This study examines the problems of constructing and administering a test of spoken English for Vietnamese EFL teacher-trainees. In an attempt to standardize the assessment, a planned oral interview was pilottested with a group of ten Vietnamese EFL teachers currently enrolled in a Graduate Diploma Course in TESOL at the Canberra College of Advanced Education, Australia. Results of the study indicate that the validity and reliability of such measurement can be achieved if certain carefully outlined procedures in planning the test and training the testers are carefully followed. Given the close relationship between testing and teaching, it is suggested in this study that there could be an improvement in the teaching of spoken English to Vietnamese EFL teacher-trainees if (i) the amount of time allocated to testing oral proficiency in the curriculum was increased, (ii) Vietnamese EFL teachers were provided with formal training in language test construction, and (iii) research on EFL oral testing was encouraged. Further, this study recommends co-operation between TEFL institutions in Vietnam to develop standard instruments for the assessment of spoken English of EFL teacher-trainees on a national level.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to investigate pupils’ attitudes towards spoken English and towards speaking in front of their friends, and how these attitudes appear to be related to their oral communication and communicative behaviour in the classroom. The material was collected by video taping two classes, a questionnaire in these two classes and by interviewing their teacher.</p><p>The results show that motivation and anxiety are psychological factors that play a significant role in the learning process. Attitudes, both towards the target language and towards their own production affect pupils’ willingness to communicate, and consequently their oral production in different tasks. The larger the group is, the more anxious they become. In order to motivate pupils, a variety of exercises is needed, where the topic is of great importance to awaken their interest for communication. The teacher also needs to circulate in the classroom to avoid a situation where pupils switch to their first language. Otherwise, pupils appear to code-switch as soon as an opportunity presents itself, which was observed in the analyses of recorded lessons.</p>

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This research aims at investigating the relationships between linguistics self confidence, achievements and performance and giving new pedagogical insights to the educators concerning language learning motivation by implementing a combination of task-based research and Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency (CAF) performance evaluation model. Six English as Second Language (ESL) learners were invited to participate in an oral task and complete a self confidence evaluation questionnaire. Their performance, based on the CAF framework, was then compared and contrasted according to their confidence level. It was found that the higher confident students are more accurate in their speech production, and are also better at communicative and discussion skills. However, neither did they demonstrate a large amount of talk as in some past literature, nor did they display a very complex language. They instead articulated more false starts and made more repetitions as they self-corrected their utterances during the task. Compared to the lower-confident group, these learners surprisingly contribute fewer arguments, particularly counter-arguments such as rebuttals. These behaviors were explained by Foster and Skehan’s attention theory and Levelt’s prioritization in production. In addition, the inter-dependent relationships between linguistics self confidence, achievements and performance are proposed. Finally, Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System is especially addressed, as it seems applicable in solving the research findings that there is a discrepancy between the L2 ideal self and actual self of these ESL learners. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This dissertation follows an oral language assessment tool from initial design and implementation to validity analysis. The specialized variables of this study are the population: international teaching assistants and the purpose: spoken assessment as a hiring prerequisite. However, the process can easily be applied to other populations and assessment goals.While evaluating the TBEST (Task-Based English Speaking Test) and TAST (TOEFL Academic Speaking Test), I search for a preponderance of evidence for assessment validity that indicate the most appropriate tool for evaluating potential ITAs. The specific evidences of assessment validity that are examined are:1. Evidence of Domain (Content) Validity: Which test, the TBEST or the TAST most closely measures the actual skills needed to be an ITA?2. Evidence of Predictive Criterion Validity: Which test, the TBEST or the TAST, is more valid in predicting ITA teaching success based on end of semester student evaluation (TCEs)?Following the analyses of these points of evidence, the results of a follow-up survey of ITA impressions about the ITA training and evaluating process are reviewed. Reviewing the results of this survey places the language assessment and hiring process recommendations within its larger context, directing attention toward suggestions for improvement of ITA training and evaluating procedures.Over the course of 18 months, 335 ITAs were assessed using the TBEST. 193 ITAs took the TAST prior to taking the TBEST, and those scores are used for correlation analysis. 119 ITAs participated in a follow up survey about their ITA experience.Analysis of domain validity shows that the TBEST is better suited for assessing ITAs than the TAST due to specialized assessment content not present on the more generic TAST. The TBEST is marginally better at predicting teaching success, though the results were statistically insignificant and recommendations are made for a follow-up study. Post-hoc analysis of the discriminative utility of both tests show that the TBEST results show more useful shades of distinction between candidates while the TAST results place the majority of students in a `fair' category which requires secondary interviews to assess teaching ability.

This dissertation analyzes the production and functions of the conjunctions and, but, so, and then as discourse markers in English as a Second Language (ESL) students' oral narratives. Two types of narratives are analyzed: a non-guided, or spontaneous narrative, and a picture-guided-narrative. Narratives of forty three ESL students are included in the analysis as well as narratives from six native speakers.This study indicates that l) the ESL students attach a narrowly defined meaning to and, but, so, and then, 2) the ESL students use and, but, so, and then to link previous sentences or ideas. or refer back to ideas, less than for any other function, 3) the ESL students do not use a greater number of occurrences of and, but, so, and then in the picture-guided-narrative than in the non-guided-narrative, and 4) the ESL students misuse conjunctions in similar ways regardless of their native language (LI ); that is, although the influence from a student's Ll may result in specific problems of transfer, some patterns of conjunction errors are unrelated to the Ll and may be indicative of a more general problem. / Department of English

This paper is a phonetic investigation of radio newsreading on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) from 1937 to 1987. Recorded newscasts from the first, third, and fifth decades of CBC history are examined. Brief histories of CBC Radio news and of the Office of Broadcast Language are included, and the bibliography brings together much scattered reference material on CBC language. Traditional auditory evaluations of selected aspects of voice quality settings, vowel quality, and voice dynamics are supplemented by instrumental measurements. The descriptive terminology of Laver (1980) is applied to identify the voice quality settings. The majority of newsreaders examined display the vocal settings of lowered larynx, open jaw, and the use of creaky phonation. This configuration enhances vocal resonance and is shown to be an established newsreading model, perceived as suitable to the authoritative presentation of information. The patterns of vocal settings identified for three test decades (1937-47, 1957-67, 1977-87) are supported by the results of acoustic analyses. Individual, group, and across-group statistical tests were executed on the results of acoustical waveform analyses of the peripheral vowels k n u/ produced by each newsreader. To test vowel quality as a sociolinguistic variable, the CBC formant data were compared with compatible /ae o u/ data from informants of the Survey of Vancouver English (Gregg, 1984). The results show that the speech of CBC Radio newsreaders cannot be associated with any particular SES class of the Vancouver Survey. As a result of the extensive variation in production found for both informant groups, the high back vowel phoneme /u/ remains ill-defined for Canadian English. The voice dynamic component in CBC Radio newscasts has changed over the years. Measurements of speech rate show that the duration of pauses post-1966 are dramatically shorter than those pre-1966. Sentence length is shown not to have changed considerably, but phrases have been lengthened and pauses shortened. A marked reduction in the percentage of silent time within the newscast has been the result. It is suggested that pitch fluctuations are now used more extensively than pausing to structure the text orally. Despite the changes in continuity, the articulation rate of the newsreaders, measured in syllables per second, has remained constant. These results indicate that the newsreaders are exceptionally skilled speakers. The prevalent voice settings and the averaged acoustic measurements for CBC vowels are presented as representative of a readily identifiable and publicly recognized standard of formal spoken Canadian English.

In 2003 the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) unveiled their new junior high school (JHS) English as a Foreign Language (EFL) policy, which focused strongly on oral communication. Although there is evidence of policy noncompliance in schools until now there has been no English language research on the attitudes or practices of Japanese teachers of English (JTEs), or the views of the students, and their parents in regards to teaching/learning English speaking skills. The research, based on JHSs in a mid-sized Japanese city (pop. 475,000 approx.), focused predominantly on JTEs, but also included students, and their parents. Focus group sessions, questionnaires, and one-on-one interviews were used to collect data. The study reveals that learning English speaking skills is considered important, but passing the senior high school (SHS) entrance examination is the main concern and so, test impact from the SHS entrance examination exerts the greatest pressure on JHS JTEs. The JTEs also perceive themselves as facing other issues such as student motivation, JTE speaking proficiency, and large class sizes. Another finding is that JTEs appear to receive inadequate training– pre- and inservice– resulting in issues, such as a reliance on traditional methods (yakudoku), which are not in accordance with MEXT’s intentions, and JTE proficiency test achievement levels lower than those desired by MEXT. As a result of these issues gaps exist between MEXT JHS EFL policies and actual teaching practices, and have unfortunately led to a situation where JTEs believe that MEXT does not care about or understand the teaching environment. The study concludes that implementation of MEXT’s policy require a better match between the SHS entrance examination and JHS EFL policy, a decrease in class sizes, and JTEs receiving more adequate training. A more positive relationship between MEXT and JTEs would result from these two groups working collaboratively when designing JHS EFL policies and could better achieve a match between the SHS entrance examination and JHS EFL policy.

In 2003 the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) unveiled their new junior high school (JHS) English as a Foreign Language (EFL) policy, which focused strongly on oral communication. Although there is evidence of policy noncompliance in schools until now there has been no English language research on the attitudes or practices of Japanese teachers of English (JTEs), or the views of the students, and their parents in regards to teaching/learning English speaking skills. The research, based on JHSs in a mid-sized Japanese city (pop. 475,000 approx.), focused predominantly on JTEs, but also included students, and their parents. Focus group sessions, questionnaires, and one-on-one interviews were used to collect data. The study reveals that learning English speaking skills is considered important, but passing the senior high school (SHS) entrance examination is the main concern and so, test impact from the SHS entrance examination exerts the greatest pressure on JHS JTEs. The JTEs also perceive themselves as facing other issues such as student motivation, JTE speaking proficiency, and large class sizes. Another finding is that JTEs appear to receive inadequate training– pre- and inservice– resulting in issues, such as a reliance on traditional methods (yakudoku), which are not in accordance with MEXT’s intentions, and JTE proficiency test achievement levels lower than those desired by MEXT. As a result of these issues gaps exist between MEXT JHS EFL policies and actual teaching practices, and have unfortunately led to a situation where JTEs believe that MEXT does not care about or understand the teaching environment. The study concludes that implementation of MEXT’s policy require a better match between the SHS entrance examination and JHS EFL policy, a decrease in class sizes, and JTEs receiving more adequate training. A more positive relationship between MEXT and JTEs would result from these two groups working collaboratively when designing JHS EFL policies and could better achieve a match between the SHS entrance examination and JHS EFL policy.