Abstract It is unclear how L2 students acquire vocabulary – how is it taught – or wheather it can even be taught. In an SSL (Swedish as second language) program for young adults the ambition has been to integrate the L2 students’ into the national high school (gymnasium) courses as quickly as possible, in order to meet the students’ demands for subject education and to challenge them on an appropriate knowledge level. Teachers noticed quite early that the course – integrated L2 students seemed to have a deeper understanding of words and an easier flow in their speech. The study was conducted to map and learn more about the differences in vocabulary with L2 students who were integrated in the national L1 programs in several subjects and L2 students who have chosen to focus, in an isolated group, on SSL only. How does the students’ vocabulary evolve in relation to time? The study is based on the vocabulary knowledge scale as the methodological tool and Stephen Krashen’s monitor model as the theoretical practice, and in particular the input hypothesis and the hypothesis of acquisition and learning in combination with Pauline Gibbons’s methodologies in scaffolding. In the study the test results of eight SSL students are compared; four of the students have chosen to integrate with the L1 classes and four of them have chosen not to integrate with the L1 students. We will show that students that participate in national “high school” courses on the same premises as the L1 students will, through exposure to vocabulary in text books, lectures and post scaffolding, learn their vocabulary at a faster and higher rate than students who focus on the structural functions and, often non-contextual, vocabulary training alone.

Until recently, the majority of research in the area of English phonological awareness has centered on segmental phonology as predictors of reading. Current research, however, has expanded the concept of phonological awareness to include prosodic sensitivity⎯the awareness of suprasegmental information. The present study explores the role of five segmental and suprasegmental levels of English phonological awareness as predictors of individual differences in word reading in Korean children learning English. 104 native Hangul speaking children in Grade 3 were assessed on English levels of stress, syllable, rime, simple phoneme, and consonant cluster awareness, as well as, English and Hangul word reading. Hierarchical regression models indicated that awareness of syllables, onset/rime units, and phonemes within consonant clusters were uniquely predictive of individual differences in L2 English word reading after accounting for cognitive ability, English background variables, and L1 word reading. Awareness of stress-timed patterns contributed to common variance in English and Hangul word reading, but was not uniquely predictive in final regression models. No level of phonological awareness was predictive of Hangul word reading. Results support the notion that segmental phonological elements not present in L1 may be predictive of individual differences in L2 word reading. Furthermore, cross-language transfer of PA may be weak in the direction of English (L2) to Hangul (L1). / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2010-06-30 18:10:10.564

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Abstract The Swedish National Curriculum for Upper Secondary School states that English should be taught essentially in English. The aim of this study was to discuss the use of Swedish in the upper secondary English classroom with regard to building teacher-student relations and learning outcomes. A hypothesis was articulated, claiming that judicious use of Swedish in the English classroom would help establish teacher-student relations, which would benefit learning outcomes. The study focused on students’ attitudes on the use of Swedish in the English classroom, on the importance of student-teacher relations with regard to learning outcomes, and on the effect English has on building relations and learning outcomes. The material for the study was obtained from a student questionnaire with mixed multiple choice and essay questions. Results showed that most students preferred the inclusion of Swedish in English education and considered it beneficial to their learning. Despite students’ opinion, the national curriculum’s guidelines, and the line of current modern language research, a rather large part of students’ teaching appeared to be conducted in English only. Results furthermore showed that students considered the relation to their teacher more important for their learning outcomes than the language used by the teacher in class. An English-only requirement was experienced as inhibiting by a small majority of students with regard to building relations. It was concluded that Swedish could be seen as an useful instrument when forming teacher-student relations in the English classroom, which raised the thought that the national curriculum should, instead of restricting the amount of Swedish, stress when and how the use of Swedish is fruitful. This study is important as it shows how Swedish could be a useful tool in the specific environment of the English classroom, which calls for a different approach to English language learning than is supported in the national curriculum.   Key words: English, L1/L2, learning outcomes, relational pedagogy, socialization, student, teacher

The three studies reported in this thesis investigated the contributing factors of L2 writing among adult ESL learners in the academic setting. The major purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between L2 proficiency, writing strategies, writing attitude, writing errors and L2 writing performance. This thesis aimed to provide insights for the contributing factors that are predictive of L2 writing performance in adult ESL learners, studying in English and non-English dominant settings. Study 1 (reported in Chapter 3) focused on determining the appropriate measures for investigating the individual factors of writing performance; particularly learners’ writing strategies, learners’ second language proficiency, first language (L1) interference and their relation to writing performance. Thirty-one intermediate students of L2 served as participants. A measure of vocabulary size and a writing strategy questionnaire were administered to the students. Findings in this study indicated that most of the participants’ planning strategies were limited to having a mental or written plan whereas over half of the respondents reported that they always start with an introduction and were more likely to stop drafting after a few sentences. In terms of drafting strategies, it was found that most respondents reread what they had written to get ideas on how to continue but did not go back to their outline to make changes in it. With regard to L1 use, a majority of participants do not write bits of text in their native language. Nevertheless, quite a number of participants indicated that they would write in their L1 if they don’t know a word in English. Findings in this study also suggested that participants’ biggest concerns were related to grammar and vocabulary, which resulted in them making surface level changes and checking. An overall analysis of participants’ writing output and responses from the questionnaire also provided important insights to the improvement of the measures. The revision process included rewording and rephrasing ambiguous items, removing irrelevant items from the questionnaire and restructuring the writing task for the next study. In Study 2 (presented in Chapter 4), a follow-up study was conducted to examine L2 writers’ proficiency level, writing attitude, writing errors and writing strategies in an English-dominant setting. Nine research questions were designed to guide the study framework and gather specific data regarding the research aims. A writing measure, vocabulary tests and a questionnaire were administered to the students. Findings from Study 2 indicated that L2 proficiency, particularly vocabulary size, was related to writing performance. In addition, it was also discovered that L2 writers who performed poorly were prone to performing writing strategies related to surface level checking. Therefore, it was concluded that linguistic barriers in L2 affect both writing performance and students’ ability in applying the effective strategies in writing. Apart from that, Study 2 also found that the use of L1 and translation into L2 was associated with lower writing performance. Additionally, Study 2 found that pronoun, word and sentence errors were the most prevalent errors among ESL students. A possible reason for this is because L2 students need to work with two languages while writing, mainly the grammar rules in English which are not found in their L1 as well as their own native language. Thus, L2 students face the challenge of working out English grammar rules while writing. Overall, findings in this study suggest that prevalent writing errors in English may be a sign of L1 interference and that as the use of L1 increases, writing performance decreases. In Study 3 (reported in Chapter 5), the role of proficiency level, writing attitude, writing errors and writing strategies was explored by measuring the relationship between writing attitude scores, errors in writing, strategy use and essay scores. Additionally, the role of L2 proficiency in writing performance was also investigated by assessing the relationship between vocabulary size scores, writing errors and writing performance. Findings from Study 3 revealed unexpected findings with regard to the relationship between L1 use and writing performance among the three sample groups. L1 use was found to be correlated with writing performance for Group A but not Groups B and C. It was argued that L2 writers of different L2 proficiency level and academic experience may have different orientations of L1 use. Further work on the impact of L1 use on L2 writing will be needed in order to provide insights into this area. With regard to writing errors, a relationship between errors and writing performance was reported. It was found that subject verb agreement error appeared to be a common factor for the three groups in the study that was related to writing performance. In addition, errors were also significantly correlated with L2 proficiency, suggesting that as L2 proficiency increased, errors decreased. Overall, Study 3 argues for the importance of developing and enhancing learners’ L2 proficiency to reduce errors and improve learners’ writing performance. Additionally, Study 3 also argues for the need to emphasize effective writing strategies in the ESL writing classroom.

During the last few decades peer collaboration has been commonly practised in Second Language (L2) writing classrooms. Despite the conceptual shift towards process, student-centred orientation to writing pedagogy, there are still many L2 composition courses around the world which consider writing as a finished product and assign a central role to writing instructors. This qualitative case study research is one of the first attempts which have been set out to probe the interactional dynamics, revision behaviours, writing performance, and perceptions of Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students engaged in peer review and collaborative revision activities in two genres, process and argumentation, in light of sociocultural perspective of learning. The participants were 5 lower intermediate to intermediate English translation student dyads enrolled in a semester long essay writing course. Drawing on the data collected from audio-recordings, observations, written texts, and interviews, the study investigated how this group of L2 learners approached these two distinct tasks, how they reacted to the feedback they received either from their partners or teacher, how they used the comments to improve their writing performance, and how they viewed each of the tasks they were involved in. Analysis of audio-recorded data revealed that students stayed on task for most of the allocated time and employed three distinct dyadic negotiations; evaluative, social, and procedural with both partners being capable of pooling ideas and providing each other scaffolded help regardless of their level of L2 writing proficiency. However, the majority of conversations and scaffolding concentrated on surface level features of compositions. Further, examination of written texts produced by students during writing cycles demonstrated that they incorporated higher number of teacher‟s comments into their subsequent drafts than their peers‟ feedback and collaborative revision contributed to greater degree of improvement in the quality of the essays they developed compared to peer reviewing. Retrospective interviews also indicated that collaborative tasks were generally perceived as useful, yet the participants expressed scepticism about the validity of peer comments and did not feel competent enough to address their partners‟ papers. Nevertheless, they showed more favourable reactions towards collaborative revision activity than peer reviewing. The researcher concludes that collaborative revision can be used as an interim activity for the move from the traditional, product-based, teacher fronted L2 writing pedagogy to a more theoretically sound, process-based, student fronted approach to writing instruction in EFL contexts.

La visión de aprendizaje de las lenguas en Suecia es de un enfoque funcional y comunicativo en el cual se hace relevante incluir más pragmática en la enseñanza. Los planes de estudio de las lenguas modernas manifiestan la necesidad de obtener una competencia comunicativa y por ello esta monografía estudia el input de los marcadores discursivos conversacionales (MDC) en los diálogos en los libros de enseñanza para ver si los alumnos pueden desarrollar una competencia comunicativa en el caso de los MDC. El método para investigar el input de los MDC es una comparación entre los usos de estos descritos por la Real Academia Española y sus usos en los libros de enseñanza. Los resultados del estudio revelan que no presentan todos los marcadores definidos como MDC en los libros de enseñanza, sin embargo, muestran marcadores de cada categoría y, además, las funciones fundamentales de los que presentan. Además, los diálogos en los libros presentan marcadores de cada categoría que significa que los libros dan un input adecuado de los MDC para que los alumnos puedan desarrollar una competencia comunicativa. / The idea that language is a medium to communicate has been widely established in Sweden and this view of language requires more pragmatics in the classrooms where the students should acquire a communicative competence. Therefore, this study investigates the input and usage of conversational discourse markers in the dialogues in L2 Spanish textbooks in order to see if the students can develop a communicative competence regarding these discourse markers. The method to investigate the functions of the discourse markers represented in the textbooks is to compare the usage to the descriptions published by the Royal Academy of the Spanish language. The results of the study reveal the books show the fundamental usage of the markers that are brought up and in some cases the books even manifest the majority of their functions. Also, the books bring up functions from each of the four categories of conversational discourse markers which mean that the books give the students an adequate input for them to develop their communicative competence.

This study set out to examine how correctly Mandarin speakers produced and perceived English vowels and to explore the relationship between the production and the perception of English vowels by Mandarin speakers. Fifteen native Mandarin speakers, who had lived in Canada for at least two years and received an IELTS score of 6.5 or above, participated in this study. Fifteen native speakers of Canadian English living in Vancouver at the time of the study also participated as a control group. Two experiments were conducted involving 10 English vowels: /i/, /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ʊ/, /u/, /ʊ/, /ɔ/, /o/, and /ʌ/. In Experiment 1, both the Mandarin speakers and the native English speakers were recorded producing the ten vowels in a /bVt/ syllable in a carrier sentence. The vowels in the recordings were then identified by four native English listeners. In Experiment 2, the Mandarin speakers did an identification test of the vowels produced by the English speakers in Experiment 1. The results showed that Mandarin speakers in this study were able to produce and perceive certain English vowels correctly, but not all of them. The results also indicated that the relationship between the production and perception of English vowels by Mandarin speakers cannot be interpreted in a straightforward way, and that that L2 experience, in terms of length of residence, age of arrival, years of learning, and age when ESL learning starts, might also play an important role in the production and perception of English vowels by Mandarin speakers. / Graduate

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This study investigated the effects of recasts, a frequently provided type of oral feedback in language teaching, on the production of English question forms in second language (L2) learning. Despite the large number of studies which have examined the effects of recasts, mixed views exist as to their usefulness as a corrective feedback technique. The present study has continued the investigation into whether their frequent use is justified and also if learners actually perceive recasts as being corrective in nature. The focus of this study is to explore developmental effects, both immediately following and delayed, of recasts while considering these two key aspects. The primary aim is to explore delayed benefits of recasts while the secondary aim is to investigate whether or not these learners perceived the feedback as a correct version of their incorrect question form. The study involved 34 English as a second language (ESL) learners from various first language (L1) backgrounds who were enrolled in a general English programme, at an Auckland language school. The participants completed demographic questionnaires and took part in task-based interaction sessions, with the members of the experimental group receiving input containing intensive recasts. The proportion and types of questions produced in the immediate and two delayed post-tests were compared and analysed to consider whether exposure to recasts was beneficial. The main findings suggest that for more advanced question types, interaction with intensive recasts may be more effective than interaction alone, for delayed L2 development, despite only weak support in the literature. On the other hand, similar positive effects on immediate question production are not strongly evident. Therefore, the results in this study add support to the claim that recasts may be beneficial for delayed second language acquisition (SLA), when the linguistic target is questions, even when these recasts do not seem effective immediately following exposure. Furthermore, awareness of negative evidence was indicated, which may have contributed, in part, to the positive delayed findings. Finally, these results suggest that recasts can be an effective pedagogical tool in the communicative L2 classroom when providing linguistic feedback in a way that does not unduly disrupt the flow of the interactive task. Practical suggestions for future research were also identified.