Over the past 30 years, there has been little consensus on the benefits of peer review (PR) with respect to the teaching of expository writing in English to non-native speakers. Lu & Bol (2007) reported on several ESL writing instruction studies (Chaudron, 1983; Mangelsdorf, 1992; Paulus, 1999) that suggested peer feedback was as good as, and in some cases better than teacher feedback in helping revise and improve students' papers (p. 101). Brammer & Rees (2007), however, reported, "We frequently hear students complain bitterly that peer review is a waste of time or blame their peers for `not catching all the mistakes' and students do not stay on task during the peer review process" (p. 71). The literature also identifies social issues that can negatively affect the outcome of face-to-face PR, such as students being easily biased or not honest when providing feedback due to friendship, gender, race, interpersonal relationships, or personal preferences (Carson & Nelson, 1996; Ghorpade & Lackritz, 2001; MacLeod, 1999; Nilson, 2003; Zhao, 1998). To maximize the benefits of PR and reduce social interferences, this study incorporated anonymous electronic-peer review with 25 EFL students enrolled in an expository writing class in Spain. The goal of this dissertation is to explore the relationship between students' attitudes towards peer review and one) the amount and type of corrections a student makes to an essay in anonymous electronic-peer review, and two) the amount and type of corrections a student incorporates into his/her original essay after receiving feedback from a peer. The participants completed several Likert questionnaires, participated in PR training, wrote two drafts of an essay and were interviewed. The interviews provided data not only on the corrections mentioned above, but also how the participants viewed the experience, the effects PR had on their writing, insecurities about their English writing skills, and confidence they had in themselves and their peers based on perceived target language competence. Findings include discussion on perceptions and implications of electronic peer review on EFL learners' ability to provide helpful feedback and the willingness of the students to participate in peer review again in the future.

This study investigated grammatical difficulty from the perspective of second language (L2) learners in relation to their overall L2 proficiency and L2 performance and knowledge. The design included the administration of a student questionnaire, an interview, a proficiency test, and oral production and metalinguistic tasks. The proficiency test and questionnaire were administered to 277 university-level Chinese EFL learners in Taiwan. The questionnaire explored learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty of 20 English grammar features. Thirty of the students who completed the questionnaire met with the researcher individually to complete a grammatical difficulty ranking activity, 2 grammar exercises and 2 stimulated recalls, all of which aimed to further explore why the learners considered the selected features to be more (or less) difficult for them to learn. The oral production tasks were administered to 27 of the students who completed the questionnaire. The metalinguistic task was administered to 185 of the students who participated in the questionnaire survey. The questionnaire results indicate that, overall, the participants did not perceive the 20 target features to be difficult to learn. Notwithstanding, the ranking results of the questionnaire suggest that learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty are based on whether the rules to describe the formation of language features are easy or difficult to articulate. The qualitative results show that the learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty were influenced by several factors including their L2 knowledge, L2 grammar learning experience, and L1 knowledge, all of which were examined with reference to syntactic, semantic, and/or pragmatic levels. In terms of the relationship between learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty and their overall L2 proficiency, results show that learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty do not vary at the syntactic level, but that there is some variation at the pragmatic level. Regarding the relationship between learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty and their L2 knowledge, results suggest that learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty vary according to their implicit/explicit knowledge of the features in question; at the explicit knowledge level, the feature perceived to be less difficult to learn is used more accurately, while at the implicit knowledge level, this is not the case.

This study investigated grammatical difficulty from the perspective of second language (L2) learners in relation to their overall L2 proficiency and L2 performance and knowledge. The design included the administration of a student questionnaire, an interview, a proficiency test, and oral production and metalinguistic tasks. The proficiency test and questionnaire were administered to 277 university-level Chinese EFL learners in Taiwan. The questionnaire explored learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty of 20 English grammar features. Thirty of the students who completed the questionnaire met with the researcher individually to complete a grammatical difficulty ranking activity, 2 grammar exercises and 2 stimulated recalls, all of which aimed to further explore why the learners considered the selected features to be more (or less) difficult for them to learn. The oral production tasks were administered to 27 of the students who completed the questionnaire. The metalinguistic task was administered to 185 of the students who participated in the questionnaire survey. The questionnaire results indicate that, overall, the participants did not perceive the 20 target features to be difficult to learn. Notwithstanding, the ranking results of the questionnaire suggest that learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty are based on whether the rules to describe the formation of language features are easy or difficult to articulate. The qualitative results show that the learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty were influenced by several factors including their L2 knowledge, L2 grammar learning experience, and L1 knowledge, all of which were examined with reference to syntactic, semantic, and/or pragmatic levels. In terms of the relationship between learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty and their overall L2 proficiency, results show that learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty do not vary at the syntactic level, but that there is some variation at the pragmatic level. Regarding the relationship between learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty and their L2 knowledge, results suggest that learners’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty vary according to their implicit/explicit knowledge of the features in question; at the explicit knowledge level, the feature perceived to be less difficult to learn is used more accurately, while at the implicit knowledge level, this is not the case.

Besimokantiems kalbėjimo įgūdžių yra svarbu parodyti jo/jos stipriąsias ir silpnąsias vietas. Šio darbo aktualumą lėmė, tai jog kalbėjimo įgūdžius lavinantys pratimai, naudojami mokyklose, buvo menkai ištirti. Taigi šio tyrimo tikslas yra atskleisti sistemą, kuri suteikia mokiniams kalbėjimo įgūdžių anglų kalbos pamokose. Didelis dėmesys skiriamas realiam bendravimui klasėje ir už jos ribų. Pateikiami kalbėjimo pratimai, kuriuos daugelis anglų kalbos mokytojų naudoja pamokose. Šio tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad dauguma mokinių jaučiasi laisvai ir pasitiki savimi bendraudami. Galiausiai, rezultatai rodo, kad anglų kalbos mokytojai per mažai dėmesio skiria kalbėjimo įgūdžius lavinantiems pratimams ir ne visi iš jų naudoja realų pasaulį atspindinčius pratimus, kurie skatina moksleivius laisvai bendrauti. / As communication takes a considerable amount of knowledge, time and specific skills to be able to communicate in the world, it is essential to show a learner his/her strengths and weaknesses. The relevance of this thesis took into account that there has been little research done in types of communicative activities used at schools. So the aim of this study is to present the system empowering students‘ real world communication in EFL classes. A significant attention is paid to the use of real world communication in and outside the classroom. There are given communicative activities that are used in EFL classes by most English teachers. The results of this research showed that most of the students feel free and self – confident during communication. Finally, the results show the EFL teachers pay too little attention to speaking activities and not all of them use the real world activities, which encourage students’ free speaking.

This thesis investigates factors influencing the reading difficulties of advanced learners of English as a foreign language. It proposes a new approach to reading research and pedagogy in which neuroscientific insights on human verbal and non-verbal cognition are incorporated into the theoretical conceptualisation. This thesis explores the neurosdentific literature for the purpose of identifying basic principles governing human perception, emotion and cognition. The mechanisms of learning and memory are also studied. It examines how the verbal systems of the brain interact with the non-verbal systems. Making use of neural perspectives, a critical review of historical and of current reading models is conducted. Attempts are made to provide alternative interpretations for the phenomena recognised in empirical studies based on observations of reading behaviours, on computer-based studies and on the introspective data of experts and of learners. This thesis reports two experiments which were designed to investigate the Ll and L2 reading processes through Think Aloud, Immediate Retrospection, Questionnaires and Interviews. The results indicate that advanced learners, despite their established reading ability in their native languages, often rely heavily on cognitive and studial styles of L2 reading which inhibit fluent and effective reading. Neural accounts are offered which suggest that the ineffective reading styles are due to weakness in the degree of neural developments. This thesis evaluates the reading sections of current and typical coursebooks according to neural-based criteria and concludes that learners are not being given the opportunities to develop the neural networks required in fluent and enjoyable reading. Finally suggestions are made for future reading research and pedagogy.

本研究旨在分析臺灣英語系大學生在英語故事寫作方面的表現。研究對象為二十位某大學英語系三年級學生，藉由分析這些學生寫作的故事所呈現出的敘事結構，期望能發現學生寫作故事的模式，寫作上的長處與弱點，在寫作方面遇到的困難，以及文化背景是否影響其寫作表現。 研究結果顯示，學生寫作的故事呈現不同的敘事結構，而這些敘事結構反映出他們對於英語故事的基本元素已有初步的了解，但仍需要老師進一步在文體區隔、內容、以及校訂等方面給予指導，以增強其故事寫作技巧。此外，學生的作品中表現了許多文化特徵，這些特徵也同樣可在泰國、越南、不丹等學生的故事作品中發現，因此，本研究或許可作為亞洲文化間具有高度相似性的證明。 / The purpose of this study is to investigate the story-writing performance of college English majors in Taiwan in terms of narrative structure. A total of twenty stories composed by twenty junior English majors of one national university were analyzed based on the conventional English story structure. The collected stories were part of the students’ normal school work rather than specially designed tasks. Through a narrative structure analysis of the collected data, different structural patterns were discovered, including (1) Description, (2) Abbreviated Story, (3) Complete Story, (4) Lengthened Story, and (5) Complex Story. The structural uses not only reflect the learners’ writing styles but also represent their strengths and weaknesses in writing. Overall, the results show that although these students have possessed the basic knowledge of the structural conventions, they still need instruction in terms of content, editing, genre-distinction, or formal devices to enhance their story-writing skills. In addition, cultural characteristics were discovered in the writings. The preferences observed coincide with the characteristics of narrative writings of Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and Thai cultures in many ways. Therefore, the findings of this study may also serve as evidence for the great similarities that existed among Asian cultures.

Research into second language strategies has started as a result of the shift of focus, from teachers and teaching to learners and learning which has taken place in the field of education over the last few decades. Strategies used by good language learners have been revealed, strategies used by successful and less successful language learners have been compared, and factors influencing the use of learning strategies have also been investigated. As an attempt to contribute to gaining more insights into language learning strategy, this research aims to investigate the writing strategies used by successful and less successful English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners and the relationship between strategy use and the learners’ success. A multi-method approach combining both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to answer the research questions. This approach was achieved by means of method triangulation which consisted of structured questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and learning diaries. Nine female adult native Vietnamese students, who were in their second year of a four-year Bachelor program at Hanoi University in Vietnam, participated in the study. Questionnaires were administered at the beginning of the data collection phase. Guidelines for diary writing were then provided to the participants. Semi-structured interviews which served as the primary method of data collection were finally conducted with each of the participants. Findings from the study showed that the successful writers not only used strategies more frequently but also used more metacognitive, memory, compensation, and cognitive strategies than the less successful writers. The study also found some strategies which were most and least frequently used by both the successful and less successful writers.

The teaching practices of English reading in Indonesia provide limited opportunities for students to engage actively with texts to foster comprehension. Teaching reading through the use of self-questioning strategy has been shown to be an effective approach to improve students’ levels of questioning that promotes reading comprehension. However, for this to occur, teachers need a more effective self-questioning strategy to use it with their students. This study investigates the development of teachers’ and students’ self-questioning strategy use, the challenges faced by teachers, and the assistance that they need to implement it. The effects of the implementation of self-questioning strategy on students’ skills in generating questions about English passages are also examined. This study was conducted in Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, where English is a foreign language to Indonesian speakers. Three teachers and their Grade 11 classes from three different secondary schools participated in a multiple-site case study which was employed to generate rich explanatory data across sites. Data were gathered from both teachers and students in the form of observations, field-notes, interviews and reflective journals. Audio and video recordings of classes and teaching of English reading were used to support the data collection. The teachers were subsequently trained in a workshop in the use of self-questioning strategy with guidelines for the use of different levels of questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy. The teachers then implemented the self-questioning strategy with students in their classrooms. Two levels of analysis were applied in this multiple-site case study. Within site study analysis involved organising the data to search for patterns for each site. Across-site study analysis was then applied to generate themes, knowledge, concepts, and connections between variables and across the study sites before triangulation with other sources of data was undertaken to draw conclusions. The findings from this study show that teachers relied on textbooks for pedagogies for teaching reading and for the kinds of questions they asked to assist in reading comprehension. This meant that both teachers and students were exposed mainly to low level questions. Thus, they faced challenges in generating high level questions in these conditions, and required assistance in order to do this. The results reveal that both teachers and students perceived that they gained benefits from the application of the self-questioning strategy. Some factors that contributed to the effectiveness of the implementation of the self-questioning strategy in this EFL context were teachers’ knowledge and confidence, the abilities of students, the nature of the class, the supportive learning environment, and sufficient time for implementation. The implications for future research included the need to examine the self-questioning strategy in a longitudinal study, and the need to focus on students’ understanding and transfer of learning to other contexts. More generally, this study shows that the self-questioning strategy can be implemented effectively in reading lessons in Grade 11 classes in an Indonesian context. The findings of the study reveal that as well as improving teachers’ and students’ abilities to generate questions about English passages, the use of self-questioning also promotes the development of a more learner-centred approach in EFL and assists teachers to ask questions in their classrooms that go beyond those provided in the textbooks. The findings suggest that research in self-questioning strategy needs to be expanded and continued because this study has shown the potential of the strategy to enhance students’ engagement in learning and potentially to foster improvements in reading comprehension.

Research into second language strategies has started as a result of the shift of focus, from teachers and teaching to learners and learning which has taken place in the field of education over the last few decades. Strategies used by good language learners have been revealed, strategies used by successful and less successful language learners have been compared, and factors influencing the use of learning strategies have also been investigated. As an attempt to contribute to gaining more insights into language learning strategy, this research aims to investigate the writing strategies used by successful and less successful English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners and the relationship between strategy use and the learners’ success. A multi-method approach combining both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to answer the research questions. This approach was achieved by means of method triangulation which consisted of structured questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and learning diaries. Nine female adult native Vietnamese students, who were in their second year of a four-year Bachelor program at Hanoi University in Vietnam, participated in the study. Questionnaires were administered at the beginning of the data collection phase. Guidelines for diary writing were then provided to the participants. Semi-structured interviews which served as the primary method of data collection were finally conducted with each of the participants. Findings from the study showed that the successful writers not only used strategies more frequently but also used more metacognitive, memory, compensation, and cognitive strategies than the less successful writers. The study also found some strategies which were most and least frequently used by both the successful and less successful writers.

Communicative approaches, such as communicative language teaching (CLT) and task-based language teaching (TBLT), have been promoted in second language education around the world for over four decades. This continued mainstream status may be due to their convincing theoretical bases in principles of second language acquisition, which are believed to be beneficial to language learners. However, they are not widely accepted by teachers in many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. A number of studies in a variety of contexts have aimed to identify factors which impede their implementation, but few of these have further built on the implications of these investigations. The current investigation, instead, studied classroom practice in a Taiwanese EFL secondary school, in order to identify and solve any problems arising. Based on the assumption that teacher learning is a complex process, it was necessary to set up a teacher development programme (TD) and use action research to explore how it could help teachers develop their practitioner knowledge of communicative approaches. Drawing on the data from questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations, the main finding was that the teachers’ limited understanding of these approaches seemed to be a more dominant factor than the teachers’ beliefs. This resulted in perceptions of learners, syllabus/textbooks and time becoming barriers to the implementation of the approaches, as often pointed out in past studies. This study also found effective ways to encourage teachers to learn to implement this new pedagogy. First, supplying examples of a theory’s practical application equipped practitioners to develop practical knowledge of that theory. Second, collaborative learning between the teachers, as well as the assistance of an expert, helped make the teacher education programme work. This led to the conclusion that communicative approaches motivated teachers in their professional practice. The findings of this research could shed light on these aspects of L2 teaching in a variety of other similar contexts and could be useful for educational policymakers, practitioners, and teacher educators in implementing innovative approaches.