View Item 
        •   Utrecht University Student Theses Repository Home
        • UU Theses Repository
        • Theses
        • View Item
        •   Utrecht University Student Theses Repository Home
        • UU Theses Repository
        • Theses
        • View Item
        JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

        Browse

        All of UU Student Theses RepositoryBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

        "I Want to Be a Part of the Conversation": A Qualitative Study on Americans' Use of English and Dutch in the Netherlands

        Thumbnail
        View/Open
        Steele_Thesis_Upload_Graduation.pdf (2.659Mb)
        Publication date
        2021
        Author
        Steele, Madison
        Metadata
        Show full item record
        Summary
        This thesis explores how English-speaking Americans who grew up monolingual experience language when living in the Netherlands. Addressing a gap in research on Americans’ linguistic experiences abroad, this study investigates how Americans interact with a host population that is known for being bilingual with high English proficiency. Using qualitative data collected from 10 semi-structured interviews, this study investigates two particular language phenomena. The first is Americans’ motivation to learn Dutch, and the second is their evaluations of interactions with Dutch interlocutors. Participants’ stories are discussed through the framework of complexity in intercultural communication, supported by ideas concerning language learning motivation and accommodation strategies, as well as Schumann’s (1986) Acculturation Model of second language acquisition. The results indicate that participants are highly motivated to learn Dutch through a variety of internal and external factors, and they have varying opinions on what constitutes over- and under-accommodation. Americans’ intentions to use either English or Dutch depend on their communicative goals, which may change from one interaction to another. Communication between Americans and Dutch people is complex, because the meanings that Americans interpret from their interactions depend on their perceptions of themselves and their interlocutors, as well as their interlocutors’ perceptions of them.
        URI
        https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/16
        Collections
        • Theses

        Related items

        Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

        • Disney and the American Princess: the Americanization of European Fairy Tales 

          Alexandrova, M. (2009)
        • 'I am my own person': a comparison of value changes between first and second generation Chinese American characters in three novels by Chinese American writers 

          Tammer, A.C.R. (2009)
          In this thesis, the following three contemporary fictional novels by Chinese American writers are being compared: Amy Tan's the Joy Luck Club, Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land, and Ha Jin's A Free Life. The comparison ...
        • Hudson River School: American scenery and American Manners 

          Sielhorst, Kathelijn (2007)
          Wat houdt de Hudson River School in en welk oordeel had de Europese kunstwereld over de Amerikaanse landschapschilderkunst uit de 19e eeuw?
        Utrecht university logo