Although studies on L2 learning strategies are a major strand of second language research, recent research has shifted its focus onto language learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of strategies. Previous studies shed important light on the amelioration in L2 educational practices, but research on learners’ metacognition in the reading process in EFL contexts remains insufficient, especially at the university level in terms of the emic view of the participants studied in Taiwan. Based on an interpretive stance, this exploratory case study aimed at probing 12 Taiwanese first year university EFL learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies during their strategic reading process, and the relationship with proficiency levels and texts of both the narrative and the expository type. This study relies on the think aloud and immediately retrospective protocols of 6 high proficient and 6 low proficient readers as the principal sources of data. The think aloud protocols and the immediately retrospective interviews were transcribed and subjected to content analysis by means of coding them. Taiwanese first year university EFL readers’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies were then analysed and interpreted from a broad metacognitive perspective within the information processing model in terms of strategy application for reading comprehension problem-solving. The findings revealed that the participants demonstrated an awareness and control of their cognitive activities while reading. The strategies they employed were grouped into the categories of supporting reading strategies (SRSs), cognitive reading strategies (CRSs), and metacognitive reading strategies (MRSs). The study found that these learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies in learning to read were closely related to L2 proficiency. The low proficient readers’ unfamiliarity with L2 is a hindrance to their reading comprehension which, in turn, disabled them from using the strategies appropriately and effectively. Furthermore, the high proficient readers outperformed their low proficient counterparts in terms of both the quality and quantity of strategies used. Both groups did not use the same strategy types. The findings also revealed that certain types of reading strategy were used differently due to the texts of the narrative and the expository type across the different ability levels. The existing literature on metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies in learning to read is discussed and pedagogical implications for teachers of L2 reading are offered. These implications include suggestions made for providing learners with explicit reading and strategy instruction and texts with different structure in relation to strategy use. Finally, the limitations of the current research study and recommendations for further research were stated.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Programa de Doutorado-sanduÃche no Exterior / O objeto de estudo do presente trabalho à o conhecimento lexical evidenciado em produÃÃes escritas de aprendizes de PortuguÃs como LÃngua Adicional (PLA). AtravÃs de um design exploratÃrio, a partir do corpus (Recolha de Corpora de PLA da Universidade de Coimbra), investigamos os estÃgios de desenvolvimento da interlÃngua (IL) na tentativa de comparar a diversidade lexical, examinando a variaÃÃo dos nÃveis de proficiÃncia estabelecidos de acordo com os Ãndices calculados pela ferramenta texinspector workflow. A pesquisa encontra apoio em estudos de conhecimento lexical de Cobb (2003), Engber (1995), Hulstijn (1996, 2001, 2011, 2015), Laufer (1995, 1998, 2004), Meara (1980, 2005), Milton (2009), Nation (2001, 2004, 2011, 2012), Read (2004) e Jarvis (2013a, 1013b), que consideram os textos escritos como uma fonte potencialmente rica de informaÃÃes sobre o desenvolvimento do vocabulÃrio da L2 ou da lÃngua adicional (LA). O pressuposto subjacente à que o estÃgio de desenvolvimento da interlÃngua (IL) pode servir como um indicador de proficiÃncia mais elevada, juntamente com a noÃÃo de um nÃcleo comum de uso da lÃngua em questÃo. Partindo de uma primeira investigaÃÃo, realizamos uma anÃlise ANOVA de 129 textos, estabelecendo como variÃveis qualitativas independentes os nÃveis de proficiÃncia (B2 e C1), a lÃngua materna (RomÃnica e NÃo RomÃnica) e os diferentes tÃpicos (sobre o IndivÃduo, a Sociedade e o Meio-ambiente). Como variÃveis quantitativas dependentes, foram considerados os Ãndices de variabilidade (TTR) e diversidade lexical (MTLD). Os resultados sugerem variaÃÃes significativas nos Ãndices TTR e MTLD apenas entre as produÃÃes escritas desenvolvidas sob diferentes temas. As implicaÃÃes do estudo sÃo discutidas do ponto de vista pedagÃgico da avaliaÃÃo escrita, considerando a importÃncia da operacionalizaÃÃo de descritores de diversidade lexical como feedback, tendo em vista a dinamicidade dos nÃveis de proficiÃncia. Corroboramos com as noÃÃes de Housen e Bultà (2013) de que complexidade linguÃstica tem dimensÃes de carÃter cognitivo e linguÃstico, com facetas de desenvolvimento e desempenho, podendo se manifestar em todos os nÃveis estruturais e de uso. / The present study aims to investigate the lexical knowledge evidenced in written productions of learners of Portuguese as an additional language. Through an exploratory design, from the corpus (PLA Corpora Collection of the University of Coimbra), the developmental stages of interlanguage (IL) were investigated in an attempt to compare the lexical diversity by examining the variation of the indexes established by the tool textinspector workflow. This research is supported by lexical knowledge studies of Cobb (2003), Engber (1995), Hulstijn (1996, 2001, 2011, 2015), Laufer (1995, 1998, 2004), Meara (1980, 2005), Milton (2009), Nation (2001, 2004, 2011, 2012), Read (2004) and Jarvis (2013a, 1013b), who take written texts as potentially rich sources of information on the vocabulary development of a second or additional language. The underlying assumption is that the interlanguage (IL) stage of development of may serve as an indicator of higher proficiency along with the notion a common core use of the language in question. Departing from a first investigation, an ANOVA analysis of a sample of 139 texts was conducted, establishing as independent qualitative variables: the proficiency levels (B2 and C1), the mother tongue (Romance and non-Romance), and the different topics (on the Individual, Society and the environment). As dependent quantitative variables, the variability index (TTR) and lexical diversity (MTLD) were considered. The results suggest significant changes in TTR and MTLD indexes only between the different topics provided by the corpus. The implications of the findings are discussed from a pedagogical point of view of writing assessment, considering the importance of lexical diversity descriptors for feedback in view of the dynamics of the proficiency levels. Also, the study corroborates the notions of Housen and Bultà (2013) of linguistic complexity as having dimensions of cognitive, linguistic, performance, and developmental facets that can be found in all structural levels and use.

Denna studie handlar om hur kunskaps- och färdighetsrelaterade nivåskillnader påverkar engelskundervisning på mellanstadiet. Studien undersöker vilka utmaningar kunskaps- och färdighetsrelaterade nivåskillnader skapar i undervisningen samt vilka metoder som kan användas för att skapa en flexibel och anpassningsbar undervisning i engelska. Studiens empiri består av kvalitativa intervjuer där sju lärare från två kommuner intervjuats. För att få en djupgående bild av lärarnas egna uppfattningar, erfarenheter och reflektioner genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer där lärarnas egna tankar fick ta plats.  Studien visar att kunskaps- och färdighetsrelaterade nivåskillnader har en stor påverkan på engelskundervisning på mellanstadiet. Den visar också att dessa skillnader skapar stora utmaningar hos undervisande lärare och att det, trots en förståelse för de behov som nivåskillnaderna skapar, råder brist på effektiva och hållbara undervisningsstrategier för att möta alla de olika nivåerna. / This study is about the way in which disparate knowledge and proficiency levels affect the teaching of English in middle schools. The study examines what challenges the discrepancy in in knowledge and proficiency levels create, and what methods that could be used to create a flexible and adaptable teaching of English. The study is based on seven qualitative interviews with seven teachers from two municipalities. In order to get a profound view of the teachers´personal perceptions, experiences and reflections, semistructured interviews were used to give the respondents ample opportunity to reflect upon their own thoughts.  The study shows that the disparate knowledge and proficiency levels have a great impact on the teaching of English in middle schools. It also shows that they create great challenges for teachers of English and that despite a widespread understanding of the needs that the different levels create, there is a lack of effective and sustainable teaching strategies to meet all of the different levels.

La rétroaction corrective (RC) est une indication offerte aux scripteurs apprenants sur leur emploi erroné de la langue en apprentissage (Lightbown et Spada, 2006). Exposés à la RC écrite, ces apprenants réagissent de différentes manières lors de la révision de leur texte. La révision est alors une « tentative des scripteurs à améliorer un plan ou un texte » (traduction libre, Hayes, Flower, Schriver, Stratman et Carey, 1987, p.177). Cette recherche s’est penchée sur la relation entre les différentes techniques rétroactives utilisées par six enseignants de classes d’accueil à Montréal et sur la manière dont les élèves participants (N=64) ont réagi à ces RC lors de la révision de leur texte. L’intégration de la RC à l’étape de la révision est influencée par différentes variables modératrices, c’est-à-dire l’ordre d’enseignement (les niveaux de scolarité : primaire ou secondaire), le profil des élèves (les niveaux langagiers débutants et avancés ainsi que la présence de difficultés d’apprentissage chez les élèves) et les catégories d’erreurs. Les résultats confirment que les enseignants de français langue seconde (L2) différencient leur RC selon les variables modératrices et que la RC a un effet positif à court terme, c’est-à-dire lors de la révision. / Corrective feedback (CF) is defined as “an indication to a learner that his or her use of the target language is correct” (Lightbown and Spada, 2006, p.197). When the written product is revised, the learner reacts to corrective feedback in different ways. This study focuses on two aspects: it focuses on the various CF techniques used by teachers of French as a second language in six ‘accueil’ classrooms in Montreal, and it focuses on the reaction of 64 students in these classrooms, to these techniques in their revision process. How the teacher’s corrective feedback was incorporated in the revision process varied according to the student’s proficiency level (weak or strong), their grade level (elementary or secondary), their learning difficulties, their error types and the CF techniques used. The student’s written product, composed of 150 words, was analyzed. The results indicate that the teachers of French as a second language vary their CF techniques according to the variables. Corrective Feedback, overall, effected the student’s revision.

This dissertation interrogates the deficit assumptions about English proficiency of skilled immigrants who were recruited by Canadian governments between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Through the lens of literacy as social practice, the eighteen-month ethnographic qualitative research explores the sequential experiences of settlement and economic integration of seven well-educated Chinese immigrant professionals. The analytical framework is built on sociocultural approaches to literacy and learning, as well as the theories of discourses and language reproduction. Using multiple data sources (observations, conversational interviews, journal and diary entries, photographs, documents, and artifacts collected in everyday lives), I document many different ways that well-educated Chinese immigrants take advantage of their language and literacy skills in English across several social domains of home, school, job market, and workplace. Examining the trans-contextual patterning of the participants’ language and literacy activities reveals that immigrant professionals use literacy as assistance in seeking, negotiating, and taking hold of resources and opportunities within certain social settings. However, my data show that their language and literacy engagements might not always generate positive consequences for social networks, job opportunities, and upward economic mobility. Close analyses of processes and outcomes of the participants’ engagements across these discursive discourses make it very clear that the monolithic assumptions of the dominant language shape and reinforce structural barriers by constraining their social participation, decision making, and learning practice, and thereby make literacy’s consequences unpredictable. The deficit model of language proficiency serves the grounds for linguistic stereotypes and economic marginalization, which produces profoundly consequential effects on immigrants’ pathways as they strive for having access to resources and opportunities in the new society. My analyses illuminate the ways that language and literacy create the complex web of discursive spaces wherein institutional agendas and personal desires are intertwined and collide in complex ways that constitute conditions and processes of social and economic mobility of immigrant populations. Based on these analyses, I argue that immigrants’ successful integration into a host country is not about the mastery of the technical skills in the dominant language. Rather, it is largely about the recognition and acceptance of the value of their language use and literacy practice as they attempt to partake in the globalized new economy.

This dissertation interrogates the deficit assumptions about English proficiency of skilled immigrants who were recruited by Canadian governments between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Through the lens of literacy as social practice, the eighteen-month ethnographic qualitative research explores the sequential experiences of settlement and economic integration of seven well-educated Chinese immigrant professionals. The analytical framework is built on sociocultural approaches to literacy and learning, as well as the theories of discourses and language reproduction. Using multiple data sources (observations, conversational interviews, journal and diary entries, photographs, documents, and artifacts collected in everyday lives), I document many different ways that well-educated Chinese immigrants take advantage of their language and literacy skills in English across several social domains of home, school, job market, and workplace. Examining the trans-contextual patterning of the participants’ language and literacy activities reveals that immigrant professionals use literacy as assistance in seeking, negotiating, and taking hold of resources and opportunities within certain social settings. However, my data show that their language and literacy engagements might not always generate positive consequences for social networks, job opportunities, and upward economic mobility. Close analyses of processes and outcomes of the participants’ engagements across these discursive discourses make it very clear that the monolithic assumptions of the dominant language shape and reinforce structural barriers by constraining their social participation, decision making, and learning practice, and thereby make literacy’s consequences unpredictable. The deficit model of language proficiency serves the grounds for linguistic stereotypes and economic marginalization, which produces profoundly consequential effects on immigrants’ pathways as they strive for having access to resources and opportunities in the new society. My analyses illuminate the ways that language and literacy create the complex web of discursive spaces wherein institutional agendas and personal desires are intertwined and collide in complex ways that constitute conditions and processes of social and economic mobility of immigrant populations. Based on these analyses, I argue that immigrants’ successful integration into a host country is not about the mastery of the technical skills in the dominant language. Rather, it is largely about the recognition and acceptance of the value of their language use and literacy practice as they attempt to partake in the globalized new economy.