Fossilization, the stagnation of second language (L2) learning despite propitious conditions, is an inescapable reality for virtually all L2 learners. The study presented in this dissertation has endeavored to contribute to our current understanding of fossilization by examining, both longitudinally and cross-sectionally, persistent errors in the writing of adult learners of academic English for whom Spanish is a first language (L1). The theoretical framework is the Selective Fossilization Hypothesis (SFH), introduced by Han in 2009, which offers an extrapolative and explanatory framework for analyzing persistent errors in the developing grammars of L2 learners. This research was conducted in two parts. Part I consisted of a cross-sectional investigation of 60 English language learners (ELLs) grouped into three proficiency levels: low intermediate, high intermediate, and advanced. Part II was a longitudinal case study that followed two ELLs over a period of 28 and 56 months, respectively. For both parts of the study, naturalistic data consisting of college placement, diagnostic, and exit essays were collected at the research site, a large community college in the Northeastern United States, and analyzed quantitatively. Descriptive statistics were computed to identify persistent errors in the participants’ writing. Following that, the longitudinal data were subjected to further analysis, revealing robust evidence of selective fossilization both among and within the target subsystems of English articles, prepositions, and number, and offering empirical support for the SFH. These findings have some implications for second language research and practice. By providing evidence of selective fossilization, they may help challenge earlier conceptualizations of fossilization as a global phenomenon, and, by extension, the myth of the ‘fossilized’ (‘unteachable’) learner. Additionally, they contribute to extant research on the developing academic writing of post-secondary learners, a population and genre largely underrepresented in the L2 research. Finally, by offering empirical support for selective fossilization and the SFH, they provide L2 practitioners with the means to predict and explain learner errors, enabling them to set more realistic learning goals and achieve more successful outcomes.

The aim of this dissertation is to present a critical literature review and conceptual analysis of selected genre-based research materials from 1960-2002 on the theoretical and pedagogical issues involved in teaching reading and writing to students of English for Science and Technology. Methodologically, the comparative data-analysis is aimed at identifying commonalities and differences between the various data texts in terms of their definition, orientations, and pedagogical uses. Based on the analyses, suggestions are made for the additional practical applications of the approaches within a learning-centred, communicative framework. The main conclusion is that genre analysis is a fusion of textual-contextual orientations on a structural-linguistic, social-ethnographic cline, which involves simultaneous microlinguistic and macrorhetorical, social-ethnographic processing. Owing to the scope of genre analysis, it is suggested that a considerably expanded, in-depth investigation is needed to clarify the dynamic tensions between and within the individual genre-based approaches, as well as their pedagogical applications. / English Studies / MA (TESOL)

D.Phil. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to present a critical literature review and conceptual analysis of selected genre-based research materials from 1960-2002 on the theoretical and pedagogical issues involved in teaching reading and writing to students of English for Science and Technology. Methodologically, the comparative data-analysis is aimed at identifying commonalities and differences between the various data texts in terms of their definition, orientations, and pedagogical uses. Based on the analyses, suggestions are made for the additional practical applications of the approaches within a learning-centred, communicative framework. The main conclusion is that genre analysis is a fusion of textual-contextual orientations on a structural-linguistic, social-ethnographic cline, which involves simultaneous microlinguistic and macrorhetorical, social-ethnographic processing. Owing to the scope of genre analysis, it is suggested that a considerably expanded, in-depth investigation is needed to clarify the dynamic tensions between and within the individual genre-based approaches, as well as their pedagogical applications. / English Studies / MA (TESOL)

D.Ed. / In South Africa the vast majority ofsecondary school pupils are instructed through the medium of a language that is not their mother tongue. Research indicates that problems which result from instruction in a medium in which pupils do not possess real competence are far reaching. This study is concerned primarily with the difficulties experienced by second language pupils reading expository text in English, in particular the reading matter encountered in subject text books. A study of the relevant theories with regard to reading and learning was made, as well as an overview of the socio-political and economic factors which affect the educational system in South Africa. An empirical study was undertaken, involving Standard 6 pupils who were not first language speakers of English, and who had received their primary school education at institutions under the control ofthe Department ofEducation and Training. In this empirical component pupils were observed, tested and interviewed in an attempt to determine the extent of the difficulties they experienced when they were required to intemalise information presented in the form ofexpository text such as that found in school text books. Findings indicate that the most effective way to address the issue might be by training teachers to become more efficient mediators in the reading process.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of South Africa, 2002.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

D.Ed. (Educational Linguistics) / This study focuses on the language learning patterns and processes of ten English Second Language pupils in a Johannesburg inner-city school. The investigation was undertaken with the aim of describing and clarifying these patterns and processes by means of a case study (monographic study) design which included mostly qualitative methods for data collection. The rationale for the study was that the demographic character of a typical inner-city school presupposes that a substantial number of pupils would not be proficient in the language of instruction. The specific problems encountered by these pupils, in this type of setting, needed a scientific investigation, with a view to identifying and clarifying the nature of these pupils' language learning. The South African urban context, where inner-city schools are being founded at an increasing pace, needed a local study to shed some light on the issue of English Second Language learning for school learning. The literature review consisted of readings in second language learning, the relatedness of language, culture and cognition and the characteristics of the typical inner-city school. The theory framework constructed from the review concluded with the theoretical premise that the inner-city pupil need not be pathologised as a language learner and that poverty, culture, ethnicity, although impacting on learning, can manifest in a variant pedagogy such as proposed by Bartolome (1994). The field investigation, which was conducted over one year, included data collection from three sources or constituents, namely the ten pupils of the monographic studies, their parents or caregivers, and the teacher. These data were consolidated, reduced and clustered, emanating in final empirical findings which were confirmed via the different methods and sources. The categories of data indicated, among others, that the pupils' reading comprehension was limited, that their syntactic knowledqe was undeveloped, that their pronunciation of English and limited vocabulary are obstacles in their communication and that they had a positive attitude towards English as medium of instruction. In the interpretation phase of this study, when the theory framework, with additional reading, was implemented in the clarification of the empirical findings, it was evident that the pupils' progress in English could be related to the role of the home, more than to variables at school. This aspect of the interpretation argument was selected as the focus for the construction of a model for home and English curriculum integration. This model is presented as an implementable and verifiable model for practice firstly, but also as a guideline for policy and research.