<p> Elementary English language learners lack sufficient English fluency to achieve grade level writing outcomes on state required writing tests. Pre-write strategies incorporating drawings, visual literacy, non-linguistic representations, thinking techniques, and collaboration could be beneficial to help English language learners generate language supports necessary for developing writing fluency in English. The central questions for this study were to determine if drawing as a pre-write activity, and social collaboration, are effective strategies for improving writing achievement for young second language writers. The purpose of this quantitative pretest/ posttest design with four control groups and four treatment groups was to explore how the socio-cultural and visual strategy of prewrite drawing changes the writing outcomes of grade school English language learners. In this experimental study, outcomes of a pre-write visualization strategy were explored for eight fifth grade classes of English language learner students in English language development classes in Northeast Georgia. The data revealed there was no evidence that pre-write drawing treatment had an effect on the GADOE posttests when compared to the control group <i>F</i>(1,5) = 0.00, p = 0.9742). Additionally, there was no evidence that the pre-write drawing treatment had an effect on the Total WIDA posttests when compared to the control group <i>F</i>(1,5) = 0.15, p = 0.7152). Interactions of the treatment and the pretest score covariate were found to be statistically significant (p >0.05) in every case. Although statistically insignificant, the findings indirectly validate concerns among ESL educators and mainstream teachers of ELs in regard to L2 writing. The implications of the study findings indicate a need for continued research in second language writing outcomes of grade school English learners.</p>

<p> Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) is an innovative educational approach that is becoming increasingly popular among researchers and practitioners in technologically advanced countries in the West, but is largely unknown or ignored in the instruction of Foreign Languages (FL) in Japanese higher education. This is problematic because more interest in research and implementation among faculty in Japan would likely contribute to the development of DGBL and improve the quality of FL education. The purpose of the present study was to better understand the lack of interest in DGBL in Japan by employing Everett Rogers' Innovation Diffusion Theory to explore the perceptions of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of DGBL among FL faculty in Japanese higher education. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was employed to collect data through an online self-completion questionnaire and asynchronous email interviews. The results indicate that while most faculty members believe that DGBL would have a beneficial impact on learner motivation, they are unconvinced that it offers real learning outcomes. Further, participants were divided as to whether the approach would be compatible with course learning objectives, and many regarded it as suitable primarily as supplemental learning material. Faculty members with a research interest in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) expressed a willingness to try the approach, but at the same time pointed out that there were few opportunities to do so.</p>

<p> Learning to read in a foreign language can be a difficult task for some students. For at-risk students, for example, students with learning disabilities, the process can be arduous and painstaking. This study explored and compared the reading strategies, preferred foreign language learning styles, perceived foreign language strategy use, actual strategy use and metacognitive awareness of at-risk students in a Modified Foreign Language Program (MFLP) of postsecondary Spanish with those of non at-risk students in a non-MFLP. </p><p> This study followed a mixed-method design consisting of two parts. In the first part, preferred learning style and perceived strategy use data were collected via the Learning Style Survey and Survey of Reading Strategies. The second part of the study consisted of 11 case studies based on semi-structured interviews and think-aloud protocols in which the participants completed a reading task in the target language. </p><p> The major findings for part one are: MFLP and non-MFLP students did not differ in terms of their preferences for sensory/perceptual stimuli. Both groups had a significant preference for Visual over Auditory and Tactile/Kinesthetic stimuli. MFLP and non-MFLP students did not differ significantly in their perceived use of foreign language reading strategies. Both groups indicated a statistically significant preference for the use of cognitive (PROB) strategies, then metacognitive (GLOB) strategies followed by support (SUP) strategies. The relationship between preferred learning style and perceived GLOB strategy use was significant only for the MFLP group. </p><p> The second part of the study consisted of a think-aloud protocol. The major findings are: Both groups used strategies that were in line with their preferred learning style. The MFLP participants, however, relied much more heavily on the use of visual input to help extract meaning from unknown context. While both groups reported a high use of PROB, only the non-MFLP students used them with any regularity during the reading task. The MFLP group relied heavily on the use of support strategies (e.g. dictionary) to extract unknown meaning during the reading task. Non-MFLP students combined metacognitive strategies with cognitive strategies far more frequently than MFLP students. </p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: Stuart Reifel. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> The current study seeks to further the insight on why advanced speakers of additional languages still speak non-natively by connecting the fields of SLA (SLA) and discourse. Invoking the IH (IH) and discourse universals proposed by Chafe, this study seeks to build on previous work in both areas of linguistics. </p><p> Participants for this study were asked to watch a silent film that has been used in discourse research for the better part of the past 40 years called <i> The Pear Film</i>. They then described this film, showing how non-native speakers use their language in real time description. Using a model proposed from the work of Chafe was then used to analyze their noun phrases (NP) and how they are used in terms of identifiability and accessibility. </p><p> Although there were not many incorrect uses of the topics at hand due to the speakers being advanced, there were intriguing results that surfaced. This study revealed that non-native speakers avoided using NPs that had a lower cognitive cost almost altogether and when such were used, they were often used incorrectly. More importantly, however, this study compared these results to a native retelling and revealed the elements of native-like speech that did not surface at all in their speech. This all brings in to question the line of methodology of previous SLA discourse work and the need for more research looking at actual spoken language of non-native speakers.</p><p>

<p> This mixed methods study examines the difference in high school foreign language learners&rsquo; acquisition of French oral proficiency skills by types of task. This study also examines the roles of the student learners and the teacher in developing oral proficiency skills during two different types of tasks in the high school foreign language classroom, namely the power of the social interactions between learner groups and between learners and teacher in developing oral proficiency. Over the course of an eight-week unit of study, three participating French 2 classes and one participating French teacher completed a prescribed series of speaking tasks. Class one completed only information gap tasks. Class two completed only dictogloss tasks. Class three alternated each task types every other week. Learner pre- and post-test scores were collected from the World Languages Department&rsquo;s speaking test for the unit. ANOVA was conducted using the quantitative data collected. While no significant differences were present between classes, qualitative findings indicate that the learners and the teacher have created powerful constructs of learning and that students were able to progress conversational skills across a unit of study. Teacher interviews, classroom observations, and video transcripts display the scaffolding of learning inside the classroom and lend insight to the roles of the learners and the teacher in the development of high school foreign language learner oral proficiency skills. The findings of the study suggest that the tasks, implemented through social interactions in the classroom, and constructed by the teacher&rsquo;s purposeful design, support foreign language learner oral proficiency development. The manner in which the participating teacher in this study implemented the taught curriculum demonstrates the influence of scaffolding, support systems, and the ability of learners to take ownership over their learning.</p><p>

<p> It has perhaps never been clearer that in order to effectively communicate with global governments and develop reasoned foreign policy, the United States Intelligence Community requires the support of trained linguists. The development of foreign language proficiency is a complex process requiring a significant investment of time and resources. For learners involved in intensive foreign language training within the United States Government (USG), the Department of Defense (DoD) has developed various Language Difficulty Categorization (LDC) frameworks aimed at standardizing the amount of time learners are given to meet established proficiency criteria. Despite the widespread adoption of LDC frameworks over the past 60 years, few empirical studies have examined the systematicity in proficiency patterns for languages grouped within the same difficulty category. By situating the analysis within the framework of a logic model, data-mining techniques were used to statistically model, via path analysis, the relationships between program inputs, activities, and outcomes. </p><p> Two main studies comprised the investigation. Study 1 employed a contrastive-analytic approach to examine the coherence with which both cognitive (e.g., general aptitude, language-specific aptitude, and average coursework outcomes) and non-cognitive (e.g., language preference self-assessment scores) variables contributed to the development of foreign language achievement and proficiency outcomes for three languages grouped within the same category. For Study 1, only learners who completed the entire foreign language-training program were included in the analysis. Results of Study 1 found a great deal of coherence in the role that language-specific aptitude and 300-level average coursework grades play in predicting end-of-program proficiency outcomes. To examine the potential hidden effects of non-random attrition, Study 2 followed the same methodological procedures as Study 1, but it imputed missing coursework and proficiency test score data for learners who attrited (that is, &ldquo;dropped out&rdquo;) during the intensive foreign language-training program. Results of the imputation procedure confirmed that language-specific aptitude plays a robust role in predicting average coursework outcomes across languages. Study 2 also revealed substantial differences in the role that cognitive and non-cognitive variables play in predicting end-of-program proficiency outcomes between the observed and imputed datasets as well as across languages and skills.</p><p>

A study was carried out to examine the interaction between music and language in learning and recall in children with autism spectrum condition (ASC). The research comprised initial interviews (N=12), a questionnaire (N=320), and a comparative intervention with children with ASC (N=24), and a comparison group of neurotypical individuals (N=32). Results from the questionnaire showed that, in the view of parents and teachers, there was a high prevalence of singing amongst children with ASC, especially in those with language delay. Furthermore, in the view of parents and teachers, music was more likely to enhance relationships for children with some language delay (as opposed to children who were non-verbal and children with age- appropriate speech). In the practical phase of the study, where children were asked to learn and subsequently recall both spoken and sung material, it was found that singing as opposed to speaking could enhance verbal recall for some children with ASC - particularly those with some language delay. With regard to the effects of language on melodic recall, for children with the lowest levels of musical development, the presence of language had a positive effect, but as the level of children’s musical development increased, the impact of language on melodic recall diminished. With regard to the comparison group, for children at Key Stage 1 (5-7 year olds), music had a positive effect on verbal recall in the long term, but for children at Key Stage 2 (8 -11 year olds), music had a negative effect, although this may have been due to external factors.

<p> In this thesis, a new methodology is proposed for investigating Spanish [s] lenition (sound weakening or loss) via morphological analysis instead of phonetics. Word-final [s] is a morphological plural marker in Castilian Spanish, but is rarely produced in Western Andalusian Spanish (WAS). It is often asserted in the literature that the loss of [s] in WAS requires plurality to be expressed fcvia alternative means. The results of this study rule out lexical and morpho-syntactic compensation for [s] lenition in WAS in several previously untested domains, and imply that there is no functional motivation in Modern Spanish driving a need for compensation for word-final [s] lenition on nouns or determiners. This investigation is built on a predictable calculation of the environments in which the loss of [s] may result in derived singular/plural homophony in WAS nouns. This is used to quantify potential semantic ambiguity. A frequency comparison of 27,366 WAS and Castilian nouns, across 60 specific Determiner + Noun phrase environments, finds no significant differences between the dialects in the type or token frequencies of numerically ambiguous nouns, nor in 98.7% of the tested phrase environments. When taken in context with studies excluding phonetic compensation in WAS, the current results suggest that the low semantic relevance of word-final [s] in Modern Spanish is a potentially far-reaching explanation for the variable manifestations of [s] lenition experienced in Spanish dialects across the world.</p><p>

<p> The blended learning model, which combines the traditional face-to-face learning method with an online application such as a learning management system (LMS), became popular and more practical for both teachers and learners in foreign and second language education because of its effective methodology for course delivery and socialization opportunities with technology-enhanced learning activities in both online and offline environments. Although the effectiveness of blended language learning models and benefits of student achievement and autonomous learning with an LMS have been explored, prior research resulted in conflicting data on blended instruction identifying the inconsistent findings in student achievement. Some researchers found that students in blended learning improved their language skills and had higher achievement than participants in exclusively face-to-face or online learning, while some researchers found there to be no statistically important differences in achievement when the blended model was used compared to a face-to-face setting. The specific problem is that the low language achievement of students seems to be related to lack of autonomous language learning skills, but their perceptions of the blended language courses regarding language achievement and autonomous learning skill have not been previously identified and analyzed. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate student perceptions of course effectiveness factors for language proficiency as well as learner autonomy in a blended Korean language course to improve language achievement, especially in listening and reading comprehension skills. American students who attended intermediate and advanced blended Korean language courses applied with the LMS, <i>SAKAI</i> in 2014, 2015, and 2016 at the Osan Language Training Detachment (LTD), Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) in Korea, were invited to participate in the anonymous, open-ended online survey. Data from 10 of the participants were analyzed and evaluated. This study found the blended Korean language course was effective for language learning and achievement, but only 50% of participants stated it was effective for the improvement of autonomous learning skills. The other responses said those skills were dependent on various elements of the blended course such as activities, curriculum, teacher, and student&rsquo;s motivation and learning styles. The factors students found to be effective and ineffective as well as suggestions offered to improve the blended language course were discussed. Although the focus was on one Osan LTD teaching Korean language courses at DLIFLC, the findings could be able to improve language achievement and autonomous learning for future learner success as well as curriculum design in other foreign language courses in DLIFLC or other institutions.</p><p>