Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 361 p.; also includes graphics Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-345). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

There is a paucity of research regarding language use among bilingual clients, particularly with Latino children. In order to provide culturally sensitive counseling for bilingual, Spanish-speaking, Latino children it is important to understand their experience of language use. The purpose of this study was to investigate how second generation, bilingual, Mexican American, 5th grade students experience language use in the two languages with which they communicate. I employed a phenomenological method to data collection and analysis and conducted semi-structured individual and group interviews with three boys and five girls (N = 8). Analysis of the individual and group interviews yielded four main structures: (a) dominant language determined perception of developing dual selves, (b) speaking two languages useful in language brokering and upward mobility, (c) dominant language determined experience of language use, and (d) language use and aspects of the complementarity principle. Findings from this study suggest that bilingual Latino children experience language brokering for their parents as difficult, speaking two languages as useful regarding upward mobility, and that their dominant language influences various aspects of their daily experiences such as with whom and where they use each language. Limitations to this research include insufficient time building rapport with participants and challenges related to unexplored dimensions of bilingualism in the counseling research literature. An overarching implication for future research, clinical practice, and counselor education is that bilingualism, language use, and the depth of experience of Latino children are largely understudied topics.

Today linguistic hybridity is often conceptualized as translanguaging. The present study of translanguaging was a linguistic ethnography, which meant investigating cultural issues as well as linguistic practices. The focus was on bilingual speakers of Vietnamese and English, two "named" languages that differ considerably in morphology, syntax, and orthography. This study, conducted over four and a half months, was situated in the Vietnamese Student Organization of a U.S. university, and it included 37 participants. The research was intended to answer two questions: what forms of translanguaging did these bilinguals use? and what reasons did they provide for instances of translanguaging? In capturing the language use of this community, my role was participant-observer, which entailed observing and audio-recording conversations in three kinds of settings: group meetings, social gatherings, and Facebook communications. Additional insights came from discourse-based interviews, focused on instances of translanguaging by 10 individuals. In the group meetings and Facebook conversations, it was conventional for the major language to be English, whereas in the social gatherings it was Vietnamese. My attention in analyzing these interactions was on patterns of translanguaging that occurred within sentences and those occurring outside sentence boundaries. Overall, most translanguaging occurred intra-sententially, as single words from one language were segmented within a sentence being spoken or written in the other. As to extra-sentential forms, this translanguaging in the group meetings mainly took the form of Vietnamese honorifics, and Facebook conversations included some extra-sentential double postings. Participants provided reasons for translanguaging that included community factors, discourse-related factors, and individual-related factors. This inquiry provides further insights into the multi-competences of bilingual individuals. The Vietnamese-English bilinguals drew flexibly from their linguistic repertoires, merging two languages that are quite different. Use of hybridized language was conventional for them and was central to their practices. This linguistic hybridity was a mutuality—one of the ways in which these students were, in fact, a community.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education