Most bilingual lexical models assume that L1 and L2 either share the same semantic system, or are distinguished at the semantic level but connected through lexical associations. For example, the Revised Hierarchical Model (Kroll & Stewart, 1994) assumes the stronger access from L2 to concepts via the L1 lexical representation at the early stage of L2 acquisition and direct access to concepts after L2 proficiency is achieved. However, the model is not well supported by subsequent empirical evidence, and encounters difficulty in explaining cross-language priming data. The recently developed Sense Model (Finkbeiner, M., Forster, K., Nicol, J., & Nakamura, K., 2004) assumes a direct access from the L2 form to its related meaning and argues for the representational asymmetry in lexical semantics between L1 and L2. This model was designed to account for the translation asymmetry and task effect in the masked priming literature: L2-L1 priming is not observed in lexical decision due to the small proportion of L1 senses activated by the L2 prime; however, the category provides a context which restricts L1 sense activation and thus enhances the effectiveness of the L2 prime in semantic categorization. This dissertation reports the results of several semantic categorization experiments designed to test several assumptions of the Sense Model. Experiments 1-4 investigated whether the Category Restriction Hypothesis assumed by the Sense Model was empirically supported when congruence effects are minimized. The results showed that translation priming could be obtained for exemplars when congruence effects were controlled, but that there were no effects for non-exemplars, as predicted by the Sense Model. Subsequent experiments showed that category size is an important variable, since L2-L1 priming was not obtained with large categories (e.g., living thing), which was taken to indicate that a large category is ineffective as a 'focusing' device to enhance the activation of L2 semantic senses. Finally, it was shown that the priming asymmetry in lexical decision was not due to differential degrees of semantic activation of the prime in L1 and L2.

This mixed-method study investigated how and to what extent direct instruction in Spanish-English translation and interpretation affects the acquisition of academic language proficiency in both English and Spanish by Heritage Language Learners of Spanish (HLLS). The subjects of the quantitative part of the study were 24 participants who were from six high schools with a large number of minority students. These high schools were located in Tucson and Nogales, Arizona. The participants in the qualitative part of the study were six case study students, chosen from the whole group. The participants were enrolled in the 2006 annual 3-week Professional Language Development Program (PLDP), held in July at the University of Arizona. The PLDP's additive teaching translation and interpretation model engaged the participants in learning by not only the novelty of practicing real-life, challenging exercises in class, using their unique cultural and linguistic skills, but also by the dynamic collaborative learning environment. The improvement in the participants' academic language proficiency was assessed through individual interviews of six case study participants, their high school teachers, and the two PLDP instructors.The use of translation and interpretation to improve the HLLS's academic English (and Spanish) stands in stark contrast to the subtractive teaching English-as-a-Second-Language model that promotes English fluency at the expense of the heritage language. The study, therefore, expands research on minority HLL's cultural capital that is not utilized in American education, where limiting the use of bilingual education for English language learners is the norm. The success of the program was demonstrated by the students' newfound appreciation for their heritage language and culture, academic learning, motivation for higher education, and statistically significant gains in Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP; Cummins, 2000).

This study, entitled “Understanding the Choice of Chinese Graduate Students’ English Learning Strategies in a Canadian Context,” explores the English learning strategies employed by six graduate students from China after their arrival in Canada, and documents and analyses changes in their learning strategies. These Chinese students encountered a change of language context because when in the unilingual Chinese environment they spoke Mandarin and upon their arrival in Canada, they were obligated to use English to communicate with Canadians and other international students. These students employed different English learning strategies in the Canadian context from what they were accustomed to in China. Thus, the researcher’s central objective in this study is to discover and document those changes in learning strategies and to investigate the factors accounting for the changes. In the process, the researcher aims to fill a gap in research exploring the learning strategies of Chinese students in foreign contexts, and create valuable new knowledge to benefit prospective Chinese international students, policy makers at the international universities, and English educators in China. The theoretical framework of this research is the qualitative co-constructivism paradigm along with narrative inquiry. Semi-structured interviews were used as the primary method of collecting data in this study, beginning with individual interviews, and followed by a focus group interview. The data collected through the interviews showed that the six participants’ reliance on the memory and cognitive strategies employed in China were abandoned in favor of utilization of compensation strategies and social strategies after moving to Canada. Furthermore, these participants were more open to making mistakes and taking risks during interactions with others in English. Moreover, these participants made these changes mainly because they desired to use the English-speaking environment in Canada to improve English proficiency. An important finding of my research is that their immersion in the English-speaking environment inspired these participants to employ different English learning strategies that led to significant improvement in their English proficiency.

Since the inception of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act in 1990, Kentucky has undergone numerous educational changes. Regarding world languages, recent changes include a new state World Language Standard, a K-12 world language program review, and university language proficiency entrance requirements. These changes create an interesting context in which world language educators negotiate their perceptions and pedagogical choices. This study explored the perceptions, influences, and pedagogical choices of one Kentucky world language educator regarding language proficiency and cultural tools of context, standards and assessments. A constructivist framework guided the case study design. Data collection included interviews, observations, and artifact collection and data analyses followed the comparative analysis process (Yin, 1994; Merriam, 1998). Findings suggest that the participant's perceptions of language proficiency reflect characteristics of the communicative competence language proficiency model of Uso-Juan and Martinez-Flor (2008). In addition, the participant's pedagogical choices regarding context, standards and assessments reflect organizational, policy, and personal influences (Grant, 2003) and characteristics of mediated action (Wertsch, 1998). This study highlights the importance of understanding world language educators' perceptions during a time of contextual change and the need for professional development supporting educators’ pedagogical choices.

I denna studie kan läsas om två arbetslag som deltagit i verksamhetsinriktad handledning. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka hur några lärare beskriver sina erfarenheter av att delta i verksamhetsinriktad handledning. Denna studie vill synliggöra om verksamhetsinriktad handledning är gynnsamt för ett ökat yrkeskunnande. Tidigare forskning och litteratur som presenteras i studien rör sig inom flera områden men främst handledning. Litteraturgenomgången innehåller en presentation av begreppen yrkeskunnande, pedagogisk handledning och reflektion. Denna studie är av kvalitativ art då metoden som använts är semistrukturerade intervjuer. För att förstå respondenternas berättelser analyserades delar av dessa med hjälp av reflektionsnivåer. Resultatet av den kvalitativa studien analyserades och tolkades utifrån en hermeneutisk ansats, vilket innebär att samband och mönster tolkas. Resultatet visar att lärarna som deltagit i handledningen befunnit sig på de olika reflektionsnivåerna samt att de har utvecklat sitt yrkeskunnande och sitt sätt att reflektera. De har också berättat att handledningen betytt mycket för verksamheten och för dem själva. Studiens slutsats är att verksamhetsinriktad handledning bidrar till ett ökat yrkeskunnande där respondenterna berättar att de känner sig säkrare och tryggare. De har utökat sitt yrkesspråk och talar med varandra på ett nytt sätt, förstå vad andra lärare och forskare menar. Respondenter berättar att de har förändrat sitt sätt att tänka nu och att de har fått till sig vad forskare säger om projektets innehåll. De kan översätta sina nya kunskaper till andra arbetsområden och de når fler elever idag. Handledningsprojektet har lett till en utveckling hos dem själva, deras sätt att reflektera och i verksamheten. / This study is examining the experiences from two teams of teachers that have participated in operation-oriented coaching, in order to determine if this approach is beneficial for enhancing professional competence. While previous research and literature presented in this study are drawn from multiple different areas, the topic of coaching is predominant. The literature list includes a presentation of the terms of professional skills, pedagogic coaching, and reflection. As semi-structured interviews have been used as a method, this is a qualitative study. To understand the participants’ stories, parts have been analyzed with the support of reflection levels. The result of the qualitative study were analyzed and interpreted by a hermeneutic approach, which means that correlations and pattern were interpreted. The result shows that the teachers who participated in the coaching progressed through several stages of reflection levels, as well as developed their professional competence and reflecting approach. They also stated that the coaching had a positive impact, both on aspects concerning the operation and for the teachers personally. The conclusion of the study is that operation-oriented coaching is contributing to an enhanced professional competence, in addition to giving participants increased confidence. By expanding their professional language, new ways of communicating have emerged and improved their ability to comprehend what is being addressed by other teachers and researchers. They describe a change of thinking and a new ability to take in the content of the project. They are able to translate their new skills to other work areas and today reach a greater number of students. The coaching project has resulted in a personal development, a new way of reflecting and positive effects on the operation.

Many authors have expressed concern regarding the extent of underachievement in mathematics. The role of language proficiency as a causal factor in this underachievement has been neglected. Researchers found sufficient evidence to conclude that language proficiency is related to mathematics achievement. In mathematics, symbolic language fills a dual role: It serves as an instrument of communication and as an instrument of thought by making the representation of mathematical concepts, structures and relationships possible (Esty & Teppo, 1996:45). According to Van Hiele (1988:5), language structure is a critical factor in the progression through the Van Hiele levels from the visual, concrete structures to the abstract structures. In this study, the influence of language proficiency on geometric thinking is investigated. 152 grade 8 and 9 learners completed two tests each. One test measured language proficiency in the learners' mother tongue. The second is a geometric test based on a Mayberry-type Van Hiele test for assessing learners' geometric thinking levels. Language proficiency was taken as the independent variable, and geometric thinking as the dependent variable. In the analysis of the results, the top 25 % and bottom 25% performers in the language proficiency test were chosen. Cohen's (1988) d-value was used to determine if there was a practical significant difference in the performance of the more proficient language learners and the less proficient language learners with respect to each of the first three Van Hiele levels. Results showed a practical significant difference between the performance of the more proficient language learners and the less proficient language learners with respect to each of the first three Van Hiele levels, but also with respect to the geometry test as a whole. In particular, two aspects of language proficiency, namely reading comprehension and vocabulary, appeared to be very strong predictors for geometric thinking on the first three Van Hiele levels (d ≥ 0,8). Key terms for indexing: geometry, geometry learning, mathematics learning, geometric thinking, language, language proficiency, geometry and language, mathematics and language. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Education)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role that the use of subtitling can play as an aid in academic literacy (AL) programmes, particularly against the background of insufficient AL levels at the University of Buea (UB) and elsewhere. Essentially, the study wanted to investigate whether the AL levels of freshmen at UB would improve significantly if they were to be exposed to subtitled popular television programmes (dramas and documentaries) over a period of one academic semester, compared to the AL levels of students who were not exposed to these programmes. The literature survey provided an overview of the field of AL at tertiary level as well as of the use of subtitling in an educational context, clarifying the relevant terminology related to AL, and also investigating other studies that have been done on the benefits of the mode. The survey also investigated the language policy in Cameroon and specifically at UB. Apart from determining whether exposure to subtitled programmes has a positive effect on AL levels, the study also sought to establish which specific areas of AL are improved by exposure to subtitling (if any), and whether the choice of genre (drama or documentary) or the medium of prior learning of participants (English or French) has an impact on AL levels in English. In order to determine the above, the study exposed four test groups enrolled for the UB AL course to popular television programmes over a period of 12 weeks or one academic semester. Two of these groups saw dramas (one with subtitles and the other without) and two saw documentaries (one with subtitles and the other without). A fifth group was used as control group and did not watch any film. The data used was collected from the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) used as pre-test and post-test, questionnaires, interviews and observations. The study concluded that: 1. In terms of overall improvement, even though there was statistically significant improvement in all test groups (in the case of the weighted data), the improvement of the groups that saw subtitled films was statistically highly significant and had large practical significance. This indicates that the AL levels of the two groups that saw subtitled film improved more than those of the two other groups when compared to the control group. 2. Specific areas of statistically significant AL improvement revealed by the experiment were academic vocabulary, text comprehension and text editing abilities, as a result of exposure to subtitled film (and in certain cases exposure to film without subtitles). 3. The study found no statistically significant difference between the improvement of the two groups that saw subtitled film, indicating that either genre could be used for this purpose. 4. It would also seem that Anglophone and Francophone students benefited equally from exposure to subtitled film. On the basis of these findings, a model was designed for the implementation of subtitling as an integrated aid in AL programmes at tertiary institutions. This model provides for a general and specific integration of subtitled audiovisual material. The former has been used successfully in this study at UB, and it should be possible to make use of the general application of this model with similar levels of success at other tertiary institutions. The use of the latter (applying the model for specific integration) focuses on institutions with discipline-based AL interventions or specific AL purposes. It is important, however, that the model proposed in this study is further refined by ongoing research on its implementation. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Lanuage Practice))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role that the use of subtitling can play as an aid in academic literacy (AL) programmes, particularly against the background of insufficient AL levels at the University of Buea (UB) and elsewhere. Essentially, the study wanted to investigate whether the AL levels of freshmen at UB would improve significantly if they were to be exposed to subtitled popular television programmes (dramas and documentaries) over a period of one academic semester, compared to the AL levels of students who were not exposed to these programmes. The literature survey provided an overview of the field of AL at tertiary level as well as of the use of subtitling in an educational context, clarifying the relevant terminology related to AL, and also investigating other studies that have been done on the benefits of the mode. The survey also investigated the language policy in Cameroon and specifically at UB. Apart from determining whether exposure to subtitled programmes has a positive effect on AL levels, the study also sought to establish which specific areas of AL are improved by exposure to subtitling (if any), and whether the choice of genre (drama or documentary) or the medium of prior learning of participants (English or French) has an impact on AL levels in English. In order to determine the above, the study exposed four test groups enrolled for the UB AL course to popular television programmes over a period of 12 weeks or one academic semester. Two of these groups saw dramas (one with subtitles and the other without) and two saw documentaries (one with subtitles and the other without). A fifth group was used as control group and did not watch any film. The data used was collected from the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) used as pre-test and post-test, questionnaires, interviews and observations. The study concluded that: 1. In terms of overall improvement, even though there was statistically significant improvement in all test groups (in the case of the weighted data), the improvement of the groups that saw subtitled films was statistically highly significant and had large practical significance. This indicates that the AL levels of the two groups that saw subtitled film improved more than those of the two other groups when compared to the control group. 2. Specific areas of statistically significant AL improvement revealed by the experiment were academic vocabulary, text comprehension and text editing abilities, as a result of exposure to subtitled film (and in certain cases exposure to film without subtitles). 3. The study found no statistically significant difference between the improvement of the two groups that saw subtitled film, indicating that either genre could be used for this purpose. 4. It would also seem that Anglophone and Francophone students benefited equally from exposure to subtitled film. On the basis of these findings, a model was designed for the implementation of subtitling as an integrated aid in AL programmes at tertiary institutions. This model provides for a general and specific integration of subtitled audiovisual material. The former has been used successfully in this study at UB, and it should be possible to make use of the general application of this model with similar levels of success at other tertiary institutions. The use of the latter (applying the model for specific integration) focuses on institutions with discipline-based AL interventions or specific AL purposes. It is important, however, that the model proposed in this study is further refined by ongoing research on its implementation. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Lanuage Practice))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

A study was conducted among a sample of Korean American students to investigate the potential moderation of the risks related to English proficiency by the protection of school belonging. Perceived scholastic competence, self-reported school grades, and academic expectancies were used for dependent variables. It was hypothesized that students with higher sense of belonging would be less affected by English proficiency than their peers with lower sense of belonging. The risk of English proficiency was confirmed. However, school belonging did not have as much of an effect as expected and students with higher English proficiency seemed to gain more benefit from increased school belonging. This finding reminds educators of the pressing importance of English proficiency, and future research is suggested to investigate the unique effects of belonging among students of Korean, and perhaps other Asian, backgrounds.

Many authors have expressed concern regarding the extent of underachievement in mathematics. The role of language proficiency as a causal factor in this underachievement has been neglected. Researchers found sufficient evidence to conclude that language proficiency is related to mathematics achievement. In mathematics, symbolic language fills a dual role: It serves as an instrument of communication and as an instrument of thought by making the representation of mathematical concepts, structures and relationships possible (Esty & Teppo, 1996:45). According to Van Hiele (1988:5), language structure is a critical factor in the progression through the Van Hiele levels from the visual, concrete structures to the abstract structures. In this study, the influence of language proficiency on geometric thinking is investigated. 152 grade 8 and 9 learners completed two tests each. One test measured language proficiency in the learners' mother tongue. The second is a geometric test based on a Mayberry-type Van Hiele test for assessing learners' geometric thinking levels. Language proficiency was taken as the independent variable, and geometric thinking as the dependent variable. In the analysis of the results, the top 25 % and bottom 25% performers in the language proficiency test were chosen. Cohen's (1988) d-value was used to determine if there was a practical significant difference in the performance of the more proficient language learners and the less proficient language learners with respect to each of the first three Van Hiele levels. Results showed a practical significant difference between the performance of the more proficient language learners and the less proficient language learners with respect to each of the first three Van Hiele levels, but also with respect to the geometry test as a whole. In particular, two aspects of language proficiency, namely reading comprehension and vocabulary, appeared to be very strong predictors for geometric thinking on the first three Van Hiele levels (d ≥ 0,8). Key terms for indexing: geometry, geometry learning, mathematics learning, geometric thinking, language, language proficiency, geometry and language, mathematics and language. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Education)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.