Education Commons^™

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.

Tutoring German Esl Students, Sabina Mussgnug

Masters Theses

Tutors of American university writing centers can be invaluable advisors for German ESL students who come to study in the United States. The tutors can directly assist German students in coping with their particular academic and cultural difficulties.

German students must adapt to the American academic conventions to become successful students at their U.S. universities. The tutors can point out to them the features of the American academic standard and show them effective methods for learning and studying in the American environment.

The American academic standard includes the students' almost perfect reading comprehension. Students must be prepared for heavy reading …