This study compares the teaching practices of English academic writing teachers from China and the US. Research methods as questionnaire and interview were used to collect teacher's teaching practices, ways of constructing feedback, teaching philosophy and improvements in teaching. Participants of the current study were two teachers from two universities of China and three ESL academic writing teachers from a university in the US. The collected data were compared base on two themes: one was produce and process approaches; the other one was teacher's status in classroom and teaching. Based on the findings, American teachers' approaches were primarily process-based, and they also used studentcentered way of teaching, which puts students' needs and feelings on a considerable place. Chinese teachers' approaches were gradually changing to process-based, however, they were the authority in both teaching and providing feedback. The reason for Chinese teachers' ways of teaching can be attributed to the deep-rooted influence of the traditional teaching method, which sees teacher as the superior mentor. Also, it is necessary to introduce the process approach into Chinese universities to teach English academic writing and put it into practice

The three structural possibilities marking a noun with an English article are a, the, and Ø (the absence of an article). Although these structural possibilities are simple, they encode a multitude of semantic and pragmatic functions, and it is these complex form-function interactions that this study explores and explains using a semantic map model. The semantic map that is proposed contains three dimensions, which I refer to as Grammatical Number, Referentiality, and Discourse Mode. Each of these dimensions contains a number of further semantic values or pragmatic functions - which I will label "attributes" - that are implicated in English article choice. Various semantic map versions are tested and compared with a methodological approach that uses data collected in a controlled protocol from an elicited conversational discourse. The version that performed best is used as a basis for proposing a comprehensive semantic map that includes the following dimensions and dimensional attributes: a Number dimension with 3 attributes (singular, plural, and uncountable); a Referentiality dimension with 11 attributes, including 7 referential attributes that describe kinds of identifiability (proper names, shared lexis, shared speech situation, frame, current discourse, identifiable to speaker only ["new reference"], and identifiable to neither speaker nor listener [non-specific]) as well as 4 non-referential attributes (categorization, general non-referential expressions, finite verb [verb-object] "noun incorporation", and idioms); and a Discourse Mode dimension with 4 attributes (headline, immediacy, normal, and reintroducing). This model of English articles contributes to the field of research on articles as well as to the field of English language instruction and learning. In addition, it is suggested that the methodological paradigm used to test the semantic map model may be useful as an experimental paradigm for testing semantic maps of other constructions and languages.

This thesis uses the framework of a program evaluation to highlight the human experience of participants in a community-based family literacy program in the context of a “New Destination” for Latino immigrants. There is first an extensive discussion of how Latino immigrant communities have changed over time in Oregon and specifically in Lane County, followed by description of the nonprofit organizations that cater to these communities in Lane County, with specific focus on Downtown Languages and their Pilas Family Literacy Program. A selection of literature is reviewed surrounding the themes of the efficacy of program evaluation as a tool, “New Destinations,” the relationship between bilingualism and family in ESL programs, and finally a brief discussion of cultural competency in ESL practices and literacy as human capital. The conclusion of this research contains recommendations for the Pilas Family Literacy Program, as well as other family literacy programs operating in “New Destinations” communities.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:56:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo2956_1.pdf: 7919022 bytes, checksum: a5fda4a02347a233b609658badb7ab4c (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Este trabalho de mestrado apresenta o profile UML-ESL baseado em UML 2.0 para a especificação de sistemas hardware/software em nível de serviços e um fluxo de mapeamento de comunicação baseado neste profile para System-on-Chips com arquitetura baseada em barramento. O profile UML proposto formaliza a modelagem de comunicação e suporta o particionamento do sistema em módulos de hardware e software em um nível de abstração superior as atuais abordagens baseadas em UML 2.0. Este profile apresenta duas vantagens principais: A primeira é a redução do esforço da modelagem do sistema pela abstração de detalhes de comunicação. O projetista é capaz de definir as características funcionais de comunicação abstraindo detalhes da infraestrutura tais como portas, interfaces, protocolos, canais e barramento. Além da redução do esforço de modelagem, são eliminados erros extremamente difíceis de serem detectados durante o projeto. A segunda vantagem é que o modelo formal permite a implementação de um fluxo de mapeamento de comunicação para uma arquitetura SoC. O fluxo proposto parte da descrição do sistema hardware/software em UML-ESL, extrai as características arquiteturais (módulos, particionamento e interligação entre módulos) e de comunicação (paralelo/seqüencial, síncrono/assíncrono) do sistema e gera a infraestrutura de comunicação composta de drivers de dispositivo, controladores de transações do dispositivo e interfaces para um modelo de simulação de um SoC implementado como uma plataforma virtual do sistema baseada em barramento configurada para as necessidades do projeto. O fluxo foi validado com a modelagem e mapeamento de comunicação de um sistema de segmentação e de rastreamento de imagens

This thesis investigates the L2 English pronunciation of a native speaker of German who has lived in western Canada for 25 years. The goal of the study was understand the defining features of his accent, to determine what factors contributed to his accent, and to characterize his interlanguage grammar. There are two opposing theories about L2 speakers’ linguistic competence, encoded in what is called their interlanguage grammar: 1) The L2 speaker has several heterogeneous grammars at their disposal depending on discourse type (the socio-/psycholinguistic theory), so variable task performance is indicative of variable competence, and 2) variable task performance exists but it not indicative of variable competence. Instead, competence is a stable, homogenous system and it is performance that is variable (the generative/rationalist theory). This thesis discusses the concepts of variable competence in light of the L2 English pronunciation investigated. The subject’s pronunciation of a variety of speech sounds of North American English was tested in three production tasks with differing formality levels: wordlist, sentences, and a semi-spontaneous interview. Additionally, in a qualitative element of this study, extra-linguistic factors like motivation, attitude, aptitude, identity, and personality of the L2 speaker were investigated to determine how they contribute to L2 accented speech production. These were reported through an interview with the subject and a self-assessment of his L2 pronunciation proficiency. Finally, through native speaker judgments (NSJs), it was assessed whether foreign accentedness in the L2 interferes with intelligibility and comprehensibility. Production data from the three tasks was auditorily and acoustically analyzed to understand the contribution of various intra-linguistic factors to speech production: task type, orthography, cognate status, syllable context, stress, and phonetic environment. This thesis also investigated the validity of predictions made by the Speech Learning Model (Flege, 1995) about the ease of phonetic acquisition of L2 sounds. The findings of this investigative study indicated that the L2 learner has a homogenous interlanguage grammar that is not responsible to variable competences despite variable task type performance. They showed that all variable performance in production could be attributed to intra-linguistic factors that influence performance, but do not alter the mental representation the subject has of these L2 sounds. Additionally, the findings showed that the Speech Learning Model does not accurately predict the ease or difficulty of acquisition of L2 speech sounds. Furthermore, the findings indicated that mispronunciation of individual speech sounds resulting in accentedness does not hinder effective communication in the L2, nor does accented speech production reflect an impoverished L2 interlanguage grammar. It further revealed that the subject was aware of his interlanguage grammar differing from that of native speakers of English. Findings from the qualitative interview study indicated that the subject makes use of his accent as an identity marker to reflect his cultural attachment to his home country Germany. / Graduate

Many studies have shown that using music and songs while learning a new language can be of great benefit to students in aspects such as grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. However, the use of songs in class as motivation to learn English is a subject that has not been explored thoroughly. The purpose of this study is to explore how the use of songs in English helps motivating students while learning English as a Second Language (ESL). The participants were primary school students at a private school located in the Lima Metropolitan Area. This study used a mixed-method design that included observations carried out by the research team and questionnaires completed by students. The results show that students are motivated to participate and become more engaged in classroom activities when songs are used in their English classes. This result was more strongly confirmed with the observations than with the questionnaires.

The growing field of mobile learning (m-learning) research concerning the use and effectiveness of mobile assisted language learning (MALL) in second and foreign language (L2) education reflects the possibilities of smart mobile technological devices to facilitate students’ control over their own learning. This research aims to find the pedagogical affordances of mobile learning in combination with Web 2.0 tools with a particular focus on the use of smartphone and Facebook as tools to enhance teaching and learning of English for English as a Second Language learners. Using Design Based Research (DBR) as an approach to conduct this study, the initial design framework was developed from the literature and the exploratory phase. It was tested and developed through a series of iterations and the impacts of each iteration were evaluated using interviews and qualitative data analysis. 37 participants were involved in this study; 12 in the Exploratory Study, 17 in Iteration 1 and 8 in Iteration 2. One of the most important findings reported in the first iteration is the impact of a sense of social obligation whereby participants felt under pressure from their peers to post and to participate. This social obligation effect can have both positive and negative consequences for learning and was further explored in the second iteration. Based on the findings from both iterations, this study suggested a design framework to be used by future research that explored ways in which pedagogical designs for m-learning with social networking can take this social obligation effect into account in order to avoid its negative consequences and make best use of its positive consequences.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Secondary Education / Jacqueline D. Spears / This study explored the benefits of one instructional strategy on the development of English skills and on the achievement in academic school areas by linguistically different high school students. The specific strategy chosen was the use of printed instructional materials with native language support in subject matter areas. The academic performance of adolescent immigrant students having printed instructional materials with native language support in one subject area was compared to their academic performance in the same subject without using native language support. In addition, the study explored qualitatively the perceptions of the use of printed instructional materials with native language support in subject matter areas among learners, their parents, and ESL as well as subject area teachers. The statistical analysis of linguistically different high school students’ test performance in geometry showed that instructional materials with native language support contributed significantly to the improvement of students’ performance. The comparison of ESL students’ performance with the performance of non-ESL students demonstrated that, on average, ESL students who were lagging behind the non-ESL students before the treatment was applied, outperformed the non-ESL students when native language support was available and then closed the gap between ESL and non-ESL students on subsequent material without native language support. The student survey demonstrated the ESL students’ preference for having regular subject area textbooks in English containing page by page glossaries and explanations in their native language. Parents’ responses to questionnaires showed that the instructional materials with native language support enabled parents to understand what their children study in school and to help their children with their school work. Both ESL and the majority of geometry teachers noticed the positive changes in their ESL students when ESL students were provided with materials containing native language support. All parties participating in the research supported the idea of providing adolescent immigrant students with printed instructional materials containing native language support in all academic subject areas, which would require a collective effort of educators in the fields of science, mathematics, social studies, language arts as well as special education teachers.

Motivation is considered an important factor in initiating and sustaining the second language (L2) process. Since learning an L2 can be seen as a lengthy process, one that needs sustained motivation over a long period of time, learners need to be able to successfully deal with their and others’ emotions in order to generate and sustain their motivation for learning. The role of learners’ emotions and trait emotional self-efficacy, or trait emotional intelligence (EI), in L2 motivation and language learning has been a relatively unexplored area. To fill this gap, the current study posed three research questions that addressed the relationship between L2 motivation and trait EI, which is based on the trait EI theory (Petrides, 2001) and deals with emotion-related self-perceptions, such as emotion control, emotion expression, empathy, and emotion perception (Petrides, 2001). As Dörnyei (2009) proposed the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) in response to the need to further develop the socio-educational model, the current study further tests the validation of a modified version of the L2MSS by investigating intermediate and advanced international English language learners from diverse backgrounds. Using a quantitative approach, this study examined (a) the relationship between the possible selves (the ideal/ought-to/anti-ought-to) and trait emotional intelligence, including the four broader factors: sociability, emotionality, well-being, self-control; and (b) to what extent can the four factors predict the three different selves, and (c) the relationship between L2 learning experience, possible selves, and trait EI. A total of 143 international ESL students enrolled in an English Language Program in the United States participated in the study. A possible selves questionnaire, L2 learning experience questionnaire, and trait emotional intelligence questionnaire (TEIQue SF) were administered. The underlying factors from the exploratory factor analysis performed on the possible selves questionnaire responses were ‘the ideal L2 self’, ‘the ought-to L2 self’, and ‘the anti-ought-to L2 self.’ The correlation analysis showed significant correlations between (a) trait EI and ideal/ought-to L2 self; (b) ideal L2 self and emotionality/sociability/well-being; (c) ought-to L2 self and emotionality/sociability/well-being; (d) anti-ought-to L2 self and emotionality; (e) L2 learning experience and trait EI; (f) the L2 learning experience and the ideal/anti-ought-to L2 self; (g) L2 learning experience and emotionality/sociability/well-being. A four predictor standard multiple regression model revealed that the trait EI sociability factor was the only significant predictor of the ideal L2 self. On the other hand, the trait EI emotionality factor was the only significant predictor of both the ought-to and anti-ought-to L2 selves. This study illustrates that there are important associations between L2 motivation and constructs of positive psychology, especially emotional intelligence, and that positive psychology might stimulate future L2 motivation research. Lastly, this study offers a number of implications for use of positive psychology in the SLA classroom.

Drawing on a sociocultural perspective of genre as a social action situated in a particular context, this study examines the functions and genres of four second-grade ESL (English as a Second Language) children’s writing at home and at school. The two boys and two girls were born and raised in Canada, speaking English at school and with their siblings, and Cantonese at home with their parents who were immigrants from Hong Kong or China. A total of 67 pieces of school writing and 54 pieces of home writing were collected over a five-week period. Findings show that home writing exhibits a wider range of functions and genres than school writing. In the home context, the participating children wrote for more personal purposes, to entertain themselves, or to engage in social interactions with a real audience. In contrast, school writing narrowed the children’s choice of functions because of the teaching context, teacher expectations, and instructional objectives. Similarly, there was a greater variety in home genres, including greeting cards, diaries, notes, poems, and jokes in comparison to school genres that were confined to stories, journals, and list items. There was a strong relationship between the enactment of specific functions and particular genres while personal and social functions were more prevalent in their home-based than in their school-based writing. Qualitative analysis of the children’s writing shows that they constructed meaning with written language in individual ways in their enactment of functions and choice of genres and the use of different modes to represent meaning. The study suggests that teachers should be aware of the value of the writing opportunities and contexts children have at home and, therefore, incorporate such home experiences into classroom teaching. It also has implications for parents to conceive writing as a sociocultural as well as language practice, and to recognize the role of the home environment in their contributions to their children’s constructing meaning with written language. They should be aware of the need to build on the children’s interests and needs while encouraging them to write, and to make connections with school in working towards their writing development. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate