Defined as a way of pronunciation that is distinctive to a region, social class, or individual, accent is commonly perceived as a linguistic subject par excellence. This dissertation, however,... Show moreDefined as a way of pronunciation that is distinctive to a region, social class, or individual, accent is commonly perceived as a linguistic subject par excellence. This dissertation, however, approaches accent as a critical concept for analyzing and criticizing cultural phenomena where speech interacts with discourses of race, ethnicity, and literary creativity. It aims to 1) investigate the socio-political and cultural dynamics that take place when accented speech resounds publicly; 2) introduce the figure of the accent into literary studies to rethink the relation among language, body, and literature; and 3) compare the distinct ways in which linguistics and literature approach language and the speaking body.In her dissertation, Hui close-reads a series of literary texts (such as Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Pnin, Eva Hoffman’s memoir Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language, Alice Kaplan’s language memoir French Lessons), performances and installations (for example, Hetain Patel and Yuyu Rau’s stage performance Who am I? Think Again, Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s installation The Freedom of Speech Itself), which dramatize or reflect on the implications of speaking with an accent. Hui proposes that accent can be understood as a melodrama of the tongue which stages how a speaking body inhabits a language. While accent, with its distinctive melody and intonation, persistently draws one’s attention to a vocalizing mouth that swallows and drops, such an image gives rise to a melodramatic scene of speaking, which puts literature face to face with a primitive and regressive force of consumption and absorption. Show less
This dissertation describes several studies concerning the research-teaching nexus in the sciences. General, it is recognized that a strong nexus exist between research and teaching at university... Show moreThis dissertation describes several studies concerning the research-teaching nexus in the sciences. General, it is recognized that a strong nexus exist between research and teaching at university education, but it was not always clear in which ways this relation could be implemented to positively influence student learning. Connections between teachers__ intentions, teaching practice, and scientific research dispositions were studied in this dissertation. Associations between these factors and suggestions for teaching practice in higher education were described in the context of the nexus of research and teaching in bachelor science courses. The findings show that scientific research dispositions of academics can be characterized by six qualitatively different aspects, namely the inclination to understand, to achieve, to share, to be critical, to be innovative, and to know. Furthermore, it became clear that teachers__ intentions not always correspond to students__ perceptions of research activities during the courses. Teachers__ intentions on tangible elements of the nexus were relatively more congruent with the students__ perceptions, than teachers__ intentions about intangible elements. The results suggest at that intangible elements of the research-teaching nexus, such as the stimulation of a critical disposition or the creation of an innovative atmosphere, need to be emphasized, if we want that students develop realistic conceptions about the nature of scientific research. Show less
