This study was an examination of the effect that three levels of topic choice (no choice, limited choice, and complete choice) would have on students' Task Interest and Task Self-efficacy (Study 1, 78 participants), and on three aspects of students' oral output: Accuracy, Complexity, and Fluency (Study 2, 42 participants in 21 pairs). Also examined were the effects that three types of tasks (descriptive, narrative, and decision-making) exerted on these five variables. Data were collected using a questionnaire for Study 1 and recording the participants' conversations for Study 2. Data were collected in nine consecutive treatments to examine the main effects of choice and task, and the interaction effects of choice and task, using two-way repeated-measures ANOVAs. For Study 1, limited choice promoted Task Interest for the descriptive and narrative tasks, and Task Self-efficacy for the narrative and decision-making tasks to a statistically significant degree. In addition, the descriptive task had the highest Task Interest for the no choice and complete choice treatments and had the highest Task Self-efficacy for the no choice of topic treatment. The findings generally indicated that the participants were more interested in the task when there was choice, and that this led to higher levels of Task Interest and Task Self-efficacy. The Study 2 results indicated that Complexity was significantly higher when choice was introduced for the descriptive and narrative tasks. Accuracy and Fluency were not influenced to a statistically significant degree by choice, but they were positively influenced nonetheless. Attentional resources may have been freed up when choice was introduced and the participants may have been more willing to take risks, both possibly causing the significantly higher levels of complexity for choice. Suggestions for further research include a closer examination of the process students use when choosing a topic and examining ways for a more efficient method of introducing choice into the task-based language teaching syllabus. / CITE/Language Arts

Thesis (MA (African languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The central purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and properties of communication tasks employed in generic communication in isiXhosa on a university campus in South Africa within the framework of current second language theories of task-based language learning and teaching, and syllabus design for analysing those tasks, taking into account the needs of second language learners of isiXhosa in the context of campus communication. The study aims to explore questions relating to how meaning-based approaches to language teaching such as Task-based language learning and teaching have contributed to the teaching and learning of a second language in regard to the performance of the learner. One of the main aims of the task-based language learning and teaching (TBL and T) approach is to provide learners with input that are relevant to their everyday life in and outside of the language learning classroom. The aim is to further provide teachers with theorectical principles of teaching in order to influence the second language development and performance of the learner in an optimal manner. Thus the concern of TBL and T is to promote the motivation of the learner, negotiations of meanings among the learners and teacher in the classroom and optimal language development. The performance of the learners are thus positively influenced because they are now in more control of their own learning and the teacher no longer has to be the only provider of information and interaction to the language learning classroom. In order to explore the various possibilities that exist in the designing of tasks for the context of a university campus in regards to learning isiXhosa as a second language or additional language, this study investigates several components of tasks relating to cognitive and linguistic complexity, the effects the manipulation of these components might have on the language learning and elements and components of designing a syllabus, and how they influence the teaching and learning of the second language. Furthermore analyses regarding various complexity properties are conducted on the isiXhosa dialogues in order to determine criteria for syllabus designers on how tasks can be graded and sequenced within a task-based language learning and teaching syllabus for second language learners of isiXhosa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sentrale fokus van hierdie studie behels die ondersoek in die natuur en eienskappe van kommunikasietake wat gevind word in generiese kommunikasietake in isiXhosa by ’n universiteit kampus in Suid-Afrika, binne die konteks van hedendaagse tweede taal teorieë van taakgebasseerde taalleer en onderrig sowel as syllabus ontwerp en die analisering van daardie take aan die hand van die behoeftes van tweede taal leerders van isiXhosa in die konteks van kampus kommunikasie. Die studie beoog om vas te stel hoe betekenis-gebaseerde benaderings tot taal onderrig soos byvoorbeeld taakgebaseerde taalleer en onderrig bydra tot die onderrig en leer van ’n tweede taal in verband met die werkverrigtinge en prestasies van die leerder. Die taakgebaseerde benadering tot die leer en onderrig van ’n tweede taal beoog om die leerders toe te rus met relevante en alledaagse temas wat leerders binne en buite die klaskamer ervaar. Verder beoog hierdie benadering om opvoeders toe te rus met die nodige teoretiese beginsels van onderrig sodat tweede taal ontwikkeling sowel as die prestasies en werkverrigtinge van die leerders in ’n optimale en positiewe wyse beinvloed word. Hierdie benadering tot die leer en onderrig van taal is veral gemoeid met die positiewe bevordering van die motivering van die leerder sowel as die interaksies en vrae van betekenis tussen die leerders en die opvoeders binne die omgewing van die klaskamer sodat optimale taal ontwikkeling plaasvind. Die werkverrigtinge en prestasies van die leerder word dus positief beinvloed omdat die leerder in beheer is van sy/haar eie leer en die opvoeder is nie meer die enigste bron van inligting en interaksie in die klakamer nie. Verder ondersoek hierdie studie verskeie komponente van take wat verband hou met kognitiewe en linguisities kompleksiteit, die effek van manipulasie op hierdie komponente met betrekking tot die taalleer en die elemente en komponente van sillabus ontwerp asook hoe hierdie komponente die leer en onderrig van ’n tweede taal beinvloed. Hierdie insigte op die komponente van take skep verskeie moontlikhede vir die ontwikkeling van take in die konteks van ’n universiteit kampus met betrekking tot die leer van isiXhosa as ’n tweede taal of additionele taal. Verder verskaf die studie ook ontledings met betrekking tot die kompleksiteitseienskappe van verskeie isiXhosa dialoeë sodat ’n kriteria vir sillabus ontwerpers geskep word waarvolgens hulle take kan gradueer en in volgorde plaas binne die taakgebaseerde leer en onderrig sillabus vir tweede taal leerders van isiXhosa.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this thesis is to present an isiXhosa task-based syllabus design for police communication. The aim is to provide a theory-based rationale for syllabus design to teach English- and Afrikaans-speaking police officials isiXhosa as a second language in order to communicate with the isiXhosa mother tongue police officials inside the police station (internal), as well as with the isiXhosa speaking community (external). For this purpose, a needs analysis is conducted, i.e. the communication needs and objectives of the police officials are determined. Therefore, the aim is to determine the proficiency level of the police officials in terms of their knowledge about isiXhosa. The thesis undertakes this investigation in order to determine the type of communication used by the police officials. Communicative tasks, appropriate for police officials on an intermediate level, were constructed accordingly for the purpose of identifying central task types. An analysis of each dialogue is done in order to determine the level of cognitive, as well as syntactic complexity. Each of these dialogues can be scaled in terms of their complexity, i.e. the complexity can either be increased or decreased. The aim of the communicative tasks is to teach learners various ways in which different parts of texts relate to one another. Furthermore, the purpose of this thesis is to determine the way in which Task-based Language Teaching can be incorporated into a syllabus design in order to teach isiXhosa to police officials as a second language. The aim of Task-based Language Teaching is to create natural contexts in which communicative tasks can be performed. The communicative tasks should enable the police officials to use the language in order to communicate in the world outside the classroom. The study concludes that specific purpose syllabus design is a multi-faceted process, hence it requires a multi-perspective approach as demonstrated in this thesis. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis is om 'n Taakgebaseerde Sillabusontwerp vir polisiekommunikasie voor te stel. Die mikpunt is om 'n teoreties-gebaseerde rasionaal vir sillabusontwerp te verskaf om sodoende Engels- en Afrikaanssprekende polisielede isiXhosa as tweede taal te leer sodat hulle in staat is om met polisielede in die polisiestasie (intern), asook met die gemeenskap (ekstern) te kommunikeer. Vir hierdie doeleinde is dit nodig om 'n behoefte-analise saam te stel, met ander woorde die kommunikasiebehoeftes en -doelwitte van die polisielede. Die doel is dus om die bevoegdheidsvlak van die polisielede te bepaal in terme van hul kennis rakende isiXhosa. Dit sluit 'n ondersoek in om vas te stel watter tipe kommunikasie deur die polisielede gebruik word. Kommunikatiewe take, geskik vir polisielede op 'n intermediere vlak, is daarvolgens saamgestel om sodoende sentrale taaktipes te identifiseer. Elke dialoog is geanaliseer in terme van kognitiewe, asook sintaktiese kompleksiteit. Elkeen van hierdie dialoe kan georden word in terme van hul kompleksiteit, met ander woorde die kompleksiteit kan of verhoog of verlaag word. Die doel van die kommunikatiewe take is om leerders verskeie maniere te wys waarop verskillende dele van tekste verband hou met mekaar. Verder is die doel van hierdie tesis om te bepaal hoe Taakgebaseerde Taalonderrig in 'n sillabusontwerp inkorporeer kan word om sodoende isiXhosa as tweede taal aan polisielede te leer. Die mikpunt van Taakgebaseerde Taalonderrig is om natuurlike kontekste te skep waarin kommunikatiewe take uitgevoer kan word. Die kommunikatiewe take is veronderstel om polisielede in staat te stel om die taal te gebruik sodat hulle in die wereld buite die klaskamer kan kommunikeer. Die gevolgtrekking van die studie is dat 'n sillabusontwerp vir spesifieke doeleindes, 'n multi-kenmerkende proses is, en dus 'n multi-perspektiewe benadering vereis soos wat demonstreer is in hierdie tesis.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The purpose of this study is to apply relevant and up-to-date theories concerning language learning and acquisition to the specific needs of second-language learners of isiXhosa in the field of health sciences through microanalysis of doctor-patient dialogues in isiXhosa. This study explores a task-based approach to language learning and teaching that differs from traditionally applied methods. In this approach, the performance of a task is regarded as the key feature in the language-learning process. This is in accordance with the central aim of the task-based approach to language learning and teaching, which is to transform the prescribed roles of teachers and learners in the classroom context so that learners move from being passive observers to being actively involved in their own learning processes, and teachers become facilitators and not presenters of the language.In an endeavour to exploit the possibilities of tasks in the teaching and learning of isiXhosa for health sciences needs, this study investigates the various components that comprise a task as well as the possible effects that these components may have on language learning and use. The results of the study could then provide teachers of second-language courses with specific notions and strategies, which, when successfully applied, could ensure optimal language learning and acquisition for language learners. To expand the study, an analysis is conducted regarding the presence and nature of cognitive complexity and syntactic complexity in authentic doctor-patient dialogues in isiXhosa. The classification of these conversations will serve to inform the manner in which tasks could be sequenced in a task-based language teaching course for second-language learners.

Drawing upon the writing literature and the task-based language teaching literature, the study examined two cognitive complexity dimensions of L2 writing tasks: rhetorical task varying in reasoning demand and topic familiarity varying in the amount of direct knowledge of topics. Four rhetorical tasks were studied: narrative, expository, expo-argumentative, and argumentative tasks. Three topic familiarity tasks were investigated: personal-familiar, impersonal-familiar, and impersonal-less familiar tasks. Specifically, the study looked into the effects of these two cognitive complexity dimensions on L2 writing quality scores, their effects on complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of L2 production, and the predictive power of the CAF features on L2 writing scores for each task. Three hundred and seventy five Chinese university EFL students participated in the study, and each student wrote on one of the six writing tasks used to study the cognitive complexity dimensions. The essays were rated by trained raters using a holistic scale. Thirteen CAF measures were used, and the measures were all automated through computer tools. One-way ANOVA tests revealed that neither rhetorical task nor topic familiarity had an effect on the L2 writing scores. One-way MANOVA tests showed that neither rhetorical task nor topic familiarity had an effect on accuracy and fluency of the L2 writing, but that the argumentative essays were significantly more complex in global syntactic complexity features than the essays on the other rhetorical tasks, and the essays on the less familiar topic were significantly less complex in lexical features than the essays on the more familiar topics. All-possible subsets regression analyses revealed that the CAF features explained approximately half of the variance in the writing scores across the tasks and that writing fluency was the most important CAF predictor for five tasks. Lexical sophistication was however the most important CAF predictor for the argumentative task. The regression analyses further showed that the best regression models for the narrative task were distinct from the ones for the expository and argumentative types of tasks, and the best models for the personal-familiar task were distinct from the ones for the impersonal tasks.

Usage-based approaches to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) hold that grammatical development can at least in part be explained by a trajectory from initially entrenched formulaic chunks of linguistic material through partially abstract low-scope patterns to abstract constructions. Although earlier empirical research found little to support such a trajectory, more recent research suggests that when the methodological focus is on the breakdown of tokens not on the acquisition of abstract morphology formulaic chunks do seem to develop into at least low-scope patterns. What is not clear from these later studies, however, is why users select tokens from the environment, how these selections are repurposed to meet communicative needs and what grammatical development may be the result of such repurposing. Drawing on insights into usage-based approaches to SLA in general, and specifically predictions that the analogical processing of similar tokens can explain in part a trajectory from tokens in the linguistic environment to abstract constructions, this study investigates whether intervention in the form of task demands and written task productions can drive the selection and repurposing of task-relevant input, and whether such repurposing may influence the development of past-counterfactual constructions in instructed SLA. The study uses a classroom-based pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design with pre-sessional university students in intact classes (n=92). Out of the three groups in the study, one group were exposed to instances of past counterfactuals which were identical to the forms needed for task completion in terms of function and lexical items (Literal Group). A second group were exposed to instances which called for the same function but different lexical items for successful task completion (Analogous Group), while a third group were not exposed to input. Results show that the analogous processing of task-relevant tokens led to positive and significant gains on most acceptability judgment and production test measures. Regression models further show that the selection of tokens explained very little variance, while analogical processing, operationalised as the repurposing of tokens to fit task demands, explained a significant amount of the variance in the same models. These findings highlight the importance of analogical processing in SLA and the significant implications such processing has for cognitive accounts of SLA and for second language teaching.

A necessidade de jovens pesquisadores lerem correta e rapidamente uma grande quantidade de textos escritos em inglês, que é a língua franca da ciência, representa uma barreira considerável para eles. Dada essa necessidade, em 2001, o programa de mestrado em Ciências da Computação e Matemática Computacional do ICMC-USP passou a avaliar a proficiência em inglês dos alunos quanto à habilidade de reconhecerem o gênero de textos científicos em inglês, com as convenções que lhe são características. O site do Exame de Proficiência em Inglês (EPI)disponibiliza Exames Modelos com correção automatizada para os alunos saberem antecipadamente como será o exame formal, também informatizado. Porém, a prática com o Exame Modelo fornece apenas um relatório com o escore do aluno, não oferecendo meios para ele relembrar seus conhecimentos, receber instrução ou ainda rever conceitos errôneos. Uma possível solução para essa lacuna é um ambiente computacional que propicie um contexto favorável à aprendizagem do inglês instrumental. Na perspectiva de favorecer tal aprendizado e auxiliar os alunos a estudarem para o EPI é que essa pesquisa propôs um Ambiente Computacional de Aprendizagem (ACA) para o inglês instrumental. O ACA desenvolvido, denominado Computer-Aided Learning of English for Academic Purposes (CALEAP-Web), é fruto da integração de um Teste Adaptativo Informatizado (TAI), denominado de Adaptive English Proficiency Test for the Web (ADEPT), e um Ambiente Computacional de Tarefas (ACT), denominado de Computer-Aided Task Environment for Scientific English (CATESE). Um TAI consiste em itens (questões) selecionados de acordo com o nível de habilidade estimado do aluno, gerando um teste individualizado. Já o ACT fornece tarefas pré-determinadas para o aprendizado do aluno. Para o ADEPT foram realizados dois experimentos com alunos de mestrado em Ciências da Computação e Matemática Computacional do ICMC-USP e com o CALEAP-Web, como um todo, foram realizadas simulações para a verificação de sua operacionalidade. Embora o ACA tenha sido desenvolvido para apoiar os alunos do programa de mestrado do ICMC-USP, ele é suficientemente genérico para ser usado em outros programas de mestrado que avaliam o inglês instrumental e por jovens pesquisadores que desejam conhecer as convenções do gênero de textos científicos em inglês. / The need to read correctly and rapidly a huge amount of scientific papers, that is predominantly in English as the lingua franca for science, represents a considerable barrier for novice non-native English researchers. Due to this need, in 2001, the MSc. program in Computer Science and Computational Maths at ICMC-USP proposed a new type of proficiency exam to evaluate students\' competence in terms of the demands of highly standardized research articles written in English. The English proficiency exam website makes available simulated tests for the students to be aware of the contents and scoring procedure and to practice before applying for the formal exam, which is also automatically corrected. However, practice with simulated tests only provides a report with the student\'s score. There is no support to correct student\'s misconceptions, to instruct or to refresh prerequisite knowledge. A possible solution to fulfil this gap is to provide a computer-based environment designed to arouse students\' consciousness about the conventions in English usage in research papers. The purpose of this research was to propose such an environment. The computer-based environment developed, called Computer-Aided Learning of English for Academic Purposes (CALEAP-Web), is the result of the integration of an adaptive test, named Adaptive English Proficiency Test for the Web (ADEPT), and a task based environment called Computer-Aided Task Environment for Scientific English (CATESE). An adaptive test consists of items (questions) selected according to the estimated ability level of the student, providing an individualized test. A task based environment provides predefined tasks to ensure student\'s learning in a certain issue. Two evaluation experiments with students from the MSc. program in Computer Science and Computational Maths at ICMC-USP were carried out with ADEPT; with CALEAP-Web simulations were designed to verify functionality and robustness. Although CALEAP-Web was developed to support students from the MSc. program in Computer Science and Computational Maths at ICMC-USP, it is sufficiently generic to be used in other master programs which assess instrumental English and by novice researchers who need to know the demands of highly standardized research articles written in English.

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is considered innovative in foreign language teaching. However, the body of research on TBLT employment in vocabulary instruction is still modest. This study explored teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding vocabulary instruction using TBLT. This study examined such application among Vietnamese high-school EFL teachers (N = 60) using a mixed methods research design. Data were collected using online questionnaires. Data analysis showed that 53.6% of the participating teachers associated vocabulary instruction with TBLT. However, regardless of their years as instructors, they still found it challenging to implement TBLT vocabulary instruction due to numerous factors. In fact, 66.2% of the participating teachers acknowledged a variety of constraints in applying TBLT, among which, exam-oriented curricula were reported as the biggest impediment.

The study investigated the effects of a motivational and cognitive pre-tasks on oral task production by intermediate and low advanced college learners of French at a large public university in the United States. The motivation and cognitive groups engaged in an information-gap group discussion task in French following brief motivationally and strategically oriented pre-tasks conducted in the participants' native language, while the control group completed the discussion task without a pre-task. In addition, all groups completed a dictation as a measure of proficiency and a post-task motivation survey. The results of the study did not show any significant differences between the motivation, cognitive and control treatments in terms of accuracy, fluency or complexity of their speech. Possible reasons contributing to the findings are discussed and interpretations are proposed. Particularly, it is suggested that strategies for motivating students and providing cognitive support for a language task need to be coupled with focus on the task content and/or form, addressed in the target language, in order to differentially affect the fluency, accuracy, and complexity aspects of the second language speech. At the same time, the motivation group participants reported significantly higher interest in the task, higher perception of its value, and higher perception of their own autonomy, which indicates that the motivation pre-task did positively affect their motivation in relation to the task. Interest and value subcategories of the motivation survey were particularly sensitive to differences between the groups. It is suggested that regular support and promotion of positive motivational dispositions in a language class may, in the long run, result in an observable positive effect on certain aspects of the learners' speech.

Technology improvements and power constrains have taken multicore architectures to dominate microprocessor designs over uniprocessors. At the same time, accelerator based architectures have shown that heterogeneous multicores are very efficient and can provide high throughput for parallel applications, but with a high-programming effort. We propose Castell a scalable chip multiprocessor architecture that can be programmed as uniprocessors, and provides the high throughput of accelerator-based architectures. Castell relies on task-based programming models that simplify software development. These models use a runtime system that dynamically finds, schedules, and adds hardware-specific features to parallel tasks. One of these features is DMA transfers to overlap computation and data movement, which is known as double buffering. This feature allows applications on Castell to tolerate large memory latencies and lets us design the memory system focusing on memory bandwidth. In addition to provide programmability and the design of the memory system, we have used a hierarchical NoC and added a synchronization module. The NoC design distributes memory traffic efficiently to allow the architecture to scale. The synchronization module is a consequence of the large performance degradation of application for large synchronization latencies. Castell is mainly an architecture framework that enables the definition of domain-specific implementations, fine-tuned to a particular problem or application. So far, Castell has been successfully used to propose heterogeneous multicore architectures for scientific kernels, video decoding (using H.264), and protein sequence alignment (using Smith-Waterman and clustalW). It has also been used to explore a number of architecture optimizations such as enhanced DMA controllers, and architecture support for task-based programming models. iii