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This investigation comprised two studies aimed at identifying the relationship, if any, between beliefs about the formal or functional nature of learning English as a foreign language and learning behaviour in a vocabulary learning computer environment. Two measurement tools were developed.A questionnaire was developed to measure beliefs of a general nature about the task of learning a foreign language, definition of the formal functional components of language learning activities, and beliefs about the efficacy of the same language activities. This was done to observe the correlations, if any, between formal-functional bias in general beliefs and preferences for specific activities which respondents have previously defined in formal-functional terms. A hypertext program was also developed. This program consisted of vocabulary learning materials with code built into the programming which recorded user interaction in log files. Using the logged data, general beliefs and beliefs about the efficacy of language learning activities could then be compared with preference for inductive and deductive learning, passive and productive practice, and effort invested in the task as measured by the number of screens accessed and time spent on the task. The two studies making up the investigation consisted of a pilot study to test the questionnaire and a main study, combining the questionnaire and software. The Main Study was done in four stages with the first three stages being used to pilot the software and the final stage functioning as the source of data on subject behaviour. Questionnaire data was compared with the logged data and post-hoc interviews served to triangulate the logged data. A qualitative analysis of subject behaviour in the computer environment was also carried out. Main findings for questionnaire data were that formal-functional bias in general beliefs may be related to preference for formal or functional activities. Beliefs regarding knowledge of target language culture or learning context may be more closely related to formal-functional preferences than beliefs regarding grammar or vocabulary. Regarding correlational relationships with logged data, beliefs appeared to be less important than prior knowledge of target vocabulary. Subjects showed a consistent pattern of variation of preferences according to level of prior knowledge while effort invested showed a bellshaped curve with increasing prior knowledge. Formal-Functional biases in general beliefs had correlational relationships with effort invested, but the direction of the relationships varied according to the belief. Main conclusions were that the pattern of interaction suggested subjects were acting autonomously. In exercising this autonomy, they were influenced by their beliefs, but level of prior knowledge of the task was more important in determining how they learned or practiced the target vocabulary. Regarding pedagogical implications, it was argued that the formal-functional distinction has little pedagogical value in terms of understanding language learners. Finally, it was concluded that this research has shown that language learners' metacognitive knowledge of the task of language learning is a resource which teachers ignore at their peril.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1931. / "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago libraries, Chicago, Illinois." "Reprinted from Psychological monographs. vol. XLIII, no. 3, 1932."

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-191).

Thesis (M.S.) PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Sleep has been associated with learning flexibility and memory enhancement in several domains, yet little evidence exists on the effects of sleep in early language learning. In our study, we asked whether two-year-old toddlers benefit from sleep when learning the meaning of words. We adapted a paradigm in which two-year-olds were taught novel words, specifically verbs, and were asked to map them to meaning (Arunachalam & Waxman, 2010). Toddlers were first familiarized with a novel verb used in transitive sentences (i.e., “Mary is going to moop the cat”). Next, we assessed whether they mapped the novel verb to a meaning by testing them twice, once immediately after familiarization, and once after a delay of 3-6 hours, during which toddlers either slept or remained awake. At test, they viewed two candidate referents for the novel verb: a causative scene and a synchronous scene. Note that causative events can be described with transitive verbs, but synchronous events cannot. Toddlers’ task was to assign the novel verb to one of the potential visual referents. If sleep promotes language learning, then toddlers will perform better at the second test if they had slept during the delay than if they had not. Specifically, we predicted that toddlers who slept would look more to the causative scene than those who remained awake. Results revealed that toddlers in both delay conditions and even at both tests were not above chance at choosing the causative scene. These results present an interesting paradigm that could be applied to other sleep research studies. / 2031-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) in Swaziland, mainly the use of smartphones for learning English. Because of the need to enable communicative language practice, and access to authentic content (Chinnery, 2006; Petersen & Divitini, 2004; Sole, Calic, & Neijmann, 2010) the use of MALL is currently the main focus in language learning and technology. Therefore, this study examined the utility of MALL in Swaziland, and students' beliefs about the potential benefits of using MALL for learning English in class. To achieve this goal, the main independent variables in the study were purposes for which students use smartphones out of class for learning English vis-à-vis their beliefs about the potential benefits of using smartphones in class for the same reason. The study also investigated students' reasoning for either believing that smartphones can be beneficial or not beneficial in class. To investigate these constructs, the study used two forms of data collection methods. First, a 23-item Likert scale was used to collect quantitative data, which were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Second, telephone interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data, which were analyzed using both inductive analysis and creative synthesis. The results revealed significant differences among the purposes for which students use smartphones out of class for learning English and the potential benefits of using smartphones in class for the same reason. The results have implications for instruction and curriculum development in Swaziland.

Despite the importance of the speech act as an analytic category, a general comprehensive definition of it that allows for methodical definitions of particular acts has not been provided. As a consequence, large areas of language use are often treated inadequately, both in learning research and in course planning. Among other problems, applied linguists presuppose different dimensions in discourse and their codings of utterances are insufficiently reliable. Therefore, valid comparisons regarding their empirical results or their design proposals are often impossible. The lack of definitions ESOL work requires is intimately associated to a defective understanding of the nature of acts. Existing classifications separate akin acts and group diverse ones together. To clarify the confusions, it is necessary to distinguish sharply acts which make present, create or modify knowledge from acts that set deontic conditions, ie acts like defining, classifying and generalizing from acts like ordering, requesting and inviting. The first kind, which are referred to here as dissertation acts, are not a subtype of illocutionary acts, as has previously been considered. Rather, they constitute a category at the same hierarchical leveL The distinction is shown to be fundamental following the same approaches that Strawson, Austin, Searle and Widdowson used to establish the sentence, the proposition and the speech act as independent units. The discussion leads to two general definitions of illocutionary and dissertation acts, which postulate a fixed number of parameters for each. Sets of conceivable values for every parameter are also delimited. Hence, a given combination of values determines a particular act, and all possible acts are determinable. The systematic framework thus produced suggests spiral research and teaching programmes which, at different stages, focus on speech act elements, speech acts and speech act combinations. These would allow analysts and students to discern the global organization of a discourse from its final results. They might also lead to a better understanding of its linguistic realization.

In the technological world that characterizes the 21st century society, new specialized developments are applied immediately to the different social environments and, especially, in education. Language teaching is no stranger to this unstoppable progress, thanks to the widespread implementation of the internet and of the web 2.0 in particular. New technologies help and can sometimes replace the more traditional systems used in foreign language teaching by favoring autonomous learning at any time and in any place. In this doctoral thesis, I review the literature on foreign language learning motivation, styles, and strategies applied to autonomous online platforms. This is done to present and describe the theoretical underpinnings of the COMALAT virtual learning platform, which was designed and created at the University of Alicante as a European Project in cooperation with the University of Siegen in Germany and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Then, I report on a quantitative study that explores the attitudes, learning styles and strategies of 80 A2-B1 level EFL university students that make use of COMALAT. Besides determining the profile of the participants, the study aims to demonstrate the effects of previous training in online language learning strategies. As main conclusions, the following stand out: (a) the students’ use of this platform increases their level of foreign language learning as they can adapt it at their own pace and dedication; (b) the virtual learning environment provides a greater learning effectiveness by combining materials which consider the different learning styles; and (c) the application of the appropriate online learning strategies can help students to solve the different learning problems they may encounter while doing a self-directed online language course.

Previous research in evolutionary linguistics has made wide use of artificial language learning (ALL) paradigms, where learners are taught artificial languages in laboratory experiments and are subsequently tested in some way about the language they have learnt. The ALL framework has proved particularly useful in the study of the evolution of language, allowing the manipulation of specific linguistic phenomena that cannot be isolated for study in natural languages. Furthermore, this framework can test the output of individual participants, to uncover the cognitive biases of individual learners, but can also be implemented in a cultural evolutionary framework, investigating how participants acquire and change artificial languages in populations where they learn from and interact with each other. In this thesis, I present a novel methodology for studying the evolution of language in experimental populations. In the artificial sign language learning (ASLL) methodology I develop throughout this thesis, participants learn manual signalling systems that are used to interact with other participants. The ASLL methodology combines features of previous ALL methods as well as silent gesture, where hearing participants must communicate using only gesture and no speech. However, ASLL provides several advantages over previous methods. Firstly, reliance on the manual modality reduces the interference of participants’ native languages, exploiting a modality with linguistic potential that is not normally used linguistically by hearing language users. Secondly, research in the manual modality offers comparability with the only current evidence of language emergence and evolution in natural languages: emerging sign languages that have evolved over the last century. Although the silent gesture paradigm also makes use of the manual modality, it has thus far seen little implementation into a cultural evolutionary framework that allows closer modelling of natural languages that are subject to the processes of transmission to new learners and interaction between language users. The implementation and development of ASLL in the present work provides an experimental window onto the cultural evolution of language in the manual modality. I detail a set of experiments that manipulate both linguistic features (investigating category structure and verb constructions) and cultural context, to understand precisely how the processes of interaction and transmission shape language structure. The findings from these experiments offer a more precise understanding of the roles that different cultural mechanisms play in the evolution of language, and further builds a bridge between data collected from natural languages in the early stages of their evolution and the more constrained environments of experimental linguistic research.

Learner beliefs about language learning influence the language learning process. Addressing learner beliefs is central to enhancing teaching effectiveness and learning outcomes. To date, most previous research has described beliefs of learners of related second/foreign languages. In this study, belief dimensions were examined using a standardized survey of beliefs, BALLI, which was completed by 218 post-secondary beginning learners of Chinese and a modified BALLI completed by 62 teachers of Chinese at North American universities. Dimensions were identified using Exploratory Factor Analysis and a model of the relationship between dimensions developed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), a statistical technique for testing and estimating causal relations using a combination of statistical data and qualitative causal assumptions. A theoretical framework was established that integrated cognitive and metacognitive domains. The learner beliefs were described and compared between three sub-samples of learners, non-Asian students, Chinese-origin students, and non-Chinese Asians. Chinese and Asian students tended to have more similar beliefs than non-Asian students. The research used a mixed-methods design: quantitative data from the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with six Chinese language students and six Chinese language instructors. Quantitative data analyses identified four belief dimensions: Motivation for learning Chinese; Formal language learning strategy (FLLS); Communication-oriented learning strategy (CLLS); and Difficulty of language learning. Learners overall reported high motivation to learn Chinese while concurrently acknowledging a language difficulty hierarchy and seeing Chinese as a difficult language. Both Chinese-origin and non-Chinese origin Asians reported more agreement with beliefs in FLLS than non-Asians. In contrast, non-Asians reported stronger support for CLLS than their Chinese-origin counterparts. Overall, teachers exhibited comprehensive knowledge about language learning. Comparisons between teacher and learner beliefs overall found more mismatches than matches. Compared with learners, teachers reported less agreement with beliefs in FLLS, but more support for CLLS. A hypothetical learner belief model, derived from the BALLI and based on the theoretical framework, was constructed and tested using SEM, which illustrated the causal relationships among the belief dimensions. Within the model, learners who were highly motivated to learn Chinese tended to believe in FLLS whereas learners who believed in FLLS rejected CLLS. In addition, beliefs in difficulty of language learning in general and Chinese learning in particular also led to rejection of CLLS. The model was tested against the results from the student interviews and the model was confirmed. These results demonstrated the role of cultures in shaping learner beliefs, thereby providing insight into teaching practices. The mismatches between learner and teacher beliefs need to be addressed because continued differences could lead to classroom tension and a potential loss of motivation. / Graduate / 0727 / 0279 / 0290 / cypbd156@gmail.com