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Faculty Senate Monthly Packet October 1996, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The October 1996 Monthly packet includes the October agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held June 1996.

The Influence Of Student Gender On Teacher/Student Interactions In Esl Classrooms, Lisa Sybil Mann

Dissertations and Theses

Because teacher/student interactions provide opportunities for correction and comprehensible input, a major component of successful language learning, equitable distribution of teacher/student interactions in the language classroom is an important element for the success of all second language students.

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences in teacher/student interactions based on student gender occurred in four college English as a Second Language instructors' classrooms. The role of instructor gender and student ethnicity in teacher/student interaction content and frequency were also examined. Informal interviews were designed to determine the instructors' awareness of their classroom behaviors as they relate …

An Exploratory Evaluation Of Language And Culture Contact By Japanese Sojourners In A Short-Term Us Academic Program, Elizabeth Anna Hartley

Dissertations and Theses

Short-term intercultural exchange programs provide a wealth of information and experiences for participants. Participants are given the opportunity to travel out of their native country and are exposed to new languages and cultures. This case study looks at the Japanese sojourners in the Northwest/Pacific Rim (NWPR) summer program. The purpose was to examine the language use of the Japanese sojourners throughout the course of the NWPR program. This case study sought to determine when the Japanese sojourners used English and/or Japanese, in which situations, what strategies the Japanese sojourners employed and who initiated contact with whom. All of the data …

The Socio-Cultural Content Analysis Of English As A Foreign Language Textbooks Used In Junior High School In Taiwan, Republic Of China, Vivian Yann-Ling Lu

Dissertations and Theses

The English textbooks evaluated are used to prepare students for the competitive high school entrance examinations in Taiwan, thus students spend a great deal of time studying them. Though the textbooks were stated to be designed for language and cultural learning purposes, it seems no study exists that examines to what degree there is clear articulation between the government's stated culture learning goal and actual textbook content. Therefore, this study examines to what degree the textbooks allow students to reach said goal, that is, "to increase culture awareness of the societies and cultures of foreign countries and our own" (Junior …

Investigating Vowel Duration As A Perceptual Cue To Voicing In The English Of Native Spanish Speakers, Becky Jean George

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers in the cognitive sciences, and in particular those in acoustic phonetics, investigate the acoustic properties in the speech signal that enable listeners to perceive particular speech sounds. Temporal cues have been found to convey information about the linguistic content of an utterance. One acoustic characteristic that is particularly well documented in American English is the difference in vowel duration preceding voiced and voiceless consonants, which has been found to play a role in the perception of the voicing of postvocalic word-final consonants. Research on vowel duration and its role in the perception of the voicing distinction of the following …

Rain, Eco-Net

RAIN: Journal of Appropriate Technology

Volume 15, Number 1

Inside: People Power; Community Healthcare; Berlin Carsharing Interviews; Building for Pedestrians. Scanned from print copy loaned by Tom Bender

RAIN began in October 1974 as a publication of ECO-NET, an environmental education network funded by the Hill Foundation and an Environmental Education grant. Its office was based in the Environmental Education Center at Portland State University. With a focus on the Pacific Northwest, particularly Oregon, RAIN originally described itself as a “bulletin board” with an “emphasis on environmental/energy related and communications kinds of information” and interested in “the evolutionary possibilities of inter-disciplinary connections.”

An Evaluation Of English Spoken Fluency Of Thai Graduate Students In The United States, Sugunya Ruangjaroon

Dissertations and Theses

Fluency is generally recognized as speaking with a high rate of speech. This study provides a greater understanding of the notion of fluency that speech rate is not the only measure to determine the fluency level of a speaker. Particularly in a second language (L2), fluency involves other features and it can reflect non-native speakers' capacity in using L2. Fluency is comprised of the continuity and the smoothness of speech without a high occurrence of hesitation phenomena and repair mechanisms.

The purpose of the present study was to analyze English spoken fluency of Thai graduate students. This study sought to …

Correction Of Classroom Oral Errors: Preferences Among University Students Of English In Japan, Akemi Katayama

Dissertations and Theses

Correction of oral errors in foreign or second language classrooms has been an issue of great concern. Although the literature on error correction is abundant, the studies on student reaction to this pedagogical practice are few.

This study investigated the preferences for correction of classroom oral errors among university students of English in Japan. Data were collected from anonymous questionnaires. The study examined the students' attitudes toward the views about correction of oral errors which have been controversial among foreign and second language educators. The study also investigated the students' preferences for correction of different types of oral errors (e.g., …

Examining The Relationship Between Three Speech Features And Intelligibility Ratings Of Black English Preschoolers As Judged By Standard English Listeners, Britteny Sue Asher

Dissertations and Theses

Linguistic diversification within our public schools has demanded professional responsibility from speech-language pathologists (SLPs) serving nonstandard English speaking students. Understanding and recognizing normal cultural linguistic differences is the responsibility of the SLP. This study focused on the relationship of three speech features to intelligibility ratings of 10 preschool aged Black English speakers as assigned by 4 licensed standard English speaking SLPs with varying experience. The SLPs also rated the perceived effect of these speech features (i.e., articulation, speaking rate, and resonance) on intelligibility.

Using the Pearson product-moment correlation, ratings were correlated and found to demonstrate an association between intelligibility ratings …

A Study Of The Correlation Between The Articulation Competence Index (Aci) And The Percentage Of Words Understood In The Continuous Speech Of 4- And 5-Year-Olds Of Varying Phonological Competence, Susan Coll Mitchell

Dissertations and Theses

Intelligibility refers to how recognizable a speaker's words are to the listener. Severity, a broader but closely related concept, incorporates intelligibility, disability, and handicap. Many factors influence intelligibility, including speech sound production, voice, and prosody, as well as a number of linguistic and contextual factors. Clinicians and researchers in the field of speechlanguage pathology require accurate measures of intelligibility and severity to assess and describe communicative functioning and to measure change over time. Determining the most accurate and efficient measurement approaches has been the focus of recent attention in the field. This study was a preliminary investigation of the relationship …

Japanese Students' Perception Of Their Language Learning Strategies, Michiyo Ozawa

Dissertations and Theses

Students' use of language learning strategies (LLSs) is affected by their educational backgrounds and academic requirements, and so are their attitudes toward language learning. This study investigates Japanese students' perception of their English LLSs in different language environments: Japan and the United States.

A group of 43 Japanese students from Otemae College participated in a cultural study program at Portland State University. The group consisted of 28 students who studied for two terms (ST Group) and 15 students who studied for three terms (LT Group).

In this study, a combination of a self-assessment questionnaire, dialogue journals, and a card-ranking activity …

An Assessment Of The Needs Of International Students For Student Services At Southern Oregon State College, Molly K. Emmons

Dissertations and Theses

International students at our institutions of higher education have educational and personal needs which extend beyond the classroom. These needs are supposedly provided for by student personnel services, but little data has been collected which examines how international students use student services, and if their use differs significantly from use by American students. If their perceptions of students services and use of these resources does differ, what does that signify? This study measures the use and perceptions of student services by international and American students at Southern Oregon State College. Twenty-one philosophical objectives were examined for levels of importance, effectiveness, …

An Analysis Of Japanese Learners' Comprehension Of Intonation In English, Misako Okubo

Dissertations and Theses

Typically, most native speakers of Japanese, who have been taught English in Japan, have had limited exposure to prosodic features of English. Consequently, their ability to understand the meaning of different intonation patterns is limited as well. Though it is generally accepted that intonation plays a crucial role in English communication, comprehensive pedagogical materials for teaching English intonation to native speakers of Japanese are not widely available or used in Japan. This is, in part, due to the complexity of English prosodic features and their abstractness. A better understanding of these barriers requires that the extent and the nature of …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet May 1996, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The May 1996 Monthly packet includes the May agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held April 1996.

Study Abroad And Self-Perceptions Of Cross-Cultural Adaptability, Heidi C. King

Dissertations and Theses

With growing recognition of the duality of language and culture, the TESOL profession is placing increasing emphasis on the importance of understanding intercultural dynamics in the second language classroom. Currently, however, there is a lack of empirical information and measurement instruments to aid understanding within the field of cross-cultural communication. In response to this lack of instrumentation, Kelley and Meyers (1993) recently created the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), a 5 0-item, self-perception inventory designed to measure cross-cultural adaptability through a total score and four contributing dimensions: Emotional Resilience, Flexibility/Openness, Perceptual Acuity and Personal Autonomy. The two primary purposes of this …

A Cross-Cultural Study Of The Speech Act Of Refusing In English And German, Charla Margaret Teufel

Dissertations and Theses

Language students must learn to communicate effectively in cross-cultural settings, avoiding unwitting violations of culturally determined norms of behavior. This study compares German learners of English (GEs) with native speakers of English (AEs) and German (GGs), studying pragmatic transfer associated with the face-threatening speech act of refusal.

Data elicitation involved a written role-play questionnaire composed of twelve refusal situations, including four refusal stimulus types (requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions) and interlocutors of higher, lower, and equal status. Response strategies were identified and classified, and the three groups were compared in terms of frequency and content of strategies chosen.

Overall, the …

A Prolog Lexical Phrase Computer Assisted Language Learning Module, Yuji Gene Hirayama

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis presents the design of a computer assisted language learning (CALL) program written in the computer language, PROLOG. It will provide a practice exercise to teach "lexical phrases" to second language learning students of English. Lexical phrases are lexico-grammatical "chunks" of words, which possess specific pragmatic functions within spoken discourse (Nattinger and DeCarrico, 1992). These form/function composites of varying length aid conversational fluency. The program presents a scenario where the participants are college students who pass one another in the hallway. After they exchange initial greetings, the first participant (i.e., the computer) informs the other student that a test, …

Bulletin: General Catalog Issue 1996-1997, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between A Pre-Departure Training Program And Its Participants' Intercultural Communication Competence, Daniel Timothy Ferguson

Dissertations and Theses

Self-reported behaviorally-based intercultural communication competence inventories are one way to understand the relationship between a pre-departure training program and its participants' intercultural communication competence (ICC). One such inventory, called the Cross- Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), was chosen to explore this relationship.

This research sought to confirm or reject the following three hypotheses: 1) experimental subjects will demonstrate higher levels of ICC than control subjects, 2) experimental subjects will demonstrate higher levels of ICC after they take the pre-departure class at Walla Walla College, and 3) there will be relationships among all subjects' ICC and the demographic variables involved in this …

Validity, Reliability, And Utility Of The Oregon Assessment For 3-5 Year Olds In Developmentally Appropriate Classrooms, Steffen Saifer

Dissertations and Theses

An early childhood assessment tool was developed by the author to fill a need for an observational, authentic, child assessment instrument that would include the measurement of social and emotional development, help guide teachers towards best curriculum practices, and meet common criteria for effective, appropriate, and equitable assessment. Theoretical constructs of interactionalism, multiple intelligences, dispositions, and developmentally appropriate practices were used to inform the construction of the tool. In addition, the author hoped to develop a tool that would be effective for use as a Head Start program evaluation research instrument. Research methods involved a representative random sample of 200 …

A Hermeneutic Reading Of Natalie Barney And Renee Vivien, Antoinette Sherman

Anthós Journal (1990-1996)

Traditional representational discourses have constructed others within Europe-women, homosexuals, the insane-as well as others external to Europe. As two lesbian women born at the turn of the century, Natalie Barney and Renee Vivien were the traditional other to their native land. In response to this, each chose expatriation and made France her permanent home, where they created a working and living relationship that would last for nearly fifteen years. Leaving one's world and culture behind, voluntarily or involuntarily, means engaging oneself in a complex process of composing one's identity and otherness. For Natalie Barney and Renee Vivien, French language and …

Determining The Factors Influential In The Validation Of Computer-Based Problem Solving Systems, Leslie Anne Morehead

Dissertations and Theses

Examination of the literature on methodologies for verifying and validating complex computer-based Problem Solving Systems led to a general hypothesis that there exist measurable features of systems that are correlated with the best testing methods for those systems. Three features (Technical Complexity, Human Involvement, and Observability) were selected as the basis of the current study. A survey of systems currently operating in over a dozen countries explored relationships between these system features, test methods, and the degree to which systems were considered valid. Analysis of the data revealed that certain system features and certain test methods are indeed related to …

Lewis And Clark On The Columbia River: The Power Of Landscape In The Exploration Experience, William L. Lang

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

During their 1804-06 transcontinental expedition, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expected that the Columbia River and its tributaries would provide relatively easy passage to the Pacific Coast. Instead, they encountered a formidable barrier of raging waters and disjunctive ecological zones. Continuous frustrations caused the explorers to offer harsh judgments of the landscape and some of the Indians, whom they labeled as primitive and treacherous. These descriptions contrasted greatly with their more positive portrayals of landscape and peoples encountered elsewhere during the trip.

Wapato For The People : An Ecological Approach To Understanding The Native American Use Of Sagittaria Latifolia On The Lower Columbia River, Melissa Cole Darby

Dissertations and Theses

Sagittaria latifolia Willd. was an important root food and trade commodity for the Indians who lived along the Lower Columbia River in early historic times. This plant was prolific in the extensive wetlands of the Lower Columbia from about the great Cascades to the Kalama River. The tubers of this plant were called "wapato" in Chinook Jargon, the local trade language. The wetlands, and this plant that grew there, occupied a vast extent of the Lower Columbia territory; so much so that this valley was named 'Wapato Valley' by Lewis and Clark in 1805. This thesis will provide pertinent information …

Where Have All The Ideophones Gone? The Death Of A Word Category In Zulu, George Tucker Childs

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The first step in the discussion is to demonstrate that ideophones constitute a word class, a relatively uncontroversial claim for Southern Bantu. The second is to show that native speakers of Zulu do not share equal knowledge of ideophones and how this knowledge correlates with social factors. Measured knowledge of ideophones is evaluated against the social factors of age, sex, education, residence patterns, and rusticity, a parameter to be elaborated below. The conclusion is that just as for pidgins and creoles (Childs 1994) the knowledge and use of ideophones serves as a reliable barometer for language typing and language change, …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet December 1995, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The December 1995 Monthly packet includes the December agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held November 1995.

American Students' Expectations Of Teachers In The Japanese Language Classroom, Nariyo Kono

Dissertations and Theses

The Japanese as a foreign language classroom in the United States is full of information about the target culture and cross-cultural interaction between American students and Japanese instructors. This cross-cultural interaction promotes culture learning but sometimes produces potential conflicts due to American students and Japanese instructors having different expectations of each other.

The purpose of this study was to investigate student expectations of their Japanese teachers and to explore similarities and differences among Japanese and American expectations. The research questions addressed were 1) What do American students expect of their Japanese teachers in the Japanese language classroom? Do their expectations …

Learning Work In The Esl Classroom: An Evaluation Of Textbooks Designed To Teach Esl In The Workplace, Amy Taylor-Henry

Dissertations and Theses

A growing number of American businesses are offering ESL courses at the work site; likewise, more and more textbooks designed specifically for teaching ESL in the Workplace (EWP), are being written and published. The need for an evaluation of these new texts with regard to current teaching methodology, the particularities of EWP, and the social implications of EWP is a vital one. A good EWP text, besides serving as a guide and resource for learners, can also facilitate intercultural understanding, increase awareness of workers' rights and unions, and promote participation in training programs for job flexibility and promotion. Most importantly, …

The Use Of The First Language (L1) And The Target Language (Tl) In The Foreign Language Classroom, Jeanine L. Huber

Dissertations and Theses

Oftentimes it is the foreign language classroom that provides the basic foundation for language exposure and acquisition. In the context of the foreign language classroom there is not much exposure to the TL outside of this setting. This being the case, the quantity of the TL should be relatively high as it is an essential requisite for language acquisition. In addition, most recent research tends to suggest that high quantities of TL from the instructor is ideal. The main purpose of this study has been to focus on university-level foreign language classrooms to explore the issue of language choice, Ll …

Russian-Speaking Pentecostal Refugees And Adult Esl Programs: Barriers To Participation, Elena Valerijevna Zaitseva

Dissertations and Theses

Pentecostals from the former Soviet Union are the most recent and fastest growing refugee group in Oregon. Because the refugee population's low English skills may increase their dependence upon welfare assistance, their nonparticipation in ESL programs is treated as a social issue. Efforts to increase the English literacy levels of Russian-speaking Pentecostal refugees are limited by lack of empirical data regarding forces that affect this population's decision to participate or not to participate in educational activities. The purpose of this study was to gather information about barriers to participation in ESL programs by adult Russian-speaking Pentecostal refugees. To this end …