The research literature has established a solid link between early development of phonological awareness and subsequent development of beginning reading skills. In addition to the empirical data obtained from longitudinal-correlational studies, training studies have indicated that the relationship is a causal one. The training studies have reported that it is possible to increase phonological awareness skills through training and that the training has an effect on subsequent acquisition of beginning reading skills. Few studies, however, have reported individual differences in response to phonological awareness training. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine which child characteristics would predict response to a twelve-week phonological awareness training program. One hundred kindergarten children participated in the study. Sixty children received phonological awareness training, while forty children served as a no-treatment control group. An analysis of covariance verified that the training had an effect on the children's phonological awareness skills. Once group-level differences were obtained, correlates of growth were examined by analyzing individual growth curves with hierarchical linear models. The best predictor of growth in both segmenting and blending was performance on the nonword spelling measure prior to training. The best model for predicting growth in segmenting included nonword spelling and general verbal ability, while the best model for blending included nonword spelling and rapid serial naming of digits. These latter variables accounted for essentially all of the reliable growth in blending skills, while the predictive model for segmenting left a significant proportion of the variance in growth unexplained. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-02, Section: A, page: 0246. / Major Professor: Joseph K. Torgesen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993. / The research literature has established a solid link between early development of phonological awareness and subsequent development of beginning reading skills. In addition to the empirical data obtained from longitudinal-correlational studies, training studies have indicated that the relationship is a causal one. The training studies have reported that it is possible to increase phonological awareness skills through training and that the training has an effect on subsequent acquisition of beginning reading skills. Few studies, however, have reported individual differences in response to phonological awareness training. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine which child characteristics would predict response to a twelve-week phonological awareness training program. One hundred kindergarten children participated in the study. Sixty children received phonological awareness training, while forty children served as a no-treatment control group. An analysis of covariance verified that the training had an effect on the children's phonological awareness skills. Once group-level differences were obtained, correlates of growth were examined by analyzing individual growth curves with hierarchical linear models. The best predictor of growth in both segmenting and blending was performance on the nonword spelling measure prior to training. The best model for predicting growth in segmenting included nonword spelling and general verbal ability, while the best model for blending included nonword spelling and rapid serial naming of digits. These latter variables accounted for essentially all of the reliable growth in blending skills, while the predictive model for segmenting left a significant proportion of the variance in growth unexplained.

The present study was an investigation to examine the current situation in the field of teaching foreign cultures in China's language education. The study concentrated on answering the question of whether there were any differences between the Chinese subjects from the state and provincial normal universities and those from the district teachers colleges concerning their acquisition of social and cultural knowledge and information about the United States. / The data collected from the performance of 171 subjects on the culture quiz and from their responses to the survey revealed that some significant differences existed between the two groups of subjects. The first group of subjects (those from the state and provincial normal universities) scored much higher on the culture quiz than the second group of subjects (those from the district teachers colleges). Moreover, the first group of subjects also held a more positive attitude toward the learning of foreign cultures. / The study also showed that the first group of subjects were less satisfied with the instruction of culture in their schools and were less content with their mastery of knowledge and information of foreign cultures, than the second group of subjects. / No evidence was found to establish a significant difference between the two groups of subjects with respect to their ways of obtaining sociocultural knowledge. Media, other than classroom instruction, was their main source of acquiring information of other cultures. The study revealed that the two groups of subjects had better knowledge of such cultural aspects as literature, history, and the like than knowledge of behavioral patterns and lifestyles. / The study also reported the subjects' expectations of improvement in the teaching of culture; most of them cared more about importation of video and audio materials though only a small number of them expected much change in classroom instruction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: A, page: 3844. / Major Professor: Frederick Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

This study is an examination of the use of English definite and indefinite articles in 900 compositions written by 475 adult ESL students from nine different L1 backgrounds: Arabic, Chinese, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish, in response to these questions: (1) Can a common sequence of development of accuracy in the written use of articles by adult ESL students be identified in relation to advancing proficiency or in relation to first language, and (2) Is there systematic variation in the use of determiners other than articles in contexts where articles are obligatory or more likely to be used by a native speaker. / These compositions were written placement and exit examinations of international students at the Center for Intensive English Studies at Florida State University between 1983 and 1991. They were analyzed for omissions, additions, or confusion of the and a, using SOC (supplied in obligatory context) methodology, across five levels of global proficiency as measured by the Institutional Test of English as a Foreign Language, and obligatory contexts checked for lexical items other than articles. Researcher native speaker judgment was checked with a questionnaire administered to six writing instructors, resulting in 96% interrater reliability. / Development was found to be strikingly similar among students with L1s which contained articles, and also strikingly similar among students whose first languages did not, although some of the latter were quantitatively different in frequency. Eleven demonstratives, personal and possessive pronouns appeared in twenty-two configurations in apparent substitution for articles. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2352. / Major Professor: Frederick L. Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This qualitative study sought to discover how students evaluate their progress in writing. Previous research has addressed self-evaluation of single compositions and of writing ability, but no study has focused on students' perceptions of their own development as writers. / My study examined 11th- and 12th-graders' interpretations of their progress--through grades, teacher commentary, peer response, comparison with other student writers, and their own knowledge based on experience in reading and writing. Student "beliefs," compiled from interviews and informal discussions with writers over a period of nearly five months, revealed assumptions about writing progress strongly influenced by instruction and teacher expectations. / The students were generally accurate in their self-evaluation, but were not able to articulate a complex understanding of themselves as writers. They were conscious of problems they had solved and ways that their writing had improved, but most were not taking themselves seriously as writers or making efforts to accelerate their improvement. Very few writers were practiced at independent strategies of self-evaluation and revision so critically linked to development. / Three case studies were contrasted with patterns in the class as a whole to distinguish developmental characteristics. Students' use of terms and consciousness of problems contribute to an understanding of writing improvement that is highly variable. The findings suggest that meaningful diagnostic evaluation, instructional planning, and negotiated summative evaluation depend on the knowledge writers build of their own processes of growth in writing. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-06, Section: A, page: 1359. / Major Professor: Gordon Brossell. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This study assessed the attitudes of ESL secondary school teachers who are non-native speakers of English toward particular aspects of the notional-functional syllabus in the hope that it will add to our understanding of the relevance of this approach in a second or foreign language situation. This study also sought to determine whether the views that teachers hold regarding language teaching issues are related to their formal training and their previous experience as language learners, as measured by age. / This study utilized a self-developed questionnaire to assess the teachers' attitudes toward the Malaysian KBSM English Language Syllabus. A questionnaire was utilized as a means of gathering the data because the researcher was interested in determining the attitudes of a large number of respondents who are distributed over a large area. The teachers' responses to the open-ended questions were also used in the description of their attitudes. / The subjects for this study were randomly selected from a complete and current listing of all the ESL teachers teaching in the state of Selangor. Of the 600 questionnaires sent, 435 were returned but 419 were usable for the study, representing a return rate of 70%. / The results of the study indicate that the teachers placed a great deal of importance on the teaching of grammar. 90% of the teachers urged that the syllabus place greater emphasis on grammar, and many viewed that teaching toward communicative competence will not enable the student to become proficient in the language. / Results of the chi-square test suggest that the teachers' formal training may have made an impact on their views toward these syllabus issues: (1) the integration of language skills; (2) the organization of the syllabus according to themes and functions and (3) the emphasis to be placed on accuracy in students' compositions. The results, however, do not give us enough evidence to conclude that the teachers' previous experiences as language learners made a difference in teachers' attitudes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-03, Section: A, page: 0812. / Major Professor: Elizabeth Platt. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This qualitative study provides illustrations embedded in case studies of four focal preservice English teachers and illuminates how they negotiated dilemmas related to linguistically informed principles (LIP) and folk beliefs about language (FBL). The study addresses gaps in what researchers know about how to support new teachers as they negotiate understandings about language from their coursework, pre-existing beliefs, field experiences and ongoing practice. By describing the complex phenomenon of preservice teachers' engagement with LIP---and the dilemmas related to enacting these LIP---this study offers a starting place for designing experiences and assessments that provide intersections among language-related domains, such as the teaching of writing, language study, and culturally responsive classroom interactions. / Focusing on preservice English teachers' dilemmas in practice, this study's results include over twenty contextualized illustrations of preservice teachers' classroom interactions, generated from a 1½ year study that followed prospective teachers from coursework into student teaching. Drawing on case study methodology, the study incorporated qualitative and discourse analytic methods to establish dense description of the phenomenon of preservice teachers' negotiation of the conflicts between LIP and FBL. These methods included prolonged engagement with participants, a semi-structured interview protocol, focused observation, and key artifacts of participants' written work. / Results describe language-related dilemmas in English language arts classrooms and linguistic and discourse analytic concepts that grounded participants' responses to these dilemmas. The illustrations exemplify how participants engaged with LIP that enabled them to resist deficit ideologies in their interactions and ways of talking with and about students; how participants responded to unexpected moments of language complexity; and how they negotiated language-related dilemmas, engaging with standard language ideologies and obstacles to discussing language and race in relation to power. Pointing to future possibilities for addressing the complexity of teaching situations, this dissertation calls for teacher preparation to provide new teachers with flexible, adaptable approaches to engaging with linguistic principles in their teaching.

<p>The anthology of the elder Seneca (c. 55 BC - c. 39 AD) contains quotations from approximately 120 speakers who flourished during the early Empire. The predominant tendency in modern scholarship has been to marginalize these speakers and the practice they represent (declamation): they are regarded as a linguistic and literary monolith, and their literary productions while recognized as influential are treated as discrete from those of other, "serious" authors. The present dissertation challenges this viewpoint by focusing on the following questions: To what extent can a speaker quoted in Seneca's anthology be said to have a distinct and unique literary identity? What is the relationship of a speaker, as represented by his quotations, relative to canonical texts? </p><p>Since most of the quoted speakers are found exclusively in the anthology, the study first examines the nature of Seneca's work and, more specifically, how the quotations of the anthology are organized. It is discovered that the sequence in which excerpts appear in a quotation do not follow a consistent, meaningful pattern, such as the order in which they might have occurred in a speech. Instead, excerpts exhibit a strong lateral organization: excerpts from one speaker show a close engagement with excerpts in spatially distant quotations from other speakers. A fundamental organizing principle consists in the convergence of excerpts around a limited number of specific points for each declamatory theme.</p><p>The remainder, and bulk, of the dissertation is a close analysis of the quotations of two speakers: Arellius Fuscus and Papirius Fabianus. The distinct identities of these speakers emerge from comparisons of excerpts in their quotations with the often studiedly similar excerpts from other speakers and from passages in other texts. Fabianus' literary identity takes shape in a language designed to construct the persona of a philosopher-preacher. The identity of Fuscus resides in idiosyncratic sentence architecture, in a preference for Presentational sentences, and in methodically innovative diction. Further substantiating Fuscus' identity is evidence that he assimilated the language of authors, such as Cicero and Vergil, and established compositional patterns that became authoritative for later authors, such as Ovid, the younger Seneca, and Lucan.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Edward E. Lotto.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Language Education, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb 4, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-04, Section: A, page: 1205. Adviser: Faridah Pawan.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-216). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.