Since the political climate in the former Soviet bloc has shifted, there is an influx of East Europeans to the United States. As these refugees enter the U.S. educational system in greater numbers, teachers must adapt to the special needs of this population. The intent of this study is to focus on the composing skills of a Polish student who enrolled in an English for Non-Native Residents (ENNR) program at an urban university. The investigation examines the contextual framework that supports the subject's literacy experiences by means of a longitudinal case study format Several ethnographic and experimental techniques are used to explore three areas of interest: cultural context, the learning situation, and the composing processes. Multiple sources of data are used to investigate culture and learning, and a single elicitation technique is applied to the study of the writing process. Study of the cultural context suggests that the subject's early education and literacy experiences in Poland strongly influenced her development as a writer of English. Investigation of the classroom context at the university revealed both her preferences and frustrations with teaching and learning experiences. The primary focus of this study is exploration of writing process by means of a think-aloud protocol. The subject was asked to speak aloud while composing an essay on a narrative topic. She was instructed to say everything that came to mind while writing, and the session was videotaped for later analysis. A coding system was developed to help identify various components of the writing process, such as planning, commenting, rereading and pauses. Writing strategies, repetitions, fillers, revisions, verbal rehearsing, and quantity of words were identified according to frequency and location within the protocol. The results of the protocol analysis suggest that composing is not a neat and tidy process, but a complex configuration of multiple strategies. In the early stages simple patterns such as comments, planning, and fillers help the subject get started. A cycle of patterns, which seem automatic and deeply embedded, occurs throughout. These patterns emerge as Writing-Rehearsing-Pausing events. Each of these categories contains within a multitude of behaviors, such as pausing to think, rereading, and trying out new ideas. The data reveal numerous efforts at surface editing, yet the final product contains an average of 2.8 errors per sentence. The findings suggest that a writer's strategies and goals may shift during a controlled writing situation, and that initial steps may differ from those needed to attain closure. They suggest that attempts at surface revisions may not, in fact, improve the final product.

This study was conducted to examine the traits and goals of students enrolled in the ESL program at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington over the past two academic years (1992 and 1993). The study looks at the degree of awareness that these students have of further educational opportunities in the academic and vocational areas, and the degree to which the ESL program at Clark College engenders this awareness. Data was collected from two cohorts of students enrolled in the ESL program on two separate occasions, each approximately one year apart. The goals of the study included the following: ( 1) gathering background data for the students attending the ESL program; (2) collecting information regarding students' past and present knowledge of computer technology; (3) awareness of the financial aid programs available; (4) future goals in the areas of education and employment. Comparison of the responses from the two cohorts provides instructors and administrators a clear picture of the students they are serving and provides the rationale for providing the material and logistical support required to allow ESL students to enter into mainstream programs at the community college level.

This study investigates the strategies and resources a group of non-native English speakers with limited reading ability use to fulfill literacy functions work. The nineteen study subjects are employed as production workers in a large electronics manufacturing company. Using in-depth interview data, limited testing and document analysis, the study addresses three major research questions: 1) For what functions are reading and writing actually used in the workplace? What level of reading and writing do these functions assume? 2) How do these literacy functions relate to the rest of the work system? 3) How do limited readers fulfill these literacy functions? What kinds of individual literacy skills, social networks and alternative approaches do they use? How can findings be applied to workplace, ESL, job training, and employee communications? The findings show that the primary function of literacy in this workplace is to maintain process quality and flow. Secondary functions include maintenance of the social organization and the use of literacy for learning the job or learning English. The study finds that limited readers can accomplish literacy functions even if they cannot read documents connected to the function. They use extensive social networks as one strategy for accomplishing literacy functions. They also use job aids, watch processes being performed, or memorize processes. English verbal skills are necessary for many alternative strategies. The study illustrates systemic relationships among work process design, individual literacy skill, and alternative literacy strategies such as using help networks. The study also finds that participants take ESL class as a means to advance as well as to succeed on the current job. The study suggests that employers support ESL instruction as a long-term skill-improvement strategy, but look at redesigning work systems, job training, and employee communications to solve immediate performance problems with limited readers. The study recommends that workplace ESL instructors balance student and employee needs by using workplace materials as one part of a wider curriculum; it also suggests that ESL instructors may have an important role to play in the workplace by acting as performance consultants. going beyond the classroom to recommend changes in the entire work system as they affect English and literacy learning. Because of the small sample size, more research is needed.

In the past, the process by which language acquisition took place was largely ignored. Learning strategies were found to reveal much of the processes that occurred in a learner. In recent years, however, there was a greater emphasis in discovering learner's strategies because of the important role it played in helping the learner control his learning. Most researchers (e.g., Rubin 1975, Stern 1974, O'Malley 1985) emphasize not only the importance of learner strategies in helping the student direct his own learning, but they also emphasize the usefulness of transferring strategies used by successful learners to less successful learners. In order to discover the number and type of strategies that Malaysian learners actually use, it was necessary to distinguish first the successful and unsuccessful learners as well as to distinguish the three different ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese, and Indians) that live in Malaysia. This study examines an aspect of learner strategies in a multi-cultural environment, and attempts to answer research questions regarding the following: 1 . The kind of strategies used by successful and unsuccessful learners within each ethnic group. 2. The number of strategies used by successful and unsuccessful learners within each ethnic group. 3. The kind of strategies used by successful learners among the three groups. 4. The number of strategies used by successful and unsuccessful learners among the three groups. To examine these questions, Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) was employed on ninety-eight Malaysian subjects. The inventory consisted of 50 questions consisting of six major strategy groups (memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social). The data from the questionnaires was statistically analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and the Mann-Whitney U test. It was discovered that successful and unsuccessful Malaysian learners in general did not use strategies very differently from each other. The only strategy that seemed to be used differently was memory and effective strategies. The number of strategies used did not also· differ very significantly from each other. Their close mean scores indicated that the difference in the number of strategies used was minimal. Also, the most frequently used strategies appeared to be metacognitive and compensation strategies for all three ethnic groups. It would seem surprising that given the multi-cultural environment, and the differences in the Malaysian learners background, the type and number of strategies did not appear to differ very much from each other. The reason could lie in Oxford's inventory which seemed to be more Western-based than Easternbased, or it could be that something else was happening here, and Malaysian learners were using a whole different set of strategies not listed in Oxford's SILL. Nevertheless, the differences in findings among different countries may reveal to us that findings in one country are greatly linked to their cultural backgrounds, and thus one should be cautious in trying to generalize it for other countries.

This research is observational and descriptive. Its primary purpose is to provide data on the extent to which, and how, Non-Native Speakers (NNSs) of English engage in error correction of their peers when participating in classroom oral group work. In addition, it shows to what extent these learners self-correct their own errors in the same situation. The over-arching focus of the study is to examine the role of second language learners to determine whether they possess the potential to play a more active and productive part in their own language learning. Nine beginning level adult university ESL students are the subjects of this research. They were placed in small groups and asked to perform specified classroom tasks designed to generate maximum oral interchange among the participants. The ensuing discussions provided the basis for the data which were collected via tape recording each group's proceedings. The data samples were listened to and coded per an error typology and any correction that took place. The data were then statistically analyzed via SYSTAT. The findings are consistent with the results of other research and indicate that while many errors are not treated, a significant number of them are corrected clearly and accurately. These results lend credence to the idea that second language learners may have much more to learn from each other than they think, and that they do have the potential to play a greater role in their own language learning. Much more research is indicated in order to better understand the multi-faceted phenomenon of second language learner error and its treatment.

Many deaf students who seek post secondary education need some sort of developmental education in reading and writing to ensure success in college. These students often end up in college preparatory or remedial classes that are designed for native speakers of English. For many of the deaf students entering college, English is a second language or a first language that they have failed to achieve fluency in. This study describes the experience of two deaf students enrolled in English as a Non-Native Language classes for the first time at an Oregon community college. The Office of Students with Disabilities and the ENNL department cooperated in this trial to determine whether the ENNL program is an appropriate place for American deaf students needing developmental education in English. Observations, interviews and writing sample analysis were used to provide a multi-layered description of the experience from several perspectives. The deaf students were found to display similar errors in their writing samples as traditional ENNL students at the same level and benefited from instruction geared to non-native speakers of English. The rehabilitation counselor and ENNL instructors agreed that placement of the deaf students in ENNL classes is appropriate and the program continues in fall term. The deaf students of this study stated that they were better served by ENNL classes than by Developmental Education Classes. Curriculum and methodology used in ENNL classes were found to meet the educational needs of the deaf students, and only minor modifications were made to accommodate the students. The experience from these classes has convinced the ENNL department to continue accepting deaf students to the program and enrollment of deaf students in ENNL classes is expected to increase.

Pentecostals from the former Soviet Union are the most recent and fastest growing refugee group in Oregon. Because the refugee population's low English skills may increase their dependence upon welfare assistance, their nonparticipation in ESL programs is treated as a social issue. Efforts to increase the English literacy levels of Russian-speaking Pentecostal refugees are limited by lack of empirical data regarding forces that affect this population's decision to participate or not to participate in educational activities. The purpose of this study was to gather information about barriers to participation in ESL programs by adult Russian-speaking Pentecostal refugees. To this end the present research sought to determine (1) the importance of individual reasons for nonparticipation; (2) whether there was an underlying structure to those reasons; and (3) whether socio-demographic variables were associated with reasons for nonparticipation. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of 143 Russian-speaking Pentecostal adults in the Portland, Oregon area. Data were obtained with the Deterrents to Participation Scale - Form LLR (adapted from Hayes & Darkenwald, 1988) which had two parts: socio-demographic information and 35 items which operationalized the concept "reasons for nonparticipation." Factor analysis of the 35 items resulted in six factors: School/Self Incongruence, Low Priority of Education, Negative Attitude Towards Classes, Low SelfConfidence, Situational Barriers, and Social Disapproval. The socio-demographic variables and factors were found to relate in logical ways. School/Self Incongruence correlated with age and number of dependent children; Low Priority of Education correlated with number of children and unemployment; Low Self-Confidence was shown to be related to age; Situational Barriers related to number of children, educational attainment and unemployment; and Social Disapproval correlated with period of attendance of ESL classes. With the data gathered from the research, implications for practice were drawn which can be used as the basis for developing programs to meet the ESL needs of the Russian-speaking Pentecostal adults.

This study is participant observational research focused on a description of an United States Department of Education grant-funded English in the Workplace pilot program. The survey of the literature shows that there is an increasing need to provide educational opportunities for workers who, for various reasons, are not currently being served by traditional education providers. The study presented here describes a pilot program and asks "How is an English in the Workplace program developed and implemented? What do those characteristics of workplace education programs, as identified in the literature, 'look like' once such a program has been implemented?" The researcher collected data from on-site observation of the classes and staff meetings, interviews, and program final reports and records. The elements that characterize this particular pilot program are common to those described or proscribed in the literature on workplace education. These elements include needs assessment, the physical setting, the participants, the instructional schedule and materials, as well as final evaluation. This study suggests that employers, by working together with educators, strive to meet the educational needs of employees, specifically, English language instruction, by providing and supporting English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction in the workplace. This study recommends that (1) workplace ESL instructors balance employer and employee needs by considering what the employer and the employees consider the program's purpose to be, (2) instructors supplement a general life-skills curriculum with workplace materials, (3) instructors be trained how to implement an English in the Workplace program, (4) instructors meet with the employees, management, supervisors, and trainers on a regular basis to assess whether the program is meeting the goals of everyone involved in the program. This study adds to the understanding of workplace education programs by specifically describing the characteristics of a particular English in the Workplace pilot program. However, additional research is needed to better understand the effects of workplace education, not just characteristics. The researcher concludes that future research is needed that examines the potential impact of workplace education programs.

One aspect of the English language which has been overlooked by English-as-a-Second-Language educators is the article system, a, the, and 0. For students from articleless first languages such as Japanese, learning this complex system is a formidable challenge. Performance studies show an error rate among advanced Japanese students of approximately thirty percent. There may be several reasons for this high rate: 1) the differences between Japanese and English, 2) the unusually high degree of complexity/difficulty of the article system itself compared to other English morpheme systems and 3) inadequate treatments of the subject as revealed in this thesis' survey of forty ESL textbooks. Recent pragmatic discoveries about article function reveal subtle, contextual influences which have not been well integrated into traditional treatments. Definiteness may be dependent on sentential, discourse, and situational contexts, on whether referents are unique and manifest to the hearer, and on the nature of certain implicatures induced by the articles. Computerized, interactive tutorials are the best way to capture how these variables interact to constrain article choice. A prototype for a tutorial is submitted with this thesis. In addition to exhaustive explanations of contexts and implicatures in the form of actor's "asides," it features Japanese translations throughout, and, to show how uniqueness may be culture bound, utterances that take place within Japanese culture. Although the tutorial presented here needs enlargement, it is believed that an animated, computerized tutorial emphasizing subtle pragmatic features is more illustrative of actual article usage than have been traditional hard copy explanations.

This study was meant to provide empirical evidence to support or challenge the assumption that a nonfiction video narrative will be better comprehended by students of ESL if it includes a variety of relevant visual information compared to only seeing a single speaker or "talking head" reciting a narration. The overarching goal of this study was to give teachers of ESL greater knowledge and confidence in using video materials to develop the listening skills of their students. It compared two video tapes which contained the identical soundtrack but different visual information. The first tape (also called the "lecture tape") showed a single speaker, standing behind a lectern, giving a speech about Costa Rica. The second video (also called the "documentary tape") contained the identical soundtrack of tape one, but included documentary video footage actually filmed in Costa Rica which complemented the narration. A questionnaire of 45 true/false questions was created based on facts given in the narration. Thirty-nine advanced and fifty-five intermediate university ESL students took part in the study. Approximate! y half of each group viewed the lecture tape while the other half watched the documentary tape. All students answered the 45 - item questionnaire while viewing their respective video tapes. A thorough item-analysis was then conducted with the initial raw scores of all 94 students, resulting in fifteen questions being omitted from the final analysis. Based on a revised 30 - item questionnaire, the scores of the video and documentary groups were compared within each proficiency level. The hypothesis of the study was that the documentary tape would significantly improve listening comprehension at the intermediate level but that no significant difference would be found between the advanced lecture and documentary groups. In other words, it was predicted that the documentary video would have an interaction effect depending upon proficiency level. However, the results of a 2-way ANOV A did not support the hypothesis. In addition to the ANOV A, a series oft-tests also found no significant difference between the mean scores of the documentary and lecture groups at either the intermediate or the advanced levels This study was intended to be a beginning to research which may eventually reveal a "taxonomy" of video images from those which enhance listening comprehension the most to those that aid it the least. It contained limitations in the testing procedures which caused the results to be inconclusive. A variety of testing methods was suggested in order to continue research which may reveal such a "video" taxonomy. Given the plethora of video materials that ESL teachers can purchase, record, or create themselves, empirical research is needed to help guide the choices that educators make in choosing video material for their students which will provide meaningful linguistic input.