First and Second Language Acquisition Commons^™

Frank Gouldsmith Speck Collection Index Of Penobscot Materials, Pauleena Macdougall

Field Notes/Notebooks

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Mika Ishino, Gale Stam

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Investigating Foreign Language Graduate Student Instructors’ Perceptions And Use Of Technology In The Classroom, Joshua J. Thoms

Joshua J. Thoms

This study investigates how graduate student instructors (GSIs) in several universities across the United States perceive and make use of technology to teach foreign language (FL) courses. Results indicate that while the majority of GSIs receive some kind of training in computer assisted language learning (CALL) upon entering their programs, much of the training focuses on technologies that are not Web 2.0 tools (e.g., wikis, blogs, social networking sites). Specifically, participants indicate that they use PowerPoint, grammatical and lexical websites, and discussion boards most often in teaching. Survey results also suggest that lack of planning time, limited online exercises that …

Hybrid Language Teaching And Learning: Assessing Pedagogical And Curricular Issues, Joshua J. Thoms

Joshua J. Thoms

In recent years, several economic factors have led to an increase in the number of hybrid courses offered in foreign language departments at the post-secondary level in the United States (U.S.). Hybrid courses incorporate several technological applications not typically used in a traditional face-to-face course. Hybrid courses combine contact time in a traditional classroom with virtual days, in which students are responsible for working with content on their own or in small groups outside of the classroom. This study reports on student and instructor perceptions of and reactions to a hybrid course piloted in three lower-level Spanish language courses at …

Engaging In Another Person’S Telling As A Recipient In L2 Japanese: Development Of Interactional Competence During One-Year Study Abroad, Midori Ishida

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the development of interactional competence through the analysis of conversational data collected in a longitudinal design. It examines, using conversation analysis (CA), how a learner of Japanese as a second language (L2) engages in conversation as a story recipient, and identifies changes that suggest the learner’s development.

Cross Linguistic Differences In The Immediate Serial Recall Of Consonants Versus Vowels, Elizabeth M. Kissling

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

The current study investigated native English and native Arabic speakers’ phonological short term memory (PSTM) for sequences of consonants and vowels. PSTM was assessed in immediate serial recall tasks conducted in Arabic and English for both groups. Participants (n=39) heard series of 6 CV syllables and wrote down what they recalled. Native speakers of English recalled the vowel series better than consonant series in English and in Arabic, which was not true of native Arabic speakers. An analysis of variance showed that there was an interaction between first language (L1) and phoneme type. The results are discussed in light of …

Review Of Transparent Spanish, Premium Edition, Elizabeth M. Kissling

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

Transparent Spanish, Premium Edition is designed as a stand-alone, comprehensive introductory Spanish course. The material it contains is equivalent to that covered in one college semester of beginning Spanish. Learners are encouraged to spend 30-45 minutes on Transparent Spanish activities each day and complete each lesson in approximately one week. The goal of the program is to develop conversation skills in an immersion environment through a variety of communicative activities and lessons. The main screen presents four virtual books: Beginner Lessons, Fundamentals, Conversations, and An Adventure with Andrés.

Los Procesos Metodológicos De La Enseñanza-Aprendizaje De Lenguas Mediante Tareas (Book Review), Elizabeth M. Kissling

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

This volume outlines the principle methodological procedures used in task-based (TB) language courses. TB courses are organized around 'tasks,' where 'task' is generally defined as an activity having a precise objective, requiring learners to use language, and maintaining primary focus on meaning rather than form (see Ellis, 2003, pp. 1-5 for a review of researchers' differing definitions of 'task'). The volume will be of use to teachers who have committed to a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach, have designed their curriculum accordingly, and are now ready to focus on the procedures they will follow to implement each task. Another volume …

Researching The (Dis)Connection Between Literary Discussions And Speaking Functions: A Replication With Intermediate Learners, Joshua J. Thoms

Joshua J. Thoms

Responding to the call for more replication studies in the fields of second language acquisition and applied linguistics (Ortega, 2009; Polio & Gass, 1997), this chapter reports on a conceptual study based on the work of Donato and Brooks (2004). The current study is different in that it analyzes whole-class discussions in Spanish between an instructor and her 19 students in an introductory Spanish literature course (i.e., 5th semester) at the college level. One overarching research question is explored along with two sub-questions: (1) Does an introductory-level literature course for Spanish language learners provide occasions during whole-class discussion for participation …

Impact Of Imagine Learning English In Two Northern Mississippi Schools, Dawn M. Waddell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study, Impact of Imagine Learning English in Two Northern Mississippi Schools, describes an effectiveness study of the impact that the computer program Imagine Learning English (ILE) has on English language learning. The study sought to determine the impact of ILE on the annual yearly progress and reading skills of mid-level English language learners (ELL). The objective of the study was to see if ILE was successful in raising the reading comprehension skill scores of English Language Learners (ELL) who worked the program as a language training tool. This study is the result of data that was collected from students …

Cognitive Load And Its Major Pedagogical Implications, Focus On Education In Jordan, Bassam Kutkut

MA TESOL Collection

Through my teaching experience in Jordan, I noticed the amount of work students had to do. I noticed the tremendous amount information they received from their teachers on a daily basis. I also noticed that students forgot most of the information they learned in class right after their exams. I was wondering if that’s the right way of teaching. Then, after my study at SIT, I learned that this is a cognitive overload that can impair the learning process.

Cognitive load refers to the information processing abilities in the human memory system which has limitations. When these limitations are exceeded, …

Cultivating Knowledge In The School Garden: New Ways Of Teaching Literacy To Esl Students, Michele Durivage

MA TESOL Collection

My thesis project includes a combination of materials development and classroom-based research. In my paper, I explore existing garden-related curricula, and create original garden-based lesson plans to teach literacy to fourth grade ESL students. This curriculum development project contributes to the field of ESL in its innovative garden-based pedagogy. The field study took place during the spring semester of 2009 at Increase Miller Elementary School in Westchester County, New York. Using nature as inspiration for writing descriptive essays and poetry, the ESL students at Increase Miller produced imaginative writing pieces, using their own voices to express their thoughts. The students’ …

Instructional Practices That Hinder And Support Esl Students In The Self-Contained Esl Classroom And The Mainstream Classroom, Ebru N. Bozburun

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes the academic challenges that many English Second Language (ESL) students must deal with from the moment they start attending a bilingual program at elementary school until they finish the last step of their academic experience. These students continually struggle to keep up with their peers, often fail the state mandated tests, and eventually, drop out before receiving their high school diploma. For the past three years, both as a self-contained ESL teacher and an ESL certified co-teacher in the mainstream classroom, I taught ESL Language Arts to Spanish- speaking students at a public junior high school in …

Using Technology In The Efl Classroom In Saudi Arabia, Neil Oby Morris

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the ways that technology, specifically the use of laptop computers and cellular phones, may be incorporated in the EFL classroom to enhance learning and lower the affective filter of male Saudi Arabian university students.

Saudi Arabia presents the EFL teacher with many challenges that are unique to this gender-segregated Islamic kingdom. Meeting these challenges and turning them into learning opportunities that other EFL teachers may find useful within their teaching contexts is the purpose of this paper.

The appendix includes a writing rubric and a 40-day materials introduction calendar. The calendar illustrates the day-by-day introduction of material …

The English Experience: An Examination Of Philippine English Use Among Filipino Immigrants In The United States, Nicholas Macias-Williams

Theses Digitization Project

The present study aims to discover how a variety of world English, like Philippine English, serves Filipino immigrants who use it here in the United States. In order to conduct this investigation, a series of one-on-one interviews with ten Filipino immigrants was conducted. This thesis examines the attitudes of a group of adult Filipino immigrants to the U.S. towards the English language vis-a-vis their Filipino languages, and their experiences using English in the Philippines and the U.S.

Second Language Development Theories And Technology-Mediated Language Learning, Steven L. Thorne, Bryan Smith

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Information and communication technologies have never been more interesting due in large part to their intimate integration into everyday life. Second and foreign language researchers and educators have long recognized ...

Social Media At Academia's Periphery: Studying Multilingual Developmental Writers' Facebook Composing Strategies, Kevin Eric Depew

English Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the writing strategies second-language students use to compose on social media sites. These alternative and unconventional sites for learning provide language learners opportunities to acquire language by using multiple modalities to respond to various rhetorical situations. In comparison to these sites, academic writing contexts, particularly the developmental-writing course, impose monolingual norms and deficient identities on students. Where these courses articulate these language learners as possessing inadequate skills to perform well in mainstream writing courses, the students' social-media compositions demonstrate that these students have the potential to respond to communicative situations in rhetorically complex ways. This study …

Effects Of Bilingualism On Goal Representation And Maintenance, Amina Saadaoui

Theses Digitization Project

The main focus of this study was to examine whether the bilingual advantage in cognitive control is due to the bilinguals' ability to represent and maintain goal information in working memory. Cognitive control, also referred to as executive control, is the ability to inhibit one cognitive task while executing another task.

Effects Of Lexical Class And Word Frequency On The L1 And L2 English-Based Lexical Connections, Alla Zareva

English Faculty Publications

Three groups of participants—L1 speakers of English, L2 advanced, and intermediate users of English—responded in writing to a word association test containing words balanced for lexical class (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and frequency of occurrence (high, mid, low). The questions addressed in the study concerned the way two word-related factors (i.e., lexical category and word frequency) interplayed with two learner-related characteristics (i.e., proficiency and word familiarity) and influenced 1) the participants’ knowledge of vocabulary, 2) their preference to build specific types of lexical connections among the words they know, and 3) their ability to maintain networks of associations as an indicator …

Revisión De Estudios Sobre Las Funciones De Las Citas En Textos Académicos Escritos Por Estudiantes De Posgrado Nativos Y No Nativos Que Aprenden Una Lengua Extranjera, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

El estudio de las citas, los motivos por lo que se cita un trabajo y las funciones retóricas que las citas cumplen en el discurso escrito, han sido materias abordadas desde distintas disciplinas, entre ellas la Lingüística Aplicada. En el presente trabajo se rastrean los orígenes de estos temas y se revisan más concretamente los estudios llevados a cabo en el contexto académico universitario sobre citación por aprendientes nativos y no nativos de una lengua extranjera.

Summary: The study of citations, the purposes for which a work is cited, and the rhetorical functions that the citations carry out in the …