The purpose of the study is to examine how the Spanish students in a 6th grade class of primary school consider contrastive analysis approaches in the acquisition of a third language. This study also makes use of a sociocultural perspective that is in relation with the language acquisition perspective and puts its mark in the study. To support our research, we used the qualitative method, specifically, the semi-structured interview. Five Spanish language students stemming from one school class were interviewed. As a result of the questions presented, we were able to conclude that learning Spanish as a target language has its challenges among the Swedish students. Another aspect that is worth highlighting in the data analysis is the importance of the students’ prior knowledge and its integration into the students’ own consciousness.In order to obtain this objective, it is necessary that the teacher helps the students to discover a connection between the forms and use of the Spanish grammar and that it can be done in an easy and playful way within the group in class and in outdoors environments.

The problem of the study was to determine the effectiveness of an in-service education program as a means of providing qualified foreign language teachers for elementary schools. Specifically, the problem was concerned with a statistical comparison of the achievement of two groups of pupils. One group was composed of fourth-grade pupils who were taught Spanish by teachers who had had a maximum of three college hours in Spanish and who had participated in an in-service education program. The other group was composed of fourth-grade pupils whose teachers had had a minimum of twelve college hours in Spanish but had not participated in an in-service education program.

The problem of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two methods of teaching Spanish by non-specialist teachers in grade four. This study was planned to investigate the effectiveness of two programs designed to teach Spanish to non-Spanish-speaking fourth grade students.

This thesis examines the acquisition of the aspectual properties of the Spanish se in transitive constructions by L2 learners of Spanish. Based on a parameterized distinction of the telic features in English and Spanish, this study investigates whether second language (L2) learners are able to reset the aspectual value of the English parameter to that of Spanish in their interlanguage grammar. Results indicate that L2 learners' responses to a picture interpretation task vary according to proficiency levels. Low-intermediate and intermediate learners did not differentiate between telic and atelic constructions whereas advanced learners successfully acquired the telic properties of the transitive se constructions. Results were interpreted in the light of current theories of second language acquisition and the mental representation of aspect in interlanguage.

The problem of this study was to develop a simplified Spanish teaching guide for analytical commentaries about contemporary short stories in Spanish. To realize this study, major approaches in analytical commentary of short story instruction in classes of Spanish in American colleges and universities were identified through intensive research and have been incorporated into the guide. Consequently, general principles for the analysis and explication of the contemporary short story in Spanish are identified. The objectives in these major principles found in the literature are concepts which meet the needs of the present-day student in an ever-changing society. The analytical commentary on the short stories focuses on specific and essential elements of the short story. It is based on four selected representative authors from the Hispanic world—Juan Rulfo, Ana Maria Matute, Sabine R. Ulibarri, and Horacio Quiroga—and four short stories of their respective authors from anthologies used in Spanish classes in the United States of America. The linguistic analysis and commentary on the short story are basically limited to the linguistically cultural aspect. Those educators of the Spanish language and Hispanic literatures having a personal interest on the subject may find useful the reference list constructed. It was compiled from resources obtained through a computer search and the card catalogs in their respective places: Biblioteca Municipal de Salamanca, Espana, Biblioteca Nacional de Espafia, Madrid; Dallas Public Library; ERIC; Fondren Library, Southern Methodist University; Texas Woman's University; and Willis Library, University of North Texas. Recommendations for instructional evaluators and educators in Spanish are enumerated in Chapter V. Also, based on the results of the development of the teaching guide, recommendations for further research and studies are suggested.

<p>This dissertation defends the <i>microrrelato</i>, an extremely brief work of narrative fiction, as the “fourth narrative genre,” as informed by research in embodied cognitive science, often referred to as the field of “neurohumanities.” The hallmark brevity of the <i>microrrelato </i>means that the literary perception of the text—and the creation of an imagined story world—is highly influenceable by its context, though the traditional literary criticism often published regarding the <i>microrrelato </i>does not seem to defend its distinction. I offer a reexamination of the <i>microrrelato </i>by defining it using a radial-structure conceptualization as informed by research from cognitive science on prototypes to inform a more comprehensive approach to defining the <i>microrrelato </i>and its relationship to other narrative, fictional, and literary forms. By looking at the prototypical conceptualization of the <i>microrrelato </i>through the lens of the neurohumanities, its distinction as its own category of narrative prose becomes clearer. Whereas the vast majority of research in the neurohumanities uses larger works of literature as summative case studies, very little has yet been applied to such short, “sudden” pieces of narrative fiction. It is through this examination that I demonstrate that fictional texts do not need to be extensive in order to afford the realization of cognitive processes in readers that construct imagined story worlds or afford them enriched narrative experience. The brevity or “suddenness” of the <i>microrrelato </i>is precisely what affords the reader the opportunity to do so. Furthermore, by applying empirical research from the field of neurohumanities, including data that I have collected, to the <i>microrrelato</i>, this dissertation also provides insight into the nature of fiction and the act of reading itself. </p>

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis considered the impact of censorship and authoritarian rule by dictator Francisco Franco on two novels by 20th century Spanish author Carmen Martín Gaite: El balneario, (1955) and Entre visillos (1958). The two works utilize a “discourse of censorship” to express complaints about life as a young woman deprived of fulfilling relationships and self-determination. These novels were analyzed through a search for subtexts and hidden meanings to argue for their status as texts that contain a subversive message. This investigation was accomplished through historical research on Francoist censorship and repression; use of Michel Foucault’s theories about panopticism; and feminist criticism of both novels. In the exploration of El balneario it was determined that a very strange dream sequence revealed psychological trauma from the Spanish Civil War, an anxiety-provoking sense of voicelessness, and an overwhelming isolation from the outside world. In the inquiry into Entre visillos, it was found that provincial and traditionalist social structures prevented meaningful communication and promoted unquestioned obedience to social norms. Martín Gaite achieved this look into society through her detailed depictions of the characters’ experiences and by viewing their social interactions through the lens of an outsider – a German teacher, Pablo Klein. The conclusion of this study was that, despite censorship’s silencing effects, Martín Gaite’s novels do expose the difficulties of daily life under authoritarian rule and are subversive in their implication that Franco’s insistence on maintaining 19th century social and political structures is harmful, and that change is possible if freer communication were allowed.

The purpose of this thesis is to study whether target-like articulation of the Spanish tap [ɾ] and trill [r] is achieved by second language learners who have lived in a Spanish-speaking environment for an extensive period of time. The subjects of this study were students at Brigham Young University (BYU) who had spent 18 months to two years in a Spanish-speaking country. Most of the subjects had little to no previous Spanish instruction, but rather learned the language primarily through their contact with native speakers while abroad. In addition to whether or not subjects achieved target-like pronunciation of these two Spanish sounds, this study sought to observe whether or not certain linguistic factors (e.g., neighboring sounds, syllable stress, etc.) and extra-linguistic factors (e.g., previous Spanish instruction, instructors who were native speakers of Spanish, articulation in formal or informal speech, etc.) had influence on their articulation. The results of this study reveal that the subjects were generally successful in articulating the Spanish rhotic sounds. The majority of the subjects pronounced the rhotics in a target-like manner over 80% of the time. Furthermore, while previous studies have claimed that the transfer of the American English approximant [ɹ] is the most common error when acquiring the Spanish tap and trill, the current study suggests that the most common error of L2 speakers who have lived abroad is developmental: the production of the tap [ɾ] in place of the trill /r/. Lastly, it reveals, through the results of a variable rule analysis, that the two most significant factors in accurate tap and trill articulation are its phonetic context and whether or not the participants had received adequate Spanish instruction prior to having lived abroad.