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Raising Children Bilingually, 2007.
This paper looks at the challenge of raising a child bilingually.
825 words (approx. 3.3 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 29.95
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Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses a reality that affects thousands of parents who face the problems of raising their child bilingually. The writer looks at how parents can assure that their child are able to speak their mother-tongue when living in a foreign county. This essay addresses the challenge that faces families from all ethnic groups and races; that of assuring bilingual efficiency. The writer maintains that the process of language learning, even for young children, can be extremely stressful, and the impact of both negative and positive attitudes from peers, family, and the surrounding society can be significant. The writer concludes that early exposure to the language has been proven beneficial, and can strengthen motivation and facilitate learning.
Outline:
Introduction
Looking At the Issues
From the Paper
Why do parents wish to raise their children bilingually? Language is cultural identity, and, for most parents who are from different racial backgrounds, the desire to teach their children their mother-tongue is based on the recognition that in achieving this, they are not only bringing the child's two cultures together, but also enabling a sense of both duality and international awareness that is unattainable in a monolingual world. It introduces the child to different cultural expectations, worldviews, and concepts. Therefore, for parents who are committed to this initiative, raising children bilingually is not only both challenging and rewarding, but is also a task that is practical and accessible. However, there are many people who feel that raising children bilingually can cause social, cultural, and personal development problems within the child (Maria Estela Brisk, et al, 2004).
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Stuttering, 2007.
An analysis of the negative stereotypes of stuttering and the sociolinguistic effect of stuttering on individuals.
2,124 words (approx. 8.5 pages), 6 sources, MLA, $ 66.95
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Abstract
This paper highlights the important topic of stuttering and its effects on individual stutterers, from a sociolinguistic point of view. It looks at the negative stereotypes and prejudices that are associated with people who stutter and those that attempt to conceal their stuttering. The paper analyzes whether attempting to conceal stuttering is in fact effective or if it adds to the negative stereotypes that surround stutterers.
Table of Contents:
Ignorance and Generalization
Backfiring of Concealment Strategies
From the Paper
"In sum, the attempts to disguise or avoid stuttering may contribute to an even worse overall perception of the stutterer. Listeners are not easily fooled by concealment strategies, and they tend to react more favourable to speech "blocks, repetitions and prolongations" than to attempts of disguise (Parry)."
"Even if the stutterer does get away with his attempt, the outcome might be far from desirable. He may confirm the popular stereotype that sutterers are "shy, nervous, anxious, tense, fearful, introverted, quiet or reticent (Acton and Hird 505; Heite)," or maybe even worse, create himself a social identity that is associated with terms like arrogance and disinterest."
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Vocabulary and Comprehension, 2007.
This paper discusses vocabulary and increasing the student's ability to comprehend.
1,753 words (approx. 7.0 pages), 8 sources, MLA, $ 56.95
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Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses that among the many plausible reasons for helping students build vocabulary, perhaps the most important is the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to reading comprehension. The writer notes that one of the most enduring findings in reading research concerns the extent to which students' vocabulary knowledge relates to their reading comprehension. The writer points out that given that students' success in school and beyond depends in great measure upon their ability to read with comprehension, there is an urgent need to provide instruction that equips students with the skills and strategies necessary for lifelong vocabulary development. The writer concludes that reading comprehension places heavy demands not only on classroom teachers but also on curriculum planners, community workers, and parents.
Outline:
Introduction
History of Vocabulary ~ What is Vocabulary?
The Influence of National and State Standards
Two Best Assessment Procedures
Role of Technology
"Best Instructional" Practices in Reading and Writing
Five Dimensions of Learning Specifically Related to Vocabulary
Why is This Topic Important for Teachers?
From the Paper
"Vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings. However, vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests. Most commonly, words come in two forms: oral and print. Oral vocabulary includes the words that we recognize and use in listening and speaking. Print vocabulary, are those words that we recognize and use in reading and writing. Next, we have word knowledge, which also comes in two forms, receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary includes the words that we recognize when we hear or see them. Productive vocabularies are words that we use when we speak or write. According to research, receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabulary, and may include many words to which we give meaning, even if we don't know their full definitions - or ever use them ourselves when we speak and write."
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Oral Tradition, Gossip and Urban Legends, 1999.
This paper explores how human communication has changed over time.
3,329 words (approx. 13.3 pages), 13 sources, MLA, $ 95.95
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Abstract
This paper is a comparative analysis of various types of story transmission; specifically oral tradition, gossip and urban legends. The paper offers discusses and offers definitions of oral history, gossip, folklore, oral tradition, rumors and urban legends. The paper describes how and why story transmission has changed over the centuries. The paper examines some of the pros and cons of the different types of human communication.
From the Paper
"Languages are not static and lifeless, they are alive - sloughing off unnecessary waste even as they are growing, expanding and regenerating. This constant change and flexibility enables language to thrive and remain useful. As a language experiences metamorphoses, the methods of application flourish as well, increasing communication capabilities and consequently maximizing potential benefits as well as negative possibilities."
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Idiosyncrasies of the English Language, 2007.
An analysis of the evolution, flexibility and irregularity of the English language.
4,022 words (approx. 16.1 pages), 16 sources, MLA, $ 108.95
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Abstract
This paper explains the developmental history of our ever-changing English language. It includes French, British, Spanish and Italian influences on English. The paper discusses differences between written and spoken language and how slang, jargon, euphemisms, cliches and idioms can make English a difficult language to learn. The paper cites several examples of well-known cliches and jargon and explains their origins.
From the Paper
"In most languages there is a distinction between that which is written and that which is spoken, a difference between literature and colloquial speech. In written literature we can see the broad outlines of history, but the language of literature has historically been that of the ruling class. The spoken language, the common everyday speech, reveals the intimate, familiar lives of the people, even when reading and writing were limited to the upper classes. In his 1888 book, The Queen's English: A Manual of Idiom and Usage, Dean Henry Alford described the difference between written and spoken English at that time:
We must distinguish between the English which we speak, and that which we write. Many expressions are not only tolerated but required in conversation, which are not usually put on paper. Thus . . . everyone says 'can't', . . . 'won't' [and] 'isn't', . . . but we seldom see these contractions in books, except where a conversation is related. (Alford 57)"
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Pragmatics - Grammatical Constructions, 2007.
A discussion regarding construction grammar and grammatical constructions.
917 words (approx. 3.7 pages), 16 sources, MLA, $ 32.95
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Abstract
This paper reviews and discusses construction grammar. According to the paper, construction grammar (CxG) is a usage-based framework, and it endeavors to treat all types of expressions as equally central to capturing grammatical patterning.
Outline:
Fillmore's approach to Construction Grammar
More cognitive approaches to Construction Grammar
Towards a "Fluid" Construction Grammar
From the Paper
"A. Radical Construction Grammar (Croft): all constructions are language-specific; all categories are defined by constructions; constructions are the primitive units of language. This kind of CxG takes into account cross-linguistic factors, dealing with the internal structure of constructions. Radical CxG is non-reductionist: constructions are not derived from their parts, but the parts are derived from the constructions. Radical CxG is opposed to the idea that syntactic categories, roles, and relations are universal. Moreover, they are not only language-specific, but also construction-specific. Instead of syntactic relations, Radical CxG rather talks about semantic relations. Indeed, it is closely related to cognitive linguistics."
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"Envy; Or, Yiddish in America", 2005.
An analysis of Cynthia Ozick's short story, "Envy; Or, Yiddish in America".
3,360 words (approx. 13.4 pages), 8 sources, MLA, $ 95.95
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Abstract
This paper reviews and discusses the short story, "Envy; Or, Yiddish in America" by Cynthia Ozick. According to the paper, the story reveals the author's nuanced feelings toward the disappearance of the Yiddish language and culture. The paper discusses how, although on the surface "Envy" seems mostly critical of Yiddish writers-- as if they either are talentless or almost betray the Jewish community--its underlying message is that a once vibrant community has been destroyed to such an extent that its survivors are hopeless unless they are able to escape it. The paper reports that the story is about the need to rebuild in order to preserve at least some aspect of the Yiddish community Ozick loves and respects.
From the Paper
"Ozick structures her essay around the claim that "in order to believe in the real possibility of translation, the translator must believe in certain impossible theses... [which are] important, useful and false" (Metaphor and Memory 200). The first false premise a translator must accept is that poems are "uncovered" rather than translated "because without this belief a translation can never be seen as a thing achieved, concluded finished" (Metaphor and Memory 200). Thus, the hack fails even Ozick's first premise for translation. Although Ozick's essay focuses on poetry, the hack's translation methods stray so far from those suggested by Ozick that it is reasonable to conclude Ozick disapproves of the hack's technique. The hack continues to search for synonyms until Ostrover chooses one to his liking--she strays from Ozick's ideal in which a work is "uncovered" and the translator determines the final form of the work."
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Immigrant English Language Learning, 2007.
This paper looks at how No Child Left Behind Act attempts to involve the parents of immigrant students in their English language learning.
2,089 words (approx. 8.4 pages), 9 sources, MLA, $ 65.95
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Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses that the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) makes it imperative upon the schools to overcome the cultural barrier to English Language Learning (ELL) by establishing a means of communication with the parents. The writer suggests that schools could invite the parents of immigrant families to such school activities as classroom demonstrations of different culture or presentations of awards for children's accomplishments. In communicating and coordinating with parents, it is suggested that the schools use the immigrants' language and may thus need to hire special translators for the purpose. The writer notes that a common perception among immigrant parents is that English is the language of a rich and powerful postindustrial society, whereas their native language is less impressive and commands less respect. The writer concludes that language learning, according to experts, is an interactive activity as dependent on social context as it is on cognitive transfer.
Outline:
Introduction
Legal Issues
School Community
Language Issues
From the Paper
"English language learners are children of newly arrived immigrants in the US, refugees from war-torn countries or immigrants with a language other than English spoken at home. Whatever the circumstances that drove these families to make the US their new home, their children have even varying levels of education in their primary language, such that their ability to learn English fast and efficiently as their chief means of assimilating into American society becomes an extremely challenging task for the US school system. This shows in national and state surveys indicating that ethnic and racial minority children are the most at-risk group in social institutions, with the most significant academic underachievement, high poverty rates, high teen pregnancy rates, low skill levels, and low-paying employment opportunities. The projection is that by 2015 over 50 percent of all students in K-12 public schools across the US will be ELL students, boosting the number of this school population that has the highest dropout rate and the lowest ranking in academic achievement and expectations. The phenomenon necessarily speaks ill of the American public school system."
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The Internationalization of American English, 2007.
This paper argues that the internationalization of American English as the global language may be a triumph for the U.S.A., but it is a threat to the rest of the world.
2,610 words (approx. 10.4 pages), 15 sources, APA, $ 78.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that the elastic characteristic of American English has made it the lingua franca of globalization, thus enabling people of different nationalities to make each other understood and do business. The author points out that American English is a crossbreed of languages with numerous origins, including Celtic, Norse, Germanic, Romance, Spanish and Latin; therefore, the language sounds familiar even without any previous exposure to it. The paper relates that there is no doubt that this spread of American English has political underpinnings, the same way that globalization was oriented politically when the rich and powerful nations first embarked on it over 100 years ago.
Table of Content
Triumph for America
Globalization
Fall of French
English as a Threat
From the Paper
"The spread of English as a global language is actually traced to the heyday of the British Empire in the 19th century. When "the sun never set on the British Empire," the colonized countries that practically spanned four continents learned the Queen's English as the British colonizers taught them the rudiments of international trade and civilization. This was the same native British language that in much earlier times was spoken only by the "lower class people" of England since the elite conversed exclusively in Latin, French or Greek. This was also the same ancestral tongue of the Americans who nonetheless evolved their own brand of English and did their own spreading of the language as they established their own colonial domain."
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Interpersonal Communication and Storytelling, 2007.
An analysis of the theory that human communication is a story and communication itself is storytelling.
4,074 words (approx. 16.3 pages), 10 sources, MLA, $ 109.95
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Abstract
This paper is a two-part discussion involving the interpersonal form of the communication experience. The first part of the paper deals with a theoretical and critical discussion involving the following statement by K. Miller: "Long-term relationships are often marked by tension, development, conflict and growth: processes mediated by communicative interaction within ongoing relationships". The second part of the paper concentrates on the statement by W. Fisher regarding storytelling as a basic human activity.
Outline:
Introduction
The Palo Alto Group
Important Concepts
Feedback
Equifinality
Logical Types
Rules
Dialectics
Push-Me-Pull-You Dialectics
Important Dialectical Concepts
Three Dialectics of Relationships
Connection Autonomy Dialectic
Certainty-Uncertainty Dialectic
Openness-Closeness Dialectic
Storytelling
Narrative Theory
Narrative Worldview
Narrative Rationality
South African Stories
Conclusion
From the Paper
"According to Miller (2005), positive feedback is behaviour that allows for change to take place in the relative system, while negative feedback is behaviour that allows for consistency and therefore a lack of change in the system. This consistency of the status quo regarding the system was named 'homeostasis' by Jackson (1957). Neither positive nor negative feedback can be characterised as consistently good as the merit of the feedback depends on the individual case of the behaviour. This means that if the status quo of a family relationship were that of an abusive or violent nature, positive feedback to change the situation would be ideal. However, in another case, the status quo of a similar relationship in another family may be loving and nurturing, and therefore would benefit from negative, as opposed to positive feedback so as to preserve the status quo of that relationship."
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Euskera, the Basque Language, 2007.
This paper discusses the Basque language, Euskera, which is considered to be endangered.
1,585 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 7 sources, MLA, $ 51.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that Euskera was once spoken in Aragon and West Catalonia as far back as the 7th century and, in the 9th and 10th centuries, through mass migration, it reached south of Alava. The author points out that the decline of this language was partly due to decisions made concerning the supremacy of Spanish during the Bourbon period of the 18th Century, which stigmatized Euskera as being only suitable for farmers and peasants whereas Spanish was used exclusively in education and instruction. The paper concludes that Euskera, the Basque language, is almost without monolingual speakers but whether it is doomed extinction is debatable. The paper includes some long quotations.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
An Historical Overlook of Euskera
Spanish and French Attitudes Concerning the Basque Language
Protecting Euskera
Conclusion
From the Paper
"Industrialization also played its part during the 19th century. The need for workers resulted in mass immigration and saw the arrival of so many monolingual Spanish speakers that their numbers far outweighed those of the Basque speakers. The fact that the Spanish speakers moved into several areas where the language had already been lost and the fact that the Franco government prohibited the use of Euskera, both helped to ensured that the language would become endangered."
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Language Learning in Other Species, 2005.
A look at the attempts to teach English to animals, including monkeys and parrots.
4,766 words (approx. 19.1 pages), 28 sources, MLA, $ 122.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses how, although controversial in nature, the field of language acquisition and production in other species has spawned research on apes and other animals that are thought to possess advanced cognitive functions. The paper shows that, while conclusive evidence agreed upon by even the majority of experts in this area has yet to emerge, the work to date has provided an interesting look into the communication and language structures of not only human language used by other species, but also their own native languages. This paper presents the literature in the field and frames it in the assumption that language is a cognitive system requiring specific characteristics for development and use.
From the Paper
"What is language? Language is a method of organizing words to form coherent thoughts and facilitate communication, whereas simple communication includes not only these coherent thoughts but also emotions and nonverbal cues (Sternberg, 2004). The organization is key, as without it language falls into the realm of simple communication. Alternate definitions of language have posited that merely a means of communication is sufficient to apply the term language (Language, 2000), psychologists generally avoid this lay definition and include additional complexity requirements to the definition. While some have argued that mere language alone is not sufficient to explain our unequaled success as a species and our unique thought processes (Bickerton, 1990), many theorists believe it to be vital element distinguishing ourselves from other species. "
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Communicative Competence and Language Learning, 2007.
A look at the role of communicative competence and language learning when a learner is learning a second language.
1,517 words (approx. 6.1 pages), 6 sources, MLA, $ 49.95
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Abstract
This paper examines how language learners learning a second language need to develop their communicative competence in order to be able to communicate effectively with speakers of the target language. It discusses how this is because when one uses a language, one needs to take into consideration the purpose, the context and the person that one is addressing. It shows that when one has a good command of communicative competence in the target language, one will be able to communicate in the target language without many problems.
Outline:
Grammatical Competence
Discourse Competence
Sociolinguistic Competence
Strategic Competence
From the Paper
"Most scholars agree that there is some kind of fundamental difference between being able to use the forms of the language and being able to talk about the forms of the language. The relationship between those two kinds of knowledge is a controversial topic (Alptekin, 2002)5. Chomskyan syntax would reject the sentence 'colorless green ideas sleep furiously' as although it is grammatically correct, the sentence is illogical and does not provide a clear meaning. It would also not accept sentences that have subtle semantic differences such as 'my lust for the polish people'. "
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Moroccan Arabic Prepositions, 2006.
A linguistic analysis of Moroccan Arabic prepositions.
7,300 words (approx. 29.2 pages), 6 sources, APA, $ 161.95
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Abstract
This paper researches the subject of Moroccan prepositions in order to gain a better understanding of how they operate within the Arabic language. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these prepositions from the point of view of linguistics.
Outline:
Abstract
General Introduction
Section 1: Definition
Section 2: Inventory
Section 3: Morphological Analysis
Section 4: Syntactic Analysis
Section 5: Semantic Analysis
General Conclusion
From the Paper
"The ablative case marks the movement or motion about something. It also indicates the agent in passive sentences or the instrument or manner or place of the action described by the verb. In the prepositional case, ablative refers to the means by which an action was carried out. However, this semantic value includes various types which are usually the equivalent of other cases that I will discuss later, such as the ablative accompaniment, the ablative manner, the ablative of cause, etc. My concern here is only about the true ablative case (ablative of separation)."
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High School Writing Centers, 2007.
An analysis of whether high school writing centers can better prepare students for college.
2,013 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 7 sources, MLA, $ 63.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses high school writing centers and how they benefit students for when they enter college. The paper focuses on how improved high school writing centers can benefit students by providing them with a better knowledge of how to write college-level papers and by assisting them in exploring their own writing abilities.
From the Paper
"Can we use High School writing centers to better prepare students for college? Too often students are considerably under prepared when they enter college. In English 1101 at Kennesaw State University, students learn to write at a college level. This KSU Course Description details it as "Designed to teach principles of good writing. Attention to grammar, sentences, punctuation, diction, mechanics and major forms of discourse. Themes, parallel readings, and a short documented essay required." (354) Other universities have similar courses for first time college students. The question is whether or not this course is truly effective or whether it might be too late to start trying to get students motivated to better their writing skills. High school writing centers offer many advantages to students, including getting a jump-start on improving students writing abilities. Writing centers need to become more common in high schools, to not only give secondary schools' students the extra help in writing they need, but to create a network that is beneficial on a number of levels."
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