Challenges Pupils Face in Learning Phonological Skills: A Case of Bunda District, Tanzania

This study assessed pupils’ phonological awareness (PA) skills in reading English language among Primary Schools in Bunda, Tanzania. The study was guided by the Interactive Theory developed by Rumelhart (1980) that views reading as a process which employs both the top –down and the bottom –up processes. Collection of data was done by using interviews, focus group discussions and tests. Data collection was also done through classroom observations, interviews, focus group discussions and tests. The major findings revealed that majority pupils in public primary schools and some in English medium schools had low phonological awareness skills.  The pupils faced difficulties in pronouncing words with consonant clusters and in decoding digraphs; they also faced difficulties in recognizing silent sounds and in o decoding words with irregular Grapheme Phoneme Correspondences (GPC). Pupils inserted phonemes within consonant blends and in word finals as a result of Kiswahili and mother tongue influences. The study concluded that pupils will excel in learning phonological skills if teachers strictly employ phonics strategies such as segmentation, blending, substitution, deletion and rhyming games. Moreover, teachers in English medium primary schools and their colleagues in public schools should work closely together in addressing the strategies and techniques of imparting phonological awareness skills to pupils

A qualitative study of classroom teacher practices with English as a second language students

While there are multiple studies relating to the ESL specialist, the area of classroom teachers\u27 practices in teaching ESL students is largely unexplored. It was the intention of this research to examine the adaptations, and accommodations made by classroom teachers when they have an ESL student in their classroom. The intent of the researcher was to uncover, through interview and observation, what actually occurs in these mainstream classes to facilitate learning for ESL students. The analysis of the interviews revealed rich information about the classroom teacher\u27s uses of those methods, which are effective with first language students, with the ESL students in her classroom. The conclusions of the study were that primary teachers in Knox County are using a variety of successful strategies with the ESL students in their classrooms; that primary classrooms are well suited for teaching ESL students because of the language focus of the curriculum; that the classroom teacher is a vital part of the language instruction team; and that classroom teachers need encouragement and assistance when teaching ESL students in their classrooms. The study concluded with recommendations for future study. The researcher recommended continuation of qualitative studies using interviews and observations in a variety of settings. In addition several recommendations were made for quantitative research concerning acculturation, parental support, attitudes toward learning a second language, learning leaps, curriculum design and testing

Scaffolding in the Center: Training Tutors to Facilitate Learning Interactions with L2 Writers

abstract: Writing centers are learning settings and communities at the intersection of multiple disciplines and boundaries, which afford opportunities for rich learning experiences. However, navigating and negotiating boundaries as part of the learning is not easy or neutral work. Helping tutors shift from fixing to facilitating language and scaffolding literacy learning requires training. This is particularly true as tutors work with second or subsequent language (L2) writers, a well-documented area of tension. This mixed methods action research study, conducted at a large university in the United States (US), centered on a tutor training intervention designed to improve writing tutors’ scaffolding with L2 learners by increasing tutors’ concrete understanding of scaffolding and shifting the ways tutors view and value L2 writers and their writing. Using a sociocultural framework, including understanding writing centers as communities of practices and sites for experiential learning, the effectiveness of the intervention was examined through pre- and post-intervention surveys and interviews with tutors, post-intervention focus groups with L2 writers, and post-intervention observations of tutorials with L2 writers. Results indicated a shift in tutors’ use of scaffolding, reflecting increased understanding of scaffolding techniques and scaffolding as participatory and multidirectional. Results also showed that post-intervention, tutors increasingly saw themselves as learners and experienced a decrease in confidence scaffolding with L2 writers. Findings also demonstrated ways in which time, common ground, and participation mediate scaffolding within tutorials. These findings provide implications for tutor education, programmatic policy, and writing center administration and scholarship, including areas for further interdisciplinary action research.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 201

Speech intelligibility: a study of Iraqi EFL learners’ accented English

Intelligibility refers to a targeted pronunciation level in English which enables non-native English speakers to produce and understand English speech uttered by both native and non-native English speakers (Abercrombie, 1949; Gimson, 2001; Cruttenden, 2014; Munro and Derwing, 2006; Levis, 2016). Instead of pursuing perfect mastery of English pronunciation, most researchers recommend intelligibility as an achievable and practical pronunciation goal (Gimson, 2001; Quirk, 1990; Jenkins, 2000;James, 2014). Although intelligibility is currently the focus of pronunciation studies and classroom instructions, it has not been applied in the Iraqi EFL classrooms and pronunciation research (see Al- Juwari, 1997; Ahmed, 2000; Mahud, 1998; Rashid, 2009; Khudhair, 2015; AlAbdely and Thai, 2016; Al-Owaidi, 2017). The theoretical assumption of the study is that an intelligibility level of universal validity for EFL learners is best achieved when speech performance in English is based on a native English speakers’ pronunciation model, namely Gimson’s (2001) Minimum General Intelligibility (MGI). Applying a mixed methods approach, the present study investigates the productive and perceptive intelligibility of Iraqi EFL learners in relation to foreign accent and accent familiarity. Productive intelligibility refers to learners’ English speech being understood by others. This is determined by a production intelligibility test. By contrast, perceptive intelligibility refers to the ability of learners to understand native and non-native English speech. This is determined by a perception intelligibility test. The study measures the above two aspects of intelligibility, identifies which aspects of foreign accent and accent familiarity most negatively affect intelligibility and determines the various strategies these learners use to overcome intelligibility failure. The overall quantitative analysis shows that Iraqi EFL learners are intelligible at the speech production and perception levels. However, these two aspects of intelligibility are negatively affected by the existence of segmental phonemes in English and Arabic that have no counterpart in the other language and by unfamiliarity with the speaker’s accent. The qualitative analysis identifies several segmental phonemic contrasts of a high functional load which are responsible for intelligibility failure and a list of strategies which the Iraqi EFL learners employ to overcome these failures. Based on the above findings and the nature of the pronunciation problems involved, the study suggests an intelligibility approach to the teaching of pronunciation for Iraqi EFL classrooms. The study concludes with a description of the research implications and applications that derive from the findings of the study

Language ideologies and racialization of language: multilingual learners\u27 experiences in the first year in a community college.

Community colleges have become key sites for preparing diverse and immigrant students for the transition to the workforce and four-year institutions. Yet, despite the recent growths of Multilingual Learners in community colleges, few studies focus on how students experience the first year in college after completing their ESL programs and their relations with instructors and how instructors perceive and interact with students institutionally classified as English as a Second Language (ESL) students. I use theories of language ideologies and racialization of language to understand multilingual learners’ experiences in the first year of college and how interaction with instructors shaped those experiences. I use a qualitative critical approach to analyze data from interviews, fieldnotes, and observations from a year-long study in a community college located in a mid-sized city in the South. This dissertation is divided into six chapters. Chapter one gives an overview of the background of the study and the process of realization of this project throughout a story I tell about my understandings of language and experiences with language learning during my career as an English language teacher and now researcher. Chapter two explores the theories of language ideologies, racialization of language and language identity and how they are connected to understand how Multilingual Learners (MLs) in a community college experience education and access to resources. I explore how language ideologies are used to maintain social power, more specifically, the idea of academic language and language proficiency as a gatekeeper for academic achievement in educational institutions for multilingual learners. In chapter three I describe a critical approach to ideology to examine Multilingual Learners’ experiences in college through interviews, observations and fieldnotes. I focus on beliefs about language and language identity that influence multilingual students’ experiences in higher education. In chapter four, I analyze students’ perceptions of their academic English skills connected to their own ideas of accent, use of grammar and an idealized English proficiency instilled by the interactions with White Americans, including college instructors. Those ideologies formed language identities in which students see themselves as deficient in comparison to the White native speaker of English. In chapter five, I show evidence of instructors’ views of students regarding their cultural, linguistic, and educational and class background. Some of those views revealed ideologies of language standardization that racialized multilingual students through lenses of language standardization and assimilation to American culture that I discussed in chapter six

Greek Mythology Vocabulary Building

The guiding question addressed in this Capstone is: How will the use of task-based vocabulary activities to support literacy development affect the vocabulary acquisition of elementary Korean English language learners? It documents one teacher’s curriculum development of two units that offer a new perspective to ELL vocabulary acquisition by building vocabulary using morphological training then access and build on background knowledge through practical applications which lead to higher comprehension. This project explores a) the role that task-based curriculum plays on literacy development focused on the development activities that supports the vocabulary development of elementary Korean English language learners using Greek root words and affixes beyond vocabulary word lists. b) Uses grapheme, phoneme, morpheme awareness, integrated in a way that helps students understand how words are built and takes the form of a unit plan adapted from Understanding by Design Backward (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). c) Activates student knowledge in the application phase through personalized communication practice

The impact of computer technology on teaching and learning English listening and speaking as a second language in the UK higher education

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Professors and students’ perceptions towards oral corrective feedback in an english language teaching program

El propósito de este estudio fue resaltar las percepciones que tienen los profesores y estudiantes de un programa de licenciatura en lengua inglesa hacia la retroalimentación correctiva en clases de lengua. El estudio fue llevado a cabo en una universidad pública de la ciudad de Pereira en Colombia, en el cual participaron 7 profesores entre hombres y mujeres, como también 15 estudiantes del programa de diferentes sexos a los que se les aplicaron entrevistas individuales. Diferentes observaciones, entrevistas y cuestionarios virtuales fueron usados como métodos de recolección de datos con el propósito de obtener evidencias de los eventos de clase y las percepciones de los profesores y estudiantes. La pregunta que orientó esta investigación fue: ¿qué se puede decir acerca de las percepciones de los profesores y las actitudes de los estudiantes hacia la retroalimentación correctiva oral dada en cursos de lengua en un programa de Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa en Pereira? Los resultados obtenidos indican que aunque los profesores mostraron ser conscientes de la importancia de la retroalimentación correctiva para mejorar la habilidad del habla, la provisión de ésta no se da de una manera consciente, además los resultados muestran la preocupación que los profesores tienen por los efectos negativos que la retroalimentación corrección puede producir en los estudiantes. Como parte final, este estudio quiso demostrar la importancia que tiene la retroalimentación correctiva en la preparación académica de los futuros profesores de inglés con el propósito de ayudar a sus futuros aprendices a mejorar la competencia del habla dentro de un ambiente colaborativo y amigable

Language learning experiences and learning strategy shifts : voices of Chinese (Master) students in one UK university

Although there has been considerable research into Language Learning Strategies (LLS) in a variety of educational and cultural contexts, it is still the case that there have been few sociocultural LLS studies that have tried to understand learners’ approaches to learning and using a second language within a particular cultural context. In contrast to widespread LLS studies conducted within a cognitive psychology framework, this interpretive study has attempted to understand the dynamics of the shifts and developments in language learning strategies used by a group of Chinese Masters students in a UK University within a sociocultural theoretical framework. A qualitative approach was used in this research. Data was collected at three stages over a time span of one year of Chinese students' MA academic study in the UK. The first and second stage data collection involved interviews that explored the participants’ LLS use and how this changed and developed during their period of study abroad. The third stage data collection involved a questionnaire survey to validate whether the salient findings identified from the first and second stage interviews also applied to a wider group. Findings suggest the overall characteristics of the participants’ LLS use tend to be creative, flexible, voluntary and independent. The participants’ dynamic changing language learning strategies were shaped by interaction with various social mediating agents: peers, teachers and tutors and other native speakers, social material resources, technology and other artefacts, socio-contextual realities, assessment modes, and all in interaction with learner agency. The outcomes provide insightful and useful guidance to Chinese university students who are planning to pursue their higher education abroad in English-speaking education systems and offer suggestions to teachers and policy makers in China and the UK about the kinds of support that they can offer Chinese students, especially in terms of the development of their competence in their studies through English

Linguistic complexity of arabic language: a semantic analysis of antonymous homonyms in the holy Qur'ān

Homonymy, is one of the two main sub-divisions of lexical ambiguity that represents the complex nature of form and context of the Qur'anic Arabic which presents a challenge in the translation process. Since Qur'anic discourse abounds with homonymic expressions whose meaning is derived from the context, the translators of the Qur'an should undertake a demanding task decoding the intended meanings. The present paper aims at clarifying some linguistic complexities in some verses of the Qur'ān which may pose difficulty to translators of the holy book most especially those who are not familiar with antonymous homonyms in Arabic language. The reason is that antonymous homonyms are special features of the Qurʾanic Arabic language. It may be viewed as one of the stylistic feature of the Qur'an. Therefore, classification of these linguistic complexity is offered and the samples of these classifications from the Holy Qur'ān are mentioned in relation to antonymous homonyms. Samples of translated Qur'an are compared in order to ascertain the qualities of translations and English translation strategies of the stated verses