Research has shown that language anxiety often hampers performance in spoken communication. However, research has also shown that students experiencing anxiety are helped significantly when teachers adopt cooperative and/or collaborative teaching strategies, two different approaches to group work. This study examines whether or not English teachers in Sweden, working in the context of upper-secondary school, actually perceive these strategies to be as helpful as research shows. It was hypothesized that English teachers employ the two approaches. To explore this topic and hypothesis, three semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results proved the initial hypothesis to be correct since all three teachers who participated use collaborative and cooperative teaching strategies and find them helpful, confirming research findings in other educational contexts; however, collaborative teaching strategies are less common than cooperative strategies. The results are discussed, and it is suggested that it is best if the teachers make the group formations since it facilitates the group work which in turn optimizes the teaching strategies employed and yields improved results for students with language anxiety. The results also showed that it is suggested that teachers not only assess the learners as a whole group, but also the learners individually.

The present investigation evaluated the effectiveness of multiple exemplar training (MET) on the facilitation of bidirectional symmetry-like relations (object-naming) for typically developing children (ages 3-4 yrs) whose first language was Spanish. Two experiments were conducted in which a multiple probe design was implemented to introduce exemplar training across 3 four-item stimulus sets. Participants were first trained in listener (name-object or A-B) relations via either conditional discrimination training (in Experiment 1), or a respondent-type training procedure (in Experiment 2). This training was followed by tests for derived symmetry-like relations (B-A relations). If participants failed these tests, MET was implemented in which B-A relations were explicitly taught with novel stimulus sets. Following MET, probes were conducted again with the original training set and MET continued with novel stimuli until participants met criterion for the emergence of derived B-A relations (Experiment 1) or derived A-B and B-A relations (Experiment 2 only); or after they had been exposed to a total of three different MET sets, whichever occurred first. Results from Experiment 1 indicated failed tests for B-A relations following direct training in A-B relations, and marked improvements in derived B-A relations following MET across all participants. Results from Experiment 2 demonstrated the emergence of derived A-B relations following a respondent-type training procedure (denoted as receptive symmetry training) and the emergence of B-A relations following MET across all participants. These results lend support for the use of a respondent-type training procedure to establish derived relations in typically developing children. Results and implication are discussed in light of a behavior analytic account of language development in general, and for second language acquisition specifically.

A number of studies seem to indicate that Extensive Reading (ER) enhances language proficiency in general and vocabulary knowledge in particular. However none of those surveyed focused on poorly motivated lower level language learners in a normal course of study that incorporated ER of unsimplified material, and few addressed partial vocabulary gain and the other factors that could have affected this. In this study the participants were young adult male Saudi Arabians, who were elementary English language learners and who were not used to reading for pleasure even in Arabic. Tests were used to gauge their partial vocabulary acquisition when they engaged in ER involving an open choice of simplified and unsimplified English material during a regular English preparatory course of just one semester. If ER could be linked to improved vocabulary acquisition in such difficult but natural conditions, the case for ER‘s wider implementation could be strengthened. The study also used diaries, surveys and interviews to delve into the reading habits, academic background and cultural context that could also explain any observed vocabulary gain. The results showed there were few statistically significant partial vocabulary gains after the ER programme, and although the experimental cohort that received the ER programme showed greater gains than the control in most of these cases, the difference was not large in terms of the absolute number of words. The diaries, surveys and interviews gave a rich profile of the participants with a level of detail that surpassed that of any other surveyed study, offering several possible reasons for their modest vocabulary gains and yielding unanticipated findings, such as an exposition of their motivations for academic study. It is concluded that a greater awareness of the learners‘ context is essential when applying ER, which in this particular context leads to the view that pure ER may not be suitable for vocabulary learning, and instead a significantly modified version could be more appropriate. These modifications include selecting appropriate books for the students and adding explicit vocabulary learning activities, and they even include linking the reading to the students‘ final grade. Further research is needed to gauge the effectiveness of such modifications, while a more inductive approach is also important when investigating ER and vocabulary acquisition to give the opportunity for unforeseen results to emerge.

Submitted by Edileide Reis (leyde-landy@hotmail.com) on 2013-05-14T13:50:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Oseas Bezerra Viana Júnior.pdf: 3328274 bytes, checksum: cbe08881a9b72da4168efef4b3afa456 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva(sivalda@ufba.br) on 2013-05-23T18:53:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Oseas Bezerra Viana Júnior.pdf: 3328274 bytes, checksum: cbe08881a9b72da4168efef4b3afa456 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-23T18:53:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oseas Bezerra Viana Júnior.pdf: 3328274 bytes, checksum: cbe08881a9b72da4168efef4b3afa456 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Esta dissertação teve como objetivo tentar identificar a contribuição das estratégias de aprendizagem de línguas, especialmente as metacognitivas, como um dos recursos, que podem auxiliar os alunos a superar as dificuldades encontradas em seu processo de aprendizagem. Para observar tal contribuição, foi necessário mapear quais eram essas dificuldades, enquanto eles realizavam as atividades que envolviam sua habilidade oral, bem como se houve um aumento em seu nível de consciência quanto ao uso das estratégias de aprendizagem. Para alcançar tais objetivos, este trabalho utiliza a metodologia de cunho etnográfico, na qual, faz-se possível utilizar questionários, entrevistas, diários de campo e observação participante. A pesquisa foi realizada em um contexto de aprendizagem formal com um grupo do Curso de Extensão de língua inglesa da UFBA, formado por vinte e um alunos, dos quais uma parte era bolsista. A pesquisa apontou a interação sócioafetiva como um dos principais fatores que podem contribuir ou dificultar na aprendizagem. / Salvador

This dissertation presents a cross-linguistic investigation of how nonnative sounds are perceived by second language (L2) learners in terms of their first language (L1) categories for an understudies language pair---Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Category mapping experiment empirically measured the perceived phonetic distances between Chinese sounds and their most resembling Japanese categories, which generated testable predictions on discriminability of Chinese sound contrasts according to Perception Assimilation Model (PAM). Category discrimination experiment obtained data concerning L2 learners' actual performance on discrimination Chinese sounds. The discrepancy between PAM's predictions and actual performances revealed that PAM cannot be applied to L2 perceptual learning. It was suggested that the discriminability of L2 sound contrasts was not only determined by perceived phonetic distances but probably involved other factors, such as the distinctiveness of certain phonetic features, e.g. aspiration and retroflexion. The training experiment assessed the improvement of L2 learners' performance in identifying Chinese sound contrasts with exposure to high variability stimuli and feedback. The results not only proved the effectiveness of training in shaping L2 learners' perception but showed that the training effects were generalizable to new tokens spoken by unfamiliar talkers. In addition to perception, the production of Chinese sounds by Japanese learners was also examined from the phonetic perspective in terms of perceived foreign accentedness. Regression of L2 learners' and native speakers foreign accentedness ratings against acoustic measurements of their speech production revealed that although both segmental and suprasegmental variables contributed to the perception of foreign accent, suprasegmental variables such as total and intonation patterns were the most influential factor in predicting perceived foreign accent. To conclude, PAM failed to accurately predict learning difficulties of nonnative sounds faced by L2 learners solely based on perceived phonetic distances. As Speech Learning Model (SLM) hypothesizes, production was found to be driven by perception, since equivalence classification of L2 sounds to L1 categories prevented the establishment of a new phonological category, thus further resulted in divergence in L2 production. Although production was hypothesized to eventually resemble perception, asynchrony between production and perception was observed due to different mechanisms involved.

This dissertation investigated the effects of technological mediation on second language (L2) learning, focusing, as a case study, on gains in listening perception of the subtle but important feature of pitch placement in Japanese. Pitch accent can be difficult to perceive for non-native speakers whose first language (L1) does not rely on pitch or tone as a distinctive feature, such as English (Wayland & Li, 2008). Pedagogically, Face-To-Face (FTF) interactions with native or near-native speakers are typically the most effective way to learn L2 sound system features due to social presence, but these interactions are not always possible because of physical distance. Mediation can facilitate these interactions, but it is unclear which type results in more learning gains. The current study compared three mediation types that vary in the information provided to the learner: audio-only (asynchronous), video (audiovisual asynchronous), and videoconferencing (audiovisual synchronous), as well as a fourth condition of videoconferencing which facilitated mutual eye contact. The lack of mutual eye contact in standard videoconferencing (due to the webcam being above the image of an interlocutor's face) can inhibit the perceived social presence (Bondareva, Meesters, & Bouwhuis, 2006). A pretest/posttest/delayed posttest design was used, which measured error rates and reaction times for a same/different discrimination task and a picture recognition task. The participants were English L1 speakers, with no prior study of Japanese. After the pretest, they received training in the form of two short lessons in beginner Japanese vocabulary and sentence building administered by a native speaking tutor, which did not explicitly address pitch placement, but used minimal pairs for this feature as vocabulary items. The lessons were followed by a posttest, and a delayed posttest one week later. The results showed that all four conditions succeeded in improving Japanese pitch placement detection, both immediately after and up to a week after the lessons. While an ANOVA revealed no main effect of mediation type, planned comparison results suggest videoconferencing without eye contact may lead to more gains in pitch placement perception than video. A surprising suggestion by the data was that videoconferencing with eye contact may lead to worse performance than the other mediation types. An exit survey detected the self-determination of the participants, and higher self-determination correlated with worse testing performance within the videoconferencing with eye contact condition. This suggests that the addition of eye contact increased the social presence of that condition to the point that it triggered Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) in the participants. Overall, this study highlights that lessons and tasks administered through mediation can be used to provide native speaker input for features that are important for listening and speaking, and this can effectively help learners attend to and learn these features.

Three EFL classrooms in primary schools in Greece were introduced to dyslexia friendly practices so as to explore whether dyslexic pupils’ inclusion was enhanced. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the dyslexia friendly practices on dyslexic and non-dyslexic EFL pupils’ performance and motivation. EFL teachers’ experiences of the introduction of the dyslexia friendly practices were also explored. Classroom observations, focus groups and teacher and pupil interviews before and during the introduction of the dyslexia friendly practices were conducted. A personal research diary was kept throughout the whole study. It was shown that, the dyslexia friendly practices enhanced dyslexic EFL pupils’ participation in classroom activities and increased their motivation towards learning English. However, less visible changes were shown in their performance. In contrast to the dyslexic EFL pupils, most of their non-dyslexic peers showed improvements in both their motivation and performance. All three EFL teachers experienced positively the introduction of the dyslexia friendly practices while the need for more training on dyslexia was highlighted. These findings indicate that the dyslexia friendly practices enhance inclusion for dyslexic pupils in foreign language education and have positive effects on all classroom pupils and the teachers’ practice. This study contributes to the field of language teaching for dyslexic pupils and suggests a need for more studies on dyslexia support in foreign, second and additional language learning contexts.

Monolingual children identify referents uniquely in gesture before they do so with words, and parents translate these gestures into words. Children benefit from these translations, acquiring the words their parents translated earlier than the ones that are not translated. Are bilingual children as likely as monolingual children to identify referents uniquely in gesture; and, if so, do parental translations have the same positive impact on the vocabulary development of bilingual children? Our results showed that the bilingual children—dominant in English or in Spanish—were as likely as monolingual children to identify referents uniquely in gesture. More important, the unique gestures, translated into words by the parents, were as likely to enter bilingual children’s speech, as it does for monolinguals—independent of language dominance. Our results suggest that parental response to child gesture plays as crucial of a role in the vocabulary development bilingual children as it does in monolinguals.

The population of English Language Learners (ELLs) globally has been increasing substantially every year. In the United States alone, adult ELLs are the fastest growing portion of learners in adult education programs (Yang, 2005). There is a significant need to improve the teaching of English to ELLs in the United States and other English-speaking dominant countries. However, for many ELLs, speaking, especially to Native English Speakers (NESs), causes considerable language anxiety, which in turn plays a vital role in hindering their language development and academic progress (Pichette, 2009; Woodrow, 2006). Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT), such as simulation activities, has long been viewed as an effective approach for second-language development. The current advances in technology and rapid emergence of Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) have provided an opportunity for educators to consider conducting simulations online for ELLs to practice speaking English to NESs. Yet to date, empirical research on the effects of MUVEs on ELLs’ language development and speaking is limited (Garcia-Ruiz, Edwards, & Aquino-Santos, 2007). This study used a true experimental treatment control group repeated measures design to compare the perceived speaking anxiety levels (as measured by an anxiety scale administered per simulation activity) of 11 ELLs (5 in the control group, 6 in the experimental group) when speaking to Native English Speakers (NESs) during 10 simulation activities. Simulations in the control group were done face-to-face, while those in the experimental group were done in the MUVE of Second Life. The results of the repeated measures ANOVA revealed after the Huynh-Feldt epsilon correction, demonstrated for both groups a significant decrease in anxiety levels over time from the first simulation to the tenth and final simulation. When comparing the two groups, the results revealed a statistically significant difference, with the experimental group demonstrating a greater anxiety reduction. These results suggests that language instructors should consider including face-to-face and MUVE simulations with ELLs paired with NESs as part of their language instruction. Future investigations should investigate the use of other multi-user virtual environments and/or measure other dimensions of the ELL/NES interactions.

This dissertation is comprised of three articles that discuss the linguistic choices made by six Mormon missionaries who had been assigned to work with the Spanish speaking population of southern Arizona. Data was collected through interviews, reflective journals, and participate observations. The first article chronicles the missionaries' feelings about a temporary language use rule that required them to speak Spanish from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm for one week. The missionaries experienced elevated confidence as they increased their Spanish use, but also found it to be tiring. The rule provided sufficient motivation for them to significantly alter their linguistic behavior, but once the week was over they reverted back to mostly speaking English. The second article examines how their behavior changed during that week. The missionaries explained their temporary goal to the Spanish-English bilinguals they worked with who were happy to also alter their language use and accommodate the missionaries' Spanish speaking objective. However, other language learning missionaries outside of the group of six were less accommodating and often continued speaking to the missionaries in the study in English even when spoken to in Spanish. The third article discusses the factors that influence which language missionaries choose to use. They often felt uneasy in initial encounters when speaking to someone who might be a native Spanish speaker. Many of their linguistic choices were made based on phenotype, but they preferred to speak to a new person in whichever language they overheard them speaking. The missionaries also felt that native Spanish speakers rejected their invitations to speak Spanish simply because they were white. While race played a large role in language choice, both the missionaries and their interlocutors were invested in conversing in the language that made the other most comfortable. This paper shows that Spanish language learning missionaries in the United States are eager to improve their linguistic abilities, but often require external motivation and community support to use the target language.