Education Commons^™

Attitudes Of Black Secondary School Teachers Toward School Guidance In The Potchefstroom Area, South Africa, Elias H. Masibi

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

American Students' Expectations Of Teachers In The Japanese Language Classroom, Nariyo Kono

Dissertations and Theses

The Japanese as a foreign language classroom in the United States is full of information about the target culture and cross-cultural interaction between American students and Japanese instructors. This cross-cultural interaction promotes culture learning but sometimes produces potential conflicts due to American students and Japanese instructors having different expectations of each other.

The purpose of this study was to investigate student expectations of their Japanese teachers and to explore similarities and differences among Japanese and American expectations. The research questions addressed were 1) What do American students expect of their Japanese teachers in the Japanese language classroom? Do their expectations …

The Use Of The First Language (L1) And The Target Language (Tl) In The Foreign Language Classroom, Jeanine L. Huber

Dissertations and Theses

Oftentimes it is the foreign language classroom that provides the basic foundation for language exposure and acquisition. In the context of the foreign language classroom there is not much exposure to the TL outside of this setting. This being the case, the quantity of the TL should be relatively high as it is an essential requisite for language acquisition. In addition, most recent research tends to suggest that high quantities of TL from the instructor is ideal. The main purpose of this study has been to focus on university-level foreign language classrooms to explore the issue of language choice, Ll …

Russian-Speaking Pentecostal Refugees And Adult Esl Programs: Barriers To Participation, Elena Valerijevna Zaitseva

Dissertations and Theses

Pentecostals from the former Soviet Union are the most recent and fastest growing refugee group in Oregon. Because the refugee population's low English skills may increase their dependence upon welfare assistance, their nonparticipation in ESL programs is treated as a social issue. Efforts to increase the English literacy levels of Russian-speaking Pentecostal refugees are limited by lack of empirical data regarding forces that affect this population's decision to participate or not to participate in educational activities. The purpose of this study was to gather information about barriers to participation in ESL programs by adult Russian-speaking Pentecostal refugees. To this end …

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 …

Use Of Language Learning Strategies By Proficient And Less Proficient Learners, Charlene Frances Mills

Dissertations and Theses

Recent research has found that the use of good language learning strategies can affect students' chances of gaining proficiency in a second language. The purpose of this study was to see if there is a relationship between strategy use and language learning proficiency. It sought to answer these questions: (1) Does a successful learner use different strategies on specific tasks than does a less successful learner? and (2) Will the successful learner use more metacognitive and affective strategies while doing tasks than will a less successful learner? For the first part of the study, 17 students in an ESL program …

Making The Transition From East To West: Evangelical Christian High School Students From The Former Soviet Union, Sharon Kay Link

Dissertations and Theses

Soviet Evangelical high school students have experienced a slow and difficult transition to the American classroom. The students were often negatively characterized by their ESL teachers and other school personnel as "difficult" due to their classroom behaviors. Many times, these behaviors did not meet the ESL teacher's expectations, resulting in a culture clash between the teacher and the Soviet Evangelical students. The study found that Soviet Evangelical high school students came to the United States with high expectations of a new life, but little knowledge of the U.S. or the American classroom. Feelings of loneliness, homesickness and frustration quickly set …

English-Speaking Three-Year-Olds In A Spanish Language Immersion Program, Alice Golstein

Dissertations and Theses

Foreign language immersion programs, wherein the regular school curriculum is taught through the foreign language, have become increasingly widespread in recent years. Although there have been a plethora of studies reporting on second language immersion programs involving school-age programs, there is a dearth of information describing such programs for preschoolers. The purpose of this study was to observe and describe an immersion program for three-year-olds, particularly with respect to specific features of early stages of the language acquisition process.

The primary area of interest was to determine the existence of and features of a silent period for these children. Secondary …

Multiple Intelligences And The Gifted Identification Of African-American Students, Oscar Scott Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

There have been three national reports addressing giftedness: Education of the Gifted and Talented: Report to the Congress of the United States by the U.S. Commissioner of Education (1972) AKA the Marland Report; The National Report on Identification: Assessment and Recommendations for Comprehensive Identification of Gifted and Talented Youth (1982) AKA the National Report on Identification; and National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent (1993) AKA National Excellence. All have documented the underrepresentation of African-American students in programs for the gifted and talented and the disproportionate reliance on standardized intelligence and achievenent tests for gifted and talented program selection. …

Student Attitudes Toward Word Processing And Writing In The English As A Second Or Other Language Classroom, Greg Lynn Buchan

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the attitudes of English as a second or other language (ESOL) students who used computers/word processors to develop skills in writing English. Two primary questions were investigated: what are students' attitudes toward using computers to write English and what are students' attitudes toward learning computer and word processing skills? The subjects were 40 ESOL students enrolled at South Seattle Community College (SSCC) in technical programs and were required to complete a transitional English class that included business and technical writing . Students received 10 weeks of writing instruction on word processors. A 38-item attitude inventory created by …

Teaching English Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences To Chinese Students, Li-Ching Lin

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates whether or not instruction of English graphophonic correspondences, i.e., the link between letters and sounds, will help Chinese students in learning English vocabulary. Following other related research, I assume that Chinese students can benefit from instruction of English grapheme-phoneme correspondences in learning English words. If this assumption is true, there should be a statistically significant difference between students who have instruction of English graphophonic correspondences for learning English words and students who do not. 1. Chinese students who have been given lessons in both pronunciation and grapheme-phoneme correspondences will recall more English words on a short-term vocabulary …

Functional Uses Of Language In The Conversational Discourse Of A Person With Alzheimer's Disease, Julie Anne Haun

Dissertations and Theses

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is estimated to occur in up to sixteen percent of people between the ages of 75 and 84. Deficits in linguistic skills that effect communication are a hallmark of the disease and have been the primary focus of past Alzheimer's research. Among other deficits, researchers have found that people with Alzheimer's often use indexical expressions without clear referents and convey less information that is relevant to the task they have been asked to perform than healthy subjects. Relatively little research has examined how Alzheimer's subjects use their linguistic knowledge to communicate with …

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 …

English In The Workplace: Case Study Of A Pilot Program, Kim Roth Franklin

Dissertations and Theses

This study is participant observational research focused on a description of an United States Department of Education grant-funded English in the Workplace pilot program. The survey of the literature shows that there is an increasing need to provide educational opportunities for workers who, for various reasons, are not currently being served by traditional education providers. The study presented here describes a pilot program and asks "How is an English in the Workplace program developed and implemented? What do those characteristics of workplace education programs, as identified in the literature, 'look like' once such a program has been implemented?" The researcher …

The Effect Of A Physician's Pronunciation On Nurses' Perceptions Of The Physician's Medical Competency, Laura Anne Horani

Dissertations and Theses

Although many researchers have studied language attitudes in the last three decades, none of the studies have been conducted in the hospital setting, where there are more serious consequences for those working with patients being labeled linguistically "incompetent," as charges of incompetence in language are apt to lead to charges of incompetence in other areas of mastery as well (e.g., Ryan, 1983). This study examines the attitudes of a sample of nurses from three Portland-area hospitals towards nonnative English speaking physicians. The subjects, 156 medical-surgical nurses, listened to three anonymous audiotaped physicians who were from three different ethnic backgrounds: American, …

Christmas In The Philippines, Lourdes Catherine S. Miras

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This is a description of Christmas traditions in the Philippines. It includes a story of a Christmas celebration in Manila today which depicts the cultural traditions of Filipinos: the native's close family ties, the Spaniard's strong Catholic influence, and the American's "white Christmas." The story is especially created for young Filipino children and for anyone who may be interested in learning about the Filipinos.

Sudanese Women Speech Variation And Its Role Of Convergence, Samia Mohamed Adnan

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

English For Academic Purposes: Students' Planning Strategies For An Authentic Reading Task, Natalie J Novak

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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 …

An Exploration Of The Value Of Future Tesol Teachers Reflecting On Their Pasts As Language Learners, Sarah Elizabeth Lawrence

Dissertations and Theses

Virtually all future teachers of ESL/EFL have been foreign- or second-language learners themselves. However, reflection on their own past language-learning experiences is usually not integrated into the coursework of professional TESOL preparation programs and there has been little published research in TESOL in which students in professional TESOL preparation programs reflect on their past language learning experiences. The purpose of this research was to explore the effects on TESOL Methods students of revisiting a past language-learning experience.

The subjects were students in a TESOL Methods class. This study examined an assignment given to these students to write a short "language …

Prereading And Postreading Activities For Children's Multicultural Trade Books, Sandra Gail Beardsley

All Graduate Projects

A review of literature was completed to support the need for, and value of, using multicultural literature within the elementary classroom. The criteria for selecting multicultural literature was also reviewed. The project consisted of a booklist and prereading and postreading activities for twenty-five multicultural trade books. The purpose of the project was to heighten student's awareness of the multicultural community in which they live and appreciation of cultures throughout the world. The strategies and activities developed for these books were based on the whole language philosophy. The twenty-five trade books were divided into four themes: 1. Grandparents, 2. Folktales and …

A Bilingual Developmentally Appropriate Preschool Program, Margarita Clara Lopez

All Graduate Projects

Developmental and learning theories of the twentieth century have influenced the role of the preschool programs in public education. The debate over what is appropriate curriculum for young children is nation wide. The need to have a bilingual summer program that is appropriate to young children in the Granger School District was studied. The result was to design and develop a bilingual summer program that would fit the needs of the preschool aged children. The bilingual summer program was piloted in the Granger, Washington School District.

Classroom As Text: A Study Of The Integration Of Multiculturalism, Penny Marie Drake

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Self-Concept, Racial Identity Development And The Perception Of The Graduate And Professional Educational Experience Among African-American Female College Students Planning To Pursue Advanced Degrees: A Correlational Study, Wanda Shnita Mitchell

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship among self-concept, racial identity development, and perceptions of the graduate and professional educational experience of African American female college students planning to pursue advanced degrees. The researcher explored the relationship among the factors to determine if they were predictive of the pursuit of advanced degrees among African American female college students. The investigation would provide counselors, educators, and administrators with information which could positively impact the enrollment and retention of African American women in advanced degree programs.;A sample of 85 graduating African American female college seniors at a very selective, …

Code-Switching And Sentence Imitation By African-American Students, Aaron Richardson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

he purpose of the present study was to identify the accuracy of sentence imitation and code-switching by the African-American child between the ages of 6 years O months and 7 years 2 months. Despite well documented descriptions of Black English (BE) phonology (Dillard, 1972; Labov, 1972; Wolfram & Fasold, 1974), little has been published about the emerging phonology of BE speaking children. Most descriptive studies of BE have focused on the adult system.

The present study investigated the following research questions, "Will African-American children in this study, when presented with the task of imitating BE and IE sentences, code-switch each …

Language Attitudes In Relation To Language Functions: An Investigation Of The Attitudes Of The Botswana Cambridge 'O' Level Senior Certificate (Cosc) Students, Joel M. Magogwe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research study attempts to assess the language attitudes among Botswana Cambridge '0' level Senior Certificate (COSC) students in relation to the official functions of Setswana and English. The study assumes that: (1) there is a general positive attitude towards English and Setswana and that allows for bilingualism; (2) the students are instrumentally motivated to learn English because of the socio-economic gains associated with it; (3) the students are integratively motivated symbol of nationhood to learn Setswana because Setswana is a and attitudes among L2 learners political independence; (4) in Botswana arc influenced language by the functions the language is …