<p> This study examined the effectiveness of an evidenced-based reading intervention, Word Sort, with bilingual students receiving dual immersion education. This study expands upon the existing research on Word Sort by examining its impact on bilingual students&rsquo; reading fluency. The following research questions was proposed: Is Word Sort an effective intervention with bilingual (dual immersion) students who are struggling early readers? A visual analysis and effect size of participants&rsquo; data across baseline and treatment conditions found that all three participants&rsquo; Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) improved. This suggests that Word Sort is a promising intervention for bilingual, dual immersion students with reading delays.</p>

Inledning Jag har valt att göra en studie i lärares uppfattningar om tidig undervisning i ämnet engelska. Min undersökning belyser fyra lärares uppfattningar om fördelar respektive nackdelar med en tidig start av undervisning i engelska. Vidare beskrivs hur undervisningstillfällen i de olika årskurserna i ämnet engelska kan se ut i de yngre åldrarna. Studien tar också upp vardagsengelskan som barn exponeras för varje dag i samhället och om detta påverkar elevernas kunskaper i ämnet. Syfte Syftet med min undersökning har varit att ta reda på lärares uppfattningar kring en tidig undervisning i ämnet engelska. Undersökningen har även till syfte att redovisa hur fritidsengelskan bidrar till elevers kunskaper i engelska. Jag formulerade fyra frågeställningar till min studie som lyder följande, Vad har en tidig respektive senare introducering av engelskundervisning för påverkan på elevernas kunskaper? Vilka för- eller nackdelar kan det finnas med en tidig engelskundervisning? Hur ser undervisningen ut i engelska i de tidiga åren? Hur bidrar fritidsengelskan till elevernas kunskaper i engelska? Metod Den här studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ metod där jag valde att använda mig av intervjuer. Ansatsen fenomenografi har inspirerat min studie i analysfasen. Resultat Under undersökningen framkom det att många barn är intresserade och motiverade till att lära sig engelska i de yngre åldrarna. Det framkom också att yngre barn har lättare för att lära sig engelska och har specifikt lättare för uttal än äldre barn. Äldre barn har dock lättare för den grammatiska delen då de redan har lärt sig grammatiken i sitt första språk. Enligt de intervjuade lärarna ger vardagsengelskan barnen god kunskap i det engelska språket och detta är väsentligt för oss som lärare att ta vara på i skolan. Studien visade att undervisningen i engelska ser väldigt lika ut i de olika årskurserna. Det framkom även att en allmän uppfattning hos lärarna var att eleverna lär sig tillräckligt mycket engelska utanför skolan och att de då inte är oroliga för en senare start av engelskaundervisningen.

This dissertation presents the development of the Kachruvian paradigm of world Englishes and sheds light on keynotions in each developmental stage of Braj Kachru’s research. It intends to answer the question: how was the Kachruvian paradigm of world Englishes formed? Thiswas not the initial aim of the project. Instead, its significance has two phases, a pre-project and post-project phase. The pre-project goal was an attempt to clarify various misunderstandings or misrepresentations of world Englishes as a field of study as well as a sociolinguistic phenomenon. However, when approaching the completion of this dissertation, the actual significance (the post-project) gradually shifted. It evolved into a working answer to the research question, that is what events and influences reveal the process of the development of what has come to be known as the Kachruvian paradigm of world Englishes. The beginning of the process can be dated back to Braj Kachru’s graduate school years, when he hesitated to affirm the linguistic and sociolinguistic existence of Indian English; his death marked the end of his development of the paradigm, but the field of world Englishes, which had reached global interest long before then, has continued to cultivate scholars of English varieties around the world. The description of the development of the paradigm undertaken in this dissertation is a close review of Kachru’s work over five decades (the 1960s to the 2000s).

Due to the detrimental effects of apartheid on the South African learning environment the implementation of language policies aimed at fostering multilingual and multicultural education to attain educational equity are rendered impractical (DoE, 1995; de Wet, 2002; Pretorius, 2002b). As a result many L2 learners in English medium school are struggling to reach their academic potential due to their lack of cognitive academic English language proficiency. This study aimed to analyse the effects of L1 and L2 reading ability for high school learners’ who were exposed to a reading intervention over a two year period, compared with those who did not experience the intervention. The results indicated that although learners’ improved in their performance on measures of comprehension and vocabulary over time, those who were exposed to the additional experience of a reading intervention did not improve to a significantly greater extent than those who did not take part in the reading intervention. Furthermore, the reading intervention did not serve to significantly narrow the gap in reading ability between L1 and L2 learners. Reasons for the results, limitations to the study, recommendations for future research, and implications for the South African learning context are discussed.

Degree: MA in Psychology by Coursework and Research Report, 2016 / A comprehensive study has demonstrated that language experience provides cognitive benefits above the attainment of a second language (Bialystok, Craik, Green & Gollan, 2009) and thus it is purported that being a bi/multilingual stimulates memory and other executive functions (Jessner, 1999).The relation between language experience and verbal working memory and visual and verbal long-term memory was explored by assessing 30 healthy, young multilingual adults. The instruments that were used for this study are as follows: The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) which rated self-reported language experience/s, the Letter-Number Sequencing subtest from the WAIS-IV which assessed verbal working memory, the Visual Reproduction (VR) subtest from the WMS-IV which evaluated visual long-term memory and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) which measured verbal memory and learning. The results of the ANOVA statistics found that there was a correlation between language experience and verbal long-term memory (which was measured by utilising the RAVLT), but no links between language experience and verbal working memory and visual long-term memory were found. The results suggest that the language experience of young, multilingual adult South Africans is not related with verbal working memory and visual long-term memory. / MT2017

Submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters in Educational Psychology At the: University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg / South Africa is a multicultural and multilingual country. The majority of learners (90%) speak a mother tongue that is not English. The language of instruction is however English. English has become the dominant language in education, commerce and industry and therefore proficiency in the language is imperative. In order to help learners learn more efficiently, and to inform education policy making, an exploration of what language learning strategies learners from divergent mother tongue backgrounds employ, is beneficial. This study was conducted in a high school, in a township area of Gauteng, South Africa in order to investigate whether there is a relationship between the mother tongue of South African high school learners and English second language learning strategies employed by these learners. The sample consisted of 107 Grade 8-Grade 12 participants who were receiving instruction in English, with their mother tongue specified as one of the 9 African languages. Learners were asked to complete a 50 item questionnaire, as well as a demographical information form. The results showed that although there was no significant relationship between mother tongue and English second language learning strategies used by high school learners, other variables such as number of years of English language instruction and age were significant variables that influenced choice of English language learning strategy use. It was also found that metacognitive strategies were the most commonly used English language learning strategies. Research on the relationship between mother tongue and language learning strategy use is imperative given the significant number of learners that would benefit from this research and subsequent interventions implemented. / AC2018

This research identifies and classifies incoming learning behaviours found amongst a sample of English second language first year engineering students. During the research process, it was discovered that students entering university for an engineering/science based degree tend to struggle with the English lecture style and the pace of work at a first year level due to their having been taught in their mother tongue or through the use of code switching in their school years. It was further identified that the students who took part in the sample were highly reliant on notes and lecturers for ‘obtaining knowledge’ that could be utilized in the answering of problems. The findings indicate that English second language students who had been taught in Black schools had a limited view of knowledge that was dependant on received knowledge. It was further found that with the exception of students who had been taught in English only schools, there appeared little correlation between the matriculation aggregates of the students and their first year engineering marks. Where English second language first year engineering students exhibited some learning behaviours that suggest an aptitude for success in higher education, the findings suggest that the students who took part in the study do not feel supported at university. The findings, while complicated in nature, also suggest that university structures and procedures are not responsive to the specific needs of the sample group. It is the recommendation of this study that further research be undertaken amongst a larger sample group if curricular changes amongst first year engineering courses are to be considered.

Submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters in Educational Psychology At the: University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg January 2016 / South Africa is a multicultural and multilingual country. The majority of learners (90%) speak a mother tongue that is not English. The language of instruction is however English. English has become the dominant language in education, commerce and industry and therefore proficiency in the language is imperative. In order to help learners learn more efficiently, and to inform education policy making, an exploration of what language learning strategies learners from divergent mother tongue backgrounds employ, is beneficial. This study was conducted in a high school, in a township area of Gauteng, South Africa in order to investigate whether there is a relationship between the mother tongue of South African high school learners and English second language learning strategies employed by these learners. The sample consisted of 107 Grade 8-Grade 12 participants who were receiving instruction in English, with their mother tongue specified as one of the 9 African languages. Learners were asked to complete a 50 item questionnaire, as well as a demographical information form. The results showed that although there was no significant relationship between mother tongue and English second language learning strategies used by high school learners, other variables such as number of years of English language instruction and age were significant variables that influenced choice of English language learning strategy use. It was also found that metacognitive strategies were the most commonly used English language learning strategies. Research on the relationship between mother tongue and language learning strategy use is imperative given the significant number of learners that would benefit from this research and subsequent interventions implemented

Thesis advisor: Maria E. Brisk / Drawing on Collins' (2009) framework on domination and seeing language as a signifier (Bhaba, 1994), this critical ethnography explores the relationship between language and power within the context of a school focused on serving the needs of newcomer immigrant youth in the United States, a country that has increasingly become polarized around issues of immigration, social, and educational policy. Conducting observations in multiple social contexts and informal/semi-structured interviews, the study focuses on six non-Spanish speaking newcomer immigrant youth navigating a particular phenomenon - English and Spanish being dominant languages in their social contexts inside and outside of school. Data were analyzed using guidelines of critical ethnography (Carspecken, 1996). Salient findings include issues of assimilation, meritocracy, and invisibility at the school. The importance of transnational connection, restoration, and accessing social and cultural capital outside of school were also noteworthy. Suggested additions to theorizing work and research with this population as well as critical implications for newcomer schools are also presented. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Susan Bruce / The prevalence of children with severe and multiple disabilities who come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds increased considerably with the rise of immigration to the U.S. However, there is very little research about the way that children with disabilities who come from a culturally and linguistically diverse background communicate and develop communication skills (Mueller, Singer, & Carranza, 2006). Furthermore, there is no established term for describing this group of children. That is why this study uses the term Prelinguistic bilinguals to define individuals who use one or more languages at a nonverbal level in their everyday lives. This definition of prelinguistic bilinguals was built upon Grosjean’s (2010) definition of bilingualism. Knowing how prelinguistic bilingual children communicate and develop communication skills is fundamental for their educational team in order to effectively interact and support the children’s communication, which in turn would have a positive effect on their learning outcomes. The main goals of this study were to describe the communication of prelinguistic bilingual children and to learn more about what teachers, teacher assistants, speech language pathologists, and parents do to support their communication in English and Spanish. This qualitative study uses a constructivist theory approach to make in-case and across-case analyses of three case studies. Findings for the study indicated that prelinguistic bilingual children were not only aware of a difference between the two languages, but could also express a preference for one of their languages. Most of the communication supports that the participating adults provided for prelinguistic bilingual children were the same communication supports used for monolingual children developing language, which did not consider the children’s bilingual needs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.