This is an inquiry into adult Mexican English foreign language learners' perceptions of the significance of culture in teaching and learning of English as a foreign language. The participants were Spanish-speaking adults studying at the university level in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. Working within the framework of qualitative-interpretative methodology, the focus of this inquiry is the investigation of the participants' perceptions of their experiences in the context of the inquiry in the classrooms. This context was an EFL course designed specifically for Spanish-speaking adults in Mexico based on the analysis of my personal experiences as an adult language learner and as an EFL teacher in Mexico. The research questions of this inquiry are: • What are adult learners' perceptions of beginning with an overview of the history and development of the target language? • What are adult learners' perceptions of learning about a particular target culture where the target language is spoken? • What are adult learners' perceptions of the inclusion of their maternal language and culture in foreign language learning? • What are adult learners' perceptions of working with awareness of language, culture and learning in the foreign language classroom? • What are adult learners' perceptions of explicit teaching in the foreign language classroom? The indications of this inquiry are that some adult EFL learners in Mexico perceive that an introduction to the target language and culture for the adult learner is called for in order to meet adult learner needs, along with the inclusion of the learner's maternal language and culture in EFL teaching and learning, an orientation to foreign language learning, and explicit teaching rather than other types of activities in the classroom. The practical application of these issues in the foreign language classroom with adults may not be indicated in all situations or appreciable for a" adult learners.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using collaborative learning to improve the writing skills of students of English as a second language. The aim was to determine whether students who were involved in collaborative leaning produced better written texts in terms of organization, development, coherence, structure, vocabulary and mechanics than students who wrote individually, and whether engaging in collaborative learning had a positive effect on the attitudes and perceptions of learners. The subjects of the study were 48 male Saudi Arabian university students distributed randomly in two groups: 23 were assigned to the experimental group and were taught to write essays collaboratively, while the other 25 were assigned to the control group and taught to write essays individually. Both groups of students were asked to write an essay and complete questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the study. Four students from the treatment group were selected at random for interview at the end of the study. The experiment consisted of a total of eleven weeks of teaching writing skills. The post-test scores and questionnaire responses of students in the treatment group were compared not only with those of students in the control group but also with their pre-test scores and responses. The study results indicated that collaborative writing benefitted the students a great deal in terms of the quality of their writing (development, cohesion and organization); however, it was also found that collaborative writing did not help them much in terms of the accuracy of their writing (mechanics and structure). The analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires and interviews revealed that the attitudes of students in the experimental group had improved after their involvement in collaborative learning settings. The overall conclusions were therefore that not only did students who wrote their essays in collaboration with each other produce better written texts than those who wrote their essays by themselves, but also that involvement in collaborative learning had a positive effect on the students’ attitudes towards writing in English.

This paper investigates whether intangibles might explain the UK productivity puzzle. We note that since the recession: (a) firms have upskilled faster than before; (b) intangible investment in R&D and software has risen whereas tangible investment has fallen; and (c) intangible and telecoms equipment investment slowed in advance of the recession. We have therefore tested to see if: (a) what looks like labour hoarding is actually firms keeping workers who are employed in creating intangible assets; (b) the current slowdown in TFP growth is due to the spillover effects of the past slowdown in R&D and telecoms equipment investment. Our main findings are: (a) measured market sector real value added growth since the start of 2008 is understated by 1.6% due to the omission of intangibles; (b) 0.75pppa of the TFP growth slowdown can be accounted for by the slowdown in intangible and telecoms investment in the early 2000s. Taken together intangible investment can therefore account for around 5 percentage points of the 16% productivity puzzle.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the perception of English vowels by L2 learners of English with Spanish as L1 (Chilean-Spanish), and more specifically the degree to which they are able to take advantage of visual cues to vowel distinctions. Two main studies were conducted for this thesis. In study 1, data was collected from L2 beginners, L2 advanced learners and native speakers of Southern British English (ENS). Participants were tested on their perception of 11 English vowels in audio (A), audiovisual (AV) and video-alone (V) mode. ENS participants were tested to investigate whether visual cues are available to distinguish English vowels, while L2 participants were tested to see how sensitive they were to acoustic and visual cues for English vowels. Study 2 reports the outcome of a vowel training study. To compare the effect of different training modalities, three groups of L2 learners (beginner level) were given five sessions of high-variability vowel training in either A, AV or V mode. Perception and production of English vowels in isolated words and sentences was tested pre/post training, and the participants’ auditory frequency discrimination and visual bias was also evaluated. To examine the impact of perceptual training on L2 learners’ vowel production, recordings of key words embedded in read sentences were made pre and post-training. Acoustic-phonetic analyses were carried out on the vowels in the keywords. Additionally, the vowels were presented to native listeners in a rating test to judge whether the perceptual training resulted in significant improvement in intelligibility. In summary, the study with native English listeners showed that there was visual information available to distinguish at least certain English vowel contrasts. L2 learners showed low sensitivity to visual information. Their vowel perception improved after training, regardless of the training mode used, and perceptual training also led to improved vowel production. However, no improvement was found in their overall sensitivity to visual information.

Learning English is not easy and it may be very frustrating to many second language learners. The dissertation investigates incidental English language learning among Hong Kong senior secondary ESL students while playing a commercial-off-the-shelve (COTS) English simulation computer game, namely, Football Manager 2013 (FM 2013). The subjects in this study were forty students studying at a secondary school. Students were examined on what and how new knowledge of English such as vocabulary, phrases and expressions, and technical terms they could gain while playing Football Manager 2013. Four research questions were addressed. A multi-method approach was adopted to collect extensive data. A pre-game test, a post-game test and a questionnaire survey were used as the main methods for quantitative data collection. Observation during the gaming sessions by the researcher and a focus group interview were adopted to collect qualitative data. Drawing upon the research, the important findings were threefold. Firstly, the students generally show a promising attitude towards learning English through the use of Football Manager 2013, either in their daily lives or in English lessons. Secondly, it demonstrates that the students increase their English items by 27.2% as a result of gameplay interaction with Football Manager 2013. Thirdly, the students employ a wide range of English learning strategies to discover and retain the meaning of new English items in the multimodal environment of Football Manager 2013. Simultaneously, the researcher posits that commercial-off-the-shelve English simulation computer games are important media today that might be able to provide context-rich, cognitively engaging virtual environments for incidental English language learning.

The Extensive Reading (ER) approach encourages learners to read large amounts of easy-to-understand material based on their individual interests and reading level. Although a number of empirical studies have confirmed the positive impact of ER on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at tertiary educational institutions, few studies have focused on EFL learners at secondary schools. Exploring whether the ER approach can demonstrate a positive impact on secondary school EFL learners is of particular practical interest, since these learners are generally considered to be 'slow readers ' who have just begun reading in English. Situated in the Korean EFL secondary context, this quasi-experimental study compares the impact of ER with that of the conventional Intensive Reading (JR) approach on learners' reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge and reading attitude. Unlike the ER approach, JR primarily focuses on close translation or analysis of relatively short reading materials that are used to exemplify specific aspects of vocabulary and grammar. Furthermore, the current study investigates how the ER and IR approaches impact on secondary EFL learners at each proficiency level - advanced, intermediate and low. One class of 36 students participated in a 12-week ER course, while another class of37 paJ1icipated in a 12-week IR course. The findings showed that the ER approach has a significantly more positive overall effect on secondary EFL learners' reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge and reading attitude than the IR approach. Moreover, the findings revealed that learners at different English proficiency levels benefit differently from ER and IR in reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. That is, advanced and intermediate level learners benefit more from the ER approach, while low level learners benefit more from the IR approach. These results reveal that learners' proficiency significantly affects their reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge but not their reading attitude. More specifically, advanced and intermediate level learners benefit more from the ER approach in relation to their reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge development, while low level learners benefit more from the IR approach.

This study explored the washback of TOEFL iBT on Korean teachers and students in commercial language institutes in Korea. Firstly, it observed the participants ' perceptions and attitudes towards TOEFL iBT and secondly, their teaching and learning practices in test-preparation classrooms. 194 adult students participated in the survey, six of whom were interviewed. Seven teachers participated in the research: four in classroom observations and questionnaires and six in interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed with Saldana's (2009) coding methods using NVivo 9 and quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 19. The findings show that the participants had positive attitudes towards note-taking, the exclusion of the Structure section, the usefulness of the Speaking and Writing sections, and the validity of TOEFL iBT. However, some participants were negative about the addition of accents in the Listening section, the testing methods, and the Speaking and Writing sections. Their learning and teaching methods were various depending on the individuals. However, the general learning methods were highly focused on improving test scores and the Speaking and Writing classes were the same as typical test-preparation classes. Thus, some positive washback on teaching and learning were found. However, the participants' approaches towards the Speaking and Writing sections were limited to mastering test-taking strategies. It is proposed that this study will be useful for test-developers, such as those in the ETS (Educational Testing Services) and the KICE (Korean Institute for Curriculum Evaluation) in terms of designing English proficiency tests. In addition, the findings indicate the importance of teacher training for teachers conducting test-preparation classes.

The purpose of this study was to examine the roles that Chinese (first language) and/ or English (second language) played in learning mathematics and their impacts on secondary school students' learning mathematics in Hong Kong by providing mixed-code tutorials to eighty-five Secondary One students in a Band One secondary school. This study aims to find out whether using the first language, second language or both languages (mixed-code) would help these bilingual students to learn better in mathematics, that is, whether the level of English-language competence impacts the ESL students' learning ability in mathematics. Moreover, this study aims to explore the possible relationships between Chinese-language proficiency, the English-language proficiency, mathematical ability and reported understanding of the mathematical concepts and preferred language used in the mathematics lessons. The findings of the study revealed that learning mathematics in second language brought heavy cognitive and linguistic loads. Learners have to be competent in both second language and mathematical language in order to survive in the learning process. In the light of the interviews, participants expressed the strict use of English in the ESL classroom limited their learning opportunities and the use of mixed-code in lessons could lower their learning anxiety and encourage active participation in discussion which allowed them to communicate and share mathematical ideas and develop better understanding. Moreover, the findings showed that participants demonstrated possible improvement in mathematics when they have attended the mixed-code tutorials. However, these participants still insisted on ESL learning environment, as they sought for every opportunity to increase exposure in English. On the other hand, they indicated their preference of using their first language as an 'assistant language' in the ESL classroom and therefore they could code-switch when needed. The study concludes by exploring various implications for policy-makers, classroom teachers and learners. Areas for further research are also identified

This study investigates five topics that have been at the heart of research into second language (L2) acquisition for over three decades: (1) the nature of early L2 grammars and whether they contain both lexical and functional categories; (2) the role that the native language (L 1) plays in L2 acquisition; (3) the source of variable production by L2 speakers of properties that are categorical for L1 speakers; (4) the relationship between the acquisition of morphological properties and syntactic operations; (S) the involvement of a putative Universal Grammar. These topics are investigated in the context of Japanese-speaking classroom learners of English. Data were collected through two production tasks, one written the other oral. While there have been many studies of the topics in question with naturalistic L2 learners of English, there have been fewer studies with classroom learners. The general view in generative studies ofL2 acquisition has been that linguistic development will be the same, whatever the context of learning. However, this is an empirical question and the present study provides evidence bearing on it. Findings suggest that early-stage learners have grammars for English that have both functional and lexical categories. The functional categories are specified for features that are syntactically relevant (for verb raising, for the determination of obligatory subjects, for appropriate case marking, for the obligatory fronting of wh-words). Properties that are transferred from the Ll are not predictable simply on the basis of comparing differences between the two languages. Variability in production appears to be explicable largely in terms of learners' (re)assembling features for English lexical items which differ from their Japanese counterparts, combined with the difficulty of accessing forms where processing load is heavy (the Missing Surface Inflection hypothesis). There was no evidence of participants needing to acquire the morphological paradigms of English before establishing syntactic rules. Finally, there was limited, but suggestive, evidence that the L2 grammars of+the classroom learners studied are guided by UG.

This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of focused corrective feedback (FCF) on learners' noticing, uptake and their subsequent oral production of simple past and present perfect. It also sought to explore patterns of corrective feedback (CF) provision naturally occurring in classroom interaction in an EFL communicatively oriented setting in a Thai university context. In addition, self-initiated self-repairs were also examined. The participants were 29 students in four intact classrooms and two experienced Thai teachers. Two classes were assigned as control groups (UnFCF, n=ll ) and the other two classes as experimental groups (FCF, n=18) from the total of 85 students who agreed to take part in the treatment sessions but not the three tests. Pre-tests were administered prior to the first treatment session. During four treatment sessions of 24 hours in total, the control groups received CF on different types of errors. By contrast, the experimental groups were provided with CF on errors related to the target structures. All interactions among 85 participants were audio-recorded. Immediate and five-week delayed post-tests were administered after the last treatment session. The data on classroom interactions, were transcribed in full, coded and computed for analysis purposes and test scores were statistically analysed. The results reveal no significant statistical difference between groups on written tests over time. On oral production tasks, no significant differences between the groups were observed, but a potential trend in favour of FCF was evident. Learners made various types of errors in their speech production and different types of CF were provided as part of the 'normal' provision in the communicative classroom. FCF resulted in higher uptake and noticing. The CF patterns observed in both groups were described and compared. Pedagogical implications were also drawn based on the key findings.