Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Interactive Contact As Linguistic Affordance During Short-Term Study Abroad: Myth Or Reality?, Heather W. Allen

Heather Willis Allen

This study took a sociocultural theory perspective and investigated interactive contact with French by 18 participants in a short-term study abroad (SA) program and the degree to which interactions with homestay families, U.S. peers, and other French speakers in the local community were perceived as valuable affordances for language learning. Findings demonstrate that whereas contact in French with host families was viewed as a valuable affordance for cultural and / or linguistic learning, participants' interactions in the local community were infrequent and viewed less positively. Peer-to-peer interaction in French was construed by some students as useful for developing confidence with …

The Professional Development Of Future Professors Of Foreign Languages:, Heather W. Allen, Eduardo Negueruela-Azarola

Heather Willis Allen

Although the professional development of graduate students in foreign language (FL) departments is of critical importance, discussion of its significance and evolution was all but absent in the 2007 MLA Report “Foreign languages and higher education: New structures for a changed world," a document advocating curricular and structural reforms of FL departments in forthright terms. This lacuna drove the current review which traces the foci and forms of research appearing from 1987 to 2008 on the professional development of future professors of foreign languages. Although empirical studies on the relation of graduate students' beliefs and identities to their FL teaching …

What Shapes Short-Term Study Abroad Experiences? A Comparative Case Study Of Students' Motives And Goals, Heather W. Allen

Heather Willis Allen

This comparative case study explored the motives and goals of two American students participating in a short-term study abroad program from an activity-theoretic perspective. Findings demonstrated that despite numerous shared characteristics and language-learning histories prior to study abroad, the students were learning French and participating in SA for different reasons. Dissimilarities between the two students' motives for language learning and initial goals for study abroad led to significant differences during study abroad in their experiences using French outside class and interacting with their host families and, later, to shifts in their goals and language-learning strategies. These findings offer support for …

Exploring The Feasibility Of A Pedagogy Of Multiliteracies In Introductory Foreign Language Courses, Heather W. Allen, Kate Paesani

Heather Willis Allen

The 2007 MLA Report calls for large-scale reform in university foreign language (FL) departments to integrate the study of language, literature, and culture and move beyond the the language-content dichotomy that has characterized the undergraduate curriculum for decades. This article explores the implications of these recommendations for introductory FL courses, arguing in favor of a pedagogy of multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996; Kern, 2000) as one pathway toward curricular reform. The adoption of a multiliteracies framework in response to calls for curricular change is not entirely novel, yet most scholarship to date has focused on the need for more explicit …

Language-Learning Motivation During Short-Term Study Abroad: An Activity Theory Perspective, Heather W. Allen

Heather Willis Allen

This study investigated the development of language-learning motivation during short-term study abroad for six intermediate-level students of French. Taking an activity theory perspective, findings demonstrated that one of two orientations motivated participants to learn or continue learning French at the college level: linguistic motives or career-oriented motives. The choice to study abroad was seen as either a critical step to achieving fluency or a means of travel and cultural learning. Enhanced language-learning motivation emerged, to varying degrees, for participants with linguistically oriented motives for learning French who viewed study abroad as a language-learning experience but not for participants with primarily …

Implementing Language Policy For Deaf Students From Spanish-Speaking Homes: The Case Of Agents In A Texas School District, Sarah Compton

Sarah Compton

Language policy implementation is a complex, multilayered process that produces both planned and unplanned outcomes. Understanding the policy implementation process can be achieved by identifying the agents, layers, and processes of language planning and policy activities, analyzing the layers independently, and examining the relationships among the layers. With respect to deaf education policy, such a multidimensional approach calls for attention to federal, state, and district guidelines as well as to how individuals act as policy-implementing agents when determining appropriate educational contexts for deaf students. Considering these dimensions, this thesis begins by explicating how U.S. special education policy functions as de …

A Neurosemantic Theory Of Concrete Noun Representation Based On The Underlying Brain Codes, Marcel Adam Just, Vladimir L. Cherkassky, Sandesh Aryal, Tom M. Mitchell

Marcel Adam Just

No abstract provided.

Specification And Inversion: Evidence From Malagasy, Ileana Paul

Ileana Paul

This paper analyzes specificational sentences in Malagasy and shows that such sentences involve obligatory inversion, marked by the topic particle dia. I argue that the topicalized element is a small clause predicate that inverts with its subject. Two competing analyses of this inversion are compared and contrasted. I conclude with a brief comparison of Malagasy and Tagalog.

Acquisition Of Spanish Gender Agreement In Two Learning Contexts: Study Abroad And At Home, Christina Isabelli

Christina Isabelli