Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: David Schwarzer. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Reading is an important skill for all languages and all language learning. It is a skill complex to understand, complex to teach and complex to learn. This thesis addresses the issue of reading from the reader's point of view. It provides a detailed analysis of the reading strategies used by the Yemeni learners of English at the tertiary level as they read textbooks. In doing so it draws from two domains of second/foreign language learning, viz reading and strategies. Within the framework of these two domains it focuses on readin g strategies, depending on the first part (reading) on the reader-text interaction view of reading and for the second part (strategies) on the conscious effort involved in solving a reading problem. It investigates two related aspects of the reading process: reading problems arising in the creation of meaning as far as the systemic and schematic knowledge is concerned and reading solutions as given by the reader. The concept of 'strategy' is first examined as it is found in learning and communication studies. It is then presented in reading and reading models. Studies that have addressed the issue are then reviewed. Reading strategies are investigated through a five-stage design where a different instrument is used in each stage. Subjects in each of the five stages (questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations, doze/recall tasks and verbal protocols in Li and L2) range from 60 to 100 in number, coming from two different disciplines, viz Education and Engineering. The data of the study are analysed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The results present a picture of the strategies the readers used in reading texts in Arabic and in English in the form of some twenty-four different strategies, which are categorised as problem identifying and problem-solving ones. These strategies are then discussed with reference to the reading models presented earlier. On the basis of this, implications for theory and pedagogy are made.

The interactive whiteboard is a fairly recent technical device, which has become an increasingly important teaching aid. The interactive whiteboard is supposed to have a positive impact on English Language Teaching, due to its interactivity and the unlimited opportunities it creates for language teaching. However, findings still show that the interactive whiteboard is used more as a traditional whiteboard to write and show information on rather than as an interactive teaching and learning device. This study seeks to investigate English language teachers’ integration of the IWB in ELT. A qualitative approach was used to collect data for this study. Four English Language Teachers at a lower secondary school in southern Sweden were interviewed. The result from this study shows similarities to previous research. The decisive factors for the participants’ incorporation of the IWB in ELT, such as attitude, knowledge and time, were comparable to previous studies. The result also implies that the participants saw the interactive whiteboard as a useful tool in English Language Teaching and as a regular part of their teaching. Nevertheless, there was a desire among the teachers to learn more about the interactive whiteboard and its possibilities and also to develop their skills in order to improve their teaching and the pupil's language proficiency. Although the teachers in the study used the interactive whiteboard frequently and interactively, the result shows that the most frequent usage was to display information non-interactively.

The aims of English language teaching (ELT) have observed a fundamental reconsideration during the past two decades, resulting in a shift in emphasis from linguistic competence over communicative competence to intercultural competence. The growing emphasis on cultural issues, which is called for by research and international curricular documents, places new demands on language teachers. The general aim of this study is to deepen the knowledge about teachers’ perception at the Bahraini government secondary schools towards the treatment of culture in English language teaching. The research questions are: 1. How do English language teachers understand and define the concept “Culture” and Intercultural Competence in ELT? 2. To what extent do the teachers see Intercultural Competence as an objective in language classroom? 3. How do they approach the teaching of Intercultural Competence in their classrooms? 4. What preparation/training have they had (pre-service), or wish to have (in-service), for including Intercultural Competence in their teaching? This interpretive and exploratory study is placed within a socio-cultural framework and can also be a contribution to teacher cognition research. The empirical data consists of semi-structured interviews with 17 English language senior teachers and a questionnaire with 197 English language teachers. The findings are presented according to three pedagogies: within the pedagogy of information; within the pedagogy of preparation; and within the pedagogy of Encounter. The minority of the participants represent the third perspective, which is the one that can be characterized as truly intercultural. My study indicates that many teachers feel unsure about how to teach culture in an appropriate and up-to-date manner. This is attributed to, among other things, lack of teacher insight, lack of time, and inadequate pre- or in-service training courses concerning teaching culture. The thesis ends with a set of recommendations as to how ELT could be developed in a more intercultural direction.

This study aims to investigate Korean teachers’ beliefs and their practice with respect to classroom-based English language assessment; thus it examines the teachers’ current working principles of assessment and their practices. This study also sets out to uncover, and to gain an in-depth understanding of further issues which emerged from the dissonance between the teachers’ beliefs and their practice. Following a discussion of the English teaching and assessment context, the first part of the study examines mainstream theories of language testing or assessment; it then considers how closely classroom-based assessment in Korean primary schools conforms to these theoretical principles. The second part of the study presents a small-scale research project. Four stages in teachers’ classroom-based assessment were examined; planning, implementation, monitoring, and recording and dissemination. A questionnaire was developed reflecting these stages; its findings were analyzed statically and qualitatively. Further qualitative data was also collected and analyzed through interviews with volunteer participants. This is based on an analysis of teachers’ firsthand experience and their opinions of the assessment of English as a foreign language. The results of the study revealed that generally the teachers hold and exercise their own firm beliefs regarding classroom-based assessment, and have a good knowledge of assessment or testing principles; thus they carried out their assessment using appropriate procedures taking into account the context of English teaching and assessment in which they operate. However, there were a number of issues which emerged from their assessment beliefs and their practice. It became clear that they did not put some of their principles into practice; a number of important factors, which are normally outside the teachers’ control, were found to be responsible for this, these include: overcrowded classrooms, heavy teaching loads, the central bureaucracy of the education system which controls primary education, and a shortage of funding for foreign language teaching. Teachers were also affected by the rather complex relationship with other teachers, head teachers, and even the parents of the students. However, it is evident that the teachers are constantly developing their skills and knowledge regarding assessment in order to address any possible challenges or tasks given to them. In addition, certain areas needing further investigation were identified. Based on the literature review and the findings of the research, tentative implications and recommendations for the development of classroom-based language assessment are discussed.

This paper aimed to investigate how English teachers in junior high school help and motivate high-ability students to develop their potentials in mixed-ability English classrooms. Five junior high school English teachers from two different schools in Southern Sweden participated in this study. The method used to carry out the investigation was qualitative, with in–depth, semi-structured interviews. Results showed that the participants found that it was difficult to focus their attention on high-ability students in a mixed-ability setting. However, the participants have been positive to have high-ability students in a classroom because they serve as good role models to inspire their classmates. In addition, it was found that teachers prepare various materials with different levels of difficulty to suit to the differing needs of their students. Although the term differentiated instruction was not used by the participants of the study, it was, in fact, the approach they used to motivate their students. It is not possible to recommend best practices for dealing with high-ability students because what works with one student does not automatically work with other students. Furthermore, teachers reported that many high-ability students do not want to have differentiated instruction. This appears to be one of the hindrances to helping high-ability students develop their potentials.

Thesis (M.ED.) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / This study was intended to investigate how teacher discourse moves influence comprehensibility of language content by the English First Additional Language (EFAL) learner and promote active participation by the learner in classroom interaction. The research is a Case Study which was conducted at a primary school in the Greater Sekhukhune District in Limpopo Province The Qualitative research approach was applied in the Case Study since the research is concerned with experience as it is lived ‘or felt’ or ‘undergone’ by participants. the key concern of this research is understanding the phenomenon of interest, from the participants’ perspectives, not the researcher’s. The situation in most Black schools is that first of all, teachers who teach English First Additional Language (EFAL) are not first speakers of English themselves. Secondly, learners have a problem of acquiring information through English as an additional language hence the question of comprehensibility of English language content. Teachers and especially learners are de-motivated as they lose interest in what goes on in Englishclassroom interaction due to the comprehensibility of English First Additional Language content As participant observer the researcher in this study concludes that the use of discourse moves by the teacher in classroom interaction enables the learner to comprehend the language content. Also that the teacher’s code-switching and code-mixing into the learners’ home language develops not only comprehensibility of EFAL language content but most of all promotes active learner participation in classroom interaction. This in turn helps the teacher to achieve the desired learning outcomes.

Vietnam is a country with more than 80 percent of the population living in the countryside. Rural education is, therefore, of vital importance to Vietnamese education; and ELT effectiveness and efficiency in junior secondary schools in rural Vietnam is a problem of worthwhile attention. This study, being a pilot one, limits itself to seeking solutions to the increase of ELT effectiveness and efficiency in terms of syllabus design, textbook revision and teacher development. The study contains 5 chapters and a conclusion. Chapter 1 deals with the general background of the study, schooling and educational philosophies in Vietnam. In this chapter, special attention is given to the role of foreign language teaching and learning in Vietnamese schools. In addition, educational philosophies in Vietnam are discussed as the philosophical and legal basis for any implementation of FLT and ELT innovations in junior secondary schools in rural Vietnam. Chapter 2 deals with input studies and some models of language teaching and learning that appeared in the last two decades. In this chapter, special emphasis is laid on studies which explain how input is transformed into intake and on the models of teaching and learning that may be applied to the teaching and learning of English in the context of rural Vietnam. Chapter 3 deals with language teaching methods as the neverending search for teaching effectiveness and efficiency. In this chapter, based on the understanding of such concepts as effectiveness and efficiency, language teaching methods are presented as a means to an end, not as an end in itself. Thus, the selection and use of a method depends completely on the goal set for the process of language teaching and learning. When the goal changes, the method will change accordingly. Chapter 4 deals with the actual FLT and ELT situation in rural junior secondary schools in Vietnam. This chapter includes the results of surveys on teacher quality and a critical look at the implementation of the communicative approach in language teaching in the current textbooks in use in junior secondary schools The background of rural students is discussed to clarify the context of the learners in question. In chapter 5, based on the theoretical findings in chapters 2 and 3 and on the actual ELT situation mentioned in chapter 4, possible solutions to the increase of ELT effectiveness and efficiency are proposed. These solutions are concerned with syllabus design, textbook revision and teacher development. The study closes with a conclusion which relates solutions to ELT effectiveness and efficiency to the general solutions to teaching effectiveness and efficiency mentioned at a number of workshops held in Vietnam recently.

This thesis undertakes a reformulation of ELT curricula by means of a critique of established theoretical models and a case study of the ELT curriculum at De La Salle University (DLSU), Manila. The thesis proceeds in accordance with the precise that a sound theoretical and philosophical perspective is crucial to any task of curriculum development and criticism and thus derives a theoretical/ philosophical perspective from a consideration of ELT in the context of the philosophy of education and linguistic, applied linguistic, sociolinguistic, learning and curriculum theories. The argument is presented that any model of language as communication derived from linguistics and applied linguistics is not amenable to translation into descriptive rules of 'use' and hence a pedagogic grammar. Such theoretical perspectives, in only deriving partial models of 'use', are largely inadequate in the context of a concern with language teaching. Input from cognitive learning theory however suggests that teaching language as communication requires a curriculum approach focusing on 'open' communicative procedures rather than systematic techniques premised on language description and exemplified by a syllabus-based structure. It is thus argued that communicative language teaching requires 'open', methodology-based procedures that provide a markedly subordinated role for syllabus. The advocated form of communicative language curriculum is thus described as employing an 'open' rather than a 'closed-system') approach. It is also maintained that the ELT debate on communicative curricula has largely ignored crucial issues in curriculum theory and the philosophy of education - especially the distinction between 'education' and 'training'. This theoretical debate enables the derivation of a revised taxonomy of language curricula to replace the orthodox dichotomy into General English and ESP. The argument is presented that there are essentially two approaches to the curriculum - closed-system and open approaches - and that within each approach there are two curriculum types. Through revised definitions, the intents of 6E and ESP curricula are distinguished and a new taxonomy of four possible curriculum types, including that of a Focused English Learning (FED curriculum, presented. The principles derived from the theoretical discussion and reformulated taxonomy enable an 'illuminative' case study investigation of an example curriculum: the ostensibly English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum for Engineers employed at DLSU. This case study, by examining curriculum justification and intent and illuminating the nature of the problem at the university, illustrates, by example, aspects of the reformulated taxonomy. The case study findings detail crucial aspects of the interface between theory and local practice and expose the curriculum at DLSU as inherently contradictory, based on an inaccurate notion of ESP, and principally concerned with the pursuit of broadly educational aims through a mainly training-based, closed-system and non-communicative curriculum. The thesis concludes by proposing that the orthodox dichotomy between GE and ESP curricula is inappropriate and fails to reflect the various and possible forms of curricular intent. This has been a consequence of a theoretical emphasis on linguistics and sociolinguistics and an inadequate consideration of the philosophy of education and learning and curriculum theories. The inadequacy of the established dichotomy has led to confusion in application (as demonstrated through the case study) that could be avoided through the adoption of the reformulated taxonomy.

Diss. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2009.