The purpose of this study was to describe the moves used by middle-school ESL students to infer the meaning of unknown words in a science passage, and to describe the use of visual inscriptions in their inferencing process. Data from 10 female ESL students were collected using think-alouds while reading a test passage from a science textbook. In addition participants completed a Survey of Reading Strategies survey and participated in an open-ended interview about reading strategies. The think-aloud transcripts were analysed using an inductive process based on the constant comparison method, and resulted in the development of a taxonomy consisting of two meta-categories, six categories, and 20 sub-categories of inferencing moves. This taxonomy resulted in the identification of five sub-categories of inferencing moves that had not been described in previous lexical inferencing research. Each of these five new sub-categories occurred among the top ten most frequently used moves overall. Further analysis revealed that participants used Regulatory category moves more frequently than Heuristic moves. This suggested that participants in this study expended a Iarger portion of their resources managing the inferencing and the social aspects of the reading task than attending to word, sentence, discourse, or prior knowledge moves. The use of visual inscriptions was reported with low overall frequency, but this sub-category was used in complex ways in conjunction with other Regulatory and Heuristic moves. This suggested that the use of inscriptions was firmly embedded in the lexical inferencing processes of participants when reading science texts. Suggestions for future research include using texts with additional multimodal characteristics, expanding the age range of participants to include younger ages, and including descriptions of moves resulting from the social aspects of the reading tasks. Pedagogical implications include: (1) developing instruction which targets the use of less frequently reported Regulatory and Heuristic moves to expand the inferencing repertoire of learners, and (2) developing instruction which encourages students to draw links between inscriptions and the construction of lexical meaning to aid in the interpretation of complex text. Further it is suggested that textbook designers: (I) develop more calculated design strategies that will assist students in using inscriptions and text in tandem to construct meaning, and (2) use the published results of lexical inferencing to include features that facilitate the identification of words that are anticipated to be problematic for ESL learners.

This research was done to find out if engineering oral presentations (EOPs) are a genre, if there are systematic differences between EOPs delivered by native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of English, if there are systematic differences between EOPs delivered by novices and experts and, if the engineering discourse community (DC) members have beliefs concerning what constitute 'good' EOPs. One engineering seminar and four engineering conferences carried out in Malaysia and the UK between March and September 1994 were participated. From this participant observation exercise, 100 questionnaires were gathered and responses analysed; sixty-eight EOPs delivered by NSs and NNSs were transcribed and analysed using Genre Analysis frameworks. Results from the analysis of EOPs were counterchecked with the responses in the questionnaires. It was found that EOPs did have describable characteristics which qualify them as a genre; There were few differences between EOPs delivered by NSs and NNSs of English because the latter tend to follow the former; There were describable differences between EOPs delivered by experts and novices. The engineering DC members did have their genre expectations but not all of their beliefs concerning what constitute 'good' EOPs were possible to materialise in actual occasions because of certain unavoidable constraints. These constraints were found to be affecting the variants of the genre more than the invariants. These variant-invariant elements were found to be related to the characteristics of exemplars, prototypes, prestige markers and the patterns of imitations of NNSs and novices of the engineering DC members. 'Ecological validity' was pointed out to be one of the ways of achieving the reliability and the validity of the research. Potential teaching implications were also discussed. Unavoidable limitations of the research were pointed out and finally immediate and longer term research projects have been identified.

Reading comprehension in English as a second language in the context of Iranian education system is not unproblematic. Hardly any studies have been attempted to investigate reading strategies and processes employed by novice and skilled readers through an on-line method of reading skills research in this context. The present study was thus undertaken to address the present need by employing think-aloud methodology to compare novice and skilled reading strategies. Therefore, a qualitative approach was taken to elicit as much information as possible for the purpose of identifying and describing competence in reading skills. The main research question addressed in this study deals with comparing strategy use of a group of novice second language EST readers studying academic English in Iran with another group of skilled second language EST readers from the same ethnic population but studying at the highest academic levels outside their mother land, viz. in Scotland. Several hypotheses were formed following a preliminary pilot study which included the following: a) there was a positive relationship between the number of strategies used by readers of each group and their performance on the TOEFL test; b) there are common areas in the readers' use of comprehension strategies which make the individual difference hypothesis in reading comprehension a debatable issue; c) the readers tend to follow an interactive approach to reading comprehension. Using an interactive model of reading seven categories of strategies were identified and classified. Non-significant correlation was obtained between number of strategies and language proficiency scores. Using a human information processing system, each reader's protocol was subjected to a detailed stage by stage analysis which supported the notion of the individual difference in reading comprehension. The readers also applied an interactive reading process to text comprehension.

Three adult ESL students in a private setting participated in this case study, which investigated the effects of teaching students through strategy instruction, to adopt learning strategies that matched their individual learning style. I designed the training to draw attention to 16 learning strategies, that learners could chose from, according to their VARK (visual, aural, read and write, kinesthetic) profile. Instruction was provided in the context of an intermediate level 1 class, for a weekly three hour class. The focus of the study was to gain knowledge of cognition, metacognition and apply that knowledge to the use of personalised learning strategies. The goal was to then apply these strategies to facilitate learning a new verb tense, the present perfect. The training provided opportunities for practice, in both the learning strategies and the linguistic content. This study is a descriptive case study and not an experimental study. Therefore, in order to describe the contributions of strategy instruction, as revealed by the data, I employed a number of procedures. Pretest and postest results were analysed and showed a significant increase in the ability of students exposed to the training to correctly use the present perfect in context. Interview and questionnaire data were used to complement the test score data. It appears that strategy instruction is a factor that contributed to the score improvement and, because strategy instruction entails a number of elements, it is the combination of these elements such as the selection and use of appropriate strategies, cognitive and metacognitive awareness, knowledge of self, and practice in context that contributed to the score gains.

This East-West comparative study can be looked upon as my attempt to better understand people living in two different worlds and societies---the former Communist Russia and Western countries. It is a chance for me to take the best from the two mentalities and concentrate on what unites Eastern and Western scholars in their interpretation of Vygotskian psychology, his theory on education and his ideas on teaching a second language. Ironically, this became possible far away from Russia, the country where I first heard the name of Vygotsky. / I owe my "meeting" Vygotsky in Montreal to my ESL Curriculum Development, Ethnography classes professor and my thesis supervisor Mary Maguire who has helped me to rediscover Vygotsky on Canadian soil. / My thesis is one more attempt to contribute to the existing research on theoretical interpretations of Vygotsky's theory of psychological development. It is one more voice of a teacher and native speaker of Russian, captivated by Vygotsky's ideas and his lifelong search for the universal concepts essential for building the future. That is, raising and teaching children. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This longitudinal inquiry into the academic literacy practices of ten Turkish scholars of International Relations (IR) attempts to answer three broad questions: what factors have affected the participants' acquisition and maintenance of academic reading and writing skills; what patterns of similarities and differences can be found among their literacy practices; and what relationships might be discovered between the various factors and the scholars' literacy practices. Data for the study were collected through observations, autobiographical accounts of the participants' literacy practices via interviews, and textual analysis of the participants' published works. / The theoretical framework for the study draws on neo-Vygotskian Activity Theory and Bakhtinian Dialogic Theory, to create a model for uncovering and understanding the contextual factors mediating scholars' academic literacy practices. The model begins with the assumption that scholars operate within multiple "activity systems" (Engstrom, 1990), in this case: (1) the core American IR discipline; (2) the local Turkish IR discipline/particular Turkish IR departments; and (3) Turkish society. The model reconceptualizes the idea of activity systems as "filters," which mediate individuals' production and reception of texts, i.e. their literacy practices. Conflicts may arise according to the "thickness" of a filter and depending on the "operational means" acceptable within it. / By contributing to a deeper understanding of how people acquire and maintain academic literacy skills in a second language the study ultimately aims to aid in the construction of pedagogical models and approaches that reflect the complex nature of these multi-lingual literacy practices.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-257). / Microfiche. / xii, 257 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 676-721). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / 721 leaves, bound in 2 v. ill. 29 cm

The objective of this research paper was to examine how, through the prism of student migration patterns, the domination of the English language is extended and entrenched. Using the example of Chinese students in South Africa, the paper explored some of the reasons that underpin South Africa's growing appeal as an international study destination. The research specifically focused on the period between 2002 and 2004 which witnessed Chinese students arriving in unprecedented numbers to pursue higher education in a post-apartheid South Africa.

<p>This research used diary studies and interviews with five Japanese learners of English to investigate the different affective, cognitive and social factors that affected their learning of English in Cape Town between 2004 and 2005. The findings of this study corroborate arguments put forward by Gardner that factors such as learning goals, learning strategy, attitude, motivation, anxiety, self-confidence and cultural beliefs about communication affect the acquisition of a second language and correlate with one another.</p>