In second language (L2) reading research, the impact and feasibility of reading linguistically and culturally unmodified texts with novice language learners has been largely underexplored. Some studies, however, have shown that reading unabridged texts with learners enhances their reading comprehension more than does reading shorter texts from a textbook (Maxim, 2002, 2006). This dissertation explores how, through engaging with authentic foreign language (FL) texts, beginning L2 learners develop L2 reading comprehension abilities and cultural understandings. To investigate beginning learners’ FL reading development, a reading journal (RJ) task was developed that asked students to read two thematically related texts representing different genres. In each of three RJs, 56 second-semester collegiate L2 German learners were evaluated on their ability to use textual evidence for text comparison and identification of each text’s readership(s). Data analysis triangulated students’ quantitative and qualitative pre- and post-treatment questionnaire responses with their RJ scores to address two research questions: (1) how students’ reading abilities developed while working with guided reading journals, and (2) how students’ understanding of culture and cultural learning changed during the semester. Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to look for relationships between scores, instructional time, and text type. Text and instructional time were found to be statistically significant with regard to students’ reading comprehension. Learners’ ability to use textual evidence in their comparisons and in identifying texts’ readerships was also statistically significant, though those abilities developed only minimally. Finally, learners expanded their understanding of culture to include more items pertaining to cultural values and perspectives, while altering their understanding of cultural learning to include reading as a way of exploring FL cultures. These results suggest that a literacy-based approach to L2 reading using unabridged texts integrated within an intact language course can prompt changes in students’ reading comprehension and understanding of culture. Implications for beginning FL instruction are discussed, particularly the need for approaches to beginning reading that support development in learners’ reading abilities and understanding of culture and cultural learning, and that better prepare students for more advanced language instruction. / text

This study investigated the relationship between anxiety and the noticing and integration of language forms in the learning of a less commonly taught language: Arabic. The study was motivated by the need to understand why some learners notice and integrate language forms in their second language speech better than others. Simultaneously, the study sought to understand the mechanisms through which anxiety interferes with second language speech processes. The study included a sample of 80 beginning-level learners of Arabic. The participants were assigned to two treatment conditions, Input and Output. The participants’ language anxiety was measured by the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986), and their state anxiety during the noticing and production tasks was measured by the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire (Sarason, 1978). In the treatment session, the Output group participants provided an oral description of a picture story, listened to, read, and underlined an Arabic speaker’s description, and re-described the pictures. The Input group participants answered pre-text exposure questions, listened to, read, and underlined the description, and answered post-text exposure questions. An immediate oral production posttest was administered at the end of the treatment session, and a delayed posttest was administered two weeks later. Interviews were conducted following the delayed posttest. The results showed that the noticing and integration of language forms were influenced by the type of anxiety and the nature of the forms. While language anxiety positively predicted learner noticing and integration of the language forms, state anxiety negatively predicted them. Syntactic and discourse level forms deemed more salient and of higher communicative value were more amenable to anxiety effects. No differential anxiety influences on learner noticing were detected across the Input and Output conditions. Pedagogical implications are offered in light of these findings.

<p> Second language (L2) learners are usually given a limited amount of exposure to pragmatic instruction even though researchers have advocated the importance of teaching pragmatics in the classroom (Alc&oacute;n-Soler, 2008; Bardovi-Harlig, 1990; Cohen, 1996). One area that is discussed among researchers is learners&rsquo; proficiency and its effect on acquiring pragmatic competence. On one hand, researchers argue that learners need to have a high level of linguistic competence or proficiency in order to produce complex linguistic pragmatic functions. Researchers such as Codina-Espurz (2008) believe that there needs to be &ldquo;a certain degree of linguistic competence&rdquo; (p. 229) in order to gain pragmatic competence. In other words, lower L2 level learners may not find it beneficial to receive instruction since they lack the vocabulary to produce appropriate pragmatic responses. However, researchers have found that even having a high level of linguistic competence does not mean gaining complete native-like pragmatic competence (Bardovi-Harlig &amp; Hartford, 1990; Hill, 1997). On the other hand, researchers suggest that pedagogical intervention even at the beginning level is beneficial (Tateyama et al., 1997; Wildner-Bassett, 1994). </p><p> This study involves teaching pragmatic requests to adult English second language (ESL) learners of beginner and advanced intact classes at a non-profit organization called Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) in Pacoima, California. The study was of mixed methods, and data were collected using pre and posttests that included a written and oral role-play portion called a Discourse Completion Test (DCT), a Multiple-Choice assessment (MC), and a Background Questionnaire (BQ). Additionally, an interview and a delayed posttest were given three months later to one learner from each level to study the effect instruction had on their request development. Furthermore, this study wanted to find if pragmatic instruction had an effect on acquiring and producing appropriate responses to different request situations. </p><p> The results showed that learners from both levels improved after explicit pragmatic instruction and developed different types of request expressions and modification items after intervention. Learners in both levels were able to move toward more native-like production by increasing the amount of conventional expressions used; however, the advanced learners were able to use a wider variety of expressions and modifiers. Overall, the results showed that instruction affected learners&rsquo; awareness and ability to produce pragmatically appropriate responses in different sociopragmatic situations beneficially.</p>

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<p> Elementary English language learners lack sufficient English fluency to achieve grade level writing outcomes on state required writing tests. Pre-write strategies incorporating drawings, visual literacy, non-linguistic representations, thinking techniques, and collaboration could be beneficial to help English language learners generate language supports necessary for developing writing fluency in English. The central questions for this study were to determine if drawing as a pre-write activity, and social collaboration, are effective strategies for improving writing achievement for young second language writers. The purpose of this quantitative pretest/ posttest design with four control groups and four treatment groups was to explore how the socio-cultural and visual strategy of prewrite drawing changes the writing outcomes of grade school English language learners. In this experimental study, outcomes of a pre-write visualization strategy were explored for eight fifth grade classes of English language learner students in English language development classes in Northeast Georgia. The data revealed there was no evidence that pre-write drawing treatment had an effect on the GADOE posttests when compared to the control group <i>F</i>(1,5) = 0.00, p = 0.9742). Additionally, there was no evidence that the pre-write drawing treatment had an effect on the Total WIDA posttests when compared to the control group <i>F</i>(1,5) = 0.15, p = 0.7152). Interactions of the treatment and the pretest score covariate were found to be statistically significant (p >0.05) in every case. Although statistically insignificant, the findings indirectly validate concerns among ESL educators and mainstream teachers of ELs in regard to L2 writing. The implications of the study findings indicate a need for continued research in second language writing outcomes of grade school English learners.</p>

Mexican immigrants make up approximately 46 percent of the entire Mexican-origin population in the United States, establishing Mexican immigrants as one of the largest ethnic subgroups in the U. S. (Pew Research Center, 2012). Current research indicates that only 14.5 percent of all Hispanic adults have a four year degree. This is considerably less for Mexican adult immigrants compared to 30 percent white adults with a baccalaureate (Zarate & Burciage, 2010). Since academic proficiency in English is one critical factor for college success, this study investigates how Mexican adult immigrants acquire academic English in a community college setting and what strategies they perceive are effective in this context. Utilizing Adult Learning, Second Language Acquisition, and Social Capital theoretical frameworks, this study addresses the following questions: 1) What do Mexican adult immigrants perceive as challenges (for themselves) while learning academic English in a community college? 2) How do Mexican adult English language learner (ELL) students at a community college use their native language to learn English? 3) What teaching and learning strategies do Mexican adult immigrant students perceive to be effective in learning academic English? To better understand the participants' English language learning experience, the students in this high-intermediate English as a second language (ESL) class were surveyed. A case study was conducted, taking field notes, collecting writing samples, and interviewing (audio-taped) to identify participants' challenges and obstacles hindering their acquisition of academic English, identifying native language support mechanisms, and developing effective teaching strategies for L2 acquisition. Data was collected over the course of one semester in a community college setting. Findings from the data were triangulated resulting in three emerging themes, all central to issues in academic English proficiency: collaborating and helping others; recognizing the need to practice English; and being college ready. The first theme addresses the preferred and effective learning styles of the participants in this study. The second recognizes the need to practice English, a limitation of which is access to native English-speakers. And the third theme, college readiness, addresses what is needed for Mexican adult ELLs' success in obtaining a college degree. This study is useful for those educators and administrators developing curricula, designing intervention strategies and implementing effective collaborative and comprehensive instructional approaches critical for ELLs learning academic English. Implications for college and university administrators address intervention strategies which may increase college enrollment and retention. Also, SLA researchers could further explore technological applications for linguistic and social support, as well as cognitive development for English language learners.

Previous nonnative-English-speaking teacher (NNEST) research has shown that nonnative speaker (NNS) students' attitudes towards NNESTs improve after exposure to them (Moussu, 2002). Past second language (L2) writing research has found that native speaker (NS) teachers interact with NS and NNS students differently (Thonus, 2002, 2004). Little has been investigated regarding NNESTs in mainstream composition courses that include both NS and NNS students. Also, most past NNEST attitude studies relied exclusively on perception data, without investigating whether or not the expressed perceptions were observed in practice. This study, involving both NS and NNS students and teachers, explored (1) students' attitudes towards composition teachers based on the teacher's NS status, (2) interaction characteristics during individual writing conferences, (3) reflections on expressed attitudes, if any, in actual teacher-student interactions, and (4) student attitude change after exposure to NS and NNS teachers. A questionnaire, distributed to 43 (23 NS and 20 NNS) students in composition classes taught by NS and NNS teachers, explored student attitudes towards teachers. Teacher-student interaction patterns were investigated via 12 (3 NS and 9 NNS) students' video-recorded writing conferences, two each, one with the NS and the other with the NNS teacher. Student attitude change was investigated via post-conference interviews. Several interaction characteristics attributed to the teachers' NS status and the students' linguistic and cultural backgrounds (e.g., turn-taking characteristics, question and advice types, etc.) were identified from the conference data. The questionnaire results showed that teachers' personal traits and teaching styles influenced student attitudes more strongly than NS status. Some student attitudes were found to be only perceptions, not reflected in actual interactions. It was also found that NS students' attitudes towards NNS teachers changed favorably after their conference experience with the NNS teacher. Students consider personally tailored conferences to be most successful, regardless of preconceptions about teachers. The findings that students evaluate and acknowledge teachers based on various factors (e.g., individual teachers' expertise, teaching performance, personality traits, etc.) offer implications for teacher training programs. This study also addresses the issue that NNS students should be treated as individuals, rather than categorized as a general group of NNS students.

This dissertation examines the Episodic L2 Hypothesis (Jiang & Forster, 2001), which postulates that first language (L1) words are represented in a specialized system that is devoted to one's L1, i.e., lexical memory, and second language (L2) words are represented in a more general memory system that is not specialized for language, i.e., episodic memory. This idea was based on a double dissociation found in masked translation priming studies - i.e., L2-L1 translation priming is obtained in episodic recognition but not lexical decision, whereas L1-L2 translation priming is obtained in lexical decision but not episodic recognition (Jiang & Forster, 2001; Finkbeiner, 2005). These results are interpreted to show that the decision systems are tuned to episodic memory during the performance of episodic recognition task. Hence, since L2 words are represented episodically, L2 primes assist the recognition of L1 targets, while L1 words are represented lexically, so L1 primes do not assist the recognition of L2 targets.A series of masked priming studies were conducted in this dissertation to further examines this Episodic L2 Hypothesis. Experiment 1 partially confirmed Jiang and Forster's (2001) results with highly-proficient L2 bilinguals, showing that these bilinguals indeed store their L2 words in episodic memory. Experiments 2 to 5 were conducted to examine the "episodic" nature of this memory system by showing that newly-learned L2-like words can be effective as masked translation primes for L1 targets in episodic recognition but not in lexical decision. Experiments 6 to 8 were conducted to eliminate other possible accounts as to why there is a dissociation of L2-L1 translation priming between these two tasks. Finally, Experiment 9 offers further evidence to the Episodic L2 Hypothesis by using masked repetition priming in episodic recognition.These studies, overall, lend support to the hypothesis that L2 words are indeed represented in episodic memory. The final chapter discusses the mechanisms behind masked translation priming, the nature of the memory system that L2 words are stored in, and generally on L2-L1 translation priming.

<p> Students' and teachers' attitudes towards an English language teaching approach play an important role for its implementation success or failure. This study measured Pakistani government school students' and teachers' attitudes towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Grammar Translation (GT). Two separate survey instruments were used to assess students' and teachers' attitudes. Data were collected from students and teachers at two government secondary schools located in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. A total of 204 students (102 females and 102 males) and 13 teachers (five females and eight males) participated in this present study. Overall, both students and teachers showed favorable attitudes towards CLT. In contrast, both the teachers and students showed either less favorable attitudes or a neutral stance towards GT. Finally, this study suggests that policy makers consider adopting or adapting CLT to teach English in the aforementioned schools. Recommendations for future research are also suggested.</p>

<p> Languages can be categorized in terms of topic prominence or subject prominence. English is characterized as subject prominent while languages such as Chinese are considered topic prominent in structure. In subject prominence, the subject must always have a direct relationship, in terms of meaning with the verb, and the subject performs the action or exists in the state named by the verb. This is not the case in a topic prominent system, where the subject may be missing altogether (Li and Thompson 1981). Crucial to this study will be a comparison of word order and pragmatics between English and Chinese with their respective systems. Chinese learners of English have been observed to unknowingly "map" their Chinese discourse structure onto English sentences to fit this pattern (L1 function to L2 form) resulting in what has been called a "pseudo passive" construction (Han 2000). An example of a pseudo-passive would be: <i>New cars must keep inside.</i> This study will attempt to demonstrate that these pseudo passives are indeed an indication of transfer of L1 function to L2 form and that they persist in interlanguage even at advanced stages of proficiency. Appropriate pedagogical considerations will then be discussed.</p>