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This study is a partial replication of Pica et al’s study (1989) of comprehensible output, and investigates comprehensible output in NNS-NNS interaction in Japanese as a Foreign Language. Data were collected using two different types of tasks (information gap and jigsaw tasks) in three sub-groups of different proficiency levels (High-High, Low-Low, and High-Low) in order to find out (1) to what extent the tasks provide opportunities for learners to modify their initial output in response to requests for clarification and confirmation, and (2) the extent to which learners actually modify their output in response to interlocutor requests. / The results show that comprehensible output is an important phenomenon in NNS-NNS interaction. Unlike the result of Pica et al, task types had more effect on opportunities for comprehensible output and actual production of comprehensible output than request types. Not much difference was found among different proficiency groups.

Thesis (MA--Applied Language Studies) -- AUT University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (viii, 104 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 373.110086910993 CRO)

Dissertation (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Curricular and Instructional Studies, 2005. / "August, 2005." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 12/18/2005) Advisor, Susan Kushner Benson; Committee members, Susan Colville-Hall, Catharine Knight, Lynn Smolen, Matt Wyszynski; Department Chair, Walter Yoder, Jr.; Dean of the College, Patricia Nelson; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> Teacher professional development opportunities in Mexico are currently lacking. The traditional approaches of professional development such as workshops and conferences are commonplace but do little to bridge the gap between abstract concepts about teaching and learning and the practicalities teachers face in the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to describe how ideas, materials, and social interactions form a PLN through online, informal pedagogical dialogues among English language educators as it relates to professional learning. The five participants of this study were selected from a total of 10 based on their willingness to complete an informed consent form, complete an initial online survey, interact with other professionals publically online, and participate in a final interview. The online survey contained demographic information about each case and included both open and closed items; a content analysis was done on public interactions that tool place online; and a final in-depth interview used open questions to inquire about how respective PLNs changed over time. All data was coded, categorized, and placed into themes based on the ideational, material, and social aspects of each PLN. The findings show that professional knowledge, skills sets, and overall dispositions emerge in unique ways based on how ideas, technologies, and personal contacts interrelate with each other over time, and that an individual&rsquo;s PLN provides unanticipated benefits when sharing publicly online.</p>

Orientador: Ucy Soto / Banca: Isadora Valencise Gregolin / Banca: Antônio Suárez Abreu / Resumo: Esta pesquisa investiga a construção textual do chat educacional - uma conversação síncrona por escrito mediada por computador voltada para a esfera educacional - a partir de análises de sessões de chat de duas turmas de um curso de espanhol com fins específicos para estudantes brasileiros, intitulado "Español para Turismo", ministrado a distância. Este trabalho teve como objetivos i) descrever o gênero digital chat educacional a partir da análise da construção composicional, dos conteúdos temáticos e da função de acordo com a teoria bakhtiniana de gêneros discursivos (Bakhtin (2003), Marcuschi (2005; 2008), Fiorin (2006); ii) descrever, com base nos postulados teórico-metodológicos da perspectiva textual-interativa (JUBRAN, 2006a, 2007), as estratégias de construção textual que se inscrevem na materialidade linguística do texto, a partir das regularidades dos procedimentos de construção textual (Koch (2006), Marcuschi (2006a, 2006b), Jubran (2006a, 2006b), Fávero, Andrade & Aquino (2006a, 2006b), Travaglia (2006), Risso, Oliveira & Urbano (2006) e Urbano (2006)). Com este fim, foram analisadas as seguintes estratégias: repetição lexical, frasal e de letras, correção, parentetização, hesitação, pontuação (reticências, pontos de exclamação e de interrogação), maiúscula, onomatopéia, turnos, fragmentação da linguagem, vocativos, marcadores discursivos, emoticons, abreviações, segmentação de palavras e par dialógico (pergunta-resposta). A descrição das estratégias de construção textual dos chats educacionais permitiu identificar que há estratégias que atendem à adequação à norma padrão (escrita) da língua espanhola; outras que reproduzem as características da fala; e ainda outras que reelaboram o sentido ortográfico convencional de recursos típicos da escrita. Além do uso da variante padrão e da reelaboração... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This research investigates the textual construction in educational chat - a synchronous written conversation mediated by computer, with the focus on education - based on the analysis of chat sessions of two classes of Spanish for Specific Purposes course, taught to Brazilian students. It was an online course entitled "Español for Tourism". This study aimed at i) describing the digital gender of educational chat based on the compositional construction analysis, on the theme content and on its function, according to the Bakhtinian theory for speech genre (Bakhtin (2003), Marcuschi (2005, 2008), Fiorin (2006), ii) describing, based on the theory and methodology of textual-interactive perspective (JUBRAN, 2006a, 2007), the textual-construction strategies that fall under the linguistic materiality of the text, based on the regularities of textual construction procedures (Koch (2006), Marcuschi (2006a, 2006b), Jubran (2006a, 2006b), Fávero, Andrade and Aquino (2006a, 2006b), Travaglia (2006), Risso, Oliveira & Urban (2006) and Urban (2006)). Based on these theories, we analyzed the following strategies: lexical, sentence and letter repetition, correction, bracketing, hesitation, punctuation (ellipses, exclamation points and question marks), capitalization, onomatopoeia, shifts, language fragmentation, vocative, discourse markers, emoticons, abbreviations, word segmentation and dialogic pair. The description of the textual construction strategies of educational chats enabled us to identify that there are strategies that meet the adequacy of standard (written) Spanish, as well as others, which reproduce the characteristics of speech, and a third kind, that reelaborates the conventional sense of spelling of typical written resources. Besides the use of standard and variant features of redevelopment of writing, there was also the use of strategies for textual construction which... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

In the 21st century, the UK government, through its immigration policy, has linked the English language proficiency of immigrants with their social integration thus, following an assimilative framework (Blackledge, 2005; Blommaert & Verschueren, 1998). This seven months mixed methods study investigates whether the goal of social integration of immigrants can be achieved through the ESOL for citizenship course and the ways in which this course can affect their identity. It also investigates the effects of the government’s policy on classroom pedagogy. The data was collected in Manchester and Lancashire county using semi-structured interviews with eight participants of Pakistani and Indian origin who were studying ESOL for citizenship courses, and questionnaires from seventy-four learners who had already gained nationality. Thirty-two questionnaires were also distributed among ESOL for citizenship teachers to investigate the effects on classroom pedagogy. A thematic analysis was then conducted on the data. The findings showed that the course does not ensure social integration of immigrants as it depends on various social factors: language use, length of stay in the UK, type of neighbourhood, extended family in the UK, and decisions made by the family. The course does not help in changing the identity of the immigrants as the participants still wanted to identify themselves with their native country and only considered British nationality as a status. The political purpose this provision is serving has negatively affected ESOL teachers and their classroom pedagogy. The limitations of this study are that it was unable to observe the migrants getting involved in the community as well as to conduct interviews with the teachers. Future studies with learners of other nationalities can be conducted using ethnographically informed methods. This study refuted the claims made by the UK government related to immigrants’ social integration thus the need is to separate this provision from immigration and to provide support to teachers and learners.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of the dissertation was to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) students' use of their first language (L1) in composing English texts. The first study focused on factors associated with students' spontaneous use of L1 in EFL writing. The research questions of this study concerned how spontaneous L1 use in EFL writing may interact with cognitive demands of writing tasks, learners' English proficiency, and writing quality. Thirty Taiwanese college students from different disciplines participated. Writing tasks included the issue analysis and argument analysis tasks, both derived from GRE and GMAT writing. Students' percentage of L1 use in think-aloud protocols was calculated within each phase of the composing process and compared to the cognitive demands of writing tasks, students' English proficiency, and writing scores. EFL students' percentage of L1 use was found to vary not only by cognitive demands of writing tasks but also by types of writing tasks. Total quantity of L1 use of EFL students was not related to their English proficiency. Further, EFL students' spontaneous use of L1 was found to be associated with better writing quality when used in activities such as making logical transitions, posing questions about logic and content development, or summarizing long chunks of reasoning. The second study, concerning the advantage of L1 used as the only composing language in EFL writing, looked in detail at four cases to examine factors such as the cognitive demands of writing tasks, students' English proficiency, and students' ability to use L1 strategically. The choice of composing language was found to be associated with English writing quality only in cognitively demanding writing tasks, such as argumentation. In argumentation, the advantages of composing in L1 depended on the interaction of students' English proficiency and students' ability to use L 1 strategically. Compared to English, L1 Chinese as a composing language was advantageous to writing quality when students had either the ability to use L1 strategically or high English proficiency. On the other hand, L1 as a composing language was disadvantageous to English writing scores when the student had neither the ability to use L1 strategically nor high English proficiency. Pedagogical implications are discussed. / 2031-01-02

<p> This research study was conducted with the intention of determining the most common errors that occur in the development of Italian oral language skills among 102 students participating in a 90/10 (90% in Italian/10% in English) dual language program offered at a California public elementary school. The 90/10 program breaks down instruction as follows: Kfirst grade 90% instruction in the target language/10% in English; in second grade 80/20; in third grade, 70/30; in fourth, 60/40, and in fifth, 50/50. Although the ratios change, the program is officially known as 90/10. The students in this study, a mixed group ranging from first to fifth grade, observed a series of pictures representing a story, which they then had to orally tell in their own words. The oral presentations were recorded and then transcribed word by word, including pauses and hesitations. The productions were then analyzed in depth, with special attention given to hesitations, the insertion of phrases and/or words in English, errors with lexical choice and grammatical errors (auxiliary verb choice, as well as the usage of subjects, verbs, and pronouns). The results from this study demonstrate that the age of the student influences second language oral fluency. In general, students with more schooling tended to commit fewer errors in their oral production. However, some categories of errors did not seem to be affected by the length of time students had been enrolled in the program. It is hypothesized that some errors persist due to the decreased amount of Italian instruction that characterizes the upper years in the program.</p><p>