This report first reviews issues emerging from English usage as a lingua franca, including distinctions among errors and variations in L2 English, attitudes toward L2-accented English, and communication strategies among non-native English speakers. Informed by the English learning as a second language literature, this report provides some suggestions for English teachers in Taiwan to help their students improve interactions with English speakers around the world. These suggestions involve promoting students’ respect for errors and accents in different varieties of English, which is expected to help students improve their own learning habits in order to lower their concerns about their “Taiwanese English.” The suggestions also encourage teachers to integrate issues regarding communication among non-native English speakers into English classes since these issues are often not the focus of traditional English classes in Taiwan. / text

Writing has increasingly been emphasised in EFL classrooms in recent years, and Korea is no exception to this trend. The literature indicates that L2 writers experience language problems and attempt to solve them while converting their thoughts into another language. At the moment when learners struggle with a linguistic feature, they become aware of their lack of linguistic knowledge, and try to resolve the problem either by employing their own previously acquired knowledge sources, or by trying to access external knowledge sources. This problem-solving process may occur repeatedly during the L2 writing process. The aims of the current research are threefold: first, it investigates what Korean university learners of English notice while they are writing in L2; second, it attempts to examine what variables are related to and affect learners' noticing during the L2 problem-solving process and; third, the knowledge sources employed by learners when they face language problems are analysed. In order to achieve these aims, 108 English major students were recruited from three high ranked universities in Korea; think-aloud protocols and stimulated-recall interviews comprised the primary means of data collection. All participants were asked to do a writing task in L2 and to verbalise their thoughts while producing written text. Building on the data gathered from the writing task, stimulated recall interviews were carried out in order to identify the sources of knowledge employed to resolve language problems. The results of quantitative data analysis showed that the 108 participants in this study noticed approximately five language problems while writing an L2 text for 20 minutes, and verbally expressed many more lexical episodes than grammatical episodes. Regarding the relations between learner-related variables and noticing during the L2 writing process, previous study abroad experience and L2 proficiency affected learners' noticing. It was also found that L2-based verbal working memory had an effect when learners notice language problems in L2 text production, while L1-based verbal working memory had no effect. Moreover, qualitative data analysis indicated that the participants employed various types of knowledge sources in order to solve lexical or grammatical problems. It was found that both explicit linguistic knowledge sources, such as previously acquired L1-L2 translation word pairs, aspects of word knowledge (i.e., form, meaning, or use), episodic memory or analogy, and implicit knowledge sources, such as intuition, were used during the L2 problem-solving process. Based on these findings, possible implications for L2 writing teaching are discussed, stressing the importance of providing many writing opportunities for students, and suggestions for future research are presented.

This study examines how second language (L2) English learners differ in their amount of language anxiety across three communication tasks: a formal academic speaking test, an informal casual interaction with a classmate during an activity in pairs, and a formal interview with an unfamiliar native speaker. It also addressed whether and how their language anxiety across the three tasks affected their accuracy, comprehensibility, and rate of speech. Thirty-seven intermediate-high L2 English learners participated in the three communication tasks. They also completed a general language anxiety questionnaire and three anxiety inventories--one before each task. Results demonstrated that the speaking exam caused more anxiety than the other two tasks. This anxiety had a positive correlation with both accuracy and comprehensibility, but not speech rate. The anxiety caused by the native speaker activity was found to have a correlation with comprehensibility, but nothing else. Finally, the anxiety caused by the pair activity did not have a significant relationship with any variable. It was also found that the participants' speech rate was higher in the native speaker activity than the pair activity, but that there was no significant difference in speech rate, or any other factor, between the exam and the other two activities. The results of the current study suggest that anxiety has a demonstrable effect on the way people speak. Higher anxiety was more likely to produce significant effects on one or more aspects of the participants' speech, including more comprehensible and accurate speech.

Ten years into a democratic South Africa, significant changes have been witnessed in economic, social, political and educational development. Changes in the education system have resulted in many of the learners being encouraged to attend English medium schools although this is not their L1. Hence, there has been an increase of learners learning to read in a language that is not their first language. The transition from their home language to the language of learning is often not easy and impacts on their academic proficiency as well as academic development. This study investigated English reading abilities and academic performance of Grade 8 L1 and L2 learners attending an Ex-Model C school. The SDRT – Brown Level was used to assess the level of reading and its impact on academic achievement was investigated. Results show that the SDRT was highly correlated with, and a significant predictor of academic performance with certain tests being stronger predictors than others for L1 and L2 learners. Implications of these findings for the education of L1 and L2 learners are discussed.

<p>The aim of the study was to find out whether or not there is a difference in the type and number of errors made by L2 intermediate learners and beginners of English. Texts were gathered from two age groups, 9-10 year olds and 16-18 year olds, 16 texts from the younger beginner level learners and 9 from the older intermediate learners. From the errors made in the texts five categories were formed (six for the beginners): Grammatical errors, word missing errors, morpheme errors, word order errors and spelling errors that is unique to the beginners. It was found that intermediate learners make fewer errors overall but that they make the same types of errors as the beginners when they do make an error.</p>

Aquesta tesi explora l'adquisició no-nativa de les propietats del subjecte gramatical en l'anglès i el castellà de nens i adults castellanoparlants i angloparlants, els quals no resideixen en el país de la L2, i contribueix així a la recerca en aquest camp amb noves dades i descobriments.En un enfocament teòric generativista cap a la L2, els efectes de la GU en el desenvolupament no-natiu del subjecte en nens i adults, l'existència d'efectes de transferència de la L1 i el "cluster" de propietats del tradicional Paràmetre del Subjecte Nul romanen sense resoldre's is han de ser analitzats d'acord amb les propostes teòriques més recents. L'estudi es realitza mitjançant dades transversals obtingudes a partir d'experiments de comprensió en nens i adults en dos contextos d'adquisició diferents. L'L2A infantil s'examina en un context d'immersió d'una escola americana a Barcelona i d'una escola espanyola a Londres i l'L2A adulta s'analitza en un context de classe institucional. S'utilitza el mateix mètode experimental pels nens i pels adults: judicis de gramaticalitat i tasques de coerció pels informants de L2 anglès i judicis de gramaticalitat i tasques de preferència pels informants de L2 castellà. No obstant, s'ha utilitzat una versió oral dels experiments pels grups de nens més petits. En el cas de la L2 infantil s'ha analitzat tres grups d'edat per cada llengua i en el cas dels adults tres grups de nivell per llengua, ambdós acompanyats dels seus grups monolingües de control corresponents.La tesi s'estructura al voltant de sis preguntes de recerca, les respostes de les quals representen els descobriments més rellevants:1. L'estadi inicial de la L2 està caracteritzat per la "clustered" transferència de les propietats del subjecte associades amb els valors paramètrics de la L1?2. El desenvolupament de la L2 està caracteritzat per la "clustered" adquisició de les propietats del subjecte associades amb els valors paramètrics de la L2?3. Quines implicacions teòriques es deriven dels resultats d'aquest estudi per les teories de L2A "Partial/Full Transfer" i "Partial/Full UG Access" ?4. Podem mantenir el mateix enfocament teòric cap a L2A per nens i adults?5. Podem mantenir el concepte tradicional de "Paràmetre del Subjecte Nul" entès com a la L1 en la L2?6. Hi ha efectes de direccionalitat d'adquisició entre L2 anglès (per castellanoparlants) i L2 castellà (per angloparlants)?Les dades indiquen presència de "clustered" transferència de les propietats del subjecte des de la L1 en la L2 anglès i castellà de nens i adults. No obstant, la "clustered" adquisició de les propietats del subjecte en la L2 només la trobem en la L2 anglès i castellà dels nens, ja que en els adults, el desenvolupament de la L2 no presenta refixació del tret de la L1 al valor del tret de la L2 i per tant no presenta efectes de "clustering". Pel que fa al desenvolupament del subjecte, els resultats d'aquesta tesi donen suport a la teoria de Full UG Access i Full L1 Transfer (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1996; Schwartz, 1998, 2003, 2004) pel que fa a L2A en els nens, mentre que els resultats dels adults donen suport a la teoria de Partial UG Access i Full L1 Transfer per la L2A adulta (Liceras, 1996, 1998, 2003; Liceras and Díaz, 1999; Hawkins and Chan, 1997 and Tsimpli and Roussou, 1991). Un descobriment final de la tesi fa referència a l'existència d'efectes de direccionalitat d'adquisició, és a dir, el fet que tant en L2A infantil com adulta, les propietats del subjecte s'adquireixen abans en la L2 castellà (pels angloparlants) que en la L2 anglès (pels castellanoparlants), encara que, en el cas dels nens, les diferències són significatives i propiciades lingüísticament, mentre que en el cas dels adults, les diferències responen a causes no lingüístiques.En definitiva, aquesta tesi presenta un estudi complet i bidireccional de les propietats sintàctiques i discursives del subjecte tradicionalment associades al "Paràmetre del Subjecte Nul" i en determina la seva relació i rellevància en el desenvolupament de la L2. / The present study explores the non-native English and Spanish acquisition of subject properties in Spanish and English-speaking children and adults who are not in the L2-speaking country and thus contributes to the amount of research produced in the field by providing new data and findings. Under a Generative Grammar approach to L2A, the effects of UG in subject development in both child and adult L2A, the existence of L1 Transfer effects and the cluster of properties of the traditional Null Subject Parameter in L2A remain unresolved and need to be analysed under more recent theoretical proposals. The study will be carried out by means of cross-sectional data obtained through comprehension experimental tasks conducted on children and adults in two different acquisition contexts. Child L2A is examined in an immersion context of an American school in Barcelona and a Spanish school in London and adult L2A is explored in an institutional classroom setting. The same experimental method will be used for both children and adults, although an oral version of the task will be provided to the youngest groups of informants, namely grammaticality judgement and correction tasks for L2 English informants and grammaticality judgement and preference tasks for L2 Spanish informants. Three age groups per language in the case of child L2A and three level groups per language in the case of adult L2A together with their corresponding control monolingual groups will be tested.The thesis is guided by and built around six research questions, whose answers represent its major findings:1. Is the L2 initial state characterised by clustered transfer of subject properties associated with L1 parameter values?2. Is L2 development characterised by clustered acquisition of subject properties associated with the L2 parameter values?3. What are the theoretical implications of the results of the present research for the Partial/Full Transfer and Partial/Full UG Access positions to L2A?4. Can the same theoretical approach to L2A be maintained for both children and adults?5. Can the notion of "Null Subject Parameter" as in L1A be maintained in L2A?6. Are there any directionality of acquisition differences between English L2A (by Spanish speakers) and Spanish L2A (by English speakers)?Our data reveal that clustered L1 Transfer of the subject properties examined is present in both child and adult L2 English and Spanish. Yet clustered acquisition of L2 subject properties is only found in child L2 English and Spanish, as adult L2 English and Spanish development indicates no resetting of the L1 to the L2 feature value and hence absence of any clustering effects. As far as subject development is concerned, the results of this thesis generally give support to a Full UG Access and Full L1 Transfer position (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1996; Schwartz, 1998, 2003, 2004) for child L2A, whereas results from adult L2A point towards a Partial UG Access and Full L1 Transfer approach to adult L2A (Liceras, 1996, 1998, 2003; Liceras and Díaz, 1999; Hawkins and Chan, 1997 and Tsimpli and Roussou, 1991). A final finding relates to the observation of "directionality of acquisition effects", namely the fact that both in child and adult L2, subject properties are acquired earlier in L2 Spanish (by English speakers) than in L2 English (by Spanish speakers), although in the case of child L2A, differences are significant and linguistically motivated, whereas in the case of adult L2A, differences respond to non-linguistic factors.On the whole, the present thesis provides a thorough and bi-directional syntactic and discursive study of all the subject properties traditionally associated with the Null Subject Parameter and determines their relationship and relevance in L2 development.

This study focuses on the pragmatic transfers that emerge in the English emails produced byChinese L2 English speakers. Despite doubts about taking Chinese English as a new variety, the study believes there are some common and unique pragmatic features existing in the English text produced by Chinese L2 English speakers. 104 emails written by 13 subjects with different English proficiency and different English exposure were collected. Questionnaires were sent out to the same subjects, trying to find out the factors that affect their pragmatic performance. The study accomplished the following main findings: 1) There are differences in the extent to which pragmatic transfer occurs among different subjects. 2) The individual subject’s pragmatic performance in English is not necessarily decided by the subjects’ English proficiency. 3) The extent of pragmatic transfer in the individual subject’s case seems to be much more complex situation than depending on any single factor of the following: English proficiency, exposure to English, or confidence in using English. 4) Some email writers have different extent of pragmatic transfer in the situations with different levels of tension. 5) However, whether the subjects have different extent of pragmatic transfer or not seems again to be too complex a situation to decide which of the factors (English proficiency, exposure to English, or confidence in using English) plays a decisive role.

The aim of the study was to find out whether or not there is a difference in the type and number of errors made by L2 intermediate learners and beginners of English. Texts were gathered from two age groups, 9-10 year olds and 16-18 year olds, 16 texts from the younger beginner level learners and 9 from the older intermediate learners. From the errors made in the texts five categories were formed (six for the beginners): Grammatical errors, word missing errors, morpheme errors, word order errors and spelling errors that is unique to the beginners. It was found that intermediate learners make fewer errors overall but that they make the same types of errors as the beginners when they do make an error.

In the current study, 34 nine graders in a Swedish school were given a test where they would interpret sarcastic and ironic utterances from the American series Modern Family by explaining the implication in their own words. They were also asked to assess their own knowledge of English by filling out a questionnaire containing both qualitative and quantitative questions. The aims were to investigate whether the students understood the implications and if the total score could be connected to their own perception of their level of proficiency. The results show that although plenty of the students assessed themselves being highly comfortable with English as a foreign language, it did not result in a high understanding of sarcastic and ironic utterances. Out of 646 possible points, the students only reached a score of 156 in total. It was also clear that their self assessments did not comply with their results. While confident students received low scores, insecure students did well on the test.

The aim of this degree project was to find out what students currently enrolled at upper-secondary school programs think of video games as an educational tool, and whether they believed it would be a good idea to use video games in English language classrooms. This was done by collecting data through the use of an online questionnaire, where students enrolled at an upper-secondary school in central Sweden answered questions on the subject video game habits, previous experience playing video games in class, attitudes toward video games in general and as educational tools in teaching English in particular. A secondary objective for this study was to compare what the students think of video games as an educational tool with previous research and what two active teachers have to say about the subject. To achieve this, two teacher interviews were conducted and analyzed through comparing the answers with the student questionnaire and previous research, by others, on the subject of attitudes toward video games and education. These teachers were also asked to present possible challenges for integrating video games in English class. The result was that the students had, by and large, a positive attitude towards video games being used in English class and a substantial amount of them acknowledged that they had acquired English skills through playing video games in the past. The teachers presented a number of practical challenges for using video games in class – including current curriculums, teacher readiness, technology available at school and a perceived lack of science behind video games as educational tools. Despite this, both teachers were willing to use video games in English class if they get the right incentive and tools to do so.