First and Second Language Acquisition Commons^™

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.

Learning To Learn: The Training Of Missionaries In Language Learning Strategies At The Missionary Training Center, D. Brian Kohler

Theses and Dissertations

Language learning strategies (LLS) are specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques that learners use to improve their rate and level of L2 development. This thesis details the development and validation of a LLS training program designed to measure if training in LLS increases LDS missionaries' awareness of LLS as potential language learning tools. Specifically, it explores the question as to whether missionaries trained in LLS use and intend to use LLS more frequently, more appropriately, and with a greater range than those not trained in LLS.

The development of the LLS training program involved selecting a set of 48 specific …

Opening Doors: Culture Learning And Conversational Narratives With First Generation Hmong Refugee Women, Lucy Vincent Kimbro

Dissertations and Theses

The life experiences of two first generation Hmong refugee women form the basis of this study. Through loosely structured but guided interviews, memories of their lives in Laos and in refugee camps in Thailand, as well as their perspectives, feelings, and opinions about current aspects of their lives, the effects of American culture on their family; and their engagement in the language and culture learning process are explored.

An examination of the involvement of Hmong women in research and ethnographic accounts concerning Hmong culture, history, and experience, show that Hmong women's perspectives have often been overlooked or disregarded. One purpose …

The Home-School Connection: Parental Influences On A Child's English Second Language Acquisition, Catharine Jauhiainen

Dissertations and Theses

Few would dispute the tremendous impact that parents have on the intellectual, emotional, and social development of their children. An important issue in child second language acquisition is whether, or to what extent, parental attitudes and behaviors are associated with the success of language minority children in elementary ESL and mainstream classroom settings. The effects of parental educational values and expectations, and parental perception of ability to assist in the educational journey of their offspring, have been the focus of much research regarding majority language children. However, research exploring the beliefs and behaviors of language minority parents and their relationship …

The Importance Of Time For Processing In Second Language Comprehension And Acquisition, Jennifer Lee Watson

Dissertations and Theses

Research findings on the positive impact of interaction on comprehension have led to questions regarding both the connection between comprehension and acquisition and the qualities of interaction which facilitate understanding (Ellis et al. 1994). Ellis et al. found that a high degree of comprehension on an activity which contained unknown words correlated with a high rate of vocabulary acquisition. The present study replicates the activity and testing procedures used by Ellis et al. The main focus of the Ellis et al. study was the connection between second language comprehension and acquisition. This study differs from Ellis et al. in that …

Multiple Strategies For Vocabulary Development In English As A Foreign Language In Japan, Kunie Kaminaka

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Curriculum Design For Strategy-Based Listening In English As A Foreign Language, Tia-Ying Hong

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Incorporating An Affective Ambiance And Authentic Language To Improve English Teaching In Japan, Ryuja Ra

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Using Cooperative Learning With Crosscultural Studies To Teach English In The People's Republic Of China, Shuping Wang

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Explicit Teaching Of Implicature To Esl Students And Its Effect On Their Performance On The Listening Section Of The Test Of English As A Foreign Language, Michael John Buckhoff

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

A Model Of The Reading Process Applied In Efl Reading In Taiwan, I-Chen Wang

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Sociocultural Factors In The Loss Of One's Mother Tongue: The Case Of Korean Immigrant Children, Cheong Rhie Huh

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Amateur Educational Video Viewing On Language Acquisition Of Preschool Children, Jennifer L. Radcliffe

Masters Theses

Child language-learning is a complex process that varies for each individual child. Researchers have found that children learn from viewing professional television programs specifically designed for children, such as Sesame Street. Professional television programming principles can be adopted to produce amateur educational videos. Video may also be a viable option to provide repetitive models to improve vocabulary acquisition within speech-language pathology. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of direct stimulation with amateur educational videos on a child's general and specific vocabulary acquisition.

A six-week experiment included an initial two-week control period, a two-week experimental period …

Errors In Pronunciation Of Consonants By Indonesian, Gayo And Acehnese Learners Of English As A Foreign Language, Ingrid B. Mathew

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis reports on research into consonantal phoneme pronunciation errors in the English of EFL learners from three different first language groups in the province of Aceh, northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a qualitative study, describing the errors found for each first language group. Error data was collected from each participant in the language laboratory using an aural discrimination test, a word repetition test and a reading passage test, and also from interviews with each participant which were recorded on audio cassettes. Analysis and explanation of the error data then followed. There were eight participants from each of the three …

Potential Technology Application In English Instruction In The People's Republic Of China, Ping Gao

Graduate Research Papers

The primary purpose of this paper is to present a vision of potential technology application as an effective teaching aid for English instruction in the People's Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China). In order to provide a clear picture of why technology should be applied in English teaching situations in China, major factors influencing the current English teaching methodologies – grammar translation and audiolingual method – have been analyzed. A theoretical analysis of modern Western teaching pedagogy, the communicative approach, has been explored to offer an in-depth understanding of foreign language learning and teaching processes. The close relationship …

Humor Recognition: A Comparative Analysis, William T. Argent

Dissertations and Theses

There are various approaches to the explanation of humor in the field of humor research. Some of these theories, while providing interesting insight into the phenomenon known as humor, remain limited in their ability to account for how humor is recognized. Others do not even address the issue. This thesis compares five different theories in humor research by analyzing the humorous short story "My Watch" by Mark Twain. These theories are: 1. a typological approach to humor, 2. a social- functional model, 3. incongruity theory, 4. Grice's Cooperative Principle taken from linguistic pragmatics, and 5. the General Theory of Verbal …

Japanese Students' Perception Of Their Language Learning Strategies, Michiyo Ozawa

Dissertations and Theses

Students' use of language learning strategies (LLSs) is affected by their educational backgrounds and academic requirements, and so are their attitudes toward language learning. This study investigates Japanese students' perception of their English LLSs in different language environments: Japan and the United States.

A group of 43 Japanese students from Otemae College participated in a cultural study program at Portland State University. The group consisted of 28 students who studied for two terms (ST Group) and 15 students who studied for three terms (LT Group).

In this study, a combination of a self-assessment questionnaire, dialogue journals, and a card-ranking activity …

Improving Communicative Competence In The Teaching Of English As A Foreign Language In Taiwan, Jen-Chieh Chang

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Developing The English Communicative Competence Of Junior College Students In Taiwan: A Curriculum Design Project, Shu-Hsien Huang

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Applicability Of Implementing Canada's Immersion Model In A Language Minority Educational Setting In The United States, Lisa Anne Simmers

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Integration Of The American English Lexicon: A Study Of Borrowing In Contemporary Spoken Japanese, Bradford Michael Frischkorn

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Strategy Use In Process Writing: A Survey Of Esl Students' Strategy Use In L1 Writing And In L2 Writing, Mei-Ya Jung

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Nowadays, an increasing number of students from different countries study in the United States. These English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students have to use English as a necessary tool to make instruction comprehensible and to express their own meaning in the academic context. Of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), writing is generally recognized as most difficult to acquire. This paper examines the question whether students' first language (L1) writing skills may be available for them to use in the process of second language (L2) writing.

Learning Work In The Esl Classroom: An Evaluation Of Textbooks Designed To Teach Esl In The Workplace, Amy Taylor-Henry

Dissertations and Theses

A growing number of American businesses are offering ESL courses at the work site; likewise, more and more textbooks designed specifically for teaching ESL in the Workplace (EWP), are being written and published. The need for an evaluation of these new texts with regard to current teaching methodology, the particularities of EWP, and the social implications of EWP is a vital one. A good EWP text, besides serving as a guide and resource for learners, can also facilitate intercultural understanding, increase awareness of workers' rights and unions, and promote participation in training programs for job flexibility and promotion. Most importantly, …

The Teaching Of Implicature To Esl Learners, Joel Christopher Harris

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

A Special Case Of Second Language Acquisition: Nthla, Naomi Gurevich

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

In investigating the process of language acquisition, researchers differentiate between the acquisition of a learner’s native language (L1) and non-native language. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has traditionally come to mean any language learned by an individual after the L1. Some researchers have started distinguishing between monolinguals acquiring a second language (2ndLA) and bi- or multi-linguals acquiring another language (NthLA). It is claimed that having undergone the language acquisition process once, multilingual individuals approach this task with a more universal understanding of the rules and forms of language. A review of four studies shows aspects of how NthLA is different from …

Teaching English Communicatively In China - Educating Teachers Is Not Enough., Bernard Hird

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The extent to which the communicative language teaching approach is a relevant and viable methodology for English language teachers to use in China is an issue that has generated considerable interest in recent years. The conclusions drawn in this article are based on experiences of teaching in an in-service course for senior middle-school teachers of English in Hangzhou, China. The paper suggests that the communicative approach does have a role in English language teaching in China but that aspects of the approach need to be applied selectively and with caution. Some of the reasons for this stem from the nature …

Modeling Music With Grammars: Some Examples From Balinese Kotekan, Janet Tom Cowal

Dissertations and Theses

What is the relationship of music and language? Analogies and comparisons of music and language are plentiful in various types of literature. For researchers in the cognitive sciences, the importance of organization, patterning, and structuring of sounds is a common theme in analyzing both language and music. With the success of generative grammars for languages, a number of researchers have used similar kinds of grammars to describe or model particular aspects of music. In addition, researchers are interested in possible universals in musical grammars. However, while grammars of non-Western musics have been written, most of the work has been based …