Reading, Writing, and Technology: Preliminary Results from a Bilingual Reading and Computer Literacy Program in Lincoln, Neb.

Presentation made at Latinos in the Heartland (8th : 2010 : St. Louis, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedings.Latino students' academic performance has long been a concern for schools across the nation. In 2008, the Latino high school graduation rate in Lincoln, Neb., was 55.7 percent compared with an Anglo graduation rate of 81.7 percent (Lincoln Public Schools 2008). Spanish-speaking Latino students in particular are prone to dropping out, experiencing little-to-no academic achievement and scoring significantly lower on standardized test scores in all subjects than their English speaking counterparts (Lopez, et al, 2007). Although there exists numerous remedial programs that seek to address this alarming trend among students in high school, educational research indicates that the most effective strategies for addressing poor high school performance and high school incompletion begin in the preschool and elementary school years (Balfanz, et al, 2007; Lehr, et al, 2004). Some common antecedents to poor academic performance in high school and high school incompletion can be traced back to elementary school and include: limited family resources, inadequate early literacy experiences and inconsistent elementary and middle-school attendance (Lopez, et al, 2007). Interestingly, early literacy experiences appear to affect all of the other content areas in school, including math and science (Shaw, et al, 2001; Lopez, et al, 2007). Recent educational research with low-income, ethnic minority, at-risk students indicates that parental involvement in elementary school and supportive parent and child relationships in middle and high school are strong predictors of unexpected graduation of at-risk students from high school (Englund, et al, 2008). In light of this research, El Centro de las Américas, a nonprofit community center serving the needs of Latinos in Lincoln, has piloted a family literacy program that integrates reading and computer literacy. In this age of digitalized education, parents who have no understanding of basic computer skills are at a significant disadvantage when trying to encourage academic involvement and achievement in their children (Duran, et al, 2001). This is due partly to their children's extensive exposure to, and use of, technology in school. By integrating bilingual reading activities with computer instruction, the program enhances literacy levels in Spanish-speaking immigrant families and success among Latino students. El Centro's literacy program centers not only on the student but also on the entire family. In an attempt to encourage parent participation in the student's education, the program seeks to fuse the cultural importance of family in the Latino community with an increased emphasis on academic achievement. El Centro's program uses a combination of informal discussion groups with the parents, a bilingual reading liaison and instruction in basic computer skills in the school's computer lab. The reading discussion groups serve to infuse the parents with the concept that their children's education is a family activity that necessitates participation from all, while the computer instruction provides them with an essential tool for enhancing academic success. Students participate in bilingual reading clubs with a bilingual reading specialist to work on oral and written fluency. They also receive a new book to read at home each week. Preliminary results indicate increased literacy behaviors at home and at school

“I Just Can’t Clean the Bathroom as Well as You Can!”: Communicating Domestic Labor Task Equity-resistance and Equity-restoring Strategies among Married Individuals

Women generally perform the majority of domestic labor despite changes in demographics and household income allocations, contributing to relational conflict and prompting the use of communication strategies to reallocate tasks. This study examines the strategies individuals use to reduce personal or increase partner domestic labor performance. Married individuals (N = 228) responded to a questionnaire assessing perception of hours spent on household tasks, global equity, relationship length, and equity-restoring and equity-resistance strategies specific to domestic labor. Data indicate that perception of time spent on household tasks is related to equity-restoring and equity-resistance strategies. Global assessment of relational underbenefitedness or overbenefitedness was not associated with equity-restoring and equity-resisting strategies when characterized as a continuous variable; however, significant results occurred when equity was characterized categorically, highlighting the importance of methodological choices in equity research. Marriage length was negatively associated in a curvilinear function with the use of equity-restoring and equity-resistance strategies.Citation: Riforgiate, S. E., & Boren, J. P. (2015). Communicating domestic labor task resistance and equity restoring strategies among married individuals. Journal of Family Communication, 15, 309-329. doi:10.1080/15267431.2015.107642

Some Things are Better Left Not Unsaid: An Exploratory Study of the Communicatively-Restricted Organizational Stressor

In organizations, individuals seek the support of others to manage their day-to-day stress. Researchers within a social support paradigm have found that individuals who have communicative outlets to discuss their stressors are healthier psychologically and physiologically. To the extent that those outlets are restricted, individuals may suffer the deleterious effects of stress. Therefore, this manuscript conceptualizes and explores one such stressor, the Communicatively-Restricted Organizational Stressor (CROS). Based on a sample of 405 organizational members, we identified the existence and explicated the nature of this stressor. Results were generally inconclusive. Discussion focused on significant findings and the need for better operationalization of this stressor. Implications and future directions explored the potential utility of this line of research

Communicatively Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS) I: Conceptualization and Overview

In this article, we conceptualized a new organizational variable, Communicatively Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS). CROS is a perceived inability to communicate about a particular stressor and functions to exacerbate negative outcomes related to the appraisal of that stressor. To aid in our conceptualization, we reviewed extant literature on organizational stress and social support. We also collected open-ended data from a national sample of 354 workers. The responses to these questions lead us to specific themes about the nature and function of CROS. Finally, we propose a conceptual conditional process model with two primary propositions: (a) An organizational member who reports high levels of CROS will experience negative outcomes, regardless of reported level of social support and (b) an organizational member who reports high levels of CROS will experience negative outcomes, regardless of the severity of the stressor

An Exploratory Study of Communicatively-Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS) II: Associations with Organizational Stress and Elevated Cholesterol

This study expands on prior research on Communicatively-Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS), which includes those stressors that individuals do not have a socially-supportive outlet inside or outside of their organizations. First, by using a sample of 405 organizational members, we explore the prevalence of the CROS by identifying the existence of the nature of this concept. After that, we explore the way that the CROS acts on an individual both physiologically and psychologically by evaluating its associations with organizational-level variables (stress, support, and commitment) along with markers of stress (LDL and Total Cholesterol). Results were generally inconclusive. Discussion focused on significant findings and the need for better operationalization of this stressor. Implications and future directions explored the potential utility of this line of research

A Decade of Research Exploring Biology and Communication

The study of communication has come a long way since Aristotle\u27s conceptualization of persuasion in Rhetoric from the 4th century B.C. Today, scholars conceptualize communication in much more comprehensive ways than did those Greek Aristotelian philosophers. Still, much of the discipline of communication focuses on the way that messages have an impact on individuals or societies. Since the late 1970s a small group of communication scholars, greatly influenced by their peers in other social-science disciplines (i.e., psychology) began to direct their attention to the way that communication influences and is influenced by processes in the human body. During the early 1990s, a group of researchers proposed a set of meta-theoretic axioms leading to the goal that specific theories could be generated related to the ways that the human body influences communicative messages and behaviors. These researchers called this set of propositions a communibiological paradigm. In this article, we present the following review of recent and relevant literature on the biological dimensions of human communication

Stress, Status, and Sociability: Exploring Residential Satisfaction in the Rural Midwest following Rapid Immigration

This investigation examined predictors of residential satisfaction among newly arrived residents (NAR) and long-term residents (LTR) of a rural community following a rapid influx of immigrants into the community. The physical environment, social/cultural aspects of life, and resources and public services were hypothesized to affect perceptions of residential satisfaction. Both LTR and NAR were pleased with environmental attributes, sociocultural attributes, and public services. An inverse relationship was revealed between stress and residential satisfaction. The primary sources of stress for LTR related to economics and social status issues, whereas the primary sources of stress among NAR involved issues concerning family and friends