An experiment was conducted to determine how learners and teachers of English as a foreign language in Japan cooperatively attempt to improve the comprehensibility of their talk in English during performance of various conversational tasks. The basic practical issue under study was the possibility that certain kinds of teacher-led groups and tasks would be more effective in generating repair and negotiation of the language by which tasks are accomplished than others, and that these group-task combinations might eventually be employed as alternatives to traditional teacher-fronted forms of foreign language instruction. The study was operationalized in a 2 x 5 between-and-within subjects, repeated-measures analysis of variance design. Two, six-dyad, teacher-led groups -- homogeneous (Japanese teacher/Japanese learner) and mixed (native English speaking teacher/Japanese learner) -- were formed in order to compare the frequency of 12 repair exponents generated during performance of five tasks. Teaching goals were represented in two tasks, instruction in use of the string-searching function of a laptop computer 1) with and 2) without the computer physically present. Non-teaching (social and cooperative problem-solving) goals were embodied in three additional tasks, 3) free discussion, and construction of a Lego (snap-together) toy accomplished with participants facing 4) away from and 5) towards each other. Task categories were also divided into experiential and expository activities (respectively, Tasks 2 and 5, and Tasks 1 and 4) following a model for use of reference in English. Experiential dyadic activity was related to the occurrence of exophoric (pointing out) reference and expository dyadic activity to the incidence of anaphoric (pointing back) reference in the task transcripts. Results of the analysis of variance indicated that while tasks differed on the basis of repair and reference, the groups did not: Dyadic talk was more responsive to the nature of the task than to the language background of the teacher. Further analysis suggested more frequent and elaborate repair during tasks which combine non-teaching goals and experiential processes as compared with tasks emphasizing teaching goals and expository processes. Qualitative analysis of task transcripts supported this distinction and elaborated specific discourse functions for such repair exponents as referential questions and confirmation checks which characteristically co-occur in conversational discourse. Based on these findings, it was concluded that Japanese teachers are capable of generating appropriate conversational repair in dyadic interaction with learners largely on a par with their native English-speaking counterparts. To this extent, their potential contribution to learners' acquisition of a foreign language is of an equivalent value. Furthermore, teacher-led small groups can be effective contexts for generating a rich supply of conversational repair and. thus should be considered as alternatives to traditional teacher-fronted foreign language classroom instruction. Finally, tasks which support achievement of social and problem-solving (i.e., non-teaching) goals through experiential activity are effective contexts in which normal forms of conversational repair can be generated. Since such tasks can be adapted easily to classroom settings, they merit consideration among the range of task options available to teachers and other instructional planners. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

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Fear of computers -- Student/subject-centered teaching model.

"It is the purpose of this paper to analyze the problems included in a directed reading program, to secure information regarding materials available, and to formulate plans. In order to carry out these plans it will be necessary to explore instructional material, locate information on children (cumulative records), to interview teachers experienced in directed reading, and to examine professional literature in the field of reading"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "December, 1949." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: Mildred E. Swearingen, Professor Directing paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-48).

Students with a wide array of disabilities are graduating from high school but are unprepared for community college literacy courses. The lack of preparation has caused many students who attend community colleges to be unsuccessful in literacy courses. This problem has led many community colleges to provide developmental courses, but mixed results on the effectiveness have occurred. My purpose in this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine whether a developmental literacy course had a significant effect on the success of students with disabilities who took English 110 compared with students with disabilities who did not participate in the developmental course. The behaviorist, constructivism, and cognitivism theories served as a foundation for this study because they were used as a framework for the development of the remedial literacy course. The research question focused on the mean difference between two groups of students' grades in English 110. One group of students with disabilities participated in a developmental course, and the other group did not. The study included 166 participants. The participants were all students with disabilities who took the Accuplacer college placement exam, scored below 55, and were advised to take a developmental literacy course. Archived final grades from 2013 to 2017 were analyzed using an independent-sample t-test. Statistically significant results (p = .021) indicated that students with disabilities who took the developmental literacy course before taking an entry-level credit-bearing English earned lower mean scores than those who did not take the developmental literacy course. Potential positive change implications of this study would be to influence community college stakeholders regarding the continuance, revision, or removal of developmental literacy courses for students with disabilities.

The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the method of teaching a "How to Study" class in helping students more adequately meet their reading needs. Research was conducted to test the reading gains made by students in the program with respect to ability and group size. The results indicate that group size had the greatest effect as to changes in reading behavior. Instruction was based on diagnosing student needs. It was shown that a significant number of students who decreased in rate of reading, increased in comprehension. The same diagnostic principle was observed for those who were judged able to increase rate, since a significant number in this category also increased in comprehension. It was concluded that the training was effective in helping students to adjust their rate of reading in order to facilitate an increase in comprehension. There was a wide range of individual differences in the actual amount of comprehension increase. The average increase of 14.5 percent was not significant. However, of the 163 students in the program 82 made a 10 percent increase or better. The principle problem of students making no progress was motivation. While 13.8 percent rated the course as one of the best, 30.2 percent rated the course as above average, and 34.5 percent rated the course average, 14.5 percent rated the course below average, and 6.2 percent were very critical of the course.

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Un Proyecto Interamericano debe entenderse como la culminación de los llamados Estudios Interamericanos. Para entender el mote Proyecto Interamericano, parece conveniente explicar primero en qué consisten los denominados Estudios Interamericanos. El término Interamerican Studies, que aparece en el prospecto de algunas universidades de los Estados Unidos, no deja de ser vago para el hispano-parlante que viene a esta país en busca de nuevas miras educativas. No obstante, al penetrar en niveles semánticos más profundos, el colombiano, el peruano o el boliviano descubre una nueva clave para establecer relaciones humanas y culturales entre los pueblos del Nuevo Mundo. Se trata pues, de un recíproco descubrirse, que culmina con un verdadero apretón de manos entre los diversos pueblos de América. Los Estudios Interamericanos consisten en programas de asuntos culturales, históricos y políticos. Culminan ellos son una tesis o con un “proyecto”. Sin menguar el valor de la tesis tradicional en las universidades nuestras, el proyecto parece- en el caso de los Estudios Interamericanos- ofrecer mayores posibilidades de escudriñar, descubrir, analizar, proponer y asimilar en beneficio propio. El enfoque dado a los Estudios Interamericanos en la Universidad del Pacífico es muy halagüeño para el hispanoparlante, pues le permite ampliar su radio de acción e invadir territorios diversos del saber, relacionados, eso sí, con la idea central de interamericanismo.

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