Gender interacts with other facets of English Language Learners’ social identity like race and ethnicity to guide their learning experiences, desires, and outcomes; however, much of traditional Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) research has focused on how motivation and language learning beliefs differ between male and female English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) students with the intent to identify difference, if it exists. English Language Learners who are studying abroad or who have immigrated to the United States have already established a gender identity influenced and created by their experiences in their first language and culture. Yet, immersion in a new culture and acquiring a second language may cause these students to re-evaluate their perceptions of gender roles and influence their choice of language, as previously found by Gordon (2004) and Schmenk (2004). This thesis attempts to break from this tradition of ‘differential tendencies’ research in the creation of two pilot surveys, one of which was tested, that attempt to solicit information on English Language Learner’s perceptions of their own gendered identity and their consciousness of the catalyst for identity change that is learning a second language. In this case, an English pilot survey asked 32 ESL students to evaluate their beliefs about their own perceptions of gender identity, their conscious choice of language utilization, and their perception of their inclusion in American culture; from that survey, a second has been created but not piloted. A conclusion is drawn that incorporates research about the appropriateness of addressing developing gender identity by teachers inside of the classroom.

Under det senaste decenniet har barns och ungas tillgång till olika digitala medier ökat. De flesta elever möter det engelska språket varje dag på något sätt och de är inte bara konsumenter av språket utan de producerar också engelska i olika aktiviteter på fritiden. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilket utrymme elevernas extramurala engelska får inom ramen för skolans engelskundervisning och i vilken utsträckning eleverna har användning av engelskan de lär sig i skolans undervisning i sina fritidsaktiviteter. Extramural engelska är ett begrepp som innefattar all den engelska som eleverna kommer i kontakt med utanför skolan. Studien omfattar tre lärare och nio elever i årskurs 4-6 från tre olika kommuner i Jönköpings län. Studien har en fenomenografiskt inspirerad ansats och materialinsamlingen har gjorts genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visar att lärarna arbetat mer eller mindre med en inkludering av elevernas extramurala engelska i engelskundervisningen. Något som var gemensamt för samtliga intervjuade lärare var att de såg en signifikant skillnad i språkliga förmågor mellan de elever som spelade mycket onlinespel och de elever som inte gjorde det. Flertalet av de intervjuade eleverna ansåg sig på ett eller annat sätt ha användning av den engelska de lär sig i skolan på sin fritid. En slutsats som dras är att det är viktigt att undervisande lärare sätter sig in i var, i vilken form och på vilket sätt eleverna möter engelska i sin fritid för att kunna inkludera det i undervisningen i engelska. / Over the past decade, children and adolescents have had an increased access to digital media. Most students get exposed to the English language in some way every day and they are not just consumers, they are also producers of English when they are engaged in different activities in their spare time. The aim of the study is to look into how extramural English is included in English school curriculum and to what extent students have use for the English they learn at school in their spare time activities. Extramural English includes all the English that students come into contact with outside of school. Three teachers and nine students, all from Jönköping county, are included in this study. The students are in grades 4-6. The study has a fenomenographically inspired approach and semi-structured intervjuews have been used to collect the data. The result reveals that the teachers have been working more or less with including the students’ extramural English in school. All teachers that participated in the interviews mentioned that they saw a significant difference in the students’ linguistic abilities between the ones who played a great number of online games and the students who did not. Most of the interviewed students felt in one way or another that they had use for the English they learn at school in their spare time. A conclusion drawn from the results of this study is that it is important for teachers to determine where, in what form and in what way students come into contact with English in their spare time in order to include it in the English school curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to examine 9th and 10th grade ELL students’ science class placement - sheltered ESL class or non-sheltered mainstream class - and determine if there was a difference in their levels of achievement based on placement. Unlike other academic courses, science incorporates its own terminology that can be difficult for even mainstream non-ELLs to understand. With the goal for English Language Learners to develop scientific proficiency, ELLs must gain an understanding of science substance and practice exploratory propensities for the brain. This is unthinkable without an understanding of science vocabulary. The researcher examined the following variables as they related to ELL student achievement in science: Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), attendance, class size, teacher-student relationship, teacher competency in ELL strategies, instructional strategies, parental involvement, study habits, immigration requirements, age (demographic variable), and gender (demographic variable). Data were gathered using observations, face-to-face teacher and administrator interviews, document analyses of teacher lesson plans, a student survey, and a student focus group. The sample of students consisted of 30 students - 9 students in mainstream science classes and 21 students in sheltered ESL science classes. Students were chosen to participate in the study based on their Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State (ACCESS) scores. Study participants had a composite score of between 3.0 and 4.9 on the ACCESS test. Study participants’ nine weeks grades, along with other data, were compared to determine if class placement made a significant difference in ELL student achievement in science. The results revealed that students in sheltered ESL science classes achieve at higher levels than those in mainstream classes. While all except two study participants in sheltered science classes met or exceeded proficient as defined by this study (75% or higher), only three study participants in mainstream science classes met or exceeded proficient. An analysis of students’ overall nine weeks grades in biology and physical science revealed that ELLs in a sheltered setting average a 45% higher grade than those in a mainstream setting in biology and a 14% higher grade than those in a mainstream setting in physical science.

This mixed-methods study examined teachers' culturally responsive teaching (CRT) self-efficacy beliefs and the relationships among selected academic, demographic, and experiential factors. Guided by theoretical and empirical research on CRT, teacher dispositions, and assessment in teacher education (TE) programs for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, this study utilized an extended version of Siwatu's 2007 Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy (CRTSE) Scale to conduct correlational and comparative statistical analyses. Data sources included surveys from 265 participants enrolled in TE classes in the spring 2012 in Texas (one private and one public university). Content analyses were also conducted on participants' descriptions of CRT activities using a priori and inductive coding methods to triangulate and elaborate the explanation of quantitative results. In this population, those with higher CRTSE were typically young (undergraduates), specializing in ESL and bilingual certification coursework, who felt their TE program prepared them well for working with CLD student populations. Regression analyses showed that certain certification areas (ESL, bilingual, elementary, and advanced) and perceptions of better quality in TE program preparation for working with CLD students emerged as significant predictors of increased CRTSE. Those with second language skills were more efficacious in delivering linguistically-responsive instruction, and those professing more experiences with and interest in diverse individuals felt more confident in applying CRT skills. While the younger teacher candidates felt more efficacious, their descriptions of CRT were less sophisticated than those with more teaching experience. Despite much of the literature relating to CRT and minority teachers, ethnicity was not a significant factor in heightened CRTSE. This study informs TE programs for better measuring and supporting teacher candidate CRT development by revising and extending Siwatu's 2007 study in three ways. First, the CRTSE Scale instrument was extended to include items that address greater depth and breadth of the culturally responsive teaching continuum as developed by the researcher, relating particularly to language and literacy development of English language learners. Second, this study involved a more varied and appropriate population, including both pre-service and in-service teachers. Third, specific participant factors were analyzed to see which correlated with higher CRTSE Scale scores.

The purposes of this study were to determine whether differences existed between the communication styles and teaching effectiveness, respectively, of native and non-native teaching fellows, as perceived by their undergraduate students. In addition, the study sought to determine whether a positive correlation existed between the final grades and the communication styles and teaching effectiveness, respectively, of native and non-native teaching fellows as perceived by their undergraduate students. In order to carry out the purposes of this study, six hypotheses were tested concerning the perception of native and non-native undergraduate students toward the communication style and teaching effectiveness of teaching fellows in North Texas State University.

The overt teaching of the Monitor, or conscious rule awareness, to native Spanish-speaking ESL students was examined to note possible benefits to the students' oral English production. Native Spanish-speaking students of English (the experimental group) were taught an awareness of their ability to self-correct their spoken English. They were then compared to another group of native Spanish-speaking ESL students (the control group) in four areas: Ilyin Oral Interview score, total words produced, errors produced, and interference errors produced. The results of the study lend support to the theory that overt Monitor teaching could be beneficial to native Spanish-speaking students of English. The experimental group showed a significant gain in Ilyin scores and a significant reduction in the number of errors produced.

Errors by ESL writers involving connectives show a need for changes in the current teaching approach of composition teachers, an approach which reflects a lack of attention to the discourse function of connectives on the part of linguists and rhetoricians. More recent studies in text and functional grammars reveal that factors other than syntax control conjunctive use. These include pragmatic differences between spoken and written language, the role of semantics in defining dependency, and discourse functions of connectives. Conjunction is seen as part of a continuum of semantic dependency that is manifested as degrees of syntactic complexity. Teaching methods should take into account semantic and pragmatic factors and encourage learning of connectives through activities such as revision of student writing for content as well as mechanics.

This study examined the formative assessment practices of three teachers in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms using a sociocultural theoretical framework. The study was conducted in a postsecondary ESL setting at a large public university in the southeastern United States. Using an embedded mixed methods design, this study employed teacher interviews and classroom observations to address the overarching question: What individual and contextual factors are present in the formative assessment practices of participant ESL teachers? The study also explored the relationship between student metacognitive judgments of learning (JOL) and performance with the purpose of informing formative assessment practice. To this end, 51 students responded to pre and post surveys on their metacognitive beliefs and judgments of learning questionnaires prior to three unit tests. Summary reports of students’ JOL were provided to teachers for their review and use. Findings showed teachers in this ESL setting engaged in a variety of formative assessment techniques; successful implementation of their techniques were influenced by their instructional style and student attributes like attendance, class participation, and students’ academic or educational experiences. Findings also indicated the central role of assessments in this context that provided ample opportunity for formative assessment. Overall, findings point to the value of using a sociocultural theoretical lens to examine the nature of factors affecting teachers’ formative assessment practice. With regard to the use of metacognitive judgments of learning in formative assessment, findings showed a mixed relationship between student JOL and performance, and there was no change in students’ metacognitive beliefs about writing over the duration of the semester. Although teachers did not use the JOL information in their instruction, they attributed inaccuracies in judgments to students’ achievement level. These findings are limited by implementation issues and sample size. Further study is needed to understand the nature of postsecondary ESL students’ JOL in authentic assessment situations and their applicability in the formative assessment process.

<p>In order to comfortably and effectively function in U.S. classrooms, both international students and domestic students benefit from the development of interactive and intercultural communication skills. At Purdue University, a large, public, R1 institution with a substantial international population, the internationalization of the student body is a priority. To examine the relationship between academic and social integration of international and domestic students on campus, international (ESL) undergraduate students (L2 English, n=253) from the Purdue Language and Cultural Exchange Program (PLaCE), and domestic undergraduate students (L1 English n=50) from the first-year composition program (ICaP), participated in a voluntary survey. The framework for investigating students’ interaction with peers and teachers was derived from Severiens and Wolff (2008). Four aspects of new, incoming students’ adaptation (Global Perspective, Intercultural Competence, Acculturation Mode, and Willingness to Communicate) were addressed by the survey. Although there were similarities between international and domestic students, the results revealed international students had more opportunities to interact with peers from diverse language backgrounds in formal academic contexts, including classroom activities, peer-group work in first-year programs and language programs. However, in informal, social contexts, neither international nor domestic students took advantage of opportunities to interact with each other. The tendency to prefer social interactions with co-nationals may contribute to social isolation and limited integration of international and domestic students within broader social contexts outside of classrooms. Yet, rather than resisting this trend, instructors and administrators might enhance opportunities for interaction in academic contexts where both groups are most willing to participate. Findings from this study can contribute to the development of first-year programs that provide realistic solutions for the enhanced internationalization of both domestic and international students on campus. </p>

This study aims to analyze and evaluate how cross-curricular activities could be used with the science-program in the ESL-classroom in order to raise and nurture students’ motivation. The study also aims to identify the determining motivational factor(s) in the ESL-classroom. Finally, the study aims to analyze and evaluate how teachers can make use of Dörnyei’s motivational taxonomy in order to conduct motivation based teaching. This study is divided into three different parts. The first part is analyzation of three different lessons by using a thematic logbook. The first lesson was conducted through a ”traditional” approach, while the second and third lesson was conducted through a creative approach which involved a cross-curricular activity. The second part is the carrying out of student surveys to compare the lesson observations with students’ responses in order to find possible factors that improve motivation and interest. The third part is analyzing the result by Dörnyei’s taxonomy in order to investigate the impact of the teaching on students’ motivation. The results of this study show that cross-curricular teaching has a positive impact on students’ motivation towards the subject of English, and it is also one of the determining motivational factors. The second factor is the active participation and encouragement from the teacher. A cross-curricular assignment was created and carried out in order to demonstrate how cross-curricular activities can be used in the ESL-classroom. Finally, the results from the application of Dörnyei’s taxonomy shows that teachers can make use of the taxonomy to reflect on previous lessons in order to identify if the right conditions for motivation were created and protected.