A Critical Stance in Language Education: A Reply to Alan Waters

In his recent Forum article on ideology in applied linguistics, Alan Waters (2009) takes up arms against what he perceives as a damaging critical tendency. Ideas about language teaching, he claims, are promoted (e.g. learner centredness) or proscribed (e.g. artificial texts) ‘on the basis of ideological belief rather than pedagogical value’. By making this distinction, Waters fails to recognize that the relationship between ideology and pedagogy is inextricable: ideologies are constructed, reproduced, and made manifest in social practices, such as language teaching. Furthermore, in certain language learning and teaching situations, an uncritical stance—one which views language teaching as a neutral and value-free activity—is incompatible with students’ language learning and broader life concerns. In this response article, I maintain that in such contexts, the field of applied linguistics has an obligation to mediate in a way that is both critical and pedagogically relevant.

from Applied Linguistics

Constructing another Language—Usage-Based Linguistics in Second Language Acquisition

The general aim of this article is to discuss the application of Usage-Based Linguistics (UBL) to an investigation of developmental issues in second language acquisition (SLA). Particularly, the aim is to discuss the relevance for SLA of the UBL suggestion that language learning is item-based, going from formulas via low-scope patterns to fully abstract constructions. This paper examines how well this suggested path of acquisition serves ‘as a default in guiding the investigation of the ways in which exemplars and their type and token frequencies determine the second language acquisition of structure’ (N. Ellis 2002: 170). As such, it builds on and further discusses the findings in Bardovi-Harlig (2002) and Eskildsen and Cadierno (2007). The empirical point of departure is longitudinal oral second language classroom interaction and the focal point is the use of can by one student in the class in question. The data reveal the formulas, here operationalized as recurring multiword expressions, to be situated in recurring usage events, suggesting the need for a fine-tuning of the UBL theory for the purposes of SLA research towards a more locally contextualized theory of language acquisition and use. The data also suggest that semi-fixed linguistic patterns, here operationalized as utterance schemas, deserve a prominent place in L2 developmental research.

from Applied Linguistics

Bilateral Cochlear Implantation in Children With Anomalous Cochleovestibular Anatomy

Conclusions Bilateral cochlear implantation was performed safely and successfully in children with a spectrum of bilaterally anomalous cochleovestibular anatomy. Hearing outcomes suggest that these children should not be excluded from undergoing bilateral implantation. This study provides guidance on candidacy issues, surgical decision making, and surgical techniques in this group.

from Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery

The Three Circles Redux: A Market–Theoretic Perspective on World Englishes

While Kachru’s Three Circles model of World Englishes (Kachru 1985, 1986; Kachru and Nelson 1996) has been highly influential in highlighting the changing distribution and functions of English, it has also been criticized for its inability to account for the heterogeneity and dynamics of English-using communities, and for perpetuating the very inequalities and dichotomies that it aims to combat. By combining Bourdieu’s (1984, 1986, 1990) notion of linguistic markets with the insights of the model’s critics, this article deconstructs the Three Circles model by reinterpreting it as a model for the system of ideological forces that delimit local creativity and utility of English in the world. Such a reinterpretation can be a useful way of explicating the performativity of English in different sociolinguistic communities around the world, foregrounding dominant assumptions about the prevailing structure of the global linguistic market.

from Applied Linguistics

“Pre-semantic” cognition revisited: Critical differences between semantic aphasia and semantic dementia

Patients with semantic dementia show a specific pattern of impairment on both verbal and non-verbal “pre-semantic” tasks: e.g., reading aloud, past tense generation, spelling to dictation, lexical decision, object decision, colour decision and delayed picture copying. All seven tasks are characterised by poorer performance for items that are atypical of the domain and “regularisation errors” (irregular/atypical items are produced as if they were domain-typical). The emergence of this pattern across diverse tasks in the same patients indicates that semantic memory plays a key role in all of these types of “pre-semantic” processing. However, this claim remains controversial because semantically-impaired patients sometimes fail to show an influence of regularity. This study demonstrates that (a) the location of brain damage and (b) the underlying nature of the semantic deficit affect the likelihood of observing the expected relationship between poor comprehension and regularity effects. We compared the effect of multimodal semantic impairment in the context of semantic dementia and stroke aphasia on the seven “pre-semantic” tasks listed above. In all of these tasks, the semantic aphasia patients were less sensitive to typicality than the semantic dementia patients, even though the two groups obtained comparable scores on semantic tests. The semantic aphasia group also made fewer regularisation errors and many more unrelated and perseverative responses. We propose that these group differences reflect the different locus for the semantic impairment in the two conditions: patients with semantic dementia have degraded semantic representations, whereas semantic aphasia patients show deregulated semantic cognition with concomitant executive deficits. These findings suggest a reinterpretation of single case studies of comprehension-impaired aphasic patients who fail to show the expected effect of regularity on “pre-semantic” tasks. Consequently, such cases do not demonstrate the independence of these tasks from semantic memory.

from Neuropsychologia

Personal experience and arithmetic meaning in semantic dementia

Arithmetic skills are generally claimed to be preserved in semantic dementia (SD), suggesting functional independence of arithmetic knowledge from other aspects of semantic memory. However, in a recent case series analysis we showed that arithmetic performance in SD is not entirely normal. The finding of a direct association between severity of patients’ semantic disorder and arithmetic impairment pointed to a closer relationship between semantic memory and arithmetic knowledge than previously acknowledged. The present study aimed to determine whether arithmetic performance in SD is subject to the same influences as has been found in other semantic domains, namely an autobiographical effect. SD patients were assessed on their ability to perform arithmetic in personally relevant compared to non-personal contexts. Patients who were regular, current followers of the television game show Countdown performed better on a simplified version of the show’s number game compared to a conventional written calculation task, whereas patients with no experience of Countdown demonstrated the opposite pattern. SD patients showed better knowledge of multiplication table ‘facts’ when these were embedded in a situation relevant to their daily lives compared to a non-personal arithmetic task. They also performed better on a written calculation task when problems were presented as a monetary transaction compared to a standard arithmetic problem. A reference group of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) showed the reverse pattern. The findings provide convincing evidence that autobiographical relevance influences SD patients’ arithmetic performance. Moreover, they challenge current views on conceptual number knowledge as a unitary, abstract competence.

from Neuropsychologia

Progranulin-associated primary progressive aphasia: a distinct phenotype?

The neuropsychological features of the primary progressive aphasia (PPA) syndromes continue to be defined. Here we describe a detailed neuropsychological case study of a patient with a mutation in the progranulin (GRN) gene who presented with progressive word-finding difficulty. Key neuropsychological features in this case included gravely impoverished propositional speech with anomia and prolonged word-finding pauses, impaired speech repetition most marked for sentences, and severely impaired verbal (with preserved spatial) short-term memory. There was a dissociated profile of performance on semantic processing tasks: visual semantic processing was intact, while within the verbal domain, verb comprehension was impaired and processing of nouns was intact on tasks requiring direct semantic processing but impaired on tasks requiring associative or inferential processing. Brain MRI showed asymmetric left cerebral atrophy particularly affecting the temporo-parietal junction, supero-lateral temporal and inferior frontal lobes. This case most closely resembles the PPA syndrome known as the logopenic/phonological aphasia variant (LPA) however there were also deficits of grammar and speech repetition suggesting an overlap with the progressive nonfluent aphasia (agrammatic) variant (PNFA). Certain prominent features of this case (in particular, the profile of semantic impairment) have not been emphasised in previous descriptions of LPA or PNFA, suggesting that GRN may cause an overlapping PPA syndrome but with a distinctive cognitive profile. This neuropsychological evidence suggests that GRN-PPA may result from damage involving the temporo-parietal junction and its functional connections in both the dorsal and ventral language networks, with implications for our understanding of language network pathophysiology.

from Neuropsychologia

A Totally Implantable Hearing System – Design and Function Characterization in 3D Computational Model and Temporal Bones

Implantable middle ear hearing devices are emerging as an effective technology for patients with mild to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss. Several devices with electromagnetic or piezoelectric transducers have been investigated or developed in the US and Europe since 1990. This paper reports a totally implantable hearing system (TIHS) currently under investigation in Oklahoma. The TIHS consists of implant transducer (magnet), implantable coil and microphone, DSP-audio signal processor, rechargeable battery, and remote control unit. The design of TIHS is based on a 3D finite element model of the human ear and the analysis of electromagnetic coupling of the transducer. Function of the TIHS is characterized over the auditory frequency range in three aspects: (1) mass loading effect on residual hearing with a passive implant, (2) efficiency of electromagnetic coupling between the implanted coil and magnet, and (3) functional gain of whole unit in response to acoustic input across the human skin. This paper focuses on mass loading effect and the efficiency of electromagnetic coupling of TIHS determined from the FE model of the human ear and the cadaver ears or temporal bones. Some preliminary data of whole unit function are also presented in the paper.

from Hearing Research

Wideband acoustic reflex test in a test battery to predict middle-ear dysfunction

A wideband (WB) aural acoustical test battery of middle-ear status, including acoustic-reflex thresholds (ARTs) and acoustic-transfer functions (ATFs, i.e., absorbance and admittance) was hypothesized to be more accurate than 1-kHz tympanometry in classifying ears that pass or refer on a newborn hearing screening (NHS) protocol based on otoacoustic emissions. Assessment of middle-ear status may improve NHS programs by identifying conductive dysfunction and cases in which auditory neuropathy exists. Ipsilateral ARTs were assessed with a stimulus including four broadband-noise or tonal activator pulses alternating with five clicks presented before, between and after the pulses. The reflex shift was defined as the difference between final and initial click responses. ARTs were measured using maximum likelihood both at low frequencies (0.8-2.8 kHz) and high (2.8-8 kHz). The median low-frequency ART was elevated by 24 dB in NHS refers compared to passes. An optimal combination of ATF and ART tests performed better than either test alone in predicting NHS outcomes, and WB tests performed better than 1-kHz tympanometry. Medial olivocochlear efferent shifts in cochlear function may influence ARs, but their presence would also be consistent with normal conductive function. Baseline clinical and WB ARTs were also compared in ipsilateral and contralateral measurements in adults.

from Hearing Research

Conscious sedation in pediatric speech endoscopy

Conclusions
Sedated speech endoscopy is a promising modality for evaluating velopharyngeal insufficiency in the pediatric population that may not otherwise be able to cooperate with examination in the clinic.

from Journal of Fluency Disorders

Screening for Personality Disorders Among Adults Seeking Speech Treatment for Stuttering

Stuttering is frequently associated with negative consequences which typically begin in early childhood. Despite this, no previous studies have investigated the presence of personality disorders among adults who stutter. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to screen for personality disorders among adults who stutter, and to compare these screening estimates with matched controls from a national population sample. Using a matched case-control design, participants were 94 adults seeking treatment for stuttering, 92 of whom completed the International Personality Disorders Examination Questionnaire (IPDEQ) as a first-stage screener, and 920 age- and gender-matched controls from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being (ANSMHWB). A conditional logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios for the primary outcome: first-stage presence of any personality disorder; as well as specific personality disorders. Based on first-stage screening, the presence of any personality disorder was significantly higher for adults in the stuttering group than matched controls, demonstrating almost three-fold increased odds. This difference between groups remained significant for all specific personality disorders, with four- to seven-fold increased odds found for Dissocial, Anxious, Borderline, Dependent and Paranoid personality disorders, and two- to three-fold increased odds found for Histrionic, Impulsive, Schizoid and Anankastic personality disorders. In conclusion, stuttering appears to be associated with a heightened risk for the development of personality disorders. These results highlight the need for research regarding the assessment and treatment of personality disorders among adults who stutter.

from Journal of Fluency Disorders

Evaluation of Social Work Communication Skills to Allow People with Aphasia to be Part of the Decision Making Process in Healthcare.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how social workers are trained to interact with individuals with communication barriers in healthcare. Consent to treatment and the right to decide upon a discharge destination are enshrined in law. However, barriers such as aphasia (a communication disorder commonly resulting from a stroke) can mask competency and exclude people from the decision making process. Social workers play a vital role in the healthcare system, providing advocacy, case management, counselling, addressing capacity and assessing the patient as a whole person. But they need to be taught specialized communication skills to carry out this complex role with individuals with aphasia. A literature search and survey of universities revealed that the majority of training in supported communication is taking place in the field and driven by aphasia centres. But does the training meet the needs of social workers and their patients with aphasia, especially when someone needs a healing conversation? Results from two pilot projects show that teaching a set of skills is not sufficient; adaptation of present communication techniques is also needed to ensure that the human worth and dignity of those with communication barriers is maintained and human rights in healthcare are being met.

from Social Work Education

Working with Children with Learning Disabilities and/or who Communicate Non-verbally: Research Experiences and their Implications for Social Work Education, Increased Participation and Social Inclusion.

Social exclusion, although much debated in the UK, frequently focuses on children as a key ‘at risk’ group. However, some groups, such as disabled children, receive less consideration. Similarly, despite both UK and international policy and guidance encouraging the involvement of disabled children and their right to participate in decision-making arenas, they are frequently denied this right. UK based evidence suggests that disabled children’s participation lags behind that of their non-disabled peers, often due to social work practitioners’ lack of skills, expertise and knowledge on how to facilitate participation. The exclusion of disabled children from decision-making in social care processes echoes their exclusion from participation in society. This paper seeks to begin to address this situation, and to provide some examples of tools that social work educators can introduce into pre- and post-qualifying training programmes, as well as in-service training. The paper draws on the experiences of researchers using non-traditional qualitative research methods, especially non-verbal methods, and describes two research projects; focusing on the methods employed to communicate with and involve disabled children, the barriers encountered and lessons learnt. Some of the ways in which these methods of communication can inform social work education are explored alongside wider issues of how and if increased communication can facilitate greater social inclusion.

from Social Work Education

Babies with Position-Related Head Flattening May Have Higher Rate of Ear Infections

The recommendation to lay babies on their backs to sleep has reduced sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), but has led to an increased number of infants with a skull deformity called deformational (or positional) plagiocephaly. Now new research suggests that infants with more severe plagiocephaly may have a higher rate of middle ear abnormalities associated with ear infections (otitis media).

from Newswise.com

Use it or lose it? Study suggests the brain can remember a ‘forgotten’ language

Many of us learn a foreign language when we are young, but in some cases, exposure to that language is brief and we never get to hear or practice it subsequently. Our subjective impression is often that the neglected language completely fades away from our memory. But does “use it or lose it” apply to foreign languages? Although it may seem we have absolutely no memory of the neglected language, new research suggests this “forgotten” language may be more deeply engraved in our minds than we realize.

from EurekAlert.org