Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Early Language Acquisition Through English And French, Rebecca C. Aguilar

Honors Capstones

Knowing that there is no singular event that leads to learning a language, and factoring in the extent an individual’s culture can affect language learning, this study emphasizes the importance of a cross-linguistic approach to continue to broaden the scope of language acquisition research. The primary objective is to identify and analyze the critical commonalities in the initial stages of learning English and French as first languages through two major categories: speech/language and culture. This project carried out an analytical review of 24 pieces of relevant literature, in both languages, in an effort to highlight key findings. Those findings include: …

A Positive Psychology Perspective On Chinese Efl Students’ Well-Being, Language Mindset, And English Performance, Qian Wei

Education (PhD) Dissertations

The primary purpose of this paper was to assess the well-being levels and language learning mindsets of English as a foreign language learners in Chinese higher vocational colleges; explore the relationship between well-being levels, growth language mindset (GLM), and English learning performance (i.e., College English Test [CET 4] scores); and compare specific differences in well-being levels, language growth mindset, and English performance (i.e., CET 4 scores) in demographic aspects (i.e., gender, hometown locales, family planning, and CET 4 times). A quantitative study among EFL students (n = 1,030) was conducted to answer the research questions. Specifically, Spearman correlations were …

Data Driven Instruction In Teaching Poetry Analysis To Advanced Placement Literature And Composition Seniors, Andrea Reyes

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The goal of the poetry unit was to enhance students’ written ability by analyzing a variety of poetic literature to answer advanced placements practice prompts. I used the following research-based instructional strategies: homework and practice, nonlinguistic representations, and cooperative learning. I used the following research-based assessment strategies: essay writing, Quizizz, exit ticket, and topic, evidence, and analysis responses. The standards that the unit addressed are: LA.12.RP.2 Analyze the development and interaction of literary elements such as characterization, setting, and plot, and how they contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole, LA.12.V.2 Interpret an author’s use of figurative, …

Grandparents As Custodians Of Arabic As A Heritage Language In The United Kingdom, Fatma F.S. Said

All Works

The phenomenon of three-generation households is typical in many homes across the world, though perhaps less so in North America and Western Europe. When multigeneration families share the same physical space and take part in the same activities, the dynamics of parenting, eating, how time is spent and allocated, and relationships differ from families in which only parents and their children live together. One of the main (relevant) differences is that in these multilingual families there is easy access to the learning of heritage languages and socialisation into and through them. As the article will demonstrate shortly, such ease is …

Engl110 Course Syllabus (Composition), James Andrew Grammer

Open Educational Resources

Syllabus for Freshman Composition Course/Intro to Writing.

Exploring The Value And Replicability Of Integrating Refugees And Host Community Members Into Research Activities In Refugee Settings, Stella Muthuri, Dagim Habteyesus, Gloria Seruwagi, Yohannes Dibaba Wado, George Odwe, Peter Kisaakye, Francis Obare Onyango, Chi-Chi Undie

Humanitarian Task Force

The Population Council leads the Baobab Research Program Consortium (RPC) in partnership with Population Council-Kenya and the African Population and Health Research Center. One of the successes of the RPC has been its intentional engagement of refugees and host community members in various aspects of its research and intervention implementation activities, including community entry and engagement, training workshops, and data collection. The Baobab RPC’s 2022–23 annual review included a recommendation to review the experience of including refugees and host community members in data collection training workshops, and to assess the value and viability of replicating this approach. While the approach …

How Do The Students Feel? Long-Term English Learners And Their Experience Under The Esl Label, Molly M. Staeheli

Theses and Dissertations

Far too many English learners in my district enter elementary school as non-native speakers, gradually developing skills only to plateau at early intermediate levels as determined by the annual proficiency exam. As these students become long-term English learners (LTELs) in junior high, the pattern of failing and retaking the test wears on them, likely exacerbated by the district-mandated curriculum for English language development (ELD) classes. Unit topics such as money matters and U.S. national monuments at advanced levels fail to tap into students’ lived experiences. I responded to this problem of practice through mixed-methods action research, beginning with a quantitative …

“I Love Talking To Myself”: Language Learning Strategies Employed By Indonesian Faculty Members, Noprival Noprival, Alfian Alfian, Robi Soma

The Qualitative Report

Despite the existence of many studies on language learning strategies (LLS), little scholarly work reports the LLS used by faculty members in learning English, with most participants of previous studies being students. Further, most of those previous studies have been conducted using exclusively quantitative methods. In response to these empirical and methodological gaps, the current qualitative descriptive case study investigates how Indonesian lecturers employed their strategies over their path of enhancing their English proficiency. We collected data through semi-structured interviews obtained from eight Indonesian faculty members. In this study, we found five overarching themes, including practicing in academic fields, learning …

Representaciones Ideológicas Del Lenguaje Entre La Población Mexicana En Nueva York, Maria Del Rocio Carranza Brito

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the linguistic ideologies that Mexican migrants bring when migrating and reproduce in their daily interactions with other Spanish and English speakers, as well as the representations of the language presented in their linguistic behaviors. This work presents an intersectional analysis where the factors of gender, migratory status, education, and work are determining factors in the adoption, maintenance, and reproduction of language ideologies, which affect the linguistic decisions of the speakers in their use of Spanish, learning of English and the support of bilingualism. Based on the stereotypical idea of Spanish as the …

First Year Composition Syllabus, Krystal M. Orwig

Open Educational Resources

English syllabus for college level first-year writing students.

Eng 5007-600 Composition Theory And Pedagogy, Rachael Ryerson

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Hic 2190g-099 Introduction To The Health & Medical Humanities, Charles Wharram

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Eng 2901-002 Structure Of English, Jad Smith

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Eng 1105-001 English Forum Or How To Make The Most Our Of Your English Major, Melissa Caldwell

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Eng 2901-001 Structure Of English, Jad Smith

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Eng 2901-003 Structure Of English, Melissa Caldwell

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Eng 5007-001 Composition Theory And Pedagogy, Rachael Ryerson

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Eng 5091b-600 Language Linguistics Literacy, Melissa Caldwell

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Hic 2100g-001 Introduction To The Health & Medical Humanities, Charles Wharram

Fall 2023

No abstract provided.

Confronting The Political Economy Of Englishes In The Classroom, Katy Highet

International Journal for Research in Education

Despite celebratory discourses of Global English(es), scholars adopting political economic approaches have demonstrated the continued unequal distribution and valuation of English(es), and have shifted the focus to questions of unequal speakers in unequal conditions (Tupas, 2020). Drawing on ethnographic data from an English-teaching NGO for ‘disadvantaged’ young adults in Delhi, this paper seeks to contribute to political economic scholarship of English Language Teaching and Learning in two ways. In a first instance, I trace the shaping effects of class, caste and coloniality on how marginalised students orient themselves to notions of correctness and discursively reject fluid language practices. In a …

Grammar Instruction Embedded Within Writing Instruction In The Secondary Ela Classroom, Erika Scheu-Millek

Culminating Experience Projects

Available research indicates that American students are underperforming in the area of writing. Grammar is the foundation of the English language, so it follows that an understanding of the language system is inherent in the act of writing. Grammar instruction, however, has been largely absent from American ELA classrooms for the past half century. This project examines the research which supports grammar instruction as part of the writing process and synthesizes the most promising research findings into a writing unit for 11th and 12th grade students. This unit includes a genre-based framework for instruction, directed writing, sentence combining, and instructional …

“Young, Gifted, And Black”: Understanding The Complex Experiences Of High-Achieving Black Students In Ap Classes At A Diverse Suburban High School, Jody Elliott-Schrimmer

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the social and academic experiences of Black students in AP English classes at a diverse suburban high school. This study aimed to illuminate their experiences while giving voice to this traditionally marginalized group. Students provided recommendations for increasing academic success and belonging for future students as schools continually work toward gender and racial equity in the AP classroom. In this Critical Race Theory (CRT) oriented study, I sought to understand the essence of the Black experience in predominantly White academic spaces through a phenomenological methodology. I analyzed the significant moments and …

A Review Of Ai-Powered Writing Tools And Their Implications For Academic Integrity In The Language Classroom, Jasper Roe, Willy A. Renandya, George M. Jacobs

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

Writers have many digital tools available to help them with the creation of text. In some cases, these tools have been in existence for a long time, such as spellcheckers and basic grammar checkers that are available on word processing software. Today, new and increasingly more advanced tools are in use, and the ramifications of their use are not yet fully understood, particularly in the language classroom. Public interest in such tools has reached new levels with the release of artificially intelligent tools such as ChatGPT. In addition to this, the speed at which assistive writing technologies are developing may …

Investigating English-Language Dialect-Adjusted Models, Samiha Datta

Computer Science Senior Theses

This thesis describes several approaches to better understand how large language models interpret different dialects of the English language. Our goal is to consider multiple contexts of textual data and to analyze how English-language dialects are realized in them, as well as how a variety of machine learning techniques handle these differences. We focus on two genres of text data: news and social media. In the news context, we establish a dataset covering news articles from five countries and four US states and consider language modeling analysis, topic and sentiment distributions, and manual analysis before performing nine experiments and evaluating …

Tsenacommacah’S Role In The Survival Of Jamestown, Brandon J. Hewitt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

How was a small, unprepared, sick group of 105 English settlers in 1607 able to settle squarely in the middle of a native confederacy whose numbers surpassed 15,000 individuals? This work will attempt to answer this question. At the same time, it will explain how a small group of Englishmen could quickly expand and become the first thriving English colony in North America despite being in the middle of Tsenacommacah, home of the Chesapeake Algonquian chiefdom. This research will place the focus on the Powhatan chief's decision-making processes regarding economics and politics as the reasons the English were able to …

¿Cómo Se Dice...? The Spanish Use Of Hispanic College Students, Christopher Castaneda

Honors Theses

The Spanish language is very prominent in the United States. Millions of Spanishspeakers live there, and the use of the language in their day to day lives has augmented the presence of it in an otherwise Anglophone country. However, there are certain factors that may influence how often Spanish speakers actually use their language in this country. This study sought to analyze two: the existing anti-Hispanic attitudes in the United States and the parental/caretaker level of education of Spanish-speaking people. This study aimed to conduct an analysis of college-aged Hispanic students in order to conclude the extent to which those …

Systemic Theoretical Instruction: Tense And Aspect In Italian A Sociocultural Study Of American Learners Of Italian, Charles Joseph Panarella, Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

University-level language and second-language classrooms typically use general rules of thumb to teach grammar without considering its conceptual aspects and cultural origins. These general rules of thumb are normally taught using a communicative approach to language teaching which typically places little emphasis on immediate corrective feedback and learner development. Most assessments are static in nature and focus on right and wrong answers rather than their origins (i.e., learner development and microgenesis). The lack of corrective feedback and lack of considering affective factors have the potential to negatively influence language acquisition in terms of motivation and self-efficacy. In addition, foreign language …

The Lingua Anglica, Liliana Kotval

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The term Lingua Franca can be dated back to the Middle Ages, where the “Frankish language” was a French-and-Italian-based jargon spoken between crusaders and traders in the Eastern Mediterranean to optimize communication through a common tongue. Today, English is the Lingua Franca of Europe and, just like the Lingua Franca of the Middle Ages, optimizes communication between those in a culturally and linguistically rich continent.

English- due to several historical reasons, including the internationalization of Europe following World War II, competitive economic world powers, such as the United States, the expansion of the internet, among others- has proven to be …

The Would-Chuck Construction, Grace Teuscher

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

In Standard American English sentences, only one modal verb is typically allowed. However, in certain varieties of English, most notably the Double Modal Construction, spoken mainly in the American South, more than one modal is allowed. This thesis provides a syntactical analysis of a currently under-researched construction—the Would- Chuck Construction. Here, four modal verbs are allowed in the English middle field: first is typically will, followed by the perfect have, which is then followed by another modal and another perfect auxiliary. This results in a sentence resembling “I will have should have pet the cat.” When the linear order of …

Negative Polar Questions And Answers In English And Korean, Keunhyung Park

Theses and Dissertations

The meaning of positive polar questions (PPQs) is relatively straightforward, so the truth conditions of PPQs can be decided easily. In contrast, the meaning of negative polar questions (NPQs) may vary, and simple yes-no answers to NPQs have seemingly unpredictable interpretations. For example, a simple yes answer to a PPQ like ‘Did you have lunch today?’ is easily interpreted as ‘I ate lunch.’ In contrast, the same yes answer to an NPQ like ‘Did you not eat lunch today?’ is not obvious out of context. Why are NPQs more ambiguous than PPQs? Based on our empirical observations of the difference …