Enhancing teaching and learning speech acts: action research of Japanese as a foreign language /

This action research observes a second year Japanese class at a university where foreign language courses are elective for undergraduate students. In this study, using the six strategies to teach Japanese speech acts that Ishihara and Cohen (2006) suggested, I conducted three classes and analyzed my teaching practice with a critical friend. These strategies assist learners toward the development of their understanding of the following Japanese speech acts and also keep the learners to use them in a manner appropriate to the context: (I) invitation and refusal; (2) compliments; and (3) asking for a permission. The aim of this research is not only to improve my instruction in relation to second language (L2) pragmatic development, but also to raise further questions and to develop future research. The findings are analyzed and the data derived from my journals, artifacts, students' work, observation sheets, interviews with my critical friend, and pretests and posttests are coded and presented. The analysis shows that (I) after my critical friend encouraged my study and my students gave me some positive comments after each lesson, I gained confidence in teaching the suggested speech acts; (2) teaching involved explaining concepts and strategies, creating the visual material (a video) showing the strategies, and explaining the relationship between the strategy and grammatical forms and samples of misusing the forms; (3) students' background and learning styles influenced lessons; and (4) pretest and posttests showed that the students' Icvel of their L2 appropriate pragmatics dramatically improved after each instruction. However, after careful observation, it was noted that some factors prevented students from producing the correct output even though they understood the speech act differences.

Collaborative learning in a Japanese as a foreign language classroom /

This study examined the influence of training on Asian learners' beliefs, interaction, and attitudes during collaborative learning (CL) and explored the processes of their CL in pairs. The literature contains few studies on the effect of collaborative training in language learning. In addition, it shows gaps between SLA theory and practice resulting from learners' cultural differences. Although second/subsequent language acquisition (SLA) theory assumes that CL contributes to language learning, implementing CL in a multicultural classroom is often considered to be unsuccessful by teachers. The research questions designed to address this gap explore: (a) the extent to which tra~ng affects Asian learners' attitudes towards and interaction during CL; (b) how Asian learners accomplish collaborative tasks in pairs. In the quasi-experimental research design, the learners in the treatment group received special training in CL for 5 weeks while the learners in the comparison group did not receive similar training. Data were collected from 45 McMaster University students through pre- and posttests, pre- and postintervention questionnaires, student information, and informal classroom observations. To detennine the influence of training, the frequency of communication units (c-units), Language Related Episodes (LREs), Collaborative Dialogue (CD) from audio-taped data, and the fmal draft scores were compared between pre- and posttests. The learners' pre- and postintervention questionnaires were also compared. Transcripts from audio-taped data, students' information, their responses and comments from questionnaires, and informal observations served to investigate the processes of Asian learners' CL. Overall, this study found that training had significant influence on the frequency of c-units and CD, and considerable impact on the draft scores, although little influence on the frequency of LREs was observed. The results from the questionnaires in the treatment group showed positive changes in the learners' beliefs on pair work after training. On the other hand, analyses of the transcription data showed that the learners did not conduct enough discussion for a resolution of problems with peers. In conclusion, results suggested the need for teacher intervention, a longer period of collaborative training, and an implementation of self-evaluation into the course grade to encourage the learners to succeed in collaborative learning.

The Effects of Drama on Oral Fluency and Foreign Language Anxiety: An exploratory study

Previous research has suggested that drama has positive effects on learners' oral communication and anxiety; however, it is unclear which dimensions, or to what extent, they are affected by drama. This research narrows the investigation by examining how a drama-based EFL program impacts three dimensions of oral communication: fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness, and one anxiety factor - foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) -, over time. Speech samples were collected from EFL learners in a treatment and a control group, and subsequently assessed by untrained Canadian-born raters. FLSA levels were measured through questionnaires and interviews. Pre- and post-test analysis indicate that learners in the treatment group made significant gains in oral fluency while oral fluency among learners in the control group remained unchanged. There was a significant reduction in FLSA levels among learners in both groups. Finally, qualitative analyses suggest that drama activities, among others, enhance learners' comfort levels in speaking English.

An investigation on peer feedback for EFL students ages 10 to 14 /

The purpose of this study was to leam more about how EFL (English as Foreign Language) students interacted during peer feedback conferences. Thirty EFL students from Mexico aged 10 to 14 years old participated in this study. The following four main questions were addressed: 1 . What criteria did the students use to evaluate their peers' writing? 2. What revisions were made in relation to peer feedback comments? 3. What was the students' behaviour like during peer feedback conferences? 4. What were the students' perceived attitudes concerning peer feedback conferences? Each of the 30 students wrote a first and a second draft and then took part in a peer feedback conference. All students were interviewed and asked to rate a story and provide a peer feedback comment for the author during interview. The study found that the EFL students were able to provide comments to their peers' writing, but only after their third conference were they actually able to provide higher level comments. The majority of students said that they liked peer feedback sessions. The results also indicated that the students needed more practice with their revisions because they did not make a lot of revisions to make their writing clearer with fewer mistakes. This study concludes that there still needs to be further research. First of all, it would be useful to conduct a similar study with EFL students but one that is conducted over a longer period of time in order to determine if the students continued to develop their peer feedback comments and revision strategies.