Dyslexia: a diagnosis test Dyslexic students in Lebanon go through a great deal of suffering. They are usually either forced to repeat their class or asked to leave the school. This outcome is very sad especially when the literature informs us that dyslexics score average or above average in intelligence tests. Three hundred children aged 8 to 13 will be given the Bangor Dyslexia Test in its Arabic version. The above test is a quick screening device for finding out whether the child’s difficulties are or are not typically dyslexic. The results will be standardized to the Lebanese population. The educational implications of this study will be to help child psychologists in predicting the future poor readers. M. Awaida. (Supported by URB.) A comparative study of foreign news flow A content analysis study of foreign news in a sample of the Lebanese mass media. This is part of an international project which includes national news systems in all regions of the world. The study examines both press and television news content and provides qualitative analysis of the news frames and language of otherness manifested in foreign news. The study is a collaborative effort to produce a large and detailed portrait of international news and global news flow in the 1990s. It will be built from previous and current work, especially the 1978 IAMCR/UNESCO study of which the investigator was a participant, but will not replicate that or any other study. N. Dajani. (Supported by the A&S Research Committee.) Changing social norms among women and youth in postwar Lebanon A study of change and persistence in social norms that compares the postwar with the pre-war situation. It links alterations in the social structure with changes in normative patterns. Included are individual values as well as social norms relating to gender, family, politics, and religion. The data on youth are drawn from surveys of Lebanese college students at AUB and the Lebanese University. The data on women are from a survey of adult women and from focus group interviews with specified categories of adult women. M. Faour. (Funded by the Fulbright Program for Senior Scholars; the research is pursued at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University.) Speed and accuracy in stimulus equivalence This study examines the role of feedback on speed and accuracy in the functional substitutability of stimuli participating in an equivalence class defined by the properties of reflexivity (if A, then A; if B, then B), symmetry (if A, then B; if B then A), and transitivity (if AB and BC, then AC and CA). Traditional studies of stimulus equivalence provide feedback during training only for accuracy. Several studies, however, have reported differences in speed in trained baseline relations and some emergent symmetry and transitive relations. This difference poses a problem for the equality of the substitutability of stimuli that are otherwise equivalent by the standard measure of accuracy alone. Further research is therefore needed to examine in some detail the specific role of speed by providing feedback on both speed and accuracy. Data collection is in progress. A. Imam. (Supported by URB.) Lebanese return migration This study seeks to analyze return migration in terms of identity, adjustment, cultural knowledge, and attitudes about future migration —comparing the perspectives of those who have remained in Lebanon with those who have returned. Questionnaires concerning demographic information and migration histories were completed by 956 first year AUB students; more extensive questionnaires were then completed by 238 of those who identified themselves as Lebanese; and 20 students were interviewed. A proposed comparison with returning parents was not made since most returnees came without their parents. The data substantiates the differences in values, perceptions, knowledge and language between remainders and returnees, and reconsiders the meaning of national identity. Plans are being developed to extend the study to pre-collegiate students and their parents during the coming academic year. P. Nabti. (Supported by URB.) Study of Lebanese migration research Lebanon
is a country with a rich migration history, spanning over a century, and
encompassing much of the world. I propose that a Center for Lebanese Migration
Studies should be established through the cooperation of the Ministry of
Emigrants and the Lebanese academic community to bring together whatever
research has been done on the subject and provide a locus for further scholarship.
Toward that objective I am developing a bibliography on the subject, comprised
of books, theses, articles in professional journals and government documents.
The bibliography currently has over 1200 entries, in Arabic, English, French,
Spanish and Portuguese. The project includes the bibliography, the proposal
for a Center, a description of the Ministry of Emigrants, an analysis of
the research that has been done on Lebanese migration, and suggestions
for further research. P. Nabti.
Dajani, N., The role of the mass media in the popular participation in the reconstruction of the central district of Beirut (in Arabic). In Manhajiet ‘Imar Beirut, A. Salam and J. Tabet (eds.). Beirut: Urban Research Institute and the Ford Foundation, 1996. ———, The role of television in Lebanese society (in Arabic). al-Mustakbal al-Arabi, 6 (208), 39-48, 1996. Faour, M., Pan-Arab cooperation after Desert Storm. Australian Journal of Development Studies, XI (4), October 1995. ———, Factors of integration and harmony in Lebanese society. An-Nashra, Royal Institute for Religious Studies, Jordan, 1997. ———, Fertility. In The Lebanese Maternal Child Health Survey. Beirut: Lebanese Ministries of Health and Social Affairs, 1997. ———, Family planning. In The Lebanese Maternal Child Health Survey. Beirut: Lebanese Ministries of Health and Social Affairs, 1997. ———, Fertility preferences. In The Lebanese Maternal Child Health Survey. Beirut: Lebanese Ministries of Health and Social Affairs, 1997. ———, Conflict management within the Muslim Arab family: observations and three case studies. In Conflict Resolution in the Arab World: Selected Essays, P. Salem (ed.), 175-194. Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1997. Khalaf, S., Space, place and well being. Hurriyat, 7, 7-11, Spring, 1997. ———,
Protestant images of Islam: disparaging stereotypes reconfirmed. Islam
and Christian Muslim Relations, 8 (2), Spring, 1997.
ABSTRACTS, PRESENTATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS Dajani, N., Media influence on international affairs: the fallacy of a global village. Proceedings of the Forty-Sixth Annual Convention of the International Communication Association, Chicago, USA, 1996. Imam,
A., From a radical prisoner to national president: the shaping of a saint-president.
Annual
Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis, Chicago, USA,
1997.
Faour, R., The portrayal of mediated reality on U.A.E. national television (1993). Advisor: N. Dajani. Farah, M., The discourse of discipline: in pursuit of an ideal femininity, (1997). Advisor: N. Dajani. Khayat, N., Video games and children’s academic and social behavior, (1993). Advisor: M. Faour. Sneige,
L., The female profile in Arabic TV programs and advertisements; a distorted
image (1993). Advisor: N. Dajani.
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