Education Commons^™

"That's The Test?" Washback Effects Of An Alternative Assessment In A Culturally Heterogeneous Eap University Class, Abigail Bennett Carrigan

Dissertations and Theses

To determine learner attitudes toward an alternative assessment, additional washback effects, and possible relationships between cultures of learning and learner attitudes, a mixed methods study was conducted in an advanced multicultural EAP (English for Academic Purposes) class in the USA, where a poster project was implemented as a summative assessment. Qualitative and quantitative data from a pre- and post-test questionnaire as well as classroom observations and an interview with the instructor were used to investigate learners' attitudes towards the assessment. The twenty-four participants representing five cultures of learning from the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia expressed largely positive …

The Cognitive Development Of Expertise In An Esl Teacher: A Case Study, Lyndsey Roos

Dissertations and Theses

This case study investigated how an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher's cognition has both changed and stayed constant over a period of eight years and the factors to which the teacher attributes changes or lack of changes. The study followed the teacher over the course of a 10-week period and compared videos of the participant's teaching from eight years ago to her current teaching. Interviews, observations, and stimulated recall were used to investigate development over the eight year span. It was found that the teacher did indicate several areas in which she demonstrated change: Teaching with fluidity, automaticity, …

The Influence Of Student Gender On Teacher/Student Interactions In Esl Classrooms, Lisa Sybil Mann

Dissertations and Theses

Because teacher I student interactions provide opportunities for correction and comprehensible input, a major component of successful language learning, equitable distribution of teacher I student interactions in the language classroom is an important element for the success of all second language students. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences in teacher I student interactions based on student gender occurred in four college English as a Second Language instructors' classrooms. The role of instructor gender and student ethnicity in teacher I student interaction content and frequency were also examined. Informal interviews were designed to determine the instructors' …

American Deaf Students In Ennl Classes: A Case Study, Janice Elisabeth Ruhl

Dissertations and Theses

Many deaf students who seek post secondary education need some sort of developmental education in reading and writing to ensure success in college. These students often end up in college preparatory or remedial classes that are designed for native speakers of English. For many of the deaf students entering college, English is a second language or a first language that they have failed to achieve fluency in.

This study describes the experience of two deaf students enrolled in English as a Non-Native Language classes for the first time at an Oregon community college. The Office of Students with Disabilities and …

Empowering Esl Students For Out Of Classroom Learning, Jay Stanley Neuharth

Dissertations and Theses

ESL students virtually swim in an environment rich in opportunities to learn English. Every billboard, newspaper, TV show, and person on the street provides new language. However, many ESL students do not take full advantage of this English environment. Often, English learning is viewed primarily as a classroom experience, when much more could be gained if students were learners outside the classroom, as well. That is the problem addressed in this thesis.

This problem was investigated through action research with the teacher/researcher's high intermediate level writing class at PSU. The teacher/researcher implemented a strategy to motivate students to learn outside …

An Examination Of The English Vocabulary Knowledge Of Adult English-For-Academic-Purposes Students: Correlation With English Second-Language Proficiency And The Validity Of Yes/No Vocabulary Tests, Robert Scott Fetter

Dissertations and Theses

The importance given to vocabulary in second language instruction and in theories of second language acquisition has increased greatly in the last fifteen years. It is thus important for second language teachers/researchers to have valid, useful methods of assessing the vocabulary needs and vocabulary knowledge of their students as well as valid and useful methods of assessing the efficacy of various methods and techniques of teaching and learning vocabulary.

This study examines the usefulness and validity of a relatively new type of checklist vocabulary test method known as the 'YES/NO' method. In the YES/NO method, nonsense words are listed together …

Case Study: How An East European Student Learns To Compose In English, Ruth Steinfeld Katon

Dissertations and Theses

Since the political climate in the former Soviet bloc has shifted, there is an influx of East Europeans to the United States. As these refugees enter the U.S. educational system in greater numbers, teachers must adapt to the special needs of this population. The intent of this study is to focus on the composing skills of a Polish student who enrolled in an English for Non-Native Residents (ENNR) program at an urban university. The investigation examines the contextual framework that supports the subject's literacy experiences by means of a longitudinal case study format Several ethnographic and experimental techniques are used …

Adult Esl Writing Journals: A Case Study Of Topic Assignment, Kathryn Elaine Brunette

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past ten years, the use of student writing journals has become increasingly widespread in the TESOL field. Such journals serve a wide variety of purposes: a cultural diary, a free writing exercise, a forum for reaction or comment on readings or classroom discussions, in addition to a form of teacher/student dialogue. The main purpose of this study has been to determine the relationship of topic assignment to the quantity and quality of resulting entries. The data, 144 journal entries generated by ten adult ESL students over a period of ten weeks, were measured for length, in terms of …

The Mediation Of U.S. American Culture In The Esl Classroom, Steven Fredolph Roberts

Dissertations and Theses

The concept of cultural mediation is one that all ESL teachers must deal with as an inherent part of their employment. Yet, relatively little of the current literature has examined how teachers actually perceive this aspect of their work once they have left the teacher preparation program behind. This question provided the main rationale for the present study. The current study, an adaptation of DeFoe (1986), examined the mediation of U.S. American culture in the ESL classroom by means of a written survey of 42 teachers from ten community colleges, both in the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area and from around the …

Attitudes, Motivations And Expectations Of Students And Instructors In An Intensive University Esl Summer Session, Ronald Andrew Ragsdale

Dissertations and Theses

All international students have specific motivations and expectations when learning English as a Second Language (ESL) in the United States, and recognizing the diversity of those motivations and expectations is the first step toward providing successful second language instruction. This study was designed to elicit the attitudes, expectations and motivations of two unique groups of students studying in the same classes in an ESL summer session at Portland State University (PSU), the preconception of the instructors, and the impressions and evaluations of the program upon its completion by the students, instructors, coordinators and administrators.

A successful curriculum can only be …

Study Of Referential And Display Questions And Their Responses In Adult Esl Reading Classes, Susan Lindenmeyer

Dissertations and Theses

The technique of asking questions in the classroom has prevailed in first language classes for many years. This teaching technique has also been widely used in ESL reading classes. Though there has been extensive research about teachers' questions and students' responses in first language classrooms, there is a paucity of studies in second language classrooms.

This is a descriptive study of six experienced college level English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and their discussions of the same reading selection with ninety-eight non-native speakers in each of their classes. Teacher-led discussions were audiotaped and twenty minutes of each class were …