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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of the dissertation was to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) students' use of their first language (L1) in composing English texts. The first study focused on factors associated with students' spontaneous use of L1 in EFL writing. The research questions of this study concerned how spontaneous L1 use in EFL writing may interact with cognitive demands of writing tasks, learners' English proficiency, and writing quality. Thirty Taiwanese college students from different disciplines participated. Writing tasks included the issue analysis and argument analysis tasks, both derived from GRE and GMAT writing. Students' percentage of L1 use in think-aloud protocols was calculated within each phase of the composing process and compared to the cognitive demands of writing tasks, students' English proficiency, and writing scores. EFL students' percentage of L1 use was found to vary not only by cognitive demands of writing tasks but also by types of writing tasks. Total quantity of L1 use of EFL students was not related to their English proficiency. Further, EFL students' spontaneous use of L1 was found to be associated with better writing quality when used in activities such as making logical transitions, posing questions about logic and content development, or summarizing long chunks of reasoning. The second study, concerning the advantage of L1 used as the only composing language in EFL writing, looked in detail at four cases to examine factors such as the cognitive demands of writing tasks, students' English proficiency, and students' ability to use L1 strategically. The choice of composing language was found to be associated with English writing quality only in cognitively demanding writing tasks, such as argumentation. In argumentation, the advantages of composing in L1 depended on the interaction of students' English proficiency and students' ability to use L 1 strategically. Compared to English, L1 Chinese as a composing language was advantageous to writing quality when students had either the ability to use L1 strategically or high English proficiency. On the other hand, L1 as a composing language was disadvantageous to English writing scores when the student had neither the ability to use L1 strategically nor high English proficiency. Pedagogical implications are discussed. / 2031-01-02

The present study investigated the most and least frequent vocabulary learning strategies that English language teachers in Congo encourage students to use, and the strategies that Congolese students actually use to build their vocabulary. Finding out whether the students' most used strategies were teacher-encouraged or independently learned was another point of interest. A Likert-scale of 34 statements and four short-answer questions was designed to collect data. The participants included 20 male and 23 female Congolese learners of English of ages 18 to 22, all of them students in the Arts program at the Reconciliation High School in Brazzaville, Congo. Statistical and content analysis methods were employed. Attention to suffixes was the only strategy that showed a significant difference between the teacher encouraged and student used strategies. Two other strategies, guessing word meanings from context and learning words in collocations approached significance, but the difference between teacher encouragement and student use was not of practical importance. This strong correspondence between the strategies that teachers frequently encourage and students' use provided evidence about the important role that language teachers play in students' learning in general, and in strategy in particular. Quantitative results revealed contextual guessing and dictionary use to be the most frequently used strategies, whereas pronunciation was the least frequently used. Participants' narrative descriptions revealed that notebooks and notepads were frequently used in participants' independent learning of vocabulary. Furthermore, 52.38% (N= 22) of the participants attributed their frequently-used strategies to their teachers' practices and advice while 38.10% (N= 16) claimed that their strategies were independently learned. In view of theory and empirical research, the present study provided evidence that Congolese learners of English are taking responsibilities about their vocabulary learning progress by employing a variety of strategies, some of them acquired as a result of classroom learning, whereas others developed in their independent learning outside of school.

There has been an increase in interest among researchers in the study of loanword phonology, but only limited studies have been carried out on the phonology of English loanwords in Arabic. Thus, there is a need for more linguistic studies to shed light on the borrowing of English loanwords into Arabic. A significant issue that has been the subject of an ongoing debate is whether adaptation processes are part of perception or production. This study investigated the phonology of English loanwords in Arabic. In the process, it discussed the phonetic and phonemic approaches that have been controversial in loanword adaptation. The study questioned whether the absence of phonemes in the Arabic phonemic inventory equivalent to certain English target phonemes affected EFL and ESL learners' pronunciation of English loanwords differently. It also examined whether they substituted phonemes, and if so, whether the two groups of speakers used the same phonemes for substitution or used different ones. A list of 29 loanwords was compiled and used to examine the productions of 15 EFL learners from Salman University and 15 ESL learners from the Center for English as a Second Language in Southern Illinois University. Examining the effects of the Arabic Ll on the production of loanwords via transfer, approximation, the Markedness Differential Hypothesis, and Optimality Theory showed that these English loanwords had undergone certain phonological modifications. Both EFL and ESL learners reflected native Arabic phonological processes, while only ESL learners reflected universal patterns, such as VOT approximation, that followed neither the phonological system of Arabic nor that of English. Consequently, the findings of the study contribute to a better understanding of how both phonology and phonetics are related to English loanwords in Arabic. Further research is suggested to investigate different aspects of loanword phonology, such as the effects of orthography.

This thesis explores issues in the development of foreign language writing abilities in a Portuguese setting. The study is based on a research project carried out in 1993 in three University classrooms, where the author was teaching. It investigates what happens when educational drama is brought into the EFL classroom as part of a teaching programme with a view to improving writing abilities. Set in a Vygotskian framework, educational drama is used as a mediating device to attend to a whole set of factors not usually salient in L2 writing. The study covers all 108 students majoring in EFL at that time. The students were proficient in both oral work and grammar exercises but had difficulties writing in English. Two obligatory drama workshops were carried out in English with each group of students during their second term of study and all written work carried out during the term stemmed from the workshops. Large amounts of data were analysed by qualitative and quantitative methods. Writing assignments pre/post drama workshops were collected. Drama workshops were monitored via audio and video recording. Questionnaires were given to the students during the pre and post data collection periods to measure writing apprehension. Student writing was found to improve significantly in both content and grammatical fluency in a relatively short period of time. Drawing on linguistic and social semiotic analyses, the project examines the nature of the different written texts produced in this particular educational environment and the interaction between the use of drama and the writing process itself through the concept of transformation. In terms of a larger Vygotskian framework it looks at the role of thinking in learning, development and instruction in a way which bridges difficult conceptual phases in foreign language teaching. Key words: EFL, foreign languages, writing, Vygotsky, drama, Social Semiotics, transformation.

Researching on the appropriateness of video materials for learners of EIL has required in-depth discussion of the role of the medium of video in the field of crosscultural communication in an EIL context - the ASEAN countries generally and Malaysia specifically. This has drawn into the picture two perspectives. The first is sociocultural; the consideration of the role of English as an International language in Malaysia and the other ASEAN countries, the recommendation of a suitable pedagogical model of speech for audio-visual materials in Malaysia, the components of cross-cultural communication that are essential for any language learner who aspires to communicate in English with persons who come from varying sociocultural backgrounds. The second perspective is that of the role of video for the teaching of intercultural language teaching. What is it in the medium that enables it to play a pivotal role in delivering the message - aspects of cross-cultural communication? These perspectives provide the background to the main research question at hand, which is, how appropriate in sociocultural content and design are ELT video materials for language learners in Malaysia? ELT video materials have been commercially produced since the mid-70's. The majority of these materials are based in Western sociocultural settings, portraying native speakers interacting with-each other. Given the dominant role of English as an international language, linking countries communicatively that otherwise would have great difficulty doing so, yet there has been minimal change in the sociocultural nature of the materials. Therefore, this research aims to investigate via critical analysis and questionnaires, the appropriateness of the sociocultural and design features of existing and potential ELT video materials for EIL language learners. The information from the two sources will, it is hoped, provide useful recommendations for the future-production of appropriate ELT video materials for EIL-language learners in Malaysia specifically and the ASEAN countries generally.

The purpose of this study is to enrich understandings of the major issues encountered when tutoring writing with beginner-intermediate level Japanese EFL students in a Japanese university. Specifically, the thesis examines how students and tutors perceive the challenges experienced in EFL tutoring and the various roles tutors adopt during EFL writing tutoring sessions with Japanese beginner-intermediate students. A mixed method approach is employed utilizing different methods that combine qualitative and quantitative data. Four data collection methods were utilized: pre and post-semester interviews with writing tutors: student questionnaires from a sample size of 24: 30 tutorial observations: and two tutor training workshops (quasi-focus group). Symbolic interactionism (SI) provided a framework for analyzing tutors‟ roles and their practices during EFL writing tutorials. This view assumes that roles emerge from, and are significantly shaped by, interactions in specific social settings. It was found that writing tutors adopt the following roles: proofreader, translator, coach, teacher, mediator, and timekeeper based on their interaction with the individual student. Each role was adopted as a reaction to a challenge but also created new problems. Many of the roles the tutors adopted in this study parallel the research on roles tutors adopt in the ESL writing center, however in EFL tutoring these roles are magnified. For example, in this study tutors play both the role of teacher and mediator to a much larger degree. The translator role however is unique to EFL tutoring. The roles put forth encompass a different way for tutors to think about effective tutoring in an EFL setting with beginner-intermediate students. This study contributes a deeper understanding as to how administrators and writing tutors can better conduct writing center tutorials with EFL students.

ABSTRACT - The aim of this study was to examine which aspects teachers take into consideration when selecting literature for their students. To research this question, semi-structured interviews were conducted as a qualitative method. Three upper secondary school teachers from Southern Sweden participated in the study. All participants reported on the selection process they go through when selecting literature for their students. The interviews were then transcribed and thoroughly analyzed using Burnards thematic analysis method. The results were that teachers primarily consider curricular documents when selecting literature, most likely because they are legally obliged to do so. Furthermore, the aspect of difficulty was very prominent during the interviews with a heavy emphasis on the length of a text as a decisive factor. Participants also stated that aspects such as theme, classic status, and genre had little to no influence during the selection process.

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