This study arises out of research on teacher beliefs and practice with regard to the social, political and economic conditions affecting English Language Learners (ELLS). Specifically, it examines how student-teachers in an introductory course to cross-cultural education at a state university in California reflect on their own beliefs about cultural, linguistic, racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity; whether they examine the socio-political context of schooling language minority students; their beliefs about appropriate strategies and methodologies for ELLs; and if and how these beliefs have been influenced by the course. Forty-two student-teachers completed pre- and post-course questionnaires, and two completed interviews. The results from this study show that teacher education coursework can change teacher beliefs about issues of diversity in positive ways and can lead to greater teacher awareness about the socio-political context of schooling ELLs. The next step in the research agenda will be to investigate how teacher beliefs about multicultural issues affect their practices in teaching ELLs.

This study investigated the interactional moves of Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and, in particular, how differently they modify their oral output depending on their interlocutor---either a peer or a native speaker (NS). By employing retrospective stimulated recall methodology, this study also explored the participants' feelings and perceptions which arguably determined their interaction patterns during a communicative task. / Participants were eight Japanese first-year university students and four NSs of English. Conversations of eight learner-NS dyads and four learner-learner dyads (six hours in total) were audiotaped, transcribed, and then statistically analyzed. Learners were interviewed two days after the task completion. / Results revealed that learners interacted in significantly different ways depending on whom they interacted with. Specifically, their interlocutor (peer or NS) proved to be a more influential variable than the type of feedback (i.e., elicitation or reformulation) they received. Qualitative analysis of the interview data provides comprehensive explanations for the findings.

The English article system is extremely complex because of its conceptual abstractness and context-dependent usage. For these specific features, some second language learners (e.g., Japanese) find article acquisition to be very difficult. Traditionally, the definite article the is thought to express exclusively the referential function of "identifiability", that is, the is there to identify or pick out the referent so the hearer can identify what is being discussed (Lyons, 1999). This view has been widely accepted and has served as the foundation of research as well as for pedagogical orientations. Recently, however, these traditional notions have been heavily criticized as 'insufficient'. As a result, a cognitive, mental space notion of "accessibility" has been introduced (Epstein, 2002). / This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness in teaching the English article the by comparing two instructional approaches: a traditionally-based approach and a cognitively-based approach. The study hypothesized, first, that article usage is contextually and conceptually configured; therefore, not all definite articles the exhibit the same level of difficulty (some are conceptually more complex than others). Second, the higher the complexity, the more difficult it is for learners to understand. Third, in light of these hypotheses, learners are predicted to benefit more from conceptually oriented instruction than structurally oriented traditional instruction. / In order to measure the effectiveness of these approaches, two comparable, computerized instructional treatments were created. The mental space treatment shows the learners the framework in which 'accessibility' to the object is emphasized, whereas the traditional treatment shows learners the framework in which 'identifiability' of the object is emphasized. / Eighty-three Japanese learners of English (41 in the mental space treatment and 42 in the traditional treatment) were recruited to test the hypotheses. Three lessons were administered individually; each lasted 1.5 to 2 hours (4.5 to 6 hours per participant). As predicted, the results revealed that there is a distinct order of complexity according to the conceptual load of the article the. The study also confirmed that the higher the complexity levels, the more difficult it is for the learners to learn. However, this conceptual complexity can be significantly alleviated when the conceptual framework is taught.

The number of people learning English as a second or foreign language has increased dramatically over the last two decades. Many of these second language learners are university students who must attain very sophisticated academic skills. To a great extent, their academic success hinges on their ability to read a second language. This multiplecase study investigated first language (LI) and second language (L2) reading strategies in academic settings. The study drew on Bernhardt's (2000) socio-cognitive model of second language reading. Five Chinese students in a graduate program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) volunteered to participate in the study. A combination of data collection techniques was employed including think-alouds, interviews, learning logs, classroom observations, course materials, and the participants' reading samples. The results showed that there were similarities and differences between LI and L2 reading strategies. Although evidence was found supporting the view of cognitive universals and socio-cultural constraints, individual differences at the cognitive level and similarities across cultures were also identified. The findings of this study indicate that the comparison between LI and L2 academic reading should take into consideration the similarities and differences at both cognitive and cultural levels. Implications are discussed in relation to the construction of an L2 transfer model as well as the delivery of L2 reading instruction.

This dissertation investigates the effects and value of instructional activities for improving second language use of English articles. After reviewing a number of issues concerning pedagogical, linguistic, psycholinguistic, and internal validity, this study presents the results of eight longitudinal time-series case studies of adult Japanese learners of English residing in Vancouver, Canada, four of whom received grammatical explanations, input processing activities, and output practice activities regarding English article use. Learner development was assessed on three different narrative retelling tasks (spoken, written, and cloze) and the production was analysed with reference to specific contexts of use, indicating the form-function mappings that comprised the learners' interlanguage knowledge. The results indicated that the learners' interlanguage production exhibited (a) the anticipated task variation, with greater suppliance of the on tasks that allowed greater attention to form, and (b) the anticipated discoursal variation, with the supplied more consistently when it was primed as a redundant element on the written task and with the supplied less consistently when it was efficiently deleted as a redundant element on the spoken task. The results also indicated the variable nature of individual development and the value of assessing development longitudinally on different tasks. Importantly, the results indicated that the learners improved or continued improving after instruction, and strongly suggested that instruction can cause automatization of interlanguage knowledge. This finding suggests that form-focused instruction may be valuable for second language learning, and that pedagogical positions opposing form-focused instruction may need to be revised or abandoned.

The vast majority of secondary school English teachers in China are non-native English speakers (NNS). These teachers might not have adequate language proficiency to promote a communicative language environment for students. This has raised an ongoing discussion concerning the growing need to foster NNS teachers' communicative language proficiency, which has been identified as one of the most important qualifications for successful ESL/EFL (English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language) teachers (Murdoch, 1994; Kamhi-Stein & Lee, 1999; Nunan, 2003). In this study, 53 secondary NNS teachers from Chinese secondary schools were asked to self-assess their English proficiency as well as to specify the minimum level of proficiency that they felt was needed to teach English effectively at the secondary school level in seven skill domains (listening comprehension, speaking ability, reading comprehension, writing ability, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar). Paired sample t tests revealed that statistically significant differences were identified in six of the seven skill domains. Teachers perceived substantial gaps between their English proficiency and the minimum level needed to teach effectively. Teachers' perceptions about the relationship between their language proficiency and their teaching expertise were also explored through face-to-face interviews. The findings provide valuable information and have implications for language teachers in EFL contexts as well as for teacher educators.

The purpose of this study is to advance existing Media Education theory by looking at similarities in English Language Arts (ELA) theory and Media Education theory. The study explores similarities and differences between the two areas of study creating a broader understanding of literacy, English Language Arts, Media Education and pedagogy. / In order to clarify the co-relation between English Language Arts theory and Media Education theory, I interviewed experts in both fields to shed light on how these two areas of study complement one another and where the points of difference lie. The information points to the development in theory and opportunities for research that may help teachers in training and classroom teachers integrate Media Education and ELA education.

Several current studies in language acquisition have focussed on the emergence of functional categories in first and second languages. The properties of functional categories can be exhibited through movement, inflections, case marking and the use of functional elements such as determiners and complementizers. / This pilot study investigated the English second language of two groups of Inuktitut speaking schoolchildren at the beginning of the school year to see whether the properties of functional categories in English emerged in the same way as they do for first language speakers. While some of the Kindergarten children showed no access to these properties, others showed partial or complete access to them. Those children who had been in school one year demonstrated access to all of the properties under investigation. The results are discussed with respect to future research methodologies and studies of acquisition.

This study investigated whether English second language learners learn the senses of polysemous vocabulary items in an order from a core sense to more extended senses. Polysemous words have one form but many interrelated meanings. It was hypothesised that such an order could be explained by way of the theory of prototypicality. / 48 ESL learners from three language groups, French, Japanese and Chinese, took part in the study. The participants translated into their first language 29 English sentences using different senses of the word over. Translations were coded for correct translations of the sense of over and for variation in the correct translations. A MANOVA analysis showed that core senses were translated significantly more correctly than extended senses. A negative correlation was shown between variation in translation and correctness of translation. Following Krzeszowski, T. (1990), the study confirms that the theory of prototypicality offers an effective way of explaining language transfer.

This inquiry examines observations made by nine former participants in the 1996 Dalhousie University Summer Language Bursary Program (SLBP) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The SLBP is a five-week residential total second language immersion characterized by its intensity. In individual interviews, the informants were encouraged to explore whether and to what extent they had perceived changes in themselves as a result of their participation in the immersion program. These changes were not related to target-language proficiency. Rather, they focused primarily on aspects of the informants' self-perceived or other-perceived identities, which are conceived of as contextual, multiple, fluid and dynamic. Analysis of these observations indicates that changes to identity may indeed be an important byproduct of intensive second language immersion. Elements of such personal growth include perceived increases in participants' senses of resourcefulness, self-confidence, wanderlust, autonomy, open-mindedness, and sociability. Informants also enumerate the SLBP's unique factors which promote changes in self-perception. Changes in participants' perspectives on identity are not viewed simply as incidental immersion outcomes. Rather, they are viewed as components of 'personal competence', both as factors in and results of successful participation in residential total second language immersion.