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Identité Et Langue Française Chez Azouz Begag Et Chahdortt Djavann, Nehal Abuelata

Master's Theses

This thesis addresses the problematics of identity construction through the acquisition of the French language for immigrants living in France. More specifically, it examines the impact French language acquisition has had and still has on the identity of children of Maghrebian descent and, more generally, its influence on the identity of non-francophone immigrants who arrived in France as adults by examining the novels of two francophone authors: Azouz Begag and Chahdortt Djavann. Whereas the former is a French writer of Algerian descent, a "Beur," the latter is an Iranian-born writer who emigrated to France as an adult. In addition, this …

Before It Rains, Veronica O. Parkman

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not parish but have everlasting life." Contemporary Christian literature is becoming first choice in public libraries and bookstores throughout the country. From novels about end-time prophesy to autobiographies of world-renowned pastors, works written for and about Christians have reached an all-time high. Before it Rains is indeed, according to the scriptural definition of salvation found in the King James Version of the bible, a contemporary Christian novel; the characters must go through the biblical process of accepting Jesus Christ as their …

La Lengua, Los Bicentenarios Y La Estrategia Del Acompañamiento, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

In this article, the connection between language policy and the bicentennial celebration of Latin American´s independence from Spain is explored.

Myspace, Write Space: An Analysis Of Student Achievement In Texts For Digital Audiences, Stephanie Marie Sauceda

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis study analyzes students’ connection to audience in writing samples, gauging the performance of texts written for an actual audience, the classroom teacher and an implied audience, the web. Using Steven Toulmin’s concepts of intimate and stranger interactions, this study suggests that students may make an intimate connection with the mass web audience, thereby allowing an increase in writing performance. On the other end, students identify assignments for classroom teachers as work for the stranger audience, thus creating a writing performance gap. The following is a discussion of possible factors and elements creating this particular paradox in audience identification.

Sex At The Park: Stories From My Days With Ninfa, Dalel Serda

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This creative nonfiction manuscript chronicles the burgeoning relationship between the narrator and her subject, Ninfa—the folkloric, enduring and elusive Harlingen, Texas prostitute. This project aims to document the process of demystification the narrator undergoes as the women get to know each other. Furthermore, in the process of gathering the materials that will tell her subject’s story, the narrator attempts to tell the story about getting the story, about what led to this story and of what resulted. In sum, this work explores the often-blurry boundaries and complexities of what is inevitably a friendship.

La Noche Y Sus Silencios: Imágenes Del Tiempo, Ansiedad Y Muerte, Erika Elisa Garza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Esta tesis intenta representar la voz femenina a través de la escritura creativa de relatos. Este libro se divide en tres partes importantes: “Niñez y adolescencia”, “Insomnios y otras ansiedades” y “Mujer y muerte”. “Niñez y adolescencia” es un compendio de anécdotas y de la creatividad que combinan nostalgia, humor e inmadurez. “Insomnios y otras ansiedades” son relatos autobiográficos que ayudan a mitigar la ansiedad y que muestran a la escritura como una catarsis emocional que purifica. Por último, en el capítulo “Mujer y muerte” los relatos muestran escenarios que van desde los celos más inofensivos hasta al odio o …

The Attic And The Wheelchair V.C. Andrews's Accident And The Dollanganger Series, Angela H. Rice

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Author V.C. Andrews became known in 1979 with her first novel Flowers in the Attic and continued the series with Petals on the Wind, If There be Thorns, and Seeds of Yesterday. Problematic themes such as sudden accidents, romantic rape, incest, and mother daughter rivalry emerge continuously in each novel. In her interview with Douglas E. Winter, Andrews explains that since her debilitating fall down the stairs at the age of fifteen she lived with and depended on her mother. Unable to fulfill the goals of her childhood, Andrews read fairy tales, and romance novels and wrote her fantasies in …

Finding Hart: The Lost Text And Biography Of Hart Stilwell, Brandon D. Shuler

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Hart Stilwell was a noted newspaperman, journalist, outdoor writer, and political activist. He is most noted for the books Border City (1945), Uncovered Wagon (1947), and Campus Town (1950), which were, as confessed to J. Frank Dobie, Stilwell’s life story. Finding Hart: The Lost Text and Biography of Hart Stilwell pieces together the most inclusive biographical sketch of this enigmatic man of Texas letters to date through his correspondences and autobiographical novels. The author has also included an edited and footnoted version of a previously unpublished Stilwell manuscript, Glory of the Silver King, a history of Texas and northeast Mexico …

Topicalization In Malagasy: Effects Of Teaching Malagasy As A Topic Language, Jeremy D. Workman

Theses and Dissertations

This study discusses teaching Malagasy as a second language. Malagasy is the native language spoken on the island of Madagascar. Traditionally, Malagasy has been taught as a language that is similar to English in the way that it uses active and passive voice constructions. However, most native-English students struggle to produce native-like utterances using non-active voice constructions in Malagasy. Recent studies have suggested that Malagasy more closely relates to Germanic V2 languages than it does to English (Pearson 2005, Hyams et al. 2006). This might explain why students taught Malagasy as an English-like language struggle. This study compares the relative …

The Tragedy Of Nigel Rain, Jason W. Dockery

Theses

This work is a two-part collection of poems examining creative loss and gain and human dysfunction. The first part details the struggles of Nigel Rain, a persona born through an artist’s pen who finds himself abandoned by his creator. Nigel believes himself saved through the perpetuation of desire, and these poems show Nigel’s attempts at redefining his purpose in life by projecting his fortunes upon a woman he believes to be an embodiment of the Tarot card of helpful fortunes, the Star. Nigel’s tragedy is his failure to realize and ultimately survive the fragility of human connections. Language proves as …

The Pars Triangularis In Dyslexia And Adhd: A Comprehensive Approach., Michelle Y. Kibby, Judith M Kroese, Hillery Krebbs, Crystal E Hill, George W Hynd

Publications

Limited research has been conducted on the structure of the pars triangularis (PT) in dyslexia despite functional neuroimaging research finding it may play a role in phonological processing. Furthermore, research to date has not examined PT size in ADHD even though the right inferior frontal region has been implicated in the disorder. Hence, one of the purposes of this study was to examine the structure of the PT in dyslexia and ADHD. The other purposes included examining the PT in relation to overall expressive language ability and in relation to several specific linguistic functions given language functioning often is affected …

Podcasting: An Effective Tool For Honing Language Students' Pronunciation?, Lara Ducate, Lara Lomicka

Faculty Publications

This paper reports on an investigation of podcasting as a tool for honing pronunciation skills in intermediate language learning. We examined the effects of using podcasts to improve pronunciation in second language learning and how students' attitudes changed toward pronunciation over the semester. A total of 22 students in intermediate German and French courses made five scripted pronunciation recordings throughout the semester. After the pronunciation recordings, students produced three extemporaneous podcasts. Students also completed a pre- and post-survey based on Elliott's (1995) Pronunciation Attitude Inventory to assess their perspectives regarding pronunciation. Students' pronunciation, extemporaneous recordings, and surveys were analyzed to …

A Discontinuous Space : Postmodern Perspectives On Mental Health Discourse, Jennifer Leigh Harrison

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Language in the mental health field is rich with powerful metaphors, hyperbolic phrases, and linguistic symbols of historical, political and social meaning. At a closer look, a dominant discourse rooted deep in the grounds of empirical science is revealed. In this theoretical study, mental health language is deconstructed using Critical Discourse Analysis and other related theories to locate and analyze a dominant discourse, which opens space for a non-dominant discourse. Postmodern theory assumes that power, entangled with and interdependent on powerlessness, is an absolute phenomenon, and that power abuse can be revealed through the study of a discourse itself. The …

Cuando Te Pierdes En Mí, Carolina E. Alonso

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

En esta tesis se presenta una coleccion de veintiseis poemas de mi autoria que tienen como base una tematica lesbica. En estos se abarcan subtemas como la sensualidad femenina, el amor, y el desamor. Ademas del poemario, se incluye un ensayo referente al desarrollo de la literatura homosexual, enfocandose en la poesia lesbica contemporanea en Mexico a manera de ars poetica. De igual forma se adentra en la importancia de los movimientos sociales y politicos que iniciaron en el siglo XX, los cuales ayudaron al desarrollo y propagation de la literatura lesbica.

The Animal Coming Together, Rodney Gomez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project is an ekphrastic collection of poems. The term 'ekphrasis' is usually used to refer to texts that respond to or are influenced by particular works of visual art, but it can sometimes be used to refer to texts that respond to non-visual art as well, such as musical compositions. I take the more inclusive approach to ekphrasis: most of the poems in this collection are based on paintings, but several are based on photos, films, sculpture, multimedia works, musical compositions, and art generally. Most of the poems are based on Chican@ and Latin American art. The collection is …

Verdad Y Sus Tintes Modálicos En La Conversación, Beatriz C. Solis

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

En el siguiente estudio, hago uso de dos corpus para llevar a cabo un análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo de los usos de verdad y sus variantes reducidas verdad y veda, que difieren en cuanto a su función y carga semántica de su uso canónico como sustantivo, en cuyo caso funciona como sujeto y objeto de la frase. Demuestro que los hablantes en Lopezville y San Isidro Texas hacen uso de verdad como marcador que incrementa la cohesión discursiva y que en esta variedad del español fronterizo verdad ha desarrollado maneras innovadoras de codificar el significado modal. En su función de …

Examination Of The Clinical Benefit Of Adding Reversal Theory Concepts To The Expressive Writing Paradigm, Stephanie Ellis

Doctoral Dissertations

Expressive writing as a form of emotional disclosure produces many physical and psychological benefits (Pennebaker, 2004). Central to the present study are findings that expressive writing decreases symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD (Koopman, Ismailji, Holmes, Classen, Palesh, & Wales, 2005; Opre, Coman, Kallay, Rotaru, & Manier, 2005; Russ, 1992). Reversal Theory (RT) suggests that individuals experience the world from eight different psychological states including serious, playful, conforming, rebellious, mastery, sympathy, self, and other (Apter, 2007). Teaching individuals to be aware of and elicit these states also decreases depression and anxiety (Charat, 2006). The present study sought to determine if …

The Potential Use Of Slow-Down Technology To Improve Pronounciation Of English For International Communication, Bunny Richardson

Doctoral

The focus of this research is on oral communication between L1 (first language) and L2 (second language) English users - to determine whether an algorithm which slows down speech can increase the intelligibility of speech between interlocutors for EIC (English for International Communication). The slow-down facility is a CALL tool which slows down speech without tonal distortion. It allows English language learners more processing time to hear individual phonemes as produced in the stream of connected speech, to help them hear and produce phonemes more accurately and thus more intelligibly. The study involved five tests, all concerned with the intelligibility …

Quand On Vient Aussi De L’Autre Monde: Appartenance(S), Conflit(S) Et Déchirement(S) Dans L’Enfant Des Deux Mondes De Karima Berger, Carla Calargé

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

My essay analyzes Karima Berger’s first novel, L’enfant des deux mondes (1989). The author who has been living in France for more than 25 years tells the story of a Muslim Arab girl (herself ?) educated in the French school system of pre-independent Algeria. In this study, I examine linguistic, cultural and religious issues raised by the novel in an effort to identify the factors that keep the protagonist imprisoned in a permanent state of being in-between-two-worlds without fully belonging to any of them.

Cancer Information-Seeking Experiences: The Implications Of Hispanic Ethnicity And Spanish Language, Robin C. Vanderpool, Julie Kornfeld, Lila Finney Rutten, Linda Squiers

Health, Behavior & Society Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Strategies to support cancer information-seeking among Hispanics are needed.

METHODS: We analyzed data from the 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) to explore cancer information-seeking experiences among respondents according to ethnicity and language of interview.

RESULTS: Over 80% of Spanish-speaking Hispanics had never looked for cancer information. Compared to English-speaking respondents, Spanish-speaking Hispanics who sought cancer information indicated their search took a lot of effort (67%), was hard to understand (54%), and frustrating (42%). Spanish-speaking Hispanics noted minimal confidence in obtaining cancer information.

CONCLUSIONS: Language and cultural differences must be considered in the design, implementation, and dissemination of …

Music And Language: Exploring An Artificial Music Grammar, Erica R. Knowles

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Research regarding the brain mechanisms that underlie music and language processing supports two main interpretations: domain-specificity and domain-generality. Evidence from neuropsychology literature, specifically from amusia research, supports domain-specific mechanisms (Peretz & Coltheart, 2003) but recent neuroimaging and behavioral evidence supports overlapping mechanisms, especially for syntax processing (Patel, 2008). The present study used an artificial music grammar in order to test participants' ability to learn a new music grammar as well as to observe a possible interaction between music and language syntax processing. Although participants were able to learn the artificial music grammar, a language task was not affected by errors …

Christianity And Communication: Kierkegaard, Hamann, And The Necessity Of Indirect Communication, Benjamin D. Cates

Masters Theses

In 1849, Kierkegaard praised Hamann's dedication to written and spoken language as derived from the Divine Logos. This thesis examines Hamann and Kierkegaard in order to understand both thinkers' impact upon verbal and written communication. Hamann's dedication to the idea of communication as given graciously and solely by God is apparent in his authorship. Kierkegaard's model of indirect communication is ultimately one of Christian existence. Given the fact that Kierkegaard owed much to Hamann and was perhaps even led back to faith in God through his exhaustive reading of the German linguist, this thesis examines the possibility of a Hamannian …

Chicana Identity: Recognizing The Hybrid Self In Demetria Martínez's “Mother Tongue”, Cathy Ann Cortina

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study argues that although borders divide and fragment identity, there can be an embracement of a hybrid identity. Mártinez's novel, Mother Tongue, uses the representation of a Mexican-American female who has recognized and endeavored to cross a border to better understand the complexities of her hybrid identity. This journey is represented through Mary, a young woman who resides on a physical border between the United States and Mexico and lives on a cultural border between New Mexico and El Salvador. Martínez presents the cultural, historical, linguistic, and psychological aspects of living on a border between the United States …

Touching The Truth: Applying Literary Realist Theory To Jose Rizal's “Noli Me Tangere” (Touch Me Not), Francesca T. Falqueza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

When criticized for exaggerating events written in Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not), Jose Rizal claimed that he was "ready to match every incident in his novel with one from life" (Guerrero 10). This thesis attempts to prove the validity of this statement using literary realist theory. Moreover, the novel's factual aspect proves to be not as important as its faithful depiction of Filipino life during Spanish rule. A close reading of the text examines specific incidents within the novel which reveal Rizal's intent for the novel as well as the message he desired to convey to his people. Further, …

Following Cleng Peerson: A Niece's Journey, Christine Suzanne Ardis

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the summer of 1821, Cleng Peerson came to America as a scout for a group of Norwegians hoping to find a place where they could freely express their religion and enjoy economic prosperity. In this thesis, I explore the results of Cleng’s scouting and his preparations for the arrival of his sister, Carrie, her family and their friends on the Norwegian sloop Restaurationen. Throughout the text, I juxtapose my life story with Cleng’s. Together we experience relocation, homesickness and hardships and create a familial bond 188 years after his arrival in America. My thesis ends at the Murray/Kendall settlement …

“Jugando En Serio” And Other Works, Shoney Flores

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the critical introduction of this thesis, I explore how the different choices we make as creative writers affect the targeted audience of a work. I focus on the endless battle between genre writing and literary writing, in hopes of there being a style of writing that can utilize the best of both. I write about the issues and themes of the works in this thesis that come close to being nonfiction. Finally, I highlight how stylistic choices in bilingual writing can change or destroy potential audiences. These are aspects that have shaped the creative writing included in this collection. …

Osing Kids And The Banners Of Blambangan; Ethnolinguistic Identity And The Regional Past As Ambient Themes In An East Javanese Town, Bernard Arps

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

On the basis of the theoretical notions of discursive ambience and ambient discourse, this article examines the recent history of language and ethnicity in Banyuwangi in the far east of Java. Over the last three decades (with roots going back to the 1920s and earlier) a redefinition of the language and culture of the "autochthonous" inhabitants of Banyuwangi has been occurring. Their status and constitution have been changing from a variety of Javanese into an autonomous language and ethnicity, called, after the name given to the language or dialect, Osing. At the same time, an idyllic and heroic picture of …

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 …

Language Characteristics Of Individuals With Down Syndrome, Gary E. Martin, Jessica Klusek, Bruno Estigarribia, Joanne E. Roberts

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Cerebral Hemisphere Volume And Receptive Language Functioning In Dyslexia And Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd)., Michelle Y. Kibby, Shital P. Pavawalla, Jill B. Fancher, Angela J. Naillon, George W. Hynd

Publications

Because poor comprehension has been associated with small cerebral volume and there is a high comorbidity between developmental dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and specific language impairment, the goal of this study was to determine whether cerebral volume is reduced in dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in general, as some suggest, or whether the reduction in volume corresponds to poor receptive language functioning, regardless of the diagnosis. Participants included 46 children with and without dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, aged 8 to 12 years. Our results indicated that cerebral volume was comparable between those with and without dyslexia and attention-deficit …