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This dissertation examines the methodology behind using literature to teach Russian as a foreign language to intermediate level students. Due to the unpredictable trends in Russian student enrollment throughout the twentieth century, the development of a method to match student needs and encourage retention will benefit the field of Russian studies. To this end, this dissertation explores some of the past research regarding the role of the reading skill in foreign language classes. In addition, an examination of previous use of literature as a teaching tool in foreign language classrooms prompted development of possible materials for the Russian language. Based on the investigation of this research, current Russian language textbooks were analyzed in light of their inclusion of literary texts and overall methodological tenor. Following the textbook evaluations, a suggested methodology is elaborated for a textbook that integrates literary texts from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries with exercises for Russian language development. Samples of proposed teaching materials and a proposed table of contents for a textbook of applied literature are presented. The proposed materials focus on twelve literary texts of five hundred words or less, chosen from among twentieth and twenty-first century works of Russian prose. The twelve texts span the length of the twentieth century with one text representing each decade and two for the first decade of the twenty-first century. Different Russian authors, some of whom intermediate students may recognize but most of whom will be unfamiliar, represent each decade. Several sample materials were then tested for their feasibility in a second-year, second-semester Russian language course. Student volunteers were solicited to comment on and work with the test materials, determining a baseline for the practicality and necessity of the materials. Suggestions for future research recognize the importance of expanding the study beyond a limited scope. Finally, the place of applied literature is examined in light of current global tendencies and academic developments. / text

This dissertation presents Vepsian language revival as a case study for language revival movements. The Vepsian language is classified as seriously endangered by UNESCO and it is spoken by Veps, a Finno-Ugric minority in north western Russia. The discussion on literacy-orality interaction in rural and urban areas lies at the core of the dissertation. Since the beginning of the revival movement, activists have privileged literacy over orality in the promotion of Vepsian. Literacy became an emblem of political action as a way to promote the Vepsian language within a multi-ethnic society. The present ethnographic study aims to bring to the surface aspects of the Vepsian language which have not reached mainstream Vepsian revitalization. It shows Vepsian language ecology more comprehensively. In this dissertation, the phrase language ecology matches contemporary ideas of interaction and socialization with the world. The scope of the dissertation builds upon the work by Blommaert (2005) and Bourdieu (1992) in giving voice to the marginalised. It presents sets of language practices and their social symbolism which have been partially included in the revival of Vepsian. I refer to the oral practices of the Vepsian speech communities in rural areas of the Vepsän ma (V. ‘Vepsian land’) as opposed to the use of Vepsian literacy in the cities, especially Petrozavodsk. The present inquiry of the Vepsian revival movement provides the foundation for a theoretical discussion on the literacy and orality dualism. Not only has this dualism stressed the political importance of literacy in a post-Soviet context, it has also given space to the Vepsian oral mode and its social relevance. By drawing these two traditions together, the oral and the written, the thesis matches Vepsian traditional ontologies, the Vepsian sebr (V. ‘community’) whose unity had been affected by Soviet and contemporary political measures, language and social ideologies.

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This study explored the relationship between vocabulary size (i.e., breadth of knowledge), depth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension of Chinese-speaking ESL (English as a second language) university students in Canada. Both aspects of vocabulary knowledge, breadth and depth, continue to play roles in vocabulary research. Few studies, however, have focused on which aspect plays the predominant role in L2 reading. Using three language tests---the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) for reading comprehension, Nation's (1990) Vocabulary Levels Test, and Read's (1998) Word Associates Test---and verbal reports, the general purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, and the specific focus was to find out which aspect of vocabulary knowledge, breadth or depth, has greater impact on determining reading comprehension performance. The results demonstrate that (1) test scores on vocabulary size, depth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension are positively correlated, (2) vocabulary size is a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than depth of vocabulary knowledge, and (3) breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are closely interrelated and mutually facilitative. The findings suggest the importance of vocabulary size in reading comprehension for the population tested.

With English becoming a world language, an increasing number of non-native-English-speaking (NNES) students are pursuing studies in English-medium universities. Of these NNES students, Chinese students constitute a large proportion. Most of these Chinese students are NNES and need English language support to help them meet academic demands in English-speaking settings. However, there are a very limited number of studies conducted on linguistic needs and deficiencies among Chinese students at English-speaking universities in Canada. / The main objective of this thesis is to discover Chinese students' perceptions of academic English listening competence and to investigate their academic listening needs for academic success at Canadian universities. This small-scale study at two Canadian universities, conducted through a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews, fills a gap in the limited number of studies concerning Chinese students' language-development needs at Canadian universities. / Findings of this study support the following points. Firstly, Chinese students think that having sufficient English academic listening competence is crucial and necessary for academic success in academic English settings. Secondly, Chinese students still have difficulties in various academic listening skills, and factors that affect students' listening comprehension are both linguistically and socio-culturally related to the new settings. Thirdly, Chinese students still need target-language linguistic support even though they are admitted into English-medium universities. Finally, apart from academic listening competence, Chinese students report deficiencies in academic writing, reading and speaking as well. In addition, this study also suggests that Chinese students may lack good strategies for enhancing their English-language proficiency.

English as a foreign language (EFL) is quite different from English as a second language (ESL) in many respects. Few EFL studies, however, have been conducted with consideration given to the unique EFL environment. This case study of South Korean elementary EFL was designed to evaluate the previous (1997--2000) and new (2001-- ) curricula and materials based on the researcher's experience and a review of the literature. / This study first suggests communicative language teaching (CLT) criteria appropriate for elementary school pupils who are beginning to learn EFL in Korea, and then evaluates the two CLT-based curricula for the 4th grade based on the suggested criteria. Second, this study aims to examine the two different material sets for the two curricula focusing on spoken language communicative activities. For the material comparison, the Sisayoungasa Co. material set, one of 16 sets based on the previous curriculum, is compared to the new material set based on the 7th curriculum. / Perceptions of the curriculum and material change were considered from three perspectives: three teachers, a policy maker and a researcher. It was revealed that opinions from the three perspectives vary considerably. The study also found that despite the recent attempt to implement CLT-based elementary EFL, there are still deficiencies in the Korean elementary EFL curriculum and materials.

Recently, there has been growing interest in the status of functional projections (i.e. the determiner phrase (DP), the inflectional phrase (IP), and the complementizer phrase (CP)) in first language (L1) development. / The purpose of this study of child second language (L2) acquisition was to determine the status of functional projections in the first months of L2 development. Data from two child subjects (with English as their L1) acquiring French as an L2 were examined for evidence of DP, IP and CP. The results show that all functional projections are present in the grammar from the earliest months of child L2 development. The implications of this finding for L1 and L2 acquisition theories are discussed.

This inquiry explores six Korean students' personal narratives about their living and learning experiences in their study abroad contexts. My goal is to examine the relationships between learner agency and symbolic power embedded in these six students' second language (L2) sociocultural contexts such as school, home and communities. The theoretical framework is derived primarily from Vygotskian sociocultural theory, Bakhtinian dialogic theory, and Bourdieuian critical approach to language practices. Drawing on an interpretive qualitative approach, I examine social, cultural, historical and political forces that influence the ways these students perceive, evaluate and negotiate their challenges and struggles in their social worlds. In a conventional approach to language studies, students are often seen as passive objects to be controlled by task instructions provided by classroom teachers. A growing number of L2 researchers challenge the artificial distinction between language learners and their social worlds. They emphasize that L2 learning should go far beyond mastery of vocabulary and syntax. However, over-simplified understanding of sociocultural influences on L2 practices can stereotype L2 students from the same cultural background assuming they share similar knowledge, beliefs and values. A reductionistic stance of culture has the danger of neglecting the complexity of L2 individuals' different voices and meaning-making processes. I argue that these L2 learners are far more complex than just 'ESL students' or 'non-native speakers'. I collected the participants' narratives for a six-month period primarily through open-ended interviews, including a variety of documentation such as samples of course work, personal notes, emails, and field notes. The analyses of the data suggests that although all six participants share certain commonalities such as being Korean and being educated in a Korean national educational system, they are quite diverse in the challenges they experience and types of symbolic power they perceive, evaluate and negotiate in their different social worlds. While engaging in various L2 literacy practices, they were consciously crossing different social spaces, taking different positionings, and negotiating among multiple beliefs, values and meanings about social relations of power. Their agency to negotiate the complex social relations of power manifests in the ways they invest in achieving different forms of capital, such as 'cheong' relationships as social capital and searching for meaning in life as spiritual capital. The data implies that L2 students are complex yet active social agents. Thus, these students' struggles in their L2 learning processes should be conceived as a complex process of exercising learner agency in their multiple social worlds, rather than be attributed only to cognitive capability or lack of motivation.