Language learning has been a widely researched topic for many years. Most research that has been done on language learning focuses on the impact of external factors on language proficiency. However...Show moreLanguage learning has been a widely researched topic for many years. Most research that has been done on language learning focuses on the impact of external factors on language proficiency. However, no research has been done on the personal experiences of language learners and how these learners perceived these influences during this process. Therefore, this thesis researched the perceived impact of external influences on learners of English in the Netherlands, focusing on the perceived influences of education, engagement with media and participants’ own added perceived influences. This information can be helpful for educators and learners alike. The perceived impact of external influences was investigated with a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews using deductive and inductive coding. This study recruited recently graduated participants (1-4 years post-graduation) with different educational tracks. The interviews showed that Dutch participants with English as their second language (L2) perceived primary education to be of no influence because the participants received so little training during their primary education. Secondary education was perceived as incredibly helpful; additionally, it was perceived as rather boring. The influence of tertiary education depended on the subject of the degree rather than the participants' education level. Media engagement was perceived as a helpful tool that could add extra context and input to the training received during education. Negative influences of engaging with media pertained to content being generally addictive and desensitising to the real world. Media was also perceived as untrustworthy concerning the correctness of the language that is produced online. The oral proficiency of the 3 participants was also investigated by deductive coding of the transcripts using Communication Strategies (CS. These results were compared with the self-reports on their speaking abilities. This revealed that participants had a surprisingly accurate view of their speaking skills.Show less
Donald Trump was a highly controversial figure in the 2016 and 2020 elections. He presented himself as America’s hero (Mercieca, 2020). Trump's 2016 campaign was marked by an unique and...Show moreDonald Trump was a highly controversial figure in the 2016 and 2020 elections. He presented himself as America’s hero (Mercieca, 2020). Trump's 2016 campaign was marked by an unique and idiosyncratic rhetoric and campaigning style in which social media play a large role and especially his use of Twitter was remarkable (Polak, 2018). Trump’s rhetoric was full of pathos-driven techniques like: America first exceptionalism, hyperboles, repetition, fear appeals, ad populum and ad hominem arguments (Mercieca, 2020) while his rhetoric lacked complexity (Skinnel, 2018). Furthermore, Trump was known to distort facts (Skinnel, 2018). Although Trump was suspended from Twitter, begin January 2021, shortly after losing the election and the storming of the capitol took place, he has recently made a re-entrance on Twitter. The author of this paper wishes to contribute to the current research on Trump’s unique rhetorical style which continues to have a strong influence in America and do so by analysing Trump’s Twitter use during the 2020 elections, making use of a corpus based approach supplemented by a qualitative analysis of his rhetoric.Show less
This thesis focuses on the ways in which the linguistic choices of drag queens can play a role in their identity performance. Transcripts from season nine of the television show RuPaul’s Drag Race...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the ways in which the linguistic choices of drag queens can play a role in their identity performance. Transcripts from season nine of the television show RuPaul’s Drag Race were analysed in order to determine what lexical and grammatical features were more common among drag queens on this show than in general English conversation. The pervasive features of their language were then considered in their context to see how these features could possibly relate to the construction and performance of identity. The results show that the language of drag queens can be seen as drawing attention to one’s own personality and identity as a drag performer and as imitating stereotypically female ways of using language. In addition, the language of drag queens contains a strong emphasis on collective identity as a subgroup within the broader LGBTQ+ community.Show less
This research analyzed articles that focus on feedback in higher education, which were three of the main articles from The Cambridge Handbook of Instructional feedback; Peer Assessment Training in...Show moreThis research analyzed articles that focus on feedback in higher education, which were three of the main articles from The Cambridge Handbook of Instructional feedback; Peer Assessment Training in Teacher Education: Effects on performance and perceptions by Sluijsman, Brand-Gruwel and van Merriënboer (2002); and The Impact of Formative Peer Feedback on Higher Education Students’ Academic Writing: a Meta-Analysis by Bart Huisman, Nadira Saab, Paul van den Broek and Jan van Driel (2019). These texts are juxtaposed with the theoretical works on cultural differences by Erin Meyer (2016), and Geert Hofstede (2005), which will lead to the establishing of what cultural tendencies are influencing these approaches. These findings are then discussed to provide possible solutions to negate such differences in order to improve cross-cultural interactions in terms of written feedback in the higher educational setting.Show less
Speciesism is the unjustified bias against someone because of their membership to a certain species. Cats and dogs, for example, are considered loveable, sentient creatures, while pigs and cows are...Show moreSpeciesism is the unjustified bias against someone because of their membership to a certain species. Cats and dogs, for example, are considered loveable, sentient creatures, while pigs and cows are considered commodities and food. Similarly, humans consider themselves above all other species. Research has shown that this unjustified bias comes to the fore in language, also referred to as speciesist language. Research also shows that capitalist industries downplay cruel actions towards animals behind (camouflaging) speciesist language and that mainstream news outlets in the US use language that maintain this status quo. However, not much research has focused on the UK and it remains unclear to what extent animalist media compares to mainstream media in terms of speciesist language. This study aims to compare the extent to which mainstream and animalist media in the UK reflect speciesist representation. To answer this research question, Critical Discourse Analysis was applied to 15 articles from a mainstream news outlet (The Guardian) and 15 articles from an animalist news outlet (Plant Based News). Findings demonstrate that there is evidence of speciesist language in both news outlets. Thus, while animalist media may be combatting speciesism, more speciesist language was found in animalist media than expected. However, Plant Based News uses speciesist language primarily when nonhumans are commodified, while The Guardian discursively portrays entire exploitative industries as humane and justified. Furthermore, results show that Plant Based News is bolder in challenging speciesism than The Guardian. Accordingly, this research indicates that mainstream news outlets such as The Guardian maintain the status quo, while there might be a positive connection between animalist media and a lower frequency of speciesist language and higher frequency of anti-speciesist language. Further research is needed to investigate this possible correlation.Show less
Mother tongue interference is suspected to be the cause of the disappointing results in writing exams of Dutch ESL students in their graduating secondary education year. Research confirms that L1...Show moreMother tongue interference is suspected to be the cause of the disappointing results in writing exams of Dutch ESL students in their graduating secondary education year. Research confirms that L1 interference could be a problem since it mostly ensues in cognate languages, such as Dutch and English. As L2 learners are often unaware of their interference errors the problem can be persistent. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine to what extent and in what ways L1 interference is of influence on the writings of the Dutch ESL students. Therefore, two sub-questions were formulated: “What are the possible mother tongue interference mistakes for Dutch learners of English?” and “What is are the most frequent mistakes made by Dutch ESL students in HAVO 5?” An error analysis of the students’ writings was carried out, using a coding tool developed for this research. The tool, based on relevant literature on L1 interference and error analysis, provides an elaborate overview of possible Dutch interference. The major findings of this analysis are in the first place that the majority of the found errors are interference related revealing wrong word as the most frequently occurring error, however affecting all aspects of language on both a grammatical as well as textual level. In the second place, the data also show a teachers’ preference to focus on a selection of error patterns to mark. Finally, the analysis confirms the correlation between the nature of errors and the nature of assignments. Future research could focus on the most occurring errors. Moreover, the developed analysis tool can be used for future error analysis.Show less
There are a variety of conflicting theories in the field of language and gender. Lakoff’s work can be considered to be the most influential text in the discipline, but also the most criticised. She...Show moreThere are a variety of conflicting theories in the field of language and gender. Lakoff’s work can be considered to be the most influential text in the discipline, but also the most criticised. She perceived language of women to be inferior to men because of women’s inferior social status. Lakoff observed features of language used by women, which she called ‘women’s language. Features of women’s language and language of politicians, whose purpose is to be persuasive, are contradictory. The speech styles of politicians Hillary Clinton and Theresa May are analysed to examine if female politicians adopt more features of women’s language or political language. A stylistic analysis of speeches and interviews of the politicians was performed following the checklist of Leech and Short (2007). The research concluded that few features of women’s language were used by the politicians and nearly all the features of political language were present in their speech styles.Show less
