First and Second Language Acquisition Commons^™

Making Connections Across Language Barriers, Aaron Salgado

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

This compilation of academic papers is a portfolio designed to invite the reader to explore the author’s beliefs and ideas concerning effective second language learning and teaching. Divided into three main parts, this portfolio addresses: 1. expressing the author’s teaching philosophy while putting his position into the context from which it formed, 2. exploring the research perspectives that drive the author to continue participating in this academic field, 3. and chronicling the process of studying the academic material that inspired the previous two sections. Major topics include a macro view of the U.S. government’s and its education system’s dance together …

Effectively Teaching A Second Language: Principles And Practices, Alexander Gatica

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

This portfolio is the amalgamation of the author’s research and experience during his time in the Master of Second Language Teaching program. The first section contains the Teaching Philosophy, which centers on applying effective teaching methods, increasing learner motivation, and incorporating technology into the classroom. The next section consists of three artifacts in which the author further investigates specific aspects of language teaching. The language paper focuses on the effect that identity has on motivation to learn a language. The literacy paper discusses how to increase vocabulary acquisition via a mobile-assisted language learning application called Duolingo. The culture paper addresses …

Error Analysis: A Case Study On Non-Native English Speaking College Applicants’ Electronic Mail Communications, Casey Kraichoke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to discover major writing problems international college applicants make when composing electronic communications by analyzing the nature and distribution of their writing errors. Additionally, the researcher seeks to discover if there is a relationship between non-native English speakers’ (NNS) writing errors and demographics, which include: gender, country of origin, country of origin’s official language, program level, and program of study. The researcher hypothesizes that countries with English as an official language and the language of instruction in higher education are the most significant predictor of non-native English speakers’ writing errors in terms of count …

The Suzuki Method: Influences Of Shinichi Suzuki On Japanese Music Education, Moriah L. Richards

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis will study the history of Japanese music education philosophies and pedagogy techniques. Specific focus has been given to the music education methods and philosophies of renowned Japanese music educator, Shinichi Suzuki. Suzuki’s views on the learning processes of children have greatly impacted the field of music education. Suzuki held the belief that the language acquisition process and the learning processes of children were intricately connected. He spent years applying his research to the field of music education. His resulting pedagogy techniques are now known as the Suzuki Method. The Suzuki Method, which has been adapted in various ways …

Reaching For The Heart: An Analysis Of Language As A Weapon Of Empathy For Three Capetonians, Sarah Mcdonald

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I examine the role that cross-cultural language study plays in the lives of three Capetonians in order to explore its capacity to foster empathy between people of different backgrounds. Framed in the context of South African history and modern academic discourse around language use in educational and public spaces in the country, I present the stories of my three interviewees and analyze particular experiences that they relayed in order to trace trends of empathy and understanding through their language use.

Through my discussion of this qualitative data, I reach the conclusion that language can be an effective …

"Ewondo In The Classes, French For The Masses." Mother-Tongue Education In Yaoundé, Cameroon., Parker Henry

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cameroon is home to over two hundred eighty native languages coming from three language families, making it one of the most linguistically diverse countries on Earth. Despite this, native languages hold very few domains in Cameroonian society. In recent years, several experimental programs have begun to implement native languages in schools citing that children learn best in their mother tongue. Among these include ELAN-Afrique, an initiative put forth by La Francophonie with the main aim of helping students better learn French by way of their mother tongue. This paper seeks to differentiate the benefits prescribed or expected by overhead actors …

Drama For Social Justice: Embodying Identity And Emotion In Elt, Riah Werner

MA TESOL Collection

In this thesis, the author makes the case that drama is a powerful tool for language acquisition because it develops and engages embodiment, emotion and identity, important aspects of learning and communication that are often neglected in traditional language classrooms. The thesis establishes a theoretical foundation for the use of drama in the social justice-oriented language classroom, reviews research on drama for language learning and describes common drama techniques. The author connects the theories of embodied cognition and multiliteracies to an intersectional model of identity and argues that drama helps students re-examine the way society positions them based on their …

Contextualization: An Experimental Model For Efl Writing Instruction In China, Guimin Tang

Dissertations and Theses

Chinese students learning English as a foreign language seem to get good marks in tests, but are poor or limited in their ability to write in English. This dilemma of China's EFL writing instruction seems to be related to the decontextualized EFL writing practices. This study aims to examine how Chinese EFL college students respond to changes in their writing instruction that pays attention to the context of EFL teaching and learning. In this study, context refers to three levels: linguistic context, situational context and cultural context.

Using the mixed methods approach, I conducted the study by engaging 60 second-year …

An Analytical System For Determining Disciplinary Vocabulary For Data-Driven Learning: An Example From Civil Engineering, Philippa Jean Otto

Dissertations and Theses

Data-driven learning (DDL), an inductive teaching approach in which students learn through corpus interaction, has gained recent traction as way to teach specialized vocabulary in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classes. There is little research, however, that addresses how to choose specialized vocabulary for teaching with DDL.

This study addressed this gap in research by exploring the potential of a three-part analytical, corpus-based system for determining vocabulary to teach with DDL for a specific context of language use. This system included (1) identifying words that were significantly more frequent in a specialized expert corpus than in a corpus of general …

Lexical Bundles In Applied Linguistics And Literature Writing: A Comparison Of Intermediate English Learners And Professionals, Kathryn Marie Johnston

Dissertations and Theses

Lexical bundles (fixed sequences of three to four words) have been described as building blocks of discourse, both written and spoken (Biber & Barbieri, 2007), and as a useful mechanical device for creating writing that is suited for its academic field (Hyland, 2008). Having noticed that the academic theses of my students at Longdong University in Qingyang, China seemed very different from professional writing in their fields, I created a thesis project that addressed the question of how professionals in their fields were using bundles and how the learners' use of these bundles in terms of frequency, structure, and function …

Teaching Languages Online: Innovations And Challenges, Mayu Miyamoto, Natsumi Suzuki, Atsushi Fukada, Yuhan Huang, Siyan Hou, Wei Hong

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

Language professionals long resisted teaching online mainly because it was unthinkable to teach speaking in the online environment. Recent advances in technology, however, have made it conceivable. This chapter presents the design and implementation of online courses in Japanese and Chinese recently developed and being offered at Purdue University. We will highlight not only technologies involved, but also pedagogical innovations that helped resolve difficult issues. The efficacy of online teaching will also be touched upon. Reactions from enrolled students and the instructors that have taught the courses will also be shared.

Monolingual Or Bilingual Approach: The Effectiveness Of Teaching Methods In Second Language Classroom, Jung Han, Kyongson Park

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

Previous studies (Slavin & Cheung, 2005; Purkarthofer & Mossakowski, 2011) have argued that bilingual instruction provides an advantage over English-only instruction in second language (SL) learning and English learners in bilingual condition feel more satisfied with the teaching method. However, there is a discrepancy between language policy and practice. This study investigates which method of the two (bilingual vs. monolingual instruction) is more effective and satisfying ELL students. Experimental research focused on the perspectives of future educators was conducted to answer this question. The participants were selected from graduate and undergraduate students who are enrolled in the college of education …

Culturally And Linguistically Humble: A Preparation For Living Abroad, Diana Gonzalez

Northwestern Review

Presented in 2016 at Baekseok University in Cheonan City, South Korea at the 8^th international conference of the International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education (IAPCHE), this paper lays out the rationale for the approach taken in Northwestern College’s required preparations for students studying abroad. Elements in the preparation include getting students to identify influences on them of their home culture; to talk about their motivations and goals for studying abroad; to engage with Duane Elmer’s Cross-Cultural Connections and David Smith’s Learning from the Stranger; and perhaps most importantly, to engage with E. Hockett, L. Samek, …

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 …

Tblt And L2 Pronunciation: Do The Benefits Of Tasks Extend Beyond Grammar And Lexis?, Laura Gurzynski-Weiss, Avizia Long, Megan Solon

Faculty Publications

Introduction to the Special Issue.

Going Beyond The Text: The Inferencing Processes Of Skilled Readers In L1 And L2 Across Reading Tasks, Angela Meyer Sterzik

Faculty & Staff Publications - ELI

This small exploratory study investigated the inferencing processes of skilled first language (L1) and second language (L2) readers for two academic tasks. The goal was to examine possible effects of language and task, or reading purpose, on the frequency and distribution of inferences. Participants (n = 10) were native speakers of German enrolled at a large university in Hessen, Germany in a B.Ed. program. Participants read two expository texts (one written in German and the other written in English) in two task conditions: summary and position-paper. Think-aloud protocols while reading and stimulated recall immediately after reading were recorded, transcribed, coded, …

Welcome To Ilead: An Introduction To Intercultural Communication For Intensive English Program Students, Sharon Tjaden-Glass

Center for International Programs Publications and Presentations

Presentation introduces participants to the rationale, curriculum, and outcomes of the iLEAD intercultural communication program.

Perspectives On Effective Teaching In Dli And Foreign Language Classrooms, Karin Dejonge-Kannan, Maria Luisa Spicer-Ecalante, Elizabeth Abell, Aaron Salgado

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Handbook And Materials For Ilead: An Intercultural Communication Program Between Intensive English Program And Teacher Education Students, Sharon Tjaden-Glass

Center for International Programs Publications and Presentations

iLEAD is an intercultural communication program for university students that focuses on developing intercultural competence through guided conversations and shared activities. iLEAD stands for “International Language Exchange and Dialogue.” It was developed through a partnership between the Intensive English Program and the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Dayton.

The educational context: There is a stark difference in how domestic and international students experience the university. The majority of university students fit into the description of traditional, residential students. However, many international students do not fit the traditional, residential student demographic. Many of our international students who come …

Executive Control Mechanisms In Bilingualism: Beyond Speed Of Processing, Klara Marton, Mira Goral, Luca Campanelli, Jungmee Yoon, Loraine K. Obler

Publications and Research

The question of interest in this study was whether bilingual individuals show superior executive control compared to monolingual participants. Findings are mixed, with studies showing advantage, disadvantage, or no difference between bilingual and monolingual speakers. In this study, we used different experimental conditions to examine implicit learning, resistance to interference, monitoring, and switching, independently. In addition, we matched our monolingual and bilingual participants on baseline response time. Bilingual participants demonstrated faster implicit learning, greater resistance to interference, more efficient switching compared to monolingual participants. The groups did not differ in monitoring. In conclusion, depending on task complexity and on the …