Students who participate in study abroad programs have the opportunity to interact with native speakers in a variety of settings. "Composition and Formation of Social Networks during Study Abroad Programs" explores the kinds of social networks that students form while abroad focusing on the areas of host families, church, school, community, and friends from the program. The kind of network that students form is heavily influenced by the nature of their program. Students from the same program often have social networks similar to those of their peers in the same program. Students who went abroad generally made friends in categories that were most accessible to them. Apart from the program structure, individual initiative also plays an important role in the size and composition of a student's social network. Also, students who had more intense friendships were found to be more likely to create second order networks and meet more friends through their established friendships. Children who grow up exposed to two dialects of the same language may become bidialectal giving them an extra set of choices when they speak. The decision of which dialectal features to use is often socially motivated and demonstrates the speaker's perceived identity. In "Bidialectalism and Language Attitudes: A Case Study of a Bolivian-Argentine Family in the United States," two sisters were interviewed regarding their language use and attitudes. One of the sisters felt a strong connection to her Argentine heritage and thus chose to use an accent and words that would identify her as Argentine. The other sister in this study does not feel the need to identify herself as Argentine and prefers to simply fit in. She thus strives to employ a regionally unmarked variety of Spanish when she speaks. Both sisters are able to accommodate their speech to that of their interlocutors, but have preferred dialectal features based on their language attitudes.

Portuguese enrollments have been on a continuous rise at universities in the United States. Due to this increase it is important that teachers and department administrators understand what the motivations of Portuguese students are. This study reports on the findings of a survey conducted with lower-level Portuguese students at Brigham Young University regarding their motivations to study the language and compares these motivations with those of students of French, German, Italian, and Spanish. In addition, the study reports on students' perspectives on Portuguese in contrast to their perspectives on these other four European languages. Other issues considered include Portuguese students' native and foreign language backgrounds, their motivation to further pursue the study of Portuguese in the future, and their interest in two different varieties of the language, Brazilian and European Portuguese. Results revealed that only for Portuguese students were career plans the main motivation to study the language. Most Portuguese students already spoke Spanish fluently, either as a native or foreign language, and were also greatly motivated by the similarity between the two languages. Many Portuguese students were interested in pursuing their language studies in the future. Students reported being very interested in Brazilian Portuguese, but minimally interested in the European variety. Portuguese students' perceptions of the language were for the most part more positive than their perceptions of French, German, Italian, and Spanish, whereas non-Portuguese students' perceptions of Portuguese were mostly less positive than their perceptions of these other four European languages. Based on Portuguese and non-Portuguese students' responses to the survey questions, the study gives recommendations to promote the study of Portuguese as a foreign language at the post-secondary level.

Studies have looked at various factors that affect pronunciation including phonetic context (e.g., Canfield 1940), style variation (e.g., Diaz-Campos 2006, Gonzales-Bueno 1995, Major 2004, Shively 2008, Zampini 1994), L1 transfer (e.g., Major 2001), and experience abroad (e.g., Diaz-Campos 2004, 2006, Lafford 2006, Stevens 2001). Motivation has been shown to affect language learning in general (Gardner 1985) but its role in pronunciation has yet to be explored. The relationship between cultural sensitivity and the acquisition of pronunciation has also been relatively understudied. The current study further explores the relationship between these variables and pronunciation. Many studies have shown that students' pronunciation improves as they progress through levels of instruction (e.g. Face 2006, Rose 2010). Including this as a variable will provide an idea of the relative strength of the relationships of the other variables (i.e., motivation and cultural sensitivity) and pronunciation. The current study includes 102 adult learners of Spanish as a foreign language from 4 levels of instruction (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd years and graduating majors). Students from the 3rd year were divided into two groups, those with extensive experience abroad and those without. The participants participated in a brief oral interview similar to ACTFL's Oral Proficiency Interview and completed a background questionnaire, the Survey of Motivational Intensity (Gardner 1985), and the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as a measure of cultural sensitivity. Pronunciation scores were determined by a panel of seven native Spanish speakers who rated one-minute segments of the learners' speech on a 100-point scale (e.g., Munro and Derwing, 1995; Derwing and Munro, 1997; Derwing, Munro, and Rossiter, 2004). Multiple regression analyses examine the relationships that cultural sensitivity, motivation, level of instruction, and experience abroad have with pronunciation.

In the novel Nublares, Antonio Pérez Henares presents a caveman who typifies the modern, fragmented subject. The protagonist, Ojo Largo, a hybrid child of various cultures, crosses the boundaries between those cultures and negotiates the in-between space as a cultural translator. The concept of the fragmented, hybrid self reflects modern cognitive science. Daniel Dennett's Multiple Drafts model of consciousness presents a fragmented self characterized by "disaggregated agency," a subject consisting of the center of gravity between disparate mental processes and accumulated "narratives." Taking this model as point of departure, this thesis finds a consensus between three novels of prehistory, recent paleoanthropological theory, and modern literary criticism on the cohesion of subjectivity, language, and culture. It then examines the fundamental obstacles that complicate translating between languages/cultures, proposing a new model of the translator as a kind of multicultural outcast who creates equivalence from the center of gravity between cultures.

Testing, at times, can be a complicated matter. It takes a lot of time, precision and trial and error to adequately create a valid and reliable test. When creating a test, we should be aware of the impact that it is going to have on our teaching and whether it will be positive or negative. The goal of this project was to create four good intermediate Spanish diagnostic pre-tests that could be taken at the Brigham Young University Humanities Computer Testing Laboratory. The purpose of these pre-tests was to ascertain the grammatical strengths and weaknesses of our Fall Semester 2012 Spanish 205 students' in regards to specific grammatical principles covered throughout the course. Then, the results could be used to determine how to best plan class time and promote good instructional decisions. This report covers the necessary steps it took to develop and validate said pre-tests and concludes with reviewing the results of the validity and reliability process and gives recommendations for future application of the pre-tests designed and implemented.

This study explored the relationship between syntax and semantics in an effort to provide evidence against a strict theory of the Autonomy of Syntax. The evidence was provided by an acceptability survey given to 20 native, adult Mexicans who ranked both declarative and wh-questions which manifested a filler-gap relationship where the gap was located in an embedded noun clause. The main verbs were controlled for semantic depth by being ranked within verbal categories according to external evidence of markedness or semantic depth. The primary hypothesis was that semantically deeper verbs would add to the already increased strain on working memory associated with filler-gap processing, thereby resulting in decreased acceptability. The results of the survey showed that, while this hypothesis held true to some degree, further research will be required to confirm the results and to further understand the intricate interactions between syntax and semantics.

Teolinda Gersão's debut novel, O silêncio, addresses two issues which several prominent feminist writers and critics have discussed: women's search for identity, and the difficulty women encounter when expressing themselves in a man's world. To this second point, this discussion has been varied but comes to a consensus around the need for women to vocalize as a means of asserting themselves. However, the approach that O silêncio brings to this matter is completely the opposite, revealing instead how silence-a form of controlled non-speech-can be more empowering than words. The novel comes to this conclusion as the protagonist Lídia-a headstrong young woman-attempts to discover and express her own identity. Her search leads her into a relationship with Afonso, a middle-aged man in a stale marriage, and also causes her to recall and reinvent images from her past in order to envision her future. Although the novel has received some harsh criticism due to its labyrinthine narrative structure, the complexity of the narrative causes the novel's relationship with its readers to closely mimic Lídia's relationship with Afonso. The novel seems to resist our efforts to understand it, just as she earnestly seeks to thwart his efforts to control and silence her.

Language acquisition in the digital realm is currently being explored by members of the second language acquisition community. Social networks in particular are well suited to provide the modern language learner and educator with collaborative tools. This study explores the potential of the Facebook group utility in assisting university language learners from a variety of language proficiency levels in their language learning endeavors. Participants represented four different Spanish classes at the university level. The results of the study indicate that resource sharing, student collaboration, and continuous learning are among the more fascinating benefits for pedagogical exchange in the selected common digital space.

Many historians and literary critics recognize the nineteenth-century Brazilian author, Nísia Floresta, as the first feminist in Brazil. "Nísia Floresta é considerada a precursora dos ideais feministas no Brasil. Desde o início de sua carreira literária, a defesa dos direitos femininos foi o tema mais recorrente em sua obra"(Castro 250). Her works, published in Brazil and also in France and Italy, influenced women across borders. This thesis will address the discourse on maternity and education found in her works Opúsculo humanitário, Direitos das mulheres e injustiças dos homens, A mulher, and Conselhos à minha filha. Focusing on gender equality and the position of women in society, Floresta's writings appeared in newspapers, pamphlets and books in the early nineteenth century. Contemporary scholars have given her the title of feminist though Floresta never called herself that, for she offered intriguing support for women's stereotypical role as mothers, as well as addressing the liberal notion of women's education. Floresta's publications are of great value due to the scarcity of women writers during her time and because she offers a rare feminine perspective on society both in Brazil and in Europe.

This thesis reports on an evaluative study of the first 300-level Spanish class at Brigham Young University. The information gathered describes the history of the class and changes in curriculum and goals over the years. It also describes students who have taken the class: native Spanish speakers, heritage speakers, returned missionaries, students from lower-levels, students with a background in another Romance language, and presents information as to how well the class has met the needs of each group of students, as well as suggestions to better meet student needs. Results indicate that there is a general satisfaction with the first 300-level Spanish class across the different categories of Spanish students in this class. Data also indicate that additional review of the class may be beneficial in order to 1) increase horizontal articulation, 2) better meet General Education requirements, 3) increase the student preparedness from Spanish 206 to 321, and 4) improve instructor training.