LINGUISTIC MINORITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

He is in his second year doctoral studies and has been doing research work under the direction of Professor Barry McLaughlin(Psychology, UCSC), since the fall of 1994, looking at factors that may affect the reading comprehension performance of competent bilinguals. This research arose because a number of bilingual college level students who took the California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST) failed to pass it the first, second, or even the third time. In his first year graduate research project, he is exploring, through an experimental design, the effects of time constraints (limited or unlimited time) and type of reading material (narrative or expository) on the reading performance of monolingual and bilingual speakers of English.

Linda's work experience over the last 4 years has been especially productive in the areas of data collection, adaption, translation, and editing of measurement instruments. In her data analysis work, she has revised and adapted the Collective Identity Scale of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AID-III). She has co-authored papers regarding the instrument's development and use. Linda also has other research experience, including interviewing participants for a longitudinal study on socio-emotional development (1994); creating and supervising the coding and sampling procedures of survey data for a study on sexual harassment in schools(1992); and analyzing data on a study investigating occupational roles, life satisfaction and psychological distress. Linda also works as a Teaching Assistant for the course, Introductory Psychology of Women at Santa Cruz.

Laurette's main research project is working as a member of a research group, headed by Professors Ron Gallimore (Education, UCLA), Claude Goldenberg (Education, CSU Long Beach), and Bill Saunders, concerned with improving student achievement of language minority children at low SES levels. As part of the project this past year, Laurette observed in a bilingual first grade classroom. The study examined how an urban elementary school teacher could be assisted in understanding (1) how to assess her students language proficiency; (2) how the students were using language; and (3) the instructional implications for linking student language and literacy acquisition.

For the past 2 years, Laurette has designed and taught a summer literacy program at the University Elementary School at UCLA, where she also serves as a member of the Bilingual Implementation Group that is designing and overseeing the implementation of a Spanish/English bilingual reading program. Laurette is a native Californian and a fourth generation resident of Los Angeles.

During her five year tenure at UCSB, Zenaida worked as a bilingual instructional aide and coordinated various after school academic programs designed to keep immigrant students from dropping out of school. She is specializing in learning and instruction at UCLA. She has coordinated bilingual programs and workshops that directly address the needs of LEP students and has provided individualized counseling for non-English speaking college students at West Los Angeles Community College. Her research in the past year focused on the effects of students' language backgrounds on teachers' attribution of failure. Zenaida hopes to extend her research to the interplay of language background and student performance on alternative assessments heavily dependent on English reading and writing and its overall effect on student motivation.

Renee has finished her courses for her Ph.D. and is currently preparing for her qualifying exam, and has been teaching graduate courses in instructional methodology and assessment of culturally diverse and exceptional students. She visits classrooms from preschool to junior college as she supervises student teachers for the learning handicapped. Renee also is involved in research with teachers on instructional strategies for linguistic minorities in special education, and studying the interactions of teachers and at-risk children in a bilingual preschool setting.

She has conducted qualitative research in a Spanish immersion elementary school. Claudia's research focuses on the process by which young children work in peer-groups and use language to reach their goals, within a framework that includes issues of language, power and culture.

She has taught ESL for 10 years in a variety of settings and at all proficiency levels. She has taught many teacher training courses for ESL and EFL in language acquisition methodology, materials development, and language and literacy. Her particular expertise is content area teaching and curriculum design as well as program development. She has designed and taught several English for Specific Purposes Programs including Legal Professionals, Environmental Studies and Community Based ESL. Her research interests include cross-age tutors and literacy in early immersion education.

Teri has a Master's Degree (1984) in Elementary Education, bilingual emphasis, from CSU Northridge and a second Master's in Educational Administration/Bilingual Education from Cal Lutheran University. Her doctoral research focus is in the area of bilingual education and cooperative learning.

Candace has been a research assistant at the UC LMRI, edited the LMRI News, and is the project coordinator for a bilingual teacher education training grant at UCSB and the Santa Barbara High School District this academic year.

Attending CSU Chico from 1987-90, Candace received an MA in Education and the California Specialist Cross-Cultural Instructional Credential in Spanish and has a BA (1975) in Spanish-Linguistics from CSU Sonoma. Her dissertation interests involve ethnography, schooling, and language issues.