Lexicon based, Machine Learning based and hybrid approaches. Additionally, different linguistic resources as Lexicon or corpus explicitly developed for the Spanish language were found.
Originality/value
This study provides academics and professionals, a review of advances in Sentiment Analysis for the Spanish language. Most reviews on Sentiment Analysis are for English, and other languages such as Chinese or Arabic, but no updated reviews were found for Spanish.
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Thea Williamson and Aris Clemons
Little research has been done exploring the nature of multilingual students who are not categorized as English language learners (ELLs) in English language arts (ELA) classes…
Abstract
Purpose
Little research has been done exploring the nature of multilingual students who are not categorized as English language learners (ELLs) in English language arts (ELA) classes. This study about a group of multilingual girls in an ELA class led by a monolingual white teacher aims to show how, when a teacher makes space for translanguaging practices in ELA, multilingual students disrupt norms of English only.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use reconstructive discourse analysis to understand translanguaging across a variety of linguistic productions for a group of four focal students. Data sources include fieldnotes from 29 classroom observations, writing samples and process documents and 8.5 h of recorded classroom discourse.
Findings
Students used multilingualism across a variety of discourse modes, frequently in spoken language and rarely in written work. Translanguaging was most present in small-group peer talk structures, where students did relationship building, generated ideas for writing and managed their writing agendas, including feelings about writing. In addition, Spanish served as “elevated vocabulary” in writing. Across discourse modes, translanguaging served to develop academic proficiency in writing.
Originality/value
The authors proposed a more expansive approach to data analysis in English-mostly cases – i.e. environments shaped by multilingual students in monolingual school contexts – to argue for anti-deficit approaches to literacy development for multilingual students. Analyzing classroom talk alongside literacy allows for a more nuanced understanding of translanguaging practices in academic writing. They also show how even monolingual teachers can disrupt monolingual hegemony in ELA classrooms with high populations of multilingual students.
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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…
Abstract
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.
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Diana Gonzalez Kirby and Margaret Borgeest
Researchers, subject specialists, and information professionals have long been aware of scientific and technical (sci‐tech) dictionaries available from the U.S. government. Yet…
Abstract
Researchers, subject specialists, and information professionals have long been aware of scientific and technical (sci‐tech) dictionaries available from the U.S. government. Yet these reference sources often remain invisible to the general public, especially in libraries that exclude government documents from the main catalog or that maintain separate documents collections. However, as more libraries automate their holdings and load cataloging records for government publications into their online public access catalogs (OPACs), government documents should become more visible. Until then, it may surprise some to learn that many U.S. government agencies have allocated vast resources into compiling, publishing, and updating technical dictionaries in print, microfiche, and electronic format.
An attempt to analyse a number of major problems that executivesfrequently cite as having contributed towards language learningdifficulties. The objective is to highlight the…
Abstract
An attempt to analyse a number of major problems that executives frequently cite as having contributed towards language learning difficulties. The objective is to highlight the various work‐related pressures, and psychologically‐demotivating attitudes that prevail amongst too many learners. Identifies five problem areas, and looks at each in detail, suggesting possible strategies for trainers to minimize the influence of these problems.
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The access to the rare originals of the early Spanish colonial imprints of the Philippines remains problematic. The reference librarians often are restricted to directing the…
Abstract
Purpose
The access to the rare originals of the early Spanish colonial imprints of the Philippines remains problematic. The reference librarians often are restricted to directing the students and scholars to the secondary resources that are available both in print and as a part of the digital assets within the North American academic libraries. This paper aims to focus on the select primary source editions including select Spanish language colonial imprints that are available electronically on the Web along the Open Access. These Web-based resources serve as the reference tools for the early history of the Philippines and Southeast Asia. As many of these publications are rare and extremely expensive for most libraries, the Open Access resources serve as an aid to building a virtual collection of these items.
Design/methodology/approach
The author had to create a data set of the early imprints of the Spanish Philippines using several bibliographic resources. The data set will be submitted as an Appendix for this research paper. The author did both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data set along with the voyant-based digital humanities approach for topic modeling.
Findings
The goals of this paper were to not only survey the early Spanish printing of the Philippines but also provide the reader with a somewhat complete picture of how the printing began in the Spanish Philippines, what kind of the first books were printed and how one can access them given their rarity and fragility. The collection building paradigms are undergoing significant shifts, and the focus of many academic libraries is shifting toward providing access to these items. As these items high-value low-use items continue to be part of the Special Collections, the access to these is problematic. The virtual collections thus serve as a viable alternative that enables further research and access. While the creators of these works are long gone, the legacy of the Spanish colonial domination, printing and the religious orders in the Philippines remain alive through these works.
Research limitations/implications
As this is an introductory paper, the author focused on the critical editions rather than providing a comprehensive bibliographic landscape of the presses that produced these editions. He also did not take into consideration many pamphlets that were published in the same period. He also did not consider the Chinese language publications of the Islands. The Chinese had been block printing since medieval times (Little, 1996). In the context of the Spanish Philippines, the Chinese migration and trade have been studied in detail by Chia (2006), Bjork (1998) and Gebhardt (2017). The scope of this paper also was centered toward building a virtual collection of these rare books.
Practical implications
Rare books are often expensive and out-of-reach for many libraries; the virtual collection of the same along the Open Access model represents an alternative to collect and curate these collections. The stewardship of these collections also acquires a new meaning in the digital milieu.
Social implications
This research paper will allow scholars to see past the analog editions and help them focus on curating a virtual collection. The questions of electronic access are often ignored when it comes to visiting and using them in a controlled environment of the reading room in the Special Collections. The author argues that one way to enable access to these rare and expensive books is to provide access to their digital counterparts. These digital/virtual surrogates of the originals will facilitate further research.
Originality/value
The author could not find similar research on the publications of the early Spanish colony of the Philippines.
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María‐Dolores Olvera‐Lobo and Lola García‐Santiago
This study aims to focus on the evaluation of systems for the automatic translation of questions destined to translingual question‐answer (QA) systems. The efficacy of online…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on the evaluation of systems for the automatic translation of questions destined to translingual question‐answer (QA) systems. The efficacy of online translators when performing as tools in QA systems is analysed using a collection of documents in the Spanish language.
Design/methodology/approach
Automatic translation is evaluated in terms of the functionality of actual translations produced by three online translators (Google Translator, Promt Translator, and Worldlingo) by means of objective and subjective evaluation measures, and the typology of errors produced was identified. For this purpose, a comparative study of the quality of the translation of factual questions of the CLEF collection of queries was carried out, from German and French to Spanish.
Findings
It was observed that the rates of error for the three systems evaluated here are greater in the translations pertaining to the language pair German‐Spanish. Promt was identified as the most reliable translator of the three (on average) for the two linguistic combinations evaluated. However, for the Spanish‐German pair, a good assessment of the Google online translator was obtained as well. Most errors (46.38 percent) tended to be of a lexical nature, followed by those due to a poor translation of the interrogative particle of the query (31.16 percent).
Originality/value
The evaluation methodology applied focuses above all on the finality of the translation. That is, does the resulting question serve as effective input into a translingual QA system? Thus, instead of searching for “perfection”, the functionality of the question and its capacity to lead one to an adequate response are appraised. The results obtained contribute to the development of improved translingual QA systems.
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Po‐Ju Chen, Fevzi Okumus, Nan Hua and Khaldoon (Khal) Nusair
The aim of this study is to explore effective communication strategies for Spanish‐speaking and Haitian‐Creole‐speaking employees in hotel companies.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to explore effective communication strategies for Spanish‐speaking and Haitian‐Creole‐speaking employees in hotel companies.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach was employed. Three employee, focus group interviews and semi‐structured interviews with 12 managers were conducted in a resort hotel in Orlando to elicit critical factors related to effective communication strategies with Spanish‐speaking and Haitian‐Creole‐speaking employees.
Findings
It was found that the case study company mainly communicated with its employees through daily meetings, daily written information (e.g. hot sheets), wall postings, e‐mails, and periodic monthly/quarterly meetings. It was found that bilingual employees often worked as unpaid translators and assisted their colleagues. Spanish and Haitian‐Creole‐speaking employees felt that not being proficient in English hindered their promotion opportunities. Differences were observed among English, Spanish, and Haitian‐Creole‐speaking employees in terms of style of communication. Some native‐speaking employees seemed to refrain from communicating with non‐English‐speaking employees unless they communicated in English. Haitian‐Creole‐speaking employees spoke to other employees about only work‐related issues.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies looking into communication strategies and challenges for Spanish and Haitian‐Creole‐speaking employees in hotel companies.
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