Browsing by Subject "EFL"
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Item A case study of seven Taiwanese English as a foreign language freshman non-English majors' perceptions about learning five communication strategies(2009-05-15) Lin, Grace Hui ChinThe primary purpose of this study was to identify what were Taiwanese University English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners? perceptions about learning communication strategies. This study collected qualitative data about students? beliefs and attitudes as they learned communication strategies. The research question guiding the study was: What are Taiwanese University EFL learners? perceptions about learning five communication strategies? Twenty-four university students were trained for 10 weeks to use strategies in Faerch and Kasper?s (1983a) taxonomy, and seven volunteers were interviewed. None of the students majored in English but were enrolled in a required Basic English course in a Freshman English Non-Majors? (FENM) program in Agriculture College at Tunghai University. In the middle and at the end of the training period, participants were interviewed and videotaped for 90 minutes. The results were as follows: 1) In the reduction set of communication strategies, seven volunteers tended to admit that ?topic avoidance? (1.) was applicable; however, they disagreed about ?keeping silence? because of their concern about politeness. 2) Students had mixed views about ?message abandonment? (2.) that ranged from a neutral position to appropriate and inappropriate usages. 3) In the meaning replacement strategy (3.), most of the students believed that it was convenient to have access to getting to know their interlocutor?s intended meaning. 4) In the second achievement set, four students perceived it was useful, but three students provided their vague attitudes with various suggestions for usage. For the interlanguage strategy (4.), six students noticed it offered a function of enhancing their comprehensibility in English communication, and one student had a neutral attitude. The data revealed students had sufficient and complex perceptions about ?word-coinage.? 5) In the cooperation strategy (5.), six students believed it assisted them to achieve the purpose of learning, but two of seven students believed it was losing face when appealing for help. 6) The constant method of analysis revealed eight themes associated with topic avoidance (1.), message abandonment (2.), meaning replacement (3.), interlanguage (4.), and cooperation (5.) strategies, were mentioned by seven participants. They were comprehension, politeness, intentionality, native language, face-saving (losing-face), interlanguage system, time-saving, and keywords.Item The effects of speaking anxiety on foreign language learning(2009-12) Park, Sae Mee, 1985-; Horwitz, Elaine Kolker, 1950-; Palmer, Deborah K.The purpose of this paper is to examine in depth and to synthesize the literature on foreign language anxiety, with specific focus on speaking anxiety. This paper reviews the development of the foreign language anxiety construct and extensive research on its relationship with other domains of second language acquisition, including specific language skills and language learning processes. Review of the literature has confirmed that foreign language anxiety plays a significant role in learners’ performance and achievement. However, there are still many areas that need further research and clarification. Variables such as individual differences still cloud the relationship between anxiety and achievement, thus suggesting that further research should be conducted in order to clarify the effects of foreign language anxiety and should strive to alleviate learners’ anxiety in the language classroom.Item Goals and priorities for English pronunciation instruction(2013-05) Martin, Kelly Elizabeth; Sardegna, Veronica G.English pronunciation instruction is not a common component of most language classrooms, with the large majority of ESL/EFL teachers lacking the knowledge and expertise to successfully reduce their students’ segmental and suprasegmental pronunciation errors. Therefore, this report aims to provide English teachers with the necessary instructional goals, priorities, and suggestions to guide students in their pronunciation improvement, both during a course and beyond. The first chapter reviews the pronunciation education strategies of the past, and proceeds to offer contemporary approaches for English instructors and learners focusing on autonomous student strategy use. Secondly, the pedagogical priorities for pronunciation improvement in the short and long-term, for both segmental and suprasegmental features, are identified. The third chapter offers suggestions for teachers on how to use these goals and priorities within a course, as well as discussing classroom environments conducive for pronunciation improvement. This report makes a case for the importance of student empowerment through the utilization of autonomous learning strategies, allowing students to take control over their individual language acquisition process.Item Incidental Noticing and EFL Students? Subsequent Second Language Learning in Synchronous Text-based Discussion: An Investigation of Both NES-NNES and NNES-NNES Dyads(2010-10-12) Kung, Wan-TsaiThis dissertation investigated Taiwanese English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners' incidental noticing and their subsequent language learning in relation to learner proficiency level and dyadic type in a text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) environment. Sixty participants were included to form 30 dyads. At random, eight low-intermediate and eight advanced nonnative English speakers (NNESs) were paired with 16 native English speakers (NESs) to form 16 NES-NNES dyads; another 14 advanced NNESs and 14 low-intermediate NNESs were paired to form 14 mixedproficiency NNES-NNES dyads. The results revealed that the synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) medium could, in general, enhance the occurrence of learners' incidental noticing and their subsequent second language (L2) learning regardless of learners' proficiency levels and dyadic types. No significant differences were found in the amount of the language-related episodes (LREs) produced by the NES-NNES dyads when compared to the NNES-NNES dyads. With regard to the number of LREs generated by the learners of different proficiency levels, the results showed that: (1) in the NESNNES dyads, no significant difference was found between the low-intermediate and advanced learners, and (2) in the NNES-NNES dyads, the low-intermediate learners produced a significantly greater number of LREs than their advanced interlocutors. In terms of the effect of interlocutors' proficiency levels on the number of LREs produced by the learners, the results revealed that: (1) the low-intermediate learners in the NESNNES dyads produced a significantly greater number of LREs than the low-intermediate learners in the NNES-NNES dyads, and (2) the advanced learners in the NES-NNES dyads also produced a significantly greater number of LREs than the advanced learners in the NNES-NNES dyads. With respect to the learners' performance on both posttests, the results of chi-square analyses showed that: (1) no significant differences were found both within and across the two dyadic types, and (2) no significant differences were found between learners of different proficiency levels within and across both NES-NNS and NNES-NNES dyads. Logistic regression analyses revealed that five LRE characteristics (type, source, complexity, proficiency, and successful uptake) in the NES-NNES dyads and three LRE characteristics (proficiency, timing and successful uptake) in the NNES-NNES dyads were shown to be significant predictor variables of the learners' subsequent L2 learning. Successful uptake was the most prevalent predictor variable of the learners' subsequent L2 learning across the two dyadic types. Besides, proficiency appeared to be the second prevalent variable but played a different role in these two dyadic types. Considering the language aspects focused in the LREs, negotiations on the linguistic features of grammar, vocabulary, and spelling were much more prevalent than the pragmatic aspects of language.Item Pragmatics in foreign language instruction: the effects of pedagogical intervention and technology on the development of EFL learners' realization of "request"(2009-05-15) Liu, ChianingThis study investigated the effectiveness of explicit pragmatic instruction on the acquisition of requests by college-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Taiwan. The researcher applied quantitative and qualitative approaches to determine first whether the use of explicit pragmatic instruction had a positive effect on EFL learners? pragmatic competence. Second, the relative effectiveness of presenting pragmatics through two delivery systems?face-to-face, in-class activities and computer-mediated communication (CMC) via e-mail and WebCT?was compared. One hundred and eighteen Taiwanese undergraduate students who made up three intact classes in an ?English for Tourism? course completed the entire study. The three groups were: (1) the control group, in which students received no explicit instruction on pragmatics but received instructor-led lessons from the textbook?s teacher?s manual, (2) the experimental/Teacher Instruction (TI) group, in which students learned pragmatics in a face-to-face classroom setting with explicit instruction on pragmatics, and (3) the experimental/CMC group, in which students learned pragmatics explicitly through e-mail and WebCT discussions with their partners at Texas A&M University. There were 40 Taiwanese students in the control group, 36 Taiwanese students in the experimental/Teacher Instruction group and 42 Taiwanese students in the experimental/CMC group. Treatment types (Control/TI/CMC) were randomly assigned to the intact classes. The results showed that explicit pragmatic instruction had a positive impact on the EFL learners in both the Teacher Instruction and CMC groups. Learners who received explicit pragmatic instruction performed better on the Discourse Completion Task posttest than those who did not. The findings also indicated that technology can be a valuable tool for delivering pragmatics instruction.Item Spelling English Words: Contributions of Phonological, Morphological and Orthographic Processing Skills of Turkish EFL Students in Grades 6-8(2014-11-12) Unal, MelikeThe number of studies examining the simultaneous impact of multi-level metalinguistic skills influencing spelling in English is scarce. Spelling necessitates an integrated and simultaneous working of various linguistic, metalinguistic skills, and socio-cultural (SES) factors. The present study investigates the concurrent influence of multi-level metalinguistic skills including phonological, morphological, and orthographic knowledge in English as well as the impact of socio-cultural factors on EFL spelling of Turkish 6th, 7th, and 8th grade pupils (N= 367). Measures tapping phonological, morphological, and orthographic skills in English (L2) and a background questionnaire were administered to Turkish 6th to 8th grade EFL children recruited in multiple school sites in a city of Turkey. A robust configural baseline confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model for all grades confirmed that the observed variables constructed a three-factor model (phono, morpho, ortho), as it was hypothesized. The second-order structural equation model (SEM) confirmed the three metalinguistic skills work simultaneously and they tap into the linguistic repertoire construct, which predicted EFL word-spelling of Turkish 6th, 7th, and 8th grade pupils. This provides converging results with linguistic repertoire theory, which suggests utilizing multiple metalinguistic skills when spelling words and teaching spelling. The final SEM model with the integrated SES factors (i.e., SES, home-literacy, and additional English exposure) also reported good model fit statistics where the English exposure factor had the highest regression coefficient on EFL word spelling outcomes. The spelling error analyses showed parallel findings to the quantitative analyses, that phonology and orthography, but not morphology, were the two significant predictors of word spelling errors by Turkish 6th to 8th graders. The key findings can inform foreign language teachers about the roles of phonological, morphological, and orthographic processing skills in English spelling. The pedagogical implications of the present study included the importance of directly teaching the three metalinguistic skills when EFL teachers are engaged in spelling instruction. The findings can also inform Turkey?s foreign language education policy decision making by recommending the tailoring of policy and curriculum according to students? needs.