The 16th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium will be held on March 29th in the Oglesby Union Ballrooms from 10am – 2pm. Below are a list of the undergraduate students who will be presenting research at this event.
Alejandro Estrada and Isabella Ostos
Dr. Summer Harlow
Communication
Central American Media Coverage on Immigration
Immigration from Central America to the United States has been a heated topic that several news media outlets in the recent years have tried to accurately portray. Immigrant’s rights activists blame immigration on corruption and injustices that force migrants to leave their home countries. U.S. politicians, however, have a different view about immigration. They often see migrants as security, economic and cultural threats. Now, more than ever, the issue of immigration has become a polemic topic that has divided the United States. This study takes a contrasting approach to examine how different newspapers from Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador have conveyed different opinions and views on immigration, specifically those cases dealing with immigrants going into Mexico and the United States. The present study relies on a content analysis of two constructed weeks worth of newspaper articles from Mexico and Central America. The content analysis organizes the articles into several categories that will be classified and separated depending on their opinion towards immigration. Most of the articles that are classified revolve around the harsh conditions that immigrants form Central American countries deal with, as they leave their home countries in search for a better life. In conclusion, the study shows the different perspectives that each country has in regards to their citizens immigrating into the United States. Compared to the U.S. standpoint on the immigration debate, Central American countries usually take a more positive and humane stand.
Matthew Hebron
Dr. Stephen McDowell
Communication
Objectivity and Themes in Press Coverage of the Devyani Khobragade Incident
As India is a key strategic partner of the United States, it is important to understand how Indian media covers US-‐India diplomatic incidents. Doing so can best prepare US policymakers to appropriately respond to international incidents and to design foreign policy specific to the Indian context. The December 2013 arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade made international headlines for the nature and manner of the incident. This incident provided an opportunity to investigate the level of subjectivity in the English-‐language Indian press, and lends insight into how the media may have influenced a deterioration in US-‐diplomatic relations.
Keywords about the incident were used in the Academic Universe and Access World News databases to identify all articles from December 13, 2013 to January 17, 2014 published in several Indian and American papers. Condensing Vos’ (2011) defining characteristics of objective journalism, articles were coded on a 1-‐4 rating scale according to by their level of objectivity in terms of: 1) emphasis on verifiable facts; 2) framing; and 3) article or editorial. In addition, meaningful themes from each article were identified and categorized. At time of submission, multiple key themes have emerged. Notable recurring themes include ” Indian Nationalism,” ” Humiliation of Devyani Khobragade” and ” The Status of Diplomatic Relations.” Analyses are ongoing and are expected to be completed by the time of presentation
Carly Gillingham and Ambar Martin
Dr. Summer Harlow
Communication
Closing the School of the Americas through Social Media
Social media has had a profound effect on every aspect of our society. From how we shop to who we elect for office. The realm of political and social activism has been equally affected by the proliferation of social media and while there is research on how social media has been used to facilitate spontaneous action there is not a lot of information on how protesters use social media to coordinate action and which social mediums are prefered. This study seeks to breach that gap. Furthermore, by studying a movement that is older than Zuckerberg himself, this project also seeks to learn how traditional movements have utilized this newfound tool. This study looked at the social media posts made by School of the Americas Watch activists during the November vigil at Fort Benning, Georgia for the years of 2014 and 2015. The research covered all major social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) and coded questions on how and why different individuals and groups were using particular social media platforms. While the study has not reached any definite conclusions, the implications seem to be that this group of protesters have been reasonably successful at including social media into their traditional offline protests. It also appears as if this group of activists select social media platforms depending on which one(s) best fit their needs.
Mae Espinosa and Eric Luberto
Dr. Carla Wood and Ms. Claire Wofford
Communication Science and Disorders
English language-‐learners (ELLs) are a rapidly growing population facing many challenges in education, due to difficulty with comprehension and expression (Kieffer, 2008; Hammer, Hoff, Uchikoshi, Gillanders, Castro, & Sandilos, 2014). Thus, research in how ELLs communicate is imperative in order to aid in their learning. This project seeks to understand how ELLs process information in the language they are learning and how they can share that same information; its purpose is to describe words per minute (WPM) and number of different words (NDW) performance of young Spanish-‐English bilingual ELLs of low socioeconomic background.
Language sample analysis (LSA) provides a less biased assessment than standardized testing for children from linguistically diverse backgrounds (Miller & Iglesias, 2010). Kindergarten and first-‐ grade children performed a narrative retell of a short cartoon with little to no verbal cues from examiners. Audio samples were transcribed and analyzed using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software in order to obtain WPM for each transcript. These data will be used to describe the typical language productivity and lexical diversity used by Spanish-‐English ELLs on a narrative retell task and to observe the relationship between these LSA measures during a narrative retell and children’s performance on standardized language assessments.
Max Smith and Austin Wyant
Dr. Megan MacPherson
Communication Science and Disorders
Speech-‐related autonomic function and cognitive-‐linguistic task demands
Rationale: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning is influenced by the cognitive-‐linguistic load of various speech production tasks, and speech production characteristics are influenced by autonomic arousal. Additionally ANS functioning is affected by healthy aging and disease processes such as Parkinson’s disease. Objectives: This study is being conducted to understand how ANS functioning, particularly when it involves speech production, differs based on 1) speech production task demands and 2) age (young vs. old) and disease (healthy aging adults vs. adults with Parkinson’s disease) Methods: ANS functioning will be quantified and compared between different subject groups by utilizing various speech production tasks. The tasks will measure electrodermal activity, in terms of skin conductance level (SCL) and skin conductance response (SCR), and cardiovascular activity, in terms of pulse period and blood pulse amplitude. Results: Data collection and analysis are ongoing. Results are expected to inform our understanding of how age and disease affect ANS functioning for speech production, relative to the cognitive-‐linguistic demands of the speech task
Hannah Cardoso and Kendra Stebbins
Dr. Megan MacPherson
Communication Science and Disorders
How Age and Cognitive Load Affects Motor Speech Production
Speaking is one of the most complex skills that humans perform. The level of demand placed on the speech motor performance varies by age and functioning. Our study, under the direction of Dr. Megan MacPherson, seeks to determine the effects of increased cognitive demand on the speech motor performance of older adults as compared to younger adults. Subjects are asked to recite sentences of varying cognitive difficulty at FSU’s Speech and Hearing Clinic. A cognitively challenging sentence includes a Stroop effect test in which color names are written in a font color that is not congruent with the written word. This test inhibits the subject’s habitual response to say the color name rather than the font color. Our findings aim to describe the relationship between age and ability as it pertains to the individual’s speech production. It is predicted that by increasing cognitive demand, the healthy older adults will be more susceptible to speech destabilization. This study of healthy speakers provides a foundation for future work in individuals with age-‐related neurological disorders. We intend to expand our research by discovering the extent of which they are affected by the increased cognitive demand. Speech therapists can adapt their practices as a result of these findings.
Alexandra Brockner
Dr. Richard Morris
Communication Science and Disorders
The Relative Effectiveness of a Mixed Method of Instruction for Teaching Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking (CT) is an intentional mindset which requires the awareness of our thinking errors and logical fallacies and the personal initiative to apply our intellect when receiving and sending information, whether in the classroom or the workplace. Typical classrooms operate on a system of rote memorization of fact, and while students may prove successful in this environment, research demonstrates that employers are acutely aware of the lack of CT ability in college graduates (Butler, 2012). The present study aims to replicate previous findings which suggest a mixed-‐method of instruction is most effective for teaching CT skills and to extend these results to future professionals in the Speech and Hearing Sciences (Communication Science and Disorders undergraduates). The study employs a pretest-‐posttest design using the Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT) and a content specific critical thinking assessment, the Critical Thinking in Communication Science and Disorders (CTCSD) test; intermittent with 10 weeks of
~50 minute sessions per week of mixed-‐method CT instruction. Posttests have been administered, but the results are inconclusive at this time as data is currently being collected and evaluated.
Sarah Coleman
Dr. Richard Morris
Communication Science and Disorders
Critical Thinking and Problem Based Learning in the Classroom
There is a general consensus among the literature that critical thinking skills are vital for student success, and that there is a fundamental lack in development of these skills throughout our educational system. While researchers may implement different pedagogical techniques to improve critical thinking, it is agreed that student engagement with the material and learning process is of utmost importance. Critical thinking is a complex skill and concept that is difficult to teach, however the necessity and benefits of this skill within the university and the workplace make it a skill that is worth teaching and learning. The purpose of this project is to measure the effectiveness of a Problem Based Learning (PBL) teaching approach in the development of critical thinking skill. It is hypothesized that the students in a PBL taught course will demonstrate significant improvements in critical thinking skills as demonstrated on a specific content critical thinking assessment, the Critical Thinking in Communication Sciences and Disorders, and a general critical thinking assessment, the Critical Thinking Assessment Test.
Matthew Kenny
Dr. Summer Harlow, Dr. Arthur Raney, and Dr. Lisa Weinberg
Communication
An Exploration of How College Students Use Digital Technology During Social Interactions
The purpose of this honors thesis is to explore how college students use digital technology during social interactions. Much of the research surrounding college students and technology use is primarily quantitative (Jacobson & Forste, 2011; Roberts, Yaya, & Manolis, 2014; Bicen & Arnavut, 2015; Peterson, Aye, & Wheeler, 2014) ““ while some studies use succinct qualitative statements to accompany quantitative survey data (Pettegrew & Day, 2015; Murray & Campbell, 2015). Through the use of focus groups, this thesis provides a holistic, nuanced description of situations when mobile technology is used during the face-‐to-‐face interactions of a college student.
Erika Mercier
Dr. Richard Morris and Dr. Eundeok Kim
Communication Science and Disorders
Production of Low-‐ Front Korean Vowels in Various Contexts
In the Korean language a vowel merger has occurred over time. This reduced e and É› into the single vowel of É› (Brown, Yeon, & Jiyoung, 2015). Lehnert-‐Lehoillier (2007) stated that duration contrasts previously used to distinguish vowels has been diminishing, resulting in the vowels being produced with very similar formant frequencies and durations, merging the production of the vowels. (Lehnert-‐Lehouillier, 2007; Brown et al., 2015). Several studies have been done to determine if a difference occurs between the production of e and É› in Korean speakers. However, these studies have been highly contradictory. Several studies stated that the southern Gyeongsang dialect preserved some of the tonal nature of Korean, while another study found no difference in the contours of the vowel (Kenstowitz, Cho, & Kim, 2008; Choi, 2012; Lee
& Jongman, 2012; Eychenne & Yang, 2015). These results indicate that there is a need for further evaluation of the acoustics aspects of Korean speakers. Our study consists of 21 native speakers of the southern Gyeongsang dialect of Korean who produced e and É› in three contexts.
Acoustic analysis will consist of evaluations of the fundamental frequency of the first, second, and third formants and vowel length. Vowels will be compared across contexts to determine if any observed production differences between the two vowels in each of the contexts might be perceptually realized. The analysis is still being completed and therefore we do not have any data of results, nor do we have any implications of this study.
Shelby Curran, Oliver Glace, and Courtney Simoncelli
Ms. Clairebelle Gabas and Dr. Carla Wood
Communication Science and Disorders
Reading Attitudes in Young Spanish-‐speaking English Learners
Fewer children in this day and age enjoy reading a good book than in previous generations. Failing to find pleasure in reading certainly creates a dilemma for educators attempting to instill a sense of literacy in the classroom. Evidence suggests there is a strong correlation between a child’s early interest in reading and subsequent reading achievement. It is believed the growing lack of interest in reading among youths is especially prevalent for bilingual children raised in contemporary American society. Some obvious reasons cited for this are that many English-‐ language learners tend to be born into households where access to reading materials is limited at best due to certain socioeconomic constraints. The research that I have participated in explores the relationship between reading attitudes and language and reading performance. The surveys distributed to the children featured a range of questions relating to the child’s interest to read in both an academic and recreational capacity. Preliminary analyses revealed that there were no mean differences in reading attitude scores between students in kindergarten and first grade.
There were also no mean differences between reading and academic scores for each grade.
Nicole Palenzuela and Shefali Patel
Dr. Megan MacPherson
Communication Science and Disorders
Orofacial Electromyographic Measures of Stroop Task Performance
The purpose of this experiment was to study age-‐related differences in orofacial electromyographic measures during performance of a standard version of the Stroop Color and Word Test – Adult Version. Stroop task performance can be negatively impacted by various factors, including aging and cognitive load. Participants were healthy individuals in two age groups: younger (22-‐32 years) and older (68-‐78 years) adults. Orofacial surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals were collected while participants performed the color, word, and color-‐word Stroop task conditions, each of which is hypothesized to uniquely tax cognitive-‐ linguistic processes. sEMG data were processed and analyzed, and potential differences in neuromuscular activation during speech were examined between participant groups and across Stroop task conditions. Current findings will be discussed. Additionally, this study will provide the foundation for future work examining the effects of Parkinson’s disease on orofacial neuromuscular activation during speech produced under conditions that vary in cognitive load
Monique Costner
Dr. Stephen McDowell
Communication
Examining the Emergence of Themes in Media Coverage of Modi’s Visit to the U.S. in September 2015
India and the United States have a complex relationship with one another and are connected through multiple facets. The political leaders of these countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, each have a vested interest in presenting their respective countries in a particular light. In September of 2015, Prime Minister Modi made his second visit to the United States. This study aimed to understand the themes which emerged in the media surrounding this visit. In order to examine Prime Minister Modi’s visit the United States, stories from news outlets in India and the United States were collected and analyzed. A system of open-‐ ended coding was used to create and build upon a list of themes which were present in these stories. The stories were then sorted chronologically and labeled by the themes which were identified for the study. After conducting the analysis, it was found that various themes emerged which were heavily related to current events and discussions among the public with regards to India. The primary themes which were present in the coverage of Modi’s visit were business, technology, and politics. The findings of the study suggest that the news outlets followed a narrative Modi wished to convey to the public with an emphasis on a growing business and technology sector in India. This demonstrates how the media can support or undermine a particular agenda. Further research would investigate coverage of Modi’s visits to other countries or the visits of other world leaders to the United States.
Paulina Ceballos
Dr. Estrella Rodriguez and Dr. Carla wood
Communication Science and Disorders
Literacy levels in low SES families
As a participant in assistantship to Florida State University’s BLOOM project, the tasks have been versatile, but all revolving the idea of second language exposure on bilinguals, and how that, in essence, alters their literacy levels. Essentially, children who come from a hispanic background will be evaluated through e-‐books using vocabulary words that will allow their
growth in the English language to be catalyzed. The children evaluated will be in either grades K-‐ 1, and all essentially derive from low socio-‐economic neighborhoods in either Florida or Kansas, which in turn have proven to use Spanish as their first language in their home. In order to determine if whether a child’s scoring on the e-‐book vocabulary interactions, along with other assessments done to measure what literacy level they obtain, demographic information is essential to the BLOOM project. As an assistant, I assessed the children on things like sentence-‐ repetition examinations, and completed phone interviews with the parent guardian of the child.
These interviews allowed for factors such as parental education levels, origin and other significant factors in the BLOOM project to be evaluated.
Brooke Hagerott and Dominique Larrea
Dr. Megan MacPherson
Communication Science and Disorders
Investigation of Antidepressant Maintenance Medication on Speech Related Autonomic Function
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that can affect speech, motor cognition and autonomic functions. Research is being conducted to establish how PD affects autonomic nervous system function related to speech production and how systems differ from healthy individuals, a comparison group of healthy adults is needed. A current challenge being faced is that approximately one in 10 Americans would traditionally be excluded from these studies due to antidepressant use. The question being posed in this study is whether speech related autonomic function variables of interest in our research would be affected and if there is a difference between asymptomatic antidepressant maintenance medication group and those without antidepressant medication within six months. If there is a significant difference then those individuals will possibly be excluded, however; if there is not a significant difference those individuals on maintenance medication can be included. To determine this, a literature search was conducted for relevant background research. The current study will also include the collection and comparison of speech related autonomic nervous system function in the antidepressant maintenance medication group and those not on antidepressants within six months.
David DeStephano
Ms. Mariam Shaikh
Communication
Blogged Narratives of Disasters for Peace
Blogs are seen as a conversation (Dedaić, 2013) more than an essay, thus demanding a format that allows two-‐way communication. Several blogs in the digital world are taken as form of storytelling (Alexander, 2011). Previous research has focused on blog writers communicative ability to achieve a freedom of thought in writing blogged discourses (Dedaić, 2013). Within the storylines of online published narratives by news media, blogs open a new space as a form of online journalism (Wall, 2005). News-‐oriented blogs have been analyzed by communication researchers in several aspects of contributions in understanding the new genres of news. What is different about blog writers in the online journalism strata is that blogs allow ordinary people to become content creators, able to publish and potentially globally distribute their writing (Blood, 2002b). The blogs of interest here are news blogs, especially blogs written on issues of War, Conflicts and Disasters. Various attempts have been made to identify the type of journalism news blogs related to war produce through various methods such as genre analysis, a form of rhetorical analysis (Wall, 2005), through frame analysis (Wall, 2006). These researchers identified contributions of blogged narratives as promoting peace reporting. Previous researchers focused on cases or particular events and have not yet analyzed the blogged discourses as form of online conversations involving interactive discourses and discussions among news media and its subsequent audience. We used the method of discourse analysis, to assess several possible aspects of blogged narratives that can be analyzed to view a blogged discourse on Wars, conflicts and disasters as a conversational opportunity for readers that may promote peace. The purpose is to establish that blogged narratives can raise issues that generate a need for extended discussion and interactive discourse for readers, providing opportunities to find solutions
Kacey Johnson
Dr. Summer Harlow
Communication
In late 2013, Zoe Quinn, creator of Depression Quest, started receiving backlash from her game and Eron Gjoni, her boyfriend at the time, posted revealing messages about their relationship. This started the GamerGate controversy which grew in popularity on twitter.
People that are for GamerGate claim it is intended to criticize gaming journalism whereas those against it claim it is merely attacking minorities in the gaming industry predominantly women and children. I, along with everyone else on the team sought out to determine the civility of those tweets and if they carried sexist or supportive feminism. I also worked on analyzing the Kim Davis controversy through memes. In Spring 2016, I will be coding memes with various ideologies such as religion and feminism.
Gerthie Jean Claude
Dr. Steven McDowell
Communication
Representation of African Americans on Social Media
Amandla Stenberg herself led the conversion of cultural appropriation, in the case of many popular figures in media adopting African American culture as their own, deeming it in a higher standing on white people but insulting African Americans. She released a video, which was a school project with a classmate titles ” Don’t cash crop my corn rows”. She then called out socialite Kylie Jenner on Instagram for posting a picture of herself with cornrows. In the comment she stating how Kylie adopted black culture but did nothing to help raise awareness to black issues. She later posted an essay on her Tumblr page furthering explaining her comment. She explained that it is common for features on African American women to be deemed inappropriate, and ugly but trendy, urban or high fashion on white women. The research is to see if the racial issues brought up by Amandla Stenberg were received in a positive or negative response on social media.
Christopher Logan
Dr. Stephen McDowell, Dr. Summer Harlow, and Professor Shonda Stevens
Communication
Audience Response to Specific Narrative Elements in Television Shows
My Honors in the Major thesis aims to uncover and examine relationships between the narrative makeup of contemporary television shows and audience response to them. My research employs a framework, developed as an extension of the work of narrative literary
theorists like Roland Barthes and Vladimir Propp, to code individual episodes of shows by their narrative elements in terms of both their structure and content. Then, these results are compared against audience responses from the online fan board website Reddit, which are also coded using a similar method. My research offers insight as to what narrative elements audiences seem to most enjoy, what they most often respond to, and how they respond.
Eliezer Penias
Ms. Jisue Lee
Information
Technology: Assisting or Distracting
The purpose of this research project was to determine how students felt about technology use in the classroom. Conducted at Florida State University, our main objective was to make a summarizing statement following the majority opinion at the university, in regards to computer, tablet, and cellphone use in a classroom setting. After researching articles on the subject, we found that certain applications, such as Facebook, did in fact prove to be a major distraction to students. In addition, research found that students constantly checked these applications throughout class out of sheer habit. After gaining more knowledge on the subject, it was time to conduct our own research. With the aid of Facebook and FSU Qualtrics, we were successfully able to send off virtual surveys to peers throughout the university. With 116 responses to our survey, we found that although the majority of students did use their technological devices to check social media during class, an equally large percent of students used those devices to take notes during class. We originally did not intend to get such a high number of responses to our survey, nor did we expect that many students to take notes on their computer in class. However, based on our research we found that although a large amount of students do find technology to be a distraction in the classroom, a majority of students would prefer that we keep technology in the classroom due to the benefits that it provides to the student.
Tatiana Gonzalez
Dr. Megan MacPherson
Communication Science and Disorders
Role of the Autonomic Nervous System in the Speech Production of Individuals with Parkinson disease
In acknowledging and testing the relationship between the speech-‐related autonomic arousal and the mechanisms of speech, varying from congruent to incongruent sentences, this research will attempt to describe how speech production of an individual is affected by Parkinson’s Disease. The autonomic response is compared between young adult individuals, old adult individuals and old adult individuals who have PD. The participants are asked to place electrodes around various facial features, including the facial bone, zygomatic bone, and others, in order to produce a wave function displaying their autonomic reaction. They are also requested to read congruent and incongruent sentences, while their bpv, eda, and other autonomic measured were obtained. The results so far are inconclusive, for the reason that the research data is still being collected
Brystin Ivey and Gemma Sunnergren
Dr. Defne Bilir
Communication
Through the Lens of David Douglas Duncan: Picturing Iran and South Asia in 1951
As UROP assistants, we are working on part of a larger collaborative project (with Dr. Defne Bilir), to compare the photojournalistic discourses in David Douglas Duncan’s images and Life magazine’s coverage of Asia (particularly South and Southeast Asia) and Iran, in 1951.
Methodology used in this study is Critical Discourse Analysis. Within our methodology, we use van Leeuwen’s socio-‐semantic network on the Social Actors and Visual Representation of Social Actors. By employing Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper looks at the text and visual modes to explain whether ideological position of Duncan and Life is separate and distinct in their representations, and if so, to what extent. The primary interest in this study is to reveal whether their representations perpetuate the Cold War narratives and images of otherness based on the anti-‐communist ideology that became an integral part of the post-‐war American foreign policy.
This paper is currently in progress.
Matthew Hendrick
Dr. Carla Wood and Ms. Rachael Hoge
Communication Science & Disorders
The Relationship between Context, Cognates, and Percentage of Errors on Vocabulary Performance of Spanish English speaking Kindergarteners
Many students in the United States are dual language learners (DLLs), with the large majority being from Spanish-‐English speaking backgrounds. However, there are many factors that contribute to high variability in language development of Spanish-‐English DLLs, such as varied amounts and lengths of exposure to each language. Although research has shown that vocabulary is an important component of language development and early measures often predict later academic performance, there is currently no gold standard for measuring vocabulary knowledge of DLLs. Most standardized vocabulary tests were normed with monolinguals and do not account for the variability or the interplay between languages that DLLs experience. Additional research analyzing measures of vocabulary for Spanish-‐English DLLs is necessary in order to help educators distinguish language learning differences from underlying learning disabilities. This project analyzes items on a standardized receptive Spanish vocabulary measure in an attempt to identify features that may influence performance on particular items.
Twenty-‐six kindergarten Spanish-‐English DLLs from the Midwestern United States were administered the first half of items from the Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody (TVIP) via computer. The percentage of error for each item was calculated, and each item was scored for features such as context (i.e. home or school) and degree of phonological similarity to its English equivalent (i.e. cognate status). Preliminary results showed no significant relationship between context or cognate status and percentage of error. Further exploration should analyze additional word features such as frequency in both languages
Catherine Cuva
Ms. Kristina Bustamante
Communication Science and Disorders
Lexical Diversity in Written Language: Does Number of Different Words Grow?
Language sample analysis helps speech-‐language pathologists monitor and identify trends in children’s language development. Number of different words (NDW) is one measure commonly used in language sample analysis. NDW can be a measure of lexical diversity, or the variety of vocabulary a child produces. There is conflicting evidence surrounding the growth trend of number of different words in elementary aged students (Mills, Watkins, &Washington, 2013; Nelson & Van Meter, 2007). The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between grade level and average number of different words produced in written language samples constrained to 50 words . Written language samples from randomly selected, independent 1st-‐5th grade students were obtained from a larger study (Taylor, Hart, Mikolajewski, & Schatschneider, 2013). Language samples were constrained to 50 words to prevent the relationship between NDW and transcript length from confounding results. I compared means and standard deviations of NDW across children by grade for grades 1-‐5. I found the mean number of different words doesn’t consistently increase with grade level.
Number of different words was the least stable at grade three and the most stable at grades 1 and 5. Findings indicate the progression of number of different words from 1st-‐5th grade in written language samples constrained to 50 words may be impacted by other factors.
Elizabeth Farr
Dr. Richard Morris
Communication Science and Disorders
Acoustic and Physiologic Correlates of Singing Register Transition Among Classically Trained Female Singers: Single Note Data
Maintaining vocal stability while shifting between the vocal registers of chest and mixed voice is a challenging task for classically trained singers. Several researchers have completed studies of the register transitions by classically trained singers. The purpose of this study is to better understand the acoustic and physiologic correlates of the vocal tract and larynx activities during a register transition on a single note sung by classically trained female singers. In particular, this study will include evaluation of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) from the audio signal data and the EGG cycles around a register transition during singing in the chest and mixed registers.
Sixteen classically trained female singers were recorded singing a single note within their register transition as determined from a previous recording of an octave scale that included the primo passaggio. The microphone signal from the singing sample was used to find measurements of frequency and amplitude, and electroglottograph (EGG) electrodes were placed on the thyroid to measure closing quotient (CQEGG) data. The independent variables include the singing training level of each participant. The dependent variables will be the CQEGG and the FFT measurements