While considering Makoni and Pennycook's (2006) critique of the colonial nature of the notion of singular languages in this dissertation, a documentation and investigation of English and Spanish use on billboards in Carolina, Guaynabo, and San Juan, three cities in Puerto Rico, is presented. The billboards in these towns make use of Spanish, the…

Background: Caregivers of stroke survivors need trusted information on stroke prevention, rehabilitation, and self-care. Purpose: Develop and evaluate the English and Spanish-language RESCUE stroke caregiver websites and conduct a promotional campaign to enhance their reach. Methods: We developed websites by partnering with organizations and using…

This qualitative study examines the semiotic meanings communicated through multiple representations in the teaching of an advanced undergraduate course in biology. Scientific discourse is intrinsically multimodal in nature; in other words, science is discussed and researched using multiple modes that convey meaning (Lemke, 1998). Therefore, to…

As texts enact historically situated ways of making knowledge, intertextual analysis through citation patterns can shed some light on a community's epistemologies. The present research seeks a deeper understanding of the theoretical trends, the influences, and the emerging disciplinary configuration of the writing studies community in Latin…

Purpose: This study was intended to adapt into Spanish and validate the short form of the Marwit-Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory (MMCGI), an instrument for the assessment of levels of grief in caregivers of patients with dementia. Method: The adaptation was based on the cross-cultural equivalence model that included forward and backward…

This study compares monolinguals and different kinds of bilinguals with respect to their knowledge of the type of lexical phenomenon known as collocation. Collocations are word combinations that speakers use recurrently, forming the basis of conventionalized lexical patterns that are shared by a linguistic community. Examples of collocations…

This study examines synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) discourse in a bilingual chat setting consisting of Spanish-speaking learners of English and English-speaking learners of Spanish. Participants were members of a telecollaboration involving 80 students at North Carolina State University and the University of Puerto Rico. Data…

Use of the Cognitive Skills Inventory (CSI) in cross-cultural studies was investigated by comparing responses of 348 English-speaking, 142 bilingual Puerto Rican, and 109 monolingual Spanish college students. Analyses illustrate a stable and reliable factor structure across cultures for the CSI and its Spanish translation. (SLD)

TESTING MATERIALS IN BOTH SPANISH AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDITIONS WERE REVISED AND NEW MATERIALS CREATED IN THIS PROJECT. THE NEW SERIES OF TESTS INCLUDED ADMINISTRATION, AND ITEM ANALYSIS OF THE COOPERATIVE INTER-AMERICAN TESTS. DATA FOR THE ENGLISH EDITIONS WERE GATHERED FROM SUBJECTS DRAWN FROM AMERICAN SCHOOLS, AND DATA FOR THE SPANISH EDITIONS…

A controversial April 1991 proclamation made Spanish the sole official language of Puerto Rico, replacing a 1902 law declaring English and Spanish as the languages of government. This paper discusses the emotional debate and suggests that the law resulted from a powerful group opposed to U.S. statehood. (27 references) (Author/LB)

THIS STUDY ATTEMPTED TO DEVELOP A GROUP TEST OF GENERAL ABILITY WHICH WILL ACCURATELY ASSESS THE INTELLECTUAL CAPACITIES OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY STUDENTS IN THE PUERTO RICAN SCHOOLS. THE OBJECTIVES WERE--(1) TO DETERMINE WHAT COMMON INTELLECTUAL TASKS INDICATE MENTAL ABILITY IN SPANISH-SPEAKING PUERTO RICAN AND OTHER ENGLISH-SPEAKING AMERICAN…

Discusses the use of the "portraiture" methodology to study a joint curriculum project between a U.S. and a Puerto Rican bilingual (Spanish-English) elementary school, which focuses on the use of De Orilla a Orilla, an international computer networking project, to arrange collaborative teaching, communicate by electronic mail and…

Addresses the social psychological paradox of learning a language, which in one interethnic situation represents the "ingroup" language, while in another interethnic context, it represents the "outgroup" language, a situation characterizing the language-learning experience of most Puerto Rican return migrants (PRRMs). (25…

The impact of Puerto Rico's and Quebec's laws on official bilingualism of translation and interpreting services is examined. In the case of Puerto Rico, public policy concerning the use of Spanish and English since 1899 is reviewed, focusing on early laws and those passed since 1991. The status of the translation profession is discussed, and it is…