<p> This dissertation examines how college students' participation in a Spanish service-learning course affected their perceptions of language culture and community. Findings demonstrate that students will potentially experience connections, disconnections, and reconnections when they interact with others in a Spanish service-learning experience. The connections that they form may motivate them to improve their skills and knowledge related to the subject matter. In this qualitative, practitioner action research study, I interviewed four students who were enrolled in my service-learning course. The narratives were analyzed using the Listening Guide (Gilligan et al., 2003) a feminist relational methodology. </p><p> When the students spoke of their experiences with language, culture, and community in interviews prior to taking the course, they used voices of powerlessness, rejection, observation, and separation. In the interviews that occurred after the service-learning experience, their voices spoke of empowerment, acceptance, participation, and inclusion. Cross-case analysis revealed that students formed relationships with the community, other students, and the instructor during the service-learning experience. Even if these relationships were short-term and limited, they often experienced the cycle of connection, disconnection, and connection of long-term relationships. Prior to the course, students spoke of previous experiences with language-exclusion and disconnections that they experienced because of their relational images of observation and separation. When they spoke of their service-learning experiences, they described multiple relational triangles (Hawkins, 1974; Raider-Roth &amp; Holzer, 2009) and revealed their developed sense of empathy. This empathy demonstrates the connections they formed with other students and with the community members. Two students spoke of disconnections that occurred during the course, but these disconnections were outweighed by connections. These connections led them to desire more meaningful connections, which they realized could only happen by improving their language skills. </p><p> The implications of this study suggest that in a relational service-learning course, instructors no longer are only part of the relational triangle between the instructor, the student, and the subject matter; they also facilitate relationships between students, community partner organizations, community members, other volunteers, and the subject matter. The multiple relational triangles that they facilitate combine to form a relational hexagon. This relational understanding of service-learning has implications for instructors, the discipline, and the university.</p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

The German /r/ sound is one of the most difficult sounds for American English (AE) speakers who are learning German as a foreign language to produce. The standard German /r/ variant [/R/] and dialectal variant [R] are achieved by varying the tongue constriction degree, while keeping the place of articulation constant [Schiller and Mooshammer (1995)]. The close articulatory proximity of these allophones provides an opportunity for testing the relationship between perception and production in L2 sound acquisition. / The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how well native German speakers, experienced AE speakers, and inexperienced AE speakers can discriminate and produce the difference between the uvular fricative [/R/] versus the uvular trill [R]. Predictions of the Speech Learning Model (SLM) framework will be used to predict English speakers results (Flege, 1995). Native German speakers participated in an imitation study and discrimination experiment. Two groups of AE subjects performed the same experiments in addition to a categorization test. The production studies revealed that native speakers can reliably produce the difference between uvular trills and fricative. / However, significant variation in trill production was observed among native German participants. Production scores among experienced AE speakers were more varied relative to native speakers, while inexperienced AE speakers achieved the lowest production scores. All three subject groups performed similarly well on the discrimination test, indicating that all three groups are presumably relying on the same acoustic cues to distinguish [R ] vs. [/R/]. Outcomes of the perception experiment confirmed that experienced AE listeners were more consistent and confident in their 'foreign r' category selection than inexperienced AE listeners. / Subsequent Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between uvular fricative production scores and categorization/discrimination scores for experienced AE speakers, but not for the uvular trill. No significant relationships emerged for the uvular trill and uvular fricative among the group of inexperienced AE subjects. Outcomes for each L2 subject group are discussed with respect to predictions made by the SLM.

<p> Since the early 2000s, foreign language practitioners and researchers have shown an increasing interest in exploring the affordances of multimodal telecollaborative environments for the linguistic and intercultural development of their students. Due in part to their inherent complexity, one-on-one desktop-videoconferencing contexts have not been widely explored. To this end, this study investigates if and how American students of French engaged in a telecollaborative exchange with a class of French students are able to develop their Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) through online interaction and the completion of a collaborative task. Adopting a case study approach, the video-recorded sessions of three dyads are analyzed in conjunction with data from background surveys, autobiographies, journal entries, and email exchanges. To observe ICC development, we use a combination of a priori categories based on the &laquo; Attitude &raquo; component of Byram's (1997) model and a set of emerging themes (Boyatzis, 1998) gathered from the data. This choice of methodology provides an in-depth picture of the participants' production of Attitudes, that is, the willingness to show value to their partners or prioritize self over the course of the exchange. The results of the study indicate that one-on-one desktop-video conferencing can support the development of ICC and that task work bears upon the types and production of Attitudes. In addition, it is found that the production of Attitudes is not proficiency-dependent. The results also further suggest that there are differences in the way male and female participants engage in intercultural interaction.</p>

<p> Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) is an innovative educational approach that is becoming increasingly popular among researchers and practitioners in technologically advanced countries in the West, but is largely unknown or ignored in the instruction of Foreign Languages (FL) in Japanese higher education. This is problematic because more interest in research and implementation among faculty in Japan would likely contribute to the development of DGBL and improve the quality of FL education. The purpose of the present study was to better understand the lack of interest in DGBL in Japan by employing Everett Rogers' Innovation Diffusion Theory to explore the perceptions of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of DGBL among FL faculty in Japanese higher education. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was employed to collect data through an online self-completion questionnaire and asynchronous email interviews. The results indicate that while most faculty members believe that DGBL would have a beneficial impact on learner motivation, they are unconvinced that it offers real learning outcomes. Further, participants were divided as to whether the approach would be compatible with course learning objectives, and many regarded it as suitable primarily as supplemental learning material. Faculty members with a research interest in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) expressed a willingness to try the approach, but at the same time pointed out that there were few opportunities to do so.</p>

<p> Learning to read in a foreign language can be a difficult task for some students. For at-risk students, for example, students with learning disabilities, the process can be arduous and painstaking. This study explored and compared the reading strategies, preferred foreign language learning styles, perceived foreign language strategy use, actual strategy use and metacognitive awareness of at-risk students in a Modified Foreign Language Program (MFLP) of postsecondary Spanish with those of non at-risk students in a non-MFLP. </p><p> This study followed a mixed-method design consisting of two parts. In the first part, preferred learning style and perceived strategy use data were collected via the Learning Style Survey and Survey of Reading Strategies. The second part of the study consisted of 11 case studies based on semi-structured interviews and think-aloud protocols in which the participants completed a reading task in the target language. </p><p> The major findings for part one are: MFLP and non-MFLP students did not differ in terms of their preferences for sensory/perceptual stimuli. Both groups had a significant preference for Visual over Auditory and Tactile/Kinesthetic stimuli. MFLP and non-MFLP students did not differ significantly in their perceived use of foreign language reading strategies. Both groups indicated a statistically significant preference for the use of cognitive (PROB) strategies, then metacognitive (GLOB) strategies followed by support (SUP) strategies. The relationship between preferred learning style and perceived GLOB strategy use was significant only for the MFLP group. </p><p> The second part of the study consisted of a think-aloud protocol. The major findings are: Both groups used strategies that were in line with their preferred learning style. The MFLP participants, however, relied much more heavily on the use of visual input to help extract meaning from unknown context. While both groups reported a high use of PROB, only the non-MFLP students used them with any regularity during the reading task. The MFLP group relied heavily on the use of support strategies (e.g. dictionary) to extract unknown meaning during the reading task. Non-MFLP students combined metacognitive strategies with cognitive strategies far more frequently than MFLP students. </p>

<p> This dissertation investigates the acquisition of Spanish diphthongs by adult native speakers of English. The following research questions will be addressed: 1) How do adult native speakers of English pronounce sequences of two vowels in their L2 Spanish at different levels of acquisition? 2) Can OT learnability models, specifically the GLA, account for the pronunciation of L2 diphthongs? If so, what constraints do learners use and how do these constraints interact? If not, what other model(s) might offer an improved analysis of L2 diphthongs? Participants completed two production tasks, a Nonsense Word task and a Question &amp; Answer task. The participants were divided by level of acquisition &ndash; Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced &ndash; and there was a Native Speaker Control group. After the data was collected, F2 values and duration of vowel sequence were measured and used to categorize the pronunciations as monophthongs, diphthongs, or hiatus. It was found that the use of diphthongization increased with level of acquisition in the data for the Question &amp; Answer task. Data from the Nonsense Word task did not reveal the same pattern; instead, the level of diphthongization was more or less equal across all levels of acquisition and with the Native Speaker Control group. The OT account was able to explain most of the data in this study. The GLA proved successful in demonstrating how constraints interact in the pronunciation of L2 diphthongs. However, there were L2 pronunciations for which OT could not account. It is suggested that linguistic models based on lexical frequency may offer insight into how to account for these pronunciations. </p>

<p> This study examines proposals made during planning talk&mdash;a speech act that has received little attention in previous literature&mdash;to determine the applicability of the stages of second language (L2) pragmatic development posited by Kasper and Rose (2002). Although Kasper and Rose suggest that formulas play a prominent role in L2 pragmatic development, few studies have considered the applicability of their stages to a non-formulaic speech act. The current study investigated proposal production in the planning talk of 69 participants: 46 learners of Spanish enrolled at five levels of instruction in a seven-week Spanish immersion program, 12 native Spanish speaking instructors in the same program, and 11 native English speaking undergraduate students at the same institution enrolled during the academic year. The L2 learners worked in groups of two or three as they planned three different role-plays during the seventh week of instruction. The native speakers met with the researcher in groups of two or three to complete the same role-plays in their first language (L1). A total of 1809 proposals and 351 supporting moves were produced in approximately four hours of planning talk. Analysis of transcriptions focused on the realization of the head-act strategies, deictic centering, internal and external modification, and the influence of the conversational context on the production of proposals. Results of this cross-sectional analysis suggest that learners do not pass through a formulaic stage when producing proposals in planning talk. The results also suggest that the learners' production of proposals exhibits a u-shaped curve as they adhere to L1 English norms at intermediate levels of proficiency before reflecting L1 Spanish norms at more advanced levels of instruction. L1 English influence was observed in the level of directness of the head-act strategies, the use of deictic centering, internal and external modification, and the influence of the conversational context. Results point to a new framework involving three universal stages of L2 pragmatic development in which L1 influence and pragmatic expansion are more salient. </p>

<p> Researchers of super-diversity, a state of intense cultural heterogeneity common mostly in urban centers across the globe, have strongly emphasized the potential for rigorous qualitative studies of this social phenomenon to supplement perspectives in the field of linguistic anthropology by focusing on "what is lived and expressed in the everyday" (Blommaert &amp; Rampton, 2011, p. 11) and analyzing "the degree to and ways in which today's migrants maintain identities, activities, and connections linking them with communities outside" (Vertovec, 2007, p. 1043). Moreover, in studies of language and literacy socialization in contexts of super-diversity, it has become highly significant to explore the patterns of "inter-generational language socialization within families" (Blommaert &amp; Rampton, 2011, p. 14), focusing on the direction of influence (parent to child, child to parent, grandparent to child, sibling to sibling, etc.), as well as the context of its occurrence (whether in domestic, recreational, community, or religious circles). </p><p> This study contributes to the growing literature on super-diversity and more specifically to the field of linguistic anthropology and research on immigrant mothers. Bringing the Pakistani immigrant community in Toronto into focus, the present study demonstrates how Pakistani immigrant mothers, who are themselves in the midst of negotiating linguistic and cultural transitions, negotiate and construct their familial identities, while living in an increasingly diverse city like Toronto in a time when notions of diversity, multiculturalism, and multilingualism are themselves shifting. </p><p> Analysis of multiple dimensions of immigrant mothers' stories highlights the relational aspect of identity negotiation (Bucholtz &amp; Hall, 2005) in the context of immigration. Attending closely to the narratives of their past and present experiences with language learning and use, this study demonstrates how these mothers have negotiated their familial identities in relation to both their own positioning (Davies &amp; Harr&eacute; 1990) as immigrant mothers, as well as through the positioning of others' in their stories. </p><p> Moreover, close analysis of the multiple instances of identity negotiation through the way immigrant mothers talk about language and the socialization of their children confirms their own as well as their children's fluid, multiple and hybrid identities. Their negotiations of `new' immigrant identities into `a third space' draw on an amalgam of cultural and linguistic resources available in a city like Toronto. These findings on one hand problematize and transgress traditionally held notions of language and identity that have been focusing on English versus ethnic language and culture debate; on the other hand, they offer us a window into how immigrant identities are negotiated in superdiverse contexts. </p><p> Finally, I consider how the narratives constructed in an interactional context like the focus group discussions that constituted an important methodological tool in this study offer broader options for analysis of identity negotiation by providing special insights into how perspectives can be negotiated collaboratively among group members.</p>