abstract: ABSTRACT School districts in the United States have undergone large changes over the last decade to accommodate No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Arizona accommodated NCLB through Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). Expectations were established for all students, varying by group of students based on grade, special education status, free/reduced lunch status, and English Language Learner (ELL) status. AIMS performance for subgroups has been scrutinized, due to the high stakes for schools and districts to meet expectations. This study is interested in the performance of ELL students, when compared with non-ELL students. The current study investigated AIMS performance of students in grades three through six from a large Arizona school district with predominantly low SES, Hispanic students. Approximately 90% of the students from this district were classified as ELL during their first year in the district. AIMS scores in Math and Reading were compared for ELL and non-ELL students across the years 2008, 2009, and 2010. Results suggest that there are differences in performance for ELL and non-ELL students, with ELL students scoring lower in both Math and Reading than non-ELL students. Additionally, ELL and non-ELL students showed similar performance across time in Math, with an increasing number of students Meeting or Exceeding the standards from year 2008 to 2009 for both ELL and non-ELL students. Student performance in Math for ELL and non-ELL students did not continue to improve from 2009 to 2010. On Reading performance, greater proportions of students scored as Meets or Exceeds across time for ELL students but not for non-ELL students. Non-ELL students scored at Meets or Exceeds at equal proportions across time, although non-ELL students scored at Meets or Exceeds in higher proportions than ELL students for all three years. Results suggest the need for continued research into the appropriateness of the AIMS for ELL students and more detailed comparisons of ELL and non-ELL students within and across districts with high proportions of ELL students. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

This study aims at investigating teaching of idioms by means of illustrations and teaching of idioms by means of definitions. The informants of the experiment are learners of English in a Swedish high school. The 58 informants of this experiment were tested on a total of 19 idioms. These idioms were carefully chosen in order to make sure that they would not already be known by the informants. Another key factor while choosing the idioms was the possibility to find appropriate illustrations for these idioms. The chosen illustrations depict either the literal or the metaphorical meaning of the idioms. The informants were administered one pre-test and two post-tests (short- and long-term retention tests) to measure the retention rate. The pre-test was used to check if both groups had similar knowledge of the selected idioms and therefore could be comparable. The results of this experiment show that students taught by the use of illustrations had a better short- and long-term retention rate than students taught only by the use of definitions. In both the short- and long-term retention test, informants taught by the use of illustrations outperformed informants taught through definition by more than 10%. This study therefore indicates that the use of illustrations while teaching should not be neglected by teachers and can be a powerful tool to enhance students’ retention of chosen items such as vocabulary or idioms.

The current study investigated the realization for the English voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/ in Najdi Saudi ESL learners' production. The goal of the study was to investigate whether Najdi Saudi ESL learners have difficulties in pronouncing /tʃ/. Both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors were taken into consideration. Eighteen Najdi ESL learners' with different length of residency in the US were the sample of the study. Sixteen English words with /tʃ/ in initial and final position represented the instrument of the study. Data were analyzed using both SPSS and Speech analyzer software. The results showed that Najdi ESL learners have difficulties with /tʃ/, and they pronounced it as /ʃ/. Pronunciation for /tʃ/ was more difficult in word-final position than word-initial. The study also, found that learners with longer LORs produced more accurate pronunciation than learners with shorter LORs. Commonly used words were not a variable of interest, however the study showed that learners had fewer errors with commonly used words, than uncommon ones. Finally, the results provided support for theories and hypotheses such as the CAH (Lado, 1957), MDH (Eckman, 1977), and LTT (Gass and Selinker, 1994).

Research in the field of multimedia has yielded principles for the design of effective multimedia instructional messages including Mayer's principles regarding voice. According to the voice principle, students learn more deeply when the narration in a multimedia lesson is spoken by a native voice rather than a non-native voice. The generalizability of the voice principle has been demonstrated when applied to multimedia users who are native speakers of the language used in narration. However, three out of four English users are non-native speakers of English, and the vast majority of verbal exchanges in English do not involve any native speakers of the language at all. By focusing on non-native users, the results of this study should clarify the applicability of the voice principle to a broader target audience. The study investigated whether the accent of the narrator in a multimedia tutorial affected participants' learning and attitudes toward the narrator. The independent variable of the study was narrator's accent with two levels: native accent and non-native shared accent. The dependent variables of the study were participants' learning and their attitudes toward the narrators. Sixty-five Chinese participants at a Midwestern university in the United States were randomly assigned to one of two groups in this experimental design. Data to test the dependent variables were collected through a learning achievement test and an attitude survey. Data analyses revealed that there was no significant difference in overall learning and recall level learning between the two accent groups. However, the group who heard the narration spoken with the native American English accent had significantly more positive attitudes toward their respective narrator than the group who heard the narration spoken with a non-native shared Chinese accent. The study qualifies the voice principle by establishing the limits of its generalizability to non-native English speakers. The study suggests to instructional designers that the use of a non-native shared accent should not affect students' learning negatively although it may affect their attitudes toward the speakers. In addition, the study helps assure non-native instructors that they can record their own voices to use in multimedia instruction as their non-native students will learn as effectively as with a native English accent.

The present study examines Saudi ESL learner perception of three syllable-final English nasal contrasts: /m/-/n/, /m/-/©¯/, and /n/-/©¯/. It was based primarily on two models, the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and the Speech Learning Model (SLM), in order to determine how Saudi ESL learners categorized nasal segments in their L2, English. In addition, other models, including the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH), contributed in finding the most difficult contrast. The participants, consisting of 24 Saudis studying in the US, were asked to distinguish between 40 English monosyllabic words grouped into minimal pairs. Regardless of their length of exposure, participants had greater difficulty in categorizing /n/ and /©¯/ as separate phonemes, dealing with these sounds as a Single Category (SC). The /n/-/m/ contrast had the fewest errors among participants with more exposure in the US, who were able to distinguish between the word pairs in this contrast, while those with less exposure had more difficulty in distinguishing /n/ from /m/. This fact shows that the participants, especially after receiving more exposure, were able to categorize the /n/ and /m/ as a Two Category (TC). The contrast /m/-/©¯/ had a number of errors somewhat similar to that found with the /n/-/m/ contrast. Therefore, participants in early stages of learning encountered more difficulties in categorizing /m/ and /©¯/ than those who had spent a longer period of time in the US. This study concluded that the categorization between Arabic and English phonemes was highly important in learning English as an L2. Therefore, the absence of the English nasal /©¯/ from the Arabic phonemic inventory caused difficulties for Saudi ESL learners to categorize /©¯/ as a separate phoneme. Additionally, markedness also played a role since the velar nasal /©¯/ is typologically more marked than /n/ and /m/ making it more difficult to acquire in early stages of L2 learning.

This study uses a predominantly quantitative approach to explore the effect of different error correction feedback mechanisms on students’ English as a Second Language writing (narrative and descriptive) amongst high school students in Botswana. A longitudinal, quasi-experimental design is used, with a control group that received no correction feedback while the experimental groups received direct, coded and uncoded feedback. Three hypotheses define the study in terms of fluency, correction success and accuracy development over time. No significant increases in fluency were found between the pretests and posttests. Correction success achieved by the three treatment groups when rewriting texts reflected the explicitness of the feedback, with the direct group highest, followed by the coded and uncoded groups. Findings were mixed on the important issue of accuracy development, although they strongly suggest that for spelling, any type of feedback is significantly better than none and that coded feedback is better than direct feedback despite the latter being more explicit. Students from all the treatment groups expressed similarly positive opinions on correction feedback. / Applied Language / M.A. (Spec. in Applied Linguistics)

abstract: South Sudanese refugees are among the most vulnerable immigrants to the U.S.. Many have spent years in refugee camps, experienced trauma, lost members of their families and have had minimal or no schooling or literacy prior to their arrival in the U.S. Although most South Sudanese aspire to become U.S. citizens, finally giving them a sense of belonging and participation in a land they can call their own, they constitute a group that faces great challenges in terms of their educational adaptation and English-language learning skills that would lead them to success on the U.S. citizenship examination. This dissertation reports findings from a qualitative research project involving case studies of South Sudanese students in a citizenship preparation program at a South Sudanese refugee community center in Phoenix, Arizona. It focuses on the links between the motivations of students seeking citizenship and the barriers they face in gaining it. Though the South Sudanese refugee students aspiring to become U.S. citizens face many of the same challenges as other immigrant groups, there are some factors that in combination make the participants in this study different from other groups. These include: long periods spent in refugee camps, advanced ages, war trauma, absence of intact families, no schooling or severe disruption from schooling, no first language literacy, and hybridized forms of second languages (e.g. Juba Arabic). This study reports on the motivations students have for seeking citizenship and the challenges they face in attaining it from the perspective of teachers working with those students, community leaders of the South Sudanese community, and particularly the students enrolled in the citizenship program. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2014

abstract: This study investigated the effects of concurrent audio and equivalent onscreen text on the ability of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to form associations between textual and aural forms of target vocabulary words. The study also looked at the effects of learner control over an audio sequence on the association of textual and aural forms of target words. Attitudes towards experimental treatments and reported level of cognitive load were also examined in the context of a computer-based multimedia instructional program. A total of 200 college students took part in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions in a 2 x 3 factorial design with level of learner control (learner-controlled vs. not-learner-controlled) and format of presentation of information (audio + no text vs. audio + full text vs. audio + keyword text) as factors. The subjects completed a pretest, a posttest, cognitive load questions, and an attitude questionnaire. The results revealed the following findings: (a) groups in the audio + keyword text conditions outperformed those in the audio + no text and audio + full text conditions on text-sound association, (b) within the audio + keyword text conditions, the learner-controlled group outperformed the not-learner-controlled group on text-sound association, (c) within the learner-controlled conditions, the audio + keyword group outperformed the audio + no text and audio + full text groups on text-sound association, (d) a redundancy effect was not found for any treatment condition, and (e) overall, participants had positive attitudes towards the treatments. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed within the frameworks of cognitive load theory and cognitive theory of multimedia learning. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Technology 2014

Research within the field of serious games shows that games and simulations can supplement traditional learning methods in a positive way. Modern technology allows for simulations of real situations thus allowing for improved vocabulary training. This paper focusses on ESL (English as a second language training) for adult learners and looks at how a prototype set of minigames could be used to enhance learning outcomes in a specific set of vocabulary. The paper looks at a case study carried out by the researcher in Plymouth in the UK at an ESL training centre. Results from this sample showed that this method of using games is viable, however not that much of an improvement on traditional methods.

In Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) revised the Course of Study in English education twice in the last decade (in 2002 and in 2011), and the drastic changes have been made especially in the section of communicative skills: introduction of English study in elementary school, teaching English in English in high school, requirement of the subject ‘Oral Communication I’ in high school, etc. The aim of the revisions is to produce international individuals, who have high English proficiency not only in input-skills but also in output-skills, especially in speaking (MEXT 2004: 90, MEXT 2011). Despite the revisions of the Course of Study, Japan is still ranked low in English proficiency not only among the developed countries but also among the Asian countries (Sakamoto 2012: 409; Sullivan and Schatz 2009: 586; Educational Testing Service 2012). Inputs on different cultures and languages take an important role in language learning especially in the modern society where students have high chances to encounter cross-cultural communication. The politeness strategy is one of those factors that the social actors must learn for the sound relationships with others. Each culture has its own politeness strategy; therefore, miscommunication is observed more often in intercultural conversations due to the various conceptualization of politeness in different cultures (Sifianou 1992: 216). That is, comprehending the diversity in politeness strategy seems to be a clue of smooth communication and better apprehension of different cultures in cross-culture conversations. The Course of Study for foreign languages and English language also refers to the significance of comprehending various cultures and languages (MEXT 2009); however, as previous studies represent the Japanese students studying abroad or the Japanese businessman in intercultural communications seem to lack the understanding of the western politeness strategy (cf. Fujio 2004, Nakane 2006). Besides, it is vague what ‘different cultures’ refers to in the Course of Study for English. Based on the attitudes of the Japanese students towards cross-cultural communication and ambiguous explanation on ‘cultural learning’ by the Course of the Study, I assume that one of the reasons why Japan cannot achieve the communication-focused curriculum might be attributed to the lack of politeness theory perspective in English learning. Taking differences in politeness strategies between the western societies and the Japanese ones into consideration, it seems to be unfeasible and insufficient to only increase the number of communicative lessons and compel students into speaking English. The differences in politeness strategy should be applied into English learning in order to boost the English proficiency of Japanese students and produce globalized students. The present paper focuses on the following two aspects of English learning in Japan in order to test the hypothesis: The Course of Study in English learning in Japan does not specify what is ‘cultural learning’, which triggers the lack of politeness perspective The lack of politeness learning obstruct Japanese students to successful crosscultural communication In the present paper, in order to observe the application of the politeness theory in English learning, firstly English textbooks used in Japan are analyzed in terms of the politeness theory by focusing on the following four aspects: silence, speech style, ambiguity, and hierarchical relationship. Previous studies have shown that extinctive differences between the western politeness and the Japanese politeness in communication are obviously revealed in those four points (cf. Fujio 2004; Kameda  2001; Nakane 2006). In addition to the analysis of the English textbooks, an interview on the correlation between English learning and politeness theory is conducted on international Japanese in order to observe how they acquire the western politeness strategy, how English learning at school functioned to learn the western politeness strategy, etc. (cf. see 3. for details). To contextualize this paper, the politeness theory and the previous studies on the relation between the Japanese politeness and crossculture communication will be presented first, and a brief overview of English education in Japan and tendencies in Japanese schooling will follow.