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Spanish Linguistics

Theses/Dissertations

2017

Articles 1 - 16 of 16

Full-Text Articles in Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature

Substitute Salvation: An Online Classroom Resource, Rachel Callaly Dec 2017

Substitute Salvation: An Online Classroom Resource, Rachel Callaly

Honors Theses

As a teacher, not having a plan for days when you are not in the classroom is not an option. Usually, a teacher can plan a few days in advance and be prepared for a substitute teacher to come in. However, more often than not, the substitute is not certified to teach in the subject they are covering, which becomes particularly difficult in a World Language class, such as Spanish. Additionally, some days there is no advanced notice for an absence, and a last-minute plan has to be made. That is where Substitute Salvation comes in. Substitute Salvation is a …

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Understanding A Discourse Marker In Quito, Ecuador, Hannah Jesberger Dec 2017

Understanding A Discourse Marker In Quito, Ecuador, Hannah Jesberger

Honors Projects

The present research project examines the possible factors to explain the word-final /f/ in Ecuadorian Spanish including but not limited to: where it is used, who uses it (gender, age ranges, social class), and with which words it is most commonly used. As the first extensive research study on the word-final /f/, the project may lead to other investigations of this phenomenon and other features of Ecuadorian Spanish. In addition, if there are other variations of the marker pues in the Spanish varieties spoken in different regions and/or countries, researchers can use this present study as basis to analyze the …

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Self-Esteem In Spanish-Speaking Latinos In Northwest Ohio, Mckenna Freeman Dec 2017

Self-Esteem In Spanish-Speaking Latinos In Northwest Ohio, Mckenna Freeman

Honors Projects

Self-esteem is a widely-studied construct across many disciplines of social science. However, previous research regarding self-esteem and language barriers has focused primarily on children and adolescent populations, while much less research has examined this relationship among adults. The current study measures linguistic acculturation and self-esteem in both Latino and control adult samples. Hypothesis 1 states that participants in the Latino sample would report significantly lower self-esteem than the control sample. Hypothesis 2 states that linguistic acculturation levels in Spanish speaking Latinos would be positively correlated with self-esteem. Finally, a research question was addressed measuring the differences in self-esteem between foreign …

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The Benefits Of Immersion In Learning A Foreign Language, Cassidy Crouch Dec 2017

The Benefits Of Immersion In Learning A Foreign Language, Cassidy Crouch

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to measure the linguistic benefits of learning a foreign language in a study abroad immersion program through Western Michigan University’s (WMU) Spanish department. The participants in this study were all participants of the Santander, Spain program of the Summer II semester of 2017. Nineteen students in total went to Spain and eleven of them agreed to participate in this study. During the Spring 2017 semester the eleven participants were given a pre-departure questionnaire and oral interview where they were asked demographic questions as well as program-specific information. During the last week in Santander, Spain …

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Going Beyond The Textbook: Revitalizing Culture In The Spanish Classroom, Sarah Basar Dec 2017

Going Beyond The Textbook: Revitalizing Culture In The Spanish Classroom, Sarah Basar

Honors Theses

Effectively teaching the culture of a target language in foreign language classrooms can be a rather difficult and time-consuming task. Most often, culture is placed somewhere on a spectrum of either being a minor supplement to acquiring and learning the target language or utilizing culture as the direction through which grammar, vocabulary, and conversational practice are attained. Teachers’ beliefs, experiences, and resources all play a significant role in how culture is defined and taught in the schools of a country where globalization and immigration are quickly beginning to change the sociopolitical and demographic dynamics of our society. Thus, it is …

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The Use Of Visual Arts In World Language Instruction To Increase Student Motivation And Attitude, Marilena Bevilacqua Martello Dec 2017

The Use Of Visual Arts In World Language Instruction To Increase Student Motivation And Attitude, Marilena Bevilacqua Martello

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Because of the complexity and changeability that characterize languages, language learners face a number of various factors in their quest to acquire a new language. Nevertheless, it is the level of motivation and personal attitude toward language learning that will determine their rate of success (Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998). The purpose of this study was to find out (1) whether there was a relationship between the use of visual art in world language instruction and student motivation, and (2) whether student writing skills improved when visual art was used for Content Based Instruction. The study used a mixed method research …

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A Scarlet Ending, Alison J. Gibson Dec 2017

A Scarlet Ending, Alison J. Gibson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Dancing a duet with my shadow by integrating dance and digital media in an elaborate and entertaining performance.

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El Español De Canarias Y La Canariedad En La España Autonómica: Un Estudio Glotopolítico, Pablo Guerra Sep 2017

El Español De Canarias Y La Canariedad En La España Autonómica: Un Estudio Glotopolítico, Pablo Guerra

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation I intend to analyze the abundance of discourses about the Spanish from the Canary Islands from the 1980’s to present day. I have identified two key processes that are part of the consolidation of an autonomous field of reflection on language in the Canary Islands: the development of descriptive studies of the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands carried out in the Department of Spanish Language at the Universidad de La Laguna (Tenerife) during the first twenty five years of democracy in Spain, as well as the creation of the Canarian Academy of Language in the year …

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Continuidad Y Cambio En Los Condicionantes Lingüísticos Y Socio-Demográficos Del Uso Del Pronombre Sujeto En El Español De La Primera Generación En Nueva York, Lorena García-Barroso Sep 2017

Continuidad Y Cambio En Los Condicionantes Lingüísticos Y Socio-Demográficos Del Uso Del Pronombre Sujeto En El Español De La Primera Generación En Nueva York, Lorena García-Barroso

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In situations of bilingualism in the United States, it has been shown that speakers who alter their grammar (syntax or morphology) are mostly second generation, that is, Latinos born in the United States (Flores-Ferrán 2004; Montrul 2004 ; Silva-Corvalán, 1994). Research about Spanish in the US shows that second generation speakers have different features from those of the first generation who are Latinos born in Latin America. However, is it possible that all the speakers of the first generation behave grammatically in the same way due to the fact of being born in Latin America regardless of the amount of …

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A Portfolio Of Lesson Plans For A High School Spanish Classroom With Critical Reflection, Jasmyn Chacko Aug 2017

A Portfolio Of Lesson Plans For A High School Spanish Classroom With Critical Reflection, Jasmyn Chacko

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This Capstone projects features a portfolio of lesson plans along with assessments of these lesson plans, written by a site supervisor, and journal entries, written personally after teaching the lesson in the classroom. After reviewing and analyzing all of these documents, general reflections were written to show the changes I made over time and to consider what future improvements I commit to make. These general reflections will be supplemented with current research in the field of second language pedagogy and the critique written by my site supervisor. Overall, the goal of this Capstone project is to produce useful materials in …

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Effectively Teaching A Second Language: Principles And Practices, Alexander Gatica May 2017

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

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

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 addresses …

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The Immersion Process: Cross-Cultural Language Learning, Rachel Lunsford May 2017

The Immersion Process: Cross-Cultural Language Learning, Rachel Lunsford

Senior Theses

This study seeks to analyze the effects of motivation, awareness, and the immersion process through study abroad on foreign language production. Three participants were analyzed, two of which studied abroad and one who did not (my control case). Two of the three participants lacked the variable of awareness, measured as perception and reflection on language learning development, while only one participant (Participant M) who studied abroad in both Costa Rica and Spain, was made aware of her own learning process via a language learner’s journal and monthly recorded conversations. By studying abroad in two Spanish-speaking countries, Participant M selfreported the …

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The Role Of Attitudes And Motivations As Major Factors In Acquisition Of Spanish As A Second Language, Laura Cabaniss May 2017

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.

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Defining Spanglish: A Linguistic Categorization Of Spanish-English Code-Switching In The United States, Leah Mernaugh Apr 2017

Defining Spanglish: A Linguistic Categorization Of Spanish-English Code-Switching In The United States, Leah Mernaugh

Honors Projects

This paper will linguistically explore the forms of Spanish spoken by Spanish-English bilinguals in the United States in order to argue that Spanglish is a complex linguistic system governed by a set of specific linguistic rules and patterns. I will do this by drawing on previous research in this field that examines the phonological patterns, morphological trends, and syntactic constraints that govern acceptable code switches between English and Spanish (Otheguy, 1993; Rodriguez-Gonzalez and Parafita-Couto, 2012; Rothman and Rell, 2005; Lipski, 2008; et al.). This evaluation of Spanglish will also include description and assessment of different arguments regarding how it can …

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Lengua Y Violencias En Colombia: Discursos Sobre Patrimonio Lingüístico (1991-2010), Carolina Chaves-O'Flynn Feb 2017

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

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 are …

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Narrar Lo Inenarrable: Trauma, Memoria Y Dictadura En Argentina, Gloria Yaneth Losada Jan 2017

Narrar Lo Inenarrable: Trauma, Memoria Y Dictadura En Argentina, Gloria Yaneth Losada

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines new ways to think about postdictatorial memory, subjectivity, and cultural production. I explore memory discourses after the most recent military dictatorship in Argentina, compiled in three novels: El fin de la historia by Liliana Heker, La casa de los conejos by Laura Alcoba, and Diario de una princesa Montonera -110% verdad- by Mariana Eva Perez. My research concentrates on the possibility of postdictatorial cultural production being a constantly transforming space, in which the meaning of the dictatorial past is actively produced. Drawing from interdisciplinary theoretical considerations, I examine the relationship between memory and cultural production in postdictatorship …

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