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July 6, 2013: Changes For Comparative Drama, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Sparking Metacognition: Contextualizing Reading Strategies For Low-Proficient Esl Readers, Deborah L. Pratt

Theses and Dissertations

Reading strategies are consciously controlled actions learners execute in order to aid comprehension. The effectiveness of strategies is increased with metacognitive awareness. Researchers have created instruments to raise metacognitive awareness targeted for native and highly proficient L2 readers. This article outlines the creation of a new survey, the Contextualized Inventory of Metacognitive Awareness for novice to low-intermediate L2 readers. Unlike other instruments, this survey contextualizes pre-, during-, and post-reading strategy deployment with the use of simplified, narrative reading passages. The survey was piloted at an Intensive English Program with 88 subjects. The overall readability of the survey had a Lexile …

Pro-Drop And Word-Order Variation In Brazilian Portuguese: A Corpus Study, Stewart Daniel Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines certain syntactic properties of the Brazilian variety of Portuguese (BP): 1) BP is a pro-drop language with instances of both null subjects and covert objects, and 2) BP exhibits several possible word orders. To determine the frequency of pro-drop and word-order variations, the CDP (The Portuguese Corpus) was used to provide samples of transitive, main clauses, which were then categorized based on whether or not they had null subjects and covert objects. The clauses were also categorized according to word order. In addition to providing samples, the corpus allowed for the comparison of four different registers …

Curriculum Development For The Novice Developer, Darcy L. Whetten

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addressed the need to inform and demonstrate to novice developers the process of developing a curriculum and the need to guide novice teachers with little or no access to formal training. A curriculum for novice teachers in community programs was developed such that the teachers were presented clear and specific guidance in presenting lessons with minimal preparation time and with minimal training. Eight novice teachers presented the lessons in ESL and EFL contexts and provided feedback on the success, strengths, and weaknesses of the curriculum and lessons. The participants indicated that the curriculum overall is satisfactory, easy to …

Perceptions Of English Proficiency Levels: The Unspoken Expectations Of Native English Speakers, Alison Divett Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between nonnative English speaker (NNES) proficiency level and native English speaker (NES) level of comfort interacting with NNES. The purpose of this study was to discover at what proficiency level NESs feel comfortable interacting with NNES. This study also looked at how communicative task and NES demographic variables affected the proficiency expectations NNESs have for NESs. Participants included 120 NESs and 7 NNESs. The NESs listened to sound clips from the 7 NNESs and rated how comfortable they would feel (on a scale of 0-10, 10 indicating very comfortable) interacting with the speaker in a …

Adult Second Language Learners' Social Network Development And Perceived Fluency Gain In An Immersion Environment, Marie Naomi Bejarano

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the social networks developed by language learners and their relationship with perceived changes in the learners' fluency in the context of an intensive English as a second language (ESL) program. Using data from the Study Abroad Social Interaction Questionnaire (SASIQ) to determine SN development and native speaker ratings to determine perceived fluency, a simple linear regression to test the relationship between social network variables and fluency gain, as well as a hierarchical regression measuring (a) the combined effect of variables previously found to be significant in fluency gain, and (b) the additional joint effect of the remaining …

The Lived Experiences Of Native Louisiana French Speakers Entering English-Only Elementary Schools In Lower Bayou Lafourche, Jolynda H. Strandberg

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to investigate the lived experiences of native Louisiana French speakers entering English-only elementary schools in lower Bayou Lafourche, Louisiana. Native Louisiana French speakers entering English-only elementary school was defined as those whose home language was Louisiana French prior to entering elementary school. While language attrition for non-English speakers and Louisiana French culture had been explored, the in depth, lived experiences of native Louisiana French speakers entering English elementary schools were unexplored (Blyth, 1997; Ryon, 2002; Sexton, 2000). Understanding how entering English-only schools affects student perceptions and identity was important in determining school …

Pragmatic Transfer Of Compliment Responses Among Chinese Esl Lds Missionaries, Courtney Price Bodily

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the pragmatic transfer Chinese Latter-day Saint (LDS) missionaries speaking English display when responding to compliments in English conversations. Previous studies have shown that native American English speakers have a higher rate of compliment acceptance in their compliment response (CR) strategies. While, native Chinese speakers have a higher rate of denial in their CRs (. A common research question is whether or not CR strategies transfer from a Chinese English speaker's first language (L1) into their English conversations. To measure this, 40 missionaries from the LDS church participated in naturalized role plays. Half were native Chinese (10 male, …

The Role Of Expectations On Nonnative English Speaking Students' Wrtiting, Sara Marie Van Dan Acker

Dissertations and Theses

This study centered on the expectations of a non-native English-speaking undergraduate student and her teacher in a general education course at Portland State University during winter term 2012. This was a qualitative case study, where I collected data throughout the duration of the course by means of interviews, classroom observations, and written assignment sheet data. I triangulated verbal data from interview transcripts from the two participants, along with data from the observation notes and the assignment sheets in order to gain a better understanding of the expectations each participant had about writing assignments.

Data from four sources were collected and …

Assisting Novice Raters In Addressing The In-Between Scores When Rating Writing, Brittney Greer

Theses and Dissertations

In the research regarding rating ESL writing assessments, borderline writing samples are mentioned, but a solution has yet to be addressed. Borderline samples are writing samples that do not perfectly fit a set level within the rubric, but instead have characteristics from multiple levels. The aim of this thesis is to provide an improved training module in the setting of an Intensive English Program by exposing new raters to borderline samples and rating rationale from experienced raters. The purpose of this training is to increase the confidence, consistency, and accuracy of novice raters when rating borderline samples of writing. The …

Languages Without Borders: Creating An Enhanced Teacher’S Guide For Romanian 101, Sarah Holden, Dr. Michael Bush

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Brigham Young University’s Romanian orphanage internship has been a popular and well-attended program since its inception, attracting mainly students majoring in childhood development, nursing, psychology, and health sciences. The volunteer work these interns perform during their semester abroad is of utmost importance–both to the orphans receiving care and to the students providing it. The orphanage caretakers greatly value BYU interns, but have often expressed frustration in their inability to adequately communicate in the Romanian language. Although a beginning Romanian course has been offered at BYU for several years, it was clear that its curriculum needed to be altered and an …

Judeo-Spanish In Thessaloniki: A Survey Of The Speakers Of The Dialect Today, Randall Craig Meister, Dr. David Eddington

Journal of Undergraduate Research

“Pero Salonik no kanta mas¹,” said an elderly speaker of Judeo-­‐Spanish in Thessaloniki, as she reflected with me during a discussion concerning her life as a Sephardic Jew after World War II. This expression embodies the historical and cultural awareness of the dwindling Judeo-­‐Spanish speaking Sephardic community in Thessaloniki, Greece². After 500 years of prevalence in Thessaloniki, Greece, the Spanish-­‐ peaking Sephardic Jews have endured centuries of Muslim rule, Greek cultural assimilation, a horrific Holocaust, and starkly diversified linguistic exposure. This plethora of diversity and circumstances has created a dwindling community of speakers, but a community, …

Marshallese Corpus Project: The Marshallese Language Resource, Marco Mora Huizar, Dr. Heather Willson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of the Marshallese Corpus Project (MCP) is to create an extensive online corpus of Marshallese language texts to be used for research and other applications. Currently, there is a severe lack of resources for the study of the Marshallese language, and it is difficult to gain access to many Marshallese texts. Further, there is little by way of available naturalistic language data in Marshallese. Therefore, the ability of both researchers and language learners to study the language is severely inhibited. This project involves collecting both printed and online text samples, standardizing the spelling of these texts and creating …

Don’T Judge A Voice By Its Color: The Influence Of Visual And Linguistic Cues On Racial Profiling, Alex Jennings, Dr. Wendy Baker-Smemoe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Linguistic profiling¹ has emerged as an area of research only within the last decade. Several researchers have shown that people who speak non-standard, ethnically-tied dialects are treated less favorably than their Standard American English (SAE)-speaking counterparts. However, no known studies have shown the relative importance of visual versus linguistic cues in profiling. The purpose of my project was to experimentally this by answering this question: Does one’s dialect have a greater bearing on racial judgments than skin color? Sadly, because this type of research has never really been done, we had to synthesize a new methodology. We did this …

Noun-Preposition Collocations: The 2010 Chicago Manual Of Style (Cms) Compared To The Corpus Of Contemporary American English (Coca), Christina Champenois, Doris Dant

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines collocation as “a noticeable arrangement or conjoining of linguistic elements” (s.v. “collocation”). Collocational constructions may present difficulties to editors, translators, and second-language learners. Malgorzata Martyńska explains that collocations tend to be “one of the most problematic and error-generating area [sic] of vocabulary, especially for second language learners” (5) and that “collocations pose enormous problems, even for the most proficient in English” (10). My research focuses specifically on noun-preposition collocations.

How Performative Are Ideophones In Pastaza Quechua?, Roseanna Hopper, Dr. Janis Nuckolls

Journal of Undergraduate Research

With my ORCA grant, I set out to investigate the performance qualities of ideophones, a category of words marked by a specific speaking style in Ecuadorean Pastaza Quechua. I planned to use software to determine phonetic properties of the words and compare to the rest of speech. I also wanted to look at gesture as a part of the performance involved in using ideophones. I planned to gather data from acquaintances in Ecuador by recording stories, conversations and definitions of the words, which was a strategy used by Dingemanse while working with Siwu (2011). I used audio recordings for the …

Understanding Chinese Language And Culture: A Guidebook For Teachers Of English In China, Austin Cody Pack

Theses and Dissertations

Many experts on English teaching in China argue that native-English-speaking teachers are too unfamiliar with Chinese culture and the Chinese language. Many of the resources available for these teachers do not address these issues and are not adequately tailored to the native-English-speaking teachers' specific needs. This 35 page guidebook in printable pdf form addresses three key issues with English teaching in China. First, the guidebook helps teachers understand how to bridge the gap that exists between their teaching styles and their Chinese students' learning styles. Second, the guidebook provides explanations of common errors Chinese students make in English because of …

Vernacular Explanations Of Causation In Lay Health Discourse, Laurel Smith Stvan

Linguistics & TESOL Faculty Publications & Presentations - Archive

Few linguistic works exam vernacular terms for health concepts rather than technical medical terms (cf. Rueda-Baclig & Florencio 2003). The prevalence of conversations on food, sleep, exercise, and illness – and the ordinariness of the words – leads to aspects of lexical misinterpretation remaining understudied. Lay terms with multiple senses are studied here to determine effects on misunderstanding of causality in health discussions.

Six Principles Of Self-Regulated Learning: Developing Self-Regulated Language Learners, Andrea Michelle Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Self-regulation is an important aspect of learning, and all teachers want to instill this ability in their students. However, students often feel confused or inadequate when it comes to being in charge of their own learning. This is especially true in intensive English programs where students expect the teacher to provide them with the information they need to pass tests and advance to higher levels. While the teacher's role cannot be overlooked, encouraging self-regulated learning is also vital to students' success in learning. The author saw a need for this in the intensive English program where she is teaching. She …

Pedagogía De Hablantes De Herencia: Implicaciones Para El Entrenamiento De Instructores Al Nivel Universitario, Lina M. Reznicek-Parrado

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study researches the differences in pedagogical needs between learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language (FL learners) and learners of Spanish as a Heritage Language (HL learners) at the university level. By using the UNL Modern Languages and Literatures Department as an illustrative case and based on an analysis of the Heritage Language student profile in the context of the United States, this study seeks to explore arguments in favor of providing training for university-level instructors of Spanish that responds to the specific pedagogical needs of Heritage Language Learners.

The relevancy of this study is not only based on …