Browsing by Author "Peña, Sylvia C."

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A comparative study of fifteen elementary students from monolingual Spanish-speaking homes : grade level achievers and low achievers
(1986) Hansen, Alexandra F.; Walker-Felix, Judith; Peña, Sylvia C.; Warner, Allen R.; Baptiste, H. Prentice, Jr.
The Hispanic population in the Southwest is increasing very rapidly. The school districts must determine how best to meet the educational needs of low achieving limited English proficient (LEP) students. Educators are attempting to find ways to identify LEP minority children who belong in classes for the learning disabled. Although Public Law 94- 142 defined broad guidelines for identifying LD students in an average English-speaking population (they must have a significant intelligence-achievement discrepancy), differentiating LD students in a LEP population presents a different problem. Although they may be of normal intelligence, Hispanic bilingual children’s lack of English proficiency may retard their achievement in English academic subjects, making them seem like LD children. The use of a Performance (nonverbal) score as a measure of their intelligence, as is frequent practise, increases their chances of being labeled LD, because it is often much higher than their achievement scores. This case study of 15 children took a holistic approach to the identification of LD Hispanic children. By comparing in many areas low achieving children referred and placed in special education with similar children achieving on grade level, the researcher hoped to isolate characteristics which set the low achievers apart. She questioned parents and teachers, collected data from cumulative record and special education folders, and observed and tested children with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery of achievement tests. [...]
A cross cultural examination of the Peabody picture vocabulary test revised
(1985) McLemore, Teresa Kay; Omizo, Michael M.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Cubberly, Walter E.
For years school systems have used intelligence tests to determine a student's needs for special programs which may label them for years to come. The criticism is that many students may become victims of unfair assessment measures and may be denied certain educational. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT, 1965) was standardized using a specific population which has little generalization yet has undoubtedly effected many persons. The method used to standardize the revised PPVT (PPVT-R) included more students with a wider age and racial range. This standardization method was an improvement over the method used to standardize the PPVT, however, the test results from the PPVT-R yielded lower mean averages than the original PPVT (Bracken & Prasse, 1981) which indicates less generalizability than the PPVT. This study investigated the validity of the PPVT-R cross culturally in an attempt to decrease the chances of unfairly evaluating a student's ability by the continued use of the PPVT or of the PPVT-R. Results in each correlation comparing students with similar characteristics confirmed the theory that the PPVT-R is biased in favor of whites and furthermore that students face the possibility of being unfairly labeled if evaluated with this instrument.
A study of semantically encoded attitudes of Spanish-speaking bilingual students receiving Spanish-medium instruction
(1987) Torres-Karna, Higinia; Walker de Felix, Judith; Acton, William R.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Gaa, John P.; Sanchez, Sylvia
Introduction. This study conducted among fourth and fifth grade Spanish-dominant students in a bilingual program explored the language attitudes of a selected sample of 75 students. The primary objective of the study was to determine whether language attitudes toward Spanish, and toward Spanish as a medium of instruction were semantically-encoded in long-term memory based on an information processing model by Hamilton (1983). Moreover, a second objective was to determine the relations between the aforementioned attitudes and selected demographic and linguistic variables; such as: Age on Arrival, Length in a Bilingual Program, Years of Native Instruction, Gender, and a self-rating of Spanish and English proficiency. The above objectives were explored in Phase 1 of the study utilizing the Index of Semantically-encoded Attitudes-Spanish (ISEA-S) designed for this purpose. During Phase 2 of the study a subsample of 23 bilingual students was drawn from the original sample to answer the question: What is the relation between the attitudes of students as expressed above and the level of comprehension and elaboration of language generated after reading a narrative in Spanish. The narrative was designed to evoke certain attitudes toward Spanish-medium instruction and bilingual education. Methodology for both parts of the study was derived from a cognitive, information processing interpretation of attitudes and discourse comprehension. [...]
A study of the relationship of self-concept and achievement of Mexican American children in elementary school
(1985) Ramires, Henry; Walker de Felix, Judith; Cunningham, Claude H.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Baptiste, H. Prentice, Jr.
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of self-concept on the achievement of Mexican American children in elementary school. The sample was selective in that it was composed of Mexican American kindergarten children; no other ethnic nor age group was involved in this study. Data was collected from five school districts in an urban area in Texas. All the children in these five school districts have similar characteristics in terms of their ethnic and socioeconomic background. The sample was administered the Primary Self Concept Inventory and the Inter American Test of General Ability. Findings in this study led to the conclusion that selfconcept affects achievement of Mexican American children in kindergarten. Furthermore, that effect was increased when sex was introduced into the analysis as an independent variable. These two variables, total self-concept and sex, accounted for a statistically significant proportion of the variance. The total self-concept score was delineated into three domains; the personal self, the social self, and the intelligent self and were regressed on achievement. The findings indicate that only the intelligent self was related significantly to achievement. The results of this study imply that the childâ€™s intelligent self should be developed by providing a classroom climate which is challenging and not threatening. Children learn that they are able, not from failure, but from success. Recent studies on mediated learning suggest that the relationship between self-concept and achievement is more complex than previously conceptualized. This study appears to confirm this perspective since the intelligent self rather than the personal or social self, was related to achievement in this sample. Further research could investigate the specific relationship between mediated learning, self-concept, and achievement.
Administrative considerations, actions and procedures for developing and implementing an alternative program for disruptive and disciplinary problem youth in a metropolitan school system
(1980) Robledo, Yolanda Garza; Herrscher, Barton R.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Stevens, Jody L.; Martin, Bill E.
This study sought to identify, document and update alternative disciplinary strategies for dealing with disruptive and disciplinary youth. In order to effectively employ the identified alternative program or programs, a district-wide procedure for assisting schools in the implementation of such programs was proposed. This study also established a set of criteria for administrative considerations, actions and procedures for the development and implementation of alternative programs for disruptive and disciplinary youth in a metropolitan school setting. Specifically, this study addressed itself to the following questions: 1) What legal factors as related to due process procedures should be considered in the planning and implementation of an alternative program for disruptive and disciplinary youth? 2) What existing court orders (within alternative program guidelines) should be taken into account in the planning and implementation of an alternative program for disruptive and disciplinary youth? What administrative and logistical factors must be considered in the planning and implementation of alternative programs? 4) What financial factors, including both local and federal funds, must be considered in the planning and implementation of alternative program for disruptive and disciplinary youth? 5) What criteria as well as court required personnel ratios, should be considered in staff selection, orientation and training for the development and implementation of alternative programs? 6) What administrative considerations should be considered for the interfacing of an alternative program within the existing curriculum? 7) What logistical questions related to facility selection, community involvement, public relation, and student transportation should be considered in the development and implementation of alternative programs? 8) What evaluation and assessment (accountability) process should be considered in the development and implementation of alternative programs? [...]
Cuban-Americans' perceptions of college-going and the intention to persist at the university
(1988) Calderon, Jaime A.; Attinasi, Louis C., Jr.; Miller, Albert H.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Kotarba, Joseph A.
Hispanic students, as well as other minority students, have traditionally done poorly in public schools in the United States. The prevailing characteristics for these students have been high drop out percentages, low academic levels, low self-concepts, and overall low achievement (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1981). For many years, these students have been labeled, "culturally deprived" (Grebler, Moore, Guzman, 1970). Another label that has become rather popular in identifying these students is "slow learners" (Garcia, 1977). The issue of poor retention and achievement rates for minority students has become a significant issue at the higher educational level as well. Hispanic dropouts at the university level have frequently been characterized in educational research as students who: 1) are members of a low socioeconomic group; 2) are low academic achievers; and 3) generally have a low self-concept (Foshee, 1974; Kilpatrick, 1973). Nevertheless, there are Hispanic college students who while members of depressed socioeconomic groups do indeed graduate. Even though these students experience academic as well as language difficulties at the university level, they persist in their effort to graduate. The purpose of this research was to examine the pre-and post-matriculation interactions of Cuban-American college students, from their point of view, in an attempt to better understand how the process of "staying in college" occurs. A framework developed by Attinasi (1986) for Mexican-American students was used as an initial conceptual guide. [...]
Development of an instrument to assess conducting gesture and validation of its use in orchestral performance
(1987) Karpicke, Herbert August, Jr.; Swank, Paul R.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Miller, Samuel D.; Tomatz, David J.; Clift, Renee T.
The purpose of this study was to (a) develop an instrument to assess the gesture capability of orchestra conductors in direct relation to ensemble response, and (b) explore the relationship between gesture effectiveness and performance quality. A systematic procedure was used. First, a panel of expert conductors reviewed a list of conductor gesture functions, characteristics, and contexts which had been synthesized by the researcher from the literature on conducting. The experts determined the feasibility of using the list as a basis for an observation instrument. Modifications suggested by the experts resulted in a list of ten conductor gesture functions, characteristics and contexts. This list became the basis for the Gesture Response Instrument (GRI). Next, 20 high school orchestra directors were videotaped under controlled performance conditions. Ten of the conductors were designated as "stronger" gesturers and ten designated "weaker" by three music administrators. All 20 conducted the same piece with the same orchestra. A unique scoring method was developed for the GRI which takes both conducting gesture and immediate orchestra response to gesture into account. Four trained observers scored each of the 20 videotaped performances using the GRI. [...]
Language competence and reading comprehension of Mexican-American elementary school students
(1986) Lara, Margarita; Peña, Sylvia C.; Kiefer, Barbara; Swank, Paul R.; Acton, William R.; Mace-Matluck, Betty
This study investigated the language competence of 70 second grade bilingual students based on the their syntactic, pragmatic, and discourse competence in two settings (classroom and playground). These three levels of language competence in two environments were regressed on reading achievement. Cummins, (1979, 1981) theoretical framework was used to investigate the constructs of language used for interpersonal communication (BICS) and language that is identified as cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). For purposes of the present study, the classroom language samples are referred to as the children's level of cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) i.e. the children's use of higher order skills, and the playground samples are referred to as the children's level of interpersonal communicative skills (BICS). CALP is characteristic of the language used in the classroom and related to reading achievement, whereas BICS is not related to reading achievement and is more characteristic of everyday communication. Thus, BICS and CALP are two constructs that are used synonymously by Cummins (1979, 1981) and these are referred to as the students' language proficiency or communicative competence. [...]
Nonformal education through radio and the social reproduction/transformation of a rural community in Veracruz, Mexico
(1984) Arias-Godínez, Beatriz; Peña, Sylvia C.; Ginsburg, Mark B.; Kotarba, Joseph A.; Walker de Felix, Judith
In Mexico, as in the rest of Latin America, formal education has gained social and political prestige, but it has not been an effective instrument for social change. Nonformal education (NEE) has emerged as an important alternative in most Third World countries. This study sought to investigate: (a) how NEE programs are socially constructed, and (b) the extent to which NEE programs among illiterate adults in rural areas function to reproduce or transform existing inequalities in wealth and power. Methods and Theory. An ethnographic research was conducted in Teocelo, Veracruz, Mexico, a town where a NEE radio station (RCC) has been in operation since 1980. The data collection focused upon the NEE project as well as other relevant activities and institutions in the community. The language of dilemmas (Berlak and Berlak, 1981, 1983) was used to clarify the relationship of the data to social, economic, political, and educational issues and the possibilities for transformation or reproduction in Teocelo and the nearby communities. The language of dilemmas was supplemented by Aberle’s (1967) conceptualization of change, either partial or total, at the individual or community level. [...]
Pharmacology training in nurse practitioner programs : a comparative study
(1986) Chang, Jane C.; Waigand, C. Alex; Evans, Dale W.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Sheffield, Emily; Stevens, Kathleen R.
This study was designed to analyze the pharmacology training of nurse practitioner program and to compare the data to an existing study of pharmacology training at schools of medicine and dentistry. Survey research was conducted to obtain the number of didactic hours devoted to pharmacology training in nurse practitioner programs and to compare it with like training in medical and dental schools. In a selected group of fourteen states in the United States 73 schools were studied, of which 40 are nurse practitioner programs, 19 are schools of medicine, and 14 are schools of dentistry (the latter two from an existing study). The investigation is descriptive in nature and views hours spent in each of 13 major pharmacology study categories and total hours spent teaching pharmacology as separate dependent variables. Chi-square goodness of fit, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Scheffe methodology were used to analyze the data (p < 0.01). [...]
The effects of attitudes toward sex role concepts, language, and gender on levels of masculinity and femininity
(1985) Sánchez, Sylvia Y.; Walker de Felix, Judith; Gaa, John P.; Peña, Sylvia C.; Melville, Margarita B.
The present study focused on the bilingual-bicultural experience of Mexican-American adolescents. The review of the literature demonstrated that the social world of the bilingual-bicultural person encompasses two distinct cultures. On the one hand, according to the stereotypical view of the Mexican family described by social scientists, the bilingual-bicultural person encounters rigid sex role differentiation patterns within the Mexican culture. On the other hand, according to the views of researchers that purported a more egalitarian family structure in the Anglo community, the bilingual-bicultural person encounters more flexible male-female roles in the Anglo culture. Hence, the bilingual-bicultural needs to process and internalize appropriate sex role attitudes for each cultural context to function effectively within both cultures. Language plays a key role in the development of culturally sensitive concepts and attitudes. The review of the literature demonstrated that language is part of an individual's socialization process and affects the meaning attributed to culturally bound concepts. Osggod, (1952) proposes that concepts expressed in a particular language could be distinct from the same concept expressed in another language. According to the literature, the affective meaning of the culturally sensitive concepts of femaleness and maleness as well as language and gender appear to have an influence on sex role identity. On the basis of the conceptual framework multiple regression and causal modeling were used to examine the research concerns. Multiple regression was used to describe the extent and strength of the relation between the independent variables, Language, Gender, and the Evaluative Potency, and Activity dimensions in the concepts of maleness and femaleness, and the dependent variables, levels of masculinity and femininity. To test the causal theory, supported by the theoretical formulation, path analysis was used. Methodology The sample consisted of eighty-one bilingual-bicultural Mexican American middle and highs school students. For the study the subjects were randomly assigned to either a Spanish or English language group. Two instruments were used in the study: (a) an English and Spanish version of a semantic differntial questionnaire and (b) an English and Spanish version of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. The investigator conducted the data collection session either totally in English or totally in Spanish depending on the language of the instruments to be used that day. Results and Conclusions Language and Gender had direct effects of the level of Masculinity and Femininity. The effect of the evaluative, potency, and activity dimensions had varying degrees of effect depending on the group. There appeared to be a difference in the judgement of maleness and femaleness dependent on the language of the instrument. The impact of Language was consistent with the theory that proposes that concept meaning is affected by language and culture.
The long-term academic effects of bilingual education programs on a national sample of Mexican-American sophomores : a component analysis
(1987) Olson, Shelley L.; Walker-Felix, Judith; Ganju, Vijay K.; Mindiola, Tatcho, Jr.; Peña, Sylvia C.
In this study, a paradigm is developed and used to investigate the long-term academic effects of elementary-level, bilingual education programs on a national cohort of Mexican-American sophomores, sampled in 1980. Elementary-level bilingual programs used in this analysis were in place during the late 1960's and early to middle 1970's in the United States. The High School and Beyond data base, developed by the National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C., was used for this analysis. Bilingual programs were categorized according to the presence or absence of four different components: a) English as a second language, b) reading and writing in Spanish, c) other subjects taught in Spanish and d) cultural/ancestral history. Sixteen possible programs, made of different combinations of these components, were identified. Hierarchical component analysis was developed to provide a manageable way of analyzing the various program combinations in an organized and understandable fashion. The observed trends in academic achievement associated with each of the components were further analyzed through t tests. To distinguish between the effects of social background variables and academic variables, extensive t tests were performed. Analysis of variance further clarified interactive effects of bilingual education components. The purpose of this study was to determine whether each of the four bilingual education components mentioned above would have a different long-term effect on academic achievement Further, this study sought to identify achievement patterns associated with each component. [...]
The relation of social attitudes and language study motivation with English ability among immigrant high school Spanish speaking students
(1984) Perez, Mary Helen; Walker de Felix, Judith; Peña, Sylvia C.; Gaa, John P.; Quintanilla, Gudaloupe C.
The purpose of this study was to delineate the configuration of attitudinal and motivational variables that complements successful second language learning for Hispanic adolescent immigrants relocating in the southwestern United States. Specifically, the study attempted to determine if the second language learning dynamics for non-dominant group Hispanic immigrant learners differ from that of dominant group language learners. The study tested the applicability of the prevailing social psychological language learning paradigm for a population in a distinct cultural setting. Procedures. A sample of 62 adolescent immigrants attending a public high school in a large industrial area of Texas responded to a battery of measures tapping their social attitudes, language study motives, and their English performance. The data collected was analyzed using two statistical procedures. A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was computed among each independent variable (measured attitudes and motives) and each dependent variable (measured by language instruments). A Multiple Regression analysis was performed based on the independent variables and a total dependent variable, a composite language score. Conclusions. This study produced one major finding and four minor findings. The major finding showed that instrumentally motivated students demonstrated higher total English competence. Other minor yet significant findings were discovered in relationships between students' views and individual measures of English competence. [...]