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Living In The Outskirts, Thomas De La Cruz Dec 2013

Living In The Outskirts, Thomas De La Cruz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Living in the Outskirts is a bildungsroman collection of short stories of a young Chicano growing up in the Rio Grande Valley town of Elsa, Texas. In the critical introduction of this thesis, I discuss how my stories challenge traditional Chicano/a cultural ideals of masculinity, language, class and nationality. Included in my introduction are other Chicano/a writers who engaged with these Chicano/a cultural ideals, and who I find myself in conversation with through my work. Inspired by Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory of the “New Mestiza Consciousness,” I show how the protagonist of my stories gradually changes throughout the collection and adopts …

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Finding No One, Sarah Owen Dec 2013

Finding No One, Sarah Owen

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Finding No one is a Non-Fiction creative writing piece written around one young woman’s desire to overcome obstacles in order to prove she is the complete opposite of her enemies: strong, determined, and brave. The main character shares her story of surviving childhood abuse, how she used Anorexia to cope with the aftermath, and what it took to become someone with a desire to fight for a future. The writer has taken the readers directly into vivid scenes of abuse and the innermost thoughts of self-loathing, refusing to hide any secrets. Finding No One explicitly shares details of therapy and …

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The Modern Language Classroom: Individuality, Technology, And Context, Eric Sims Dec 2013

The Modern Language Classroom: Individuality, Technology, And Context, Eric Sims

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

This portfolio is a compilation of the author’s research-supported ideas on what good language teaching looks like. The central component is the teaching philosophy, in which the author explains that respect for individuality, use of technology, and use of culture as context for learning are the three elements seen as most important for successful language learning.
The teaching philosophy is supported by artifacts about peer feedback in language learning, literacy in adult English as a Second Language learners, and autonomy in culture learning. Finally, in three annotations the author branches out from the pillars of the teaching philosophy and examines …

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I,Metaboy, Mario Leal Jr. Dec 2013

I,Metaboy, Mario Leal Jr.

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

I,metaboy is a stage play about a young homosexual couple, one a soldier and the other a writer, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s and the struggles they encounter in their relationship when the soldier marries a woman to pass in the military. The story follows in the tradition of other Queer literatures that explore the state of the trope of the homosexual male within his given historical period. This historically places the identity. I,metaboy is based on an amalgamation of imagery from a variety of media (theatre, literature, TV, film, social policy, historical texts, myths, …

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El Murmullo De La Noche: Antologia De Cuentos Extranos, Alberto Alejandro Cabada Dec 2013

El Murmullo De La Noche: Antologia De Cuentos Extranos, Alberto Alejandro Cabada

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

La presente tesis es un trabajo de creación literaria. Esta antología está compuesta de trece cuentos cortos en los que se relatan diversas historias usando una narrativa en primera y tercera persona. Los géneros que se manejan en estos cuentos son el terror, el surrealismo y lo fantástico, desarrollando los temas de la muerte, la locura, la soledad y el horror. Asimismo, es una obra creativa que comparte rasgos con la literatura del período romántico y los movimientos naturalistas y simbolistas de finales del siglo XIX, al igual que la vanguardia latinoamericana de principios del siglo XX.

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Stolen Youth: A Co-Authored Memoir, Jeanilee A. Garza Dec 2013

Stolen Youth: A Co-Authored Memoir, Jeanilee A. Garza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This literary work of creative nonfiction qualifies under the literary genre of memoir, as a co-authored memoir. While the work incorporates the practices of both memoir and testimonio, the classification as a co-authored memoir recognizes a collaboration between the writer and the individual interviewed for this piece. “Stolen Youth: A Co-Authored Memoir” presents nine chapters and an epilogue, and is part of a larger creative work. The piece narrates the life of, Cirano “Cid” Lagunas, III, a dear friend who offered me the opportunity to convey his personal experiences through memoir. His memoir begins at the age of 12, following …

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Estrategias Utilizadas En Aulas Bilingues En La Ensenanza De La Lectura En Espanol, Maria Marquez Dec 2013

Estrategias Utilizadas En Aulas Bilingues En La Ensenanza De La Lectura En Espanol, Maria Marquez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Para este estudio se observaron las diferentes estrategias utilizadas en aulas bilingües en la enseñanza de la lectura en español. Asimismo, este estudio cualitativo observó las diferentes estrategias utilizadas por los maestros en los salones de clase bilingües donde se enfocó la lectura en español. La meta de este estudio es que los maestros bilingües del preescolar rebasen todos las expectativas de la enseñanza en la lectura, que estén capacitados para la enseñanza en español y que faciliten las estrategias de la lectura para promover la fluidez lectora. Las estrategias investigadas son aquellas que promueven la fluidez y la comprensión …

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Perceptions Of Elementary Teachers Who Educate Linguistically Diverse Student, Renee Greenfield Nov 2013

Perceptions Of Elementary Teachers Who Educate Linguistically Diverse Student, Renee Greenfield

The Qualitative Report

This study investigated elementary teachers’ perceptions of linguistically diverse students (LDS). Using Sociocultural Theory as a lens, nine elementary teachers responded to a case study dilemma about a LDS. This study was guided by the following question : How do elementary teachers from the same teacher preparation program perceive the LDS they educate? Data were analyzed using qualitative methods, including domain analysis. The majority of teachers associated the following perceptions with the LDS case: concern for the student, use of deficit language to describe student, assumption that the student’s families had limited English proficiency, and difficulties and assumptions surrounding the …

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Building A Knowledge Base In Fijian, Adam Rich, Dr. Michael Bush Oct 2013

Building A Knowledge Base In Fijian, Adam Rich, Dr. Michael Bush

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The title, Building a knowledge base in Fijian, suggests a very lofty research project for one lone undergraduate student. Several scholars have studied Fijian since the arrival of Christianity to the islands in the mid-nineteenth century. Just seven years ago, the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah began teaching missionaries in the Fijian language. The program at the MTC is the longest continuous program for the teaching of Fijian outside of Fiji. This project was not meant to be the sole ‘building’ of Fijian language knowledge, but to research and assess current methods of Fijian teaching and propose changes for …

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Celtic And Slavic Contact On The Balkan Peninsula: A Linguistic Analysis Of Modern Celtic And Slavic Languages, Daniel Josef Gashler, Walter Whipple Oct 2013

Celtic And Slavic Contact On The Balkan Peninsula: A Linguistic Analysis Of Modern Celtic And Slavic Languages, Daniel Josef Gashler, Walter Whipple

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Celts and Slavs were widespread and important cultural phenomena in Iron-Age Europe. Their influence is still felt in contemporary Europe and the Americas. Many states and peoples speak modern languages derived from proto-Celtic and proto-Slavonic. The purpose of my research is to show that these ancient cultures were once in contact on the Balkan Peninsula. The ultimate goal is to discover the time period, duration, and social nature of this contact through examining linguistic evidence of contact present in modern South Slavic (those Slavic languages spoken on the Balkan Peninsula) and Celtic languages.

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Combined Erp/Fmri Evidence For Early Word Recognition Effects In The Posterior Inferior Temporal Gyrus, Joseph Dien, Eric S. Brian, Dennis L. Molfese, Brian T. Gold Oct 2013

Combined Erp/Fmri Evidence For Early Word Recognition Effects In The Posterior Inferior Temporal Gyrus, Joseph Dien, Eric S. Brian, Dennis L. Molfese, Brian T. Gold

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Two brain regions with established roles in reading are the posterior middle temporal gyrus and the posterior fusiform gyrus. Lesion studies have also suggested that the region located between them, the posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG), plays a central role in word recognition. However, these lesion results could reflect disconnection effects since neuroimaging studies have not reported consistent lexicality effects in pITG. Here we tested whether these reported pITG lesion effects are due to disconnection effects or not using parallel ERP/fMRI studies. We predicted that the Recognition Potential (RP), a left-lateralized ERP negativity that peaks at about 200–250 ms, might …

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"I Have Thought Proper To Inform The World": Reading Unconventional Testaments Of 18th-Century New England Women, Elyssa Tardif Oct 2013

"I Have Thought Proper To Inform The World": Reading Unconventional Testaments Of 18th-Century New England Women, Elyssa Tardif

Open Access Dissertations

Early New England women chose to pass down what they owned and valued: clothing, cupboards, pewter dishes, commonplace books, etc. But some women passed down something more: a written testament, which sought to shape public opinion in colonial New England. A "testament" usefully suggests a text that both serves as a witness to lived experience as well as the means by which the individual herself can frame the narrative for those who come after. This project aims to examine not only written records but also their audience: who were the heirs to these testaments and how were the records preserved …

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Methods Of Revision In Sixteenth-Century English Cycle Drama, John Case Tompkins Oct 2013

Methods Of Revision In Sixteenth-Century English Cycle Drama, John Case Tompkins

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation contends that guilds-folk in sixteenth-century England made their own changes to the play-texts of civic drama and that these changes remain visible to us in the manuscripts which preserve the plays. Further, it argues that the actors and pageant-makers themselves often made these revisions, rather than the civic or ecclesial authorities traditionally credited for rewriting the pageants. These changes, introduced in production and transferred into the texts, helped keep the plays vibrant and successful throughout most of the sixteenth century and reflect the practical and local concerns of their participants. This work continues the historical investigations into pageant …

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Automatic Identification Of Metaphoric Utterances, Jonathan Edwin Dunn Oct 2013

Automatic Identification Of Metaphoric Utterances, Jonathan Edwin Dunn

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the problem of metaphor identification in linguistic and computational semantics, considering both manual and automatic approaches. It describes a manual approach to metaphor identification, the Metaphoricity Measurement Procedure (MMP), and compares this approach with other manual approaches. The dissertation then describes an implemented and simplified version of the procedure, Measuring and Identifiying Metaphor-in-Language (MIMIL), and compares the premises of this system with other automatic metaphor identification systems. MIMIL and three existing metaphor identification systems are then evaluated on a common data set. Finally, the dissertation looks at difficulties which face attempts to automatically identify metaphors caused by …

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Stabilizing Developmental Language Trajectories In Infants/Toddlers: A Preliminary Study, Christine Marvin, Miriam E. Kuhn, Lisa L. Knoche Oct 2013

Stabilizing Developmental Language Trajectories In Infants/Toddlers: A Preliminary Study, Christine Marvin, Miriam E. Kuhn, Lisa L. Knoche

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Parents’ interactions with their children can have influential effects on children’s language outcomes. Special supports may be needed however, when young children live in poverty and show developmental delays early in life. This study analyzed data for a subset of children enrolled in Early Head Start programs and participating in a randomized trial of the Getting Ready intervention (Sheridan, Marvin, Knoche, & Edwards, 2008). These 41 children had standard scores below 85 on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II when the EHS and intervention services began. Statistically significant benefits were observed for the 28 children in the treatment group compared …

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Preparing Early Childhood Professionals For The Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Classrooms And Communities Of Illinois, Amy J. Heineke, Adam S. Kennedy, Anna Lees Oct 2013

Preparing Early Childhood Professionals For The Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Classrooms And Communities Of Illinois, Amy J. Heineke, Adam S. Kennedy, Anna Lees

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

Recent Illinois state policies call for mandatory preparation of early childhood educators to address the needs of the large and growing population of young English language learners. University-based early childhood teacher preparation programs across Illinois have responded by integrating content related to cultural and linguistic diversity into existing programs. The authors discuss research and professional literature in support of teacher preparation programs that emphasize field-based experience, particularly clinical experience in culturally and linguistically diverse schools and community organizations. They describe the comprehensive field-based teacher education program at Loyola University of Chicago that was redesigned to address current Illinois policies related …

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Isma`Kuwayyis: Software To Improve Listening Comprehension In Arabic Students, Jason White, Dr. Dilworth Parkinson Sep 2013

Isma`Kuwayyis: Software To Improve Listening Comprehension In Arabic Students, Jason White, Dr. Dilworth Parkinson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Arabic pedagogy (as in many languages), listening comprehension continues to be an area of frustration for students as well as teachers involved in second language acquisition. The greatest challenge is to allow a student access to authentic material with interaction. Obviously, the resources (natives) for such idealistic activities are very limited. The goal of this software development was to make authentic material available to students and allow for interaction (though somewhat limited), and to make the setup of such activities and materials easier for the professor. Computer-aided instruction cannot replace conversation or live interaction; however, it can and does …

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A Comparison Of Lexical Borrowings Into Finnish From Swedish And Russian, Esko Timi Petteri Felin, Laura Catharine Smith Sep 2013

A Comparison Of Lexical Borrowings Into Finnish From Swedish And Russian, Esko Timi Petteri Felin, Laura Catharine Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The research for this project was initially conducted under the assumption that Finnish lexical borrowings from Swedish would considerably differ from its Russian counterparts. However, as more data was collected from various semantic fields, it became evident that the borrowings presented general borrowing patterns across the board not only in Swedish and Russian but also in other Germanic and Slavic languages. In the course of data pooling and analysis the conclusion for this research paper was the following: there are only a few if no differences in the manner, in which Finnish borrows words since the predominant patterns suggest that …

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Lexterm Lexicography & Terminology Management, Logan Kearsley, Dr. Alan Melby Sep 2013

Lexterm Lexicography & Terminology Management, Logan Kearsley, Dr. Alan Melby

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Lexicography (the compilation of dictionaries and study of relations between lexical items) and terminology (the study of technical terms used in specific fields or contexts) are conceptually very similar, both being based in the study and categorization of lexical items in human language. Both dictionaries and termbases are essential tools for second-language learners and professional translators and contain much of the same kinds of information on definitions, grammatical characteristics, and usages of words. Till now, however, tools for creating and curating dictionaries and termbases have existed largely in isolation from each other, with no simple way of sharing data between …

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Individual Differences In Toddlers' Temper Tantrums: The Role Of Language And Self-Regulation, Lauren Broder Aug 2013

Individual Differences In Toddlers' Temper Tantrums: The Role Of Language And Self-Regulation, Lauren Broder

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the current research was to investigate temper tantrums in toddlers using a short-term longitudinal design. We sought to examine individual differences across time in tantrum behavior and explore possible predictors, specifically: expressive language, self-regulation skills, and parental behavior. Previous literature has implicated both expressive language and self-regulatory skills as playing an influential role in tantrum behavior, but there has been little empirical support. Parents of children between 24 and 27 months (n = 100) completed surveys on their child’s tantrum behavior, self-regulation skills, and expressive language. They were also asked to report on their own strategies during …

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Lifting The Veil Of Violence: The October Crisis, 1970., Jef R. Palframan Aug 2013

Lifting The Veil Of Violence: The October Crisis, 1970., Jef R. Palframan

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This work explores the uses of violence during the October Crisis of 1970 in Québec, Canada. The author questions the current state of historiographical approaches to the October Crisis and posits a new approach. Violence, seen as a language, permeates the events surrounding the kidnapping and later murder of Pierre Laporte. The reaction of the Québécois public at large is examine in response to the uses of violence by the belligerent parties. The work concludes that the FLQ did not possess the requisite capacity for violence to effectively compete with the Canadian Federal Government and other insights into the legacy …

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Meeting The Communities Standard Through Language Exchange Via Video-Based Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication And Effects On Motivation Of First-Year Spanish Language Learners, Emily Andrews Aug 2013

Meeting The Communities Standard Through Language Exchange Via Video-Based Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication And Effects On Motivation Of First-Year Spanish Language Learners, Emily Andrews

Theses and Dissertations

Current research supports a link between the foreign language Communities standard, learner motivation, and the use of computer-mediated communication in the language classroom. The Communities standard, although it is the least addressed in classrooms, calls for learners to interact with the target language community. Research into motivation has found that learners react positively to the use of communication technologies in the classroom and the opportunity to use the target language for authentic communication with native speakers. However, few studies have been done to assess how connecting with target language community members through online video-based conversation affects learner motivation. This study …

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"Music Is The Voice Of A Culture": Cajun And Creole Musicians Speak About The Power Of Music To Preserve, Represent, And Celebrate South Louisiana's French Heritage, Moriah Istre Aug 2013

"Music Is The Voice Of A Culture": Cajun And Creole Musicians Speak About The Power Of Music To Preserve, Represent, And Celebrate South Louisiana's French Heritage, Moriah Istre

Student Theses and Dissertations

Cajun and Creole music, also known as French music, represents a vital part of South Louisiana's culture. The music I heard growing up instilled a strong sense of pride and belonging for me in connecting to my heritage, and the music grounds other Creoles and Cajuns in this common heritage as well. My passion for the music prompted me to examine the role that French music plays in preserving and transmitting Louisiana's Cajun and Creole cultures. I began my research by interviewing several of South Louisiana's musicians best qualified to speak about the subject. Each emphasized three main themes that …

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Bridging The Gap: 21st Century Media Meets Theoretical Pedagogical Literacy Practices, Divonna M. Stebick, Mary L. Paxton Aug 2013

Bridging The Gap: 21st Century Media Meets Theoretical Pedagogical Literacy Practices, Divonna M. Stebick, Mary L. Paxton

Education Faculty Publications

In this chapter, the researchers used an ethnographic stance to demonstrate how conversation evolved within a social media platform. They investigated the online discussions and face-to-face dialogues between teacher educators and pre-service teachers. They compared the participants’ reciprocal conversations within this case study to analyze patterns in the language used in each forum in order to identify the affordances and constraints of perceived understanding. Through this discourse analysis the authors sought to identify indicators of each participant’s metacognitive development while engaging in an online book discussion through a social media platform. Data analysis indicated that there was metacognitive growth when …

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Beliefs In Action: Ideologies, Motivations, And Capital Among English As A Second Language Learners, Damon Lasiter Aug 2013

Beliefs In Action: Ideologies, Motivations, And Capital Among English As A Second Language Learners, Damon Lasiter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Language learning motivations among immigrants are tied - via language ideologies - to socio-economic position, social networks, and problems encountered by the language learners in their everyday lives. Research into immigrants' reasons for language learning has often overlooked these factors (see Klassen & Burnaby, 1993, and Norton, 1995), but I offer in this thesis that the above factors are foundations for many immigrants' language ideologies - beliefs that people have about language. These language ideologies are, in turn, the foundations upon which one's motivations to learn a language are based. Using a Bourdieuvian paradigm, where inequitable positions of power exist …

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Network Dynamics Of Visual Naming, Christopher R. Conner Aug 2013

Network Dynamics Of Visual Naming, Christopher R. Conner

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Recognition and naming of objects and actions are fundamental components of language. They involve several different systems working in coordination to accomplish a complex behavior. During visual naming, sensory and semantic processing are carried out by dedicated cortical substrates in the temporal and occipital lobes, while response selection and articulatory planning are handled by prefrontal cortex. Despite decades of research using lesion analysis, functional MRI and electro-encephalography, the precise dynamics involved remain unknown due to the inadequate spatio-temporal resolution of these methodologies. Of particular interest is the organization of semantic knowledge and the degree of serial and parallel organization of …

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The Eiios Task: Executive Function And Word Learning At 18-Months, Leslie A. Patton Aug 2013

The Eiios Task: Executive Function And Word Learning At 18-Months, Leslie A. Patton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was an investigation of the association between executive functioning (EF) ability and language development in the latter half of the second year. Fifty-five typically developing 18- month-olds were brought into the lab. The elicited imitation with inappropriate object substitution (EIIOS) task was used as a developmentally sensitive measure of EF. Language acquisition was assessed using a real-time word learning task as well as a parent report measure of vocabulary size (MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences Version). Contrary to expectations, very few statistically significant associations were found between the EF measure and either language measure. Despite these …

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Relationship Between A Measure Of Social And Emotional Development And Early Communication Development In Young Children With Cleft Palate, Jenna L. Pugh Aug 2013

Relationship Between A Measure Of Social And Emotional Development And Early Communication Development In Young Children With Cleft Palate, Jenna L. Pugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was an examination of responses to a standardized assessment of social-emotional behaviors and correlation with speech and language development in young children with cleft palate and/or lip. Twenty-eight participants aged 14-35 months with nonsyndromic cleft palate and or lip were included in this study. The Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) was used to identify emerging social and emotional behaviors. Descriptive analysis of ITSEA results was completed. Pearson correlation coefficient and effect size estimates were calculated between ITSEA domain raw scores and measures of speech and language development. A small proportion of participants (14%) showed ITSEA scores beyond …

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Languages Without Borders: Creating An Enhanced Teacher’S Guide For Romanian 101, Sarah Holden, Dr. Michael Bush Jun 2013

Languages Without Borders: Creating An Enhanced Teacher’S Guide For Romanian 101, Sarah Holden, Dr. Michael Bush

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Brigham Young University’s Romanian orphanage internship has been a popular and well-attended program since its inception, attracting mainly students majoring in childhood development, nursing, psychology, and health sciences. The volunteer work these interns perform during their semester abroad is of utmost importance–both to the orphans receiving care and to the students providing it. The orphanage caretakers greatly value BYU interns, but have often expressed frustration in their inability to adequately communicate in the Romanian language. Although a beginning Romanian course has been offered at BYU for several years, it was clear that its curriculum needed to be altered and an …

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Development Of A New Experiment Demonstrating Categorical Perception, Kelsey Montzka Jun 2013

Development Of A New Experiment Demonstrating Categorical Perception, Kelsey Montzka

Student Research Initiative

In this project, we have created an online portal containing a multi-faceted demonstration of categorical perception. We utilized the 2I2AFC (two-interval, two alternative forced choice) stimulus presentation method which should elicit more categorical results from students, helping to better demonstrate the phenomenon (Gerrits & Schouten, 2004), and provided different acoustic cues illustrating CP. In addition to illustrations of CP for F2 formant transition, the new online portal is used to illustrate voice onset timing (VOT; the cue that distinguishes between the sounds [b] and [p]), as well as how contextual factors and participants’ linguistic backgrounds affect CP. The contextual factors …

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