Vocabulary learning in an automated graded reading program

Adult L2 learners are often encouraged to acquire new words through reading in order to promote language proficiency. Yet preparing suitable reading texts is often a challenge for teachers because the chosen texts must have a high percentage of words familiar to specific groups of learners in order to allow the inference of word meanings from context. With the help of word lists research and advances in quantitative corpus analyses using word frequency computer programs, this study selected sixteen articles from the computer corpus of a local Chinese-English magazine and used them to construct an online English extensive reading program. A preliminary assessment of the reading program was conducted with 38 college students over twelve weeks based upon vocabulary gains from a pretest to a posttest. The results showed that learners improved their vocabulary scores after using the reading program. The online extensive reading syllabus demonstrated that such a design for a reading program is technically feasible and pedagogically beneficial and provides value in both vocabulary gains and learner satisfaction

The impact of formal instruction on second language grammatical accuracy

It is commonly observed that many individuals continue to make grammatical errors in speaking a second/foreign language in spite of long years of study of the language and/or many years of residence in a country where the language is spoken. Although it was once commonly accepted that formal instruction (i.e., instruction emphasizing the grammatical forms of the language) could improve grammatical accuracy, there is now considerable debate about this issue. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which and how such formal instruction could improve second language grammatical accuracy.Two Chinese-speaking adult students who were adult learners of English participated in this study. They took three pre-instruction tests which included several oral tasks and a written grammaticality judgment test. Then 16 hours of formal instruction were given. During the instruction, subjects were interviewed weekly to show how they progressed. After the instruction, two post-instruction tests were administered with a lapse of six weeks in between.All language data were analyzed with respect to the use of six linguistic structures: articles, subject-verb agreement, present/past tense verb markers, two-word verbs, WH questions, and topic-prominent features. Both subjects improved in their grammaticality judgment tests. However, only three features--generic articles, third person singular -s, and general subject-verb agreement--showed notable improvement in the oral tasks. The subjects appeared to monitor their English more as a result of grammatical consciousness-raising activities in the instruction. Evidence of restructuring of their second language knowledge was also found as indicated by reduced use and less accurate use of certain linguistic structures.Based on findings in the study, it is argued that neither the interface nor the non-interface position is generally true concerning the impact of formal instruction on grammatical accuracy in spontaneous speech for all types of linguistic structures and learners. While the non-interface position is best supported by the results of this study, 'learning' can become 'acquisition' given the right type of instruction and enough practice for certain linguistic structures. More research is clearly needed both to replicate these findings of the limits of formal instruction and to attempt to determine which factors play a role in turning 'learning' into 'acquisition.' The impact of formal instruction on the written tests together with its limited impact on spontaneous speech as found in this study suggests that both formal instruction and communicative language teaching should be included in educational programs designed to teach both oral and written second/foreign language skills.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio

Development Of A New Phemt-Based Electrostatic Discharge Protection Structure

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structures in the GaAs technology are commonly constructed using enhancement-mode single-gate (SG) pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) devices. This paper develops an improved ESD protection clamp based on a novel multigate pHEMT. With approximately the same layout area, the proposed ESD protection clamp can carry an ESD current three times higher than the conventional SG pHEMT clamp under the human body model stress. Moreover, the new ESD clamp shows promising results when characterized under the charged device model stress. The parasitic capacitance of the new ESD clamp is also measured to assess its suitability for high-frequency ESD applications. © 2006 IEEE

Development Of An Electrostatic Discharge Protection Solution In Gan Technology

In this letter, a robust and effective gallium nitride (GaN)-pHEMT-based electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structure is developed for the first time. The structure consists of a depletion-mode GaN pHEMT, a trigger diode chain, a pinchoff diode chain, and a current limiter. Results pertinent to critical ESD parameters, such as the trigger voltage, leakage current, on-state resistance, and robustness, are measured using the transmission line pulsing (TLP) tester. It is demonstrated that such an ESD clamp can sustain a TLP stress of up to 3 A. The two diode chains are found to play critical roles in determining the trigger voltage and leakage current. Increasing the trigger diode number increases the trigger voltage. On the other hand, adding more pinchoff diodes also increases the trigger voltage and simultaneously reduces the leakage current. The design tradeoffs for the proposed ESD clamp are also discussed. © 2013 IEEE