The Huang and Van Naerssen (1987) survey in Southern China proved conclusively that the more fluent Chinese L2 learners ofEnglish used more communicative strategies than their not :fluent counterparts. This study was an attempt to repeat the Huang and Van Naerssen study in a different setting with L2 learners of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. L2 learners of English at secondary level were chosen from four countries in which I had recently lived and worked. In addition an attempt was made to empirically test the validity of Schumann•s (1978) acculturation hypothesis on models for which it was not originally intended. A correlation was being sought between the level of acculturation ofL2 learners and their fluency in English. A cloze test was given to the one hundred and twenty-five L2 learners in the study in order to gauge their level of proficiency in English. A survey was then presented to L2 learners in all four countries, Chile, Paraguay, South Africa and Botswana. Part One of the survey asked questions related to acculturation. Part Two asked the same communicative questions used in the South China study. The results from the survey were inconclusive though the raw data for the communicative strategies and acculturation helped to show that the more proficient the student in English, the more likely he or she was to use communicative strategies or show a higher level of acculturation. The results were not statistically significant. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

This study uses a predominantly quantitative approach to explore the effect of different error correction feedback mechanisms on students’ English as a Second Language writing (narrative and descriptive) amongst high school students in Botswana. A longitudinal, quasi-experimental design is used, with a control group that received no correction feedback while the experimental groups received direct, coded and uncoded feedback. Three hypotheses define the study in terms of fluency, correction success and accuracy development over time. No significant increases in fluency were found between the pretests and posttests. Correction success achieved by the three treatment groups when rewriting texts reflected the explicitness of the feedback, with the direct group highest, followed by the coded and uncoded groups. Findings were mixed on the important issue of accuracy development, although they strongly suggest that for spelling, any type of feedback is significantly better than none and that coded feedback is better than direct feedback despite the latter being more explicit. Students from all the treatment groups expressed similarly positive opinions on correction feedback. / Applied Language / M.A. (Spec. in Applied Linguistics)

Syntactic complexity has been an area of significant interest in L2 writing development studies over the past 45 years. Despite the regularity in which syntactic complexity measures have been employed, the construct is still relatively under-developed, and, as a result, the cumulative results of syntactic complexity studies can appear opaque. At least three reasons exist for the current state of affairs, namely the lack of consistency and clarity by which indices of syntactic complexity have been described, the overly broad nature of the indices that have been regularly employed, and the omission of indices that focus on usage-based perspectives. This study seeks to address these three gaps through the development and validation of the Tool for the Automatic Assessment of Syntactic Sophistication and Complexity (TAASSC). TAASSC measures large and fined grained clausal and phrasal indices of syntactic complexity and usage-based frequency/contingency indices of syntactic sophistication. Using TAASSC, this study will address L2 writing development in two main ways: through the examination of syntactic development longitudinally and through the examination of human judgments of writing proficiency (e.g., expert ratings of TOEFL essays). This study will have important implications for second language acquisition, second language writing, and language assessment.

Den här studien syftar till att undersöka elevers syn på skolans roll när de lär sig engelska och deras attityder till det engelska språket och engelskundervisningen. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en enkätundersökning, där 92 elever i årskurs 9 från två olika högstadieskolor deltog. Resultatet visar att eleverna är positivt inställda till det engelska språket och fritidsengelskan. Majoriteten av dem tycker att de inhämtar mer kunskap i engelska på fritiden än i skolan och knappt hälften tycker att de lär sig språket bäst själva, utan skolans hjälp. Resultatet visar också att en stor majoritet av eleverna anser att skolan har en viktig roll när de lär sig engelska och de inser vikten av att inhämta grammatiska kunskaper. Eleverna värderar den muntliga förmågan högt och många av dem anser att det är lättare att prata engelska på fritiden än i skolan. Majoriteten elever anser också att undervisningen behöver anpassas till att likna deras fritidsengelska mer och många elever ser gärna att det är mer arbete med film på lektionerna. Resultatet visar även att det förekommer en viss könsskillnad vid några av frågorna.

In an age characterized by globalization and mobility, societal dynamics across the world have experienced dramatic changes in terms of cultural and linguistic diversity. The increase in the flows of populations, discourses, and materials has been further accelerated by the technological advances. The new, digital ways that we use to communicate, interact, and manage our social relationships have led researchers to think about new ways of approaching texts, resources, and social interactions. Referring to globalization, deep transformations in society, and resulting sociolinguistic impacts, Coupland (2003) and Blommaert (2003) call for a rethinking of the ways sociolinguistics attempt to address globalization. This call has precipitated various theoretical and methodological suggestions, which have appeared in monographs, journal issues, and edited volumes (e.g., Blommaert, 2010; Coupland, 2010; de Fina & Perrino, 2013; Pennycook, 2010; Thurlow & Jaworski, 2010). However, the study of digital practices at the intersection of heterogeneity and mobility in the age of digital diversity has been minimally addressed (See Androutsopoulos & Juffermans, 2014).In an attempt to shed light on digital activities of multilingual individuals in online participatory spaces, the current study investigates the social networking site (SNS) practices of international graduate students (IGSs) who are experiencing transnational mobility. Theoretically informed by sociolinguistics and new media studies, the current interdisciplinary study analyzes multilingual students' new media literacy (NML) practices, use of semiotic resources, and digital practices of sharing transcultural content in connection with the construction and management of various aspects of their identities in contexts of superdiversity. For this purpose, the collected data, which is triangulated with an online survey, semi-structured interviews, and SNS data, is both quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. The findings show that despite having what could be considered' truncated NMLs' (i.e. having different levels of literacies), IGSs successfully interact within participatory spaces. The quantitative and qualitative results indicate that multilingual students frequently engage in linguistic and multimodal practices by mobilizing a great diversity of linguistic and multimodal resources in identity performances. Furthermore, IGSs mediate transcultural content by means of semiotic resources to negotiate their membership in various home country and host country communities. It is concluded that multilingual students form, foster and maintain transnational identities in superdiverse digital contexts by mobilizing their often 'truncated repertoires' (Blommaert, 2010), which may include semiotic tools afforded by SNSs, language resources, and NMLs. This dissertation aims to make a value-added theoretical contribution to the current thinking of online superdiversity; a methodological contribution by employing Social Network Analysis as a data collection and analysis technique; and a pedagogical contribution by proposing that 'SNS Literacies', a set of social practices that are essential for navigation and participation of learners in superdiverse networks, be explicitly addressed within educational contexts.

Internet technology has made possible for students to be able to have access to continuous learning. Currently, online education has gained credibility and academic leaders' belief about its value has increased in the US (2014 Survey of Online Learning). Studies are no longer solely focused on comparing face-to-face to online learning, but on learning about how to improve the online experience. In the Language Teacher Education field, online learning options are growing and Language Teaching post-secondary programs, certificates, and professional development courses are readily available. Consequently, it is essential for providers to demonstrate quality of instruction and for students to reflect on their needs as online learners to receive a quality educational experience. Challenges now are related to the new affordances allowed by the online environment in relation to the teaching and learning process and how these technology advances might enhance it. This study explores students and instructors' perceptions of effective pedagogical practices in Online English Language Teaching Education (OLTE) courses. Instructors (N=18) and former students (N=125) from non-credit certificate, professional development and post-secondary credit OLTE courses were asked to complete an online survey that included items related to their perceptions regarding current pedagogical practices. Additionally, semi-structured interviews of 20 OLTE students, eight instructors, and two program coordinators were conducted to expand and support survey findings. The Community of Inquiry survey (Arbaugh et al., 2008) was the main tool used to evaluate students' satisfaction and its weight as validated instrument served to measure pedagogical practices considered effective for OLTE courses in particular. These OLTE practices labeled as Language Teacher Educator presence were first ranked by experts and subsequently included in the longer survey. A main component of these practices is the consideration of context as recommended by language teacher educators' authors Freeman, (2009), Graves (2009), Johnson (2009) and Murray (2013). Results of this study indicate positive perceptions about current pedagogical practices. However, the sense of collaboration between the groups surveyed presents a statistically significant difference. Analysis of surveys and interviews showed that instructional strategies can be improved. Issues for further research are related to collaborative tasks, the inclusion of oral participation, the perception of low instructors' presence in discussions, and a lack of variety of instructional activities.

The increasing contact among humans across the globe has shifted cultural, political, ecological, economic, and technological realities and boundaries that shape the shrinking world of the twenty-first century (Chen & Starosta, 2008; Spitzberg & Changnon, 2009). With this increasing contact and shift, today’s world is becoming semiopragmatically and socio-semiopragmatically more heterogeneous (Zuengler & Cole, 2005). This heterogeneity creates "zones of contact" (Pratt, 1991) which engender "sites of struggle" (Norton, 2000) for people from different socio-semiotic backgrounds. In these zones and sites, people encounter affective, cognitive, and behavioral challenges when communicating social and cultural meanings through the semiotic resources available to them (Halliday, 1978; Hodge & Kress, 1988; Hymes, 1962, 1964, 1972; Kramsch & Whiteside, 2008; Waugh, 1981, 1984). The reasons for these challenges basically have their roots in the socioculturally contexted nature of those semiotic resources that have particular semiotic potentials or affordances within or across communities of practice (Gibson, 1979; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Liddicoat, 2009; van Leeuwen, 2004).Based on these underpinnings, the current study defines the concept of communication through the lens of social semiotics and ethnography of communication–the combination of which is referred to as semio-ethnography in this research. The conceptualization of communication through semio-ethnography leads to a reformulation of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) regarding the three different and yet intertwined aspects of ICC, as suggested by Chen and Starosta (1998, 2000, 2008): affective (intercultural sensitivity), cognitive (intercultural awareness), and behavioral (intercultural adroitness). With this reformulation, this study proposes an alternative framework of ICC called the "Semio-Ethnographic Model of Intercultural Communicative Competence (SEMICC)". In the light of this alternative model, this research examines the ICC of Turkish international graduate students in the United States of America through the triangulation of an intercultural sensitivity scale (ISS), an oral discourse completion test (DCT), and semi-structured interviews. With this particular aim in mind, the obtained data are both quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. The findings indicate that the semio-ethnographic approach to communication can serve effectively to understand how communication takes place on the affective, cognitive, and behavioral planes in a given socio-semiotic world. Within the realm of this approach to communication, the findings show that intercultural sensitivity constitutes an important aspect of ICC because L2 learners' active desire and motivation to understand, respect, and acknowledge diversities or differences across socio-semiotic worlds can either promote or hinder the development of their ICC. The qualitative and quantitative results reveal that intercultural awareness establishes the ground for L2 learners' awareness of their own and others' socio-semiotic worlds because they need to detect the diversities among these socio-semiotic worlds and the sources of challenges to effective and appropriate navigation in the target socio-semiotic context. The findings also show that intercultural adroitness has equal importance in the crux of ICC because L2 learners need to use the semiotic resources (e.g., language, kinesics, proxemics, chronemics, and the like) available in in the target socio-semiotic world effectively and appropriately in order to communicate social and cultural meanings. Given these findings, this dissertation aims to enrich the ICC literature by offering various theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications and directions for future research and applications.

The concept of learner autonomy (LA) in second/foreign language education has been the central focus for many researchers (Benson, 2007, 2011, 2013; Holec, 1981; Gu & Nguyen, 2013; Little, 2007, 2009 and others) and has become a part of mainstream practice of language education in some educational contexts; however, there is still a high interest in researching language learner autonomy and ways to foster it. Partially, this renewed interest is due to advances in technology and pedagogy such as self-access centers, distance learning, blended learning and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in general and changes in educational policies (Benson 2011, 2013). Modern language learners are exposed to various choices in their language education such as numerous learning modes and a variety of language learning resources. However, this change means that learners must be capable of making informed decisions about their language education and taking some control over it in order to become successful and maximize their learning experience. There are examples of autonomous learning programs which place autonomy at the center, worldwide. Recently, the Center of English as a Second Language (CESL) at the University of Arizona (UA) created and implemented a new educational practice, Program for Intentional Learning (PIL). The goal of this program is to foster LA as well as equip CESL students with knowledge, skills, tools, and resources to be successful in both language learning and their future American college education. PIL is a hybrid program in terms of combining different approaches to fostering LA: resource-based, technology-based, curriculum-based, learner-based, and teacher-based (Benson, 2011).Responding to Benson's (2011) and Nguyen's (2012) call for more rigor in research on LA and educational interventions to promote LA, this dissertation follows the guidelines proposed by Nguyen (2012): a) having a clear operationalized definition of LA, (b) implementing both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and (c) piloting and validating tools. This dissertation examines the effectiveness of the PIL program in terms of its capacity to foster LA and to help CESL students to become more successful in learning English. The evaluation of the program was conducted as a multiple-case study of four participants with a mixed-method research design. The present study draws upon a main survey which measures a degree of LA as pre- and post-test, interviews with case study participants and their instructors, learning diary, and action plan comparison. Even though the comparison of pre- and post-survey scores revealed that only two case study participants had a significant change towards greater LA, all four participants reported changes in their learning behaviors. These changes point to a higher degree of LA, and all participants shared a positive overall evaluation of the PIL workshops. The study suggests that this type of educational intervention to promote LA can be effective, especially in developing metacognitive knowledge and skills, increasing participants' motivation and changing their attitude towards language learning and their teachers.

Children from a low socioeconomic status (SES) home environment are typically exposed to less vocabulary during the first few years of life and experience higher rates of poor school readiness, particularly in emergent literacy skills, when compared to middle-class peers (Bowey, 1995; Hart & Risley, 2003; Whitehurst, 1997). Early childhood education programs designed to expose this group to cognitively challenging utterances have found that low SES children tend to make greater gains in vocabulary development compared to middle-class peers (Justice, Meier, & Walpole, 2005).

Digital learning is becoming increasingly prevalent in colleges and universities in the United States (Allen & Seaman, 2013; Godev, 2014), including in the social field of second language learning. In larger language programs in particular, online and blended (partially online) courses are gaining popularity, such as the recently cited "hybrid revolution in Spanish-language learning" (Long, 2014, p. 1). Administrators look to digital solutions to tight finances, a lack of classroom space, and student demands. A current challenge in the field is helping instructors and students adapt to digital pedagogy and a new perspective: Technology provides innovative possibilities for instruction and interaction, not solely a distance replication of face-to-face courses (Blake, 2009, 2013, 2014; Goertler, 2011, 2014). To be successful, digital learning must include pedagogically sound course design and adequate support for both instructors and learners, requirements that may make this trend not as economical as originally believed (Godev, 2014).Responding to Hermosilla's (2014) declaration that "a pending task is to gather accurate data on existing hybrid Spanish programs in US colleges and universities in order to carry out comparative studies" (p. 3), this dissertation examines lower-division blended courses of languages other than English currently or recently taught at U.S. colleges and universities. The dissertation follows Wu's (2015) assumption that the courses appearing in the prior research literature might not be representative of the vast number of blended courses that now exist. The dissertation draws upon an original survey of 121 instructor and administrator participants representing 52 language programs and 13 languages, interviews with 21 of these participants, and surveys of 35 students in 4 participants' classes. Conducted using mixed methods and thematic analysis, the dissertation provides information about blended course designs so that other institutions can learn from them and emulate them. The study explores the choices that underlie the selection and development of curricula, materials, and technologies in blended language courses; student, instructor, and administrator perspectives on these courses; and support (training, professional development, and resources) available to participants. Most participants (98 in total) reported being very or somewhat satisfied with the current setup of their blended courses. Variables correlated with instructor satisfaction included a greater number of years of instruction (overall and in the blended format), instructors' amount of influence over the curriculum and materials, their choice of teaching blended classes, and the availability of technology training in their programs. Themes emerging from the interviews included an emphasis on the communicative approach, the use of textbook website packages and (in a few cases) open educational resources, a frustration with inadequate student preparation, instructor autonomy, and varying levels of support for instructors and students. Blended courses in basic language programs are best served when instructors choose their level of technological integration, contribute to the course design, and are offered preparation and support related to both technology and teaching methods. The study recommends ways that institutions, departments, instructors, and students of languages can make the most of digital pedagogy, not only in officially blended courses, but also in courses across the spectrum of technological integration, from fully face-to-face to fully online. Useful strategies include selecting and creating technological materials that align with the skills that instructors and administrators want students to develop, providing training and support for both pedagogy and technology to new and continuing instructors, and offering technological support to students. The lessons of this study are applicable not only to courses that are officially blended, but also to all language programs considering or evaluating new technological integrations.