This study (1) assessed the effectiveness of an ESOL telecourse on content area teachers' achievement of language acquisition principles; (2) determined if factors within the context of the telecourse related to adult learning, media effects, or distance education affected learning; and (3) determined if demographic factors such as age, gender, experience with LEP students, or second language acquisition affected learning. / The instrument used to assess achievement was the ESOL Language Acquisition Inventory for Content Area Teachers (LAI/CAT) developed by the researcher from the objectives of the telecourse in the absence of any standardized test. Follow-up interviews were conducted using a structured interview protocol, the Adult Learning Via Telecourse (ALVT), developed by the researcher based on models in the field. / The instruments were administered to two groups of content area teachers in a county in northwest Florida, 52 of whom had taken the ESOL telecourse and 50 of whom had no ESOL education. / The collected data were analyzed through a t-test to compare overall achievement between groups; through correlation coefficients to determine any relationship between opinions toward the telecourse and achievement; and through t-tests to compare groups on the basis of age, gender, and experience. / The findings revealed that teachers who had taken the ESOL telecourse did not score significantly higher on the LAI/CAT than teachers who had no ESOL education. There was no significant correlation between positive and negative opinions regarding media effects and distance education with scores. However, there was a significant correlation between positive opinions regarding adult learning factors and high scores. There was no significant difference related to gender, LEP experience, or second language ability. However, there was a significant difference between age groups with teachers age 44 and over scoring higher than those 43 and younger. / In summary, the ESOL telecourse did not promote learning among content area teachers regarding ESOL language acquisition, but older teachers who felt positive about aspects of the telecourse related to adult learning theory did significantly better than younger teachers who did not. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3030. / Major Professor: Frank B. Brooks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77516 |
| Contributors | Johnson, Anne Boone., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 153 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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