Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers have yet to map the developmental stages language learners go through as they approach the target language. In studies of ESL writing, the term "advanced learner" has been applied indiscriminately to learners ranging from freshman ESL composition to graduate students (Bardovi-Harlig and Bofman, 1989; Chaudron and Parker, 1990; Connor and Mayberry, 1996; Hinkel, 1997, 2003). There is a need to examine the advanced stages of SLA in order to refine SLA theories and pedagogical approaches.A corpus of texts written by eleven graduate students in applied linguistics who are non-native-English speakers from several linguistic backgrounds was analyzed to determine the texts' lexical, morphological, and syntactic fluency, accuracy, and complexity. A sub-corpus of papers by seven native-English-speaking peers was used for comparison. The texts were sit-down and take-home examinations written in a doctoral program at the end of the first semester and three years later. Surveys and interviews were conducted to supplement the corpus with ethnographic data.This dissertation defines data-based criteria that distinguish four quantitatively and qualitatively distinct developmental stages: the advanced, highly advanced, near-native, and native-like stages. Advanced learners make more frequent and varied errors (with articles, prepositions, plural and possessive markers, agreement and anaphors), which can be explained by linguistic transfer. Native-like writers make few errors that can be explained by overgeneralization of conventions from informal English and working memory limitations (just like native speakers' errors). Throughout the four stages, errors (i.e., incorrect forms that reflect lack of linguistic knowledge (Corder, 1967)) became less frequent, and more of the incorrect usages appeared to be mistakes (occasional slips).This dissertation supports Herschensohn's (1999) proposal that SLA is a process of transfer followed by relearning of morpho-syntactic specifications. Syntax was used with the greatest accuracy (Bardovi-Harlig and Bofman, 1989), while lexicon (especially function words) was the weakest. In addition, length of stay in an English-speaking country and amount of interaction with native speakers were proportional with accuracy. An important pedagogical recommendation is that (corpus-assisted) language teaching should continue until the target language is reached.

Previous research studies have demonstrated that international graduate students experience various challenges adapting to academic situations within a new university community. This thesis reports on an interview study with six international graduate students who use English as a second language studying Master’s degree at one Canadian university. This study addresses the academic assessment and evaluation experience of international graduate students in the following four aspects: (1) their enjoyable and challenging assessment practices; (2) understanding of assessment expectations; (3) reflections on previous educational experience; and (4) psychological and physical factors in relation to assessment and evaluation. The findings indicate that these students’ experiences of assessment and evaluation procedures are varied and the academic acculturation process towards assessment depends on different yet interrelated factors: English language competence, cultural and educational awareness, and assessment literacy. All six research participants adapted to the host academic assessment practices and procedures fairly well despite the fact that they were not familiar with the expectations and requirements regarding assessment and evaluation at the beginning of their studies. These students learned about the host academic culture regarding assessment and evaluation through their own examination failure, instructors’ feedback, and peers’ observation. The findings also indicate that international graduate students need more coordinated support from university supportive services and easier access to information about assessment and evaluation expectations and requirements. Implications of the findings for effective learning and positive academic experience for L2 international graduate students, faculty and supportive staff, and for future research are discussed. It is suggested to organize workshops and seminars devoted to assessment literacy for international and domestic graduate students, instructors and supporting staff in order to enhance learning experience and outcomes. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-10-09 17:43:27.833

According to the Constitution of South Africa (1996), as well as the Schools Act of South Africa (1996), everyone has the right to education in the language of their choice. The advantage of being educated in one’s home language is a well-known and accepted as a demonstrated fact (Oosthuizen, Rossouw & De Wet, 2004:22). Unfortunately, Oosthuizen et al. (2004:22) remark that the biggest problem in education today, is that home language education cannot be given to everyone in South Africa. As a result many parents choose English as the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) for their children, since they believe English is the language of empowerment. Although English Second Language (ESL) learners pose a challenge to educators in the class, they still have a right to quality education. Therefore, thorough planning is essential to ensure that these learners are taught according to their needs. The primary aim of this research study was to determine if primary school educators designed their lesson planning to accommodate ESL learners with a limited English proficiency. The primary aim could only be determined if the following sub-aims were successfully analysed: *To determine through a literature investigation which specific language barriers ESL learners, with limited English language proficiency, experience during a lesson. *To determine through a literature investigation why lesson planning is important; *To determine to what extent educators accommodate language barriers to learning of ESL learners, with a limited English language proficiency, in their lesson plans. *To determine how educators reflect on their lesson plan, in order to determine whether ESL learners, with limited English language proficiency, coped with the lesson. *To establish which modifications, if any, educators make after reflection to accommodate ESL learners with limited English language proficiency in the follow lesson planning? A Qualitative research method was followed during the study. Data was collected for the research study by doing a document analysis and semi-structured interviews with primary school educators who are currently in the teaching profession and have ESL learners in their class. A convenience sample was used, where the nearest parallel medium school was chosen with participants readily available. The following findings emerged from the study: According to the literature study, the most common specific language barriers which ESL learners with limited English proficiency experience in the classroom are: *Experience it difficult to express themselves in English; *Educators disparity in language between learners and educators; *a limited English vocabulary; and *struggling with comprehension of English. Findings of the empirical study showed that the participants do not plan for accommodations for ESL learners who may experience barriers to learning. They indicated that since English is the LOLT of the school and because they feel that the learners should be proficient in the language they do not need to plan for possible misunderstandings or communication problems that could occur because of a language barrier. However, they did acknowledge that a limited vocabulary and ways of expression can cause communication problems. / MEd, Learner Support, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

This qualitative descriptive case study investigates four Chinese international students’ use of online resources for academic writing in a western Canadian university. This study has direct implications for English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language writing instruction as well as international students’ use of university library. Methodological triangulation was used to collect data. This included a semi-structured interview, a computer-based writing task, and a think-aloud activity. Data was coded and analyzed within cases and re-analyzed across the four cases. The salient themes that emerged from this analysis include: indispensable role of online resources in academic writing; a solution to language problems; ability of evaluation; a solution to plagiarism; influences of search habits; concerns about graduate students; and the importance of professors. Four major findings of the study include: important uses of online resources for solving language problems; students’ search skills in online databases; students’ use of the UVic library; and the importance of professors’ instruction. These findings will be helpful for educators to consider as they work to integrate online resources for international students’ writing instruction; and for academic libraries to consider as they offer services to assist EFL/ESL learners. / Graduate / 2017-12-05 / 0727 / 0399 / 0515 / ketien0421@gmail.com

This three-article dissertation explores the first year of a sheltered university bridge program (also commonly known as "pathway" programs-see Winkle, 2011) for ESL students at a large public university in the American southwest. "Sheltering" is the practice of offering "academic courses taught in the second language" where "native and non-native [...] students are not mixed in any one class" (Snow & Brinton, 1984, p. 8), a model commonly found in K-12 settings (Echevarria & Graves, 1998; Freeman, Freeman & Gonzalez, 1987; Weinhouse, 1986), though there are sheltered programs in university settings (see, for example, the University of Ottawa Program-Burger, Weinberg & Wesche, 2013). The labels "bridge" and "pathway" refer to pre-matriculation programs that "feature a hybrid of credit-bearing coursework and instruction in English language and academic skills" (Redden, 2010, para 1). Bridge and Pathway Program (BPP) curricula typically follow the adjunct model in which ESL courses are linked with mainstream, unsheltered university courses, with the ESL course providing support. The model in the current study follows the sheltered convention of ESL-only cohorts, but adds the adjunct convention of offering linked support. As international student interest in studying at U.S. universities has grown over recent decades (Open Doors Report, 2015), a subset of international students has emerged that may have lower-than-institutional-benchmark English proficiency for admission based on exams like the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam. BPPs primarily serve this subset of students by offering non-testing curricular paths (linked ESL/university courses) to full matriculation that focus on "achievement, as opposed to proficiency alone" (Dooey, 2010, p. 185). One can expect that BPPS will continue to proliferate given that they bring in previously inadmissible international enrollees to add to the now essential revenue stream that international students represent for universities (Andrade, 2006; Marshall, 2005; Redden, 2010; 2014). This dissertation adds to a growing body of recent research (e.g. Dooey, 2010; Fiocco, 2006; Redden, 2010; 2014, Winkle, 2011) about these models. Article 1 (Appendix A): The Past, Present, and Future of Combined ESL/University Study Programs: From Ad Hoc ESL Interventions to Bridge and Pathway Programs. This article is both a critical literature review and "state-of-the-field" piece (Canagarajah, 2006) that situates the evolution of postsecondary ESL support historically. It explores how postsecondary ESL has gone from an ad hoc, situational endeavor focused on remediating language deficiencies to a multifaceted field of program offerings replete with varying curricular models and dedicated faculty and recruiting structures, a field that has evolved into current BPPs. Article 2 (Appendix B): Exploring Dynamics and Dimensions in Two Linked Adjunct/Content Courses in a Sheltered University Pathway Program for ESL Students: A Case Study. This case study considers the nuances of a sheltered university pathway program for ESL students in its first year of existence. It follows the research framework of an Unlu and Wharton (2015) study using grounded theory analysis. By reconciling classroom observations in two university general education courses (Introduction to Anthropology and US History) and their linked EAP courses (EAP Bridge to Anthropology and EAP Bridge to American History) with participant interviews, I explore the dynamics between students, content instructors, and EAP support instructors. I form a theory about the pedagogy constituted by (and constitutive of) participant actions and beliefs in the observed classes, and argue that the current program may uphold uncritical, remedial predispositions vis-à -vis EAP, as well as content instruction and learning. Finally, I discuss future considerations for this, and other, linked course programs couched in EAP literature. Article 3 (Appendix C): Team-Teaching in a First-Year Composition Course for ESL Students: A Participant-Observational Reflexive Account of One Sheltered University Pathway Context. This case study takes place in a first-year composition course in a sheltered university pathway program for ESL students. It focuses on a specific and complex essay assignment: the Text-in-Context essay (TICE). I consider the assignment parameters, primary and secondary texts offered for completion, interviews with students and instructors, field notes, notes from tutoring sessions, written student reflections, the assignments themselves, and a reflexive narration of my research experience to describe the milieu of the TICE. The description suggests a community of practice (Wenger, 2002) in which a team-teaching approach helps to facilitate the completion of a complex analytical task, while also fostering the growth of the ESL students as academic writers.

Current ESL instructors and theorists agree that university students of ESL have a need for a large passive vocabulary. This research was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of a semantic field approach to passive vocabulary acquisition in comparison to a traditional approach. A quantitative analysis of the short-term and long-range results of each approach is presented. Future research and teaching implications are discussed. The outcome of the experimentation lends tentative support to a semantic field approach.

This study is a very basic handbook of Farsi phonetics and syntax for use by English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors who have had little or no contact with the structure of the Persian language. Emphasis is placed on presenting an inventory of selected phonological and syntactic items which are problems for native Farsi speakers who want to learn English.

Four young children who were learning English as a second language were observed during their participation in an English Language Development class in a school in the North Texas area. Demographic data and checklists were used to describe progress in expressive language and the key vocabulary approach to beginning literacy as adapted by Trietsch and Monk. Data from the interviews with the classroom teachers of the subjects and anecdotal records were used to describe the interaction of the subjects with other English-speaking children and adults. Comparisons were made between progress in writing the key vocabulary and progress in expressive language and between progress in writing the key vocabulary and the progress of interaction with other English-speaking children and adults. The subjects progressed in literacy in English as a second language while learning English as a second language.

This thesis focuses on the continued activism in the YWCA, the Equal Suffrage League and the League of Women Voters after 1920. The work examines the uses of motherhood, social religion, race and traditions as tools for activism and compares the YWCA to the Equal Suffrage League and League of Women Voters after 1920. The date range is roughly from 1915 to 1925.

It is widely recognised that parents play an important role in children’s emotional and intellectual development, including their success at school. Recently, there has been a growing awareness of the potential of parents to support and enhance children’s English foreign language learning, especially since English learning resources are easily accessible through electronic media. In appreciation of this, there has been an increased interest in recent years in finding ways to harness parental potential through the creation of home-school partnerships in many parts of the world, including in the field of teaching English as an additional language. An important point of departure for developing effective home-school dialogues is an informed understanding of what parents are already doing to support their children’s learning, as an awareness of this can help schools and governments provide parents with targeted input to assist and improve their efforts. However, to date, this remains under researched. Of the limited research that has been undertaken, very little has examined parental efforts to support their children’s learning at home in non-western settings, and research into parental support for children’s foreign language learning is virtually non-existent. In order to address this research gap, the study reported in this thesis examines parental support for young children’s foreign language learning in Saudi Arabia with respect to English T.V. viewing. Drawing upon Vygotsky’s concepts of mediation and the ZPD, it aims to examine the extent and the ways in which parents currently mediate their children’s viewing of English T.V. programmes in Saudi Arabia, the factors which impact on their mediation practices, and how this is seen to contribute to their children’s experience of English language learning. The study is comprised two stages. The first stage entails the distribution of a questionnaire to 500 parents of children aged 6-8, who are currently learning English in a number of private schools in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia in order to gain a global overview of parental perspectives on mediation. This is followed by stage 2, which aims to examine the features and quality of parent-child mediational dialogues. This is achieved by collecting recordings of the dialogues of two parent-child dyads watching DVDs of English T.V. programmes over a four-week period as well as interviewing parents and their children on the experience. The results of the study show that parents believe in the importance and value of supporting their children’s learning (both in general and with regard to their EFL learning). Moreover, they show that they are actively engaged in trying to do so. However, they also highlight a number of ways in which their mediational practices could be improved so that these are less directive and more responsive to their children’s learning needs and growing ability to self-regulate. More broadly, they highlight the need to engage with the complexity of parental mediation as an activity system in discussions of the quality of mediational practice. That is, to understand that parental efforts to mediate need to be considered alongside task, sociocultural setting and, most importantly, the child’s engagement with parental efforts. A number of implications are drawn from the results of the study. Chief among these is that research into parental mediation should look at the inter-relationship between the different elements of the parental mediational system identified and that this provides richer in-depth understandings of parental efforts to support their children than are currently available from those who seek to understand this merely as parental scaffolding. In addition, it is argued that the picture this in-depth analysis revealed provides valuable information which can be used to inform the need for home-school partnerships and the support parents need to make sure they engage in these effectively in settings such as Saudi Arabia where there is currently little appreciation of the importance of parental involvement and the concept of home school partnerships remains in its infancy. In line with the emphasis on the complex multidimensional understanding of mediation as activity as illustrated by the results of the study, it is argued that efforts to promote parental involvement should primarily focus on how parents can help promote quality learning experiences for their children.