This thesis is a qualitative case study of a research writing project at undergraduate level in a Taiwanese university. The general purpose of this thesis is to study the whole process of research writing at undergraduate level, while the more specific focus of the study is to investigate the students' learning experiences in the project and the teacher-student interaction in the learning process, such as in writing conferences and the revision stage. The study involved one American instructor and seven Chinese students majoring in English. It traced a research writing project, carried out as part of the writing curriculum, from start to finish. The project was examined from both the instructor's and the students' perspectives. Data for the study come from interviews, student writing drafts, and teacher-student conference transcripts. The findings indicate that the research writing project was perceived by both the students and the instructor as an integrated part of the composition curriculum. Investigations of writing conferences show that organization, documentation, and the mechanics of student papers were some of the focuses of the conferences. A detailed analysis of two students' multiple drafts suggests that writing conferences had a strong impact on the students' revision of their papers. Also emerging from this study is the cultural confrontation between the American instructor and the Chinese students. The impact of this on the acquisition of research writing is explored. It is found that both the instructor and the students attributed certain writing problems to the influence of culture. A preliminary model of the research writing process is proposed based on the findings of the study. It shows the interaction between the research writing project and variables such as the teacher, the textbook, external factors, academic culture and students' indigenous culture. Practical implications and directions for further research are also discussed.

This dissertation reports on an empirical study on perceptual learning style preferences of Chinese learners who study English as a foreign language in the People's Republic of China. The study attempts to identify perceptual learning style preferences of these learners and to find out the differences and relationships between perceptual learning style preferences and the following learner variables: educational level field of specialization, and duration of native speaker instruction. The study also explores the factors that influence the shaping and change of learning style preferences. Six hundred and eighty-two Chinese EFL learners from secondary schools and tertiary institutions participated in the study. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey and a retrospective writing activity. The questionnaire was an adapted version of Reid's Perceptual Learning Style Preferences Survey. Quantitative data from the questionnaire survey were analyzed using both descriptive and correlational techniques including frequency and mean counting, ANOVA, Scheffe test, and MANOVA. Results showed that this sample of Chinese learners strongly preferred visual and kinesthetic learning and reported less preference for auditory, tactile, group, and individual learning. Results from the ANOVA indicated that there were statistical significances between learning style preferences and the three learner variables under investigation. Results from the MANOVA revealed statistically significant interactions between learner variables and learning style variables. Qualitative data from the retrospective writing activity was complementary to the questionnaire survey. Fourteen factors were identified to have an effect on the shaping of learners' learning style preferences. These factors were classified into learner factors and non-learner factors. This thesis concludes with a discussion of implications from three perspectives, theory, practice and methodology and a consideration of recommendations for future research at both macro- and mirco-levels.

This research is an evaluation of the Mentoring Programme run by an EFL School in the Middle East for its newly-qualified, non-native, local teachers, who arrived in groups of seven to eleven at six-monthly intervals between December 1998 and June 2001. Principles for mentor programme planning and organisation, management, support, mentor selection and mentor quality, mentor training, outcomes and 'goodness of fit' to the context were set up to guide the evaluation within an action research framework. These principles were devised during an evaluation of the first four Mentor Programmes (Programmes 1 to 4). Programme 5 was then evaluated in depth using the principles. Programme 5 was treated as a single case study and an innovation because it was significantly different from the first four programmes in terms of the amount of planning and support provided, and the accent on teacher training in addition to induction. Information was collected through questionnaires, interviews, documents and a research diary. This information was both quantitative and qualitative in keeping with both the action research framework and the pragmatic approach towards evaluation adopted. It was found that although Programme 5 had more support, and more time was spent planning and organizing Programme 5 than Programmes 1 to 4, the quality and quantity of learning experiences provided for the mentees was very variable. Reasons for this are suggested, and issues for the School to consider when planning Programme 6 are discussed. Issues relevant to mentoring practice and theory, innovation practice and theory, and the nature of action research are also discussed. The usefulness of principles in guiding mentor programme planning, management and evaluation is assessed.

This thesis presents the findings of a qualitative multiple-case study research exploring five Saudi English language teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding their teaching of speaking. The teachers were teaching general English to preparatory year students in a Saudi University. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observation. The interviews focused on teachers’ beliefs while the observation focused on how teachers approached the teaching of speaking. Analysis of the findings indicated that teaching speaking was course-book based, teacher-centred and accuracy-oriented. There was no or little focus on fluency in the observed classes; teaching speaking was focused on developing students’ speaking accuracy: i.e., grammar and vocabulary. Teachers’ beliefs and practices did not reflect contemporary views on teaching speaking and they lacked theoretical bases. Some beliefs were reflected in teachers’ teaching of speaking while other beliefs were not observed in the speaking classrooms. The study indicated a number of factors which influenced the relationship between beliefs and practices: e.g., nature of beliefs, course books and students’ level.

The purposes of this quasi-experimental study were to examine the effects of the integration of the process/genre approach (hereafter cited as PGA) and blog on EFL college students’ writing development, and the changes of the use of writing strategies. A total of thirty-four second-year English major undergraduates who were randomly labelled as the control and experimental groups took part in this eight-week programme. An English writing essay and the questionnaires were completed in both the pre-test and post-test to contribute to accumulating quantitative data, while the observations and interviews provided qualitative data. The quantitative data was computed by applying IBM SPSS statistics to find the differences as well as the correlations, while the qualitative data was interpreted by myself to explore possible reasons and explanations to support the quantitative outcomes and to answer the research questions. The difference test revealed that there were statistically significant differences on the participants’ English writing performances in both groups. There were some statistically significant differences in terms of the students’ perceptions of the PGA in both groups, as well as perceptions of the blog writing in the experimental group. However, neither the control group nor the experimental group showed significant differences in terms of the use of writing strategies after the treatments. The correlation tests also indicated significant different correlations between the two groups in which the results in the experimental group had greater significances. In terms of the qualitative research findings, several obstacles had been found to be considered before conducting this type of class. However, encouraging feedback regarding the instruction had been indicated by the students to explain how they perceived the application of the PGA as well as blogs in their writing classrooms, and how the instruction developed their English writing competence.

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This study investigates the specificity of students' language and communication needs in the related disciplines of business, economics and accounting in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in Israel. The objective was to identify the convergences and divergences of their perceived needs in order to consider how students should be prepared during their tertiary education for these needs, and in particular whether the same course can meet the needs of students in neighbouring disciplines. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with subject specialists in the three disciplines, workplace representatives, third-year students and Business English course providers, comparing the perceived specific language and communication needs of business, economics and accounting students for short-term academic purposes and long-term professional purposes. Qualitative analysis of the interviews reveals that differences between these disciplines for EFL courses extend beyond technical vocabulary and topics of readings, and include tasks and genres, with the most unexpected findings in the field of accounting. Results suggest that business, economics and accounting should not be regarded as one discipline category, and the English course should be customised for each of these disciplines with greater emphasis on long-term professional needs. This research contributes to the specificity debate in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in favour of provision of English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) courses.

This investigation compares the proficiency of Jamaican, Greek and Turkish-speaking, and British students in Standard British English and of the progress they make in improving their command of it. The main hypothesis to be tested is that West Indian students have as much difficulty in learning Standard British English as do students for whom English is a second or foreign language. During two academic sessions a battery of seven English tests, six of which were constructed specifically for the purposes of the investigation, were administered to a sample of 234 Jamaican, Greek, Turkish and British students following full-time courses in a London College for Further Education. Two of the tests were readministered and difference scores calculated. In addition the sample completed standardised verbal and non-verbal intelligence tests and a test of listening discrimination which was also specifically constructed for the investigation. Information on the sample's educational, social and linguistic background was collected by means of a questionnaire completed during individual interviews. Following computer analysis of two of the English tests, the subsamples' performance on the English Test Battery and on the intelligence and Listening Discrimination tests were compared by t and median tests; the relationship between the background variables and test performances was investigated by t-tests and correlation in an attempt to determine the factors responsible for variation between the subsamples' initial proficiency and progress in Standard British English as measured by the English Test Battery. The results are not conclusive but the statistical analysis suggests that the Jamaican subsample performed less well than the other subsamples on the criterion and the independent variable tests and that none of the subsamples, whatever their origins, made any significant progress in improving their command of Standard British English. The data was not suitable for analysis of co-variance but results indicate a possible significant relationship between the Jamaican subsample's performance on the criterion tests and their performance on the independent variable tests, the length and level of their education in Britain and the degree of urbanization in their backgrounds.

This thesis is concerned with the negative attitudes of the British towards foreign languages. Though such prejudice could perhaps be illustrated by statistical evidence from secondary schools, examination boards and social surveys, the emphasis of this work lies elsewhere. What will be the prime concern here is an examination of the broader cultural and even political implications for the British of their well-documented inability to be willing to learn foreign languages. I hope to be able to show that nationalism contains a specifically linguistic factor which is able, along with many other factors, to contribute towards the cohesion within British culture. I will examine the exclusivity and the need for selfaggrandisement within nationalism and argue that the British experience of imperialism deepened the potential for such sentiments. It is possible that the experience of being a British English speaker does bind British society in a very special way. It is also possible that this linguistic experience in part defines the British world view. This study will use the three opening chapters to establish a basis on which the evidence of the following five chapters may be judged In order to examine the extent to which such assertions are true a wide net will be cast to gather evidence to prove the hypothesis that the experience of speaking English has defined British culture more specifically than is often thought. Chapters 4 and 5 will examine the effect of certain colonial policy decisions concerning language, not on the societies of the Empire but upon the British themselves. I hope that such examples will illustrate the growing role of language, ironically a much neglected and often invisible partner in the political processes, which formed the views which the British had of themselves and their place in the world. I do not believe that there has ever existed a monolithic body of prejudice towards other languages among the British. Indeed, one of the purposes of this work is to illustrate that the role of the English language within British culture has been developed historically in such a way that any such prejudice often has all the unassailable strength of what appears to be common sense. Until the twentieth century in Britain, it would have been unreasonable to expect any but the ruling imperialist politicians or the colonial administrators to have had anything other than the dimmest appreciation of the existence of languages other than English. This provides a second reason for searching as widely as possible for different sources of evidence. If the development of prejudicial attitudes to foreign languages and their transmission through a society have constituteda long and complex process, then this process must be examined at contrasting periods and levels of society. The chapters on boys' comics and film in the 1930s will show the extent to which attitudes had developed and spread beyond a narrow colonial base. This period has been chosen because it represents the flowering of a truly broad and popular perception of British nationalism as magnified through the experience of imperialism. Immediately before the Second World War, this sense of the strength and worth of the British nation was, arguably, at its height. These chapters will indicate the centripetal role which perceptions of the English language, as contrasted with other languages, played in such a blossoming. Finally, I will present a chapter surveying the position of foreign languages in the British education system in the 1930s. This will provide a counter-balance to attitudes in the popular media of the previous two chapters. In case this thesis might be criticised for merely finding evidence for an already well-known phenomenon, I will attempt to view all such evidence from a special perspective. I will be searching not only for the ideas and attitudes underpinning any prejudice against foreign languages but also the social forces which lie behind them.

This study establishes a quantitative and qualitative difference in the pattern of text processing of native and non native speakers of English. The psychological nature of this difference is explored in five studies. They reveal the following influences. 1 - Non-native speakers are disadvantaged when text processing relies on mental operations which are based on schema representations of the language e.g. assumption, evaluation and interpretation. They are not disadvantaged when processing is based on mental operations more related r to ability like deducing and inferring. A test of these five mental processes was constructed especially for this investigation. 2 - The study also reveals that native speakers benefit almost twice as much from repeated presentations of the same text. The improvement, however, is limited to certain types of test items. 3 - The processing difference between native and non-native speakers of English was elucidated when analysed in terms of the current expert/novice paradigm. Factors and strategies which differentiate expert learners from novices were also seen to differentiate between native and non-native speakers of English. 4 - The contribution of ability to text processing is studied under a condition of varying relationship between past experience and learning content. The results show that learners' performance is quantitatively and qualitatively different when faced with schema related as against schema unrelated texts. A reciprocal function is observed when the non-schema relevant group compensates for lack of past experience by making use of deductive reasoning. On the other hand, learners in the schema relevant condition make minimum call upon this ability. 5 - The generality of the influence of cognitive group membership (e.g. identical native language, similarity of past experience) was tested by comparing the processing patterns of 'A' level students doing the same science subject (physics) with students doing an arts subject (history). The results support the hypothesis of differential approaches to learning associated with subject discipline. The findings are discussed in the context of positive attempts to improve the processing performance of students operating in a non-native language.