Thesiss

This study examined the beliefs and opinions of U.S university students towards learning foreign languages. Four major areas were explored, including attitudes and motivations towards learning foreign languages, perceptions of foreign languages in the U.S., and favorability of A…

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a description of some aspects of the syntax of Indonesian Teochew, a Southern Min Chinese language spoken in Indonesian. This dissertation examines two dialects of Indonesian Teochew: Jambi Teochew, which is spoken in Jambi City, Su…

This dissertation concentrates on two related questions: first, what accounts for politicization in Chinese communities overseas? Second, does political influence stem from group mobilization? Three broad schools of thought are widely cited to explain immigrant political incorpo…

Many researchers have been interested in the investigation of the relationships between abstract constructs believed to affect human thought, emotion, and behavior. Studies of constructs such as values and attitude or values and behavior have provided insight into how humans per…

In this dissertation, I examine how different visions of ethnic community and nation have developed and been manipulated politically in one particular Malaysian city, Georgetown, Penang. My main argument, developed in chapter one, is that it is useful to think of ethnicity, like…

This research examines the impact of policy guided state intervention on the distribution of employment in Malaysia. In this research I show the need to analytically separate the political and the economic sphere in analyzing the intervention of the government to induce changes …

This dissertation explores the negotiation of intellectual and social authority among the literati elite of imperial China from the twelfth to the early fifteenth century. Specifically, I examine the rise of intellectual lineages of affiliation, especially those of daoxue Neo-Co…

Among women in Hong Kong, breast cancer is the second most commonly occurring cancer and the second leading cause of cancer mortality. Breast cancer is associated with two breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. Mutations in the tumor suppressor gene, BRCA1, have be…

This dissertation traces the history of the American efforts to influence the process and direction of China's currency reform from January 1903, when the Qing government requested American assistance in devising a feasible plan to bring about a stable exchange between the Chine…

The theoretical framework for the study was based on social cognitive theories of motivation (Bandura, 1986, 1995, 1997, 1998; Zimmerman, 1989, 1995, 1996, 1998) and state and trait anxiety theory (Spielberger, 1975, 1980; Spielberger & Vagg, 1995). Using two separate questionna…

Researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in the field of foreign language study in higher education in the United States are familiar with the phenomenon of declining numbers among learners in advanced foreign language courses. The studies that have examined this phenomenon…

In this dissertation, adult learners' accessibility to Universal Grammar is tested by verifying knowledge of movement constraints in L2 English. We investigate the treatment of wh-questions in English by three groups of adult learners whose native languages vary in whether or no…

In the turn of the twenty-first century, some western scholars still hold that no classical rhetoric exists except classical Greek rhetoric. This paper presents the evidence to show that classical Chinese rhetoric is not only a natural practice but also a study of effective disc…

This dissertation explores the dynamics of class, gender and ethnicity in the transnational marriages between Taiwanese men and Indonesian women. This "foreign bride" phenomenon is understood as part of the globalization of the trade in women. It is paralleled by the Asian and f…

Chinese newly rich consumers have gained substantial power in the luxury sector through their conspicuous consumption. Chinese consumers’ lack of cultural capital and inexperience in the purchase and use of material commodities in the luxury consumption field has led many to ass…

As a multiracial country, one of the main concerns of Malaysia is maintaining political and economic stability in the process of achieving national integration. The plurality of society is a legacy of British colonialism and has contributed to occupational and geographical segre…

Chinese diaspora in the past seemed to have demonstrated a homeland orientation which made them more likely to cling onto the originating culture and society. This research aims at studying whether and to what extent the homeland orientation of the Chinese people has shifted ove…

It is the prevailing critical assessment of Mao Dun's early creative writing that he displays a singular insight in his portrayal of women. This thesis seeks not only to challenge this assessment by a predominantly male body of criticism but also the assumptions on which it is b…

Work was the dominant activity of prisoners in Russia for most of the twentieth century and was justified according to the philosophies prevalent in Tsarist and Soviet society. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, no specific ideology has emerged. Consequently, there …