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Articles 1 - 19 of 19

Full-Text Articles in Modern Languages

Language As Privilege: Socioeconomic Status And The Politics Of Foreign Language Learning, Brenda Koumondji Jan 2025

Language As Privilege: Socioeconomic Status And The Politics Of Foreign Language Learning, Brenda Koumondji

Honors Program Theses

This study investigates the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and foreign language learning among young adult learners. Much research suggests that parental education level, household income, and access to educational resources significantly shape language learning attitudes and behaviors. However, United States scholars have lagged in this analysis. Through a mixed-methods research approach, this study combines quantitative surveys and qualitative data to gather comprehensive insights on how SES influences foreign language acquisition, motivation, and advantages. Findings reveal that students with higher SES backgrounds consistently report greater access to language learning resources and significantly higher proficiency levels. While parental education might not …


Gender And Student Motivation In Domestic And Foreign Language Study, Macey Overturf Jan 2024

Gender And Student Motivation In Domestic And Foreign Language Study, Macey Overturf

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.


Empowering L2 Learners: The Role Of Relational Empathy In L2 Learning, Gabriela Olivares-Cuhat, Giovanni Zimotti Jan 2023

Empowering L2 Learners: The Role Of Relational Empathy In L2 Learning, Gabriela Olivares-Cuhat, Giovanni Zimotti

Faculty Publications

In this article, we explore the relevance of the concept of relational empathy to L2 learning. To this end, we first provide a short overview of the notion of empathy in second language acquisition (SLA). Then, we present ideas that gave rise to the introduction of relational empathy in the field of intercultural communication, along with potential benefits of taking this perspective in SLA. Next, we describe the post-method framework for L2 teaching as a strategy that is both well-suited for the fostering of relational empathy and is facilitated by the exercise of this approach. Following this lead, we explain …


Imágenes De Identidad: Student Expressions Of Identity And Culture In The College Spanish Classroom, Elizabeth Bair Jan 2018

Imágenes De Identidad: Student Expressions Of Identity And Culture In The College Spanish Classroom, Elizabeth Bair

Honors Program Theses

When one seeks to learn another language, they have the opportunity to not only acquire a new form of communication but also invest and participate in a rich culture. Unfortunately, in many of today’s world language classrooms, learning about target cultures, or the cultures of the peoples who speak the language to be acquired, is treated as being of lesser importance than acquiring new structures and vocabulary. What is more, it is especially rare that students are invited to bring their own cultures and identities into the classroom conversation. In today’s climate, it is vital that students have a safe …


A Narrative Study: Utilizing Personal Strengths To Manage Foreign Language Anxiety, Lauren Anderson Jan 2018

A Narrative Study: Utilizing Personal Strengths To Manage Foreign Language Anxiety, Lauren Anderson

Honors Program Theses

Foreign language anxiety develops when a student feels under pressure or uncomfortable in a foreign language-learning situation often because they are cognizant of their inability to project themselves in their target language as they do in their first. As a result, students may become nervous or overwhelmed and fear speaking in the target language. Many researchers and educators have recommended strategies to help students manage their foreign language anxiety. To continue expanding on these ideas, the purpose of this research is to investigate whether focusing on and using personal strengths will mitigate students’ foreign language anxiety and help improve their …


The Role Of Working Memory Among Non-Traditional Foreign Language Students, Gabriela Olivares-Cuhat, Michelle H. Ploof Jan 2017

The Role Of Working Memory Among Non-Traditional Foreign Language Students, Gabriela Olivares-Cuhat, Michelle H. Ploof

Faculty Work

Over the last 40 years, a growing number of nontraditional students have joined the ranks of higher education. However, due to a number of internal and external factors, these students face multiple social, economic, and academic challenges that may limit their success in postsecondary education. The focus of this article is to examine the implications of these challenges on the learning of a foreign language (FL), and more specifically on the role played by working memory (WM) with nontraditional FL learners. To this end, research studies in the fields of psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology and neuroscience are reviewed and their findings …


Cross-Language Community Engagement: Assessing The Strengths Of Heritage Learners, Elise Dubord, Elizabeth Kimball Dec 2016

Cross-Language Community Engagement: Assessing The Strengths Of Heritage Learners, Elise Dubord, Elizabeth Kimball

Faculty Work

This article reports on university students’ learning outcomes stemming from their work as language partners in a community-based learning project in an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class with adult Spanish-speaking immigrants. We present a rubric designed to assess student learning in the collaborative, cross-language nature of the partnership that moves beyond notions of language acquisition. The rubric was used to score the reflective writing of students in two university classes who participated in this off-campus partnership, one in Spanish for majors, and one in English for general education students. Our analysis focuses on correlations between students’ language …


Gaining Perspective: Student Learning Perceptions Of The Role Of Tesol Principles In Their English-Learning Experiences, Danielle Christine Westcot Jan 2013

Gaining Perspective: Student Learning Perceptions Of The Role Of Tesol Principles In Their English-Learning Experiences, Danielle Christine Westcot

Honors Program Theses

Therefore, the present project concentrates on the student perspective in the ESOL classroom by surveying upper-level or recently graduated students of an intensive English program at a university in the Midwest. The project set out to gather student reflections regarding a set of research-based principles that have become prevalent in the field of TESOL, in order to understand if these principles fit into students' learning experiences in ESOL classrooms. The goal of this study was to determine 1) whether or not students have come to value TESOL principles in their language learning experience and 2) whether or not students have …


Second Language Development And Guided Reading, Emilia Alejo Hummel Jan 2009

Second Language Development And Guided Reading, Emilia Alejo Hummel

Graduate Research Papers

Elementary teachers are being challenged to teach literacy to second language learners. In order to best serve ELL's, teachers must understand how these students acquire English and how to meet their varying literacy needs in the classroom. This project describes best practices in teaching guided reading to ELL's. The study will describe the implementation of the ELL guided reading program and how instruction was informed by knowledge of language learning.


Variability In L1 And L2 French Wh- Interrogatives: The Roles Of Communicative Function, Wh- Word, And Metalinguistic Awareness, Elizabeth Zwanziger Jan 2008

Variability In L1 And L2 French Wh- Interrogatives: The Roles Of Communicative Function, Wh- Word, And Metalinguistic Awareness, Elizabeth Zwanziger

Faculty Publications

Research on variability in French interrogatives and the factors affecting word order in questions has many foci, but largely centers around socio-stylistic factors. In contrast, this dissertation explores two under-investigated constraints on French questions: communicative function and WH-element as well as the role metalinguistic awareness plays in the question structure produced. A corpus of 1200 questions each for L1 (n=30) and advanced L2 (n=30) groups was collected via a Discourse Elicitation Task crossing five communicative functions (echo, presupposition, topic-introduction, rhetorical, and self-addressed) and four WH-words (où, pourquoi, combien, and qui). Post DCT, the participants were interviewed regarding metalinguistic knowledge affecting …


Gender Assignment To English Words In The Spanish Of Southern Arizona, Elise M. Dubord Jan 2004

Gender Assignment To English Words In The Spanish Of Southern Arizona, Elise M. Dubord

Faculty Work

This paper examines the gender assignment of English words in the Spanish of Southern Arizona based on the categories of biological sex, phonological gender, and analogical gender. It is determined that biological sex is the greatest indicator of gender assignment, followed by phonological gender and lastly by analogical gender. There was a small (7.9%) proportion of variation in gender assignment to English words in the corpus that is attributed to a combination of words that are neither phonologically nor socially integrated into the Spanish lexicon and the linguistic insecurity of the participants.


Mexican Elites And Language Policy In Tucson’S First Schools, Elise M. Dubord Jan 2003

Mexican Elites And Language Policy In Tucson’S First Schools, Elise M. Dubord

Faculty Work

Educational institutions developed in Tucson, Arizona in the last quarter of the 19th Century during a critical time in cultural and political shifts of power between Anglo and Mexican elites in Southern Arizona. This paper examines unofficial language policies in both public and parochial schools in Tucson that reflect the accommodation of power between the two groups. The data used to reconstruct these de facto language policies comes from school documents, newspaper articles and advertisements, memoirs of teachers, politicians and others as well as historical accounts of the formation of Tucson’s first schools. Tollefson (1991) suggests that “language policy is …


Portfolios As An Alternative Assessment Strategy In Second Language Instruction, Rhonda M. Borcherding Jan 2000

Portfolios As An Alternative Assessment Strategy In Second Language Instruction, Rhonda M. Borcherding

Graduate Research Papers

With the advent of research on multiple intelligences and individual differences, alternative methods of assessing individual strengths in content areas are needed. An integral part of the process of acquiring a second language involves these alternative methods of evaluating individual strengths. Portfolio assessment offers an alternative to conventional testing strategies for evaluating progress in second language learning. Portfolios provide meaningful methods to actively engage language students in the basic four modalities of literacy: listening, reading, speaking and writing a second language. Portfolios also can help promote and document the five standards of foreign language instruction: culture, communication, connection, comparisons and …


Expending The Content Of Curriculum : Implementation Of The World Wide Web Into Foreign Language Teaching, Ping Gao Jan 1999

Expending The Content Of Curriculum : Implementation Of The World Wide Web Into Foreign Language Teaching, Ping Gao

Graduate Research Papers

This study investigated the factors that impact the decisions to integrate the World Wide Web into foreign language curriculum. This inquiry involved a combined approach -- including a survey and a case study. The current status of the technology application in foreign language instruction at a state university in the United States was assessed through the survey. It revealed that integrating the Web was the least immediate concern of most foreign language professors due to their limited knowledge, their inadequate training, and their ambiguous attitudes. A case study of an innovator's practice of integrating the Web in foreign language instruction …


The Integration Of Call In Efl/Esl Learning Environment, Kuei-Chin Huang Jan 1998

The Integration Of Call In Efl/Esl Learning Environment, Kuei-Chin Huang

Graduate Research Papers

A number of studies have shown that learning through the use of computers is more efficient than traditional methods and arouse students motivation (Johnson & Osguthorpe, 1986; Jung, 1992 ). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI), to investigate the immense potential of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), and then to identify ways in which computers can be used to enhance foreign language learning.


La Funcion De La Ironia En Obras Selectas De Unamuno, John Frederick Day Jan 1981

La Funcion De La Ironia En Obras Selectas De Unamuno, John Frederick Day

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The present study attempts to point out the abundant irony in four works of fiction by the Spanish writer and thinker, Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) and explain its function in expressing his thought. An introductory chapter defining irony and differentiating among its various types is applied to each of these four short novels (considered chronologically): Niebla, Abel Sanchez, Nada menos gue todo un hombre, and San Manuel Bueno, Mátir. The definition and classification of irony comes primarily from the work of D. C. Muecke on this subject, and secondarily from that of Wayne C. Booth. The former divides irony into …


Foreign Language And The Librarian: The Use Of Foreign Languages By Librarians In Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa, Annette Blum Jan 1977

Foreign Language And The Librarian: The Use Of Foreign Languages By Librarians In Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa, Annette Blum

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to examine librarians' use of foreign languages in light of their individual language backgrounds and individual job requirements. The researcher interviewed forty-four academic, public, school, and special librarians in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa, area.


A Psycholinguistic Contrastive Analysis Of The Dialogues Between Tom Jones And Partridge And Between Don Quijote And Sancho, Betty Ann Engelkes Jan 1977

A Psycholinguistic Contrastive Analysis Of The Dialogues Between Tom Jones And Partridge And Between Don Quijote And Sancho, Betty Ann Engelkes

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Henry Fielding was greatly interested in the literary works of Cervantes. This interest is reflected in Fielding's writing, especially character development and, to some extent, in his style. There are obvious similarities in thematic content in the dialogues between Tom Jones and Partridge and between Don Quijote and Sancho. There are also obvious similarities in episodes or situations involving these major characters, which are presented and discussed in this thesis. Both major characters, Tom Jones and Don Quijote, leave home to travel with their specific destinations undetermined. Both Tom Jones and Don Quijote have longings for a beautiful woman whom …


Rasgos Del Existencialismo En Novelas Selectas De Unamuno, Paul J. Bamford Jan 1974

Rasgos Del Existencialismo En Novelas Selectas De Unamuno, Paul J. Bamford

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Unamuno, although a member of the so-called Generation of '98 in Spain, outreaches the other members of this group in certain aspects of his works, They were primarily involved with the problems of Spain itself after the Spanish-American War, and Unamuno in his work went beyond this to explore Being; to explore the existence of the individual in its deepest and most far-reaching aspects. Because of this preoccupation with Being, Unamuno can be placed in another group, as diverse as the Generation of '98, that group whom we today call existentialists, Existentialism touches such figures as Kierkegaard, through whom Unamuno …