Digital Commons Network^™

Portuguese As A Foreign Language: Motivations And Perceptions, Desiree Oliveira

Theses and Dissertations

Portuguese enrollments have been on a continuous rise at universities in the United States. Due to this increase it is important that teachers and department administrators understand what the motivations of Portuguese students are. This study reports on the findings of a survey conducted with lower-level Portuguese students at Brigham Young University regarding their motivations to study the language and compares these motivations with those of students of French, German, Italian, and Spanish. In addition, the study reports on students' perspectives on Portuguese in contrast to their perspectives on these other four European languages. Other issues considered include Portuguese students' …

The Efficacy Of Social Communication Intervention In Improving Emotion Inferencing For School-Aged Children With Language Impairment, Matthew Keith Frank

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) have demonstrated several language problems, including receptive and expressive deficits. A growing body of research has further demonstrated emotion understanding and, more specifically, emotion inferencing deficits that negatively affect the ability of this population to use language successfully in social interactions. Consequently, the present study examines social communication intervention focused on improving emotion inferencing for children with a diagnosis of LI or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as similar social communication deficits are occasionally seen in children with these diagnoses. Study participants were identified from the caseload of a practicing certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) and qualified …

The Development Of Two Units For Basic Training And Resources For Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages: "Using Songs To Increase Participation, Recall, And Enjoyment" And "Using Games For English Language Teaching", Jung-Eun Chung

Theses and Dissertations

As English continues to become the universal language in commercial, educational and social settings worldwide, there is an increasing demand for English language teachers (ELT). While many teachers are native English speakers, many of them lack formal training in pedagogy and content knowledge. One challenge of novice teachers is how to create a learning experience that is both engaging and enjoyable for English language learners. Basic Training and Resources for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BTRTESOL) created by Dr. Lynn Henrichsen, is a basic but comprehensive program to provide skills and resources to teachers with limited formal training, …

Hykss: Hybrid Keyword And Semantic Search, Andrew J. Zitzelberger

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid production of digital information makes the task of locating relevant information increasingly difficult. Keyword search alleviates this difficulty by retrieving documents containing keywords of interest. However, keyword search suffers from a number of issues such ambiguity, synonymy, and the inability to handle semantic constraints. Semantic search helps resolve these issues but is limited by the quality of annotations which are likely to be incomplete or imprecise. Hybrid search, a search technique that combines the merits of both keyword and semantic search, appears to be a promising solution. In this work we introduce HyKSS, a hybrid search system driven …

An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of A Call Program In A Pilot Curriculum At The Provo Lds Missionary Training Center, Amberly Patch Betteridge

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examines the implementation of one computer-assisted language learning program (CALL) called Technology Assisted Language Learning (TALL) in a pilot language curriculum at the LDS Missionary Training Center. Because CALL implementation is determined in large part by how successfully users are able to use the computer program to learn language, a primary purpose of this study was to investigate which implementation issues affected the language learning success of the missionaries that used TALL in the pilot curriculum. A survey was, therefore, designed and administered to 86 missionaries from French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin language areas in order to …

Writing From Sources And Learners Of English For Academic Purposes: Insights From The Perspectives Of The Applied Linguistics Researcher, The Program Coordinator, And The Classroom Teacher, Robb Mark Mccollum

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the challenges faced by learners of English for academic purposes (EAP) when required to complete writing assignments that use source texts. In order to address this problem, I explore the issue from the perspectives of applied linguistic researchers, writing program administrators, and classroom composition instructors. These three perspectives are highlighted in distinct articles that build on one another to create a more complete understanding of the challenges that EAP students face when writing from sources. The first article contains a literature review of relevant studies that explore the reading-to-write construct. Experts suggest that unintentional plagiarism, or patchwriting, …

The Effects Of Gender And Elicitation Method On The Prosodic Cues Used By 7- To 11-Year-Old Children To Signal Sentence Type, Lacey Ann Powell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the prosodic cues used by 7 to 11 year-old children to signal questions and declarative statements in terms of changes in fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity. Additional aims were to evaluate how children's use of prosody changes as a function of gender and method of elicitation. A group of 16 children participated in three different types of elicitation tasks (imitative, reading, and naturalistic). An acoustic analysis revealed that the participants produced the different sentence types using a variety of acoustic cues. Not only do children vary the mean of F0 and …

Mormon Contributions To Young Adult Literature, Toni Pilcher

Student Works

Mormon authors are making big splashes in the world of young adult (YA) literature, a relatively young genre that is targeted at readers from age 12 to age 18. Since 1967, when the American Library Association officially recognized YA literature as separate from children's books, writers and publishers have been trying to define the genre. It is, in a sense, coming of age. Generally, to be considered YA, a book has to have a teenage protagonist in situations with which a teenage reader can identify. Like literature for adults, there are a few limitations to subject and theme, but unlike …

A Study Of First Language Background And Second Language Order Of Acquisition, Meghan Elizabeth Aitken

Theses and Dissertations

One major topic that often appears in textbooks on second language acquisition (SLA) is that of order of acquisition of morphemes. Much research has been done on the issue in the past, and a particular acquisition order has been accepted by many in the field of SLA for second language learners of English. This order of morphemes is deemed invariant and not affected by the native language of the learner. This thesis examines this claim, using an elicited imitation test to target nine English morphemes. The results show that a learner's native language does indeed have an effect on the …

The Dilemma Of Mixed Methods, Bradford J. Wiggins

Theses and Dissertations

The past three decades have seen a proliferation of research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, available to psychologists. Whereas some scholars have claimed that qualitative and quantitative methods are inherently opposed, recently many more researchers have argued in favor of "mixed methods" approaches. In this dissertation I begin with a review of the mixed methods literature regarding how to integrate qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Based on this review, I argue that current mixed methods approaches have fallen short of their goal of integrating qualitative and quantitative methodologies and I argue that this problem may be due to a problematic ontology. …

Language Anxiety Among Heritage Speakers Of Spanish On The Texas-Mexico Border, Leigh A. Cherry

Theses and Dissertations

There is an increased need for bilingual education programs throughout the U.S. as a result of the increasing bilingual population, especially Spanish-English bilinguals. With the implementation of such programs there also exists the need to be aware of issues that affect bilinguals and their language learning experience. One of these issues that has been investigated among foreign language learners, but less among bilinguals, is the issue of language anxiety. This case study reports the findings gathered from classroom observations, a language survey, focus group interviews and teacher interviews in order to better understand the issue of language anxiety among heritage …

Computerized Oral Proficiency Test For Japanese: Measuring L2 Speaking Ability With Asr Technology, Hitokazu Matsushita

Theses and Dissertations

Developing a time- and cost-efficient method for second language (L2) oral proficiency measurement is one of the research topics that has attracted much attention in recent decades. The purpose of this study is to develop a computerized oral testing system for L2 Japanese using automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology. Two testing methods called elicited imitation (EI) and simulated speech (SS) are proposed to quantify L2 accuracy and fluency via ASR processing. This study also suggests systematic EI item creation leveraging corpus technology and discusses the effectiveness of the test items created through analyses of item difficulty. Further, refinement of the …

The Effect Of Elementary After-School Participation On The Transition To Middle School, Grant Scanland Adamz

Theses and Dissertations

This case study takes an in-depth look at what type of students transition from elementary to middle school 21st Century Community Learning Center programs. Using binary logistic regressions, I identify key characteristics that predict whether or not a student will continue to attend the program after they transition to a new school and then discuss how to improve the attendance of after-school programs. Moreover, this case study also identifies how different school program environments serve different types of students in two cohorts starting in fifth grade. Middle school context moderates the effects of other variables that are predictive of participation …

Full-Time Employment Ads In Tesol: Identifying What Employers Seek In Potential Hires, Caprice L. Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

Within the professional field of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), it is not unusual for highly qualified instructors to teach several part-time jobs in order to support themselves. Despite advocacy efforts carried out by the international TESOL organization, finding rewarding full-time employment in the United States can be very challenging. In addition, with the current state of the economy and high unemployment, TESOL professionals like others in various fields are seeking stable employment. Although this research will not solve the lack of full-time jobs, the intention is to help job seekers better prepare themselves for today's job …

Identifying The Effectiveness Of Pre-Listening Activities For Students Of Chinese Mandarin, Brandon Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Listening has proved to be a difficult skill to teach in the language classroom. Research has shown that pre-listening activities, or those activities done with students prior to listening, can have an effect on listening comprehension outcomes. This research addressed the effectiveness of two types of pre-listening activities: top-down and bottom-up. Volunteers from intermediate level courses taught at Brigham Young University were divided into two treatment groups and a control group. The treatment groups followed a mixed models design by each going through a top-down and bottom-up pre-listening activity, followed by listening to a passage in Mandarin Chinese and taking …

Comparing The Effects Of Two Forms Of Dynamic Corrective Feedback On Four Characteristics Of English Language Learner Writing, Judson Mc Kay Hart

Theses and Dissertations

Particular English language learners have a need to demonstrate high levels of accuracy in their written and spoken language production. Dynamic corrective feedback (dynamic CF) has been shown to facilitate L2 learner written accuracy attainment through providing manageable, meaningful, timely and constant feedback on authentic and frequent written language production. The research of this thesis examined the benefits of altering the dynamic CF model to be responsive to students' spoken production rather than solely their written production and measured the impact this adaptation would have on the established benefits of the instructional strategy on students' gains in written accuracy. The …

Elicited Imitation And Automated Speech Recognition: Evaluating Differences Among Learners Of Japanese, Shinsuke Tsuchiya

Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the usefulness of elicited imitation (EI) and automated speech recognition (ASR) as a tool for second language acquisition (SLA) research by evaluating differences among learners of Japanese. The findings indicate that the EI and ASR grading system used in this study was able to differentiate between beginning- and advanced-level learners as well as instructed and self-instructed learners. No significant difference was found between self-instructed learners with and without post-mission instruction. The procedure, reliability and validity of the ASR-based computerized EI are discussed. Results and discussion will provide insights regarding different types of second language (L2) development, the …

Vol. 12 No. 2 Religious Educator, Religious Educator

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

188 Unexplainable Name: Book Of Mormon Names No Fiction Writer Would Choose, Sharon Black, Brad Wilcox

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Bible: The Story Of The King James Version, 1611-2011; Begat: The Story Of The King James Bible And The English Language, Gordon Campbell, David Crystal, Brandie R. Siegfried

BYU Studies

GORDON CAMPBELL. Bible: The Story of the King James Version, 1611-2011. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010

DAVID CRYSTAL. Begat: The Story of the King James Bible and the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010

We are celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the first publication of the King James Version of the Bible, and Oxford University Press has published several books in support of that commemoration. I review two such here, both of which are intended for a general readership, well worth reading on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Each book provides a historical framework for understanding the continued influence …

Shopping Carts And Student Employees: How Student Committees Can Bring Innovative Ideas To Academic Libraries, Quinn Galbraith, Sara D. Smith

Faculty Publications

In 1999, ABC’s Nightline asked IDEO, a well-known innovation and design consultancy, to redesign the shopping cart in five days. While the challenge of re-imagining a cultural icon “inexplicably stuck in a sort of an innovation limbo”1 drew enough interest, even more compelling was the process the IDEO team used to research, brainstorm, and design the new model. The IDEO team threw out middle-management hierarchies based on experience or seniority—the project leader, who had only worked with IDEO for six years, was chosen for his skill in leading groups. The team members came from many disciplines, including psychology, architecture, linguistics, …

Social Networks, Language Acquisition, And Time On Task While Studying Abroad, Rebecca Ann Hillstrom

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to collect and evaluate the social networks of 32 study abroad students participating in the 2009 BYU study abroad program in Amman, Jordan. Survey data, language journals, and test scores were analyzed to determine how they successfully built social networks with native speakers, the relationship between students' social networks and time spent using Arabic outside of class, and the relationship between students' social networks and their acquisition of Arabic. The experiment provided a number of insights into how study abroad students meet potential conversation partners, select which relationships to pursue, and develop relationships in order to …

Postpartum Depression And Help‐Seeking Behaviors In Immigrant Hispanic Women, Lynn Clark Callister, Renea Beckstrand, Cheryl A. Corbett

Faculty Publications

Objectives: To describe perceptions of immigrant Hispanic women experiencing symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD) and to identify barriers to seeking mental health services.

Design: Qualitative descriptive.

Setting: Community health clinic.

Participants: Twenty immigrant Hispanic women scoring positive for symptoms of PPD receiving health care at a community health clinic who declined mental health services participated in audiotaped interviews held in their homes.

Methods: Following Institutional Review Board approval and informed consent, interviews were conducted with study participants. Transcribed data were analyzed as appropriate for qualitative inquiry.

Results: Some of the women did not recognize and/or denied their symptoms attributing their …

The King James Bible In America: Pilgrim, Prophet, President, Preacher, John S. Tanner

BYU Studies

John S. Tanner, BYU academic vice president (2004-2011), says the influence the King James Bible on American culture and history is like the air we breathe. This paper, given in 2011 at Oxford University, illustrates this influence by examining the central role the King James Bible played in the lives of a Pilgrim, John Winthrop; a prophet, Joseph Smith; a president, Abraham Lincoln; and a preacher, Martin Luther King Jr. Puritan leader John Winthrop's famous 1630 speech compared the Pilgrims bound for the Massachusetts Bay Colony to ancient Israel, as both sought a covenant with God in a promised land. …

Revisting William Tyndale, Father Of The English Bible, Ray L. Huntington, Jeffrey Marsh

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Tolerance Of Ambiguity And Inductive Vs. Deductive Preference Across Languages And Proficiency Levels At Byu: A Correlational Study, Jordan Ray Bledsoe

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relationships between roughly 330 participants' tolerance of ambiguity and their preference for either an inductive or deductive presentation of grammar by means of an online survey. Most participants were college students. Other variables examined included years of study, in-country experience, proficiency, age, year in school, and language of choice. A new instrument for measuring inductive vs. deductive preference was also created based on Cohen, Oxford, and Chi's (2001) Learning Style Survey (LSS). Results showed weak correlations between: tolerance of ambiguity and inductive preference (.25), tolerance of ambiguity and proficiency (.25), and inductive preference and proficiency (.20). …

Indigenous Women College Students' Perspectives On College, Work, And Family, Jennie L. Bingham

Theses and Dissertations

Native American and First Nations (hereafter referred to as indigenous) women college students are faced with a challenge to balance both their culture and the demands of the dominant Western culture in family, school, and work/employment roles. The presence of indigenous women in higher education and in the work force has increased since World War II. While there is an abundance of literature on work-family balance and work-family conflict, with some focus on the perspectives and expectations of college-aged students, there is a dearth in both of these areas with regards to indigenous populations. In order to begin to …

Oral Proficiency Assessment Of French Using An Elicited Imitation Test And Automatic Speech Recognition, Benjamin J. Millard

Theses and Dissertations

Testing oral proficiency is an important, but often neglected part of the foreign language classroom. Currently accepted methods in testing oral proficiency are timely and expensive. Some work has been done to test and implement new assessment methods, but have focused primarily on English or Spanish (Graham et al. 2008). In this thesis, I demonstrate that the processes established for English and Spanish elicited imitation (EI) testing are relevant to French EI testing. First, I document the development, implementation and evaluation of an EI test to assess French oral proficiency. I also detail the incorporation of the use of automatic …

Death Becomes Her: Theodicy In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Jack K. Mallard

Theses and Dissertations

A study of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, particularly "The Sound of Her Wings" and "The Kindly Ones: Part 13," demonstrates its theological richness. The Sandman's ability to participate in theodicy becomes clear by framing that study within a framework provided by Ernest Becker's ideas about the terror of death and Karen Armstrong's observations of the historical utility of negative theology and compassion. The analysis of the formal characteristics of The Sandman shows the range of aesthetic possibility inherent in the comics form. Lastly, the study makes apparent the continued readerly desire for engagement with questions about God, transcendence, …