In this dissertation, I investigate how Thai doctoral students adapt to and navigate academic expectations in their nonnative language. Through coded semi-structured interviews with eight participants from six different universities across the U.S., I analyze the lived experiences, stories, and challenges faced by Thai doctoral students in Humanities disciplines as students in Humanities are believed to rely more on writing as a mode of inquiry than students in STEM. I explore how, and to what extent, they cultivated agency to meet the expectations of the academy and how they assimilated into the U.S. academic culture. I initially hypothesized that writing was the most challenging skill, given that composition program and classrooms are virtually nonexistent in Thai curricula and students coming into the U.S. academy from such educational backgrounds would have limited exposure to formal writing instruction. Interestingly, through thematic coding schemes, I found that, while writing was challenging, there were other significant factors impacting their education. In my analysis, I found that students also had to navigate academic reading, participation in active classroom discussions, and acculturation into U.S. academic setting, all of which challenged their learning experiences. I argue in the dissertation that these complex social negotiations, not accounted for in most pedagogical structures in U.S. education, result in inequitable access to curriculum and undo hardships on students. By amplifying the voices of Thai students, this project highlights the ways that Thailand's educational system, deeply entrenched discourses of loyalty to Thailand's monarchy and the Criminal Code Act 112, impacts Thai students' formation and navigation of academic identity while encountering the U.S. Academy. / Doctor of Philosophy / In this dissertation, I investigate how Thai doctoral students adapt to and navigate academic expectations in their nonnative language. Through coded semi-structured interviews with eight participants from across the U.S., I analyze the lived experiences, stories, and challenges faced by Thai doctoral students in Humanities disciplines. I explore how, and to what extent, they cultivated agency to meet the expectations of the academy and how they assimilated into the U.S. academic culture. I initially hypothesized that writing was the most challenging skill, given that composition program and classrooms are virtually nonexistent in Thai curricula and students coming into the U.S. academy from such educational backgrounds would have limited exposure to formal writing instruction. Interestingly, participants revealed that, while writing was challenging, there were other significant factors impacting their education. In my analysis, I found that students also had to navigate academic reading, participation in active classroom discussions, and acculturation into U.S. academic setting, all of which challenged their learning experiences. I argue in the dissertation that these complex social negotiations, not accounted for in most pedagogical structures in U.S. education, result in inequitable access to curriculum and undo hardships on students. By amplifying the voices of Thai students, this project highlights the ways that Thailand's educational system, deeply entrenched discourses of loyalty to Thailand's monarchy, impacts Thai students' formation and navigation of academic identity while encountering the U.S. Academy.

The inclusion of film is becoming ever-more popular in the field of First Year College Writing Classes for NES and NNES students around the country. Many of the reasons for this are self-evident. Film frequently offers a strong emotional appeal to NNES students and more opportunities to access what may otherwise be linguistically inaccessible material (e.g., Stempleski, 1990; Kasper, 2000). In addition, film offers a pleasant alternative to the use of literature in a First Year Writing Class which can often intimidate or discourage many NNES students due to its linguistic complexity (McKay, 1982). What is less clear, however, is how film's inclusion may contribute to the development of academic writing skills in similar or different ways from print texts, such as short stories, poems, and essays. Therefore, this dissertation will compare the benefits and challenges of using film and print texts in a First Year College Writing Class for NNES students. From data gathered from student essays, interviews, surveys, and field notes, the current study addresses the following research questions: (1. What linguistic and rhetorical features characterize the style of academic discourse NES and NNES students produce about films compared to print texts? (2. What challenges do NNES freshman composition students face writing academic essays about films compared to writing about print texts? (3. What academic strategies do they say they use to try to overcome these challenges? Do any academic strategies correspond with particular linguistic and rhetorical features? (4. What are NNES students' opinions regarding watching and writing about films in a university composition class? Do students consider watching and writing about a film comparable as an academic activity to reading and writing about a print text? The study aims to contribute to the field of Second Language Writing literature by considering the impact of the choice of text form, either a movie or a print text, on NNES students' motivation and ability to write academic, college-level essays. Further, it will explore in what ways students' cultural, educational and linguistic backgrounds affect the ways they approach writing about a film and a print text. This knowledge should be especially helpful for Writing Program Administrators and First Year College Writing Teachers for NNES students. It should be noted that, as a result of this dissertation's findings, the researcher has changed his approach toward the use of film in a First Year College Writing class for NNES students. Descriptions of activities the researcher currently uses before and after screening a film are included in the final chapter of this dissertation.

Internationally English is increasingly being used as a language of instruction in education. This is also true within the South African context, a country with eleven official languages. Many non-native English speaking (NNES) students, for whom English might be their second, third or even fourth language, are studying through the medium of English. Previous studies on this topic acknowledge that the level of English proficiency which NNES students have, affects their academic performance. The problem under investigation in this case study was the relationship between students’ academic performance in particular modules and how their written responses in examinations contributed to them failing a module. The purpose was to establish to which extent limited English proficiency contributed to the poor academic performance of NNES preservice teachers studying through distance education. This study is underpinned by Cummins’ theory of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (1984). It is supported by related literature which emphasises the challenges NNES students experience in understanding academic content and responding to written assessment tasks in a language other than their home language. A quantitative approach was used which focused on the written responses to examination papers of thirty undergraduate B Ed students who had failed a particular module, at a private higher education institution. The contribution of inadequate or incoherent English, as the reason why marks were not allocated to answers, was calculated and analysed. Results indicated that students’ English grammatical proficiency does have an influence on their academic performance, though it is not the main contributing factor to students failing their modules. For this case study it was determined that the pre-service teachers’ inadequate English written proficiency contributed almost a third (25,6%) of the reasons for their poor academic performance. This finding suggests the need to develop new teaching strategies to accommodate and offer language support to NNES students in higher education institutions that offer qualifications using English as the medium of instruction. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

This study explores how native English speakers (NESs) are affected by the backgrounds of non-native English speakers (NNESs) when it comes to being comfortable interacting with then in English. Speech samples of 12 NNESs were gathered from the Level Achievement Tests conducted at Brigham Young University's English Language Center. There were six speakers who spoke Spanish as their first language (L1) and six speakers who spoke Chinese as their L1. In each L1 group, there were two Low proficiency speakers, two Mid proficiency speakers, and two High proficiency speakers. The speech samples were included in a Qualtrics survey which was completed by 122 American NES participants. The NES participants listened to each speech sample and rated their comfort level interacting with each NNES speaker in six different communication situations categorized as either formal or casual. The results were statistically analyzed in order to determine the effect of proficiency level, L1, and communication situation on NES comfort levels in NNES interactions. High proficiency speakers were rated significantly higher than Mid proficiency speakers which were in turn rated higher than Low proficiency speakers. Spanish L1 speakers were rated higher than Chinese L1 speakers. The more casual communication situations were ranked higher than the more formal communication situations. A statistical analysis of the interaction between proficiency level and L1 revealed that Spanish L1 speakers were strongly preferred at higher proficiency levels but Chinese L1 speakers were preferred at lower proficiency levels. These results suggest that Spanish L1 speakers have a greater need to be higher than Low proficiency while Chinese L1 speakers have a greater need to achieve High proficiency. NNESs who anticipate being in formal situations should also aim for High proficiency.

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This study investigates the relationship between nonnative English speaker (NNES) proficiency level and native English speaker (NES) level of comfort interacting with NNES. The purpose of this study was to discover at what proficiency level NESs feel comfortable interacting with NNES. This study also looked at how communicative task and NES demographic variables affected the proficiency expectations NNESs have for NESs. Participants included 120 NESs and 7 NNESs. The NESs listened to sound clips from the 7 NNESs and rated how comfortable they would feel (on a scale of 0-10, 10 indicating very comfortable) interacting with the speaker in a variety of communication tasks. Listeners rated intermediate and advanced level speakers significantly higher than the novice speakers. Additionally, there was not a significant difference between mean ratings for the intermediate and advanced speakers. Communication task was revealed as having a significant main effect on task. Listeners rated that they would feel least comfortable communicating with the speakers over the phone while discussing a customer service issue. They also indicated that they would feel least comfortable interacting with the speakers if they were their boss. Listener demographic variables did not have a significant main effect on overall ratings, but were significant for some tasks when task was analyzed individually. Specifically, age and frequency of interaction with NNES had an effect on some tasks; however the reliability of this result is affected by sample size. These results suggest a threshold relationship between NES comfort ratings and speaker proficiency level. Additionally, the data suggests that task may be more important than proficiency level in some interactions. A larger sample is needed to better understand the role NES demographic variables may play in level of comfort during NES and NNES interaction.

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The aim of this project is to provide useful data from published dictionaries, corpora, and instructional materials, as well as sample lessons, to promote the teaching of Unorthodox Oral Expressions (UOEs) to learners of English as a second/foreign language. In the first chapter, the author reviews relevant literature, explains what UOEs are, and discusses the importance of incorporating UOEs in EFL or ESL classrooms. In the second chapter, a linguistic categorization of UOEs is given. In the third chapter, the results are given of an examination of 10 different dictionaries. The purpose of this examination was to find which of 56 target UOEs are included in each dictionary and what kind of definitions are given for them. The results show that many common UOEs are not included in most, or any, dictionaries. For the UOEs that are included in most dictionaries, the definitions do not always agree, and factors such as intonation are not taken into account. Moreover, the explanations on how the UOEs can be used are not complete. In the fourth chapter, three English language corpora are examined to discover which of the target 56 UOEs are the most frequently used. The results show some differences in UOE frequency between the corpora that include both spoken and written English text and the spoken English corpora. In the fifth chapter, the teaching of UOEs in ESL textbooks is analyzed. The results show that most of these books do not teach UOEs explicitly. In chapter six, experimental instructional units are provided. Results of piloting these lessons at Brigham Young University's English Language Center are discussed. In the last chapter, the author suggests possible future research involving UOEs.

To learn a language successfully, one needs to incorporate terms which are used commonly by native speakers but cannot be found in dictionaries. Words like uh-huh, oops, ouch, and brrr, are some examples of these terms. These expressions, commonly categorized under such linguistic labels as interjections (Ameka, 1992), alternants (Poyatos, 2002), and response cries (Goffman,1981), are what Dr. Lynn Henrichsen (1993) and Rebecca Oyer (1999) termed Unorthodox Oral Expressions (UOEs). These utterances are considered unorthodox because many of them are not formal or standard English words. Because of that, “we do not consider them part of the productive system of English,” so English dictionaries and textbooks rarely include these words (Luthy, 1983, p.19). Also, they are used mostly in informal speech rather than in formal written English. Hence, non-native English learners usually don’t have the opportunity to learn these informal utterances in English classes (Chittaladakorn, 2011; Oyer, 1999).Though unorthodox, these expressions are important for English language learners (ELL) to learn so that they will be able to carry out more natural and native-like conversations and understand what these utterances mean when native speakers use them. Because UOEs are so under-taught and there are so few teaching UOEs, there is a great need for a UOE dictionary that includes not only pronunciation and meaning, but also the syntactic features and semantic and pragmatic functions of these expressions. This project includes the creation of an online UOE dictionary to fill that need in English language acquisition.

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