Digital Commons Network^™

Motivation In Learners Of Japanese As A Foreign Language: An Analysis Of Profiles And Behaviors, Britainy Dawn Sorenson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines motivation in English L1 learners of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) by analyzing the students' responses to a questionnaire modeled after Dörnyei's research and an observational instrument called the Motivation Behaviors of Language Learning (MBLL) modeled after Guilloteaux and Dörnyei's (2008) research on motivational teaching strategies on behaviors. The data from the questionnaires were subjected to a discriminative analysis of students answers in relation to a high grade (receiving a B- or higher) or lower (C+ or lower) in their Japanese classes. A Factor Analysis of the data was also carried out. The discriminative results could …

Russian Parenting: Interactions With Relational Aggression Over Time, Emily Kim Keister

Theses and Dissertations

The current study considers Russian parenting (psychological control) and child relational aggression across a decade. We used parent and child driven path analyses to test whether peer-directed and romantic relational aggression is associated with psychological control both concurrently as well as longitudinally. Using AMOS, parent and child driven models were compared and the parent driven models were found to have more significant concurrent and longitudinal linkages. Maternal psychological control was significantly stable over time; relational aggression was also stable over time for girls. Maternal psychological control at Time 1 was associated with relational aggression for girls at Time 1 and …

Literary Case Histories And Medical Narratives In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Travis Wade Austin

Theses and Dissertations

Literature and medicine are not usually seen as related disciplines, but scholars have already begun producing fruitful scholarship regarding historical and aesthetic interactions between them. This thesis adds to that scholarship by examining medicine and literature in nineteenth-century Britain. More specifically, Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both use nineteenth-century medical case conventions to tell their stories. Furthermore, because both works deal with addiction, divided selves, and the power that physical substances can have on morality and character, these two works provide an excellent comparison coming …

Learning English Through Interactive Weblogs: Student Experiences Blogging In The Secondary Esl Classroom, Glori H. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research project examined the experiences of high school English language learners as they created personal weblogs and responded to queries on a class weblog. The data from the project demonstrates that blogging as a classroom writing activity is effective in helping students to obtain, process and construct the English language.

Spanish-Speaking Parents' Perceptions Of School-Based Crisis Response., Brenda Dean

Theses and Dissertations

American schools are becoming increasingly diverse. With the increasing diversity in school enrollment, professionals are faced with the challenge of providing culturally sensitive services in all areas, including crisis intervention planning. Additionally, language differences also affect help-seeking behaviors and may serve as a strong barrier to effective service delivery. Taking into account individual school and district demographics, schools must consider strategies to best meet the needs of students and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. As a starting point, this thesis provides an overview of the literature on school crisis response. Current demographics in U.S. public schools, the perceptions …

Cumorah And The Limited Mesoamerican Theory, Andrew H. Hedges

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

From the time the Book of Mormon was published, its readers have wondered about its geographical setting. Following is a lively debate between two thoughtful scholars. To motivate study of this topic, the Religious Educator offers their different viewpoints.

Problems With Probability: A Response, Andrew H. Hedges

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Reply to Roper's “Plausibility, Probability, and the Cumorah Question.”

Revelation, Text, And Revision: Insight From The Book Of Commandments And Revelations, Grant Underwood

BYU Studies

This article is one of several in this issue about the Book of Commandments and Revelations (BCR), a foundational document of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This article explores how the textual revisions preserved in the BCR shed important light on the process by which Joseph Smith received, recorded, and published his revelations. It has long been recognized that revelations published in the 1833 Book of Commandments were revised for publication in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. Less well known is that those texts were also edited prior to publication in the Book of Commandments or The …

A Narrative Account Of The Wider Impact Of The 7 July 2005 London Bomb Attacks, Shahid Bux, Sarah M. Coyne

Faculty Publications

The London bombings on 7 July 2005 highlighted the prevailing terrorist threat to the UK. The present study addressed the psychological response of community (n=294) indirectly exposed to the attacks to discern he broader impact and effects of terrorism. Qualitative content analysis was used to develop a profile of emotions and responses to the attacks. This was supplemented by the use of linguistic analysis demonstrating the enormous heterogeneity and complexity of responses to terrorism. In light of previous work on the wider impact of terrorism, the present study highlighted a relatively restrained impact of terrorism. Notwithstanding this observation, responses were …

The Effect Of Fatigue On Acoustic Measures Of Diphthongs In Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis, Kristi Lee Hollis

Theses and Dissertations

Although recent literature suggests that fatigue influences the communication of people with multiple sclerosis (MS), its relationship to acoustic measures of speech, specifically formant transitions during diphthongs, has not been explored. In the present study, 11 participants diagnosed with MS, two of whom were perceptually dysarthric, and 12 control subjects were recorded as they performed selected speech tasks in both the morning and the afternoon. Before each recording session, participants rated their fatigue level. The participants with MS gave significantly higher ratings of fatigue than the control group. The speakers with MS had longer diphthong durations in a non-fatigued state, …

Finish-A-Rhyme-Story: A Rhyme Cloze Assessment For Preschool Children, Kimberly Jeanne Condie

Theses and Dissertations

Educators need measurement tools to determine phonological awareness in young children. This study investigated the appropriateness of rhyme cloze tasks, referred to as Finish-a-Rhyme-Story items, which were designed to measure preschool and kindergarten children's early rhyme development. The rhyme cloze tasks required children to verbally complete a sentence by filling in a final rhyming word that matched a rhyme pattern highlighted in a short story that was read aloud to them. The task required rhyme awareness as well as comprehension of the language in the story. Twenty-four items were individually administered to preschool (n = 207) and kindergarten (n = …

A Poem, A Fervid Lyric, In An Unknown Tongue: Translation, Multilingualism, And Communication In Charlotte Brontë'S Shirley, Amanda Bishop Erdmann

Theses and Dissertations

In this essay, I will argue that looking at translation and multilingualism both as a mode of storytelling and as a theme of Brontë's second published novel Shirley can help to uncover previously untapped moments of connection and understanding in the novel. Brontë's exploration of translation and use of multilingualism reveals a sincere urge to connect in spite of tremendous difficulties—connect her characters to each other, connect her narrator to her readers. It is an ambitious, over-reaching goal, which Brontë did not ultimately attain. Yet, for Brontë, her (especially female) characters, and her narrator, translation in all its forms represents …

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of Motivational Strategies In The Foreign Language Classroom, Ashley Ruesch

Theses and Dissertations

Motivational research has recently shifted focus to include what role teachers, and the motivational strategies they use, play in the language learning classroom (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007; Dörnyei & Csizer, 1998). Motivational research has traditionally gathered data from either teachers or students. However, researchers have recently been calling for a shift in focus from this individualistic perspective to evaluating motivation more holistically (Dörnyei, 2001a; Oxford, 2003; Ushioda, 2006). Nevertheless, few studies have included the opinions of both the students and teachers. This study has elicited the opinions of both students and teachers to find out which teaching practices both groups …

Validity Of Seven Syntactic Analyses Performed By The Computerized Profiling Software, Stacy Lynn Minch

Theses and Dissertations

The Computerized Profiling (CP) software extracts several quantitative measures from a transcribed sample of a client's language. These analyses include the Mean Length of Utterance in Words (MLU-W) and in Morphemes (MLU-M), the Mean Syntactic Length (MSL), the Syntactic Complexity Score (SCS), Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS), the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn), and the Picture-Elicited Screening Procedure for LARSP (PSL). The validity of these measures was examined by comparing them to the number of finite nominal, adverbial, and relative clauses contained in samples from 54 first-, 48 third-, and 48 fifth-grade students and 24 young adults. The DSS and SCS …

Psychometrically Equivalent Monosyllabic Words For Word Recognition Testing In Mongolian., Valarie Nicole Haslam

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to record a set of Mongolian monosyllabic word lists that could be used to obtain a word recognition score. A word list was developed of 190 frequently used monosyllabic words which had been selected by a group of raters. Native male and female Mongolian talkers were utilized to make digital recordings. The 190 words were divided into 10 lists of 19 words. The lists were presented to 20 normally hearing subjects at 10 different intensity levels ranging from -5 to 40 dB HL in 5 dB increments. An S-curve distribution was used to divide …

Cultural Responsiveness In The Special Education/Esl Department: Faculty Perceptions At Brigham Young University, Temma Jo Devereaux

Theses and Dissertations

Faculty members from Brigham Young University's special education/ESL program participated in professional development centered on increasing multicultural competence. The primary investigator interviewed faculty members regarding their perceptions of professional development. After conducting the interviews, faculty members' feedback was coded to determine whether or not the professional development aided them in infusing more culturally sensitive practices into the curriculum and created a more sensitive learning environment for students from diverse backgrounds. Researchers also coded the faculty members' feedback to determine if faculty members felt they have changed at an individual/personal level in terms of how they view their own cultural background …

A Comparison Of Seven Automated Measures Of Syntactic Complexity, Laura Elizabeth Wilde

Theses and Dissertations

This study compared seven syntactic measures which can be automatically generated by the Computerized Profiling (CP) software: Mean Length of Utterance in morphemes or words (MLUm or MLUw), Mean Syntactic Length (MSL), the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn), the Picture Elicited Scoring Procedure (PESP) for the Language Analysis Remediation and Screening Profile (LARSP), the Syntactic Complexity Score (MSC) scoring of LARSP, and Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS). Language samples came from 192 children, 106 typically developing children, ages 5;6 to 11;2 and 86 children with language impairment, ages 5;6 to 11;1. Patterns of correlation were consistent for children with or without …

Puppets, Pioneers, And Sport: The Onstage And Offstage Performance Of Khmer Identity, Marel Angela Stock

Theses and Dissertations

Most tourists visiting Cambodia only seek to visit the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat. The Cambodian, or Khmer people are capitalizing on this booming tourist industry, but they are also disseminating a more complex Khmer identity through other sites and festivals. This identity simultaneously hearkens back to the affluence of the Angkor Period in Khmer history and looks forward to the modernization of the country. After the reign of the Khmer Rouge, from 1975-1979, which led to what is now called the Cambodian Killing Fields, the Khmer people needed to create a new, hopeful, peaceful identity for their nation. …

Phonemic Categorization Of Eight-To-Ten Year Old Children With An Articulation Disorder, Marjorie A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Phonemic categorization is the ability to discriminate and organize speech sounds into categories. This ability begins soon after birth and continues to refine as an individual matures. An association between categorical labeling and phonological awareness has been reported. A strong link between perception and production has been established. The present study examined phonemic categorization of two groups of four listeners. Eight-to ten-year-old children with an articulation disorder were compared with typically speaking peers to determine if the two groups differed in their ability to categorize speech sounds. Behavioral and electrophysiological measures were used to ascertain if any differences existed. These …

Korean Collection Consortium Of North America, Hyokyoung Yi

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

Psychologism And American Instructional Technology, David Wiley, Bekir Gur

Faculty Publications

Note: This is not the final draft of the article. The centrality of psychology in the field of instructional technology has never been comprehensively questioned; most instructional technologists have assumed that (behaviorist, cognitivist, constructivist, or another) psychology is the natural foundation for education and thus for instructional technology. The driving question of this article is: What are the problems of psychologism as found in the theories and practices of instructional technology? We present a brief genealogy of American instructional technology in relation to the influence of psychology; review critical psychology and discuss some problems of psychologism focusing on positivism, metaphysics, …

Female Cfl (Chinese As Foreign Language) Learners' Acquisition Of Native-Like Features Of Feminine Chinese Speech, Shu-Ling Ko

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to evaluate the correlation between participants' acquisition of feminine Chinese speech patterns and time lived in Chinese speaking areas. These patterns include final particles, key words, request words, sentence patterns, and intonation. Data collection was administered through an on-line survey. Participants in this study included twenty female native Mandarin Chinese speakers and 39 female CFL learners. The data collected revealed the correlation between the participants' acquisition of feminine Chinese speech patterns and time spent abroad in a Chinese language environment. Part one of the survey targeted the demographics of the participants. The second part of the …

Update On Soar 9 And Sentence Processing, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Jeremiah Lane Mcghee, Ross Hendrickson

Faculty Publications

NLSOAR is in active development

NLSOAR can process several key types of sentences

NLSOAR updated to SOAR 9 as a prototype

Developing A Teachers' Handbook For Content-Based Instruction At Brigham Young University's English Language Center, Melinda Clement Hardman

Theses and Dissertations

In Winter semester of 2005 the English Language Center (ELC) began plans to implement a content-based program for students at its highest proficiency level in order to provide them with more effective preparation for academic studies in English. Since that time, the program has undergone various changes to provide a more stable, cohesive, and responsive curriculum. There is a need, however, for greater teacher support and training. This paper outlines the process I underwent to create a handbook that would provide needed guidance and training for teachers in this program. This project involved an in-depth needs analysis of teachers and …

Distribution, Function, And Value Of Parowan Valley Projectile Points, Aaron R. Woods

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis primarily addresses the quantities and distributions of Fremont projectile points in the Parowan Valley. First, I review previous research performed in Parowan Valley and outline currently accepted projectile point analysis and typology methods. I also review ethnographic data surrounding the function and value of projectile points. Then, I provide the results of an analysis of all projectile points in the Parowan Valley Archaeological Project collection. I note the large amount of projectile points in this collection and compare it to projectile point counts from other large Fremont sites.I also note chronological patterns in Parowan Valley using projectile points …

Validation Of The Reading Level Achievement Test Of The English Language Center, Marina Vasilyevina Mikhaylova

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the validity of the Reading Level Achievement Test of the English Language Center (ELC) of Brigham Young University. Test validation is a complicated process that involves evaluation of various types of validity. It was beyond the scope of this study to investigate different types of validity of the Reading LAT. The present study was only focused on the exam's construct validity. In an effort to validate the LAT, various models of reading comprehension were examined with the purpose of defining the construct of academic reading comprehension. The TOEFL academic reading framework was chosen to be the construct …

Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Word-Lists For Word Recognition Testing In Spanish, Anna M. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Spanish bisyllabic word lists to be used for word recognition testing. Frequently used bisyllabic words were selected and digitally recorded by male and female Spanish talkers. Twenty normally hearing subjects were presented each word to find the percentage of words which they could correctly recognize. Each word was measured at 10 intensity levels (-5 to 40 dB HL) in increments of 5 dB. Chisquare analysis was used to determine the equivalency among the final four psychometrically equivalent word lists of 50 words, and …

Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Words For Speech Reception Threshold Testing In Mongolian, Kristen Nicole Gilbert

Theses and Dissertations

Speech audiometry is an important aspect of audiological testing. One aspect of speech audiometry is the measurement of an individual's speech reception threshold (SRT). Materials needed to measure the SRT are available in many languages; however, recorded materials for the Mongolian Language are not widely available. The purpose of this study was to develop a list of psychometrically equivalent words for evaluating the hearing abilities of native Mongolian speaking individuals. A set of 90 commonly used bisyllabic Mongolian words were digitally recorded by a male and female talker of Mongolian and then evaluated by 20 native Mongolian listeners. A final …

Teaching Vocabulary Meaningfully With Language, Image, And Sound., Doraina D. Pyle

Theses and Dissertations

This study was an exploration of how an instructional technique that uses language, image, and sound—that of a meaningful presentation of language with image by gradual, step-by-step sequencing—affects vocabulary acquisition. Research was carried out with volunteers from the BYU language community, who were randomly assigned to one of two testing groups. The two groups viewed Arabic language presentations wherein the presentation for the experimental group received line drawings to indicate vocabulary meanings, and the other group received English translations. Following the treatment, learners completed an online vocabulary test, and one week later, the same online vocabulary test. Statistical analyses indicated …

The Aristocratic Military Ethos Of Indo-Europeans And The Primordial Origins Of Western Civilization, Ricardo Duchesne

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.