Abstract This paper discusses the importance of offering bilingual education in US schools. The paper maintains that, because of the ever increasing numbers of English language learning students present in the American school system, the topic of bilingual education must be addressed. The paper relates that research into bilingual education has proven that it is the best way for ELL students to learn the language while maintaining literacy in their own native tongue. The paper argues that, in order to create a successful system, not only do we need to remove the misconceptions regarding ELL students and develop programs that will work for all students, but most importantly teachers need to be prepared and supported in order for the classroom experience to be successful.
From the Paper " The first immigrants to this country were primarily northwestern European. With the abundance of land and the tendency for national groups to stay together in order to preserve their traditions language was not much of an issue. With the second wave of immigration to America, largely from southern and eastern Europe, the problems began. The original settlers began to fear for their customs and traditions when the new groups began to move in."
Abstract Discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of language. This paper explores the role of power in discourse analysis in terms of the discourses (language) and investigates the hidden power behind different situations and the power placed upon the analyst themselves, their ability to affect the conclusions drawn from the discourses and the problems they may cause or create. It looks at examples of previous discourse analysis work and tries to identify the position of power within them. It then tries to discover, if any, problems which may arise from power. Moreover, the paper tries to provide a method of discourse analysis that tries to avoid any problems that may occur or arise due to power. In this respect, by including specific resources into the discourse analysis, the paper attempts to show that the extra uncertainties associated with power may be reduced or eliminated altogether.
From the Paper "Wetherell and Potter provide an analysis of passages taken from people whom were connected to a scene of violence in 'Narrative characters and accounting for violence'. Their account of the police preventing a riot shows the conflicting powers within the situation. On the one hand, there is the power associated with the general public. Their urge to display their unhappiness or opposition is shown by rioting. Their collective power is very immense. However the police were forced into using force to control the power. The police now have control of the power by controlling the crowds. Their power is more of a physical power which they use to overcome the social power. Their use of force within society is justified as the speaker explains or pushes the point of "severe violence" if they did not disband the collective power. Even in society, violence is unacceptable; their use of violence was part justified since they were using violence to control a greater violence. In this respect, they are using the alarm signal of a potentially threatening and more violent situation to justify their behaviour. "
Abstract This paper reviews the TELD-3 or the Test of Early Language Development - Third Edition, a standardized screening test assessing language capabilities in children between two to seven years of age. The paper describes the contents of the test kit and discusses the measuring tools used in this system. The paper also praises the TELD-3 for being a child friendly assessment tool that can be effectively used to assess receptive language and expressive language strengths and weaknesses within a child, as well as to evaluate student progress after interventions. The paper also points out, however, that as the norms for the TELD-3 were derived from a sample of children residing in 35 American states it is limited by it's American formed results and its bias towards the English language.
From the Paper "The TELD-3 is a child friendly assessment tool. Test items involve realistic, colored pictures that hold the child's interest. In addition, test items are varied and involve activities such as listening to a story. For younger children, test materials also include actual objects, such as a doll, shoe and blocks. As a result of the stimulating format of the test, children are less likely to become bored and restless. Also, the test procedure is designed to facilitate breaks in between subtests, thus reducing fatigue in test takers."
Tags: learning measurement, language development, children
Abstract This paper was written for an English class in which we had to research the meaning and the origin of an English word.
From the Paper "It was not until 1579 that catastrophe first appeared in written English. British poet Edmund Spenser[1] in his poem entitled "The shepheardes calendar" first used catastrophe in the sentence ?this tale is much like to that in Aesops fables, but the catastrophe and ende is farre different.? According to the Oxford English Dictionary the first meaning of the word catastrophe in English, as used in the quote from Spender's poem, was ?The change or revolution which produces the conclusion or final event of a dramatic piece.? Over time the word catastrophe grew in usage, but while there were slight changes in its meaning, the word still has the same meaning today as back in 1579."
From the Paper "Prior to this experiment, we hypothesized anchor length would have a significant effect on a participant's estimate of the height of Mount Everest. The results of a survey of 36 undergraduate college students were examined in an attempt to understand the relationship between anchor length and response variation. Participants were given a survey questioning the height of Mount Everest. Three conditions were randomly assigned-control, low, and high anchor length. Results indicated a significant difference between anchor length and response variation. These findings were congruent with the results of Stack and Mussweiler (1997) in which semantic priming and anchor wording resulted in response variation. "
Abstract A discussion about how words are stored in memory and retrieved. The author discusses how the mental lexical is organized focusing on the priming paradigm method, which entails looking for stimuli that facilitate word retrieval. This is a review of the relevant literature including a proposition of alternative instruments to be used as well as a pilot experiment using the proposed instrument. Main focus is on Arabic speakers.
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. The Present Paper
4. Metodology
4.a. Stimuli and Design
4.b. Participants and Procedure
5. Results and Discussion
From the Paper "How is our mental lexicon organized?" Is this an abstract theoretical question that belongs solely to the domain of linguistics? In my opinion it does not; this question may have practical consequences too. Take for instance language learning: knowledge about the way the mental lexicon is organized might serve in constructing better learning programs. For example, if we knew that morphological knowledge of language learners facilitates their learning, it might be required to focus on this aspect when constructing a teaching program. And in fact, psycholinguistic literature does report a facilitating effect of morphological knowledge (Mimouni et al 1998, Deutsch et al 1998 and Frost et al 1997)."
Abstract This is an intensive paper looking at both slang and rock music. The two have much in common and the author goes to great lengths to divulge their common threads. It's an 'All you need to know' paper looking at the history of slang, its many uses, youth subcultures and rock subcultures of the 20th - 21st century. The author includes a handy dictionary of slang terms.
From the Paper "Slang fills a necessary niche in all languages, occupying a middle ground between the standard and informal words accepted by the general public and the special words and expressions known only to comparatively small social subgroups. It can serve as a bridge or a barrier, either helping both old and new words that have been used as "insiders' " terms by a specific group of people to enter the language of the general public or, on the other hand, preventing them from doing so. Thus, for many words, slang is a testing ground that finally proves them to be generally useful, appealing, and acceptable enough to become standard or informal. For many other words, slang is a testing ground that shows them to be too restricted in use, not as appealing as standard synonyms, or unnecessary, frivolous, faddish, or unacceptable for standard or informal speech."
Abstract The following paper discusses the "Three Eras of Communication,? that Sarah Russell Hankins? talks about in her essay. According to her essay, three eras of communication can be divided roughly as existing in three distinct eras or forms of idea transmission. The author discusses the primary orality era, the literary era and the secondary literary orality.
From the paper:
" The second of these eras is that of the secondary or literary era of communication. To a certain extent, to call this era secondary is disingenuous, as many cultures, such as that of the early Celtic culture in Ireland, never moved onto a literary form of communication, and obviously oral transmission occurs on a daily basis in literate cultures. However, Hankins' point is that the introduction of literacy changes the nature of both written and oral communication, as well as introducing a new venue for that communication. This era moves stretches through the invention of the first alphabet to the introduction of the printing press in the Middle Ages".
Abstract This paper discusses the battle between Peter Ramus and Quintilian. The author compares this battle to the one between Iran and Iraq and examines the way that the United States aided Iraq to fight Iran in the 1980's because she wanted to even ground and protract the war to make sure both sides lost many lives. The author compares this situation to the one in the battle between Peter Ramus and Quintilian where a stalemate of winning arguments arises and both sides have lost.
From the paper:
"With the considerable lashing Ramus unleashes on Quintilian, one would expect ridiculous argumentation from the former and substantial rebuttal from the later. However, Ramus only emerges victorious on one front, the separation of morality and rhetoric. His second onslaught, conversely, never penetrates Quintilian's solid wall of reason. Without invention, arrangement, and memory, rhetoric fails to persuade. With clear victory implausible for either party, witnesses to the squabble find themselves echoing the sentiment of Henry Kissinger: Quintilian and Ramus have both lost."
Abstract This paper follows the historical development of Clifford's theory of ethnographic authority. It also attempts to expand upon these notions, especially as they pertain to developments in the last decade and the new notion of anthropologist as autobiographer. It discusses the evolution of this field, and how in the last few years an increasingly popular form of anthropology has centered around the use of autobiographical writing, and it's impact on the field.
From the Paper "It appears almost as if, some twelve years after Clifford's article, the history of hermeneutics he discussed and critiqued has come full circle. The pronoun 'the' used in description has become 'I,' and the professionalization of anthropology has, while anything but disintegrated, at least had to re-recognize the power of voices outside its own. This adds an interesting new chapter to Clifford's discussion of hermeneutics. Not that all, or even a large amount, of anthropology has become autobiographical in nature. Nor does it mean that this is necessarily an all positive and un-critiqued movement. Not only is the idea of an autobiographer and self ethnographer not widely accepted, but there are still very few traditional ethnographic texts with a large voice by informants."
Abstract This paper examines the theories of Anna Wierzbicka and her use of a "metalanguage" in order to solve the ambiguities and culture-contextual problems inherent in language. The paper argues the absurdity of Wierzbicka's theory.
From the Paper "In her piece, "Speech Acts and Speech Genres Across Languages and Cultures", Anna Wierzbicka attempts to construct a 'metalanguage' for linguists to define foreign terms and concepts. (1992) This metalanguage, as it was proposed, would eliminate the ambiguity of using culturally loaded words when attempting to define speech acts, genres, and events in other languages. While her initial premise concerning culturally loaded text was intriguing; the attempted creation of a pseudo-scientific 'metalanguage' was not only absurd, but also defied her own initial discussion on the specific cultural context of speech acts."
Tags: language, linguistics, proto, speech, wierzbicka, anna, matalanguage, culture
Abstract This paper is a critical analysis of cross-cultural politeness using the Brown and Levinson's model as a basis for defining and understanding politeness and applying it to three Asian languages: Chinese; Cantonese and Japanese.
From the Paper "What is politeness? If I propose that 'politeness' be used as pragmatically terminology, the preferable definition is to be found in appropriateness. It can be also said to be universal only in the sense that every society has some sort of norms for the appropriate behavior, although these norms are vary. The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a cross-cultural context by applying a well-known Brown and Levinson's model (1978 and revised in 1987), which has been applied in various settings, from casual services, encounters to EFL classrooms. However, Brown and Levinson's model (1978) has been criticized for being too geared to Western (especially American) notions of "independence" and, hence, for its limited applicability in Asian contexts. I have attempted in the following by first giving a general and brief account for Brown and Levinson's model (1978), and then try to apply and analyze the Brown and Levinson's model (1978) in three Asian languages: Chinese; Cantonese and Japanese. "
Abstract This paper analyses the presentation of oral reports in respect to Robert Harris' article: ?Ideas for Enhancing Oral Reports". Harris offers general advice that is applicable to all individuals who might be faced with giving an oral report. The paper details tips for ways to make oral reports a success. The author concludes that oral presentations can contribute to the education of both the giver and the speaker if both members of the "dialogue" between audience and the giver of the presentation are attentive and make use of media beyond that of the simple spoken word.
From the Paper "One of the most dreaded tasks a teacher can assign for some students is to give an oral report. The idea of getting up in front of people and speaking to them paralyzes them with fear. This can be true even if they are relatively extroverted and relaxed people in more informal social situations. To watch a person give a bad oral report can be almost painful as giving one. If one is in the audience, one is tempted to look away, to stare at one's desk, rather than listening to information that is rambling, incoherent, and poorly presented. How does someone avoid giving such a poor report? In his article, ?Ideas for Enhancing Oral Reports,? located at the Virtual Salt Website on the World Wide Web, Robert Harris offers advice for those faced with such a task."
The following paper discusses Lincoln's now-famous "House Divided" speech of 1858 which exemplifies the primary factors that strongly influenced him on both a personal and a political level.
Abstract This paper explores Lincoln's eloquence of language and simplicity of reason that brought him to the attention of the newly-formed political party known as the Republicans and prompted them to present him to a surprised Washington as their platform's candidate in the presidential election of 1860. The abolition of slavery and the events concerning this issue are discussed in detail.
Table of contents
A Personal View of A Divided Nation
A Pragmatic Policy Toward Emancipation
A Short Second Term
From the Paper ?Abraham Lincoln's election to the U.S. presidency occurred at a time when tensions between the Northern and Southern sectors of the nation had been embroiled in a bitter dispute regarding slavery for quite some time. By the time of the 1860 election, Lincoln's view on the institution of slavery was common and widespread knowledge within both the North and the South, and each of these sectors had both preconceptions and expectations of the new president's first official acts of office. Both sides, along with the majority of Washington officials, expected an immediate proclamation concerning the abolition of slavery. Both sides, as well as Washington, however, were yet again surprised, for the new president had on his mind and as his policy a more gradual and pragmatic emancipation plan.?
Abstract An insight into the history of Old French and how this language was developed and influenced by Latin. It examines the effect of the Oaths of Strasbourg on the growth of Old French as well as different considerations which effected Old French.
From the Paper "The evolution of Old French language began in 52 Before Christ when Julius Cesar held the power over the continents of the Gaul. According to Columbian Encyclopedia, Gaul was under the Roman Empire in the first and second century. With the strong influence it brought, Latin spoken by the Romans gradually replaced the Gaelic, a Celtic language as the Gaul's mother tongue, for a long time. Latin became the national language, spoken widely among people and became the root of recently spoken languages through Europe, including English (Le Tacon). "
