First and Second Language Acquisition Commons^™

Effects Of An Elementary Immersion Program On Academic Achievement In Core Subject Areas, Marlee Schmidt

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study sought to find out if students who became bilingual score

higher, lower, or the same on standardized tests as their monolingual peers across

multiple disciplines. An answer was obtained by comparing the Minnesota

Comprehensive Assessment scores of Spanish language immersion students to

scores of non-immersion students for the following subject areas: reading in

grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10; math in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11; and science

in 5, 8, and high school. The scores used came from a graduating class of 2018

with approximately 342 students. Data was analyzed …

Grammatical Errors By Arabic Esl Students: An Investigation Of L1 Transfer Through Error Analysis, Aisha Saud Alasfour

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the effect of first language (L1) transfer on Arabic ESL learners' acquisition of the relative clauses, the passive voice and the definite article. I used Contrastive Analysis (CA) and Error Analysis (EA) to analyze 50 papers written by Arabic ESL students at the ACTFL Advanced Mid proficiency level. The analysis was paired with interviews with five advanced students to help determine whether L1 transfer was, in fact, influencing students' errors predicted by CA.

Students in this study made L1 errors along with other errors. Although no statistical difference was found between the frequency of transfer and other …

Decolonial Gestures Of Andean Bilingual College Students Promoting Quechua: Community-Based Participatory Research With Photovoice, Yuliana H. Kenfield

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Andean college students in Cusco, Peru, struggle to overcome discrimination against bilingualism during their pursuit of higher education. To examine this situation and possibilities for change, I employed a participatory method, photovoice (Wang & Burris, 1994) within a community-based participatory research framework, to facilitate Quechua-Spanish bilingual college students’ exploration of Quechuan practices in their university. Participatory research methodology promoted critical dialogues to challenge ideologies that have obstructed the revitalization, maintenance, development of the Quechua language in higher education. Although university policies in Cusco formally promote inclusion of indigenous knowledge and practices, bilingual Spanish-Quechua practices on campus have remained largely symbolic. …

Willkomen Beim German Journal - Welcome To German Journal, Paulina Broda, Carina Staudte

German Journal Sprache Literatur Kultur

No abstract provided.

Teaching German Modal Verbs Through Cognitive Linguistics Insights, Miglena Nikolova

German Journal Sprache Literatur Kultur

This study examined the acquisition patterns of the prototypical and epistemic semantic meanings of German modals. It investigated whether different instructional approaches (cognitive instruction approach based on force dynamics and metaphoric extensions, traditional translation based instruction) have the potential to foster modal verbs acquisition, and which of the two approaches was more effective. Thirty-three, fourth semester learners of German as a foreign language were subjected to one of the experimental conditions. Findings were compared to a control condition, which did not receive any instruction. Learning gains were measured by means of a multiple choice meaning recognition test that assessed students’ …

Grammatical Gender Acquisition In L2 Spanish, Alanna Quinn, Mónica Cabrera

Honors Thesis

Grammatical gender, identified as “one of the most difficult structures that non-native speakers need to acquire” (Alamry & Sabourin, 2017) does not exist in English. L1 English speakers learning L2 Spanish must acquire this new grammatical feature. This thesis investigates this acquisition.

A literature review synthesizes the findings of studies on L2 acquisition of Spanish grammatical gender, and includes an overview of the structure and function of gender within both English and Spanish, as well as a variety of L2 acquisition process hypotheses. An analysis of four introductory Spanish textbooks is offered regarding their presentation of grammatical gender. The findings …

Entgrenzung Der Arbeit Durch „Bring Your Own Device“, Leo Roth

German Journal Sprache Literatur Kultur

Abstrakt

Die ehemals klaren Grenzen zwischen den Sozialsphären „Arbeit“ und „Leben“ verschwimmen immer stärker. So kann sich heute kaum noch jemand dem Prozess der Entgrenzung entziehen, da die derzeit vorherrschenden Phänomene wie „Vermarktlichung“ und „Dezentralisierung“ sowohl eine allgemeine Entgrenzung als auch die spezifische Entgrenzung der Arbeit unaufhaltsam befördern. Nach Belwe (2007) eignen sich im Besonderen die modernen Kommunikationstechnologien dafür, „Einbrüche in den bislang durch natürliche und soziale Rhythmen klar strukturierten sozialen Alltag zu provozieren“ (Belwe, 2007, S. 2). Demnach läuft heute jedes menschliche Individuum einer modernen Gesellschaft Gefahr übergeordneten Ansprüchen aus dem Erwerbsbereich zu unterliegen.

Mit der hier vorgestellten Arbeit …

Supporting English Language Learners Inside The Mathematics Classroom: One Teacher’S Unique Perspective Working With Students During Their First Years In America, Amy Marie Fendrick

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

Reflecting upon my personal experiences teaching mathematics to English Language Learners (ELL) in a public high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, this essay largely focuses on the time I spent as the only Accelerated Math teacher in my school building. From 2012 – 2017, I taught three different subjects at this high school: Advanced Algebra, Algebra, and Accelerated Math. This essay highlights why I chose to become a math and ELL teacher, as well as the challenges, issues, struggles, and successes I experienced during my time teaching. I focus on the challenges I faced teaching students who did not share my …

English Influence On L2 Speakers’ Production Of Palatalization And Velarization, Jennifer C. Gabriele

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Irish is a Celtic language spoken in Ireland. It is currently endangered with only 73,803 people using the language on a daily basis as of 2016 (Official Office of Statistics, 2016). The reason for the decline is that English is the dominate language, pushing Irish to the periphery. Revitalization efforts have been put into place in an attempt to revitalize the language. There has been a growth in L2 speakers of Irish. The position of English as the dominate language, and high amounts of L2 speakers creates an environment where English is likely to influence the Irish language. The purpose …

Teachers’ Response To Infants’ Nonverbal Communication And Use Of Response To Facilitate A Dialogue, Stephanie Stephens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beginning with birth, typically developing children use strategies to communicate, and the functions of their language change with maturation and interaction. Since communication cannot exist if both parties do not participate, it is important to not only study the ability of the child, but also the behavior of the adult. Numerous studies have examined the behavior of the parent or other domestic adult, but few have included the study of teacher behaviors.

This study investigated teachers’ response to four types of nonverbal communication attempts made by infants. The gestures included: deictic, affect signaling, object-related, and conventional. The type of response …

Context Of Learning And Second Language Development Of Spanish Vowels, Avizia Long, Megan Solon, Silvina Bongiovanni

Faculty Publications

The present study explored development in Spanish vowel production during a short-term study abroad program. The production patterns of a group of learners studying abroad in a 4-week program in the Dominican Republic were compared in terms of overall vowel quality, tendency to diphthongize /e/ and /o/, and vowel duration to those of a similar group of learners studying in the at-home context. Results revealed no significant changes or differences between groups in vowel quality or diphthongization, but a significant improvement (i.e., reduction) in vowel duration for /a/, /o/, and /u/ for the at-home group only. Findings are discussed in …

The Pragmatic Strategy Of Main-Clause Omission In Japanese: Its Contrast With Hebrew, And Its Learnability, Maayan Barkan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Typically, linguists study things that people actually say, but this dissertation focuses on what people do NOT say; specifically, it deals with main-clause omission. This paper presents an empirical study on main-clause omission constraints in Japanese after the concessive particle ga (‘although’/’but’), the first known controlled experiment of its kind in the literature. It investigates, from a pragmatic and discourse-analytic perspective, intuitive judgments regarding the allowance of main-clause omission in Japanese, in an attempt to reveal whether Japanese Native Speakers (JNS) use main-clause omission as a pragmatic strategy, as is suggested in the literature. If they do, then what triggers …

Speech Perception In “Bubble” Noise: Korean Fricatives And Affricates By Native And Non-Native Korean Listeners, Jiyoung Choi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current study examines acoustic cues used by second language learners of Korean to discriminate between Korean fricatives and affricates in noise and how these cues relate to those used by native Korean listeners. Stimuli consist of naturally-spoken consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel (CVCV) syllables: /sɑdɑ/, /s*ɑdɑ/, /tʃɑdɑ/, /tʃ^hɑdɑ/, and /tʃ*ɑdɑ/. In this experiment, the “bubble noise” methodology of Mandel at al. (2016) was used to identify the time-frequency locations of important cues in each utterance, i.e., where audibility of the location is significantly correlated with correct identification of the utterance in noise. Results show that non-native Korean listeners can discriminate between …

The Social Factors Of Fossilization, Ashley Brigham

MA TESOL Collection

The notion of fossilization has been one of the most controversial, yet enduring topics in second language acquisition (SLA) theory since its first appearance in Selinker’s 1972 seminal article “Interlanguage.” In the past, work regarding fossilization sought to either support or challenge its existence, to determine the putative causes and to predict what linguistic items were prone to becoming fossilized. Initially, the possible causes which enjoyed the most attention were first language interference and the learner’s age and length of residency in the target language community. Now, however, with the current climate of SLA acknowledging that both learning and non-learning …

Language Policy In Sudanese-Arabic Speaking Families, Marwa Ibrahim

Annual Graduate Student Symposium

In countries like the United States, where English is the dominant language, minority languages spoken in families and communities are at risk of being lost by the second and subsequent generations. This study thus examines the language maintenance and family language policies that exist in families of first-generation immigrant Sudanese residing in a Sudanese community in a Midwest university town of 74,000. The study aims to answer how family language policy, spoken or unspoken, affects the maintenance of the children's first language. The participants in this study were first generation immigrants, identified themselves as bilingual, resided in the United States …

Educator Perceptions Of Gifted English Language Learners, Michelle C. Lynch

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This paper explores educator perceptions of gifted and talented (GT) English language (ELL) students. This study identifies barriers for identification and service for GT/ELL students and highlights ways to support students through current efforts for students who fit these criteria. Educators from two elementary schools were interviewed in this qualitative study. The schools were chosen due to their high population of ELL students. The roles of professional development (PD) and best practices for identification of underrepresented students are discussed. Five main themes emerged from interviews of educators that work with GT/ELL students. The themes are obstacles, perception, referral, professional development, …

Addressing The Assumption; A Case Study On Student Motivations And Barriers To Study Second Language Abroad, Rebecca Schano

Capstone Collection

Historically, second language learning and study abroad programming have run in natural conjunction. However, in recent years there has been a slow but steady decline in the number of foreign language students in higher education who are choosing to study abroad to further their second language acquisition. This study explores this topic through a case study at Marquette University, and aims to answer the research question: What are the motivations and barriers of foreign language students to study their second language abroad? Using a student survey and in-person interviews with professionals in the field, data is collected on the most …

Foreign Language Anxiety, Sexuality, And Gender: Lived Experiences Of Four Lgbtq+ Students, James Donald Mitchell

Dissertations and Theses

The relationship between foreign language anxiety and gender identity has been largely a quantitative endeavor that has shown contradictory results. Furthermore, sexual identity has not been researched in foreign language anxiety literature. A qualitative account of LGBTQ+ language learners with different gender identities has been absent from the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between foreign language anxiety and sexual and gender identity. To gain insight into this relationship, this qualitative study investigated the lived experiences of four LGBTQ+ foreign language university students who represented three gender identities. Data were collected through multiple, in-depth …

En Busca Del Diamante: Using Tasks To Mitigate Word Reduction In Spoken Learner Spanish, Sergio Ruiz-Pérez, Lorena Alarcón, Avizia Long

Faculty Publications

A common feature of second language Spanish, particularly in the case of native English-speaking learners, is to shorten or reduce segments within words (Schwegler & Kempff, 2007). This is particularly noticeable with multi-syllabic words (e.g., ingeniería, floristería, cafetería), and mispronunciations during second language interaction influence speech intelligibility. To address this pronunciation challenge and provide learners with opportunities for practice of words that demonstrate this reduction, we designed a two-way information gap task to draw learners' attention to these words in second language Spanish interaction. We specifically used principles of task-based language teaching and learning (e.g., Ellis, 2009; M. H. Long, …

Korean Learners' Acquisition Of Intervocalic /B D G/ In Spanish, Avizia Long

Faculty Publications

Research on the second language (L2) acquisition of the voiced intervocalic stops /b d g/ in Spanish (e.g., lobo “wolf,” lado “side,” lago “lake”) has been instrumental in analyzing and describing the process by which learners acquire aspects of a L2 sound system. However, this particular strand of research has been conducted nearly exclusively on native English-speaking learners (e.g., Bongiovanni et al., 2015; Cabrelli Amaro, 2017; Díaz-Campos, 2004; Face & Menke, 2009; Lord, 2010; Zampini, 1994, 1997), limiting the generalizability of attested findings to learners of distinct first language (L1) backgrounds. This study examined 66 native Korean-speaking learners’ acquisition of …