Browsing by Subject "Second language learning"
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Item Analyzing Topical Structure in ESL Essays: Not All Topics are Equal(Copyright © Cambridge University Press [BREAK]The original doi for the as-published version of the article is 10.1017/S0272263100009517. To access the doi, open the following DOI site in your browser and cut and paste the doi name where indicated: [LINK]http://dx.doi.org[/LINK][BREAK]Access to the original article may require subscription and authorized logon ID/password. IUPUI faculty/staff/students please check University Library resources before purchasing an article. Questions on finding the original article via our databases? Ask a librarian: [LINK]http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/research/askalibrarian[/LINK]., 1990) Schneider, Melanie; Connor, Ulla, 1948-Topical structure analysis (TSA), a text-based approach to the study of topic in discourse, has been useful in identifying text-based features of coherence. It has also been used to distinguish between essays written by groups of native English speakers with varying degrees of writing proficiency (Witte, 1983a, 1983b). More recently, TSA has distinguished between higher and lower rated ESL essays, but with different results from those found with native speakers of English (Connor & Schneider, 1988). The present study replicated the previous ESL study of two groups of essays written for the TOEFL Test of Written English with three groups of essays. Findings indicate that two topical structure variables, proportions of sequential and parallel topics in the essays, differentiate the highest rated group from the two lower rated groups. We offer explanations for the results and propose that all occurrences of a particular type of topic progression do not contribute equally to the coherence of a text.Item Culture in an English-language Training Program(Publisher of original article: Chinese University Press. Copyright © 2004 Chinese University Press[BREAK]The definitive publisher-authenticated version of: Connor, Ulla, Rozycki, William, and Kyle McIntosh. "Culture in an English-Language Training Program". Asian Journal of English Language Teaching 16, (2006): 89-112, is available online at:[BREAK][LINK]http://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/ojs/index.php/AJELT/issue/view/30[/LINK][BREAK]Access to the original article may require subscription and authorized logon ID/password. IUPUI faculty/staff/students please check University Library resources before purchasing an article. Questions on finding the original article via our databases? Ask a librarian: [LINK]http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/research/askalibrarian[/LINK]., 2006) Connor, Ulla, 1948-; Rozycki, William V.; McIntosh, KyleThe received notion of culture as monolithic national identity has in recent decades given way to a new conceptualization. Culture is increasingly viewed as dynamic and multidimensional. Culture can include national or ethnic, but also disciplinary or professional, institutional, consumer, technological, and individual dimensions. This new understanding of culture plays a role in analysis of relationships in the English language classroom between students and instructor, and in negotiations between students and administrators.Item Designing and Evaluating a Transitional Academic Program(© 1999 College Reading and Learning Association. [LINK]http://www.crla.net/journal.htm[/LINK]., 1999) Upton, Thomas A. (Thomas Albin)The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire faced the ethical dilemma of admitting non-native English speaking immigrants and refugees who were academically at-risk, but not providing the academic and language support the students needed to succeed. This paper provides a description and an evaluation of a transitional academic program designed to address these students' language and learning needs as well as help them integrate into the university. Its success is reflected not only in strong student improvement, but in the collaboration of many university departments and units to create an efficient and cost-effective administrative structure.Item Determining Vocabulary to Include in Language Materials: An Example with Marketing Terms(Brigham Young University, 1987-03-27) Teemant, AnnelaItem First and Second Language Use in Reading Comprehension Strategies of Japanese ESL Students(TESL-EJ (Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language - The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language): [LINK]http://www.tesl-ej.org[/LINK]., 1997-11) Upton, Thomas A. (Thomas Albin)Reading in a second language (L2) is not a monolingual event; L2 readers have access to their first language (L1) as they read and many use it as a strategy to help comprehend an L2 text. Due to difficulties in observing the comprehension process, little research has been conducted to try to determine what roles the L1 and L2 play in the reading strategies of L2 readers or how these roles vary at different proficiency levels. This study attempts to address these two issues. Eleven native speakers of Japanese, at two different proficiency levels, were asked to think-aloud –in the language of their thoughts—as they were reading an English text. In retrospective interviews, subjects then listened to their tape-recorded think-aloud protocols and were asked to clarify and explain their thoughts. Three generalizations about L1 and L2 strategy use emerged from the data and are discussed.Item Institutional and Individual Dimensions of Transatlantic Group Work in Network-Based Language Teaching([BREAK]© 2001 Cambridge University Press[BREAK][LINK]http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=318&pmid=80033[/LINK][BREAK]Access to the original article may require subscription and authorized logon ID/password. IUPUI faculty/staff/students please check University Library resources before purchasing an article. Questions on finding the original article via our databases? Ask a librarian: [LINK]http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/research/askalibrarian[/LINK], 2001) Belz, Julie A. (Julie Anne)Network-based language teaching (NBLT) involves the application of global or local communication networks within foreign and second language education (Warschauer and Kern, 2000). In telecollaboration, a type of NBLT, distally located language learners use internet communication tools to support dialogue, debate, collaborative research and social interaction for the purposes of language development and cultural awareness (e.g. Kinginger et al., 1999). To date, the research on NBLT has been limited, focusing primarily on pedagogical implementations of technology and linguistic features of online communication. In particular, researchers have not robustly explored social and institutional dimensions of telecollaboration (Chapelle, 2000:217) nor have they adequately investigated the pervasive assumption that telecollaborative interaction will necessarily and unproblematically afford language learning (e.g. Kramsch and Thorne, to appear). Drawing on social realism (Layder, 1993), a sociological theory which emphasizes the inter-relationship between structure, i.e. society and institution, and agency, i.e. situated activity and psycho-biography, in researching and explaining social action, I present a sociocultural account of German-American telecollaboration. In particular, I explore the meanings that the macro features of (1) language valuation (Hilgendorf, 1996); (2) membership in electronic discourse communities (Gee, 1999); and (3) culturally determined classroom scripts (Hatch, 1992) may have for the differential functionality of virtual group work in this partnership. Differences in group functionality are reflected at the micro-interactional level in terms of (1) frequency and length of correspondence; (2) patterns of discursive behavior such as question-answer pairs; and (3) opportunities for assisted L2 performance and negotiation of meaning. Ethnographic data (e.g. interviews, electronic and classroom discourse, surveys and participant observations) on individual psycho-biographies are interwoven with macro-level descriptions and statistics to paint a rich picture of learner behavior in intercultural telecollaboration. This project is funded by a United States Department of Education International Research and Studies Program Grant (CFDA No.: 84.017A). The author is a research associate for the German component.Item The Pedagogical Mediation of a Developmental Learner Corpus for Classroom-Based Language Instruction(Publisher of original article: Language Learning & Technology (LLT)[BREAK][LINK]http://llt.msu.edu/vol12num3/default.html[/LINK][BREAK]Access to the original article may require subscription and authorized logon ID/password. Please check University Library resources before purchasing an article via the publisher. Questions on finding the original article via our databases? Ask a librarian:[LINK]http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/research/askalibrarian[/LINK], 2008-10) Belz, Julie A. (Julie Anne); Vyatkina, NinaAlthough corpora have been used in language teaching for some time, few empirical studies explore their impact on learning outcomes. We provide a microgenetic account of learners’ responses to corpus-driven instructional units for German modal particles and pronominal da-compounds. The units are based on developmental corpus data produced by native speakers during interactions with the very learners for whom the units are designed. Thus, we address the issue of authentication in corpus-driven language pedagogy. Finally, we illustrate how an ethnographically supplemented developmental learner corpus may contribute to second language acquisition research via dense documentation of micro-changes in learners’ language use over time.Item Predictors of Second-Language Reading Performance(Publisher of original article: Multilingual Matters & Channel View Publications [BREAK][LINK]http://www.multilingual-matters.com/[/LINK][BREAK] Access to the original article may require subscription and authorized logon ID/password. IUPUI faculty/staff/students please check University Library resources before purchasing an article. Questions on finding the original article via our databases? Ask a librarian: [LINK]http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/research/askalibrarian[/LINK]., 1983) Connor, Ulla, 1948-This study identified individual, instructional and socio-cultural factors that are reliable predictors of limited-English-proficiency (LEP) children's reading performance in English. The reading comprehension section of the Metropolitan Achievement Test was used to assess the reading skills of 91 LEP students (K-12) with different linguistic backgrounds in the U.S. school system. Information about the independent variables was gathered from a special questionnaire. The data were analysed by means of multiple regression analysis. The results of regression analysis showed that in this sample, grade, Vietnamese language background, percentage of English spoken at home, higher level paternal occupation, and a relatively high number of students in the English-as-a-second-language class had positive effects on the reading skills of the subjects. With these data it was impossible to separate the impact of length of U.S. residence from the length of ESL instruction in U.S. Intensity of ESL instruction showed a statistically significant negative effect on the reading scores. There were several predictors which did not have a significant effect on reading performance: gender, number of siblings and sibling position, hours of television watching, number of public library visits, length parents' stay in the U.S., parents' levels of education and social status, and mother's staying at home. A central theme of this study is that single-variate approaches are inadequate to study the causes of reading performance; rather, several predictors should be employed to measure true relationships between L2 reading performance and independent predictors.Item Student Success through Leadership Self-Efficacy: A Comparison of International and Domestic Students(Journal of International Students, 2016) Nguyễn, David Hòa Khoa; School of EducationThere is scarce research that examines the leadership experiences of international students on campus. Leadership capacity and efficacy are important indicators of success in higher education and are linked to important academic, career, and life benefits, such as career and leadership aspirations, work performance, the ability to cope and overcome stereotypes, and the adaptation to and persistence in the face of challenging situations. This quantitative study focuses on international students' confidence in their leadership abilities while studying in a foreign country and system in comparison with their domestic student peers. Findings suggest that college campuses and higher education professionals need to do a better job at engaging their international students in leadership opportunities while being culturally relevant.Item Trends in Language Teaching Methods.(Publisher of original article: SUKOL Finnish Language Teachers Association., 1983) Connor, Ulla, 1948-The basis for this discussion comes from my foreign language learning experiences in Finnland and ESL (English as a second language) teaching experiences at various levels in the United States in schools and at universities teaching English to adults of many different language backgrounds. Additionally, I will incorporate information from my teacher training experience at George Town University, where we have more than 200 graduate students studying for the MA and Ph.D. degrees in Linguistics and ESL. Of our students 60% come from abroad, mainly from the Middle East and South America.