Sentence processing strategies by 10 bilingual speakers (Spanish: L1 and English: L2) were compared to 10 monolingual speakers of Spanish and 10 of English. Word-by-word reading times for ambiguous and non-ambiguous sentences were recorded. A paraphrasing task was used to determine the attachment preferences for a prepositional phrase placed after the verb. Multivariate analyses of the data showed that bilingual speakers combined strategies from both languages when processing ambiguous sentences in L2 that are non-ambiguous in L1. Furthermore, overall results showed that the three groups were sensitive to the attachment of the prepositional phrase. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of sentence processing and of language transfer.

With the global trend of transnational migration, a huge influx of highly skilled immigrants has been influencing Canadian society and economy. However, there is little literature that illuminates highly skilled migrants’ workplace experiences and their identities in terms of second language acquisition. This multiple case study explores three highly skilled Korean immigrants’ experiences, focusing on the interplay of their language learning, identity, and workplace communities. Grounded in the notion of “imagined communities” (Kano & Norton, 2003) and the theory of “communities of practice” (Lave & Wenger, 1991), this study analyzes the process of how highly skilled migrants have constructed their imagined workplace communities. By revealing the multiple dynamic negotiations co-constructed by the workplace contexts and the individuals, this study shows the interlocked relationship between second language learning, identity, and the given community. This study also argues the importance of membership and positive social arrangements in a community for language learning.

Ineffective reading takes place if the reader does not understand what he reads. Therefore it is important for everybody to be able to make sense of what they read. Teachers often do not pay enough attention to the teaching of comprehension in schools. Reading comprehension is an aspect that has been the least adequately explained arid therefore it is the most difficult one to teach. Even students think of it as only another exercise of English and rush through it just to finish as soon as possible. Teachers hand back the exercises and give the correct answers without instructing students on how to improve their comprehension. By teaching students different reading strategies their proficiency in comprehension may improve. Most of the students are unaware of reading strategies and they don't know how to implement them in their comprehension.• This study offers an empirical investigation into the teaching of four specific reading strategies to students in an attempt to help them to improve their reading comprehension. The literature on language learning strategies and reading strategies, as well as the teaching and learning of reading strategies, is surveyed. The results of an empirical investigation into the teaching of four reading strategies (guessing the meaning of the word from the context, finding the main idea in a passage, making inferences and generalizing) indicate that, although there was only a marginal improvement in reading comprehension, it is clear that the teaching of reading strategies has enormous potential. English Second Language teachers may find it worth their while to implement the teaching of reading strategies to develop their students' proficiency in reading comprehension. / Thesis (MEd (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1996

Ineffective reading takes place if the reader does not understand what he reads. Therefore it is important for everybody to be able to make sense of what they read. Teachers often do not pay enough attention to the teaching of comprehension in schools. Reading comprehension is an aspect that has been the least adequately explained arid therefore it is the most difficult one to teach. Even students think of it as only another exercise of English and rush through it just to finish as soon as possible. Teachers hand back the exercises and give the correct answers without instructing students on how to improve their comprehension. By teaching students different reading strategies their proficiency in comprehension may improve. Most of the students are unaware of reading strategies and they don't know how to implement them in their comprehension.• This study offers an empirical investigation into the teaching of four specific reading strategies to students in an attempt to help them to improve their reading comprehension. The literature on language learning strategies and reading strategies, as well as the teaching and learning of reading strategies, is surveyed. The results of an empirical investigation into the teaching of four reading strategies (guessing the meaning of the word from the context, finding the main idea in a passage, making inferences and generalizing) indicate that, although there was only a marginal improvement in reading comprehension, it is clear that the teaching of reading strategies has enormous potential. English Second Language teachers may find it worth their while to implement the teaching of reading strategies to develop their students' proficiency in reading comprehension. / Thesis (MEd (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1996

This study was aimed at giving a scientific answer to the following problem questions, namely, what communication apprehension connotes: whether students in a parallel medium school suffer from communication apprehension; which factors cause communication apprehension in the classroom, and what measures the teacher can take to prevent or overcome communication apprehension in the classroom. To answer these questions, a literature study on communication apprehension was first undertaken. Communication models and the evaluation of such models were investigated. Communication as a phenomenon was also applied to the classroom situation, and the conclusion was reached that interaction is a prerequisite for communication, and, consequently, also for effective teaching. Communication apprehension interferes with the success of the communication process in the classroom, as well as with the teaching-learning process. To delineate communication apprehension more clearly, the causes of communication apprehension and its influence on the teaching-learning situation were also studied. Guidelines for preventing and overcoming communication apprehension were lastly investigated. The empirical study was based on the completion of the PRCA (Personal Report on Communication Apprehension) by students from a parallel medium school in Klerksdorp, namely the Alabama Secondary School. The following results were obtained: • An average communication apprehension of 62,5% for Afrikaans speaking students versus an average of 63,4% for students speaking other languages. • The average percentage of communication apprehension for students whose mother tongue is Afrikaans is quite high, whether they communicate in Afrikaans (60,2%) or English (64,3%). • The average percentage of communication apprehension for students whose mother tongue is other than Afrikaans is quite high, whether they communicate in Afrikaans (66,0%) or English (59,2%). • The average percentage of communication apprehension of girls is somewhat higher than that of boys. • The communication apprehension of the students is the highest when they participate in public debates, and the lowest when they participate in ordinary conversations. • A fear of failure, a lack of confidence, and the teaching style of the teacher are endorsed as possible causes of communication apprehension, while a lack of communication skills is not a major cause. • The responses of the teachers identified guidelines for preventing and overcoming communication apprehension in students, of which some are in line with the literature, and others are new interesting ideas. Research on communication apprehension in parallel medium schools ought to be extended to include students from primary schools as well. The apprehension of all students to communicate in their mother tongue should also be investigated. The high level of communication apprehension in students ought to be investigated with the aim of developing programmes for inhibiting communication apprehension in students. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000

The focus of this empirical study was on the antecedents of resilience among poor, English second-language (ESL) adolescent learners. The reasons why some adolescents in this situation are resilient and others are not, are indicated in this study. Adolescents qualify as being resilient if they are exposed to significant threat to their development, indicating high risk to the individual, and their adaptation to the threat is successful, due to support, resources or intervention. Thirty three resilient and 32 non -resilient poor, ESL adolescent learners were selected to participate in the empirical study. My study was a mixed method study because I made use of quantitative research (a survey questionnaire completed by the 65 selected learners), and qualitative research (semi-structured interviews with two identified resilient learners and a group interview with elders who are knowledgeable about young people in this community). The conclusions of my study emphasise that dynamic interactions between individual attributes, familial support, community resources, and cultural ties empower some adolescents to overcome hardships and be resilient. My findings are supported by literature. My findings cannot be generalised, as the adolescents in my study were all black, South African youth from an impoverished community in the Vaal Triangle. This is an explorative study, and themes that were identified as contributing to resilience in my study, need to be explored in future studies. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

The focus of this empirical study was on the antecedents of resilience among poor, English second-language (ESL) adolescent learners. The reasons why some adolescents in this situation are resilient and others are not, are indicated in this study. Adolescents qualify as being resilient if they are exposed to significant threat to their development, indicating high risk to the individual, and their adaptation to the threat is successful, due to support, resources or intervention. Thirty three resilient and 32 non -resilient poor, ESL adolescent learners were selected to participate in the empirical study. My study was a mixed method study because I made use of quantitative research (a survey questionnaire completed by the 65 selected learners), and qualitative research (semi-structured interviews with two identified resilient learners and a group interview with elders who are knowledgeable about young people in this community). The conclusions of my study emphasise that dynamic interactions between individual attributes, familial support, community resources, and cultural ties empower some adolescents to overcome hardships and be resilient. My findings are supported by literature. My findings cannot be generalised, as the adolescents in my study were all black, South African youth from an impoverished community in the Vaal Triangle. This is an explorative study, and themes that were identified as contributing to resilience in my study, need to be explored in future studies. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

With the global trend of transnational migration, a huge influx of highly skilled immigrants has been influencing Canadian society and economy. However, there is little literature that illuminates highly skilled migrants’ workplace experiences and their identities in terms of second language acquisition. This multiple case study explores three highly skilled Korean immigrants’ experiences, focusing on the interplay of their language learning, identity, and workplace communities. Grounded in the notion of “imagined communities” (Kano & Norton, 2003) and the theory of “communities of practice” (Lave & Wenger, 1991), this study analyzes the process of how highly skilled migrants have constructed their imagined workplace communities. By revealing the multiple dynamic negotiations co-constructed by the workplace contexts and the individuals, this study shows the interlocked relationship between second language learning, identity, and the given community. This study also argues the importance of membership and positive social arrangements in a community for language learning.

Learning a second language is, for the most part, a day-in day-out struggle against the mountain of new vocabulary a learner must acquire. Furthermore, since the number of new words to learn is so great, learners must acquire them autonomously. Evidence suggests that for languages with writing systems, native-like vocabulary sizes are only developed through reading widely, and that reading is only fruitful once learners have acquired the core vocabulary required for it to become smooth. Learners of Japanese have an especially high barrier in the form of the Japanese writing system, in particular its use of kanji characters. Recent work on dictionary accessibility has focused on compensating for learner errors in pronouncing unknown words, however much difficulty remains. / This thesis uses the rich visual nature of the Japanese orthography to support the study of vocabulary in several ways. Firstly, it proposes a range of kanji similarity measures and evaluates them over several new data sets, finding that the stroke edit distance and tree edit distance metrics best approximate human judgements. Secondly, it uses stroke edit distance construct a model of kanji misrecognition, which we use as the basis for a new form of kanji search by similarity. Analysing query logs, we find that this new form of search was rapidly adopted by users, indicating its utility. We finally combine kanji confusion and pronunciation models into a new adaptive testing platform, Kanji Tester, modelled after aspects of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. As the user tests themselves, the system adapts to their error patterns and uses this information to make future tests more difficult. Investigating logs of use, we find a weak positive correlation between ability estimates and time the system has been used. Furthermore, our adaptive models generated questions which were significantly more difficult than their control counterparts. / Overall, these contributions make a concerted effort to improve tools for learner self-study, so that learners can successfully overcome the reading hurdle and propel themselves towards greater proficiency. The data collected from these tools also forms a useful basis for further study of learner error and vocabulary development.

Learning a second language is, for the most part, a day-in day-out struggle against the mountain of new vocabulary a learner must acquire. Furthermore, since the number of new words to learn is so great, learners must acquire them autonomously. Evidence suggests that for languages with writing systems, native-like vocabulary sizes are only developed through reading widely, and that reading is only fruitful once learners have acquired the core vocabulary required for it to become smooth. Learners of Japanese have an especially high barrier in the form of the Japanese writing system, in particular its use of kanji characters. Recent work on dictionary accessibility has focused on compensating for learner errors in pronouncing unknown words, however much difficulty remains. / This thesis uses the rich visual nature of the Japanese orthography to support the study of vocabulary in several ways. Firstly, it proposes a range of kanji similarity measures and evaluates them over several new data sets, finding that the stroke edit distance and tree edit distance metrics best approximate human judgements. Secondly, it uses stroke edit distance construct a model of kanji misrecognition, which we use as the basis for a new form of kanji search by similarity. Analysing query logs, we find that this new form of search was rapidly adopted by users, indicating its utility. We finally combine kanji confusion and pronunciation models into a new adaptive testing platform, Kanji Tester, modelled after aspects of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. As the user tests themselves, the system adapts to their error patterns and uses this information to make future tests more difficult. Investigating logs of use, we find a weak positive correlation between ability estimates and time the system has been used. Furthermore, our adaptive models generated questions which were significantly more difficult than their control counterparts. / Overall, these contributions make a concerted effort to improve tools for learner self-study, so that learners can successfully overcome the reading hurdle and propel themselves towards greater proficiency. The data collected from these tools also forms a useful basis for further study of learner error and vocabulary development.