This study explores how native English speakers (NESs) are affected by the backgrounds of non-native English speakers (NNESs) when it comes to being comfortable interacting with then in English. Speech samples of 12 NNESs were gathered from the Level Achievement Tests conducted at Brigham Young University's English Language Center. There were six speakers who spoke Spanish as their first language (L1) and six speakers who spoke Chinese as their L1. In each L1 group, there were two Low proficiency speakers, two Mid proficiency speakers, and two High proficiency speakers. The speech samples were included in a Qualtrics survey which was completed by 122 American NES participants. The NES participants listened to each speech sample and rated their comfort level interacting with each NNES speaker in six different communication situations categorized as either formal or casual. The results were statistically analyzed in order to determine the effect of proficiency level, L1, and communication situation on NES comfort levels in NNES interactions. High proficiency speakers were rated significantly higher than Mid proficiency speakers which were in turn rated higher than Low proficiency speakers. Spanish L1 speakers were rated higher than Chinese L1 speakers. The more casual communication situations were ranked higher than the more formal communication situations. A statistical analysis of the interaction between proficiency level and L1 revealed that Spanish L1 speakers were strongly preferred at higher proficiency levels but Chinese L1 speakers were preferred at lower proficiency levels. These results suggest that Spanish L1 speakers have a greater need to be higher than Low proficiency while Chinese L1 speakers have a greater need to achieve High proficiency. NNESs who anticipate being in formal situations should also aim for High proficiency.

This paper examines language ideology in the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) 2012 speaking proficiency guidelines using the method of critical rhetoric analysis. Language ideologies, a concept borrowed from linguistic anthropology, are the ways people and organizations conceptualize and talk about language. In this paper, I explore how the ACTFL speaking proficiency guidelines discuss proficient language. Since these guidelines are widely used and highly respected, it is necessary for those who use them to understand what ideologies of proficiency they express. Therefore, this study also discusses how the language ideologies in the guidelines may impact consequential validity. The results from this analysis are a description of language ideologies found in the guidelines, including ideologies about standard language and native speakers. From these findings, I make recommendations for how knowledge about these language ideologies should inform decisions being made for users of the guidelines and the accompanying test, the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview. These recommendations include considering 1) how generalizable these ideologies are to languages other than English, 2) how what is included and excluded in the definition of proficiency could impact less prestigious speakers of the languages tested, and 3) how well these ideologies align with the decisions that will be made based on the test's results.

At the beginning of each term, a handful of students who are linguistically unable to function in an English-speaking classroom appear at the doors of intensive English language programs across the globe. The English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University (BYU) is no exception. In the recent past, five to twelve students have arrived each semester inadequately prepared for the lowest level class available. When placed in that level (Level One), these so-called "Level Zero" students have had trouble progressing and have also delayed the progress of the entire class. Without intervention, these students can continue to lag behind and pull down the level of the class throughout their time at the ELC. Finding or creating a solution to this ongoing problem was the purpose of this project. The solution presented here is to develop and implement a new curriculum designed specifically for these students. This course of action presents its own challenges, such as ensuring cost-effectiveness, providing adequate staffing, and finding or creating appropriate course materials. Each of these challenges has been addressed. Cost effectiveness and adequate staffing are ensured by utilizing unpaid interns from the BYU undergraduate TESOL minor program as teachers, and paying only one experienced teacher who functions as a supervisor and a teacher as needed. Course materials, some only recently developed, were chosen for the All Skills Class, the Vocabulary Class, the Reading Class, and the Lab Class. These classes currently constitute the Foundations Prep Course. The need for this curriculum was reiterated during a needs analysis conducted Winter Semester of 2009 by the students of the BYU Linguistics 677 (Curriculum Development) class. The Foundations Prep curriculum was then developed by the author during the summer of 2009 and implemented by her the following semester at the ELC. It is again being utilized there Winter Semester 2010. Institutional and financial feasibility, progress of students, reactions of members of the Executive Council, of the Foundations Prep Teacher/Supervisor, and of the interns, have all been examined to aid in considering the efficacy of continuing this program into the future.

This study explored the relationships between roughly 330 participants' tolerance of ambiguity and their preference for either an inductive or deductive presentation of grammar by means of an online survey. Most participants were college students. Other variables examined included years of study, in-country experience, proficiency, age, year in school, and language of choice. A new instrument for measuring inductive vs. deductive preference was also created based on Cohen, Oxford, and Chi's (2001) Learning Style Survey (LSS). Results showed weak correlations between: tolerance of ambiguity and inductive preference (.25), tolerance of ambiguity and proficiency (.25), and inductive preference and proficiency (.20). Additional findings include: a correlation (.62) between proficiency and years of instruction received, a slight correlation (.22) between age and tolerance of ambiguity, no correlation between years of language instruction and tolerance of ambiguity, no correlation between studying abroad and ambiguity tolerance or inductive/deductive preference, and no correlation between age and inductive vs. deductive preference. Lastly, data was analyzed to determine whether language was a contributing factor or not, and only the participants learning Japanese were significantly different (p = .004), with a higher preference for inductive learning.

A primary purpose of second language (L2) research is to determine what factors hinder or help L2 acquisition. One aspect that has a strong effect on L2 proficiency is learners' age of onset of acquisition (AOA) (Johnson & Newport, 1989). These studies and others suggest that younger learners are more adept than older learners at learning an L2, especially to a near-native level. However, some older learners can become quite proficient in an L2 (Ioup, et al. 1994; Bialystok, 1997; Bongaerts, 1999), although learners who have acquired the L2 over the age of 30 are rarely studied. Why is it that some older learners are more adept at learning a second language than others? Some argue cognitive abilities (Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson, 2002; DeKeyser, 2006) while others argue social and affective factors (Moyer, 1999) differ across the lifespan, causing younger learners to achieve a higher proficiency than older learners. Little research, however, has examined both these factors, especially in learners who acquired a language beyond early adulthood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine 1) if there are age effects between groups of older adults learning an L2 and 2) what causes any differences found. This study examines a variety of both cognitive, affective and demographic factors that have been previously shown to affect language learning. The participants included 38 native Spanish speakers placed into four AOA groups: 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, and over 40. In order to test cognitive factors a working memory task as well as a switch task were included (Abrahamsson, 2012; Paradis, 2009). Other factors were assessed using a survey that inquired about motivation, amount of time using the L1 versus the L2, and musical ability (Slevc & Miyake, 2006). Subjects also participated in an elicited imitation task to assess global proficiency in the L2 (Erlam, 2009).Results suggest that age effects are found even in older learners. Participants with a younger AOA who spend more time speaking the L2 (English) tended to have greater proficiency in the L2. Attentional control was also a predictor.

The present study was designed to understand the retrospective account of the learning experience of four successful learners of Russian who made substantial oral gains as measured by the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) during a semester study abroad (SA) program in Moscow, Russia. Each participant made as much as two sublevels' improvement on the ACTFL scale, even those who began with Advanced level proficiency. Specifically, the study examines what students believe, how they exercise their agency, cope with constraints, and take advantage of affordances in out-of-class contexts. The qualitative data includes semi-structured interviews while quantitative data consists of pre- and post-program OPI scores. This research addresses the question of second language learning in a foreign language immersion program through thick description and through cross-case analyses. Findings were interpreted in relation to van Lier's theory of the ecology of language learning (2004) and the notion of affordances which suggests that if learners are proactive and outgoing (or initiate interactions) they will perceive language affordances as valuable and will use them. This theoretical approach provides a means to understand how most students were able to improve in oral performance while lacking meaningful contact with native speakers (NSs) or struggling to make friends with them. Regardless of the difficulties encountered during their time in Russia, students exercised their agency through participating in more self-initiated non-interactive activities without being directed by others. Each of the students perceived the meaning of his or her learning experience in a different way, demonstrating how the SA experience is highly individualized. This study argues that regardless of students' individual differences, they have one key principle in common: autonomous behavior. Further research is needed to investigate what fosters learners' autonomy and contributes to learners' self-efficacy.

The challenge facing children learning language bilingually has led to efforts to improve the assessment and treatment of language learning difficulties. One of these efforts is the development and validation of the Spanish-English Language Proficiency Scale (SELPS). Previous research has been performed to validate the scale for English language proficiency but not for Spanish language proficiency. Twenty-four sequential bilingual children produced spontaneous narrative language samples that were rated using the SELPS and coded for language sample variables using the Systemic Analysis of Language Transcripts software. Several language sample variables, most notably the Subordination Index, the number of omitted bound morphemes, and the number of code-switched words, were correlated with the SELPS subscale scores and total score. Findings have implications for screening the Spanish language proficiency of Spanish-English bilingual children who are between four and eight years of age.

Brigham Young University (BYU) first implemented the Spanish Computer Adaptive Placement Examination (S-CAPE) during the Fall Semester of 1986 and it has been used ever since. The S-CAPE was designed to determine course placement into beginning and intermediate classes for students who have previously studied Spanish. A 10% increase occurred this year (2014) in students who have served missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of these returned missionaries gained language proficiency on their missions, and some go to BYU to begin or continue their studies. Because of the increase in enrollment of students with intermediate and advanced Spanish fluency, the BYU Department of Spanish and Portuguese needed a way to accurately place these students. This study analyzed the S-CAPE to see if it was reliable and capable of placing more advanced students. The S-CAPE was not originally designed to place students above SPAN 206. In addition, other factors that contribute to student placement at BYU are evaluated. Recommendations are made for improving the validity of the S-CAPE, as well as the language skills tested by the S-CAPE. Further recommendations are made to upgrade the process of placing students registering for Spanish at BYU.

As the concern for standardized testing continues to rise, so to does the concern for providing students with an appropriate and equal educational opportunity. The goal of this research was to investigate relevant data to determine if there is a relationship between the wealth behind each student and the academic proficiency amongst 5th grade white, black, and Hispanic students within the 67 counties of Florida. The desired outcome of this study was to produce information relevant to political leaders, educational leaders, and teachers in Florida public school districts with influential strategies necessary to increase the proportion of 5th grade students achieving academic proficiency. The review of literature and analysis of the data gathered from the Florida Department of Education for the school year 2006-2007 and the Florida Department of Revenue, 2007 revealed the following findings: (1) there is a statistically significant correlation between reading scores among white and black students in grade 5 as measured by the FCAT and the wealth behind each student within the state of Florida; (2) there is no statistically significant correlation between reading scores among Hispanic students in grade 5 as measured by the FCAT and the wealth behind each student within the state of Florida. In other words, as school districts are deemed more wealthy, white and black students in grade 5 tend to do better in reading than their white and black counterparts in poorer districts. In contrast, Hispanic students in wealthy school districts do not do better in reading than their Hispanic counterparts in poor districts.

The United States is a host to several ethnicities that bring both their own languages and their own culture to an already large mixing pot. The children of the immigrants who grow up learning both English and their families' heritage language are called heritage language learners (HLLs). The first objective of the study was to find out whether foreign language anxiety had a relationship with reading and writing in Spanish for HLLs in high school. The second was to ascertain whether perception of ethnic identity also had a relationship with reading and writing in Spanish for heritage language learners in high school. Most studies have found that both foreign language anxiety and perception of ethnic identity has a connection with reading and writing in their heritage language (HL). A majority of the research, however, focuses on these students and their challenges while at the university level. As studies concerning high school students are rare, it is important to focus on a younger group of participants in order to understand their unique cultural and linguistic needs and implement strategies to help Spanish HLLs succeed. For this particular set of students, it is possible that ethnic identity and writing have a positive relationship. However, ethnic identity did not have a strong relationship with reading. Foreign language anxiety did not have much of a connection between either reading or writing.