Test-Retest Reliability of the Spanish Version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV)

The test-retest reliability of the Spanish Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV) is presented. This version was developed in Puerto Rico in consultation with an international bilingual committee, sponsored by NIMH. The sample (N = 146) consisted of children recruited from outpatient mental health clinics and a drug residential treatment facility. Two different pairs of nonclinicians administered the DISC twice to the parent and child respondents. Results indicated fair to moderate agreement for parent reports on most diagnoses. Relatively similar agreement levels were observed for last month and last year time frames. Surprisingly, the inclusion of impairment as a criterion for diagnosis did not substantially change the pattern of results for specific disorders. Parents were more reliable when reporting on diagnoses of younger (4–10) than older children. Children 11–17 years old were reliable informants on disruptive and substance abuse/dependence disorders, but unreliable for anxiety and depressive disorders. Hence, parents were more reliable when reporting about anxiety and depressive disorders whereas children were more reliable than their parents when reporting about disruptive and substance disorders.     

The Effects of Scrambling on Spanish and Korean Agrammatic Interpretation: Why Linear Models Fail and Structural Models Survive

Several models of comprehension deficits in agrammatic aphasia rely heavily on linear considerations in the assignment of thematic roles to structural positions (e.g., the Trace-Deletion Hypothesis, the Mapping Hypothesis, and the Argument-Linking Hypothesis). These accounts predict that constructions in languages with rules that affect syntactic structure but preserve relative linear order should be unimpaired. Other models [e.g., the Double-Dependency Hypothesis, (DDH)] do not resort to linearity but are purely structural in conception and therefore should be immune to word-order effects. We tested linear and nonlinear accounts with scrambling structures in Korean and topicalization structures in Spanish. The results are very clear. The (nonlinear) DDH is entirely compatible with the evidence, but the linear accounts are not.     

Visual spatial skill: a consequence of learning to read?

Does learning to read influence one’s visual skill? In Study 1, kindergartners from Hong Kong, Korea, Israel, and Spain were tested on word reading and a task of visual spatial skill. Chinese and Korean kindergartners significantly outperformed Israeli and Spanish readers on the visual task. Moreover, in all cultures except Korea, good readers scored significantly higher on the visual task than did less good readers. In Study 2, we followed 215 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners across 1 year, with word reading and visual skills tested twice. In this study, word reading at Time 1 by itself predicted 13% of unique variance in visual skill at Time 2. Together, these results underscore the potential importance of the process of learning to read for shaping one’s visual spatial skill development.     

Examining the evidence for an independent semantic analyzer: an ERP study in Spanish

Recent ERP findings challenge the widespread assumption that syntactic and semantic processes are tightly coupled. Syntactically well-formed sentences that are semantically anomalous due to thematic mismatches elicit a P600, the component standardly associated with syntactic anomaly. This ‘thematic P600’ effect has been attributed to detection of semantically plausible thematic relations that conflict with the surface syntactic structure of the sentence, implying a processing architecture with an independent semantic analyzer. A key finding is that the P600 is selectively sensitive to the presence of plausible verb-argument relations, and that otherwise an N400 is elicited (The hearty meal was devouring … vs. The dusty tabletop was devouring …: Kim & Osterhout, 2005). The current study investigates in Spanish whether the evidence for an independent semantic analyzer is better explained by a standard architecture that rapidly integrates multiple sources of lexical, syntactic, and semantic information. The study manipulated the presence of plausible thematic relations, and varied the choice of auxiliary between passive-biased fue and active-progressive biased estaba. Results show a late positivity that appeared as soon as comprehenders detected an improbable combination of subject animacy, auxiliary bias, or verb voice morphology. This effect appeared at the lexical verb in the fue conditions and at the auxiliary in the estaba conditions. The late positivity elicited by surface thematic anomalies was the same, regardless of the presence of a plausible non-surface interpretation, and no N400 effects were elicited. These findings do not implicate an independent semantic analyzer, and are compatible with standard language processing architectures.     

Brain potentials for derivational morphology: an ERP study of deadjectival nominalizations in Spanish

This study investigates brain potentials to derived word forms in Spanish. Two experiments were performed on derived nominals that differ in terms of their productivity and semantic properties but are otherwise similar, an acceptability judgment task and a reading experiment using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in which correctly and incorrectly formed derived words were presented in sentence contexts. The first experiment indicated productivity differences between the different nominalization processes in Spanish. The second experiment yielded a pattern of ERP responses that differed from both the familiar lexical-semantic and grammatical ERP effects. Violations of derivational morphology elicited an increased N400 component plus a late positivity (P600), unlike gender-agreement violations, which produced the biphasic LAN/P600 ERP pattern known from previous studies of morpho-syntactic violations. We conclude that the recognition of derived word forms engages both word-level (lexical-semantic) and decompositional (morpheme-based) processes.     

Francisco de Enzinas,a Reformationminded humanist with a vernacular dream

Abstract

In sixteenth-century Western Europe there was widespread debate as to whether it was permissible, or even desirable, that the laity read the Bible in the vernacular and whether the Bible might be translated into various national languages. Under the influence of the humanistic ideas of Desiderius Erasmus, several young Spaniards came to Leuven to complete their studies, one of whom was the Spanish humanist, Francisco de Enzinas, whose chief objective was to provide a Spanish translation of Scripture. This article will show that in an eventful life, but cut short, and during which he eventually did admit allegiance to the Reformation, Enzinas was only able to partially achieve this goal. In 1543 he published a Spanish translation of the New Testament and some books of the Old Testament.     

Psychometric Properties of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory–Short Form Among Chilean Adults

This study evaluated the factorial structure, internal consistency, and construct validity of the Chilean version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory–Short Form. The participants were 1,817 Chilean adults who had experienced the 2010 earthquake in Chile or other highly stressful events. Confirmatory factorial analysis supported the correlated five-factor structure of the PTGI-SF. A multigroup confirmatory factor analysis confirmed measurement invariance across different samples. Concurrent validity was assessed by correlation. These findings suggest that the psychometric properties of the PTGI-SF are adequate to measure posttraumatic growth in the Chilean and Latin American population.     

Spanish consumers' perceptions of US apparel speciality retailers' products and services

Apparel speciality retailers' success in international markets is contingent upon their knowledge of culturally‐defined values, norms and behaviour that influence consumer decision making and impact acceptance of products and services. An integrated theoretical framework of retail internationalisation guided this investigation of the viability of the Spanish market for US retailers. This study examined consumers' store patronage and apparel purchase behaviour, acceptance of US apparel brands, perceptions of retailers' products and services, and perceptions of the impact of foreign retailers on local communities. Data were collected from 375 consumers in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. The influence of retailer characteristics on consumers' store patronage varied by age and income. Product characteristics that influenced apparel purchases varied by gender, income and age, while acceptance of US brands differed by gender and age. The perceptions of Spanish, European and US retailers differed regarding quality, fashionability, product assortment, extent and quality of customer service, convenience of location, payment options, national brands and store layout. Consumers' acceptance of US apparel brands was a function of age, household income, apparel product country of manufacture and price. Perceptions of US retailers were a function of household income, selected apparel characteristics and consumer acceptance of US apparel brands. Differences among perceptions of the impact of retail development were found by city. The findings provide insights into the opportunities and challenges for US apparel speciality retailers as they contemplate entry into the Spanish market. The affinity for US apparel among young Spanish consumers, particularly males, suggests optimism regarding opportunities in this market. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in Spanish‐speaking children

In the last decades, a series of studies has explored the role of morphological awareness on reading comprehension. Path analysis studies performed in English have shown that morphological awareness benefits reading comprehension both directly and indirectly, through word decoding. This issue has seldom been explored in Spanish. The aim of this study was to replicate in Spanish the results previously found in English. We used path analysis to assess three alternative models of the relationship between morphological awareness, word decoding and reading comprehension in 4th grade Spanish‐speaking children. Contrary to English, we found that morphological awareness benefits reading comprehension only directly. We conclude that in Spanish, in which accurate and fluent pronunciation of written words can be achieved through grapheme‐to‐phoneme conversion rules, morphological awareness does not help the correct pronunciation of words. Thus, morphological awareness is not relevant for word decoding in Spanish but is related to reading comprehension since this type of morphological knowledge provides access to the semantic and syntactic information of new words.     

Fostering learner autonomy and critical reflection through digital video-journals in a university foreign language course

Many studies have documented the benefits of incorporating reflective journals into foreign language education at university level, though the pedagogic tendency has been to utilise these valuable learning resources to enhance students’ written language skills. This study focuses on how the production of a digital reflective journal in video format can assist in the improvement of oral language abilities in tertiary students of Spanish as a foreign language. With spoken language as the driving vehicle for this assessment task, the course coordinator and educator in charge aimed to promote the development of learner autonomy and self-reflection. In addition, to foster students’ agency in this process, the task incorporated the use of modern digital technologies, which are part of the repertoire of communication channels used by today’s university language learners. Findings suggest that completing this self-reflection assessment task afforded creative teaching and learning experiences, and generated opportunities for learners to improve critical thinking skills, written language proficiency and oral communication. It also heightened their motivation to engage with language-related cultural knowledge, and minimised feelings of anxiety towards communicating verbally in a foreign language.