Increasing numbers of Hispanic immigrants are entering the US (US Census Bureau, 2011) and are learning American English (AE) as a second language (L2). Many may experience difficulty in understanding AE. Accurate perception of AE vowels is important because vowels carry a large part of the speech signal (Kewley-Port, Burkle, & Lee, 2007). The relationship between native language and L2 vowel inventories causes some vowels to be more difficult to perceive accurately than others (Best & Tyler, 2007). The present study examined the patterns with which early and late Spanish-English bilingual adults assimilate AE vowels to their native vowel inventory and the accuracy with which they discriminate and identify the vowels. Early bilingual listeners demonstrated similar perceptual assimilation patterns to late bilingual listeners, but judged AE vowels as less Spanish sounding than did late learners. Additionally, discrimination and identification accuracy of L2 vowels improved with early age of L2 acquisition. However, early bilingual listeners’ vowel perception was not native-like. Certain AE vowels (/ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /æ/) were difficult to discriminate and identify. Perceptual assimilation patterns predicted categorial discrimination accuracy, an outcome posited by the Perceptual Assimilation Model-L2 (Best & Tyler, 1997).

Researchers in the cognitive sciences, and in particular those in acoustic phonetics, investigate the acoustic properties in the speech signal that enable listeners to perceive particular speech sounds. Temporal cues have been found to convey information about the linguistic content of an utterance. One acoustic characteristic that is particularly well documented in American English is the difference in vowel duration preceding voiced and voiceless consonants, which has been found to play a role in the perception of the voicing of postvocalic word-final consonants. Research on vowel duration and its role in the perception of the voicing distinction of the following consonant has primarily involved data from native English speakers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the vowel durations preceding word-final voiced and voiceless stops in the English production of four native Spanish speakers. This study sought to determine if differences in vowel duration are exhibited preceding voiced and voiceless consonants in the English production of the native Spanish speakers, and to determine if the vowel durations affected the perception of the voicing distinction of the postvocalic stop by four native English speakers A significant effect of voicing on the vowel durations in the English production of the native Spanish speakers was found. However, the degree of variation in the vowel lengths with respect to voicing was much less than the degree of difference exhibited in native English, and similar to the variation produced in native Spanish. The average mean difference in length with respect to the voicing of the following consonant was 17.8 msec. in the present study. In native English the mean difference between vowels preceding voiced and voiceless consonants ranges from 79 msec. to 92 msec. and in Spanish the average mean difference is 18 msec. Statistical analysis performed to quantify the contribution of vowel duration on the perception of the voicing distinction found only minimal affect. It was concluded that although the cue of vowel duration variation was present in the speech signal of this data, the listeners generally did not utilize it as a cue to the voicing distinction of the following stops.

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The present study was designed to examine students' comprehension and problem representation when reading and solving algebra word problems in their first language (L1: Spanish) and their second language (L2: English). The main interest was to investigate the role of the L2 in performing the task. It was hypothesized that difficulty in understanding and solving word problems is a function of carrying out the task in the L2 and discourse factors inherent to the specific type of text. / The sample consisted of 31 grade 9 students who attended a private bilingual school in a Colombian city. Students were asked to think aloud as they solved four problems that dealt with the topics of ratio and percentage. Problem presentation was counterbalanced with respect to topic, but the language of presentation was kept fixed; i.e., the first set of ratio and percentage problems were in English and the other set in Spanish. Students were allowed to use either language when solving the problems. There was a short post-task semi-structured interview. Students' think aloud protocols and answers to problems were analyzed. / The results support the role that language plays in performing this type of task, although not in the way that it was initially predicted. The results suggest that the language of instruction plays a more important role than whether the task is performed in L1 or L2. Thus, the hypothesis that completing the task would be more difficult in the L2 was not supported. The results suggest that the difficulty with word problems resides in the mismatch between text comprehension, the situation presented in the text and the mathematical representation. The evidence is discussed within the framework of current explanations for performance in word problems in the L1 as they apply to the bilingual case, and theories of text comprehension. It is argued that current explanations for performance in word problems in the L1 apply to the bilingual case, but with the caution that the interaction between the content of the subject domain, and the knowledge students have of the language of instruction and their first language must be taken into account.

In this thesis it is investigated how Spanish-speakers in Sweden experience living with two languages ​​and how common it is for them to use code-switching in their everyday speech. The study has focused on not only the experiences but also the use of code-switching among Hispanics who have become bilinguals in Sweden. The study has also examined the attitudes the informants show towards code – switching.The aim of this study is to provide a picture of the experiences Spanish-speakers have of becoming bilinguals in Sweden and of learning and using Swedish as a second language. It is of interest to see how the bilinguals converse inside and outside the home and how frequent and accepted it is among the Hispanics in Sweden with the use of code-switching in different social contexts. In summary, we can see that the Hispanics in Sweden are satisfied with the linguistic development they have experienced by learning a new language and that they consider it beneficial being bilingual. The study shows that code-switching is very much used, but not fully accepted even by those who use it on a daily basis. Code-switching is in many cases not considered appropriate and it is sometimes performed unconsciously.

This thesis has presented a comparative study of English and Spanish determiners. The comparison has been made at a surface level of the determiner systems of the two languages and also at a deep structure level. The reason of this comparison has been to find out how the two languages differ or have points of similarities. The points of difference have been taken into consideration to see how these differences between the two languages affect errors in writing compositions by Spanish-speaking students learning English.Some ideas have been drawn up of how constrastive analysis could help in teaching or learning a language.

This dissertation tested the usefulness of Stroop-like tests in the study of the memory of second language learners. Two Stroop-like tests (picture-word and word-word) with incongruent stimuli were administered to subjects with high and low proficiency in Spanish. Predictions on the outcome of the tests were made from the point of view of six models of bilingual memory (common store, separate stores, common store to separate stores, bilingual dual-coding, word association, and concept mediation).A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design with repeated measures on the last two variables was used. The variables were proficiency level: high and low, task: picture-word and word-word, and language condition: within language and between language. The analysis revealed a significant main effect of task and a significant interaction of task x language condition. Two additional interactions were marginally significant at the .10 level: proficiency level x task, proficiency level x language condition.The results did not provide any support for the separate stores, common store to separate stores, and bilingual dual coding models, but did provide partial support for the other and three models. It was concluded that the Stroop-like tests are a promising tool to study the organization of memory in second language (L2) acquisition. / Department of English

The purpose of this study is to discover and evaluate materials available to teachers attempting to solve the problems of teaching Spanish-speaking children to read English, and to make some suggestions as to the effective ways of selecting materials to be used in a locality where Spanish-speaking children attend the public schools.

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In this thesis, I examine the resistance, privileges, and costs of Chicana textual identity issues in an academic arena that, by design, fragments voice and dictates choice. The scarcity in research of Chicana identity through mixed-language writing in composition depicts an existing chasm between academic demographics and university sentiments. Educational institutions that neglect to investigate, engage, and participate in textual identity perpetuate accepted pensamiento. Therefore, insight to Chicana thought, culture, and educational experiences may assist and inform the teaching dominant culture, not to separate, but to conjoin information with experience for those seeking diversity.