(2012). The Social Construction of Age: Adult Foreign Language Learners. Second Language Acquisition, Multilingual Matters. This book explores the social construction of age in the context of EFL in Mexico. It is the first book to address the age factor in SLA from a social perspective. Based on research carried out at a public university in Mexico, it investigates how adults of different ages experience learning a new language and how they enact their age identities as language learners. By approaching the topic from a social constructionist perspective and in light of recent work in sociolinguistics and cultural studies, it broadens the current second language acquisition focus on age as a fixed biological or chronological variable to encompass its social dimensions. What emerges is a more complex and nuanced understanding of age as it intersects with language learning in a way that links it fundamentally to other social phenomena, such as gender, ethnicity and social class. This book is divided into two parts: Part 1: Framing Age as Socially Constructed; and Part 2: The Social Construction of Age in Mexico. [More] Descriptors: Social Class, Age, Sociolinguistics, Second Languages
(2012). "Los Papeles No Trabajan": The Papers Don't Do the Work, Multicultural Education. Schools across the United States serve children from families that have crossed the U.S. border without documents. Some of these children have crossed the border themselves. For teachers and other educators, the Supreme Court decision of "Plyler v. Doe" (1982) has set the precedent that all children in the United States are entitled to a public education, regardless of their immigration status. Nevertheless, undocumented immigration remains a highly polarizing issue, and the struggles of immigrant children and their families often takes a back seat to political posturing. The authors of this article believe that it is an act of both courage and solidarity for teachers to provide support for undocumented children and their families. They also assert that it is a moral duty supported by international human rights agreements signed by the United States. The following research study raises questions about how the United States serves and supports the children and families who arrive in our schools and communities with or without "papeles" ("papers")–documentation of their legal entry into the country; about how much Americans will tolerate the abuse, neglect, and death of men, women, and children who attempt to cross our border with Mexico; and about men, women, and children who attempt to cross our border with Mexico. This study describes the involvement with a humanitarian organization on the Arizona border with Mexico, and what was learned from conversations with ranchers, border patrol agents, Mexican officials, and the migrants themselves. [More] Descriptors: Immigrants, Undocumented Immigrants, Access to Education, Civil Rights
(2014). English Language Teaching in Public Primary Schools in Mexico: The Practices and Challenges of Implementing a National Language Education Program, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE). Over the past 15?years, many state governments in Mexico have initiated local programs to introduce English at the primary school level. In 2009, the Mexican Ministry of Education formalized the "Programa Nacional de Inglés en Educación Bðsica" (PNIEB) as part of the national curriculum, based on the argument that increasing the number of English speakers in Mexico is necessary for the country to be globally competitive and to follow the trend in other developing economies of augmenting English instruction in public education. This paper focuses on the implementation of PNIEB and the state programs that preceded it. The authors document the practices and challenges associated with the program based on data collected from interviews with the main stakeholders involved (students and parents, teachers, school principals, and program coordinators) and from classroom observations. The total data-set consisted of over 200 interviews and classroom observations spread over several years from 2008 to 2012. Several challenges are described, including the development of materials, the role of English in relation to other subject areas, and the training of teachers who often speak English but have uneven formal preparation. The status of the teachers, both as second-class citizens within the schools and the instability and irregularities with their contracts, was identified as the most significant challenge to the successful implementation of the programs. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, English (Second Language), Second Language Instruction, National Curriculum
(2009). Mexico: Democracy and the Future, Social Education. During most of the twentieth century, Mexico was governed by one of the longest-ruling authoritarian parties in the contemporary world. Even as most Latin American countries democratized in the 1980s, Mexico remained under the control of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). It was not until the 2000 presidential election that a two-party system emerged, culminating in the victory of conservative National Action Party (PAN) candidate Vicente Fox, followed in 2006 by the election of Felipe Calderon, also of the PAN. Today, Mexico is a democracy. Yet many of the legacies of its authoritarian government remain, making Mexican democracy both less complete and less stable than established democracies. In this article, the author examines the transformation of Mexican politics, the characteristics of the political system, and some challenges that democracy faces. The article includes a list of discussion questions. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Politics, Political Campaigns, Democracy
(2016). Acquiring Constraints on Morphosyntactic Variation: Children's Spanish Subject Pronoun Expression, Journal of Child Language. Constraints on linguistic variation are consistent across adult speakers, yielding probabilistic and systematic patterns. Yet, little is known about the development of such patterns during childhood. This study investigates Spanish subject pronoun expression in naturalistic data from 154 monolingual children in Mexico, divided into four age groups: 6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12+. Results from logistic regressions examining five predictors of pronoun expression in 6,481 verbs show that children's usage is structured and patterned. The study also suggests a developmental progression: as children get older, they become sensitive to more constraints. I conclude by suggesting that children learn patterns of variation by attuning to distributional tendencies in the input, and that the more frequent the patterns are, the easier they are to detect and learn. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Child Language, Children, Spanish
(2016). Scientific Skills in Mexican Graduate Students: Curriculum, Mentoring and Institutional Support, International Journal of Higher Education. In our research we examined the the relationship between the perception of scientific skills acquisition in Mexican graduate students with their awareness of scientific competences considered in the curriculum, mentoring practices and availability of institutional resources for conducting research. The study involved a conventional sample of 147 graduate students (M age = 28, DS = 6.52 years) in natural sciences and engineering from public higher education institutions from a northwest state of Mexico. The results of multiple linear regression show that the variables studied are significantly associated with the perceived acquisition of scientific skills during the program, the importance of scientific competence in the curriculum, mentoring practices and available resources for research. Implication for graduate programs are discussed in light of the results. [More] Descriptors: Mexicans, Graduate Students, Scientific Concepts, Science Process Skills
(2016). Anxiety towards Mathematics and Educational Level: A Study on Means Differences, European Journal of Contemporary Education. The aim of this research work is to analyze whether there is a difference in the degree of anxiety towards mathematics among students of different educational levels. The study is not experimental and cross sectional, and it is based on difference of means between groups. The sample is not probabilistic, and consisted of 226 students from Tuxtepec, Mexico of different educational levels: basic, middle, upper-middle and upper. For this purpose, the questionnaire designed by Muñoz and Mato-Vðzquez (2007) was utilized. It comprises five factors: anxiety toward evaluation, anxiety toward temporality, anxiety toward understanding of mathematical problems, anxiety about numbers and mathematical operations, anxiety toward mathematical situations of the real life. The results shows that anxiety toward mathematics is different by level of study, that significant differences exist between groups, and that anxiety toward assessment is higher among upper, upper-middle and middle levels, while for elementary students there is no perceptible anxiety toward mathematics. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Mathematics Anxiety, Instructional Program Divisions, Elementary Secondary Education
(2016). Social Justice Leadership and Family Engagement, Educational Administration Quarterly. Research Approach: This in-depth qualitative case study explores one school leader's enactment of social justice leadership in an elementary school in Ciudad Juðrez, Mexico. Analysis of interviews and observations revealed how this leader adapted her leadership to prioritize the severe needs of families and students in one of the world's most violent cities. Findings: The article describes how the leader made sense of the community and its needs. Then, it examines how the leader enacted social justice leadership by addressing the out-of-school challenges that affected student achievement and well-being. Consequently, the leader's focus shifted toward meaningful family engagement through adult education, community advocacy, and critical questioning of the status quo. Implications: Implications for future research, theory, and administrator preparation programs are presented at the conclusion of the article. [More] Descriptors: Social Justice, Family Involvement, Qualitative Research, Case Studies
(2016). Children's Faithfulness in Imitating Language Use Varies Cross-culturally, Contingent on Prior Experience, Child Development. Despite its recognized importance for cultural transmission, little is known about the role imitation plays in language learning. Three experiments examine how rates of imitation vary as a function of qualitative differences in the way language is used in a small indigenous community in Oaxaca, Mexico and three Western comparison groups. Data from one hundred thirty-eight 3- to 10-year-olds suggests that children selectively imitate when they understand the function of a given linguistic element because their culture makes frequent use of that function. When function is opaque, however, children imitate faithfully. This has implications for how children manage the imitation–innovation trade-off, and offers insight into why children imitate in language learning across development. [More] Descriptors: Beliefs, Experiments, Indigenous Populations, Foreign Countries
(2016). Moving from Damage-Centered Research through Unsettling Reflexivity, Anthropology & Education Quarterly. The author revisits autoethnographic work in order to examine how she unwittingly incorporated damage-centered (Tuck 2009) research approaches that reproduce settler colonial understandings of marginalized communities. The paper examines the reproduction of settler colonial knowledge in ethnographic research by unearthing the inherent surveillance that partly constitutes settler colonial subjectivities in the United States. Finally, the author discusses unsettling methodological approaches as a way to disrupt damage-centered practices in ethnographic research. In the author's data collection at the U.S./Mexico border, the deeply introspective method of unsettling reflexivity–the ways we might (both indigenous and non-indigenous scholars) reproduce settler colonialism–helps challenge colonial-blind knowledge production, which has affected our understanding of colonial histories and often shaped the research process. [More] Descriptors: Autobiographies, Ethnography, Research Methodology, Anthropology
(2016). Examining Entrepreneurial Attributes of Latin American Female University Students, Gender and Education. The phenomenon of women engaging in entrepreneurship is expanding and becoming acknowledged as a valuable resource that must be institutionally and socially supported. Through entrepreneurship education, female students, as potential entrepreneurs, can develop and strengthen those skills and behaviours identified as characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. This paper explores four attributes associated with entrepreneurship (creativity, problem management, risk management, and self-confidence) of 1838 undergraduate students from 11 universities in Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Uruguay) and one in Spain, used as a control group. By comparing the results for the male and female student population, self-confidence appears as an attribute that is present at the same level in both groups; statistically significant differences were reported for the other three attributes (creativity, problem management, and risk management). Entrepreneurship programmes can utilise such information to strengthen in female students those attributes for successful engagement in entrepreneurial activity. [More] Descriptors: Entrepreneurship, Females, Creativity, Risk Management
(2016). Increasing Reading Compliance and Metacognitive Strategies in Border Students, Journal of College Reading and Learning. In an effort to increase reading compliance and active reading strategies, quizzes and reading guides were given to 100 participants in four psychology courses. Each participant was given four¬ weeks of reading quizzes and four¬ weeks of reading guides. Participants consisted of students (freshman through senior level) from two colleges along the Texas/Mexico border. Self-reported survey data was collected on reading compliance and metacognitive strategies. There was a statistically significant difference in reading compliance. Students reported reading the most when assigned a reading guide. However, the use of a quiz produced very similar results in reading compliance. Participants reported using more metacognitive reading strategies after completing the reading guides. [More] Descriptors: Metacognition, Reading Achievement, Reading Strategies, Active Learning
(2016). Maternal Sensitivity and Child Secure Base Use in Early Childhood: Studies in Different Cultural Contexts, Child Development. This study tested whether maternal sensitivity and child security are related during early childhood and whether such an association is found in different cultural and social contexts. Mother-child dyads (N¬ =¬ 237) from four different countries (Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States) were observed in naturalistic settings when children were between 36 and 72¬ months of age. Maternal and child behavior during interactions at home and in the playground were described using Q methodology. Findings reveal that across cultures, concurrent maternal sensitivity and more specific behavioral domains of maternal care (e.g., contributions to harmonious interactions and secure base support) are important for children's attachment security during early childhood. Implications for the study of attachment relationships beyond infancy and in diverse contexts are highlighted. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Mothers, Parent Child Relationship, Security (Psychology)
(2016). Staff Members Acting as Grandparents in a High School for Recent Immigrants: Los Abuelitos, American Secondary Education. This qualitative study considered how a high school in the south central United States serving predominantly immigrant students from Mexico and Central America made use of older Hispanic or Latino staff members as surrogate or stand-in grandparents (fondly called "abuelitos" by the students). The caring, intergenerational relationships that older staff members developed with students, both in and out of the classroom, created a bridge from the old to the new culture and school and helped immigrant students gain access to what Stanton-Salazar (1997) called institutional knowledge, that is, learning that allows students to gain confidence and understanding in how to navigate and succeed in a new school setting. Coupled with this institutional knowledge, or knowledge of how a school works, students learned nonacademic skills such as time management as well as study skills. [More] Descriptors: Qualitative Research, Immigrants, Hispanic American Students, Older Adults
(2016). Emotions in Education Generated by Migration, Bulgarian Comparative Education Society. This paper presents the subject of school-age immigrants that have become part of the public agenda in México. This can be noted in the international undocumented immigration which creates a reorganization of the family bonds between parents and children; specifically, a physical and emotional vulnerability can appear with the absences, the problems and the conflicts that affect the family dynamic. The object of this qualitative study is to explain the emotional vulnerability of the immigrants from Sauz, Hidalgo, Mexico. A questionnaire was used to determine the population's socio economic situation; as well as a semi structured interview. Some of the couple's results are: sadness, rage, and fear as recurring emotions associated with the uncertainty of their marriage relationship, besides this reality being visible, the impact of the downsizing of family income is also shown. [For the complete Volume 14, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568088.] [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Immigrants, Psychological Patterns, Migration