Workbook Tasks

Introduction to Academic Work

Workbook Task 1: Theory of Science

1. Choose an article from a scientific journal from your own or any other subject area.
Preferably use the LIS (IU International University online library) to find an article. List the
article with its complete bibliographic information according to the rules from the script.

2. Summarize

a) the problem/background/rationale of the article,

b) the research question(s)/objectives, and

c) the main results and conclusions of the article in your own words. That is, you
should cite the text indirectly according to the citation rules from the script.

3. Determine the research methodology from the article and give three arguments why it is
a qualitative or quantitative research methodology or, for example, a literature review. You
can include statements about the sample, the methods used for data collection and
analysis, or how representative the results are.

Maximum length: two pages

Start on the next page.

Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

1. Jalongo, M. R. (2021). The Effects of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Education and Care:
Research and Resources for Children, Families, Teachers, and Teacher Educators. Early
Childhood Education Journal, 49, 763–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01208-y
2.
a) The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world in every aspect – including education. The
United States are not excluded: In April 2020, all 50 US states issued orders to stay at home
and close school during that month. Since the author lives in a college town in which the
population has decreased by almost half since the closing of educational institutions, she also
experiences the impacts this has on families and educators (Jalongo, 2021). Studies have
determined that education played an important role in the health of children and adolescents
(Hamad et al., 2018). That is why COVID-19 might reduce educational opportunities in the
long term (Jandrić, 2020). A survey conducted amongst educators from 89 countries in 2020
showed concerns about the reduction in social interaction, the change from face-to-face to
online teaching and learning, how to provide practical experience such as internships and
apprenticeships to students, health and financial threats and more. Therefore, new priorities
were identified, including making sure that students can continue studying, providing support,
social services and food (Reimers & Schleicher, 2020, as cited in Jalongo, 2021).
b) The article explains the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for early childhood
education and care by dividing them into 4 areas. It discovers: 1. How the quality of life and
wellness are threatened by the pandemic. 2. How the pressure on families increases and
inequities intensify. 3. What modifications have to be made to teaching and the reliance on
technology. 4. How the reorganization of higher education and scholarships is interrupted.
Furthermore, it provides a compilation of high-quality online resources for each theme which
should offer support to children, families and educators during this time (Jalongo, 2021).
c) The health crisis was found to affect the quality of life and wellness negatively as many
people are mourning losses and future losses are yet to come (Jalongo, 2021). This is backed
by research on previous pandemics, e.g. the 1918 influenza epidemic (Almond & Mazumder,
2005). In addition, every family is hit differently by the pandemic depending on their
circumstances. Many families do not have the opportunity to work from home so balancing
work and homeschooling their children can be very challenging, especially when they are at
the poorer end of the spectrum (Jalongo, 2021). According to a Chinese study, a lot of parents
dislike the idea of online studies because they simply cannot take over a teaching role and
the children are not independent enough for this type of learning (Dong et al., 2020). The
same holds true for children on the autism spectrum, according to a study in Italy (Degli
Espinosa et al., 2020). The more, early childhood is a critical phase for emotional and social
development and should include human interactions (Jalongo, 2021).
Although a lot of things can be done online these days, reliable Internet access and hardware
are still the basis of online learning and not available to many families (Devine et al., 2020).
Especially young children have to be actively involved in the learning process and as many of
them do not read, write or use computer keyboards yet, online studying is not ideal for them
(Zhu & Liu, 2020). The more, even instructors had to adapt to technology and find a teaching
approach (Bloom et al., 2020).
Digital solutions are prone to security issues as well (Szente, 2020, as cited in Jalongo, 2021).
Some of the well-known issues include hacked online classes and the broadcasting of
awkward images. One of the hardest tasks was to adapt new methods of performance reviews
and evaluations on students’ work (Jalongo, 2021). Another difficulty is providing practical
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

experience and internships (Kidd & Murray, 2020; Marinoni et al., 2020). Regarding
international students, they are facing financial difficulties and visa restricitons, which makes
the experience of studying abroad a disappointing one (Peters et al., 2020).
In conclusion, the pandemic has still brought many people and organizations together in order
to help each other and create supportive resources despite of all the negative effects it had
and still has on families and education. Due to the COVID-crisis, adults could realize that
children were affected by it the most. As a consequence, children’s social and emotional
development as well as their vulnerability should be acknowledged more - just like their
schoolwork (Jalongo, 2021).

3.
First of all, the author describes her methodology in a separate paragraph called “Challenges
with Conducting a Literature Review on COVID-19” (Jalongo, 2021, p. 764). The information
provided in the article is not based on empirical research and the generation of primary data.
It is rather an analysis and summary of already existing knowledge from about 70 articles and
sources. Of course the literature selection was done with research questions in mind, which
are divided into 4 themes, in order to draw conclusions. Therefore, the effort of the author lies
in searching and collecting COVID-19 literature which should include quantitative and
qualitative research, method triangulation, policy documents, literature reviews from other
fields and resources of prominent professional associations (Jalongo, 2021). When looking at
the results, a comprehensive summary about the COVID situation is given as well as a
summary of the current state of knowledge on this topic. That is why the article ends with a
compilation of high-quality online resources by professional organizations in order to help
children, families and educators during COVID, which is also based on the results from
Jalongo’s work.
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Workbook Task 2: Bibliography and Citation

Look at the bibliography in the article you selected in Task 1 and list three different types of
sources (e.g., monograph, anthology, journal article, internet source, etc.). Assign the three
selected sources to the different source types. Make sure that you use the citation rules from the
script.

Choose two paragraphs from your article and write a paraphrased text for each of the two
paragraphs. This means that you should quote the text indirectly according to the citation rules
from the script and reproduce it in your own words.

Maximum length: one page

Start on the next page.

Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Three different types of sources in the article from Task 1

Journal article: Kidd, W., & Murray, J. (2020). The Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on teacher
education in England: how teacher educators moved practicum learning online. European Journal
of Teacher Education, 43(4), 542–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1820480

Book: Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (1978). Worlds apart: Relationships between families and schools.
Basic Books.

Internet source: UNESCO. (2020). COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response. UNESCO.
https://en.unesco.org/news/COVID-19-educational-disruption-and-response

Paraphrasing two paragraphs of the article from Task 1

Mental health issues have been a serious issue even before the pandemics broke out and tend
to eascalate during such outbreaks (Otu et al., 2020). College students are especially prone to
mental health issues and forced isolation has altered the unique experience of university to the
extent where the perception of the social value of higher education has changed amongst
students, especially undergraduates (American College Health Association, 2018 as cited in
Jalongo, 2021; Shackle, 2019; Watermeyer et al., 2020). Students‘ worries about health, safety
and future employment has led to a loss of motivation and difficulties in completing degree
programs (Jalongo, 2021).

On top of that, there are international students that had high hopes and academic goals when
traveling abroad to study. Having to study online takes away the chance to get in touch with the
local culture and language. In addition, they are facing financial problems and housing problems,
travel bans and visa restrictions. In a qualititve study conducted amongst staff and students in
international university programs, they describe this as a disappointing and sad experience during
COVID-19 lockdown (Peters et al., 2020).
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Workbook Task 3: Practical Application of Good Science I: Finding a Topic and

Database Research

Think about a topic for a scientific paper in your field of study, e.g. for a seminar paper, project,
or thesis. Formulate a meaningful title for your scientific work.

Find suitable literature for your topic.

a) Find five keywords that fit your topic and do a keyword search preferably in LIS (IU International
University online library). Use Boolean operators at least once. Write the keywords in a table.

b) List five scientific sources, that you found using the keyword search, in a bibliography. Write
the bibliography according to the citation rules in the script.

Start on the next page.

Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Topic: Bilingual development in English and Spanish speaking immigrant families in the
US – Does it benefit language development in children?

a) Keyword search in IU International University online library

Keywords Keywords with Boolean operators

Bilingual development Bilingual development AND English and

Spanish AND language development in
children

Language development in children

Bilingualism in children Bilingualism in children AND language

disorders

Language disorders

Language proficiency Bilingualism in children AND language

proficiency

b) Referencing 5 articles found using keyword search

Castilla-Earls, A., Francis, D., Iglesias, A., & Davidson, K. (2019). The Impact of the Spanish-
to-English Proficiency Shift on the Grammaticality of English Learners. Journal of Speech,
Language, and Hearing Research: JSLHR, 62(6), 1739–1754.
https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-18-0324

Ebert, K. D. (2021). Revisiting the Influences of Bilingualism and Developmental Language

Disorder on Children's Nonverbal Processing Speed. Journal of Speech, Language, and
Hearing Research: JSLHR, 64(9), 3564–3570. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-
00156

Lam, B. P. W., & Sheng, L. (2020). Taxonomic Development in Young Bilingual Children:
Task Matters, and So Does Scoring Method. American Journal of Speech-Language
Pathology, 29(3), 1162–1177. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_AJSLP-19-00143

Oh, M. H., & Mancilla-Martinez, J. (2021). Comparing Vocabulary Knowledge

Conceptualizations Among Spanish-English Dual Language Learners in a New Destination
State. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 52(1), 369–382.
https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00031
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Ramírez-Esparza, N., García-Sierra, A., & Kuhl, P. K. (2017). The Impact of Early Social
Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish-English Bilingual Infants. Child
Development, 88(4), 1216–1234. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12648
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Workbook Task 4: Practical Application of Good Science II: Introduction and

Research Questions

Write an introduction for your research paper from Task 3. Remember to include all elements of
an introduction and to formulate at least two research questions.

Cite at least one source directly and two more indirectly in the introduction. Make sure that you
use the citation rules from the script. Feel free to use the sources you have already found for your
topic using the keyword search.

Maximum length: one page

Start on the next page.

Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

1. Impact of bilingual upbringing on language development

1.1 Linguistic background of bilingual children in immigrant families

As children of immigrants we have lived in a bilingual environment ourselves from an early
age. During the school years, language teachers used to praise us for learning new languages
so quickly and explained this was due to our background. This has always raised the question
whether having a bilingual environment was truly beneficial.
In the US school system, we are called English learners (ELs) because Spanish is our first
language at home and English is learned later on during preschool, kindergarten and school
which often leads to a shift in proficiency from Spanish to English (Fillmore, 1991). Many
parents believe bilingual upbringing is a disadvantage in language development (King &
Fogle, 2006; Petitto et al., 2001; Petitto & Dunbar, 2009). According to them, “learning a
second language means losing the first” in order to adapt to society (Fillmore, 1991, p.323).
That is why bilinguals already prefer English before they even enter school (Lutz, 2008).

1.2 Influence of simultaneous, early and long-term exposure to English and Spanish on
language development
However, a previous study has shown how a bilingual experience can alter the brain of infants
in the very early stages (Ferjan Ramírez et al., 2017). This is why in this study, we want to
understand how the exposure to English and Spanish influences language growth from an
early age up to the school years in both languages.

1.3 Factors that might affect vocabulary and grammar development

For this purpose, we will focus on two aspects of both languages: vocabulary and
grammaticality. We want to see how those aspects are affected and developed by a bilingual
environment and whether bilingual education contributes to the maintenance of skills in both
English and Spanish.

1.4 Structure of the work and approach

We chose a long-term and retrospective approach to compare the growth of vocabulary and
grammar in both languages. Vocabulary size will be measured against the MacArthur-Bates
Communicative Development Inventories-III (MB-CDI-III), which is a word checklist that exists
in many languages and is used to determine the number of vocabulary items a 30 to 37-month
old should know (CDI Advisory Board, 2015). A bilingual group and a monolingual control
group (aged 4) will take the test and the results will be compared to determine the speed of
word production. Grammatical accuracy will be determined by calculating the percentage of
grammatical utterances (PGU) (Guo et al., 2019). This will be done amongst a group of
bilinguals with bilingual education and a group of bilinguals with monolingual education (aged
6-11) over a period of 5 years by letting them retelling a story in English and Spanish every
year, calculating the percentage of accuracy and comparing the results.
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Workbook Task 5: Research Methods

Determine the appropriate research methodology for your scientific work from Task 3 and
describe the appropriate methods of data collection and analysis. You should only describe the
method of data collection and analysis. It is not necessary to design a questionnaire or any other
instrument.

Justify why the chosen research methodology is appropriate to answer your research question(s).

Maximum length: one page

Start on the next page.

Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Research methods

In order to objectively judge the amount of vocabulary and grammatical accuracy of the
participants, we will take a quantitative and retrospective approach. For both aspects, we will
collect numerical primary data: word count for vocabulary, error count for PGU.

In the first stage, the two participant groups (bilingual and monolingual, all aged 4) will take the
MB-CDI-III wordlist together with their parents. Although we rely on parental reports here, this
word list is still a suitable, quantitative approach to determine the number of words children should
know and should be able to produce at this age. The word count list also comes in many versions,
such as paper based, Windows etc. (CDI Advisory Board, 2015). The bilingual participant group
will take the MB-CBI-III for English and Spanish, the monolingual group will take it for English. By
comparing the number of words produced by each group with the help of a software, we can
conclude whether a bilingual environment influences the speed of word production and
vocabulary development.

In the second stage, we will also have two participant groups. Both groups consist of bilingual
children (preferably participants from the first stage). However, one group will have a bilingual
educational setting (studying in English and Spanish) while the second group studies in a
monolingual educational setting (studying in English only). We will let them retell a story in both
languages every year, starting at the age of 6 (school entry) until the age of 11 (puberty). The
stories will be recorded and the recordings will be coded and transcribed to a software which
calculates the PGU based on the count of mistakes. After a period of 5 years, we will understand
how educational language affects grammatical accuracy and the extent of proficiency shift in both
groups by comparing the PGU for English and Spanish within each group and between the two
groups with the help of a software.
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Workbook Task 6: Create Indexes

Create a table of contents for your scientific work from Task 3. Take into account the structure of
scientific works and the chapters or indexes that are mandatory for the structure of a scientific
work.

Create a bibliography for all sources cited in your workbook, i.e., all sources you used in Tasks
1-5, according to the citation rules in the script.

Start on the next page.

Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Table of Contents

I. List of abbreviations

II. List of figures

III. List of tables

1. Impact of bilingual upbringing on language development

1.1. Linguistic background of bilingual children in immigrant families
1.2. Influence of simultaneous, early and long-term exposure to English and Spanish on
language development
1.3. Factors that might affect vocabulary and grammar development
1.4. Structure of the work and approach

2. Theoretical foundation
2.1. Influence of language input on word production of monolingual children
2.2. Influence of language input on word production of bilingual children
2.3. Characteristics of English learners regarding grammar
2.4. Effects of educational instruction language on grammar development in bilinguals

3. Conclusion
3.1. Summary of results
3.2. Reflection of results against background of current state of research
3.3. Discussion
3.4. Limitations and other influential factors

IV. List of annexes

V. Attachments and materials
VI. Bibliography
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Bibliography

Almond, D., & Mazumder, B. (2005). The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Subsequent Health
Outcomes: An Analysis of SIPP Data. The American Economic Review, 95(2), 258–262.
https://doi.org/10.1257/000282805774669943
Bloom, D. A., Reid, J. R., & Cassady, C. I. (2020). Education in the time of COVID-19. Pediatric
Radiology, 50(8), 1055–1058. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-020-04728-8
Castilla-Earls, A., Francis, D., Iglesias, A., & Davidson, K. (2019). The Impact of the Spanish-to-
English Proficiency Shift on the Grammaticality of English Learners. Journal of Speech,
Language, and Hearing Research: JSLHR, 62(6), 1739–1754.
https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-18-0324
CDI Advisory Board. (2015). The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories
(MB-CDIs). CDI Advisory Board. https://mb-cdi.stanford.edu/
Degli Espinosa, F., Metko, A., Raimondi, M., Impenna, M., & Scognamiglio, E. (2020). A Model
of Support for Families of Children With Autism Living in the COVID-19 Lockdown:
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020-00438-7
Devine, N., Stewart, G., & Benade, L. (2020). Access Denied: Academic Life Under Lockdown.
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020-00170-4
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Ebert, K. D. (2021). Revisiting the Influences of Bilingualism and Developmental Language
Disorder on Children's Nonverbal Processing Speed. Journal of Speech, Language, and
Hearing Research: JSLHR, 64(9), 3564–3570. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-
00156
Ferjan Ramírez, N., Ramírez, R. R., Clarke, M., Taulu, S., & Kuhl, P. K. (2017). Speech
discrimination in 11-month-old bilingual and monolingual infants: A
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Jalongo, M. R. (2021). The Effects of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Education and Care:
Research and Resources for Children, Families, Teachers, and Teacher Educators. Early
Childhood Education Journal, 49, 763–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01208-y
Jandrić, P. (2020). Postdigital Research in the Time of Covid-19. Postdigital Science and
Education, 2(2), 233–238. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00113-8
Workbook Tasks
Introduction to Academic Work

Kidd, W., & Murray, J. (2020). The Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on teacher education in
England: how teacher educators moved practicum learning online. European Journal of
Teacher Education, 43(4), 542–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1820480
King, K., & Fogle, L. (2006). Bilingual Parenting as Good Parenting: Parents' Perspectives on
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Lam, B. P. W., & Sheng, L. (2020). Taxonomic Development in Young Bilingual Children: Task
Matters, and So Does Scoring Method. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology,
29(3), 1162–1177. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_AJSLP-19-00143
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (1978). Worlds apart: Relationships between families and schools. Basic
Books.
Lutz, A. (2008). Negotiating home language: Spanish maintenance and loss in Latino families.
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around the world: IAU global survey report. https://www.iau-
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Oh, M. H., & Mancilla-Martinez, J. (2021). Comparing Vocabulary Knowledge Conceptualizations
Among Spanish-English Dual Language Learners in a New Destination State. Language,
Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 52(1), 369–382.
https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00031
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Ramírez-Esparza, N., García-Sierra, A., & Kuhl, P. K. (2017). The Impact of Early Social
Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish-English Bilingual Infants. Child
Development, 88(4), 1216–1234. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12648
Shackle, S. (2019, September 27). The way universities are run is making us ill: inside the student
mental health crisis. The Guardian.
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depression-uk-students?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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universities: Afflictions and affordances of emergency online migration. Higher Education,
1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00561-y
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Introduction to Academic Work

Zhu, X., & Liu, J. (2020). Education in and After Covid-19: Immediate Responses and Long-Term
Visions. Postdigital Science and Education, 2(3), 695–699.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00126-3