Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons^™

Tribalism And Democratic Transition In Libya: Lessons From Iraq, Christine N. Myers

Global Tides

This paper explores the historic role of tribalism in colonial Iraq and Libya as well as its prevalence and role in the countries today and its effects on democratic state-formation. It discusses the ideology and actions of the Ba’athist Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and the Jamahiriya under Muahmmar Gaddafi including the regimes' attempts to exploit tribal loyalties to bolster their power. The paper also explores the role of the tribe in the governments of Libya and Iraq after Hussein and Gaddafi were removed from power. It explores problems tribalism poses to democratization in modern-day Libya and Iraq. These threats …

The Ethiopian Conception Of Time And Modernity, Messay Kebede

Philosophy Faculty Publications

If there is one thing that philosophers agree upon, it is that the meaning of time is a central philosophical question. If we take the Western world as an example, there is no famous philosopher who has not investigated time. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger, to indicate the centrality of time, writes: “all ontology is rooted in the phenomenon of time correctly viewed and correctly explained.”

Likewise, according to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, the main reason that philosophical questions are difficult is because “we do not think about real time.” The fact that the question of time is very …

Pre-Service Teachers: An Analysis Of Reading Instruction In High Needs Districts Dual Language Classrooms, Michael Whitacre, Zulmaris Diaz, J. Joy Esquierdo

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Pre-service teachers need opportunities to apply theory and connect to best practices as they teach in classroom settings be it, whole or small group. For many pre-service teachers often times their experience is limited to simply watching instruction or working with small groups of students (Pryor & Kuhn, 2004). The student teaching experience is a critical component of the teacher preparation program. Through the use of the English Language Learner Classroom Observation Instrument (ELLCOI), and researcher observation the hope is that these will aid in bringing to light the instructional activities used by pre-service teachers during reading instruction with ELLs. …

The Use Of A Virtual Guest Speaker As A Catalyst For Deep Learning, Alcione N. Ostorga, Peter Farruggio

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Teaching undergraduate students as they prepare to become bilingual teachers is often a challenge due to their maturational development and the logistical limitations of college courses. Nevertheless, teacher educators must foster preservice teachers’ understanding of factors that impact learning and academic success. This article analyses the use of a virtual guest speaker in an asynchronous discussion as a way to promote critical analysis of policy issues which superseded the memorization of concepts taught in the course. Analysis reveals that the virtual guest speaker served as a catalyst for critical thought about the course content.

Cultivating Bilingual Learners’ Language Arts Knowledge: A Framework For Successful Teaching, Isela Almaguer, J. Joy Esquierdo

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

It is essential to support bilingual learners’ language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an increasingly diverse population and an increasing number of bilingual learners in formal school settings. This article introduces a framework for accomplishing both linguistic and content literacy simultaneously. The framework takes into account the four elements of the principles of learning, learner appropriate pedagogy, contextual interaction theory, student language (L1/L2) proficiency level, and a …

Why Did I Ask That Question? Bilingual/Esl Pre-Service Teachers’ Insights, Zulmaris Diaz, Michael Whitacre, J. Joy Esquierdo, Jose A. Ruiz-Escalante

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Questioning techniques have historically been considered the measurement by which teachers challenge and gauge student learning. Much has been said about questioning strategies used by teachers; yet little is known about the strategies used by pre-service teachers, especially those that are working with English language learners. This study presents findings from a qualitative study that explored what types of questions pre-service teachers use and their reflections on the use of such strategies. Eight bilingual/ESL pre-service teachers in South Texas were videotaped during a math and a language arts lesson, attended focus groups, and participated in an exit interview. The findings …

Beyond The Trauma Of War: Iraqi Literature, Yasmeen S. Hanoosh

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

A decade after the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, we cannot approach Iraqi literature today without recognizing the multiple shifts and varieties in its expression. In a matter of ten years, the post-Ba'thist era has witnessed the sudden fall of a long-lasting dictatorship, an encounter with Western occupation, and an unprecedented upsurge in sectarian discourses, to name only the most prominent events. In addition to these influences, the development of contemporary Iraqi literature is the product of several fluctuations in cultural expression that span the bulk of the twentieth century. The abrupt transitions from the Hashemite monarchy (1932–58) to 'Abd al-Karim …

Destroy Or Be Destroyed: Contending With Toxic Social Structures In Naguib Mahfouz’S Midaq Alley, Stephanie Hasenfus

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Coptic Scriptorium, Caroline T. Schroeder, Amir Zeldes

Department of Religious Studies Faculty Digital Projects

Coptic SCRIPTORIUM is a platform for interdisciplinary and computational research in texts in the Coptic language, particularly the Sahidic dialect. As an open-source, open-access initiative, our technologies and corpus facilitate a collaborative environment for digital research for all scholars working in Coptic. We provide:

• tools to process Coptic texts
• a searchable, richly-annotated corpus of texts using the ANNIS search and visualization architecture
• visualizations of Coptic texts
• a collaborative platform for scholars to use and contribute to the project research results generated from the tools and corpus

Coptic SCRIPTORIUM is a collaborative, digital project created by Caroline T. Schroeder (University of …

Rewriting Revision: A Case Study Of First Year Composition Students, Myshie M. Pagel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This case study focuses on the revision practices of seven first year composition students at a U.S./Mexico border community college. The analysis of revision practices is framed by the negotiation of dissonance between gist and intention. Three types of data were collected: screen captured writing sessions, instructor comments, and participant interviews. The data was analyzed through a grid based on Faigley and Witte's taxonomy grid of revision changes. This included three major categories: surface level, meaning preserving, and text base level changes. As in past studies on revision, the participants in this case study followed a similar trend. A majority …

Bilingual Adult Nonword Repetition Performance Patterns In English And Spanish, Gabriela Villaneda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Nonword repetition (NWR) is known to assess phonological working memory. During NWR, the individual listens to made-up words and repeats them back. This study evaluated NWR performance patterns, and the relationship between NWR and language recall tasks among forty English and Spanish bilingual adults. Bilingual adults' ages ranged from 18-67 years. Four language recall tasks were administered, including NWR tasks (assessed by PPC), language questionnaire to assess participants' language usage in English and Spanish, sentence repetition task (assessed by raw score), and a story retell (assessed by NDW). All recall measures were administered in a counterbalanced manner across English and …

Promising Pedagogical Practices For Emergent Bilinguals In Kindergarten: Towards A Mathematics Discourse Community, Sandra I. Musanti, Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In the current U.S. context, it is relevant to disseminate research that portrays in detail how bilingual teachers create challenging and safe mathematics learning environments for emergent bilinguals. It is critical to identify pedagogical approaches that foster emergent bilinguals’ participation in mathematics conversations and discourse practices where language is considered a pedagogical resource. This is possible when teachers understand that young Latino/a students come to school with a wide range of cognitive and linguistic tools, which they can use to help them make sense of problems posed in the classroom. Using case study methodology, we define and provide a detailed …

Acoustic Analysis Of The Allophones Of The Mid-Front Spanish Vowel /E/, Raquel Gonzalez De Anda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the Spanish phoneme /e/ and its open allophone(s). Current literature shows that there is no complete agreement with regards to the specific phonetic environments that trigger the opening of /e/, nor if "open" is the best term to describe the allophone(s). Examining /e/ allophones in Spanish monolinguals clarifies current literature inconsistencies; and therefore, creates a baseline for future studies related to this particular vowel. In this study, the speech of ten Spanish monolingual university students was recorded. Participants read a list of words that contained /e/ in certain phonetic contexts. Each instance of /e/ was acoustically analyzed …

Event Related Potential Changes In A Two-Stimulus Auditory Oddball Task In Concussed College Athletes: A Linguistic Component, Paola G. Sanchez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

"Return to Play" decisions are done based on cognitive-communicative testing and clinical assessments; concussed athletes may benefit from electrophysiological testing for a more accurate representation of their recovery. The purpose of this study is to investigate the electrophysiological performance post-concussion analyzing the attentional differences using the traditional "oddball" paradigm with a CV linguistic component. Participants for this study were 6 male college athletes with a history of concussion and 10 participants with no history of concussion (controls). Athletes were evaluated using event-related potentials (ERPs) that were recorded during a consonant-vowel (CV) auditory oddball task. Both the P300a and P300b components …

Treatment For Children With High Functioning Autism: A Comparison Of Social Stories To Musically Adapted Social Stories, Veronica M. Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The incorporation of music and social stories has been seldom tested, thus a study which uses a single-subject, alternating treatment design assesses the effects of standard social stories versus musically adapted social stories on the pragmatic abilities of an individual with high-functioning autism is presented. The goal of this project was to determine whether read social stories versus musically adapted social stories would be more beneficial in reducing problem behaviors in a child with high-functioning autism. Both types of social stories were implemented with the participant and the data supported the effectiveness of both treatments. Though the musically adapted social …

Human Rights Policy Paper: Rape As A Tactic Of War, Sarah Fitzgerald

Global Studies Student Scholarship

This paper reports on rape used as a tactic of war, outlining the scope of the problem and introducing policy options to address the issue on a global scale. Policy options targeted at relief services include increasing direct aid through funding fistula surgeries, building rural hospitals, and providing skills training for women awaiting surgery. Additional policy options addressing the problem at its root include legislative changes to stop impunity at the International Criminal Court, revising the Convention on Genocide to include sex and gender, utilization of devices such as the Rape aXe, and changing the culture of misogyny through educational …

Iktomi: A Character Traits Analysis Of A Dakota Culture Myth, Marianne Sue Kastner

Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative study comparing three separate English-language versions of a single Dakota cultural myth "Iktomi" presents a novel systematic approach for analyzing Native American folk tales to understand how stories function as tools of transmission of cultural information and knowledge. The method involved coding character traits according to type with regard to representation, ability, or attribute to ascertain patterns among the codes and elucidate character roles and relationships, reorganizing the coded traits into paired polarized correspondences to clarify relationships among traits, and assessing pronoun use and documenter effect pointing to gender-specific character activity. Findings revealed an encoded framework illuminating how …

An Evaluation Of Electronic Annotated Readers For First Graders In Chinese Dual Immersion To Improve Reading Comprehension And Character Recognition, James H. Cloe Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an evaluation of online annotated readers developed for first grade students enrolled in Chinese immersion. The electronic readers were created to provide additional input to immersion students, who had little time in class for Chinese character reinforcement. The students accessed online readers from their homes and took assessments before and after each reader to test for improved character comprehension. In addition, students were divided into treatment and control groups. The treatment group had annotated electronic readers with audio and games. Conversely, the control group did not have annotations but audio was included. Results demonstrate a significant difference …

Linguistics Improvements And Correlates In A Japanese Study Abroad Program, Geoffrey Scott Biesinger

Theses and Dissertations

Study abroad (SA) is typically thought to provide an excellent opportunity for second language acquisition, particularly through exposure to and application of the target language within the target culture. However, actual language gains vary greatly among SA participants and some may gain very little (Freed, 1995a). The purpose of the current study is to determine some specific linguistic gains made by 28 second language learners of Japanese studying for two semesters in Japan, and to determine possible correlates with these gains. Specifically, it addresses whether or not these SA students improve their grammatical proficiency, lexical proficiency, narrative ability, fluency, and …

Neoliberal Teacher Preparation: Conceptualising A Response In The Us Borderlands, Michael D. Guerrero, Peter Farruggio

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

The current era of neoliberal capitalism has witnessed the domination of public education by business interests which openly promote the spirit of competition among schools, educators and students through a policy of high stakes accountability for immediately measurable educational outcomes. In the USA, this policy proposes to make teacher educator programmes accountable for the impact of their programme completers on student achievement, namely standardised test scores. Consequently, some programmes have begun to rethink their practices in an effort to avoid negative sanctions. Unfortunately, little empirical evidence of improvement is available to teacher educators, particularly those committed to the preparation of …