Showing papers in "Hispania in 2003"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the situation du vouvoiement au Honduras a partir des informations fournies par 4 locuteurs âges de 18 a 25 ans.
Abstract: Le vouvoiement en Amerique Latine a une distribution irreguliere : tres repandu en Amerique Centrale et en Argentine, il est plutot rare dans d'autres regions comme les Caraibes et dans des pays comme le Mexique et le Perou. Les raisons en sont multiples : historiques, socioculturelles, economiques et geographiques. L'A. analyse la situation du vouvoiement au Honduras a partir des informations fournies par 4 locuteurs âges de 18 a 25 ans. L'analyse est comparative, en fonction de l'âge, de la classe sociale et de differentes situations de communication (milieu familial, milieu professionnel, milieu scolaire et universitaire et reunion entre amis)
55 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a self-assessment of students at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, who worked in the local public health department was used to evaluate the degree to which the five C's (communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities) were met.
Abstract: An increasing number of Spanish instructors are turning to service-learning to enhance student learning, especially in oral comprehension, conversation, and cultural understanding. Even in areas with a relatively small, but rapidly expanding, Latino population, it is possible and desirable to place students in direct contact with native Spanish speakers, through links between the university and various community agencies. Evidence is mounting that when service-learning is well-planned and monitored and pedagogically tied to specific academic goals, objectives, methods, and assessment, it can be a significant tool in reaching ACTFL's "standards for foreign language learning." Using analysis of self-assessment of students at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, who worked in the local public health department, this article reports a discussion of the degree to which those standards, known as the "five C's"? communicating, cultures, connections, comparisons, communities?were met.
53 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an empirically-supported theoretical argument is made for the relevance of private speech, or intrapersonal communication, in the internalization of an L2.
Abstract: An empirically-supported theoretical argument is made for the relevance of private speech, or intrapersonal communication, in the internalization of an L2. We propose that the process is parallel to that attested in children learning their L1. In internalization learners imitate the linguistic affordances made available by the classroom community. Imitation, in the theoretical perspective that informs the study, is not mimicking; rather it is a uniquely human, and potentially transformative, process in which the individual constructs his or her unique psychological understanding of the new language. We analyze a data set taken from recordings of the private speech of an adult classroom learner of Spanish. The analysis shows that learners are cognitively active participants in classroom communities even when they are not engaged in overt social interaction. It also shows that learners focus on aspects of the L2 that do not necessarily coincide with the teacher's instructional goal.
52 citations
TL;DR: This article analyzed the development of past tense verbal morphology in L2 acquisition among L1 English speakers (105 college students) divided into three levels of proficiency, based on two multiple-choice tasks utilizing two different texts of similar lengths.
Abstract: Several studies have analyzed the development of verbal morphology in second language acquisition with reference to lexical aspectual clauses. For instance, Andersen (1986, 1991) argues that the use of inflectional endings in past-tense Spanish (i.e., Preterit and Imperfect) will be associated with the lexical aspectual value of the verb phrase. Alternatively, learners may initially rely on a default marker of past tense (e.g., Preterit). In the present study I analyzed the development of past tense verbal morphology in L2 acquisition among L1 English speakers (105 college students) divided into three levels of proficiency. The analysis was based on two multiple-choice tasks utilizing two different texts of similar lengths. The analysis shows that learners may use a default marker of past tense (preterit or imperfect) during the beginning stages of development of verbal morphology, but the choice of the default option may be dependent on the type of text (personal or fictional).
49 citations
TL;DR: The authors conducted a study with twenty-eight adult third-year learners of Spanish in order to investigate the degree to which idiom type affects the speed and ease of idiomatic comprehension and interpretation, and the effect that context (or lack thereof) exerts on idiom understanding.
Abstract: This article describes the results of a study conducted with twenty-eight adult third-year learners of Spanish in order to investigate (a) the degree to which idiom type affects the speed and ease of idiom comprehension and interpretation, and (b) the effect that context (or lack thereof) exerts on idiom understanding. Findings indicate that (a) there are significant main effects for LL and PLL idioms in both context and non-context treatments: (b) the use of context is of great importance in the construction of idiomatic meaning; and (c) the degree of opacity between target and domain idioms influences the speed and ease of VP idiom understanding, as well as the transfer of L1 idiomatic knowledge, in significant ways. Implications for the classroom and for future research are also discussed.
36 citations
TL;DR: The authors revisited attitudes toward Spanish among students attending the University of Texas-Pan American in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and found that 80% of the undergraduate students at this institution consider themselves Hispanic.
Abstract: This article revisits attitudes toward Spanish among students attending the University of Texas-Pan American in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Eighty-five percent of the undergraduate students at this institution consider themselves Hispanic. In part due to the presence of the university, this four-county area has continued to experience numerous social and economic changes over the past two decades. In 1982, data were collected among UT-Pan American students in an attempt to gauge their attitudes toward the Spanish language along four sociolinguistic attitudinal dimensions - communication, instrumental, sentimental, and value. The present article analyzes data similarly collected, eighteen years later, in 2000. Comparisons are made between the attitudes expressed and the demographic variables of gender, age, and generation. Conclusions regarding retention of Spanish are then drawn.
36 citations
TL;DR: The "Spain in America" survey as discussed by the authors investigates the political and historical forces behind this duality, surveying the work of the major nineteenth-century U.S. Hispanists in the fields of history, art history, literature, and music.
Abstract: Setting aside the pastiche of bullfighters and flamenco dancers that has dominated the U.S. image of Spain for more than a century, this innovative volume uncovers the roots of Spanish studies to explain why the diversity, vitality, and complexity of Spanish history and culture have been reduced in U.S. accounts to the equivalent of a tourist brochure. Spurred by the complex colonial relations between the United States and Spain, the new field of Spanish studies offered a way for the young country to reflect a positive image of itself as a democracy, in contrast with perceived Spanish intolerance and closure. "Spain in America" investigates the political and historical forces behind this duality, surveying the work of the major nineteenth-century U.S. Hispanists in the fields of history, art history, literature, and music. A distinguished panel of contributors offers fresh examinations of the role of U.S. writers, especially Washington Irving and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in crafting a wildly romantic vision of Spain. They examine the views of such scholars as William H. Prescott and George Ticknor, who contrasted the "failure" of Spanish history with U.S. exceptionalism. Other essays explore how U.S. interests in Latin America consistently colored its vision of Spain and how musicology in the United States, dominated by German migrs, relegated Spanish music to little more than a footnote. Also included are profiles of the philanthropist Archer Mitchell Huntington and the pioneering art historians Georgiana Goddard King and Arthur Kingsley Porter, who spearheaded U.S. interest in the architecture and sculpture of medieval Spain. Providing a much-needed look at the development and history of Hispanism, "Spain in America" opens the way toward confronting and modifying reductive views of Spain that are frozen in another time.
33 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the implementation of student self-assessment is described as an important mechanism through which learners interact with instructors and develop the requisite introspective skills to evaluate their own progress.
Abstract: Recent research on the teaching and learning of Spanish shows an increased focus on student-centered learning environments and corresponding methods of evaluation. Such renovations encourage students to take responsibility for learner outcomes and to individualize goals and tasks. The implementation of student self-assessment is an important mechanism through which learners interact with instructors and develop the requisite introspective skills to evaluate their own progress. Self-assessment rubrics can be applied to student activities such as class participation, long-term projects and portfolios with varied content. In addition to an increased clarity of instructor expectations, such methods improve student outcomes by delineating clear paths toward progress. Instructors of Spanish can adapt student self-assessment methods to meet individual pedagogical needs for a variety of levels of instruction.
29 citations
29 citations
TL;DR: The term anamorphosis, from the greek ana (again) and morphe (shape), designates a variety of perspective experiments that can be traced back to the artistic developments of the 1500's and 1600's as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The term anamorphosis, from the greek ana (again) and morphe (shape), designates a variety of perspective experiments that can be traced back to the artistic developments of the 1500's and 1600's. Anamorphic devices challenge viewers to experience different forms of perceptual oscillation and uncertainty. Images shift in front of the eyes of puzzled spectators as they move from the center of the representation to the margins, or from one side to the other. (A) Wry Views demonstrates that much of the literature of the Spanish Golden Age is susceptible, and indeed requires, oblique readings (as in anamorphosis).
TL;DR: In the social and cultural history of sport, the analysis of the establishment and development of associations is fundamental in clarifying the social articulation of modern sporting activity as mentioned in this paper, along with its role in regard to promoting physical exercise, the historical study of sporting associations can also reveal the kinds of social relation which are established and the evolution of these relations, and the ideological and sociohistorical contexts in which they are embedded.
Abstract: In the social and cultural history of sport, the analysis of the establishment and development of associations is fundamental in clarifying the social articulation of modern sporting activity. Along with its role in regard to promoting physical exercise, the historical study of sporting associations can also reveal the kinds of social relation which are established and the evolution of these relations, and the ideological and socio-historical contexts in which they are embedded.
TL;DR: The 17th National Conference on Spanish in the United States, held in Miami-Dade County in March, 1999 as discussed by the authors, provided a wide range of topics relating to the use of Spanish in U.S.A.
Abstract: The papers that have been assembled for this book cover a wide range of topics relating to the use of Spanish in the U.S.A. They stem for the most part from the 17th National Conference on Spanish in the United States, held in Miami-Dade County in March, 1999. In addition to linguistic and sociolinguistic coverage, issues are explored relating to ideology and politics. Leaving aside John Lipski’s useful though rather stolid introductory survey of existing research, the book is divided into seven sections. The first of these ostensibly covers bilingualism and interpreting, although the focus is very much on the latter, with detailed discussions of practical issues such as bad practice in law courts and the pitfalls associated with false cognates. Following this there are three papers that have a generally historical orientation: Rebeca Acevedo traces the development of the Spanish verb paradigm in Californian Spanish, concluding that this is undergoing a process of simplification that parallels what occurred in vernacular Romance. Ysaura Bernal-Enriquez looks for the social and historical factors that conspired in the loss of Spanish in the Southwest. And Garlan Bills gives a largely cartographic presentation of Nahuatl lexical penetration in New Mexico. The next section, entitled Borrowings, has papers on morphological adaptations of Anglicisms in the Southwest, the nature of phrasal calques in Chicano Spanish (are they linguistic or cultural?), borrowings in Cuban-American speech, and strategies for adapting words that are borrowed into Spanish. Next there is a rather loose section that focuses on “discourse-oriented” issues, such as Narrative and Codeswitching, the latter of course being one of the sacred cows of research on bilingualism in the U.S.A. Following this there are six papers on sociolinguistics and pragmatics: language and self-definition among Dominicans in the U.S.A., language maintenance among Cuban Americans in Miami, attitudes towards Spanish, literacy, forms of address, and politeness strategies. The optimistically entitled Phonology, Morphology, and Syntax chapter is a little thin, but has a useful piece on the elimination from U.S.A. Spanish of the alveolar trill [r] (the remaining two papers in the section are on estar in MexicanAmerican Spanish and morphosyntax among university students in California). The final section deals with issues that pertain to ideology and politics: intraethnic attitudes among Hispanics in northern California, language politics about Spanish in Puerto Rico, demographic changes in Florida and their significance for educational policy, and bilingual education in the U.S.A. Like much writing on U.S.A. Spanish, this book suffers from being too compartmentalized, with no overall themes or general conclusions. This stems in part from the fact that the book consists basically in a set of conference proceedings. But there is a more fundamental 504
TL;DR: This paper examined the interaction effects of readers' gender and passage content with L2 readers' strategy use, and further explored whether global or local strategies relate to comprehension, finding that men use more global strategies than women when faced with the Cortazar passage and that global and local strategy use did not significantly correlate with performance on comprehension tasks.
Abstract: At the university, the reading of lengthy, authentic second language (L2) literary texts generally begins at the intermediate level of Spanish language instruction; however, most strategy use research is conducted with participants from the basic stages of language acquisition. The present study was undertaken with fifth semester students of Spanish in order to examine the interaction effects of readers' gender and passage content with L2 readers' strategy use, and to further explore whether global or local strategies relate to comprehension. After reading two different passages taken from a short story about boxing by Cortazar and a short story about a frustrated housewife by Poniatowska, participants completed comprehension tasks and a strategy use questionnaire. Previous investigations suggested that more successful readers use global reading strategies to process a text, but much of this research did not correlate strategy use with comprehension of texts utilized in the study. Although findings of the present study indicated that men use more global strategies than women when faced with the Cortazar passage, results revealed that global and local strategy use did not significantly correlate with performance on comprehension tasks. Type of strategy use did not predict comprehension at this level of instruction.
TL;DR: The Heritage Language Teacher Corps (HLTC) as discussed by the authors is a teacher training program for Spanish-to-native speakers (SNS) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago Public Schools.
Abstract: Few postsecondary foreign language teacher-training programs include coursework on teaching Spanish to native speakers (SNS), even at institutions that offer SNS tracks for their own undergraduates and that prepare high school teachers to work in areas with high Latino concentrations. This article describes a model of in-service SNS teacher training called the Heritage Language Teacher Corps offered through a collaboration between the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Chicago Public Schools. The program offers three graduate-level courses that prepare teachers in accordance with several of the necessary teacher competencies for teaching SNS outlined in the AATSP volume Spanish for Native Speakers (2000, 88). This article offers a description of the HLTC model: the three courses; workshops and other activities; program evaluations; and future directions.
TL;DR: However, a deeper analysis of the structures observed in Spanish shows that they differ from the English constructions syntactically, pragmatically and phonologically as discussed by the authors, and what looks prima facie like a Topicalization in Spanish is in fact an instance of Left-dislocation with no overt pronoun.
Abstract: Terms such as Left-dislocation and Topicalization, which originally referred to particular constructions in English, have also been used to refer to apparently similar topicalizing strategies in Spanish. However, a deeper analysis of the structures observed in Spanish shows that they differ from the English constructions syntactically, pragmatically and phonologically. Thus, what has been considered to be the Spanish equivalent of English Left-dislocation is in fact a different construction which involves a clitic, and does not show any of the restrictions of English left-dislocation. Moreover, Spanish also has a more restricted type of Left-dislocation which has a strong pronoun, and does behave like English Left-dislocation. Finally, what looks prima facie like a Topicalization in Spanish is in fact an instance of Left-dislocation with no overt pronoun. From this perspective, while Spanish has no Topicalization, it shows three types of Left-dislocation: a clitic Left-dislocation, a strong-pronoun left-dislocation, and a clitic left-dislocation with no overt clitic.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present data concerning the number of exceptions in gender assignment in Spanish along with samples of student production and present a morphosyntactic context that has not been addressed in textbooks or the pedagogical literature.
Abstract: This paper challenges the prevalent misconception among many students that the grammatical gender system of Spanish is transparent (i.e., that the ending of a noun is a clear indication of gender, -o nouns are masculine, -a nouns are feminine). Data concerning the number of exceptions in gender assignment in Spanish is presented along with samples of student production. The goal is not to solve the pedagogical problem, but rather to situate the problem of gender assignment in Spanish in a morphosyntactic context that has not been addressed in textbooks or the pedagogical literature. Gender agreement mistakes are not critical and, in most cases, do not obscure the meaning of a sentence enough to inhibit communication. Nonetheless, gender is still a feature that affects everything at a morphosyntactic level, and therefore these errors cannot be ignored. They become distracting "noise" in written and oral production.
TL;DR: The importance of choral associations has been a point of interest and research from a number of different angles and cultural realities as mentioned in this paper, which has been an element of collective identification for many European communities, characterizing their cultural expression and contributing to the development of their historical destiny.
Abstract: Choral song has been an element of collective identification for many European communities, characterizing their cultural expression and on many occasions contributing to the development of their historical destiny. The importance of choral associations has been a point of interest and research from a number of different angles and cultural realities. This article does not aspire to be a history of choral song in Spain, but to serve as a reflection on the paths taken so far in the study of the phenomenon and to channel new ideas and perspectives in the study of musical and choral sociability. Nineteenth-century Spain was, like contemporary Spain, the sum of different national realities with distinct cultural forms of expression, and therefore with different ways of seeing and understanding choral song, which took on different shapes in the different zones where it evolved. It experienced as many different forms of development as there were different social formations and cultures.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the importance of the inventories of the deceased for the study of the material culture of the communities of the Ancien Regime and provide a better understanding of both rural and the urban societies of the Modern Age.
Abstract: This work analyses the importance for historians, past and present, of one of the richest legal sources in terms of information: the inventories of the deceased. These documents, which have often been criticised not only because of the gaps they contain, but because of their limitations with regard to representativeness or reliability, nevertheless constitute an ideal source for the study of the material culture of the communities of the Ancien Regime. An analysis of such inventories sheds light on aspects of everyday life such as food, housing, furniture, hygiene and dress, among others, providing a better understanding of both rural and the urban societies of the Modern Age.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the effects of dialogue journaling through e-mail on the language produced by two groups (experimental and control) of first-semester Spanish college students.
Abstract: This article describes the effects of dialogue journaling through e-mail on the language produced by two groups (experimental and control) of first-semester-Spanish college students. The independent variable was the use of electronic mail while the dependent variables were accuracy and number of words per message. Quantitative results showed that the control group significantly outperformed the experimental group regarding grammatical accuracy. Non-significant differences for either lexical accuracy or number of words were found. For qualitative analysis, a questionnaire administered to both groups requested their opinions on the effectiveness and attitude towards the journaling technique. The authors concluded that, although the e-mail medium promoted a more positive attitude towards the language, dialogue journals via e-mail did not improve grammar skills. Thus, suggestions are offered to modify instruction to enhance other positive results from the use of electronic writing in L2, thereby providing a way to incorporate authentic, real-life writing tasks, develop better classroom rapport, and allow advantages to students otherwise reluctant to speak in class.
TL;DR: This article examined trends in CALL research and postulates strategies for classroom assessment of CALL and found that the simultaneous presentation of spoken and written language through multimedia can substantially improve listening skills and residual learning.
Abstract: This work examines trends in CALL research and postulates strategies for classroom assessment of CALL. To illustrate, a pilot study designed to evaluate a music-based multimedia program is described. A group of 25 mid advanced Spanish students, enrolled in a college-level introductory literature course, participated in the study. The study was based on a paired replicates design. Differences between the pre and post observations were used to assess the effect of the treatment. The results support the hypothesis that the simultaneous presentation of spoken and written language through multimedia can substantially improve listening skills. Interestingly, however, the specific parameters that were used to assess reading comprehension did not show an improvement, which may raise a question about methodological sensitivity. Students reported dramatic improvement of listening skills, residual learning and greater reliance on music for language learning. Of importance, as well, was the outcome of individual students' assessments showing an over whelming preference for CALL vs. traditional methods, indicating the value of this approach towards promoting a positive learning environment in the classroom. Overall, the study succeeded in identifying a viable methodological avenue for the objective assessment of CALL, aimed at evaluating and quantifying its effectiveness in language acquisi tion. A focus on objective assessment of these emerging technologies will enable faculty to improve the usefulness of CALL and guide its implementation within the language teaching community.
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TL;DR: De Tena conoce a Luis Enrique Erro, dedicado hombre de ciencia y politica, que lo involucra en los conocimientos de Astronomia, and descubre lo que seria su segunda pasion, aparte de la politica: el cielo and las estrellas.
Abstract: En sus roces politicos, De Tena conoce a Luis Enrique Erro, dedicado hombre de ciencia y politica que lo involucra en los conocimientos de Astronomia. Con esto, Lorenzo descubre lo que seria su segunda pasion, aparte de la politica: el cielo y las estrellas. Cielo y estrellas que lo identifican con su vida, ahi estan, igual que el, pero solo para que poca gente los descubran; el mismo tiene mucho que descubrir en el cielo. Desafortunadamente pocos ven lo mismo alla arriba y a De Tena le cuesta trabajo entender como no todos pueden ver la vida como el.acter logra adquirir importantes cargos directivos en institutos cien nunca apoya su causa ni compre
TL;DR: The Ateneo de Madrid Cultural Club as mentioned in this paper is the first and best known institution of the many contained under that umbrella in modern Spanish culture, and it is the only institution that has survived the long years of the Franco dictatorship, albeit with great difficulty, into the present time.
Abstract: The liberal «ateneo» (cultural club) is the first and bets known institution of the many contained under that umbrella in modern Spanish culture. From the creation of the pioneering Ateneo de Madrid in 1835 an extensive provincial network of organisations of the same type bound together the cream of the political and cultural elite, aspiring to encompass (in an ambitious project of free thought) the exercise of academic education, the cultivation and discussion of scientific developments, and the diffusion of literary and artistic creativity. Liberal institutions of this type survived the long years of the Franco dictatorship, albeit with great difficulty, into the present time, although —it is true— without the leading cultural role they once enjoyed.