Search results for "EN500"
showing 10 items of 40 documents
Bilingual speech comprehension in context : Predictive sentence processing in second language listening
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN500) The project aims to extend our understanding of the relationship between language profile, proficiency and speech comprehension in English by investigating three-sentence contexts of mixed word order, low-constraint sentence and high-constraint sentence. Our concern in this study is whether context effects will behave differently in the first language (L1) than in the second language (L2). Norwegian natives with English as a second language (Norwegian-English bilinguals) performed in a word monitoring experiment which consisted of a within-language variable (mixed word order versus low-constraint versus high-constraint sentence conditions) with a between -…
Bilingual Spoken Word Comprehension: Effects of Sentence Context : A comparison of Norwegian-English bilinguals’ speech recognition in Norwegian and …
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN500) This master thesis is part of a bigger master project aiming to expand our understanding of speech processing. In three sub-projects –speech production, speech comprehension, and word finding –six master students investigated the relationship between an individual’s language background and proficiency and their use of English as a second language. This thesis covers the comprehension part of the study, which investigated Norwegian-English bilinguals’ ability to use sentence contextual information when processing spoken language both in their native Norwegian and in English as a second language, and whether this ability was modulated by aspects of participa…
Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT) States in Norwegian-English Bilinguals : Effects of Word Frequency, Cognate Status, Noun Type, and Bilingual Profiles
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN500) This study investigates the effects of language, word frequency, cognate status, noun type, and different bilingual profiles on tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states in Norwegian-English bilinguals. Furthermore, the study aimed to establish whether the weaker links hypothesis or the competition hypothesis could better account for the TOT phenomenon. TOTs were induced by using a word-finding experiment in which the participants were asked to read a definition and then report whether they knew the target word. According to the results, the participants knew more words in Norwegian and reported more TOTs in English. Frequency effects revealed that the participants k…
Effects of cognate status, noun type, frequency, and bilingual profile on the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon in Norwegian-English bilinguals
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN500) This experimental thesis aimed to investigate the effects of cognate status, frequency, and noun type on the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon in Norwegian-English bilinguals, and how their performance in these conditions relates to individual differences in their bilingual profile such as second language(L2)English proficiency. A bilingual profile was created for each participant based on their answers on an amended version of the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (Marian, Blumenfeld & Kaushauskaya, 2007). The experimental part of this study included a TOT experiment in two parts: one English and one Norwegian. For both experiments, stimu…
Dyslexia in bilingualism : A case study of an English-Norwegian bilingual child with developmental dyslexia
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN500) This study investigates the interactions between dyslexia and bilingualism, and aims to observe how dyslexia presents itself in a bilingual individual. The importance of language similarity, orthographic transparency and cognate effect is investigated through a set experiments and analysis of dyslexia assessment results. Data for this study is collected by means of qualitative(questionnaire and dyslexia assessment)and quantitative (RAN and word spotting tasks)methods based on a case study of an English-Norwegian bilingual with developmental dyslexia.
When dad becomes a woman : A Critical Discourse Studies approach to gender performativity in American and Norwegian reality TV and documentary film
2018
Master's thesis English EN500 - University of Agder 2018 In this master's thesis I have wanted to say something about male-to-female transgender identity construction and the way in which it takes place in ordinary life. I have investigated how two different families negotiate the feminine gender identity of their father, and how these MTF informants 'do' gender. The conversations I have analyzed come from the Norwegian documentary film All about my father (2002), and two episodes each from the American reality TV series Keeping up with the Kardashians (2015) and I am Cait (2015). Documentary film provides research material that resembles authentic speech and constributes to the constructio…
Like Stripes on a Chokecherry Tree : Representations of Trauma and Consolidation of History in Neo-slave Narratives
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN500) Literature has long been utilised to provide commentary on social and political injustices, give voice to discriminated peoples, and provide context in relation to social and cultural history. The aim of this thesis was to analyse the representations of trauma and slavery in the novels Kindred by Octavia E. Butler and Beloved by Toni Morrison in order to determine to what extent these novels aid the consolidation of the trauma and history of slavery with contemporary understanding. This was achieved using the historical context of slavery alongside a traumatheoretical framework including, but not limited to, primary and secondary trauma, cultural trauma, p…
Wild at heart : The Connection between Masculinity and Violence in Postmodern Literature: A Study of Masculine Identity Crisis, Violence, and Agency …
2017
Master's thesis English EN500 - University of Agder 2017
Conspiracy, Agential Angst and Resistance in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN500) This study explores how powerful institutions influence the lives of individuals in the post-war American society as presented in two novels: Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. It focuses on the interpretation of the psychological angst of the characters, their realization of external influences and resistance for the sakes of freedom and individuality. To critically analyze the issue of agential anxiety, this study mainly draws upon Timothy Melley’s concept of conspiracy which he views as a manipulation of the populace without their knowledge. The larger institutions in the society strategically produce oppressive discourses and a…
Ethics of Infinite Improbability and the Logic of Jokes : A look at the philosophical inquiry in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker-series
2018
Master's thesis English EN500 - University of Agder 2018