Collaborative talk in a bilingual kindergarten: A practitioner researcher's co-construction of knowledge

The purpose of this field based study is to analyze the linguistic and cognitive transactions of immigrant language minority kindergarten students in the context of classroom collaborative talk in their native language and conducted through the observations and reflections of a teacher-researcher. The research questions addressed in this study are; (1) How do children use prior knowledge to negotiate meaning and develop shared understandings? (2) How do cognitive and linguistic processes develop as children participate in classroom collaborative talk to co-construct new knowledge and negotiate meaning? (3) In what ways do children extend and internalize understandings of vocabulary and word meaning while engaging in classroom collaborative talk? This case study draws upon the data collected during a year-long inquiry I conducted in my own classroom in an urban school. Twenty-seven students, all from Hispanic origin, mostly recent arrivals from Mexico, participated in the research. The collaborative talk transactions were transcribed and translated into English from thirteen videotaped sessions from which I selected excerpts of varying lengths to examine. The findings are threefold. First, the collaborative talk transactions, framed within a cognitive and linguistic stance, demonstrate how meanings and new understandings are constructed and restructured; show how the teacher and the learners make use of their cultural values, assumptions, attitudes and experiences to construct new meanings and shared understandings; and reveal how learners engage in oral literacies in collaboration with the teacher and then begin to formulate and test hypotheses without the teacher's mediation. Second, the collaborative discourse, situated within an empowerment through voice perspective, show how culturally responsive modes of teaching and learning maximize the use of language minority students I linguistic, cultural and cognitive resources; reveal that these learners display high motivation and interest when the topics are relevant to their lives; and illustrate how learners make connections between the concepts embedded in discourse and their own experiences and understandings. Finally, our discursive practices reflect the importance of native language use in allowing culturally and linguistic diverse students to express their thinking and understandings in their more competent linguistic system and in the language of their culture and social worlds

Citizenship, language, education and poverty among Mexican migrants in Chicago

This paper examines the connection between immigration status, English language proficiency, and educational achievement as determinants of poverty among Mexico-born migrants in Chicago, U.S. The theoretical framework of the study uses Human Capital Theory and the analysis is based on a multistage cluster probabilistic sample (2005-2006) of Mexican migrants obtained in Cook County which includes the City of Chicago. Analyses of contingency tables and logistic regression models show that the most relevant connections occur between poverty and immigration status as well as between poverty and English language proficiency. Thus, Mexican immigrants with citizenship status, work permits, or residency permits (“green cards”) and Mexican immigrants with high English language proficiency have a lower probability to be below the poverty threshold than their counterparts. The analysis of the sample’s educational achievement in Mexico shows that these immigrants tend to have low levels of education and that the problems associatedwith school dropout among Mexican migrants extends below high school. Similarly, the educational achievement obtained in the U.S. is significantly low among the individuals in the sample. These results point to the plight of the large levels of undocumented workers with low English proficiency and suggest the existence of structural problems that impede significant returns to human capital investments on Mexican education in the U.S. labor market

Citizenship, language, education and poverty among Mexican migrants in Chicago

This paper examines the connection between immigration status, English language proficiency, and educational achievement as determinants of poverty among Mexico-born migrants in Chicago, U.S. The theoretical framework of the study uses Human Capital Theory and the analysis is based on a multistage cluster probabilistic sample (2005-2006) of Mexican migrants obtained in Cook County which includes the City of Chicago. Analyses of contingency tables and logistic regression models show that the most relevant connections occur between poverty and immigration status as well as between poverty and English language proficiency. Thus, Mexican immigrants with citizenship status, work permits, or residency permits (“green cards”) and Mexican immigrants with high English language proficiency have a lower probability to be below the poverty threshold than their counterparts. The analysis of the sample’s educational achievement in Mexico shows that these immigrants tend to have low levels of education and that the problems associatedwith school dropout among Mexican migrants extends below high school. Similarly, the educational achievement obtained in the U.S. is significantly low among the individuals in the sample. These results point to the plight of the large levels of undocumented workers with low English proficiency and suggest the existence of structural problems that impede significant returns to human capital investments on Mexican education in the U.S. labor market

The Influence of Dietary Factors on the Gut Microbiota

There is increasing evidence that diet influences the relationship between gut microbiota and individual health outcomes. Nutrient intake affects the composition of the gut microbial community and provides metabolites that influence the host physiology. Dietary patterns, including macronutrient balance and feeding/fasting cycles which may be manipulated with dietary regimens based on caloric restriction periods, influence the gut homeostasis through its impact on the microbial ecosystem. Along the same line, prebiotic and probiotic ingredients and additives in foods, as well as the degree of food processing have consequences on gut microbiota and the related immune and metabolic response of the human host. Acquiring knowledge of these aspects, especially through an -omics-integral approach, might provide the basis for personalized nutritional interventions directed to avoid dysbiosis and contribute to the prevention of major chronic degenerative diseases. Despite vast scientific evidence supporting the relationship between dietary factors and gut microbiota composition and function, the underlying mechanisms and their potential impact are far from clear. There is a lack of well-designed longitudinal studies performed in target population groups whose dietary patterns can be particularly relevant for their future health, as is the case in infants, pregnant women, or athletes.Sin financiación4.926 JCR (2021) Q2, 54/136 Microbiology0.862 SJR (2021) Q2, 58/156 MicrobiologyNo data IDR 2020UE