A consistent use of the target language during English lessons is beneficial for pupils’ linguistic development, but also challenging for both teachers and pupils. The main purpose for pupils to learn English is to be able to use it in communication, which requires that they develop the ability to comprehend input, produce output and use language strategies. Several researchers claim that a consistent use of the target language is necessary in order to develop these abilities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the target language use during English lessons in Swedish grades 4-6, and what pupils’ opinions regarding target language use are. The methods used to collect data consisted of a pupil questionnaire with 42 respondents and an observation of two teachers’ English lessons during a week’s time. The results from the observations show that the teachers use plenty of target language during lessons, but the first language as well to explain things that pupils might experience difficult to understand otherwise. The results from the questionnaire mainly show that the pupils seem to enjoy English and like to both speak and hear the target language during lessons. The main input comes from listening to a CD with dialogues and exercises in the textbook and the workbook, and from the teacher speaking. The results also show that a majority of the pupils use the target language in their spare time. A conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the TL should be used to a large extent in order to support pupils’ linguistic development. However, teachers may sometimes need to use L1 in order to facilitate understanding of the things that many pupils find difficult, for example grammar. Suggestions for further research in this area include similar studies conducted on a larger scale. / <p>Engelska</p>

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Earl Brown / This report studies ESL tutoring feedback to Chinese and Saudi students. The objective is to research the reasons of feedback differences and similarities, which include previous and current English learning styles, habits, purposes for receiving tutoring, and evaluations of tutors. Faced with L2 learners who come from different cultural backgrounds, it is helpful for instructors and tutors to know L2 students’ previous English learning experiences in their home countries so that instructors and tutors can adjust teaching or tutoring for each student. In addition, students who speak the same L1 have common problems of English learning due to their L1. In this way, ESL tutors not only tutor English skills, but also promote cultural awareness. Meanwhile, knowing students’ cultural background is necessary to give tutoring for each L2 learner. The present study aims to explore L2 learners’ feedback from previous and current English learning experiences and will help L2 instructors and tutors to know some basic knowledge about two different language groups.

published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Elucidating the knowledge base of those who teach adult learners in ESL (English as a Second Language) programs, this research is a qualitative study incorporating multiple data collection techniques and involving practitioners with various backgrounds from different program settings. Although educational opportunities targeting adult ESL students play an essential role in equal and extensive participation in society and academia, the status of teachers who assist these learners achieve their goals is rather marginalized, often because the students themselves are marginalized and ESL teaching is considered an undertaking that does not require special preparation. One way to enhance the professionalization of those involved in ESL is through an explication that the task of providing instruction to ESL learners is indeed an endeavor filled with complexity and requiring a strong knowledge base. This study was an attempt to contribute to this effort in fostering such professional recognition. Data were collected via a series of focused interviews, consecutive classroom observations, and a stimulated recall procedure with each of 10 teacher participants. Analysis of the data revealed that ESL teachers possessed an intricate knowledge base with multiple categories of knowledge that they called upon to deliver instruction effectively and efficiently, particularly through the management of student responses and the management of learning. The interconnection among the seemingly discrete knowledge categories further highlighted the complexity and difficulty involved in the provision of instruction to adult ESL learners. By comparing the teacher participants’ instructional effectiveness and various backgrounds, the study also illuminated the impact of ESL teachers’ professional preparation and language learning experience. Implications derived from the findings are offered for theorists and researchers, and for practitioners and administrators of programs that serve adult ESL learners. / text

This report addresses the importance of discussing adolescent learners in regard with their anxiety about foreign or second language (L2) speaking performance. To find implications on how to help adolescents reduce or overcome speaking anxiety in the language classroom, the report reviews extensive literature on 1) the distinct adolescent features that contribute to the development of shyness and communication apprehension; 2) the concept, component sources, and impacts of foreign language learning anxiety; and 3) the causes and effects of L2 speaking anxiety in language learning situations. Based on the review, the report provides implications from studies about language teaching and learning practices to alleviate L2 learning and speaking anxiety. These suggestions focus on meeting adolescents' needs in terms of 1) improving self-esteem, 2) developing coping skills about anxiety, and 3) facilitating a safer and more supportive classroom environment. / text

Because little was known about second language online collaborative reading, this study explored the application of an online annotation affordance, analyzing the processes and products of how Taiwanese schoolchildren used notetaking and sharing functions to develop their English reading comprehension. Fifth-grade students (N = 83) from three English classes were randomly assigned to three reading conditions: read-only (i.e., individual reading without making any annotation), individual annotation (i.e., making annotations for their own use), and collaborative annotation (i.e., making and sharing annotations on their reading experience with others while reading) for three reading sessions. Data sources included a background survey, reading comprehension tests (free recall and cued recall), reading affect surveys, students’ annotations, text-based stimulated recall protocols, and a survey about the frequency of online support consultation. Results of quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that there was no statistically significant difference among the reading groups in their free recall and cued recall performance, their reading enjoyment and engagement, and their perceptions of the reading activity’s helpfulness for reading comprehension. Despite the lack of overall significant difference in reading affect, the collaborative annotation group increased their affect levels across the reading sessions, and significantly raised enjoyment levels between first and second sessions. Supplementary analyses found that the relationship between the amount of annotation and students’ reading comprehension scores was positive but did not reach a statistically significant level. Additionally, the more often the participants consulted online resources, the lower were their cued recall scores. As for the functions served by students’ annotations, nine categories were identified. The most prevalent function for the individual annotation group was “Translations,” whereas “Responses to Peers” was the most frequent category for the collaborative annotation group. The amount of interaction with peers was positively associated with cued recall scores and negatively associated with amount of use of translation annotations. Analysis of processes revealed that students were different in how they read online and used annotations. Students provided multifaceted reasons for why they did or did not make annotations and reply to peers while reading, and for why they liked or disliked the online reading activities. / text

The Interface Hypothesis (Sorace and Filiaci, 2006) conjectures that adult second language learners (L2 learners) who have reached near-native levels of proficiency in their second language exhibit difficulties at the interface between syntax and other cognitive domains, most notably at the syntax-discourse interface. However, research in this area was limited, in that the data were offline, and thus unable to provide evidence for the nature of the deficit shown by L2 learners. This thesis presents online data which address the question of the underlying nature of the difficulties observed in L2 learners at the syntaxdiscourse interface. This thesis has extended work on the syntax-discourse interface in L2 learners by investigating the acquisition of two phenomena at the syntax-discourse interface in German: the role of word order and pronominalization with respect to information structure (Experiments 1-3), and the antecedent preferences of anaphoric demonstrative (the der, die, das series homophonous with the definite article) and personal pronouns (the er, sie, es series) (Experiments 4- 8). Crucially, this work has used an on-line methodology, the visual-world paradigm, which allows an insight into the incremental interpretation of interface phenomena in real-time processing. The data from these experiments show that L2 learners have difficulty integrating different sources of information in real-time comprehension efficiently, supporting the Interface Hypothesis. However, the nature of the processing difficulties which L2 learners demonstrate in on-line processing was not determined by these studies, resulting in the question: are L2 learners’ difficulties a result of a limitation of processing resources, or the inability to deploy those resources effectively? A novel dualtask experiment (Experiment 9), in which native speakers of German were placed under processing load simulated the results previously obtained for L2 learners. It is concluded that syntactic dependencies were constrained by resource limitation, whereas discourse based dependencies were constrained by processing resource allocation.

Though the field of Spanish heritage language (SHL) studies has seen a boom in research, such research has not yet addressed the materials available for SHL classes. This dissertation fills a gap in previous research by addressing the representation of US Latinos and US varieties of Spanish in the SHL context. The current study involves a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the presentation of both culture and language in intermediate level university SHL textbooks, in order to show how such texts present US Spanish-speaking people’s culture and their language varieties. Previous research on both history and Spanish as a foreign language textbooks show that US Latino populations in such texts are frequently reduced to numbers, faceless statistics or stereotypes (Arizpe & Aguirre, 1987; Cruz, 1994; Elissondo, 2001; Ramírez and Hall, 1990; Rodríguez and Ruiz, 2005; and van Dijk, 2004a; 2004b). Additionally, previous analyses of the presentation of Spanish in Spanish foreign language (SFL) textbooks show SFL texts provide “…varying or misleading intuitions about dialects of Spanish” (Wieczorek 1992, p.34; see also Fonseca-Greber & Waugh, 2003). This dissertation corroborates these findings in the SHL context and presents suggestions for improving the quality of materials used in the SHL context. The results of the current study clearly parallel those found by van Dijk (2004b); though the texts present “factual” information, it is the selective presentation of this information that culminates in an overall negative representation of immigrant and minority cultures, which is rooted in a metonymical understanding of what it means to be immigrant. Additionally, all the texts continue to promote a pseudo-Castilian variety of Spanish, while delegating student varieties of the language to appropriate home contexts. This bidialectal treatment of US varieties of Spanish excludes critical based dialect awareness altogether. This dissertation addresses the need to both improve and develop “…pedagogically sound textbooks and new technology materials designed to meet the Hispanic bilingual student’s linguistic needs” (Roca, 1997, pp.37-43). It is only through critical discourse analysis that we can assure that textbooks are indeed presenting a positive image of US Latinos and their language to students enrolled in university SHL classes.

There has been a rapid increase in the emergence of minority groups during the past few decades in the United States. Hispanics are the largest minority group that has people who speak English as a second language. The increasing proportion of English Language Learning (ELL) students has made it more difficult to maintain high learning standards. Furthermore, this increase has led to other problems such as the over and underrepresentation of ELL students in special education, high dropout rates and the underachievement obtained in standardized tests such us the Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). For this reason, researchers have strongly emphasized the importance of studying self-regulated learning (SRL) as a critical component in the learning process as it is suggested to improve the academic outcomes of students. However, SRL has mostly been researched in middle class Caucasians but there has not been much research in relation to minorities or ELL students. Due to the paucity of research, the present study examined the relationship between SRL and academic achievement of ELL students. The study was conducted in a southern Arizona school district. The sample was comprised of 30 students attending seventh and eighth grades from a solicited sample of 130 students. The students completed the Motivated Strategies Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Results indicated that SRL is related to the academic achievement of students in reading, writing, and mathematics. Similarly, the components of SRL (i.e., motivation and learning strategies), especially motivation, were found to be significantly related to achievement as well. Additionally, the MSLQ was encountered to be a reliable instrument to be used with ELL students as indicated by the reliability indexes. The implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This thesis examined what means a group of elementary school principals in multicultural communities used to support and imporve the language learning of English Language Learning (ELL)students. In this thesis, multicultural communities are defined as urban schools which have a majority of students whose mother tongue is not English. Although they are challenged to value and honour the diversity of their school communities, these principals must also ensure that their teachers meet the mandated rigors of the Ontario curriculum, and that the students attain desired levels of achievement as defined by the Ontario Ministry of Education. In an increasing number of schools in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) ELL students form a majority of the student population; yet this reality is barely acknowledged in provincial educational policy or in the professional education of Ontario's school principals. Nor has the educational research adequately addressed the challenges of educating ELL students over the past thirty-five years. The research literature on the characteristics, activities, and behaviour of effective school principals rarely mention their knowledge of other cultures and languages or their expertise related to ethnic and racial diversity. Semi-structured interviews were used to capture the responses of ten elementary school principals of multicultural school communities. The findings indicate that principals who were successful in leading multicultural school communities and improving the literacy achievement of ELL students had a deep understanding of literacy development; cultural needs of the community; and ESL issues. Although much of the leadership framework is similar to principalship in non-multicultural school communities, principals identified a number of leadership competencies that are particular to a diverse community. The findings have implications for the courses which prepare principals for these schools; the professional development of senior administrators; and the choice of personnel suitable for leadership roles in multicultural communities.