Linguistics Commons^™

An Eye Tracking Study: Composition Teachers’ Assessment Of Native And Non-Native, Rachel Casper, Grant Eckstein

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Applied linguists are interested in the cognitive processes of writing teachers within the subfields of both second language writing and writing assessment. Such cognitive insights as how a teacher reads and scores a piece of non-native English speaker (L2) writing can have an impact on the way in which second languages are taught and assessed in writing classrooms. This is particularly relevant as increasing numbers of L2 students matriculate into composition courses traditionally designed for native-English speakers.

Backward Transfer Of Apology Strategies From Japanese To English: Do English L1 Speakers Use Japanese-Style Apologies When Speaking English?, Candice April Flowers

Theses and Dissertations

When learning a second language, there are elements of a learner's native language that can transfer and are exhibited during production in the second language. This can extend not only to the way things are said but even to gestures that are language- and speech-act-specific. However, there is evidence that the same can occur backwards, that is to say that elements of a second language can be exhibited during production of one's native language (Pavlenko and Jarvis, 2002). This study focuses on English L1 learners of Japanese who have spent significant time both in country and learning the language to …

Agency In Action: Exploring User Responses And Rhetorical Choices In Interactive Data Displays, Jacob D. Rawlins, Gregory D. Wilson, Kate Crane

Faculty Publications

n 2014, Rawlins and Wilson proposed a typology of agential interactions between users and designers of interactive data displays. This article tests that typology by studying 20 users working with three different types of interactive data displays and answering questions, which were coded by verb and actor and analyzed for themes. The authors show that rhetorical agency is marked by thoughts, actions, and language. Affordances by the designer open a shared rhetorical space where user and designer are coparticipants. As interactivity increases, participants see themselves as rhetorical agents in a community of rhetorical agents rather than as conduits of information.

Applying The Developmental Path Of English Negation To The Automated Scoring Of Learner Essays, Allen Travis Moore

Theses and Dissertations

The resources required to have humans score extended written response items in English language learner (ELL) contexts has caused automated essay scoring (AES) to emerge as a desired alternative. However, these systems often rely heavily on indirect proxies of writing quality such as word, sentence, and essay lengths because of their strong correlation to scores (Vajjala, 2017). This has led to concern about the validity of the features used to establish the predictive accuracy of AES systems (Attali, 2007; Weigle, 2013). Reliance on construct-irrelevant features in ELL contexts also forfeits the opportunity to provide meaningful diagnostic feedback to test-takers or …

Pun Strategies Across Joke Schemata: A Corpus-Based Study, Robert Nishan Crapo

Theses and Dissertations

In the linguistic study of humor, research has largely been centered around the formulation of models and theories or the dissecting and categorization of jokes. Because of the often difficult-to-categorize aspects of verbal jokes, much time has been spent trying to create taxonomies for humor types and mechanisms. Linguists such as Raskin and Attardo have sought to categorize all verbal humor according to various functional elements (Attardo & Raskin, 1991). Such elements include, but are not limited to, the logical mechanism that drives the humor in the joke or the situation where the joke takes place. These categorizations are helpful …

Rubric Rating With Mfrm Vs. Randomly Distributed Comparative Judgment: A Comparison Of Two Approaches To Second-Language Writing Assessment, Maureen Estelle Sims

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore a potentially more practical approach to direct writing assessment using computer algorithms. Traditional rubric rating (RR) is a common yet highly resource-intensive evaluation practice when performed reliably. This study compared the traditional rubric model of ESL writing assessment and many-facet Rasch modeling (MFRM) to comparative judgment (CJ), the new approach, which shows promising results in terms of reliability and validity. We employed two groups of raters”novice and experienced”and used essays that had been previously double-rated, analyzed with MFRM, and selected with fit statistics. We compared the results of the novice and experienced …

An Analysis Of Rehearsed Speech Characteristics On The Oral Proficiency Interview—Computer (Opic), Gwyneth Elaine Gates

Theses and Dissertations

The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines identify memorized words and phrases as a hallmark of novice-level speech. For this reason, research by Cox (2017) found rehearsed content to be a major hindrance to interviewees being rated at higher sublevels on the Oral Proficiency Interview-computer (OPIc). To further investigate, an analysis of these memorized segments to determine patterns of lexico-grammatical and discursive features was conducted. In this study, researchers utilized a Praat analysis to compare prosodic features (specifically, mean length of utterance, number of silent pauses, and articulation rate) of speech segments marked as memorized and those which were not. A qualitative analysis …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Korean Heritage-Speaking Interpreter, Yoonjoo Lee

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. is a country of immigrants who are non-native speakers of English (NNS), yet its legal system is not always in the favor of them. One of the issues for the NNSs is not being provided with proficient interpreters in legal settings such as police interrogations or courtrooms. There are times when some NNSs are offered qualified interpreters or translators, but others are provided with heritages speakers of needed languages in the local area. The heritages speakers are often thought to have good proficiency in languages, but unfortunately thats not always the case. To investigate the need for qualified …

Cultural Differences In Russian And English Magazine Advertising: A Pragmatic Approach, Emily Kay Furner

Theses and Dissertations

Many American companies looking to increase sales and achieve growth targets consider expanding the reach of their product lines to other countries. However, expansion on a global scale often requires much trial and error as English-speaking companies try to market their goods to a foreign audience. In order to ease this process, localization experts are often hired to "localize" or change advertisements in order to make them more culturally relevant to consumers. Because the field of localization is relatively new, there is little research done on the degree and extent to which advertisements are localized. The purpose of this study …

Switch-Reference In Pastaza Kichwa, Alexander Harrison Rice

Theses and Dissertations

Pastaza Kichwa is a Quechuan language spoken in eastern Ecuador. This thesis describes its use of switch-reference which is traditionally understood to be an interclausal cross-referencing feature. Switch-reference is manifested by one of two morphemes that mark a subordinate clause as having either the same or different subject as another clause. Switch-reference has been described for other Quechuan languages and some of these studies present challenges to the theoretical underpinnings of switch reference (Stewart 1988, Dreidemie 2007) others present associated functions of switch-reference morphemes (Cole 1982). This study tests some of the propositions made about switch-reference in other Quechuan languages …

Performance Self-Appraisal Calibration Of Esl Students On A Proficiency Reading Test, Jodi Mikolajcik Petersen

Theses and Dissertations

Self-assessment as a placement measure or accurate assessment of skill has been scrutinized in previous research. Findings have shown a general human tendency towards overconfidence in performance (Kruger & Dunning, 1999). This study looks at performance self-appraisals in an ESL population, with participants from varying cultural backgrounds. Performance self-appraisal calibration is a measure of the relationship between an examinee's perceived skill (or confidence) and their actual skill (or ability) on a given exam item (Phakiti, 2016). Being well-calibrated is an indication that test takers know their strengths and weaknesses and thus the difference between confidence and ability is minimal, whereas …

Investigating The Perception Of Identity Shift In Trilingual Speakers: A Case Study, Elena Vasilachi

Theses and Dissertations

This is a case study that examines the perception of identity shift in trilingual speakers. The participants were three females from Moldova, a country in Eastern Europe, that have moved to the U.S. Participants responded to open-ended questions during an individual interview and self-report. The questions were about (1) the way they think in their native language, (2) the way they feel in different situations while switching languages, and (3) their interactions with others, depending on their relationships with the participants, the situation, and the language they use at that moment. Primary findings suggest that trilingual speakers perceive a shift …

The Interactional And Cultural Pragmatics Of Evidentiality In Pastaza Quichua, Janis B. Nuckolls

Faculty Publications

This paper analyses the interactional and pragmatic effects of two evidential enclitics in the Pastaza Quichua language of Amazonian Ecuador. Attention is also given to represented discourse in a variety of genres. The overall goal is a better understanding of the perspectival encoding of experience through evidential enclitics and represented discourse, and the role of these devices in articulating concepts of sociability and politeness principles. A broader aim is to clarify how discourse practices making use of evidentiality and represented discourse may clarify Quichua peoples’ understandings of their relationships with each other and with non-human nature. Finally, this paper points …

Stories They Tell: The Rhetoric Of Recruiting Independent Consultants, Jacob D. Rawlins, Sarah E. Martin

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the themes that drive persuasive recruiting appeals, or stories, designed to attract new, entrepreneurial workers in the direct selling industry. It offers a rhetorical perspective informed by fantasy theme analysis on the themes present in the recruiting content on the corporate Web sites of three direct selling companies (Mary Kay, Stella & Dot, and Scentsy). The analysis indicates that rhetorical agency is a core theme in the persuasive recruiting stories for these companies. Offering a means for business and technical communication scholars to explore agency or other persuasive story themes in context, this study addresses how a …

Constructing Two Phonological Systems: A Phonetic Analysis Of /P/, /T/, /K/ Among Early Spanish–English Bilingual Speakers, Earl K. Brown, Mary T. Copple

Faculty Publications

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Many early Spanish-English bilingual speakers in the USA learn Spanish as their first language at home and English in school. This paper seeks to elucidate whether these speakers develop a separate phonological system for English and, if so, the role of primary and secondary cues in the development of the second language (L2) system.

Design/methodology/approach: The phonetic realization of the voiceless stops /p/, /t/, /k/ is analyzed among three groups: early Spanish-English bilinguals; L1 English speakers who are late learners of Spanish; and L1 Spanish speakers who are late learners of English. The participants (N = …

Assessment Of L2 Student Writing: Does Teacher Disciplinary Background Matter?, Grant Eckstein, Rachel Casper, Jacob Chan, Logan Kyle Blackwell

Faculty Publications

This preliminary study examines the rating behavior of five composition and five ESL writing teachers while evaluating a text from a university-level non-native (L2) English speaking student. Using an eye tracker, we measured raters’ dwell times and reading behaviors across four areas of interest—rhetoric, organization, vocabulary, and grammar. Results indicate that raters with differing disciplinary backgrounds read the text differently. L2 writing teachers tended to spend more time on and re-read the rhetorical, lexical, and grammatical features of the text while skipping over more of the grammar errors, while composition teachers read the text more deliberately. The findings suggest L2 …

The Gazetteer Of Southern Vowels, Joseph A. Stanley, Margaret E. L. Renwick, William A. Kretzschmar Jr., Rachel M. Olsen, Michael Olsen

Faculty Publications

The Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States (LAGS) is a collection of archival recordings of interviews with 1121 speakers across the southern United States (Pederson, McDaniel & Adams 1986) which has been digitized by the Linguistic Atlas Project at the University of Georgia. The Digital Archive of Southern Speech (DASS) is a 64-speaker subset of LAGS, compiled by Lee Pedersen, that was designed to be socially balanced across 16 sectors of the South (Kretzschmar Jr. et al. 2013). DASS is currently being transcribed, processed, and analyzed at the University of Georgia (Olsen et al. forthcoming), and vowel formant measurements from …

Ontological Document Reading An Experience Report, Deryle W. Lonsdale, David W. Embley, Stephen W. Liddle, Scott N. Woodfield

Faculty Publications

Ontological document reading is defined as automatically and appropriately populating a conceptual model representing an ontological conceptualization of some fragment of the real world. Appropriately populating the conceptualization involves not only extracting the information with respect to the declared object and relationship sets of the conceptual model but also involves checking the extracted information for real-world constraint violations, standardizing the data, and inferring the unwritten information that a document author intended convey. Appropriately populating an ontology may, in addition, require adjustments to the ontology itself. This approach to document reading is presented in terms of an effort to build a …

Connections Between Teacher And Student Attitudes Regarding Script Choice In First-Year Japanese Language Classrooms, Dan Dewey, Vashti Lee, Hannah Trimble, R. Kirk Belnap

Faculty Publications

Mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) is a self-regulatory strategy for accomplishing one’s future goals (Oettingen & Reininger, 2016). It is often re-labelled WOOP, which stands for making a goal or wish (W), envisioning and elaborating on the outcomes (O) of achieving that wish, identifying obstacles (O) that might prevent achievement, and making a plan (P) to cope with those obstacles.

A Bayesian Investigation Of Factors Shaping The Network Structure Of Inflection Class Systems, Jeffery R. Parker, Robert Reynolds, Andrea D. Sims

Faculty Publications

In this paper we use a Bayesian, agent-based model to explore the emergence of allomorph distributions in inflection class (IC) systems. It has long been understood that irregular inflection occurs mainly among high token frequency lexemes because high frequency leads to word-specific learning, allowing certain lexemes to resist analogical pressure. Over time, these lexemes become ‘stranded’ in low type frequency classes as less frequent lexemes shift class membership. Crucially, these classes partly overlap but do not collapse with high type frequency classes, and as a result detract from speakers’ ability to predict a word’s inflection class membership. Stump and Finkel …

Sense Relations And Sensory Clustering In Pastaza Quichua Ideophones, Janis B. Nuckolls

Faculty Publications

Ideophones are sound-imitative words that simulate senses, perceptions, and emotions. Using archived, audiovisual data consisiting of over 500 ideophones utterances from the Pastaza Quichua language of Amazonia Ecuador acquired over the last 6 years of fieldwork, I argue that although ideophone semantics have been charatierized as highly specific, semantic generalization and structred semantic realtions such as a synonymy, antonymy and homonymy may be found when a sizable corpus is available. Semantic regualrity and stucture are hypothesized to be linked with a senory clustering effect whereby more sensory modalities encoded within an ideophone generate more possibilited for sense relations and semantic …

Language Learning And Study Abroad, Christina Isabelli-Garcia, Jennifer Brown, John L. Plews, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Anxiety: Stress, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, And Enjoyment During Study Abroad In Amman, Jordan, Dan Dewey, R. Kirk Belnap, Patrick Steffen

Faculty Publications

Anxiety is among the most frequently studied emotions in second language acquisition (SLA). Study abroad (SA) researchers have examined its effects on SLA in that setting in a number of studies. The current study goes beyond previous SA research by examining how anxiety develops and connects with language proficiency development over SA. Specifically, it uses anxiety-related measures of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), foreign language enjoyment (FLE), and a physiological manifestation of anxiety (hair cortisol). As far as the classroom is concerned, learners grew more comfortable, experiencing less anxiety and more enjoyment over the period of SA. However, learners showed …

Finding Pockets Of Social Variation In The Digital Archive Of Southern Speech, Joseph A. Stanley, Margaret E. L. Renwick

Faculty Publications

Potential outcomes of Southern shifting:

Southern Vowel Shift:

• Increased overlap or “swapping” of /i ɪ/, /eɪ ɛ/; overlap of /æ ɛ/
• Decreased acoustic distance between /u i/, /oʊ i/

African American Vowel Shift:

• Increased overlap of /i ɪ/, /eɪ ɛ/, /æ ɛ/ (swapping less likely)

SVS vs. AAVS

• Front vowels positioned differently
• Back vowels positioned differently …in European American vs. African American speech

Does shifting strengthen over time? - Age effects

Do European American and African American speakers shift differently? - Race effects

Do women and men shift differently? - Sex effects

Do speakers in different parts of the South …

(Thr)-Flapping In American English: Articulatory Motivations And Social Factors, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

Taps are allophones of /t/ and /d/ in American English

Between two vowels where the second is unstressed water, data, cheetah, scooter, odor, editor, forty, item, ladle, coding, etc. [ɾ] = voiced, alveolar tap.

Similar environment, but with a preceding nasal winter = winner, panting = panning [ɾ̃] = voiced, nasalized, alveolar tap.

Hypotheses:

1. For some speakers, [ɾ] is an allophone of /ɹ/ after /θ/, i.e. they have (thr)-flapping.
2. This variant is socially conditioned.
3. This variant has articulatory motivations.

Consonantal Variation In Utah English: What El[T]Se Is Happening[K], Joseph A. Stanley, Kyle Vanderniet

Faculty Publications

MOUNTAIN

• standard moun[ʔn̩] was the most common
• hyperarticulated moun[tʰɨn] twice as common as moun[ʔɨn]
• more common in younger speakers
• possibly as reaction to stigmatized variant

FALSE

• no clear pattern, but possibly women use it more

[k]-epenthesis

• not enough data

Nonmainstream forms can be found in Utah English.

These are not captured by the demographic variables we gathered.

/Ɛɡ/-Raising Is Straightforward? I Beg To Differ!, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

This Study

Remaining questions:

• BEG is only studied in areas with BAG-raising.
• What about other places?
• Short, common words have only been studied.
• What about other words?

Anecdotal observation:

• I’m from St. Louis and I have BEG-raising in most words, except a few like integrity, segregate, negligent, and regulate.
• St. Louis is not known to have BEG-raising, and these words have not been included in other studies.

Hypotheses:

1. BEG-raising without BAG-raising is more widespread than Nevada.
2. BEG-raising is less common when it is followed by a sonorant.

Good, Better, Best: English Language Development Practices In Graduate Business Programs, K. James Hartshorn, Maureen Snow Andrade, Norman W. Evans, Shaylana Davis

Faculty Publications

Business is the top field of study for international students in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Yet, evidence suggests that not all international students who speak English as a second language are adequately equipped with the language skills they need to succeed. At the same time, the number of international students seeking business training in English-medium universities continues to rise. Thus, this study sought to fill an increasingly important gap in the literature by examining the strategies, innovations, challenges, and outcomes for U.S. schools of business who admit large concentrations of international ESL students at the …

Motivational Partnerships: Increasing Esl Student Self-Efficacy, Norman W. Evans, Paul N. Cave, Dan P. Dewey, K. James Hartshorn

Faculty Publications

The present study investigated the relationship between student use of self-efficacy-building strategies through motivational partnerships and student levels of self-efficacy and motivation in an adult intensive English programme in the United States. The extent to which self-efficacy influenced motivation was also examined. After being organized into these partnerships and receiving self-efficacy-building strategy training from the participating teacher, 16 ESL students had their pre- and post-levels of self-efficacy and motivation measured. Additionally, students discussed the effectiveness of the partnerships on their learning experience. Results show significant correlations between student use of self-efficacy-building strategies and improvement in both their self-efficacy and motivation. …

The Differences Between And Within Beg And Bag: Phonological, Morphological, And Lexical Effects In Prevelar Raising, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

Hypotheses

1. Based on my exceptions, BEG-raising is less common when it is followed by a sonorant.
2. BEG- and BAG-raising have different patterns.

Phonological Effects

• No difference between intervocalic /ɡ/ and word-final /ɡ/.
• For BEG only, significantly less raising before sonorants, particularly liquids.

Morphological Effects

• Adding –s was had a negligible effect for both vowels.
• There was more raising reported after adding –ing.
• For BAG only, there was more raising in words with –ed.

Conclusions

Many language-internal factors:

• Despite relatively few words with BEG and BAG, there are phonological, morphological, and lexical effects.
• A small word list may not have captured …