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Aviation English In A Bilingual Context: Bilingual Spanish-English Pilots, Seneca Doty

Honors Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of English and Spanish in the applied context of aviation by researching pilot experiences in the cockpit within the register of aviation English. This study investigates pilot’s in-flight experiences in relation to language proficiency in the hopes of improving future standards of communication. Expounding on previous research with a focus on native Spanish speaking pilots, this research utilizes a Likert scale survey and demographic assessment to evaluate proficiencies inside the cockpit of bilingual Spanish-English participants. By determining each pilot´s use of English outside of the workplace as well as how …

Crisis And Catalonia: An Analysis On The Impact Of Crisis On The Public Opinion Of The Secessionist Movement In Catalonia, Rachel Ducker

Honors Theses

Catalonia, the autonomous region of Spain has seen an increase in secessionist sentiments in recent years. While the past inclination toward independence has been centered on economic autonomy and cultural identity, there has been a recent emphasis on political independence, particularly in the times of crisis. In this thesis. I analyze the relationship between the economic changes during the period of a crisis and the public opinion about the potential Catalan secession. Specifically, it investigates the relationships between the economic change and public sentiment during the financial crisis of 2008, the political crisis of 2017, and the pandemic crisis of …

Language Co-Activation In Novice And Intermediate L2 Learners, Nicholas Sulier

Linguistics ETDs

One of the most intriguing aspects of bilingual speakers and signers is their ability to access both languages simultaneously. Though much research has been dedicated to understanding how two languages interact, or co-activate, within proficient bilinguals, less is understood about how and when novice and intermediate learners develop similar cross-language interactions. Thus, the current study aimed to uncover at what stages during novice and intermediate L2 development co-activation can be detected. It also investigated possible mechanisms behind co-activation. Specifically, the study attempted to clarify if any detected co-activation amongst L2 learners is dependent on associations between lexical and conceptual representations, …

The Effects Of The Use Of Medical Interpreters Amongst The Latina Population In The Context Of Sexual And Reproductive Health, Carson Collins

Senior Theses

The Latino population in the United States is large and consistently growing. These individuals, due to cultural and systemic factors, are at greater risk for a variety of health problems, especially in the context of sexual and reproductive health. Many of these patients may not speak English as their first language and thus need to access interpretative services to receive care. This study sought to examine whether medical facilities using certified medical interpreters and requiring cultural competency training for their staff could reduce the cultural and communication barriers LEP Latinas experience when receiving sexual and reproductive health care services. An …

La Variación Sociofonológica De /Tʃ/ En Chihuahua, México, Latasha L. Valenzuela-Hernandez

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis shows us the phonological variation of the pronunciation of [tʃ] in the vernacular Spanish of Chihuahua, Mexico, which variably converts into a different pronunciation, the variant [ʃ], through the process of lenition. Although this phenomenon is observed in various countries such as Spain, Panama, Venezuela, and the United States, it remained understudied in the sociolinguistic field until now. Therefore, this investigation contributes reliable information of the psycholinguistic, phonological, and geo-linguistic characteristics that are pertinent to the production of the fricative [ʃ]. The investigation’s methodology employs semi-directed interviews with a socially stratified corpus of thirty-two speakers from Chihuahua, Mexico. …

Episode 14: Mateo Burner, Christina Torres

Futures in Languages Transcripts

Listen to Mateo Burner talk about his experiences in the Spanish BA and MA programs within the Modern Languages and Literatures Department. Find out what he's been up to since graduating in the fall of 2015 and how his experiences at UCF led him to his career path.

The Island Heritage / El Patrimonio De La Isla, Susana Castillo-Rodriguez

Languages and Literatures

In 1926, Philip. J. Fisher published “The Island Heritage. Episodes from the Missionary History of Fernando Poo, West Africa. A Play for Young People”. This book has remained unknown until present. There is one copy at Archives and Special Collections, SOAS Library (London).

This play is of enormous interest not just for it has been mentioned above but also because:

1. It is a vivid narration of the settlement of Protestant missionaries in Clarence, based on historical facts and personal experience collected first hand by Philip. J. Fisher as he interviewed some of the protagonists in the play.

2. It is the …

Second Languange Acquisition Of /S/ -Weakinging In A Study Abroad Context, Earl K. Brown, Alicia Harley, Bret Linford

Faculty Publications

This study examines the second language (L2) development of variable /s/-weakening in the spontaneous speech of L2 learners of Spanish who studied abroad in either Dominican Republic, where /s/-weakening is widespread, or central Spain, where /s/-weakening is much less common. Learners’ realizations of /s/ were coded impressionistically and acoustically by measuring voicing, center of gravity, and duration. The results show that regardless of the study abroad location, students did not change the amount of sibilance they produced over time. However, they became more nativelike with respect to /s/-voicing and duration. Additionally, whereas some linguistic factors were found to significantly constrain …

Bilingualism And Language Attitude In Melilla (Spain), Lotfi Sayahi, Miguel Àngel Montero Alonso

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Acquisition Of The Spanish Preterite And Imperfect By Non-Native Students In A Traditional Classroom Vs. A Hybrid Setting, Erin Christine Paulli Weldon

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

High school students learning Spanish often struggle with the acquisition of the past tense. Spanish requires differentiation between aspects (preterite and imperfect) of the past tense; a linguistic contrast that does not exist in English. While this has been researched for years in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the increasing availability of technology offers a new angle from which to explore students’ ability to master this concept. In the 2020-2021 school year, the presence of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) forced schools to overhaul and adapt the learning environment during a pandemic in which a fully traditional in-person model was not a …

El Argumento Para Una Tercera Opción De Género Neutro En La Lengua Española (The Argument For A Third Gender-Neutral Option In The Spanish Language), Fiona Siobhan Bean

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

All nouns, determiners, and many adjectives in the Spanish language are grammatically designated as either masculine or feminine, and the default is always the masculine form. For example, “the tall boy” in Spanish is “el chico alto”, “the tall girl” is “la chica alta”, and if there is a group of tall children the plural form is the masculine “los chicos altos” even if there are females in the group. This binary gender division and masculine default can cause harm, however, when used in reference to women and non-binary people. This paper explores the recent movement to include a third …

Autorretrato De Un Idioma: Metalenguaje, Glotopolítica E Historia, José Del Valle, Daniela Lauria, Mariela Oroño, Darío Rojas

Publications and Research

This introduction to an anthology of texts from the history of Spanish presents the theoretical bases for writing language history from a glottopolitical perspective

Language Acculturation Effect On Diabetes Prevalence And Self-Care Skills In Puerto Ricans, Gerardo Lazaro

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Diabetes, a silent, chronic disease that involves demanding long-term self-care skills, affects adult Puerto Ricans disproportionately. Based on the health belief model, a theory that predicts health behavior, and the theory of language barriers, which predicts the effects of language on beliefs and behavior, this quantitative nonexperimental study analyzed the relationship of the preference of Puerto Ricans in Boston to use and speak Spanish (language acculturation) to diabetes prevalence and 4 diabetes self-care skills (healthy eating, being active, taking medication, and healthy coping). Data on 1,506 initial participants in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study were used from 3 study …

Using A Smart Phone To Learn Spanish: Does It Work And Will Students Use It?, Andrew J. Demil, Alysha Assaf, Ryan Cragun

The Coastal Review

Over time, mobile devices have penetrated the classroom, requiring new and beneficial ways to implement classroom instruction. Research suggests that Short Message Service (SMS) based instruction is an effective tool for acquiring second language (L2) vocabulary and idiom knowledge (Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu,). Additionally, studies have found that students believe that mobile learning (m-learning) is beneficial to acquiring a second language (Cavus & Ibrahim; Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu, 2008). This study examined whether m-learning can lead to Spanish vocabulary familiarity and if sentence comprehension outperforms reading definitions. Participants were 29 native English speakers studying Spanish as a second …

Monumentos A Dictadores: La Memoria Histórica Del Valle De Los Caídos Y El Museo Presidente Pinochet, Sofia Sequoia Biegeleisen

Senior Independent Study Theses

Este estudio independiente discute la teoría de la memoria historia en relación con dos casos de estudio: el Valle de los Caídos en España y el Museo Presidente Pinochet en Chile. El primer capítulo introduce textos que explican la importancia de la memoria histórica y establecen su utilidad para comprender una cultura. Esta información proporciona un contexto para entender las conexiones entre los casos de estudio y las populares narrativas históricas en España y Chile. El análisis del Valle discute la creación del monumento, su estilo arquitectónico y la influencia que la arquitectura tiene en el significado simbólico del sitio, …

Emotion Disclosure In Spanish And English Bilinguals, Maya Cohrssen-Hernandez

Scripps Senior Theses

Previous literature has identified a difference in emotion comprehension and production of bilinguals. This study aimed to explore differences in emotion expression in the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) among Spanish and English bilinguals. The bilingual participants were interviewed and asked to recount two frustrating events, one in their L1 and one in their L2. These interviews were analyzed for the occurrence of four semantic categories: emotion words (with a subcategory of negative emotion words), emotion-laden words, expressive interjections, and intensifiers that strengthen content words. The data indicated that Spanish and English bilinguals both used more emotion …

Domestic Vs. Foreign Immersion Experiences: Listening Comprehension Of Multiple Dialects In Spanish, Nathan Thomas Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Study abroad has been shown to improve students' linguistic and cultural competence, but students who gain their fluency abroad may struggle to adapt to the plethora of regional dialects they encounter in their studies and interactions after they've returned from their study abroad. The researchers of this study posited that learning Spanish in a domestic immersion context may improve a student's flexibility or tolerance for dialectal variation in regard to listening comprehension. Using a detailed survey and multi-dialectal listening assessment, the researchers examined the degree to which Spanish language learners, in this case 183 missionaries, were exposed to a variety …

Broadening Perspectives: Using Multiple Teaching Approaches To Meet The Needs Of Language Students, Kalen Taylor

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

This portfolio is comprised of research, opinions, and ideas that the author has learned during the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). It is a representation of experiences gained through teaching lower division Spanish courses at USU. In addition to experiences, it is also comprised of research perspectives which were furthered by coursework in the MSLT program.

Contained within the pages is a road map of the author’s journey of learning and research. The portfolio begins with the author’s perspectives on teaching including his philosophy on teaching and how he has developed by observing …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Thompson’S (2105) Survey Of Language Usage And Spanish Of Heritage Learners Placement Program Exam At The High-School Level, Elizabeth Villanueva

Doctoral Dissertations

Language placement test serve with multiple purposes to measure the language abilities and performance of language learners to place them in the most appropriate language course with curriculum that best meets the language needs. There is the need to assess appropriately the Spanish heritage language learners’ (SHLLs) abilities at the high-school level. Therefore, this mixed-method study investigated how Thompson’s (2015) modified Yes or No 10-question Survey of Language Usage (Survey) and the three part Spanish for Heritage Language Learners Placement Program Exam (Placement Test) could be used effectively with three Spanish class levels of HLLs at the high-school level to …

Episode 5: Milagro Truyol Quiroz, Christina Torres

Futures in Languages Transcripts

Listen to Milagro talk about her experiences studying in the Spanish BA, Spanish MA, and MATESOL programs. You'll also hear about her professional experiences working as an instructor.

Social Interaction In The Spanish Classroom: How Proficiency And Linguistic Background Impact Vocabulary Learning, C. Cecilia Tocaimaza-Hatch, Jonathan Santo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Spanish learners engaged in two-way interaction gap tasks where, through social interaction, they identified and defined low-frequency vocabulary. Participants (referred to as actors to differentiate them from task partners) completed two such tasks. Each time, they collaborated with different partners of varying degrees of Spanish proficiency and linguistic background, either an L2 learner or a heritage speaker (HS). The purpose of the study was thus to shed light on if and how features of the collaborating partners in mixed (HS–L2) and matched (L2–L2; HS–HS) partnerships impacted vocabulary learning. Through a mixed methods analysis of the data (perception measures and qualitative …

On The Semantics Of Evidentials In Southern Aymara, Gabriel A. Martinez Vera

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses a number of phenomena in the semantics and syntax-semantics of evidentiality focusing on Southern Aymara within a cross-linguistic perspective. Traditionally, the literature has identified three evidentials in this language: the direct evidential enclitic =wa, the indirect evidential suffix -tay, and the reportative evidential free morpheme siwa. This dissertation concentrates on four issues in connection to these markers. The first issue I address is the association of evidentiality and focus in the same marker, namely, the direct evidential =wa. This is a topic that has been previously acknowledged (Muysken 1995; Faller 2002), but has remained unaccounted for. More …

Supporting Public School Students' Education And Adaptation To U.S. Schools While Celebrating Bilingualism, Allison Crosbie

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

In this paper, the author discusses her experience with the service-learning program Ayuda y Aprende while taking Spanish 301 at Purdue University. Ayuda y Aprende is a service-learning program through the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, in which advanced Spanish students work with Lafayette and West Lafayette elementary school children of Spanish-speaking families to help them adjust to the English language and American school culture, as well as improve their Spanish. During the weekly visits, university students work with children individually and in groups to assist them with school tasks such as classwork and homework. There was also time for …

Foreign Language News, Georgia Southern University

World Languages & Cultures: News & Publications (2013-2023)

• Work by McGrath published recently

Researching Paraguayan Guarani: The Minoritized Language Of The Majority, Josefina Bittar Phd Candidate

LAII Events

Paraguayan Guarani, one of the native languages of Paraguay, is spoken by more than 80% of the country’s population. However, despite government and societal efforts, Spanish remains the language of prestige, required for education opportunities and social mobility. In this presentation, Josefina Bittar will discuss the characteristics of Guarani-Spanish bilingualism in Paraguay, the importance of documenting linguistic practices in the country, and the role of researchers in challenging the population’s internalized prejudices about languages and their speakers.

Multilingualism And Acculturation In Catalonia: An Analysis Of Muslim Immigrant Women, Farah Ali

Global Language Studies Faculty publications

Owing to the continuous influx of immigration in Catalonia, multilingualism has become the bedrock of this region. Still, Catalan and Spanish remain the dominant languages of everyday communication and immigrants are faced with the challenge of adopting both Spanish and Catalan linguistic identities. This dual acculturation process can span across generations and can be impacted by a variety of sociocultural factors. Additionally, motivation to acculturate can be rooted in individuals’ own complex identities that are constructed in different sociocultural contexts, a connection that Norton (2000) has conceptualized as “investment.” This study examines Muslim immigrant women’s investment in Spanish and Catalan, …

The Development And Preliminary Evidence Of Validity And Reliability Of A Spanish Static And Dynamic Assessment Of Decoding, Kayla Brooke Ditty

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to develop and administer a Spanish static and dynamic assessment of decoding and other important reading measures. Using the best available resources regarding Spanish literacy acquisition and Spanish language development, a preliminary Spanish dynamic and static screener was developed. The resulting test was named the Spanish Dynamic Decoding Measure (S-DDM) and is a counterpart to the original DDM available in English. This test contains three subtests: decoding, phonemic awareness, and word identification. The S-DDM was administered to eight bilingual Spanish-English speaking students with varying levels of Spanish language ability and reading proficiency in …

Adverbial Clauses Introduced With ‘ Cuando’, Julen Carrasco Oteo

Theses and Dissertations

The meaning differences that the temporal-aspectual system and the indicative and subjunctive versions of sentences trigger in the Spanish language are the cornerstone of its semantic and syntactic possibilities. These possibilities increase if we take into account not only all the types of subordinate clauses that exist in Spanish, but also the number of Spanish- speaking communities spread around the globe. This synchronic corpus-based study of Spanish major varieties focuses on dependent adverbial clauses introduced with ‘cuando’ (‘when’) in order to examine indicative and subjunctive mood distribution. Prescriptive standards tend to be too broad if they are applied to explain …

Afro-Americano: The Transracialization Of The African-American Spanish Speaker, John M. Flanagan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Transracialization is not a biological term connoting the change of one’s skin tone to become a member of a different race. Its definition has its roots in racialization—the ideological process that describes how one assembles ideas about groups based on their race and decides, for example, what a ‘Black’ person is and how ‘Black’ people speak. Thus, transracialization is a linguistic term that describes the political and sociocultural act of recontextualizing one’s phenotype with the use of language, and in so doing, upending the observers’ stereotypical expectations of who one is (Alim 2016). This dissertation deals with how Spanish influences …

Phil The Phytoplankton, Kylie Kihm, Lexi Frankiewich

World Languages and Cultures

This project, a bilingual children's book, “Phil the Phytoplankton” and “Felipe el fitoplancton” educates young readers on the importance of phytoplankton in our world. The book emphasizes the fact that such small organisms, invisible to the naked eye unless gathered in immense quantities, are responsible for providing the earth with approximately 50% of the oxygen essential for human life. As defined by Cal Poly, sustainability is “the ability of the natural and social systems to survive and thrive together to meet current and future needs.” This book encourages a symbiotic relationship as a young girl, initially afraid of the unknown, …