Modern Languages Commons^™

Impact And Utilization Of Asl Lab Spaces In University Settings, Nathan J. Dutra, Michele Vincent

Journal of Interpretation

American Sign Language (ASL) is a challenging yet rapidly growing language taught at both secondary and higher education levels. Despite its increasing popularity, there is limited literature on utilizing ASL labs as learning centers. This quantitative study examines the implementation of a new ASL lab at a large four-year university in California. It investigates the factors influencing participation, the motivations behind students' involvement, and their perceptions of the lab's effectiveness. Results indicate significant associations between course modality, instructor influence, and lab participation. The study suggests that ASL labs function as cultural and educational spaces that promote visibility of Deaf culture …

Spn 313: Advanced Communication Skills, Aleksin Ortega, Aleksín H. Ortega

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus for SPN 313 (Advanced Communication Skills) at the College of Staten Island, CUNY, presents a zero-textbook-cost, OER-based course in advanced academic writing in Spanish designed for a mixed population of heritage speakers and advanced second-language learners. The course follows a genre-based progression through four textual forms — description, narration, exposition, and argumentation — organized around a recursive writing process of drafting, instructor feedback, and revision. Its signature assignment, the Autobiografía lingüística (Linguistic Autobiography), serves as the Spanish program's ACTFL-aligned assessment artifact and is supported by a structured independent-inquiry project on dialectal variation. The syllabus foregrounds the dialectal diversity …

Zoom In And Zoom Out: (Re)Telling Our Cultural Literacy Practices Through Engaged Learning, Isela Almaguer

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Empowering bilingual learners to engage in the Zoom In and Zoom Out approach is a way to enrich and validate students' cultural identity and support students' linguistic and academic development while fostering rich writing opportunities for students. Teachers will discover a genuine way that empowers students to explore vocabulary, build comprehension, and acquire a love for writing. This effective multifaceted strategy approaches writing by leveraging students' cultural background and literacy practices. Students will capitalize on their funds of knowledge and use their experiences to further propel their writing efforts. By starting from within, diverse learners make stronger connections with the …

Universal Rules Of The Russian Sound Verbs’ Synthesis: Representation In A Matrix Of Forms, Irina V. Ivliyeva

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

English Abstract:

The article is devoted to the construction of a system of universal rules for the synthesis of modified verbs of the Russian language and ways of presenting them in a matrix table of forms. The aim of the study is to identify parameters of the sound process relevant for predicting the composition of modified sound verbs’ nests, and in developing a system of rules of word-formation synthesis. The research material consisted of 152 base verbs of sound in the Russian language and their 880 modified derivatives.

Methods of lexical-semantic, word-formation (WF) and component analysis are used in the …

The Pāḷi Text Of The Nīvaraṇasutta From The Aṅguttara Nikāya, Maksim Astashinskiy

Faculty Papers and Publications

The Pāḷi text of the Nīvaraṇasutta from the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 9.64) is anthologized in The Buddhist Era 2500 Great International Council Nīvaraṇasutta Pāḷi Tipiṭaka: 40 Volume Edition in Roman Script B.E. 2548 (M.L. Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund, 2005), https://suttacentral.net/ms. English translations by Thānissaro Bhikkhu from 1998 (or 2002) together with Bhikkhu Sujato from 2016–2018 are housed in SuttaCentral. The historically significant English translation of AN 9.64 is part of the multivolume, The Book of Gradual Sayings (Anguttara-Nikaya), or More Numbered Suttas, Vol. IV (The Book of the Sevens, Eights and Nines), Pali …

Lights, Camera… Interpretation: Navigating The Challenges Of Irish Sign Language Interpreting In Broadcast Settings, Kristina Cregan, Sarah Sheridan

Journal of Interpretation

Sign language interpreters working in broadcasted settings face added pressures due to its public nature. This research sets out to explore what the effects of being video recorded during assignments are on interpreters, and to examine how interpreters adapt to the challenges of broadcast assignments. To achieve this, an anonymous questionnaire was sent to Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreters who have experience working in broadcasted environments or being video recorded for public contexts. The questionnaire used a combination of open and closed questions to discover what the challenges are for these environments and how interpreters cope. A thematic analysis was …

Lesson Plan: Sr. Levadura (Mr. Yeast), Kali Elise Rye

World Languages and Cultures

This project addresses critical microbiology misconceptions concerning microbes and fermentation. Alongside Nuestra Ciencia’s lesson development team, this activity was researched and tested to demonstrate ideal fermentation conditions for yeast. In addition to the hands-on experiment, this project also required an interactive worksheet to be completed alongside the activity. With feedback from undergraduate students, researchers, and professors, the content was shaped to create an engaging, easily comprehensible activity that introduces microbiological concepts to students. As it has progressed, the Sr. Levadura (Mr. Yeast) activity has been implemented in two quarters of SCM 302 (Learn by Doing Lab) where over 400 elementary …

Voces Del Exilio Cubano, Jesenia Alvear

World Languages and Cultures

This project examines how Cuban immigrants, particularly those who fled the Fidel Castro regime, developed political perspectives after migrating to the United States. By focusing on Cuban immigrant communities, this project seeks to understand how experiences under a communist government and migration have shaped political beliefs. Within the United States, Cuban-Americans have become one of the most politically active Latino communities. As a Spanish and Political Science double major with Cuban family ties, this project represents both my academic interests and my own family experiences. Growing up, I listened to political conversations at family gatherings that seemed to consume the …

Linking (Imagined) Communities: World Language Students' Stereotypical Attributions To Native Speakers And Teachers Of German., Lucian Rothe

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Abstract This study explores language learners' stereotypical descriptions of native speakers (NSs) of German and their relationship with participants' perceptions of teachers of German. It expands motivation research that employs stereotypes to gain insight into university students' views of target language (TL) speakers (Rothe, 2022, 2025). Sixty‐seven learners of German and 43 learners of other world languages (WLs) pro vided responses about NSs and instructors, while also rating the stereotypes' perceived accuracy. Participants held various stereotypical notions about NSs, reflecting broader societal narratives. Learners of German pro vided more detailed stereotypical descriptions. Both groups considered favorable stereotypes as more accurate …

The Magic Wand: The Transformation Of Literary Journals And The Middle Class In Early Nineteenth-Century Germany, Charlotte Bayer

University Honors Theses

Compared to other products of German Romanticism, scholarship has almost entirely overlooked the magazine Wünschelruthe (1818). No in-depth, original research has been made on the magazine since 1929. Investigations into the Wünschelruthe have only been within the frame of its connection to more influential works and authors within the German canon or as digression in biographies on its main contributors, and these writings usually neglect the actual content in the magazine. From a catalogue of dozens of literary magazines produced in Germany during the late Enlightenment and Romantic eras, the Wünschelruthe is also one of a select few (if not …

Late Medieval Saint Valentine’S Day Observance Selection From Christine De Piza’S Le Dit De La Rose (The Tale Of The Rose), 1402, Maksim Astashinskiy

Faculty Papers and Publications

There are four known manuscript traditions (see below), including a membra disjecta, of Christine de Piza’s Le Dit de la Rose, see: “Christine de Pizan, Dit de La Rose.” Github.io, 2026, https://ditsma.github.io/Dits-du-Moyen-Age/roseChristine.html:

This translation is drawn from Ferdinand Heuckenkamp, Le Dit de la Rose von Christine von Pisan (Halle a. S.: Buchdruckerei des Waisenhauses, 1891), 12–13, 18-19.  https://archive.org/details/LeDitDeLaRose/mode/2up; also, see: La querelle du Roman de la Rose, Le Dit de la Rose, 14 février 1401, anc. st., Bibliotheca Augustana, https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/gallica/Chronologie/15siecle/Christine/chr_rose.html. 

1. Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Château (Musée Condé), 492-493 (1667-1668), fol. 74ra à 79ra …

La Maleta Siempre Lista: Libertad, Identidad Y Legado Político Dentro De Una Familia Cubanoamericana, Aidan H. Jammer

World Languages and Cultures

This project explores how memories of the Cuban Exile are transmitted through generations and how these memories can influence a Cuban American family’s cultural identity and political beliefs. The documentary was based around interviews with members of my family from different generations. My investigation was mainly centered around the generation that lived through the Cuban Revolution and Exile, immigrated to the US and started a family in another country, sharing their memories, values and beliefs of Cuba with their children and grandchildren.

In addition to the interviews, the project incorporates historical research about the Cuban Revolution, the first waves of …

Draw To Breathe, Ranran Ma

Masters Theses

This thesis explores visual expression in drawing as an intuitive mode of thinking suited to everyday life—a form of expression that runs parallel to language and surpasses it.

The project begins with a daily Post-it note drawing practice. These drawings often emerge before conscious understanding, subsequently accompanied by brief text, allowing image and word to resonate through emotion and intuition. Through the use of small-scale, portable, low-pressure materials, and with immediacy and intuitive freedom as the foundation of making, a visual language system grounded in the self develops. Through this sustained practice, I developed an instruction-based card system titled Draw …

Corazones Urbanos: Literary Cartographies And Southwest Cities In The Mexican American Spatial Imaginary, Jorge A. Hernández Jr.

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

Corazones Urbanos: Literary Cartographies and Southwest Cities in the Mexican American Spatial Imaginary examines how Mexican American writers from Tucson, San Antonio, and Albuquerque narrate, critique, and reimagine urban space across the U.S. Southwest in the twentieth century. Integrating literary studies, cultural geography, urban history, and critical regionalism, the project analyzes responses to racialized development, urban renewal, and gentrification that have displaced Mexican American communities from historic downtowns. Moving beyond borderlands and transnational models, it advances a critically regional approach attentive to local histories, municipal policies, and community pressures shaping urban life. Through close readings of creative and nonfiction texts …

Multi-Dimensional Scaling Of Web-Scraping Results From The A.A Zalizniak Grammatical Dictionary And The Russian National Corpus. Creating A Corpus Fragment Of All Possible Word-Forms Of Modified Russian Sound Verbs Using Web-Scraping Methodology. Compilation Of A Summary Table For The Participle Forms, Irina V. Ivliyeva, Perry Koob

Research Data

English Abstract:

This study investigates the development of multi-dimensional morphological profiles of Russian verbs of sounds, namely their participles, by integrating web-scraping methodologies and advanced digital visualization tools that is convenient and effective for a linguistic researcher.

The study demonstrates the potential of combining computational techniques such as web-scraping and digital visualization to enrich the understanding of complex, multi-source lexicographic phenomena.  The main task at this stage of the research was to collect, compile (combine results), analyze and present a summary index of all participle forms of sound verbs, recorded in electronic versions of  A.A. Zalizniak Grammatical Dictionary of the …

Developing Spanish-Language Campus Tours To Enhance Accessibility And Competitive Recruitment At The University Of Mississippi, Caitlyn E. Culpepper

Honors Theses

This thesis proposes and outlines an initiative that would bring Spanish-language campus tours and visit resources to the University of Mississippi, increasing accessibility to the campus visit experience while also providing institutional benefits within a competitive recruitment landscape. Through a review of current literature on Hispanic/Latino students in higher education, institutional enrollment and recruitment data, comparative research on peer institutions, and conversations with university professionals, this project explores the role that language accessibility, family engagement, and campus visits play in the college decision-making process.

Findings suggest that Hispanic/Latino students remain an underrepresented yet rapidly growing population in higher education and …

Learning Through Reading: Confronting Novel Linguistic Forms In Literature, Quinn Doyle

German Studies Honors Projects

How do readers learn to engage with novel forms of written language that fall outside of their established linguistic repertoire? And how do texts themselves facilitate this process? This thesis looks for answers to these questions in literary theory, multilingualism studies, applied linguistics, and a diverse corpus of literary works. I propose a comprehensive descriptive vocabulary of novel language use in literature, and then observe how these frameworks work in concert in an exemplary text by analyzing Christine Brooke-Rose’s multilingual novel Between. I conclude by discussing how the “exceptional” cases explored in this thesis can change our understanding of …

Anti-French Sentiment As A Factor In The Coup Belt, Foster P. Mcgrath

Politics Honors Papers

This thesis examines if anti-French sentiment is a significant factor influencing individuals' support for coups d'état in former French colonies in Africa, mostly in the sub-Saharan Sahel region which has earned the term "Coup Belt."

A Thesaurus Of The Greek Language: Cataloging Dimitrakos's Historical Lexicon, Harikleia Georgiou Sirmans

Georgia Library Quarterly

Library catalogers often work with challenging materials, particularly foreign language. This article documents a cataloger’s research of the journey to publication of the Great Lexicon of the Entire Greek Language. It tells the history of the dictionary’s entries from Ancient to Koine to Byzantine to Demotic and to Katharevousa Greek. The article also includes a biographical sketch of its creator, Dimitrios V. Dimitrakos, a self-made publisher. It describes his sociopolitical struggles to produce this work and his commitment to education. The dictionary is a massive 15-volume scholarly work, covering over 200,000 entries in 8,056 pages. Awarded by the Academy of …

Emotional Detachment In A Second Language: Exploring Emotional Expression In Bilingual Adults, Daniela Salas Lopez

Honors Theses

This qualitative study explored how bilingual and multilingual adults experience emotional detachment when using a second language and how language shapes emotional expression. This study aimed to examine how bilingual individuals personally experience these emotional differences in everyday life. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six bilingual or multilingual adults from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed five major themes: emotional detachment in a second language, reduced emotional intensity and meaning, increased cognitive effort and emotional fatigue, authenticity and emotional comfort in the first language, and identity and personality shifts across languages. Participants consistently …