This study investigates the effect of testing mode on lower-level Saudi Arabian test-takers’ performance and cognitive processes when taking an L2 reading test on computer compared to its paper-based counterpart from an interface design perspective. An interface was developed and implemented into the computer-based version of the L2 reading test in this study, which was administered to 102 Saudi Arabian University students for quantitative analyses and to an additional eighteen for qualitative analyses. All participants were assessed on the same L2 reading test in two modes on two separate occasions in a within-subject design. Statistical tests such as correlations, group comparisons, and item analyses were employed to investigate test-mode effect on test-takers’ performance whereas test-takers’ concurrent verbalizations were recorded when taking the reading test to investigate their cognitive processes. Strategies found in both modes were compared through their frequency of occurrence. In addition, a qualitative illustration of test-takers cognitive behavior was given to describe the processes when taking a lower-level L2 reading test. A mixed-method approach was adhered to when collecting data consisting of questionnaires think-aloud protocols, and post-experimental interviews as main data collection instruments. Results on test-takers’ performance showed that there was no significant difference between the two modes of testing on overall reading performance, however, item level analyses discovered significant differences on two of the test’s items. Further qualitative investigation into possible interface design related causes for these differences showed no identifiable relationship between test-takers’ performance and the computer-based testing mode. Results of the cognitive processes analyses showed significant differences in three out of the total number of cognitive processes employed by test-takers indicating that test-takers had more difficulties in processing text in the paper-based test than in the computer-based test. Both product and process analyses carried out further provided convincing supporting evidence for the cognitive validity, content validity, and context validity contributing to the construct validity of the computer-based test used in this study.

Thesis (MA. (Translation Studies and Linguistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The study sought to investigate the challenges that the learners and educators encountered in learning and teaching when they use English as a medium of instruction. The study reveals that African languages, along with their culture are being dominated by English. Most of Pedis’ learners cannot speak Sepedi without mixing it with English, and most of African people usually read English books and neglecting the Indigenous books. In addition, the study shows that learners performed better when they were taught in Sepedi than in English. The educators’ responses showed that learners have difficulties in understanding English as the medium of instruction and that they code-switch from English to Sepedi to enhance understanding.

This study of the motivation to learn English as L2 (as a second/foreign language) provides a local model of L2 motivation which employs a new contextualised perspective. It is based on the socio-cultural backgrounds of the learners and their social relations. This model not only incorporates insights from major debates in the field, but it is also in harmony with recent trends of L2 motivation research. The study had three major objectives. First, it sought to identify the factors that represent Omani students’ motivation to learn English in Oman. Second, it attempted to verify the effects of social relations on motivation. Third, it examined the mechanisms employed by the learners which influence their motivation through personal relations. Since this study views motivation as a complex bundle of constructs, it was more feasible to adopt its most significant factors as determined by the immediate socio-cultural context. Interest and Self-efficacy (SE) were established as the two main constructs representing Omani students’ motivation to learn English as L2. The ‘L2 Motivation Osmosis Model’ was suggested to offer an explanation of the workings of influence on students’ L2 motivation in Oman. This study employed a mixed methodology. A quantitative method was used to confirm the importance of Interest and SE for Omani students. A qualitative study was then designed to further verify this and ascertain the devices employed to influence learners’ motivation. The first question was answered using quantitative and qualitative data. Correlation and Linear Regression statistics were used to verify the importance of Interest and SE. This question was also examined through the students’ depictions of motivated English as L2 learners and the reasons they provided for liking English and why people in Oman learn it. The second question inspected the role of social relations in influencing students’ motivation. The third question studied the devices used by people which influence students’ motivation. The analysis also revealed the importance of the affective dimension expressed through the concept of ‘closeness’, which explains the type and strength of the influence initiated through social relations. This study emphasised the need to consider the socio-cultural context of learners in designing programs and recruiting teachers and the necessity of providing help, encouragement and emotional support. Instead of simply giving recommendations of good practice, the findings of this study provide practitioners with guidelines on how to devise their own plans and guiding principles.

Given the international status and importance of English, English language study has attracted millions of Chinese learners. Apart from those who study abroad, more and more Chinese students are motivated to study in English-medium Transnational Higher Education (THE) programmes inside China. English is a diversifying and fragmenting language that has various functions and can be used for different purposes. Whilst, according to many scholars, English has broken free from the ownership of ‘native English’ speakers, Chinese learners of English are still worried about conforming to ‘native-speaker models’ of English and so falling victim to an English linguistic imperialism project, driven by English-medium THE programmes. Accordingly, this research sets out to investigate, the extent to which Chinese learners, in a UK affiliated THE programme in China, feel the need to orientate to or identify with ‘native English’ and its speakers, and run the risk of becoming victims of English linguistic imperialism. Results from a combination of methods: questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews, show that students’ orientations towards and identification with English and its speakers are diverse, complex and multi-dimensional, and have gone beyond affiliation with ‘native English’ speakers. Studying in English-medium THE programmes does not necessarily lead to English linguistic imperialism, but is a process of interaction where learners may consciously mediate ‘native English’ norms and express individual, local, national or international identities, literally taking advantage of the programmes’ material benefits and deliberately learning the language for international communication. This research suggests that learners in THE programmes are conscious of the overall context individually, nationally and internationally and feel free to orientate to English in ways that are suitable for their own purposes and which represent their preferred identity.

As academic and professional knowledge is available around the world through publications in English, the ability to read in English is now widely seen as an essential basic skill for university graduates in countries, like Thailand, where English is a foreign language. However, students often fail to reach a level of reading ability that allows them to read these publications with confidence. It is important that instruction in Reading skills should be improved. It has been claimed that instruction in the use of reading strategies is helpful in improving the reading skills of EFL learners. Research has suggested that explicit instruction can be particularly valuable. This thesis investigates the reading strategies used by Thai university students and investigates whether a short course based on explicit reading strategy instruction can be effective in encouraging the use of strategies and improving reading skills for Thai university students. Based on a literature review on Reading strategy instruction, a framework was developed and applied in the adaptation of a set of materials for use in providing English major Thai university students with explicit instruction in the use of reading strategies. The following research questions were investigated: What are the reading strategies that Thai undergraduate English major students employ in the EFL reading process? Does reading strategy instruction affect students’ use of reading strategies in English? How much improvement do the students show on measures of reading performance after receiving a programme of reading strategy instruction? In a quasi-experimental research design, one class of fifteen students, the Experimental group, was given a twelve-week course in Reading that included explicit instruction in reading strategies while a second group of thirteen students (matched for background characteristics), the Control group, was given a parallel course that did not include explicit strategy instruction. Both quantitative and qualitative comparisons were made. Students were given reading tests and responded to questionnaires about their use of strategies at the beginning and end of their courses. They were also interviewed and performed think-aloud verbal protocols in which they reported in their use of reading strategies as they carried out reading tasks. Participants in the Experimental group reported using a wider range of strategies than those in the Control group following instruction and generally made greater improvements in their reading test scores. The findings support the value of explicit instruction in reading strategies for Thai university students. However, concerns remain about Thai students reliance on translation and slow, careful reading even following instruction in more strategic approaches.

This thesis explores how learner independence was implemented as a curricular goal at a tertiary level Preparatory Programme (PP) in the United Arab Emirates. This exploratory-interpretive case study shows how students and teachers at the English programme responded to an Independent Learning Log (ILL) and how they interpreted learner autonomy with respect to the ILL. The study analyzes how various interpretations of autonomy affected the students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the ILL. The interviews and the surveys used in this study were conducted between 20122014. The data was examined using Critical Discourse Analysis and was coded with NVivo software. As a result of the data analysis, the researcher identified themes related to student and teacher roles in the promotion of autonomy, learner representations in TESOL, and issues of control and agency, in the language classroom and out-of-class. The findings suggest that, in the teachers’ discourse, students are assigned passive roles and are often represented as lacking, deficient, and in need of control. Furthermore, the teachers are represented as the agents and controllers of education. These findings are supported by other studies from different cultural settings. This suggests that the US and THEM divide is not unique to the context of this study, but, rather, that it reflects a broader issue that is characteristic of TESOL discourse. In the discussion section, the researcher demonstrates how the themes identified in this study draw on a Social Order perspective in education. It is argued that this conceptual model remains ingrained in teachers’ and students’ group consciousness as the default model for learning. We conclude that learner independence as an educational goal is incompatible with this way in which students and teachers conceptualise education. In order for autonomy to become a feasible educational goal, we need to re-think how we organise language learning and what roles teachers and students assign each other. Overall, this case study reveals the problems that educators may face when promoting autonomy in a language programme. An understanding of these issues may help future language programmes develop better strategies towards fostering learner autonomy at an institutional level.

This thesis presents a study of the relationship between test-takers’ first language, listening proficiency and their performance on paired speaking tests. Forty participants from two different L1 backgrounds (20 Urdu and 20 Thai) participated in the study. They took two paired speaking tests: one with a shared L1 partner, and one with a non-shared L1 partner, as well as a listening test and a monologic speaking test to measure their listening ability and individual speaking ability. After each paired speaking test, the participants were also interviewed about their test-taking experience. All speaking tests and interviews were video recorded and transcribed. Raters awarded test-takers analytical speaking test scores (grammar and vocabulary, discourse management, pronunciation and interactive communication) and provided comments to justify their scores. Raters also participated in a stimulated recall session. The mixed-methods approach was utilised in analysing and triangulating different data sources. The data analysed in this study included listening and speaking test scores, raters’ perceptions of the test-takers’ speaking performance gathered from stimulated recalls and test-takers’ stimulated recall interviews, as well as the interactional discourse data in the paired speaking formats. The combination of quantitative analysis, Conversation Analysis (CA) and thematic analysis informed the relationship between test-takers’ listening proficiency, their L1 and their paired speaking performance.

The binary distinction of “native speaker” and “non-native speaker” (NS/NNS) remains the primary way in which professionals are categorised in the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). This distinction is problematic because it is used to place greater value on native English speaking teachers (NEST) over non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs). This distinction is argued to be largely based on linguistic features (Medgyes 1992; Cook 1999). However the aspect of race remains to be adequately discussed (Kubota and Lin 2006).This thesis has its origins in my personal experiences with racism because, as a Canadian- Filipino, my employer and my students did not accept me as a “real” NEST because I am “non-white”. In my initial research, during my MA TESOL, into the professional experiences of racism I coined the acronym “VEM-NEST”: visible ethnic minority, native English speaking teacher. I used this term to describe the particular group of teachers, to which I belong, who do not easily fit into the available categories of NS/NNS, and consequently NEST/NNEST.My thesis reported on the experiences of nine VEM-NESTs and how they performed specific identities during specific events. Their experiences were presented as individual restoried narratives which were developed from the combination of the participants’ written stories and one-to-one interviews. The restoried narratives were analysed using an analytical lens based on Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) structural approach. The findings suggest that VEM-NESTs need to meet a certain amount of “native speaker” norms in order to be given the opportunity to perform their VEM-NEST role identities in specific situations. This has particular implications for how the NS/NNS binary distinction needs a more nuanced understanding as a way of addressing the inequalities embedded in the way TESOL professionals are valued.

In South African universities where the medium of instruction is English, writing and conceptualisation in English Second Language in Life Sciences are problematic for first year learners. This study focused on the extent to which Afrikaans – and Xhosa mother tongue speakers employ strategies in order to cope with the demands of scientific writing and how it affects their academic performance. The Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and the Cognitive and Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) theories of Cummins as well as the model of Collier provided a theoretical framework for this study. Tests and tutorials were analysed by means of content analysis. Writing strategies such as coherence has an impact on academic performance but there is no set pattern or degree in which different mother tongue speakers employ them. A collaborative approach that sensitises learners to the meaningful use of strategies to enhance their competency in scientific writing is recommended. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

The study examined three Japanese junior high-school English teachers’ initial years of full-time employment. It investigated the type of pedagogical puzzles these teachers experienced, how their practice developed over 18 months, and my role as a Teacher of Teachers (TOT). Drawing on linguistic ethnography, this study took an ethnographic approach to understanding the teachers’ social context and used techniques from discourse analysis to consider how they interpreted their puzzles and constructed their practice. These techniques were also used to analyze my working relationship with the teachers. The purpose of this endeavor was to contribute to the understanding of novice teacher development in an ‘expanding circle’ country. Over the course of the study, I observed the teachers’ classes and interviewed them once or twice a month. Using the coding of interview transcripts and class fieldnotes, I identified Critical Incidents that represented the teachers’ pedagogical puzzles and typical practice, as well as my role as a TOT. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory(CHAT), I analyzed how elements of the social context brought about the teachers’ pedagogical puzzles and affected their capacity to address them. Coding of the interviews and a microanalysis of the interactions showed my role as a TOT. Overall, the CIs gave an emic portrait of each teacher’s experience and my efforts to support them. The pedagogical puzzles the teachers faced were a result of their personal histories and school conditions. These puzzles did not change, which indicates that teachers will face complex issues that cannot be resolved. Understanding them, however, can promote teacher development. Applying CHAT, I could identify the conditions that helped determine the types of pedagogy in which teachers engaged. I tried to fulfill my role as a TOT by conducting a form of reflective practice (RP). An examination of the RP I conducted with the teachers challenged the notion that it involves the sequential steps of identifying issues, attempting to resolve them, and reflecting on one’s efforts. This dissertation concludes with a discussion about the contributions it has made toward the field of English teacher development: using CHAT to understand the English teaching experiences, the development of an understanding of RP as it can be carried out in the field, an understanding of novice teachers in expanding circle countries, and the value of linguistic ethnography for researching novice teachers.