Search Results - *

1473-4192

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Our research over the past few years on the attitudes of Brazilians towards the English language suggests that socio-psychological and socio-cultural aspects of motivation may be just as operative in foreign language learning as in second language acquisition. This article presents the results of a study of stereotypical perceptions of ten foreign populations by 164 Brazilian university students studying diverse foreign languages. Socio-cultural stereotypes were investigated using bipolar adjective scales paired in a Likert-type format. A factor analysis of the revealed stereotypes suggested a three-factor system is at work, consisting of conscientiousness (work-related values), social agreeableness and personal warmth. Evidence was found for the hypothesis that students studying a foreign language tend to have relatively positive stereotypes of the speakers of that language, but the picture is quite complex, with attraction and stereotyping of target-language speakers being linked to two different sets of values within the Brazilian population studied.

Electronic Resource

1473-4192

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Electronic Resource

1473-4192

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Book reviewed in this article:Christopher Ward & Willy Renandya, Language Teaching – New Insights For The Language Teacher

Electronic Resource

1473-4192

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Book reviewed in this article:Robert Bayley And Dennis R. Preston (Eds.), Second Language Acquisition And Linguistic Variation

Electronic Resource

1473-4192

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Learning styles are a student's “natural, habitual and preferred ways” of absorbing and processing a second language. This study investigated Reid's (1987) hypothesis that a mismatch between teaching and learning styles causes learning failure, frustration and demotivation. Data were collected through Reid's questionnaire, interviews and tests using 206 EFL students and 46 EFL teachers at a Hong Kong university. It was found that learners favoured Kinesthetic and Auditory and disfavoured Individual and Group styles,while teachers favoured Kinesthetic, Group and Auditory styles and disfavoured Tactile and Individual styles; Western teachers also disfavoured Auditory styles. There was therefore a mismatch regarding Group and Auditory styles. Interviews revealed that 72% of the students were frustrated by a mismatch between teaching and learning styles; 76% said it affected their learning, often seriously; and 81% of the teachers agreed with Reid's hypothesis. The correlations between learning style, proficiency and discipline were also checked. Learners who favoured Group styles were significantly less proficient. Conclusions are that EFL teachers should teach in a balanced style in order to accommodate different learning styles.

Electronic Resource

1473-4192

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Linguistics and Literary Studies

This paper identi ?es a set of writing conventions whose primary function is to monitor the development of a crucial component of narrative, the crisis of the story, but which are also customarily used by skilled writers to enhance the attention-getting power of their expository writing. The paper shows that ESL learners who have not learned to use these conventions in narrative also do not use them in essays. It is argued that there is a pedagogical advantage to learning the crisis conventions ?rst in their narrative manifestation (where their function is transparent)and then applying them to the task of heightening the newsworthiness of the writer's expository point.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

This paper investigates the magnitude of the mismeasurement that occurs when only a few education categories are used in the construction of a constant quality index for labor input. By employing a very comprehensive data set it is found that the error resulting from the omission of information on education is relatively small. The empirical results are thus supportive of the current state of practice of constructing indices of constant quality labor input.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

This paper demonstrates a methodology for constructing asset accounts for a commercial fishery in which the stock, harvest, and effort level are out of sustainable equilibrium. The paper adopts the framework used by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis in its preliminary 1993 Integrated Economic and Environmental Accounts and follows methodologies recommended by the National Research Council committee constituted to review those efforts. The accounts were constructed for the period 1985 to 1995 for the Atlantic sea scallop fishery, a significant commercial fishery, using information obtained with the cooperation of the National Marine Fisheries Service from existing databases constructed for management purposes. No significant additional data collection was required for the purpose of this study. Differences between the net rent and user cost values of the stocks over this period indicate the inefficient exploitation of immature scallop populations.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

Ann Chadeau died in April this year after a long illness. She was 58. Ann was an active member of our Association for many years, serving on the Editorial Board from 1985 to 1990 and on the Council from 1995 to 2000. All those who knew her will be saddened at the loss both for her warm and outgoing personality as well as for her professional abilities.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

This paper investigates the effect of finding work by one of the household members on the probability of escaping from poverty in the Netherlands. For households with non-active heads, finding work by the head of the household is the most important (investigated) event connected with exiting poverty, nearly a third of all poverty endings. However, finding a job by the head of the household does not guarantee one leaving poverty. In practice, the success rate yields 25 percent. A multivariate analysis shows that finding a job by the head of the household increases the chance of leaving poverty with 22 percent points. So, some exits from poverty are a result of other factors or are due to selectivity of the job-finders. This difference is much larger when partners or (adult) children find jobs.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

In this paper we propose an aggregate measure of income inequality for the founding countries of the European Monetary Union. Applying the methodology of the Theil index we are able to derive a measure for Euroland as a whole by using complementary data from the European Community Household Panel and the Luxembourg Income Study. The property of additive decomposability allows us to determine each country's contribution as well as that of each demographic group to overall income inequality. In addition the impact of government transfers on this inequality measure is assessed.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

We develop a simulation method for measuring the impact of changes in the distributions of the main income sources on growth in family income inequality. We simulate the entire distribution of family income under the counterfactual, “What if the distribution of each source had not changed?” The simulation method allows us to evaluate the impact of changes at any point in the distribution as well as with multiple measures of inequality. We incorporate married-couple and single-person families, appropriately accounting for changes in the proportion married. We apply the simulation method to investigate the impact of changes in male earnings, female earnings, and capital income on the distribution of family income in the United States between 1969 and 1999. We find that changes in the distribution of male earnings account for more of the growth in family income inequality than do changes in any other source of income. Changes in the distribution of female earnings have reduced family income inequality.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

Book reviewed in this article:V. Tanzi and L. Schuknecht, Public Spending in the 20th CenturyY.-K. Ng, Efficiency, Equality and Public Policy with a Case for Higher Public Spending

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

This paper provides the methodology and results of a database of inequality indices for the fifty provinces and seventeen regions of Spain on the basis of the Household Budget Surveys for the years 1973/74, 1980/81 and 1990/91. The inequality indicators considered are the indices of Gini, Theil (0), Theil (1) and Atkinson (1), as well as the distribution by deciles of the population. These indicators are drawn up for three variables: total income, total expenditure, and exclusively monetary expenditure. The variables are also expressed in terms of households, per capita and per capita equivalent. All are available on the Internet (http://www.ivie.es).

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

In several countries social assistance dependence has been increasing since the 1980s. After surveying the theoretical and empirical take-up literature, this study presents estimates of recent rates of non take-up of social assistance benefits. Once methodological shortcomings of prior estimations are corrected, the results show that take-up has fallen recently and thus cannot explain the rising welfare receipt. Following theoretical predictions, the probability that a rational individual takes up social assistance increases with the expected benefit amount and duration, and falls with application cost and stigma. More than half of all households eligible for transfers under the German social assistance program did not claim their benefits.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

In this paper we present a new concept of poverty, Self-Reliant poverty, which is based on the ability of a family, using its own resources, to support a level of consumption in excess of needs. This concept closely parallels the “capability poverty” measure that has been proposed by Amartya Sen. We use this measure to examine the trend and composition of the Self-Reliant poor population from 1975 to 1997. We find that Self-Reliant poverty has increased more rapidly over this period than has official poverty. Families considered to be the most vulnerable—those headed by minorities, single women with children, and individuals with low levels of education—have the highest levels of Self-Reliant poverty. However, these groups have also experienced the smallest increases in poverty. Conversely, families largely thought to be economically secure—those headed by whites, married men with children, and highly educated individuals—have the lowest levels of Self-Reliant poverty, but have experienced the largest increases in poverty. We also find that the Self-Reliant poor is increasingly composed of vulnerable groups relative to the composition of the official poor. The labor market, demographic, and policy sources of the divergent trends in Self-Reliant and official poverty, and of the gender, race and family structure changes in poverty rates are explored.

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

Electronic Resource

1475-4991

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

Electronic Resource