This paper explores educator perceptions of gifted and talented (GT) English language (ELL) students. This study identifies barriers for identification and service for GT/ELL students and highlights ways to support students through current efforts for students who fit these criteria. Educators from two elementary schools were interviewed in this qualitative study. The schools were chosen due to their high population of ELL students. The roles of professional development (PD) and best practices for identification of underrepresented students are discussed. Five main themes emerged from interviews of educators that work with GT/ELL students. The themes are obstacles, perception, referral, professional development, and, modification.

The role that vocabulary learning plays in second language acquisition has been receiving increased attention from both teachers and researchers. However, there is still much that is not known about the processes through which new words become functioning components of the mental lexicon. This study used a word association test (WAT) to investigate how new words are initially integrated into the lexicon immediately after being studied for the first time. This initial lexical organization of new words was compared with the existing lexical organization of well-known items. In addition, this study investigated how sentence writing, thought to encourage deeper levels of processing, affected how the new words were initially integrated into the lexicon. The participants in this study were 16 volunteers from an Intensive English Language Program. The participants first completed a vocabulary knowledge scale to assess if they knew the new vocabulary words. Then, the participants spent 20 minutes learning the words--either through writing sentences with the words or through choosing their own method of study. Immediately after the 20 minute learning period, the WAT was administered. The results of the WAT indicated that the new words were being organized into the lexicon through meaning-based connections just as the well-known words were. The majority of the meaning-based lexical organization was based on equivalent meaning connections such as synonymy or superordination. The sentence writing condition correlated with a decrease in meaning-based WAT associations for the new words, which indicated that sentence writing may have affected the lexical integration in unexpected ways. Finally, unanticipated WAT response patterns indicated that other contextual factors may have also influenced the responses.

What is the relationship of music and language? Analogies and comparisons of music and language are plentiful in various types of literature. For researchers in the cognitive sciences, the importance of organization, patterning, and structuring of sounds is a common theme in analyzing both language and music. With the success of generative grammars for languages, a number of researchers have used similar kinds of grammars to describe or model particular aspects of music. In addition, researchers are interested in possible universals in musical grammars. However, while grammars of non-Western musics have been written, most of the work has been based on Western tonal systems. The purpose of this research is to analyze, in an information processing, linguistic framework, a non-Western musical system for which there is currently no formal grammar in the literature, and to describe an aspect of it in the form of a grammar. Kotekan, the system of interlocking parts in Balinese game/an music, is examined in this study. This study is based on library research, scores, tapes, and communication with experts in Balinese music. A number of previously written grammars for musical systems are examined, as well as literature concerning various types of formal grammars. Balinese kotekan data is collected, in the form of literature, scores, and tapes. Portions of the data are described in the form of a grammar. The rules are then tested on new data, that is, portions of other Balinese pieces. The natures of and the relationship between music and language can be examined more closely through the use of an information processing, linguistic framework. Grammars are a precise and formal way of describing structure and regularities in linguistic and musical systems, and of describing aspects of competence. Linguistic and musical grammars share some features and differ in others. The grammar for Balinese kotekan presented in this study exhibits features that are similar to other musical grammars. The system can be described as a hierarchy of constraints from global tendencies to specific rules for various types of kotekan. In addition, there are deep and surface structures, variation related to structure, ranked or preference rules, spatio-motor considerations, and the need for context-sensitive rules. The structure of po/os and sangsih (the interlocking parts of kotekan) as individual lines is described by context-free phrase structure rules. The relationship between pol os and sangsih is described by transformations. The grammar presented is a starting point for a complete grammar of Balinese kotekan.

Lexical bundles (fixed sequences of three to four words) have been described as building blocks of discourse, both written and spoken (Biber & Barbieri, 2007), and as a useful mechanical device for creating writing that is suited for its academic field (Hyland, 2008). Having noticed that the academic theses of my students at Longdong University in Qingyang, China seemed very different from professional writing in their fields, I created a thesis project that addressed the question of how professionals in their fields were using bundles and how the learners' use of these bundles in terms of frequency, structure, and function varied from the professionals' use. In order to answer this question, I compiled four corpora of writing in literature and applied linguistics, representing professional and learner writing in each field. I used concordancing software in order to identify four-word lexical bundles that occurred at least 20 times per 100,000 words and over a range of four texts. I then did a three-part analysis which looked at frequency, structure, and function of these bundles. The results of the study reveal that professionals in applied linguistics and literature use bundles with different frequency, display different choices of lexical items to fill structural bundles, and use functional bundles differently. These differences seem to reflect the rhetorical needs of each discipline. Further, the learners in each field displayed differences in their use of bundles as compared to the professionals' use. Learners in applied linguistics used more types and tokens of bundles overall, while learners in literature used fewer. Both groups of learners relied more on repetitive use of certain bundles than did the professionals. Implications of this study are discussed for teaching and curriculum development. The findings can be applied to teaching through creating awareness-raising and guided practice opportunities for the students to see how bundles are used in professional writing and to help them apply this understanding to their own writing.

Within the population of adult English-language learners in the United States, the largest portion is comprised of Spanish speakers from Mexico and Central and South America. At the same time, Spanish is the second-most commonly spoken language in the U.S., and an increasing presence in U.S. media and culture. This puts English learners from this demographic in a unique position with respect to language and culture acquisition and the experience of working towards their goals within U.S. society at large. The purpose of this study is to explore motivations and beliefs about language and culture held by a small number English-language learners belonging to this huge, diverse community. Drawing on theory from the fields of second language acquisition and sociolinguistics, a survey eliciting opinions about cultural affiliation and language standards was created and versions in either English or Spanish were distributed to volunteers from this population living in Oregon. Fifty-two surveys were returned. The responses to the surveys were then compared with one another to examine any connections between participant beliefs about language value, cultural affiliation, and learning strategy preferences. Statistical comparisons were also carried out to determine whether certain orientations correlated with one another. Analysis of the survey responses showed that while affiliation to United States culture was variable, all participants maintained at least a moderate feeling of affiliation to their home countries, despite twenty-seven, or just over half, of them having lived in the U.S. for over ten years. However, all but one of the participants were also interested in learning about U.S. culture and thirty-nine believed in the possibility of being part of more than one culture at a time. Participants were more likely to prefer collaborative strategies for learning about culture, but for learning language they preferred individual strategies, and had a general low estimation of the utility of non-standard forms of language, including non-standard English and Spanglish. A moderate negative correlation (Spearman p=.521) that was statistically significant (p=.001) was found between the degree to which participants had a multicultural affiliation and their beliefs about the importance of knowing non-standard forms of English. While the participating sample is too small and opportunistic for the findings to be generalizable, from the results of the surveys it can be concluded that: multicultural affiliation is something that can be (and is) experienced to varying degrees by some language learners in this population sample; individual learning strategies seem preferred for learning language; and non-standard English is not considered as valuable as standard English. Additionally, a negative correlation between multicultural affiliation and the perceived importance of knowing non-standard English is suggested. These findings may have implications for language instructors and others who wish to investigate the motivations, priorities, and language beliefs of adult English students from this particular demographic.

The relationship of language and culture is explored in this thesis for the purpose of better understanding why all sojourners, regardless of preparation, experience some degree of culture shock. The author begins with a review of literature on culture shock establishing that the native language of sojourners is not considered to be of any consequence to the sojourning experience. The fields of intercultural communication, social psychology and psychology are then explored to establish the link between language and culture and to introduce the notion of linguistic identity. Evidence found in each of these fields leads the author to conclude that linguistic identity must become a focal point of language instruction and that both language and linguistic identity must be addressed more effectively in pre-departure orientations. Also included is a research proposal which is designed to test pre-departure orientation strategies which introduce students to linguistic identity and to track their transition experiences over the course of a year-long study abroad sojourn.

The current study lays the groundwork for a model of Mandarin tones based on both native speakers' and non-native speakers' perception and production. It demonstrates that there is variability in non-native speakers' tone productions and that there are differences in the perceptual boundaries in native speakers and non-native speakers. There are four experiments in this study. Experiment 1 utilizes native speakers' production data from a published speech database to explore the features of tone production by native speakers. Inter-speaker normalization is used to analyze the data. Experiment 2 synthesizes 81 tones that are carried by four sentences to measure perception by native and non-native speakers. The intra-speaker and inter-speaker normalization is used to investigate the perceptual space of T1, T2, T3, and T4. The researcher also explores the salient features distinguish native speakers' and non-native speakers' perception of the four principal tones. Experiment 3 uses both synthesized tones and natural tones that are carried by sentences to explore how pitch values of tones create overlapping areas in the perceptual map. Experiment 4 examines tone production by non-native speakers to identify the differences between native speakers' perception and non-native speakers' production; and the differences between non-native speakers' perception and their production of tones. The results of the perception and production experiments with native speakers show the perceptual boundaries and tonal categories in the perceptual space and the production space. The difference of native speakers' perception and production shows us the perceptual cue for perception. Meanwhile, the similarities of native speakers' perception and production reveal the acoustic cues, including register and contour, for tone perception and production. The results of the perception experiments with non-native speakers indicate that there are no clear boundaries, and that tone overlap in the perceptual space. Register plays an important role in the perception of tones by non-native speakers. The results of non-native speaker production also show overlapping tones in the acoustic space. The non-native speaker production appears to be determined by the contour of the tones in contrast both the contour and register determine the tonal categories of native speaker.

This study is a qualitative examination of second language (L2) learning processes by four advanced learners of Japanese in the community of a summer intensive full-immersion program in the United States. Using L2 socialization theory as a theoretical framework, this study conceives of L2 learning as a process of social participation in a community of practice and examines L2 learning processes by four learners, focusing on the dynamic interplay between the affordances of the social community and the agency of the individual learners. The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) It investigates the ways in which the four learners exercise their agency to pursue their goals of learning Japanese and (b) it documents how the different ways in which the four learners exercise agency form different trajectories of learning and create different experiences of L2 socialization. This study has adopted an ethnographic case study approach to the investigation of research inquiries. Through the analyses of data obtained from multiple sources, including interviews with the four learners, observations of their engagement in the community of practice of the summer intensive full-immersion program, their audio-recorded conversations with other members of the community, and various artifacts, this study explores the role of L2 learner agency in the process of L2 socialization and describes in depth their experiences of learning Japanese from their emic perspectives. The case studies of the four learners have highlighted the different ways in which they engaged in the community of practice, understood their tasks of learning Japanese, interpreted the affordances of the social community, negotiated the meaning of their participations, defined and redefined their sense of self, and eventually achieved their L2 learning goals. The findings suggest that the richness and effectiveness of a social environment are not characterized by the physical and academic affordances of a social community alone; rather they are constructed in a dynamic relation between the affordance structure of a social community and the L2 learners' agency in the pursuit of the joint enterprise of making L2 learning happen. With regard to the role of L2 learner agency, the study has foregrounded the important role of the aspirations of the four L2 learners for personal transformation and negotiation of the meaning of self of the past, the present, and the future. The findings suggest that L2 learners' diverse and complex social and personal desires for learning an L2 may not be able to be explained using the notion of investment (Norton, 1995, 2000) alone. Since the SLA debate initiated by Firth and Wagner (1997, 2007), SLA research has begun to reconceptualize L2 learners as socially situated beings with diverse needs, wants, and identities. This study presents four portraits of L2 learners who engaged in the enterprise of learning Japanese, as a means of contributing to this reconceptualization, and explores for these four learners what it meant to learn Japanese in the summer of 2010.

Using a grounded theory approach, the purpose of this research study is to generate a learning-how-to-learn training model for learners in flipped language course. The model is grounded in the interactions and comments from college students enrolled in an elementary Spanish I class at a large Midwestern university. The study participants video recorded themselves on two occasions during the semester as they worked online to study and learn new vocabulary. Twice during the semester the participants discussed with their classmates how they approached the online course work, offering tips and suggestions to one another. Finally, the participants met with me individually to view recordings of themselves working online and to reflect on their behaviors. The study addressed research questions pertaining to (a) their online interactions with three online components, (b) the insights gained from discussing their online interactions with their peers, (c) the insights gained from watching and reflecting on video clips of themselves working online, (d) the supports needed to help learners learn in a flipped course. The grounded theory analysis of the three data sources—recorded think-aloud sessions, focus groups, and individual sessions with the researcher— provides a clear picture of how students learn in an online environment and what supports they need to become more effective language learners in a flipped course environment The study identified communication as the core construct that emerged from the data. Communication was found to be central to the types of supports that learners in a flipped course need and essential to the learning-how-to-learn training model. The training model considers the learner as well as the director and instructors and communication at each level is vital to the learners’ understanding of flipped learning and subsequent interactions. Autonomy, guidance, and reflection are the three concepts that support the core construct by addressing ways to support learners. A major contribution of this study is to explore the culture of flipped learning from the students’ perspective, since previous research on flipped learning is weighted toward the instructor side. The findings suggest that training in a flipped course be ongoing to increase communication and in-class to bridge the disconnect between face-to-face time and online time. The pedagogical implications, which consider the entire language program from the program level to the classroom level, describe ways to guide learners in building their autonomous learning skills and practices, along with the practice of reflection, both of which are fundamental to learning in a flipped course. The need for ongoing and in-class training is presented in addition to pedagogical implications at the program level, instructor level, student level, and the classroom level.

This dissertation examines the discourse produced by beginning learners of Spanish using social media. Specifically, it looks at the use and development of interactional resources during two video-mediated conversations. Through a combination of Conversation Analysis tools and quantitative data analysis, the use of turn-taking strategies, repair trajectories, and alignment moves was examined to discover how beginning language learners manage videoconferencing exchanges and develop their interactional capabilities in this new interactional setting. The goal of this investigation was twofold: 1) to describe and explain how students construct, manage and maintain conversations via videoconferencing, and 2) to gain a better understanding of the links between technology-based social media and language learning. The results of this study indicate that instructional videoconferencing conversations display their own clearly delimited and idiosyncratic organization of interactional features. In terms of turn-taking, the results of the analyses demonstrate that beginning learners are fully capable of participating competently in speaker selection to manage a conversation with a peer of similar proficiency level. In the area of repair, the analyses show that, during instructional videoconferencing exchanges, beginning learners orient to both the communication of personal meaning and the accuracy of their discourse. They enact this orientation through the use of self-initiated self-repair. Finally, with regard to the use of alignment moves, the analyses reveal that, in tune with their nascent linguistic and interactional abilities, beginning learners use primarily acknowledgement moves.