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ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF LANGUAGE ON IMPRESSION FORMATION: EVALUATION REACTIONS OF MIAMI-DADE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TO THE VOICES OF CUBAN-AMERICANS SPEAKING IN ENGLISH AND IN SPANISH

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Date Issued:
1978
Summary:
The present study was designed to map out by means of the Matched Guise Technique the views that Cuban-Americans and Anglo-Americans hold of each other and of themselves. The research was prompted by the need to evaluate the mutual acceptance of groups living in multi-ethnic communities and of the need of school administrators to be aware of any new needs the attitudes of each group may create within the school system. Studies reviewed from the literature concern psychological, sociological and educational aspects of bilingualism- biculturalism, the manner in which speech differences are given meaning and the phenomenon of stereotyping. The subjects were 195 students of Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus, Miami, Florida. Eighty-eight students were Anglo-Amnerican monolinguals, seventy-one were Cuban- American bilinguals and thirty-six were Anglo-American bilinguals. They were kept ignorant of the real purpose of the experiment and of the fact that they were listening to the voices of Cuban-American bilinguals in both of their language guises. The subjects evaluated the speakers using fifteen personality traits on seven point semantic differential scales. The basic data consisted of the differential scores for each subject on each of the fifteen personality traits representing the difference between the ratings of the combined Spanish guises and the combined English guises. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed and a Wilks' lambda test indicated significant differences in the differential evaluations of the groups. Correlated T tests of significance applied to each of the personality traits for each group separately revealed that Anglo-American monolingual students were strongly biased against Cuban-American students and that Cuban-American students show a bias against. their own language group. These reactions on the part of majority and minority group students confirm the results of similar studies made elsewhere. However, the beneficial effect of foreign language instruction is supported by the striking contrasts between the attitudes of the Anglo-American monolingual students and the Anglo-American students who had become bilingual. The fact that the latter show a marked preference for Spanish guises attests to the power inherent in bilingualism to encourage the breaking down of cultural barriers. It was concluded that although concomitant language learning does seem to relate to more positive attitudes toward the minority group, there is no evidence that the bilingual program in Miami, Florida, constitutes cultural maintenance for this Cuban-American group of students. Realizing that it would be unwise to generalize from the evidence provided by this study, it is felt, nevertheless, that these data can provide some insight toward understanding the cultural experience of the students of this multi-ethnic community for if their educational environment were truly pluralistic, more balanced attitudes should have been revealed in this sampling.
Title: ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF LANGUAGE ON IMPRESSION FORMATION: EVALUATION REACTIONS OF MIAMI-DADE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TO THE VOICES OF CUBAN-AMERICANS SPEAKING IN ENGLISH AND IN SPANISH.
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Name(s): ARNOV, VENICE BEAULIEU.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1978
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 132 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The present study was designed to map out by means of the Matched Guise Technique the views that Cuban-Americans and Anglo-Americans hold of each other and of themselves. The research was prompted by the need to evaluate the mutual acceptance of groups living in multi-ethnic communities and of the need of school administrators to be aware of any new needs the attitudes of each group may create within the school system. Studies reviewed from the literature concern psychological, sociological and educational aspects of bilingualism- biculturalism, the manner in which speech differences are given meaning and the phenomenon of stereotyping. The subjects were 195 students of Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus, Miami, Florida. Eighty-eight students were Anglo-Amnerican monolinguals, seventy-one were Cuban- American bilinguals and thirty-six were Anglo-American bilinguals. They were kept ignorant of the real purpose of the experiment and of the fact that they were listening to the voices of Cuban-American bilinguals in both of their language guises. The subjects evaluated the speakers using fifteen personality traits on seven point semantic differential scales. The basic data consisted of the differential scores for each subject on each of the fifteen personality traits representing the difference between the ratings of the combined Spanish guises and the combined English guises. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed and a Wilks' lambda test indicated significant differences in the differential evaluations of the groups. Correlated T tests of significance applied to each of the personality traits for each group separately revealed that Anglo-American monolingual students were strongly biased against Cuban-American students and that Cuban-American students show a bias against. their own language group. These reactions on the part of majority and minority group students confirm the results of similar studies made elsewhere. However, the beneficial effect of foreign language instruction is supported by the striking contrasts between the attitudes of the Anglo-American monolingual students and the Anglo-American students who had become bilingual. The fact that the latter show a marked preference for Spanish guises attests to the power inherent in bilingualism to encourage the breaking down of cultural barriers. It was concluded that although concomitant language learning does seem to relate to more positive attitudes toward the minority group, there is no evidence that the bilingual program in Miami, Florida, constitutes cultural maintenance for this Cuban-American group of students. Realizing that it would be unwise to generalize from the evidence provided by this study, it is felt, nevertheless, that these data can provide some insight toward understanding the cultural experience of the students of this multi-ethnic community for if their educational environment were truly pluralistic, more balanced attitudes should have been revealed in this sampling.
Identifier: 11707 (digitool), FADT11707 (IID), fau:8639 (fedora)
Note(s): College of Education
Thesis (Educat.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1978.
Subject(s): Bilingualism--Florida--Miami
Speech and social status
Cuban Americans--Florida--Miami
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11707
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.