Language and culture

This study examined the relation between home language exposure from different
household members, specifically older siblings, and English and Spanish vocabulary
development in bilingual toddlers. The English and Spanish vocabularies of 38 toddlers
(19 boys and 19 girls; Mage = 2.14 years, SD = .14) were measured. Parental EI?-glish use
was found to be the strongest predictor of English and Spanish proficiencies. Among
households in which the parents use less than 10% English, having older siblings had no
effect on English language proficiency but was associated with lower levels of Spanish
proficiency.

This thesis uses graphic design to explore the experience of an individual attempting to

bridge two countries’ distinctly different cultures: Iran and the United States. Each has a particular political relation to the other in history. I am using graphic design as a tool to compare specific and various aspects of the two cultures and how these aspects impact each other based on my personal experience. I use design to explore my place in between two cultures and as a way to make sense of the exchange or replacement of culture that I perceive. Another aspect of my thesis emphasizes how western influences and technology are altering or eradicating traditions in Iran. This thesis demonstrates collation and confrontation of cultural and social elements through the application of design to a set of culturally symbolic objects. The goal is to utilize graphic design tools to elevate awareness about illustrating the cultural and traditional aspects of the two countries.

Scaffolding is the assistance of an expert learner provided to a novice learner to fulfill a given task. This study examined scaffolding in email messages between non-native speakers learning about German culture. The instructor used Internet resources to teach aspects of the target culture to students enrolled in a second semester German course. Email exchanges between two separate classes of German students were designed to elicit scaffolding. Unlike previous studies that have concentrated on the grammatical competence of the students, this study focused on the development of cultural competence as subjects discussed four topics of German culture via email messages. Scaffolded cultural help enables participants to develop an opinion about selected cultural issues. Scaffolded help was found in few email messages and the analysis suggests that participants discussed cultural issues by exchanging factual knowledge rather than providing scaffolded help. Concludes with considerations for further research and teaching.

The purpose of this study is to understand culture as a factor in the motivation of heritage speakers of Spanish to study Spanish at the college level in South Florida. 59 participants divided into three groups of heritage speakers of Spanish at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton participated in a questionnaire survey, for a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Subjects were grouped according to the degree of involvement in Spanish-related activities at the college-level. The instrument was a combination of Likert-scale questions as well as open-ended questions aimed at clarifying or expanding on topics presented during the Likert-scale part of the questionnaire. The findings of this study indicate that most heritage speakers understood culture as a part of their identity. Students who were enrolled in Spanish classes were not just looking to expand their Spanish knowledge, but to re-connect and re-establish links with their cultural heritage. Finally, those who chose not to study Spanish cite as their most important reason a dislike for the Spanish language. The results revealed the following implications for the heritage speaker curriculum: the need to address the unique demographic make-up of Spanish heritage speakers in South Florida; the necessity for a consistent and reliable methodology for the identification of heritage speakers, and; the importance of instructors' sensitivity to regional and social dialect variation.

We all use our language as one of our main modes of communication. Stan Klipper, the progatonist of Stan in Prague, found himself in a position where language has failed him, yet with the lack of language, his other senses have also failed him. When Stan was sent to Prague on a vague business trip, he decided to hire a translator to help him close the language gap, which in his case was huge. With his translator, Ihar, and Ihar's girlfriend delha, Stan maneuvers his way through the cramped streets of Prague, to open the lands of the Prague suburbs and into his own confusion.

A progressive discourse on race is impeded by several factors: debates on the reality or unreality of the term race itself; discussions of ethnicity that tend to marginalize a discussion of race; the view by majority members of society that race is a topic for discussion principally by minorities; and the lack of models for non-confrontational public conversations on the subject. In the process, a discussion of racial change rarely enters the discourse beyond brief responses in opinion polls. This study proposed the Race and Change Dialogue Model to facilitate the exploration of how race operates in society on an interpersonal level in everyday lives of people across cultures and how changes in racial attitudes occur over time. Theories of race and ethnicity, language, effective communication strategies, and social change provided a starting point, but a "re-languaging" approach was used to advance the innovative nature of this work. In audiorecorded oral histories for public dissemination and interviews in a documentary series on public television, cross-cultural narrators were provided with a safe rhetorical space to tell their stories and to be heard, and a framework of "racenicity" allowed for the discussion of the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, and culture as fused aspects of the same issue. An environment was created that enhanced effective communication of a difficult subject. Despite the challenges that arose in the patterns of talk about racial change, the door has been opened to bring change into the dialogue in a more prominent way that moves the discourse on differences in more productive directions. An alternate model for public discussions on race as "racenicity" was created that has the potential to build coalition in the U.S. and has implications for other societies as well.

The two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis explores the linguistic substance of both works, evidence of the authors' personal attitudes and dispositions that influenced their works, and the political and social context surrounding all of these factors. The purpose of this investigation is to gain further insight into the Grammar and the Dialogue, as well as the history of Spain and the historical development of Castilian.