The study sought to provide evidence regarding the pedagogic value of communicative tasks in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. Previous research suggests that communicative tasks can provide conditions and promote processes which facilitate second language (L2) learning, as they encourage meaningful interaction in the L2 and learner attention to linguistic form. Interactive language use helps students to better comprehend novel language elements and to practice expressing themselves in the L2 as part of their language learning. Learner discourse while carrying out such tasks should reflect these processes. In EFL settings, where it is an ongoing challenge to provide learners with quality linguistic input and interaction opportunities, communicative tasks are seen as a promising pedagogical approach, yet relatively little is known about their implementation and outcomes in such settings. This case study investigated the nature of the oral discourse generated through the use of selected communicative tasks in a university EFL class by students working in small groups and their non-native EFL teacher, emphasizing its interactive features. It also compared the effects of two task types ( jigsaw and decision making). This study explored the students' and teacher's perceptions and attitudes with respect to the use of communicative tasks vis-a-vis the existing oral method, as well as changes in these attitudes and perceptions over a semester. Finally, it sought evidence of language learning outcomes, particularly lexical development, from these tasks. The research context was an oral academic English course for Indonesian undergraduate medical students with intermediate English proficiency. Participants included an experienced non-native English speaking teacher and her eight students who completed all the tasks and were selected as representative of the class. Examination of the students' interactions and teacher discourse when implementing and completing the tasks revealed that both jigsaw and decision making tasks worked well in the hands of an experienced non-native teacher. Both task types generated a considerable amount of interactive language as students interacted, negotiated, and cooperated during task implementation and completion. The two task types complemented each other in terms of the various aspects of language learning they promoted, their relative difficulty, and the level of students' language proficiency required. In addition, the teacher and students reported similar, positive perceptions and attitudes with regard to the use of communicative tasks, and there was anecdotal and observed evidence that the communicative tasks might facilitate lexical learning in this setting. The study contributes to our knowledge of EFL pedagogy and extends classroom-based research to EFL settings, particularly in its study of a communicative task-based methodology for promoting student interaction in an EFL setting.

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The purpose of the present study is to investigate the implementation of Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) programs, in this case Spanish, through the regular-classroom-teacher model—an instructor who is not a foreign language specialist. The traditionally accepted model for teaching foreign language in elementary school is the use of a language specialist as the person in charge of the program in one or more schools. A look at the history of FLES in the United States reveals that one of the major challenges programs always face is the lack of FLES teachers. The viability of the FLES regular teacher model is assessed through studying the issue at all levels: from the schools and the administration to the teachers and learners. This dissertation examines the implementation of the classroom teacher model in four FLES programs. Each of the schools constitutes a single case-study, since each institution tailored the teaching model to its own needs and circumstances. Data was obtained from a variety of sources: A teacher and staff survey, a parent survey, children's questionnaires, class observations, teachers' journals reflecting on their FLES teaching experience, and interviews with the superintendent, the principals, and two selected teachers from each school. The rich description and analysis of the data illuminates the rationale for adopting a FLES program in each one of the schools, the circumstances under which the FLES model works effectively, and the specific details about teachers, parents and students. The analysis of data points out that the critical issue is not to ascertain which FLES teaching model yields better results, but to explore how a community approach to FLES may serve as a valid teaching model for FLES programs. The final analysis shows that a variety of conditions, as opposed to one single cause, are critical in the implementation of a FLES program, and that regardless of teaching model, the support of the community, especially the parents, the classroom teacher's involvement, and teachers' professional development all seem to be necessary components for the implementation of successful FL programs.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Mary T. Copple / The formation of English past tense by EFL (or ESL) learners has been the object of much second language acquisition research. This study investigates the production and marking of English past tense verbs by 55 adult Afghan EFL learners who use Pashto or Dari as their first language. The participants were first required to produce the past tense while responding to a questionnaire about their daily activities, and then completed a correction task in which sentences with verb errors appeared. The collected data was analyzed based on verb regularity (Pinker & Ullman 2002, Jaeger et al. 1996, Hoeffner 2000, Housen 2000) and the sequential inflection of events or non-events based on inherent lexical aspect (Vendler 1967, Salaberry 2000, Bardovi-Harlig & Reynolds1995, Tickoo 2001, 2005). Results show that the participants were more accurate in marking and producing regular verbs than irregular verbs for the past tense in both experimental tasks. When examining the role of regularity of the verb in the sequential marking of lexical aspect, it was discovered that past tense production of irregular verbs was influenced by the lexical aspectual verb type as non-events exhibited lower accuracy rates for past tense inflection.

A potentially rich source of curricular material for the development of a Deaf Studies curriculum lies in the category of feature films. The case of minority status of films produced by the American Deaf community is presented based on a comparison with the African-American independent film industry. An ethnographic study formulates an understanding of the contributions made by deaf independent filmmaker, Ernest Marshall. Marshall's personal background, his film business and perspectives on the value of film and signed language are discussed. A description of Marshall's film collection also provides an excellent historical resource for signed language use and for cross-cultural comparison purposes. Film studies are stressed as a viable teaching approach where the film medium providing cultural insights into the lives of deaf people and serving as a primary source for the documentation and preservation of American Sign Language.

This study investigated whether training in and use of referential questions had an effect on learners' linguistic output and accuracy. The study had three components. A quasi-experimental design with treatment and control groups examined quantitatively the performance of students on a set of variables, including number of words, number of T-units, clause length, coordination, subordination, grammatical accuracy, error-free T-units, and comprehensibility. A pretest and posttest were administered to a population of 149 students (64 in treatment groups and 85 in control groups) enrolled in three consecutive levels of French as a foreign language at the university of Arizona. Gain scores were computed and statistical tests were conducted on these gain scores for significance. A follow-up study examined the performance of selected high and low achievers within groups and across levels on the same variables. Finally, an attitude questionnaire was administered to the treatment groups at the end of the treatment period. Its purpose was to tap the students' perceptions of the effectiveness and enjoyableness of homework tasks involving referential questions in language learning. Results of the quasi-experimental study indicated that all subjects within groups and across levels significantly increased their performance between the pre- and post-tests on most of the variables examined. No statistically significant differences, however, were found between treatment and control groups. Results of the follow-up study with high and low achievers indicated that only in two areas were the differences between high and low achievers clearly established and consistent across levels: error-free T-units and number of words in error-free T-units. The high achievers outperformed the low achievers in 100% of the cases on those two variables. There was variation on the other variables. Results of the attitude questionnaire indicated that the majority of students felt that referential question assignments were more effective and more beneficial tools of language learning than were fill-in-the blanks-type exercises. However, barely half of students rated referential question assignments as enjoyable.

This study investigates tasks in which international graduate students who are non-native speakers of English must use a second or foreign language (L2) in simulated conflict and stressful situations with native speakers. In particular, the study examines conflicts where the non-native speaker (NNS) must issue a directive to a native speaker (NS) in order to achieve an important outcome or avoid unwanted or even dangerous consequences. Unlike previous studies which place equal or no emphasis on the consequences of the directive under investigation, this study focuses on the perlocutionary effect that the speaker anticipates as a result of the utterance of a directive. Although this is an empirical study, it also critically examines the directive as a macro or discursive speech act colored by the relationships Power, Distance and perceived Consequences of the speaker based on the context of the situation in which it is uttered. The analysis of the data reveals that most advanced NNS have difficulty in high stakes situations based on a comparison of their directives to NS directives, supporting the hypothesis that the encoding of power in a directive is essential to the NNS as well as to the NS in attaining or avoiding some important result. The qualitative evidence further suggests that an important source of this difficulty is the constant awareness that even the advanced NNS is still a NNS and this produces a diminished sense of power relative to NSs.

Literature-based reading instruction is a current method being used in elementary schools today. A growing body of research on such programs used within the regular education classroom suggests that such programs improve students abilities to critically construct meaning. Yet, despite this movement, little has been documented on how such programs might effect learning disabled students mainstreamed in the regular education classroom for reading instruction. The main focus of this study then, was to examine the strategies and possible teaching modifications that would be necessary for learning disabled students to participate in a literature-based reading program along with their regular education peers. Three learning disabled students within the researcher's fifth grade classroom were voluntary participants in this study and received all of the same reading instruction as their non-labeled classmates.

There is a need in the United States for a philosophical change in education. Students schooled in the traditional manner of direct instruction are not graduating high school with adequate preparation to enter college or the work force. To change this trend, teachers must consider using methods other than direct instruction. This thesis presents one possible method: active learning. For information to be most useful to students, it must be made relevant. Active learning places emphasis on meaning making and the entire process of learning which encourages students to find connections with the material. In active learning, students become learners as well as learned in a subject, a step beyond direct instruction. Presented is a model for all of curriculum, a refinement of active learning for high school Shakespeare including example lessons.

This descriptive study investigates gender bias in the high school canon novels as identified by Arthur Applebee (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993). An historical survey of the teaching of literature in the high school precedes the content analysis of the seven novels. The historical survey shows that most of the novels entered the high school canon during the 1960s. During the past three decades, these works have been subjected to a variety of critical interpretations, as well as assorted pedagogical strategies. / The content analysis of the seven novels uses several critical perspectives. Gender bias exists in the focus on male protagonists and in the generalized idea of females as a dangerous presence. More specifically, the siren/whore image of women pervades the canon novels. Other stereotypes include the asexual older woman as pedantic authority figure. Women characters are subjected to violence, but this violence is rationalized. The high school canon novels perpetuate the ideology of the white Euro/Anglo male as oppressor. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-07, Section: A, page: 1858. / Major Professor: John S. Simmons. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.