Linguistics Commons^™

Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (Icc) At The Afl Novice Level: Teachers’ Practices And Constraints, Nancy Fahmy

Theses and Dissertations

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) is widely recognized as a core objective in language education; however, its implementation in novice-level Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL) classroom remains insufficiently examined. This study explores what strategies do AFL teachers use to integrate ICC principles at the beginner level (A1–A2), the constraints that shape classroom practice, teachers’ assessment approaches, and perceived professional development needs.

Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, quantitative data were collected through a bilingual (Arabic–English) online survey completed by 54 AFL teachers working across instructional contexts in Egypt, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Qualitative data were subsequently gathered …

“The Influence Of Utilizing Ai-Powered Tools (Chatgpt-5) On Afl Speaking Fluency And Learners’ Willingness To Communicate (Wtc)”, Manar Shabayek

Theses and Dissertations

The growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has expanded opportunities for interactive, technology-mediated language learning. This study investigates the influence of AI-mediated speaking practice using ChatGPT-5 on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) speaking fluency and willingness to communicate (WTC) among beginner Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL) learners (A1–A2). It also examines the linguistic and technical challenges learners encounter during AI-supported speaking interaction. Using a mixed-method case study design, the study involves five beginner AFL learners. Data are collected through pre- and post-speaking tests, a modified online WTC questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and systematic classroom observation. Speaking fluency is analyzed …

The Tagamo3 Accent: Linguistic Stylization, Enregisterment, And Social Meaning In Egyptian Digital Discourse, Jannah M. Abdelaziz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the Tagamo3 Accent (TA), a socially recognizable speech style associated with elite urban Egyptian identity, through a qualitative multimodal discourse analysis of twelve Egyptian TikTok videos, including both naturally occurring lifestyle and influencer content as well as parody and commentary videos that explicitly imitate, discuss, or evaluate the accent. Drawing on theories of enregisterment (Agha, 2003), stylization (Coupland, 2007), and indexicality (Silverstein, 2003; Eckert, 2008), the study examines how TA is linguistically performed, socially recognized, and ideologically circulated within Egyptian digital spaces. The findings suggest that TA does not function as a structurally bounded dialect or geographically …

Use Of Complementizer That Among English-Spanish Bilinguals, Aziz Abraham Quenun

Theses and Dissertations

Languages vary in how they signal the presence of an embedded clause. Both English and Spanish use what are termed complementizers—that in English and que in Spanish—but in English, the complementizer is often optional while in Spanish, it is generally required. This thesis tested if the presence of que in a Spanish sentence could induce a bilingual speaker to insert a previously omitted that into an English sentence using a syntactic priming task. The results of these trials showed that this was the case, finding a statistically significant priming effect, supporting the idea that syntax is cognitively shared across languages …

Morphological Evolution And Sediment Budget Of A Flood-Tidal Delta On The Rio Grande Delta Plain: Bahia Grande, Texas, Usa, Aleen Pertuz Paz

Theses and Dissertations

The Isabel Delta is a recently formed flood-tidal delta within the restored Bahia Grande system on the Rio Grande Delta Plain, Texas, USA, where renewed tidal connectivity has created conditions for rapid sediment buildup and landform evolution. This study quantified morphological changes from 2008 to 2025 using satellite imagery. It assessed sediment retention by comparing the effective sediment discharge required to reproduce observed delta growth with field-based estimates of sediment supply derived from channel hydrodynamics, cross-sectional area, and suspended sediment concentration. The delta expanded steadily throughout the study period, with increases in bar, channel, and total surface area, and an …

Students' Perceptions Of English Pop Culture, Andrew Ruffing

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate AUC students’ perceptions of English pop culture. Literature has shown that pop culture can be a beneficial engaging resource for students in the classroom. It provides students with comprehensible input for the language. However, there are concerns that students are disproportionately exposed to American pop culture while learning English. The purpose of this study is to investigate what nation students typically associate with English pop culture as well as if they use it to connect with those around them or the world outside their culture, as well as investigating their perceptions …

Reawakening Waⁿdat: Community Research & Reclamation, Darcy Allred

Theses and Dissertations

The Wyandot(te) have undergone language dormancy due to settler colonial impacts of warfare, refugee relocation, forced removals, and U.S. assimilation projects. One of the most pressing priorities among our people today is reawakening our ancestral language, Waⁿdat. The common follow-up question is: how? Through the conduit of Waⁿdat language reclamation, this project grapples with the above question in collaboration with the Wyandot(te) community, and in adherence to the tribal sovereignty of the Wyandotte Nation. The project engages with diasporic perspectives, community-based pedagogy design, and tribally specific research protocols and policies. The living collective knowledgebase with which I engage in this …

Training Aba Service Providers To Use Phonemic Transcription: A Comparison Of Two Alphabets, Kristin Marie Albert

Theses and Dissertations

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) service providers regularly develop speech and shape articulation when working with minimally vocal children with autism. However, these providers usually have not received training in related subject areas as part of their certification coursework. This results in a gap between their scopes of competence and practice. The present study aimed to lessen this gap by training ABA service providers to take phonemic transcription. The author, in consultation with a speech-language pathologist, developed and implemented a computer-based programmed instruction training package. Studies 1 and 2 employed a concurrent multiple-probe design with an embedded adapted alternating treatments design …

The Processing Of Emotional Prosody And Semantics In Native And Non-Native Chinese Speakers, Cheng Xiao

Theses and Dissertations

Emotional information in spoken language is conveyed through both semantic and prosodic cues. While listeners interpret the meaning of utterances (what is said), they also detect the speaker’s emotional prosody (how it is said). For non-native speakers, processing these two types of information simultaneously can be challenging, particularly in a tonal language such as Mandarin Chinese, where the same acoustic feature (i.e., pitch) encodes both lexical semantics and emotional prosody. This dissertation reports a series of behavioral and fMRI experiments investigating how native and non-native Chinese speakers perceive and process emotional prosody and semantics in words and sentences. Behaviorally, results …

Anthropomorphism In Language And Thought: The Effect Of Agentive Linguistic Framing On Readers’ Perceptions Of Ai Animacy, Dawson Petersen

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, deep learning AI systems have gone from academic obscurity to near cultural centrality in the developed world. As these technologies become increasingly integrated into daily life, there is growing cause for concern about AI anthropomorphism—i.e., the perception of AIs as more human than they really are. Despite the potential risks, AI developers continue to market their technologies using agentive language that seems to be designed to encourage anthropomorphism. The current dissertation utilizes behavioral and eye-tracking methods to examine the relationship between agentive linguistic framing and AI anthropomorphism in both controlled judgments and automatic inferences. The results …

From Homeland To Hostland: Language Ownership Of Heritage Dialect And Narratives Of Third Culture Kids Of The Gulf, Maryam Aref

Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this study is to examine Arab Adult Third Culture Kids’ sense of heritage language ownership and their identity constructions in relation to their transnational Arab Gulf context. The present study has three main aims: to ascertain their sense of ownership towards their heritage dialects, to understand the basis for their claimed or denied ownership, and to investigate the positions they ascribed to themselves and others in relation to their belonging and transnational and linguistic experiences. The study aims to fill the gap where there is a scarcity of sociolinguistic research around Arab Third Culture Kids in …

Between Tajweed And Lenition: A Sociophonetic Investigation Of Pharyngealized Consonant Variation In Ammani Jordanian Arabic, Amenah Jehad Salman

Theses and Dissertations

Thіs dіssеrtаtіоn іnvеstіgаtеs the sосіоphоnеtіс vаrіаtіоn іn thе rеаlіzаtіоn оf phаryngeаlіzеd соnsоnаnts іn Аmmаnі Jоrdаnіаn Аrаbіс (АJА), іntrоduсіng Tаjwееd—thе study оf Qurаnіс phоnоlоgy—аs а sосіаlly sаlіеnt vаrіаblе іnfluеnсіng еvеrydаy spееch. А lеnіtеd-phаryngeаlіzеd (LP) vаrіаnt surfасеs аs аn аcоustіcаlly аnd pеrcеptuаlly іntеrmеdіаtе rеаlіzаtіоn, pоsіtіоnеd bеtwееn fully phаryngeаlіzеd (/sˤ, tˤ, dˤ, ðˤ/) аnd plаіn (/s, t, d, ð/) соnsоnаnts. Whіlе prеvіоus studіеs hаvе ехаmіnеd thе іmpасt оf mасrо-sосіаl fасtоrs suсh аs gеndеr, аgе, sосіоеcоnоmіс stаtus, аnd оrіgіnаl rеgіоnаl dіаlеct (ОRD) (Аl-Маsrі & Jоngmаn, 2004; Аlzоubі, 2017; Аbudаlbuh, 2010), nо rеsеаrch hаs examined thе rоlе оf Tаjwееd іn shаpіng sосіоphоnеtіс оutcоmеs.

Dаtа was …

Ideologies Of Language, Race, And Time In U.S. Political Discourses, Paige Pinkston

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation follows how public discourses that emerged during the 2020- 2022 “Critical Race Theory Panic” played out in different contexts and at different scales in the United States, from conservative national media to South Carolina legislative action. While political discourse has become increasingly nationalized (Berry & Sobieraj, 2014), new legislation has largely taken place at the state level (Johnson, 2022). Drawing on over two years of fieldwork and methods of discourse analysis, I thus examine how nationally circulating discourses about race and racism were taken up by South Carolinians to create partisan alignments and distinctions as well as to …

Understanding Verbal Irony: A Contrastive Analysis Of Personal And Informational Common Ground, Ruhan Çoban

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how representations of personal common ground (PCG; viz., close relationships vs. strangers) and informational common ground (ICG; viz., shared world knowledge) interact in shaping a reader’s comprehension of verbal irony in fictional narratives. While previous research has shown that greater familiarity among story characters enhances readers’ comprehension of ironic statements made by the characters (Gibbs, 2000; Kreuz et al., 1999; Kreuz & Link, 2001; Pexman & Zvaigzne, 2004), the interplay between representations of PCG and ICG remains understudied. In this study, we assumed that ICG takes precedence over PCG. Accordingly, we predicted that irony comprehension would be …

Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile And The Abrahamic Religions In Aciman, Werfel, And Ashour, Malak K. Hosny

Theses and Dissertations

Exile is an integral part of the history of all three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This thesis compares between literary narratives of the exile of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It explores the notion that having been exiled from Eden with the fall of Adam and Eve, and having each religion’s prophet’s story intrinsically tied with exile, the believers’ exile is then the third in a layered cycle of exile. Having lost the paradise, believers tend to search for earthly paradises that they attach themselves to, and then tragically lose those as well. The thesis’ three primary literary texts …

Navigating Trauma: A Linguistic Exploration Of Bilingual Trauma Expressions, Amira Mahmoud Othman

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between language, trauma, and emotional expression among bilingual Arabic-English speakers, focusing on code-switching patterns and euphemisms, and more broadly the emotional roles of native and non-native languages in trauma narratives. Through qualitative interviews with 20 Egyptian participants, the research reveals that code-switching serves as both a linguistic and emotional tool, allowing speakers to navigate trauma by creating distance or engaging more intimately. Such codeswitching patterns include the integration of English content words within Arabic structures, morphosyntactic innovations, and gender agreement applications, reflecting the creative adaptability of bilingual speakers in emotionally charged contexts, in line with …

Comparing The Quality Of Ai-Generated And Instructor Feedback In A University Writing Program, Hana Mohamed Nassar

Theses and Dissertations

Feedback is an undeniably important aspect of the language learning process. It helps students recognize their strengths and weaknesses and identifies ways they can improve. Over the years, feedback has been provided by teachers, peers and Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) tools. However, in recent years, artificial intelligence applications have proliferated significantly. With abilities to analyze and generate any kind of content, these models are being used to generate scores and feedback on written assignments to help lighten teachers’ load. ChatGPT has been called “the world’s most advanced chatbot” and “a potential chance to improve second language learning and instruction” (Shabara …

The Effect Of Age Of Acquisition On The Development Of Lexical Attainment And Oral Proficiency In English As L2 In Adult Native Arabic Speakers, Mona Ahmed Kamar El-Zaman

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the influence of the age of acquisition (AoA) on the development of lexical attainment and oral proficiency in English as a second language (L2) among adult native Arabic speakers, focusing on classroom foreign language learners within the Egyptian context. AoA, a critical variable in second language acquisition (SLA) research, is explored in relation to two key domains: lexical knowledge and oral proficiency. The study examines the role of AoA and AoA related effects, such as the order of bilingualism and the length of exposure to rich language input (LoE) as a confounding factor. Through a mixed-methods approach, …

Revealing Students’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Challenges And Strategies In Arabic Reading Comprehension, Osama Othman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the perceptions of Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL) students and teachers regarding the influence of eight textual features on reading comprehension. These features are: vowelization, word patterns, roots, vocabulary, case endings, word order, punctuation marks, and text organization. It also investigates reading comprehension strategies employed by both groups to overcome comprehension challenges associated with these features. Data were collected from 102 AFL students and 26 AFL teachers through questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 students and 11 teachers. Results revealed that students generally rated the influence of these features more highly than teachers. The …

Health Literacy’S Relationship With Hearing Loss And Tinnitus In Marines And Sailors At An Air Base, Caton Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Health literacy is listed as an international health issue by the World Health Organization (WHO) and is one of the primary goals of Healthy People 2030 (USDHHR, 2023; WHO, 2023). Health literacy is the minimal amount of information needed to make appropriate health decisions (Nutbeam, 2017). Individuals must have adequate health literacy to sufficiently read and comprehend medical brochures and medical pamphlets and understand verbal instructions from their medical providers (Bo et al., 2014). Poor health literacy can reduce overall quality of life and access to health care. Health literacy is lower in adolescents and lower socioeconomic groups; therefore, the …

Neurophysiological Indices Of Lexical Tone Processing In Children With Different Language Background, Andres Felipe Diaz

Theses and Dissertations

The development of lexical tone processing in children is shaped by both language experience and acoustic salience. While mismatch responses (MMRs) and late negativity (LN) components of event-related potentials (ERPs) have revealed early sensitivity to lexical tone in monolingual children, the timeline for achieving adult-like neural responses—particularly for acoustically distinct versus subtle tone contrasts— remains unclear. Moreover, little is known about how bilingual language experience, especially with tonal versus non-tonal home languages, modulates this neural processing. This study employed a passive multi-oddball paradigm using Mandarin Tone 3 (low dipping) as the standard, and Tone 1 (high level) and Tone 2 …

The Beliefs And Attitudes Held By High School Students On Emoji Usage For Communication, Stacy Bonano

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative, phenomenological study explored the attitudes and beliefs of high school students regarding emoji use and its impact on their communication with others. Despite the prevalence of emoji use among adolescents, limited research has examined how students interpret and apply these visual symbols. Eleven high school students from Dutchess County, New York, participated in in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using the theoretical frameworks of semiotics and constructivism to interpret how the students assigned meaning to emojis. Key findings identified emojis as emotional amplifiers, tone clarifiers, and tools of efficient communication. Participants also noted challenges related to misinterpretation and generational …

Area Of Effect The History And Effects Of Linguistic Choices Made In The Final Fantasy Franchise, Camille Mcdermott

Theses and Dissertations

The Final Fantasy franchise, a seminal role-playing game (RPG) series, has captivated a global audience since its inception in 1987. This thesis, titled "Area of Effect: The History and Effects of Linguistic Choices Made in the Final Fantasy Franchise," explores the intricate use of language that has shaped the series' identity and influenced its worldwide fanbase. The linguistic landscape of Final Fantasy is as diverse and dynamic as its fantastical worlds, evolving from simple text boxes to fully voiced narratives. This study examines the historical context and evolving linguistic choices throughout the series, highlighting how these decisions enrich the gaming …

Attitudes And Perceptions Toward The Qassimi Dialect, Fahad M. Alwehaibi

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores attitudes and perceptions surrounding the Qassimi dialect within Saudi Arabia. It addresses two primary questions: What are the attitudes of Qassimi speakers toward their own dialect? and What are the perceptions of non-Qassimi Saudi citizens regarding the Qassimi dialect in terms of stereotypes and its speakers? To investigate these questions, the research employed two population-specific surveys—one for Qassimi speakers and another for non-Qassimi participants—alongside semi-structured interviews with selected Qassimi individuals to gain deeper qualitative insights. The findings reveal that Qassimi speakers generally express strong pride and a positive emotional connection to their dialect, viewing it as a …

The Effects Of Guided Induction Completed Individually And In Groups On The Development Of Negation In Palestinian Arabic An Analysis Of Accuracy, Processing, And Rule Structure, Hana Baalousha

Theses and Dissertations

The effectiveness of different instructional interventions and the various ways such interventions promote L2 learning and processing has been the topic of recent research in the subfield of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA). Previous research on the effects of guided inductive instruction (GI) in the second language classroom has left various lacunae to be addressed, such as the effect(s) of linguistic complexity, proficiency level, modality of instruction, and the target language (Ranta, 2022). A plethora of studies in the current literature compares the efficacy of GI to deductive instruction as students work individually in computer-assisted language learning contexts (CALL) revealing …

Syntactic, Semantic, And Stylistic Variation In Old English Periphrastic Passives, Anyssa Joann Murphy

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation establishes a new method for better understanding the Old English (OE) periphrastic passive (PerPass) system by bridging the gap between traditional qualitative methods and contemporary corpus-based methods in Historical Linguistic research. In doing so, this research resists the tendency in modern scholarship to extract agency and personhood from OE speakers, and instead approaches them as agentive and creative participants in their language and its grammar.

The OE PerPass is understood to be constructed with a BE-verb (beon and wesan ‘be, was’ or weorðan ‘become’) and a coordinated past participle (ex. 1-2).

1. And wearð sona gehæled þurh þæs …

Segmental Error Gravity In L2 Arabic Speech Comprehensibility And Accentedness: L1 Consonant Age Of Acquisition As A Predictor, Mark Papai

Theses and Dissertations

Second language (L2) pronunciation studies have found that the intelligibility (i.e., listeners’ actual understanding) of L2 speech is most closely related to its comprehensibility (i.e., listeners' ease of understanding) rather than to its overall nativelike pronunciation. The segmental errors that are most detrimental to communication are predicted by phoneme Functional Load (FL): mispronouncing high FL segments affects speech comprehensibility more negatively than mispronouncing low FL ones. However, no data are available on the FL hierarchy of Arabic segments. On the other hand, FL correlates highly with consonant age of acquisition (CAoA) in languages that rely heavily on consonants to contrast …

Native Speakerism In Egypt: The Perceptions Of Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers (Nnests) And Their Employability, Dina Bebars

Theses and Dissertations

Discriminatory hiring practices toward non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) have been researched, debated, and criticized globally. Yet, such recruitment practices are still prevalent in the TESOL field due to perceptions of the linguistic prowess of the native English-speaking teacher (NEST). Given the existence of such practices, this study aims to identify the criteria that employers look for when hiring English language teachers in Cairo, to examine how nativeness is ranked within these criteria, and to investigate if there is a connection between the perceptions of administrators, parents, and teachers regarding NNESTs and hiring practices. A mixed-methods research design was employed to …

Self-Assessment As A Learning Tool In Efl Writing Classrooms: Perceptions Of Egyptian Teachers And Adult Learners, Hazim Abdelaziz

Theses and Dissertations

The principal aim of this study is to examine the perceptions of adult Egyptian EFL learners and Egyptian EFL teachers on the use of self-assessment as an assessment-for-learning tool in adult EFL courses offered at a private language institution in Cairo, Egypt. It is centered around three main areas of investigation pertaining to the perceptions of adult Egyptian EFL learners and Egyptian EFL teachers on the usefulness of self-assessment, the challenges they face when using self-assessment in adult EFL writing classes, and the affordances that should be given to both groups to ensure the successful application of self-assessment in EFL …

Drawing About Writing: Exploring Egyptian Middle School Students’ Writing Motivation And Perceptions, Maryam Elbayady

Theses and Dissertations

The principal aim of this study is to explore Egyptian middle school students’ perceptions of their writing experiences using artistic expression, specifically drawings. It also aims to understand their levels of writing motivation using the Self-Beliefs, Writing-Beliefs, and Attitude Survey (SWAS) (Wright et al., 2019). Finally, it examines the relationships among participants’ perceptions, motivation, and their narrative writing performance. The view that students’ voices are valuable to research geared towards school improvement has largely propelled this study (Bland, 2018; Zumbrunn et al., 2017). In addition, due to the limited literature about middle school students enrolled at private Egyptian schools, this …