The purpose of this study was to examine how motivation and anxiety within learners studying a foreign language are affected by a participant's language requirement (whether a participant has a language requirement as part of their education), language class level, and language learning environment (those with traditional classroom verses significant in- country experience). The current study surveyed and analyzed the responses of 124 students currently enrolled in a language class at Brigham Young University. Self- reported survey results demonstrate the relationship between motivation and anxiety with relation to language class level, language learning experience, and language requirement fulfillment. Further analyses were done in order to explore the interaction of different types of motivation (instrumental, integrative, intrinsic and resultative) and different types of anxiety (classroom, text anxiety and fear of negative evaluation) on the three factors examined in this study. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in motivation for participants whose major required taking foreign language courses and those whose major did not require a foreign language. Specifically, the results of the sub types of motivation (integrative, intrinsic, instrumental, and resultative) indicated that those that were required to take the language as a requirement had higher instrumental motivation than those that were not required to take a foreign language. The second significant finding of this study is that there was no effect on motivation and anxiety levels of participants with regard to language class level with one exception. Students at the 200 level had greater language class anxiety and lower resultative motivation than the other levels did. The third significant finding was that significant in- country experience did not affect motivation or anxiety. These results demonstrate that several factors may influence students' motivation and anxiety levels when learning a foreign language.

The purpose of this study was to examine how motivation and anxiety within learners studying a foreign language are affected by a participant's language requirement (whether a participant has a language requirement as part of their education), language class level, and language learning environment (those with traditional classroom verses significant in- country experience). The current study surveyed and analyzed the responses of 124 students currently enrolled in a language class at Brigham Young University. Self- reported survey results demonstrate the relationship between motivation and anxiety with relation to language class level, language learning experience, and language requirement fulfillment. Further analyses were done in order to explore the interaction of different types of motivation (instrumental, integrative, intrinsic and resultative) and different types of anxiety (classroom, text anxiety and fear of negative evaluation) on the three factors examined in this study. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in motivation for participants whose major required taking foreign language courses and those whose major did not require a foreign language. Specifically, the results of the sub types of motivation (integrative, intrinsic, instrumental, and resultative) indicated that those that were required to take the language as a requirement had higher instrumental motivation than those that were not required to take a foreign language. The second significant finding of this study is that there was no effect on motivation and anxiety levels of participants with regard to language class level with one exception. Students at the 200 level had greater language class anxiety and lower resultative motivation than the other levels did. The third significant finding was that significant in- country experience did not affect motivation or anxiety. These results demonstrate that several factors may influence students' motivation and anxiety levels when learning a foreign language.

Doctor Educationis / This study explores the principles of form-focused tasks for Xhosa second language at tertiary level. The latest developments in second language acquisition and in pedagogy are reviewed. The study field of second language acquisition developed from within the confines of applied linguistics as the result of a search for more effective language teaching methodology. While acknowledging the fact that Universal Grammar plays a role in the acquisition of both a first and a second language, there is general agreement that there is a difference between the two processes. A prominent issue in current second language acquisition research is the degree of access that a learner has to Universal Grammar in the acquisition of a second language. Some salient features of Universal Grammar such as principles and parameter settings, markedness, transfer and fossilization are explored in this study. Different syllabus types are reviewed. Task-based syllabus types are described as a suitable syllabus type for the current paradigm. Input enhancement in terms of a focus on form is suggested as a way to achieve effective second language learning and teaching. Ways to adapt study materials according to the requirements of a task-based approach are explored.

L2 learners experience difficulties discriminating L2 contrasts that are absent in their L1. Popular theoretical frameworks (e.g., SLM, PAM, L2LP) make predictions about the acquisition of L2 phonemes, however, they do not consider the extent of L1 allophonic variability as a factor in the acquisition of L2 contrasts. In order to begin addressing this, the present study compared the perceptual discrimination of two English vowel contrasts by L1 Mandarin speakers, a language with a region of high variability in the vowel space, and L1 Korean speakers, a language without this variability. It was found that the Mandarin group was less accurate than their Korean counterparts for the English vowel contrast that is in the mid region of the vowel space, where there is high variability in the L1 Mandarin vowel inventory. This finding suggests that allophonic variability in the L1 needs to be taken into account when making theory-driven predictions concerning the acquisition of specific phonological categories of the L2.

Thesis advisor: Patrick Proctor / This study is an investigation of Arabic native speakers' (ANSs) acquisition of the English causative-inchoative alternation (e.g. <italic>Tom broke the vase</italic> vs. <italic>The vase broke</italic>). Emphasis is placed on the relationship between English proficiency, language transfer, and Universal Grammar mechanisms in ANSs' interlanguage representations. Four central research questions guide the study: (1) Does the English causative-inchoative alternation pose a learnability problem for ANSs? (2) Do ANSs distinguish between unaccusative and unergative verbs in English? (3) Are there L1 transfer effects on ANSs' acquisition of the English causative-inchoative alternation? (4) Are there differences across English proficiency levels with respect to the answers to questions 1-3? To address these questions, an acceptability judgment and correction task was administered to a total of 119 ANSs (from the Gaza Strip, Palestine) of different English proficiency levels. Additionally, 23 American native speakers of English served as controls. The results obtained from data analyses indicated that the English causative-inchoative alternation posed a learnability problem for the Arab participants. They exhibited four major non-target behaviors: overpassivization (both ungrammatical and unnatural), overcausativization, underpassivization, and undercausativization. It is argued that these errors can largely be attributed to L1 transfer, since Arabic is significantly different from English in terms of how to encode the causative-inchoative alternation. The results also revealed sensitivity to the unaccusative-unergative distinction in English, which supports the hypothesis that ANSs have access to the innate mechanisms of Universal Grammar. Moreover, while interlanguage development towards target-like behavior was observed across proficiency groups, certain test conditions revealed a strong influence of L1 transfer on even the high proficiency participants. The findings from the study are inconsistent with the modular view of L1 transfer (Montrul, 2000), but they lend support to the hypothesis that L1 transfer operates not only on morphology, but on lexical argument structure as well (Whong-Barr, 2005). The study is an attempt to fill a gap in the literature, since no research has specifically investigated the acquisition of the English causative-inchoative alternation by ANSs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Curriculum and Instruction.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the Degree of Masters of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Needs at the University of Zululand, 2017 / This study is a descriptive survey designed to investigate challenges teachers encounter in teaching English reading and writing in the uThungulu District schools. This study comprised 44 teachers who were purposely sampled on grounds of availability. Views were sampled through the use of a self-made questionnaire. This study addressed three research questions, namely: (i) what are the challenges teachers encounter in teaching reading in the Intermediate Phase? (ii) what are challenges teachers encounter in teaching writing in the Intermediate Phase? (iii) what factors contribute to difficulties in teaching English reading and writing in the Intermediate Phase? The study used a qualitative and quantitative questionnaire and the survey design. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) resulting in descriptive data. The findings of the study revealed that teachers were faced with numerous challenges which included, among others, learners who are unable to read and construct complete sentences, their inability to write as characterised by errors in spelling and poor punctuation. In addition to these challenges, mother tongue interference, teaching methods used by teachers, and overloading of the curriculum were also experiences of the teachers. Another salient finding was the lack of support for teachers from both the department and parents. Recommendations made from the study were that teachers need to be trained in efficient methods of teaching reading and writing. Teachers also need to be trained in identifying learners with special needs as early as possible and refer them accordingly. Workshops and campaigns designed by the department of education need to be planned and conducted early in the year and need to be implemented in manageable packages. Teachers need to be equipped on how to encourage their learners to read for pleasure and provide reading material that is interesting to their learners.

abstract: Computer assisted language learning (CALL) has become increasingly common as a means of helping learners develop essential skills in a second or foreign language. However, while many CALL programs claim to be based on principles of second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research, evaluation of design and learning outcomes at the level of individual CALL exercises is lacking in the existing literature. The following proposed study will explore the design of computer-based vocabulary matching exercises using both written text and images and the effects of various design manipulations on learning outcomes. The study will use eye-tracking to investigate what users attend to on screen as they work through a series of exercises with different configurations of written words and images. It will ask whether manipulation of text and image features and combinations can have an effect on learners’ attention to the various elements, and if so, whether differences in levels of attention results in higher or lower scores for measures of learning. Specifically, eye-tracking data will be compared to post-test scores for recall and recognition of target vocabulary items to look for a correlation between levels of attention to written forms in-task and post-test gains in scores for vocabulary learning. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis English 2019

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Given recent calls for university composition policies that are informed by the actual practices and populations of students at a given institution (Tardy, 2011), this study investigated student and instructor perceptions and attitudes toward using online translators (e.g., Google Translate or Babelfish) for composition assignments. The study analyzed interview data from four international students and three English composition instructors to understand how the use of online translators was explained, justified, and contextualized by these two groups. This study revealed that although both students and instructors believed that online translators afforded an opportunity for language learning, the participants still aligned with dominant ideologies of plagiarism and were wary of the use of these services. In conclusion to the study, recommendations were made for instructors to moderate more in-class discussions about the use of technology during the writing process and to define the appropriate and inappropriate uses of such technology more clearly.