While researchers generally recommend a 1:1 ratio of native speakers (NSs) to non-native speakers (NNSs) be maintained in multicultural preschool classrooms, these- ideal proportions are often unrealistic in regions where populations reflect high concentrations of ethnic groups. In these areas, where enrolments usually consist of a majority of NNSs, pedagogical modifications may be necessary to ensure second language learners are exposed to sufficient amounts of 'meaningful target language input' which is considered essential for second language acquisition (Krashen, 1979). This study investigated the effects of deliberate pairing on NSs and those NNSs who had low English language proficiency (L) in one multicultural preschool where NNSs outnumbered NSs by 3:1. Four NS subjects were videotaped, employing a multiple baseline design, as they interacted with their peers during a math game activity time. The effects of the treatment on four interactional measures were analysed using Ruvusky's statistic. Results, as predicted, indicated significant differences for three of the four measures. When deliberately paired, both NSs and NNSs(L) took more turns, and NSs uttered significantly more directives to their NNS(L) peers than they did during the freeplay situation. -Deliberate pairing of NSs and NNSs(L) has been shown to be a successful technique for exposing NNSs(L) to increased levels of target language input in this multicultural preschool. Implications for teachers are outlined and the role of NSs in multicultural classrooms is discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This dissertation is a comparative analysis of the uses of tropes of marginality in American, Caribbean, British, and African fiction that engages with the aftermaths of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery. This study begins by exploring the utility of the frame of Paul Gilroy's concept of the "black Atlantic" as a heuristic model for understanding encounters with slavery and the slave trade as phases of an emerging capitalist modernity. I suggest that, within this heuristic framework, marginality is always variable, contingent and changing. Several positions of marginality might even emerge in conflict with each other, since the ideological deployments of slavery in the U.S., the Caribbean, and in African countries are not always in concert. In fact, it is through the study of conflicts and tensions between such seemingly unified marginalities that their differences become discernible. As a result, the common theme in the texts I examine is the need to create communities of listeners who can discern the transformations of the colonising moment in the disparate sites of the diaspora. The practice of listening is a step in apprehending the forms of marginalisation and occlusions of the violence of colonisation that continue at different sites. In the five chapters of this dissertation, I read stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville, and novels by Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Caryl Phillips, Maryse Conde, Joseph Conrad, Ayi Kwei Armah, Amos Tutuola, Yaw Boateng, and Syl Cheney- Coker. I focus, particularly, on the use of animals, spatial boundaries, literacy, orality, and tropes of listening in the selected texts. I show that these authors use the opposition of visual and aural metaphors to draw attention to the limits of their characters' knowledge in order to highlight the situatedness of each character in processes of marginalisation that continue to unfold. Further, as much as these narratives excavate the afterlives of slavery, they are also engaged in the task of differentiating them in order to identify the necessary site-specific tasks of reparation or repair. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Internationally English is increasingly being used as a language of instruction in education. This is also true within the South African context, a country with eleven official languages. Many non-native English speaking (NNES) students, for whom English might be their second, third or even fourth language, are studying through the medium of English. Previous studies on this topic acknowledge that the level of English proficiency which NNES students have, affects their academic performance. The problem under investigation in this case study was the relationship between students’ academic performance in particular modules and how their written responses in examinations contributed to them failing a module. The purpose was to establish to which extent limited English proficiency contributed to the poor academic performance of NNES preservice teachers studying through distance education. This study is underpinned by Cummins’ theory of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (1984). It is supported by related literature which emphasises the challenges NNES students experience in understanding academic content and responding to written assessment tasks in a language other than their home language. A quantitative approach was used which focused on the written responses to examination papers of thirty undergraduate B Ed students who had failed a particular module, at a private higher education institution. The contribution of inadequate or incoherent English, as the reason why marks were not allocated to answers, was calculated and analysed. Results indicated that students’ English grammatical proficiency does have an influence on their academic performance, though it is not the main contributing factor to students failing their modules. For this case study it was determined that the pre-service teachers’ inadequate English written proficiency contributed almost a third (25,6%) of the reasons for their poor academic performance. This finding suggests the need to develop new teaching strategies to accommodate and offer language support to NNES students in higher education institutions that offer qualifications using English as the medium of instruction. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

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Andraspråksundervisning är en vital del av många elevers skolgång. I Thailand har detta aktualiserats, i och med att en ekonomisk gemenskap med engelska som huvudspråk är på väg att skapas av länder i regionen. Engelskkunskaperna är generellt bristfälliga i landet och den thailändska regeringen har därför utarbetat ett åtgärdsprogram, the English Speaking Year 2012 Program. Programmet antas leda till förändringar i skolorna som på sikt ska göra invånarna betydligt bättre på engelska.Syftet med examensarbetet var att undersöka engelskundervisningen vid en thailändsk grundskola som jobbar utifrån the English Speaking Year 2012 Program. Det avsågs att identifiera om åtgärdsprogrammet lett till förändringar i undervisningen och även åskådliggöra eventuella förändringar. Vidare ämnades elevernas attityder gentemot engelskan att studeras.Studien genomfördes med kvalitativ forskningsmetodik i form av intervjuer av sju lärare och sju elever. Därtill gjordes observationer av undervisningen i Kindergarten till Mattayom 3. Det framkom att formell undervisning var vanligt förekommande men också att funktionell undervisning aktualiserats. Lärare och elever antydde att engelskundervisningen förändrats på ett flertal punkter sedan åtgärdsprogrammet implementerades. Den mest uppenbara förändringen var att antalet engelsklektioner hade utökats till minst fyra per vecka. Under en hel dag varje vecka pratade skolans personal dessutom enbart engelska med eleverna. Eleverna själva ansåg att de blivit bättre på ordförståelse och korta kommunikationsfraser. Överlag verkade eleverna ha positiva attityder gentemot det engelska språket. Ett flertal av dem bar dock på en ängslan över att göra bort sig när de pratade engelska.

This paper investigates foreign born teachers working as EFL educators and their attitudes towards teaching as well as their roles in teaching the English language. The purpose of this study is to examine what motivates EFL teachers to work abroad and to explore why they are highly valued in non-English speaking countries. Through qualitative interviews with four (4) Filipino teachers working overseas as EFL educators their strengths and weaknesses are explored. My investigation shows that the Filipino teachers’ primary role is to teach communication and literacy skills. In addition, the reasons why these four teachers have chosen to work abroad are higher salary rates and better working conditions. However, their lack of knowledge of the local language and culture are their weaknesses. Finally, findings show that the respondents’ positive attitude towards teaching English abroad shows the importance of English in globalization.

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Due to immigration the non-Hispanic White population continues to decrease and the population continues to change in regard to the ethnic and racial make-up. As these demographic changes take place higher education institutions will face increasing pressure from stakeholders to create environments that facilitate degree completion among mounting numbers of populations who are at risk in terms of academic success. First generation status denotes one group of students who are at risk in terms of persistence towards a bachelor's degree. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors predict the academic success of first year, full-time first generation students. Furthermore, this study examined whether there is a relationship between race, gender, financial need, and language ability and factors used to predict the academic success of first generation students. Factors were defined as variables measured by the 2002 Your First College Year Survey (YFCY) data (HERI, 2004a). Factors fell into five main areas: Student Background Characteristics, Agents of Socialization, Structural Characteristics, Institutional Environment, and Student Effort (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). The study was based on secondary analysis of the 2002 YFCY data provided by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. A combination of descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and logistic regression was used for this study. Findings revealed there are significant differences between academically more successful FGs and FGs who are academically less successful in relation to three factors: Institutional Environment, Student Effort, and Agents of Socialization. FGs are more likely to experience academic success in regard to variables associated with the factor Institutional Environment. There is a greater likelihood FGs will be academically less successful in relation to variables associated with the factors Student Effort and Agents of Socialization. When considering demographic variables in relation to the three significant institutional factors, FGs who are Asian American are more likely to experience academic success. Alternatively, FGs have greater odds of being academically less successful if they are male, African American, Mexican American, and non-native speakers of English. / Ph. D.

本研究旨在了解新竹市協同教學中、外籍英語教師之信念及其對實踐影響。 比較中、外籍老師們的信念及查看他們的信念是否顯現在教室行為中。 本研究採用質性研究方法選擇了一對有一年協同教學經驗的中、外籍英語教師在某新竹國小任教。在這個案研究中，資料收集有兩個月的時間，主要來源為訪談、信念問卷、觀察、文件分析。資料分析後涵蓋比較中、外師的以下信念: (1) 中、外籍教師優勢與劣勢; (2) 協同教學; (3) 英語; (4) 語言學習及學習者; (5) 句型在英文教學中的角色。 本研究以根據以上之五個議題討論結果，進一步提供相關建議，作為教育學者們及中、外籍教師們做參考。 / The purpose of this study is to investigate the beliefs and practices of team teaching native English speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaking teachers (non-NESTs) in Hsin Chu City. The teachers’ beliefs are compared and contrasted, and checked to see if they are manifested in the classroom practices. This study adopted a qualitative research method and selects a pair of NEST and non-NEST who have a year of team teaching experience in an Elementary school in Hsin Chu city. In this case study, the data collection lasted for two months, and the instruments for collecting data included interviews, beliefs inventories, classroom observations, and document analysis. The data is analyzed to present the teachers beliefs in the following areas: (1) the advantages and disadvantages of being native and non-native English teachers, (2) team teaching (3) the English language (4) language learning and learners (5) the role of sentence structures in English language teaching. Finally, pedagogical implications and suggestions derived from previous discussions are presented mainly for policy makers and NESTs and non-NESTs.