Search

Introduction. Against the background of contradictory research findings in the field the present study aimed at unraveling the structural complexities of gender differences in secondary students’ verbal self-concepts and, thus, analyzing possible gender × achievement interaction effects in the L1 German and L2 English language subject. According to an internal distress perspective significantly depressed self-concept scores for the female learners, in particular, at the low achievement level were assumed.Method. Data were gathered in a sample of 256 ninth grade students from German inner-city grammar schools. For measuring students’ L1 and L2 self-concept two subject-specific scales were administered. For measuring their achievement in each language subject teacher competence ratings as well as (self-reported) marks were used.Results. With respect to the L1 German language subject, only a significant main effect of the achievement variable was found. Neither a gender effect nor an achievement × gender interaction could be demonstrated. Therefore, interindividually existing self-concept differences in favor of the female learners appeared to largely reflect their better achievement in the native language subject. With respect to the L2 language subject, likewise a significant main effect of the achievement variable but also a significant gender × achievement interaction effect occurred. Within the low achieving sub-group the female learners displayed substantially lower self-concept scores than their male counter-parts – at least concerning the latest mark criterion. Hence, they more strongly suffered from internal distress.Discussion. Especially, in the L2 English language subject a gender × achievement interaction effect could significantly explain differences in the learners’ self-concept. Consequently, these differences cannot merely ascribed to a gendered view of language subjects – which commonly favors the female learners. Gender stereotyping effects will operate in a more complex manner. In particular, they appear to affect the students’ self-concept not primarily as a matter of subject rather as a matter of cognitive-motivational processing in the case of individually cumulated failure experiences – thus evidently unfavoring the female learners. However, the findings considerably differed across both the L1 and the L2 language subject and, thus, still need further clarification.

Se presentan los resultados de un estudio realizado con una muestra de 116 niños y niñas, con edades entre los 2 y los 4 años, de las ciudades de Bogotá y Chía, en donde se intenta explorar y caracterizar las relaciones existentes entre el desarrollo de la comprensión de las teorías infantiles de la mente y el desarrollo semántico del lenguaje. Para ello, se utilizaron tres versiones de la tarea de la falsa creencia digitalizadas mediante la aplicación Flash y la adaptación al castellano de la batería de evaluación de desarrollo temprano del lenguaje (Hresko et al., 1981) para evaluar las habilidades semánticas del lenguaje. Los hallazgos señalan diferencias significativas entre las edades, en términos de su nivel de desempeño para cada una de las tareas, así como las asociaciones positivas entre comprensión social y desarrollo semántico del lenguaje, para dos de las tres tareas propuestas. Los hallazgos se interpretan en el marco de la propuesta interaccionista desarrollada por Wellman (1994). We intended to explore and characterize the relationships between the development of understanding childhood theories of mind and the semantic development of language. We used three versions of the false belief task, programmed with Flash, and the Early Language Development Battery in order to assess semantic abilities in 116 children aged two to four years. Significant differences among ages were found for task performance, and positive associations between social comprehension and language development were found in two tasks. Results were interpreted through the interaction proposal by Wellman (1994).

The presence of white matter lesions in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is among the main causes of cognitive decline. We investigated the relation between white matter hyperintensity (WMH) locations and executive and language abilities in 442 SVD patients without dementia with varying burden of WMH. We used Stroop Word Reading, Stroop Color Naming, Stroop Color‐Word Naming, and Category Fluency as language measures with varying degrees of executive demands. The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) was used as a control task, as it measures processing speed without requiring language use or verbal output. A voxel‐based lesion–symptom mapping (VLSM) approach was used, corrected for age, sex, education, and lesion volume. VLSM analyses revealed statistically significant clusters for tests requiring language use, but not for SDMT. Worse scores on all tests were associated with WMH in forceps minor, thalamic radiations and caudate nuclei. In conclusion, an association was found between WMH in a core frontostriatal network and executive‐verbal abilities in SVD, independent of lesion volume and processing speed. This circuitry underlying executive‐language functioning might be of potential clinical importance for elderly with SVD. More detailed language testing is required in future research to elucidate the nature of language production difficulties in SVD., The manuscript describes a study of the relation between white matter hyperintensity (WMH) locations and executive and language abilities in small vessel disease patients without dementia with varying burden of WMH.