Abstract Reading is a critical component of second-language learning. Although the research on second-language reading has been going on for decades, the findings are not communicated to the ESL (English Second Language) teacher at the secondary level. ESL teachers are left on their own to understand how to teach ESL reading, to follow the swings of the pedagogical pendulum without understanding the principles, or to follow trends in primary-language reading without considering differences between primary and secondary reading practices. This dissertation examines the most recent research-based instructional and reading processes for both primary and secondary language students. The study examines the difference between primary language instructional theory and practice and second-language learner instructional theory and practice.
From the Paper "Vocabulary development is also a vital part of the "learning to read English" process. It is very important to understand that ESL students may not have life experiences that contribute to English vocabulary meanings. This makes it difficult for an ESL student when approaching an unknown word and trying to sound it out. The ESL student determines if the word makes sense based on his or her understanding of the word. If a student does not know the meaning of the word, there is no way to check if the word fits, or to make meaning from the sentence. Vocabulary development is also a primary determinant of reading comprehension. Readers cannot understand the content of what they are reading unless they understand the meaning of the majority of words in the text."
A dissertation that addresses the evolution of speech patterns that have developed from black music during the past half-century, focusing on hip-hop music.
Abstract The phenomenon of hip hop has spawned a new way of dressing, acting, and speaking adopted by black young people, as well as an increasing number of young whites, especially males. Hip hop and its music and speech patterns, known as hip hop or rap or gangsta rap, has moved out of the ghettos and into suburban, middle-class neighborhoods, especially among the young males in those neighborhoods. This paper questions whether it is a bona fide language type, such as Black English Vernacular (BEV), in and of itself, or whether it is a dialect of BEV. Also investigated are the vectors by which this speech might have crossed the color divide and why. Finally, how hip hop/rap/gangsta came to be and what it owes to previous black dialects, as well as to African and West Indian influences, are considered. What emerges is a constantly changing dialect that appeals to the same populations that generally cause language change, the lower classes, which start it, and the middle classes, which carry it upward.
Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction: Statement of Problem
Review of the Literature and Research Questions
Language of the Black Diaspora
Other Cultural Factors
Black English Vernacular Dialects: Africans via the West Indies
Use of "Downmarket" Speech among Britons, White and Black
Is Estuary English Equivalent to BEV Dialects?
Lowest Common Denominator?
Hip-hop Language and Women
Women as Primary Musicians/Speakers of BEV Dialects
Other Voices
Methodology and Results
Appendix
From the Paper "Kopano argues, in essence, that in their defiant states, both bebop and rap (hip-hop) artists create a rhetoric that is creative in the verbal and nonverbal mode. Both obviously include, either by contribution or adoption, other lifestyle factors, such as clothing choices. And, by extension, the dialect of Black English each one has engendered is likewise dispersed throughout the Black community, and adopted, at least in some ways, by the White community, particularly by the White males who are arguably attracted to the inherent subversive/aggressive message contained in it."
Abstract This paper explains that, within the military, new words are often created out of a need for efficiency and clarity. The author points out that acronyms, truncated words, different words, nicknames, radio terminology, and obscenities play a key role in U.S. Army lingo. The paper includes examples of truncated words, such as 'Medevac', which stands for medical evacuation; 'comms check' for a communication check; 'mando study' or 'mando' is mandatory study; 'reclass' stands for reclassify; 'ammo' for ammunition; and a 'warno' is a warning order, which tells you that something is coming up.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Army Lingo: Acronyms, Truncated Words, Different Words, Nicknames, and Radio Terminology
The Phonetic Alphabet
Phonetic Numbers
Conclusion
From the Paper "The list of truncated words in the U.S. Army is seemingly endless. Army personnel eat chow at the chow hall. The phrase "cherry pickers" refers to an exercise that resembles picking cherries, while a bird is a helicopter. A lifer is a career military man (usually derogatory), while falling out is the term for falling behind in a run. Rocking out is totally failing a course. If you are lucky, you will just roll back, or get recycled, which is repeating a course of study. Ruck up means to put on your ruck sack and gear. ?Hooah!? is similar to saying ?Go Braves,? however it is so versatile that it can be used to show excitement, say "yes", or say that's ?cool,? or that's ?inspiring.? The term barracks refers to dorms."
Abstract This paper looks at the way that Amy Tan defines and identifies different language groups within the English and Chinese languages. It explains how a child born to Chinese-speaking parents and growing up in the United States develops a dialect of her own.
From the Paper "A few of Amy Tan's "different Englishes" won"t be found in dictionaries. Their lexicons are unique, singular, individually tailored by Tan for each moment and each situation. They aren"t "official" like Oxford English or Webster's English, although she might speak those too. Amy's Englishes are her Englishes. She created them, she owns them, and she alone employs them. Her mother tongue is one of them. Neither a dialect of Chinese nor of English, Tan's mother tongue literally stems from her mom's mouth. It is her mother's means of communication in an English-speaking society. But Tan's mother tongue is more than ?broken English.? In fact, Tan balks at that phrase: ?It has always bothered me that I can think of no other way to describe it other than ?broken,? as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, or lacked a certain wholeness and soundness,? (404)."
Abstract An analysis of the article by Gloria Anzaldua, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue". It shows how this article explores the essence of Chicano culture in America through an analysis of language. The author speaks about gender, race, and identity as functions of language. It focuses on Tex-Mex, which is described as a language of rebellion, both against standard Spanish and standard English.
From the Paper "The reason why using more than one language at a time can be so important for immigrants or children of immigrants is that it enables us to preserve our cultural heritage while at the same time fitting into the dominant culture. Anzald"a talks about assimilation as a negative act, but in many ways assimilation can be positive, as long as people make an effort to maintain some of their customs and their language. One of the reasons why Anzald"a is proud of Tex-Mex "Spanglish" is because it reminds her of who she is. She remembers when she first discovered Chicano literature. ?When I saw poetry written in Tex-Mex for the first time, a feeling of pure joy flashed through me. I felt like we really existed as a people,? (29). The formation of Chicano culture happened largely through the use of language. "Something momentous happened to the Chicano soul"we became aware of our reality and acquired a name and a language (Chicano Spanish) that reflected that reality,? (33)."
Abstract This paper examines two articles, both purporting to deal with the issues of the globalization of English. It looks at how Alastair Pennycook, author of "Images of the Self: Our Marvellous Tongue", has a much more benevolent attitude toward the globalization of English than does Edwin Thumboo, whose scholarly article, "Closed and Open Attitudes to Globalised English: notes on issues", was published in 2003.
From the Paper "Pennycook contends that the tremendous reach of English gave rise to an increase in the study of the language (1998). It seems a fatuous contention. Naturally, anything that is widely spread will be encountered by more people and likely studied by them. But he had a reason; he was leading up to his extensive, if sometimes rambling, discussion of the ways in which the culture of the English and the cultures their language encountered carried influence back and forth. Indeed, he goes to far as to posit that the studies of English that had become so prevalent were not engendered by the English themselves, but rather have their origins in the colonial context rather than in what is often assumed to be their provenance in Britain itself (1998 p. 131)."
Abstract This paper discusses that it is possible as well as beneficial to combine focus on form with focus on meaning in English language teaching. The writer examines two studies from an output enhancement point of view. The first, by Kowal and Swain (1997) experimented, in a French immersion classroom, with two tasks that were intended to assist learners in moving from semantic processing to syntactic processing. The second, Doughty and Varela (1998) experimented with corrective recast (i.e., repetition and recast) in an ESL content-based classroom.
From the Paper "The history of second language teaching has witnessed changing perceptions of corrective feedback (Celce-Murcia, 1991). Views on the role of corrective feedback can be highly diverse, even polarized. The Audiolingual Approach, for example, advocates minimal or no tolerance of learner errors and suggests that every effort be made to prevent them. On the other hand, the Natural Approach considers error correction unnecessary and counterproductive. The latter view is also shared notably by the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach that has come to dominate second language classrooms since the early 1970s."
Abstract This paper looks at gender-based differences in effective business communication. The writer points out that, just as men and women have different characteristics in other areas, so too is this evident in how they communicate in the workplace, not only in the words they use, but how they express those words. The paper also looks at the difference between good and poor communication skills in general.
From the Paper "Persuasive speech, especially, requires the ability to listen actively to opposing positions with a degree of intellectual flexibility that enables the speaker to synthesize a follow-up position capable of being integrated into an intellectually valid counterargument (Ehrlich, 1993). In this regard, anticipation of possible counterpoints is crucial to success, since the only alternative for the unprepared speaker is the choice between a potentially damaging off-the-cuff, spontaneous response and continuing with a scripted argument that has already been effectively challenged."
Abstract This paper focuses on how the English tongue was derived from Germanic by examining the similarities between the structure and vocabulary of Old and Middle English and German. It looks at how Anglo-Saxon was an inflected language with a structure that is still retained by modern German speakers, coupled with word gender, past participle formation and the process of compounding. It explores through a literature review of works such as "Beowulf" and the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Seafarer" how the English that we speak today essentially evolved under the influence of many languages and how the Germanic tongue was perhaps one of the most instrumental in its formation.
From the Paper "On perusal of an Anglo-Saxon text such as Beowulf it would seem that the modern English translation uses far more words. The Germanic influence on Old English meant that it was a synthetic language structured on the inflection of nouns and adjectives for four cases in the singular and four in the plural. Through the inflection of Old English one could distinguish the job a word did in a sentence by its ending, regardless of its position. For example, the difference between the Modern English sentences, (i) the woman saw the man, and (ii) the man saw the woman is a matter of word order."
Abstract This paper explains that the Egyptian language is one of the first languages to be put into written form by using hieroglyphics, a system that used symbolic pictures. The author points out that the ancient writing systems of Mesoamerica can be traced back to the cliff paintings by North American Indians in the desert Southwest. These are known as petroglyphs because they are written on stone. The paper relates that the Mayan languages were lost due to the European invasions, and early Egyptian writing was absorbed into Coptic and replaced by Arabic.
Table of Contents
Egyptian Writing
Mesoamerica (MAYA)
Development of scripts. Egyptian
Development of Scripts. Mayan
Why Are Those Two Written Languages Not in Use Anymore?
Conclusion
From the Paper "Recently, Egyptian writing dating to 3,300 B.C. has been discovered. A German archaeologist has claimed that he has found what could be the earliest known human writing - records of linen and oil deliveries made about 5,300 years ago during the reign of a King named Scorpion in Southern Egypt. The discovery throws open for debate a widely held belief among historians that the first people to write were the Sumerians of the Mesopotamian civilization sometime before 3,000 B.C.."
Abstract Most educators today seem to prefer a phonics-based, rather than a holistic language, approach to teaching literacy in the classroom. This paper examines various studies positing the developments of cognitive and behavioralist approaches to literacy and the improvement of writing skills in students and also examines the phonics program as a realistic method of teaching these skills in a contemporary and dynamic in-class structural environment.
From the Paper "When phonics, on the other hand, is taught with worksheets rather than by teachers articulating the sounds, the sounds of the letters are most often identified using key words, pictures, and even latter names, providing a more broadened base for a variety of different learning styles. This can, however, interfere with and slow down the decoding process when the same letters are needed to spell or read words other
than the one used in these memory keys. "The shape and form of the letters are really the only picture students require" (Phonics, 2003)."
This paper analyzes the role of Bruno, the son, in the Italian neo-realist film, "The Bicycle Thief." It also explores the father-son relationship of Bruno and his father, Antonio, in its ethical dimensions.
Abstract In this paper, the author focuses on two scenes from "The Bicycle Thief:" The restaurant scene and the final scene in which Antonio attempts to steal a bicycle. By focusing on these scenes, Bruno's role in the film as an ethical counterpoint to Antonio is made clear.
From the Paper "In Victor de Sica's The Bicycle Thief (1948), the main character is Antonio, a working-class Italian living in Rome after the end of WWII and trying to support his family. However, equally important to the story is Antonio's son, Bruno. Throughout the film, there are many events, but it is through Bruno and the relationship between him and his father that they are given value and meaning. In some ways, de Sica uses Bruno as a ?barometer of the condition of Antonio's spirit as he pursues his agonizing search for the lost bicycle (http://www.enl.umassd.edu/InteractiveCourse/Ethompson/bicyclethieves.html).?"
A comparison of two of the most famous speeches in history, Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream".
Abstract This paper discusses two famous speeches in the United States calling for freedom: Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream". The paper compares the two speeches from a structural point of view and describes the differing content. The paper explains the different audiences targeted by each speech.
From the Paper "The intended audience affected how each man wrote his statement. Jefferson used elaborately structured language, because his message was to the upper class and royalty of England. For instance, his opening sentence starts, ?When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another ...?. This sentence contains seventy-one words. By comparison, King's audience was the entire United States. His opening sentence is only seventeen words and immediately refers to the main issue directly by mentioning the Emancipation Proclamation. Jefferson's speech continues with complex vocabulary and extremely long sentences, while King? speech is almost like poetry in some places, creating clear images and using language that is easy to understand and to listen to. This is why we call it the "I have a dream" speech. That simple sentence resonates in the speech and communicates his intent very clearly."
Abstract This paper discusses Thomas Kuhn's famous work, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," in an attempt to trace the connections between the theory of scientific paradigm creation and shift and the development of modern and postmodern thinking in the arts. This particularly refers to Kuhn's influence on post-structural philosophy and language theory. The paper traces some of these connections and indicates to what extent Kuhn's major work has been influential and connected to the modern artistic and linguistic movements. The paper contends that, in order to show the linkage clearly between Kuhn's theories and modern art, his work cannot be understood outside of the broader historical context in which it was written.
From the Paper "What Kuhn hypothesized in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was that scientific thought and theory did not progress in a consecutive linear fashion. New concepts or theoretical paradigms came about in a non-sequential and sudden fashion and were not coterminous or even necessarily theoretically related to the previous scientific paradigm. The following is a very simplistic outline of his theory but it encompasses the central tenets and aspects that made his work so influential. Firstly, science had been based on presumptions of certainty and objective infallibility. The central concept that characterized classical science was that it was a normative and sequential progression of knowledge and understanding of reality."
Tags: post-structural, philosophy, language, theory
Abstract This paper examines how, in "Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language,",Saul Kripke reconsiders Wittgenstein's writing on rule-following and private language. It discusses Kripke's interpretation of Wittgenstein in terms of the 'paradox' and the private language argument and looks at what Kripke views as the skeptical problem within philosophical investigations with his proposed skeptical solution. It also distinguishes between what Kripke's interpretation of Wittgenstein's writing is and Wittgenstein's argument itself.
From the Paper "Kripke attempts to quell foreseeable objections to his sceptical problem by employing a further rule, counting, as an instruction on how to perform addition in new cases. This leads to infinite regress, since any new rule that I employ in giving myself instruction on addition will only result in questions about this new rule itself. It would be impossible to know if my past or present intentions or behaviour correspond with how I learned this new rule, used it in the past, and intend to use it in future instances. A new instructive rule would be needed after that, and this cycle would continue ad infinitum: "Rules for interpreting rules don't get us any further." This problem does not apply to mathematical cases alone. In language, any word I use can be said to have an alternative interpretation or use."
