Multiple-choice questions are acknowledged to be difficult for both English mother-tongue and second-language university students to interpret and answer. In a context in which university tuition policies are demanding explicitly that assessments need to be designed and administered in such a way that no students are disadvantaged by the assessment process, the thesis explores the fairness of multiple-choice questions as a way of testing second-language students in South Africa. It explores the extent to which two multiple-choice Linguistics examinations at Unisa are in fact ‘generally accessible’ to second-language students, focusing on what kinds of multiple-choice questions present particular problems for second-language speakers and what contribution linguistic factors make to these difficulties. Statistical analysis of the examination results of two classes of students writing multiple-choice exams in first-year Linguistics is coupled with a linguistic analysis of the examination papers to establish the readability level of each question and whether the questions adhered to eight item-writing guidelines relating to maximising readability and avoiding negatives, long items, incomplete sentence stems, similar answer choices, grammatically non-parallel answer choices, ‘All-of-the-above’ and ‘None-of-the-above’ items. Correlations are sought between question difficulty and aspects of the language of these questions and an attempt is made to investigate the respective contributions of cognitive difficulty and linguistic difficulty on student performance. To complement the quantitative portion of the study, a think-aloud protocol was conducted with 13 students in an attempt to gain insight into the problems experienced by individual students in reading, understanding and answering multiple-choice questions. The consolidated quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that among the linguistic aspects of questions that contributed to question difficulty for second language speakers was a high density of academic words, long items and negative stems. These sources of difficulty should be addressed as far as possible during item-writing and editorial review of questions.

There are different ideas when it comes to the use of either Swedish or English during EFL lessons. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ choice of language in the upper elementary EFL classroom in Swedish schools and their arguments for the use of one or the other. In order to find out which language different teachers use and why, semi-structured interviews with six different teachers were carried out. All respondents were currently teaching English in grade 4-6. The results of the study show that the teachers’ most commonly used language in the EFL classroom is English. However, several of the teachers mention that they also use Swedish, for example when it comes to explaining difficult instructions or grammar. All teachers participating in this study mention the importance of hearing and using English in order for the pupils to learn English and therefore they try to use mostly English. Nevertheless, this study only has six participants, all living in the same county and working at schools with many similarities, which makes it difficult to draw any generalizable conclusions. To be able to draw better conclusions, a study would have to be conducted with more participants within a larger area. / <p>Engelska</p>

Student Number : 9305365T - MEd research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / Previous studies have examined the issue of assessing university students and relating their performance on the assessment measures to their academic performance in South Africa (Butler & Van Dyk, 2004; Nel, Dreyer, & Kopper, 2004). Nel et al (2004) used a comprehensive assessment battery whereas Butler and Van Dyk (2004) used a single test, the ELSA-PLUS. However, there is very little research on the relationship between reading and academic performance (Onwuebuzie, Mayes, Arthur, Johnson, Robinson, Ashe, Elbedous & Collins, 2004). The Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) Blue Level was administered to 380 first year students in the one of the schools in an English medium university in South Africa at the beginning of 2005. 67 students volunteered to have their results used in the study of which 22 were English second language (L2) speakers and 43 were English first language (L1) speakers. The results showed that there were significant differences between the L1 and L2 students, where the performance of the L2 students was significantly weaker than that of the L1 students on the Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Word Parts and Structural Analysis subtests of the SDRT. However, it emerged that the SDRT is not a good predictive test for academic achievement for either L1 or L2 students.

Ten years into a democratic South Africa, significant changes have been witnessed in economic, social, political and educational development. Changes in the education system have resulted in many of the learners being encouraged to attend English medium schools although this is not their L1. Hence, there has been an increase of learners learning to read in a language that is not their first language. The transition from their home language to the language of learning is often not easy and impacts on their academic proficiency as well as academic development. This study investigated English reading abilities and academic performance of Grade 8 L1 and L2 learners attending an Ex-Model C school. The SDRT – Brown Level was used to assess the level of reading and its impact on academic achievement was investigated. Results show that the SDRT was highly correlated with, and a significant predictor of academic performance with certain tests being stronger predictors than others for L1 and L2 learners. Implications of these findings for the education of L1 and L2 learners are discussed.

In support of educational equity, the White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001) states that every learner in South Africa has the right to pursue their learning potential to the best of their ability. The South African Schools Act of 1996 states that a school’s language policy may not exclude learners from different backgrounds. As a result, many English second language (L2) learners struggle to understand the learning material and perform poorly academically. Poor literacy and reading skills have been identified in the literature (for example Pretorius, 2005) as a significant cause for poor academic performance. In an endeavour to work within the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) system, teachers are increasingly seeking ways to improve group learning. These factors motivated the present study and a paired reading intervention was selected and administered to Grade 9 English second language learners. Volunteer participants consisted of an Experimental Group (n 53) and a Comparison Group (n 53). Each group was divided into strong (mentor) and weak (mentee) readers. Pre-tests and post-tests were conducted regarding the Experimental and Comparison Group’s scores on the Vocabulary and Comprehension subtests of the Stanford Reading Diagnostic Test (SDRT): Brown Level and the Academic Performance of both groups were recorded at pre and post-test phases. After an 11 week intervention programme a statistical analysis of the results was conducted. The overall means for the groups were analysed using t-tests to establish any significant differences between the pre-test and post-test results. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was also conducted to determine whether any significant differences existed between the Experimental and Comparison Group. A null hypothesis was supported. It would appear that the whole-hearted commitment and participation of all role-players is essential for the effective implementation of a peer reading intervention at a school.

This thesis aims to examine factors that influence the use of shell nouns in the writing production by Chinese and Swedish authors. Based on previous studies of shell nouns, this research establishes a theoretical model and a hypothesis is put forward: Though writing in the same genre, Chinese and Swedish authors have different ways of adopting shell nouns partially due to first language transfer. The verification of this hypothesis involves research samples from four corpora across two genres:Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners and Uppsala Student English Corpus made up of argumentations, and two self-established corpora composed of SCI research articles by Chinese and Swedish authors. It is found that in argumentative essays Chinese authors use significantly less shell nouns compared with Swedish authors and the lexico-grammatical patterns used by Chinese authors are not as diverse as those by Swedish authors. Whereas Chinese authors use the pattern the + N and this/that + N mostly, Swedish authors prefer the pattern the + N + that. As for the cohesive function,Swedish authors are more likely to use shell nouns to establish cataphoric reference. In research articles, however, the comparison shows that though Chinese authors still use significantly less shell nouns, especially cognitive shell nouns, the two groups of writers show no significant difference in choosing lexico-grammatical patterns, premodifiers or other classes of shell nouns. A qualitative analysis indicates that linguistic features including methods of texture, popularity of nouns, concrete and abstract dictions and sentence patterns result in the different use of shell nouns, which confirms the hypothesis. As the degree of difference is not the same in the two genres, a possible explanationis suggested: the genre “argumentation” has weak restriction compared with the genre “researcharticle”. It is the difference in genre restriction that makes Chinese and Swedish authors adopt similar or diverse ways of using shell nouns. A pedagogical implication of this thesis is th at language teachers should pay attention to the influence of genre in writing courses and conduct flexible teaching based on features of different genres.

Orientador: João Antonio Telles / Banca: Stela Miller / Banca: Maria Cecilia Camargo Magalhães / Resumo: A dissertação tem como objetivos: 1) apresentar uma maneira de desenvolver o ensino de língua pela qual seja possível a produção de conhecimentos significativos e que considere a vida e a realidade dos alunos. 2) Produção textual Histórias de Família por meio de um percurso pelo qual os alunos possam viver os processos de produção e tenham a consciência da história familiar. As análises mostram que a escrita do gênero Histórias de Família oferece uma riqueza de dados importantes para se pensar em uma metodologia de ensino voltada para a produção de conhecimentos significativos e uma educação humana mais ampla. Promove a interação com a família e desperta a responsabilidade com as atividades de linguagem, uma vez que a palavra escrita é vista como um trabalho e socializada com interlocutores reais: a família e os leitores das narrativas. / Abstract: The study here described has two objectives: (1) to introduce a way of developing the study of a language that aims the production of meaningful knowledge and by taking into account the students' life and context; (2) the written production of family histories through a process by which students can experience the writing production process and can become aware of their own family history. The results of the analyses show that the production of the family history genre offers a wealth of important data to think of a teaching methodology focused on the production of meaningful knowledge and of an education that is more broad and human. In addition, the written production of the family history genre provides students with opportunities of interaction with their families and awakens the responsibility and involvement with language based activities so that the written language can be viewed as work and socialized with real interlocutors: the families and the readers of the narratives. / Mestre

This study examines Midwestern collegiate and metropolitan newspapers to explore the differences in writing about disability language, terminology and tone. Specifically, this study focused on whether referential language and tone about people with disabilities differs depending on the source of the newspaper. Data from six metropolitan papers and eight collegiate papers over forty randomly selected dates in the year 2014 was collected. The metropolitan newspapers analyzed were The Chicago Tribune, The Indianapolis Star, The Des Moines Register, Detroit Free Press, Omaha World-Herald, and the Journal Sentinel. The collegiate newspapers examined were The Daily Illini, Indiana Daily Student, The Daily Iowan, The Michigan Daily, The State News, Daily Nebraskan, The Exponent, and The Badger Herald. A list of key search terms was electronically searched in each newspaper and articles that fell on the forty dates were saved and analyzed. Each term that appeared in the article was evaluated on a Likert scale for language use and tone; the total number of pages of each article was also calculated. Statistical tests used were T-Tests and analysis of covariance (ANCOVAR). A visual analysis was also conducted using an online word generator called Wordle. The results indicated that metropolitan papers used more preferred disability language than their collegiate counterparts. Both sources used an informational tone when referencing people with disabilities. Page length differences were statistically insignificant. Specific words repeatedly appeared throughout both newspaper sources: mental, disabilities, crazy, health and illness. While metropolitan papers also displayed preference for the following terms: elderly, elder, people, wheelchair, and older adults. Collegiate newspapers highlighted these terms: students, insane, madness, elderly and wheelchair. An implication of the study is that the media sources selected represented people with disabilities in an informational tone rather than a sensationalistic manner. However, disability language needs to continue to improve and become more sensitive to people with disabilities and professionals who work with them.

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine two groups of healthy older Dutch English bilingual migrants in a New Zealand setting to investigate whether they were showing signs of L2 attrition with accompanying L1 reversion post-retirement, and (b) to identify possible factors which might play a role in the incidence of any L2 attrition and concomitant L1 reversion. Previous research has focused on similar groups of migrants in the Australian context, while New Zealand based research has focused on language shift and maintenance amongst three generations of migrants. The research design involved an analysis of sociolinguistic life, using questionnaires. These included self-assessments of L1 and L2 proficiency at three key times: on arrival in New Zealand, at time of ultimate attainment and post-retirement. Further, an analysis of assessments of respondents’ L1 and L2 proficiency pre-and post-retirement completed by interviewees’ adult children moderated respondents’ self-reports. The findings revealed a considerable overlap between participants’ self-reports and assessments by their adult children. The study also revealed a relationship between participants’ level of prior education and their ultimate attainment in the L2, with those who had come to New Zealand having learned English at Secondary School English very likely to have achieved a “good” or “very good” level of L2 proficiency. Conversely, those who had not learned the L2 at secondary school prior to arriving in New Zealand, were less likely to have achieved a “very good” level of ultimate attainment as evident both from self-reports and assessments by adult children. The design also included a linguistic analysis of elicited free speech. Data focused on key indicators of age, gender, social class, prior education, occupation and predominant linguistic environment pre- and post-retirement. Free speech was examined for code-switching, response latency and L1 structure in respondents’ spoken L2. Results indicated that a majority of respondents showed minimal if any signs of L2 attrition with concomitant L1 reversion, both as evidenced by their spoken L2 and as indicated by self-reports and assessments by adult children. Any signs of L2 attrition which were found appeared linked to respondents’ level of prior education and L2 proficiency on arrival in New Zealand. Being exposed to a predominantly L1 social environment post-retirement also appeared to result in a lifting of the threshold for L2 lexical items, resulting in a slightly increased response latency in the spoken L2. Three participants said they experienced some problems expressing their healthcare needs to medical professionals, to the extent that they were searching for words. All stated they “got there in the end” but needed more time to paraphrase their health needs. Two subjects avoided the use of the L2 during the interview, even when prompted in English. Three respondents engaged in significant codeswitching from L2 to L1 and vice versa, with two engaging in what Muysken (2000) terms “congruent lexicalisation”. Adult childrens’ reports indicated that the respondents in question had always spoken in this manner, but to a greater extent now, post-retirement. Overall, a number of the healthy older subjects interviewed for the study were showing some signs of increased response latency and lexical retrieval problems when expressing themselves in the L2, but none to the degree that they were no longer able to communicate in that language.

If you belong to the dominant culture of your society, it is relatively easy to build an identity and conform. You understand how things run, what is expected of you, and how to meet those expectations. You have freedom to decide whether or not you will fit in. But have you ever considered what it must be like to belong to a minority culture? I certainly didn't, even though the primary school I work in is multicultural. Sixteen years ago, when I arrived, I assumed that it was up to the Samoan students at our school to assimilate into the Anglo-Saxon education system I had grown up with, despite the fact that many of them had been born in Samoa. But something happened over the years. An almost instinctive awareness grew amongst the Samoan parent community about the importance of the maintenance of their children's first language and culture. As a result of much hard work, my school has a Samoan bilingual class, where students learn, and learn in, two languages. The goal of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the bilingual class from the point of view of students who had left the class at least two years previously, and now attended secondary school. They shared insights into the life of the class, and what they believed were the long term effects for them. Most of what they shared about the class was very positive and affirming, and they attributed feelings of confidence and self esteem to the warmth and cultural nurturing of the class. The ability to speak fluently, and learn in, their first language promoted a sense of identity and self worth. They felt proud of their Samoan identify and equated their abilities in Samoan as crucial to that. This report, then, is about the journey from assimilation of a minority culture into the majority one, to the realization of the rights its members have to maintain their own identity, and the benefits that result.