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Thesis (M. A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2005 / Refer to document

Nearly 13.8 million Hispanics in the United States speak English "less than very well." This has important implications for the field of clinical neuropsychology. Patients who do not speak English fluently are being increasingly referred for neuropsychological services, and many of these individuals are assessed with the aid of language interpreters. However, whether or how the use of an interpreter has an effect on neuropsychological test scores is not known. For lack of a better alternative, it generally is assumed that the test data obtained through an interpreter are a valid indication of the patient's cognitive functioning, but with almost no empirical support, this assumption appears tenuous at best. The effect of an interpreter, in fact, could be substantial, making this issue all the more deserving of rigorous investigation. The primary objective of the current study was to determine whether using an interpreter to conduct neuropsychological testing of monolingual Spanish speakers had an effect on the neuropsychological test scores. Participants included 40 neurologically normal Spanish-speakers with limited English proficiency, ages 18-65 years, (M= 39.65, SD =13.91) who completed a 2-hour battery of verbal and nonverbal neuropsychological tests both with and without an interpreter. The condition of test administration was counterbalanced across participants and test score differences between the two conditions were compared. Results indicated that use of an interpreter significantly affected mean scores for some neuropsychological tests from the verbal modality. Also, variability in test scores generally was higher when an interpreter was used, significantly so for one verbal test. Results of this study contribute to the extant literature concerning the use of interpreters to facilitate neuropsychological testing of individuals with limited English proficiency. Specifically, they indicate that neuropsychologists should avoid interpreter use and refer patients to bilingual clinicians whenever possible. For situations in which this may not be a viable option, neuropsychologists should limit their test batteries to measures that require minimal reliance on the interpreter. Tests that rely almost entirely on interpreter skills for administration and scoring - such as the Vocabulary and Similarities subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) - should probably not be used. Larger confidence intervals should be used when interpreting observed scores from interpreter-mediated neuropsychological tests.

This qualitative study is introduced through a discussion of peer response groups and the researcher's interest in them. The guiding question of whether peer response groups are as useful for teaching writing ESOL classrooms as in first language classrooms is stated along with supplementary research questions. These are fol lowed by a review of relevant theories and summaries of peer response group hi story, social and cultural factors, and research done on peer response groups in first and additional language classrooms.

Long-term studies with both native and non-native speakers of English have shown that vocabulary can be learned passively or "incidentally" simply through the act of reading, even through reading for pleasure. Generally, studies of incidental vocabulary learning have tested subjects' knowledge of words learned after reading novels or other longer works of prose fiction. Eighty-four students from a short-term ESL program participated as subjects in this study. Subjects were divided into three treatment groups and one control group. All subjects were given a 100-i tern word-recognition pretest, containing 45 test words and 55 dis tractors. The three treated groups were each given three treatments meant to increase their vocabulary knowledge: Vocabulary exercises alone, short story reading alone, and a combination of vocabulary exercises and short story reading (using a short story which contained the words taught in the exercises). Fifteen of the 45 test words were taught under each treatment. All subjects were then given a 45-item multiple-choice post-test, testing the 45 vocabulary words taught in the three treatments. It was hypothesized that story-reading alone would produce the highest gains between pre- and post-test scores, exercises and story together would produce median scores, and exercises alone would produce the lowest scores. Analysis of the data revealed a much different pattern: Story-reading alone actually produced the lowest score gains, while the two treatments involving exercises produced gains that were similarly high. Apparently, vocabulary exercises combined with a short story provided the extra context and practice the subjects needed to learn those words better than did story reading alone. Vocabulary exercises alone produced better scores than story reading alone perhaps because the subjects were accustomed to the task of learning vocabulary words through exercises, and because the task (learning words) was obvious. The subjects were probably not accustomed to learning words simply through reading stories, nor was the task of learning words obvious in that case. Thus, given the special parameters of this study and its subjects, score gains were lowest on the treatment that was expected to produce the highest gains.

Thesis (M.ED.) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / This study was intended to investigate how teacher discourse moves influence comprehensibility of language content by the English First Additional Language (EFAL) learner and promote active participation by the learner in classroom interaction. The research is a Case Study which was conducted at a primary school in the Greater Sekhukhune District in Limpopo Province The Qualitative research approach was applied in the Case Study since the research is concerned with experience as it is lived ‘or felt’ or ‘undergone’ by participants. the key concern of this research is understanding the phenomenon of interest, from the participants’ perspectives, not the researcher’s. The situation in most Black schools is that first of all, teachers who teach English First Additional Language (EFAL) are not first speakers of English themselves. Secondly, learners have a problem of acquiring information through English as an additional language hence the question of comprehensibility of English language content. Teachers and especially learners are de-motivated as they lose interest in what goes on in Englishclassroom interaction due to the comprehensibility of English First Additional Language content As participant observer the researcher in this study concludes that the use of discourse moves by the teacher in classroom interaction enables the learner to comprehend the language content. Also that the teacher’s code-switching and code-mixing into the learners’ home language develops not only comprehensibility of EFAL language content but most of all promotes active learner participation in classroom interaction. This in turn helps the teacher to achieve the desired learning outcomes.