For the past 30 years, researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition (Block, 2007; Lantolf and Pavlenko, 2001; Norton, 2000) have emphasized the need to integrate the language learner and the language learning context and to analyze relations of power and how they affect the language learner, the language learning processes, and the learner’s identities. Several researchers (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001; McKay & Wong, 1996; Skilton-Silverstein, 2002; Vitanova, 2005) have studied the connections between language learning, identity, and agency. The participants in these studies were immigrants from Eastern Europe, Asia, or Africa living in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Few studies (Menard-Warwick, 2004, 2009) have analyzed the experiences of adult Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. in relation to English learning and identity construction. This dissertation reports on a study exploring how five adult Hispanic immigrants learning English in a major city in Texas negotiated their identities as English speakers and exercised agency in contexts where English was spoken. The study also analyzed the learners’ investment in learning English. The sociocultural theory of self and identity developed by Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain (1998) was the framework which helped conceptualize identity and agency. The work of Norton (2000) on language learning and identity and her notion of investment were used to understand the participants’ experiences learning and using English inside and outside the ESL classroom. A qualitative multiple-case study was conducted to understand the experiences of the participants who were learning English in a community-based ESL program, where the researcher became a participant observer during the six months of data collection. The findings of the study show the complex identity negotiations that the participants underwent in the different contexts where they interacted in English. Social class, immigrant status, and other social factors, such as lack of access to English-speaking contexts, high prevalence of Spanish in contexts where the participants interacted daily, and positioning of the participants (by others and by themselves) as limited English speakers strongly influenced how they negotiated their identities as English speakers. Despite these social factors, the participants exercised agency and were highly invested in learning English. / text

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate whether learners' L1 or L2 plays a more influential role in their L3 acquisition. This study also seeks to discover the factors attributed to the influence, such as language typological distance and learning strategies. A total of 33 subjects are Taiwanese college students who have Chinese L1 and English L2 learn French as their L3. The survey asks the participants to finish a French test, which has 30 questions. Half of the questions have sentences with parallel structures in English and French, whereas the other half of questions have sentences with nonparallel structures. Quantitative results indicate that learners have significantly higher performance over the sentences where English and French do not have parallel structures. It draws a conclusion that English, as learners' L2, affects learners' L3 acquisition more because English and French are typologically closer. The learners also tend to apply the learning strategies that they use to acquire the second language to learn their third language. / text

This dissertation investigated the effects of multimedia annotation on L2 vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. The overarching objective of this study was to compare the effects of text-picture annotation and audio-picture annotation on L2 vocabulary immediate recall and reading comprehension. This study also sought to examine the different effects under incidental and intentional learning conditions. The participants were 78 intermediate adult ESL learners from three universities in northwest U.S. The participants read an Internet-based English text. Twenty target words, annotated in either text-picture or audio-picture, were embedded in the reading text. The participants accessed the annotations by clicking on the highlighted target words. Two instruments were used for measuring vocabulary immediate recall: Vocabulary Knowledge Scale and Word Recognition Test. Two measurements were used to assess reading comprehension: Multiple-choice Reading Comprehension Questions and L1 Written Recall. In term of annotation types, the results indicated that the audio-picture annotation group did significantly better than the text-picture group in L2 vocabulary immediate recall. However, there was no significantly different effect between the two annotations on L2 reading comprehension. In terms of learning conditions, the intentional learning condition resulted in significantly better performance in L2 vocabulary immediate recall than the incidental learning condition. However, the incidental learning condition resulted in significantly better L2 reading comprehension than the intentional learning condition only in the Written Recall measure, but not in the multiple-choice Reading Comprehension Test. In terms of interaction between annotation type and learning condition, there was not interaction between annotation type and learning condition on L2 vocabulary immediate recall. The interaction between annotation type and learning condition on L2 reading comprehension was not significant in multiple-choice Reading Comprehension Text. However, the interaction was found to be significant in Written Recall: in the incidental learning condition, the difference between text-picture annotation and audio-picture annotation was not significant; in the intentional learning condition, participants in text-picture did significantly better than those in audio-picture on Written Recall.

In Central Texas, one high school (hereafter referred to as Literacy High) has attempted to help bridge the literacy gap in immigrant populations so as to more easily facilitate their success in standard classroom settings. In this high school, recent immigrants can focus extensively on English language studies so that, upon completion of the program, they can return to their neighborhood high schools with the linguistic and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1973, 1974, 1977) they need to succeed in a heterogeneous group setting. The following study focuses on second-year students from Mexico within this school. Basing itself upon Yosso's (2006a, 2006b, 2007) theory of “community cultural wealth”, this ethnographic study looks for evidence of cultural attributes held by Mexican tenth grade students that contribute positively to their English literacy development and performance in Literacy High's coursework. The study has found that, primarily, Mexican students at Literacy High are assisted in their coursework by their previously developed aspirational capital (i.e. their ability to maintain their hopes and dreams for a better future even when faced with real and perceived barriers) and navigational capital (i.e. their ability to maneuver through social institutions, in this case the educational system). These characteristics enable them to pass their classes both at Literacy High and the high schools they transfer to upon program completion. However, this high achievement in terms of grades does not necessarily translate into complete English literacy, especially oral literacy. Potential reasons for these results will be discussed, based upon observations of sampled students in Literacy High classes, interviews with these students, and interviews with all Literacy High teachers. This work will also discuss the relative merit of both formal school settings and nonprofit settings in teaching written and oral literacy. Positive exemplary case studies of nonprofit ESL programs will be compared and contrasted with the results from this case study to determine what skills are most effectively taught in either setting, and how particular practices from both nonprofit and formal school settings might be better incorporated in each to improve achievement. The work will end with recommendations for how English literacy might more effectively be taught in formal school settings like Literacy High. / text

This thesis is a literature review on literature reading in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, of mainly upper secondary schools. The underlying objective for this work is that meaningful reading experiences can have a positive impact on a developing young individual on his or her way into adulthood. The aim of this thesis is to explore what theories and methods are used when trying to create prerequisites for meaningful reading experiences, and how these experiences actually are realized. Qualitative methods are mainly used, except for a small section of the methodology of finding the sources, which is quantitative in nature. Since very little previous research has been done in the field, the six sources used in this review are internationally spread over five continents. They are mainly analyzed from a theoretical background of reader response and critical literacy perspectives. The main findings show that a number of theoretical approaches and methodologies can be useful in creating meaningful reading experiences. What may have proven most effective was addressing actual problems in the students’ everyday lives through applied critical literacy.

The inclusion of film is becoming ever-more popular in the field of First Year College Writing Classes for NES and NNES students around the country. Many of the reasons for this are self-evident. Film frequently offers a strong emotional appeal to NNES students and more opportunities to access what may otherwise be linguistically inaccessible material (e.g., Stempleski, 1990; Kasper, 2000). In addition, film offers a pleasant alternative to the use of literature in a First Year Writing Class which can often intimidate or discourage many NNES students due to its linguistic complexity (McKay, 1982). What is less clear, however, is how film's inclusion may contribute to the development of academic writing skills in similar or different ways from print texts, such as short stories, poems, and essays. Therefore, this dissertation will compare the benefits and challenges of using film and print texts in a First Year College Writing Class for NNES students. From data gathered from student essays, interviews, surveys, and field notes, the current study addresses the following research questions: (1. What linguistic and rhetorical features characterize the style of academic discourse NES and NNES students produce about films compared to print texts? (2. What challenges do NNES freshman composition students face writing academic essays about films compared to writing about print texts? (3. What academic strategies do they say they use to try to overcome these challenges? Do any academic strategies correspond with particular linguistic and rhetorical features? (4. What are NNES students' opinions regarding watching and writing about films in a university composition class? Do students consider watching and writing about a film comparable as an academic activity to reading and writing about a print text? The study aims to contribute to the field of Second Language Writing literature by considering the impact of the choice of text form, either a movie or a print text, on NNES students' motivation and ability to write academic, college-level essays. Further, it will explore in what ways students' cultural, educational and linguistic backgrounds affect the ways they approach writing about a film and a print text. This knowledge should be especially helpful for Writing Program Administrators and First Year College Writing Teachers for NNES students. It should be noted that, as a result of this dissertation's findings, the researcher has changed his approach toward the use of film in a First Year College Writing class for NNES students. Descriptions of activities the researcher currently uses before and after screening a film are included in the final chapter of this dissertation.

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.

Learning in a multimodal environment entails the presentation of information in a combination of more than one mode (i.e. written words, illustrations, and sound). Past research regarding the benefits of multimodal presentation of information includes both school age children and adult learners (e.g. Koolstra, van der Voort & d'Ydewalle, 1999; Neumen & Koskinen, 1992), as well as both native and non-native language learners (e.g. d'Ydewalle & Gielen, 1992; Kothari et al, 2002). This dissertation focuses how the combination of various modalities are used by learners of differing proficiencies in English to gain better comprehension (cf. Mayer, 1997, 2005; Graber, 1990; Slykhuis et al, 2005). The addition of the written mode (closed captioning) to the already multimodal environment that exists in film and video presentations is analyzed. A Multimodal Multimedia Communicative Event is used to situate the language learner. Research questions focus on the eye movements of the participants as they read moving text both with and without the audio and video modes of information. Small case studies also give a context to four participants by bringing their individual backgrounds and observations to bear on the use of multimodal texts as language learning tools in a second or foreign language learning environment. It was found that Non Native English Speakers (NNS) (L1 Arabic) show longer eye movement patterns in reading dynamic text (closed captioning), echoing past research with static texts while Native Speakers of English (NS) tend to have quicker eye movements. In a multimodal environment the two groups also differed: NNS looked longer at the closed captioning and NS were able to navigate the text presentation quickly. While associative activation (Paivio, 2007) between the audio and print modalities was not found to alter the eye movement patterns of the NNS, participants did alternate between the modalities in search of supplementary information. Other research using additional closed captioning and subtitling have shown that viewing a video program with written text added turns the activity into a reading activity (Jensema, 2000; d'Ydewalle, 1987). The current study found this to be the case, but the results differed in regard to proficiency and strategy.

This dissertation follows an oral language assessment tool from initial design and implementation to validity analysis. The specialized variables of this study are the population: international teaching assistants and the purpose: spoken assessment as a hiring prerequisite. However, the process can easily be applied to other populations and assessment goals.While evaluating the TBEST (Task-Based English Speaking Test) and TAST (TOEFL Academic Speaking Test), I search for a preponderance of evidence for assessment validity that indicate the most appropriate tool for evaluating potential ITAs. The specific evidences of assessment validity that are examined are:1. Evidence of Domain (Content) Validity: Which test, the TBEST or the TAST most closely measures the actual skills needed to be an ITA?2. Evidence of Predictive Criterion Validity: Which test, the TBEST or the TAST, is more valid in predicting ITA teaching success based on end of semester student evaluation (TCEs)?Following the analyses of these points of evidence, the results of a follow-up survey of ITA impressions about the ITA training and evaluating process are reviewed. Reviewing the results of this survey places the language assessment and hiring process recommendations within its larger context, directing attention toward suggestions for improvement of ITA training and evaluating procedures.Over the course of 18 months, 335 ITAs were assessed using the TBEST. 193 ITAs took the TAST prior to taking the TBEST, and those scores are used for correlation analysis. 119 ITAs participated in a follow up survey about their ITA experience.Analysis of domain validity shows that the TBEST is better suited for assessing ITAs than the TAST due to specialized assessment content not present on the more generic TAST. The TBEST is marginally better at predicting teaching success, though the results were statistically insignificant and recommendations are made for a follow-up study. Post-hoc analysis of the discriminative utility of both tests show that the TBEST results show more useful shades of distinction between candidates while the TAST results place the majority of students in a `fair' category which requires secondary interviews to assess teaching ability.

Monolingual, monocultural approaches to education in Canada overlook the tremendous cultural and linguistic resources present in our classrooms and communities. Connecting language teaching and learning with a politics of global location and broader social issues relating to migration and diversity, this dissertation explores how dichotomous understandings of ‘native’/’nonnative’ students neglect these interlocking and intersecting dimensions of experience. The dissertation employed Lather’s (2007) critical praxis methodology to generate data from a collaborative research project involving teachers, students, and university-based researchers. The purpose of this project was to explore the educational significance of engaging students in authentic forms of cultural production that drew upon their cultural and linguistic resources, diverse histories, and multiple modes of representation in classroom-based learning. While endeavouring to contribute to positive change in education practice, the dissertation directs a critical gaze toward the dominant and marginalizing practices and discourses that materialized during this work. Drawing upon ethnographic data gathered over the course of the project, including classroom observations, interviews with students and teachers, multimodal artifacts of student work, and researcher field notes, the dissertation maps moments of ‘otherness’ that marked nonnative ‘others’. Located where sameness and difference meet, these pedagogical pivot points became sites for negotiating understandings of cultural difference. The discoveries arising from the study are presented as two stories, offering what Lather (2007) calls a “double(d) reading” of the empirical work of the project. The first story articulates a critical analysis of the research, based on efforts to incorporate plurilingualism in education and meet the needs of students as plurilingual social actors. The second story deconstructs these aims, examining the desires of liberatory educators to create contexts of empowerment for immigrant students. The significance of the study is its contribution to expanding conversations about how educators and researchers interested in language learning might talk about difference and the social subject in education, adding greater complexity to address the multiple dimensions of students’ experiences in globalized educational contexts.