Freshmen at Sul Ross State University are required to take tests which are used for placement purposes. One of the tests given is the Nelson-Denny Reading Test which measures comprehension, vocabulary, and reading rate. The scores are used with American College Test or Standard Achievement Test scores to place students in either remedial or regular freshman English. Remedial students, who score below the tenth-grade competency level, are placed in English 1300. Regular students are placed in English 1301 or 1302. Twelve studies were found which had been done in this area since 1980. One was directly related to this study. The Anglo and Hispanic population of the freshman class of 1987 was tested. Blacks were not included as they comprised less than 9 percent of the freshman class. There were 69 students in the experimental group and 162 in the control group. A pretest-posttest design was used. A three-way analysis of variance set up data for statistical testing. The Alpha level was set at .05. The findings indicate a significant difference for Hypothesis 1, which predicted no significant difference in the posttest performance of students required to take English 1300 and the pretest performance of students who were not. Therefore it was rejected. Because statistical testing yielded no significant difference for Hypothesis 2 — there will be no significant difference in posttest performance of Hispanic and Anglo students who were enrolled in English 1300, and Hypothesis 3—there will be no significant difference in the posttest performance of males and females who enrolled in English 1300, they were retained. Results indicate that while there is a significant difference between the means of the remedial students' posttest scores and means of the regular students' pretest scores, the program raises the performance of remedial students to a level accepted by Sul Ross State University. Therefore, the program is considered successful.

Cette recherche a pour but de situer les enjeux esthétiques, didactiques, moraux, civiques et de cohabitation paisible qui doivent sous-tendre la conception de manuels scolaires, destinés à une aire culturelle francophone unifiée, englobant les Républiques de Guinée et du Sénégal. Elle cherche à établir l’opportunité offerte, par les théories du texte, de mettre en oeuvre des principes et des méthodes appropriées de prise en charge didactique des contenus de manuels. L’enseignement littéraire par les textes d’ouvrages scolaires doit, dans cette optique, privilégier l’acquisition de compétences linguistiques, communicatives et culturelles précises, dans un contexte d’introduction conjointe du français et des langues nationales, en Guinée et au Sénégal. / The aim of this works is to situate the aesthetic, educational, moral, civic issues and peaceful coexistence which must subtend the conception of textbooks for a unified francophone cultural area, including the republics of Guinea and Senegal. Indeed, it seeks to establish the opportunity given by the theories of text, to implement some adapted principles and methods to support teaching of textbooks. In literary terms, the teaching of textbooks must, in this context, target the acquisition of linguistic, communicative and cultural in simultaneous introduction of French and national languages in Guinea and Senegal.

The current thesis is a theoretical and empirical investigation of the foreign language classroom, conducted from a cross-national comparative perspective. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative data which were collected from students and teachers of German in selected universities of Ukraine and Australia. The following research questions were formulated: 1. What are the structure and objectives of the German language program at Ukrainian and Australian universities? 2. What are the peculiarities of the German language curriculum and teaching methodology in the universities of Ukraine and Australia? 3. What are students’ motives to study German in Ukraine and Australia? 4. What are students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the curriculum, content and teaching? 5. How do students themselves evaluate their present language skills, and those expected to be acquired by the end of the course? 6. What are the advantages and disadvantages in both education practices? / Each country’s distinctive social and pedagogical factors, such as language policy, attitudes towards languages and pedagogical tradition were taken into account. / The research was conducted at universities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv (Ukraine) and Melbourne (Australia). A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was adopted which included student and teacher questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations and study of departmental programs and policy documents. In general terms, it was revealed that: Substantial differences exist in areas such as curriculum, teaching methods and approaches, content and student motivation for studying German. Although education systems in Australia and Ukraine are different, learners in both countries have similar aims and expectations from their language course, and their perceptions of a good language course are also similar. Students in both countries expressed an urgent need for an increase in the communicative component and greater exposure to practical, up-to-date lexical and grammar material in order to be able to communicate effectively. In Australia there is a mismatch between the course objectives and content outlined in the program and what is really taught in the class In Ukraine, a shift has occurred towards more practice-oriented and integrated language learning/teaching; however there is a great need for the creation of better conditions for acquisition of communicative skills and up-to-date vocabulary.

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The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the educational games as a technique in the preschool-level English vocabulary learning of four year-olds. A true-experimental study design, specifically randomized pre-test, post-test control group design, was adopted. The sample was 33 private preschool children who were four years old. There were 17 females and 16 males in total. Data collection instrument was the 24-item English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Vocabulary Performance checklist prepared in accordance with the Total Physical Response (TPR) lessons&rsquo / content by the researcher. A pilot study, reliability and validity checks were done. In a four-week period, totally 24 vocabulary items were presented with picture cards by using Total Physical Response Method to both groups. In the experimental group, picture vocabulary games were used additionally while the control group did not receive picture vocabulary games. At the end, independent-samples t-test was conducted and the results indicated a significant difference in English Vocabulary achievement in favor of the experimental group which was taught by the educational picture vocabulary games with a large effect size. In addition, whether or not there was a gender effect on learning vocabularies of English as a foreign language with picture vocabulary games in the experimental group and without picture vocabulary games in the control group was investigated by means of t-tests. As a result, non-significant gender effect was found for both experimental and control group in learning English vocabulary. Upon understanding the remarkable effectiveness of the picture vocabulary games on English language learning for four year-olds, it can be implied that more picture vocabulary games should be devised for very young learners by the experts for the classroom use and the number of the books about educational vocabulary games should be increased. Furthermore, policy makers ought to prepare English as a foreign language curriculum including games for early childhood education programs, and integrate a new course about teaching English to very young learners into foreign language teacher training and education programs of the universities for pre-service teachers in the scope of a national foreign language policy.

Teachers undergo changes in their beliefs, knowledge and practices on an individual level as they learn how to teach. If society undergoes significant change, as Hong Kong did during the transition from British to Chinese rule in 1997, then social groups within society such as teachers are likely to react to change in different and complex ways. The purpose of this investigation is to exam.ine the changes experienced by teachers of English in Hong Kong, with a focus on teachers who received their teacher preparation at one Hong Kong institution during the final years leading up to the transition. The educational, linguistic, social and political context of Hong Kong is first described through a study of the research literature and a number of theories and models of change are presented through which the findings of the investigation are analysed. The main sources of data for the investigation consist of questionnaire responses, interview transcriptions and lesson observation reports of trainee English teachers during and after graduation from a BA course in TESL at a Hong Kong university. The main conclusions of the investigation are: (i) Educational issues and particularly those affecting ELT became more high-profile and politicised in the lead up to and after the changeover. (ii) English teachers in Hong Kong experience conflict between their desired approaches and the realities and constraints of the Hong Kong teaching context. These constraints provide a common justification for lack of innovative behaviour and make it possible for teachers to put off being innovative in the classroom indefinitely. (iii) At the same time, English teachers in Hong Kong are becoming more empowered within the educational system in reaction to challenges to their competency and as they have realised that they can affect educational policy through individual and collective action. The findings suggest that colonial discourses as documented by Pennycook (1998) of English language teaching still persist in Hong Kong, as they have been shown to do in other post-colonial societies, and Hong Kong is undergoing a post-handover period of change as it struggles to synthesise the educational legacies of the colonial period with new initiatives adopted to address Hong Kong's changing educational and social needs. The results of the research are developed into an original model of the factors impacting English language education in Hong Kong. The generic model is then elaborated in two versions, one of which applies before the changeover and the other after it.

Alla luce del recente interesse verso l’insegnamento della lingua italiana all’estero, il presente elaborato esamina la storia della comunità italiana e dell’evoluzione della didattica dell’italiano nello stato del Victoria, in Australia. La tesi presenta inoltre i risultati della mia ricerca sull’influenza dei flussi migratori e delle politiche linguistiche australiane sull’insegnamento dell’italiano nelle scuole, descrivendo come la percezione della lingua italiana sia cambiata nell’immaginario australiano. Tale analisi storica mi ha permesso di formulare una valutazione critica e suggerimenti per migliorare le metodologie didattiche impiegate nei corsi di italiano nelle scuole secondarie del Victoria. / In light of the growing interest towards Italian teaching abroad, the present dissertation investigates the history of the Italian community and the evolution of Italian teaching in the state of Victoria, Australia. I hereby present the results of my research on the history of the Italian community in Victoria, as well as the influence of Australian immigration and language policies on Italian teaching in Victorian schools, highlighting how the perception of Italian language evolved in Australian public opinion throughout history. Based on this historical framework, a critical evaluation of Italian teaching methodologies in Victoria was conducted, which informed my suggestions for future improvement of Italian teaching practices.

The purpose of the study is to investigate what adaptations grade 4 teachers four make to language-develop in the social science classroom. This includes the challenges that may arise and support teachers they need in order to achieve anguage development goals. Using qualitative methods, in the form on interview and observation. Questions that will try to be answered are; 1. How the teachers take into account students language development in the teaching of fourth grade social sciences? 2. What are the difficulties with developing language in social science? 3.What support does the teachers consider necessary for conducting a language-developing social science education? Research has shown that language development education is contextual and is rich with opportunities for interaction. The teacher plays an important role in creatinga context that benefits students, knowledge, linguistic and personal development. However, research has also shown that many teachers lack the skills necessaryto work with language and knowledge developmentin their lessons. In this study, teachers take into account the parents' pre-knowledge and linguistic background while working with different methods based on interaction to develop the student's subject and language ability. The adaptation of different abilities was the biggest difficulty reported by most teachers. Interviewed teachers have also recognized the difficulty of developing students' school languages. According to teachers, collegial learning, language teaching and language development tools, the best basis for language education is education.

M.A. (Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis focuses on the topic of teaching practicum in training teachers of EFL. The practicum is regarded as a complex didactic tool realized for a specific purpose with a specific aim. The theoretical part of the thesis presents the concept of practicum and the role of its participants. Furthermore, it presents the practicum models used in Finland, Germany and Belgium. Based on secondary literature and on the description of the practicum models used in the selected countries, the theoretical part proposes recommendations for enhancing the efficiency of practical training within the lifelong learning programme. The aim of the empirical part of this thesis is to find out how novice teachers evaluate their practical training and the beginning of their teaching career. The research is based on five case studies of teachers educated at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University and one case study of a teacher educated at the Faculty of Education at the University of South Bohemia. Semi- structured interviews were conducted to find out whether the novice teachers felt sufficiently prepared for their career and whether they consider the practicum model efficient. The research findings suggest that the practicum model used within the lifelong learning programme is inadequate and does not sufficiently...