Applied Linguistics Commons^™

Cultivating Connections: Future Approaches To Tourism Esl Pedagogy, Kelly Abrams

Student Research Symposium

My poster will display my research that investigates the pivotal role of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in Cuba's tourism sector and its broader implications for global tourism contexts. Through qualitative methods including written questionnaires and oral interviews with people working in the tourism industry in Cuba, I examined the significance of language proficiency, particularly English, in various industry roles within Cuba's tourism and hospitality sector. Findings highlight how ESP facilitates effective communication, elevates service standards, and fosters career progression for individuals working in the sector. Furthermore, my research underscores the interconnectedness of language and tourism, emphasizing the importance of …

My Father's Story: An Ethnography About Language Loss, Ariel Wilsey-Gopp

Student Research Symposium

War disrupts everything, including a child’s developing language and cultural identity. My father grew up in both Serbia and Germany during the post-WWII political upheaval. By the time he was an adult, he knew five languages, yet lacked his own language and languaculture (Agar, 1994).

It benefits us to understand more completely the effects of language loss as political borders continue to shift and human migration increases. Research in social sciences, psychology, and biology all examine the effects of trauma, the brain, and child development. Applied linguistics examines language loss in relation to Second Language Acquisition (Altarriba & Heredia, …

Prosodic Analysis Of Wh-Indeterminate Questions In L2 Korean, Jung In Lee

Student Research Symposium

Wh-indeterminate questions, particularly wh-questions and yes-no questions, in Korean are ambiguous due to the limited morpho-syntactic markers in the sentence. The absence of these markers leaves two questions syntactically identical, leading to lexical ambiguity. The disambiguation of these two questions relies primarily on prosodic cues. Drawing from previous studies in the L1 Korean context, this study examines the intonation patterns of English learners of Korean in producing and perceiving wh-questions and yes-no questions and explores if there is any sign of L1 influence from English. Five English learners of Korean, who received formal instruction in Korean at a U.S. university, …

Second Language Acquisition In The Era Of Technology And Artificial Intelligence: Exploring New Frontiers, Mimoun Akhiat

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This portfolio is the capstone project of the Master of Second Language Teaching program. It offers perspectives and insights into major themes of importance to the writer. It begins with a general introduction pertaining to the writer’s education and teaching background, his goals for joining the program and an overall reflection of this experience. Following this is the writer’s teaching philosophy comprised of a description of professional environment and a teaching philosophy statement centered on the principles of multimodality, authenticity, and collaboration. The second section of this portfolio is entitled hands-on teaching experience where the writer presents and reflects on …

An Idiolectal “Voice Report” Analysis Of Single And Double Coda Devoicing In Minnesota English, Ettien Koffi, Nicolas Wollinski

Linguistic Portfolios

The Voice Report function in Praat makes it possible to calculate the amount of voicing that occurs dynamically within a segment. This function is used here to investigate how Author 2 produces voiced consonants that occur in the codas of 15 words in an elicitation paragraph read at a normal tempo. Some words end with a singleton coda, while others have double codas. When the measurements are interpreted in accordance with F0 and the 40/60 Just Noticeable Difference (JND) thresholds, we see that coda devoicing is pervasive in Author 2’s speech. When the evidence presented here is added to the …

An Acoustic Phonetic Investigation Of Lexical Stress Encoding In Vietnamese-Accented English, Ettien Koffi, David Mason

Linguistic Portfolios

A psychoacoustic methodology is used to investigate lexical stress encoding by 15 Vietnamese-Accented English (VAE) speakers. In this framework, Just Noticeable Difference (JND) thresholds in F0/pitch, intensity, and duration are used to investigate the strategy that speakers rely on to produce lexical stress. The key finding for VAE speakers is that they rank the three acoustic correlates as follows: F0 (67.61%) > Intensity (54.28%) > Duration (31.42%). According to Nguyen and Ingram (2005) and Nguyen (2017), this hierarchy mirrors the strategy that Vietnamese speakers rely on to encode tone in their native language. Transferring their native prosodic strategy into English affords them …

Accentedness And Intelligibility: The Typical Phonetic Story Of An Lx Couple In The Us, Mahdi Duris

Linguistic Portfolios

For the past 20 years, intelligibility research has paved the way in making pronunciation teaching and learning about individual competency rather than sounding like a native speaker. The body of research has empirically shown that language speakers of English (Lx) can be intelligible while sounding heavily accented. However, studies have yet to examine how first-generation immigrant couples from different cultural backgrounds interact with each other using an Lx. A phonetic analysis of an oral transcription is conducted to describe the segmental features of Dominican English (DomE) and Pakistani English (PakE), two Lx English spoken by Tabinda and Tariq, as they …

Klattgrid And Formant-Based Speech Synthesis: Demonstration With Betine, Hannah Loukusa, Jacob Haapoja

Linguistic Portfolios

In this paper, we describe a method for extracting speech segment features from an audio recording such that speech may be reconstructed while maintaining emphasis and stress with minimal annotation. We also present a script for the linguistic research tool, Praat, for performing this extraction and reconstruction via KlattGrid synthesis [1]. This technique contributes to the ongoing research efforts to preserve the Betine language (ISO 639-3:eot), one of 10 critically endangered languages spoken in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa.

Speech Synthesis By Syllable A Concatenation: Experimentation With Betine, Ettien Koffi, Daniel Fabres, Swathi R. Pingili, Gopikrishna K. Chava

Linguistic Portfolios

The endangerment of minority languages has reached pandemic proportions. No country or continent is spared. The editors of Ethnologue (2019:14-15) report that 2,923 of the world’s 7,111 languages are critically endangered. McWorther (2003:257-8) adds that, statistically speaking, “A language dies roughly every two weeks.” UNESCO (2010) projects that 90% of the world’s indigenous languages will be dead by the end of 2100. In Africa alone, Kandybowicz and Torrence (2017:3) note that 201 languages of the estimated 2000 languages have already died, and 308 others are on the brink of extinction. Minority languages worldwide are in such deplorable conditions that the …

The Acoustic Phonetic Properties Of Voiceless Fricatives In Anyi, Ettien Koffi

Linguistic Portfolios

African languages are well endowed with fricatives. Common ones /f, v, s, z, ʒ, ʃ, h /, less common ones /β, ɸ, s’, ç, ɣ, χ, ɦ/, and rare ones /ʃw, ɕ, ɕw , zɥ/ are all found in West African languages (Ladefoged 1968:45-66). Yet, surprisingly, there is a severe paucity of data on the acoustic phonetic properties of fricatives in these languages. This paper seeks to remedy this situation by providing a comprehensive overview of voiceless fricatives in Anyi, an Akan language spoken in Côte d’Ivoire. Twelve correlates, i.e., F0, F1, F2, F3, F4, Center of Gravity, intensity, duration, …

Synthesizers Demonstrated On Betine, Clare Miller, Isabella Randolph

Linguistic Portfolios

This paper provides basic information on developing speech synthesis to help preserve and revitalize critically endangered languages. It uses Betine, (ISO 639-3:eot), as a model. The death of minority languages is escalating globally, and 90% are predicted to die by 2100, which results in the loss of cultural heritage and knowledge. Synthesizing speech in dying and near-extinct languages can preserve and even revitalize them. The paper includes spectrographs and waveforms of the given Beti name transcribed phonetically as [aːɟo]. It also contains voice component measurements and the synthesizing programs used for comparison. The measurements taken from the data include F0/pitch, …

The Acoustic Phonetic Properties Of The Epenthetic Vowel In Spanish-Accented English, Luis Lopez

Linguistic Portfolios

The purpose of this research paper is to describe the acoustic phonetic features of the epenthetic vowel inserted by Spanish-accented speakers of English in sC syllable onsets. Numerous studies have examined this issue. Many have identified the epenthetic vowel as [ɛ]. However, its true acoustic phonetic identity has not been established. This is the first study of its kind that relies on acoustic phonetic measurements to examine the epenthetic vowel. Formant correlates (F0, F1, F2, F3, F4), intensity, and duration cues are used in revealing the true properties of this epenthetic vowel. The insights derived from this study also have …

Socio-Acoustic Survey Responses To Infant Cry Samples: Why Intensity In Dba Matters The Most, Ettien Koffi, Benjamin Witts

Linguistic Portfolios

Infant cry researchers, Fairbrother et al. (2019), Collardeau et al. (2019), Rahman et al. (2023), among others, have reported that crying alone triggers unwanted and intrusive thoughts in some postpartum parents, including thoughts of harming their babies. Barr (2014) states unambiguously that crying is the main trigger of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), also referred to as Abusive Head Trauma (AHT). Yet so far, there is no consensus in academic circles as to which acoustic correlate is responsible for triggering these thoughts or actions. Most work to date is concentrated on F0/pitch, though findings about its influence are conflicting. Meanwhile Koffi …

Gamers’ Perception Of Accents And Stereotypes In Video Games, Camille Mcdermott

Linguistic Portfolios

This paper reports on a research study examining how gamers respond to questions regarding accents used in video gaming. With the increase in technological advances, video games are becoming an intricate part of many people's lives. In this paper, we hope to critically analyze gathered research on the effects of repeatedly using stereotypical accents in video games to see if the continued use has influenced gamers' perceptions of minorities and/or ethnicities. The research will also indicate whether video games impact how gamers view accents in the gaming world and whether they recognize any stereotypical ideas they may have picked up …

A Comprehensive Review Of Formants: Linguistic And Some Paralinguistic Applications, Ettien Koffi

Linguistic Portfolios

The ability to use Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and spectrographs to disentangle, measure, and visualize formants has had a profound and beneficial impact on fields as varied as signal processing, acoustic phonetics, speech pathology, speech synthesis, and voice biometrics. However, formants are relatively unknown to the average phonologist or linguist. This review is intended to explain the benefits of knowing formants and using them in the description of languages. The focus is on F1, F2, F3, and F4 because they are the most important formants. Yet, passing remarks are made about F5. Elements of the discussions include F0 (pitch) because, …

Editor’S Prologue: Welcome To The 13th Volume, Ettien Koffi

Linguistic Portfolios

No abstract provided.

La Voz Del Autor En El Discurso Médico Y Sus Implicaciones En Ele, David Sanchez-Jimenez

Publications and Research

La demanda de profesionales de la salud que pueden prestar atención lingüísticamente concordante al paciente en contextos multilingües explica el aumento de los cursos de español médico en el currículo de pregrado y posgrado en instituciones universitarias de Estados Unidos en las últimas décadas. El aprendizaje de los estudiantes matriculados en estos cursos requiere el conocimiento de las características retórico-discursivas propias de los principales géneros discursivos que estudian durante su carrera para fines específicos en el campo de la salud los alumnos universitarios de español, cuyo fin último será el de replicarlos eficazmente en su práctica profesional. Por ello, en …

Teachers’ Raciolinguistic Ideologies In The Shl Classroom: Considerations For Shl Teacher Development, Valeria Ochoa, Sergio Loza

11th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language

Abstract: As Latinx enrollment in US university Spanish-language courses continues to rise (Beaudrie & Marrero-Rivera, forthcoming), numerous studies detail the transformative potential of SHL pedagogy for US Latinxs as an educational experience (e.g., Holguín Mendoza, 2018; Leeman, 2005). Recent progress has been driven by the study of language ideologies as a critical area of inquiry to reckon with the disparities that US Latinxs face within SHL education (Loza & Beaudrie, 2022). Such disparities are predicated on dominant raciolinguistic ideologies that often impose idealized language varieties and identities on Latinx youth (Barillas Chón, 2022). Although critical materials, curriculum, and pedagogical approaches …

“I Want To Help End Linguistic Discrimination”: Community-Based Global Learning In An Upper-Level Spanish Class, Jessica Cox

11th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language

Community-based global learning (CBGL) can be a high-impact practice for heritage learners by promoting students’ awareness of linguistic ideologies in local and global communities. This presentation will share the aims and structure of a CBGL program and assessment of that program, with a focus on learners’ critical language awareness.

Pedagogical Principles In Action: Open Educational Resources For The Teaching Of Spanish As A Heritage Language, Amy Aldrete

11th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language

"Pedagogical principles in action: Open educational resources for the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language"

Keywords: Spanish as a Heritage Language, OER, textbooks, frameworks

The emergence and expansion of Open Education Resources (OER) create new opportunities for stakeholders at all levels of education; they facilitate social inclusion and access to education, an essential human right, due to low production costs and availability (UNESCO, 2019; Farrow, 2016). In addition, OER allow teachers to share and edit teaching resources and to adapt them to the specific needs of their students (COERLL, 2021). In the area of Spanish as a Heritage Language …