French - Doctoral Theses

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https://hdl.handle.net/10468/886

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Linguistic and sociolinguistic development in L2 speaking: a comparison between Chinese ESL learners in different learning contexts
(University College Cork, 2023) Mu, Di; Howard, Martin
The aim of this longitudinal comparative study is to examine the impact of learning contexts on second language learners' linguistic and sociolinguistic development in speaking. To achieve this purpose, comparisons were made between the learning outcomes of two groups of Chinese ESL (English as a Second Language) learners studying in a SA (study abroad) or an AH (at home) learning environment over a three-month period. Specifically, the learning outcomes were assessed through linguistic development measured by grammatical accuracy and syntactic complexity in spoken English as well as sociolinguistic development measured by three indicators, namely -ing/in alternation, -t/d deletion, and use of contractions in spoken English. In addition, the quantitative correlations between the learners' linguistic and sociolinguistic development as well as between their linguistic/sociolinguistic development and different types of influencing factors (individual, contextual, stylistic, and linguistic) were explored in order to further analyze and compare the similarities and differences between the learners in the two learning contexts. A total of 16 SA learners and 10 AH learners participated in the research and completed pre-interview questionnaires, sociolinguistic interviews and reading aloud tasks at the beginning and end of the three-month study. By analyzing the data collected from the three instruments, this study provided answers to the four research questions. For the first question regarding linguistic development, it was found that neither group of learners made statistically significant progress over three months, but the comparison between the two groups at different time points showed that the AH context was overall more favorable to the acquisition of grammatical accuracy, and the SA context was generally more beneficial to the acquisition syntactic complexity. Similar results were obtained for the second question concerning sociolinguistic development—no statistically significant progress was observed in both groups over the three-month period, but the comparison between the two groups at the two time points indicated that the SA context in general provided greater benefits to the acquisition of -ing/in alternation in conversation and -t/d deletion in reading, as compared to the AH context. The third question explored the quantitative correlation between linguistic and sociolinguistic development. The findings revealed that the correlation between linguistic and sociolinguistic development was relatively low for learners in the SA group, while relatively high for learners in the AH group, suggesting that the SA learners’ sociolinguistic development was more independent than the AH learners. The last question examined the quantitative correlations between linguistic/sociolinguistic development and four types of influencing factors. The results suggested that all four types of factors, i.e. gender, contextual factors, speech style, and linguistic factors, exerted some extent of influence on L2 learners’ linguistic or sociolinguistic development, although the degree of influence varied between the two groups and/or between the different indicators. Despite some limitations, this study provided some pedagogical implications and suggestions for L2 acquisition researchers, university language learners and university language teachers.
Processes and collaboration in French subtitling: a translator-centred analysis of two production contexts
(University College Cork, 2024) Caseres, Sevita; Silvester, Hannah; Noonan, Mary; Irish Research Council; University College Cork
This thesis investigates the roles, tasks, and interactions of subtitlers in two distinct French subtitling contexts: fansubbing and industry subtitling. Audiovisual translation (AVT) has traditionally been analysed from a product-oriented perspective (Beuchert, 2017), while this thesis takes a sociological approach. Adopting a Translator Studies paradigm (Chesterman, 2009), this research project explores processes and collaboration in English-French subtitling production, placing emphasis on the concepts of community and production networks. The primary research question explores how the translators’ processes, practices, and collaboration patterns compare between fansubbing and industry subtitling. This research is based on two different datasets from two case studies. The first provides a comprehensive examination of fansubbing, non-professional collaborative translation performed by fans in online communities, utilising covert netnography – a form of online ethnography – in a French fansubbing community. The second case study focuses on industry subtitling, involving seven subtitlers in the French AVT industry working for cinema and Video on Demand (VOD) platforms. Employing a human-centred approach, this study includes introductory and retrospective semi-structured interviews as well as non-participant observations of each subtitler’s workday. The investigation uncovers the translators’ workflows and interactions within their production networks by examining collaboration with fellow translators and other agents – an aspect rarely explored in AVT research. This approach enables a comparative examination of subtitling processes. It identifies three primary workflows within the fansubbing community, and outlines the individual subtitling habits and processes of industry subtitlers, differentiating between two distinct production and distribution workflows in the French industry. The study also delves into the intricacies of collaboration in subtitling practices, shedding light on cooperation, communication methods, challenges, and the evolution of both environments over time. The findings of the first case study allow for the categorisation of four collaboration areas within the fansubbing community. In the second case study, three collaboration areas emerge within industry subtitling processes. The analysis extends to the translators’ community collaboration in each distinct context, both within the fansubbing community and within ATAA (Association des Traducteurs/Adaptateurs de l’Audiovisuel), the French association for audiovisual translators. While the benefits of community collaboration are evident in the case of fansubbing, in the industry, the increased vulnerability of subtitlers’ working conditions coupled with the lack of recognition for their pivotal role in the cultural industry, emphasises the essential need for a deeper understanding of the current social dynamics governing the subtitling profession. This understanding is crucial to address challenges to effective collaboration, which in turn can impact working conditions and, ultimately, subtitle quality (Abdallah, 2011). This leads to an innovative comparative thematic analysis of these aspects between both environments, providing a contemporary perspective on subtitling practices in two different production contexts. The study contributes to awareness of an overlooked profession and encourages learning from different types of translators, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of subtitling in varied settings.
The effects of age and intensive exposure on second language learning in an international school context: a study of adolescent learners of English
(University College Cork, 2022) Jouinot, Isabelle; Howard, Martin; University College Cork
The aim of this PhD thesis was to investigate the effects of age and intensive exposure on the learning of a second language in an international school context. This PhD sought to confirm the positive impact of intensive exposure on L2 development in adolescent learners and evidence possible differences in learning rate and proficiency between learners at the beginning versus in the middle of adolescence. The relative impact of internal and external factors on linguistic development during adolescence was assessed, and the contribution of a range of quantity- and quality-oriented input variables was estimated. Learners’ experiences were analysed to provide more insights into teenagers’ L2 learning in an international school and determine which characteristics of its education model might be extended to further contexts for quality, equitable bilingual education in the 21st century. A sequential mixed-method, longitudinal design with semi-guided learner interviews was used for this investigation, starting with the quantitative analyses of the interviews, followed by their qualitative examination. The mixed-method design was created with the aim of integrating findings from the two methods of investigation and discussing their convergences and divergences. The data was collected at three time points over ten months, from 28 French L1 learners of English, of which 14 were aged 11 and the other 14 were 15 years old. The learners were attending a one-year semi-intensive L2 learning programme designed for rapid English learning in an at-home context. A large range of objective and holistic proficiency measures were employed to scrutinise learners’ L2 development, including complexity, accuracy and fluency indices of oral proficiency. Cumulative and current L2 exposures were evaluated with the help of a questionnaire on language learning background and extracurricular exposure, and a second questionnaire on motivation was also administered. The qualitative analyses were conducted based on the vision of bilingual education in the 21st century created by García and colleagues (2011). The benefit of intensive exposure for proficiency development was confirmed for the period of adolescence, with the caveat that semi-intensive exposure in an instructed context led to mixed results in terms of oral proficiency growth. The intensive input supported rapid oral accuracy and holistic proficiency development, but complexity and fluency gains emerged later, and only for certain subcomponents. Age-related differences in learning rate and proficiency were also evidenced. The 15-year-olds showed an advantage in lexical and grammatical complexity and written production. However, the 11-year-olds had a faster learning rate than their older peers in lexical accuracy and breakdown fluency. Unexpectedly, initial L2 proficiency levels had a more important impact than age on linguistic development during the intensive experience. For grammatical complexity, combined effects of age, initial proficiency and intensive exposure on the type of syntactic structure developed were evidenced. During adolescence, exposure-related external factors were shown to contribute more to L2 development than age-related internal factors. For lexical and grammatical complexity, internal factors associated played a greater role than in other proficiency dimensions. While global proficiency, lexical complexity and fluency developed over the learners’ entire learning history, grammatical complexity, and lexical and grammatical accuracy were boosted by the intensive experience. Cumulative curricular exposure had a greater influence on proficiency development than the one-year intensive programme, which was related to a prior intensification of L2 instruction. Some effects were found for extracurricular exposure on lexical development and holistic proficiency before, but not during the intensive experience. During the intensive programme, the older learners shifted from extensive extramural to intensive intramural exposure in the international school. Learners’ global motivation remained unchanged during the intensive year, although patterns of long-, medium- and short-term dynamics emerged for different motivational components. The ideal L2 self, instrumental motivation and integrativeness did not show an increase during the intensive experience, as the adolescents were still in the process of creating a vision of their future selves. However, medium-term changes in integrativeness, and attitudes towards the L2 speakers and related cultures were linked to the students’ experience in the international school. The bilingual and bicultural education provided in the international school was found to correspond to the prestigious bilingual education model based on additive bilingualism and monoglossic beliefs, as defined by García (2011). Although this model ensures the maintenance of high standards of bilingual proficiency and bicultural knowledge, more integration and cooperation could be created between the taught languages and cultures, the two curricula, their teachers and teaching pedagogies. Selective international sections could become more equitable and inclusive and cater for speakers of minoritised languages and students with learning difficulties and special needs.
The construction of group identities and the positioning of ‘Irishness’ in computer-mediated siscourse surrounding the repeal of the Eighth Amendment
(University College Cork, 2021) Grant, Ciara; Howard, Martin; Devlin, Anne Marie
In 2018 Ireland held a referendum proposing a repeal of an historic amendment to the Constitution which guaranteed the unborn child a right to life equal to that of the mother, effectively rendering abortion illegal in all but exceptional circumstances. The referendum on this divisive issue generated enormous public interest, resulting in highly publicised debates in both online and offline spheres. This study uses the online context of the referendum to examine identity construction and navigation by groups and individuals participating in computer-mediated discourse. Four major identity themes are identified in this study: national, gender, political, and religious. Data are collected from comments made by users on the public Facebook pages of major Irish news outlets. There are two major groups identified in this study: the Yes group which self-identifies as pro-choice and supports a Yes vote in the referendum, and the No group which self-identifies as pro- life and advocates a No vote which would retain the status quo. There is also a third group of Undecided voters, although there were few examples of these comments in the data corpus. Using a combined positioning theory and corpus-based approach to discourse analysis, the data corpus is analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods, including the analytical software tool AntConc. The study finds that there are two divergent Irish identities in this debate. The Yes group positions Ireland and its people as a modern nation, evidenced by their support of increased access to abortion. This stance carries a wider symbolism including a greater emphasis on gender equality and women’s rights, as well as a separation of Church and State. By comparison, it was found that the No group’s version of Irish identity is focused on retention of the traditional family unit at the centre of society, emphasised by a difference from Britain and informed by Catholic values and morals. The study also identified a high prevalence of trolling by both Yes and No users. This is a discursive feature that is unique to computer-mediated environments and is influenced by the nature of online communication itself.
Voices from the outside: Homeric exiles in twentieth-century French writing
(University College Cork, 2020) Burke, Catherine; Noonan, Mary P.; Irish Research Council; Fulbright Association
This thesis explores the twentieth-century trope of the outsider but from a modern and Homeric perspective. The corpus of artists under review each develop a symbiotic relationship with Homer and his epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is an encounter that repositions the outsider, shifting our gaze from the pitiable, shunned ‘étranger’ to the creative, empowered, and vocal other. The position of the exile is recast as a Homeric exile of possibility. I begin the discussion with Marcel Proust, one of the cornerstones of French literary and cultural history. Through his masterful work A la recherche du temps perdu, Proust fashions a French epic deeply indebted to Homer, exploiting the figure of the Homeric bard to craft his modern response to the contemporary notion of the twentieth-century French outsider. The second chapter follows on from this, with Jean Giono and Naissance de l’Odyssée building on this idea of the storyteller and in particular the self-referential and metanarrative nature of the role, and how this impacts upon and advances the French Homeric exile. The result is an intricate exploration of the relationship with literary predecessors, one that oscillates from parasitism to symbiosis, with the identity of the artist moulded by the encounter. The third chapter moves to a comparative study of two French women, Simone Weil and Rachel Bespaloff and their respective engagement with Homer’s Iliad. This chapter explores a notable development in the Homeric reconfiguration of the twentieth-century modern French exile. The chapter provides evidence of female artists engaging with Homer, where the female response is not determined by gender and where the playfulness discernible in the previous artists is in stark contrast to the grim and gritty Homeric rewritings of these women. Both Weil and Bespaloff are at pains to reveal that the creative and powerful position of the reconfigured outsider is one hard fought. Chapter Four deals with the inimitable Claude Cahun, an artist who embodies the twentieth-century French Homeric outsider. In both her visual artwork and her literary work Héroïnes, Cahun represents a significant iteration of the French Homeric outsider. Throughout her work, she explores many of the themes of the thesis, interrogating the nature of art and the artist, the fluidity of the self, the metamorphosis of the artist, the performative aspect of identity and the role of the other. Chapter Five brings us to Monique Wittig, one of the most influential voices in the feminist movement in France. Her Homeric reworking of the Iliad, Les Guérillères, is in marked contrast to that of Weil and Bespaloff. Wittig wears her gender very much on her sleeve: this is a feminist revision of the Homeric Iliad and stamps a female voice on the figure of the Homeric exile in twentieth-century France. The thesis ends with a conclusion that ties the disparate strands together in a coherent illustration of the twentieth-century French encounter with Homer. The encounter is an intertextual exchange that saw the emergence of a distinct Homeric voice of exile, one that articulated a unique moment in France’s cultural history. From this fertile engagement avenues of possibility spring forth for the future Homer, the quintessential voice of exile.

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