This thesis presents the findings of a study of writing center tutorial practices in a Middle Eastern university where the language of instruction is English. Data from stimulated recall activities, written observations, and interviews were analyzed to answer the following research questions: 1. How do tutees perceive the effectiveness of writing center tutorials? 2. How do tutors perceive the effectiveness of writing center tutorials? 3. Which type of tutoring approach do tutees find more effective? 4. Which type of tutoring approach do tutors find more effective? The data revealed that tutees noticed an improvement in their assignments, believed that their concerns had been addressed, and that they had acquired transferable skills. Most tutees assessed their tutors positively, valuing tutors who inspired confidence and were able to explain concepts clearly. Although tutees appreciated knowledgeable tutors, they valued egalitarian peer-tutoring relationships. Tutors reported that tutorial sessions improved their tutees' assignments and that tutees had acquired transferable skills. Nevertheless, tutors were critical of their own performance. Some tutors admitted to lacking the knowledge necessary to explain certain writing concepts, including grammatical concepts; some felt they dominated the tutorials; and others felt their approach was too directive. The data revealed that both tutors and tutees preferred the directive approach for lower order concerns and a non-directive approach for higher order concerns. This study shows that diverse tutoring models that accommodate the background and experiences of Middle Eastern students, and their particular strengths and weaknesses, should be considered. It recommends tutorial training that emphasizes flexibility and recognizes the distinctive nature of each tutorial situation and the opportunity it presents to address the needs and expectations of individual students. These findings could signal a direction for the development of writing center pedagogy that focuses on the linguistically and culturally diverse students in the Middle East.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of form-focused instruction (FFI) on prosody with or without self-assessment on the prosodic and global aspects of L2 speech by Japanese EFL learners using a pre-post design. In addition, native English speaking (NS) and non-native English speaking (NNS) raters with high levels of English proficiency were compared to examine the influence of raters’ L1 backgrounds on their comprehensibility ratings. Sixty-one Japanese university students from four intact English presentation classes participated in the study. The comparison group (n = 16) practiced making one-minute speeches in class (45 minutes x 8 times) without explicit instruction on prosody, while the two experimental groups (n = 17 for the FFI-only group; n = 28 for the FFI + SA group) received FFI on word stress, rhythm, and intonation, practiced the target prosodic features in communicative contexts, and received metalinguistic feedback from the instructor. In total, the experimental groups received six-hours of instruction in class, which was comparable to the comparison group. Additionally, the experimental groups completed homework three times; only the FFI + SA group recorded their reading performance and self-assessed it in terms of word stress, rhythm, and intonation. Three oral tasks were employed to elicit the participants’ speech before and after the treatment: reading aloud, one-minute speech, and picture description. The speech samples were rated for comprehensibility by NS and NNS raters and were also analyzed with four prosodic measurements: word stress, rhythm, pitch contour, and pitch range. Instructional effects on prosody were observed clearly. The FFI-only group improved their controlled production of rhythm and pitch contour, while the FFI + SA group significantly improved all of the prosodic features except pitch range. Moreover, the instructional gains for the FFI + SA group were not limited to the controlled task but transferred to the less-controlled tasks. The results showed differential instructional effects on the four prosodic aspects. The FFI in this study did not help the participants widen their pitch range. The FFI on prosody, which was focused on the cross-linguistic differences between Japanese and English, tended to be more effective in terms of improving rhythm and pitch contour, which were categorized as rule-based, than an item-based feature, word stress. The study offered mixed results regarding instructional effects on comprehensibility. The FFI-only group did not significantly improve comprehensibility despite their significant prosodic improvements on the reading aloud task. Their significant comprehensibility growth on the picture description task was not because of the development of prosody, but of other linguistic variables that influence comprehensibility such as speech rate. The FFI + SA group made significant gains for comprehensibility on the three tasks, but the effect sizes were small. This finding indicated that the effects of FFI with self-assessment on comprehensibility were limited due to the multi-faceted nature of comprehensibility. The data elicited from the post-activity questionnaires and students’ interviews revealed that not all the participants in the FFI + SA group reacted positively to the self-assessment practice. Individual differences such as previous learning experience and self-efficacy appeared to influence the learners’ perceptions of the self-assessment practice and possibly their instructional gains. The two groups of raters, L1 English raters (n = 6) and L2 English raters with advanced or native-like English proficiency (n = 6) did not differ in terms of consistency and severity. These findings indicated that NNS raters with high English proficiency could function as reliably as NS raters; however, the qualitative data revealed that the NS raters tended to be more sensitive to pronunciation, especially at the segmental level, across the three tasks compared to the NNS raters. This study provides evidence that FFI, especially when it is reinforced by self-assessment, has pedagogical value; it can improve learners’ production of English prosody in controlled and less-controlled speech, and these gains can in turn contribute to enhanced L2 comprehensibility. / Teaching & Learning

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Some researchers that work with metaphor theory claim that metaphors and figurative language are understood and processed just as easily as literal language. However, as this thesis will explore in detail, other research indicates that such is not always the case. That is, if the category of metaphor is further subcategorized into conventional and non-conventional metaphor, the scope will change because of the fact that it is possible to argue that non-conventionalized metaphors require a more conscious path of processing. In order to explain this alternative path, there are two primary approaches to language processing worth introducing: implicit and explicit. These approaches vary in required attention and speed of processing. With regards to conscious effort, these approaches are rather similar to the way in which we process conventionalized and non-conventionalized metaphors. Conventional metaphors are processed more quickly and easily than non-conventional ones. Hence, the claim that all metaphors are similarly processed may not always be true. Furthermore, an individual’s level of proficiency presumably correlates with speed in language processing. However, if non-conventional metaphor requires a more deliberate path of processing, this thesis assumes that the processing of this type of metaphor will be relatively unaffected by proficiency level, thus causing informants to process them in similar manners. In this thesis, 24 non-native speakers (NNS), categorized into intermediate proficient and advanced proficient, and seven native speakers (NS) were tested with an RT-test on subjective metaphor comprehension. Results were compared using mean response times and standard deviations, as well as looking at correlations and coefficient of variation. The results showed a distinct difference in processing speed with conventional metaphors being processed significantly faster. Moreover, the findings indicate that conventional metaphor processing speed seems to be predicted by proficiency, whilst non-conventional processing speed is not. The RT differences remained relatively consistent in both conventional and non-conventional metaphor processing, but when taking correlations, variance and coefficient of variation into consideration, the findings indicate that these other factors help level out the differences in non-conventional metaphor processing in more subtle ways than simply by RT’s.

A new method for pre-impregnating nickel coated carbon fiber with a thermoplastic polymer to make towpreg, similar to a recently developed coating-line by João P. Nunes et al and a new electrically conductive thermoplastic are developed. A melted bath was used to help mitigate health concerns and waste for dispersion of nickel coated carbon fibers (NCF) in low density polyethylene (LDPE). This towpreg was then mixed with more LDPE or a mixture of LDPE and nickel nanostrands (NiNS) to a desired filler volume fraction to test the electrical conductivity of the composite. Some of these mixtures were then injection molded and tested again for conductivity as well as tensile and impact strength and compared to each other and the non-injection molded samples. It was found that mixing NiNS into the polymer in addition to NCF created a more conductive part than with NCF alone, in a couple orders of magnitude. Also, the shorter the NCF were, the greater the contribution of the NiNS to the electrical properties of the NCF filled material. The tensile strength was increased by adding the NCF and NiNS, while the impact strength (toughness) decreased.