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Text Adjuncts And Comprehension With University Level Second Language Readers, Huan Liu May 2021

Text Adjuncts And Comprehension With University Level Second Language Readers, Huan Liu

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Successful reading comprehension in a second language (L2) involves the interaction of multiple factors during the complex process of reading. For some time, researchers have been exploring factors associated with the process of reading as well as the specific interventions and strategies that may facilitate comprehension (Bernhardt, 2010; Brantmeier, 2005; Koda, 2005; Grabe, 2009). Based on three empirical studies, this dissertation explores the potential use of text adjuncts, which are text-related comprehension questions designed for L2 readers to consider and answer during the reading process, to facilitate L2 reading comprehension. The impact of different assessment tasks used to measure comprehension …


Teaching Chinese As A Second Language In A Supportive Student-Centered Environment, Linqi Peng May 2021

Teaching Chinese As A Second Language In A Supportive Student-Centered Environment, Linqi Peng

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that includes the author’s research, thoughts, and opinions while studying in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). It represents the author’s reflections and perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and as a graduate instructor who taught Chinese as a Second Language courses to undergraduates at beginners’ levels.

Three sections are included in the portfolio. It begins with the author’s teaching perspectives, including professional environment, teaching philosophy statement, and professional development through teaching observations. In the second section, two research papers demonstrate her research interests in the practices of …


Methods And Effects Of Shadowing Using Online Authentic Videos On L2 Acquisition Of Mandarin Chinese Tones, Ai-Ling Lu May 2021

Methods And Effects Of Shadowing Using Online Authentic Videos On L2 Acquisition Of Mandarin Chinese Tones, Ai-Ling Lu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mandarin Chinese tones are notoriously difficult for second language (L2) learners. Previous research focuses on tone training methods that can help learners produce monosyllabic lexical tones, and studies about the production of multisyllabic lexical tones at the sentence level in spontaneous speech are limited. This study applies shadowing—a method where the learners repeat what they heard with as little delay as possible—to tone training and compares the effects of using authentic videos and textbook audios as shadowing materials for beginner L2 Mandarin learners’ tone improvement at the sentence level. Fourteen students in elementary Chinese classes at an American university participated …


Challenges Of Employing Voicethread To Enhance U.S. Collegiate Chinese Language Learners’ Oral Proficiency, Guangyan Chen, Junyu Zhang Jul 2019

Challenges Of Employing Voicethread To Enhance U.S. Collegiate Chinese Language Learners’ Oral Proficiency, Guangyan Chen, Junyu Zhang

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

The digital age in education inspires Chinese teachers to integrate Web 2.0 technologies into Chinese as a second language (CSL) curricula to enhance teaching effects. However, few studies examine the challenges that teachers face when integrating Web 2.0 technologies to improve student oral proficiency in Chinese. This study aims to investigate students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the Web 2.0 technology VoiceThread (VT). It examines the challenges of integrating VT to enhance student oral proficiency. The authors conducted two studies with 31 students responding to a questionnaire in Study 1 and 48 students responding to the same questionnaire in Study …


Situation-Bound Utterances As Main Supporters Of Chinese As A Second Language Learners' Conceptual Socialization, Zhiqi Gong Jan 2018

Situation-Bound Utterances As Main Supporters Of Chinese As A Second Language Learners' Conceptual Socialization, Zhiqi Gong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Second language learners’ performance in terms of situation-bound utterances (SBUs) to a great extent reflects how well they conceptually socialize in the target speech community and also represents their willingness to abide by the collectively accepted rules of social interaction. That is because second language learners not only have to memorize certain linguistic structures in order to communicate in social encounters, but also have the freedom to select whether and to what extent to use expressions with literal meanings or expressions with metaphorical meanings. The process of conceptual socialization is usually culture-specific and determined by a mixture of factors, such …


Motivation, Learning Strategies, And Language Competency In A Technology Facilitated Chinese As A Second Language Classroom, Xiongyi Liu, Lih-Ching Chen Wang Dec 2017

Motivation, Learning Strategies, And Language Competency In A Technology Facilitated Chinese As A Second Language Classroom, Xiongyi Liu, Lih-Ching Chen Wang

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

The present study examines the effectiveness of a game-based mobile technology application Kahoot on the motivation and language competency of high school student learning Chinese as a second language, and the relationship among student motivation, learning strategy use, and language competency in such a technology-facilitated classroom. Data was collected using pre and post surveys from a class of 18 students taught by a teacher candidate in a Chinese teaching licensure program at a state university. The results indicate significant student improvements in two areas of Chinese language learning: reading and speaking, though no significant difference was found in the areas …


Digital Affordances On Wechat Learning Chinese As A Second Language.Pdf, Li Jin Dec 2016

Digital Affordances On Wechat Learning Chinese As A Second Language.Pdf, Li Jin

Li Jin

Different from the traditional term language input, affordance, an ecological term, has been deployed to analyze the perceived opportunities for second language (L2) learning an environment provides to L2 learners. L2 learning occurs only when the semiotic resources in the environment resonate with the learner's capacities such as their abilities, aptitudes, and attitudes. Adopting affordance as a theoretical and analytic construct, this study investigates using qualitative research methods what language development affordances WeChat, one of the most popular Social Networking Systems in Chinese-speaking communities, provided to two university-level Chinese language learners while they were studying abroad in an intensive language …


Picture Storybooks In Teaching Chinese As A Second Language, Elizabeth K.Y. Loh Jun 2016

Picture Storybooks In Teaching Chinese As A Second Language, Elizabeth K.Y. Loh

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Picture Storybooks in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language" Elizabeth K.Y. Loh presents a case study of the use of picture storybooks written and illustrated by ethnic minority students who participated in a government-sponsored Chinese as a Second Language project. The one-year teaching experiment suggests that picture storybooks as teaching materials played a significant role in enhancing students' motivation in learning Chinese. The research project resulted in students' proficiency in Chinese as a second language particularly in reading and writing.


Teaching Language And Culture: The Importance Of Prior Knowledge When Reading Chinese As A Second Language, Yi-Fang Yeh Aug 2014

Teaching Language And Culture: The Importance Of Prior Knowledge When Reading Chinese As A Second Language, Yi-Fang Yeh

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

In this article, the author explores the idea that reading proficiency in a second language involves comprehending the second culture and using it to interpret the world view of the second language. Using cognitive theory, the author examined the relevance of prior knowledge of Chinese language and idioms to understanding text written in Chinese. The nature of Chinese as a second language (CSL) students’ and Chinese as a foreign language students’(CFL) surface and deep knowledge of Chinese idioms as reflected in their responses to journal questions were examined. The author also looked at how the levels of students’ prior knowledge …


Measuring Adult Learners' Foreign Language Anxiety, Motivational Factors, And Achievement Expectations;A Comparative Study Between Chinese As A Second-Language Students And English As A Second-Language Students, Li-Ching Lin Jan 2012

Measuring Adult Learners' Foreign Language Anxiety, Motivational Factors, And Achievement Expectations;A Comparative Study Between Chinese As A Second-Language Students And English As A Second-Language Students, Li-Ching Lin

ETD Archive

This dissertation focuses on interpreting the impacts of foreign language anxiety and individual characteristics on the achievement expectations of Chinese second-language learners and English second-language students at the university level. Four research questions are examined through quantitative design. In relation to methodology, this study utilizes a factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA), logistic regression, and χ 2 as the statistical methods in addition, the latest version of Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) is used to analyze the data. This study provides current and future second-language educators and administrators who plan to set up second-language programs with a broad idea of …