Spanish Linguistics Commons^™

El Componente Cultural En La Clase Ele: Un Factor Intrínseco, Juan Carlos Rocha Osornio

Juan Carlos Rocha Osornio, Ph.D

¿Femenina O Masculino? La Adquisición Del Género De Sustantivos En Español, Hannah R. Deardorff

Honors Theses AY 16/17

The agreement between nouns and their respective articles are of upmost importance within the Spanish language. Although some L2 Spanish learners may believe that noun gender is not an important aspect of the Spanish language, it has shown to be very vital in the overall construction of a sentence, in the form of the adjectives and other grammatical tools being used (Vargas-Barn, 1952). There are many aspects that contribute to the difficulty of acquiring the gender of a Spanish noun for learners of Spanish as a second language. This includes characteristics of the learners such as their age, their sex ...

Effectively Teaching A Second Language: Principles And Practices, Alexander Gatica

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

This portfolio is the amalgamation of the author’s research and experience during his time in the Master of Second Language Teaching program. The first section contains the Teaching Philosophy, which centers on applying effective teaching methods, increasing learner motivation, and incorporating technology into the classroom. The next section consists of three artifacts in which the author further investigates specific aspects of language teaching. The language paper focuses on the effect that identity has on motivation to learn a language. The literacy paper discusses how to increase vocabulary acquisition via a mobile-assisted language learning application called Duolingo. The culture paper ...

Bilingualism And The American Family, Caitlin M. Nickerson

Senior Honors Projects

Bilingualism is the ability to speak more than one language fluently. People of all ages may aspire to learn a second or third language in order to fulfill both personal goals and communicate with a variety of people in different contexts. Irrespective of one’s walk of life or socioeconomic status, being bilingual is a valuable skill. Although English is the language of power in the United States, there are hundreds of other languages spoken in this country.

There are a number of different ways in which children can become bilingual. For example, they may enter the school system speaking ...

The Role Of Attitudes And Motivations As Major Factors In Acquisition Of Spanish As A Second Language, Laura Cabaniss

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study used a questionnaire given to four classes of beginning Spanish to examine students’ motivations and attitudes towards learning a foreign language. Results show that although students do not regularly encounter individuals who do not speak English and therefore have little opportunity to practice language outside the classroom, their attitudes are overwhelmingly positive towards foreign language and culture. Most participants strongly agree that bilingualism is important and report they would want to be fluent in at least two languages.

Tango: A Spanish-Based Programming Language, Ashley M. Zegiestowsky

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

The first part of this article deals with the creation of my own Spanish-based programming language, Tango, using Spanish key words (instead of English key words). The second part relates to the design and implementation of a compiler that follows the grammar rules outlined in the Tango language in order to successfully lexically analyze, parse, semantically analyze, and generate code for Tango. This article begins with a description of the specific goals achieved in the Tango language, an explanation and brief examples of the Tango Grammar, a high-level overview of the compiler design and data structures used, and concludes with ...

The Effects Of Studying Abroad On Second Language Acquisition, Laura Albert

Student Scholar Showcase

An increasing number of college students are participating in study abroad programs across the United States. The effectiveness of these study abroad trips on second language acquisition is an important topic for research. Previous studies have shown that there are differences for second language acquisition when it comes to the context of language learning (eg. classroom vs. abroad) as well as the duration of study abroad trips. The present study examined the effects of studying abroad versus formal classroom instruction on second language acquisition. In addition, the purpose of the study abroad trip was examined (e.g. learning Spanish, teaching ...

La Teología Poética De Los Real Visceralistas, Angela G. Pegarella

Student Publications

Voy a analizar el rol que juegan la poesía y la religión en la novela Los detectives salvajes. Mi pregunta se trata de una conversación que tuvimos en clase cuando estábamos leyendo el texto. ¿Hay un tema de religión en la novela Los detectives salvajes por Roberto Bolaño aún si es sutil? Yo creo fuertemente que sí. Durante toda la novela, noté una alegoría cristiana que se manifiesta en los personajes principales (Cesárea Tinajero, Ulises Lima, y Arturo Belano en particular), la estructura (las dos partes de la Biblia y las tres partes de la novela), y la semejanza del ...

¿Qué Pasa Con Cuba Ahora?: La Economía Actual Y Sus Proyecciones Para El Futuro, Erica L. Nye

Student Publications

A través de un análisis de las opiniones y datos del libro Cuba. Hacia una estrategia de desarrollo para los inicios de siglo XXI y de las acciones que han ocurrido desde la publicación de este libro en el año 2012, este ensayo es una explicación de la economía actual y una proyección de lo que viene para Cuba. Los elementos de la economía que están considerados son: el sistema de microfinanzas y la pequeña y mediana empresa (Pyme), el sistema monetario, el control estatal, las industrias biotecnológicas e farmacéuticas, el acceso al internet, la infraestructura, la agroindustria de la ...

The Auxiliary Verb Constructions (Avc) In Spanish, Claudia Quevedo-García, Christina Isabelli, Faculty Advisor

Christina Isabelli

Oral presentation abstract.

Individual Developmental Trajectories In The L2 Acquisition Of Spanish Spirantization, Charles Nagle

Charles Nagle

In Spanish, voiced stops weaken to approximants and display variables degrees of lenition according to the context in which the stop occurs, making them a complex pronunciation feature. Accumulated findings from cross-sectional research on second language (L2) speakers suggests that many L2 learners struggle to produce the approximants even at the most advanced levels of study. The present study offers a new perspective on the approximants by studying individual learners’ production of Spanish [β] over time and across phonetic contexts. Twenty-six English speaking learners of L2 Spanish recorded two speaking tasks five times over a yearlong period corresponding to their ...

Lengua Y Violencias En Colombia: Discursos Sobre Patrimonio Lingüístico (1991-2010), Carolina Chaves-O'Flynn

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explores the forms of invisible violence that inhabit contemporary representations of the Spanish language in Colombia and which, under institutional protection, manage to intervene in its social order. The general hypothesis proposed in this work is that, language representations in Colombia are discursively naturalized and reproduce categories oriented towards the nation’s social, political and cultural order. Once normalized in that sense, these beliefs produce invisible forms of violence that tend to be reproduced through language discourses in which the main ideological power lies in their apparently apolitical nature. These discourses are thus not read critically, but they ...

Call Evaluation: Students’ Perception And Use Of Lomástv, Cristina Pardo-Ballester

Cristina Pardo-Ballester

In order to integrate technology into the language curriculum, it is essential not only to evaluate a program with a second language acquisition (SLA) framework but also seek the students’ attitudes towards the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) (Ayres, 2002). Addressing CALL evaluation, this paper reports on a 2-year empirical study of learners’ perceptions, at the intermediate level, about the use of a web-based multimedia program with authentic video clips having full control of help options (i.e., dual input using subtitles in L1 and L2, pitch-correct slow play, and backward and forward buttons, transcripts and online dictionary) and ...

Developing Spanish Online Readings Using Design-Based Research, Cristina Pardo-Ballester, Julio Cesar Rodriguez

Cristina Pardo-Ballester

This article reports on the use of design-based research (DBR) in the development of online reading materials for beginning and intermediate Spanish learners. The report focuses on four studies of two main aspects of the development, namely, interface design and learner perceptions. The discussion of interface design includes the analysis of learner expectations and interface organization. The analysis of learner perceptions includes frequency of use and impact of multimedia glosses on the learning of vocabulary. Findings reveal the importance of involving learners in all aspects of materials design and development and make evident the strengths of a DBR approach to ...

Dos Rayanos-Americanos Rewrite Hispaniola: Julia Alvarez And Junot Díaz, Megan Jeanette Myers

Megan Jeanette Myers

Juan Pablo Duarte, revered as a founding father of the Dominican Republic,² recently found his nationalist message featured in a video on YouTube titled “ex Dominican@ os que juraron por la bandera de Haiti,” or “ex-Dominicans who swore on Haiti’s flag.” The short clip, about seven minutes in total, features a slideshow containing photos and names of Dominicans who, according to the nationalist, anti-Haitian producers of the video, have “betrayed their Dominican citizenship,” as the title slide suggests, and sworn allegiance to Haiti.³ What sparked the production of this video? The answer is muddled by centuries of ...

Los Beneficios De La Educación Bilingüe En Los Estados Unidos Y Sus Implicaciones Para El Futuro De La Sociedad Estadounidense, Madeline Osborne

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the current context of globalization, bilingualism is not only becoming more frequent but more necessary for professional success. This fact inspired the present research on the benefits of bilingual education for primary and secondary school students and the future of US society.

To develop this study, I will first explore the history of bilingual education in the United States and the effects that history has had on what we now consider bilingual education programs. I will then discuss the controversy over bilingual education in the United States and how the controversy has shaped and, at the same time, created ...

The Order Of Explicit Information In Processing Instruction, Erin Mcnulty Díaz

Faculty and Staff Publications By Year

The two main components of Processing Instruction (PI) are Explicit Information (EI) and Structured Input (SI). Most researchers have concluded that the SI is more responsible for learner gains than the EI (Benati, 2004a, 2004b; VanPatten & Oikennon, 1996; Wong, 2004). However, some researchers have found that EI does significantly impact learner gains (Cox & Sanz, 2015; Farley, 2004b; Farley & McCollam, 2004; Fernandez, 2008; Henry, Culman, & VanPatten, 2009). The conventional order of PI is EI followed by SI. The present study seeks to ascertain if the order of EI and SI affects learner gains as measured by interpretation and production scores on four assessments tasks. Two instructional interventions ...

Individual Developmental Trajectories In The L2 Acquisition Of Spanish Spirantization, Charles Nagle

World Languages and Cultures Publications

In Spanish, voiced stops weaken to approximants and display variables degrees of lenition according to the context in which the stop occurs, making them a complex pronunciation feature. Accumulated findings from cross-sectional research on second language (L2) speakers suggests that many L2 learners struggle to produce the approximants even at the most advanced levels of study. The present study offers a new perspective on the approximants by studying individual learners’ production of Spanish [β] over time and across phonetic contexts. Twenty-six English speaking learners of L2 Spanish recorded two speaking tasks five times over a yearlong period corresponding to their ...

La Instrucción Explícita De La Pronunciación: Los Efectos A La Adquisición De Los Sonidos De Una Segunda Lengua, Samantha Steier

University of Iowa Honors Theses

Dentro del campo de la adquisición de segundas lenguas, se encontró muchos resultados diferentes sobre la eficaz de la instrucción explícita de la pronunciación. Porque hay muchos factores, como las variaciones dentro del individuo y el método de la instrucción, no ha sido mucha información que se puede generalizar sobre el campo entero para ayudar a los profesores y a los estudiantes en las clases de una segunda lengua (L2). Este estudio actual investiga esta variabilidad mientras busca los resultados de un grupo de estudiantes del nivel universitario tomando una clase de la pronunciación para su L2 de español. Se ...

Dos Rayanos-Americanos Rewrite Hispaniola: Julia Alvarez And Junot Díaz, Megan Jeanette Myers

World Languages and Cultures Publications

Juan Pablo Duarte, revered as a founding father of the Dominican Republic,² recently found his nationalist message featured in a video on YouTube titled “ex Dominican@ os que juraron por la bandera de Haiti,” or “ex-Dominicans who swore on Haiti’s flag.” The short clip, about seven minutes in total, features a slideshow containing photos and names of Dominicans who, according to the nationalist, anti-Haitian producers of the video, have “betrayed their Dominican citizenship,” as the title slide suggests, and sworn allegiance to Haiti.³ What sparked the production of this video? The answer is muddled by centuries of ...