Reading and Language Commons^™

How Pizza And Stickers Drove My Kids To Read And Kept Them Reading, Tiya Montaño

Graduate Research Papers

Walk into any English/Language Arts (ELA) classroom across the country and you will find books on bookshelves, students on computers or cellphones, and a teacher struggling to garner the attention of their students long enough to make it through the short story, poem, or novel they are reading. This has become an all too familiar image that ELA teachers struggle with. Why won’t the students engage? Are the readings too difficult? Are the readings too boring? Am I teaching them all wrong? All these questions and more fly through our brains as they work towards trying to get the students …

Four Lessons To Build Upon: A Study Of Postsecondary Composition Classroom Curriculum, Tucker D. Nielsen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Soft skills in technical professions may be valued by employers, but post-secondary students engage with a dichotomy arguing against the blend of soft and hard skills. This study utilized activities with LEGO® bricks to determine how plausible kinesthetic learning methods are within university composition classes. Four in-class activities based on the class’s four core assignments were spread across the Spring 2024 semester at Michigan Technological university. Through written reflections, lists, posters, and photos of students’ builds, students practiced and demonstrated engagement with identified composition and critical thinking skills.

Two criteria (Audience Expectations and Genre Expectations, were not demonstrated as clearly …

Examining The Impact Book Promotions Have On Student Book Selection, Chelsea Dearborn

Graduate Research Papers

This qualitative case study reflects the influence a teacher librarian has on students ability to select reading materials. This study was conducted in a small, rural school in Southeast Iowa with a class of 21 4th grade students over a four week period. Students listened to book talks of many different types and then were observed as they made their book selections. The researcher discovered three initial codes in response to the two research questions. The first code is Self Awareness in Book Interests. Initial code two is Librarian Techniques Used to Foster a Desire for Pleasure Reading. The final …

Why Would I Read When The Game Is On?: Reasons Adults Give For Reading Or Not, Emmy C. Nelson

Honors Program Theses

This thesis dives into the ideas of why people read and do not read, beginning in their childhood years. Many different factors add to why people choose to read or why they choose not to read. School plays an important role as to why people choose to read because reading is not necessarily a natural process since it is different from learning how to speak. Reading has to be taught and understood fully in order to read independently, understand the material, expand ideas, and connect with the reading. Without this, individuals can become “poor” readers or have a low reader …

Probing And Enhancing The Reliance Of Transformer Models On Poetic Information, Almas Abdibayev

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Transformer models have achieved remarkable success in the widest variety of domains, spanning not just a multitude of tasks within natural language processing, but also those in computer vision, speech, and reinforcement learning. The key to this success is largely attributed to the self-attention mechanism, particularly its ability to scale in performance as it grows in the number of parameters. Extensive effort has been underway to study the major linguistic properties learned by these models during the course of their pretraining. However, the role of certain finer linguistic phenomena present in language and their utilization by Transformers has not been …

Paraphrasing Of Hedged Statements By Thai And Non-Thai Efl Medical Science Graduate Learners, Worawanna Petchkij

PASAA

Studies examining how EFL learners paraphrase hedges in scientific statements are still rare even though how learners use hedges in academic writing has been extensively investigated. This study compared paraphrasing strategies that Thai (TH) and non-Thai (NTH) EFL medical science graduate students used to paraphrase given hedges appearing in hedged scientific statements and the types of hedges occurring in their paraphrased versions after a lesson on paraphrasing and lessons on both paraphrasing and hedging. The results from pretests and posttests administered after the initial paraphrasing lesson and after two lessons combining paraphrasing and hedging, respectively, showed that both TH and …

The Use Of Task-Based And Game-Based Learning In English Learning At Small Primary Schools In Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, Sasithida Saraiwang, Kanoknate Worawong

PASAA

This study aimed to determine the effects of a teaching model combining Task-Based Learning (TBL) and Game-Based Learning (GBL), called the Orientation Performance Presentation Analysis Application (OPPAA) model, developed by the researchers, on primary students’ English proficiency and to explore teachers’ and students’ opinions of the model. The research employed a one-group pre-test post-test design with seven English teachers and 69 Grade 6 students chosen by means of cluster random sampling and simple random sampling. The instruments used included the OPPAA model, an English proficiency test, an opinion questionnaire, and interview questions. Data were analyzed using means, standard deviation, paired …

Developing Students’ Oral Interaction Competence Using Conversation Analytic Tools, Lemma Kassaye Sileshi

PASAA

The purpose of this study was to explore the development of students’ engagement in oral interactions using conversation analysis (CA, hereafter) tools. A qualitative design of a CA approach was used to understand the role of conversation analysis. Here, CA was used both as a data gathering tool and an analysis technique. Oral tasks were provided to 15 participants of the study prior to the intervention. The participants were taught conversational features using CAbased treatment to develop their knowledge and skills regarding oral interactions in English for four consecutive months. Their oral productions were recorded and analyzed using a CA …

Effects Of Structure, Salience, And Working Memory On L2 Processing Of English Past Participles By L1 Thai Learners, Supakit Thiamtawan, Nattama Pongpairoj

PASAA

This study examined the effects of working memory (WM), structure, and salience on the processing of English relative clauses (RCs) and participial reduced relative clauses (PRRCs) by L1 Thai learners. Salience in this research is the phonological alterations required for irregular verbs to inflect into the past participial form. The study included two types of irregulars with different salience levels. Seventy advanced L1 Thai learners took a reading span task and a self-paced reading task to assess their WM level and processing of past participial forms. The hypotheses proposed that WM, structure, and salience would influence online processing (reading times) …

Measuring Efl Students’ Oral Proficiency Improvement Using Teachers’ Judgment: The Effects Of Two Types Of Classroom Instruction, Dony Marzuki

PASAA

This study investigated the effects of two types of classroom instructions on EFL learners’ oral proficiency by implementing teachers’ judgment. Two intact classes of EFL university students studied a compulsory subject of their department under two different types of classroom instruction. The first group of students was trained with explicit oral strategy training instruction, which taught them to learn and practice strategies to improve their speech fluency. The second group was instructed to practice the task twice as much as the first group using implicit task-based instruction. The audio recording of both groups’ oral task performance in the pre-test and …

Investigating Proficiency Of Academic English In Student Writing: A Comparative Case Study On Vocabulary Utilization In Student Research Article Writing Vis-À-Vis National And International Research, Donlawat Meebangsai, Pawarit Pongtin, Panjaphon Kitipoontanakorn, Piyapong Laosrirattanachai

PASAA

The researchers investigated the usage of appropriate academic English vocabulary in research papers authored by English major students, publications in Thai national journals, and international journals. In total, 708 papers published between 2016 and 2018 were analyzed, consisting of 300 international research papers, 300 national research papers, and 108 research papers authored by English major students. The study focused on four aspects of lexical evaluation to analyze the vocabulary in these papers: lexical profiling, lexical level, lexical variation, and lexical density. The analysis yielded the following results: 1) Lexical profiling revealed that the usage of academic words in students’ research …

The Effects Of Inductive And Deductive Instruction In A Flipped Classroom On English Grammar Ability Of Undergraduate Students In Thailand, Pornpimol Sukavatee

PASAA

This quasi-experimental research used a two-group pretestposttest design to compare the grammar ability between one group of students taught with an inductive approach and another group taught with a deductive approach through a flipped classroom. The study participants were Thai university students majoring in English. After the implementation, the results of the comparison between the pretest and posttest mean scores indicated a significant difference in grammar ability between the students taught with the inductive and deductive approaches in a flipped classroom. Moreover, the findings from the survey questionnaire revealed that both groups of students had positive opinions toward flipped classrooms …

Application For Grammar Skills: A Case Study Of Thai Efl Undergraduates, Munchuree Kaosayapandhu

PASAA

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the popular Duolingo App on learning English in Thailand. Parts of the Duolingo English course for Thai speakers were used in a classroom-based intervention with two sections of English for Professional Purposes courses at a Thai university (n = 128). The students were split into two groups of users (n = 70) and non-users (n = 58), and a pre-test/post-test assessment of verb tense knowledge was conducted. The results showed that the Duolingo users had a significantly higher mean improvement in verb tense knowledge. Multiple regression showed that frequency …

Initial Insights Into Cefr Adoption At A Language Faculty Of A Public University In Malaysia, Alla Khan, Anne Rowena David, Aizat Hisham Ahmad, Azril Ali, Salasiah Che Lah

PASAA

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, which was originally meant for the European context is now being widely accepted by many non-European countries. The education system in Malaysia, as outlined in the English Language Education Roadmap for Malaysia (2015-2025), has adopted the framework. Although this has taken place at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, the present study zooms in on the tertiary level only. Specifically, it offers a critical analysis of implementing CEFR at a language faculty of one of the public universities in Malaysia. In doing so, it has drawn on Phillips and Ochs’s (2003) framework …

Chatgpt In Language Education: How To Use It Ethically?, Mark Bedoya Ullaa, William Franco Peralesa, Stephenie Ong Busbus

PASAA

The widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, specifically ChatGPT, within pedagogy has engendered a dialogue regarding ethical implications. This article explores the ethical implications associated with using ChatGPT in the context of language teaching and learning. While we acknowledge the potential of ChatGPT in supporting and enhancing language teaching and learning, we also recognize its ethical issues. We argue that the responsible implementation of ChatGPT necessitates ethical considerations to ensure conscientious usage, as this is crucial in mitigating potential harms and ensuring that its development and utilization align with societal and professional values as language teachers. Critical ethical considerations …

Gamification In Action: Trends And Opportunities In Language Teaching And Learning Practices, Kittichai Nilubol, Pragasit Sitthitikul

PASAA

Gamification is a controversial topic in the field of education, with both proponents and opponents. However, what exactly gamification is and why it has become popular are worth exploring. This academic article first defines the terms “game” and “gamification” in order to differentiate them. Next, the article provides core features of gamification in an educational context as explained by previous studies and pinpoints the disparity between the concept of gamification and game-based learning in practice. Additionally, the positive impact of gamification in language learning and gamification and gamebased research activities that bridge the concept of gamified information systems are discussed. …

Idea Sharing: Becoming A Journal Editor As Professional Development, Wutthiphong Laoriandee

PASAA

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Innovation In Learning-Oriented Language Assessment, Penpitcha Prakaiborisuth

PASAA

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Routledge Handbook Of Content And Language Integrated Learning, Narasak Sirikanjanawong

PASAA

No abstract provided.

Instilling Growth Mindset To Promote Students' English Learning Behaviors And Oral Communication Learning Achievement, Ratchadaporn Janudom

PASAA

This study aimed to (1) investigate students’ mindsets before and after the growth mindset is instilled on them, (2) examine effects of growth mindset-based instruction on students’ English learning behaviors, (3) explore effectiveness of growth mindset-based instruction on students’ oral communication learning achievement, and (4) investigate students’ attitudes towards their learning experiences through growth mindsetbased instruction. The study was conducted with a sample group of 42 English majored undergraduate students who were enrolled in the English Discovery Course in the first semester of the academic year 2022 at Prince of Songkla University, Surat Thani Campus. The experiment was carried out …