An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of task complexity and learner proficiency in native speaker (NS)/non-native speaker (NNS) interaction. A total of 24 Japanese NSs and 12 NNSs subjects representing three levels of proficiency, low (n=4), intermediate (n=4) and advanced (n=4), were randomly assigned to dyads to complete two communication tasks, each differing in relative complexity. Three composite variables made up of 32 dependent variables were used to measure the frequency of formal reduction, communication and repair strategies across both tasks. The hypothesis that NSs would simplify their speech and use a higher frequency of interactional modifications in accordance with the level of proficiency of the NNSs and the complexity of the tasks was tested. The results for the first independent variable of proficiency, indicated there was a trend showing that NSs simplified their speech when addressing NNSs in general and in particular, when addressing lower level learners of Japanese. The results for the second independent variable of task complexity revealed that there was a significant effect on the number of reduction, communication and repair strategies used on the more complex task for all groups. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on NS-NNS interaction and implications for second language teaching are explored. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Can a computer database be used to augment a content-based approach to developing academic discourse? This document reports on the integration of these three areas in student tasks in a unit of work (biology) taught by a content teacher and a language specialist to a class of grade 7 students in a Vancouver elementary school. The objectives of the study were 1) to investigate the connections between biology content, the academic discourse of classification and a computer database, and 2) to identify if each area was in fact related to the knowledge structures of classification and description. The research method focussed on, ethnographic observations, interviews and recordings of the students and the teachers as they worked through the unit. Analysis of the findings seems to suggest that there are connections between biology content, academic discourse of classification and a computer database, and that each area is related to the knowledge structure of classification and description. This finding further suggests that student tasks at the computer have the potential for developing academic discourse and the learning of content. This potential may deserve further investigation by both teachers and researchers. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Recent studies in language education have advocated the integration of language and content learning, assuming that classroom discourse will display appropriate formfunction relations. But Swain (1988) reveals that even good content teaching may result in classroom discourse where form-function relations are neither appropriate nor transparent, and calls for intentional teacher planning of classroom activities. Thus major areas for research are intentional planning for integration and functional discourse analysis. Approaches to the form-function analysis of discourse include register (Halliday 1985), genre (Martin 1992) and knowledge structures (Mohan 1990). All three provide a theoretical basis for functional discourse analysis and intentional planning. In this qualitative, eight-month study of Chinese as a foreign language and culture class for beginning elementary anglophone students, the teachers designed student tasks around knowledge structures, using graphic representations to mediate between language and content. Data included lesson plans, informal interviews, field notes, and discourse data from student interactions and written work. The discourse was analyzed lexicogrammatically with a view to form-function relations, particularly the formal realizations of knowledge structures. Major questions were: how were foreign language teaching and cultural learning intentionally organized around knowledge structures at the level of both curriculum design and classroom implementation? What systematic formfunction relations appeared in the discourse data. How are knowledge structures formally realized in the interactions and written work of young foreign language learners? The results throw light on the possibilities of systematic form-function relations in the classroom, the integration of language and content learning, and on further directions for intentional planning. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Provincial and federal government surveys and commissions have consistently reported that English literacy training for adults with no or limited English is urgently needed and that access to training is limited. The effectiveness of existing literacy training programs and instructional strategies at the adult level has not been well researched. However, at the classroom level literacy training can be easily compromised by instructional strategies that limit the concept of full-literacy by focusing ESL literacy instruction on survival, functional and skill-building reading experiences. English and second language reading research suggests that student self-selection of reading materials and a high exposure to text are effective means of increasing vocabulary knowledge and reading proficiency. This study examined the effect of an Extensive Reading program on reading proficiency and vocabulary knowledge for 2 classes (N=33) of adult low intermediate ESL learners enrolled in a 15 week English language training program at a large Canadian community college. This quasi-experimental treatment group participated in a reading program supplemental to their regular classroom reading instruction. Subjects met weekly with the researcher and self-selected reading material from a collection of graded readers. Data on the frequency of the students' reading, their preferences in reading topics and materials and self-evaluations of their first and second language reading abilities were tallied for subjects in both groups. No statistical significant differences were found for the treatment in the analysis of assessments of reading and vocabulary. However, the experimental group posted higher gains in the group mean score on reading proficiency than the control group. Analysis of the Reading Behavior Survey suggests subjects in both groups were low frequency readers (less than 5 hours of reading time in English per week) who generally evaluated themselves fair to good readers in L2 but good to excellent readers in LI. The inconclusive results for the effect of the treatment on reading proficiency and vocabulary acquisition implies the need for future studies on the effectiveness of extensive reading programs on literacy training in ESL programs where literacy in English is a concern for students and educators. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This dissertation investigates the effects and value of instructional activities for improving second language use of English articles. After reviewing a number of issues concerning pedagogical, linguistic, psycholinguistic, and internal validity, this study presents the results of eight longitudinal time-series case studies of adult Japanese learners of English residing in Vancouver, Canada, four of whom received grammatical explanations, input processing activities, and output practice activities regarding English article use. Learner development was assessed on three different narrative retelling tasks (spoken, written, and cloze) and the production was analysed with reference to specific contexts of use, indicating the form-function mappings that comprised the learners' interlanguage knowledge. The results indicated that the learners' interlanguage production exhibited (a) the anticipated task variation, with greater suppliance of the on tasks that allowed greater attention to form, and (b) the anticipated discoursal variation, with the supplied more consistently when it was primed as a redundant element on the written task and with the supplied less consistently when it was efficiently deleted as a redundant element on the spoken task. The results also indicated the variable nature of individual development and the value of assessing development longitudinally on different tasks. Importantly, the results indicated that the learners improved or continued improving after instruction, and strongly suggested that instruction can cause automatization of interlanguage knowledge. This finding suggests that form-focused instruction may be valuable for second language learning, and that pedagogical positions opposing form-focused instruction may need to be revised or abandoned. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (MA (English studies) -University of Limpopo / National Research Foundation

For more than half a century, education researchers have strived to understand, accommodate, and promote diversity in primary and secondary classrooms, generating a wealth of insightful research in the process. However, issues of diversity in the adult second language classroom remain under-explored. Given the recent rise in immigration around the world and the accompanying increase in xenophobia and fear, it is crucial that we closely examine how language teachers attend to issues of sociocultural diversity while working with highly diverse immigrant and international student populations. This study addresses the existing research gap by offering a microanalytic explorations of teachers’ practices for working with diversity in adult second language classrooms. Specifically, I examine how remarks that undermine diversity and discussions on issues of diversity are managed in situ. My data consist of 55 hours of video-recorded adult English as a second language (ESL) classes at a community language program in the Northeastern United States. The participants were four ESL teachers and their 39 students from 17 different countries. The data were transcribed and analyzed in minute detail within the conversation analytic and membership categorization analytic (M/CA) frameworks. Findings show that remarks that undermine diversity are both condoned and problematized in these classrooms. Although by condoning improper remarks the teachers might have inadvertently reinforced potentially harmful stereotypes and prejudices, they also helped promote a sense of appreciation, like-mindedness, and solidarity. On the other hand, by problematizing students’ potentially improper remarks, teachers created a space for various sociocultural views and experiences to be voiced, even as they ultimately promoted their own perspectives on issues of sociocultural diversity. Teachers’ practices for managing discussions on diversity were examined in a single case of a teacher initiating, extending, and terminating a discussion on a potentially sensitive topic of gender inclusivity. The analysis shows that the teacher fostered student participation by oscillating between neutral and value-laden statements on the topic at hand, increasingly resting gender inclusivity as he reinforced gender conformity. Findings contribute to research on diversity in education and on managing “socially sensitive” talk in the (language) classroom, as well as to critically “motivated” M/CA research.

While much research on teaching has focused on what teachers know, less attention has been devoted to understanding what they actually do. This empirical absence can be felt in particular in the adult English as a Second Language (ESL) instructional context, despite the continued growth of the U.S. immigrant population. The current study addresses this gap by examining discursive practices employed by experienced teachers as they manage multiple demands in the adult ESL classroom. Data include over 25 hours of video-recordings and transcripts of interaction in four intact classes taught by four instructors at two sites: an academic ESL program, housed at a community college, and a community-based ESL program, housed at a school of education. Microanalysis of teacher-student interaction, conducted within the framework of (multimodal) conversation analysis, uncovered three teacher practices for managing multiple demands. The first, voicing the student perspective, entails the teacher verbalizing how students (may) perceive or experience a pedagogic topic or task; the topic/task is framed in a way that acknowledges its difficulty or problematizes students’ engagement with it. By employing this practice, teachers simultaneously affiliate with the (potential) student perspective while preparing students for explanations of challenging topics or recruiting their participation. The second practice, binding student contributions, entails marking connections, verbally and/or non-verbally, between one student contribution and teacher explanation or the contributions or identities of other students. Through binding, the teacher displays responsiveness to individual contributions while promoting the engagement of (other individuals in) the class. The third practice, resource splitting, entails the use of verbal and embodied resources to simultaneously pursue different courses of action within a single turn, or the use of different embodied resources to do so. By “splitting” semiotic resources, the teacher can accomplish two actions at the same time: align as a recipient and validate one contribution while managing turn-taking or pursuing topic/task shifts. By providing empirically-grounded and fine-grained descriptions of actual teacher practices, this study contributes to explicating how the complex work of teaching is accomplished. Findings bring specificity to the conversation on what constitutes skillful teaching and may benefit teacher educators and novice (ESL) teachers.