Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 38-12, Section: A, page: 7188. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1977.

Research findings show that studying the acquisition of a second language in natural situations not only provides information about second language learning but also helps ESL teachers adopt themselves to the learners' needs and find out what kind of linguistic input they are ready for. This in turn will help the teachers set more realistic goals for particular learning situations. / To explore more fully the language acquisition process by close longitudinal observation, this study was designed to examine child second language acquisition at a fairly advance level by analyzing an adequate sample of oral English produced by two Iranian children who had been learning English as a second language in the United States for $2{1\over2}$ years at the data collecting time. In the data collected by three different techniques in a period of six months the most problematic structures for the Iranian ESL learners were investigated. The objective was to study the development of the English grammar and the effect of the first language on the subjects' second language acquisition process. / The subjects achieved the same level of maturity in syntactic development as their native peers in $2{1\over2}$ years. This faster rate of development implies that syntax and embedding ability might be transferred to the second language as soon as the basic second language rules are internalized. / In three different activities, the growth rate was the same but the average T-unit length differed. Sixty-five percent of total errors were developmental errors but the remaining thirty-five percent transfer errors were more persistent in spite of the fact that some of them were very simple grammatically. This means that although both types of errors decrease with the advance of the second language development, the percentage of transfer errors to total errors will increase in more advanced levels. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: A, page: 0450. / Major Professor: T. Grant Brown. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This case study of seven community college students enrolled in a freshman composition course was designed to assess the influence of word processing on the compositions and composing strategies of inexperienced writers in primarily the teaching but also the testing contexts. The students' pre- and post-study performance on essay topics used in Florida's College-Level Academic Skills Test was juxtaposed with stylistic analyses of four expository essays written in a computer-based writing laboratory under the supervision of the instructor/researcher. Observations of the writing behaviors of "strong," "average," and "weak" writers were supplemented with data collected from structured interviews and an attitudinal survey to yield insights as to how microcomputer technology might be most effectively incorporated into the freshman composition curriculum. / All study subjects responded favorably to the use of word processing in the instructional context, regardless of their writing ability, previous experiences with English courses, or initial knowledge of computers or word processing. Using word processors did not affect the students' understanding of the writing process but was credited by them with stimulating text production and revision. / Stylistic analyses of interim and test essays produced fewer measurable gains for the "strong" writers than they did for the "average" and "weak" writers, whose posttest scores were markedly higher than their pre-test scores. "Average" and "weak" writers appeared to be more affected by a shift in writing context than were the "strong" writers across most of the features measured. / The study suggests that word processors have a positive influence on students' attitudes and writing behaviors and, when used in a laboratory setting, have powerful pedagogical implications. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: A, page: 0448. / Major Professor: James Hoetker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-12, Section: A, page: 7916. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-12, Section: A, page: 7915. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-06, Section: A, page: 3424. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-11, Section: A, page: 6596. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-11, Section: A, page: 6599. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a peer tutoring treatment involving bilingual migrant children and native English-speaking children on the oral language development of limited-English proficient migrant children. / The treatment consisted of 37 twenty-minute second language tutoring sessions. The curriculum content selected was from Action Sequence Stories Program, Act I. Subjects in treatment I were paired with a bilingual migrant tutor; in treatment II, subjects were paired with a native English-speaking tutor; and the control group consisted of teacher-centered, whole group instruction. / Subjects were forty-two 8-12 year olds whose native language was Spanish. A pretest, The IDEA, IPT I, stratified subjects into two levels of proficiency. Subjects were randomly assigned to the three treatment groups in each stratum. / The two groups of tutors were randomly selected and matched on three variables (a) age, (b) sex, and (c) grade level. Dyads consisting of one tutor and a limited-English proficient child were formed by randomly assigning tutors to subjects on similar variables. / An analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data collected with posttest scores on the IPT I, as the dependent variable. Spanish reading comprehension performance was analyzed as a covariate as was the pretest. / No significant differences were found between the three treatment groups on the posttest. All three groups had similar significant growth on the posttest measure. Spanish literacy had no significant relationship with oral language development. The analysis of the pretest as a covariate revealed significance indicating that the individual differences on the posttest already existed in the pretest. / The results suggest that cross-level peer tutoring either by a bilingual migrant or native English-speaking tutor, and teacher-centered, whole group instruction are equal in their effectiveness as techniques for Spanish-speaking migrant children. / In summary, peer tutoring by more fluent speakers of the target language engaged in meaningful structured activities may facilitate English oral language development. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1682. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

This report describes an ethnographic case study of an ESL student taking a graduate-level course in a U.S. university. It seeks to identify the ways ESL academic skills (e.g., reading, listening, and writing) were actually used in the university setting. / One Saudi Arabian ESL student was studied over a 15-week semester while taking a course in Comparative Education. Participant observation, in conjunction with tape or video recordings, was used to provide a basis for comparisons of perceptions between the ESL student, the researcher, and other participants in the class. His class notes, written work, and readings were all analyzed and these provided further insights into his version of the reality of the class. Interviews with the teacher revealed the extent to which ideas were accurately transferred from teacher to student. / The final picture of the teacher's demands and the ESL student's strategies challenges a number of the existing language-teaching and curriculum-design assumptions in preparatory ESL programs. The student's reading consisted mainly of extensive coverage of relatively uncomplicated material. His listening was highly selective, governed by the nature of his motivation and by his background knowledge. In writing he lacked the skill to retrieve, assemble, and present data forcefully. He did not participate at all in classroom interactions. / Nevertheless, this ESL student completed the course successfully, regarding it as one of the most interesting he had ever taken. In his motivation, learning conception, and study modes he did not differ radically from others in the class, whether ESL students like himself or native speakers of English. Cultural difficulties, previously a problem, did not adversely affect his learning. However, the competition of other classes for his time did force him into rationalizations regarding the amount of time and effort to be expended on this course. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: A, page: 0322. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.