Language dominance, preference and awareness: a case study of two multilingual children in a bilingual community

Màster de Lingüística Aplicada i Adquisició de Llengües en Contextos Multilingües, Departament de Filologia Anglesa i Alemanya, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2012, Tutora: Carmen MuñozThis case study of two multilingual boys (aged 6-7) has two aims. Firstly, it explores how the participants view their language proficiency, language dominance and language preference and investigates how their statements show evidence of metalinguistic awareness. Naturalistic data, semi-structured interviews and background questionnaires were used to collect comprehensive data. The second aim is to compare participants' statements about their own language proficiency and dominance with data from an oral narrative task in order to investigate whether they accurately predicted their dominant language. The participants performed the task in three languages (English, Spanish and Catalan) and their fluency and lexical richness was analyzed. Overall, fluency measures matched with their perceptions. However, lexical richness results (as measured by Guiraud's Index and lexical density) were inconclusive. In summation, the participants demonstrate that young multilingual children are capable of providing accurate information on their language proficiency from very early on. The dissertation ends with directions for future research

Injury Risk Estimation Expertise: Interdisciplinary Differences in Performance on the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz

Background: Simple observational assessment of movement is a potentially low-cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. Although many individuals utilize some form of observational assessment of movement, there are currently no substantial data on group skill differences in observational screening of ACL injury risk. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to compare various groups’ abilities to visually assess ACL injury risk as well as the associated strategies and ACL knowledge levels. The hypothesis was that sports medicine professionals would perform better than coaches and exercise science academics/students and that these subgroups would all perform better than parents and other general population members. Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A total of 428 individuals, including physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, exercise science researchers/students, athletes, parents, and members of the general public participated in the study. Participants completed the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz (ACL-IQ) and answered questions related to assessment strategy and ACL knowledge. Results: Strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, physical therapists, and exercise science students exhibited consistently superior ACL injury risk estimation ability (þ2 SD) as compared with sport coaches, parents of athletes, and members of the general public. The performance of a substantial number of individuals in the exercise sciences/sports medicines (approximately 40%) was similar to or exceeded clinical instrument-based biomechanical assessment methods (eg, ACL nomogram). Parents, sport coaches, and the general public had lower ACL-IQ, likely due to their lower ACL knowledge and to rating the importance of knee/thigh motion lower and weight and jump height higher. Conclusion: Substantial cross-professional/group differences in visual ACL injury risk estimation exist. The relatively profound differences in injury risk estimation accuracy and their potential implications for risk screening suggest the need for additional training and outreach

Cross-professional differences in real-time assessment of ACL injury risk

Simple visual inspection of movement is a potentially low cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. Although many professionals, athletes, and coaches utilize some form of visual inspection of movement/injury risk, there is currently no substantial data on group skill differences. Sports medicine professionals, exercise science students/academics, and strength and conditioning coaches exhibited consistently superior ACL injury risk estimation skill compared to sport coaches, parents of athletes and the general public (about 2 standard deviations). In addition, many individuals’ visual risk assessment accuracy was similar to or exceeded clinical instrument-based biomechanical assessment methods (i.e., ACL nomogram). Perceptual-cognitive mechanisms are discussed

Visual estimation of ACL injury risk: Efficient assessment method, group differences, and expertise mechanisms

Simple observational assessment of movement quality (e.g., drop vertical jump biomechanics) is an efficient and low cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. A recently developed test (see www.ACL-IQ.org) has revealed substantial cross-professional/group differences in visual ACL injury risk estimation skill. Specifically, parents, sport coaches, and to some degree sports medicine physicians, would likely benefit from training or the use of decision support tools. In addition, expertise mechanisms (perceptual-cognitive characteristics of skilled performers) were investigated in order to design training systems to improve risk estimation performance

Using Visual Aids to Improve Communication of Risks about Health: A Review

Recent research has shown that patients frequently experience difficulties understanding health-relevant numerical concepts. A prominent example is denominator neglect, or the tendency to pay too much attention to numerators in ratios (e.g., number of treated patients who died) with insufficient attention to denominators (e.g., overall number of treated patients). Denominator neglect can lead to inaccurate assessments of treatment risk reduction and thus can have important consequences for decisions about health. Here, we reviewed a series of studies investigating (1) different factors that can influence patients' susceptibility to denominator neglect in medical decision making—including numerical or language-related abilities; (2) the extent to which denominator neglect can be attenuated by using visual aids; and (3) a factor that moderates the effectiveness of such aids (i.e., graph literacy). The review spans probabilistic national U.S. and German samples, as well as immigrant (i.e., Polish people living in the United Kingdom) and undergraduate samples in Spain. Theoretical and prescriptive implications are discussed

Can I Count on Getting Better? Association between Math Anxiety and Poorer Understanding of Medical Risk Reductions

Lower numerical ability is associated with poorer understanding of health statistics, such as risk reductions of medical treatment. For many people, despite good numeracy skills, math provokes anxiety that impedes an ability to evaluate numerical information. Math-anxious individuals also report less confidence in their ability to perform math tasks. We hypothesized that, independent of objective numeracy, math anxiety would be associated with poorer responding and lower confidence when calculating risk reductions of medical treatments. Methods. Objective numeracy was assessed using an 11-item objective numeracy scale. A 13-item self-report scale was used to assess math anxiety. In experiment 1, participants were asked to interpret the baseline risk of disease and risk reductions associated with treatment options. Participants in experiment 2 were additionally provided a graphical display designed to facilitate the processing of math information and alleviate effects of math anxiety. Confidence ratings were provided on a 7-point scale. Results. Individuals of higher objective numeracy were more likely to respond correctly to baseline risks and risk reductions associated with treatment options and were more confident in their interpretations. Individuals who scored high in math anxiety were instead less likely to correctly interpret the baseline risks and risk reductions and were less confident in their risk calculations as well as in their assessments of the effectiveness of treatment options. Math anxiety predicted confidence levels but not correct responding when controlling for objective numeracy. The graphical display was most effective in increasing confidence among math-anxious individuals. Conclusions. The findings suggest that math anxiety is associated with poorer medical risk interpretation but is more strongly related to confidence in interpretations

Predicting biases in very highly educated samples: Numeracy and metacognition

We investigated the relations between numeracy and superior judgment and decision making in two large community outreach studies in Holland (n=5408). In these very highly educated samples (e.g., 30–50% held graduate degrees), the Berlin Numeracy Test was a robust predictor of financial, medical, and metacognitive task performance (i.e., lotteries, intertemporal choice, denominator neglect, and confidence judgments), independent of education, gender, age, and another numeracy assessment. Metacognitive processes partially mediated the link between numeracy and superior performance. More numerate participants performed better because they deliberated more during decision making and more accurately evaluated their judgments (e.g., less overconfidence). Results suggest that well-designed numeracy tests tend to be robust predictors of superior judgment and decision making because they simultaneously assess (1) mathematical competency and (2) metacognitive and self-regulated learning skills

CROSS-PROFESSIONAL DIFFERENCES IN REAL-TIME ASSESSMENT OF ACL INJURY RISK

Simple visual inspection of movement is a potentially low cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. Although many professionals, athletes, and coaches utilize some form of visual inspection of movement/injury risk, there is currently no substantial data on group skill differences. Sports medicine professionals, exercise science students/academics, and strength and conditioning coaches exhibited consistently superior ACL injury risk estimation skill compared to sport coaches, parents of athletes and the general public (about 2 standard deviations). In addition, many individuals’ visual risk assessment accuracy was similar to or exceeded clinical instrument-based biomechanical assessment methods (i.e., ACL nomogram). Perceptual-cognitive mechanisms are discussed