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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Language and Culture'
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Goldstein, Julie. "Language and Culture in Perception." Thesis, Goldsmiths College (University of London), 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.499207.
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Brown and Lenneberg (I954) and Rosch Heider (1972) were among the first to conduct psychological investigations to test the Whorfian view that language affects thought. They both asked about colour categories. The debate has continued with some research supporting a relativist (Whorfian) account (Davidoff, Davies & Roberson, I999; Borodistsky, 200I), and some supporting a universalist account (e.g., Kay & Regier, 2003; Spelke & Kinzler, 2007). The present thesis adds to the debate by taking three different approaches i.e., cross-cultural, ontogenetic and phylogenetic frames in which to carry out investigations of categorization of various perceptual continua. Categorical Perception's hallmark is the effect of mental warping of space such as has beenfoundfor phonemes (Pisani & Tash, I974) and colour (Bornstein & Monroe, I980; Bornstein & Korda, I984). With respect to colours, those that cross a category boundary seem more distant than two otherwise equally spaced colours from the same category. Warping is tested using cognitive methods such as two-alternative:forced-choice and matching-to-sample. Evidence is considered for the continua under investigation i.e. colour and animal patterns. Experiments I and 2 find evidence of categorical perception for human-primates and not for monkeys. Experiment 3 finds that Himba and English human adults categorize differently, particularly for colours crossing a category boundary, but also show broad similarity in solving the same matching-to-sample task as used with the monkeys (experiment I) who showed clear differences with humans. Experiment 4 and 5 tested Himba and English toddlers and found categorical perception of colour mainly for toddlers that knew their colour terms despite prior findings (Franklin et al., 2005) indicative of universal colour categories. In experiment 6, Himba and English categorical perception of animal patterns was tested for the first time, and result indicate a cross-category advantage for participants who knew the animal pattern terms. Therefore, a weak Whorfian view of linguistic relativity's role in obtaining categorical perception effects is presented. Although there is some evidence of an inherent human way of grouping drawn from results of experiment I and 3, results in all experiments (1,2,3,4,5,and 6) show that linguistic labels and categorical perception effects go handin- hand; categorization effects are not found when linguistic terms are not acquired at test and have not had a chance to affect cognition. This was true for all populations under observation in this set of studies, providing further support for effects of language and culture in perception. 4
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Ilieva, Roumiana. "Conceptualizations of culture, culture teaching, and culture exploration in second language education." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp04/mq24163.pdf.
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Poliakova, T., and P. Vasylenko. "Interaction of language, human being and culture when teaching foreign languages." Thesis, Харківський національний технічний університет сільського господарства ім. Петра Василенка, 2018. http://repository.kpi.kharkov.ua/handle/KhPI-Press/37066.
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Dobson, Akemi. "Cultural nationalism and representations of Japanese culture in language textbooks /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2002. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe16825.pdf.
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Gallivan, Kathleen C. "Does culture translate can we make the words our own? /." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 1999. http://etd.wvu.edu/templates/showETD.cfm?recnum=1164.
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Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1999.Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 30 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-30).
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Jansen, Richo. "The language of arts and culture." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2362.
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Thesis (MPhil (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.Arts and Culture is one of the new learning areas in the grade 8 and 9 school curriculum. To understand and then express themselves in a correct and confident manner, learners need the correct terminology for Arts and Culture. The learners need more than the day to day terminology in order to participate in conversations focussing on specialised subjects such as music, dance, drama and visual arts. It is important to note that the idea is not to develop expert academics but it is an attempt to enrich children for life and give them more self confidence. The aim of this computer project is to provide an information website to assist the grade 9 learners in the Arts and Culture domain to develop the appropriate language needed in the learning area.
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Bird, Angela. "The emotions : biology, language and culture." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2014. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/7596/.
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Philosophers, and theorists in other disciplines, have disagreed over the character, function and mechanisms of emotions. Amongst the persistent issues that have arisen is the question of what exactly emotions are. Are they a vivid perceptual awareness of physiological processes? Evaluative judgments? Dispositions? Neurophysiological states? Or perhaps an aggregate of some or all of the above? Typically, theorists who study the emotions have tended to divide into two camps. On the one hand there are those who adopt a broadly biological / adaptationist perspective, which emphasises the corporeal nature of emotions. On the other side of the divide are those who adopt a socio-constructivist perspective, which emphasises the cognitive nature of emotions. Proponents of the biological stance have tended to favour universal, basic emotions whilst socio-constructivists tend to favour the more exotic. In support of the latter approach a significant literature has emerged from ethnography, anthropology and cognitive linguistics. This literature adopts a “lexicocentric” perspective on the emotions. The biological/adaptationist perspective seems to capture something important and right about the essential nature of emotions. However, the aim of my thesis is to demonstrate that the basic emotions theory, as characterised by Ekman, is weakened by its failure to pay attention to, and fully to engage with, the literature regarding the effect of language on our emotional landscape, an area which has ostensibly been the domain of the social constructionist. I argue that what is required is a linguistically inclusive theory of emotion. Such a theory acknowledges that any coherent and comprehensive theory of emotion must include a robust linguistic and cultural element.
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Perez, Ambar A. "LANGUAGE CULTURE WARS: EFFECTS OF LANGUAGE POLICY ON LANGUAGE MINORITIES AND ENGLISH LEARNERS." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/577.
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This thesis investigates the intertextuality of language policy, K-12 TESL pedagogies, and EL identity construction in the perpetuation of unjust TESL practices in these contexts. By examining the power structures of English language ideology through critical discourse analysis of recent California language policy, this thesis demonstrates English language teaching’s intrinsically political nature in K-12 education through negotiations and exchanges of power. Currently, sociolinguistic approaches to TESL and second language acquisition acknowledge the value of language socialization teaching methods. This requires the acceptance of cognition, not as an individual pursuit of knowledge containment and memorization, but cognition as a collaborative and sociohistorically situated practice. Thus, this project also examines the power structures in place that negotiate and enforce these ideologies and how these practices influence pedagogy and EL identity construction.
Many English users are second language (L2) users of English yet authorities of English use tend to consist of homogenous, monolingual English users, or English-sacred communities, not L2 users of English. Often, this instigates native speaker (NS) vs. non-native speaker (NNS) dichotomies such as correct vs. in-correct use, and us vs. them dichotomies. These are the same ideologies that permeate the discourse of California’s Proposition 227 and some pedagogies discussed in the data of this research perpetuating culture wars between monolingual and multilingual advocates and users.
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Goodfellow, Anne Marie. "Language, culture, and identity, social and cultural aspects of language change in two Kwak'wala-speaking communities." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ38891.pdf.
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Wilhelmson, Mika. "What Culture? : Cultural representations in English as a foreign language textbooks." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Engelska, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-19884.
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Teaching the cultural aspect of foreign language education is a complex and sometimes difficult task, especially since English has become an international language used in different settings and contexts throughout the world. Building on the idea that the spread of the English language and its international status in the world has made English an important school subject to develop students’ cross-cultural and intercultural awareness, this paper has studied what research reveals about the influence this has had on cultural representations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks. Findings from a systematic literature review that analyzed four different international studies on the topic are presented. The study showed that EFL textbooks often present stereotypical and overgeneralized representations of culture and that the cultural aspect of EFL education is not adequately addressed since focus tends to lean towards language proficiency. Results also indicated that though steps are made to include cultural representations from different international contexts, the target culture of countries where English is the first language remains dominant in EFL textbooks. The findings are discussed in correlation with the Swedish national curriculum and syllabus.
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Andersson, Josefin, and Emma Gregmar. "Culture in Language Education; Secondary Teachers’ and Pupils’ Views of Culture." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för lärande och samhälle (LS), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-29803.
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Prior research in the field of culture and language education depicts the close relation between language and culture. Furthermore, such research emphasises that in order to understand and to be able to use a language properly, one needs to acknowledge that language is culture. Today English is a global language and a tool for communication in working life, in studies and when travelling. Hence, to be able to communicate in English one needs to know the cultural codes in these specific settings. Moreover, language teaching has many dimensions and according to the curriculum, teachers have an obligation to raise cultural awareness amongst pupils as well as teach fundamental values. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate how secondary teachers and pupils view and work with culture and how these views can be connected to the curriculum and to the syllabus of English Lgr.11. Through interviews with secondary pupils we found that their view of culture to an extent connects to the cultural content of the curriculum for Swedish compulsory school, Lgr.11. Through teacher interviews, we additionally found that even if the teachers had a broad view of culture that was connected to the curriculum, they did not always manage to convey their cultural teaching to their pupils.
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久保, 萬里子, and Mariko Kubo. "[III]TEACHING CONTENTS IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION : MODULETTE MATERIALS: LANGUAGE AND CULTURE." 名古屋大学教育学部附属中学校 : 名古屋大学教育学部附属高等学校, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/2237/4804.
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Chang, Lu. "Language, culture and ethnicity in Chinese language schools in northern California." Scholarly Commons, 1994. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2624.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of Chinese language schools in Northern California in maintaining the Chinese language, culture and ethnicity in a multilingual/multicultural society. The study examined: (1) goals and characteristics of the Chinese schools; (2) curriculum and extracurricular activities; (3) sociocultural and demographic characteristics of principals, teachers, parents, and students; (4) perceptions of these groups about the success of the schools; and (5) problems and difficulties facing the Chinese schools. The sample of the study consisted of 800 principals, teachers, parents and students in five schools. Across all schools, it was found that the majority of the participants perceived the goals of these schools to be teaching the Chinese language and culture, and they were generally satisfied with the schools. It was also found that there was a lack of appropriate teaching materials; that the emphasis of instruction was on the Chinese language; and that the actual classroom teaching was normally teacher-centered. Significant differences among the schools were found in the background characteristics of participants, including their educational level, teaching experience, language usage and length of residence in the United States. The parents' reasons for sending their children to the school, their views of children's motivation to attend the school, and their engagement in Chinese school activities varied significantly across the schools. A significant difference was also found among student groups in their attitudes toward the schools. The findings of this study suggest that ethnic language schools can be valuable resources for multicultural/multilingual education; hence, an exchange of resources between the public schools and the community language schools would be desirable. Recommendations for future research include: (1) a longitudinal study of Chinese language school graduates to determine important elements that contribute to long term language and cultural maintenance; and (2) a study of the communication and partnership arrangements between ethnic language schools and public schools to determine policy implications for bilingual and cross-cultural education.
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Bakhsh, Jameel. "SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS UNDERGOING CULTURE SHOCK:PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHOD." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent160042669071272.
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Zhu, Jia. "Weaving language and culture together : the process of culture learning in a chinese as a foreign language classroom." Diss., University of Iowa, 2012. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3418.
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This dissertation is a qualitative case study exploring the process of culture learning in a Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) classroom. Guided by a socioculturally based theoretical perspective and adopting the stance of the National Standards, which says that language students "cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs" (1996, p. 27), this study describes how culture learning is tied to class practices aimed at developing students' language proficiency by exploring how culture and language are integrated in spoken discourse and interactions in the classroom.
The research questions of the study focus on both the instructor's and the students' perspectives towards the interrelationship between language learning and culture learning and their actual practices in the dynamic, complex, and emerging speech community of classroom contexts. Through analysis of student questionnaires, classroom observations, instructor interview, and stimulated-recall sessions with students, this study examines the contexts of culture learning, illustrates how language classroom contexts shape and are shaped by all the class members, including both the instructor and the students, and describes how the classroom spoken discourse in the current advanced-level undergraduate CFL course provides opportunities for culture learning and how culture learning actually happens in this language classroom.
The findings suggest that as the instructor and the students interact in the language classroom, it is not so much the particular pieces of cultural and linguistic information under discussion that delineate the actual culture learning process, but rather the active exchanges and sometimes disagreements between the instructor and the students that provide opportunities for interactive cultural dialogues and discussions. In other words, cultural knowledge and understanding are situated in actual contexts of language use. Language learning is also embedded in the same interactive and collaborative discussion of texts. By exploring the complexity of the culture learning process in the language classroom setting, this study adds theoretical and pedagogical support to the premise that culture learning should be an integral part of language instruction at different levels throughout the language curriculum.
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Al, Swaidan Raneem Saleh Abdul Rahman. "Language and culture: representations of English-speaking cultures in 1st year secondary english language coursebooks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Master's thesis, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/12081.
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Meng, Nan. "Chinese Culture themes and Cultural Development: from a Family Pedagogy to a Performance-based Pedagogy of a Foreign Language and Culture." The Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1345312833.
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Allen, Nicholas Peter Legh. "The role of language and mediation in selected aspects of contemporary culture." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/468.
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Statement of the Problem: Specifically, how suitable is a textual language in communicating “irrational concepts” and religious myths designed to explain the irrational? Furthermore, how important is the mastery of a textual language apropos of our conceptual processes and in what ways can the structure of a specific language-game impact on a person’s conceptual abilities? To undertake this enquiry, certain assumptions will have to be made. For example, it is accepted that everything we interpret and ultimately understand is mediated solely through language in the broad sense (which includes visual cognition or literacy). Here it is accepted that without language we cannot think. Indeed, even our most private thoughts are based on a language, which embodies communally sanctioned criteria. Hypothesis: It is then the premise of this dissertation that the very architecture of a person’s mother-tongue has a profound influence on the worldview and perception of a particular person. Also it is possible to consider that certain languages, by virtue of their very structure, either hinder or facilitate certain cognitive development or potential. Further, if we could but increase the linguistic proficiency of our citizens, we will be better positioned to develop a critical mass of people who are problem solvers, mathematicians and conceptualizers; and who will address the shortfall of graduates in science, engineering, technology and business in South Africa. If in any way accurate, this would tend to imply that (inter alia) the retention rate of potential graduates in the SET and business disciplines will be significantly improved if educational policy-makers embraced even the most basic tenets of the linguistic paradigm.
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Leitch, David Gideon. "The politics of understanding language as a model of culture /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2008. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3331060.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008.Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Dec. 5, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-251).
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Lewis, Rhodri. "Language, mind and nature : artificial languages in England from Bacon to Locke /." Cambridge [u.a.] : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0803/2007281317-b.html.
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Chen, Ying-Chuan. "Becoming Taiwanese: Negotiating Language, Culture and Identity." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/24934.
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Between 1945 and 1987, as part of its efforts to impose a Chinese identity on native-born Taiwanese and to establish and maintain hegemony, Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) government pursued a unilingual, Mandarin-only policy in education. This thesis studies the changing meaning of “becoming Taiwanese” by examining the school experiences of four generations of Taiyu speakers who went to school during the Mandarin-only era: 1) those who also went to school under the Japanese; 2) those who went to school before 1949 when Taiwan was part of KMT-controlled China; 3) those who went to school during the 1950s at the height of the implementation of KMT rule; and, 4) those who went to school when Mandarin had become the dominant language. Two data types, interviews and public documents, are analyzed using two research methods, focus group interviews as the primary one, and document analysis as the secondary one.
This research found that there is no direct relationship between how people negotiated language, hegemony and Taiwanese identity. First, as KMT hegemony became more secure, people’s links to their home language became weaker, so their view of Taiwanese identity as defined by Taiyu changed. Second, as exposure to hegemonic forces deepened over time, people were less able to find cultural spaces that allowed escape from hegemonic influences, and this, along with other life-course factors such as occupation, had an impact on their contestations of language and identity. The study recognizes the role of human agency and highlights the interactive and performative aspects of identity construction. The results reflect the different possibilities of living with hegemony in different eras, and also show that Taiwanese identity is not fixed, nor is there a single, “authentic” Taiwanese identity.
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Rahman, Omar. "Language, culture, and the fundamental attribution error." Virtual Press, 2001. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1217390.
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Previous research has shown that language differences can cause cognitive differences, and that. the availability of certain lexical terms can predispose individuals to certain ways of thinking. The fundamental attribution error (FAE), or the tendency to favor dispositional over situational explanations, is more common in Western, individualistic cultures than in Eastern, collectivist ones. In this study, bilingual South Asian-Americans read scenarios, in English and in Urdu, and rated the extent to which target individuals and situational variables were responsible for the events. It was hypothesized that the availability of a dispositional word in the language of presentation would predispose participants to commit the FAE. Results did not support that hypothesis. However, there was some indication that familiarity with a language increases the tendency to commit the FAE. Possible reasons for the findings are discussed.Department of Psychological Science
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Bellis, Elizabeth Anne. "'Race', language and culture in adult education." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.313979.
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Brookes-Lewis, Kimberly Anne. "The significance of culture in language learning." Thesis, University of Kent, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.507532.
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This is an inquiry into adult Mexican English foreign language learners' perceptions of the significance of culture in teaching and learning of English as a foreign language. The participants were Spanish-speaking adults studying at the university level in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. Working within the framework of qualitative-interpretative methodology, the focus of this inquiry is the investigation of the participants' perceptions of their experiences in the context of the inquiry in the classrooms. This context was an EFL course designed specifically for Spanish-speaking adults in Mexico based on the analysis of my personal experiences as an adult language learner and as an EFL teacher in Mexico. The research questions of this inquiry are: • What are adult learners' perceptions of beginning with an overview of the history and development of the target language? • What are adult learners' perceptions of learning about a particular target culture where the target language is spoken? • What are adult learners' perceptions of the inclusion of their maternal language and culture in foreign language learning? • What are adult learners' perceptions of working with awareness of language, culture and learning in the foreign language classroom? • What are adult learners' perceptions of explicit teaching in the foreign language classroom? The indications of this inquiry are that some adult EFL learners in Mexico perceive that an introduction to the target language and culture for the adult learner is called for in order to meet adult learner needs, along with the inclusion of the learner's maternal language and culture in EFL teaching and learning, an orientation to foreign language learning, and explicit teaching rather than other types of activities in the classroom. The practical application of these issues in the foreign language classroom with adults may not be indicated in all situations or appreciable for a" adult learners.
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Inghilleri, Moira. "Language, culture and the quest for commensurability." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1996. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10007390/.
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The thesis examines the key concept of 'incommensurability' in relation to issues of language and culture as they became salient to developments in English as a school subject in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning with an outline of the notion of incommensurability as it has been discussed within anthropology and philosophy within the 20th century, the thesis traces the roots of a complex of educational issues through their immediate intellectual and social background in the mass culture debates in the 1920s and 1930s and as they were developed in the post-war period. The thesis analyses the dominant themes within the paradigm shift towards a focus on language that took place in English education during the 1970s. This it does particularly with respect to their immediate intellectual heritage, paying special attention to the position of F. R. Leavis, Basil Bernstein, James Britton and M. A. K. Halliday in the intellectual field. The thesis continues to pursue its analysis of ideas underlying issues in the period by tracing their origins and interrelations in the work of 18th century German philosophers of language, in particular, J. G. Hamann, J. G. Herder and W. von Humboldt. Within the work of these three writers, fundamental notions concerning the relation between language and thought and language and culture are found complexly explored. Some of the concepts generated by these thinkers came to have a direct and obvious influence on the thinking and writing of subsequent generations. However, this thesis attempts to clarify some of the contradictions and confusions evident within the domain of English education during the 1960s and 1970s with reference to less well knoWn aspects of the work of these thinkers. The argument attempts to draw together the threads of its investigation particularly to shed light on the question of the extent to which communication/understanding across difference is achievable.
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Zheng, Yawen. "Behavioral Culture in the Chinese Language Classroom." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313666561.
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Godoy, Maria Cristina. "Spanish language and culture in Hong Kong." Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2000. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B22198945.
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Crasselt, Jost. "Transmitting Culture and Language - A New German Cultural Institute for Washington D.C." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/46197.
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Making the decision to live abroad means departing from a known culture and language. I know the culture and language of my home country Germany, and living here makes it easy to learn the culture and language of the United States. But for one who does not have the opportunity to live abroad learning the culture and language of a foreign country is a challenge.
Germany is relatively well represented in Washington D.C.: the German embassy and its information center on Foxhall Road, the Goethe-Institut on 7th Street NW, the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies on Massachusetts Avenue, and the German Historical Society on New Hampshire Avenue. But as one can see from the list the institutes are spread throughout the city.
The Goethe-Institut is the most public institution, and I therefore chose it to be the main user of the planned German Cultural Center. I am seeking to bring all of the named institutions together into one building, with the exception of the embassy itself. Through this effort a center of language and culture will be made, where one can go to learn and experience a foreign country within another country.
The institutions themselves will profit from the collaboration with each other, minimizing their financial obligations and at the same time profiting from the collaboration with the other institutes.
This thesis project seeks to prove that it is possible to represent a country with its language and culture through a good building. Germany has much more to offer than the typical cliches and the New German Cultural Institute will be the place to experience this other side of the country.Master of Architecture
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Moraya, Abdullah. "The Influence of Culture and Cultural Background Knowledge on Saudi Students' English Language Learning." OpenSIUC, 2013. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1134.
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Many researchers (Hymes, 1964; Kaplan, 1966; Gumperz, 1972; Brown, 1987; Nida, 1998) have asserted that language and culture are inseparable and both of them affect each other. Recent advances within the theory and methods of language teaching have begun to emphasize the role of culture in language learning and the importance of cultural learning. However, little research has been done to investigate how knowledge of a foreign culture facilitates communication of Saudi students with its people even though mastery of the language of that culture has not yet been achieved. The purpose of this qualitative research is to investigate the influence of culture on the learning of English as a second language by native speakers of Arabic from Saudi Arabia. The participants of this study were nine Saudi students at a mid-western University in the U.S. All of them had begun learning English in Saudi Arabia and came to the U.S. to continue their undergraduate and graduate studies. The subjects were interviewed on an individual basis using a semi-structured format. Also, they completed a brief written questionnaire about demographic and background information about their language learning and cultural experiences in Saudi Arabia and in the U.S. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed by using thematic analysis. The participants' narratives were analyzed for major themes that emerged in relation to the influence of cultural and cultural experiences on their English language learning. The four major themes were American English and diversity in the U.S, gender, individualism and student-centered approach. The results of this study revealed how culture affects Saudi students' English language learning. The themes that emerged in relation to the influence of culture stressed the strong relationship between language and culture. Furthermore, the findings shed light on the cultural challenges faced by Saudi students in learning English and in communicating in English with native-English speaking Americans, and the extent to which cultural learning is integrated in their language learning process.
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Okamura, Akiko. "The roles of culture, sub-culture and language in scientific research articles." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.313548.
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Carroll, Tessa C. "Language planning and language change in Japan 1985-1995." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.321990.
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Leyhe, Anya A. "An Ethnographic Inquiry: Contemporary Language Ideologies of American Sign Language." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2014. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/473.
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Historically, American Sign Language (an aspect of Deaf culture) has been rendered invisible in mainstream hearing society. Today, ASL’s popularity is evidenced in an ethnolinguistic renaissance; more second language learners pursue an interest in ASL than ever before. Nonetheless, Deaf and hearing people alike express concern about ASL’s place in hearing culture. This qualitative study engages ethnographic methods of participant observation and semi-structured interviewing as well as popular media analysis to understand language ideologies (ideas and objectives concerning roles of language in society) hearing and Deaf Signers hold about motivations and practices of other hearing Signers. Although most hearing ASLers identify as apolitical students genuinely seeking to build bridges between disparate communities, I argue that ASLers are most concerned with hearing Signers’ colonization of the language through commoditization and cultural appropriation.
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Otsuji, Emi. "Performing transculturation : between/within 'Japanese' and 'Australian' language, identities and culture /." Electronic version, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2100/598.
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University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Education.This thesis examines the construction processes of language, culture and identities in relation to both the macro level of society and culture, as well as the micro-individual level. It argues that there is a need to understand these constructions beyond discrete notions of language, identities and culture. The thesis mobilises performativity theory to explore how exposure to a variety of practices during the life trajectory has an impact on the construction and performance of language, identities and culture. It shows how a theory of performativity can provide a comprehensive account of the complex process of, and the relationships between, hybridisation (engagement in a range of cultural practices) and monolithication (nostalgic attachments to familiar practices). The thesis also suggests that the deployment of performativity theory with a focus on individual biography as well as larger social-cultural factors may fill a gap left in some other modes of analysis such as Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Conversation Analysis (CA). Analysing data from four workplaces in Australia, the study focuses on trans-institutional talk, namely casual conversation in which people from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds work together. Following the suggestion (Pennycook 2003; Luke 2002) that there is a need to shift away from the understanding that a particular language is attached to a particular nation, territory and ethnicity, the thesis shows how discrete ethnic and linguistic labels such as ‘Japanese’ and ‘English’ as well as notions of ‘code-switching’ and ‘bi-lingualism’ become problematic in the attempt to grasp the complexity of contemporary transcultural workplaces. The thesis also explores the potential agency of subjects at the convergence of various discourses through iterative linguistic and cultural performances. In summary, the thesis provides deeper insight into transcultural performances to show the links between idiosyncratic individual performances and the construction of transcultural linguistic, cultural phenomena within globalisation.
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Alana, Alejandra B. ""El pensamiento crítico y la cultura en los programas de lenguas extranjeras"." Oxford, Ohio : Miami University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=miami1278434172.
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Ransdell, Diane Renee. "A cultural approach to ESL composition: Using popular culture to teach rhetorical conventions." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289200.
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For English as a Second Language students, learning to write academically effective essays is an immense challenge because the students must obey linguistic conventions, write for an unfamiliar audience, and employ rhetorical strategies that the audience expects. In composition programs the special challenges that ESL students face are sometimes overlooked. In this dissertation I provide a rationale for developing ESL composition programs and concrete strategies for doing so. To account for, understand, and accommodate rhetorical expectations for American academic audiences, ESL students need information that acts as an interface between conventions in their countries and the conventions American academic readers expect. The study of popular culture allows ESL students to develop such information by helping them decipher aspects of the culture they are living in. Popular culture texts reflect everyday uses of language and commonly held views because they are produced for general American audiences. They reflect widely accepted rhetorical strategies because audiences demand that texts be written according to their expectations. The process of studying popular culture is liberating for ESL students because it integrates learning about academic essay writing with broader cultural concerns. I concentrate on three genres of popular culture texts: ads, because their use of rhetorical appeals is so clear and because their content suggests American values; formula fictions, because they portray popular role models and follow readers' expectations; and news articles, which show examples of discursive domains and structural conventions. I also make suggestions for using contrastive analyses to help students perceive differences and similarities in cultural expectations, and I demonstrate partial results through research and samples from student writing. By incorporating popular culture texts into the ESL composition curriculum, we help students learn to communicate their ideas in practical, accessible ways. It is by actively targeting American culture as a focus of study and helping students develop tools to analyze popular culture materials on their own that we can make effective changes in composition programs for ESL students.
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Holman, Anna Caitlin. "Culture and identity : language use in intercultural theatre." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/61176.
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In the practice and production of intercultural theatre, language has held a variety of functions. However, the connection between language and culture in the theoretical models of intercultural theatre has been largely unexplored. The theories of linguistic anthropologists Dell Hymes, Richard Bauman, Joel Sherzer, and Charles Briggs postulate that language is a fundamental component of culture and that performative events present ideal sites for analysis. Mary Bucholtz, Kira Hall, and Norma Mendoza-Denton theorize that identity is a performative act of the self and other through language. Given these theories, this research asks: how does language function as a property of culture and identity in intercultural theatre? To answer this question, I have examined the role of language in two intercultural theatre productions which previewed in Vancouver, Canada in 2016. The analysis of these two works, Kayoi Komachi: A Noh Chamber Opera and Lady Sunrise, includes live and video-recorded performance analyses, script analysis, and interviews with the participating artists. This thesis demonstrates that language in intercultural theatre both informs cultural representation and influences the identities of the performers and their characters. With these findings, this research suggests that future models of intercultural theatre frame culture within a linguistic context.Arts, Faculty of
Theatre and Film, Department of
Graduate
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Robinson, Alison Robyn. "Learning to Teach in Another Language and Culture." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Educational Studies and Human Development, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/4463.
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The special learning needs in Initial Teacher Education of international postgraduate students whose own education was linguistically and culturally different to that of New Zealand students are often unacknowledged and under-researched. This qualitative study, based on narrative inquiry, presents case studies of six participants from six different countries, languages and cultures. The findings point to challenges faced by pre-service teacher education students from other languages and cultures. Tensions created by language difficulties, new pedagogies and social and educational cultural differences lead to feelings, at times, of disorientation, heightened “otherness” and unease. Students who are crossing the border between one culture and pedagogical belief system to another require specific support.
This study did, however, find evidence of students developing new understandings about teaching and learning. The findings carry implications for the content, delivery and pedagogy of Initial Teacher Education programmes. The introduction of a Foundation Course and a Support Group, modelling of good practice by ITE lecturers using a variety of interactive teaching strategies and targeted reflective practices are suggested.
In a time of teacher shortages, changing demographics in schools and the changing nature of university-based ITE it is important that the assumption that one size fits all in ITE all needs to be put aside. From the perspectives of social justice and acceptance of diversity it is timely to pay attention in ITE to the learning of students from other languages and cultures. This study suggests ways of moving towards this goal.
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Babenko, O. V. "Integrating language and culture through ESL extracurricular activities." Thesis, Київський національний університет технологій та дизайну, 2020. https://er.knutd.edu.ua/handle/123456789/16640.
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Wilson, Hope Marshall. "Teaching Language and Culture Through Online Ethnographic Explorations." The Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573901116368513.
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Ferdinand, Vanessa Anne. "Inductive evolution : cognition, culture, and regularity in language." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/11741.
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Cultural artifacts, such as language, survive and replicate by passing from mind to mind. Cultural evolution always proceeds by an inductive process, where behaviors are never directly copied, but reverse engineered by the cognitive mechanisms involved in learning and production. I will refer to this type of evolutionary change as inductive evolution and explain how this represents a broader class of evolutionary processes that can include both neutral and selective evolution. This thesis takes a mechanistic approach to understanding the forces of evolution underlying change in culture over time, where the mechanisms of change are sought within human cognition. I define culture as anything that replicates by passing through a cognitive system and take language as a premier example of culture, because of the wealth of knowledge about linguistic behaviors (external language) and its cognitive processing mechanisms (internal language). Mainstream cultural evolution theories related to social learning and social transmission of information define culture ideationally, as the subset of socially-acquired information in cognition that affects behaviors. Their goal is to explain behaviors with culture and avoid circularity by defining behaviors as markedly not part of culture. I take a reductionistic approach and argue that all there is to culture is brain states and behaviors, and further, that a complete explanation of the forces of cultural change can not be explained by a subset of cognition related to social learning, but necessarily involves domain-general mechanisms, because cognition is an integrated system. Such an approach should decompose culture into its constituent parts and explore 1) how brains states effect behavior, 2) how behavior effects brain states, and 3) how brain states and behaviors change over time when they are linked up in a process of cultural transmission, where one person's behavior is the input to another. I conduct several psychological experiments on frequency learning with adult learners and describe the behavioral biases that alter the frequencies of linguistic variants over time. I also fit probabilistic models of cognition to participant data to understand the inductive biases at play during linguistic frequency learning. Using these inductive and behavioral biases, I infer a Markov model over my empirical data to extrapolate participants' behavior forward in cultural evolutionary time and determine equivalences (and divergences) between inductive evolution and standard models from population genetics. As a key divergence point, I introduce the concept of non-binomial cultural drift, argue that this is a rampant form of neutral evolution in culture, and empirically demonstrate that probability matching is one such inductive mechanism that results in non-binomial cultural drift. I argue further that all inductive problems involving representativeness are potential drivers of neutral evolution unique to cultural systems. I also explore deviations from probability matching and describe non-neutral evolution due to inductive regularization biases in a linguistic and non-linguistic domain. Here, I offer a new take on an old debate about the domain-specificity vs -generality of the cognitive mechanisms involved in language processing, and show that the evolution of regularity in language cannot be predicted in isolation from the general cognitive mechanisms involved in frequency learning. Using my empirical data on regularization vs probability matching, I demonstrate how the use of appropriate non-binomial null hypotheses offers us greater precision in determining the strength of selective forces in cultural evolution.
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Ellis, Ceri Angharad. "How language, culture and emotions shape the mind." Thesis, Bangor University, 2016. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/how-language-culture-and-emotions-shape-the-mind(70aa490f-bb0b-4774-9192-17261f7074bf).html.
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The influence of language on thought has been a fervent topic of philosophical and empirical debate for over half a century (see Wolff & Holmes, 2010, for a review). Recent advances in neuroscientific methods have enabled researchers to show that language influences perception and thought from the earliest stages of stimulus processing, even when the task is apparently dissociated from linguistic processes (c.f. Thierry, Athanasopoulos, Wiggett, Dering, & Kuipers, 2009; Boutonnet,Athanasopoulos, & Thierry, 2012; Boutonnet, McClain, & Thierry, 2014; Athanasopoulos et al., 2015). The purpose of the current thesis is to extend this investigation to specifically focus on the impact of culture-specific conceptual representations and linguistic context on semantic processing and affective biases. To this end, the thesis comprises four empirical studies in which we assess how each language possessed by bilinguals relates to their semantic cultural knowledge. Thus, this thesis seeks to establish (i) whether a particular link exists between native language and semantic knowledge concerning the native culture (Chapter 3); and (ii) the nature of this link, with a specific emphasis on long-term, immutable emotional associations (Chapter 4) and short-term, ephemeral emotional states (Chapter 6). I also examine the specificity of the language-culture link as a property of language status in the bilingual mind (Chapter 5). To summarize the findings in advance, I show that bilinguals’ languages diverge when processing information that is specifically related to the native culture. The findings also indicate – via our emotional manipulation – a fundamental difference in processing style between the two languages. Whereas the second language (L2) is characterized by a more rational processing style, the first language (L1) has a greater tendency to bias. Moreover, the particular language-culture link only appears to exist when the native language is not only strongly associated with the native culture, but when it is also the bilingual’s dominant language. Overall, the work presented in this thesis provides novel evidence for the effect of language, culture, and emotions on cognition, even at the level of semantic knowledge.
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Rudolph, Mytzi Maryanne. "Spanish for Health Care Professionals: Language and Culture." PDXScholar, 1996. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5294.
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The purpose of this investigation is to examine formal and informal resources available for teaching Spanish to health care professionals mainly in the Portland, Oregon area. Seventeen different Spanish-for-health-care-professionals texts are commented on by the author, some of which are the texts used in medical Spanish language classes. The majority of the texts contain little if any instruction on cultural aspects which affect the Latino patient population's health care behaviors and decision making. With the recent growth in the Latino population there is a greater demand for health care services by Spanish-speaking persons of the Latino community. The author discusses at length current information about the health status of this population, factors affecting access to health care, and language barrier. There is a lack of bicultural and bilingual health care professionals to provide needed health care services to Latinos. One factor is that the percentage of Latino medical and allied health providers is a small fraction of the percentage of Spanish-speaking patients in the U.S. Therefore, Spanish language instruction must be provided to medical personnel who do not have the cultural and language background to provide culturally relevant and efficient health care to Latinos. This language training must incorporate instruction on cultural issues that affect Latino patients' health care. At present very few Spanish-forhealth- care-providers texts and courses have this type of focus. Exemplary clinical programs specializing in the medical treatment of the Latino population, both inside and outside of the Portland Oregon area, are noted to highlight that effective and culturally relevant medical treatment is possible with adequate training of personnel. Outstanding courses integrating the instruction of both the Spanish language and culture are discussed. Often these courses are not offered as permanent parts of the curriculum. The author gives examples of some of the cultural issues that need to be addressed in language instruction, and makes suggestions for adapting this focus into Medical Spanish instruction.
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Chandran, Nair Nandu. "Building language-independent culture-aware multilingual lexical resources." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2022. https://hdl.handle.net/11572/356783.
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Language is an essential part of any society to thrive. Lexical resources are the building blocks of any language; they allow us to find similarities and diversities when comparing languages. However, numerous limitations like funding or lack of expert support hinder language resource development, and consequently, many minor languages are becoming extinct. A possible way to preserve a language is by connecting the lexical resources with famous languages like English. However, the reference language might influence the language development and mapping process. This thesis suggests a methodology for language development and mapping to avoid the supremacy of a reference language. Hence, the thesis presents a strategy to conserve languages to combat one language’s dominance over another in the resource. The methodology proposed builds improved and up-to-date concept-oriented multilingual lexical resources from existing ones. The advantage of having such resources is that we can use them to compare the languages, study the differences and similarities, and exploit the information to measure and improve the quality of the languages. Similarly, this thesis shows the importance of the structural organization of multilingual resources to represent the meaning across languages. This thesis focuses on Indian languages, but the methodologies explained are adaptable to be used for any other language. The main outcomes of this thesis are (i) a methodology to create a multilingual resource that does not depend on a reference language and (ii) to present a good quality concept-oriented resource for various Indian languages for the community to preserve the culture.
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Williams, Alan Brunton, and Alan Williams@latrobe edu au. "Resolving the culture conundrum: A conceptual framework for the management of culture in TESOL." La Trobe University. School of Educational Studies, 2005. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au./thesis/public/adt-LTU20060714.142623.
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The thesis explores the place of culture in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). The study originally set out to investigate the ways in which teachers understand culture and deal with it in their teaching of English. A survey of teachers found that while the teachers had sophisticated understandings about culture and its relationship with language at a general level, they did not have clear understandings about how cultural teaching can be enacted in the classroom. This conundrum was also evident in the literature on teaching culture in TESOL. An extensive survey of the literature found that while there are a number of different perspectives on how culture can be understood and dealt with in TESOL, none of these provide a comprehensive basis for the understandings teachers need for the practicalities of teaching. The focus of the study shifted from an investigation of professional development to the articulation of a conceptual framework to inform teachers in the way they can manage the teaching of culture. The framework draws on some significant insights of one of the perspectives in the literature, Intercultural Language Teaching, as well as some insights from other perspectives. The framework identifies dimensions in which teachers need to understand how culture can be manifest and managed in TESOL. For each dimension a number of factors on which decisions need to be made are identified. The framework also identifies a number of principles to guide teachers in their decision-making about the teaching culture. The potential of the framework to inform the teaching of English to adult immigrants in Australia, as well as students studying English in a university in Vietnam is explored. The capacity of the framework to inform TESOL teacher education, research and theory building is also evaluated.
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Alsubhi, Mai Salem. "How language and culture shape gesture in English, Arabic and second language speakers." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8296/.
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This research project sheds light on how language and culture can shape gestures with certain gesture features. It consists of two studies: a cross-cultural study and a second language study. In the cross-cultural study, gestures of a group of the English speakers and a group of the Arabic speakers were compared in term of certain gesture features: expression of motion events, dual gestures, use of gesture space and gesture rate. Gestures were elicited through narrations of the Tomato Man video clips. It was found that English speakers produced more conflated gestures than the Arabic speakers. It was also found that the English speakers produced fewer dual gestures than the Arabic speakers. Moreover, it was found that the English speakers produced fewer representational gestures and used smaller gesture space than the Arabic speakers. In the second language study, gestures produced during the Arabic and English descriptions of the Arabic early learners of English were compared within subjects. The same methodology was applied. It was found that the speakers produced more conflated gestures while speaking L2 English than while speaking L1 Arabic. It was also found that they produced more dual gestures while speaking their L2 English than while speaking their L1 Arabic. In regard to the use of gesture space and gesture rate, there was no difference between L1 Arabic and L2 English.
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An, Ning. "Teaching Culture and Language to Chinese Heritage Language Learners: Teachers’ Perception and Practices." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1310055561.
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Chang, Alicia. "Language, culture and number differences in Mandarin Chinese and English numeric language input /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1580830101&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Long, Cory J. "Authentic materials an educator's guide to their use in the language classroom /." [Muncie, Ind.] : Ball State University, 2009. http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/451.
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Dunai, Amber Munshi Sadaf. "Semantic shift and the link between words and culture." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2008. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-9785.
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Wilhelmson, Mika. "Representations of culture in EIL : Cultural representation in Swedish EFL textbooks." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Engelska, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-21120.
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The English language has become an international language and is globally used as a lingua franca. Therefore, there has been a shift in English-language education toward teaching English as an interna-tional language (EIL). Teaching from the EIL paradigm means that English is seen as an international language used in communication by people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As the approach to English-language education changes from the traditional native-speaker, target country context, so does the role of culture within English-language teaching. The aim of this thesis is to in-vestigate and analyse cultural representations in two Swedish EFL textbooks used in upper-secondary school to see how they correspond with the EIL paradigm. This is done by focusing on the geograph-ical origin of the cultural content as well as looking at what kinds of culture are represented in the textbooks. A content analysis of the textbooks is conducted, using Kachru’s Concentric Circles of English as the model for the analysis of the geographical origin. Horibe’s model of the three different kinds of culture in EIL is the model used for coding the second part of the analysis. The results of the analysis show that culture of target countries and "Culture as social custom" dominate the cultural content of the textbook. Thus, although there are some indications that the EIL paradigm has influ-enced the textbooks, the traditional approach to culture in language teaching still prevails in the ana-lysed textbooks. Because of the relatively small sample included in the thesis, further studies need to be conducted in order to make conclusions regarding the Swedish context as a whole.