LANGUAGE

Las obras creativas como expresión de los movimientos políticos y sociales mexicanoamericanos: Creative Works as an Expression of Mexican American Sociopolitical Movements (O)

Presenter: Tatiana Perez

Faculty Project Advisor: Karen Martin

Mexican Americans first became a defined group in the early 1800s and they have often struggled with being heard and respected. Initially, Mexican people were made American citizens through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but their rights and value as people have long been disregarded. This presentation brings awareness to some of the political issues this group has faced from its inception to today and analyzes literary and artistic works created to speak against these injustices. This research traces the trajectory of the Mexican American socio-political movement from its creation to the present, including the ideological frameworks that shape its actions. It also highlights the lives of prominent Mexican American activists. In times of sociopolitical strife, there are many ways to have one’s voice heard, and this paper explores how these authors and artists speak out against racial, economic, and societal issues through the arts.

Over- and Under-Diagnosis of Speech and Language Disorders: A Case Study on English

Language Learners (O)

Presenter: Holly Bryan

Faculty Project Advisor: Phillip Ryan

Within the speech-language pathology field, the concepts of language difference and language deficiency are often muddled. Consequently, over and under-diagnosis of language and speech disorders in children who speak English as a second language is very common. Two fallacies are often made with this population: a true language or speech disorder is attributed to a lack of English proficiency, or a lack of English proficiency is diagnosed as a language or speech disorder. A systemic gap in literature and education and chronic lack of multilingual educators and speechlanguage pathologists can often lead to poor diagnosis and treatment among this population. A sociopolitical analysis of this issue will be provided as well as an in-depth case study among West Tennessee speech-language pathologists detailing their current felt-preparedness and future plans of action in order to remedy this systemic failure.

Family Structure and Psychological Development: Effects on Literacy in the Inner-City (O)

Presenter: Kailie Cromwell

Faculty Project Advisor: Phillip Ryan

Factors such as poverty, socioeconomic status, and family structure and dynamics greatly impact the issue of adult illiteracy. One of the leading causes of illiteracy in adults is generational illiteracy—when parents cannot read, their children are more likely to grow into functionally illiterate adults. Using psychological frameworks as a lens to look deeper into adult illiteracy, this paper will focus primarily on family structure and dynamics as they impact different developmental stages. The implications of this project are important for all language teachers. My emphasis on psychological development and family dynamics will help language teachers who may not have thought about psychological backgrounds and developmental challenges that many illiterate adults face in their formative years. By understanding factors outside the classroom and in earlier stages of life, teachers will be better equipped to aid illiterate adults in overcoming problems associated with the absence of clear developmental stage markers in language acquisition. n

Lost in the Divergence Zone (O)

Presenter: Abigail Branson

Faculty Project Advisor: Bryan Dawson

In this talk, we will consider the level comparison test for series, based on infinitesimal calculus, which outlines the fate of the infinite series if the reciprocal of the Ω term in a series is either always in the convergence zone or always in the divergence zone. Will a series still be able to converge if it has an infinite number of terms in the divergence zone? After