Applied Linguistics Commons^™

Language Attitudes And Academic Achievement: A Study Of Mexican Immigrant Esl Students In The Northwest, Julie Ann Cheshire

Dissertations and Theses

As the population of Mexican immigrant learners continues to increase in the Northwest, an understanding of the cultural, social and psychological realities of these students' lives becomes an ever more important issue for professional language educators, classroom teachers, and school administrators. Our understanding of the needs of these learners will have an important effect on how prepared they are to participate in academic situations and community life.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between language attitudes and ESL learning among young adult Mexican-immigrant learners in one community education program in the Northwest. Learners' values and beliefs …

Portland Dialect Study: The Story Of /Æ/ In Portland, Jeffrey C. Conn

Dissertations and Theses

This study reports on the hypothesized raising of the low, front vowel /æ/, which is characteristic of a regional dialect vowel shift found in cities of the Midwest and Eastern North of the United States. The raising of this vowel is the primary change in a series of vowel shifts that have traditionally been attributed to this region of the U.S. The purpose of this study is to document the production of this vowel by residents of Portland, Oregon, in order to see what light it can shed on dialect research of the Pacific Northwest, especially across age groups to …

On Communicative Competence: Its Nature And Origin, Mary Lou Emerson

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to trace the lineage of the term communicative competence (CC) and to provide a framework for understanding the term CC, a controversial term introduced by Hymes (1972). This pager argues that the term CC is only meaningful if it includes competence in the same sense as Chomsky (1980) defines it--underlying knowledge of the rules of language severed from ability. Although Chomsky discusses competence in terms of grammar, he suggests that there may be underlying knowledge of language use-pragmatic competence. In the end, I will attempt to demonstrate the possibility that there is a competence …

Use Of Cultural Topics In Electronic Dialogue Journals In The Foreign Language Classroom, Katya Elizabeth Monge Jacome

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study has been to determine what effect the difference in cultural and general topics has on the length, complexity, and quality of resulting entries in electronic dialogue journals. The data, which consisted of 132 electronic dialogue entries generated by eleven adult students in a second year university Spanish course over a period of four weeks, were measured for length, in terms of total words and total number of t-units; complexity, by dividing the total number of words by the total number of t-units; and quality, as assessed by the Jacobs profile (1981), which considers the following …

Discourse Analysis: Backchanneling Behavior Of Advanced Speakers Of English/Japanese As A Second/Foreign Language, Keiko Ikeda

Dissertations and Theses

When a Japanese speaker or an American English speaker is engaged in an interaction in their second/foreign language (L2), they have choices in terms of language performance. They can maintain their behavior as what is conventional in their own first language/culture, what is expected in the partner's first language/culture, or what is believed to be the appropriate language behavior in the language in use (L2).

In this current study, backchanneling behavior is chosen to be one socio-pragmatic behavior that can be very different depending on language/culture. Data were collected in telephone conversations from a total of four listeners, all advanced …

Discourse Functions And Syntactic Complexity In Synchronous And Asynchronous Communication, Susana Sotillo

Department of Linguistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The present study investigates discourse functions and syntactic complexity in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learner output obtained via two different modes of computer-mediated communication (CMC): asynchronous and synchronous discussions. Two instructors and twenty-five students from two advanced ESL writing classes participated in this study. Answers were sought to the following questions: a) Are the discourse functions present in ESL learners' synchronous discussions of reading assignments quantitatively and qualitatively different from those found in asynchronous discussions? And, b) which mode of CMC shows more syntactically complex learner output? The results showed that the quantity and types of discourse functions present in synchronous discussions …

Learning, Motivation, And Self: A Diary Study Of An Esl Teacher's Year In A Japanese Language Classroom, Laura Ruth Hawks

Dissertations and Theses

Using a journal kept during a year in a second-year level Japanese language class, a diary study of an adult's foreign language experience was undertaken by an ESL teacher and graduate student. Kept as a means of releasing the anger, stress, and frustration that initially accompanied the learning experience, the journal provides a basis for the analysis of cultural, pedagogical, and personal variables that affected the learning process.

The introspective and longitudinal nature of the study provides not only a description of the learning environment and teaching method over time, but also illuminates otherwise unobservable aspects of the learning experience, …

Survey Of Support For And Opposition To English Only Legislation In The Greater Portland Region, Leah Ann Woodruff

Dissertations and Theses

The politics of language is something that all ESL instructors will deal with at some point in their careers. The English Only Movement is an important part of the current trend in language legislation. As ESL instructors we need to understand what motivates people in our communities to support or oppose such legislation, so that we can better prepare our students to operate in that community. Many articles have been written on the English Only Movement, but the vast majority of them are from a historical or politically partisan view. Little research has been done in regard to why this …

The Relationship Between Chinese Character Recognition Strategies And The Success Of Character Memorization For Students Of Mandarin Chinese, Hui-Yen Emmy Chen

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between beginning Chinese language students' character memorization and the strategies they used for the recognition of Chinese characters. In the experiment, a new character teaching approach, the phonetic-ideograph strategy, was introduced to all the subjects during two quarter terms. Subjects participated in the study were divided into two groups depended upon their language backgrounds: the phonographic group and the morphographic group. All the subjects in the phonographic group were English speakers and subjects in the morphographic group were Japanese speakers. All the subjects received the same treatment in the study. …

Building Bridges : The Use Of Semantic Mapping To Enhance Reading Comprehension In A Form 6 English Language Class, Harbans Kaur

Student Works (2000-2009)

This piece of action research study investigates if the use of semantic mapping enhances reading comprehension. The study was conducted in a Form 6 ESL class in Sckolah Menengah Kcbangsaan Taman S.E.A. The purpose of th is study was to probe into the effec ti veness of semantic mapping as a reading comprehension strategy. It aimed at making students aware that understanding each individual word in a text was not necessary to understand the whole text. In essence, this study highlights the effect of the use of semantic mapping as a strategy to activate prior knowledge and enable students to …

Satu Kajian Penguasaan Sebutan Bahasa Al-Quran Di Kalangan Pelajar-Pelajar Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama, Abdul Rahman Md. Hassan

Student Works (2000-2009)

Disertasi ini ditulis berasaskan kajian yang dilakukan di Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tok Jiring, Kuala Terengganu. Fokus utama kajian yang dibuat adalah kepada guru-guru yang mengajar AI-Quran dan Pelajar-Pelajar Tingkatan Tiga Tahun 1997. Bab pertama merupakan pengenalan yang menerangkan tentang permasalahan pelajar-pelajar membaca AI-Quran secara umum. Kemudian dinyatakan secara ringkas tentang kepcntingan analisis kesilapan, kepentingan kajian ini , ruang lingkup kajian, responden, batasan kajian metodologi dan tinjauan awal kajian lepas. Bab kedua membicarakan tentang cara membunyikan bahasa Al-Quran yang melibatkan makhraj huruf, sifat-sifatnya yang lazim dan yang tidak lazim, mad, qasr, waqaf dan ibtida. Bab ketiga diisi dengan data-data yang …

Urutan Kata Nama Derivasi Kecil Dan Bentuk Pemakaiannya, Ramli Abdul Latif

Student Works (2000-2009)

Disertasi ini bertajuk "URUTAN KATA NAMA DERIVASI KECIL DAN BENTUK PEMAKAIANNYA". la adalah tajuk dalam bidang morfologi yang penulis fokuskan dan membuat analisis tentang urutan kata nama derivasi kecil dan bentuk-bentuk pemakaiannya dalarn bahasa Arab. Tajuk ini merupakan tajuk kajian tentang pecahan kata dalam bahasa Arab yang merangkumi kata nama dan kata kerja. Pecahan kata nama daripada kata sumber atau kata dasar ini dinamakan kata nama derivasi kecil

Investigating Learner Autonomy Through Strategy Training In The Esl Classroom, Gurnam Kaur Gurdial Singh

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study investigated the development of learner autonomy through strategy, training in the ESL classroom. Leamer autonomy refers to learners' ability to take responsibility for their own learning whi le strategy training refers to the explicit introduction of language learning strategies during lessons where learners are givens explanations as to when, how and why these strategies can be used to facilitate the learning process. The study examined both the implementation and the effects of 15 week Strategy Training Programme. The subjects of this study involved one Test trained teacher and an ESL class of 42 Form Four students in an …

Analisis Kesilapan Tatabahasa Dalam Penulisan Karangan Bahasa Melayu Pelajar Tingkatan Lima, Mohamad Abdul Rahman

Student Works (2000-2009)

This survey is mainly done for identifying the grammatical errors in Malay Language essay writing of form five students. It focuses on the wrong usage of three kinds of grammatical items; ; subject-verb-agreement, conjunction and pluralization. A total of 30 form five students from Guar Chempedak Secondary School participated in this survey. The data are analysed by using the descriptive statistic to find out the frequency and the percentage of the errors found in the essay. The finding indicates that a number of 279 grammatical errors (subject-verb agreement, conjunction and pluralization) are done by the students. The most significant error …

Analisis Kesilapan Penggunaan Kata Kerja Dalam Bahasa Portugis Di Kalangan Pelajar Universiti Malaya, Jamian Mohamad

Student Works (2000-2009)

Disertasi ini bertajuk "Analisis Kesilapan Penggunaan Kata Kerja Dalam Bahasa Portugis Di Kalangan Pelajar Universiti Malaya". Tumpuan utama penyelidik di dalam kajian ini ialah untuk melihat kesilapan penggunaan kata kerja dalam bahasa Portugis. Kata kerja dipilih kerana ia merupakan asas kepada pembentukan ayat atau sintaksis dalam bahasa Portugis. Masalah untuk menyesuaikan kata kerja berdasarkan gantinama dan kala sering dihadapi oleh pelajar-pelajar bahasa Portugis.

Perbandingan Antara Bahasa Melayu Baku Dengan Subdialek Perak, Rafiza Abd. Rashid

Student Works (2000-2009)

The purpose of this dissertation is to make a comparison between the standard Bahasa Melayu and Perak subdialect that is the Parit dialect. This dissertation will focus on the phonological aspects such as the vowels, consonants and diphtongs. The methodology used were library research and field work that includes interview. During the interview, the researcher found that the Bahasa Melayu spoke by the respondents is influenced by the Parit dialect. Besides, the students observed also use their dialect in the classroom This affects the activities In the teaching of pronunciation in a Bahasa Melayu class. The different vowels and consonants …

Pengajaran Ta'bir : Satu Kajian Kes Di Kolej Islam Sultan Alam Shah (Kisas), Normah Mohd Ariff

Student Works (2000-2009)

This dissertation on Arabic Language has been prepared focusing on problems faced by students in their oral practice . The writer has recognized that most students in schools and higher learning institution nowadays have difficulties in spoken Arabic. What is the reason? The writer has tried to identify the culprit through various methodologies , including survey on 120 respondents. With KISAS being the location, the survey was specifically focused on its students

Analisis Ayat Berpredikat Frasa Kerja : Satu Pendekatan Tata Bahasa Kasus, Samsur Rijal Yahaya

Student Works (2000-2009)

Disertasi ini mengungkapkan struktur ayat berfrasa kerja dalam bahasa Malaysia. Untuk menjabarkannya, digunakan Teori Tata Bahasa Kasus yang dipelopori oleh Charles Fillmore. Penelitian ini menggunakan data yang dikumpulkan dari sebuah novel iaitu Menrouw Toga yang ditulis oleh Sasterawan Negara Arena Wati. Penulis mengumpulkan data melalui metode catatan tentang satuan tematis. Pada tahap analisis data, telah digunakan metode distribusional dengan teknik substitu si, delesi, dan ekspansi. Kemudian metode distribusional ini digabungkan pula dengan teknik lmmideate Constituens (ICs). lmplikasi dan pengaplikasian Teori Tata Bahasa Kasus ini, suatu ayat terdiri atas proposisi. Proposisi terbahagi kepada Verba dan Argumen-argumennya. Argumen-argumen inilah yang diberi label …

Teaching Listening Comprehension Skills In An Intermediate Level English As A Foreign Language Classroom, Dwipa Janardhanan Pillai

Student Works (2000-2009)

This piece of action research was driven by the need to diagnose the problems that students of English as a Foreign Language face in developing better listening skills. As a teacher, I felt that it was essential to scaffold the learning experiences through various strategies so that a satisfactory level of development could be attained. This study therefore, probed the following questions : a) What are the problems EFL students encounter in comprehending audiotexts? b) Why do EFL students face difficulty in taking down notes or information from audio-texts? c) What are the effective teaching-learning strategies which will help students' …

Strategi Penukaran Kod Di Kalangan Guru-Guru Cina Berpendidikan Cina Dan Bukan Berpendidikan Cina : Satu Kajian Kes, Kheng Leng Gan

Student Works (2000-2009)

Kajian ini merupakan satu tinjauan terhadap gejala penukaran kod yang ber1aku di kalangan guru-guru keturunan Cina yang berpendidikan Cina dan bukan berpendidikan Cina di sebuah sekolah menengah di Seremban.  Objektif Kajian ini adalah untuk meneliti fenomena penukaran kod dalam masyarakat Cina Malaysia yang boleh bertutur pelbagai bahasa dialek khususnya Bahasa Kantonis, Bahasa Mandarin dan bahasa lain iaitu Bahasa Melayu dan Bahasa lnggeris.  Di samping itu, kajian ini turut mengesan kekerapan penukaran kod yang ber1aku di kalangan dua kumpulan informan ini dan mengkaji faktor-faktor yang menyebabkan berlaku penukaran kod berdasarkan fungsi-fungsi penukaran kod wacana dan faktor-faktor soslo-budaya.

An Investigation Of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors In The Interlanguage Of Esl Learners, Kok Tin Koh

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study seeks to investigate the subject-verb agreement errors in the interlanguage of ESL learners of a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur. Using a self-designed cloze test. a total of 2,454 errors (61.4%) was elicited and categorised into five main categories of singular/plural subject-verb agreement. From the errors and percentage of errors obtained, the most common error was identified and the cause of errors explained. The sub-categories in each main category of errors were compared to determine which area of the singular/plural subject-verb agreement posed more difficulty to the learners. The subject+ auxiliary does/do category accounted for the highest percentage …

Kecekapan Penggunaan Kamus Ekabahasa Dalam Meningkatkan Pengembangan Kosa Kata, Noraziah Ahmad Ghazali

Student Works (2000-2009)

A general survey of dictionary use would show that there is a tendency to agree that referring to the dictionary is a useful activity in enhancing and enriching one's vocabulary or word power, and that dictionary is a useful tool in language learning. However, the importance of introducing effective technique of dictionary use to students is neglected in the teaching and learning of language; as a matter of fact, it has been left to students to find their own way to acquire the skill. The dissertation seeks to examine how far an exposure to techniques of dictionary use can help …

An Evaluation Of The Reading Component Of Business English Courses : A Case Study, Tuck Chee Pong

Student Works (2000-2009)

The Business English Courses are compulsory for Business Students at Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College. These courses are aimed at improving the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of the students. This study is an evaluation of the reading component of the Business English Courses for Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA) students. The reading component emphasized the teaching of nine reading skills that were considered useful to reading. The study attempts to obtain information about the utilization of these reading skills and the benefits derived from utilizing them. In addition, it also seeks to get feedback from both the …

Communicative Events In Sales And Marketing In The Hotel Industry : A Case Study, Sharifah Bahyah Syed Ahmad

Student Works (2000-2009)

This research is a study of the communicative events surrounding the discourse community of the sales and marketing staff in the hotel industry. Focusing on the internal and external communication of one company which is responsible for the sales and marketing of a local chain of hotels, the research is in essence a reality check, a look at text and how it is used in authentic context. Using the ethnographic approach, the researcher has attempted to expose the nonns, values and culture behind the patterns of communication of that particular community through the analysis of its communicative actions. These nonns, …

Error Correction Preferences Of Latino Esl Students, John Burrell

Dissertations and Theses

The present study looked at the error correction preferences of 172 adult Latino ESL students. It was a modified replication of a study which looked at the error correction preferences of Japanese university students. A questionnaire was used to gather the data. The questionnaire measured the participants' general preferences for error correction, attitudes towards peer correction, the desired frequency of correction in five aspects of language and preferences for specific types or methods of error correction.

The study found a very positive attitude towards error correction by the teacher. There was a positive attitude towards peer correction, but only from …

The Influence Of Cultural Backgrounds On The Interpretations Of Literature Texts Used In The Esl Classroom, Barbara Jostrom Gates

Dissertations and Theses

This study was a detailed descriptive investigation into the different interpretations and perceptions that are evoked by readers of United States literature, based on their cultural backgrounds and experience. Grounded in research that advocates for the convergence of culture and literature in the language classroom and a research design based on reader-response theory, this study explored the responses of two groups of students from the University of Portland: international students, the majority of whom were English as a Second Language (ESL), and U.S. citizens, all of whom were native speakers of American English.

Through a reader-response style questionnaire modeled after …

A Comparison Of The Child Directed Speech Of Traditional Dads With That Of Stay-At-Home Dads, Judith Nancarrow Barr

Dissertations and Theses

The speech that mothers use when addressing adults has consistently been shown to exhibit modifications when the conversation partner is their language-learning child. Fathers adopt similar changes in the structural linguistic aspects of their Child Directed Speech (CDS), but their patterns of discourse remain more of a challenge for the child. This contrast in parental language is thought to be beneficial to the language-learning child: a mother's language focuses on the child as a conversation partner, whilst a father's more demanding language is considered a "Bridge" between the mother's and that of adults in the outside world. With family roles …

Chinese Numeratives And The Mass/Count Distinction, David Goodman

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates the mass/count distinction for lexical nouns, and how this is formalized morphosyntactically in language. English is one language in which a grammaticized mass/count distinction can be seen--though there are varying explanations regarding what this distinction actually signifies. Chinese, on the other hand, is a language which might appear to be missing a formalized mass/count distinction. However, I postulate that Mandarin Chinese does in fact have a syntactic-distributional diagnostic available for teasing apart mass nouns from count nouns.

The diagnostic that I propose for finding a mass/count distinction among lexical nouns in Mandarin lies in the distribution of …

Indeterminacy In First And Second Languages: Case Studies Of Narrative Development Of Chinese Children With And Without Language Disorder, Bee Hong Lo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Bilingual children with specific language impairment (SLI) from non English speaking background (NESB) present a major diagnostic problem to speech pathologist and educationist in an English speaking country. There has been no known study on the simultaneous narrative development involving bilingual Chinese children with and without SLI. This longitudinal case study examined the relationship of Chinese (L1) and English (L2) in narrative development in a child with no language difficulty (Child LN) and a child (Child L1) diagnosed as having SLI. The hypothesis posed for this study was that Child L1 has the same developmental profile for narrative skill in …