This study sets out to investigate whether and to what extent activities involving Extramural English (EE) have an impact on how students in the sixth and ninth year of the Swedish school-system perform on the national tests of listening and reading comprehension issued by the National Agency for Education. In order to test this, the students participating were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking about their contacts with English outside of the classroom environment and were then administered old national tests of reading and listening comprehension as part of their regular classroom instruction. The data collected was analysed in SPSS in the form of correlation analysis and ANOVA. It was found that EE-activities may indeed impact how well the students perform in tests assessing receptive skills and that certain activities (such as reading, gaming, engaging in oral communication) yielded greater gains than others (such as watching movies and TV-series). In addition to this, the study indicates a difference between how profound of an impact EE-activities have depending on the age of the students, with the older students benefiting more from EE than the younger.

Ecological differences between herbs and woody plants, and evolution of the herbaceous habit Adam Klimeš, doctoral thesis Abstract Flowering plants (angiosperms), which make up most present-day vegetation, were originally woody. While flowering plants have repeatedly given rise to herbaceous lineages since their first appearance, we lack a clear explanation for these common evolutionary events. Freezing temperatures and drought periods have been proposed as factors which had caused huge success of the younger growth form but the evidence is very limited and not in favour of these hypotheses. In this thesis, we aimed to build the foundations of research on the evolution of herbs. We outlined new potential drivers of the evolution of herbs, suggested solutions to some methodological challenges and provided evidence about differences between herbs and woody plants relevant to the hypotheses on herb evolution. To this end, we used common garden experiments with young plants of both growth forms and global trait data from public databases which we evaluated using phylogenetic comparative techniques. Annuality of aboveground biomass and fast life-strategy of herbs are characteristics which differentiate them from woody plants and which in some conditions are expected to be behind their success. Apart from the...

This research synthesis investigates the topic of movies in education, and explores advantages and challenges when using movies as a tool for language development in the English classroom. With the framework of language learning theories and methods, scholarly journal articles are synthesized to explore significant themes within this area. There are several advantages relating to the use of movies in language teaching, such as the benefits of multimodality, authentic language input, and knowledge construction. The challenges that might influence the benefits of the use of film as a teaching tool are, for instance, how to create tasks that make the viewing of movies more than just entertainment for learning language and knowledge development.

L’objectif de la thèse est d’étudier la gestion de bout en bout des architectures à la SDN, et comment nos briques OSS (Operation Support System) doivent évoluer: cela implique d’étudier les processus métier associés, leurs implémentations ainsi que l’outillage nécessaire. Les objectifs de la thèse sont donc de répondre aux verrous suivants:1. Identifier les changements impliqués par l’émergence de ces réseaux programmables sur les architectures de gestions en termes d’exigences ou "requirements". L’étude peut être focalisée sur un type de réseau, mobile par exemple. 2. Identifier l’évolution à apporter aux interfaces de gestions actuelles: quelles alternatives aux FCAPS (fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security) ? Quels changements à apporter aux couches de gestions allant du gestionnaire d’équipement ou "Element Management System" jusqu’au OSS ? / The main goal of the PhD activities is to define and develop architecture and mechanisms to ensure consistency and continuity of the operations and behaviors in mixed physical/virtual environments, characterized by a high level of dynamicity, elasticity and heterogeneity by applying a cognitive approach to the architecture where applicable. The target is then to avoid the "build it first, manage it later" paradigm. The research questions targeted by the PhD are the following: 1. Identify the changes on Network Operation Support Systems implementation when using SDN as a design approach for future networks. The study could be restricted to mobile networks for example, or sub-part of it (CORE networks, RAN, data centers, etc); 2.Identify the needed evolution at the management interfaces level: a. Shall we need alternative to the well-known FCAPS and do we still need the element management system? b. What will change to provision an SDN based service? c. How to ensure resiliency of SDN based networks?

This study investigated the effects of multiple textual encounters of words and textual encounters of words supplemented with pictorial glosses upon the ability of a learner of French to infer additional word senses—senses of target words that were not previously encountered. Twenty-nine participants were randomly divided into two groups, Groups A and B, and were subjected to two treatments, one in which the subjects encountered target words textually twice (Repeated Textual Encounters, RTE) and one in which the subjects encountered target words once textually and once pictorially (Pictorial Encounter, PE). Before the administration of the two vocabulary-learning treatments the participants completed a vocabulary pretest on the target words to establish a baseline of knowledge. At the conclusion of the vocabulary pretest, Group A read a French fairy tale encountering half of the target words using the RTE treatment while encountering the other half of the target words using the PE treatment. Although Group B read the same French fairy tale, they did not receive the same treatment for the same words. Specifically, the target words that those in Group A encountered using the RTE treatment were encountered by those in Group B using the PE treatment, and vise versa for the other treatment. Immediately following the treatments the participants completed a vocabulary recall test wherein the participants demonstrated their ability to infer additional senses of the target words in addition to recall original senses of target words as encountered in the text. Vocabulary gains were used as data to determine the participants' ability to infer additional word senses and recall original word senses. Results from t tests indicate that both treatments have a significant impact upon the learner's ability to infer additional word senses as well as recall original senses. Furthermore, results from analysis on the data gathered for individual words show that the treatments had a significant effect on learners inferring and recalling the senses of certain words over others. Results did not determine, however, which treatment was more effective than the other for learners to infer additional senses of words or to recall original word senses.

In an effort to better understand the mental processing connected to different kinds of CALL activities, this study collected data on time subjects spent, as well as buttons subjects clicked while doing 10 different CALL activities accompanying a beginning French text book. In addition, a group of subjects thought out loud as they completed the same activities. These subjects were recorded on video, their thinking out loud was transcribed and the transcriptions were coded according to how they indicated they were dealing with the language input. The frequencies of coded categories were compared to see if there were connections between certain activity types and the kind of mental processing that should lead to language acquisition. It found that activities which required language production at least at the sentence level had higher occurrences of the kind of processing that one expects to lead to acquisition. The study also found that activities which required the learners to click as a response were connected to what could be considered shallower processing, or processing that is less likely to lead to language acquisition. It found similar results concerning True/False activities. In investigating the connection between behavior and mental processing in the CALL setting, the study found that button-use does seem to be connected to more effective processing, but that time spent on an activity is something that is perhaps too ambiguous to draw conclusions from.

This study seeks to answer the age old question of what kind of input is best for ESL learners, but it approaches the question with a new perspective. There are many options when it comes to a choice of curriculum, both in terms of the method that is used and the materials that are available. Feature film is one important resource that has received increased attention in recent years. Curriculum specialists and teachers are incorporating various film clips into instruction to enhance a grammar point, to teach culture, or as a way to motivate learners. Yet adequate research does not yet exist that demonstrates how film can be used effectively. One possible solution to this problem that was explored in this study was the use of feature films in a self-study environment. Can using annotations of feature films, in this case definitions and pictures, improve a student's listening comprehension when students interact with them independent of a teacher? So few studies look at how annotations are used in this way. Overall, this study found that intermediate English for second language learners participating in this study did show significant gains in their test scores as compared with the control group, which did not view the film. In the present study, however, in comparing the three groups, the scores for students using annotations and not using annotations were not significantly different, perhaps the result of a small sample size. Nevertheless, this study does provide many insights into the current research and can provide important guidance for future research in this area of interest. Listening comprehension is a vital subject for research, and film is an excellent tool to enhance that research.

This study addresses the usefulness of elicited imitation (EI) and automated speech recognition (ASR) as a tool for second language acquisition (SLA) research by evaluating differences among learners of Japanese. The findings indicate that the EI and ASR grading system used in this study was able to differentiate between beginning- and advanced-level learners as well as instructed and self-instructed learners. No significant difference was found between self-instructed learners with and without post-mission instruction. The procedure, reliability and validity of the ASR-based computerized EI are discussed. Results and discussion will provide insights regarding different types of second language (L2) development, the effects of instruction, implications for teaching, as well as limitations of the EI and ASR grading system.

Research has shown increasing interest in the influence of learner psychology on second language acquisition (e.g. Ellis, 2019; MacIntyre, Gregersen & Mercer, 2019). This research has demonstrated that motivation, focus, and feelings of autonomy and self-efficacy are particularly important in creating the necessary conditions for learning to occur (e.g. Dörnyei, 2009; Norton & Toohey, 2011; Piniel & Csizér, 2016; Robinson, 1995, 1997). When these factors converge, a learner can experience flow, which has been described as the “optimal experience” of engagement (Csíkszentmihályi, 1975, 1990, 2008) and has been linked to language learning success (Hong et al., 2017). Existing research has shown that student-centered, open-ended, authentic, and competitive activities tend to generate more flow than their opposites (Egbert, 2003; Zuniga & Rueb, 2018). However, these studies are scarce and have focused on a very limited quantity of immediate language-class activities, thus excluding many other possible flow experiences from consideration. To expand this line of research, this study seeks to determine what types of language-class activities generate the most flow, as well as which of the theorized psychological components of flow are most strongly associated with such experiences. Eighty-two North American undergraduate, intermediate-level (estimated CEFR B1/ACTFL intermediate mid-high) students of French, Italian, German, and Spanish completed a questionnaire about their lifetime language-learning experiences. First, the participants rated a list of activities on perceived overall flow using a Likert scale. Next, they rated the same activities on four theorized psychological components of flow (enjoyment, focused attention, control, positive challenges) also on a Likert scale (Csíkszentmihályi 1975, 1990, 2008; Egbert, 2003; Zuniga & Rueb, 2018). Finally, they answered open-ended questions about salient language-class experiences. The results of this study support the hypothesis that student-centered, open-ended, authentic, and competitive activities would generate more flow than their opposites (teacher-centered, closed-ended, inauthentic, and non-competitive). The results also revealed that enjoyment and challenges best predict flow. While competitive activities were shown to be particularly strong flow generators in the quantitative analysis, the qualitative analysis of the open-ended survey responses showed student-centered activities to be particularly associated with high-flow experiences, though usually in conjunction with other flow-generating categories. When taken together, these results suggest that, in order to create learning-favorable conditions through flow, teachers should use activities that belong to as many flow-generating categories as possible while also paying special attention to students’ perceptions of enjoyment and the challenges-skills balance. / Spanish

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Lawrence C. Scharmann / Bradley A. Shaw / Spanish instructors are not neo-phobic of instructional technology (IT), and they will affirm they are not afraid of IT just to avoid being labeled as ‘living dinosaurs.’ Most of them just do not have the know-how to explore and use IT in-depth. Regardless, they are more familiar with the diverse IT world available. In this study the main factors influencing Spanish language educators to use IT (or not) in their Second Language Acquisition (SLA) teaching methodology were discussed. Data from Spanish instructors in eight Kansas universities was analyzed to understand their perceptions and attitudes regarding the use of IT in their classrooms. Mixed methodologies were used: A quantitative survey targeting 80 instructors from the Modern Language Departments was developed. The survey had one section on demographic information and a second with 43 items dealing with perceptions related to IT. Afterwards, a case study with four in-depth interviews was conducted to elucidate richer descriptions and potentially corroborate patterns identified from the survey data. Data analysis revealed that most Spanish instructors have positive perceptions and attitudes towards IT. From the survey, nine themes emerged. Six of them formed a super-ordinate category showing that instructors consider IT useful for teaching culture in the target language, and in facilitating general knowledge. In this super-ordinate category, the six emergent themes are considered subordinate themes. The other three emergent themes formed another super-ordinate category with three subordinate themes: faculty require more time, training and technical resources to be able to integrate IT in their teaching. The four interviews explored what perceptions (or characteristics) stand out among faculty along a continuum of non-users to users with respect to the integration of IT; this allowed the researcher to confirm the instructors’ perceptions and attitudes on the nine emerging themes. Spanish instructors would integrate more modern tools in their teaching if they had more opportunities and support to be better informed; received appropriate training in their specific field; and were advised of available technology. As the findings showed, educators are no longer afraid of technology. Finally, conclusions of the findings were offered as well as recommendations for future research.