Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Japanese language Study and teaching (Higher) Foreign speakers'
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1
Yoshikawa, Sawako. "Some Possible Sources of Oral Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) among Japanese Students in the United States." PDXScholar, 1996. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5204.
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This study attempted to locate some possible sources of oral Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) among Japanese students in the United States. This study proposed that the following three factors were possible sources of FLA: 1) the subjects' traitlike anxiety, which is carried by individuals across all communication-bound contexts; 2) the subjects' self-perceived oral proficiency levels in English and 3) the subjects' gapsize (i.e., the distance between their self-perceived and their self-expected oral proficiency levels in English) . This research examined whether the above three independent variables and the dependent FLA variable were significantly correlated, and if so, which one had the strongest correlation with the FLA variable. Also, whether the subjects' biographical variables had a significant effect on their FLA levels was investigated. All the variables were quantified through a questionnaire. The subjects' FLA levels and traitlike anxiety levels were measured by a 10-item, Personal Report of Communication Apprehension inventory (PRCA, Mccroskey, 1978). The subjects' self-perceived oral proficiency levels were measured by asking the subjects to rate their self-perceived oral proficiency level from 1 (poor) to 5 (fluent). The gapsize was quantified by asking the subjects to rate it on a scale from 1 (minimal) to 5 (maximal). The statistical methodology used in obtaining the PRCA scores in this study differed from McCroskey's in its interpretation of Likert type scales. The scales were treated as interval data in McCroskey's study, while, in this study, they were interpreted as ordinal data. After hierarchically ordering the subjects' answers, non-parametric tests were performed on them. Overall, each of the three variables and the FLA variable were found to be significantly correlated at p < .01. The traitlike anxiety variable, the proficiency variable and the gapsize variable correlated at .46, -.45 and -.33, respectively. The participants' demographic variables (age, gender, status at school or year(s) of residence in English speaking places) did not have a significant effect on their FLA levels. A discussion of the results was provided, with references to previous studies.
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Shirahata, Tomohiko 1957. "The learning of English grammatical morphemes by Japanese high school students." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/276802.
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This thesis is a study of the learning of English grammatical morphemes (copula, possessive, ING, plural, progressive auxiliary, irregular-past, regular-past, definite article, indefinite article, and the third-person-singular-present) by 31 Japanese high school students. The data were based on the results of the subjects' spoken language, which were tape-recorded and carefully investigated. The results indicated some similarities and differences between the present study and the previous L1 and L2 studies. The present study showed more similarities to the studies which dealt with Japanese subjects by both the Spearman rank order correlation coefficients and the Implicational Scaling Analysis based on Group Range. This indicates strong transfer from the Japanese language. But language transfer is not such a simple phenomena as the researchers in the Behaviorism era thought. Some methodological problems concerning the grammatical morpheme studies and possible determinants of the accuracy order of the morphemes were also discussed.
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Kawano, Madoka. "An analysis of cultural contents of high school English textbooks in Japan." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26851.
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This study was conducted for the following two purposes: 1) to create and test a process by which cultural information in English textbooks in Japan can be analyzed, and 2) to examine what and how much information about foreign culture is taught in English classes in Japan.
First, a process was developed from Joiner's evaluation form to gauge the cultural content of EFL textbooks. Action was taken to ensure that the process included both qualitative and quantitative steps. Second, the process entailed an analysis of the cultural content of 10 senior high school English textbooks published in Japan.
The process was found to be functional and the analysis revealed that the textbooks were inadequate for the purpose of raising students' cultural awareness. The results of this study may be utilized not only for the improvement of textbooks, but also for future studies which might examine junior high school and college English textbooks.Education, Faculty of
Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of
Graduate
4
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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Surma, Miyuki U. "Autonomy in foreign language learning: An exploratory analysis of Japanese learners." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2004. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/785.
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Learner autonomy has received increased attention: in the recent language teaching and learning literature. Although Holec (1981) proposed a somewhat categorical definition of learner autonomy, this concept can be viewed in various ways depending on factors such as context and culture. One may posit, for example, that learner autonomy is based on Western values and as such, is not as easily accessible in the Asian context. With such variables in mind, the purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of Japanese students' beliefs regarding foreign language learning in a particular context. This is undertaken by utilising multi-modal investigation procedures, consisting of three studies. Little's learner autonomy theory is utilised throughout this study to provide the theoretical framework. The current research is divided into three interrelated studies. Study One attempt to identify high achievers' beliefs about effective foreign language learning strategies, teacher/learner roles, classroom expectations, self-motivation strategies, and their concept of the self as a learner. In Study One, Little's definition of learner autonomy is considered as the basic concept and used to examine whether or not the collected data in this research supports his theory. Study Two attempts to discover Japanese students’ beliefs and expectations about foreign language learning in a particular context, namely, learning English in Japan. Study Three reports the students’ views on inside/outside classroom environment their journal writings. The researcher takes the position, based on Little's theory, that learner autonomy means both awareness of self-direction and the need for collaboration. In addition, she believes that autonomous learning is not just a matter of offering freedom of time and space, but that internal flexibility should be given some consideration in the development of learner autonomy. Based on Study One, learner autonomy is defined as learners' internal attitude for self-motivation, which leads to effective language learning. Positive self•beliefs and metacognitive awareness con be considered as keys in promoting learner autonomy. Study Two results confirmed high achievers' higher self•efficacy beliefs as compared with average students. The high achievers tended to have more confidence in their ability to learn a language successfully and showed a greater understanding for and use of metacognitive knowledge and strategies. In Study Three, low•middle English level students' beliefs were extracted from their journals and presented in detail. These showed that confidence•building and metacognitive awareness for self•reflection affected their motivation for autonomous learning. Results suggest that teachers should not impose restrictions on their students' potential based on their external judgement of the students' capabilities. Therefore, instead of training learners to satisfy teacher expectations, or simply giving students unbounded freedom to make decisions, learner development that promotes autonomy should be more concerned with the nature of both students’ and teachers’ learning as a path towards self growth.
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Ozawa, Michiyo. "Japanese Students' Perception of Their Language Learning Strategies." PDXScholar, 1996. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5160.
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Students' use of language learning strategies (LLSs) is affected by their educational backgrounds and academic requirements, and so are their attitudes toward language learning. This study investigates Japanese students' perception of their English LLSs in different language environments: Japan and the United States. A group of 43 Japanese students from Otemae College participated in a cultural study program at Portland State University. The group consisted of 28 students who studied for two terms (ST Group) and 15 students who studied for three terms (LT Group). In this study, a combination of a self-assessment questionnaire, dialogue journals, and a card-ranking activity was employed. The self-assessment questionnaire, SILL (Rebecca Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning), was administered at different times during the learning period for identification of students' English LLSs in Japan (Ll) and in the United States (L2). The SILL provided this study with quantitative data; whereas, dialogue journals and the card ranking activity supplied qualitative data that more insightfully indicated students' perception of language learning, learning experiences, and insight into the students themselves. Dialogue journals allowed students to record their positive and negative experiences in the L2 related to language learning, emotions, concerns, problems, and questions. The students' LLSs increased in frequency and variety of use when the language environment changed from the Ll to the L2. The LLSs of the LT Group continued to improve during an additional term in the L2. Conversely, the LLS use by the ST Group regressed after only four months back in the Ll (except Affective and Social Strategies). The results of the SILL indicated direct strategies were adjusted according to English learning experience in a different learning environment. Three administrations of the SILL, dialogue journals, and the card ranking activity gave students opportunities to review the process of their English learning. This process functioned in raising students' awareness of language learning from cognitive, psychological, social, and cultural perspectives. Such conceptual development of metalinguistic awareness of the language and culture helped the students recognize their language learning experiences in the L2 as the process of human development.
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Fujita, Masahiro. "Developing listening comprehension competence in Japanese English as a Foreign Language Learners." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2002. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2150.
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The purpose of this project is to investigate a model for developing listening comprehension competence on the part of Japanese learners of english as a foreign language, with a view toward promoting practical and communicative english competence.
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Yasutake, Yuko. "English and Japanese word associations and syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift of Japanese children learning English as a second language." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25540.
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Research in word association studies found that children give predominantly syntagmatic responses (responses from different form classes from stimuli). English children were found to undergo a shift to paradigmatic (responses from the same form classes as stimuli) before age ten (referred to as S-P shift) which is the adult norm. On the other hand, Japanese children do not have S-P shift, and Japanese adults' responses are dominantly syntagmatic (Moran 1968).
Leicester (1981) collected English word association responses from Japanese beginner and advanced learners of English as a second language and found S-P shift like increase of paradigmatic responses as English ability improves. This study purports to replicate Leicester's study among children. It is because the existence of the S-P shift in English of second-language learners whose first language does not have the shift would mean that second language learning parallels first language acquisition.
Two main hypothesis were tested:
1. That Japanese children learning English as a second language will give dominantly syntagmatic responses in Japanese regardless of their grade level.
2. That Japanese children learning English as a second language of higher grade level will give more paradigmatic responses than those of lower grade level.
Three subsidiary hypotheses were tested:
3. That Japanese children learning English as a second language will give different proportion of paradigmatic responses in Japanese and English.
4. That Japanese children learning English as a second language will give different pattern of responses in each language.
5. That Japanese children learning English as a second language will give fewer paradigmatic responses in English than monolingual English children of the same grade.
Thirty students each of grades one, three, and five from two Japanese supplementary schools in Vancouver and Seattle were used as subjects. The subjects attend regular English classes at public schools, and therefore, their English ability was assumed to parallel their grade level. 27-item word association test was administered in English and Japanese. The ratio of paradigmatic responses was analyzed according to grade level.
In agreement with literature, no grade difference was found among Japanese paradigmatic responses. In English, however, grade one subjects performed most paradigmatically, and thereby, no linear correspondence between English ability and English paradigmatic responses was found. Although English responses were close to the English norm, and Japanese responses to the Japanese norm, a significant number of Japanese responses were given in English association by grade five students. Significant difference in paradigmaticity was also found when two schools were compared as well as between two languages. Grade one students outperformed equivalent English monolingual children in English.
It was speculated that young children develop L2 vocabulary
systems independently and directly from the start resulting in higher rate of paradigmatic responses, whereas older children initially construct a one to one association between LI and L2, resulting in translation responses and low paradigmaticity in the case of English. School difference suggests that there are some other variables affecting word association.Education, Faculty of
Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of
Graduate
9
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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Huang, Jing, and 黃景. "Autonomy, agency and identity in foreign language learning and teaching." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2009. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B41757981.
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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.
12
Shibuya, Kazuro. "The development of L2 motivation of Japanese learners of English as a foreign language." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609133.
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Russell, Margo K. "A Comparison of Linguistic Features in the Academic Writing of Advanced English Language Learner and English First Language University Students." PDXScholar, 2014. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2023.
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Writing for an academic purpose is not an easy skill to master, whether for a native English speaker (L1) or an English language learner (ELL). In order to better prepare ELL students for success in mainstream content courses at the university level, more must be known about the characteristics of student writing in the local context of an intensive English program. This information can be used to inform ELL writing instructors of which linguistic features to target so that their students produce writing that sounds appropriate for the academic written register.
Two corpora of 30 research essays each were compiled, one of L1 student writing done in various departments at Portland State University, and the other of ELL writing produced in an advanced writing course in Portland State University's Intensive English Language Program. The corpora were compared for the frequencies of 13 linguistic features which had been previously found in significantly different frequencies in L1 and ELL essays (Hinkel, 2002).
The tokens of each feature in each essay were counted, and the frequency rate was calculated in each case. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test found 6 features with significantly different frequency rates between the two corpora. The following features were more frequent in L1 essays than in ELL essays: modal would, perfect aspect, passive voice, reduced adjective clause, and it-cleft. In addition, the type/token ratio was found be significantly higher in L1 essays than in ELL essays.
An analysis of how each of the significant features was used in the context of ELL and L1 essays revealed the following: Both student groups were still acquiring the appropriate use of modal would; the majority of students in both groups did not utilize it-clefts; the lower type/token ratio in ELL essays meant that these students used a more limited vocabulary than did L1 students; and ELL students were still acquiring the accurate and appropriate uses of perfect aspect, passive voice, and reduced adjective clauses, whereas L1 students used these features grammatically and for the standard uses.
To apply these findings to the ELL writing classroom, instructors should help students raise their awareness of these six features in their own academic writing by leading students in identifying grammatical and ungrammatical uses of these features and providing practice in differentiating between uses which are standard to the register of academic writing and uses which are appropriate only in conversation. Two sample activities are included to illustrate how to implement these recommendations.
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Shimabukuro, Misuzu. "Fossilization in Japanese adult advanced English learners and linked instruction as intervention." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2007. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3201.
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The objective of this project is to investigate the items and factors that may be prematurely stabilized in advanced adult second-language learners' interlanguage, in order to propose effective instructional interventions.
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Yeo, Inung. "Effective writing instruction for English-as-a-foreign-language university students in Korea." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2003. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2300.
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Beginning with an analysis of current problems in English education in South Korea, this project is intended to suggest various ways to implement effective English education, especially for writing instruction. The project is designed for students who have low English proficiency in South Korean colleges and universities.
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Shortreed, Ian McFarland. "The effects of task complexity & proficiency on foreigner talk discourse and communication strategies in the NS-NNS interaction." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26917.
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An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of task complexity and learner proficiency in native speaker (NS)/non-native speaker (NNS) interaction. A total of 24 Japanese NSs and 12 NNSs subjects representing three levels of proficiency, low (n=4), intermediate (n=4) and advanced (n=4), were randomly assigned to dyads to complete two communication tasks, each differing in relative complexity. Three composite variables made up of 32 dependent variables were used to measure the frequency of formal reduction, communication and repair strategies across both tasks. The hypothesis that NSs would simplify their speech and use a higher frequency of interactional modifications in accordance with the level of proficiency of the NNSs and the complexity of the tasks was tested. The results for the first independent variable of proficiency, indicated there was a trend showing that NSs simplified their speech when addressing NNSs in general and in particular, when addressing lower level learners of Japanese. The results for the second independent variable of task complexity revealed that there was a significant effect on the number of reduction, communication and repair strategies used on the more complex task for all groups. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on NS-NNS interaction and implications for second language teaching are explored.Education, Faculty of
Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of
Graduate
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Nitta, Takayo. "Affective, cognitive and social factors affecting Japanese learners of English in Cape Town." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2006. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_1842_1210749983.
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This research used diary studies and interviews with five Japanese learners of English to investigate the different affective, cognitive and social factors that affected their learning of English in Cape Town between 2004 and 2005. The findings of this study corroborate arguments put forward by Gardner that factors such as learning goals, learning strategy, attitude, motivation, anxiety, self-confidence and cultural beliefs about communication affect the acquisition of a second language and correlate with one another.
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Jung, Miso. "When English as a Second Language students meet text-responsible writing." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2906.
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This thesis follows two international freshman students in an English composition class at California State University, San Bernardino. The results indicate that the students generally experienced feeling challenged and overwhelmed about the unfamiliar topic, but detailed assignment guidelines played a key role for students to progress in understanding the assignment.
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Atta, Takeshi. "Computer-based instruction in English as a foreign language for Japanese secondary students." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1998. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1447.
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Chao, Tzu-Chia. "Teaching and learning EFL through multiple intelligences : voices from a university classroom." Monash University, Faculty of Education, 2004. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/5430.
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Dison, Arona. "Crossing boundaries: facilitating conceptual development in relation to culture in an English for academic purposes course." Rhodes University, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002627.
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This research was undertaken as the first cycle of an action research project. The aim was to develop a course within the English Language 1 for Academic Purposes (ELAP) course at Rhodes University, which would facilitate the conceptual development of students in relation to the topic of Culture. The implementation of the course was researched, using students' writing, interviews, staff meeting discussions and video-taping of certain classes. Ten students volunteered to 'be researched'. The types of initial 'commonsense' understandings of culture held by students are outlined and the conceptual development which they underwent in relation to Culture is examined. Students' perceptions of the approaches to learning required in ELAP and the Culture course in particular are explored. The involvement of the ELAP tutors in the course and in the research was a learning experience for them, and this became-another focus of the research. The findings of the research support the argument for using challenging subject matter in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses, provided that the learning process is carefully scaffolded. An underlying assumption is that ways of thinking and learning in university courses need to be explicitly taught to students and the study concludes that lecturers of mainstream courses could also learn from the findings of research such as this. The study also shows the potential power of participatory action research to involve practitioners in research and enhance their understandings of aspects of their practice. Finally, it notes the need to value subtle developments in students and to see them as being part of a longer term process.
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Sasajima, Shigeru. "Language teacher cognition in the case of Japanese teachers of English at secondary school in Japan : an exploratory study." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/12359.
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Japanese non-native English-speaking EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers in secondary education (JEFL teachers) work in a different educational context from language teachers in Europe. The purpose of this exploratory research is to identify the distinctive ways in which JEFL teachers think, know, believe and do. These concepts are subsumed under the general heading of JEFL teacher cognition, particularly as this applies to teaching and teacher education in Eigo Kyoiku (English education in Japan). The overall purpose of exploring JEFL teachers’ cognitions is reflected in four research guiding questions (RQs): 1) to identify the nature of JEFL teacher cognition; 2) to see any particular influences that might help shape JEFL teacher cognition; 3) to learn to what extent JEFL teachers’ cognitions are consistent with their actual practice of teaching; and 4) to discuss the ways in which the concept of language teacher cognition (LTC) may be understood and situated in the Japanese context. The research consisted of two studies: a) a quantitative Preliminary Study administered to 62 JEFL teachers and 81 modern foreign language (MFL) teachers in Scotland, in order to identify any areas regarding JEFL teacher cognition; and b) an in-depth Main Study based on a qualitative and ethnographic approach, featuring 10 JEFL teachers. This made use of qualitative data analysis and the applied KJ method, and also drew on complexity theory, through reflective and reflexive processes with particular reference to retrodictive qualitative modelling (RQM). The results of the Main Study are presented as 16 concept maps, each of which represents a featured aspect of JEFL teacher cognition (ATC). It represents the signature dynamics of each ATC and points to the variation and tension which JEFL teachers experienced in relation to each ATC. The research suggests that, although LTC have certain universal characteristics, it needs to be explored on the assumption that it is situated socially, culturally, locally and personally.
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Loy, Kumiko Honjo 1950. "Evaluation of Japanese Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu essay organization vis a vis the English Five Part Essay by native English speaking college composition students and implications for contrastive rhetoric." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/276809.
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College composition students and graduate assistant teachers were tested for their perceptions of coherence, focus, organization, and overall quality of essays written in the Japanese Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu rhetorical pattern of organization as opposed to the English Five Part Essay style of organization where the experimental essays were otherwise identical. These perceptions were measured on a 4-point Lykert scale. The composition students were also tested for their total recall of the essays. The data were analyzed by ANOVA, and no significant effect for treatment was observed. The results of this study suggest that for the Japanese Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu/English Five Part Essay pair the negative effects of native language rhetorical pattern on readers of the second language may be less important than the theory of contrastive rhetoric would suggest. Consequently, alternative forms of possible cultural interference such as cultural background knowledge (content) and the role played by writing in a culture warrant greater scrutiny.
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Sowers, Andrew Michael. "Loanwords in Context: Lexical Borrowing from English to Japanese and its Effects on Second-Language Vocabulary Acquisition." PDXScholar, 2017. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3970.
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Research has shown that cognates between Japanese and English have the potential to be a valuable learning tool (Daulton, 2008). Yet little is known on how Japanese learners of English produce cognates in context. Recently, studies have argued that cognates can cause a surprisingly high number of syntactic errors in sentence writing activities with Japanese learners (Rogers, Webb, & Nakata, 2014; Masson, 2013). In the present study, I investigated how Japanese learners of English understood and used true cognates (words that have equivalent meanings in both languages) and non-true cognates (words where the Japanese meaning differs in various ways from their English source words). Via quasi-replication, I analyzed participants' sentences to determine the interaction of true and non-true cognates on semantics and syntax. In an experimental study, twenty Japanese exchange students filled out a word knowledge scale of thirty target words (half true cognates and half non-true cognates) and wrote sentences for the words they indicated they knew. These sentences were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively for both semantic and syntactic errors. Sentences with true cognates were semantically accurate 86% of the time, while those with non-true cognates were accurate only 62.3% of the time, which was a statistically significant difference. When the sentences were analyzed for syntax, there was no statistically significant difference in the number of errors between true and non-true cognates, which contrasts with previous research. Qualitative analysis revealed that the most problematic syntactic issue across both cognate types was using collocations correctly. Among those collocational issues, there were clear differences in the types of errors between true and non-true cognates. True cognate target words were more likely to lead to problems with prepositional collocations, while non-true cognate target words were more likely to lead to problems with verb collocations. These results suggest that for intermediate Japanese learners of English, semantics of non-true cognates should be prioritized in learning, followed by syntax of true and non-true cognates, which should be taught according to the most problematic error types per cognate status.
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Bailey, Audrey. "The Effect of Extended Instruction on Passive Voice, Reduced Relative Clauses, and Modal Would in the Academic Writing of Advanced English Language Learners." PDXScholar, 2016. http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3203.
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As more international students who are not expert users of English come to the United States to study at university, the field of teaching English for Academic Purposes grows. There are many important skills these international students must learn to become successful university students in America, but writing for academic purposes is of particular importance for these students to join the academic conversation in their respective disciplines. Corpus research has identified the grammatical features which are frequently found in different registers, and from this work it is known which structures are important in different types of academic writing. Grammatical structures frequently found in the academic register must be taught to these university-bound students. However, many English Language Learners (ELLs) are infrequently using, or inaccurately using, some of these grammatical features in their writing when compared to L1 writers. This study focuses on three of those under-used, and/or inaccurately used structures: passive voice, reduced relative clauses, and modal would.
At an Intensive English Language Program (IELP) in the Pacific Northwest, an experimental group of advanced ELLs were given extended instruction--extra time and practice--on these three features. The control group received the standard amount of time and practice students typically receive at this IELP. 25 essays from the experimental group and 44 essays from the control group were tagged for presence, accuracy, and appropriacy of the three grammatical features (passive voice, reduced relative clauses, and modal would). The experimental and control group essays were compared to see if the treatment instruction had a significant effect on the frequency, accuracy, and/or appropriacy of these features.
Results from an independent t-test on the frequency of passive voice showed no significant difference between the experimental group essays and the control group essays. Results from a Mann-Whitney U test on the frequency of reduced relative clauses and modal would showed no significant difference between the two groups. In regard to accuracy and appropriacy, a Mann-Whitney U test found no significant difference between the experiment group and control group.
The analysis of the two groups showed that students in the treatment group did use passive voice on average more than students in the control group, but it was not enough to be significantly different. The frequency of reduced relative clauses and modal would was low, yet accuracy and appropriacy of these features was very high for both groups.
These findings reveal that different, or perhaps more focused, approaches must be taken beyond extra time and practice to increase ELLs' use of passive voice, reduced relative clauses, and modal would in their writing.
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Otaala, Laura Ariko. "Action researching the interaction between teaching, learning, language and assessment at The University of Namibia." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the views of students and lecturers at the University of Namibia about teaching and learning. The study specifically determined the views of students and lectures in relation to language, teaching, learning and assessment as well as what we might learn from analysis of these views to assist in improving teaching, learning and assessment.
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Vawser, Juliet Rosemarie. "An experiment testing the Bolinger principle to teach gerunds and infinitives." PDXScholar, 1988. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3853.
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A group of 101 ESL learners ranging in the mid to upper intermediate level was randomly distributed among two groups--experimental and control. They were given three tests prior to the experiment and three tests after treatment. Both groups were given the same contextualized materials. However, the experimental group was taught gerunds and infinitives using the Bolinger principle whereas the control group was taught gerunds and infinitives by list memorization.
Two hypotheses were posed:
1. Teaching ESL learners gerunds and infinitives using the Bolinger principle will result in significant improvement in discrete point tests.
2. Teaching ESL learners gerunds and infinitives using the Bolinger principle will result in significant improvement in the use of gerunds and infinitives in writing.
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Miyagi, Kazufumi. "Japanese EFL teachers' perceptions of nonnative varieties of English : are they ready to include other Englishes in their classrooms?" Thesis, McGill University, 2006. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=98560.
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This study investigates Japanese EFL teachers' perceptions of regional varieties of English, which are designated as either the Outer Circle or the Expanding Circle by Kachru (1985), and their potential place in EFL teaching in Japan. Participants were 36 teachers at junior high and elementary schools and 28 undergraduates in a TEFL certificate program. Data collection was completed with the use of two Likert-scale questionnaires: one involving a task in listening to various English varieties, and the other asking about beliefs about the English language in general and perceptions of nonnative/nonstandard Englishes as opposed to the two major varieties in ELT in Japan: American and British English. In addition, oral interviews were conducted with several participants and their assistant language teachers (ALTs).The findings suggested that in-service teachers showed more ambivalent attitudes toward nonnative varieties than student-teachers did; although the teachers acknowledged potential benefits of nonnative Englishes for the future use of EIL, they showed hesitation in regarding different Englishes as instructional models to be exposed to students. However, the study also showed participants' interest in introducing other Englishes as awareness-raising models. The possibility of inclusion of nonnative varieties was further discussed.
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Dooey, Patricia. "Issues of English language proficiency for international students." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2005. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/628.
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In the last 20 years or so, there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of international full-fee paying students applying to study in Australian universities, The revenue provided in this way has helped to address the problems faced by cash-starved universities facing recurring funding cuts over the same period. Furthermore, the presence of such students on any university campus provides immeasurable enrichment to the student body in terms of cultural diversity and research potential, and indeed it is very tempting in an ever,-increasing global market, to be as flexible as possible with prospective international students. However, the process of admission also demands careful consideration on the part of the various stakeholders involved. Although several factors need to be taken into account, the most obvious and certainly of primary importance would be the need to prove proficiency in the English language, Given that English is the dominant means of communication in the university, all students are required to draw from a complex web of linguistic resources to construct meaning and to complete the range of tasks required of them during their tertiary studies, This volume deals :with the overarching theme of issues of English language proficiency for overseas students studying in an Australian university. This focus can be viewed from many angles, and there are certainly many key facets involved, a selection of which is explored in the papers of the portfolio. These include the following broad areas: recruitment and admissions, language testing and technology, curriculum and inclusivity, English language support, academic conduct and finally the specific needs of international students, as viewed from their own perspective.
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Liu, Yuwei. "A study of the use of adversative, causal and temporal connectors in English argumentations, descriptions and narrations by tertiary Chinese ESL learners." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2016. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_oa/282.
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This study unravels the connector patterns and mental activities that the Chinese learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) and native-English speakers display/perform upon the adoption of adversative, causal and temporal connectors while writing English argumentations, descriptions and narrations. It focuses on the ways in which the Chinese ESL learners’ thinking and connector production recursively interact in meaning-building processes. To elicit information of the writers’ mental processes, three English writing tasks with concurrent verbal reports were used as main elicitation tools. Chinese university students from Low, Mid and High proficiency levels and native-American-English users (Native) were asked to speak out their thoughts while writing English argumentations, descriptions and narrations. Data were also elicited from the retrospective verbal reports and following-up interviews which were conducted right after each writing and concurrent verbal report. Comparison of connector patterns in English texts produced by the Chinese and native-English writers suggests that the Chinese Mid and Low groups use significantly more connectors than the Native group while connector frequencies between the Chinese High and the Native group reveal no significant difference. It has been argued that the High-level students, being more linguistically skilled, can use connectors as well as other cohesive devices to form textual connections as their native-English-speaking counterparts. However, the Mid and Low-level writers, lacking abilities of manipulating other cohesive devices, tend to rely mainly on connectors. Moreover, comparison between the three Chinese groups indicates that the Mid uses significantly more connectors in English texts than the High and Low groups. The Mid group, on the one hand, is not linguistically mature enough to use various cohesive devices as skillfully as the High group, but, on the other hand, has more knowledge on the connector usage than the Low. When connectors were analyzed by category, it is found that the Chinese students use fewer adversative connectors in argumentations and narrations than the native-English writers. This pattern is found to have arisen from the Chinese students’ rigid textual development. ESL learners, due to their poor second language (L2) proficiency, cannot develop sophisticated argumentative and narrative structures. Instead of resorting to counter-arguments and reverse-order narration, they tend to simply list ideas. This could result in lower occurrences of adversative connectors in their argumentations and narrations. The data that are extracted from concurrent verbal reports reveal that the Chinese students use their first language (L1) for five mental activities: (1) initiation, (2) revision, (3) comment-making, (4) decision-making, and (5) monologue-conducting while using L2 for only two: initiation and revision. Examinations on the cognitive demand of the mental activities show that ESL learners rely more on their L1 to perform the cognitively more demanding activities such as comment-making, decision-making and monologue-conducting. Furthermore, the verbal data show that the L2 proficiency levels affect ESL writers’ mental activities in two ways. First, proficient ESL learners report larger linguistic units than the less proficient ones. Second, proficient ESL learners report higher proportions of cognitively more demanding activities than the less proficient ones. These two patterns are argued to result from the different working memory capacities of the proficient and less proficient ESL writers as well as the different ways of processing information in their working memory. Finally, a model of L2 writing process is developed to delineate how L2 proficiency, working memory and cognitive process interact and contribute to L2 writing process. Theoretically, this L2 model refines the L1 model and enriches the current understanding of the L2 writing process in three ways. First, mental activities are classified according to how much cognitive workload they demand. Such categorization is necessary because it explains ESL learners’ language choice while doing verbal reports and also explains the difficulties the learners encounter in L2 writing. Second, the L2 model separates the composing process as pre- and post-stage, which allows us to see how frequencies and types of mental activities differ in the two phases. Third, by including language choice, the L2 model addresses a wider interpretation of the mental activities in writing process. Pedagogically, the comprehensive and explanatory accounts of the connector patterns and mental activities address the problems that ESL learners have when using connectors in L2 writing. This will definitely facilitate the teaching of L2 writing.
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Lei, Xiao, and 雷霄. "Understanding writing strategy use from a sociocultural perspective: a multiple-case study of Chinese EFLlearners of different writing abilities." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2009. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43085672.
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Amburgey, Brent Harrison. "Informal Learning Choices of Japanese ESL Students in the United States." PDXScholar, 2012. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/755.
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This study was designed to explore possible relationships between English language learners past formal language learning experiences and beliefs about language learning on the one hand, and their informal learning choices on the other. Six Japanese English as a second language (ESL) students participated in the study. Participants were interviewed and asked to complete an English study log for one week prior to their scheduled interview. The results of the study suggested that there were likely connections between experiences, beliefs, informal learning choices. For some participants, a singular experience or belief had an effect that seemed to outweigh other experiences and beliefs. However, there were also some differences in informal learning choices among participants that might be better explained by factors outside of the interest of this study, such as personality or goal of English study.
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Kano, Noriko. "The Relationships of Text Structure and Signaling in the Foreign Language Reading of Female Junior College Students in Japan." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1994. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279288/.
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The effects of top-level text structure and signaling on the reading recall of Japanese female junior college students studying English as a foreign language were investigated in this study. One hundred thirty-two subjects were selected from a private female junior college in Tokyo. The students were divided into three groups—high, average, and low reading comprehension levels—based on the results of the Test of Reading Comprehension. The instrument used to measure students' recall ability was developed from expository passages taken from a biology textbook. The passages were rearranged to show identifiable top-level structure, collection of description, causation, problem/solution, or comparison. Each passage was divided into two versions: a with-signaling version, in which top-level structure was explicitly stated by signaling words or phrases, and a without-signaling version, where signaling words or phrases were omitted. After the students were stratified on reading comprehension, they were assigned to eight different versions of text—two of each of the four top-level text structures, one with- and one without-signaling. In the recall test, students were instructed to read the text and to remember as much as they could.
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Chen, Mingjun, and 陈明君. "Strategy to solve cognitive overload in listening comprehension." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2011. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B48365622.
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本研究通過對深圳大學初級漢語水平留學生的晤談以及測試，發現初級水平階段的漢語學生在聆聽過程中常出現以下困難：
1. 未能準確辨識出語音。
2. 雖然能夠識別單個辭彙或者短語，但是無法獲取整個句子的含義。
3. 未能及時進入聆聽狀態，以至於錯過了錄音的開始部分。
4. 遇到障礙往往會卡在困難之處，導致錯過了後續的錄音內容。
5. 無法概括出語段大意。
由於語言知識的不足，留學生在聆聽過程中往往受挫。從認知負荷理論的角度看，無論是語音、辭彙、語法結構，乃至於句子的深層含義和文本大意，不同的層面都對工作記憶施加了負荷。降低認知負荷的有效方法便是激活學生的圖式，對所聽材料進行預測、補充以及選擇性加工，使工作記憶留存更多資源處理不熟悉的任務。適當的聆聽策略可以幫助學生激活長時記憶中的圖式，跳躍障礙，提升理解。
基於此，本研究以深圳大學初級漢語班的外國學生為研究對象，以其中一班（共13 名學生）為實驗組，另一個班（共11 名學生）為控制組，進行准實驗研究。考慮到學生已初步具備預估、猜想的意識，且大部分聆聽困難可透過此方法得以解決，所以在實驗過程中，實驗組學生將接受“猜一猜”的聽力策略教學法。此聽力策略的實施階段包括聆聽以前和聆聽過程。控制組學生接受教師原有的教學方法，即聆聽前教師講解生詞，學生流覽問題，而後聽錄音做練習。
准實驗研究結果顯示，實驗組學生“詞義推斷”一項成效明顯，而“句子深層含義”以及“概括大意”兩項雖然有所改善，但和控制組相比，差異仍未達到顯著水平。“猜一猜”的聆聽策略能在一定程度上幫助學生激活長時記憶中的圖式，在聆聽前根據話題、背景知識等預估錄音大意，在聆聽過程中，利用上下文來跳躍障礙，達成順暢理解。圖式的激活降低了學習者工作記憶的負荷，為工作記憶釋放了大量空間。
從學生調查問卷的結果看，聽力策略“猜一猜”得到了師生的普遍認同，具有教學意義。
最後，本研究對聆聽教學以及未來研究提出了一些建議，以期有更深入的探討。published_or_final_version
Education
Master
Master of Education
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Van, der Merwe Dawid Johannes. "The problems of implementing a communicative approach to English as a second language (higher grade)." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/58603.
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Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 1994.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In 1986 a new English Second Language syllabus for the Junior and Senior Secondary Course was introduced in the Cape· Province. The overall aim of the syllabus is communicative competence and it advocates a communicative approach (CA) to teaching English Second Language. At the inception of the communicative approach most teachers were i~rnorant of what it comprised and this study undertook to determine whether teachers understood what Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) was and if they applied it in their teaching. At first the demands of society and how this had influenced language teaching through the ages was investigated. Communicative competence was demanded at different stages in history and it is at these different stages where the CA has its roots. Many of the principles of the CA, it was discovered, had been applied by teachers and theorists many centuries ago. Teachers and theorists who teach language for communication see language in a different light. Language and its unique properties are investigated, and with an emphasis · on language as communication. Different ways of using language to communicate are investigated and questions like ''Where does meaning reside? What are the kinds of meaning?" and "How can we control meaning?" are discussed. Prior to the introduction of the CA, second language teaching had been devoted to mastery of structures. However, with the new insights gained about language and meaning, the focus shifted to meaning in coherent discourse rather than on discrete forms. With the shift in focus teachers also had to adjust their teaching to meet the demands. At this stage a brief discussion of the CA and the essentials of a communicative curriculum is provided. The comparison between traditional and communicative approaches is made. An account of CLT methodology is given, including exploration of communicative competence. Many practical examples of CLT are explained. In the empirical study a questionnaire was distributed to the ESL teachers at thirty schools in the Boland and Northern Suburbs of Cape Town. The aim of the research was to determine whether ESL teachers teach communicatively. The findings of the study were that teachers who were trained before 1986 and those trained subsequently have a limited view of the CA. Consequently they cannot apply it to their teaching and seem to revert to a structural interpretation of the syllabus. This study then, confirms that teachers do not have a full understanding of what the CA comprises and consequently teachers do not teach "communicatively".
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In 1986 is 'n nuwe Engels Tweede Taal sillabus vir die Junior en Senior Sekondere Kursus ingestel vir die Kaapprovinsie. Die oorhoofse doelstelling was kommunikatiewe bevoegdheid en dit stel voor 'n kommunikatiewe benadering (KB) in die onderrig van Engels Tweede Taal. Met die bekendstelling van die benadering was die meeste onderwysers onbewus daarvan studie onderneem om te bepaal of die kommunikatiewe taalonderrig behels en onderrig toegepas het. en is daar met hierdie onderwysers verstaan wat of hulle dit in hulle Eerstens is die eise van die gemeenskap en hoe van taal deur die eeue beinvloed het, bestudeer. bevoegdheid is op verskillende tye deur die dit die onderrig Kommunikatiewe loop van die geskiedenis vereis en dit is juis aan hierdie verskillende tye wat die kommunikatiewe benadering sy ontstaan te danke het. Dit is ontdek dat van die beginsels van die kommunikatiewe benadering al van vroee tye toegepas is deur onderwysers en teoriste. Onderwysers en teoriste wat taal onderrig vir kommunikasie sien taal in 'n ander lig. Taal en die unieke eienskappe daarvan word ondersoek en taal as kommunikasie word beklemtoon. Verskillende wyses waarop taal gebruik kan word om te kommunikeer word ondersoek en vrae soos: "Waar is betekenis gesetel? Wat is die soorte betekenis?" en "Hoe kan betekenis beheer word?" word bespreek. Voor die bekendstelling van die KB is taalonderrig beperk tot die bemeestering van taal strukture. Helaas, met die nuwe insigte wat verkry is van taal en betekenis het die klem verskuif na verb~ndhoudende diskoers eerder as op sinsontleding. Met die klemverskuiwing moes onderwysers ook hul onderrig aanpas om aan die eise te voldoen. 'n Bondige bespreking van die kommunikatiewe benadering en die voorvereistes van 'n kommunikatiewe kurrikulum word gegee. Daar word ook onderskeid getref tussen tradisionele en kommunikatiewe benaderings. 'n Kommunikatiewe taalonderrig-metodologie word voorsien en kommunikatiewe bevoegdheid word ook bespreek. praktiese voorbeelde verduidelik. van kommunikatiewe taalonderrig Baie word In die empiriese studie Engels Tweede Taal in is 'n vraelys aan die onderwysers van dertig hoer skole van die Boland en Noordelike voorstede van Kaapstad gestuur. Die doel van die studie was om te bepaal of Engels tweede taal onderwysers kommunikatief onderrig. Die bevindinge van die studie was dat be ide onderwysers wat voor 1986 opgelei is en daarna, 'n beperkte siening van die kommunikatiewe benadering het. Gevolglik kan hulle nie die benadering toepas nie en wil dit voorkom of hulle 'n strukturele vertolking van die sillabus volg. Die studie bevestig dus dat onderwysers nie die kommunikatiewe benadering ten volle verstaan nie en gevolglik kan die onderwysers nie kommunikatief onderrig nie.
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Kono, Nariyo. "American Students' Expectations of Teachers in the Japanese Language Classroom." PDXScholar, 1995. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5261.
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The Japanese as a foreign language classroom in the United States is full of information about the target culture and cross-cultural interaction between American students and Japanese instructors. This cross-cultural interaction promotes culture learning but sometimes produces potential conflicts due to American students and Japanese instructors having different expectations of each other. The purpose of this study was to investigate student expectations of their Japanese teachers and to explore similarities and differences among Japanese and American expectations. The research questions addressed were 1) What do American students expect of their Japanese teachers in the Japanese language classroom? Do their expectations have any distinctive features?, and 2) What do Japanese teachers expect of themselves in the Japanese language classroom? Do their expectations have any distinctive features? The data was gathered in the two Japanese programs at universities in the Northwest. This exploratory study used both the quantitative and descriptive research methods. There were three primary data analysis procedures: multidimensional scaling analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and rank-order analysis. These multidimensional and hierarchical clustering analyses explored the underlying structure of the concept of what makes a good Japanese language teacher. The rank-order analysis revealed which beliefs were most important for different groups' judgments of who is a good teacher. In addition, the results of these analyses were discussed with the subjects through interviews. The results suggested a major similarity and also some culture differences. Both Americans and Japanese seemed to share a very basic framework about what makes a good teacher, which contained three domains: Classroom management, Interaction and Personality. However, some of the results seemed to reflect a difference between the role-specific aspects of Japanese society and the individualistic elements of American society. In addition, the rank-order analysis seemed to reveal a difference between the two schools.
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Itakura, Hiroko. "Dominance in L1 and L2 conversation : a study of Japanese male and female learners of English /." Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1998. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B20540693.
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Oxford, Raquel Malia Nitta. "Effects of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning on Second Language Composition of University-Level Intermediate Spanish Students." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2004. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4688/.
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Today's global culture makes communication through writing in a foreign language a most desirable tool to expand personal and professional relations. However, teaching writing is a complex, time-consuming endeavor in any language. Foreign language teachers at every level struggle to fit writing into an already full curriculum and need the most effective methods and tools with which to teach. Technology may provide a viable scaffold to support writing instruction for teachers and students.
The purpose of this research was to determine any benefits of weekly/structured, in-class, computer-assisted grammar drill and practice on the composition quality and quantity of intermediate university Spanish learners. A related purpose was to determine whether students who participated in such practice would access a computer-based writing assistant differently during writing than students without the treatment. The research design was a nonequivalent groups pretest-posttest design. Fifty-two subjects' compositions were graded with both holistic and analytic criteria to analyze composition quality and quantity, and statistical analyses assessed interactions of treatment and effects. The computer-based Atajo writing assistant, which could be accessed during composition, had a logging feature which provided unobtrusive observation of specific databases accessed by each student. There were no statistically significant differences found between the two groups in overall composition scores or in subscale scores. Improvements across time were observed in composition performance for both the experimental and control groups. The implementation of computer-based grammar and vocabulary practice did show a small to moderate positive effect; that is to say, students who received weekly, structured computer grammar and vocabulary practice had higher scores for composition quality and quantity on the posttest measure and accessed the databases less than the control group. The consistent positive trends in the composition data results intimate that over a more extended period of time, computer-based grammar instruction might enhance the quality and quantity of written composition in the foreign language classroom.
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Mazwi, Ntombomzi Rose-May. "Complexity accuracy and fluency in task-based instruction for Xhosa second language at tertiary level." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51660.
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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores a framework for the implementation of task-based instruction for Xhosa second language at tertiary level. Central to the task-based approach to second language learning are the goals of complexity, accuracy and fluency as outcomes. The principles of task-based instruction to syllabus design are examined as this approach to syllabus design is believed to provide an effective base for successful second language acquisition. Theoretical assumptions as propounded by vanous researchers are discussed paymg particular reference to the nature of second language learning and teaching pedagogy. Most linguists agree on the view that Universal Grammar is a constant background against which any language learning process takes place. Universal Grammar is also viewed as the faculty which influences second language acquisition. The study will explore the relationship between second language theory and pedagogy. The Communicative Language Teaching is advanced in this study as an appropriate method for teaching language. The task-based syllabus is discussed with reference to different syllabus types which exhibit tasks as a unit of analysis. The relationship between grammar pedagogy and taskbased methodology is illustrated. A range of communication tasks for Xhosa is presented as an example of a task-based course design and analysed according to a task typology to investigate the communicative value of each task type. Salient functions, notions and language structures are identified based on Xhosa communicative task dialogues. It is hoped that Xhosa second language teachers and researchers will pursue the approach that are advanced here and that they will be able to make a contribution to Xhosa second language course design. It is also hoped that this study has succeeded in dealing with aspects of Xhosa second language learning and that Xhosa teaching will benefit in a variety of respects.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie ondersoek 'n raamwerk vir die implementering van taakgebaseerde onderrig vir Xhosa tweedetaal op tersiêre vlak. Die doelstellings van kompleksiteit, akkuraatheid en vlotheid is sentraal aan die taakgebaseerde benadering tot tweedetaalleer. Die studie sal die beginsels van taakgebaseerde onderrig tot sillabusontwerp ondersoek aangesien hierdie benadering algemeen beskou word as 'n doeltreffende basis vir suksesvolle tweedetaalleer. Die studie sal voorts die teoretiese aannames bespreek wat deur verskillende navorsers gemaak is met betrekking tot die aard van tweedetaalleer en onderrigmetodologie. Die meeste taalkundiges is dit eens dat Universele Grammatika 'n konstante basis is waarop tweedetaalleer plaasvind. Universele Grammatika word beskou as die mentale fakulteit wat tweedetaalleer beïnvloed. Die studie salook die verwantskap tweedetaalteorie en onderrig bespreek. Die kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenadering word aangevoer in die studie as die mees gepaste metode vir taalonderrig. Die taakgebaseerde sillabus sal bespreek word met verwysing na verskillende sillabustipes wat die taak as eenheid vir analise vertoon. Die verwantskap tussen grammatika-onderrig en taakgebaseerde metodologie sal geïllustreer word. 'n Verskeidenheid kommunikatiewe take in Xhosa sal bespreek word as 'n voorbeeld van eenhede in kommunikatiewe kursusontwerp, en die take sal geanaliseer word om die kommunikatiewe aard van elke taak te ondersoek. Prominente taalfunksies, -begrippe en taalstrukture sal geïdentifiseer word vanuit die Xhosa kommunikatiewe taak-dialoë. Die hoop word uitgespreek dat onderwysers en navorsers van Xhosa tweedetaal die benadering wat in hierdie studie ondersoek is verder salontgin, en dat hulle in staat sal wees om 'n bydrae te maak tot kommunikatiewe Die studie ondersoek 'n raamwerk vir die implementering van taakgebaseerde onderrig vir Xhosa tweedetaal op tersiêre vlak. Die doelstellings van kompleksiteit, akkuraatheid en vlotheid is sentraal aan die taakgebaseerde benadering tot tweedetaalleer. Die studie sal die beginsels van taakgebaseerde onderrig tot sillabusontwerp ondersoek aangesien hierdie benadering algemeen beskou word as 'n doeltreffende basis vir suksesvolle tweedetaalleer. Die studie sal voorts die teoretiese aannames bespreek wat deur verskillende navorsers gemaak is met betrekking tot die aard van tweedetaalleer en onderrigmetodologie. Die meeste taalkundiges is dit eens dat Universele Grammatika 'n konstante basis is waarop tweedetaalleer plaasvind. Universele Grammatika word beskou as die mentale fakulteit wat tweedetaalleer beïnvloed. Die studie salook die verwantskap tweedetaalteorie en onderrig bespreek. Die kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenadering word aangevoer in die studie as die mees gepaste metode vir taalonderrig. Die taakgebaseerde sillabus sal bespreek word met verwysing na verskillende sillabustipes wat die taak as eenheid vir analise vertoon. Die verwantskap tussen grammatika-onderrig en taakgebaseerde metodologie sal geïllustreer word. 'n Verskeidenheid kommunikatiewe take in Xhosa sal bespreek word as 'n voorbeeld van eenhede in kommunikatiewe kursusontwerp, en die take sal geanaliseer word om die kommunikatiewe aard van elke taak te ondersoek. Prominente taalfunksies, -begrippe en taalstrukture sal geïdentifiseer word vanuit die Xhosa kommunikatiewe taak-dialoë. Die hoop word uitgespreek dat onderwysers en navorsers van Xhosa tweedetaal die benadering wat in hierdie studie ondersoek is verder salontgin, en dat hulle in staat sal wees om 'n bydrae te maak tot kommunikatiewe kursusontwerp. Die studie poog om ook aspekte van Xhosa tweedetaalleer te identifiseer wat die onderrig van Xhosa tot voordeel kan strek in verskillende opsigte.
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Gentil, Guillaume. "Academic writing instruction in disciplines other than English : a sociocultural perspective." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0007/MQ43875.pdf.
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Chand, Rajni Kaushal, and n/a. "Listening needs of distance learners : a case study of EAP learners at the University of the South Pacific." University of Otago. Department of English, 2008. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20080827.114047.
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This study focuses on student listening needs in the context of the English for Academic Purposes program taught by distance education at the University of the South Pacific. It explores the relationship between learners� awareness of the learning strategy they use for developing their listening skills and their teachers� knowledge of the strategy use and listening needs of learners.
Using an ethnographic case study approach, the study was conducted at various campuses and centres of the University of the South Pacific. Interviews were conducted with five EAP/study skills teachers, five subject/course teachers, 19 past learners and 10 present learners of the EAP/study skills course. Questionnaire data was also obtained from 19 past learners and 153 present learners. In addition, a course material analysis was carried out.
The study confirms and adds weight to the conclusions of earlier researchers such as Berne (1998), and Mendelsohn (2001) who explain that discrepancies exist between L2 listening research and practice. The findings of this research indicate that teachers differ from their learners in terms of learners� knowledge and understanding of listening skills and learning strategies in use. The findings also indicate that even though learning had taken place in this distance education context some face-to-face teaching would have been desirable. A combination of distance teaching with longer teacher-learner contact for distance teaching of listening skills is recommended, since regular contact between teachers and learners is seen by learners as very beneficial and more likely to lead to a better development of listening skills. It also helps create an awareness of learners� present and future listening needs. The nature of distance teaching at the University of the South Pacific, and the challenges faced by both teachers and learners are discussed in this study, and the requirement for further needs analysis in regard to distance EAP courses are noted.
The study concludes with recommendations for strategy training for distance learners as well as for raising teacher awareness about the importance of strategy teaching. It is also recommended that similar studies be undertaken in other language skills courses offered by distance at universities like USP such as reading, writing and speaking courses.
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Koike, Yuko. "Communicative competence through music in EFL for Japanese middle school students." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1999. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2564.
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Mungthaisong, Sornchai. "Constructing EFL literacy practices : a qualitative investigation in intertextual talk in Thai university language classes /." Title page, abstract and table of contents only, 2003. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phm9962.pdf.
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Khumalo, Kwazi Herman. "The effects of co-operative learning on student performance in English as a second language with specific reference to Madadeni College of Education." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52522.
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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The writing of this thesis has been an attempt to respond to the problem of students who do not seem to be able to express themselves succinctly and clearly in English. Madadeni College of Education enrols students who have passed grade twelve, at least most of them have passed English. Their passing English at grade twelve presupposes that they can use English freely during the teaching and learning situation, for all courses are studied and presented through the medium of English. On realising this serious handicap the researcher decided to come up with something that can probably help contribute in shaping good prospective English teachers who will in turn teach many generations to come. There was decided on co-operative learning as the possible technique that can be used in higher education with the view to influencing students to use English practically. It needs to be stressed that co-operative learning is a learning technique or strategy (not a teaching method) that is used to make participants use English practically. The central problem of this thesis therefore is that students fail to express themselves clearly in English. This means the sample of sixty student participants who were drawn from the primary section of teacher training got involved in practical co-operative learning activities in order to practice English in small manageable co-operative learning groups. Co-operative learning is a special type of group work where each participant is given a specific function or task to do. Chapter 1 of this thesis explores the problem of the research and is followed by the hypothesis. The purpose of the research is spelt out that it is to examine and diagnose how co-operative learning can be used as an instrument for improving students' English-speaking skills through active and participatory learning. The research methodology, which uses a descriptive approach becomes part of this thesis. It outlines the activities that are part of this research. Student participants became involved in practical co-operative learning for three weeks. After these activities had been completed, a questionnaire was developed and constructed. The purpose of the study was to examine and diagnose how co-operative learning can be used as an instrument for improving students' English-speaking skills through active and participating learning. Student respondents or participants were respondents. Chapter 2 deals with a critical review of the literature which was completed mainly to identify possible solutions and effective ways to educate the next generations about the problem. Chapter 3 focuses on the research and the research methodology where a research design, which spells out the population sample, research procedures and the design of the questionnaire are central. Chapter 4 deals with the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of the results. As a penultimate chapter, the researcher is able to evaluate (from student participants' responses) the success or the shortfalls of the research. Chapter 5 focuses on the synthesis of findings, conclusions, recommendations and the conclusion of this research.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die skryf van hierdie tesis was 'n poging om die probleem aan te spreek van studente wat dit moeilik vind om hulle duidelik en bondig in Engels uit te druk. Die meeste studente wat met die vereiste graad 12-kwalifikasie tot Madadeni Onderwyskollege toegelaat word, het ook in graad 12 in Engels geslaag. Dit veronderstel dat hulle tydens die onderrig-en-Ieerproses Engels met gemak behoort te kan gebruik, maar dit is ongelukkig nie so nie. Alle kursusse by genoemde kollege word deur medium Engels aangebied. Hierdie ernstige leemte ten opsigte van Engels waarmee die studente te kampe het, het die navorser gemotiveer om 'n bydrae te maak tot die ontwikkeling van goeie Engelse onderwysers wat vir vele toekomstige geslagte waardevolle onderrig kan gee. Daar is besluit om kooperatiewe leer in die navorsing te gebruik as In moontlike tegniek wat in hoër onderwys aangewend kan word ten einde studente aan te moedig om Engels te gebruik. Daar word beklemtoon dat kooperatiewe leer 'n leertegniek of -strategie is (nie 'n leermetode nie) wat gebruik word om deelnemers te motiveer om Engels in die praktyk te gebruik. Die kernprobleem waarmee hierdie tesis te make het, is dat studente hulle nie duidelik in Engels kan uitdruk nie. Die steekprroef van 60 studente wat vanuit die primêre afdeling van onderwyseropleiding getrek is, het betrokke geraak by praktiese kooperatiewe leer-aktiwitete, om sodoende in klein, beheerbare kooperatiewe groepe Engels te praat. Kooperatiewe leer is 'n spesiale soort groepwerk waar elke deelnemer 'n spesifieke funksie vervul, of 'n besondere taak het om uit te voer. Hoofstuk 1 van hierdie tesis ondersoek die navorsingsprobleem. Die hipotese volg daarop. Die doel van navorsing word uiteengesit, naamlik om te ondersoek en te diagnoseer hoe koëperatiewe leer aangewend kan word om studente se taalvaardigheid in Engels te verbeter deur aktiewe en deelnemende leer. Die navorsingsmetodologie, wat 'n beskrywende benadering volg, is deel van hierdie tesis, en dit skets die aktiwiteite wat deel uitmaak van hierdie navorsing. Deelnemende studente was vir drie weke lank betrokke by praktiese koëperatiewe leer. Daarna is 'n vraelys geïmplementeer. Die doel van die studie was die ondersoek en diagnose van hoe koëperatiewe leer as instrument gebruik kan word om studente se "engels-sprekende" vermoëns deur aktiewe en deelnemende leer te bevorder. Hoofstuk 2 is 'n kritiese oorsig van die literatuurstudie, wat hoofsaaklik gerig is op moontlik oplossings en effektiewe maniere om nuwe studente aan die probleem bloot te stel. Hoofstuk 3 belig die navorsing en die navorsingsmetodologie. 'n Navorsingsontwerp wat die steekproef, navorsingsprosedures en die vraelysontwerp uiteensit, staan sentraal. Hoofstuk 4 behandel die aanbieding, ontleding en interpretasie van die resultate. Uit die deelnemende studente se reaksie poog die navorser om die suksesse en tekortkominge van die probleemgebied te bepaal. Hoofstuk 5 sluit die tesis af met 'n sintese van die bevindinge, afleidings en aanbevelings van die navorsing.
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Butterfield, Carol Long. "Multiple stories: Developing literacy in an ESL/ESP aviation program." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186785.
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A basic goal of an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program is to enable the language learner to function within an academic discipline, science and technology occupation, or a vocational occupation by using English. This teacher researcher case study explores the English literacy development of three adult Japanese student pilots within a holistic English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program. The setting of this five month naturalistic case study was on a small airport in the Southwestern United States. Experiential literacy events were provided to encourage student pilots to develop English literacy while learning aviation concepts. A preliminary case study with one student was conducted to evaluate and modify data collection methods, and ESP curriculum and organization. Data collection included participant observation and field notes, dialogue journals between students and the teacher researcher, oral and written interviews, checklists, and audio-taping methods. Three themes emerged through the constant comparative method of data analysis: (1) self perception, (2) developing relationships, and (3) developing literacy strategies. These three themes reflect the process of how and through what particular issues students developed English literacy. Findings from the analysis of data suggest that English literacy develops differently, and has distinct meanings for each person. In contrast to traditional ESP and ESL programs that emphasizes the transmission of language, a holistic ESP program provides opportunities for adult student pilots to develop English literacy through a process of inventing and appropriating English for his/her own purposes and needs. Findings also indicate that learning the form and function of language is not enough. Other language processes and social interactions enhance learning and support language development. Current research within the English for Specific Purposes field focuses on the description of the language as product of a particular academic/scientific/occupational situation that a student needs to learn to be successful. This dissertation seeks to refocus the direction in ESP research and contribute to the understandings of the process of literacy development in a holistic ESP program.
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Boswell, Paul Duane. "Acquisition versus long-term retention of Japanese words and syntax by children and adults: Implications for the critical period hypothesis in second language learning." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186502.
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The critical period hypothesis for second language learning, which states that young children learn additional languages better than adults, lacks unambiguous empirical support as well as a coherent theoretical model. An experimental study was conducted which analyzed child-adult differences in difficulty of acquisition and long-term retention for rules of syntax and words in Japanese, a language unfamiliar to the subjects. The results of this study found no advantage for children over adults either in acquisition or long-term memory. However, relative to the difficulty of acquisition, the children had lower forgetting rates for words than for rules when both materials were learned completely. In the lexical study, the children's performance at retention was closer to the adults' than at acquisition, whereas in the syntax study, the opposite was the case. These results confirm the existence of developmental differences in the forgetting rates of different materials. Such results imply that, if there is an advantage for learning language at an early age, it might be localized in lexical retention.
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Ruhl, Janice Elisabeth. "American Deaf Students in ENNL Classes: A Case Study." PDXScholar, 1995. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4920.
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Many deaf students who seek post secondary education need some sort of developmental education in reading and writing to ensure success in college. These students often end up in college preparatory or remedial classes that are designed for native speakers of English. For many of the deaf students entering college, English is a second language or a first language that they have failed to achieve fluency in. This study describes the experience of two deaf students enrolled in English as a Non-Native Language classes for the first time at an Oregon community college. The Office of Students with Disabilities and the ENNL department cooperated in this trial to determine whether the ENNL program is an appropriate place for American deaf students needing developmental education in English. Observations, interviews and writing sample analysis were used to provide a multi-layered description of the experience from several perspectives. The deaf students were found to display similar errors in their writing samples as traditional ENNL students at the same level and benefited from instruction geared to non-native speakers of English. The rehabilitation counselor and ENNL instructors agreed that placement of the deaf students in ENNL classes is appropriate and the program continues in fall term. The deaf students of this study stated that they were better served by ENNL classes than by Developmental Education Classes. Curriculum and methodology used in ENNL classes were found to meet the educational needs of the deaf students, and only minor modifications were made to accommodate the students. The experience from these classes has convinced the ENNL department to continue accepting deaf students to the program and enrollment of deaf students in ENNL classes is expected to increase.
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Brunette, Kathryn Elaine. "Adult ESL Writing Journals: A Case Study of Topic Assignment." PDXScholar, 1994. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4738.
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Over the past ten years, the use of student writing journals has become increasingly widespread in the TESOL field. Such journals serve a wide variety of purposes: a cultural diary, a free writing exercise, a forum for reaction or comment on readings or classroom discussions, in addition to a form of teacher/student dialogue. The main purpose of this study has been to determine the relationship of topic assignment to the quantity and quality of resulting entries. The data, 144 journal entries generated by ten adult ESL students over a period of ten weeks, were measured for length, in terms of total words and total number of T-units, and quality as assessed by the Jacobs profile (1981) which considers the following areas: content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics. In addition, student reactions to instructor comments and attitudes toward journal keeping were explored in an end of term questionnaire. It was found that, on a group level, the assignment of four specified topic types (A. Topics relating to class lectures and discussions, B. Topics relating class discussions to the students' respective cultures, C. Topics relating to class or personal experiences and D. No topic assignment) did not appear to have any relationship with either the quality or quantity of writing. However, on an individual level, topic assignment did seem to have a relationship with the quantity of writing and in some cases, the quality as well. In considering student reaction to instructor comments, all students reported reading instructor comments, but rarely responded to them. When considering topic assignment, 74% of the students stated preferring an assigned topic, yet 60% actually wrote more when given a free choice of topic. Also, on the individual level, students stated a variety of topic type preferences that roughly corresponded with an increase in entry length. Finally, students seemed to have a positive attitude toward journal keeping as 80% stated they would like to keep a journal next term.
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Bodenstein, Eckhard W. "Lernervoraussetzungen von Deutschstudenten an der Universitat Zululand : eine Untersuchung auf der Grundlage von Bildtexten." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/50985.
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Thesis (MA) -- Stellenbosch University, 1998.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During my work as a lecturer in "German as a foreign language" at the University of Zululand I have experienced that African students often understand German texts in a different way than I, coming from a European background, would have expected. According to the research on text reception, differences in understanding texts are the result of different reader characteristics of which the socio-cultural background forms an important component. This thesis examines the socio-cultural background of Zulu students and aims to show how it influences their understanding of German texts. The necessary data is obtained by way of a comparative empirical investigation which is enhanced by personal observations made while teaching German to African learners. The investigation is based on a German advertisement. The control groups consist of South African students at the Universities of Natal/Durban and Stellenbosch as well as students in Germany at the University of Kassel. The investigation is concluded by a discussion of the implications that the socio-cultural background of Zulu students can have on the teaching of "German as a foreign language" and on intercultural communication.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gedurende my werks,aamheidas dosent in die vak "Duits as vreemde taal" aan die Universiteit van Zululand het ek ondervind dat Swart studente dikwels Duitse tekste heeltemal anders verstaan as wat ek, as iemand met Europese agtergrond, sou verwag het. Navorsing oar teks-resepsie skryf resepsieverskille toe aan verskillende lesereienskappe waarvan die sosio-kulturele agtergrond 'n belangrike komponent vorm. Hierdie tesis ondersoek die sosio-kulturele agtergrond van Zoeloe-studente en probeer aantoon hoe dit die resepsie van Duitse tekste be'invloed. Die nodige inligting hiervoor word verkry deur middel van 'n vergelykende empiriese ondersoek. Dit word aangevul deur persoonlike waarnemings wat ek gedurende die onderrig van Duits aan Swart studente gemaak het. Die ondersoek is gebaseer op 'n Duitse advertensie. Die kontrolegroepe bestaan uit studente aan die universiteite in Natal/Durban en Stellenbosch in Suid- Afrika en in Duitsland aan die Universiteit van Kassel. In die slotgedeelte word die implikasies uitgewys wat die sosio-kulturele agtergrond van Zoeloe-studente op die onderrig van "Duits as vreemde taal" as oak op interkulturele kommunikasie kan he.
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Kauffman, Donna Carey. "The effects of a goal-oriented syllabus on college-bound English as a second language (ESL) students." Diss., This resource online, 1992. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10192006-115600/.
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