First and Second Language Acquisition Commons^™

How Much Do Emotional, Behavioral, And Cognitive Factors Actually Impact College Student Attitudes Towards English Language Learning? A Quantitative And Qualitative Study, Xin Zuo, Regina D. Weaver, Julia Macrae, Limin Wang

Intensive English Language Program Faculty Publications and Presentations

Researchers have proposed many multidimensional frameworks to identify significant and potential factors, e.g., educational background, positive feelings and career aspirations, that impact English learning attitude in second language acquisition. Yet, there is still very little research to graphically describe the interactions between these factors and how these factors directly or indirectly impact learning attitude. To this end, a questionnaire survey was conducted in Changchun University of Technology. Statistical measures and Bayesian network analysis were introduced to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the collected data. Furthermore, the significant attitudinal differences between students majoring in the Liberal Arts or Sciences were investigated for …

Multilingualism And Multiculturalism: Opinions From Spanish-Speaking English Learners From Mexico, Central America, And South America, Cailey Catherine Moe

Dissertations and Theses

Within the population of adult English-language learners in the United States, the largest portion is comprised of Spanish speakers from Mexico and Central and South America. At the same time, Spanish is the second-most commonly spoken language in the U.S., and an increasing presence in U.S. media and culture. This puts English learners from this demographic in a unique position with respect to language and culture acquisition and the experience of working towards their goals within U.S. society at large.

The purpose of this study is to explore motivations and beliefs about language and culture held by a small number …

Loanwords In Context: Lexical Borrowing From English To Japanese And Its Effects On Second-Language Vocabulary Acquisition, Andrew Michael Sowers

Dissertations and Theses

Research has shown that cognates between Japanese and English have the potential to be a valuable learning tool (Daulton, 2008). Yet little is known on how Japanese learners of English produce cognates in context. Recently, studies have argued that cognates can cause a surprisingly high number of syntactic errors in sentence writing activities with Japanese learners (Rogers, Webb, & Nakata, 2014; Masson, 2013). In the present study, I investigated how Japanese learners of English understood and used true cognates (words that have equivalent meanings in both languages) and non-true cognates (words where the Japanese meaning differs in various ways from …

Teacher And Student Perceptions Of World Englishes (We) Pronunciations In Two Us Settings, Marie Arrieta

Dissertations and Theses

The present study investigated the perceptions and attitudes of two groups each of ESL teachers and students in the United States regarding World Englishes (WE) pronunciations before and after watching a video on WE accents. Data gathered via online surveys were analyzed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The results show that the perceptions of the teachers in the study ranged from somewhat negative to mildly positive, both pre- and post-video, which is consistent with Brown's (1993) findings that teachers' perceptions changed little if at all after being briefly exposed to WE stimuli. The education of the teachers …

Wiki-Based Collaborative Creative Writing In The Esl Classroom, Rima Elabdali

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the growing number of L2 studies examining digitally-mediated collaborative writing, the vast majority of these studies have focused on academic writing tasks. This study examined the dynamics and perceptions of groups of ESL students who used wikis to write collaborative short stories. The study also compared the short stories written in groups with posttest short stories written individually in terms of creativity, accuracy, and complexity. The study involved nine students taking a Creative Writing course in an intensive English program at a large university in the U.S. It followed a multiple case study design; the students were divided into …

Identity And Investment In The Community Esl Classroom, Jennifer Marie Sacklin

Dissertations and Theses

After Norton Peirce's (1995, Norton, 2000) groundbreaking work in conceptualizing identity as "multiple, changing, and contradictory," many researchers have explored language learners' identities. However, few studies of identity have been conducted within the "overlooked and understudied" (Mathews-Aydinli, 2008) context of adult community ESL (English as a Second Language), and even fewer studies have focused on LESLLA (low-educated second language and literacy acquisition) learners in mainstream community ESL programs.

This thesis, based on a case study of an adult LESLLA learner in a community ESL class, analyzes how this student's identity, the social context of her life, and the classroom space …

Is Self-Sufficiency Really Sufficient? A Critical Analysis Of Federal Refugee Resettlement Policy And Local Attendant English Language Training In Portland, Oregon, Domminick Mcparland

Dissertations and Theses

Since the 1951 United Nations Convention, nations have dealt with refugee issues in various ways. In the United States, since the Vietnam War, there has been great debate and a significant amount of research on issues of refugee resettlement, with these discourses inherently involving issues of power and ideology. English language training and the promotion of economic self-sufficiency have been interventions used to integrate and assimilate refugees into American culture and society. These two interventions were the subject of the current investigation.

The purpose of this study was to look into the way federal refugee resettlement policy mandated by the …

Constructivism For The English-As-A-Second-Language Learning Environment And Professional Development, Starley Beatrix Dullien

Theses Digitization Project

This project addresses the needs of the adult learner. The adult learner referred to in; this project comes from two distinguishable groups. One group of adult learners consists of the ESL students who attend adult school or community-based English programs. The other group of adult learners consists of the teachers within adult education ESL programs who themselves are students as they participate in professional development workshops.

A Corpus-Based Investigation Of Collocational Errors In Efl Taiwanese High School Students' Compositions, Yi-Chin Chen

Theses Digitization Project

Many language instructors focus on vocabulary word by word, neglecting common phrases. The result is that English as a Second Language students do not learn to speak idiomatic English (i.e. they make collocation errors). This study of the English compositions of National Tainan Second Senior High School students in Taiwan examined collocation errors, categorizing them according to Benson, Benson and Ilson's Collocation Classification System. An examination was then made of the error types as correlated with general English proficiency.

What Is Selective Mutism?, Angela Briz-Garcia

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of Selective Mutism, its possible causes, the strong impact it creates in English learner students, and what teachers could do to help the students who suffer from Selective Mutism.

Using Children's Literature With Young Learners, Eowyn Ferey

Intensive English Language Program Faculty Publications and Presentations

The biggest practical challenges in using English language children's literature rather than readers created specifically for EFL/ESL students are:

• choosing an appropriate book
• preparing to teach, from writing lesson plans to developing supporting teaching materials
• brainstorming creative teaching ideas

This paper will serve as a guide for those who would like to use literature in the classroom with their young students, but aren't sure how to begin.

An Integration Of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency And Content-Based Instruction, Fu-Chuan Wang

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to provide more effective teaching strategies for ESL students through the integration of CALP and content area teaching.

The Role Of Motivation Within An Activity System For Adults Learning English As A Second Language, Priscilla Beth Jenison

Theses Digitization Project

This project attempts to conceptualize the relationship between the language learner and the social world, developing a comprehensive theory of identity that integrates the language learner and the language learning context, while trying to keep motivation high.

What's In A Word?: Connotation In Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages, Marie Linnea Bozzetti-Engstrom

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis focuses on connotative meaning routinely ignored or difficult to locate in the available ESL textbooks and dictionaries. This perceived absence led to the following study: a review of ESL textbooks, a review of standard monolingual English and learner dictionaries, and a survey of ESL instructors.

Developing Listening Comprehension Competence In Japanese English As A Foreign Language Learners, Masahiro Fujita

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to investigate a model for developing listening comprehension competence on the part of Japanese learners of english as a foreign language, with a view toward promoting practical and communicative english competence.

Professional English Communication Training For English For Specific Purposes, Galon Anthony Melendy

Theses Digitization Project

This project addresses the need for effective English training for speakers of other languages who are engaged in professional careers.

The Role Of Universal Grammar In Second Language Acquisition: An Experimental Study Of Spanish Esl Students' Interpretation Of Lexical Pronouns, Mary Kathleen Kevari

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Building Written Language: A Program For Second Language Literacy In English, Gerda Ann Packard Randolph

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to provide an instructional program for students learning English as a second language that will meet their academic needs and facilitate full literacy.

Readers Theatre For Critical/Creative/Cooperative English Language Learning, Xiangqing Huang

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis was written in hope that it will serve as a stimulant to spur innovative ideas in EFL teaching and learning in Taiwan.

Strategic Reading For English As A Foreign Language, Phill Jo

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Communicative Competence Through Music In Efl For Japanese Middle School Students, Yuko Koike

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Untangling Contradictions: The Uses Of You In Composition, Nicole Marie Rosenbaum

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Training For Volunteer Teachers In Church-Affiliated English Language Mission Programs, Janet Noreen Blackwood

Dissertations and Theses

There is currently a debate among language educators regarding the training and certification of EFL teachers. Largely ignored in this debate are short-term volunteer teachers in church-affiliated English language mission programs. These teachers fall somewhere on the continuum between untrained language teachers and trained professional language educators. The current study took place in response to the lack of research information available on this aspect of ESL/EFL teacher education.

This study focused on the training that is provided to volunteer ESL/EFL teachers affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) denomination. The four research questions sought to determine how the content and procedures …

A Genre-Based Reading Process In English As A Foreign Language Reading Instruction, Hae-Lim Yoon

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Computer-Based Instruction In English As A Foreign Language For Japanese Secondary Students, Takeshi Atta

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Collaborative Dramatic Process In Elementary English As A Foreign Language, Hsueh-Ju Yang

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Metacognition And Language Transfer For An English Language Development Transitional Program, Christina Panzeri-Alvarez

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Applying Social Functional Theory To Business English As A Foreign Language Instruction In Taiwan, Weizhen Yang

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Improving Reading Skills In College-Level English Instruction In Korea, Seoung-Hoon Han

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of Communication Strategies Of Adult Esl Learners, Kermey Wang

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.