Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons^™

Language Learning From The Developmental And Neurocognitive Perspective: An Examination Of The Impact Of Music On Second Language Acquisition, Shelby Grimm

Honors College Theses

This literature review aims to analyze the influence of music as a learning tool throughout the process of second language acquisition. Through the compilation and analysis of recent research conducted on the academic, cultural, and linguistic impacts of music on the four modes of language, which include reading, speaking, writing, and listening, this thesis will demonstrate the effects of incorporating music into the second language learning curriculum. Definitions of both music and language, as well as a description of the components of both areas will be included. An examination of the neurocognitive relationship between music and language, as well as …

Saternus Dissertation-Multilingual Literacy Practices In One Community.Pdf, Julie Saternus

Julie Saternus

Gestures As Mimetic Forms Of Identity In Post-Secondary Italian As A Foreign Language Classrooms: A Sociocultural Perspective, Ilaria Nardotto Peltier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigates the use of mimetic gestures of identity by foreign language teachers of Italian and their students in college classes as a form of meaning-making. All four of the teachers were found to use a variety of Italian gestures as a regular aspect of their teaching and presentation of self. Students and teachers also were found to mirror each other’s gestures. None of the teachers had been video-recorded before the study and all were surprised to see the degree to which they appeared to be Italian, although at the same time all believed this to be an important …

Taiwanese Willingness To Communicate In English: Can Watching American Television Programs Help?, Yu-Ting Chien

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study explored the relationship between Taiwanese audiences' use of American television programs and their willingness to communicate in English. Taiwanese participants filled out an online survey consisted of questions from uses and gratifications constructs and willingness to communicate constructs. In addition, different subtitle settings were also examined.

Results indicated that participants with high integrative motivation consuming information from American television programs, in addition, the setting of subtitles were associated with perceived communication competence, integrative motivation, language anxiety and social interaction motivation.

Korean Esl Students’ Use Of English Definite Articles, Hannah R. Morrett

Senior Honors Theses

Misuse of English articles is a very common error among ESL students. If a student’s first language does not contain an article, learning a second language that has an article system will prove to be very difficult. Korean is an example of a language that does not contain articles, but instead relies heavily on the context of the sentence, as well as determiners to indicate definiteness and specificity. In order to understand how students learn and acquire English articles, a basic understanding is needed of Language Acquisition and theories of Second Language Acquisition. These explanations are continued through various literature …

Identifying The Effectiveness Of Pre-Listening Activities For Students Of Chinese Mandarin, Brandon Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Listening has proved to be a difficult skill to teach in the language classroom. Research has shown that pre-listening activities, or those activities done with students prior to listening, can have an effect on listening comprehension outcomes. This research addressed the effectiveness of two types of pre-listening activities: top-down and bottom-up. Volunteers from intermediate level courses taught at Brigham Young University were divided into two treatment groups and a control group. The treatment groups followed a mixed models design by each going through a top-down and bottom-up pre-listening activity, followed by listening to a passage in Mandarin Chinese and taking …

Social Networks, Language Acquisition, And Time On Task While Studying Abroad, Rebecca Ann Hillstrom

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to collect and evaluate the social networks of 32 study abroad students participating in the 2009 BYU study abroad program in Amman, Jordan. Survey data, language journals, and test scores were analyzed to determine how they successfully built social networks with native speakers, the relationship between students' social networks and time spent using Arabic outside of class, and the relationship between students' social networks and their acquisition of Arabic. The experiment provided a number of insights into how study abroad students meet potential conversation partners, select which relationships to pursue, and develop relationships in order to …

Examining The Effects Of Pronunciation Strategy Usage On Pronunciation Gains By L2 Japanese Learners, Seth L. Robins

Theses and Dissertations

Language learning strategies have become an important element of second language acquisition research over the course of the last few decades. Much research on these strategies has been dedicated to speaking, reading, and other language skill sets. However, one essential skill needed for communication is pronunciation. No matter how proficient other areas of linguistic ability may be, it can be difficult to interact effectively with native speakers if one's pronunciation is poor. Yet research dedicated to pronunciation and language learning strategies is in surprisingly short supply. Of those studies that have researched pronunciation strategies, some have been dedicated to discovering …

Female Cfl (Chinese As Foreign Language) Learners' Acquisition Of Native-Like Features Of Feminine Chinese Speech, Shu-Ling Ko

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to evaluate the correlation between participants' acquisition of feminine Chinese speech patterns and time lived in Chinese speaking areas. These patterns include final particles, key words, request words, sentence patterns, and intonation. Data collection was administered through an on-line survey. Participants in this study included twenty female native Mandarin Chinese speakers and 39 female CFL learners. The data collected revealed the correlation between the participants' acquisition of feminine Chinese speech patterns and time spent abroad in a Chinese language environment. Part one of the survey targeted the demographics of the participants. The second part of the …

A Process-Based Call Assessment: A Comparison Of Input Processing And Program Use Behavior By Activity Type, Kathryn Rimmasch

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to better understand the mental processing connected to different kinds of CALL activities, this study collected data on time subjects spent, as well as buttons subjects clicked while doing 10 different CALL activities accompanying a beginning French text book. In addition, a group of subjects thought out loud as they completed the same activities. These subjects were recorded on video, their thinking out loud was transcribed and the transcriptions were coded according to how they indicated they were dealing with the language input. The frequencies of coded categories were compared to see if there were connections between …

Authentic Out-Of-Class Communication In Study Abroad Programs: Success Defined By Continued Motivation And Cultural Appreciation, Erin Fairlight Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

The benefits of study abroad experience in second language acquisition have evolved from unchallenged assumption to the focus of rigorous study in the past several decades. The benefits of out-of-class contact with natives have likewise been questioned. Despite conflicting evidence of its benefit, students frequently cite out-of-class conversations with natives as among the most beneficial aspects of their language acquisition experience. Reviewing the extant literature, this study narrows in on authentic communication-that is, meaningful out-of-class contact with natives, in which students are able to genuinely express themselves and their personality-as a previously unanalyzed element of study abroad research. It is …

Duplication In The L2 Spanish Produced By Quechua-Speaking Children: Transfer Of A Pragmatic Strategy, Ellen H. Courtney

Ellen H Courtney

Languages long in contact in the Andean countries, Quechua and Spanish are intriguing partners in bilingual speech because they exhibit very different word order patterns. In a study exploring the development of Spanish word order in Quechua-speaking children, Minaya & Luján (1982) reported that children frequently produced "hybrid" (S)VOV structures. They proposed that the children had a transitional grammar with a nonadult phrase structure rule.

This study presents a vigorous challenge to this claim. First, both adult and child speakers of Quechua duplicate not only verbs, but a variety of constituent types, presumably for emphatic effect. Second, the Minaya & …

Duplication In The L2 Spanish Produced By Quechua-Speaking Children: Transfer Of A Pragmatic Strategy, Ellen H. Courtney

Ellen H Courtney

Languages long in contact in the Andean countries, Quechua and Spanish are intriguing partners in bilingual speech because they exhibit very different word order patterns. In a study exploring the development of Spanish word order in Quechua-speaking children, Minaya & Luján (1982) reported that children frequently produced "hybrid" (S)VOV structures. They proposed that the children had a transitional grammar with a nonadult phrase structure rule.

This study presents a vigorous challenge to this claim. First, both adult and child speakers of Quechua duplicate not only verbs, but a variety of constituent types, presumably for emphatic effect. Second, the Minaya & …