published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This project mainly looks at the teachers’ and students’ views on ‘Task-based Language Teaching’ (TBLT) in a context of learning Chinese as a foreign language. This project first discusses the three pedagogical characteristics of TBLT – ‘meaning-focused’, ‘reinforcement’ and ‘flexibility’. It then discusses the limitations of previous literature on how TBLT can motivate students to learn Chinese as a foreign language. To feedback the current curriculum for teachers to carry out TBLT and to enrich the literature in this field, feedback from the users (i.e. teachers and students) was collected through systematic and methodical research methods. At the end of the research, two theoretical frameworks to evaluate TBLT design and how far it can motivate students are constructed in this project. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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This dissertation aimed to deepen knowledge and understanding of the impact of individual differences on Second Language (L2) learning and development. It investigated how a learner's chronic regulatory focus (RF, promotion vs. prevention) and regulatory mode (RM, assessment vs. locomotion) are related to linguistic characteristics. It also assessed how RF and RM moderate the effect of task complexity on the linguistic performance of writing, touching a highly controversial issue in the task based language instruction, in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). In an experiment, 55 college EFL learners were asked to complete the regulatory focus and mode questionnaires, and then to perform two writing tasks with varying task complexity; picture description task and argumentative writing task. For analysis, learners' regulatory foci and modes were evaluated, and learners' writing performances were assessed with three CAF measures. Correlation analyses revealed 1) the positive correlation between the level of assessment and lexical complexity 2) the negative correlation between the level of prevention and all measures of CAF, and 3) the negative correlation between the level of locomotion and accuracy. In order to analyze differences among the four groups divided by the predominance of RF/RM, the One-way ANOVA was conducted. The results revealed the significant mean differences in fluency and complexity across groups. In the analysis testing the effect of task complexity, the Paired sample t-test revealed learners significantly increased fluency and lexical complexity but no change in accuracy. However, the patterns determined from the individual group data were somewhat different from those obtained from the pooled group data. In addition, the results of the analysis of disaggregated data using 4x2 Repeated-measures ANOVA showed a significant main effect of task complexity on the measures of lexical complexity and again a significant main effect of regulatory orientations on the measure of fluency. The results of this study provided empirical support for establish theory and important implications for Second Language (L2) learning and development. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / November 13, 2018. / Includes bibliographical references. / Mostafa Papi, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael Leeser, University Representative; Phil Hiver, Committee Member; Elizabeth Jakubowski, Committee Member.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Portuguese

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Portuguese

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Portuguese

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Portuguese