<p> English Language Learners (ELLs) are no longer a part of specific areas of America. They have crossed all classroom boundaries of the United States. This means as ELLs have integrated into the classrooms, educators are becoming versed in methods and strategies to help ELLs learn and achieve proficiency on standardized assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine if ELLs learned enough to be proficient in English to do well on a standardized test as their non-ELL peers. The Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) and the Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State (ACCESS) were the two exams used to compare proficiency results. The MAP is the standardized test given to Missouri students beginning at Grade 3. The ACCESS is a language achievement test developed by the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium to track levels of English in students beginning in Kindergarten. Students in Grades 3 through 8 were the focus for this study. The exam results of ELLs who took both the MAP and ACCESS were analyzed and compared to their non-ELL peers. The results showed that ELLs who meet academic proficiency on their ACCESS test also have as much English comprehension to do as well on the MAP as the non-ELLs. All groups of students, Grades 3 through 8, showed that if ELLs have reached a level of bridging, or Level 5, they are capable of working with grade level material in English.</p>

This study explores how cultural inquiry was integrated into a third-year Persian class via printed texts, film, WebQuests and PowerPoint presentations, and how that cultural inquiry was made sense of and understood by the students in the course. Specifically, this qualitative study addresses two research questions: 1. How do students experience the cultural inquiry pedagogy? 2. How do students' understandings about Persian culture develop? The study’s participants were four college students in a fifth semester Persian language course at a large southwestern university during fall of 2009. Students were exposed to two sets of cultural integration including two films and WebQuest activities. The collected data included a demographic questionnaire, classroom observations, individual interviews and students’ reflective journals. Data were analyzed using Constant Comparative Method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). A major finding of this study was that that in all four cases, participants felt they benefited from the content presented through multimedia and technology and the knowledge they gained through the cultural inquiry activities contributed to the development of their cultural awareness. In addition, the development of learners’ cultural knowledge and awareness was another important finding of this study. The study also revealed the deconstruction of some of the stereotypes that students brought with them to the classroom. Through the cultural inquiry pedagogy and exposure to different types of texts and group discussions, some of these stereotypes were deconstructed and new ideas were formulated. Another important finding of the study was the importance of utilizing cultural inquiry pedagogy. This study showed in particular the crucial role of group discussions, the importance of pre- and post- viewing activities related to filmic texts and WebQuest activities as benefiting the students most in their cultural inquiry. The study’s findings have implications for educators and curriculum developers to understand better the kinds of experiences and opportunities students have when they are engaged in cultural inquiry activities and are exposed to multimedia and technology, which contribute to the development of their cultural knowledge and awareness. / text

This thesis investigates referential communication strategies using the theoretical framework of Levelt's (1989) model of speech production and its application to second language speech production (de Bot, 1992). The investigation focuses on utterances of adult speakers who solve a referential communication task in their first language (English) and their second language (German). Two different groups participate in the study. The first group consists of students from a large West Canadian University who learn German in a foreign language classroom, whereas the second group consists of native speakers of English who work in Germany and acquire German in a second language environment. All participants describe abstract shapes while their utterances are being recorded and later transcribed for analysis. Quantitative and qualitative methods measuring the time and words reflect the strategies used to describe the shapes. The analysis of the data reveals that the participants in Germany are more accurate in their descriptions and solve the referential problems more successfully than the participants from the West Canadian University do. The direct contact these participants have with the German language and culture proves to be beneficial to the process of generating a comprehensible message in referential communication. The study concludes with suggestions for the teaching of German as a second language and recommendations are made for future research on language acquisition the learning environment.

<p>This qualitative research study with 10 Chinese parents explored parental beliefs, involvement, and challenges in support of their child's English language development. Findings indicated that all participants highly valued their child's English education and emphasized the short and long-term advantages of learning English in early years. All participants expressed a strong motivation to support their child's English education. Parents were involved in the roles of a financial provider, guide, and learning-partner. Challenges to parental involvement came from both home (lack of time, English proficiency, and a suitable home English learning environment as well as financial pressure) and outside sources such as lack of governmental support, unqualified bilingual teachers, and ineffective English curriculum. The researcher recommends that English education preschool programs recruit skilled bilingual or English preschool teachers, implement an interactive, child-centered English language curriculum, and design home-school partnership programs. Policy makers must design policies to support English education preschool programs. </p>

<p> Previous studies on nonnative English speaker teachers (NNESTs) (Reyes &amp; Medgyes, 1994; Samimy &amp; Brutt-Griffler, 1999; Llurda, 2008; Rajagopalan, 2005) and publications in World Englishes (WEs), English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and English as an international language (EIL), have analyzed and documented how prevailing ideologies rooted in "the myth of the native speaker" (Pennycook, 1994; Canagarajah, 1999; Kramsch, 2000), "the native speaker fallacy" (Phillipson, 1992) and associated ideologies generate discrimination and affect students and teachers' sense of self-worth. </p><p> By making use of telecollaboration to determine how L1 Spanish speaking Colombian EFL pre-service teachers' interactions with U.S. heritage Spanish speakers (HSSs) influence the Colombian future teachers' self-perceptions as (non) native speakers and future teachers, this study responds to scholars' concerns to diversify the scope of explorations on NNESTs. Examining the ideological side of the native vs. non-native speaker dichotomy in telecollaboration, this research seeks to reverse the tendency to study interactants' exchanges mainly as a language feedback process through which "native speakers" support those who are not native speakers. </p><p> Under an overarching qualitative phenomenological case study research design, the first article's pre-assessment of participants' self-perceptions of (non) nativeness found that the myth of the native speaker, the native speaker fallacy and associated ideologies permeated participants' self-images as language speakers and prospective teachers. Nevertheless, their ongoing education and the perceived benefits of becoming skillful language users contrasted with the harmful effects of these ideologies. </p><p> The second study determined that in adopting meaning making abilities as their center of interest in telecollaboration, most participants focused less on the achievement of idealized native speaker abilities. Their interaction with U.S. peers generated confidence in their use of English, self-criticism of their skills in Spanish and a tendency to embrace the idea that they could succeed as English teachers. The third article suggests that the cooperative relationships that participants established with U.S. peers provided them affective and knowledge-based resources to build more favorable views of themselves, attitudes to confront the detrimental effects of nativespeakership ideologies, and informed judgments to dismantle them.</p>

While there are many studies of NS-NNS negotiation, there are few studies that have examined and compared negotiation and communication strategy use that occurs in unelicited interactions in the study abroad classroom and host family environment Through analysis of NS-NNS negotiations from video and audio-taped interactions, this study of five learners of Japanese studying abroad answers the following research questions: 1) How does negotiation and communication strategy use differ in the study abroad classroom and host family setting? 2) What are the implications of these differences for second language acquisition in terms of comprehensible input, modified output, and focus on form? Thus, the present study contributes to the already existing literature on study abroad, negotiation, and communication strategies. Moreover, it shows how NNS participation in the process of negotiation including exposure to and possible uptake of information about the target language is conveyed through negotiation and how this process differs between the classroom and host family setting. *N5-NNS (native speaker- non-native speaker) / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 526-540). / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / x, 540 leaves, bound 29 cm

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2006 Nov 30

This study examined the beliefs and opinions of U.S university students towards learning foreign languages. Four major areas were explored, including attitudes and motivations towards learning foreign languages, perceptions of foreign languages in the U.S., and favorability of Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, and Spanish. One additional area that investigated participants' opinions in support or against a foreign language requirement in the United States was also examined. The instrument included a survey of 22 items, consisting of 13 quantitative attitude/opinion questions, two qualitative open-ended questions, and seven questions for demographics. The data was analyzed through descriptive, inferential, and content analyses, including Cronbach's Alpha, independent and dependent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs. The results of the study showed that participants generally had positive attitudes and high motivations towards learning foreign languages. Their perceptions were slightly critical of Americans' perspectives of foreign languages but indicated the belief that the U.S. education system does provide reasonable opportunities to learn foreign languages. Participants showed high favorability towards learning Spanish, with French also slightly favorable. Participants did not demonstrate positive favorability towards learning Arabic, Chinese, German, or Korean. However, participants commonly referred to Chinese as being particularly useful for business opportunities and consistently indicated low interest or usefulness in Arabic. Few significant differences were observed between genders or foreign language education background. Overall, female participants had slightly more positive views about learning foreign languages, whereas the same was true for participants with higher-level foreign language ability.

abstract: With the increase of academic courses moving to online instruction (Blake, 2011), it is only natural language education also would make the leap to online platforms. Following Vygotsky's (1978) Sociocultural Theory (SCT), the purpose of this study is to test the differential effect of the presence of a language learning orientation module in online environments as well as exploring the possible variables affecting student success in module and non-module containing courses. The effectiveness of the module is measured by triangulating student success as defined and tested by Kerr et al. (2006) using their quantitative TOOLS (Test of Online Learning Success) instrument and collecting qualitative data in the form of journal entries and surveys. Data were collected from 1st year university Spanish courses from both a control group (no module use), as well as an experimental group (module use). Case study data from both control and experimental groups showed trends related to student success and may help to shed light on the pedagogical implications of language orientation modules in both online and face-to-face language learning environments while providing avenues for future research designs to explore the effectiveness of the aforementioned modules in online environments. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Spanish 2016

<p> Online foreign language course offerings have grown exponentially in secondary and post-secondary schools during the last two decades. Although numerous instruments and surveys exist to assess readiness for a student to take online courses, insufficient research has dealt with the particularities of learning a foreign language online. This study was designed to ascertain the attributes that determine readiness for the online foreign language student. In addition, questions used in the Educational Success Prediction Instrument 2^nd Version, ESPRI V-2, an instrument created to test online readiness for secondary students, were presented to the participants to determine if the instrument would be efficient to evaluate online foreign language readiness. Those surveyed and interviewed were online instructors of foreign language who: taught the foreign language at least two years; taught foreign language at least six months online; and were willing to participate. Data were gathered via a 25 question Google Survey, as condensed by John Siko (2014), which included four open ended questions pertaining to foreign language instructors&rsquo; experience and opinions as well as one to assess their willingness to participate in an interview. The results led to verification of the appropriateness of four attributes used in the ESPRI V-2: achievement and self-esteem beliefs (motivation), responsibility/risk-taking, technology skills and access, and organization and self-regulation (learner autonomy). In addition, a sub-component of motivation, or having a concrete motive for learning the foreign language, was found to be an indicator for online FL readiness.</p><p>