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Navigating the Future: Communication Skills and Employability in Accounting Students
No full textThis study explores the importance of oral communication skills for accounting students in the context of their employability. Given the impact of technological advancements and the rise of artificial intelligence, potential challenges in the accounting profession arise. Through in-depth interviews with experts in the accounting field, specifically CPA-licensed practicing partners, valuable insights were gathered regarding the development of verbal communication skills and the qualities in the oral communication sought by employers during the hiring process. The outcomes of this research aim to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the expectations regarding oral communication skills that connect current accounting students with potential employers
No Soy Intrusa: Testimonios of Latina Doctoral Students
No full textThe number of Latinas who earn a doctoral degree has increased steadily in the United States, however, the numbers fail to describe the experiences of doctoral Latina students.
The qualitative pilot study was conceived from a graduate Mexican American Studies course project. The study collected testimonio of three Latina doctoral students enrolled in a counseling program at a public university in Texas. Platica was utilized in the research methodology and design, a mutualistic approach that honors the participants testimonio instead of the classic approach of extracting information from the participants.
Latino Critical Theory and Theory in the Flesh were used as theoretical perspectives to analyze the student’s testimonios. Several themes emerged that align with previous research including imposter syndrome, cultural incongruity, navigating higher education systems, peer, and faculty mentoring. Implications include demystifying higher education and dismantling outdated application requirements and student recruitment.
Future research is recommended to examine the relationship between student achievement and support for cultural duality including language from doctoral program and faculty.
Key Terms: Latina doctoral students, platica, testimonio, LatCrit, Theory in the Flesh, Intrus
Nuestros Testimonios: A Plática on the Intersection of Latina Identity and Critical Heritage Language Teaching and Research
No full textThis panel brings together five Latina Spanish heritage language (SHL) educators and scholars to center our identities as fundamental to our roles as researchers and teachers in the field of Spanish as a heritage language. Drawing from Chicana feminist epistemologies, we assert that our Latina identities, histories, and positionalities are central to SHL past and present
Expressing diminutive meaning in heritage Spanish: The role of culturally appropriate community norms
Get PDFFollowing Reynoso’s (2001, 2005) framework where culture plays a crucial role in the analysis of diminutive morphology, the present study analyzes the socio-pragmatic functions of the Spanish diminutive in the speech of two U.S.-Mexico border regions differing by degree of bilingualism. The first dataset consists of 49 sociolinguistic interviews from a Spanish–English bilingual community in Southern Arizona, U.S. where Spanish is the heritage language, provided in the CESA Corpus (Carvalho, 2012). The second dataset consists of 18 sociolinguistic interviews of predominantly monolingual Spanish speakers from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, provided in the PRESEEA Corpus (https://preseea.uah.es/). All bilingual informants completed a bilingual questionnaire (Birdsong, Gertken, & Amegual, 2012). Language background information for the bilingual informants is reported in Table 1.
The analysis revealed a total of 1,052 tokens of Spanish diminutives in the CESA Corpus and 407 diminutive tokens in the Mexicali corpus. While the diminutive suffixes -illo/a and -ín were used in the Mexicali corpus in addition to -ito/a, only the suffix -ito/a was observed for heritage speakers. All tokens were classified into their word category as reported in Table 2 for both corpora. Importantly, only diminutive forms that exhibit a pragmatic force in the speech of our informants were included in the final analysis, which resulted in 758 tokens for the CESA corpus and 297 for the Mexicali corpus. Similar to the Mexicali corpus, the Spanish diminutive in heritage Spanish manifests an array of culturally-determined pragmatic values that require a high degree of subjectivity (see Table 3) For heritage speakers, a subjective evaluation is more prevalent when talking about childhood experiences and expressing affection toward grandparents. By examining the pragmatic domain, this study contributes to our understanding of language use in Spanish–English bilinguals from Southern Arizona (Fernández Flórez, 2022; Kern, 2017), and U.S. Spanish in general
Unveiling Authenticity: Narrowing Linguistic Patterns among Spanish Heritage Speakers in the USA
Get PDFUnveiling Authenticity: Narrowing Linguistic Patterns among Spanish Heritage Speakers in the USA
This abstract discusses the importance of identifying and narrowing common linguistic patterns among Spanish heritage speakers to assess the authenticity of their written assignments in educational settings. Spanish heritage speakers, who possess varying levels of proficiency in both English and Spanish, face unique challenges when expressing their authentic voice and cultural background in their essays. By employing linguistic analysis, it becomes feasible to evaluate the authenticity of their written work, promoting linguistic and cultural integrity.
Understanding and distinguishing linguistic patterns commonly found among US Spanish heritage speakers (Escobar and Potowsky 2015, Klee and Lynch 2009, Sánchez Abchi y De Mier 2017) is crucial in accurately assessing the authenticity of their essays. By narrowing down these patterns, a benchmark can be established for differentiating authentic content from non-native or machine-generated content.
The importance of identifying these patterns lies in promoting cultural preservation, individual expression, and academic integrity. By recognizing and valuing unique linguistic features, educational institutions, teachers, and evaluators can create an inclusive environment that fosters linguistic diversity and respects the rich cultural heritage of Spanish-speaking communities. This presentation aims to narrow some of these linguistic patterns using authentic writing assignments from students, ultimately supporting Spanish heritage speakers in refining their writing skills and expressing their ideas authentically.
Collaboration among linguists, educators, and AI experts is vital to ensure the development of robust and fair assessment frameworks that capture the authenticity and individuality of Spanish heritage speakers\u27 essays.
Keywords: linguistic patterns, heritage, Spanish, writing assignments
References
Elola, Idoia and Ariana Mikulski. 2013. Revisions in Real Time: Spanish Heritage Language Learner’s Writing Processes in En glish and Spanish. Foreign Language Annals. 46.4: 646-660.
Escobar, Ana Maria and Kim Potowski. 2015. El español de los Estados Unidos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Klee, Carol A. and Andrew Lynch. 2009. El español en contacto con otras lenguas. Georgetown University Press.
Moreno-Fernández, Francisco. 2017. Español estadounidense: perfiles lingüísticos y sociales. Revista Glosas. 9, 2: 10-23.
Sánchez Abchi, Verónica y Vanessa De Mier. 2017. Syntactic complexity in narratives written by Spanish Heritage Speakers. Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14: 125-147
SHLDNET Workshop: Reflexivity for Antiracist Critical Literacy in Spanish Language Education
No full textThis workshop aims to create a space that fosters critical reflexivity and consciousness regarding our methods of research and instruction. Our team members, consisting of scholars and educators in higher education and K-12, work to create and implement the critical sociocultural linguistics literacy (CriSoLL) pedagogical approach. CriSoLL, as a conceptual framework, suggests concrete systematic ways to transform language curriculum through critical literacy, including Critical Language Awareness and antiracist approaches that focus on critical historicity and reflexivity. Participants of this workshop will analyze the key components of the CriSoLL framework and participate in several activities, shifting the focus of scrutiny from bilingual racialized speakers to how a system of whiteness is operationalized in society through different strategies, including language and discourse. This interactive session emphasizes critical analysis using educational resources that can be adapted to various teaching environments. We will provide clear examples from two distinct contexts: 1) the K-12 Dual Immersion SHL High School classroom and 2) a participatory action research project for higher education students concerning the U.S. legal system and migration. Our workshop will offer opportunities for discussing strategies to foster student agency and promote sociolinguistic justice in Spanish courses. We aim to provide a safe and inclusive space for scholars and educators to critically examine the techniques used in their existing language courses and adapt them to address the power dynamics, including racial relations and inequality, many of our students face
Discovering New Phytoplasma Strains in Texas: A Study on Insects and Wild Grasses
No full textHemipterans are vectors of disease who transmit bacterial phytoplasma disease to crops and native vegetation. Disease symptoms include yellowing and whitening of leaves, proliferation, and phyllody, leading to decline or death of the host plant. While phytoplasma is found in crops of Texas, its presence in wild grasses remains understudied. The invasive yellow bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum) grass has dispersed over a large range and is associated with an invasive leafhopper known to spread disease elsewhere. This study will determine potential phytoplasma presence in Texas grasses and hemipterans, as well as identify associated hemipteran species. Collected data suggests there is phytoplasma in grass while insects are yet to undergo screening. Furthermore, collected data has identified most hemipteran species associated with collected grasses. This study is significant as it provides baseline data that could then be used to assess ecological threats to neighboring crops and native grass species
Impact of Land Development on Soil Microdiversity
No full textDue to the escalating expansion of industrialization and the scarcity of effective antibiotics, it is crucial to investigate the impact of land development on soil microbial diversity and their antibiotic-producing properties. Low Impact Development (LID), a strategy employed to preserve ecosystems in community developments, remains uncertain regarding its efficiency in maintaining microbial diversity. In this study, soil samples were collected from nine sites within the VIDA development and the Texas A&M University-San Antonio campus, comprising three undisturbed, three disturbed, and three greenway sites. The isolated bacteria will be screened for antibiotic production and genetically characterized to identify the bacterial composition at each site. Preliminary findings indicate that undisturbed sites harbor a higher diversity of bacteria with antibiotic-producing properties compared to greenway and disturbed sites. This suggests that LID may potentially have a negative impact and may not preserve microbial communities as expected
Creating a New Measure of Traditional (Toxic) Masculinity: The TM Survey
No full textThis research addresses gaps in understanding traditional masculinity by proposing a revised scale to capture diverse gender perspectives on toxic masculinity traits. Previous research, often from male viewpoints, may overlook certain traits as toxic (Lacoviello et al., 2022). The aim is to gain a comprehensive view of traditional masculinity by incorporating multiple genders\u27 perspectives. The project comprises three studies. Study 1 collects data from university students and social media participants through open-ended responses on toxic masculinity. Study 2, utilizing MTurk, Prolific, and a university sample, involves participants rating items generated from Study 1 responses. Study 3 employs confirmatory factor analysis, validation, and Big Five personality correlations. Data from Study 2 undergoes PAF factor analysis. The anticipated outcome is a reliable, multi-factor scale measuring not only masculinity but also traditional or toxic masculinity, validated through correlations with other masculinity scales and personality factors