Reading and Language Commons^™

Discursive Departures: A Reading Paradigm Affiliated With Feminist, Lesbian, Aesthetic And Queer Practices (With Reference To Woolf, Stein And H.D.) (Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Hilda Doolittle), Tamara Ann Ramsay

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In her conclusion to Bodies That Matter Judith Butler posits that “if the power of discourse to produce that which it names is linked with the question of performativity, then the performative is one domain in which power acts as discourse" (225). In this thesis I will adopt theories of the performative, as a metadiscursive mode of analysis, to allow me to articulate some of the ways in which reading is regulated by formations of discourse and power. I will argue that if reading is considered as a performative process then different paradigms of reading will name, and consequently produce, …

Assessing Indicators Of Early Reading Skills, Tammy M. Claypool

Masters Theses

Measures that assess pre-reading skills were examined. The measures included a typical informal kindergarten inventory for Initial Consonant Sound Identification, and Good's (1997) DIBELS measures that include: Letter Naming Fluency, Onset Recognition Fluency, and Phonemic Awareness Fluency. Participants included 50 kindergarten students from three different classrooms from two elementary school buildings in the same school district. Results demonstrated that the four measures were highly correlated with each other, and that the Onset Recognition Fluency measure best predicted the classroom teacher' predictions of at-risk students for reading difficulties. The four measures together were moderately to highly predictive of the teachers' ratings …

Testing Washback In Language Education, James Dean Brown

PASAA

Numerous definitions of the concept of washback have been offered in the language teaching literature. For instance, Shohamy, Donitsa-Schmidt, and Ferman (1996, p. 298) define washback very simply as "the connections between testing and learning." Gates (1995, p. 101) defines it as "the influence of testing on teaching and learning." Shohamy (1992, p. 513) went further when she defined washback as "the utilization of external language tests to affect and drive foreign language learning.. .this phenomenon is the result of the strong authority of external testing and the major impact it has on the lives of test takers." Messick (1996, …

Educational Technology For Tefl, Kanchana Prapphal

PASAA

This article is written from a language teacher's point of view on how to make use of educational technology in English teaching. The following aspects were reviewed: the effective use of computers, steps in carrying out computer tasks, precautions in carrying out an online distance course, and available text materials, i.e, CALL, CD-ROMs and web sites. Examples of where computers do work are reported. These include CALL activities as well as the application of intranet and internet pedagogy in ESL/EFL classrooms. The appropriate use of educational technology in TEFL is also advocated.

Language Assessment In Quality Assurance, D. E. Ingram

PASAA

Effective language teaching in which students achieve a worthwhile level of practical language skills is demanding of time and intensity of teaching and hence of teaching costs.

English Language Teaching In The "Post - Method" Era: Toward Better Diagnosis, Treatment, And Assessment, H. Douglas Brown

PASAA

In the century of time spanning the mid 1880s to the mid 1980s, the language teaching profession was involved in what many pedagogical experts would call a search. That search was for a single, ideal method, generalizable across widely varying audiences, that would successfully teach students a foreign language in the classroom. Historical accounts of the profession tend therefore to describe a succession of methods each of which are more or less discarded in due course of time as a new method takes its place. I will comment on "the changing winds and shifting sands" (Marckwardt 1972:5) of that history …

On The Relation Between Language Teaching And Testing, John W. Oller, Jr.

PASAA

For well over a decade, theoreticians have generally agreed that what is needed by linguists, language teachers, and testers is a more consistent, comprehensive, and parsimonious theory of how language works in communication, how it is acquired by children (and others), and how it comes to be related systematically through the conventions of particular grammars (i.e., of particular languages) to the common world of experience. Here a number of theoretical advances are discussed and certain implications for language teaching and testing are considered. The fundamental flaws of discrete-point approaches, including the British notional-functional syllabus, are pointed out in the light …

Can We Test Listening Authentically?, Richard Watson Todd

PASAA

With the present move towards authenticity in language teaching, there should be a similar shift in language testing, but such a move has not been apparent. This paper addresses why testing has not incorporated authenticity to a greater extent by examining the issue of authenticity in the testing of listening. The extent of authenticity in tests is considered along four dimensions : materials, testing situation, task and testee's response. It is concluded that it is possible to create authentic listening tests, but this can only be done at the expense of the test's reliability and practicality.

Patterns Of Lexis In The Writing Of Japanese Efl Students: A Comparative Study, Phillip R. Morrow

PASAA

In the teaching of composition to EFL students, the study of vocabulary use generally receives less attention than matters of organization and structure, and related issues of grammar and style. It is, of course, necessary for inexperienced writers to study and attain some mastery in these areas, but the appropriate and effective use of words is also an essential part of good writing. While the role of lexis in writing has not usually been emphasized, neither has it been entirely neglected. In the past few years there have been several insightful studies dealing the various aspects of lexis and its …

Eap In A Foreign Language Context: An Impact Analysis Of Course Achievements On Proficiency Gain, Steven Ross

PASAA

English for academic purposes (EAP) curricula have gradually become widespread in a number of different foreign language contexts. Often, EAP in these contexts is conjoined with other curricular innovations such as thematic, adjunct, and sheltered content teaching approaches. The impact of such foreign language instructional programs is not particularly well known. One such program is the focus of the present study. EAP course achievement scores over a three year period are analyzed for their aggregate and individual impact on Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score gains for two cohorts of Japanese university undergraduates. Contrastive regression analyses are …

Whole Language Its Application To Efl Classroom In Thailand, Reongrudee Naranunn

PASAA

Whole language recently has become an impressive tool for our educational community. It offers a way to teach language from whole to part. It is suggested that children should read 'whole' books and write 'whole' stories, letters, and other real-life writings, for example. Reading, specifically, should be taught as a means of creating meaning from prints. It is taught in the meaningful context of real reading and writing activities. In other words, meaningfulness is the key word for classroom instruction. In the context of Thailand, whole language also offers lots of suggestions. Incorporating whole language in an EFL reading classroom …

Creating And Implementing An Online Writing Course, Martin Holmes

PASAA

This discussion paper describes our experiences during the creation and deployment of an entirely Web-based intermediate English writing course at the University of Victoria. It is hoped that other institutions, materials-writers and instructors will find it useful when contemplating, planning or implementing similar initiatives.

School At The Center: Mending Breaks In The Broken Heartland, Paul A. Olson

Department of English: Faculty Publications

Some years ago I was teaching a course called "The Literature of Agriculture," accounts of how farmers and rural people made a living over time. Hesiod, Virgil, Chaucer's rural tales, George Eliot, Great Plains modem farm novels, and Wendell Berry's writings about the unsettling of America were the fare. One of my students remarked in passing, "Don't know if I can read this stuff. I only went to a small high schooL" He knew nothing of the literature about smallness and quality in education and had no pride of community. Later I asked the rural class if they planned to …

Supporting The Reader In The First Through Third Grade Classroom: Strategies For Parent And Community Volunteers, Kathleen Wright Maddox

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Training Parents To Teach Their Preschoolers, Carol Ann Hodnett

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Using Comprehensive Critical Writing Curriculum On Skills Assessment Test Performance In High School Students, Barbara Ann Brown

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Guided Reading Into A First Grade Classroom, Julie Sell

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Does Collaboration As A Prewriting Technique Improve Student Writing?, Cathy Cummings Brostrand, Kathleen Louise Knight

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Ivy Leaves, 1996-1997, Ivy Leaves Editorial Staff

Ivy Leaves

The 1997 edition of the Anderson College journal of art and literature, Ivy Leaves.

The names of the known editors for this issue of Ivy Leaves were Shawn Elliott, Misti Fuller, Kelli Holzer, Stephanie Nichols, April Price, Darren Rambo, Sherrell Crawford, Sharon Felder, Jason Manuel, Daryl McCard, John Woodson, Wayne Cox, and Susan Wooten.

Crossing Boundaries: Land And Sea In Jane Austen's 'Persuasion', Laura Vorachek

English Faculty Publications

Jane Austen suggests in Persuasion the pressures that the increased mobility of the middle class placed on the established aristocratic society in her time. Anne Elliot especially brings to light the inherited assumptions of her society. She can marry within her social rank (Mr. Elliot or Charles Musgrove) or marry below her (Wentworth at age 23), but either is a choice within the limits established by her society. One owns land or one does not. But when Wentworth returns a man of name and wealth, he is not a member of the landed gentry nor is he below Anne in …

Factors That Influence Independent Reading Habits, Janice Rose Rosauer

Graduate Research Papers

As our society begins to look for ways to raise the literacy level in the United States the focus is centered on our schools and helping students become life long readers. Questions have arisen about why some students have developed an aversion to reading at early ages and why some students who have strong reading skills choose not to read on a regular basis. The purpose of this research was to explore upper elementary students' attitudes about reading and explore different factors that influence these students to develop the motivation to engage in independent reading.

Parents as well as the …

The Toefl And Its Imitators : Analyzing The Toefl And Evaluating Toefl - Prep Texts, Robert Hilke, Paul Wadden

PASAA

This paper reports the results of a study that analyzed the TOEFL and identified the specific content and question types that appear in the exam as well as their ratio and placement within particular test sections. Applying this analysis, taxonomies derived from the TOEFL were used to evaluate ten leading TOEFL-prep texts. It was found that commercial texts vary widely in the accuracy with which they represent the exam. In July 1995, the TOEFL exam underwent a selective revision. The authors also outline these changes, and in closing, offer guidelines to aid in the selection of commercial texts for TOEFL-prep …

An Investigation Of The General And Academic English X-Tests In Measuring Grammatical Competence Of Thai Science Students, Kanchana Prapphal

PASAA

This study investigates the role of the X-tests in these aspects: 1) Can they be used as an instrument to observe the ability to transfer language competence from General English to Academic English?; 2) If so, which type of grammatical competence can they measure better, syntactic competence or lexical competence, and 3) Is there any difference in the retention of grammatical competence measured by the General English X-Test and the Academic English X-Test? Forty-eight third year Thai students enrolled in the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University in 1994 participated in this study. It was found that the X-tests were reliable …

The Audience Is Your Friend: A Brief Guide For International Conference Presenters, Nor Hafizah Ismail, David Crookall

PASAA

This paper presents some findings from a survey about international conference presentation. It analyses the nature of a conference presentation, contrasting it with a published article. It offers advice and outlines techniques that are designed to help EFL presenters, with particular emphasis on rapport with the audience and on cross-cultural communication.

Autonomous Language Learning : The Importance Of Metacognition, Goal-Setting And Cultures Of Practice, Cynthia J. White

PASAA

This paper identifies and describes three interrelated concepts which were found to be central to the development of autonomy in a study of distance foreign language learners, namely metacognition, goal-setting and cultures of practice. One key aspect of metacognition, self-management, is discussed in terms of how it is deployed by learner to establish an autonomous approach to learning. It is argued that goal-setting is also central to autonomy and examples are given of how learners used metacognitive awareness to set explicit goals for the course and direction of their learning. Learners who did not set goals reported difficulty in engaging …

Hotel Receptionists And Customers : Making The Most Of Computer Simulations In The Foreign-Language Classroom, Rolf Palmberg

PASAA

The paper suggests ways in which one specific simulation program, Hotel Excelsior, can be linked in with ordinary foreign-language classroom work in order to practise not only oral communication but also, depending on the learning objectives set up by the teacher for the teaching period in question, any (or all) of the three other categories of language skills (listening, reading and writing). The suggestions include pre-computer, computer and post-computer phases providing opportunity for individual, pair and/or group work according to the teacher's choice.

Expanding Peer Coaching : Pedagogical Applications Of Conference Coaching, Nicholas Dimmitt

PASAA

Recent research demonstrates that peer coaching can be a productive and constructive method for promoting teacher professional development and can build increased collegiality and confidence (Galbraith & Anstrom, 1995). This paper reviews current models of peer coaching; technical, collegial, challenge and team coaching—and suggests practical applications for its use in individual professional development and personal self-growth for classroom teachers. One objection to peer coaching has been that it can be time intensive, with teachers often too immersed in their schedules to participate. This paper presents a variation of peer coaching, conference coaching, which requires minimum preparation time and employs "micro …

The Needs Of Chulalongkorn University Students' With Regard To Learning English And Implications For Language Instruction, Ongon Thananart

PASAA

This paper discusses three things: the importance and use of English in Thai society, a report on the students' needs with regard to the learning of English, and some possible suggestions for new materials. The introduction describes why the English language has become increasingly popular in a country in which the vehicle for interpersonal communication is largely Thai. In the second section, the author reports on a study focusing on the needs of Chulalongkorn University students and their use of the English language. The majority of students responded that they needed more practice on listening and speaking skills, as well …

A Survey Of English Teaching Problems And Wants In Teacher Training Of Upper-Secondary English Teachers In Government Secondary Schools In Educational Region 12, Roongtip Promsiri, Kanchana Prapphal, Boosakorn Vijchulata

PASAA

This study investigates problems in English teaching and wants in teacher training of English teachers at the upper-secondary level. The study was conducted in government secondary schools in Educational Region 12. A questionnaire, consisting of a rating scale and open-ended questions, was used as an instrument for data collection. The reliability coefficient (Cronbach alpha) of the questionnaire was .97. The respondents of this research were all 208 upper-secondary English teachers in Educational Region 12. The result obtained was analyzed and summarized as follows: Problems in English teaching occur at many different levels ranging from the fairly serious to the very …

National Profiles Of Language Education : Thailand, Achara Wongsothorn, Suphat Sukamolsun, Pajaree Chinthammit, Phoolsook Ratanothayanonth, Prangthip Noparumpa

PASAA

No abstract provided.