An experiment was conducted to determine how learners and teachers of English as a foreign language in Japan cooperatively attempt to improve the comprehensibility of their talk in English during performance of various conversational tasks. The basic practical issue under study was the possibility that certain kinds of teacher-led groups and tasks would be more effective in generating repair and negotiation of the language by which tasks are accomplished than others, and that these group-task combinations might eventually be employed as alternatives to traditional teacher-fronted forms of foreign language instruction. The study was operationalized in a 2 x 5 between-and-within subjects, repeated-measures analysis of variance design. Two, six-dyad, teacher-led groups -- homogeneous (Japanese teacher/Japanese learner) and mixed (native English speaking teacher/Japanese learner) -- were formed in order to compare the frequency of 12 repair exponents generated during performance of five tasks. Teaching goals were represented in two tasks, instruction in use of the string-searching function of a laptop computer 1) with and 2) without the computer physically present. Non-teaching (social and cooperative problem-solving) goals were embodied in three additional tasks, 3) free discussion, and construction of a Lego (snap-together) toy accomplished with participants facing 4) away from and 5) towards each other. Task categories were also divided into experiential and expository activities (respectively, Tasks 2 and 5, and Tasks 1 and 4) following a model for use of reference in English. Experiential dyadic activity was related to the occurrence of exophoric (pointing out) reference and expository dyadic activity to the incidence of anaphoric (pointing back) reference in the task transcripts. Results of the analysis of variance indicated that while tasks differed on the basis of repair and reference, the groups did not: Dyadic talk was more responsive to the nature of the task than to the language background of the teacher. Further analysis suggested more frequent and elaborate repair during tasks which combine non-teaching goals and experiential processes as compared with tasks emphasizing teaching goals and expository processes. Qualitative analysis of task transcripts supported this distinction and elaborated specific discourse functions for such repair exponents as referential questions and confirmation checks which characteristically co-occur in conversational discourse. Based on these findings, it was concluded that Japanese teachers are capable of generating appropriate conversational repair in dyadic interaction with learners largely on a par with their native English-speaking counterparts. To this extent, their potential contribution to learners' acquisition of a foreign language is of an equivalent value. Furthermore, teacher-led small groups can be effective contexts for generating a rich supply of conversational repair and. thus should be considered as alternatives to traditional teacher-fronted foreign language classroom instruction. Finally, tasks which support achievement of social and problem-solving (i.e., non-teaching) goals through experiential activity are effective contexts in which normal forms of conversational repair can be generated. Since such tasks can be adapted easily to classroom settings, they merit consideration among the range of task options available to teachers and other instructional planners. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Education (Early Childhood Education) in the Department of Foundations of Education at the University of Zululand, 2016 / The increase in the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has caused a remarkable transformation in the field of education in the 21st century. This transformation has led to the restructuring of school curricula to incorporate ICT in order to equip teachers with the necessary tools to enhance achievement. The ability to read and write at the foundation level of education embraces the most fundamental skills learners obtain. To develop these skills, new methods and forms of teaching should always be considered. This is why the introduction of ICT innovation makes major demands on teachers’ professional skills. ICT plays a very crucial role in the expansion of language skills as it has become an indispensible way of learning and a valuable area of research for both teachers and learners. This paper explores the experiences of foundation phase teachers in integrating ICT into language learning and teaching focusing on Grade 3 teachers in six primary schools in UThungulu Education District. The following research questions were answered: What are teachers’ experiences in incorporating ICT into language learning? What are teachers’ attitudes towards the use of ICT? What is the level of teachers’ resistance to the use of ICT? What is the level of appropriate use of ICT for curriculum delivery in language learning and teaching? The study adopted a purposive sampling technique and a qualitative research method in which the researcher conducted focus group interviews and class lessons were also observed. The target population was primary school teachers from government and privately owned schools in the UThungulu district. Data were analysed using the descriptive analysis technique. The study revealed that only 1.2% of the schools investigated were well resourced in the field of ICT facilities. It was also observed that teachers who claimed to have ICT skills only have basic computer skills. The study also discovered that teachers in the UThungulu Education District are not familiar with any English language online learning resources and software. Schools lack proper funding to integrate ICT and teachers are rarely trained on proper integration skills. The study suggests ways that will lead to effective integration of ICT into language learning and teaching in UThungulu District schools: Policy makers should partner with teachers in drafting the English language curriculum so as to incorporate ICT; stakeholders in the education sector should provide and monitor funds allocated to schools in order to see to the successful integration of ICT in education; frequent ICT integration accredited trainings should be organised for teachers and ICT integration should be incorporated into the teacher education curriculum from the very first year.

No description available.

In recent years, many composition teachers and theorists have turned to the process approach to writing in an attempt to better understand both the act of writing and the writers themselves. Even though various theorists have made headway in the analysis of students' writing processes, further research is needed to explore whether college basic writers are aware of their own writing processes and whether this awareness can lead to discovery of the self as a writer and to diminished writing anxiety.One way for students to become aware of their composing processes is through process journals, in which they write about their actions in creating and revising their papers. Using process journals as an independent variable, this project studied differences among three groups of basic writers at Ball State University: those who wrote process journals frequently, infrequently, and not at all. I evaluated effects of process journals on self-reported awareness of process, as measured by a Writing Skills Questionnaire, and on writing apprehension, as measured by the Writing Apprehension Test (WAT). To measure changes among groups over two semesters, I analyzed students' questionnaire responses using mean scores and two Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests.Results showed that process journals did have a significant impact on students' attitudes about themselves as writers and on their awareness and control of writing processes. This study did not find, however, that process journals significantly decreased students' writing apprehension scores. In addition, it did not find Ball State University's basic writing students to be highly apprehensive writers. Although further research is needed to verify these results and expand the scope of research in process journals, the initial findings here suggest that process journals can be an important part of many students' writing experiences. / Department of English

This research aims to explore the effective use of modern technology and the encouragement of learner autonomy in support of English language teaching and learning at a university in Northeastern China in order to address a number of learning and teaching problems, in particular, the so-called “time-consuming, low efficiency” and “deaf and dumb English” problems. Action research was employed as a research methodology in this study. The action research project consisted of three cycles: the teaching time of each cycle was six weeks, with two teaching hours each week in each class. The 102 research participants were the second-year undergraduate non-English major students who had (or had nearly) reached an intermediate level in terms of English proficiency. Research methods included questionnaires, pre-testing and post-testing, interviews, classroom observation, learning diaries and research journal. All the data were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative techniques as appropriate. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used for statistical analysis. The research findings from the qualitative and quantitative data analysis show that the students made greater progress and improvements within a very short time (6 weeks) in each cycle in terms of listening and speaking skills by the effective use of modern technologies such as computers and the internet, which were used in ways designed to promote learner autonomy and effective learning strategies. More importantly, a more novel and more effective approach to teach listening from the intermediate level to the advanced level has been discovered from this project and a new teaching model using CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) environments in a Chinese context has come into being. On the whole, the students benefitted a great deal from autonomous learning by using modern technologies, dependent upon the quantitative data such as test score changes and qualitative data such as interview and learning diaries. In the meantime, the student learning experiences, my “teacher as researcher” teaching experience, and my professional development have been improved. This study is of great significance, particularly in the Chinese context, in contributing to the current literature on English teaching and learning research, CALL research and applications such as the novel listening teaching approach and the new teaching model using the CALL environments mentioned above. Finally, pedagogical implications are discussed and some suggestions on further research are also proposed.

The thesis is concerned with the role of the target language in foreign language teaching. The objective of the thesis is to discuss the influence of teaching English by means of the target language on communicative competence of young learners. The theoretical part elaborates the theoretical principles that concern employment of the target language in teaching. Futhermore, it analyses the factors influencing foreign language learning, discusses the possibility of language acquisition in the classroom and studies the influence of using the target language as the language of communication and instruction. Subsequently, it provides synchronic and diachronic analysis of L2 and L1 use in English language teaching methodology. In conclusion, the theoretical part evaluates the benefits of teaching by means of the target language, anticipates some risks and problems concerned with teaching exclusively by means of the target language and proposes techniques for maximization of the target language use. The semi-quantitative research studies the issue of the role of the target language in the classroom on the basis of monitoring a sample of teachers of Czech primary schools. Primarily, it investigates the amount of comprehensible input that young learners are provided with and means that teachers employ in...

2 TITLE: The Use of French Comic Book in the French language learning SUMMARY: The thesis aims to gather the information from various sources- the historic, specialized sources-books, from the Internet or from personal consultations as well. The topic has been chosen because the French comic books and magazines have been an inseparable part of the French culture, especially among French teenagers. It has been appreciated for its social and aesthetic values. However, the thesis mainly aims to demonstrate the French comics and its important role in the process of the second language learning/teaching. According to a brief survey concerning the Czech students and their knowledge and attitude towards the comics, we have prepared several teaching lists regarding the language level as well as the age of students. KEYWORDS: French comic book, language learning, teaching material

by Barbara Wei-hao Shen Costin. / Bibliography: leaves 169-174 / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1986

The purpose of the investigation was to examine the effect of training on the use of morphology and syntax of language delayed children. Performance with no instruction was compared to performance with two methods: (1) a Standard Remedial Instruction Approach and (2) the Individualized Instruction Approach. The intent was to determine if a standard method would be superior to no instruction; and then, if individualization of training procedures, based on a functional analysis of the child's approach to learning tasks, would facilitate progress over what might be achieved with the standard method. Finally, a follow-up test was done to check if skills were maintained. Three language delayed children in a Primary Resource Classroom served as the subjects. A multiple baseline across subjects design was employed, with a sequential multiple intervention component added. Using each subject as his own control, his performance was compared across adjacent phases. Instructional phases were introduced to subjects in a staggered fashion rather than at the same time to test the power of each intervention. The method chosen as the Standard Remedial Instruction approach was the Interactive Language Development Teaching method. The Individualized Instruction approach was devised from a functional analysis. Diagnostic teaching provided the means for doing the functional analysis, during which the child's responsiveness to varied stimulus, response, affective and cognitive dimensions of tasks was observed. Performance under the different phases of the study was measured by experimenter-made criterion referenced tests on the specific language forms being taught. Each test required a degree of generalization since novel stimulus materials were used. Visual analysis of the data was facilitated by use of trend lines made by the method of least squares, to determine changes between phases. Trend lines of adjacent phases were compared in terms of level and slope. The procedures described above yielded the following results: (1) All three subjects showed notable improvement in performance with Standard Remedial Instruction as compared to Baseline performance; (2) All three subjects displayed some improvement with Individualized Instruction over Standard Remedial Instruction, but by trend analysis, only one exhibited marked improvement; and (3) The performance of two subjects on follow-up testing was commensurate with the level of performance obtained during Individualized Instruction. The findings of the study indicate that, within the context of the public schools, improvement in morphology and syntax of language delayed children is dependent upon the use of systematic language instruction. Provision of such instruction, and the establishment of more efficient screening procedures for identifying expressive syntax problems, therefore seem warranted. If a standard remedial instruction program does not seem to be effective, an individualized program may be needed. A functional analysis of the child's learning characteristics appears to provide a sound basis from which to develop an individualized program. Speech and language clinicians, thereby, could increase their effectiveness by learning to conduct a functional analysis. The study further documents the promise of time-series research for use with a handicapped population. A public school system could use such a design to evaluate methods or programs. It would be relatively easy and inexpensive to conduct. A limitation of the particular design used for this study was that the effect of method two could not be separated from the effect of method one since it was always preceded by method one. An alternation of methods could alleviate the problem. A study of this type has minimal significance by itself but in a series can make a contribution.

Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Linguistics, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 167-188.