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Onditi, Tom L. S. "The acquisition of English wh-interrogatives by Dholuo L1 speakers." Thesis, University of Reading, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.239500.
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Sugirin, (Sugirin), and sugirin@uny ac id. "The comprehension strategies of above average English as a foreign language (EFL) readers." Deakin University. School of Social and Cultural Studies in Education, 2002. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20080828.092848.
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The study reported in this thesis is a single-shot case study, which aims to provide a detailed description ofthe reading comprehension strategies used by fifteen student teachers ofEnglish from Indonesian- and Javanese-speaking backgrounds in the last year of their four-year Strata-One study at a university In Yogyakarta, Indonesia. These readers were above average among their peers in that their average indexes of grades in Reading and Speaking classes were 3.22 and 3,34 respectively, while the average indexes ofthe peer group were 271 and 2.63, respectively, out ofa scale of 0 to 400. In addition, while students in this university may complete their study by course work or by research, these readers were all enrolled as research students. As studying comprehension strategies involves complex issues, a multi-method approach is required, not only for breadth of coverage, but also to allow for a check on the validity of individual methods. To achieve the goal of the study, thinka1oud tasks, retellings, a reading comprehensIon test, indepth interviews and observations were employed to explore the strategies used.
An analysis of the recorded data indicates that these readers used thirty strategies classified under five clusters: infomiation gathering, information processing, text interpretation, comprehension monitoring, and comprehension utilisation. In general, readers started gathering information by silent reading, interpreted the text by an inference or a paraphrase, and ended the task by making selfreflections relevant to the text. Most readers managed to identify problems when they occurred, and monitored their comprehension when they doubted their interpretation, as could be seen from their rereading the text or vocalising its pail(s). When direct interpretation was difficult, readers associated the text with prior knowledge or interrelated parts of the text,
The readers in this study share characteristics of both poor and good native readers, in the sense that there was evidence ofgood strategy use butthe readers did not manage to maintain it consistently. As a result, even the successful readers were not able to maximise their potential. The implication is that in order to develop students into independent readers, strategy instruction should be part of and appropriately embedded in, the reading instruction. There is a need not merely to teach strategies as such, but rather to teach flexibility in strategy use. While there was sufficient evidence that thinkaloud tasks and their complementary methods worked to achieve the goals ofthe present study, similar studies with different cohorts are suggested for crosschecks.
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Hendricks, Jessica. "Language attitudes, medium of instruction and academic performance: a case study of Afrikaans mother tongue learners in Mitchell's Plain." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2004. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the implication for learning for learners whose home language is different from the medium of instruction at school.The study is focused on a group of Afrikaans learners for whom English is not a foreign language. Rather, English is a language that they are in contact with on a daily level through the media, their peers and in the classroom. The study looked at why these learners find themselves in English classes when the language policy of the country makes provision for their specific home language in the classroom. It also tried to determine whether these learners experience problems in their learning as they shift from Afrikaans as a home language to an English medium of instruction in class.
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Ryan, Ann Margaret Gitzean. "Vowel blindness in Arabic learners of English." Thesis, Swansea University, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.570310.
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Childress, Anita Gaye. "An Analysis of the Effect of Constituent Division of Reading Texts on Students of English as a Second Language." Thesis, North Texas State University, 1986. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc501132/.
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The effect of constituent division of reading texts on ESL students was examined to note possible benefits to reading comprehension. An experimental group in each of three ESL proficiency levels was tested on a reading passage divided at the ends of lines at major constituent boundaries. Within each level, the experimental group was compared to a control group in three areas: reading time, test time, and test results. Results of the study do not support the theory that constituent division of reading texts could be beneficial to ESL students. The differences in reading time, test time, and test results of the experimental group and the control group in each level were insignificant.
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Picard, Michelle Yvette. "The serpent both in water and on land : a critical phenomenological investigation of foreign students' experiences of learning English in South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002639.
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In this dissertation I attempt to examine “the experience of the perspective” of foreign students introduced into English classrooms in South Africa. I acknowledge the importance of focussing on the individual’s narrative, since it is “only through an unconscious synthetic activity of consciousness” that perspectives are connected together (Carspeken 1996:11), but, along with Freire, I believe that “generative themes” can only be investigated in “man-world relationships”. The researcher needs to examine the phenomenon in context of the world that it originated from, since “historical themes are never isolated , independent, disconnected or static” (Freire 1972: 73). In this dissertation I, therefore, carefully follow the classic phenomenological steps to analyse data from my respondents and then immediately contextualise it in term of literature about the learners background, the educational and political system in which they currently find themselves as well as general literature about the phenomenon of immigrants and learning of a second language. The premise underlying this research is the “taken-for-granted certainty” (Carspeken 1996:11) that there is something unique in the South African situation which results in foreign students experiencing the learning of English in a particular way within this context.
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Wu, Mian, and 吴冕. "Speech perception of English as a foreign language by Mandarin Chinese speakers." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/206725.
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Ramos, Susana Puerta. "The effect that an intensive literacy program, comprehension early literacy learning (CELL) has on English language learners' reading proficiency." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2004. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2607.
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This research paper investigates the effectiveness of an intensive literacy program, Comprehensive Early Literacy Learning (CELL), to teach second language learners to read and write in English. Since this program provides numerous opportunities to practice the English language through literacy activities, the researcher believes it is a good method to teach English in its oral and written forms.
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Kennedy, Sara 1973. "Second language learner speech and intelligibility : instruction and environment in a university setting." Thesis, McGill University, 2008. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=115651.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in the pronunciation and intelligibility of instructed and uninstructed second language (L2) learners over time, and to identify instructional, environmental, and methodological factors playing a role in pronunciation and intelligibility.Seventeen L2 graduate students at an English-medium university recorded three personal anecdotes over five months. The students also regularly logged their exposure to and use of English. Nine of the students (instructed group) were concurrently taking an oral communication course focussing on suprasegmental pronunciation. Classroom instruction was regularly observed and recorded. All 17 students were interviewed at the end of the study.
L1 listeners heard anecdotes from three instructed and three uninstructed students, matched for length of residence and first language (L1). Listeners also heard anecdotes from four L1 English speakers. One group of listeners retold each anecdote after hearing it (discourse-level task). The other group paused the recording of each anecdote whenever a word was unclear (word-level task). Each group of listeners also rated excerpts for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency.
Results of quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that: (a) no unambiguous changes in the pronunciation or intelligibility of either L2 learner group occurred over time; (b) word-level intelligibility measures more consistently differentiated L1 and L2 groups, and the instructed and uninstructed L2 groups; (c) compared to the instructed group, the uninstructed group logged relatively more English exposure/use for academic activities and relatively less for interactive social activities; (d) many instructed L2 learners did not believe that their pronunciation had noticeably improved, but almost all expressed satisfaction with their ability to communicate in English; (e) at the end of the study, many uninstructed learners reported persistent difficulties in communicating in English.
The results suggest that instruction in suprasegmental aspects of pronunciation sometimes may not lead to improved intelligibility or pronunciation. In addition, some L2 learners can be as intelligible as L1 speakers, depending on the listening task. Finally, results suggest that L2 learners' perceptions of their communicative ability and their patterns of L2 exposure/use are related. Implications for university preparation and support programs for L2 graduate students are discussed.
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Sun, Lixia. "Reviewing computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in a vocational school in China." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=init_5543_1178702325.
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In recent years, advances in computer technology have motivated Chinese teachers to reassess computer use and consider it as a valuable part of daily foreign language learning and teaching. Software programmes, USB (Universal Serial Bus) technology, and computer networks are providing teachers with new methods of incorporating culture, grammar, and real language use in the classroom. Students gain access to audio, visual and textual information about the language through the use of computers. The aim of this study was to investigate vocational school English students and teachers concerns and behaviours about integrating information technology into English instruction.
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Subiabre, Ubilla Paulina Beatriz. "A phonetic variationist study on Chilean speakers of English as a foreign language." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2015. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6363/.
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Variationist research in the Labovian paradigm has traditionally looked at the structured heterogeneity found in first language (L1) speech. More recently this quantitative methodology has been applied to speakers acquiring a second language (L2), usually in immigrant settings. This research has shown that alongside well documented L2 acquisition processes, sociolinguistic patterns are also found, just as in native speech. This dissertation examines the speech of native speakers of Spanish acquiring English in Chile, extending traditional quantitative methodology to L2 contexts, specifically to English as a foreign language (EFL) situations. I examine the variation of four phonetic variables: voiceless alveolar fricative (ʃ), voiceless alveolar affricate (ʧ), and postvocalic (r), which range from stigmatised to prestigious in both Spanish and English; and voiced dental fricative (ð), which has been extensively documented in English, mainly constrained by linguistic factors. Through the analysis of the speech of eighteen university students, I seek to test, firstly, whether the patterns of variation characteristic of Chilean Spanish are transferred to English and secondly, whether the variation exhibited by native speakers of English is replicated in EFL contexts. The results suggest that: (1) the expected transfer of patterns from Chilean Spanish to English does not occur for the variables (ʃ) and (ʧ), and (2) the patterns found in non- native speech in EFL contexts replicates the patterns found in native speakers of English for the variables voiced dental fricative (ð) and postvocalic (r). Amongst the social factors considered, the effect of social class is shown to contribute to the variation of postvocalic (r) and (ʃ), as years of instruction in English did to the variation of (ʃ); in relation to the contribution of internal factors, it is found that phonetic environment and position have an effect on the varying use of (ʃ) and (ð). As predicted for (ð), the effect of purely linguistic factors is confirmed. Thus this study demonstrates that the notion of structured heterogeneity can be extended to contexts of EFL, especially in relation to the effect of internal constraints.
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Cecconello, Silvia <1986>. "English native speakers learning Italian as a foreign language: an analysis of errors." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/2205.
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This dissertation consists of an analysis of errors made by English native speakers in Italian as their foreign language.
It is a description of these students’ interlanguages, analysing different factors involved in L2 acquisition, and the causes of their errors.
This analysis is meant to be helpful for the teachers, to understand what are the major areas of difficulty for an English-speaking class. They will understand where the students have reached and will also help setting the syllabus for future language work.
In the last chapter some reinforcement activities are proposed, to better the teaching of Italian and for the students to gain higher levels of proficiency.
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Dongilli, Sophia J. "Separable English phrasal verbs: a comparison of L1 English speakers and L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English." Kansas State University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/19120.
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Master of ArtsDepartment of Modern Languages
Earl K. Brown
How to teach phrasal verbs to L2 learners of English has been the subject of debate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) courses and materials alike. These multi-part verbs, consisting of a verb and one or more particles, convey a new lexical meaning different from their individual parts. Further complicating this is the fact that some transitive phrasal verbs can be separated from their particles to varying degrees by a direct object. Though variables affecting verb-particle separation lie below the level of consciousness for most native speakers, they make the acquisition of particle placement difficult for L2 English language learners. Additionally, the presentation of these verbs in EFL textbooks and university English language programs (ELPs) is inadequate. TEFL textbooks tend to place emphasis on the lexical acquisition of phrasal verbs, ignoring separable versus non-separable distinctions. However, native English speakers separate phrasal verbs from their particles about 66.5% of the time in spoken conversation. In order to determine whether traditional textbook problems associated with phrasal verb presentation persist, I analyzed eleven TEFL textbooks used in Kansas State University’s ELP. I also administered a grammaticality judgment survey in order to find out whether L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English view separation of transitive phrasal verbs and their particles to be grammatical. L1 Spanish Speakers of L2 English are disadvantaged by the fact that their native language is verb-framed, meaning that it does not make use of particles in the same way that English does. It is for this reason that native Spanish-speakers of L2 English constitute the experimental group in this study. The results of the TEFL textbook analysis reveal that none of the eleven textbooks analyzed could stand alone in the classroom to effectively teach phrasal verbs. The results of the grammaticality judgment survey show that L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English differ at a statistically significant level from L1 American English speakers in their acceptability of phrasal verb-particle separation. These findings have pedagogical implications for TEFL instructors, textbook writers, and English language programs, and demonstrate the need for more extensive and authentic phrasal verb instruction.
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Shammas, Nafez Antonius. "Cross-cultural pragmatic failure : misunderstanding in verbal communication between speakers of Arabic & English." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.338756.
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Takagaki, Bob. "The acquisition of the English system of pronominalization by adult second language learners." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25526.
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The study presented in this paper is a second language study of the acquisition of the English system of pronominalization by adult learners of English. It is a partial replication of Ingram and Shaw's (1981) first language acquisition study on the same topic.
One hundred and eighty four subjects and twenty control subjects were administered a written task that involved making anaphoric assignments to pronouns in thirty five test sentences, representing seven different sentence construction types.
Analysis of the data indicated that the two syntactic constraints of precedence and dominance played major roles in the anaphoric assignments made by all subjects. In addition, these two syntactic constraints were instrumental in delineating developmental stages in the acquisition process. A comparison of the response patterns displayed by the present study's subjects and those displayed by Ingram, and Shaw's subjects revealed a number of differences. These differences suggested that the acquisition process was not invariant and highly sequential in nature, but dynamic and highly creative, allowing a great deal of latitude in terms of the processing strategies employed.Education, Faculty of
Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of
Graduate
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Isaacs, Talia. "Towards defining a valid assessment criterion of pronunciation proficiency in non-native English speaking graduate students." Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=98938.
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This exploratory, mixed-design study investigates whether intelligibility is "enough," that is, a suitable goal and an adequate assessment criterion, for evaluating proficiency in the pronunciation of non-native English speaking graduate students in the academic domain. The study also seeks to identify those pronunciation features which are most crucial for intelligible speech.Speech samples of 19 non-native English speaking graduate students in the Faculty of Education at McGill University were elicited using the Test of Spoken English (TSE), a standardized test of spoken proficiency which is often used by institutions of higher learning to screen international teaching assistants (ITAs). Results of a fined-grained phonological analysis of the speech samples coupled with intelligibility ratings of 18 undergraduate science students suggest that intelligibility, though an adequate assessment criterion, is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for graduate students to instruct undergraduate courses as teaching assistants, and that there is a threshold level (i.e., minimum acceptable level) of intelligibility that needs to be identified more precisely. While insights about the features of pronunciation that are most critical for intelligibility are inconclusive, it is clear that intelligibility can be compromised for different reasons and is often the result of a combination of "problem areas" that interact together.
The study has some important implications for ITA training and assessment, for the design of graduate student pronunciation courses, and for future intelligibility research. It also presents a first step in validating theoretical intelligibility models which lack empirical backing (e.g., Morley, 1994).
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Jo, Phill. "Strategic reading for English as a foreign language." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1999. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1725.
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Benavent, Chàfer José Vicente. "Voice line-ups: Testing aural-perceptual recognition on native speakers of a foreign language." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668733.
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The focal point of this PhD thesis is (foreign/native) speaker perception and recognition. To test such phenomena, jurors from British and Spanish universities were selected to answer ad hoc perception surveys (voice line-ups in three distinct languages: English, Spanish, and Dutch) to unravel the correlations of speaker-specific sociolinguistic factors and acoustic parameters impinging upon success/error rates in identification and discrimination tasks.
To gain a more in-depth understanding of real-life scenarios, the properties of the data are adjusted accordingly (reduced duration of voice samples, semi-spontaneous exchanges), which contrasts with the ideal and controlled conditions hitherto used in experiments of this kind. From a methodological point of view, this is one of the main contributions of this work, besides being one of its challenges, since it aims to prove that differentiating speakers by means of acoustic-phonetic analysis is still plausible despite the limitations of the source material.
It is concluded that language familiarity did not influence the results obtained. However, learned languages exhibit a rather unpredictable behaviour. On the other hand, acoustic- phonetic analyses are proven to yield less error rates than the jurors’ responses gathered through identification tests. Nevertheless, jurors’ scores in discrimination tasks reveal even less false alarms, with the exception of the English voice samples’ analysis (0% error rates).
In light of the above, further research is naturally encouraged to verify such claims. These findings are indeed limited to some extent, given the interdisciplinary nature of speaker recognition due to the presence of uncontrolled co-existing influences such as psychological states, the memory, and environmental factors. Despite the fact that statistical correlations were not as sound as one may expect, this thesis brings us a step closer to better understand the intricacies of real-life forensic voice comparison through the analysis of semi-spontaneous speech, which is arguably harder to analyse than the samples recorded under laboratory conditions.El punto fundamental de esta tesis doctoral se centra en el reconocimiento y percepción de hablantes extranjeros/nativos. Para examinar dichos fenómenos, participantes de universidades británicas y españolas fueron seleccionados como jueces de las encuestas de percepción confeccionadas para este fin (ruedas de reconocimiento con tres tipos de lenguas diferenciadas: inglés, español y neerlandés), y así desentrañar las relaciones existentes entre el porcentaje de aciertos/errores en tareas de identificación y discriminación de locutores y los factores inherentes al hablante, como el perfil sociolingüístico y los parámetros acústicos pertinentes. Para ahondar nuestra comprensión de las circunstancias reales, los datos usados se ajustaron debidamente (duración reducida de grabaciones semi-espontáneas), lo que contrasta con las condiciones ideales y controladas hasta ahora empleadas en experimentos de este tipo. Desde un punto de vista metodológico, ésta es una de las principales contribuciones de la presente tesis, además de ser uno de sus retos, ya que pretende demostrar la viabilidad del análisis acústico en la discriminación de hablantes pese a las limitaciones dadas por el material analizado. Se concluye que la familiaridad del idioma no condicionó los resultados obtenidos. Aun así, las lenguas aprendidas exhibieron un comportamiento impredecible. Por otro lado, el análisis acústico produjo una tasa de errores inferior a las producidas por el jurado en pruebas deidentificación. Sin embargo, las tareas dediscriminación mostraron aún menos falsas alarmas en los participantes, con la excepción del análisis de muestras inglesas (con una tasa de error del 0%). En virtud de lo expuesto, se recomienda seguir con esta línea de investigación para verificar dichas afirmaciones. Por otro lado, las limitaciones radican en la interdisciplinariedad del reconocimiento de locutores y en la presencia de influencias coexistentes incontrolables como los estados psicológicos, la memoria y los factores medioambientales. Pese a la falta de contundencia de las pruebas estadísticas, esta tesis nos lleva un paso más cerca hacia la comprensión de las complejidades inherentes a la comparación forense de voces en casos reales mediante el análisis de habla semi-espontánea, cuya información es probablemente más difícil de analizar que la encontrada en grabaciones de laboratorio.
El punt fonamental d’aquesta tesi doctoral se centra en el reconeixement i percepció de parlants estrangers/nadius. Per a examinar aquests fenòmens, participants d’universitats britàniques i espanyoles es seleccionaren com a jutges de les enquestes de percepció confeccionades per a aquesta fi (rodes de reconeixement amb tres tipus de llengües diferenciades: anglès, espanyol i neerlandès), i així investigar les relacions existents entre el percentatge d’encerts/errors en tasques d’identificació i discriminació de locutors i els factors inherents al parlant, com el perfil sociolingüístic i els paràmetres acústics pertinents. Per a aprofundir la nostra comprensió de les circumstàncies reals, les dades emprades s’ajustaren degudament (durada reduïda de gravacions semi-espontànies), la qual cosa contrasta amb les condicions ideals i controlades que s’usaven fins ara en experiments d’aquest tipus. Des d’un punt de vista metodològic, aquesta és una de les contribucions principals de la present tesi, a més de ser un dels seus reptes, ja que pretén demostrar la viabilitat de l’anàlisi acústica en la discriminació de parlants malgrat les limitacions donades pel material analitzat. Es conclou que la familiaritat de l’idioma no ha condicionat els resultats obtinguts. Així i tot, les llengües apreses exhibiren un comportament impredictible. D’altra banda, l’anàlisi acústica causa una taxa d’error inferior a les produïdes pel jurat en proves d’identificació. No obstant això, les tasques de discriminació mostraren encara menys falses alarmes en els participants, amb l’excepció de l’anàlisi en mostres angleses (amb una taxa d’error del 0%). Tenint en compte l’anterior, es recomana seguir amb aquesta línia de recerca per poder verificar les afirmacions ja esmentades. Encara més, les limitacions radiquen en la interdisciplinarietat del reconeixement de locutors i en la presència d’influències coexistents incontrolables com els estats psicològics, la memòria i els factors mediambientals. Malgrat la insuficient contundència de les proves estadístiques, aquesta tesi ens porta un pas més prop cap a la comprensió de les complexitats inherents a la comparació forense de veus en casos reals mitjançant l’anàlisi de parla semi-espontània, la informació de la qual és probablement més difícil d’analitzar que el que s’enregistra a les mostres de laboratori.
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Wallis, Leonard James Michael. "Teachers of English as a foreign language : male native English speakers in Saudi Arabia." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.273531.
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Beinhoff, Bettina. "Establishing identity through accent : attitudes of non-native speakers towards foreign accents of English." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.608821.
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McLendon, Mary Elizabeth. "Language attitudes and foreign accent : a study of Russians' perceptions of non-native speakers /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Yang, Yu. "Vocabulary learning strategies used by L1 English speakers learning Chinese as a foreign language." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2017. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/vocabulary-learning-strategies-used-by-l1-english-speakers-learning-chinese-as-a-foreign-language(738b27f7-221e-479e-9d9f-62373002fc71).html.
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This study is an investigation into the vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) and the influencing factors behind the strategy use by L1 English adults in learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). A qualitative case study approach was adopted drawing on a wide range of data including interviews, learner diaries, think-aloud activities, observations, and learning products, collected from eight participants, three of whom were investigated in depth. A comprehensive list of VLS was identified, and these were systematically categorised into six vocabulary learning sub-tasks. The descriptive data further showed different ways of implementing VLS, especially strategies involving multiple steps, such as dictionary use, and some active ways of using strategies that might be traditionally perceived as passive, such as repetition. Having discussed specific issues for using strategies in CFL learning, the study extended some of its findings to inform language and vocabulary learning generally. The study also explored how various factors such as learners’ personality traits, learning styles, interests, language environment, immediate study context, proficiency level, the specific nature of learning Chinese, and learners’ self-regulation can influence strategy uses. It further examined the self-regulation factor between highly strategic and less strategic learners, and identified two meta-strategy chains that are particularly relevant to effective strategy use. The self-assessing and diagnosing chain involves the use of monitoring, evaluating, reflecting and causal attribution strategies, and the macro-level planning chain involves the use of selecting and orchestrating strategies. The study pinpointed some key steps for better implementation of the two self-regulative chains. Based on these findings, this study has furthered the understandings of two types of learners, namely, fine brush and free hand learners in Chinese vocabulary learning. Recommendations for CFL pedagogy have been put forward and materials developed that can be used to facilitate learners to become better self-regulated in vocabulary learning.
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Liu, Songhao. "The acquisition of the Chinese de-construction by native English speakers." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2010. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1192.
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Smith, Karina Yarwood. "Me Llamo Lenika." Thesis, McGill University, 2008. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=112517.
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Educating language minority children in Canada is becoming increasingly challenging as our population becomes more and more diverse. Determining the best educational policy to help immigrant children learn English or French, while furthering their knowledge of core subject material has long been a difficult task for educators in the public system. This novel is a fictional account of an immigrant girl's first year in an Ontario elementary school. Through her experience, I describe a language policy whereby children have access to bilingual primary education no matter what their first language is. Two-way immersion is offered for language minority groups with significant numbers of students within a district. And, in collaboration with the community, first language support in school is given to students of all language backgrounds. I propose a teacher training programme that better prepares teachers for the linguistic diversity in their classrooms and promotes foreign language learning in teachers themselves. Children under this system are able to acquire the dominant language of society, learn the subject material, and continue to develop literacy skills in their first language. With such policies in place, I argue, Canada could be a world leader in bilingual education for diverse populations.
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Mohamed, Hashim Issa. "Academic writing as social practice: a critical discourse analysis of student writing in higher education in Tanzania." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2006. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&.
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This thesis was a critical analysis of students academic second language writing at Sokoine University of Agriculture. Student writing in English as a second language in higher education has excited much interest in the English as a Second Language writing research and discussion in Tanzania. The interest was motivated by frequent criticisms from examiners regarding students literacy performance in the English as a Second Language writing in the post primary and higher education where the language of instruction is English as is configured in the Tanzanian language policy.
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Eda, Sanae. "Processing of intonation patterns in Japanese implications for Japanese as a foreign language /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1086187589.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004.Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 164 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Mari Noda, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures. Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-164).
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Quigley, June R. (June Richfield). "A Semantic Field Approach to Passive Vocabulary Acquisition for Advanced Second Language Learners." Thesis, North Texas State University, 1986. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500401/.
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Current ESL instructors and theorists agree that university students of ESL have a need for a large passive vocabulary. This research was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of a semantic field approach to passive vocabulary acquisition in comparison to a traditional approach. A quantitative analysis of the short-term and long-range results of each approach is presented. Future research and teaching implications are discussed. The outcome of the experimentation lends tentative support to a semantic field approach.
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Mak, Ting-fung Martin, and 麥庭峰. "A case study : task-based language teaching in a Chinese foreign language context." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/209655.
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This project mainly looks at the teachers’ and students’ views on ‘Task-based Language Teaching’ (TBLT) in a context of learning Chinese as a foreign language. This project first discusses the three pedagogical characteristics of TBLT – ‘meaning-focused’, ‘reinforcement’ and ‘flexibility’. It then discusses the limitations of previous literature on how TBLT can motivate students to learn Chinese as a foreign language. To feedback the current curriculum for teachers to carry out TBLT and to enrich the literature in this field, feedback from the users (i.e. teachers and students) was collected through systematic and methodical research methods. At the end of the research, two theoretical frameworks to evaluate TBLT design and how far it can motivate students are constructed in this project.published_or_final_version
Education
Master
Master of Education
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Pandit, Goolam Hoosain. "Global student migration patterns reflect and strengthen the hegemony of English as a global lingua franca: A case study of Chinese students at three tertiary institutions in Cape Town in the period 2002-2004." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&.
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The objective of this research paper was to examine how, through the prism of student migration patterns, the domination of the English language is extended and entrenched. Using the example of Chinese students in South Africa, the paper explored some of the reasons that underpin South Africa's growing appeal as an international study destination. The research specifically focused on the period between 2002 and 2004 which witnessed Chinese students arriving in unprecedented numbers to pursue higher education in a post-apartheid South Africa.
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Shum, Nam Lung, and 沈南龍. "The occurrence of schwa among Cantonese speakers of English in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1989. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31949654.
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Villagomez, Delia. "Mini shared reading: A mediational reading strategy." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2000. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1761.
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This project presents a reading strategy in which students who are learning to read are introduced to the reading process in a comprehensible manner regardless if it is in the student's primary language.
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Huang, Hsiao-Juo. "Enunciative identity in elementary English as a foreign language." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/40.
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How to improve the skill of speaking English is a major challenge for English learners in Taiwan nowadays. This project focuses on issues of pronunciation as the starting point to examine the problems of learning English, and issues of identity transformation in the language-learning process. Then it addresses the concept of enunciation as a way to facilitate English learners to establish their confidence in, and ownership of, the target language. This project is designed not only for discussing issues of improving the teaching and learning of English pronunciation, but also for explicating how students can gain their own voices and define their subjectivity during their English-learning process.
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Frew, Dorothy Jean. "An Improved English Article System for Japanese Speakers." PDXScholar, 1994. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5020.
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One aspect of the English language which has been overlooked by English-as-a-Second-Language educators is the article system, a, the, and 0. For students from articleless first languages such as Japanese, learning this complex system is a formidable challenge. Performance studies show an error rate among advanced Japanese students of approximately thirty percent. There may be several reasons for this high rate: 1) the differences between Japanese and English, 2) the unusually high degree of complexity/difficulty of the article system itself compared to other English morpheme systems and 3) inadequate treatments of the subject as revealed in this thesis' survey of forty ESL textbooks. Recent pragmatic discoveries about article function reveal subtle, contextual influences which have not been well integrated into traditional treatments. Definiteness may be dependent on sentential, discourse, and situational contexts, on whether referents are unique and manifest to the hearer, and on the nature of certain implicatures induced by the articles. Computerized, interactive tutorials are the best way to capture how these variables interact to constrain article choice. A prototype for a tutorial is submitted with this thesis. In addition to exhaustive explanations of contexts and implicatures in the form of actor's "asides," it features Japanese translations throughout, and, to show how uniqueness may be culture bound, utterances that take place within Japanese culture. Although the tutorial presented here needs enlargement, it is believed that an animated, computerized tutorial emphasizing subtle pragmatic features is more illustrative of actual article usage than have been traditional hard copy explanations.
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Gayton, Angela Mary. "Native English speakers' investment in foreign language learning : what role do gender and socioeconomic status play?" Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/9765.
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Rhetoric about the ‘crisis’ state of language learning in predominantly Anglophone countries is nothing new, given the widely-held belief about English having ‘global lingua franca’ status. Similarly long-standing are notions of language learning being a particularly gendered or classed activity, specifically, one that is perceived as being appropriate for female, and middle-class, pupils. This thesis explores the extent of the role played by notions of gender and class in the formation of language-learning attitudes among native speakers of the ‘global’ language, through a mixed qualitative methodology. Providing some context to the issue of language-learning attitudes in Scotland is textual analysis of news articles and political party manifestos, to ascertain the nature of media reporting, and claimed political commitment, to foreign language education. Against this background, case studies of four urban secondary schools are built up, using textual analysis of their publicly available promotional literature, classroom observation, and interviews with pupils, classroom teachers and members of senior management. Schools were chosen specifically to represent a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as both mixed- and single-sex environments, in order to probe the aforementioned stereotyped notions attached to these two variables, as they relate to language-learning attitudes. Influencing the methodological approach is Norton’s (1995; 2000; 2008) ‘investment’ framework, which has pushed conceptualisations of language-learning motivation forward beyond simple dichotomies, such as ‘integrative versus instrumental’. I re-adapt her framework to better suit the specific context of native speakers of the ‘global’ language embarking upon foreign, rather than second, language learning. This study makes a contribution to knowledge in three separate areas of research literature, namely, language-learning attitudes and motivation among speakers of English (which as yet has been little explored, at least in comparison to motivation theories developed specifically for those learning English as an L2); the role of gender in the formation of language-learning attitudes; and the role of socioeconomic status in the same context, and also its influence on attitudes towards education more generally. Among the key findings are the importance of placing an emphasis on enjoyment of language learning for native English speakers, given the general lack of imperative felt by most; gendered notions attached to different areas of the curriculum, including modern foreign languages (for example, language learning is a ‘girlie’ subject), do exist, but are less pervasive than is suggested by much of the previous literature; the role played by socioeconomic status, however, appears much more influential, and teachers’ expectations of pupils in this regard can exercise a significant impact on a child’s language-learning motivation.
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Brulhart, Marilyn Mae. "Foreigner talk in the ESL classroom : interactional adjustments to adult students at two language proficiency levels." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25356.
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While native speakers adjust their speech to accommodate non-native speakers on syntactic and prosodic levels, they also make adjustments on the level of discourse. It has been argued that these interactional adjustments are crucial to the promotion of language learning. A quasi-experimental, factorial study compared the frequencies of nine interactional features used in the speech of four ESL teachers as they taught beginner and advanced level adult classes. It was expected that teachers would change their use of each feature accordingly as students neared native proficiency. Nine two-way analyses of variance were employed to capture three sources of variation in the use of the interactional features: proficiency level, teacher and proficiency level by teacher interaction. As predicted, display questions and self-repetitions were used significantly less often with advanced students than with beginners. High variability in teacher behaviour was discovered, and seemed to be primarily an artifact of lesson content. In fact, discourse usage seemed to vary as a function of lesson content, as well as proficiency level of the students. One result, the marked reduction in use of display questions at the advanced level, was discussed in light of prevailing ESL goals. As research addresses the question of whether and which adjustments do promote language acquisition, there will be implications for teacher training.Education, Faculty of
Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of
Graduate
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Yuen, Susie. "ESL university students' coping strategies : a qualitative study of academic reading." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28316.
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The ability to read and write academic discourse in a second language often determines an ESL student's scholastic progress. Recent related research has focused on the academic reading of ESL university students at the text level, often at the single or multi-paragraph level (Block, 1986; Carrell, 1985, 1987), and has looked at categories that were general across subject areas.
This study explores how first year university ESL students cope with the reading demands of two specific credit courses, English Literature and Introductory Psychology, within the context of the course requirements, the instruction, and the nature of the academic discipline itself.
The research method focused on ethnographic interviews with ten students from various Asian countries and their Canadian instructors, on classroom observations, and on the researcher's extensive field diary.
Analysis of the findings identified three major coping strategies: self-management, background knowledge and experience, and reliance on the instructors in the disciplines. The nature of the genre, the students' interest in the discipline, and their perseverance in reading comprehension appear to influence their choice of strategies in meeting specific academic objectives. These strategies contributed to the background knowledge component of the academic tasks that the students face. Their efforts at academic tasks were guided by the concern to do what was required to complete course assignments. Essentially, course assignments directed the action component or agenda, of the students' academic tasks. Reading-to-learn involved approaching the genre-specific reading tasks at the whole text level within the context of what was required to successfully fulfil the course requirements of the particular genre. The primary reality of the students was to demonstrate an adequate level of academic proficiency.
In contrast with previous research, findings indicated the importance of genre-specific reading tasks at the whole-text level rather than generic reading at the paragraph level, and the importance of relating coping strategies to the context of what was required to fulfil course requirements rather than the study of strategies in isolation. Thus, the findings were consistent with a theoretical model (Mohan, 1986) analyzing academic tasks into an action component and a knowledge component.Education, Faculty of
Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of
Graduate
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Grondin, Nathalie D. "Functional projections in child second language acquisition of French." Thesis, McGill University, 1992. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=61279.
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Recently, there has been growing interest in the status of functional projections (i.e. the determiner phrase (DP), the inflectional phrase (IP), and the complementizer phrase (CP)) in first language (L1) development.The purpose of this study of child second language (L2) acquisition was to determine the status of functional projections in the first months of L2 development. Data from two child subjects (with English as their L1) acquiring French as an L2 were examined for evidence of DP, IP and CP. The results show that all functional projections are present in the grammar from the earliest months of child L2 development. The implications of this finding for L1 and L2 acquisition theories are discussed.
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陳浩然 and Ho-yin Tony Chan. "The language learning strategies used by L2 English learners in the processing of corrective feedback: a casestudy from a secondary school in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2009. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43240744.
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Chan, Ching-yan Sammi, and 陳靜欣. "Teacher's language alternation in an ESL classroom in an English as the medium of instruction (EMI) secondary school: a case study." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2009. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43226371.
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Ng, Siu-wah, and 吳笑華. "Investigating the effect of metacognitive strategies training on CSL learners in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/209643.
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Liu, Wen-Chung. "Memorization and improvisation: A comparison of two strategies in the oral acquisition of english as a second language." Thesis, Australian Catholic University, 2006. https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/download/8306ae39a326dfcd147417f16ce5be64b3354f4b1b775de021f00e77c8127795/2361984/64967_downloaded_stream_192.pdf.
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The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of two teaching strategies, memorization and improvisation, on ESL (English as a second language) students' oral proficiency and how they perceived the strategies and the activities used in the classroom. Participants were 16-year-old nursing students in a Taiwan medical college. They had learned English for at least three and a half years before joining the study, but most of their previous learning was focused on reading and writing. They were divided into three groups, experiencing a memorization strategy, an improvisation strategy, and a strategy combining memorization and improvisation respectively. Data were collected from their oral pre-test and post-test, perception questionnaire, perception interview, college-wide satisfaction survey and in-class observation. Data were analysed in both quantitative and qualitative ways. The results showed that each of the strategies had significant positive effects on students' oral acquisition, but the improvisation group performed significantly better than the memorization group, and the memorization group did better than the combination group. However, the satisfaction and perception surveys showed that participants preferred the combination strategy to the improvisation strategy, and the improvisation strategy was preferred to the memorization strategy. The finding also showed that participants' initial oral language levels made no difference on the rate of oral improvement. The high-level and intermediate students demonstrated no difference in their preference for the two strategies, but the low-level students showed significant preference for the memorization strategy. In terms of the teaching activities, participants preferred task-based activities to discussion activities, and activities involving multiple people were preferred to monologues such as storytelling and news reports.;Nevertheless, preference made no difference on participants' oral improvement. Based upon the insight gained from this study, pedagogical implications and for teaching oral language were developed and suggestions for future research have been recommended.
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Silburn, Gail Deirdre. "The effect of teaching text organisation on reading in English as a second language." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001438.
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This research investigated the effect of teaching text organisation on reading in English second language to schoolgirls. All subjects underwent a training programme of five one-hour sessions on consecutive school days. The experimental group were trained in the use and recognition of top-level organisation as a reading strategy, based on work done by Bartlett (1978) and Carrell (1985). The control group were trained in unrelated grammar exercises. A pre-test was administered to each group before their programme began. Post-test 1 was administered immediately after the training was completed, and Post-test 2, three weeks later. These tests required a written recall of two passages once they had been read, and an answer to a question on their organisation. The null hypotheses stated that the experimental group's training in the use and recognition of top-level organisation as a reading strategy would make no difference in their ability to read and recall information or to recognise and use top-level organisation in their recalls. For the quantity of information recalled, no differences were found in the Pre-test and Post-test 1; a statistically significant difference was found in Post-test 2 in favour of the experimental group. For the quality of information recalled, the control group remembered more top-level idea units in the Pre-test; there was no difference in Post-test 1; the experimental group did better in three out of five levels in Post-test 2. There was no difference in the Pretest in either group's use of the passage's top-level organisation to structure recalls, but the experimental group did better in both post-tests. The control group did better in the Pre-test in recognising the passage's top-level organisation, but the experimental group did better in both post-tests. The null hypotheses were rejected as the experimental training made a difference, although this difference only became apparent three weeks later, and not immediately after the training. The experimental group's nullifying the control group's Pre-test advantage in Post-test 1 and surpassing it in Post-test 2, powerfully supports Bartlett's and Carrell's findings that teaching the strategy did make a difference and that this effect could be maintained over three weeks
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Wong, Wei-wah Claudia, and 黃惠華. "The learning of Chinese orthography and its centrality in learning Chinese as a foreign language." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2011. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B45877907.
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Bozzetti-Engstrom, Marie Linnea. "What's in a word?: Connotation in teaching English to speakers of other languages." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2002. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2078.
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This thesis focuses on connotative meaning routinely ignored or difficult to locate in the available ESL textbooks and dictionaries. This perceived absence led to the following study: a review of ESL textbooks, a review of standard monolingual English and learner dictionaries, and a survey of ESL instructors.
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Qin, Chuan. "The perception and production of English vowel contrasts by Vietnamese speakers." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2010. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1207.
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Powell, Deborah Sue. "Increasing cognitive functioning in science for English language learners." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1997. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3024.
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Emsley, Maletsema Ruth. "The effect of cultural background on comprehension of English texts by second language learners of English." Thesis, University of Limpopo, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/577.
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Thesis (M.Ed. (Language Education)) --University of Limpopo, 2011.This study investigated the effect of cultural background on comprehension of English texts by second language learners. The study specifically aimed at determining whether cultural background had any effect on comprehension of English texts by second language learners and whether the second language learners’ cultural background could help them comprehend unfamiliar texts. The background of the study in this mini dissertation was followed by the discussion on the literature available on this topic. This study followed a case study design which utilized 89 respondents from the Further Education and Training band of a rural secondary school in the north of Limpopo province. Data was obtained through the completion of questionnaires and answering of questions from a comprehension test based on English culture. The findings showed that there was no total comprehension of the text by learners who use English as a second language. Learners of English as a second language need to possess specific cultural schemata to comprehend texts that are unfamiliar to them. This study was informed by the schema theory. There is a significant effect of cultural background on the comprehension of English text by second language learners. KEY WORDS: Schema theory. Culture Comprehension. Cultural background
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Tam, Fung Yi May. "Genre analysis of the reading passages in two series of textbooks used in Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2002. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/384.
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Kontra, Edit Hegybíró. "The need for a culture-sensitive approach to teacher education in English as a foreign language." Thesis, University of South Wales, 1998. https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/en/studentthesis/the-need-for-a-culturesensitive-approach-to-teacher-education-in-english-as-a-foreign-language(8bb92694-fcca-4ea6-ace7-4f11e03d1b0a).html.
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The aim of this Portfolio is to provide insight into some characteristics of I lungarian learners of English, and to use this as evidence in pointing out the need for a change in current teacher education practices in the preparation of English teachers. The Portfolio comprises two projects. Project `A, ' Ihingal-ia» t ieivs about Native Eiiglislr , Sppeakiiig Insiniclors, explores the positive and negative experiences of Hungarian learners with native English speaking instructors. With the help of qualitative research and analysis the learners' needs and expectations are highlighted. Project `B, ' The L inguaage Leariii, ig SIralegie Used by Ilungariarl Learners of English, investigates the learning strategies of I lungariann learners and their general approach to learning. From the qualitative analysis of the data particular features emerge which have not been documented in the literature before. The research results point out those features of the learner which prevailing teacher education models do not prepare novice teachers for. The portfolio is based on I lungarian experience but an international relevance is also demonstrated. The two projects are each placed in the wider context of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), and thus they provide evidence that besides preserving some universally valid elements of teacher education models, it is necessary to find ways of catering for particular local needs. Instead of imposing the values and beliefs represented by Anglo-American teacher education approaches, textbooks or methods, there are local, context-specific features which have to also be taken account of. At a time when English is primarily used for international communication, teachers can only be prepared in a training program which, instead of the present Anglo-American cultural dominance, adopts an intercultural approach. The final section of the portfolio outlines the possible elements of such a culture-sensitive teacher education model for teaching English as a foreign language.
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Yildiz, Selin. "Incorporating intercultural communication instruction in programs for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2002. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2052.
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