Reading and Language Commons^™

Idea Sharing: Introducing English As An International Language (Eil) To Pre-Service Teachers In A World English Course, Flora Debora Floris

PASAA

Today, English is truly regarded as an international language. It is the lingua franca in various international situations; it is also the most widely-learned and spoken second or foreign language in many countries. In recent years, the number of second and foreign language speakers has far exceeded the number of first language speakers of English. In fact, in 2008, the number of speakers of English reached a third of the world's population (Crystal, 2008).

Styles, Strategies & Tasks: Are They Related?, Urarat Parnrod, Pornapit Darasawang, Wareesiri Singhasiri

PASAA

This qualitative study aims at investigating the relationship among cognitive styles, learning strategies and task. In order to determine the dominant cognitive styles of the subjects, questionnaires designed by Kolb (2005) were distributed to 778 engineering students. From the data analysis, it was found that two cognitive styles - 'diverger' and 'assimilator' are the dominant styles. This paper, therefore, focuses on two cases - one is a diverger and the other is an assimilator. The data show how engineering students from different dominant styles dealt with different subtasks, namely, note-taking, writing a story, and oral presentation under a 'Story Telling …

Compliment Responses Of Thai And Punjabi Speakers Of English In Thailand, Sukchai Sachathep

PASAA

This variational pragmatics (VP) study investigates the similarities and differences of compliment responses (CR) between Thai and Punjabi speakers of English in Thailand, focusing on the strategies used in CR when the microsociolinguistic variables are integrated into the Discourse Completion Task (DCT). The participants were 20 Thai and 20 Punjabi students selected based upon the results of an English language test. The results of the study revealed that despite the similarities of the CR strategies, there were also marked differences between the two groups of participants. The variables incorporated into the DCT were shown to be an important factor in …

Investigating The Impact Of Personality Factors On The Perceived Communication Mobility Of Non-Native English Speaking Thai Professionals In International Companies, Olga A. Marina, Krich Rajprasit

PASAA

Communication mobility has been suggested as an element of the complex construct of professional communicative competence, with a shared core of English in the oral mode, for professional international communication. This study aims (1) to investigate the possible correlation between the perceived level of communication mobility, and the influence of the personality factors of non-native English speaking Thai professionals in international companies, and (2) to identify the conditions in which this desirable quality may be developed. The researchers are interested in gauging the level of communication mobility, as well as looking for the possible relationships between its development and the …

Enlivening Efl Discussion Classrooms With A Problem-Based Learning Approach, Tanisaya Jiriyasin

PASAA

This is a semester-long experimental study aimed at investigating the effects of a PBL (Problem-based Learning) approach on the English oral language performances of English major students in one of the private universities in Bangkok. For the purpose of the study, a systematic PBL model for English language classrooms was implemented. Furthermore, the subjects' opinions towards learning with the PBL approach were also explored through the use of questionnaires and interviews. The findings showed that the mean scores of the posttest were significantly higher than those of the pretest. Their English oral performances were more fluent and accurate. Moreover, they …

The Effectiveness Of An Academic Literacy Intervention To Help University Freshmen Recognize And Resolve Inconsistencies Across Multiple Texts, Patty Baldwin

Doctoral Dissertations

Students must independently complete academic literacy tasks--including reading analytically to identify problems, resolving problems that arise, and using writing to demonstrate advanced knowledge acquisition--if they are to be successful in courses across their university careers. However, a significant portion of students arrives at the university underprepared to meet these expectations for academic literacy.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an instructional intervention to help developmental-level freshmen acquire the academic literacy skills that experienced academic readers demonstrate in order to promote independent learning. The four-week instructional intervention focused on two aspects of advanced academic literacy: 1) …

A Study Of English Acknowledgements Written By Efl Thai Learners, Kandaporn Jaroenkitboworn

PASAA

This research investigates English acknowledgements in dissertations written by Thai PhD students, particularly the generic structure and linguistic patterns of gratitude expressions used in the acknowledgements. Following the line of the move analysis in acknowledgements of Hyland (2004), this article analyzed 70 acknowledgements accompanying PhD dissertations in the area of English language study. The study result shows that the generic structure comprises 3 moves: thanking, announcing, and signing-off. The first move is obligatory whereas the other two are optional. Various gratitude expressions are used in response to different assistance forms. Also, the study result reveals the aspects of politeness, social …

Idea Sharing: Assessment In A Cooperative Learning Class, Siti Mina Tamah

PASAA

In Indonesia, it is common to see current classroom practices that incorporate the cooperative learning paradigm. In fact, there is a tendency to regard negatively a classroom without the label of 'cooperative learning' in which students are put into small groups. The current instructional practices then often make use of group work to encourage students to learn from one another in which they help and seek assistance from their fellow students besides from their teacher.

Eye For The Gap: Frenzy, Liberty, And The Nietszchean Chorus In Conor Mcpherson's The Weir And Shining City, Frances Krieg

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study situates The Weir and Shining City by Conor McPherson as embodying elements of Dionysian aesthetics as elucidated by Friedrich Nietzsche. Working through the lenses of Samuel Beckett’s linguistic philosophy and the premium of theater as established by Nietzsche, Artaud, and Brecht, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate how McPherson pierces the boundaries of language in drama by establishing his audience as chorus. Background information on Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy and McPherson’s own comments on the plays are included with the research on the plays themselves. This work articulates the chorus itself but also the choral, …

True Blue: A Narrative Inquiry Exploring Instructional Practices Used During Reading Instruction In A Title I, 2010 National Blue Ribbon School In New Mexico, Debra Yvonne Kerney

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the past 32 years, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, a trademark of excellence and success in academics, has recognized nearly 7,000 American schools in which students have demonstrated high academic performance and achievement (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Previous studies of National Blue Ribbon Schools have largely centered upon leadership characteristics (Carney-Dalton, 2001; Copeland, 2003; Kushner, 2000; Lyles, 2009; Maslyk, 2012;Sapone, 2001), but studies have not focused on the particular instructional practices that are used within these schools. Since 1982, 36 out of 862 New Mexico schools (NCES, 2013) have achieved National Blue Ribbon status (United States Department …

Cultural Discourse In Taiwan. Ed. Chin-Chuan Cheng, I-Chun Wang, And Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek., Chin-Chuan Cheng, I-Chun Wang, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

The collected volume Cultural Discourse in Taiwan — edited by Chin-Chuan Cheng, I-Chun Wang, and Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and published by National Sun Yat-sen Uiniversity Press in 2009 — is intended as an addition to scholarship in the field of Taiwan Studies. The articles in the volume are in many aspects comparative and the topics discussed are in the context of literary and culture scholarship. At the same time, the volume is interdisciplinary as the articles cover historical perspectives, analyses of texts by Taiwan authors, and cultural discourse as related to Taiwan consciousness, language, and linguistic issues. Copyright release …

Clcweb Best Practices, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Mapping The World, Culture, And Border-Crossing, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek, I-Chun Wang

CLCWeb Library

Authors in the collected volume Mapping the World, Culture, and Border-crossing — edited by Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and I-Chun Wang and published by National Sun Yat-sen University Press in 2010— begin with exploring theoretical premises about the processes and ramifications of cultural crossings to establish a clearly defined theoretical context for the case studies which follow. The case studies range from the creation of identity through patriotic songs in Taiwan under martial law, to nationality and Japanese identity, cultural autonomy in contemporary North America, Asian migration to Latin America, ethnic identity in the writings of Tan, Naipaul, Eliot, and …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Use Of Read 180 With Secondary Remedial Reading Students, Melanie Mclaughlin Cleveland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Read 180 is a research-based reading intervention program. One local district implemented the program to improve student performance on the state assessment, and after a year of implementation, nearly half of the students in the district studied still did not make adequate progress in reading. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions of and experiences with the use of Read 180 in secondary reading classrooms. Guided by Carroll's framework on the critical aspects of implementation, the study examined teachers' perceptions of (a) availability of resources necessary to adhere to the program's design, (b) ample class time to …

“I’Ll Take Commas For $200”: An Instructional Intervention Using Games To Help Students Master Grammar Skills, Sue Burzynski Bullard, Nancy Anderson

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Effective writing requires mastering grammar. For journalists, this mastery is critical because research shows poor grammar erodes media credibility. College writing instructors say students do not understand basic grammar concepts, and greater numbers of students are enrolling in remedial writing classes. This quasi-experimental mixed methods study examines whether using games to teach basic grammar skills helps college students understand and retain grammar concepts. It also examines student perceptions of learning.

The Politics Of Normativity And Globalization: Which Spanish In The Classroom?, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

This articles explores linguistic ideologies in teaching Spanish in the United States. It focuses on debates surrounding questions of normativity and correctness in the Spanish language classroom and curriculum design.

Effective Reading Interventions For Spanish-Speaking English Learners With Reading Disabilities, English Learners Who Struggle With Reading, Or Both: A Meta-Analysis Of Second Through Fifth Grades, David Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis synthesized research on effective instructional practices and strategies in second through fifth grade for Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) who have reading disabilities and English Learners who struggle with reading. The central research problem is the dearth of research addressing literacy instruction for ELs with reading disabilities, making identification of effective reading interventions difficult. The inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis resulted in 15 quasi-experimental or single-subject empirical research studies that used reading interventions to improve the reading comprehension performance of ELs. The overall average effect size for the meta-analysis, not based on homogenous studies, was 1.15. When outliers were …

On World Literatures, Comparative Literature, And (Comparative) Cultural Studies, Ning Wang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "On World Literatures, Comparative Literature, and (Comparative) Cultural Studies" Ning Wang argues that cultural studies is characterized by being opposed to (elite) literary studies not only because it points to popular or non-elite literature, but also because it challenges the discipline of comparative literature. On the other hand, (comparative) cultural studies complements literary studies in that it contributes a great deal to the reconstruction of a sort of new comparative literature. Wang illustrates how some of the representative Anglo-American comparatists are now doing cultural criticism while still engaging in comparative literature and they paved the way for …

Interdisciplinary Studies And Comparative Literature In China And The West, Aaron Lee Moore

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Interdisciplinary Studies and Comparative Literature in China and the West" Aaron Lee Moore addresses the arguments on the part of Chinese and Western scholars against and for the full inclusion of interdisciplinary studies within the discipline of comparative literature. Interdisciplinary studies, in general, have been resisted in Chinese scholarship as it once was in the U.S. and other Western countries. Moore discusses the major Chinese arguments for and against interdisciplinary studies in general and interdisciplinary studies within comparative literature. Moore's main argument is that the study of literature by necessity must always cross disciplinary boundaries and the …

Western And Oriental Worlds Of Literature And Modern Greek Literature, Maro Kalantzopoulou

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Western and Oriental Worlds of Literature and Modern Greek Literature" Maro Kalantzopoulou explores the extent to which modern Greek literature can be seen as linked to Western and Oriental literary cultures. She discusses examples of literary phenomena featuring Western influences, as well as works which are linked in different ways to Southeastern Europe in general, the Ottoman world, and Oriental literary cultures. Kalantzopoulou's claim is that scholarship tends to associate modern Greek literature with Western literary cultures and dismisses non-Western contributions and influences. Kalantzopoulou suggests that by acknowledging the historical situatedness of such assumptions and by examining …

Introduction To New Work About World Literatures, Graciela Boruszko, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Interculturality And World Literary System(S), Jola Škulj

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Interculturality and World Literary System(s)" Jola Škulj proposes a new framework for studying planetary exchanges of literatures, one that subverts the systemic distinction between centers and peripheries. She advocates a model that can yield the analytical conceptualization and hermeneutic understanding of literary phenomena and their historical reality in the complexity of semiotic traces, in actual distinctiveness of formal and textual deposits, and in interconnections of poetological impacts. She argues that literary facts seen in such intricate networks of mutual intertextual phenomenology and reaccentuations attest to their character of permanent mobility, evident instability, and constant inventive reformulation of …

Positive Uncertainty And The Ethos Of Comparative Literature, Brigitte Le Juez

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Positive Uncertainty and the Ethos of Comparative Literature" Brigitte Le Juez examines the continuous difficulty comparatists have with the lack of definition of the discipline and explores possible new avenues for tackling the problem. Le Juez argues that "uncertainty" recognized as a tenet of comparative literature should not be unheeded, but embraced in order to shift the focus from the idea that comparative objects and methods are the defining elements of the discipline and envisage them as the aims and results of an ethos. Le Juez posits that when "indiscipline" and "serendipity" are added to the notion …

World Literature(S) And Comparative Literature: A Book Review Article Of Books Published In English And German 2011-2013, Elke Sturm-Trigonakis

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Introduction To New Work In Comparative Literature In Europe, Lucia Boldrini, Marina Grishakova, Matthew Reynolds

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Multilingual Literature, Translation, And Crnjanski's Роман О Лондону (A Novel About London), Biljana Djorić Francuski

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Multilingual Literature, Translation, and Crnjanski's Роман о Лондону (A Novel about London)" Biljana Djorić Francuski discusses aspects of the translation of multilingual texts. Although xenisms (words in foreign languages) can often be translated and yet preserved as a part of code mixing, it is difficult to transpose what are known as nonce loans. A further obstacle arises when the author of the multilingual text is such an artist of subtle allusion that the dominant language is pervaded with words and phrases transferred from other languages so that they gain meanings which differ from the expected ones. Djorić …

World Literatures In Temporal Perspective, David Damrosch

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "World Literatures in Temporal Perspective" David Damrosch discusses the vexed problem of how to shape a literary history into definable and meaningful periods without simply projecting old Western patterns onto new ages and distant areas of the world. This problem becomes acute when one seeks to create a genuinely global literary history. Damrosch surveys some early periodizations according to patterns of infancy, growth, maturity, and decline, and discusses the often unrealized persistence of biblical and classical models in modern accounts of the literary histories of Egypt, Mesoamerica, and India.

The Persistence Of "Cathay" In World Literature, Eugene Eoyang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Persistence of 'Cathay' in World Literature" Eugene Eoyang argues that China has only recently begun to occupy a place in world literatures as evidenced by the absence of Chinese literature from the early editions of the widely adopted Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces and its token representations in subsequent editions. "Orientalized" images of China still persist partly stemming from the continuing currency of stereotyped images of the Chinese promoted by publishers, by Western Sinologists, and even by expatriate Chinese. A cottage industry has developed which privileges the study of images of China (however distorted and oversimplified) …

Limits To Transculturality: A Book Review Article Of New Work By Kimmich And Schahadat And Juvan, Hrvoje Tutek

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Adiga's The White Tiger As World Bank Literature, Abdullah M. Al-Dagamseh

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Adiga's The White Tiger as World Bank Literature" Abdullah M. Al-Dagamseh reads Aravind Adiga's novel within the context of global neoliberal capitalism, especially as radical neoliberal reforms took root in India in 1991. Al-Dagamseh argues that The White Tiger read as world bank literature provides critiques of the globally hegemonic discourses of success story narratives by exposing the contradictions of different, but overlapping facets of neoliberal ideology. Further, Al-Dagamseh demonstrates that the novel serves to reveal the contradiction between mythical global narratives and the reality and nature of "success" and "development" achieved through violence, crime, and destruction …