Language and interaction in online asynchronous communication in university level English courses

Interaction involves people communicating and reacting to each other. This process is key to the study of discourse, but it is not easy to study systematically how interaction takes place in a specific communicative event, or how it is typically performed over a series of repeated communicative events. However, with a written record of the interaction, it becomes possible to study the process in some detail. This thesis investigates interaction through asynchronous written discussion forums in a computer-mediated learning environment. In particular, this study investigates pragmatic aspects of the communicative event which the asynchronous online discussions comprise. The first case study examines response patterns to messages by looking at the content of initial messages and responses, in order to determine the extent to which characteristics of the messages themselves or other situational factors affect the interaction. The second study examines in what ways participants use a range of discourse devices, including formulaic politeness, humour and supportive feedback as community building strategies in the interaction. The third study investigates the role of the subject line of messages in the interaction, for example by examining how participants choose different types of subject lines for different types of messages. The fourth study examines to what extent features serving a deictic function are drawn on in the interaction and then compares the findings to both oral conversation and formal academic discourse. The overall findings show a complex communicative situation shaped by the medium itself, type of activity, the academic discipline and topic of discussion and by the social and cultural aspects of tertiary education in an online learning environment. In addition, the findings may also provide evidence of learning.  

A Story of English Language Learning – How Can Children’s Literature be Used in Teaching Vocabulary to Young English Language Learners? : - A Literature Review

This study aims to find research relating to the use of children’s literature to promote vocabulary development in young children, particularly English language learners in Sweden. The main questions address how (methods) children’s literature can be used and why (reasons) children’s literature is often recommended for the teaching of vocabulary to young learners. The study also aims to explore reasons against the use of children’s literature in vocabulary teaching found in previous research. A systematic literature review was carried out, including results from five empirical studies. The studies involved native speakers, second language learners and foreign language learners from various backgrounds. The results suggest that while research has shown children’s literature to be a good tool to use with young learners, careful lesson planning needs to be carried out. Direct instruction and scaffolding using pictures, technology and gestures is recommended. Hence, the teacher plays an important part for the vocabulary development using children’s literature in the classroom.

The third language in English guidebooks and its translation into Spanish

[EN] This article focuses on a specific feature found in tourist guidebooks –the recurrent use of foreign expressions or “third language”. It presents the findings of a comparative analysis of a parallel corpus made up of twenty guidebooks: ten guidebooks originally written in English and their corresponding translated versions in Spanish, describing different countries and cities (all of them published by Lonely Planet), focusing on those chapters in which the writer includes practical information. The purpose of the study is to analyze the use of the third language in the English and Spanish versions and to determine and identify the translation strategies used by the translators to transfer these linguistic elements from one language to the other.

Content and English Language Integrated Learning: The use of Moodle in Aircraft Maintenance Training Programs

The aim of this work is to develop a prototype of an e-learning environment that can foster Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for students enrolled in an aircraft maintenance training program, which allows them to obtain a license valid in all EU member states. Background research is conducted to retrace the evolution of the field of educational technology, analyzing different learning theories – behaviorism, cognitivism, and (socio-)constructivism – and reflecting on how technology and its use in educational contexts has changed over time. Particular attention is given to technologies that have been used and proved effective in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Based on the background research and on students’ learning objectives, i.e. learning highly specialized contents and aeronautical technical English, a bilingual approach is chosen, three main tools are identified – a hypertextbook, an exercise creation activity, and a discussion forum – and the learning management system Moodle is chosen as delivery medium. The hypertextbook is based on the technical textbook written in English students already use. In order to foster text comprehension, the hypertextbook is enriched by hyperlinks and tooltips. Hyperlinks redirect students to webpages containing additional information both in English and in Italian, while tooltips show Italian equivalents of English technical terms. The exercise creation activity and the discussion forum foster interaction and collaboration among students, according to socio-constructivist principles. In the exercise creation activity, students collaboratively create a workbook, which allow them to deeply analyze and master the contents of the hypertextbook and at the same time create a learning tool that can help them, as well as future students, to enhance learning. In the discussion forum students can discuss their individual issues, content-related, English-related or e-learning environment-related, helping one other and offering instructors suggestions on how to improve both the hypertextbook and the workbook based on their needs.

Evaluation of the Implementation of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) Methodology in the Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education Course Taught in the Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program at the University of Alicante

Although it is known that the Spanish current Educative System promotes using the Communicate Approach to teach foreign languages in schools, other recently designed approaches are also used to help students improve their skills when communicating in a foreign language. One of these approaches is Content and Language Integrated Learning, also known as CLIL, which is used to teach content courses using the English language as the language of instruction. This approach improves the students’ skills in English as the same time as they learn content from other areas. The goal of this thesis is to present a research project carried out at the University of Alicante during the academic year 2011-2012. With this research we obtained results that provide quantitative and qualitative data which explains how the use of the CLIL methodology affects the English level of students in the “Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education” course in Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program as students acquire the contents of the course.

Dictionary of foreign words and phrases : compiled from English sources and containing foreign words, phrases, mottos, proverbs, place names, titles, allusions and abbreviations from the Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian, Hebrew and other foreign languages, together with English equivalents and definitions and a supplement in Greek orthography.

Mode of access: Internet.

A collection of English vvords not generally used, with their significations and original, in two alphabetical catalogues, the one of such as are proper to the northern, the other to the southern counties. With catalogues of English birds and fishes; and an account of the preparing and refining such metals and minerals as are gotten in England.

Mode of access: Internet.

A grammar of rhetoric, and polite literature : comprehending the principles of language and style ... with rules, for the study of composition and eloquence : illustrated by appropriate examples, selected chiefly from the British classics ...

Mode of access: Internet.

The children's book; a collection of the best and most famous stories and poems in the English language,

Mode of access: Internet.

A grammar of rhetoric and polite literature : comprehending the principles of language and style, and the elements of taste and criticism. For the use of schools, or private instruction /

Mode of access: Internet.

Supporting English language teachers doing further degrees at a distance:a web based strategy researched

This thesis explores how the world-wide-web can be used to support English language teachers doing further studies at a distance. The future of education worldwide is moving towards a requirement that we, as teacher educators, use the latest web technology not as a gambit, but as a viable tool to improve learning. By examining the literature on knowledge, teacher education and web training, a model of teacher knowledge development, along with statements of advice for web developers based upon the model are developed. Next, the applicability and viability of both the model and statements of advice are examined by developing a teacher support site (bttp://www. philseflsupport. com) according to these principles. The data collected from one focus group of users from sixteen different countries, all studying on the same distance Masters programme, is then analysed in depth. The outcomes from the research are threefold: A functioning website that is averaging around 15, 000 hits a month provides a professional contribution. An expanded model of teacher knowledge development that is based upon five theoretical principles that reflect the ever-expanding cyclical nature of teacher learning provides an academic contribution. A series of six statements of advice for developers of teacher support sites. These statements are grounded in the theoretical principles behind the model of teacher knowledge development and incorporate nine keys to effective web facilitation. Taken together, they provide a forward-looking contribution to the praxis of web supported teacher education, and thus to the potential dissemination of the research presented here. The research has succeeded in reducing the proliferation of terminology in teacher knowledge into a succinct model of teacher knowledge development. The model may now be used to further our understanding of how teachers learn and develop as other research builds upon the individual study here. NB: Appendix 4 is only available only available for consultation at Aston University Library with prior arrangement.

Utilising fiction to promote english language acquisition

Towards the end of the university stage, students residing in the United Arab Emirates and specialising in subjects other than English are expected- amongst other university requirements- to have acquired adequate communicative competence as well as a repertoire of critical thinking skills. Despite the efforts made within the field of teaching English to EFL university students in the country, the output gained in terms of acquired skills and competencies is still below expectations. The main concerns of the current thesis are, therefore, a) to investigate the factors which inhibit EFL university students’ progress in the areas of acquiring adequate communicative competence as well as critical thinking skills, and b) to propose a course book and pedagogic methods to improve students’ progress in the areas of acquiring adequate communicative competence as well as critical thinking skills. Believing in the essential role literature plays in enhancing critical thinking and promoting communicative competence on the part of EFL learners, the current study introduces a course, designed and implemented by the researcher: LEARN AND GAIN. The proposed course is fiction-based language teaching, adopting the view that literature is a resource rather than an object, thus advocating the use of literature as one of the main resources in foreign/second language acquisition. Investigating whether or not the proposed course was effective in promoting EFL university students’ communicative competence as well as enhancing their critical thinking skills, a study sample taken from the study population was selected. Adopting an experimental design, the research project involved two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group students were exposed to the proposed course whilst the control group students were exposed to a general English language course. To examine treatment effectiveness, the researcher set and administered a pre-post test. Divided into two main parts, communicative critical reading competence and communicative critical writing competence, the pre-post test measured subjects’ communicative critical reading competence and subjects’ communicative critical writing competence. In addition, a pre-post questionnaire was administered and a semi-structured interview was conducted involving the experimental group students, to gain an awareness of students’ attitudes towards learning literary texts in general, and the proposed course in particular. To examine issues of interest and relevance, gender differences: male vs. female, and university major: science vs. non-science, were also examined for enrichment purposes. For the purpose of gathering sufficient data about subjects’ achievements on the pre-post, the following statistical tests were conducted: Mann-Whitney test, and paired data t-test. Based on the statistical findings, the experimental group students’ performance on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test was significantly better than their counterparts of the control group students. Speaking of gender differences in relation to language performance on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test, no significant differences were cited. Neither did the researcher cite any significant performance differences between science/non-science students on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test. As far as the questionnaire’s findings are concerned, the experimental group students’ responses to the post-questionnaire’s items were more positive than those of their responses to the pre-questionnaire’s, thus indicating some positive attitudes towards literature, which students possibly gained throughout the course of implementation. Relating the discussion to the interview’s results, students conveyed their satisfaction with the proposed course, emphasising that promoting English language skills through the use of literary texts was rewarding. In the light of findings and conclusions, a number of recommendations as well as implications have been proposed. The current study aimed to arrive at some appropriate suggestions to a number of enquiries, yet concluding with some areas of enquiry to be explored for further research.

An investigation of how foreign language departments at American colleges and universities view American Sign Language

Corwin and Wilcox (1985) sent surveys to more than 100 American colleges and universities to determine the policies on the matter of accepting American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language. Their results indicated that 81% of those surveyed rejected ASL as a foreign/modern language equivalent. The most frequently stated opposition to ASL was that it lacked a culture. Some of the other objections to ASL were: ASL is not foreign; there is no written form and therefore no original body of literature; it is a derivative of English; and it is indigenous to the United States and hence not foreign. Based on the work of Corwin and Wilcox this study sent surveys to 222 American colleges and universities. Noting an expanding cognizance and social awareness of ASL and deafness (as seen in the increasing number of movies, plays, television programs, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and related news stories), this study sought to find out if ASL was now considered an acceptable foreign language equivalent. The hypothesis of this study was that change has occurred since the 1985 study: that a significant percent of post secondary schools accepting ASL as a foreign/modern language equivalent has increased. The 165 colleges and universities that responded to this author's survey confirmed there has been a significant shift towards the acceptance of ASL. Only 50% of the respondents objected to ASL as a foreign language equivalent, a significant decrease from the 1985 findings. Of those who objected to granting ASL foreign language credit, the reasons were similar to those of the Corwin and Wilcox study, except that the belief in an absence of a Deaf culture dropped from the top reason listed, to the fifth. That ASL is not foreign was listed as the most frequent objection in this study. One important change which may account for increased acceptance of ASL, is that 16 states (compared to 10 in 1985) now have policies stating that ASL is acceptable as a foreign language equivalent. Two-year colleges, in this study, were more likely to accept ASL than were four-year colleges and universities. Neither two- nor four-year colleges and universities are likely to include ASL in their foreign language departments, and most schools that have foreign language entrance requirements are unlikely to accept ASL. In colleges and universities where ASL was already offered in some department within the system, there was a significantly higher likelihood that foreign language credit was given for ASL. Respondents from states with laws governing the inclusion of ASL did not usually know their state had a policy. Most respondents, 84%, indicated their knowledge on the topic of ASL was fair to poor. ^

English language learners and standardized testing in an urban senior high school

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the influences of literacy variables on high-stakes test performance including: (a) student achievement on the Metropolitan Achievement Test, Seventh Edition (MAT-7) as correlated to the high-stakes test such as the FCAT examination and (b) the English language proficiency attained by English Language Learners (ELL) students when participating in, or exiting from English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program as determined by the Limited English Proficient (LEP) committee. ^ Two one-sample Chi-square tests were conducted to investigate the relationship between passing the MAT-7 Reading and Language examinations and the FCAT-SSS Reading Comprehension and FCAT-NRT examinations. In addition, 2x2 Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to address the relationship between the time ELL students spent in the ESOL program and the level of achievement on MAT-7 Reading and Language examinations and the FCAT-SSS Reading Comprehension and FCAT-NRT. ^ Findings of this study indicated that more ELL students exit the program based on the LEP committee decisions than by passing the MAT-7. The majority of ELL students failed the 10th grade FCAT, the passing of which is needed for graduation. A significant number of ELL students failed, even when passing the MAT-7 or being duly exited through the decision of the LEP committee. The data also indicated that ELL students who exited the ESOL program in six semesters or fewer had higher FCAT scores than those who exited the program in seven semesters or more. The MAT-7 and the decision of the LEP committee were shown to be ineffective as predictors of success on the FCAT. ^ Further research to determine the length of time a student in the ESOL program uses English to read, write, and speak should be conducted. Additionally, the development of a new assessment instrument to better predict student success should be considered. However, it should be noted that the results of this study are limited to the context in which it was conducted and does not warrant generalizations beyond that context. ^