Spanish language

This thesis analyzes if animacy facilitates the visual recognition of words in Spanish. I compared native-speaker reaction times to Spanish words with animate and inanimate referents in a word-nonword identification task, also known as the lexical decision task. Responses were collected from a database and coded for animacy as well as six lexical and semantic variables known to affect reading times. Linear mixed effects modeling suggested that participants responded to animate words significantly more quickly, independently of factors such as frequency and familiarity. The findings are interpreted from the perspective of parallel distributed processing model of word recognition in Seidenberg and McClelland (1989). The present study highlights the importance of animacy to language processing and presents one avenue through which we can understand which dimensions of the referential world are relevant to the processing and organization of language.

The purpose of the study was to determine if the
learning of the Spanish language is a determinant of
knowledge of Hispanic culture in secondary schools.
The consulted literature provided a dichotomy of
opinion regarding the generally accepted statement that
foreign language instruction does automatically afford
students an opportunity to become aware of the cultural
aspects of the targeted group in comparison to students
who had never studied a foreign language. However, the
literature also indicated that this assumption has not
been substantiated by research.
A total of 408 students (204 Spanish language
students and 204 non-Spanish language students) from
eight high schools in Brevard County, Florida, were
selected to participate in the study. Half of these students had attended a minimum of two years and a
maximum of three years of Spanish language classes.
There was no attempt to control for sex, race, age,
socio-economic status or measured intelligence. Since
an appropriate commercial instrument to measure the
intended goal was not located, the writer designed a
data collection instrument. The instrument was validated
by standard statistical procedure.
The researcher found that no significant difference
in knowledge of Hispanic culture existed between students
in Spanish language classes and students in non-Spanish
language classes. However, a significant difference did
exist in knowledge of Hispanic culture between Spanish II
and Spanish III students. Students in Spanish III
language classes scored consistently higher than students
in Spanish II language classes. It was also evident that
when students in Spanish II were parcelled out and
Spanish III students' performance on the test was compared
with non-Spanish language students there was a significant
difference in favor of Spanish III language students.
Recommendations that a careful analysis of the
Spanish language curriculum be undertaken and that there
be developed and implemented cultural component objectives
starting with the Spanish I course were among those growing
out of the study.

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.