This study has as its objectives: (1) the determination of the degree of relationship between achievement in the study of English as measured by a standardized English achievement test and achievement in the study of foreign languages as measured by teacher's grades; (2) the determination of the amount of contribution to such a relationship of the achievement in various functional areas in the study of English as measured by the subtests of the English achievement test.

This study investigated the impact of several affective, cognitive, and demographic entering characteristics of students and their experiences of the psychosocial, instructional and managerial, physical, and course-related materials aspects of the classroom environment in accounting for three language learning outcomes / class participation, study habits, and English achievement. The subjects of the study (N = 519) were the preparatory class students of various departments of Erciyes University in Kayseri who received a one-year English instruction at Erciyes University School of Foreign Languages (EUSFL) during the academic year 2001-2002. In line with the &ldquo / Input-Context-Outcome&rdquo / research framework of the study, the data were gathered from the students through self-report questionnaires and school records prior to (Input-entering student characteristics variables), during (Context- classroom environment variables), and at the end (Outcome) of the specified instructional period (one-semester), which were subjected to various applications of Multivariate Linear Regression procedures. The findings indicated different patterns of relationships depending on the type of outcome assessed with significant predictors from both input and context classes. In descending order of effect size, the significant predictors of class participation were teacher supportiveness, involvement, satisfaction with course materials, speaking anxiety, self-concept, task orientation and organization, effort, student cohesiveness, physical conditions, overall academic achievement, and previous exposure, which altogether accounted for 74 % of the variance in students&rsquo / levels of class participation. The amount of variance accounted for study habits was 40 %, with involvement, overall academic achievement, self-concept, student residence, and gender emerging as significant predictors. As for the English achievement criterion, overall academic achievement, teacher supportiveness, self-concept, involvement, satisfaction with course materials, previous exposure, and student residence were significant predictors which accounted for 56 % of the overall variance. The findings are discussed in light of relevant theory and empirical research and suggestions are made for pedagogical practices and further research directions.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two methods of listening and reading instruction when used in the language arts programs at the eighth-grade level as related to listening, reading, study skills, and English achievement. Two groups were studied; one was an experimental group receiving programed material present by the Listen and Read Program and a control group receiving instruction through the regular classroom program.

動機雖被認定為影響第二語言及外語學習的因素之一，然而如何在考試導向的學習環境下提升學生內在或自主性英語學習動機的相關研究並不多。本研究依據自我決定理論(the self-determination theory)來設計學習單，用以輔助學生學習學校的一般英語課程，來探討自我決定理論在現行教育環境下使用的效益。此外，學習單的使用是否能幫助學生的成就表現優於其他學生也一併研究。 參與本研究的對象為台灣北部一所公立國中八年級兩個班的六十位學生。這兩個班級有相似的社會背景及英語成就表現，並隨機被指定為實驗組與控制組。實驗組可在考試前預覽印在學習單上的試題，而控制組則直接參與考試。本實驗歷時七週，蒐集資料的工具包含問卷、學習單和該學校所舉辦的英語成就測驗(英語段考)。研究方法含量化及質性分析，主要探討學習單對學生的三個英語學 習動機元素(autonomy, competence and relatedness)及英語成就表現的影響。 研究結果顯示高成就學生的主動性(autonomy)及中等成就學生的主動性(autonomy)、自我感知的英語能力(perceived competence)以及與同儕、老師間的相關性(relatedness)有提升。然而，低成就學生的三個英語學習動機元素則下降。另外，實驗組在該學校所舉辦的英語成就測驗的表現和對照組相比並無明顯差異。本研究最後對使用學習單提升學生內在或自主性學習動機在實際教學上的應用提供建議，以作為參考。 / Although motivation has been viewed as an important factor that affects second and foreign language acquisition, there isn’t much research investigating how to promote students’ intrinsic or more self-regulated motivation to learn English in test-oriented classroom settings. This study explores this area by complementing students’ regular English classes at school with the worksheets designed based on the self-determination theory. Furthermore, it also investigates whether students with the aid of the worksheets would outperform those not using the worksheets academically. For this research purpose, two classes of 60 eighth-graders in a public junior high school in northern Taiwan took part in this study. The two classes with similar social background and English academic performances were randomly classified into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group was given a chance to preview the test questions which were printed on the worksheets distributed to them as the complementary material before the tests. The control group, on the other hand, was given the tests directly without the chance to preview the test questions. The experiment lasted for seven weeks, and the data were collected through three instruments, a questionnaire, the worksheets, and a school administered-achievement test. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were adopted to probe into the influence of the worksheets upon the participants’ three motivational components, namely autonomy, competence, and relatedness as well as their academic performance on the achievement test. The study results indicate that the worksheets could help promote the high achievers’ autonomy and the middle achievers’ autonomy, competence perception and relatedness, but they did not exert positive effects on the low achievers. Furthermore, the experimental group didn’t outperform the control group on the school-administered achievement test. Some pedagogical implications were presented at the end of the thesis.

The ‘social turn’ in applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA) has seen the emergence of a range of socially-oriented perspectives, such as sociolinguistic, sociocultural, socio-historical and situated learning, yet this has not resulted in L2 learners’ social origins and backgrounds being given sufficient attention in L2 research. The present study therefore argues for taking a sociology of language learning perspective to investigate L2 learners’ social biographies and their academic achievement in English. This social perspective is informed by the sociology of education as well as critical approaches to applied linguistics. Learners’ social biographies consist of learner-internal (personal) and -external (social) factors. These factors are conceptualised as learner habitus and family educational capital (economic, social and cultural) respectively, with reference to Bourdieu’s theories in the sociology of education. The study investigates secondary school students’ English learning outcomes in relation to their habitus and family capital situations in a rural context in Bangladesh. It uses a mixed methods research design and draws on both quantitative and qualitative data. It also utilises multiple perspectives, provided by 10th grade students (n = 228) and their English teachers, head teachers and parents. The data collection instruments include a questionnaire survey, an English proficiency test and participant interviews. The study shows that aspects of family economic and cultural capital and learner habitus are significantly associated with the students’ English achievement. However, social capital, operationalised as parental input into the students’ English studies, is not associated with their academic achievement in English, although it is significantly correlated with learner habitus and parental education. The students’ perceptions of their family capital situations and the perceived impact of these situations on their academic experience were supportive of structuralist determinism. Despite the constraining effects of family capital disadvantage on academic experience, disadvantaged students can neutralise these effects by means of their habitus and thus negate social determinism in the context of their scholastic achievement. The study also shows that contrary to the widening gap in the academic achievement of students in favour of females in many social contexts, the female students in the present context performed somewhat less well than their male counterparts in the school-leaving examination. Finally, the students’ English learning and academic outcomes were embedded in their social biographies. Their academic achievement or underachievement cannot be fully understood without recourse to their familial and social worlds, their lived experiences, their desires for better futures and their disadvantage, and lack of means to pursue those desires.Despite some caveats, the findings have important implications for the theory and practice of teaching English in Bangladesh and other social contexts. First, it is necessary to include both learner-internal and -external family/social factors in the investigation of L2 learners’ English learning experience and outcomes. Second, ELT policies should have provisions that address these beyond-the-school factors in order to develop English language skills across social classes and geographic locations. Finally, schools should embrace the question of inequality in English learning outcomes and devise mechanisms for the reduction of inequalities within their limited resources and capacities. The major contribution of the study is to our understanding of the factors associated with English language learning in rural communities in developing societies. In particular, the study substantiates non-cognitive, non-methodological and non-curricular approaches to EFL/ESL. Identification of these factors is facilitated by the perspective of sociology of English learning and the concept of social biography. In addition, the study designs a theoretical and conceptual framework and instruments for researching student achievement in English in relation to family capital and learner habitus.

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