Tag: Poster 146

Passing Through Barriers Progressively

Presenter(s): John Creel − Environmental Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Sarah Wald

Poster 146

Research Area: Environmental Policy

This project will examine how various barriers can deflect social movements away from useful information, specifically Bark and it’s advocates for the protection of Mt. Hood National Forest. I will be showing that race, discrimination, language, settler colonialism, and religion can create various types of barriers. My questions are, what factors lead to these groups being put behind these barriers? Also, are there correlations that can be drawn to help mitigate these barriers from arising? As well as how is it beneficial for these groups to gain access to information and be able to participate? The major research strategies I will be using: the gathering of qualitative/quantitative research as well as any case studies that can be found, and an interview would be beneficial as well. The goal is to let anyone’s voice be heard and show that it is beneficial to Barks collective. Can this then be used as an outline for other organizations to help them facilitate information in a more productive manner to society. Thus, forming policies and coalitions that are devoid of barriers that all promote the same goal, which is environmental sustainability and protection.

Effects of Gender Transition on Language Use in Second Language Acquisition of Japanese

Presenter(s): Dylan Williams

Faculty Mentor(s): Kaori Idemaru

Poster 146

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Issues related to identity play an important role in guiding learners as they acquire a new language. The purpose of this study was to examine how gender transition may affect the use of linguistic gender-forms during language acquisition. Japanese is a highly gendered language, with varying degree of feminine and masculine forms in pronouns and sentence ending particles. My learning of Japanese and experience with transition provided an opportunity to analyze the interaction between the two. In order to conduct this study, I completed an autoethnography of my own past journal writings from the Japanese 301 and 302 courses here at the UO. The analysis revealed heavy avoidance of explicitly gendered forms and a strategy of solely using neutral pronouns and sentence ending particles, reflecting a low comfort level between using gender-matched features and the struggle with gender identity. The anxiety associated with transition appeared to have influenced language performance, also leading to less classroom interaction and involvement. The implication of this study is that students in this situation are not fully able to center themselves as users of that language, and so are less likely to center themselves in classwork. More support from instructors and researchers is needed in order to properly address the obstacles that trans students face, such as alleviating anxiety due to gender transition and understanding how it influences language use. Such efforts could address gender in broader ways, leading to overall more inclusive, comfortable, and inviting classroom environment that encourages language use and learning.