Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Population-Specific Age Estimation Using Multivariate Cumulative Probit Regression For Asian Skeletal Samples, Ji Eun Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

For many years, the field of anthropology has encouraged anthropologists to assume that population variation exists in skeletal aging although interpretations of population specificity in skeletal aging have been inconsistent. This project investigates age progressive changes in modern East and Southeast Asian populations, and attempts to quantify the magnitude of differences or similarities in skeletal aging between different Asian groups as a first step to develop a more inclusive age estimation method for Asian populations. Specifically, this study explores the utility of currently available age estimation methods for Asian populations, asks whether a population-specific aging method should be region-specific (Thai …

Reading Strategies Used By High School Japanese Language Learners, Tomoki Kuwana

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

World Readiness Standards emphasize the importance of language learners' proficiency in literacy as well as life skills in contemporary society and future. Implementing authentic materials into language instruction is encouraged due to its benefits. Yet adaption of authentic materials for reading is usually delayed until higher-level classes in Japanese instruction at secondary levels. This is often due to the Japanese writing system, which is a combination of hiragana, katakana, and kanji and configures meaning of a sentence. The present study investigated to what extent Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) high school learners use reading strategies when they read authentic …

Andre Jolivet's Fusion: Magical Music, Conventional Lyricism, And Japanese Influences Network To Create Concerto Pour Flute Et Piano And Sonate Pour Flute Et Piano, Kelly A. Collier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

André Jolivet’s Fusion, represents his formative style period, post-World War II. Fusion is a combination of Jolivet’s two earlier style-writing periods for flute, “magical music” and conventional lyricism. This study presents detailed analyses of two compositions reflecting this style period, Concerto pour flûte et piano and Sonate pour flûte et piano, by André Jolivet. In order to acquaint the reader with Jolivet’s interest in ancient musical cultures, a brief biography offers information on Jolivet’s interests in ancient rituals and mysticism. As appointed Director of the Comédie-Française in 1945, Jolivet extensively travelled and experienced new musical phenomena. These musical phenomena, Japanese …

Japanese Pronoun Adventure: A Japanese Language Learner's Exploration Of His Japanese Gender Pronoun, Takumi Nakano

Masters Theses

In Japanese, there are various kinds of first-person pronouns, and some of them express the referent’s gender identity. Gender-neutral pronouns are made in English- speaking world day by day, but there is not any common first-person pronoun which indicates the gender identity that positions the referent’s gender somewhere between masculine and feminine. The present paper conducted a life story research on the “Japanese life” of an advanced learner of Japanese at a university in the United States who has been exploring his gender identity by coining and using a new Japanese first- person pronoun 㛪 ore, which indicates “in the …

Player Vs Language: The Effect Of Multiplayer In Gamified Language Learning Environments, Craig Baylis

Masters Theses

With the consistent popularity of and research regarding games and game play, the educational strategy now known as “gamification” has come more into focus. “Gamified” study tools have begun to populate the market but these tools are almost all designed for solo use. Many pre-existing language learning strategies, and indeed language itself, center around group interaction and are thus less compatible with single player study tools.

A study was performed to isolate the variable of group play (multiplayer) in a game based language learning environment. Those participants who reported that they enjoyed the multiplayer game sessions more than the singleplayer …

Relative Clause Sentence Comprehension By Japanese-Speaking Children With Specific Language Impairment And Children With Typical Language Development, Miho Sasaki

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Comprehension of sentences with relative clauses was examined in Japanese-speaking children with SLI and children with TLD. The children with SLI showed comparable comprehension with the TLD peers, when the language and memory tests’ scores were controlled. The children with TLD consistently had difficulties in OR sentences than SR sentences, in spite of that Japanese relative clauses are different from English ones. The children with SLI showed the opposite pattern. Working memory rather than language knowledge predicted better the comprehension performance for all the children.

Reforming Japan: Measuring The Success Of The Allied Occupation's Economic Educational And Constitutional, Gordon Duncan

Honors Theses

Following the surrender of Japan on September 2 of 1945, American forces occupied Japan in an attempt to remove Japan’s ability to wage aggressive war. From 1945 to 1952, Occupation authorities in Tokyo under General Douglas MacArthur undertook a number of reforms intended to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘democratize’ Japan, some of which left major structural changes to the pre-war Japanese system. This thesis will focus on three reforms: the dissolution of Japan’s zaibatsu (large industrial conglomerates such as Nissan), democratization of the education system, and Article IX of Japan’s Constitution which bans Japan from possessing military forces. I analyze the success …

Japanese Vocabulary Learning Through An Interactive Video Platform: Comparative Effects Of L1 Versus L2 Definitions And Kana Versus Kanji Presentation, Ryler Jay Nielsen

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in digital technology have recently allowed for richer text annotation in combination with authentic second language video media. As a result, many educational researchers are focusing increased attention on the effect this application of technology can have on second language acquisition. This study examines the comparative effectiveness of target vocabulary treatments with either native language (L1) definitions or target language (L2) definitions when target vocabulary is presented in either kana or kanji as a part of the subtitles of an L2 film based on participant performance on vocabulary assessments. This study also examines the participants' perceived levels of helpfulness …

A Phenomenological Examination Of Expatriate Families During Their Transitions To Living In A Foreign Country, Kwamia N. Rawls

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

For hundreds of years, people have traveled across land and sea for various employment opportunities. In the past, the majority of these moves have been taken by the worker alone, leaving their family members, spouse and children, behind in their country of origin. With the advancement of technology, the relative convenience of global transportation, and higher paying overseas jobs, many families are now able to accompany the member whose work has been posted over seas. Experiences of expatriate workers and their families, as they transition to living in a foreign country, is an important area of interest for companies, professionals, …

The Elements Of The Clinical Supervision: Exporting Concepts To Japan, Makoto Miyoshi

Dissertations

The current Japanese counseling profession is in the process of reforming and uniting the system and training together for counseling and related professions. Supervision is one of significant training piece in this profession; however, its familiarity among Japanese counseling professionals is very unclear. This study explored how Japanese counseling professionals conceptualize the ideal figure of a clinical supervisor based on the identified fundamental elements of clinical supervision in the US. The preliminary analysis indicates that each aspect of the U.S. clinical supervision models might be adoptable to Japanese counseling professionals. Yet the small sample size does not confirm the conceptual …

A Longitudinal Study Of The Development Of Fluency Of Novice Japanese Learners: Analysis Using Objective Measures, Saori M. Houston

Open Access Theses

Fluency has been studied extensively in ESL and EFL mainly to determine what spoken features are characteristics of fluent speech by comparing students who participated in study abroad programs with those who did not. These studies were mainly done with advanced learners of English as a second or foreign language, and there have not been many studies conducted with novice-level learners of foreign languages. Japanese fluency studies are especially in the minority. It is necessary to investigate the characteristics of fluency in Japanese novice-level learners since Japanese shares very little in common with English.

This study investigated the developmental changes …

Effects Of A Timed Dictation Activity In The Introductory Course In Japanese Focusing On The Accuracy And Fluency Of Writing Katakana, Aya Okada

Open Access Theses

The importance of mastering one of the Japanese syllabaries, Katakana, is acknowledged by both Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners and teachers. Katakana is a phonetic syllabary that is used to transcribe loanwords primarily from European languages and onomatopoeia words. These loanwords are nowadays called Katakana words. The number of Katakana words in Japanese language has been increasing, and it is reported that many JFL learners in Japan often encounter difficulty in understanding these words. Though teachers are also aware of the importance of teaching Katakana, it is treated less importantly. For example, after spending some time and effort …

Incidental Learning Of Japanese Through Reading Online, In Print, And In Digital Games, Jeff Lynn Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

An increasing amount of attention has been brought to language learning through digital games. Incidental learning through different media types such as in print and online have also seen an increased amount of research done in recent years. This study examines the amount of incidental learning that occurs across three media types (in print, online, and in a digital simulation game) as well as participants' perceptions of how enjoyable and helpful these media types are. Results suggest that of the three media types, incidental learning occurred most through the online reading. Furthermore, although not statistically significant, participants in the present …

A Bridge Across The Pacific: A Study Of The Shifting Relationship Between Portland And The Far East, Michael Todd Gagle

Dissertations and Theses

After Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, both Japan and China sought the support of America. There has been a historical assumption that, starting with the hostilities in 1931, the Japanese were maligned in American public opinion. Consequently, the assumption has been made that Americans supported the Chinese without reserve during their conflict with Japan in the 1930s.

The aim of this study is to question the accuracy of that assumption in the case of Portland, Oregon. An analysis of newspapers and print material specifically focusing on Japan and China from before the conflict reveal that the general American opinion of …

"Language Preference And Cognitive Availability Of Sexual Identity In Gay Japanese Bilinguals: An Analysis Of Habitual Use Of Linguistic Categories", Sebastian Cordoba

Dissertations and Theses

Sexuality is a very private matter in Japan. Japan’s cultural mores and concepts of family unity have led to very conservative attitudes toward homosexuality. For instance, gay people generally fear disgracing their families, and this fear might prevent them from revealing their sexual identity to others, and so keeping it secret. Thus, homosexuality in Japan is a highly controversial topic. Being gay in Japan is not as tolerated as it is in some Western cultures (McLelland, 2000). Homosexuality is an issue that is not acknowledged by mainstream Japanese society – it is taboo and not spoken about publicly. The present …

Chinese And Japanese Literati Painting: Analysis And Contrasts In Japanese Bunjinga Paintings, Qun Dai

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

The Repeated Name Penalty And The Overt Pronoun Penalty In Japanese, Shinichi Shoji

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the Repeated Name Penalty (RNP) and the Overt Pronoun Penalty (OPP) in Japanese. The RNP was first reported by Gordon, Grosz and Gilliom (1993), who observed that English sentences with repeated-name subject anaphors were read slower than sentences with overt-pronoun subjects when the antecedents were either the grammatical subject or the first-mentioned surface-initial noun phrase of the previous sentence. The OPP has been reported in studies of Spanish (Gelormini-Lezama & Almor, 2011) in which sentences with overt-pronoun subject anaphors were read slower than sentences with null-pronoun subject anaphors for subject antecedents.

A concern with the RNP and …

The Reality Of A Caribbean Paradise: A Historical Overview Of Japanese Immigration To The Dominican Republic, Amy Yanet Mariano

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Common Ground: Uniting Archaeology And Secondary Social Studies Curricula, Jeremy Allen Haas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeologists have been attempting to establish stronger connections with communities for several decades. Concepts such as stewardship can be presented to a larger audience, and archaeology can be a valuable tool for public education. Public schools across the nation are struggling to improve with limited resources. Archaeology can provide teachers with inexpensive resources that improve student learning while simultaneously helping teachers meet more rigorous standards. Using historical, archaeological, and cultural resources from the World War II Japanese American internment camp, Amache, I created a new supplementary curriculum that focused on the experience of Japanese and Japanese Americans during that era. …