Modern Languages Commons^™

Turismo En Nicaragua: Los Éxitos Y Fracasos De La Última Esperanza De Un Gobierno, Julia Devane

World Languages and Cultures Senior Capstones

After decades of political instability left the people of Nicaragua to suffer with homelessness and poverty, the government turned to the tourism industry as a last effort to generate much-needed revenue, which had initially promised economic results. This essay will argue that the tourism industry was developed unsustainably for local populations and explain how the government's push for a tourism industry focused only on the needs of the tourists visiting their country rather than the needs of the locals participating in the tourism industry.

Abordando La Brecha De Desigualdad En Chile: Inquietud Civil Y Política, Savannah Taylor

World Languages and Cultures Senior Capstones

This essay analyzes the underlying causes of the socioeconomic and income inequalities from which Chile still suffers. Moving through a brief historical analysis, it discusses such inequalities from the perspective of the 2019 protests. Finally, the essay identifies three primary potential causes of the unrest and inequality. The unequal education system, unstable political institutions, and disagreement of the management of valuable natural resources all exist as a barrier to achieving a satisfactory level of equality among the people of Chile.

Testimonio At Work: The Power Of Malintzin Researchers, Freyca Calderon-Berumen, Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, Karla O'Donald

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

We are three Latin American women, once travellers – now US dwellers, mujeres de color, Mestizas, Neplanteras – sometimes ‘Malintzin researchers’ struggling to make sense of all our pieces, identities and changing faces. We draw upon the disruption of apartheid of knowledge in academia, arguing for counter-narratives through the use of pláticas and testimonio as tools to theorize personal experiences that contribute to the decolonization of educational research. We are advancing pláticas and testimonios as epistemological and methodological approaches to challenge and disrupt widespread Westernized research approaches that continue colonizing the U.S. education research.

Translanguaging Practices Of Chinese/English Bilingual Engineers’ Communications In The Workplace, Juan Du, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Existing literature argues for the urgent need to improve workplace and professional communication in the engineering field across the world. This paper reports on a study examining Chinese/English bilingual engineers’ translanguaging practices in their communications in English-speaking high-tech corporations in the United States. Evidence showed that bilingual engineers translanguaged extensively to construct meaning to meet the diverse communication needs at their workplace, which enables them to demonstrate their professional talents and skills. However, when English was the sole language for the interaction, they struggled to sound like English native speakers to convey their ideas and present their work, which disadvantaged …

Checking In: Learner Perceptions Of The Value Of Language Study In College, Julian Ledford, Tijá Odoms

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

An understanding of the products that Generation Z students value the most from their college-level language study is essential for instructors who must effectively unpack second language theories within the context of their classroom instruction. This preliminary study examines the value system regarding language study as revealed in the language-learning perceptions of a group of current language learners (n = 53) and recent college graduates (n = 49) at a small, private, liberal arts college in the southeast. Through qualitative analysis of student responses, the following emerged as language-learning …

Bilingual Behaviors: Learning Context In Second Language Acquisition, Sydney M. Fulton

Honors Thesis

Language separates human beings from other species in the animal kingdom. Not only does language provide humans with a means to communicate, but it represents one’s family, cultural identity, and personality. There are over six thousand spoken languages in the world today, and around half of the earth’s inhabitants speak more than one language. First language acquisition is a natural process for all humans that begins before birth. The human brain can acquire multiple languages during infancy, but many people acquire a second language after the brain has fully developed. Knowledge of more than one language allows one to make …

Hipersexualización E Infrarrepresentación: La Representación De Las Latinas En Jane The Virgin Y Modern Family, Laura Zarate

Honors College Theses

The Latinx community is one of the fastest growing groups in the United States and accounted for half of the total population growth from 2010-2019. Despite the increasing numbers, the statistics for Latinx representation in the media continue to be low. Numbers for Latinx writers, producers, and actors are significantly lower than their non-Latinx counterparts and Latinas, in specific, are one of the most underrepresented groups on television and often being portrayed as hypersexual in comparison to other groups of the same gender. While this underrepresentation has been researched in relation to women, there is limited discussion regarding the lack …

A Leadership Journey: How Advising Shapes An Institutional Culture, Jacquelyn Jones, Melissa Welker, Jonikka Charlton, Janna Arney

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

Although we know advising can be conceptualized as a critical component of an integrated and comprehensive student success strategy on a campus, it is often difficult to implement. This chapter will provide a case study of the development and execution of a leadership initiative at an American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) institution to transform advising in service of the goals of student equity and success. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's advising model grew out of a convergence of a handful of key momentum points including strategic planning processes and the use of emerging data surrounding …

Formations Of The Mayan Diaspora In Guatemala And The Us: Land, Migration, And Linguistic Ideologies As The Markers Of Diasporic Separation., Daniel Antipov

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the phenomenon of diaspora formation among the indigenous Guatemalan population as a major identity marker in the new Guatemalan immigrants in the US. This work provides: definition of diaspora, its historical frames, juxtaposition of the self and the Other, and separation and differentiation of the indigenous languages

Covid's Effect: World Dependency On Chinese Supply Chains, Rhiannon Toole

Senior Honors Projects

COVID’s Effect: World Dependency on Chinese Supply Chains

Since the 1990s, China has accelerated to become a global economic superpower. After the nation overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy in 2010, it began to become clear to the world that China was no longer a nation to be overlooked, and that utilizing their massive economy would prove to be invaluable from a growth and monetary standpoint. Of course, this all came to a halt in early 2020 due to COVID’s impact on global supply chains, many of which were sourced out of the virus’ origin country. Companies worldwide …

Phonological Processing Of Stress By Native English Speakers Learning Spanish As A Second Language, Ramsés Ortín, Miquel Simonet

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

One feature of Spanish that presents some difficulties to second language (L2) learners whose first language (L1) is English concerns lexical stress. This study explores one aspect of the obstacle these learners face, weak phonological processing routines concerning stress inherited from their native language. Participants were L1 English L2 learners of Spanish. The experiment was a sequence-recall task with auditory stimuli minimally contrasting in stress (target) or segmental composition (baseline). The results suggest that learners are more likely to accurately recall sequences with stimuli contrasting in segmental composition than stress, suggesting reduced phonological processing of stress relative to a processing …

Student Centered Language Teaching: A Focus On Student Identity, Rachel Mano

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

This portfolio is a compilation of essays that describe what the writer has come to see as essential topics in second language acquisition. It begins with a professional environment piece, and then a teaching philosophy statement focused on student identity and interaction in the classroom. This is followed by an essay on observations of teaching. The next two sections focus on pragmatic resistance among advanced learners and the importance of preparing learners for peer interaction. The portfolio concludes with an annotated bibliography outlining the main concepts associated with Communicative Language Teaching, a method that is commonly employed in second language …

La Diversidad Lingüística Durante Y Después Del Franquismo En España, Molly L. Taylor

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

La historia lingüística de España es rica y diversa, pero ha sido sofocada por varios gobernantes españoles para promover el uso del castellano, o la lengua de "prestigio". Quizás las políticas lingüísticas más opresivas se promulgaron bajo el dictador Francisco Franco a lo largo del siglo XX. Estas políticas lingüísticas que trabajaron para promover el uso exclusivo del castellano se pueden ver en la educación, las leyes regionales, los paisajes lingüísticos e incluso las actitudes con respecto al idioma. Mientras existen esfuerzos para promover las lenguas y dialectos minoritarios que fueron silenciados durante el franquismo, los efectos de las políticas …

Resurrecting Gaelic: Modernity And Heritage Language Revival In Scotland In A Comparative Perspective, Sean Coady

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Many people from across the world have little or no connection to their heritage languages. Whether this loss is caused by conquest, colonialization, or simply lack of parent-child transmission, many believe that they are missing an integral part of their cultural identity and want to reclaim the languages of their forebearers. There is wide debate about how, why, and if this linguistic reclamation and revitalization should happen because, in the face of modernity and language evolution, the best solutions are not always clear. What constitutes successful language revitalization in the modern world, and why does it happen? Gaelic in Scotland …

Mephistopheles' Atopy, Allotry, Lottery. On Textual Proliferations In Goethe's Faust I And Ii, Pasqual Solass

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

Combining a careful reading of selected passages from Goethe’s Faust I and II and of marginal but nevertheless revealing lines on maybe the actual protagonist of the “Tragödie”, Mephistopheles, this paper aims to present aspects of what one could call Goethe’s vision of a modern devil. Taking departure from etymological considerations on the root of “diabolus”, i.e. diabállein, meaning to cast apart, to scatter, but also to accuse, as well as from different beliefs of German “Aberglaube” (superstition), it will become clear that one if not the major feature of Goethe’s Mephistopheles-figure is movement, not just …

Service Learning With Migrant Equity Southeast, Rachel Klien-Hart

Eagle Showcase: Excellence in Service-Learning (Archived)

Through the Spanish Department’s pilot program, Spanish for Community Engagement, I have had the opportunity to serve as a Community Apprentice for Savannah’s nonprofit, Migrant Equity Southeast (MESE). This experience has greatly developed my understanding of the Hispanic community while applying the tools and lessons I have learned in the classroom. Each week, I have gained more experience and awareness of the needs for local immigrant families. I have learned about immigrants’ rights relating to education, housing, interactions with law enforcement, and work. I have researched available resources for immigrants including food banks, legal assistance services, rent assistance, and medical …

Las Voces Desde La Liminalidad Sino-Peruana: –Una Lectura Comparativa De Mongolia Y La Vida No Es Una Tómbola–, Jing Tan

LSU Master's Theses

Chinese immigrants first arrived in Peru in the mid-19th Century. Since then, the Sino-Peruvian community has lived through myriad vicissitudes. Today, despite its indisputable influence in Peru’s history, it is still largely invisible in society, just as the concept of an Asian Latin American identity remains elusive in the national consciousness. In the literary and academic world, the scarcity of a voice highlighting Chinese legacies in Peruvian literature is echoed by the dearth of such a voice in the criticism regarding works by Sino-Peruvian writers about Sino-Peruvian experiences.

This comparative analysis engages with two novels that evince deep parallelism with …

Clic Newsletter - Spring 2022, Daniel Alegre, Michael Berman, Antonio Gonzalez D'Orazio, Penelope Soto, Qiaofei Yan, Kevin Zhou

CLIC Newsletter

Cover Page

PAGE 1: Interview with director of CLIC, Dr. Alessia Dalsant

PAGE 4: Event Throwback: International Trivia Night

PAGE 5: Restaurant Recommendations

PAGE 9: LP at Sea: Updates on Coti’s Study Abroad

PAGE 12: Event Throwback: UEFA Champions League @ CLIC

PAGE 13: Sports Across the World

PAGE 15: Recipes To Try From Our LPs’ Countries

PAGE 20: Interview with Students Who Studied Abroad

PAGE 24: Event Throwback: Foreign Language Karaoke Night

PAGE 25: Interview with Exchange Students at Bentley

PAGE 27: Cultural and Identity Student Organizations at Bentley University

PAGE 30: Interview with Mariana Varela – Fall LP …

Language Barriers In The U.S.: Exploring The Protection Of Human Trafficking Victims Whose Native Language Is Spanish, Rachel Klien-Hart

Honors College Theses

Human trafficking exists as a multi-billion-dollar industry that impacts millions of people around the world, mainly targeting vulnerable populations. In the United States, one vulnerable population includes non-English speaking victims trafficked for labor, agriculture, domestic, or sex purposes. Protecting trafficking victims involves providing justice, medical assistance, identification, therapy, rehabilitation, and reintegration tools which often falls within the purview of nonprofit organizations. Research on human trafficking has underscored language barriers as a key obstacle in the protection of trafficking victims. However, little is known about the role of language barriers in the nonprofit sector, and specifically the experiences of nonprofit organizations …

Translation Studies And Public Policy, Gabriel Gonzalez Nunez

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

Chapter 9 discusses relationships between translation and public policy. When challenges of organizing public spaces involve the use of more than one language, translation is often employed, and, in such circumstances, translation may serve a variety of functions, including the deployment of language policies alongside other policy aims such as the promotion of human rights or multiculturalism. The chapter explores this link between public policy and translation, presenting a survey of insights that have been provided by scholars, and suggesting areas where scholarship can provide further understandings. These insights are important, given the continuing multilingualism and diversity of societies.