Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4263. Adviser: Samuel Kern Alexander. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 270-305) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Language Education, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Dec. 3, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-03, Section: A, page: 0936. Chair: Larry J. Mikulecky.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Old Dominion University, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3280427. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-08, Section: A, page: 3308. Adviser: Dana D. Burnett.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 10, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 2906. Adviser: George D. Kuh.

This interpretive qualitative study explores the lived experiences of seven hijabi youth and how they experience social activities offered in their secondary schools in Ottawa, Ontario. The main research questions are: (1) How do hijabi women in Ottawa secondary schools experience the social activities offered by their schools, and (2) In what ways are hijabi girls being included or excluded from social activities because of their religious obligations? A phenomenological tradition of inquiry has been used in order to understand the essence of the experience as perceived by each participant. Analysis has been conducted using Moustakas' (1994) modifications to the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen Method of Phenomenological Data. The researcher has also shared her own story of interaction with social activities in high school. The findings and implications of this study have been categorized into themes in order to illustrate the essence of how hijabi youth experience social activities in Ottawa secondary schools. The themes identified are: (a) Us Versus Them; (b) Fighting Stereotypes; (c) Culture Differences; and (d) A Desire to Participate. The first emergent theme, Us Versus Them, explains the alienation hijabi students feel when partaking in social activities offered at their schools. The second emergent theme, Fighting Stereotypes, details the everyday questions, assumptions and judgements hijabi students face from peers both Muslim and non-Muslims that ultimately discourage them from partaking in activities. The third emergent theme, Culture Differences, explains how current social activities in schools compromise the religious values of hijabi girls. The fourth and final emergent theme, A Desire to Participate illustrates participants' willingness and in some instances, eagerness to participate in school social activities. The author aims to raise awareness of how hijabi girls experience social aspects of high school and with that, a message for academic authorities to examine how their students are being included or excluded with means towards creating in inclusive environment. The conclusion of this thesis raises implications for further study such as the role that self-esteem plays in the participation of hijabi girls in school social activities.

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

This study investigated the effects of reading comprehension strategy awareness and use on main idea comprehension and recall in first and second languages for Arabic-speaking Libyan university students. The research examined the effects of general reading proficiency, text difficulty and topic interest and familiarity on main idea comprehension. The study also examined whether there is a facilitatory relationship between awareness of reading comprehension strategies and their effective use. Participants were all university students majoring in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). There were 112 participants from Libya and 16 English speaking control participants from Canada. Reading comprehension strategy awareness was assessed via Mokhtari and Sheorey's (2002) Survey of Reading Strategy. The CanTEST was used to assess the English as a second language reading proficiency of the Arabic-speaking group, while the Nelson-Denny Reading Test served to assess L1 reading proficiency for the English-speaking group. An English reading text was administered to both groups and an Arabic reading text to the Arabic group only. The texts served as the basis for examining the English group's L1 and the Arabic group's L1 and L2 reading comprehension strategy use through their recall of the main ideas of these texts. A reader assessment questionnaire was employed to assess text difficulty, topic interest and familiarity. In addition, semi-structured reading strategy interviews were conducted individually with participants from the control and the experimental groups. The interviewees were randomly selected from within different reading proficiency groupings. Results revealed that reading comprehension strategy awareness had no effect on main idea comprehension in both L1 and L2 for the native Arabic group. The native English group had higher awareness of the three categories of reading strategies (Support, Global and Problem-solving) than the native Arabic group. The Problem solving strategy category was the most familiar to the native Arabic group. Results indicated that general reading proficiency did not affect the recall performance of main ideas for either group. Text difficulty and topic interest did not contribute to the comprehension and recall of main ideas, while topic familiarity was a factor in the recall performance of the native Arabic group. Qualitative analysis of the results indicated that the native English group effectively used more reading strategies than the native Arabic group, and that the native Arabic group did not actually use the strategies which they claimed the highest awareness of. Futhermore, they tended to misapply the strategies that they did use. These findings indicated that simply knowing about reading strategies does not necessarily result in being able to use them appropriately. We concluded that reading strategy awareness alone is not sufficient for the comprehension and recall of main ideas and that awareness needs to be accompanied by effective strategy use in order to have a positive impact on main idea comprehension and recall.

The object of this research was to discover whether the related concepts of "practical certainty" (Dewey) and "going on" (Wittgenstein) might shed light on the nature of successful intercultural communication and how it is accomplished. The inquiry is significant because much of the research in the field to date is product- not process-oriented and involves models difficult to translate into practical life. The methodology involved the assumption that utility is a more suitable research goal than truth. Student-teacher interactions were taped in two kinds of class conferences at the University of New Hampshire, (1) foreign students being taught by an American, and (2) American students being taught by a Chinese woman. Participants were also interviewed. The concepts "practical certainty" and "going on" were found to shed new light on how successful intercultural communication is actually "done."

The objective of this dissertation is to determine how and to what extent the factors involved in primary stress assignment in nouns interact in the Spanish and English interlanguages. Both transfer and developmental factors are studied. The former include: L1 stress rule application in the L2 and L1 cognate stress transfer to the L2. The developmental factors considered are: L2 stress rule application and knowledge of the L2 marked stress. The analysis is based on Harris and Hayes's theoretical descriptions for the Spanish and English stress systems, respectively, and on Dresher and Kaye's parametric model. The sample consisted of 58 University of Massachusetts' students of Spanish: 30 beginners and 28 from the intermediate level; and 64 Simón Bolívar University's students of English: 32 from each level. The general hypothesis, according to which in the Spanish and English interlanguages' stress assignment of nouns, transfer and developmental factors interact in such a way that the former are more decisive at the beginning levels and the latter, at the intermediate, was proven. It was also found that in the first stages, learners rely on phonological rather than morphological information in finding out the second language stress system. In the light of the Theory of Principles and Parameters, the results of this study show that L2 learners can reset their parameter values: from the unmarked to the marked setting and vice versa. Finally, it is concluded that language idiosyncratic properties which lie outside the core grammar, such as: language specific conditions, prespecified metrical information in the lexicon, morphological considerations, etc. require systematic and intensive instruction and practice, since they constitute the main sources of error.