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- ItemOpen AccessExamining listening skills of diplomatic French as foreign language learners: an angle for languages for specific purposes(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Zecher, Eryth, author; Grim, Frédérique, advisor; Nekrasova-Beker, Tatiana, advisor; Becker, Anthony, committee member; Brazile, William, committee member; Vogl, Mary, committee memberListening comprehension and vocabulary knowledge are closely intertwined. Vocabulary knowledge (size) has been found to be a strong predictor of successful listening comprehension even when listening is done under adverse conditions. Previous research has focused on advanced proficiency, or native level listeners. This study aims to fill a research gap by studying the improvements to listening comprehension in speech-shaped noise of ten intermediate level French as foreign language learners enrolled at French courses at an American university. This study focuses on whether a 4-hour instruction on diplomatic French vocabulary terms, using a background speech-shaped noise presented at a +5dB signal-to-noise ratio would increase the comprehensibility of unfamiliar accented speech, from nine different speakers in intermediate level learners of French as a foreign language. The results show that intermediate level listeners improved their listening comprehension skills, and that vocabulary training was the most important factor. Findings also show that intermediate-level listeners can adapt to unfamiliar accented speech, and that the listeners can be taught advanced-level vocabulary when it is presented as language for specific purposes and under adverse listening conditions.
- ItemOpen AccessThe history and development of Spanish-language initiatives in public libraries: a case study(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Lonas, Adele, author; Becker, Anthony, advisor; Carlyon, Jonathan, advisor; Soler, Silvia, committee member; Coke, Pamela, committee memberThe purpose of this case study is to examine how overall services, programs, resources and collections offered in Spanish have developed over the course of the past century at a single library district in Colorado. The study uses the Hispanic history and current demographics of the regional context as a foundation, as well research supporting both multilingualism and the role that libraries play in creating community cohesion in multicultural and multilingual communities to evaluate the findings. The findings, based on archival research and interviews, include a narrative of the development of the Spanish-language initiatives developed over the course of the past century, and a summary of the challenges and obstacles encountered by the interviewees. Five recommendations are made in response to ongoing challenges and obstacles, ranging from increased promotion of the library to Hispanic families and communities, to increased representation and inclusion of Hispanic community members at all administrative levels and on the library board.
- ItemOpen AccessAn analysis of the developing se passive construction with a por-phrase(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Rauch, Jacwylyn Laci, author; Delahunty, Gerald, advisor; Grim, Frédérique, advisor; Pedrós-Gascón, Antonio, committee member; Berry, Nancy, committee memberThis research proposes to characterize a particular type of se construction as a developing se passive construction with a por-phrase and attempts to address what linguistic niche it inhabits. The construction addressed has an argument as its subject that is the patient of the clause and a por-phrase that contains either an instrument or an agent that contributes to the event denoted by the verb phrase. In this paper, I give an overview of the different se constructions, followed by a discussion of voice. Next, I review literature on the passive and adopt a working characterization of the Spanish passive. I then look at development of the passive over time and the constraints typically associated it. For this research, I use a corpus to get a data set of fifty entries that I analyze qualitatively and compare using simple percentages. Those data entries are then analyzed using three separate analysis tools that were adapted from Hopper and Thompson's transitivity categorization and Dowty's Proto-Agent Properties. Those tools allow me to develop theories on the niche that the developing se passive with a por-phrase inhabits with respect to the periphrastic passive. This research suggests that the developing se passive construction with the por-phrase fills some gaps left by the periphrastic passive. For that reason, it does not seem unlikely that the developing se passive construction with a por-phrase will become more common over time. Whether or not it will become a part of every variety is yet to be seen, but at the very least it is becoming a part of some varieties.
- ItemOpen AccessHistoire à travers identité et mémoire dans Ce que le jour doit à la nuit de Yasmina Khadra(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Benkamla, Amina, author; Vogl, Mary, advisor; Hirchi, Mohammed, committee member; Duffy, Andrea, committee memberThe purpose of this research is to demonstrate how history can be represented in literary fiction by providing the example of the Francophone Algerian novel What the Day Owes the Night. Published in 2008, Yasmina Khadra's novel inscribes itself in the literary history of the novelists who wrote on the troubled past of France and Algeria. Fictional literature has been a way to lift the veil on France's colonial past in Algeria and has given a voice to those whose lives have been impacted by the war. By combining historical research and literary analysis, I have been able to identify two prominent concepts in Khadra's work: identity and memory. The question of identity is omnipresent and the different characters represent the different populations involved during the conflict. Identity is strongly linked to the characters' memory of the war and French and Algerian collective memories reflect in the characters themselves.
- ItemOpen AccessHistorias del Kronen: análisis de las diferencias argumentales entre la novela y la adaptación cinematográfica, y su impacto en la recepción(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Mena Molina, Sofía Margarita, author; Pedrós-Gascón, Antonio F., advisor; López-Cabrales, María del Mar, committee member; Van Buren, Mary, committee memberThis research paper has the purpose to analyze the literary work of Stories from the Kronen (1994) from José Ángel Mañas, as well as to create a more in-depth search of the topic using the film adaptation by director Montxo Armendáriz (1995) in which Mañas participates in the creation of the plot. This collaboration generates changes in the final product, some of such changes caused the novel to be far apart from the film, and some others reinforce the novel in a strategic way. In order to succeed in the analysis, it is necessary to establish a historical, sociological, political, and psychological frame. And to this end, it will be discussed the phenomenon of the Transition, the Disenchantment, the "pasotismo", the Spanish "Movida", the Generation X, the racism, the migration, and the misogyny of the Spain represented in Stories from the Kronen.