Many second language (L2) teachers are concerned about the use of computers in the classroom and question the value of using them if they do not promote meaningful interaction. Research performed on French as a Second Language (FSL) students’ language interaction at the computer agrees with Mohan's (1986) research on English as a Second Language students' language interaction which suggests that the quantity and quality of interaction is lower during computer tasks compared to conversation. Secondly, analysis of the codeswitching (CS) of the FSL students' interaction suggests that intersentential CS shows functional variation in discourse during computer use compared to conversation. This study examines the use of the computer to facilitate interaction as well as the possible role of CS in second language acquisition. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Two developmental theories propose guidelines for professional development programs. The basic assumption shared by both these theories is that teachers' preferences will vary between individuals and that this variation reflects different stages of teachers' development. Teachers at lower levels of development (either professional or conceptual) will prefer highly structured programs that focus on "concrete" concerns, with little interaction between peers. Teachers at higher levels of development will prefer loosely structured programs, with more teacher interaction, autonomy, and discussion of theoretical problems underlying "concrete" issues. This study investigated: 1) FSL teachers' preferences for decision-making roles and for content in professional development programs; 2) FSL teacher characteristics possibly influencing teachers' preferences for professional development. Teachers' preferences were measured using an instrument developed by the researcher. The survey consisted of two parts: 1) A section on teachers' characteristics, providing a profile of the teacher's background and current professional development opportunities; 2) A questionnaire on teachers' preferences for structure and content in professional development programs. The survey was answered by 132 teachers from 12 school districts in British Columbia (12.2% of all French teachers in British Columbia). The findings showed that respondents would like to actively participate in professional development programs. Teachers' preferences for structure and content were varied. This supports one basic assumption of developmental approaches: that the learning environment and material of professional development programs should be designed to meet the varied needs of teachers. Teachers did not express a preference for lower level content and a directive structure of professional development. While professional development programs should address the varied needs of participating teachers, it should not be aimed primarily at lower levels of development, as can be assumed from the findings of developmental research. When teachers' characteristics were examined as possible factors influencing teachers' preferences for structure and content, no significant differences were observed between teacher characteristics and their preferences for content. Significant differences were observed between teacher characteristics and teachers' preferences for structure (decision-making roles). Two teacher characteristics showed significance: 1) Grade level taught by FSL teachers and their preference for structure in the presentation of professional development content. A significant number of elementary school teachers preferred to leave responsibility for presentation with a supervisor. A significant number of secondary teachers preferred a collaborative structure. 2) Significant differences were observed between teachers' current professional development opportunities and their preferences for decision-making roles in a professional development structure. A significant number of teachers that had previously had responsibility for decision-making expressed a preference for a non-directive structure. Teachers that had never had responsibility preferred to leave decision-making to a supervisor. From these results, it can be concluded that teacher characteristics might be influencing teachers' preferences and should be taken into account by organizers of professional development. The responsibility experienced by teachers in their current professional development activities would appear to be a factor influencing their preferences for future responsibility. The importance of environment in stimulating growth would appear to be a factor deserving the consideration of both practitioners intending to adopt a developmental approach and researchers in this area. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

This research documents one junior high school's mainstream teachers' perceptions of the ESL students in their classrooms and the ESL program that services these students. Using qualitative methods appropriate for descriptive case study research, the open-ended questionnaire and the semi-structured interview (Johnson, 1992), the study sought to discover the emic perspective of mainstream teachers who taught ESL students on a daily basis. It was found that a variety of "effects" surrounded the ESL phenomenon at the research site both at the classroom and programmatic levels. At the classroom level the diverse cultural backgrounds and attitudes of ESL students were seen to have both beneficial and challenging effects on mainstream teachers and classrooms. Conversely, mainstream classrooms had effects on ESL students which were manifested in both desirable and undesirable ways. At the programmatic level, it was found that the model of ESL service delivery, wherein mainstream teachers were responsible for a substantial percentage of the ESL students' education, effected perceptions of particular responsibilities and needs among mainstream teachers, most notably more communication with ESL "experts". Respondents in the study also suggested ways ESL service could be delivered more effectively, given the cognitive and affective needs of ESL learners and the communication and ESL expertise needs of mainstream teachers. The study has a number of implications at both practical and theoretical levels. In practice, a number of useful functions for the ESL classroom have been suggested, specifically as a place for the fostering of self esteem, social networks, social and cultural skills and academic remediation. The ESL program is also implied to be in need of more funding, and a recommendation is further made for increased ESL training in pre-service teachers. The study concludes by reiterating a call for more ethnographic research describing different facets and perspectives of the ESL students' experiences in mainstream classrooms.

This research documents one junior high school's mainstream teachers' perceptions of the ESL students in their classrooms and the ESL program that services these students. Using qualitative methods appropriate for descriptive case study research, the open-ended questionnaire and the semi-structured interview (Johnson, 1992), the study sought to discover the emic perspective of mainstream teachers who taught ESL students on a daily basis. It was found that a variety of "effects" surrounded the ESL phenomenon at the research site both at the classroom and programmatic levels. At the classroom level the diverse cultural backgrounds and attitudes of ESL students were seen to have both beneficial and challenging effects on mainstream teachers and classrooms. Conversely, mainstream classrooms had effects on ESL students which were manifested in both desirable and undesirable ways. At the programmatic level, it was found that the model of ESL service delivery, wherein mainstream teachers were responsible for a substantial percentage of the ESL students' education, effected perceptions of particular responsibilities and needs among mainstream teachers, most notably more communication with ESL "experts". Respondents in the study also suggested ways ESL service could be delivered more effectively, given the cognitive and affective needs of ESL learners and the communication and ESL expertise needs of mainstream teachers. The study has a number of implications at both practical and theoretical levels. In practice, a number of useful functions for the ESL classroom have been suggested, specifically as a place for the fostering of self esteem, social networks, social and cultural skills and academic remediation. The ESL program is also implied to be in need of more funding, and a recommendation is further made for increased ESL training in pre-service teachers. The study concludes by reiterating a call for more ethnographic research describing different facets and perspectives of the ESL students' experiences in mainstream classrooms. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

As a result of the high price paid in time and concern by students, parents and educators in educating a child in French Immersion only to find that s/he would be better off in an English classroom, a predictor is needed to decide early in a child's life whether or not s/he is a good candidate for French Immersion. A 'good candidate' would be someone who would be able to learn French and , as a corollary, not be handicapped academically by being instructed in French. The present study is an examination of the L2 learning aspect of French Immersion. In particular this paper will explore the possibility that 'fast mapping',the ability to quickly make a partial representation of the meaning, form and use of a word after hearing it only a few times, may be a predictor of success in acquiring a second language irrespective of overall academic achievement. In a procedure adapted from Dollaghan (1985) eighteen students in Grade 2 French Immersion, seventeen in Grade 3 French Immersion and five former French Immersion students now in the Grade 3 English program were exposed to an unusually shaped, as yet unnamed object in the course of a hiding game. This object was randomly assigned one of a set of nonsense names. The children were then administered a 10 minute oral French Comprehension Test as a distractor before being tested for their comprehension and production of the new word. The scores on these tasks, which are an indication of "fast mapping" skill, did not correlate with i) number of years exposure to a second language, ii) age, iii) teacher ratings of oral French or iv) academic ability, v) oral French comprehension or vi) inclusion in French Immersion. This suggests that this set of fast mapping tasks is not a good predictor of success in second language learning or French Immersion. More research is needed to ascertain the reciprocal effect of L2 learning on fast mapping skills, the development of fast mapping skills with age, and the effect of a more complex fast mapping task on the fast mapping performance of school age children. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

The primary goal of this project is to clarify the contexts of English as Foreign-language instructional program in Taiwan. Bilteracy is the acquistion and learning of the decoding and encoding of print, using two linguistic and cultural sytems in order to convey mesages in a variety of contexts. Through learning biliteracy, second-language learners gain benefits in cognitive and cultural development.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relation of language and cognitive factors to biliteracy development among EFI first grade children. Variables of interest included phonological awareness, print awareness, level of operativity, English/French verbal ability, and influences in the home environment (e.g. socioeconomic status, parent's level of education, time spent on reading activities). A battery of language, cognitive and reading tests was administered in Fall and again in Spring of the first grade to sixty-eight preliterate Anglophone children. A parent questionnaire yielded information pertaining to socioeconomic status, and reading related leizure activities in the home. A teacher questionnaire provided details which described the various classroom environments of the children in the study. Results of correlational analyses indicate that phonological and print awareness both form a significant, positive relationship with French and English reading. Level of operativity and level of English verbal ability did not correlate significant with any measure of reading. The pattern of correlations between French verbal ability tasks and French/English reading was inconsistent. Four of the six French verbal measures correlated significantly, but weakly with French reading and only one measure formed a significant positive correlation with English reading. Analyses of scatterplots which showed the relation of phonological abilities to reading suggest that phonological awareness is a necessary, but not sufficient skill for learning to read. Several children who had mastered a French phonological test could not decode French words; however, there were no children who were good readers who did not score above the sample mean on at least one measure of phonological awareness. Step-wise multiple regression analyses of sample performance on measures of reading and phonological awareness indicate print awareness is the best predictor of reading achievement in French and English. Scores on phonological measures were able to account for residual variance after print awareness had entered the equation. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed and recommendations for further research are presented. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

An intrinsic case study was conducted to understand what helps Early Care and Education (ECE) English as a Second Language (ESL) students to enroll in a customized ECE ESL course at a local state college and what barriers may hinder their success in the course. This research examined whether the following were either motivators or barriers or both in ECE ESL participants enrolling in an ECE ESL customized course: course design and delivery, student support systems, student self-motivation, student self- efficacy, time and schedule commitment, instructor and student relationship, availability of resources, and level of classroom involvement. The results revealed that the students were highly motivated to enroll and complete the course successfully. Across the board, there was (1) a sense of gratitude from the participants for being afforded an opportunity to learn the English language, (2) evidence of knowledge of their future goals, and (3) their knowledge that learning English was their first step in achieving their goals. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Bilinguals commonly report experiencing emotions differently depending on which language are they speaking. Emotionally loaded words were expected to be appraised differently in first versus second language in a sample of Spanish-English bilinguals (n=117). English (L2) ratings were subtracted from Spanish (L1) ratings; the resulted scores were used as dependent variable in the analyses. Three categories of words (positive, negative and taboo) were appraised in both languages (English and Spanish)and two sensory modalities (Visual and auditory). The differences in valence scores in Spanish (L1) and English (L2) were expected to be significantly higher when presented aurally than when presented visually. Additionally, taboo words were expected to yield larger differential scores than negative and positive words. The 2 X 3 general linear model (GLM) revealed no significant effect of sensory modality but a significant effect of word type. Additional analyses of the influence of language and sensory modality within each word category resulted in significant differences in ratings between languages. Positive word ratings were higher (more positive) in English than in Spanish. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This thesis surveyed the perceptions and preferences of experienced ESL teachers in British Columbia concerning their second language teacher education (SLTE). The study asked what skills and knowledge were important for SLTE in light of teaching experience, and what experiences and activities for training were preferred in light of past training or personal learning styles. A 92-item questionnaire based on one used by Richards and Hino (1983) was distributed to 412 teachers, members of an ESL teacher association. The response rate was 32.76%. The results of a descriptive statistical analysis indicated that generally, the respondents had not frequently received training for skills and knowledge that they considered to be high priority. In addition, the items for which the respondents had received adequate training were not frequently indicated as high priority items for SLTE. The data was further broken down by levels of training, years of experience, and learner age groups. This analysis also revealed some interesting differences among the respondents. Recommendations were made that SLTE programme planners take trainees' needs into account and that they model what they propose to be good teaching approaches. Finally, possible areas for further research are discussed.