bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Do public services influence patterns of informal care? Informal networks and public home care in three Swedish municipalities
Authors: Johansson S. , Åhlfeldt J.
Published: April 2007

Whether an individual receives home care services depends on two factors: the functional disability of the care recipient and the caregiver's gender, when the living arrangements of the care recipient are controlled. Data from this longitudinal study of social networks and home care organization in 3 municipalities in Sweden show that care recipients with a severe disability received more home care services than others. In cases where the main caregiver lives together with the care recipient, the public services are adjusted to the family situation and are independent of the functional disability of the care recipient. Care recipients who live with the primary caregiver receive less formal help than do care recipients who live alone. When the primary caregiver does not live together with the care recipient, the public services are adjusted to the functional disability of the care recipient and are independent of the primary caregiver's gender. Care recipients supported by a male helper received more formal help than care recipients supported by a female helper. Those supported by a female helper received more informal help. Various models of relationships, supplementation and complementation between informal care and public services are discussed. The dependence on public home services is high. Assistance with basic activities of daily living is the first area requiring complementary contributions from the public services. A special type of kin independene was found, related to the function of public services in a modern and gender‐equal society. The results provoke a discussion on research design as well as comments on welfare policy and gender equality in the transformation of the welfare state.
Trends among social assistance recipients in Sweden since 1945
Authors: Tham H.
Published: April 2007

The proportion of the Swedish population that receives means‐tested social assistance has not decreased since 1945. This has been cited as a surprising research finding, since there has been a general increase in the standard of living and in income equality during the same period. The income of assistance recipients is no lower than for a substantial minority of the non‐recipient population. This analysis shows that assistance recipients differ from others with low incomes in that they have less wealth and more problems concerning welfare or standard of living. It is shown that groups that traditionally have had an overrepresentation of assistance recipients have generally increased in size since 1945. Even though supply‐side hypotheses cannot be ruled out as explanations for the non‐decrease of social assistance, evidence indicates the persistence of people in need of assistance due to their marginal economic position in the Swedish welfare state.
Debate Privatization in the social welfare state: the case of Norway
Authors: van Wormer K.
Published: April 2007

The method of deviant case analysis is used to study privatization under the least hospitable circumstances. Norway, a country steeped in principles of egalitarianism, is moving in new directions, mostly due to forces from the global economy. This article puts contemporary trends in sociocultural context. The implications for the health and mental health fields are discussed.
Debate Pollution rituals in Sweden: the pursuit of a drug‐free society
Authors: Gould A.
Published: April 2007

The logic of Sweden's restrictive drug policy has led its advocates to promote increasingly extreme measures. Making the consumption of drugs not only a criminal offence but an imprisonable one has enabled the authorities to subject suspected drug users to urine and blood tests. This extreme policy can be understood as a response by a society so obsessed by health, cleanliness and order that drug use has taken on symbolic significance. In its determination to rid the social body of drugs, the Swedish authorities have shown that they will seek our pollution by whatever measures available. In doing so they are in danger of becoming repressive and intolerant.
Reply to Arthur Gould: “Pollution rituals in Sweden: the pursuit of a drug‐free society”
Authors: Westerberg B.
Published: April 2007

Sweden's policy on psychoactive drugs has the objective of creating a society free of drug misuse in which drug misuse remains socially unacceptable and marginalized conduct. A drug‐free society is a vision that expresses an optimistic and positive view of people. The spread of drugs can be stopped and drug misuers can be rehabilitated through social measures that ensure that the drug problem is not reduced to a question of individual responsibility. Since it is difficult to rehabilitate people once they have started misusing drugs, society's preventive efforts must begin as early as possible. During periods in which public opinion is more rejective of drug misuse, recruitment of new misusers declines, which is a reasonable argument for maintaining a negative societal attitude towards the use of drugs. Sweden has a well functioning drug policy with strong public support that is an integral part of Sweden's general social policies, and there is no reason to abandon this policy.
Health and welfare of immigrants and access to services in Australia
Authors: Young C.
Published: April 2007

The main issues in relation to the provision of health and social welfare services for migrants in Australia are: (a) to ensure access and equity; (b) concern about the relatively high proportions of some groups from specific birthplaces requiring support; and (c) the complexity and costs of ethnically specific services. This article focuses on the major pensions and benefits paid by the Department of Social Security, particularly the age pension and unemployment benefit. It also examines the interrelationship between mortality, morbidity, private health insurance, use of health services and the proportions on health‐related pensions. Linked with these issues is the debate about an appropriate level of immigration when the unemployment rate is high, as in the current recession, and when new arrivals have little prospect of finding a job. A second major concern is the cost of caring for elderly immigrant parents who have come to Australia under the family reunion program.
Immigrants in Sweden's labour market during the 1980s
Authors: Aguilar R. , Gustafsson B.
Published: April 2007

Using a new database, we studied the earnings of people born outside Sweden and those born in Sweden who were living in Sweden from 1978 to 1990. The results show that relative earnings of people born outside Sweden deteriorated. This is not only caused by an increasing proportion of immigrants from countries outside Europe but also by a deteriorating situation on the labour market for immigrants born in the Nordic countries or in other European countries.
Focused participation in social work and social action
Authors: Payne M. , Payne Malcolm
Published: April 2007

Focused participation proposes that total participation by clients of social work and communities involved in social action is no participation if it neglects the severe blocks on capacity to participate imposed by oppressed life experience and poverty. Workers should take on the responsibility for including a planned program of participation in every intervention focused on what is most important to the client or community members. Case examples in residential care for elderly people, a child advocacy service concerned with the closure of children's homes, cutting a voluntary organization's budget and family social work illustrate the main points of focused participation.
Attitudes towards the welfare state have several dimensions
Authors: Sihvo T. , Uusitalo H.
Published: April 2007

The dimensions and structures of opinions on the welfare state are not well known. This study distinguishes five dimensions based on previous literature: responsibility for welfare, financing of the welfare state, the use of benefits, the adequacy of the welfare state benefits and the effects of the welfare state. One or more attitude indicators are formed for each dimension by means of factor analysis of empirical material. Examination of the correlations between the dimensions and attitudes yields two opinion structures. A supportive attitude structure is founded on the concept that public authorities have responsibility for welfare services, a positive attitude towards public financing of welfare services, and on the concepts that the amount and quality of services and the level of income transfers is not adequate. The critical cluster of attitudes is formed by the reliance on private responsibility, negative attitude towards public financing and on the concepts that benefits are overused and that the welfare state makes its clients passive. Finally, the variation in attitudes among the population of Finland are studied by means of regression analysis. Social class, age and political party sympathies are the most important explanatory factors for a range of attitudes.
The crying infant: understandable only in a multidisciplinary perspective
Authors: Wikander B. , Theorell T.
Published: April 2007

The parents' perception of how much their infant cries does not always correspond to the objective amount. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the parents' perception of the infants' crying and the objective amount of crying and to explore the factors of conceivable importance to the perception of infant crying as well as to the measurable amount of crying. The group studied consisted of 122 infants and their parents. According to the mothers' perception — responses to a questionnaire — 86 of these were non‐crying and 36 crying infants. According to the mothers, 22 non‐crying infants cried as much as or more than those who were considered as crying. Nine categorized by their mothers as crying infants cried less than those categorized as non‐crying. Thus, there was a mismatch between subjective and objective crying and non‐crying. One factor found to be relevant for the mother's experience of the infant's crying was the explanations the parents gave about crying in their infant. Objective crying differed significantly between the families who had 0–1 siblings and those who had two siblings or more. Correlated with objective crying were the father's age, the father's perception of his wife's recent delivery and the mother's emotional feelings recorded in diaries during the observation weeks. Correlated with subjective crying in the infant were pain relief during delivery and the mother's emotional feelings.
Australia's retirement income revolution: a Finnish system “down‐under”
Authors: Olsberg D.
Published: April 2007

Most advanced industrial societies are confronting serious economic recession, and governments are seeking ways to stimulate economic growth and reduce government expenditure. For many countries these problems are compounded by aging populations and demographic changes. There are fewer people in the workforce, and more people in older age groups live longer and have increased expectations for retirement lifestyles. The result has been that many governments are radically transforming their systems of retirement income provision, often causing political, economic and social upheaval and widespread public anxiety. Australia is one country in which there have been huge changes in the retirement income system in the past 5 years. The system has been substantially privatized, and future retirement income will come from statutorily enforced earnings‐related individual savings accumulated in decentralized private funds. Australia's new retirement income regime bears extraordinary similarities to the Finnish system of employment‐related pensions, yet there was no reference to the Finnish system in the evolution of the new Australian system. There are lessons for Australia and for other countries in the long and successful operation of the Finnish pension system. This article first examines Australia's retirement income system, recent government policy changes and likely implications of these retirement policy changes for the future of Australia's traditional welfare state. Cross‐national comparisons of the retirement income regimes in Finland and Australia, identifying international best practice in each country, comprise the second half of the article. Such comparisons will be of interest to policy‐makers seeking new policy directions.
Evaluation of child sexual abuse ‐ what should be evaluated?
Authors: Lindblad F.
Published: April 2007

An analysis of behavioural changes, mental symptoms and personal characteristics may contribute significantly to the evaluation of child sexual abuse. Examples from children of different ages are presented to illustrate how such information may be used in the evaluation process. Not rarely the psychological investigation of the abuse allegations is regarded as almost synonymous with an analysis of the child and what the child has communicated. In fact, there are many other important ‐ but often neglected ‐ sources of information than those related to the child as an individual. Different kinds of information concerning the suspects are presented as illustrations of this thesis. A hermeneutic approach is advocated for the evaluation. This means that the main issue is understanding the unique rather than knowledge of what is most common.
The Millhill
Authors: Forsber E. , Starrin B.
Published: April 2007

This study reports on discharged patients' experiences of care at a therapeutic community ‐ The Millhill. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and interviews. The focus of the study is on the former patients' own experiences of The Millhill and their present state. The majority report positive changes when they compare how they feel today with how they felt just prior to admission and just after discharge. Eighty‐five percent claim that the major problem which led them to seek treatment is less serious today than it was when they were admitted to The Millhill. Compared with other inpatient care, the interviews showed that treatment at The Millhill was based on long‐term individual treatment plans and that those undergoing treatment were treated as “individuals”, whereas treatment in the psychiatric wards was more like “storage” and medication and those undergoing treatment were treated as “patients”.
Explaining inconsistencies between patients and collaterals: validity in outcome studies of coercive alcoholism treatment
Authors: Gerdner A. , Söderfeldt B.
Published: April 2007

This study aims to assess the consistency of replies to questionnaires mailed to patients and two kinds of collaterals, i.e., social workers and significant others, at a public treatment center with socially unstable and compulsory committed patients. It compares the quantity and kind of discrepancies between replies by patients and collaterals on outcome data concerning social situation and drinking habits. It aims to measure the amount of systematic bias among factors that may explain inconsistencies between reports, especially the factors compulsory commitment, worse outcome, frequency of contact and type of collateral. The responders generally agreed. Variables in which there was less agreement were explored in logistic regressions using ten explanatory variables. Significant relations did not exceed those expected by chance. Discrepancies were not systematic in size and kind. On a six‐rank ordinal scale of alcohol use or abuse, however, patients tended to underestimate the extent of their abuse. Inconsistencies here concerned the degree but not the presence of abuse. No difference in consistency due to type of collateral was found. In conclusion, the consistency of the questionnaires was high and independent of the social situation of the patient, of compulsory commitment and of other background or treatment factors, as well as of treatment outcome and type of collateral.
The long arm of the welfare state shortened: Home help in Sweden
Authors: Sundström G. , Malmberg B.
Published: April 2007

Old age care in Sweden expanded greatly in all areas in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, both institutional and in‐home services have retreated. Little substitution between the two kinds of care can be observed. Cutbacks relative to demographic needs, and probably also to actual needs, have occurred, nationally and locally. Home help is analyzed as a metaphor for social services and welfare at large. The strategy has been to give priority to the frailest and oldest clients. Others often have to make do without any services. Also, current recipients of home help services now get different inputs: in the 1980s and earlier, 8 of 10 home help hours were used for homemaking (such as shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry); in the 1990s about half is used for personal care of the clients.
Determinants of the use of parental leave benefits by women in Sweden in the 1980s
Authors: Sundström M.
Published: April 2007

Sweden is famous for its high rates of female employment and fertility. This study uses longitudinal data from a nationwide Swedish company for 1983–1987 to address the role of the national parental leave program in facilitating women's combination of childbearing and paid work. In particular, we study how Swedish women used the options of paid parental leave (full time or part time), unpaid leave and reduced hours after childbirth. The flexibility and generosity of the program makes it possible for women to choose the combination of program usage and paid work that fits their family and work situation. We identify five distinctly different patterns of program usage (strategies) that are also found to differ in their determinants. For example, women who plan another child are more likely to stretch out their leave longer, and those older and more educated choose strategies that imply a quicker return to work.
The case for the privatization of social welfare: three decades of public opinion evidence from Great Britain and the United States
Authors: Tang K.‐L.
Published: April 2007

In the last two decades, the conservative critique of the welfare state has been very strong. This study examines the claim of neoconservatives that there is a mass repudiation of the welfare state in the advanced industrial countries. Empirical opinion survey findings from Great Britain and the United States between 1960 and 1990 are examined. Contrary to the radical right rhetoric, there is popular support for social programs in both countries. Evidence also points to sizeable support for a mixed economy of welfare. Three explanations are put forward to account for enduring public support for social programs: the prevalence of social rights, support from the poor and middle class and the limitations of markets.
Young immigrants on long‐term sick‐leave
Authors: Löfvander M. , Engström A. , Theander H. , Furhoff A.‐K.
Published: April 2007

Sickness certification data for all immigrants 16–45 years of age on long‐term sick‐leave enlisted at a local health insurance office were studied. The diagnostic pattern was remarkably homogeneous, characterized by imprecise pain and/or imprecise mental disorders. Clinical data were provided by a multiaxial evaluation of 52 people (mean age 38 years, mean length of sick‐leave 1 year, full‐time). Ratings of pain behavior and functional ability regarding occupational duties were also included. Nearly half (44%) had few social contacts both within their ethnic group and Swedish society. Half (58%) were assessed as being exposed to moderate or severe psychosocial stressors, and many had an associated mild or moderate depressive disorder. Muscular pain was the most frequent physical disorder. Pain behavior was common and was associated with the length of sick‐leave. Two‐thirds were assessed as being able to work at least part‐time. The multiaxial evaluation system proved useful for differentiating important incapacitating diagnostic factors. Nevertheless, the examining doctors seemed to have been influenced by the participants' pain presentations when rating their functional ability. The study thus illustrates the ease with which a vicious circle of pain behavior and further sickness certification could be created. In conclusion, social distress and iatrogenic factors may have played an important part in the sick‐leave pattern seen in this group of young immigrants.
From reforms to rationing? Current allocative trends in social services in Sweden
Authors: Bergmark Å.
Published: April 2007

In Sweden, the current national deficit is putting immense pressure on all government spending. Economic recession and increased levels of unemployment have jointly altered the image of the welfare state and redirected focus on it as a financial burden. A matter of considerable political and public concern is the consequences of the economic constraints on social services ‐ the part of the welfare programs carried out by local authorities. This article raises concerns of resource allocation, starting from an outline of the impact of economic developments on different sectors of the social services. Expenditure for elderly care, child care and individual and family care is analyzed in the light of demographic changes and coverage rates. A main focus is put on the most recent development and the perceivable strategies for managing the financial cut‐backs are discussed in detail. Two strategies stand out as central. One is dilution, which is granting help to an unchanged number or proportion of people granted help, combined with a decreased level or altered quality of the service provided. The other is focusing, where eligibility is defined more narrowly and in the normal case results in a consistent or even improved level of service to the most needy. Dilution seems to be the major strategy for child care and focusing the allocative trend in services for elderly people.
Concepts of poverty and exclusion in Europe
Authors: Heikkilä M. , Sihvo T.
Published: April 2007

Using subjective materials, the article examines variation in the concepts of poverty and social exclusion in Europe, the aim being to examine both general and individual opinions. According to our first hypothesis, the higher the welfare expenditure is as a percentage of gross domestic product, the less subjective poverty and social exclusion there is. With the exception of Finland, subjective poverty did correlate inversely with social welfare expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product, thereby supporting our hypothesis. Higher social welfare spending does not seem to affect perceived exclusion as much as perceived poverty. Our second hypothesis was that people in countries with low welfare expenditure are more optimistic that both poverty and social exclusion can be reduced. According to the respondents, exclusion and poverty had increased least in the Mediterranean countries and most in countries with high welfare expenditure. The same trend would appear to continue in the expectations for the future.
Ethics of care and social policy
Authors: Lappalaine R. Eliasson , Motevasel I. Nilsson
Published: April 2007

Care work is to a high degree equivalent with female work and has not, to any great extent, been of interest to traditional social sciences. Women's studies has however changed this, and today there is a broad academic discussion about care work as well as about the concept of care itself. This article reviews this discussion; the concepts of care and ethics are linked and given feminine content. With reference to studies within the authors' research programme: “Care for the elderly: conditions and everyday realities”, results are then reviewed that show how organizational, political and ideological relationships affect the content and quality of care. Finally, European social policy trends and the consequences of new systems of paying for care are discussed from a gender perspective. The authors warn against a context‐free coupling between women and an ethic of care, and show how neoliberal politics can use feminist “struggle concepts” to put women “back in their place”.
Quality function deployment for developing a customized social medical service
Authors: Hallberg N. , Timpka T.
Published: April 2007

This article describes the use of quality function deployment in orienting clinical social medicine to a quasi‐market situation. The study shows that different customers had different requirements. For example, the social welfare office asked for close investigation followed by treatment in which time was not a critical factor, whereas the social insurance office asked for rapid and superficial investigations of a client's ability to work. General needs for improving the provision of information were identified, both for clients and the type of services that could be provided. The conclusion is that quality function deployment can be used as a method of defining and developing social services. However, a strict accommodation of the demands from the quasi‐market would lead to contradictions with the theories used today as the basis for sociomedical services.
Economic models of evaluation
Authors: House E.R.
Published: April 2007

Economic approaches to evaluation have become very popular as governments try to reduce costs and cut programs. However, one must be careful in conducting such analyses, especially cost‐benefit analyses, as they sometimes exclude significant criteria that the evaluator must consider at the risk of being incorrect.
Outcomes assessment: evaluation in routine practice
Authors: Booth B.M. , Clardy J. , Smith L.G. , Smith G.R.
Published: April 2007

Evaluating the quality and effectiveness of human services, whether social services or medical services, is critically important for the providers, for the organization, and for the payers of those services. We propose that outcomes assessment, a continuous model of evaluation designed for routine services settings, can be considered for use in evaluating the effectiveness of human services on a routine basis. In medical care, outcomes assessment measures initial and subsequent disorder‐specific and generic outcomes domains as well as prognostic or case‐mix characteristics that can be used to adjust outcomes among groups. We describe a current implementation of outcomes assessment in a state mental health system in the US and make recommendations for the future of the field.
Internal and external evaluation of social work
Authors: Qureshi H.
Published: April 2007

In the UK a number of factors are bringing the idea of evaluation of social work into a new prominence. This paper considers the different meanings which may be attached to the terms internal and external in the context of social work evaluation, and outlines the differences between scientific, developmental and managerial approaches. It is argued that while some suspicion of the purpose of current demands for evaluation may be justified, the calls for greater accountability have some justice and are unlikely to diminish. If the domination of bureaucratic and financial considerations over professional judgements is to be avoided, social workers must overcome their alleged anti‐evaluative professional culture and consider how to systematically evaluate their own practice, both individually and collectively.
Disciplinary research agendas and institutional arrangements for evaluation research
Authors: Cheetham J.
Published: April 2007

An evaluation agenda for social work to strengthen the research foundations for practice requires more replication, an extension of the range of outcomes it is possible to study and a narrowing of the gap between research, policy and practice. Enlarging understanding of social work's political functions and its relationship to welfare entails research programmes, strongly rooted in the social sciences, which include analysis of community interventions, social work's regulating and mediating functions, and exploration of the personal and social circumstances of those who achieve success and well‐being despite their vulnerabilities and limited life chances.Universities, independent research institutions and social work agencies are the necessary locations for this substantial and diverse agenda.
Evaluating community care in Scotland: critical reflections on a study of policy implementation
Authors: Fuller R.
Published: April 2007

The paper describes the reality of evaluating the implementation of the reforms in community care in Scotland in 1993. In doing so it reports a trajectory familiar to evaluative researchers: the presentation of problems at the design stage, and their imperfect solutions; the emergence of delays in implementation, causing modifications to plans and timetable; discoveries made during the research which affected the hopes invested in the original design, and the adoption of pragmatic solutions; the outcome of the research and its reception. The paper ends with some critical reflections on the study and on evaluative research in general. It is suggested that evaluative research occupies a middle ground which results in the inevitability of compromise, queries whether there is truly an audience for uncompromised evaluation, and argues for the continuation of dialogue after completion as a guard against the ephemerality to which evaluation is often prone.
Are girls more than boys subjected to disrupted conditions of upbringing?
Authors: Bergman L.R. , Wångby M.
Published: April 2007

Basing findings on data from the longitudinal programme Individual Development and Adaptation (IDA; n = 1383) it was found to be twice as common for girls to have been subjected to problematic upbringing conditions as for boys (here defined by experiencing major changes with regard to the child's caregivers; i.e. not just one parental divorce). This characterized 7.4% of the girls and 3.5% of the boys, a highly significant difference. A simple count of the number of parental transitions a child had been subjected to during upbringing also showed a sex difference in the same direction. As expected, girls with such disrupted upbringing showed adjustment problems during the school years, especially with regard to hyperactivity‐related behaviours and conduct problems. The corresponding group of boys showed less pronounced adjustment problems. The generalizability of the results are discussed and tentative explanations presented for the sex differences that were found.
Quality of care: relationship between the perceptions of elderly home care users and their caregivers
Authors: Larsson G. , Larsson B. Wilde
Published: April 2007

The aim was to study the relationship between elderly home care users', and their caregivers', perceptions of the quality of care. The sample consisted of 151 matched elderly home care user‐caregiver pairs in a Swedish municipality. The elderly home care users were interviewed and their caregivers filled in questionnaires using an established, theory‐based instrument. Results showed that the elderly home care users evaluated most care components more favourably than their caregivers. On ratings of the various care components' subjective importance to the caretaker, the caregivers consistently scored higher than the elderly home care users. Within the subset of elderly home care users who received help at least twice a day, there were greater similarities between caregivers and caretakers. The results are related to comparable research and discussed in terms of caregivers' needs to legitimize their professional identity and actions.
Tradition and reform in China's minority languages
Authors: Svantesson Jan‐Olof
Published: April 2007

In this article I describe the written language situation of China's minority peoples, and deal in particular with script reforms and the creation of new scripts after the People's Republic was founded in 1949. In spite of great efforts made by minority researchers and administrators, the new and reformed scripts have had little success, and the possible reasons for this are discussed. Extensive information on the minority languages of China is given in appendices to the article.
The nationalisation of English*
Authors: Rosen Harold
Published: April 2007

This paper challenges the new, legally‐binding provision that spoken Standard English should be taught to all school pupils who do not already speak it. The rationale for this proposal is contained in a document known as the Cox Report, which sets out the compulsory curriculum for the teaching of English. The general argument of the paper is that this move must be opposed because its implications are socially sinister. More specifically, it is based on a flawed description of spoken Standard and nonStandard; the additive principle is socially naive and ignores well‐documented consequences; the proposed pedagogy has no credibility nor is it grounded in proven practice; the important notion of covert prestige is not accommodated. The critique is then extended to the pervasive use in the Cox Report of the concept of appropriateness, since it does not resolve how and by whom it is determined and appears to propose replacing the pursuit of one correct language with multi‐correctnesses. Against this is the proposition that appropriateness can be and often is a matter of flexibility, negotiation and contestation.
“One for the road then?” Communicative and sociolinguistic parameters of social and problem drinking
Authors: Giles Howard , Coupland Nikolas , Wu Patsy
Published: April 2007

This paper provides an initial review of social scientific research on the causes and effects of alcohol use and abuse. We argue that such work is, in general, overly psycho‐individualistic in its theoretical and social policy orientations. Yet alcohol issues have, with few exceptions, been ignored in communication and sociolinguistic studies, even though these overlapping disciplines have the analytic resources to give an integrated socially‐grounded account of the dynamics of drinking use and abuse. The paper therefore provides a framework and an explicit set of agenda for exploring some of the fundamental and everyday sociolinguistic and communicative dimensions of drinking, with attention to their implications for drinking and driving practice and anti‐drink‐driving campaigns.
Ausbau sociolinguistics and the perception of language status in contemporary Europe
Authors: Trudgill Peter
Published: April 2007

Minority language communities may suffer from many different types of disadvantage. One problem that they may face is the failure or refusal of majority communities to recognise their language as a language rather than a dialect. The degree to which minority languages are vulnerable to this kind of attack depends to a considerable extent on their linguistic characteristics. In investigating this kind of vulnerability, it is helpful to consider Kloss's distinction between Abstand and Ausbau languages. This distinction is also helpful in achieving a better understanding of other political and cultural problems concerning language vs. dialect status in modern Europe.
Developmental sequences in L1 (normal and impaired) and L2 acquisition of Swedish syntax
Authors: Håkansson Gisela , Nettelbladt Ulrika
Published: April 2007

This article presents data from an on‐going project comparing L1 and L2 acquisition of Swedish syntax. Within the L1 group, normal as well as specifically language impaired (SLI) children are included; the L2 group consists of pre‐school immigrant children. The analyses of the data are made within a second language acquisition perspective with a focus on word order. One basic issue within second language acquisition research is the question of natural developmental sequences, i.e. do all learners follow the same development? Another important issue is whether the development in L2 acquisition is the same as or different from L1 acquisition. Both issues are addressed in the study. The results show interesting similarities between the SLI group and the L2 group. The L1 group differed from the other two groups in important ways. The findings suggest that there is no fundamental difference between L1 and L2 acquisition of syntax, as has been claimed.
Immigrant women and language maintenance in Australia and New Zealand1
Authors: Holmes Janet
Published: April 2007

Until recently, relatively little explicit attention has been paid to gender differences in patterns of language maintenance and shift. This paper examines evidence from research based on census data, questionnaires and interviews, that, in general, among both first‐generation and second‐generation immigrant groups in New Zealand and Australia, women tend to maintain the ethnic language for longer than men do. Some of the reasons which have been suggested to account for this pattern are critically examined, and the role of women in language change, and especially women's role in relation to language maintenance and shift, is discussed. It is suggested that two interrelated factors contribute to the tendency for women to maintain the ethnic language longer than men: firstly, women's networks encourage more extensive use of the ethnic language in regular social interactions than men's do; and secondly, women tend to place a high value on the distinctive social and affective functions expressed by the ethnic language.
Asking personal questions in mock job interviews
Authors: Ng Hung
Published: April 2007

A job interview role‐play situation was used to examine the strategies that interviewers employ when asking personal as compared to neutral questions. In the first experiment, mock interviews were conducted in either a face‐to‐face setting or over the telephone. Participants played the role of an interviewer and a confederate acted as the interviewee. The hypotheses tested were: 1) personal questions would be asked later than neutral questions; 2) more hesitation markers, tag questions and hedges would be used when asking personal questions than for neutral ones; 3) the behaviours hypothesised above would be more pronounced in the face‐to‐face than in the telephone setting. Support was found for the first two hypotheses but not for the third. In order to examine whether or not hypothesis 2 (hesitation markers, tag questions and hedges) was confounded by hypothesis 1 (order effect), a second experiment was carried out in which the order of personal and neutral questions was randomised across subjects. The results confirmed hypothesis 2.
Written reformulation in a modular approach
Authors: Fløttum Kjersti
Published: April 2007

Reformulation is an important discursive strategy in the language user's everyday efforts to solve communicative problems. The object of investigation in this paper is the reformulation sequence signalled by c'est‐à‐dire in written French. The aim of the study presented is, in general, to throw light on the relation between form and use of this type of reformulation and, in particular, to describe its various functions. The methodological approach is that of modular linguistics, as developed by Nølke, wherein the different modules are connected by a system of global rules, assuring the coherence of the model. This paper attempts to show how a modular approach consisting of structural, semantic, pragmatic and textual components contributes to a new and accurate description of reformulation and, in particular, how modules interact and thereby assure a global perspective on the object of investigation.
Attitudes and cultural background and their relationship to reading comprehension in a second language: a comparison of three different social contexts
Authors: Abu‐Rabia Salim
Published: April 2007

This study investigated the relationship of attitudes and cultural background to reading comprehension in the second language (L2) of eighth‐grade students in three different social contexts: Israeli Arab students (n=73) learning Hebrew as their L2, Israeli Jewish students (n=83) learning English as their L2, and Canadian Arab students (n=52) learning English as their L2. Eighteen stories were selected for reading, six for each of the three groups, as follows: Israeli Arab – three Arab stories in Arabic and in Hebrew translation, and three Jewish stories in Hebrew and in Arabic translation; Israeli Jewish – three Jewish stories in Hebrew and in English translation, and three western stories in English and in Hebrew translation; Canadian Arab – three Arab stories in Arabic and in English translation, and three western stories in English and in Arabic translation. The results showed that the motivation of the students to learning their L2 was instrumental rather than integrative, regardless of social context. Furthermore, in the two Israeli groups, Arab and Jewish, students better comprehended their own culture's stories regardless of the language of the story. By contrast, the results for the Canadian Arab group showed that text language, not text content, was the strongest factor affecting reading comprehension.
Non‐revised writing, revised writing, and error detection by learner characteristics
Authors: Chavez Monika
Published: April 2007

This paper describes how performance in three different foreign language (German) tasks varies according to certain learner characteristics. The three tasks are: non‐revised (spontaneous) writing, revised writing, and passage‐based error‐detection. The specific variables and their distribution in the subject population are described in later sections. Evaluation criteria are: syntactic accuracy, morphological accuracy, orthographic accuracy, writing speed, and linguistic complexity. The purpose is to provide learner‐specific information on the teaching and testing of intermediate‐level writing tasks in which the primary criteria are to write accurately, quickly, and with syntactic variety.
Variation in teachers' talk: the effects of proficiency
Authors: Gadir Yousif Amna Abdel
Published: April 2007

A great deal of research addresses the use of linguistic modifications by native speakers to non‐native speakers with limited L2 competence in interactional situations. This study differs from previous ones by examining the speech of (Sudanese) non‐native speakers of English when lecturing to non‐native speakers from two different proficiency levels (high and low) in content‐subject classes to test whether the lecturers simplify their language syntactically by proficiency level. The analysis indicates that the lecturers' use of 5 syntactic variables was affected by the proficiency level of the students and that there was individual variation across lecturers. Two of the variables – complex noun phrases and complex verb phrases – represent new measures of complexity.
Arabic between reality and ideology
Authors: Al‐Wer Enam
Published: April 2007

Most studies on variation in spoken Arabic assume the involvement of Classical Arabic (the standard variety), and many interpret variation in terms of approximation to this variety. In many cases, this assumption has led to fundamental and persistent misunderstanding of the true situation. A more careful look at empirical data reveals that variation and change in spoken Arabic involves interplay between local varieties and emerging regional standards independently of Classical Arabic. The article identifies a number of problems which stem from a widespread confusion of the esteem of Classical Arabic with its status as a standard language.
English proficiency and academic achievement in relation to extraversion: a preliminary study
Authors: Kiany G. Reza
Published: April 2007

There is a clear contradiction between the predictions of psychologists and applied linguists regarding the relationship between extraversion and learning. Psychologists claim that extraversion is a disadvantage for learning on the grounds that an extravert has less cortical arousal, is more easily inhibited and has a limited long‐term memory. In contrast, many applied linguists predict that extraversion is an advantage for learning a second/foreign language, based on the assumption that an extravert elicits more input and produces more output. To resolve this conflict, forty Iranian, non‐English Major Ph.D. students who took the TOEFL and IELTS were given the Persian restandardised form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire twice. They were also asked to report their grade point averages (GPAs) for their school diploma, Bachelor's and Master's degrees. A negative but non‐significant relationship was found between extraversion and GPAs. An even weaker but still negative relationship emerged between extraversion and both the totals and sub‐scores for TOEFL and IELTS. Thus extraversion may not help in developing either linguistic skills or even communicative skills in such an Iranian EFL situation where there is no exposure to English and where non‐communicative teaching methods are used in English classes. This preliminary research led to our main study (Kiany 1997d) which includes three different subsamples – no English exposure, exposure to English only in classes, and exposure to the language in a natural English‐speaking environment – as well as a much wider variety of measurements of English proficiency.
Exploring the gap between teachers' and learners' beliefs about ‘useful’ activities for EFL
Authors: Peacock Matthew
Published: April 2007

Do learner beliefs match teacher beliefs concerning which activities are useful for EFL? Several studies in recent years have tried to answer this question: almost all have reported that learners favour ‘traditional’, and teachers ‘communicative’, activities. However, few studies have tried to answer the important questions of why the differences occur, whether they affect learning, and how they can be eliminated. The aim of the present study was to try to answer these questions. Data were collected by questionnaire and interview from 158 EFL students and 30 EFL teachers in a Hong Kong university. A considerable mismatch between learner and teacher beliefs was found – in particular, learners rated error correction and grammar exercises much higher, and pair work and group work much lower, than did the teachers. Conclusions were that this wide gap almost certainly had a negative effect on learners' linguistic progress, satisfaction with the class, and confidence in their teachers, and that similar differences probably occur in many other contexts and classrooms. It is proposed that teachers at least consider giving learners more autonomy in choosing activities, and also make clear to learners the rationale behind unpopular activities – particularly group work and pair work.
Linguistic propaganda against perceived irredentism
Authors: Priestly Tom
Published: April 2007

Majority propaganda directed against (real or imaginary) secessionist and irredentist aspirations on the part of minorities may, under certain conditions, be directed at the language variety spoken by those minorities. The typical condition for this to obtain is where the minority (a) is geographically contiguous to a neighboring state and (b) speaks a language variety which is more closely related to that of the majority in the contiguous state than to the majority language in its own state. This article contrasts propaganda about language, at different periods during the last 150 years, in five localities: southern Austria, western Hungary, Karelia, Moldavia and northwestern Greece. The main thrust of this propaganda is, normally, to argue that the minority's linguistic links to its neighbor are minimal: the two language varieties are very different; there is little mutual comprehension; it is difficult to learn the neighboring variety: and the minority dialects are assimilating to the majority language in their own state and are tending to become ‘mixed languages’. In the first four localities considered, with minor exceptions, these five propaganda arguments recur independently; in Greece, however, many of the parallels are lacking. It is suggested that this fact is linked, among other factors, to the differences in official approaches to the concept of ethnicity and nationalism.