Education Commons^™

Reading Utopian Pedagogies: Discovering The Practical Here And Now Of Utopian Thinking, Carter Johnke

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis offers a way of reading texts for their utopian aims, a term I use to analyze utopian themes and ideas in a text while keeping the focus on practicality. Reading a text for its utopian aims discovers what a text hopes for but always reflects on how those hopes serve the here and now of the author and the reader. The idealistic conclusions of utopian thinking, the utopian visions, only play a role in the utopian aim. This project does not promote the ultimate or extreme ends of utopian visions; instead, it analyzes the educational effects of entertaining …

A Study Of The Intelligibility, Comprehensibility And Interpretability Of Standard Marine Communication Phrases As Perceived By Chinese Mariners, Lillian Christine Holland

Dissertations and Theses

Worldwide, mariners use a variety of English as an International Language known as Maritime English regardless of the first language spoken by the crew or port in which they enter. English knowledge and ability is therefore critical to a mariner's livelihood at sea and is also mandated by the International Maritime Organization. The ability to understand and be understood is paramount to safety at sea. This study investigated which accents of English a subset of Chinese mariners found easy or difficult to understand. The data from 39 Chinese mariners who listened to 8 Standard Marine Communications phrases was analyzed. The …

The Effectiveness Of Fiction Versus Nonfiction In Teaching Reading To Esl Students, Becky Kay Appley

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years with the growing emphasis upon communicative activities in the classroom, controversy has risen as to which type of reading material is best for teaching reading in the ESL classroom, fiction or nonfiction.

A study was conducted with 31 students of which 15 were taught with non-fiction and 16 were taught with fiction. Both groups were taught the same reading skills. Each group was given three pre-tests and three post-tests in which improvement in overall language proficiency and reading comprehension in the areas of main idea, direct statements and inferences was measured. Also, each group was observed for …

The Effects Of Oral Conferencing And Written Comments On The Writing And Revisions Of Esl Students, Ann Louise Kirk

Dissertations and Theses

This study looked at the effect of written and oral comments on students' writing. The research hypotheses were that the use of oral comments would improve the overall quality of the students papers, increase the length more, and cause more changes in content than the use of written comments. On the other hand, the use of written comments would cause a greater decrease in grammatical errors in the students' papers than oral comments. The tests used to evaluate these hypotheses were the holistic writing scale used by the Test of Written English (TWE), a word count, a content percentage scale …

Analysis Of Error Type, Source, And Gravity In The Writing Of Arabic Esl Students In U.S.A. Colleges, Fadel Mohammed Na'im Bader

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the type, possible source and gravity of errors found in the Test of Written English and Placement Tests compositions written by native speakers of Arabic at college level. The first part of the study is an error analysis designed to reveal the types of errors that are most frequently made by Arab students at college level. The sources of these errors are explained according to Richards' classification of errors as inter- and intralingual (1971). Seven types of errors are identified under interlingual category: articles, prepositions, the copula, embedded questions, pronoun retention, semantic …

The Test Of Written English : A Statistical Analysis Of Validity And Reliability, Christina E. English

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the use of the Test of Written English (TWE), the essay portion of the TOEFL, as an indicator of academic readiness at Portland State University.

The Effects Of A Course In American Jokes On A Class Of Intermediate Level Esl Students, John Randolph Carruthers

Dissertations and Theses

Teachers of English to speakers of other languages have often incorporated humor in the curriculum, yet a recent computer search revealed that there were no empirical studies which have shown that curricular humor enhances English language learning. The three specific questions of the thesis are: does the use of curricular humor 1) improve memory/recall, 2) improve over-all English proficiency, and 3) result in the subjects' having more positive attitudes towards Americans, and if so, does a more positive attitude correlate with improved memory/proficiency?

Realism In Young Adult Literature : Criteria And Analysis, Maryjo Barnett Chinn

Dissertations and Theses

This paper will study realism in young adult literature, focusing specifically on those books in which young adults accept parenting roles. First, professional literature about realism will be reviewed from a· historical perspective, then criteria for realism will be examined. New criteria will be synthesized and applied to six novels. An annotated bibliography of novels in which young adults accept parenting roles will be presented.