First and Second Language Acquisition Commons^™

When English As A Second Language Students Meet Text-Responsible Writing, Miso Jung

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis follows two international freshman students in an English composition class at California State University, San Bernardino. The results indicate that the students generally experienced feeling challenged and overwhelmed about the unfamiliar topic, but detailed assignment guidelines played a key role for students to progress in understanding the assignment.

Constructivism And Mediated Learning In Designing English-As-A Foreign-Language Instruction, Chun-Hsiu Chen

Theses Digitization Project

Social interaction is the foundation of knowledge construction in a constructivist classroom. This project proposes a mediated instruction that is based on the theory of constructivism and social interaction to help new adult immigrants successfully achieve English competence and adapt quickly to the culture of the United States.

Learning By Heart: Using An Interactive Tutorial On Idioms To Model Acquisition Strategies And Tools, Andrianna Kirsten Jobin

Theses Digitization Project

This project is an interactive tutorial on idioms for a unit in a multi-level English as a second language (ESL) class. The purpose of the tutorial was to develop a resource to consolidate various aspects of idiom learning (e.g., pronunciation, definitions, and usage) into a few easily referenced pages and practice exercises which students can go over at their own pace.

A Cognitive View Of The Bilingaul Lexicon: Reading And Speaking Words In Two Languages, Judith Kroll, Bianca Sumutka, Ana Schwartz

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

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.

Promoting Metalinguistic Awareness Through Peer Response In Writing In Elementary English As A Foreign Language, Kuan-Ting Liu

Theses Digitization Project

This project serves as a resource to help teachers understand and meet the educational needs of second-language learners by promoting their metalinguistic awareness through peer response in writing in elementary English as a foreign language.

Reading Fluency Instruction In Upper Elementary International School Classrooms, Jinky Lunaspe Dagoon

Theses Digitization Project

This project focuses on the importance of reading fluency, emphasizing its role in the construction of meaning and aiding in the overall comprehension process. Its components: accuracy, automaticity, and prosody are examined in relation to various activities that enhance each component. A sample curriculum is discussed.

Empowering Pre-Adolescent Second-Language Learners In The Middle School Years, Robert Charles Quintana

Theses Digitization Project

The thesis explores sociolinguistic issues facing pre-adolescent English-as-second-language learners. Topics covered include literacy issues, communicative competence issues at the intermediate and advanced English language development (ELD) levels, language and power relationships that affect pre-adolescent English language learners, politeness as a sociolinguistic tool, and the benefits of students acquiring the language of cooperative learning. The implications of these topics culminate in the development of a social studies curriculum unit designed for the middle-school classroom.

Mending The Broken Windows: A Curriculum Development Project Using Cooperative Learning Methods To Teach The Concepts Of Short Stories While Building A Community In The Classroom, Nicole Meltzer

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the purpose, process and results of using Cooperative Learning methods to study the elements of short stories in an intermediate English as a Second or Other Language high school class. The goal of this project was to create and build community in the classroom to alleviate the pressures felt by at-risk and immigrant students, while also meeting their academic needs. The project was conducted over three months time and was assessed through qualitative and quantitative methods.

Maintaining And Nurturing The Language And Culture Of Heritage Spanish-Speakers At The Elementary Level, Amanda Amarotico

MA TESOL Collection

In many schools across the United States native Spanish-speakers are enrolled in Spanish foreign language classes in order to fulfill a foreign language requirement. The Spanish foreign language class is inappropriate for the native Spanish-speaker’s needs. It is essential that these students be given opportunities to expand their linguistic skills to become fully bilingual and biliterate. Spanish classes for native Spanish-speakers exist at the high school level in many parts of the country, but elementary students are rarely given such opportunities.

The author of this professional paper and report on the creation of an after school Spanish Club discusses the …

Electronic Dictionaries In The Esl Composition Class, Rebecca Lynn Rudd

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the use of electronic dictionaries by ESL students. In particular, it considers how, when and why students use electronic dictionaries in their writing processes. It also explores the extent to which students use words found in an electronic dictionary appropriately in their texts and whether electronic dictionary use influences their long-term acquisition of vocabulary.

Evolutionary Trajectories, Internet-Mediated Expression, And Language Education, Steven L. Thorne, J. Scott Payne

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article describes the evolution of communication technologies, accompanying transformations in everyday communicative activity, and pedagogical possibilities these tools support in second and foreign language (L2) settings. We begin with an overview of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) and uses of the Internet to mediate intercultural communication for purposes of L2 learning. We then describe generational shifts in Internet technologies and their proliferation and uses, with the majority of our efforts focused on contemporary environments such as blogs, wikis, podcasting, device-agnostic forms of CMC, and advances in intelligent computer-assisted language learning (ICALL). Throughout, we engage in a discussion of praxeological fusions …

Review Of Critical Pedagogies And Language Learning, Edited By Bonny Norton And Kelleen Toohey., Eva Núñez-Méndez

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Review of Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning, edited by Bonny Norton and Kelleen Toohey (2003),

A Cognitive View Of The Bilingaul Lexicon: Reading And Speaking Words In Two Languages, Judith Kroll, Bianca Sumutka, Ana Schwartz

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

What Is New In The New Toefl-Ibt 2006 Test Format?, Alla Zareva

English Faculty Publications

In recent years TOEFL has become one of the most popular high-stakes tests affecting not only what and how English language teachers teach but also what and how students learn (e.g. Johnson, Jordan, & Poehner, 2005; Alderson & Wall, 1993). The new 2006 TOEFL–iBT exam is on its way; yet, until now, information about the new test format and test preparation materials is scarce. Above and beyond interest in the test alone, the burning question is what demanded the revision of the current test, given that the latest computer-based TOEFL was introduced fairly recently worldwide. The paper elaborates on some …

The Role Of Identity In Language Acquisition: A Cross- Generational Perspective., Darlene Annette Snider

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I will reflect on the role of identity as it relates to second language acquisition. My hypothesis is that second language acquisition can be slowed or even halted when students cannot adapt to the culture of the language they are studying. Student’s facing cultural conflict tend to distance themselves from the community thereby creating barriers in the learning process. This hypothesis is based upon my own experience as a third generation Canadian. I believe the effective classroom will work to reduce cultural conflict by affirming the learner’s cultural identity and sense of self as they explore the …

Ich Rede, Wie Ich Mich Wohl Fühle: Language And Ethnic/Cultural Identity Among German-Born Young Adults Of Turkish Descent In Berlin, Emily R. Jenkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My study consisted of ethnographic interviews with young adults ages 19-28, who were born and raised in Germany to parents emigrated from Turkey. My main research question was, “What role does language play in the subjects’ conception of ethnic/cultural identity?” Specifically, I focused on the role of language in how subjects identify with or distinguish themselves from: (1) the ethnic/cultural majority in their country of residence, i.e. Germans; (2) the ethnic/cultural majority in their parents’ country of origin, i.e. Turks in Turkey; and (3) others of similar immigration background, i.e. other German-born people of Turkish descent. Originally I only intended …

Review Of Bilingual Aesthetics: A Sentimental Education, By Doris Sommer (2004), Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

A Teacher’S Journal: An Account Of My Choice And Implementation Of Total Physical Response Storytelling As An Approach To Teaching Beginning Level French, Melinda Heins

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is about choosing an approach to teaching a foreign language that is appropriate for me in my teaching context – public high school French classes – and my attempts to become as proficient as possible in the approach I chose called Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS). For eighteen weeks I taught French I grades nine through twelve and kept a detailed teacher’s journal of the experience.

Reflections On My Nepali Language Learning Experience While In The American Peace Corps In Nepal, 2001 - 2003, Eloy Guzman

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines my experience during my two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal (2001-2003) learning the Nepali language. I reflect on my process of learning Nepali, which involved drawing on connections between this language and the two other languages I speak – Spanish and English. I also examine the social aspects of my learning this language while living and working as an ESL teacher in a small rural mountain village in Eastern Nepal. This self-reflection on my language learning experience has informed my understanding of how the language learning process is inextricably connected to one’s primary language …

Integrating The Six Skills In Every Esl/ Efl Class, Monica M. Catramado

MA TESOL Collection

The main purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of integrating listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammaring and vocabulary in the ESL/EFL classroom.

Through this paper, not only will the reader gain an understanding of how to design a theme or content-based syllabus, which integrates all six skills, but also he/she will find numerous activities that will help develop those skills in every student.

Readers will also be shown how students can learn another language and develop these skills through practical every day topics and different materials, which depend on the students’ developmental stage of learning, stage of knowledge …

Promoting Language And Culture Learning In An Efl Context, Laura Anne Battles

MA TESOL Collection

This Independent Professional Paper (IPP) describes the intercultural communication project I undertook during my Interim Year Teaching Practicum (IYTP) in Granada, Spain. Throughout the academic year of 1998-1999, English-speaking students enrolled in the University of Granada’s Spanish Language and Culture Courses were invited to participate as volunteer language and culture exchange partners with my Spanish-speaking, intermediate-level English as a Foreign Language students. These classroom experiences, designed to enrich the course’s speaking, reading, writing, and listening curriculum, were intended to stimulate authentic communication and to heighten personal and intercultural awareness among the participants.

The argument presented in this paper is that …

The Din Theory Revealed: Theoretical, Professional, And Personal Reflections Concerning The Socialization Of Language, Dana Elise Arends

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a written analysis of my personal experience with the "din in the head" theory proposed by Dr. Elizabeth Barber and Dr. Stephen Krashen (Barber 1980; Krashen 1981). I experienced this din firsthand during a three day trip to Montreal, Quebec in Canada and a subsequent three day trip to Roma, in Italia. I will propose that the language din suggested by professors Barber and Krashen does exist. Furthermore, I will show how the Spanish din with which I had become familiar with from my classes at the School for International Training hindered, and at times prohibited, my …

Teachable Articles: A Practical Approach To Teaching English Articles To Japanese Learners, Kayo Fujito

MA TESOL Collection

This dissertation is about English articles and specifically the difficulties that non-native speakers, particularly Japanese learners, face in mastering their use. In this dissertation, I will mainly focus on;

1. An investigation on teaching articles and the use of articles including a survey completed by teachers of English

2. Two charts for determining articles and categories with examples including my adaptation of the chart

3. Some ideas and practical suggestions for teaching articles

The findings from this study have led me to a belief that there are ways for Japanese learners to improve their ability to use articles and by …

Developing Metaphoric Competence Through Schemata-Building For English Learners In Japan, Kyoko Suda

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to propose teaching methods that facilitate the development of English vocabulary knowledge and metaphorical concepts for students in Japan.

Building Literacy For Beginning English Learners, Amy Kathleen Anderson

Theses Digitization Project

This project is to help improve the instruction for English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. public elementary schools. Specifically, it explores research-based approaches for instructing students who enter upper-elementary classrooms speaking little to no English.

Anxiety And Motivation In Second Language Learning, Glenn Edward Moore

Theses Digitization Project

This study investigates student and instructor perceptions of the causes and effects of anxiety and motivation's effect on a student's ability to learn a second language. The study focused on the participant's perceptions of the causes and effects of anxiety, and relationships between anxiety and motivation, in both short-term and long-term learners.

Internationalizing The Japanese Classroom With Computer-Mediated Instruction, Hajime Kajiwara

Theses Digitization Project

The goal of this project is to design an effective way for Japanese high school students to improve their English communication skills through internationalized, computer-mediated instruction.

Authentic Materials In English As A Second Language Conversation Instruction, Xiangmei Zhang

Theses Digitization Project

Interviews with experienced ESL language instructors were held to aid in determining how these instructors choose and design authentic materials and make them authentic to second language learners.

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.