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The purpose of this investigation is to determine the factors that are associated with freshman students who make superior marks in freshman college English and with students who make failing marks in freshman college English.

This study was designed to determine the differences in achievement, critical thinking, and attitude toward English composition of community college students which may be attributed to two approaches to the teaching of first-semester freshman English composition. An ancillary purpose of the study was to provide factual information which could be used as a basis for administrative and instructional judgments in determining the expansion or discontinuance of an experimental English program.

The problem of this study was an investigation of the effects of oral preparation on certain quantitative aspects of composition in a fifth-grade classroom.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1951 P4 / Master of Science

Ph.D. / Arabic has been offered a third language optional subject in secondary schools in South Africa for the past two decades. With the introduction of outcome-based education (OBE) and the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in South Africa, it has become necessary to look afresh at the exsting curriculum for Arabic and the possibilities that exist for its continued promotion.

Ph.D. / According to research reports the fluency of non-mother tongue speakers in African language courses at university level is unsatisfactory. This is not surprising seeing that research in African languages focuses mainly on literature and linguistics while language acquisition does not feature prominently. The aim of this study is to provide directions that could serve as point of departure for further research on the teaching of the African languages to non-mother tongue speakers ...

Submitted in part fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Education in Educational Psychology At the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg February 2015 / All learners in the current South African setting, according to the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document and government legislation, have to learn a second language. Whilst taking this into consideration, this study aimed to look at the relationship between second language achievement and language learning strategies in English first and second language learners. The sample consisted of 128 English first and second language learners in Grade 6 and 7 from a Primary Government School in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The learners completed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) which provided information on the language learning strategies they use most readily. The data collected from the SILL was then analysed in relation to the learners’ marks in the second language they were studying to ascertain the relationship that the strategy use may have with second language achievement. It was discovered that there were significant relationships between metacognitive, memory and affective strategy use and second language achievement. Alongside this, certain learning strategies were found to be correlated with each other and due to this relationship, may also impact on second language achievement. Given the role that language has played in South African society and the impact it has had on the schooling system, understanding what may impact on language learning may serve to enhance this setting. / MT2016

Learning to write is a complex process that students struggle with, particularly those studying through the medium of English as a second language. This research, report is an exploration of how the sub-skills of writing are dealt with from differing theoretical perspectives. Research in the teaching of writing has been increasingly student-centred and focuses attention on writing as a recursive process in which planning, structuring, reading, revising and editing take place throughout the whole task. In line with this . tendency, the research report aims to evolve an approach to the teaching of writing which synthesises the strengths of current paradigms for the teaching of writing. The synthesis approach is applied to an analysis of TELIP (Teachers' English Language Improvement Programme) writing materials in an attempt to determine its effectiveness as an analytic tool.

ABSTRACT This quantitative study investigated potential effects of providing explicit phonological instruction on international students' spelling knowledge, orthographic processing skills, and reading speed and comprehension. In addition, the study compared Arab participants to their non-Arab peers in four particular aspects: gains, interaction, performance and differences between the two groups before and after the treatment. The phonological instruction consisted of five groups of the English sounds, six groups of blends, five phonetic skills, and two decoding skills. The phonological instruction was carried out during the reading class time and delivered for a month. A total of 53 ESL international students participated in the study. Analyses employed three different grouping criteria: one whole group (n = 53), two main groups: Arab (n = 38) and non-Arab (n = 15), and three main groups: foundation (only Arab n = 4), beginner (Arab n = 27 + non-Arab n = 8) and low intermediate (Arab n = 7 + non-Arab n = 7). All participants took pretests in spelling, pseudowords (nonsense words), and reading speed and comprehension, went through the phonological instruction treatment, and took posttests in the same skills. The spelling and pseudoword pre and posttests were identical across all participants in all proficiency levels. However, reading speed and comprehension pre and posttests were identical in each proficiency level but different across all proficiency levels. Due to an unexpected change in the study design, all participants were exposed to the phonological instruction treatment and there was no control group. Consequently, the study could not provide a direct evidence for the impact of the phonological instruction treatment on the target skills. Nevertheless, in the first aspect where the study analyzed gain scores of participants in the target skills, findings from this study revealed that all participants (n = 53) scored in the posttests significantly higher than the pretests in both spelling and pseudoword. However, when separating participants into two groups: Arab and non-Arab, findings showed that the Arab group increased significantly in both spelling and pseudoword whereas the non-Arab group increased significantly only in spelling but not in pseudoword. Further, while each group of Arab and non-Arab participants in the beginner level did not significantly increase in reading speed, each group of Arab and non-Arab students in the low intermediate level significantly increased in the posttest. Moreover, each group of Arab and non-Arab participants in both beginner and low intermediate levels did not significantly increase in the comprehension posttests. In the second aspect, the study examined differences in performance between the two groups of participants in the target skills. Findings showed that differences found in the way the two groups changed over time in the gain scores of all target skills were not statistically significant. In the third aspect, the study compared Arab to non-Arab participants based on their gain scores in the target skills. In spelling, findings showed that none of the two groups outperformed the other because both groups significantly increased in spelling. In pseudoword however, findings suggested that Arab participants outperformed their non-Arab peers because only Arab students significantly increased in their pseudoword gains scores. In reading speed, because none of the two groups in the beginner level significantly increased in their gain scores, findings suggested that none of two groups outperformed the other. Similarly, findings suggested that none of the two groups in the low intermediate level outperformed each other because both groups significantly increased in reading speed. The Arab and non-Arab groups in both the beginner and the low intermediate levels did not significantly increase in the comprehension gain scores, therefore, findings suggested that none of the groups in either proficiency level outperformed the other. In the fourth aspect, the study analyzed differences in the pre-existing knowledge between Arab and non-Arab groups in the target skills according to their mean scores in the pretests. Findings suggested that while spelling background knowledge of the non-Arab group is substantially significantly richer than the spelling background knowledge of the Arab group, the two groups did not significantly differ in their background knowledge in English orthographic conventions. Furthermore, findings exhibited that non-Arab participants in the beginner level were reading with a significantly higher rate in the pretest than their Arab counterparts. On the other hand, findings revealed that there were no significant differences between low intermediate Arab and non-Arab groups in their reading speed prior to the phonological instruction. In comprehension, findings showed that the non-Arab group in both beginner and low intermediate levels scored significantly higher than their Arab peers in the pretest. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / November 6, 2015. / Comprehension, ESL, Phonological Awareness, Pseudoword, Reading speed, Spelling / Includes bibliographical references. / Rebecca Galeano, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael Uzendoski, University Representative; Elizabeth Jakubowski, Committee Member; Diana Rice, Committee Member; Phyllis Underwood, Committee Member.