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The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers
to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is
provided by the
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
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Showing 191 to 200 of 203 (0.078 seconds)| 191 |
Particularity, practicality and possibility: an investigation into the awareness and use of communicative language teaching methodology in a college of higher education in OmanMcLean, Alistair Charles 16 September 2011 (has links)
This study investigates awareness and use of communicative language teaching methodology (CLT) in a foundation programme at an institution of higher learning in the Sultanate of Oman, where rapid expansion and a reliance on expatriate skills has resulted in the employment of predominantly native English teachers, many with inadequate formal teacher training. The qualitative research methodology employed involved a core of five teachers using three data-gathering instruments and ten additional English language teachers who responded to a questionnaire. The study finds that the majority of teachers have inadequate knowledge of the CLT approach and do not use it in the classroom. The findings suggest that an adapted version of CLT which embraces local contextual and sociocultural conditions may be pedagogically viable. The study draws comparisons between the idea of a hypothetical, “adapted” version of CLT and the notions of “particularity, practicality and possibility” as suggested by Kumaravadivelu (2006). / English Studies / M.A. (Specialisation in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, TESOL)
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Contextual and learner factors in the development of English second language proficiencyMahlobo, Eric Bheakisenzo 06 1900 (has links)
The senior secondary school learners' limited English proficiency motivated the
researcher to investigate the extent to which contextual and learner factors contributed
to this problem. The ultimate aim was to recommend guidelines for dealing with the
problem.
The review of literature and empirical methods of research were used to this effect. The
literature review revealed that the learners' societal, home/family and school/classroom
contexts contributed to learners' development ofESL proficiency. It further showed that
the independent learner factors (i.e. learner factors that are not influenced by the context
from which the learner comes and/or in which SLA takes place) and dependent learner
factors (i.e. learner factors that are completely or partly subject to the influence of the
context from which the learner comes or in which SLA takes place) significantly
influenced the development ofESL proficiency.
With its focus on language learning strategies, the empirical investigation found a
significant relationship between the learners' level ofESL proficiency and use of direct
strategies (i.e. strategies that involve the mental processing of the target language, albeit
in different ways and for different purposes). The investigation found no significant
relationship between the learners' level of ESL proficiency and use of indirect strategies
(i.e. strategies that underpin the process of language learning). Several contextual and
learner factors were found to influence the relationship between the learner's strategy use
and the development ofESL proficiency.
These findings formed the basis for recommending specific guidelines for dealing with
limited ESL proficiency, as well as recommending possible directions for future research. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)
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"Got Skills...?" : En kvalitativ studie om kompetensutveckling baserat på StarCraft IIDenkert, Ellinor, Friberg, Erik January 2012 (has links)
The use of computer games has grown exponentially in the past few years and StarCraft II is one of the most popular e-sports today, played by millions of people worldwide. This study investigates the game’s effect on skills, as perceived by the players of StarCraft II. The study was conducted by using an empirical survey and interviews. The skills being investigated were both physical and mental in their nature. The conclusion was that the majority of players perceived that their skills regarding reaction speed, multitasking, APM, analysis and strategy were increased the most, while there was a smaller change in social skills and language skills. Additionally, people who played team games of StarCraft II did, however, feel that their teamwork, conflict management and leadership capabilities increased. / Under de senaste åren har användandet av datorspel vuxit explosionsartat. StarCraft II är ett utav dagens mest populära e-sporter och spelas av miljontals människor runt om i världen. Studien undersöker om spelare uppfattar kompetensförändringar av att spela StarCraft II. Studien utfördes med hjälp utav en enkät och intervjuer. Kompetenserna vi undersökte var av både fysiska och mentala i sin karaktär. Av resultaten kan man se att majoriteten av spelarna uppfattade en ökad kompetens inom reaktionshastighet, multitasking, APM, analytisk- och strategisk förmåga, medan man ser en mindre förändring inom social kompetens och språklig kompetens. Resultaten visar även att de som valde att spela lagspel uppfattade en ökad kompetens inom samarbete, konflikthantering och ledarskap.
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The effects of authentic materials using role-playing activities on oral proficiency : a case study of Thai undergraduate studentsSamaranayake, Sarath Withanarachchi 06 1900 (has links)
This study investigates the effects of authentic materials and contextually-developed role-playing activities on the oral proficiency of Thai undergraduate students. The study was conducted at Prince of Songkla University, Thailand during the first semester (June to September) of 2010. The study consisted of four research instruments and the data were analyzed using Independent Samples t-test to determine whether the authentic materials and contextually-developed role-playing activities had improved the students’ oral fluency and accuracy in the target language. The findings indicated statistically significant differences between the two groups wherein the experimental group performed better on both fluency and accuracy than the control group. Therefore, based on the findings of the current study, it can be concluded that authentic materials and contextually-developed role-playing activities involving a series of sequential events are effective in enhancing learners’ oral proficiency in programs of English as a foreign language in the context of Thailand English education. / English Studies / M.A. (TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages))
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Strategies for Teaching and Maintaining Chinese as Heritage Language for Chinese Children in Sweden : An investigation for identifying strategies that Chinese parents use helping their children learn and maintain their heritage languageWanner, Bertil January 2023 (has links)
Chinese as a heritage language is one of the fastest lost languages in the world. In fact, in most Chinese families that have left China, the heritage language is lost by the second generation. When people move from their homeland to a place where the primary language is different from their home language, one issue becomes whether their heritage language can be retained. The situation in Sweden is quite different from that in English-speaking countries when it comes to maintaining Chinese as a heritage language. Most Chinese moving to Sweden have no prior exposure to the Swedish language. The purpose of this study is to find out which strategies Chinese parents use to help their children learn and maintain proficiency in the Chinese language. It also investigates the progress made using these strategies. A qualitative research approach was taken and semi-structured interviews of the children’s mothers were performed. Some of the children in the study were born in China and some were born in Sweden. During these interviews, a number of strategies were identified that parents use to help their children learn and maintain the heritage language. These included, for instance, mother tongue education, watching Chinese TV and films, parents giving their children encouraging comments, and associating with other Chinese families. Some families recommended strategies that they felt would be beneficial for others, like delaying the start of daycare. According to this study, the effects from, for example, mother tongue education and encouraging comments, should have implications on how educators shape their programs, and the way they engage the parents in their children’s language training. When analyzing the various strategies and their effects on the children in the study, it became apparent that the younger sibling always shows a lower level of Chinese proficiency compared to the older sibling. This phenomenon is herein called the younger sibling syndrome. / 汉语作为承袭语言是世界上消失速度最快的语言之一。事实上，在大多数离开中国的华人家庭中，承袭语言基本上到第二代就已被遗失。当人们从他们的祖国迁移到一个主要语言与他们的母语不同的地方时，就要面对如何保留自己母语的问题。在瑞典，汉语作为承袭语言在被传承方面的情况与英语国家截然不同。大多数移居瑞典的中国人早期很少接触过瑞典语。本论文的目的是找出生活在瑞典的中国父母使用哪些策略来帮助他们的孩子学习和维持他们的中文以及使用这些策略所取得的效果。本论文采取了质量研究方法，对孩子的母亲进行了半结构化访谈。研究中的一些孩子出生在中国，一些孩子出生在瑞典。在这些访谈中，笔者归纳出了一些父母用来帮助孩子学习和保持传统语言的策略。它们包括：母语教育、观看中文电视和电影、父母给孩子鼓励性的评价，以及与其他中国家庭的交往等等。一些家庭推荐了他们认为对其他人有益的策略，比如推迟开始幼儿园的时间。根据这项研究，例如母语教育和鼓励性评价的影响，会对教育者如何制定他们的教育计划，以及他们让父母参与孩子的语言培训的方式产生影响。在分析各种策略及其对研究中儿童的影响时，很明显，与哥哥姐姐相比，弟弟妹妹的中文水平总是较低。这种现象在本文中被称为幼弟妹综合症。
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Automatic Assessment of L2 Spoken EnglishBannò, Stefano 18 May 2023 (has links)
In an increasingly interconnected world where English has become the lingua franca of business, culture, entertainment, and academia, learners of English as a second language (L2) have been steadily growing. This has contributed to an increasing demand for automatic spoken language assessment systems for formal settings and practice situations in Computer-Assisted Language Learning. One common misunderstanding about automated assessment is the assumption that machines should replicate the human process of assessment. Instead, computers are programmed to identify, extract, and quantify features in learners' productions, which are subsequently combined and weighted in a multidimensional space to predict a proficiency level or grade. In this regard, transferring human assessment knowledge and skills into an automatic system is a challenging task since this operation should take into account the complexity and the specificities of the proficiency construct. This PhD thesis presents research conducted on methods and techniques for the automatic assessment and feedback of L2 spoken English, mainly focusing on the application of deep learning approaches. In addition to overall proficiency grades, the main forms of feedback explored in this thesis are feedback on grammatical accuracy and assessment related to particular aspects of proficiency (e.g., grammar, pronunciation, rhythm, fluency, etc.). The first study explores the use of written data and the impact of features extracted through grammatical error detection on proficiency assessment, while the second illustrates a pipeline which starts from disfluency detection and removal, passes through grammatical error correction, and ends with proficiency assessment. Grammar, as well as rhythm, pronunciation, and lexical and semantic aspects, is also considered in the third study, which investigates whether it is possible to use systems targeting specific facets of proficiency analytically when only holistic scores are available. Finally, in the last two studies, we investigate the use of self-supervised learning speech representations for both holistic and analytic proficiency assessment. While aiming at enhancing the performance of state-of-the-art automatic systems, the present work pays particular attention to the validity and interpretability of assessment both holistically and analytically and intends to pave the way to a more profound and insightful knowledge and understanding of automatic systems for speaking assessment and feedback.
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The predictors of success of computer aided learning of pre-calculus algebraYushau, Balarabe 14 November 2004 (has links)
Mathematics achievement has been of great concern to researchers involved in mathematics education. This concern has resulted in research seeking to determine for example, the factors that positively or negatively contribute to student performance in mathematics. Many of the reported studies in the literature have investigated the factors within the context of mathematics teaching and learning in general. Very few studies have investigated the factors contributing to student achievement in mathematics when learning takes place in a computer aided environment. With the pervasiveness of computers in education in general, studies in this direction become imperative. The present study fills this gap in the literature by examining the extent to which selected variables (mathematics attitude, mathematics aptitude, computer attitude, computer prior experience, computer ownership, proficiency in language of instruction, and learning style) contribute to students' achievements in pre-calculus algebra classes that are supplemented with a computer lab program. The participants in the study were 120 students sampled from the population of students enrolled in the second pre-calculus algebra course at the preparatory year program of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals during the 2003/2004 academic session. The instruments used to measure the study constructs were the mathematics attitude scale (Aiken, 1979), the computer attitudes scale (Loyd & Gressard, 1984a), and the learning styles questionnaire (Honey & Mumford, 1992). New instruments to measure computer prior experience and computer ownership were developed for the present study.
Hypotheses formulated for the study were tested using multiple regression and other statistical techniques. The results show that mathematics aptitudes and English language proficiency are the most significant contributors to students' mathematics achievement. No other variables show statistically significant effects on students' achievement. Together, the selected variables explain more than 41 percent of the total variance of students' achievement.
Theoretical and policy-making implications of the results are outlined and discussed. / Mathematical Sciences / D. Phil. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)
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Výuka angličtiny na českých středních školách z pohledu bilingvních žáků, kteří mají anglofonního rodiče či žili v anglofonní zemi / Teaching bilingual adolescents for whom English is a heritage language or who have lived in an Anglophone country, and who are studying in Czech secondary school English classrooms: the students' perspectiveJirásková, Anna January 2015 (has links)
(in English) The present thesis explores the issue of teaching heritage language learners and returnee students in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes in Czech secondary schools. The aim of the thesis is to examine the experiences of heritage language learners and returnees in the EFL classroom, their strengths and weaknesses in English, their attitude towards English language learning in terms of potential anxiety and motivation, as well as heritage language learners' wishes in relation to language instruction. These issues are investigated from the perspective of the students themselves. The theoretical part reviews the relevant literature on heritage language acquisition and teaching, and on the effects of experience abroad on language acquisition. Moreover, it is complemented by discussions of differentiated instruction and language education for the gifted, two areas which can prove helpful in terms of finding suitable solutions to the problems encountered by the target population in foreign language classes. The empirical part is qualitative and consists of the analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews with three participants, gymnázium students from Prague. Insights are provided about the interconnectedness of the students' life experiences, their general beliefs about language...
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The predictors of success of computer aided learning of pre-calculus algebraYushau, Balarabe 14 November 2004 (has links)
Mathematics achievement has been of great concern to researchers involved in mathematics education. This concern has resulted in research seeking to determine for example, the factors that positively or negatively contribute to student performance in mathematics. Many of the reported studies in the literature have investigated the factors within the context of mathematics teaching and learning in general. Very few studies have investigated the factors contributing to student achievement in mathematics when learning takes place in a computer aided environment. With the pervasiveness of computers in education in general, studies in this direction become imperative. The present study fills this gap in the literature by examining the extent to which selected variables (mathematics attitude, mathematics aptitude, computer attitude, computer prior experience, computer ownership, proficiency in language of instruction, and learning style) contribute to students' achievements in pre-calculus algebra classes that are supplemented with a computer lab program. The participants in the study were 120 students sampled from the population of students enrolled in the second pre-calculus algebra course at the preparatory year program of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals during the 2003/2004 academic session. The instruments used to measure the study constructs were the mathematics attitude scale (Aiken, 1979), the computer attitudes scale (Loyd & Gressard, 1984a), and the learning styles questionnaire (Honey & Mumford, 1992). New instruments to measure computer prior experience and computer ownership were developed for the present study.
Hypotheses formulated for the study were tested using multiple regression and other statistical techniques. The results show that mathematics aptitudes and English language proficiency are the most significant contributors to students' mathematics achievement. No other variables show statistically significant effects on students' achievement. Together, the selected variables explain more than 41 percent of the total variance of students' achievement.
Theoretical and policy-making implications of the results are outlined and discussed. / Mathematical Sciences / D. Phil. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)
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Better Speakers Make More Friends: Predictors of Social Network Development Among Study-Abroad StudentsBrockbank, J Wyatt 12 December 2011 (has links) (PDF)
Social network development has been studied in the social sciences for the last several decades, but little work has applied social network theory to study-abroad research. This study seeks to quantitatively describe factors that predict social network formation among study-abroad students while in the host countries. Social networks were measured in terms of the number of friends the students made, the number of distinct social groups reported, and the number of friends within those groups. The Study Abroad Social Interaction Questionnaire was compared against these pre-trip factors: intercultural competence, target-language proficiency, prior missionary experience, gender, study-abroad program, neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, openness to new experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Results showed that pre-trip oral proficiency in the target language was the strongest predictor of the number of friends made in-country. Certain programs showed stronger predictive statistics in terms of size of largest social group, number of social groups, and number of friends made. A distinction is made between total number of friends and number of friends who are more likely to be native speakers. Neither intercultural competence nor personality showed a significant correlation with the number of friendships made during study abroad.
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