published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of instructional approaches to phonics and morphological awareness on literacy development of second-language learners. Of the 106 Chinese-speaking adolescents in a 6-hour English training programme, about half were taught affix and root meanings, while others were taught basic phonic rules. The focus lay on teaching students how to break words apart into meaningful parts and clusters of sounds. Chinese adolescents receiving morphological instruction performed significantly better on affixed word production and vocabulary knowledge by inferring word meanings from word parts. They seemed better able to discriminate affixed words on the basis of prefix and suffix. This study provides empirical evidence for the importance of teaching morphemes in the English-as-second-language curriculum. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Recent sociolinguistics research in the study of English has shifted from focusing only on Inner Circle English varieties in Kachru’s (1985) sense to include Outer and Expanding Circle varieties, the phenomenon of which is captured by the term ‘world Englishes’ (WE). This paradigm shift to include WE as acceptable norms has immediate impacts on English language teaching (ELT) as it is suggested that what students learn should approximate the reality of English use worldwide. Research in applied linguistics and language education has discussed the position of WE in ELT (e.g. Jenkins, 2009a), investigated teachers and learners’ perceptions about WE (e.g. Andrews, 2002; He & Li, 2009), and developed curricula that incorporate WE features (e.g. Jenkins, 2002). However, not many studies have looked into how contextual factors have impacted on English teachers’ perceptions about WE and their pedagogical practices. This thesis presents an in-depth, qualitative study that seeks answers to research questions regarding: (i) the relationship between the cognitions and pedagogical practices of WE of a group of Hong Kong English teachers; and (ii) contextual factors that may influence their reported cognitions and observed practices. Borg’s (2006) schematic conceptualisation of language teacher cognition is adopted as the theoretical and analytical framework, which postulates that language teacher cognition and practices are shaped by their schooling experience, professional coursework, contextual factors as well as their ongoing pedagogical practices. Guided by an embedded-case study approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observations of lessons and activities, stimulated recall interviews and documentation analysis. This research takes a Hong Kong secondary school as a single case with five English teachers as embedded cases who participated as the main informants over a period of one school year. To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the context, additional data were collected from other sources including school administrators, students, and education officials. An analysis of the data using Borg’s (2006) framework revealed that the informants’ cognitions of WE had been shaped by their experiences as learners, teachers and users of English. The informants’ perceptions were ‘ambivalent’: expressing an embracing view towards WE, but at the same time attaching only to British English in teaching due to local examination and curriculum requirements. The informants’ observed classroom practices also manifested such ambivalence: they were willing to teach a text containing WE features but continuously reminded students to avoid using WE in examinations. This ambivalence seemed to have rooted from their pedagogical focus only on meeting examination requirements and formal English use. Furthermore, this exclusive focus was shared not only among the English teachers, but also by their students, school administration of the case School and education officials, together forming the overarching context shaping the English teachers’ cognitions. The implications of this study are twofold. First, the informants’ exclusive preference for British English over WE for ELT seems to diverge from WE research suggestions to introduce non-Inner Circle varieties as acceptable norms. Second, their ambivalent view towards WE manifested a tension between maintaining English standards and exposing students to the sociolinguistic reality of English. The findings reveal the teacher informants’ predominant focus on teaching uses of English for examinations, which tend to focus on standard Englishes and formal genres. It is suggested that English teachers should go beyond an uncritical adherence to nation-based English varieties to develop a broader understanding of language variation that takes into account the users, uses and modes of communication (Mahboob, 2014). This study calls for (i) the inclusion of a wider range of language variation in the English curriculum; (ii) more attention to teacher education programmes in strengthening English teachers’ awareness of language variation; and (iii) raising awareness of education and assessment officials towards a broader conceptualisation of language variation. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

Research into the comprehension of pronominal anaphora in reading has lead to contradictory conclusions about the role of pronouns in text and about how and when they are processed by the reader. This study investigated pronoun assignment from the point of view of the writer. Pronouns and other referring expressions were examined in the writing of six native American (Tohono O'odom) children over two years while in third and fourth grade. The young writers appropriately used and controlled the full range of pronouns in regard to person, number, case and gender. In the two hundred ten text analyzed, pronoun frequency was actually greater than the pronoun frequency in professionally authored text. This finding is attributed to an overgeneralization of the language principle of economy identified by Kenneth Goodman which states that pronouns are used whenever possible except where ambiguity would result. Unnecessary repetition of the noun phrase is, thus, avoided. That the young writers conform to the rule provides evidence that they understand and control the pronoun system. Reference establishment, reference miscues, and genre influences were investigated in relation to pronoun choice, strategies for choosing, and patterns of ambiguity. Strategies for avoiding ambiguity included the use of naming and length to disambiguate. Reference ambiguities were rare and occurred primarily in situations where the text merged with the context as when the definite article or demonstrative is used to point to something in the general context of the writing situation such as a picture or reference material. Although related indirectly to genre, the specific conditions of the assignment were found to affect the amount and kind of ambiguity most directly. Developmental effects were examined in relation to sense of audience. Implications are that the direct teaching of pronominal anaphora is not only a necessary but may be counterproductive because of the unnatural focus on something that is already controlled. This study confirms and supports the strength of a whole language classroom where a writing process approach is used.

Prior research in L2 reading has shown that adult ESL readers tend to lack in the use of reading strategies, failing to utilize contextual clues or their background knowledge base. In addition, studies demonstrated that when the adult readers who are highly competent in L1 reading read in L2, they become inefficient, "text-bound" readers, failing to utilize their effective reading strategies in L1. The present study investigated adult L2 readers' processes of reading in relation to their perceived view of L2 reading, in an attempt to explore the underlying factors related to "text-bound" processing in L2 reading. Two specific research questions were raised for investigation: (1) what is the relationship between an L2 reader's perceptions about L2 reading and his or her reading processes in L2?; (2) what is the relationship between an L2 reader's perceptions about reading (both in L1 and L2) and his or her transfer of reading strategies from L1 to L2 reading? A significant correlation between the perception and actual processing pattern was hypothesized for both questions within the three theories of reading: the metacognitive, the psycholinguistic, and the schema/interactive theory. These three theories of reading provided the theoretical bases for the study. The study consisted of two phases. In the first phase, a survey was conducted with 139 adult ESL readers who responded to a questionnaire developed to tap L2 readers' perceptions about reading and their actual processes while reading magazines in English. Their responses were statistically analyzed to test the research hypotheses. In the second phase, a case study method was utilized for further exploration with six readers chosen from the survey's respondents. Two meetings with the researcher were held with each of the six subjects to further probe their perceptions about L2 reading, and their actual reading processes while they read an article from a chosen magazine. The results indicated that the more linguistic perceptions an adult L2 reader has, the more text-based processing he or she employs. It was also found that the greater the difference perceived by the reader between L2 and L1 reading, the greater the difference between his or her interaction and transaction with L2 text compared to L1 text.