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No description available.

No description available.

In the 21st century, the UK government, through its immigration policy, has linked the English language proficiency of immigrants with their social integration thus, following an assimilative framework (Blackledge, 2005; Blommaert & Verschueren, 1998). This seven months mixed methods study investigates whether the goal of social integration of immigrants can be achieved through the ESOL for citizenship course and the ways in which this course can affect their identity. It also investigates the effects of the government’s policy on classroom pedagogy. The data was collected in Manchester and Lancashire county using semi-structured interviews with eight participants of Pakistani and Indian origin who were studying ESOL for citizenship courses, and questionnaires from seventy-four learners who had already gained nationality. Thirty-two questionnaires were also distributed among ESOL for citizenship teachers to investigate the effects on classroom pedagogy. A thematic analysis was then conducted on the data. The findings showed that the course does not ensure social integration of immigrants as it depends on various social factors: language use, length of stay in the UK, type of neighbourhood, extended family in the UK, and decisions made by the family. The course does not help in changing the identity of the immigrants as the participants still wanted to identify themselves with their native country and only considered British nationality as a status. The political purpose this provision is serving has negatively affected ESOL teachers and their classroom pedagogy. The limitations of this study are that it was unable to observe the migrants getting involved in the community as well as to conduct interviews with the teachers. Future studies with learners of other nationalities can be conducted using ethnographically informed methods. This study refuted the claims made by the UK government related to immigrants’ social integration thus the need is to separate this provision from immigration and to provide support to teachers and learners.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of the dissertation was to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) students' use of their first language (L1) in composing English texts. The first study focused on factors associated with students' spontaneous use of L1 in EFL writing. The research questions of this study concerned how spontaneous L1 use in EFL writing may interact with cognitive demands of writing tasks, learners' English proficiency, and writing quality. Thirty Taiwanese college students from different disciplines participated. Writing tasks included the issue analysis and argument analysis tasks, both derived from GRE and GMAT writing. Students' percentage of L1 use in think-aloud protocols was calculated within each phase of the composing process and compared to the cognitive demands of writing tasks, students' English proficiency, and writing scores. EFL students' percentage of L1 use was found to vary not only by cognitive demands of writing tasks but also by types of writing tasks. Total quantity of L1 use of EFL students was not related to their English proficiency. Further, EFL students' spontaneous use of L1 was found to be associated with better writing quality when used in activities such as making logical transitions, posing questions about logic and content development, or summarizing long chunks of reasoning. The second study, concerning the advantage of L1 used as the only composing language in EFL writing, looked in detail at four cases to examine factors such as the cognitive demands of writing tasks, students' English proficiency, and students' ability to use L1 strategically. The choice of composing language was found to be associated with English writing quality only in cognitively demanding writing tasks, such as argumentation. In argumentation, the advantages of composing in L1 depended on the interaction of students' English proficiency and students' ability to use L 1 strategically. Compared to English, L1 Chinese as a composing language was advantageous to writing quality when students had either the ability to use L1 strategically or high English proficiency. On the other hand, L1 as a composing language was disadvantageous to English writing scores when the student had neither the ability to use L1 strategically nor high English proficiency. Pedagogical implications are discussed. / 2031-01-02

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of rhetorical specification in writing assignments on the writing performance of EFL students from above average universities in Taiwan. Rhetorical specification refers to the amount of information provided in the writing assignment with regard to the purpose of a composition, its topic, audience, and ways of presenting ideas. The research questions were (1) How do writing assignments with varying degrees of rhetorical specification affect the overall writing quality, the content, and the rhetorical structure? (2) How do writing assignments with varying degrees of rhetorical specification affect EFL writers with varying amounts of writing instruction? (3) How do writing assignments with varying amounts of rhetorical specification affect the use of Chinese writing features in EFL students' English texts? (4) How do students assess the usefulness of rhetorical specification? Participants were assumed to be at three levels of proficiency, ranging from basic to advanced: 60 Non-English major freshmen, 50 English major freshmen, and 57 English major juniors. Each participant composed two essays in response to two writing tasks: a writing assignment that contained specific information about topic, purpose, and audience, and a task that contained little rhetorical information. Repeated measures ANOVA, paired-samples T-tests, and Chi-square statistic were undertaken to examine the effects of prompt types on several writing features. Also, the researcher interviewed 12 participants to explore their evaluations of the rhetorical information. The findings of the study are: (1) EFL students across groups benefited from rhetorical specification with regard to content richness and effective rhetorical structure. (2) English junior students were the most successful in utilizing the rhetorical information to represent a developed rhetorical problem and to compose better texts. (3) Rhetorical specification enabled Chinese-speaking EFL students to conform to English writing norms with less transference of Chinese writing features. (4) Most students indicated that among the rhetorical elements, purpose specification was considered most valuable in composing more effective essays, although they also reported that addressing the purpose demands was a challenging task. / 2031-01-01

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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study investigated the occurrence of pragmatic transfer in the refusals of Korean EFL learners at three proficiency levels due to the cross-cultural differences in refusal patterns in Korean and English. Forty native speakers of Korean, 37 native speakers of English, 22 beginning, 43 intermediate, and 46 advanced Korean EFL learners participated in this study. Data were collected using a written discourse completion test taken from Takahashi and Beebe (1987) and Beebe et al. (1990), which elicited refusals of requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions :from interlocutors of different status (i.e., higher, equal, and lower status). The data were also categorized according to the refusal taxonomy of Takahashi and Beebe (1987) and Beebe et al. (1990), and were analyzed in terms ofthe :frequency and content of the semantic formulas used by the subjects. The learners' refusals were compared to those of native speakers ofKorean and English in order to examine the extent of pragmatic transfer from Korean to English. Evidence of pragmatic transfer was found in the refusals of learners at all three proficiency levels. Further, pragmatic transfer increased as learners' proficiency increased, supporting Takahashi and Beebe (1987)'s positive correlation hypothesis. Beginning level learners' refusals, due to a lack of target language knowledge, tended to be short and abrupt, deviating from both native and target language speakers' refusals. Intermediate level learners were able to express Korean norms of politeness in their target language refusals to a greater degree than were beginning level learners. Advanced level learners' refusals, however, resembled those of native speakers ofKorean to the greatest degree. They had sufficient linguistic means to transfer the forms as well as the tentative, figurative, and philosophical tone of their native language to the target language. In addition, advanced learners were at times more verbose than native speakers of Korean or English since they elaborated and mitigated their refusals by using the preferred semantic formulas of both their native and target languages. The implications of the findings for teaching and learning pragmatics in the EFL classroom were provided. / 2031-01-01

In an era of increased global investment in the use of technology in education generally, Saudi Arabia has intensified its quest to incorporate E-learning as a supplementary tool for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at the high school levels. The benefits of this paradigm shift are obvious because the growth of the Internet and the proliferation of computers appear to have had a direct impact on the steady increase in popularity of E-learning, especially for EFL, in Saudi Arabia. This research is premised on the assumption that the successful implementation of E-learning in Saudi Arabia will require the readiness of students and teachers in particular, ahead of the adoption and use of the technology for teaching and learning. This study adopts a mixed method approach using both qualitative and quantitative methods at three stages in order to achieve distinct research objectives. The first stage of the research involved qualitative interviews with students and teachers that explored the underlying factors of readiness of students and English teachers. The second stage of the research involved surveys with students and English teachers that examined their current level of readiness, as well as any age and/or gender differences in their readiness to use E-learning as a supplementary tool for EFL in Saudi Arabia. The third and final stage involved in-depth qualitative interviews with national and regional government officials as well as heads of families in order to develop a deeper understanding of the current level of readiness for students and English teachers. Overall, the present study provides an alternative perspective to understanding the readiness of students and teachers to use E-learning, particularly in the Saudi context. The study establishes that in developing societies where institutions are less established and considered thinner, the introduction of E-learning in such societies will require more than the availability of financial resources and political will. The research outcome demonstrates that the readiness of students and teachers for E-learning in Saudi Arabia is indicated mainly by a set of underlying personal factors which are influenced by a set of external factors. In terms of the current level of readiness of the respondents, there is a mixed outcome. Further, there are also some differences and similarities in the readiness of respondents to use E-learning for EFL based on age and gender. Finally, this study contributes to the existing body of international literature on E-learning readiness by proposing an expansive new framework that takes into account both personal and external factors in exploring readiness. More so, the propose new framework incorporates the significant role the wider cultural and social context plays as well as the importance of gender issues and their particular centrality in the Saudi context in relation to individual and organisational E-learning readiness.

What is the role of literature study in EFL education? How can the study of literature make its maximum contribution within the total field of EFL education? These are the two major questions which this paper attempts to answer. The urge that prompted this study comes from the author's deep concern with the study of English at advanced levels in foreign language institutes in China. Research and study of the students and other circumstances at these language institutes show that it is possible as well as desirable for advanced students there to take up the study of literature. Literature study was the only approach to language teaching before the 1940's. In the modern approaches to language teaching, attention has been given to the study of language itself, and the study of literature has been quietly pushed into the shade. It is the author's belief that, as H.L.B. Moody puts it: 'the pendulum has perhaps swung too far from one extreme to the other' After much research and study about the value of literature in language classrooms, the author intends to show in this paper that the study of literature in language classrooms can be expected to: a) improve students' general linguistic ability; b) provide an insight into the culture associated with the target language; c) through reading, develop students' comprehension and ability to read between the lines . Parallel with these points, this paper is also intended to establish a theoretical basis for three aspects of the study of literature in EFL: Literature as language; (see: Chapter Three) Literature as experience; (see: Chapter Four) Literature as art. (see: Chapter Five). In Chapter Six of this paper, tentative suggestions are given concerning the problems of selecting appropriate materials for advanced foreign Language learners, and how literature study can be carried out both in and outside classrooms. The limitations of the study of literature in certain circumstances arc also considered in Chapter Six. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a basis for further study and research.