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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Negative Polar Questions And Answers In English And Korean, Keunhyung Park
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 …
“When You Out In Open Spaces”: Copula Absence In Afro-Texan English And The Origins And Development Debate, Brandon Davis Cooper
“When You Out In Open Spaces”: Copula Absence In Afro-Texan English And The Origins And Development Debate, Brandon Davis Cooper
Theses and Dissertations
African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is perhaps the most studied variety of American English, and interest in its origins and development has raised enough questions to launch a thousand studies. Naturally, positions on AAVE’s origins and development have become increasingly nuanced since the debate’s inception. Increasingly, AAVE is treated less like a monolith, and interest in the dimensions of its regional diversity has grown. No position on AAVE’s origins and development can be taken seriously if it fails to consider its capacity for areal differentiation. Indeed, most positions on AAVE’s origins and development now strongly assert the likelihood of multiple …
Acquisition Of The English Copula By Arabic Speaking Esl Learners: Evidence For Feature Reassembly, Jenna Steiner
Acquisition Of The English Copula By Arabic Speaking Esl Learners: Evidence For Feature Reassembly, Jenna Steiner
Theses and Dissertations
This study aims to identify whether the acquisition of the English copula by Arabic- speaking learners of English provides evidence for a performance or representational- based account of errors. The representational theory tested in this study is the Interpretability Hypothesis (Tsimpli & Mastropavlou, 2007) which proposes that language learners have only partial access to Universal Grammar (UG), making some language structures unacquirable for second language learners. The performance theory tested in this study is Feature Reassembly (Lardiere, 2008), which proposes that the source of errors lies with the mapping of features onto morphology rather inside the core computational component of …
Global-To-Local-To-Global: A Model For Tutoring Esl Students In The Writing Center, David Aguilar
Global-To-Local-To-Global: A Model For Tutoring Esl Students In The Writing Center, David Aguilar
Theses and Dissertations
Since its inception, the writing center has always focused on traditional students, and today that tradition is continued in such a way that the overwhelming amount of research dedicated to writing center theory and practice addresses the concerns of those students. However, universities with unique student populations, such as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with its majority of Hispanic students, require novel practices within their writing centers. Moreover, much of the linguistic, social, and cultural factors of the region are not well documented and therefore are not addressed by the mainstream theory and practices of other universities. With …
Attention Control And The Effects Of Online Training In Improving Connected Speech Perception By Learners Of English As A Second Language, Burcu Gokgoz-Kurt
Attention Control And The Effects Of Online Training In Improving Connected Speech Perception By Learners Of English As A Second Language, Burcu Gokgoz-Kurt
Theses and Dissertations
One of the aspects of L2 English phonology which poses a challenge for L2 learners is learning how to decode the language, especially as spoken by native speakers. This difficulty may be due to the way the native speakers speak by ‘draw[ing] [the sounds] together’ (Clarey & Dixson, 1963), which results in realization of consonants and vowels differently than when uttered in isolation. This process is referred to as connected speech (e.g., pronouncing ‘want to’ as [wɑnə], and ‘going to’ as [ɡʌnə]). The challenge in teaching and learning these forms is that they lack perceptual saliency, requiring extra attentional resources …
Borrowing The Essentials: A Diachronic Study Of The Semantic Primes Of Modern English, Karen Esther Swan
Borrowing The Essentials: A Diachronic Study Of The Semantic Primes Of Modern English, Karen Esther Swan
Theses and Dissertations
In order for communication to take place, there must be a set of core concepts that are universal to all speakers. Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) has proposed an inventory of these concepts, called semantic primes, and uses them as universal concepts in the explication and exploration of cultural values. The English semantic primes, while the majority are Anglo-Saxon, contain words that have been borrowed from Latin, Old Norse, and French. Borrowing lexical items into core vocabulary has many implications. First, the primes are not entirely stable or immune to foreign influence, even the Anglo-Saxon primes have been susceptible to the …
Computer-Aided Self-Access Pronunciation Materials Designed To Teach Stress In American English, Ann-Marie Krueger Bott
Computer-Aided Self-Access Pronunciation Materials Designed To Teach Stress In American English, Ann-Marie Krueger Bott
Theses and Dissertations
In recent years, increasing attention has been placed on providing pronunciation instruction that meets the communicative needs of nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English. Empirical research and pronunciation materials writers suggest that teaching suprasegmentals before segmentals to intermediate and advanced NNSs could be more beneficial in a shorter period of time. However, the majority of the materials available that emphasize suprasegmentals are textbook-based, relying principally on classroom settings and teacher feedback. The purpose of Pronunciation Progress: Stress in American English is to provide NNSs with pronunciation materials for self-access and student-directed learning environments. These materials are designed as a series of …
Preparing Students For Peer Review, Alison Irvine Mcmurry
Preparing Students For Peer Review, Alison Irvine Mcmurry
Theses and Dissertations
In order to enhance the effective use of peer review, I have developed materials to assist teachers in compliance with the standards for Masters' projects enacted by the Department of Linguistics and English Language. Published literature shows that as peer review grows in popularity in both L1 and L2 English writing classes, many researchers and teachers are trying to increase its effectiveness. In some cases it is very effective, while in others it is marginally effective. This has led researchers to ask why. The difference between helpful and less helpful peer review seems to be in the preparation. In studies …
The Effect Of Teachers' Error Feedback On International Students' Self-Correction Ability, Youngju Hong
The Effect Of Teachers' Error Feedback On International Students' Self-Correction Ability, Youngju Hong
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of teachers' error feedback on ESL students' self-correction ability. One hundred and nineteen international students enrolled in ESL composition classes at Brigham Young University's English Language Center participated in this research. The participants were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: (1) a coded feedback group, (2) a non-coded feedback group, and (3) a no-feedback control group. All participants were asked to write an in-class essay and to self-correct their grammatical errors during 20-minute time period. A grammar test and attitudinal survey were administered at the same time.
Hearing The Difference: A Computer-Based Speech-Perception Diagnostic Tool For Non-Native Speakers Of English, Justin Reed Shewell
Hearing The Difference: A Computer-Based Speech-Perception Diagnostic Tool For Non-Native Speakers Of English, Justin Reed Shewell
Theses and Dissertations
This project was completed to fill a need in the field of pronunciation teaching and learning by providing a computer-based, speech-perception diagnostic tool that helps determine learners' problem areas in the perception of English speech. Current diagnostic tools are few and very limited in their scope and application in the language classroom. The Perception of Spoken English Test diagnoses learners' specific speech perception problems, alerting teachers to areas that require special attention in a particular course or lesson. This project involved the development, production, piloting, evaluation, and revision of a computer-based instrument in an intensive English program. The data collected …