Sample records for academic spoken english

  1. The Frequency and Functions of "Just" in British Academic Spoken English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grant, Lynn E.

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates the frequency and functions of "just" in British academic spoken English. It adopts the meanings of "just" established by Lindemann and Mauranen, 2001, taken from the occurrences of "just" across five speech events in the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) to see if they also apply to occurrences of "just"…

  2. The Academic Spoken Word List

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dang, Thi Ngoc Yen; Coxhead, Averil; Webb, Stuart

    2017-01-01

    The linguistic features of academic spoken English are different from those of academic written English. Therefore, for this study, an Academic Spoken Word List (ASWL) was developed and validated to help second language (L2) learners enhance their comprehension of academic speech in English-medium universities. The ASWL contains 1,741 word…

  3. The Development and Validation of the "Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS)" for Non-Native English Speaking Graduate Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schroeder, Rui M.

    2016-01-01

    This study reports on the three-year development and validation of a new assessment tool--the Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS). The questionnaire is the first of its kind to assess the listening and speaking strategy use of non-native English speaking (NNES) graduate students. A combination of sources was used to develop the…

  4. Evaluating the spoken English proficiency of graduates of foreign medical schools.

    PubMed

    Boulet, J R; van Zanten, M; McKinley, D W; Gary, N E

    2001-08-01

    The purpose of this study was to gather additional evidence for the validity and reliability of spoken English proficiency ratings provided by trained standardized patients (SPs) in high-stakes clinical skills examination. Over 2500 candidates who took the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates' (ECFMG) Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) were studied. The CSA consists of 10 or 11 timed clinical encounters. Standardized patients evaluate spoken English proficiency and interpersonal skills in every encounter. Generalizability theory was used to estimate the consistency of spoken English ratings. Validity coefficients were calculated by correlating summary English ratings with CSA scores and other external criterion measures. Mean spoken English ratings were also compared by various candidate background variables. The reliability of the spoken English ratings, based on 10 independent evaluations, was high. The magnitudes of the associated variance components indicated that the evaluation of a candidate's spoken English proficiency is unlikely to be affected by the choice of cases or SPs used in a given assessment. Proficiency in spoken English was related to native language (English versus other) and scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The pattern of the relationships, both within assessment components and with external criterion measures, suggests that valid measures of spoken English proficiency are obtained. This result, combined with the high reproducibility of the ratings over encounters and SPs, supports the use of trained SPs to measure spoken English skills in a simulated medical environment.

  5. Enhancing the Performance of Female Students in Spoken English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Inegbeboh, Bridget O.

    2009-01-01

    Female students have been discriminated against right from birth in their various cultures and this affects the way they perform in Spoken English class, and how they rate themselves. They have been conditioned to believe that the male gender is superior to the female gender, so they leave the male students to excel in spoken English, while they…

  6. Asian/Pacific Islander Languages Spoken by English Learners (ELs). Fast Facts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office of English Language Acquisition, US Department of Education, 2015

    2015-01-01

    The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page PDF sheets, by topic, with graphics, plus key contacts. The topics for this report on Asian/Pacific Islander languages spoken by English Learners (ELs) include: (1) Top 10 Most Common Asian/Pacific Islander Languages Spoken Among ELs:…

  7. Some Steps To Improve Your Spoken English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mellor, Jeff

    The guide contains suggestions for University of Tennessee, Knoxville foreign teaching assistants to improve their command of spoken English. The first section offers four speech improvement suggestions requiring little or no extra time, including speaking English as much and as often as possible, imitating native speakers, asking for the correct…

  8. English Listeners Use Suprasegmental Cues to Lexical Stress Early during Spoken-Word Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jesse, Alexandra; Poellmann, Katja; Kong, Ying-Yee

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: We used an eye-tracking technique to investigate whether English listeners use suprasegmental information about lexical stress to speed up the recognition of spoken words in English. Method: In a visual world paradigm, 24 young English listeners followed spoken instructions to choose 1 of 4 printed referents on a computer screen (e.g.,…

  9. In a Manner of Speaking: Assessing Frequent Spoken Figurative Idioms to Assist ESL/EFL Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grant, Lynn E.

    2007-01-01

    This article outlines criteria to define a figurative idiom, and then compares the frequent figurative idioms identified in two sources of spoken American English (academic and contemporary) to their frequency in spoken British English. This is done by searching the spoken part of the British National Corpus (BNC), to see whether they are frequent…

  10. Teaching the Spoken Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Gillian

    1981-01-01

    Issues involved in teaching and assessing communicative competence are identified and applied to adolescent native English speakers with low levels of academic achievement. A distinction is drawn between transactional versus interactional speech, short versus long speaking turns, and spoken language influenced or not influenced by written…

  11. User-Centred Design for Chinese-Oriented Spoken English Learning System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yu, Ping; Pan, Yingxin; Li, Chen; Zhang, Zengxiu; Shi, Qin; Chu, Wenpei; Liu, Mingzhuo; Zhu, Zhiting

    2016-01-01

    Oral production is an important part in English learning. Lack of a language environment with efficient instruction and feedback is a big issue for non-native speakers' English spoken skill improvement. A computer-assisted language learning system can provide many potential benefits to language learners. It allows adequate instructions and instant…

  12. Investigating L2 Spoken English through the Role Play Learner Corpus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nava, Andrea; Pedrazzini, Luciana

    2011-01-01

    We describe an exploratory study carried out within the University of Milan, Department of English the aim of which was to analyse features of the spoken English of first-year Modern Languages undergraduates. We compiled a learner corpus, the "Role Play" corpus, which consisted of 69 role-play interactions in English carried out by…

  13. Spoken English. "Educational Review" Occasional Publications Number Two.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilkinson, Andrew; And Others

    Modifications of current assumptions both about the nature of the spoken language and about its functions in relation to personality development are suggested in this book. The discussion covers an explanation of "oracy" (the oral skills of speaking and listening); the contributions of linguistics to the teaching of English in Britain; the…

  14. AI-Based Chatterbots and Spoken English Teaching: A Critical Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sha, Guoquan

    2009-01-01

    The aim of various approaches implemented, whether the classical "three Ps" (presentation, practice, and production) or communicative language teaching (CLT), is to achieve communicative competence. Although a lot of software developed for teaching spoken English is dressed up to raise interaction, its methodology is largely rooted in tradition.…

  15. Automated Scoring of L2 Spoken English with Random Forests

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kobayashi, Yuichiro; Abe, Mariko

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of the present study is to assess second language (L2) spoken English using automated scoring techniques. Automated scoring aims to classify a large set of learners' oral performance data into a small number of discrete oral proficiency levels. In automated scoring, objectively measurable features such as the frequencies of lexical and…

  16. Automatic translation among spoken languages

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Walter, Sharon M.; Costigan, Kelly

    1994-01-01

    The Machine Aided Voice Translation (MAVT) system was developed in response to the shortage of experienced military field interrogators with both foreign language proficiency and interrogation skills. Combining speech recognition, machine translation, and speech generation technologies, the MAVT accepts an interrogator's spoken English question and translates it into spoken Spanish. The spoken Spanish response of the potential informant can then be translated into spoken English. Potential military and civilian applications for automatic spoken language translation technology are discussed in this paper.

  17. English Listeners Use Suprasegmental Cues to Lexical Stress Early During Spoken-Word Recognition

    PubMed Central

    Poellmann, Katja; Kong, Ying-Yee

    2017-01-01

    Purpose We used an eye-tracking technique to investigate whether English listeners use suprasegmental information about lexical stress to speed up the recognition of spoken words in English. Method In a visual world paradigm, 24 young English listeners followed spoken instructions to choose 1 of 4 printed referents on a computer screen (e.g., “Click on the word admiral”). Displays contained a critical pair of words (e.g., ˈadmiral–ˌadmiˈration) that were segmentally identical for their first 2 syllables but differed suprasegmentally in their 1st syllable: One word began with primary lexical stress, and the other began with secondary lexical stress. All words had phrase-level prominence. Listeners' relative proportion of eye fixations on these words indicated their ability to differentiate them over time. Results Before critical word pairs became segmentally distinguishable in their 3rd syllables, participants fixated target words more than their stress competitors, but only if targets had initial primary lexical stress. The degree to which stress competitors were fixated was independent of their stress pattern. Conclusions Suprasegmental information about lexical stress modulates the time course of spoken-word recognition. Specifically, suprasegmental information on the primary-stressed syllable of words with phrase-level prominence helps in distinguishing the word from phonological competitors with secondary lexical stress. PMID:28056135

  18. Generic Reference in English, Arabic and Malay: A Cross Linguistic Typology and Comparison

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    AL-Malki, Eidhah Abdullah; Majid, Norazman Abdul; Omar, Noor Abidah Mohd

    2014-01-01

    According to the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English 1999 by Biber et al. (p. 266) generic article uses are more than twice as common in academic English than in conversation or fiction. This is an area that English for Academic Purpose (EPA) textbooks and teachers would need to target more than general English teaching. This paper is…

  19. Effects of Tasks on Spoken Interaction and Motivation in English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carrero Pérez, Nubia Patricia

    2016-01-01

    Task based learning (TBL) or Task based learning and teaching (TBLT) is a communicative approach widely applied in settings where English has been taught as a foreign language (EFL). It has been documented as greatly useful to improve learners' communication skills. This research intended to find the effect of tasks on students' spoken interaction…

  20. The Influence of Teacher Power on English Language Learners' Self-Perceptions of Learner Empowerment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diaz, Abel; Cochran, Kathryn; Karlin, Nancy

    2016-01-01

    English language learners (ELL) are students with a primary language spoken other than English enrolled in U.S. educational settings. As ELL students take on the challenges of learning English and U.S. culture, they must also learn academic content. The expectation to succeed academically in a foreign culture and language, while learning to speak…

  1. Improving the Grammatical Accuracy of the Spoken English of Indonesian International Kindergarten Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gozali, Imelda; Harjanto, Ignatius

    2014-01-01

    The need to improve the spoken English of kindergarten students in an international preschool in Surabaya prompted this Classroom Action Research (CAR). It involved the implementation of Form-Focused Instruction (FFI) strategy coupled with Corrective Feedback (CF) in Grammar lessons. Four grammar topics were selected, namely Regular Plural form,…

  2. Test Anxiety Analysis of Chinese College Students in Computer-Based Spoken English Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yanxia, Yang

    2017-01-01

    Test anxiety was a commonly known or assumed factor that could greatly influence performance of test takers. With the employment of designed questionnaires and computer-based spoken English test, this paper explored test anxiety manifestation of Chinese college students from both macro and micro aspects, and found out that the major anxiety in…

  3. Strategic English Writing for Academic Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Grace Hui Chin

    2017-01-01

    Writing is one of the four abilities in English Learning. Many students need to write their theses and dissertations in English in order to achieve their academic degrees. English writing is in fact an access of international and intercultural communication with native-speakers and non-native speakers, in academic fields. After reading abundant…

  4. Narrative skills in deaf children who use spoken English: Dissociations between macro and microstructural devices.

    PubMed

    Jones, -A C; Toscano, E; Botting, N; Marshall, C-R; Atkinson, J R; Denmark, T; Herman, -R; Morgan, G

    2016-12-01

    Previous research has highlighted that deaf children acquiring spoken English have difficulties in narrative development relative to their hearing peers both in terms of macro-structure and with micro-structural devices. The majority of previous research focused on narrative tasks designed for hearing children that depend on good receptive language skills. The current study compared narratives of 6 to 11-year-old deaf children who use spoken English (N=59) with matched for age and non-verbal intelligence hearing peers. To examine the role of general language abilities, single word vocabulary was also assessed. Narratives were elicited by the retelling of a story presented non-verbally in video format. Results showed that deaf and hearing children had equivalent macro-structure skills, but the deaf group showed poorer performance on micro-structural components. Furthermore, the deaf group gave less detailed responses to inferencing probe questions indicating poorer understanding of the story's underlying message. For deaf children, micro-level devices most strongly correlated with the vocabulary measure. These findings suggest that deaf children, despite spoken language delays, are able to convey the main elements of content and structure in narrative but have greater difficulty in using grammatical devices more dependent on finer linguistic and pragmatic skills. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. The relationship between spoken English proficiency and participation in higher education, employment and income from two Australian censuses.

    PubMed

    Blake, Helen L; Mcleod, Sharynne; Verdon, Sarah; Fuller, Gail

    2018-04-01

    Proficiency in the language of the country of residence has implications for an individual's level of education, employability, income and social integration. This paper explores the relationship between the spoken English proficiency of residents of Australia on census day and their educational level, employment and income to provide insight into multilingual speakers' ability to participate in Australia as an English-dominant society. Data presented are derived from two Australian censuses i.e. 2006 and 2011 of over 19 million people. The proportion of Australians who reported speaking a language other than English at home was 21.5% in the 2006 census and 23.2% in the 2011 census. Multilingual speakers who also spoke English very well were more likely to have post-graduate qualifications, full-time employment and high income than monolingual English-speaking Australians. However, multilingual speakers who reported speaking English not well were much less likely to have post-graduate qualifications or full-time employment than monolingual English-speaking Australians. These findings provide insight into the socioeconomic and educational profiles of multilingual speakers, which will inform the understanding of people such as speech-language pathologists who provide them with support. The results indicate spoken English proficiency may impact participation in Australian society. These findings challenge the "monolingual mindset" by demonstrating that outcomes for multilingual speakers in education, employment and income are higher than for monolingual speakers.

  6. The Configuration of Liberia's Englishes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singler, John Victor

    1997-01-01

    Discusses the varieties of Liberian English spoken in Liberia: Kru Pidgin English, spoken by Kru mariners and migrant workers; Settler English, spoken by descendants of 19th-century African American immigrants to Liberia; and Vernacular Liberian English (VLE), spoken by the rest of Liberia's English-speaking population. Focuses on tense aspect in…

  7. The Influence of Students' L1 and Spoken English in English Writing: A Corpus-Based Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prihantoro

    2016-01-01

    Academic writing requires both style and grammatical correctness; however, efforts in improving the quality of English academic writing by non-native students have been focused on grammar. Structures observed in this study were grammatically correct, but considered unnatural in academic writing genre. This research involves a group of non-native…

  8. Elicited Speech from Graph Items on the Test of Spoken English[TM]. Research Reports. Report 74. RR-04-06

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Katz, Irvin R.; Xi, Xiaoming; Kim, Hyun-Joo; Cheng, Peter C. H.

    2004-01-01

    This research applied a cognitive model to identify item features that lead to irrelevant variance on the Test of Spoken English[TM] (TSE[R]). The TSE is an assessment of English oral proficiency and includes an item that elicits a description of a statistical graph. This item type sometimes appears to tap graph-reading skills--an irrelevant…

  9. Gesture in Multiparty Interaction: A Study of Embodied Discourse in Spoken English and American Sign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shaw, Emily P.

    2013-01-01

    This dissertation is an examination of gesture in two game nights: one in spoken English between four hearing friends and another in American Sign Language between four Deaf friends. Analyses of gesture have shown there exists a complex integration of manual gestures with speech. Analyses of sign language have implicated the body as a medium…

  10. Effects of Academic and Non-Academic Instructional Approaches on Preschool English Language Learners' Classroom Engagement and English Language Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Markova, Ivana

    2017-01-01

    This research compared the relative impact of different preschool activities on the development of bilingual students' English-language skills. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more, and use more of their second language (English), during free-play (non-academic) versus teacher-structured (academic)…

  11. Using Computer-Adaptive Assessments of Literacy to Monitor the Progress of English Learner Students. REL 2016-149

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foorman, Barbara; Espinosa, Anabel; Wood, Carla; Wu, Yi-Chieh

    2016-01-01

    A top education priority in the United States is to address the needs of one of the fastest growing yet lowest performing student populations--English learner students (Capps et al., 2005). English learner students come from homes where a non-English language is spoken and need additional academic support to access the mainstream curriculum. These…

  12. The Challenge for Non-First-Language-English Academic Publishing in English Language Research Outlets

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geiger, Vince; Straesser, Rudolf

    2015-01-01

    This paper is a reflective critique of practice within the field of mathematics education in relation to the challenges faced by non-first-language-English speaking academics when they attempt to publish in English language research outlets. Data for this study are drawn from communications between a German and an Australian academic as the…

  13. Talker and accent variability effects on spoken word recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nyang, Edna E.; Rogers, Catherine L.; Nishi, Kanae

    2003-04-01

    A number of studies have shown that words in a list are recognized less accurately in noise and with longer response latencies when they are spoken by multiple talkers, rather than a single talker. These results have been interpreted as support for an exemplar-based model of speech perception, in which it is assumed that detailed information regarding the speaker's voice is preserved in memory and used in recognition, rather than being eliminated via normalization. In the present study, the effects of varying both accent and talker are investigated using lists of words spoken by (a) a single native English speaker, (b) six native English speakers, (c) three native English speakers and three Japanese-accented English speakers. Twelve /hVd/ words were mixed with multi-speaker babble at three signal-to-noise ratios (+10, +5, and 0 dB) to create the word lists. Native English-speaking listeners' percent-correct recognition for words produced by native English speakers across the three talker conditions (single talker native, multi-talker native, and multi-talker mixed native and non-native) and three signal-to-noise ratios will be compared to determine whether sources of speaker variability other than voice alone add to the processing demands imposed by simple (i.e., single accent) speaker variability in spoken word recognition.

  14. The Growth of English for Academic Communication in the Nordic Countries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brock-Utne, Birgit

    2001-07-01

    This article discusses the danger of subtractive English in higher education in Norway. If the use of a mother tongue as the medium of communication at the highest academic levels ceases, is drastically reduced and replaced through the use of a foreign tongue, we may speak of subtractive learning. If the mother tongue is being replaced by a foreign tongue in academic writing, in research and university level teaching, the mother tongue will stagnate. The vocabulary needed has not been allowed to develop at the highest academic level. The author maintains that the Norwegian language is threatened as an academic language and here discusses the following five phenomena, all contributing to this threat: 1. The increasing use of English words in Norwegian academic, bureaucratic or technological language. 2. The sale of more academic literature in English and stagnation of academic literature in Norwegian. 3. The recruitment of teaching staff who do not speak Norwegian. 4. The growth in Master degree courses taught in English. 5. The financial rewards being given to academic staff publishing in an international language (read: English) instead of in the mother tongue.

  15. How appropriate are the English language test requirements for non-UK-trained nurses? A qualitative study of spoken communication in UK hospitals.

    PubMed

    Sedgwick, Carole; Garner, Mark

    2017-06-01

    Non-native speakers of English who hold nursing qualifications from outside the UK are required to provide evidence of English language competence by achieving a minimum overall score of Band 7 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) academic test. To describe the English language required to deal with the daily demands of nursing in the UK. To compare these abilities with the stipulated levels on the language test. A tracking study was conducted with 4 nurses, and focus groups with 11 further nurses. The transcripts of the interviews and focus groups were analysed thematically for recurrent themes. These findings were then compared with the requirements of the IELTS spoken test. The study was conducted outside the participants' working shifts in busy London hospitals. The participants in the tracking study were selected opportunistically;all were trained in non-English speaking countries. Snowball sampling was used for the focus groups, of whom 4 were non-native and 7 native speakers of English. In the tracking study, each of the 4 nurses was interviewed on four occasions, outside the workplace, and as close to the end of a shift as possible. They were asked to recount their spoken interactions during the course of their shift. The participants in the focus groups were asked to describe their typical interactions with patients, family members, doctors, and nursing colleagues. They were prompted to recall specific instances of frequently-occurring communication problems. All interactions were audio-recorded, with the participants' permission,and transcribed. Nurses are at the centre of communication for patient care. They have to use appropriate registers to communicate with a range of health professionals, patients and their families. They must elicit information, calm and reassure, instruct, check procedures, ask for and give opinions,agree and disagree. Politeness strategies are needed to avoid threats to face. They participate in medical

  16. Beyond (F)utilitarianism: English "as" Academic Purpose.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pennycook, Alastair

    1994-01-01

    A discussion of the teaching of English for academic purposes (EAP) focuses on criticism that the content of such courses is thin and that they are offered as a service to other disciplines. It is proposed that the emphasis of EAP instruction be shifted to the role English plays as a medium for conveying meaning to the ways in which English is…

  17. The Use of Academic Words in the Analytical Writing of Secondary English Learners and Native English Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cons, Andrea M.

    2013-01-01

    This study explores the following research question: How do secondary English learners (ELs) and Re-designated fluent English proficient students (RFEPs) use academic words in analytical writing in comparison to native English speakers (NESs)? It highlights previously overlooked differences in academic word use in the writing of students who are…

  18. Self-Ratings of Spoken Language Dominance: A Multilingual Naming Test (MINT) and Preliminary Norms for Young and Aging Spanish-English Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gollan, Tamar H.; Weissberger, Gali H.; Runnqvist, Elin; Montoya, Rosa I.; Cera, Cynthia M.

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated correspondence between different measures of bilingual language proficiency contrasting self-report, proficiency interview, and picture naming skills. Fifty-two young (Experiment 1) and 20 aging (Experiment 2) Spanish-English bilinguals provided self-ratings of proficiency level, were interviewed for spoken proficiency, and…

  19. Evidence That International Undergraduates Can Succeed Academically Despite Struggling with English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fass-Holmes, Barry; Vaughn, Allison A.

    2015-01-01

    Many American universities require international applicants whose native language is not English to submit English proficiency exam scores presumably because of proficiency's potential to predict future academic success. The present study provides evidence, however, that such applicants can succeed academically despite struggling with English.…

  20. Top Languages Spoken by English Language Learners Nationally and by State. ELL Information Center Fact Sheet Series. No. 3

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Batalova, Jeanne; McHugh, Margie

    2010-01-01

    While English Language Learner (ELL) students in the United States speak more than 150 languages, Spanish is by far the most common home or first language, but is not the top language spoken by ELLs in every state. This fact sheet, based on analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, documents the top languages spoken…

  1. English Language Proficiency and Teacher Judgments of the Academic and Interpersonal Competence of English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freberg, Miranda E.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to investigate how English language proficiency is related to teacher judgments of students' academic and interpersonal competence. It was hypothesized that English Language Learner (ELL) students would generally be perceived as having weaker academic and interpersonal skills than their non-ELL counterparts regardless…

  2. Test Review: Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malone, Margaret E.

    2010-01-01

    This article presents a review of the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment, a high stakes standardized test of the English language. It is a topic-based test that integrates listening, reading, writing and speaking. The test is designed to describe the level of English language proficiency of test takers planning to study at…

  3. How vocabulary size in two languages relates to efficiency in spoken word recognition by young Spanish-English bilinguals

    PubMed Central

    Marchman, Virginia A.; Fernald, Anne; Hurtado, Nereyda

    2010-01-01

    Research using online comprehension measures with monolingual children shows that speed and accuracy of spoken word recognition are correlated with lexical development. Here we examined speech processing efficiency in relation to vocabulary development in bilingual children learning both Spanish and English (n=26; 2;6 yrs). Between-language associations were weak: vocabulary size in Spanish was uncorrelated with vocabulary in English, and children’s facility in online comprehension in Spanish was unrelated to their facility in English. Instead, efficiency of online processing in one language was significantly related to vocabulary size in that language, after controlling for processing speed and vocabulary size in the other language. These links between efficiency of lexical access and vocabulary knowledge in bilinguals parallel those previously reported for Spanish and English monolinguals, suggesting that children’s ability to abstract information from the input in building a working lexicon relates fundamentally to mechanisms underlying the construction of language. PMID:19726000

  4. Multimodal Interaction on English Testing Academic Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Magal-Royo, T.; Gimenez-Lopez, J. L.; Garcia Laborda, Jesus

    2012-01-01

    Multimodal interaction methods applied to learning environments of the English language will be a line for future research from the use of adapted mobile phones or PDAs. Today's mobile devices allow access and data entry in a synchronized manner through different channels. At the academic level we made the first analysis of English language…

  5. English Language Support for Engineering Students and Professors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teshigawara, Mihoko

    The University of Tokushima Graduate School of Advanced Technology and Science has launched the International Affiliated Double-Degree Program. In this program students pursue double degrees in engineering at the graduate level organized between the Graduate School and one of its 11 overseas partner institutions. Since the Graduate School is committed to offering content lectures in English, the faculty members involved need a good command of English. Future outgoing students also have to improve their English (and the local language spoken at the partner institution) to conduct academic activities at the partner institution successfully. This paper describes the author‧s continuing efforts toward the provision and improvement of English language support for engineering students and instructors, touching on similar activities elsewhere.

  6. Connecting English Language Learning and Academic Performance: A Prediction Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kong, Jadie; Powers, Sonya; Starr, Laura; Williams, Natasha

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of English language proficiency and academic reading assessment scores to predict the future academic success of English learner (EL) students. Data from two cohorts of middle-school ELs were used to evaluate three prediction models. One cohort of students was used to develop the prediction…

  7. English for Specific Purposes and Academic Literacies: Eclecticism in Academic Writing Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGrath, Lisa; Kaufhold, Kathrin

    2016-01-01

    Academic Literacies and English for Specific Purposes perspectives on the teaching of academic writing tend to be positioned as dichotomous and ideologically incompatible. Nonetheless, recent studies have called for the integration of these two perspectives in the design of writing programmes in order to meet the needs of students in the…

  8. The effect of written text on comprehension of spoken English as a foreign language.

    PubMed

    Diao, Yali; Chandler, Paul; Sweller, John

    2007-01-01

    Based on cognitive load theory, this study investigated the effect of simultaneous written presentations on comprehension of spoken English as a foreign language. Learners' language comprehension was compared while they used 3 instructional formats: listening with auditory materials only, listening with a full, written script, and listening with simultaneous subtitled text. Listening with the presence of a script and subtitles led to better understanding of the scripted and subtitled passage but poorer performance on a subsequent auditory passage than listening with the auditory materials only. These findings indicated that where the intention was learning to listen, the use of a full script or subtitles had detrimental effects on the construction and automation of listening comprehension schemas.

  9. Altering Practices to Include Bimodal-bilingual (ASL-Spoken English) Programming at a Small School for the Deaf in Canada.

    PubMed

    Priestley, Karen; Enns, Charlotte; Arbuckle, Shauna

    2018-01-01

    Bimodal-bilingual programs are emerging as one way to meet broader needs and provide expanded language, educational and social-emotional opportunities for students who are deaf and hard of hearing (Marschark, M., Tang, G. & Knoors, H. (Eds). (2014). Bilingualism and bilingual Deaf education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Paludneviciene & Harris, R. (2011). Impact of cochlear implants on the deaf community. In Paludneviciene, R. & Leigh, I. (Eds.), Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 3-19). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press). However, there is limited research on students' spoken language development, signed language growth, academic outcomes or the social-emotional factors associated with these programs (Marschark, M., Tang, G. & Knoors, H. (Eds). (2014). Bilingualism and bilingual Deaf education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Nussbaum, D & Scott, S. (2011). The cochlear implant education center: Perspectives on effective educational practices. In Paludneviciene, R. & Leigh, I. (Eds.) Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 175-205). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. The cochlear implant education center: Perspectives on effective educational practices. In Paludnevicience & Leigh (Eds). Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 175-205). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press; Spencer, P. & Marschark, M. (Eds.) (2010). Evidence-based practice in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press). The purpose of this case study was to look at formal and informal student outcomes as well as staff and parent perceptions during the first 3 years of implementing a bimodal-bilingual (ASL and spoken English) program within an ASL milieu at a small school for the deaf. Speech and language assessment results for five students were analyzed over a 3-year period and indicated that the students made significant positive gains in all areas, although results were variable. Staff and parent

  10. Academic English: A Conceptual Framework. Technical Report 2003-1

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scarcella , Robin

    2003-01-01

    Learning academic English is probably one of the surest, most reliable ways of attaining socioeconomic success in the United States today. Learners cannot function in school settings effectively without it. This variety of English entails the multiple, complex features of English required for success in public schooling and career advancement. It…

  11. Exploring the Relationship among International Students' English Self-Efficacy, Using English to Learn Self-Efficacy, and Academic Self-Efficacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Chih-hsuan; Harrison, Jamie; Cardullo, Victoria; Lin, Xi

    2018-01-01

    One of the major challenges for international students to pursue academic goals in the United States is English language proficiency, which often negatively affects academic success. Even students with confidence in their English language proficiency encounter challenges using English in class. Previous research indicates self-efficacy positively…

  12. The Effect on Cumulative Language Acquisition Increase for English Language Learner Students in Kindergarten through Third Grade Who Attended Multiple Years of Summer Remediation Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Gregory A.

    2013-01-01

    Already academically at risk, students in the rapidly growing English Language Learner (ELL) student population in the United States face additional challenges due to regression of English language acquisition over the average ten-week agrarian summer break when they return to homes in which Spanish was the primary language spoken. While the…

  13. A Spoken Word Count.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Lyle V.; Wepman, Joseph M.

    This word count is a composite listing of the different words spoken by a selected sample of 54 English-speaking adults and the frequency with which each of the different words was used in a particular test. The stimulus situation was identical for each subject and consisted of 20 cards of the Thematic Apperception Test. Although most word counts…

  14. The Habitat Factor in ELF(A)--English as a Lingua Franca (In Academic Settings)--And English for Plurilingual Academic Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schaller-Schwaner, Iris

    2015-01-01

    This article considers a case of local language socialization and accommodation in a multilingual community of practice: the use of English as an additional academic language for specific purposes at a bilingual Swiss university and its implications for teaching. The acronym ELF(A) is used throughout as short for English as a Lingua Franca (in…

  15. American Sign Language/English bilingual model: a longitudinal study of academic growth.

    PubMed

    Lange, Cheryl M; Lane-Outlaw, Susan; Lange, William E; Sherwood, Dyan L

    2013-10-01

    This study examines reading and mathematics academic growth of deaf and hard-of-hearing students instructed through an American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual model. The study participants were exposed to the model for a minimum of 4 years. The study participants' academic growth rates were measured using the Northwest Evaluation Association's Measure of Academic Progress assessment and compared with a national-normed group of grade-level peers that consisted primarily of hearing students. The study also compared academic growth for participants by various characteristics such as gender, parents' hearing status, and secondary disability status and examined the academic outcomes for students after a minimum of 4 years of instruction in an ASL/English bilingual model. The findings support the efficacy of the ASL/English bilingual model.

  16. The Best of Both Worlds? Towards an English for Academic Purposes/Academic Literacies Writing Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wingate, Ursula; Tribble, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    This article is a review of two dominant approaches to academic writing instruction in higher education, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), which is used internationally, and Academic Literacies, which has become an influential model in the UK. The review was driven by a concern that Academic Literacies has been mainly focused on the situations…

  17. Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control Relate to Bilingual Spoken Word Processing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mercier, Julie; Pivneva, Irina; Titone, Debra

    2014-01-01

    We investigated whether individual differences in inhibitory control relate to bilingual spoken word recognition. While their eye movements were monitored, native English and native French English-French bilinguals listened to English words (e.g., "field") and looked at pictures corresponding to the target, a within-language competitor…

  18. A Psychometric Measurement Model for Adult English Language Learners: Pearson Test of English Academic

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pae, Hye K.

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to apply Rasch modeling to an examination of the psychometric properties of the "Pearson Test of English Academic" (PTE Academic). Analyzed were 140 test-takers' scores derived from the PTE Academic database. The mean age of the participants was 26.45 (SD = 5.82), ranging from 17 to 46. Conformity of the participants'…

  19. Saudi English-Major Undergraduates' Academic Writing Problems: A Taif University Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Khairy, Mohamed Ali

    2013-01-01

    This study attempted to investigate Saudi English-major undergraduates studying at Taif University to identify a) the types of academic writing Saudi English-major undergraduates carry out at English departments, b) Saudi English-major undergraduates' writing problems, c) the reasons behind Saudi English-major undergraduates' writing problems and…

  20. Academic Motivations of Pre-Service English Language Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ariogul, Sibel

    2009-01-01

    This study examines the academic motivation, in a Turkish context, of Turkish pre-service English teachers to contribute field research. Students (n=287) completed the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test, and Pearson product…

  1. The Influence of Classroom Drama on English Learners' Academic Language Use during English Language Arts Lessons

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Alida; Loughlin, Sandra M.

    2014-01-01

    Teacher and student academic discourse was examined in an urban arts-integrated school to better understand facilitation of students' English language learning. Participants' discourse was compared across English language arts (ELA) lessons with and without classroom drama in a third-grade classroom of English learning (EL) students (N = 18) with…

  2. New and Not so New Horizons: Brief Encounters between UK Undergraduate Native-Speaker and Non-Native-Speaker Englishes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henderson, Juliet

    2011-01-01

    This paper explores the apparent contradiction between the valuing and promoting of diverse literacies in most UK HEIs, and the discursive construction of spoken native-speaker English as the medium of good grades and prestige academic knowledge. During group interviews on their experiences of university internationalisation, 38 undergraduate…

  3. Biomechanically Preferred Consonant-Vowel Combinations Fail to Appear in Adult Spoken Corpora

    PubMed Central

    Whalen, D. H.; Giulivi, Sara; Nam, Hosung; Levitt, Andrea G.; Hallé, Pierre; Goldstein, Louis M.

    2012-01-01

    Certain consonant/vowel (CV) combinations are more frequent than would be expected from the individual C and V frequencies alone, both in babbling and, to a lesser extent, in adult language, based on dictionary counts: Labial consonants co-occur with central vowels more often than chance would dictate; coronals co-occur with front vowels, and velars with back vowels (Davis & MacNeilage, 1994). Plausible biomechanical explanations have been proposed, but it is also possible that infants are mirroring the frequency of the CVs that they hear. As noted, previous assessments of adult language were based on dictionaries; these “type” counts are incommensurate with the babbling measures, which are necessarily “token” counts. We analyzed the tokens in two spoken corpora for English, two for French and one for Mandarin. We found that the adult spoken CV preferences correlated with the type counts for Mandarin and French, not for English. Correlations between the adult spoken corpora and the babbling results had all three possible outcomes: significantly positive (French), uncorrelated (Mandarin), and significantly negative (English). There were no correlations of the dictionary data with the babbling results when we consider all nine combinations of consonants and vowels. The results indicate that spoken frequencies of CV combinations can differ from dictionary (type) counts and that the CV preferences apparent in babbling are biomechanically driven and can ignore the frequencies of CVs in the ambient spoken language. PMID:23420980

  4. Earphone English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldsmith, Francisca

    2002-01-01

    Describes Earphone English, a student club sponsored through a partnership between Berkeley High School and the Berkeley Public Library that offers students whose primary language is not English to practice their spoken and aural English skills. Discusses the audiobooks used in the program and the importance of multicultural content and age…

  5. Language, Content and Skills in the Testing of English for Academic Purposes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gamaroff, R.

    1998-01-01

    A study investigated the consistency of criteria for academic English skills as applied by teachers of academic English and science lecturers in a South African historically black university. Both groups were asked to evaluate first-year students' essays on the greenhouse effect. Results indicated a wide variation in scores and judgments within…

  6. Translanguaging in English Academic Writing Preparation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adamson, John; Coulson, David

    2015-01-01

    We investigate translanguaging (i.e. the co-use of first and second languages) in a Content and Language Integrated Learning course, as a pragmatic means to promote the skill of young university students in extended critical academic writing. We aimed to prepare new undergraduate students (n = 180) for courses where partial English-medium…

  7. Using Criterion in an English for Academic Purposes Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cookson, Simon; Hunter, Simon; Jackson, Daniel; Sick, James

    2005-01-01

    English for Academic Purposes (EAP Writing) is a compulsory course for English literature and language students at Obirin University. The first semester focuses on expository writing, typical of the TOEFL[R] writing exam. The second semester focuses on writing about literature. To facilitate their writing all students are provided with a user…

  8. A Study of English Language Learning Beliefs, Strategies, and English Academic Achievement of the ESP Students of STIENAS Samarinda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hayati, Noor

    2015-01-01

    This research aimed to investigate; students' English academic achievement, beliefs about English language learning, English language learning strategies, and the relationship of them. Descriptive and correlational design, quantitative methods were applied in this research. The students' final English scores of the first year, BALLI, and SILL were…

  9. SPOKEN CUZCO QUECHUA, UNITS 7-12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    SOLA, DONALD F.; AND OTHERS

    THIS SECOND VOLUME OF AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN SPOKEN CUZCO QUECHUA ALSO COMPRISES ENOUGH MATERIAL FOR ONE INTENSIVE SUMMER SESSION COURSE OR ONE SEMESTER OF SEMI-INTENSIVE INSTRUCTION (120 CLASS HOURS). THE METHOD OF PRESENTATION IS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AS IN THE FIRST VOLUME WITH FURTHER CONTRASTIVE, LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH-QUECHUA…

  10. Effective Strategies for Developing Academic English: Professional Development and Teacher Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowers, Erica; Fitts, Shanan; Quirk, Mathew; Jung, Woo

    2010-01-01

    The development of academic English and advanced literacy is crucial for student success, especially for English language learners. In this study, researchers used a survey to investigate which instructional strategies 108 fourth- and fifth-grade teachers learned in professional development and found to be effective for providing English learners…

  11. English Language Learners and Their Academic Progress: 2010-2011

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shneyderman, Aleksandr

    2012-01-01

    This is the 2010-11 annual report on the academic progress of English language learners in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The purpose of the report is to: (1) Describe the demographic characteristics of students classified as English Language Learners (ELL) in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS); (2) Provide data regarding ELL…

  12. The Academic English Language Needs of Industrial Design Students in UiTM Kedah, Malaysia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adzmi, Nor Aslah; Bidin, Samsiah; Ibrahim, Syazliyati; Jusoff, Kamaruzaman

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to analyse the academic English language lacks and needs of Industrial Design students in Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah (UiTM). It highlights the lacks and needs for English for Academic Purposes in helping the students to succeed in the program through the usage of English language. The research tools used were in…

  13. The Differences between Spoken and Written Grammar in English, in Comparison with Vietnamese (Las Diferencias entre la Gramática Oral y Escrita del Idioma Inglés en Comparación con el Idioma Vietnamita)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thanh, Nguyen Cao

    2015-01-01

    The fundamental point of this paper is to describe and evaluate some differences between spoken and written grammar in English, and compare some of the points with Vietnamese. This paper illustrates that spoken grammar is less rigid than written grammar. Moreover, it highlights the distinction between speaking and writing in terms of subordination…

  14. Sources of listening anxiety in learning English as a foreign language.

    PubMed

    Chang, Anna Ching-Shyang

    2008-02-01

    In this study of college students' listening anxiety in learning English in a classroom context, participants were 160 students (47 men and 113 women) ages 18 to 19 years. To address their listening anxiety, participants were chosen from students enrolling in a required listening course. A listening questionnaire was used to assess learners' anxiety about spoken English, its intensity, and the main sources of listening anxiety. Overall, participants showed moderately high intensity of anxiety in listening to spoken English, but were more anxious in testing than in general situations. In contrast to previous research on the nature of spoken English as the main source of listening anxiety, this study found that low confidence in comprehending spoken English, taking English listening courses as a requirement, and worrying about test difficulty were the three main factors contributing to participants' listening anxiety in a classroom context. Participants' learning profiles both in the classroom and outside the class yielded data which provides suggestions for reducing anxiety.

  15. Syntactic Boundaries and the Mechanics of Written Academic English: A Workshop for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Behrens, Susan; Mercer, Cindy

    2011-01-01

    The academic demands of classroom English require students to think about language structure in ways that they are not used to. Everybody "knows" much English grammar intuitively but the academic rules themselves can be difficult to articulate. This goes for punctuation, too: errors often reflect students' lack of explicit knowledge of grammatical…

  16. Chinese College Students' Views on Native English and Non-Native English in EFL Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Qian, Yang; Jingxia, Liu

    2016-01-01

    With the development of globalization, English is clearly spoken by many more non-native than native speakers, which raises the discussion of English varieties and the debate regarding the conformity to Standard English. Although a large number of studies have shown scholars' attitudes towards native English and non-native English, little research…

  17. Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meera, K. P.; Jumana, M. K.

    2015-01-01

    This study reviews the relevant self-efficacy related literature, a central point of social cognitive theory, in the area of language learning. Role of self-efficacy in academic performance of learners is also considered. In the global world, English language has become the fundamental means of international affairs and communication. As a…

  18. Using Sentence Frames to Develop Academic Vocabulary for English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donnelly, Whitney Bray; Roe, Christopher J.

    2010-01-01

    Often, English-language development (ELD) is taught during a dedicated time of the school day. There is often a mismatch between the content of ELD and the lessons taught during core instruction provided during the remainder of the day. During core instruction, teachers use specially designed academic instruction in English strategies to ensure…

  19. SPOKEN AYACUCHO QUECHUA. UNITS 1-10.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    PARKER, GARY J.; SOLA, DONALD F.

    THIS BEGINNING COURSE IN AYACUCHO QUECHUA, SPOKEN BY ABOUT A MILLION PEOPLE IN SOUTH-CENTRAL PERU, WAS PREPARED TO INTRODUCE THE PHONOLOGY AND GRAMMAR OF THIS DIALECT TO SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH. THE FIRST OF TWO VOLUMES, IT SERVES AS A TEXT FOR A 6-WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE OF 20 CLASS HOURS A WEEK. THE AUTHORS COMPARE AND CONTRAST SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF…

  20. Using Non-Finites in English Academic Writing by Chinese EFL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Bingjun

    2014-01-01

    Frequent use of non-finites is an important feature of English academic writing (Chafe & Danielewicz, 1987), but teachers and students in the Chinese environment are not aware of it. To investigate the problems that can be found in academic writings by Chinese students is significant in two aspects: academic writing by Chinese EFL students…

  1. Measuring Attitudinal Change: A Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Investigation into Perceptions of African American English and Academic English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Latterman, Caroline Kennelly

    2013-01-01

    This experiment measured teachers' attitudes towards African American English and Academic English. Participants were graduate students of Education at a college in New York City. They completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire that assessed their explicit attitudes towards the two varieties, as well as a Psycholinguistic Experiment that was…

  2. A Positivity Bias in Written and Spoken English and Its Moderation by Personality and Gender.

    PubMed

    Augustine, Adam A; Mehl, Matthias R; Larsen, Randy J

    2011-09-01

    The human tendency to use positive words ("adorable") more often than negative words ("dreadful") is called the linguistic positivity bias. We find evidence for this bias in two studies of word use, one based on written corpora and another based on naturalistic speech samples. In addition, we demonstrate that the positivity bias applies to nouns and verbs as well as adjectives. We also show that it is found to the same degree in written as well as spoken English. Moreover, personality traits and gender moderate the effect, such that persons high on extraversion and agreeableness and women display a larger positivity bias in naturalistic speech. Results are discussed in terms of how the linguistic positivity bias may serve as a mechanism for social facilitation. People, in general, and some people more than others, tend to talk about the brighter side of life.

  3. Corpus of High School Academic Texts (COHAT): Data-Driven, Computer Assisted Discovery in Learning Academic English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bohát, Róbert; Rödlingová, Beata; Horáková, Nina

    2015-01-01

    Corpus of High School Academic Texts (COHAT), currently of 150,000+ words, aims to make academic language instruction a more data-driven and student-centered discovery learning as a special type of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), emphasizing students' critical thinking and metacognition. Since 2013, high school English as an additional…

  4. Embedded academic writing support for nursing students with English as a second language.

    PubMed

    Salamonson, Yenna; Koch, Jane; Weaver, Roslyn; Everett, Bronwyn; Jackson, Debra

    2010-02-01

    This paper reports a study which evaluated a brief, embedded academic support workshop as a strategy for improving academic writing skills in first-year nursing students with low-to-medium English language proficiency. Nursing students who speak English as a second language have lower academic success compared with their native English-speaking counterparts. The development of academic writing skills is known to be most effective when embedded into discipline-specific curricula. Using a randomized controlled design, in 2008 106 students pre-enrolled in an introductory bioscience subject were randomized to receive either the intervention, a 4-day embedded academic learning support workshop facilitated by two bioscience (content) nursing academics and a writing and editing professional, or to act as the control group. The primary focus of the workshop was to support students to work through a mock assignment by providing progressive feedback and written suggestions on how to improve their answers. Of the 59 students randomized to the intervention, only 28 attended the workshop. Bioscience assignment results were analysed for those who attended (attendees), those randomized to the intervention but who did not attend (non-attendees), and the control group. Using anova, the results indicated that attendees achieved statistically significantly higher mean scores (70.8, sd: 6.1) compared to both control group (58.4, sd: 3.4, P = 0.002) and non-attendees (48.5, sd: 5.5, P = 0.001). A brief, intensive, embedded academic support workshop was effective in improving the academic writing ability of nursing students with low-to-medium English language proficiency, although reaching all students who are likely to benefit from this intervention remains a challenge.

  5. English and Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin English) in Papua New Guinea.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Romaine, Suzanne

    1989-01-01

    Tok Pisin, New Guinea Pidgin English, is becoming increasingly important as a "lingua franca" in Papua New Guinea, even though English is the country's official language. Urban versus rural and spoken versus written varieties of the pidgin are examined, and the influence of English on Tok Pisin is investigated. 73 references. (Author/CB)

  6. Helping ELLs Meet Standards in English Language Arts and Science: An Intervention Focused on Academic Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    August, Diane; Artzi, Lauren; Barr, Christopher

    2016-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards require students to understand and produce academic language that appears in informational text. Vocabulary is a critical domain of academic language, but English language learners (ELLs) come to the English Language Arts classroom with more limited English vocabulary than…

  7. Lexical Competition in Non-Native Spoken-Word Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weber, Andrea; Cutler, Anne

    2004-01-01

    Four eye-tracking experiments examined lexical competition in non-native spoken-word recognition. Dutch listeners hearing English fixated longer on distractor pictures with names containing vowels that Dutch listeners are likely to confuse with vowels in a target picture name ("pencil," given target "panda") than on less confusable distractors…

  8. Diagnosing University Students' Academic Writing in English: Is Cognitive Diagnostic Modelling the Way Forward?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xie, Qin

    2017-01-01

    The study utilised a fine-grained diagnostic checklist to assess first-year undergraduates in Hong Kong and evaluated its validity and usefulness for diagnosing academic writing in English. Ten English language instructors marked 472 academic essays with the checklist. They also agreed on a Q-matrix, which specified the relationships among the…

  9. Convergent and Divergent Computer-Mediated Communication Tasks in an English for Academic Purposes Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jackson, Daniel O.

    2011-01-01

    This article describes the implementation of technology-mediated tasks in an English for academic purposes (EAP) curriculum at a Japanese university. The course addressed the needs of English majors at the school by enabling more efficient completion of academic work, including essay writing. One way that technology supported this goal was through…

  10. An academic writing needs assessment of English-as-a-second-language clinical investigators.

    PubMed

    Wang, Min-Fen; Bakken, Lori L

    2004-01-01

    Academic writing for publication is competitive and demanding for researchers. For the novice English-as-a-second-language (ESL) researcher, the pressure to publish compounds the difficulties of mastering the English language. Very few studies have used ESL graduate and post-graduate students as academic writing research subjects. The purpose of this project was to assess the learning needs of ESL clinical investigators regarding academic writing for English scholarly publication. A qualitative evaluation approach was used to examine the gap between the current and desired proficiency level for the academic writing of ESL clinical investigators. We considered the perspectives of seven ESL clinical investigators plus three mentors and three writing instructors. Semi-structured questions were asked. Field notes were organized using a field-work recording system. They were analyzed using the constant comparative method. ESL clinical investigators do not accurately perceive their writing deficiencies. They have little knowledge of criteria for academic writing and they are influenced by their prior English learning experiences in their home culture, which engender passive attitudes toward seeking appropriate writing resources. Adequate time is especially needed to develop successful writing skills. Four basic steps are recommended to guide program planners in developing ESL writing activities for professional learning: (1) recognize discrepancies, (2) establish clear standards and performance criteria for scholarly writing, (3) develop individual plans, and (4) organize long-term writing assistance.

  11. Improving the Academic Performance of Non-Native English-Speaking Students: The Contribution of Pre-Sessional English Language Programmes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thorpe, Andy; Snell, Martin; Davey-Evans, Sue; Talman, Richard

    2017-01-01

    There is an established, if weak, inverse relationship between levels of English language proficiency and academic performance in higher education. In response, higher education institutions (HEIs) insist upon minimum entry requirements concerning language for international applicants. Many HEIs now also offer pre-sessional English courses to…

  12. Project LEAP: Learning English-for-Academic-Purposes. Training Manual Year Three.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Snow, Marguerite Ann, Ed.

    Project LEAP (Learning English-for-Academic-Purposes) is a three-year faculty development and supplemental instruction partnership to improve the academic literacy skills of native-born, immigrant, and international language minority students. This manual is the third set of faculty development materials produced by the project, presenting…

  13. An Introduction to Liberian English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singler, John Victor; And Others

    The aim of this text is to introduce Liberian English, which includes the many varieties of English spoken by Liberians, to Peace Corps volunteers. The text is divided into two sections. The first part talks about Liberian English, while the second part uses Liberian English to describe aspects of contemporary Liberian culture. Part one contains…

  14. Bilinguals Show Weaker Lexical Access during Spoken Sentence Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shook, Anthony; Goldrick, Matthew; Engstler, Caroline; Marian, Viorica

    2015-01-01

    When bilinguals process written language, they show delays in accessing lexical items relative to monolinguals. The present study investigated whether this effect extended to spoken language comprehension, examining the processing of sentences with either low or high semantic constraint in both first and second languages. English-German…

  15. Changes to English as an Additional Language Writers' Research Articles: From Spoken to Written Register

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koyalan, Aylin; Mumford, Simon

    2011-01-01

    The process of writing journal articles is increasingly being seen as a collaborative process, especially where the authors are English as an Additional Language (EAL) academics. This study examines the changes made in terms of register to EAL writers' journal articles by a native-speaker writing centre advisor at a private university in Turkey.…

  16. Global Trends and Research Aims for English Academic Oral Presentations: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities for Learning Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrett, Neil E.; Liu, Gi-Zen

    2016-01-01

    English has become the de facto language for communication in academia in many parts of the world, but English language learners often lack the language resources to make effective oral academic presentations. However, English for academic purposes (EAP) research is beginning to provide valuable insights into this emerging field. This literature…

  17. Spoken word recognition by Latino children learning Spanish as their first language*

    PubMed Central

    HURTADO, NEREYDA; MARCHMAN, VIRGINIA A.; FERNALD, ANNE

    2010-01-01

    Research on the development of efficiency in spoken language understanding has focused largely on middle-class children learning English. Here we extend this research to Spanish-learning children (n=49; M=2;0; range=1;3–3;1) living in the USA in Latino families from primarily low socioeconomic backgrounds. Children looked at pictures of familiar objects while listening to speech naming one of the objects. Analyses of eye movements revealed developmental increases in the efficiency of speech processing. Older children and children with larger vocabularies were more efficient at processing spoken language as it unfolds in real time, as previously documented with English learners. Children whose mothers had less education tended to be slower and less accurate than children of comparable age and vocabulary size whose mothers had more schooling, consistent with previous findings of slower rates of language learning in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. These results add to the cross-linguistic literature on the development of spoken word recognition and to the study of the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) factors on early language development. PMID:17542157

  18. Deflating the "Confucian Heritage Culture" Thesis in Intercultural and Academic English Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Dwyer, Shaun

    2017-01-01

    This paper develops an interdisciplinary critical perspective on the concept of "Confucian Heritage Cultures" (CHC), used in intercultural and English language teaching theory to explain the supposed culturally distinct learning habits, expectations and schemas many Asian students bring to academic classrooms in English-speaking…

  19. Mandarin Chinese Dictionary: English-Chinese.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Fred Fangyu

    This dictionary is a companion volume to the "Mandarin Chinese Dictionary (Chinese-English)" published in 1967 by Seton Hall University. The purpose of the dictionary is to help English-speaking students produce Chinese sentences in certain cultural situations by looking up the English expressions. Natural, spoken Chinese expressions within the…

  20. Teaching English as a Second Dialect in Liberia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Candler, W. J.

    1977-01-01

    Liberian English differs from standard educated English. English teachers in Liberia are attempting to teach standard spoken English rather than the Liberian dialect, using TEFL strategies. This article discusses the phonological, syntactic, morphological, lexical and semantic characteristics of Liberian English and the consequences for English…

  1. The Correlates of Academic Performance for English Learner Students in a New England District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parker, Caroline; O'Dwyer, Laura; Irwin, Clare

    2016-01-01

    English learner students are one of the fastest growing subgroups in America's schools, and gaps between English learner students and their native English-speaking peers in academic outcomes remain large in most districts and states. This study examines data for all English learner students in grades K-12 in the study district who took the…

  2. Pair Counting to Improve Grammar and Spoken Fluency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanson, Stephanie

    2017-01-01

    English language learners are often more grammatically accurate in writing than in speaking. As students focus on meaning while speaking, their spoken fluency comes at a cost: their grammatical accuracy decreases. The author wanted to find a way to help her students improve their oral grammar; that is, she wanted them to focus on grammar while…

  3. Epistemic Stance in Spoken L2 English: The Effect of Task and Speaker Style

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gablasova, Dana; Brezina, Vaclav; Mcenery, Tony; Boyd, Elaine

    2017-01-01

    The article discusses epistemic stance in spoken L2 production. Using a subset of the Trinity Lancaster Corpus of spoken L2 production, we analysed the speech of 132 advanced L2 speakers from different L1 and cultural backgrounds taking part in four speaking tasks: one largely monologic presentation task and three interactive tasks. The study…

  4. English Language Learners. What Works Clearinghouse Topic Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2007

    2007-01-01

    English language learners are students with a primary language other than English who have a limited range of speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills in English. English language learners also include students identified and determined by their school as having limited English proficiency and a language other than English spoken in the…

  5. Contribution of spoken language and socio-economic background to adolescents' educational achievement at age 16 years.

    PubMed

    Spencer, Sarah; Clegg, Judy; Stackhouse, Joy; Rush, Robert

    2017-03-01

    Well-documented associations exist between socio-economic background and language ability in early childhood, and between educational attainment and language ability in children with clinically referred language impairment. However, very little research has looked at the associations between language ability, educational attainment and socio-economic background during adolescence, particularly in populations without language impairment. To investigate: (1) whether adolescents with higher educational outcomes overall had higher language abilities; and (2) associations between adolescent language ability, socio-economic background and educational outcomes, specifically in relation to Mathematics, English Language and English Literature GCSE grade. A total of 151 participants completed five standardized language assessments measuring vocabulary, comprehension of sentences and spoken paragraphs, and narrative skills and one nonverbal assessment when between 13 and 14 years old. These data were compared with the participants' educational achievement obtained upon leaving secondary education (16 years old). Univariate logistic regressions were employed to identify those language assessments and demographic factors that were associated with achieving a targeted A * -C grade in English Language, English Literature and Mathematics General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) at 16 years. Further logistic regressions were then conducted to examine further the contribution of socio-economic background and spoken language skills in the multivariate models. Vocabulary, comprehension of sentences and spoken paragraphs, and mean length utterance in a narrative task along with socio-economic background contributed to whether participants achieved an A * -C grade in GCSE Mathematics and English Language and English Literature. Nonverbal ability contributed to English Language and Mathematics. The results of multivariate logistic regressions then found that vocabulary skills

  6. English-Speaking Foreign Domestic Helpers and Students' English Reading Attainment in Hong Kong

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tse, Shek Kam; Lam, Raymond Y. H.; Loh, Elizabeth K. Y.; Ip, Olivia K. M.; Lam, Joseph W. I.; Chan, Yiu Man

    2009-01-01

    The English reading comprehension ability of 4,352 Grade 4 Hong Kong students was tested. The students' parents completed questionnaires about home factors, including monthly income, language habitually spoken at home, whether the mother was employed, and whether an English-speaking domestic helper resided there. Analyses revealed statistically…

  7. Voices of Chinese Post-­80s Students in English Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Que, Hua; Li, Xuemei

    2015-01-01

    This study looks into the changing voice of Chinese Post-80s' students in English academic writing. Data were collected qualitatively through interviews with four Chinese Post-80s overseas graduate students and through an examination of their English essays with a focus on discursive features. Findings indicate that Chinese Post-80s' voice is…

  8. A Case Study of Swedish Scholars' Experiences with and Perceptions of the Use of English in Academic Publishing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olsson, Anna; Sheridan, Vera

    2012-01-01

    This empirical study surveyed academic staff at a Swedish university about their experiences and perceptions of the use of English in their academic fields. The objective was to examine how the influence of English in disciplinary domains might affect the viability of Swedish in the academic sphere and to investigate how it might disadvantage…

  9. The Role of Oral Communicative Tasks (OCT) in Developing the Spoken Proficiency of Engineering Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shantha, S.; Mekala, S.

    2017-01-01

    The mastery of speaking skills in English has become a major requisite in engineering industry. Engineers are expected to possess speaking skills for executing their routine activities and career prospects. The article focuses on the experimental study conducted to improve English spoken proficiency of Indian engineering students using task-based…

  10. An Investigation of Integrative and Independent Listening Test Tasks in a Computerised Academic English Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wei, Wei; Zheng, Ying

    2017-01-01

    This research provided a comprehensive evaluation and validation of the listening section of a newly introduced computerised test, Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic). PTE Academic contains 11 item types assessing academic listening skills either alone or in combination with other skills. First, task analysis helped identify skills…

  11. The English proficiency and academic language skills of Australian bilingual children during the primary school years.

    PubMed

    Dennaoui, Kamelia; Nicholls, Ruth Jane; O'Connor, Meredith; Tarasuik, Joanne; Kvalsvig, Amanda; Goldfeld, Sharon

    2016-04-01

    Evidence suggests that early proficiency in the language of school instruction is an important predictor of academic success for bilingual children. This study investigated whether English-proficiency at 4-5 years of age predicts academic language and literacy skills among Australian bilingual children at 10-11 years of age, as part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children ( LSAC, 2012 ). The LSAC comprises a nationally representative clustered cross-sequential sample of Australian children. Data were analysed from a sub-sample of 129 bilingual children from the LSAC Kindergarten cohort (n = 4983), for whom teachers completed the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) checklist (a population measure of early childhood development) and the Academic Rating Scale (ARS) language and literacy subscale. Linear regression analyses revealed that bilingual children who commenced school with stronger English proficiency had higher academic language and literacy scores at the end of primary school (β = 0.45). English proficiency remained a significant predictor, even when accounting for gender and socio-economic disadvantage (β = 0.38). The findings indicate that bilingual children who begin school without English proficiency are at risk of difficulties with academic language and literacy, even after 6 years of schooling. Risk factors need to be identified so early support can be targeted towards the most vulnerable children.

  12. Academic English Reading for International College Students: The Role of Metacognitive Reading Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iwai, Yuko; Filce, Hollie; Ramp, Ellen

    2011-01-01

    In this study, the authors examined the impact of metacognitive reading strategies on international college students' academic success by correcting the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) instrument with (a) grade point averages (GPAs) and (b) the English language proficiency levels, categorized by beginning (students at the English Language…

  13. English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Singapore

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Benny P. H.

    2010-01-01

    The National Institute of Education in Singapore (which is part of the Nanyang Technological University) is the leading national pre-service and in-service teacher training tertiary institution. It offers diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The academic departments are called Academic Groups (AGs). The English Language and…

  14. Neural Signatures of Language Co-activation and Control in Bilingual Spoken Word Comprehension

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Peiyao; Bobb, Susan C.; Hoshino, Noriko; Marian, Viorica

    2017-01-01

    To examine the neural signatures of language co-activation and control during bilingual spoken word comprehension, Korean-English bilinguals and English monolinguals were asked to make overt or covert semantic relatedness judgments on auditorily-presented English word pairs. In two critical conditions, participants heard word pairs consisting of an English-Korean interlingual homophone (e.g., the sound /mu:n/ means “moon” in English and “door” in Korean) as the prime and an English word as the target. In the homophone-related condition, the target (e.g., “lock”) was related to the homophone’s Korean meaning, but not related to the homophone’s English meaning. In the homophone-unrelated condition, the target was unrelated to either the homophone’s Korean meaning or the homophone’s English meaning. In overtly responded situations, ERP results revealed that the reduced N400 effect in bilinguals for homophone-related word pairs correlated positively with the amount of their daily exposure to Korean. In covertly responded situations, ERP results showed a reduced late positive component for homophone-related word pairs in the right hemisphere, and this late positive effect was related to the neural efficiency of suppressing interference in a non-linguistic task. Together, these findings suggest 1) that the degree of language co-activation in bilingual spoken word comprehension is modulated by the amount of daily exposure to the non-target language; and 2) that bilinguals who are less influenced by cross-language activation may also have greater efficiency in suppressing interference in a non-linguistic task. PMID:28372943

  15. Neural signatures of language co-activation and control in bilingual spoken word comprehension.

    PubMed

    Chen, Peiyao; Bobb, Susan C; Hoshino, Noriko; Marian, Viorica

    2017-06-15

    To examine the neural signatures of language co-activation and control during bilingual spoken word comprehension, Korean-English bilinguals and English monolinguals were asked to make overt or covert semantic relatedness judgments on auditorily-presented English word pairs. In two critical conditions, participants heard word pairs consisting of an English-Korean interlingual homophone (e.g., the sound /mu:n/ means "moon" in English and "door" in Korean) as the prime and an English word as the target. In the homophone-related condition, the target (e.g., "lock") was related to the homophone's Korean meaning, but not related to the homophone's English meaning. In the homophone-unrelated condition, the target was unrelated to either the homophone's Korean meaning or the homophone's English meaning. In overtly responded situations, ERP results revealed that the reduced N400 effect in bilinguals for homophone-related word pairs correlated positively with the amount of their daily exposure to Korean. In covertly responded situations, ERP results showed a reduced late positive component for homophone-related word pairs in the right hemisphere, and this late positive effect was related to the neural efficiency of suppressing interference in a non-linguistic task. Together, these findings suggest 1) that the degree of language co-activation in bilingual spoken word comprehension is modulated by the amount of daily exposure to the non-target language; and 2) that bilinguals who are less influenced by cross-language activation may also have greater efficiency in suppressing interference in a non-linguistic task. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Global English Teaching and Teacher Education: Praxis and Possibility

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dogancay-Aktuna, Seran, Ed.; Hardman, Joel, Ed.

    2008-01-01

    Today's English language teaching goes beyond the norms of English spoken and taught in native-English-speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, or Australia. Increasingly, a variety of countries have established, formally or informally, a kind of English unique to their own populations, and English language teachers within…

  17. The Temporal Dynamics of Spoken Word Recognition in Adverse Listening Conditions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brouwer, Susanne; Bradlow, Ann R.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the temporal dynamics of spoken word recognition in noise and background speech. In two visual-world experiments, English participants listened to target words while looking at four pictures on the screen: a target (e.g. "candle"), an onset competitor (e.g. "candy"), a rhyme competitor (e.g.…

  18. Mobility limitations and fear of falling in non-English speaking older Mexican-Americans.

    PubMed

    James, Eric G; Conatser, Phillip; Karabulut, Murat; Leveille, Suzanne G; Hausdorff, Jeffrey M; Cote, Sarah; Tucker, Katherine L; Barton, Bruce; Bean, Jonathan F; Al Snih, Soham; Markides, Kyriakos S

    2017-10-01

    To determine whether older Mexican-Americans who cannot speak and/or understand spoken English have higher rates of mobility limitations or fear of falling than their English-speaking counterparts. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1169 community-dwelling Mexican-Americans aged 72-96 years from the 2000-2001 wave of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly. Mobility limitations were defined as having a Short Physical Performance Battery score ≤9, and fear of falling by participant report of being somewhat, fairly, or very afraid of falling. We determined the rates and odds ratios, for having mobility limitations and fear of falling as a function of English ability in those who were 72-96, <80, and ≥80 years of age. Among participants who were unable to speak and/or understand spoken English 85.7% had mobility limitations and 61.6% were afraid of falling, compared to 77.6% and 57.5%, respectively, of English speakers. Before adjusting for covariates, participants who did not speak and/or understand spoken English were more likely to have mobility limitations (odds ratio: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3-2.4) but not fear of falling, compared to English speakers. Among those aged ≥80 years, but not those <80 years, who did not speak or understand English were more likely to have mobility limitations (odds ratio: 4.8; 95% CI:2.0-11.5) and fear of falling (odds ratio: 2.0; 95% CI:1.3-3.1). Older Mexican-Americans who do not speak or understand spoken English have a higher rate of mobility limitations and fear of falling than their English-speaking counterparts.

  19. Improving English Language Learners' Academic Writing: A Multi-Strategy Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Challenge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marulanda Ángel, Nora Lucía; Martínez García, Juan Manuel

    2017-01-01

    The demands of the academic field and the constraints students have while learning how to write appropriately call for better approaches to teach academic writing. This research study examines the effect of a multifaceted academic writing module on pre-service teachers' composition skills in an English teacher preparation program at a medium sized…

  20. Impact of English Proficiency on Academic Performance of International Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martirosyan, Nara M.; Hwang, Eunjin; Wanjohi, Reubenson

    2015-01-01

    Using an ex-post facto, non-experimental approach, this research examined the impact of English language proficiency and multilingualism on the academic performance of international students enrolled in a four-year university located in north central Louisiana in the United States. Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire from 59…

  1. The Study on "Academic Game"-Oriented English Course Model for Postgraduates in Agricultural Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xia, Xinrong

    2010-01-01

    Based on the analysis of the questionnaire survey on learning motivation and learning needs of postgraduates and their demands and suggestions on English teaching, the paper makes a beneficial exploration on English course model for postgraduates in agricultural universities. Under the guidance of academic game theory, the "language skills+…

  2. A Bourdieuian Analysis: Teachers' Beliefs about English Language Learners' Academic Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shim, Jenna Min

    2014-01-01

    Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of "habitus," this work analyzes five teachers' beliefs about English language learners' academic challenges. In reference to reproductive and inventive qualities of "habitus," this article argues that teachers' beliefs that are linked to their socio-cultural backgrounds can delimit or enhance…

  3. Critical Teacher Talk: Successful English for Academic Purposes Classroom Practices in a Global Campus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Namsook

    2016-01-01

    Drawn on the sociocultural paradigm, I examined teacher-student communication with emphasis on teacher's talk and its role on international students' learning English as a Second Language in an English for Academic Purposes classroom in a global campus in the U.S. Developmental data analyses of class observations, teacher and student interviews,…

  4. The Relationship between English Language Proficiency, Academic Achievement and Self-Esteem of Non-Native-English-Speaking Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dev, Smitha; Qiqieh, Sura

    2016-01-01

    The present study aims to find out the relationship between English Language proficiency, self-esteem, and academic achievement of the students in Abu Dhabi University (ADU). The variables were analyzed using "t" test, chi-squire and Pearson's product moment correlation. In addition, Self-rating scale, Self-esteem inventory and Language…

  5. Effects of cooperating and conflicting prosody in spoken English garden path sentences: ERP evidence for the boundary deletion hypothesis.

    PubMed

    Pauker, Efrat; Itzhak, Inbal; Baum, Shari R; Steinhauer, Karsten

    2011-10-01

    In reading, a comma in the wrong place can cause more severe misunderstandings than the lack of a required comma. Here, we used ERPs to demonstrate that a similar effect holds for prosodic boundaries in spoken language. Participants judged the acceptability of temporarily ambiguous English "garden path" sentences whose prosodic boundaries were either in line or in conflict with the actual syntactic structure. Sentences with incongruent boundaries were accepted less than those with missing boundaries and elicited a stronger on-line brain response in ERPs (N400/P600 components). Our results support the notion that mentally deleting an overt prosodic boundary is more costly than postulating a new one and extend previous findings, suggesting an immediate role of prosody in sentence comprehension. Importantly, our study also provides new details on the profile and temporal dynamics of the closure positive shift (CPS), an ERP component assumed to reflect prosodic phrasing in speech and music in real time. We show that the CPS is reliably elicited at the onset of prosodic boundaries in English sentences and is preceded by negative components. Its early onset distinguishes the speech CPS in adults both from prosodic ERP correlates in infants and from the "music CPS" previously reported for trained musicians.

  6. English Language Teaching Profile: Syrian Arab Republic.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    British Council, London (England). English-Teaching Information Centre.

    The status of English as a first foreign language is discussed as well as the reasons why the standard of English and the extent to which it is spoken in Syria do not match its official status. The use of English within the educational system is examined with particular reference to secondary and university levels. The manner of determination of…

  7. Recurrent Word Combinations in EAP Test-Taker Writing: Differences between High- and Low-Proficiency Levels

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Appel, Randy; Wood, David

    2016-01-01

    The correct use of frequently occurring word combinations represents an important part of language proficiency in spoken and written discourse. This study investigates the use of English-language recurrent word combinations in low-level and high-level L2 English academic essays sourced from the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) assessment.…

  8. Research and Policy Considerations for English Learner Equity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robinson-Cimpian, Joseph P.; Thompson, Karen D.; Umansky, Ilana M.

    2016-01-01

    English learners (ELs), students from a home where a language other than English is spoken and who are in the process of developing English proficiency themselves, represent over 10% of the US student population. Oftentimes education policies and practices create barriers for ELs to achieve access and outcomes that are equitable to those of their…

  9. The Use and Misuse of Academic Words in Writing: Analyzing the Writing of Secondary English Learners and Redesignated Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cons, Andrea Marie

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the specific ways secondary English learners (ELs) and redesignated fluent English-proficient learners (RFEPs) use academic vocabulary that assesses interpretive reading and analytical writing ability. The research examines how ELs and RFEPs, formerly ELs, differ in use and misuse of academic words. The study extends…

  10. Tonal Language Background and Detecting Pitch Contour in Spoken and Musical Items

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stevens, Catherine J.; Keller, Peter E.; Tyler, Michael D.

    2013-01-01

    An experiment investigated the effect of tonal language background on discrimination of pitch contour in short spoken and musical items. It was hypothesized that extensive exposure to a tonal language attunes perception of pitch contour. Accuracy and reaction times of adult participants from tonal (Thai) and non-tonal (Australian English) language…

  11. Academic Professionalism in the Managerialist Era: A Study of English Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kolsaker, Ailsa

    2008-01-01

    This article examines the relationship between managerialism and academic professionalism in English universities. Managerialist ideology has introduced to higher education a range of discourses and practices originating in the corporate world. According to much of the existing literature this is leading to feelings of proletarianisation and…

  12. The Career Perceptions of Academic Staff and Human Resource Discourses in English Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strike, Tony; Taylor, John

    2009-01-01

    This paper sets out findings from research that considered the interplay between English national policy developments in human resources management in higher education and the personal stories of academic staff as career participants. Academic careers are pursued in an institutional and national policy context but it was not clear that the formal…

  13. Spoken Persuasive Discourse Abilities of Adolescents with Acquired Brain Injury

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moran, Catherine; Kirk, Cecilia; Powell, Emma

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the performance of adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI) during a spoken persuasive discourse task. Persuasive discourse is frequently used in social and academic settings and is of importance in the study of adolescent language. Method: Participants included 8 adolescents with ABI and 8 peers…

  14. The Relation between English Learning Students' Levels of Self-Regulation and Metacognitive Skills and Their English Academic Achievements

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adigüzel, Abdullah; Orhan, Ali

    2017-01-01

    It is remarkable that there are only a few studies that measures to what extent metacognitive and self-regulation skills affect students' academic achievements in the English lesson. This study is important for identifying the personal variables that have an impact on metacognitive and self-regulation skill and determining the relationship between…

  15. Trait Emotional Intelligence and Learning Styles: The Case of Iranian English for Academic Purposes Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aliakbari, Mohammad; Abol-Nejadian, Rezvan

    2015-01-01

    Although a large body of research has been dedicated to examining emotional intelligence (EI) and learning styles in relation to different factors in academic setting, the relationship between these two variables still necessitates more exploration and deeper study, especially in the Iranian context. To this end, 60 English for Academic Purposes…

  16. English as a Minority Language in Quebec

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boberg, Charles

    2012-01-01

    The variety of English spoken by about half a million people in the Canadian province of Quebec is a minority language in intensive contact with French, the local majority language. This unusual contact situation has produced a unique variety of English which displays many instances of French influence that distinguish it from other types of…

  17. English for Tourism and Hospitality Purposes (ETP)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zahedpisheh, Nahid; Abu Bakar, Zulqarnain B.; Saffari, Narges

    2017-01-01

    The quick development of the tourism and hospitality industry can straightly influence the English language which is the most widely used and spoken language in international tourism in the twenty-first century. English for tourism has a major role in the delivery of quality service. Employees who work in the tourism and hospitality industry are…

  18. Codeswitching Techniques: Evidence-Based Instructional Practices for the ASL/English Bilingual Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andrews, Jean F.; Rusher, Melissa

    2010-01-01

    The authors present a perspective on emerging bilingual deaf students who are exposed to, learning, and developing two languages--American Sign Language (ASL) and English (spoken English, manually coded English, and English reading and writing). The authors suggest that though deaf children may lack proficiency or fluency in either language during…

  19. Looking beyond Signed English to Describe the Language of Two Deaf Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suty, Karen A.; Friel-Patti, Sandy

    1982-01-01

    Examines the spontaneous language of deaf children without forcing the analysis to fit the features of a spoken language system. Suggests linguistic competence of deaf children is commensurate with their cognitive age and is not adequately described by the standard spoken English language tests. (EKN)

  20. Brain Bases of Morphological Processing in Chinese-English Bilingual Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ip, Ka I; Hsu, Lucy Shih-Ju; Arredondo, Maria M.; Tardif, Twila; Kovelman, Ioulia

    2017-01-01

    Can bilingual exposure impact children's neural circuitry for learning to read? To answer this question, we investigated the brain bases of morphological awareness, one of the key spoken language abilities for learning to read in English and Chinese. Bilingual Chinese-English and monolingual English children (N = 22, ages 7-12) completed…

  1. Enriching English Language Spoken Outputs of Kindergartners in Thailand

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilang, Jeffrey Dawala; Sinwongsuwat, Kemtong

    2012-01-01

    This year is designated as Thailand's "English Speaking Year" with the aim of improving the communicative competence of Thais for the upcoming integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2015. The consistent low-level proficiency of the Thais in the English language has led to numerous curriculum revisions and…

  2. Unravelling the differences in attrition and academic performance of international and domestic nursing students with English as an additional language.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Roy Xun; Everett, Bronwyn; Glew, Paul; Salamonson, Yenna

    2014-12-01

    High attrition and academic underperformance have been highlighted among students who speak English as an additional language (EAL) in higher education, and a lack of language skills is often cited as a key explanatory factor. Although the relationship between English-language skills and academic performance among EAL students has been established, group differences between international and domestic EAL nursing students is not known. The aim of this study was to compare attrition rates and academic performance of international and domestic EAL nursing students, taking into consideration levels of English-language usage and socio-demographic characteristics of these groups. A prospective correlational study. From 2010 to 2012, nursing students at a large Australian university, who attended an orientation session before course commencement, were invited to complete a survey to assess their English-language usage. Data collected included students' enrolment status and GPA at 12months. Compared with their domestic counterparts, the attrition rate of international EAL students was significantly lower (7.9% versus 13.3%, p=0.018). Similarly, international students also had higher GPAs (4.1 versus 4.0, p=0.011). Although the levels of English-language usage were not related to academic performance, recent arrivals in both international (p=0.047) and domestic (p=0.001) student groups had higher GPAs. This study suggests that language acculturation, indicated by English-language usage and the length of stay in the host country, was not sufficient to ensure successful transition into the academic environment for either international or domestic EAL nursing students. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Academic English Teaching for Postgraduates Based on Self-Regulated Learning Environment: A Case Study of Academic Reading Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhao, Wei

    2016-01-01

    This study selects postgraduate students in the first grade as the participants, based on their needs analysis, classroom presentations and performance of assignments completion, through the methodology of case study, the results show that students at the university level even the graduate levels still struggle with academic English. Thus, this…

  4. English language proficiency and academic performance: A study of a medical preparatory year program in Saudi Arabia

    PubMed Central

    Kaliyadan, Feroze; Thalamkandathil, Nazer; Parupalli, Srinivas Rao; Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Balaha, Magdy Hassan; Al Bu Ali, Waleed Hamad

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: All medical schools in Saudi Arabia have English as the primary official medium of instruction. Most of the high school education, however, is delivered in Arabic and hence the transition to an English based learning environment tends to be difficult for some students. Our study aims to correlate English language proficiency with academic performance among medical students in their preparatory year. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. Test scores of 103 preparatory year students (54 female and 49 male) were analyzed after the students completed an English language course and medical introductory course in their preparatory year. The total score obtained in the English course assessment was compared to each component of the medical content assessment. Results: A significantly positive correlation (Spearman's Rho, at 0.01 levels) was seen between the scores of the English exam and the written exam (P <0.001) and the oral exam (P = −0.003) parts respectively of the medical examination. Significant correlation with the English exam score was not obtained for the other components of the medical assessment, namely; student assignments, presentations and portfolios. Conclusion: English language proficiency is an important factor in determining academic proficiency of medical students in our college at the preparatory year level. PMID:26629471

  5. English language proficiency and academic performance: A study of a medical preparatory year program in Saudi Arabia.

    PubMed

    Kaliyadan, Feroze; Thalamkandathil, Nazer; Parupalli, Srinivas Rao; Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Balaha, Magdy Hassan; Al Bu Ali, Waleed Hamad

    2015-01-01

    All medical schools in Saudi Arabia have English as the primary official medium of instruction. Most of the high school education, however, is delivered in Arabic and hence the transition to an English based learning environment tends to be difficult for some students. Our study aims to correlate English language proficiency with academic performance among medical students in their preparatory year. A cross-sectional study design was used. Test scores of 103 preparatory year students (54 female and 49 male) were analyzed after the students completed an English language course and medical introductory course in their preparatory year. The total score obtained in the English course assessment was compared to each component of the medical content assessment. A significantly positive correlation (Spearman's Rho, at 0.01 levels) was seen between the scores of the English exam and the written exam (P <0.001) and the oral exam (P = -0.003) parts respectively of the medical examination. Significant correlation with the English exam score was not obtained for the other components of the medical assessment, namely; student assignments, presentations and portfolios. English language proficiency is an important factor in determining academic proficiency of medical students in our college at the preparatory year level.

  6. Bimodal Bilinguals Co-activate Both Languages during Spoken Comprehension

    PubMed Central

    Shook, Anthony; Marian, Viorica

    2012-01-01

    Bilinguals have been shown to activate their two languages in parallel, and this process can often be attributed to overlap in input between the two languages. The present study examines whether two languages that do not overlap in input structure, and that have distinct phonological systems, such as American Sign Language (ASL) and English, are also activated in parallel. Hearing ASL-English bimodal bilinguals’ and English monolinguals’ eye-movements were recorded during a visual world paradigm, in which participants were instructed, in English, to select objects from a display. In critical trials, the target item appeared with a competing item that overlapped with the target in ASL phonology. Bimodal bilinguals looked more at competing items than at phonologically unrelated items, and looked more at competing items relative to monolinguals, indicating activation of the sign-language during spoken English comprehension. The findings suggest that language co-activation is not modality specific, and provide insight into the mechanisms that may underlie cross-modal language co-activation in bimodal bilinguals, including the role that top-down and lateral connections between levels of processing may play in language comprehension. PMID:22770677

  7. The Relationship between Receptive and Expressive Subskills of Academic L2 Proficiency in Nonnative Speakers of English: A Multigroup Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pae, Hye K.; Greenberg, Daphne

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between receptive and expressive language skills characterized by the performance of nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English in the academic context. Test scores of 585 adult NNSs were selected from Form 2 of the Pearson Test of English Academic's field-test database. A correlated…

  8. Replication Research in Comparative Genre Analysis in English for Academic Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Basturkmen, Helen

    2014-01-01

    In recent years a number of comparative studies based on an established approach to genre analysis have been published in the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) literature. Studies in this emerging strand of research typically aim to identify how the rhetorical structure of a particular genre (a text type) or part of a genre may vary across…

  9. Podcasting in a Virtual English for Academic Purposes Course: Learner Motivation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Asoodar, Maryam; Marandi, Seyyedeh Susan; Vaezi, Shahin; Desmet, Piet

    2016-01-01

    In this study we explored the effect of podcasting on the motivation of the students in an online English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course at the university level (N = 179). By using a mixed-method approach, we analyzed the data collected on the learners' impressions about using podcasts as a learning tool. The particular aim of this study was…

  10. English Education and Communication Studies: Ambiguity in the International Airway.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aune, Adonica Schultz; Huglen, Mark; Lim, Dan

    In the airline industry, English is now the accepted medium of communication for all air traffic controllers and pilots. For international flights it is of vital importance to hundreds of airline passengers that English be spoken clearly and properly to execute proper procedures and to act decisively and safely. Airspeak, aviation English, or air…

  11. Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in an ASL/English Bilingual Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hrastinski, Iva; Wilbur, Ronnie B.

    2016-01-01

    There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing…

  12. The Cognitive Coaching-Supported Reflective Teaching Approach in English Language Teaching: Academic and Permanence Success

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akyildiz, Seçil Tümen; Semerci, Çetin

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed at investigating the effect of the cognitive coaching-supported reflective teaching approach in English language teaching on the academic success of students and on the permanence of success. It was conducted during the spring semester of 2013/2014 academic year at the School of Foreign Languages, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.…

  13. Chinese Doctoral Students' Perceptions of Academic Achievement, Identity Investment and Use of English in an American University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Liang-Yin

    2013-01-01

    For Chinese doctoral students, English is the most essential subject when studying in U.S. universities and living life in the U.S. Using English not only promotes academic success, but also helps them to pursue better job opportunities and a better life in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to explore Chinese doctoral students' English use,…

  14. Influences of Indigenous Language on Spatial Frames of Reference in Aboriginal English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Edmonds-Wathen, Cris

    2014-01-01

    The Aboriginal English spoken by Indigenous children in remote communities in the Northern Territory of Australia is influenced by the home languages spoken by themselves and their families. This affects uses of spatial terms used in mathematics such as "in front" and "behind." Speakers of the endangered Indigenous Australian…

  15. Project LEAP: Learning-English-for-Academic-Purposes. Training Manual--Year One and Training Manual--Year Two.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Snow, Marguerite Ann, Ed.

    The two training manuals provide activities and exercises intended for use in college-level study groups for students needing assistance with academic English. They were prepared as part of a larger project at California State University at Los Angeles to enhance curricula, instruction, and preparation of students with limited English. In each…

  16. English Proficiency and Participation in Online Discussion for Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leung, Steve

    2013-01-01

    Does English proficiency affect participation in online discussion? This study polled 14 students from a postgraduate online course that require online discussion. The students are divided into groups according to their home language spoken and self-assessed English proficiency, and measure against their participation level in the required…

  17. A Study of the Linguistic Features of Cajun English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cox, Juanita

    The study contrasts Acadian English (Cajun) spoken in Louisiana with the local standard English, describing the linguistic features (pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary) of the dialect in non-technical language. The objective is to inform elementary and secondary school teachers and others involved in education and curriculum development for a…

  18. Hong Kong English and the Professional World

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evans, Stephen

    2011-01-01

    One of the dominant themes of the literature on language in Hong Kong is the belief that English, particularly its spoken form, plays a limited role in the lives of the territory's mainly Cantonese-speaking Chinese community. For this reason, it is argued, there is no societal basis for the development of a nativised variety of English. One of the…

  19. Development of Mandarin spoken language after pediatric cochlear implantation.

    PubMed

    Li, Bei; Soli, Sigfrid D; Zheng, Yun; Li, Gang; Meng, Zhaoli

    2014-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate early spoken language development in young Mandarin-speaking children during the first 24 months after cochlear implantation, as measured by receptive and expressive vocabulary growth rates. Growth rates were compared with those of normally hearing children and with growth rates for English-speaking children with cochlear implants. Receptive and expressive vocabularies were measured with the simplified short form (SSF) version of the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) in a sample of 112 pediatric implant recipients at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after implantation. Implant ages ranged from 1 to 5 years. Scores were expressed in terms of normal equivalent ages, allowing normalized vocabulary growth rates to be determined. Scores for English-speaking children were re-expressed in these terms, allowing direct comparisons of Mandarin and English early spoken language development. Vocabulary growth rates during the first 12 months after implantation were similar to those for normally hearing children less than 16 months of age. Comparisons with growth rates for normally hearing children 16-30 months of age showed that the youngest implant age group (1-2 years) had an average growth rate of 0.68 that of normally hearing children; while the middle implant age group (2-3 years) had an average growth rate of 0.65; and the oldest implant age group (>3 years) had an average growth rate of 0.56, significantly less than the other two rates. Growth rates for English-speaking children with cochlear implants were 0.68 in the youngest group, 0.54 in the middle group, and 0.57 in the oldest group. Growth rates in the middle implant age groups for the two languages differed significantly. The SSF version of the MCDI is suitable for assessment of Mandarin language development during the first 24 months after cochlear implantation. Effects of implant age and duration of implantation can be compared directly across

  20. Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School. IES Practice Guide. NCEE 2014-4012

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Scott; Lesaux, Nonie; Jayanthi, Madhavi; Dimino, Joseph; Proctor, C. Patrick; Morris, Joan; Gersten, Russell; Haymond, Kelly; Kieffer, Michael J.; Linan-Thompson, Sylvia; Newman-Gonchar, Rebecca

    2014-01-01

    As English learners face the double demands of building knowledge of a second language while learning complex grade-level content, teachers must find effective ways to make challenging content comprehensible for students. This updated English learner practice guide, "Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and…

  1. Measuring the Comprehensibility of Englishes within ASEAN among Aseans

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilang, Jeffrey Dawala; Teo, Adisa

    2012-01-01

    This paper focuses on designing a comprehensibility test and a questionnaire for spoken world Englishes in Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, and utilizing the test to investigate the comprehension of Burmese, Cambodians, Indonesians, Laotians, Thais and Vietnamese. We reviewed the demarcation of users of English based on Kachru's…

  2. The Role of Secondary-Stressed and Unstressed-Unreduced Syllables in Word Recognition: Acoustic and Perceptual Studies with Russian Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Banzina, Elina; Dilley, Laura C.; Hewitt, Lynne E.

    2016-01-01

    The importance of secondary-stressed (SS) and unstressed-unreduced (UU) syllable accuracy for spoken word recognition in English is as yet unclear. An acoustic study first investigated Russian learners' of English production of SS and UU syllables. Significant vowel quality and duration reductions in Russian-spoken SS and UU vowels were found,…

  3. Talker familiarity and spoken word recognition in school-age children*

    PubMed Central

    Levi, Susannah V.

    2014-01-01

    Research with adults has shown that spoken language processing is improved when listeners are familiar with talkers’ voices, known as the familiar talker advantage. The current study explored whether this ability extends to school-age children, who are still acquiring language. Children were familiarized with the voices of three German–English bilingual talkers and were tested on the speech of six bilinguals, three of whom were familiar. Results revealed that children do show improved spoken language processing when they are familiar with the talkers, but this improvement was limited to highly familiar lexical items. This restriction of the familiar talker advantage is attributed to differences in the representation of highly familiar and less familiar lexical items. In addition, children did not exhibit accent-general learning; despite having been exposed to German-accented talkers during training, there was no improvement for novel German-accented talkers. PMID:25159173

  4. An Assessment of Hispanic Recruits Who Speak English as a Second Language

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-06-01

    PREDOMINANTLY IN A SOCIAL SITUATION, SPANISH OR ENGLISH? (Que idioma habla Ud. predominantemente, esparfol o ingles?) TOTAL SPANISH: 36/102 (35.3%) ENGLISH...SPANISH: 23/26 (88.5%) ENGLISH: 0 EQUAL: 3/26 (11.5%) LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME: ( Idioma que habla Ud. en el Hogar) SPANISH: 57/102 (55.9

  5. Native Language Spoken as a Risk Marker for Tooth Decay.

    PubMed

    Carson, J; Walker, L A; Sanders, B J; Jones, J E; Weddell, J A; Tomlin, A M

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess dmft, the number of decayed, missing (due to caries), and/ or filled primary teeth, of English-speaking and non-English speaking patients of a hospital based pediatric dental clinic under the age of 72 months to determine if native language is a risk marker for tooth decay. Records from an outpatient dental clinic which met the inclusion criteria were reviewed. Patient demographics and dmft score were recorded, and the patients were separated into three groups by the native language spoken by their parents: English, Spanish and all other languages. A total of 419 charts were assessed: 253 English-speaking, 126 Spanish-speaking, and 40 other native languages. After accounting for patient characteristics, dmft was significantly higher for the other language group than for the English-speaking (p<0.001) and Spanish-speaking groups (p<0.05), however the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking groups were not different from each other (p>0.05). Those patients under 72 months of age whose parents' native language is not English or Spanish, have the highest risk for increased dmft when compared to English and Spanish speaking patients. Providers should consider taking additional time to educate patients and their parents, in their native language, on the importance of routine dental care and oral hygiene.

  6. Marking of verb tense in the English of preschool English-Mandarin bilingual children: evidence from language development profiles within subgroups on the Singapore English Action Picture Test.

    PubMed

    Brebner, Chris; McCormack, Paul; Liow, Susan Rickard

    2016-01-01

    The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this population. To examine the marking of verb tense in the English of two groups of bilingual pre-schoolers learning these languages in a multilingual setting where the main educational language is English. The main research question addressed was: are there differences in the rate and pattern of acquisition of verb-tense marking for English-language 1 children compared with Mandarin-language 1 children? Spoken language samples in English from 481 English-Mandarin bilingual children were elicited using a 10-item action picture test and analysed for each child's use of verb tense markers: present progressive '-ing', regular past tense '-ed', third-person singular '-s', and irregular past tense and irregular past-participle forms. For 4-6 year olds the use of inflectional markers by the different language dominance groups was compared statistically using non-parametric tests. This study provides further evidence that bilingual language development is not the same as monolingual language development. The results show that there are very different rates and patterns of verb-tense marking in English for English-language 1 and Mandarin-language 1 children. Furthermore, they show that bilingual language development in English in Singapore is not the same as monolingual language development in English, and that there are differences in development depending on language dominance. Valid and reliable assessment of bilingual children's language skills needs to consider the characteristics of all languages spoken, obtaining accurate information on language use over time and accurately establishing language dominance is essential in order to make a

  7. Navigating Uncharted Waters: An Accelerated Content-Based English for Academic Purposes Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hernandez, Kelly; Thomas, Michelle; Schuemann, Cynthia

    2012-01-01

    In 2008, Miami Dade College received a $1.9 million Title V grant from the US Department of Education to develop an Accelerated Content-Based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) track called Project ACE for ESL students. The ACE curriculum is anchored by the principles of flexibility, contextualization, and faculty buy-in--critical matters given…

  8. English Learners (ELs) Who Are Asian or Pacific Islander. Fast Facts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office of English Language Acquisition, US Department of Education, 2016

    2016-01-01

    The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page PDF sheets, by topic, with graphics, plus key contacts. The topics for this report on English Learners (ELs) who are Asian or Pacific Islander include: (1) Top 10 Asian and Pacific Islander Languages Spoken Among ELs: SY 2013-14; (2)…

  9. Former English Language Learners: A Case Study of the Perceived Influence of Developmental English Programs on Academic Achievement and Retention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cigdem, Hayriye Nilgun

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to explore the perceptions of former ELL students on aspects of their learning community experiences in a New York City community college to better understand how participating in the learning community's one-semester developmental English program contributed to their increased academic achievement and persistence.…

  10. English as a "Lingua Franca" in International Business Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nickerson, Catherine

    2005-01-01

    This article will provide an overview of current research focussing on the use of English as a "lingua franca" in international business contexts. It selectively reviews research investigating the role of written and spoken communication in English and the work that has been done on specific text genres used by the international business…

  11. Maximising Asian ESL Learners' Communicative Oral English via Drama

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gill, Chamkaur

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes that activities based on a variety of drama-based techniques could be valuable in giving Asian ESL learners opportunities to use communicative spoken English confidently and without restraint during their time in English-language-speaking countries. These learners often get anxious when in situations where they are required to…

  12. Comprehending Implied Meaning in English as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taguchi, Naoko

    2005-01-01

    This study investigated whether second language (L2) proficiency affects pragmatic comprehension, namely the ability to comprehend implied meaning in spoken dialogues, in terms of accuracy and speed of comprehension. Participants included 46 native English speakers at a U.S. university and 160 Japanese students of English in a college in Japan who…

  13. Using Genre Pedagogy to Teach Adolescent English Learners to Write Academic Persuasive Essays

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramos, Kathleen Ann

    2015-01-01

    The new "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010) require teachers to prepare all learners, including adolescent English learners (ELs), to develop academic literacy practices. This article describes an instructional intervention in an urban public high school using the genre-based "Reading to Learn" (Rose…

  14. Making Sense of Power Relations in a Malaysian English-as-a-Second-Language Academic Writing Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abraham, Alison

    2014-01-01

    The role of power in an English-as-a-second-language classroom has yet to be fully explored by an action research practitioner, especially in a Malaysian higher education setting. This study aims to contribute to this gap by working within an academic literacies perspective to teaching academic writing, which propagates the understanding of…

  15. A Prerequisite to L1 Homophone Effects in L2 Spoken-Word Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nakai, Satsuki; Lindsay, Shane; Ota, Mitsuhiko

    2015-01-01

    When both members of a phonemic contrast in L2 (second language) are perceptually mapped to a single phoneme in one's L1 (first language), L2 words containing a member of that contrast can spuriously activate L2 words in spoken-word recognition. For example, upon hearing cattle, Dutch speakers of English are reported to experience activation…

  16. Perception of Native English Reduced Forms in Adverse Environments by Chinese Undergraduate Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wong, Simpson W. L.; Tsui, Jenny K. Y.; Chow, Bonnie Wing-Yin; Leung, Vina W. H.; Mok, Peggy; Chung, Kevin Kien-Hoa

    2017-01-01

    Previous research has shown that learners of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) have difficulties in understanding connected speech spoken by native English speakers. Extending from past research limited to quiet listening condition, this study examined the perception of English connected speech presented under five adverse conditions, namely…

  17. Research on Spoken Dialogue Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Aist, Gregory; Hieronymus, James; Dowding, John; Hockey, Beth Ann; Rayner, Manny; Chatzichrisafis, Nikos; Farrell, Kim; Renders, Jean-Michel

    2010-01-01

    Research in the field of spoken dialogue systems has been performed with the goal of making such systems more robust and easier to use in demanding situations. The term "spoken dialogue systems" signifies unified software systems containing speech-recognition, speech-synthesis, dialogue management, and ancillary components that enable human users to communicate, using natural spoken language or nearly natural prescribed spoken language, with other software systems that provide information and/or services.

  18. Scope of Lexical Access in Spoken Sentence Production: Implications for the Conceptual-Syntactic Interface

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allum, Paul H.; Wheeldon, L.

    2009-01-01

    Building on P. H. Allum and L. Wheeldon (2007), the authors conducted 5 experiments to investigate the scope of lexical access during spoken sentence production in Japanese and English. Speakers described pairs of pictured objects, and on critical trials, 1 object was previewed. In Japanese, sentence onset is speeded by the preview of each of the…

  19. Comparative-Descriptive Study of Academic Vocabulary Specific Instruction on 3rd Grade English Language Learner Reading Scores

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ward, Shelley

    2017-01-01

    Language must be taught with academic vocabulary that is meaningful and that can be transferred between content and context. This comparative-descriptive research study examines how academic specific instruction increases students' learning of a second language acquisition (i.e., English). The conceptual framework of the study drew research…

  20. Effects of an Intelligent Web-Based English Instruction System on Students' Academic Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jia, J.; Chen, Y.; Ding, Z.; Bai, Y.; Yang, B.; Li, M.; Qi, J.

    2013-01-01

    This research conducted quasi-experiments in four middle schools to evaluate the long-term effects of an intelligent web-based English instruction system, Computer Simulation in Educational Communication (CSIEC), on students' academic attainment. The analysis of regular examination scores and vocabulary test validates the positive impact of CSIEC,…

  1. Non-Leveled English Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hagler, Howard

    This curriculum guide is divided into two parts, genre and language skills. Genre involves the specific explorations of the spoken and written word: drama, public speaking, non-fiction, the short story, the novel, and creative expression. Language skills directs itself to the mastery of the mechanics of English. For each course outline included in…

  2. Fictionalized Indian English Speech and the Representations of Ideology in Indian Novels in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muthiah, Kalaivahni

    2009-01-01

    I investigate the spoken dialogue of four Indian novels in English: Mulk Raj Anand's "Untouchable" (1935), Khushwant Singh's "Train to Pakistan" (1956), Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan's "The World of Nagaraj" (1990), and Rohinton Mistry's "Family Matters" (2002). Roger Fowler has said that literature, as a form of discourse, articulates ideology;…

  3. Perceptual Confusions of American-English Vowels and Consonants by Native Arabic Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shafiro, Valeriy; Levy, Erika S.; Khamis-Dakwar, Reem; Kharkhurin, Anatoliy

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated the perception of American-English (AE) vowels and consonants by young adults who were either (a) early Arabic-English bilinguals whose native language was Arabic or (b) native speakers of the English dialects spoken in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where both groups were studying. In a closed-set format, participants…

  4. The Relationship between the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Scores and Academic Success of International Master's Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arcuino, Cathy Lee T.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine if the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are related to academic success defined by final cumulative grade point average (GPA). The data sample, from three Midwestern universities, was comprised of international graduate students who…

  5. Semantic fluency in deaf children who use spoken and signed language in comparison with hearing peers

    PubMed Central

    Jones, A.; Fastelli, A.; Atkinson, J.; Botting, N.; Morgan, G.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Background Deafness has an adverse impact on children's ability to acquire spoken languages. Signed languages offer a more accessible input for deaf children, but because the vast majority are born to hearing parents who do not sign, their early exposure to sign language is limited. Deaf children as a whole are therefore at high risk of language delays. Aims We compared deaf and hearing children's performance on a semantic fluency task. Optimal performance on this task requires a systematic search of the mental lexicon, the retrieval of words within a subcategory and, when that subcategory is exhausted, switching to a new subcategory. We compared retrieval patterns between groups, and also compared the responses of deaf children who used British Sign Language (BSL) with those who used spoken English. We investigated how semantic fluency performance related to children's expressive vocabulary and executive function skills, and also retested semantic fluency in the majority of the children nearly 2 years later, in order to investigate how much progress they had made in that time. Methods & Procedures Participants were deaf children aged 6–11 years (N = 106, comprising 69 users of spoken English, 29 users of BSL and eight users of Sign Supported English—SSE) compared with hearing children (N = 120) of the same age who used spoken English. Semantic fluency was tested for the category ‘animals’. We coded for errors, clusters (e.g., ‘pets’, ‘farm animals’) and switches. Participants also completed the Expressive One‐Word Picture Vocabulary Test and a battery of six non‐verbal executive function tasks. In addition, we collected follow‐up semantic fluency data for 70 deaf and 74 hearing children, nearly 2 years after they were first tested. Outcomes & Results Deaf children, whether using spoken or signed language, produced fewer items in the semantic fluency task than hearing children, but they showed similar patterns of responses for items

  6. Long-Term English Language Learners' Perceptions of Their Language and Academic Learning Experiences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Won Gyoung; García, Shernaz B.

    2014-01-01

    Long-term, adolescent English language learners (ELLs) experience persistent academic underachievement in spite of several years of schooling; yet, the research on this topic is scant. To increase our understanding of these students' educational experiences, we explored perceptions of 13 long-term ELLs about their schooling in the context of their…

  7. Self-Regulated Strategic Writing for Academic Studies in an English-Medium-Instruction Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hu, Jingjing; Gao, Xuesong

    2018-01-01

    This study explored the processes of utilization of resources in secondary students' self-regulated strategic writing for academic studies in an English as medium of instruction context in Hong Kong. Drawing on multiple data sources collected through the observation of lessons, stimulated recall and semi-structured interviews, the study examined…

  8. Influences of indigenous language on spatial frames of reference in Aboriginal English

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Edmonds-Wathen, Cris

    2014-06-01

    The Aboriginal English spoken by Indigenous children in remote communities in the Northern Territory of Australia is influenced by the home languages spoken by themselves and their families. This affects uses of spatial terms used in mathematics such as `in front' and `behind.' Speakers of the endangered Indigenous Australian language Iwaidja use the intrinsic frame of reference in contexts where speakers of Standard Australian English use the relative frame of reference. Children speaking Aboriginal English show patterns of use that parallel the Iwaidja contexts. This paper presents detailed examples of spatial descriptions in Iwaidja and Aboriginal English that demonstrate the parallel patterns of use. The data comes from a study that investigated how an understanding of spatial frame of reference in Iwaidja could assist teaching mathematics to Indigenous language-speaking students. Implications for teaching mathematics are explored for teachers without previous experience in a remote Indigenous community.

  9. Task-Based Language Teaching and English for Academic Purposes: An Investigation into Instructor Perceptions and Practice in the Canadian Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Douglas, Scott Roy; Kim, Marcia

    2014-01-01

    English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs designed to meet postsecondary English language proficiency requirements are a common pathway to higher education for students from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Grounded in a Canadian context, this study seeks to examine the prevalence of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in EAP, common examples…

  10. Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in an ASL/English Bilingual Program

    PubMed Central

    Wilbur, Ronnie B.

    2016-01-01

    There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students’ American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing students. Two subgroups, differing in ASL proficiency, were compared on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress and the reading comprehension subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition. Findings suggested that students highly proficient in ASL outperformed their less proficient peers in nationally standardized measures of reading comprehension, English language use, and mathematics. Moreover, a regression model consisting of 5 predictors including variables regarding education, hearing devices, and secondary disabilities as well as ASL proficiency and home language showed that ASL proficiency was the single variable significantly predicting results on all outcome measures. This study calls for a paradigm shift in thinking about deaf education by focusing on characteristics shared among successful deaf signing readers, specifically ASL fluency. PMID:26864688

  11. Learning English Language by Radio in Primary Schools in Kenya

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Odera, Florence Y.

    2011-01-01

    Radio is one of the most affordable educational technologies available for the use in education and development in developing countries. This article explores the use of school radio broadcast to assist teachers and pupils to learn and improve English language both written and spoken in Kenyan primary schools. English language occupies a central…

  12. Adult English as a Second Language Students in the United States: Learner Characteristics, Goals, and Academic Writing Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lambert, Olga Demin

    2009-01-01

    Adult English as a second language (ESL) students learning English outside of traditional academic settings are an understudied population of second language learners. The purpose of the research reported here is to contribute to meeting the instructional needs of these students more effectively by investigating the relationships between their…

  13. Enhancing the Pronunciation of English Suprasegmental Features through Reflective Learning Method

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suwartono

    2014-01-01

    Suprasegmental features are of paramount importance in spoken English. Yet, these pronunciation features are marginalised in EFL/ESL teaching-learning. This article reported a study that was aimed at improving the students' mastery of English suprasegmental features through the use of reflective learning method. The study adopted Kemmis and…

  14. Academic Effects of Peer-Mediated Interventions with English Language Learners: A Research Synthesis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pyle, Daniel; Pyle, Nicole; Lignugaris/Kraft, Benjamin; Duran, Lillian; Akers, Jessica

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to synthesize the extant research on peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) with English language learners (ELLs) in kindergarten through Grade 12. Fourteen studies that were published in peer-reviewed journals from 1983 to 2013 were examined in terms of study characteristics, the effects on academic outcomes, study…

  15. Leveled and Exclusionary Tracking: English Learners' Access to Academic Content in Middle School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Umansky, Ilana M.

    2016-01-01

    This study examines the characteristics and determinants of English learners' (ELs') access to academic content in middle school (Grades 6-8). Following 10 years of data from a large urban school district in California, I identify two predominant characteristics of EL access to content: leveled tracking in which ELs are overrepresented in lower…

  16. The Effects of Dialect Awareness Instruction on Nonmainstream American English Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Lakeisha; Terry, Nicole Patton; Connor, Carol McDonald; Thomas-Tate, Shurita

    2017-01-01

    The achievement gaps between poor and more affluent students are persistent and chronic, as many students living in poverty are also members of more isolated communities where dialects such as African American English and Southern Vernacular English are often spoken. Non-mainstream dialect use is associated with weaker literacy achievement. The…

  17. The Relationship between Mathematics and Language: Academic Implications for Children with Specific Language Impairment and English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alt, Mary; Arizmendi, Genesis D.; Beal, Carole R.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The present study examined the relationship between mathematics and language to better understand the nature of the deficit and the academic implications associated with specific language impairment (SLI) and academic implications for English language learners (ELLs). Method: School-age children (N = 61; 20 SLI, 20 ELL, 21 native…

  18. Tag Questions across Irish English and British English: A Corpus Analysis of Form and Function

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barron, Anne; Pandarova, Irina; Muderack, Karoline

    2015-01-01

    The present study, situated in the area of variational pragmatics, contrasts tag question (TQ) use in Ireland and Great Britain using spoken data from the Irish and British components of the International Corpus of English (ICE). Analysis is on the formal and functional level and also investigates form-functional relationships. Findings reveal…

  19. On the Relationship between the IELTS Listening and Listening in Academic English Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sabet, Masood Khalili; Babaei, Hamid Reza

    2017-01-01

    The challenge for many teachers teaching in academic English programs is, on the one hand, to actualize the objectives of their course and on the other hand, prepare their students for the important international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL. The current study seeks to reconcile this challenge by drawing on the relationship between the IELTS…

  20. A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Three-Word Lexical Bundles in the Academic Writing by Native English and Turkish Non-Native Writers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ucar, Serpil

    2017-01-01

    The utilization of English recurrent word combinations--lexical bundles--play a fundamental role in academic prose (Karabacak & Qin, 2013). There has been highly limited research about comparing Turkish non-native and native English writers' use of lexical bundles in academic prose in terms of frequency, structure and functions of lexical…

  1. Computer Literacy in Learning Academic English: Iranian EAP Students' and Instructors' Attitudes and Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alavi, Seyed Mohammad; Borzabadi, Davood; Dashtestani, Reza

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to analyze perceptions of Iranian English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students on their computer literacy levels. A total of 641 undergraduate students of civil engineering and 34 EAP instructors participated in the study. Data collection instruments included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Findings confirmed that…

  2. The Arizona Home Language Survey: The Under-Identification of Students for English Language Services

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldenberg, Claude; Rutherford-Quach, Sara

    2012-01-01

    Assuring that English learners (ELs) receive the support services to which they are entitled requires accurately identifying students who are limited in their English proficiency. As a first step in the identification process, students' parents fill out a home language survey. If the survey indicates a language other than English is spoken in the…

  3. Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in an ASL/English Bilingual Program.

    PubMed

    Hrastinski, Iva; Wilbur, Ronnie B

    2016-04-01

    There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing students. Two subgroups, differing in ASL proficiency, were compared on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress and the reading comprehension subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition. Findings suggested that students highly proficient in ASL outperformed their less proficient peers in nationally standardized measures of reading comprehension, English language use, and mathematics. Moreover, a regression model consisting of 5 predictors including variables regarding education, hearing devices, and secondary disabilities as well as ASL proficiency and home language showed that ASL proficiency was the single variable significantly predicting results on all outcome measures. This study calls for a paradigm shift in thinking about deaf education by focusing on characteristics shared among successful deaf signing readers, specifically ASL fluency. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Iconicity in English and Spanish and Its Relation to Lexical Category and Age of Acquisition

    PubMed Central

    Lupyan, Gary

    2015-01-01

    Signed languages exhibit iconicity (resemblance between form and meaning) across their vocabulary, and many non-Indo-European spoken languages feature sizable classes of iconic words known as ideophones. In comparison, Indo-European languages like English and Spanish are believed to be arbitrary outside of a small number of onomatopoeic words. In three experiments with English and two with Spanish, we asked native speakers to rate the iconicity of ~600 words from the English and Spanish MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventories. We found that iconicity in the words of both languages varied in a theoretically meaningful way with lexical category. In both languages, adjectives were rated as more iconic than nouns and function words, and corresponding to typological differences between English and Spanish in verb semantics, English verbs were rated as relatively iconic compared to Spanish verbs. We also found that both languages exhibited a negative relationship between iconicity ratings and age of acquisition. Words learned earlier tended to be more iconic, suggesting that iconicity in early vocabulary may aid word learning. Altogether these findings show that iconicity is a graded quality that pervades vocabularies of even the most “arbitrary” spoken languages. The findings provide compelling evidence that iconicity is an important property of all languages, signed and spoken, including Indo-European languages. PMID:26340349

  5. Understanding the Relationship between Latino Students' Preferred Learning Styles and Their Language Spoken at Home

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maldonado Torres, Sonia Enid

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between Latino students' learning styles and their language spoken at home. Results of the study indicated that students who spoke Spanish at home had higher means in the Active Experimentation modality of learning (M = 31.38, SD = 5.70) than students who spoke English (M = 28.08,…

  6. From Test Scores to Language Use: Emergent Bilinguals Using English to Accomplish Academic Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodriguez-Mojica, Claudia

    2018-01-01

    Prominent discourses about emergent bilinguals' academic abilities tend to focus on performance as measured by test scores and perpetuate the message that emergent bilinguals trail far behind their peers. When we remove the constraints of formal testing situations, what can emergent bilinguals do in English as they engage in naturally occurring…

  7. Academic Writing for Graduate-Level English as a Second Language Students: Experiences in Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sidman-Taveau, Rebekah; Karathanos-Aguilar, Katya

    2015-01-01

    Graduate-level ESL students in Education are future multicultural educators and promising role models for our diverse K-12 students. However, many of these students struggle with academic English and, in particular, writing. Yet little research or program development addresses the specific writing-support needs of this group. This article shares…

  8. Learners' Perceptions toward Pronunciation Instruction in Three Circles of World Englishes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kang, Okim

    2015-01-01

    From the perspective of World Englishes (i.e., varieties of English in different regions of the world), mutual intelligibility is a key issue for both listeners and speakers. Nevertheless, learners often have an idealized notion of native-speaker spoken norms and may be in favor of more prestigious inner circle models than others. This study…

  9. Spoken Records. Third Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roach, Helen

    Surveying 75 years of accomplishment in the field of spoken recording, this reference work critically evaluates commercially available recordings selected for excellence of execution, literary or historical merit, interest, and entertainment value. Some types of spoken records included are early recording, documentaries, lectures, interviews,…

  10. The sounds of sarcasm in English and Cantonese: A cross-linguistic production and perception study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheang, Henry S.

    Three studies were conducted to examine the acoustic markers of sarcasm in English and in Cantonese, and the manner in which such markers are perceived across these languages. The first study consisted of acoustic analyses of sarcastic utterances spoken in English to verify whether particular prosodic cues correspond to English sarcastic speech. Native English speakers produced utterances expressing sarcasm, sincerity, humour, or neutrality. Measures taken from each utterance included fundamental frequency (F0), amplitude, speech rate, harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR, to probe voice quality), and one-third octave spectral values (to probe resonance). The second study was conducted to ascertain whether specific acoustic features marked sarcasm in Cantonese and how such features compare with English sarcastic prosody. The elicitation and acoustic analysis methods from the first study were applied to similarly-constructed Cantonese utterances spoken by native Cantonese speakers. Direct acoustic comparisons between Cantonese and English sarcasm exemplars were also made. To further test for cross-linguistic prosodic cues of sarcasm and to assess whether sarcasm could be conveyed across languages, a cross-linguistic perceptual study was then performed. A subset of utterances from the first two studies was presented to naive listeners fluent in either Cantonese or English. Listeners had to identify the attitude in each utterance regardless of language of presentation. Sarcastic utterances in English (regardless of text) were marked by lower mean F0 and reductions in HNR and F0 standard deviation (relative to comparison attitudes). Resonance changes, reductions in both speech rate and F0 range signalled sarcasm in conjunction with some vocabulary terms. By contrast, higher mean F0, amplitude range reductions, and F0 range restrictions corresponded with sarcastic utterances spoken in Cantonese regardless of text. For Cantonese, reduced speech rate and higher HNR interacted

  11. Selected Factors Related to the Mathematics Academic Achievement of Eighth Grade English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garza, Anthony

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine selected factors related to the 8th grade mathematics achievement levels of English Language Learner (ELL) students in selected South Texas middle schools. The dependent variable, ELL mathematics achievement, was measured by the ELL student's raw score on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness…

  12. Preview-View-Review: Increasing Academic Access for Students with Intellectual Disabilities Who Are English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williamson, Dolores Marie

    2017-01-01

    Recent changes to federal education laws for students with and without disabilities have kindled an increased interest in implementing evidence-based practices for teaching academic skills to all students, including students with severe disabilities and students learning English. Teaching students with significant disabilities who are learning…

  13. Pilot study: EatFit impacts sixth graders' academic performance on achievement of mathematics and english education standards.

    PubMed

    Shilts, Mical Kay; Lamp, Cathi; Horowitz, Marcel; Townsend, Marilyn S

    2009-01-01

    Investigate the impact of a nutrition education program on student academic performance as measured by achievement of education standards. Quasi-experimental crossover-controlled study. California Central Valley suburban elementary school (58% qualified for free or reduced-priced lunch). All sixth-grade students (n = 84) in the elementary school clustered in 3 classrooms. 9-lesson intervention with an emphasis on guided goal setting and driven by the Social Cognitive Theory. Multiple-choice survey assessing 5 education standards for sixth-grade mathematics and English at 3 time points: baseline (T1), 5 weeks (T2), and 10 weeks (T3). Repeated measures, paired t test, and analysis of covariance. Changes in total scores were statistically different (P < .05), with treatment scores (T3 - T2) generating more gains. The change scores for 1 English (P < .01) and 2 mathematics standards (P < .05; P < .001) were statistically greater for the treatment period (T3 - T2) compared to the control period (T2 - T1). Using standardized tests, results of this pilot study suggest that EatFit can improve academic performance measured by achievement of specific mathematics and English education standards. Nutrition educators can show school administrators and wellness committee members that this program can positively impact academic performance, concomitant to its primary objective of promoting healthful eating and physical activity.

  14. ENGLISH-QUECHUA DICTIONARY--CUZCO, AYACUCHO, COCHABAMBA.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    PARKER, GARY; AND OTHERS

    WRITTEN TO SUPPLEMENT THE AUTHORS' SPOKEN QUECHUA MATERIALS, THIS TRIDIALECTAL DICTIONARY PROVIDES THE SPEAKER OF ENGLISH WHO HAS HAD SOME TRAINING IN QUECHUA GRAMMAR WITH A MEANS OF ACCESS TO ADDITIONAL VOCABULARY IN THE CUZCO, AYACUCHO, AND COCHABAMBA DIALECTS. ALL THE QUECHUA WORDS AND PHRASES INCLUDED ARE IN ACTUAL USE AND WERE GATHERED FROM…

  15. Examining the Role of the Library in Promoting the Academic Achievement of English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de Souza, Marcela

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to share findings from a qualitative study showing the positive influences the local public library and the school library had on the personal and academic lives of 18 low-income English language learners of Mexican descent while they were adjusting to the numerous demands of school in the US. For these students, the…

  16. Teaching Writing within the Disciplines: A Viable Approach for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Instructors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leopold, Lisa

    2011-01-01

    This case study of an adjunct-model English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course linked to a policy-analysis course describes an effective approach for putting "specificity" into practice in EAP curriculum design. The rationale for interdisciplinary collaboration, the positive learning outcomes from the EAP writing course, the…

  17. Displaying Critical Thinking in EFL Academic Writing: A Discussion of Japanese to English Contrastive Rhetoric

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKinley, Jim

    2013-01-01

    This article provides an examination of the literature on issues surrounding the problems Japanese university students face in learning critical argument in their English academic writing courses. Japanese students' critical thinking skills are criticized as not fostered in their university education, perhaps due to Confucian education ideals,…

  18. Enhancing Academic Instruction for Adolescent English Language Learners with or at Risk for Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haager, Diane; Osipova, Anna V.

    2017-01-01

    An increasing number of children worldwide attend schools where the language of instruction does not match their native language, presenting significant challenges with learning the content and vocabulary of academic content areas (e.g., social studies, science). In the U.S., these students are designated as English language learners…

  19. Case Meetings for Teaching English for Specific Academic Purposes in a Tertiary Aeronautical Engineering Programme

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tatzl, Dietmar

    2015-01-01

    This article presents an innovative adaptation of the case method to teaching English for specific academic purposes. Widespread in its traditional form in various content disciplines, the case method bears the potential for truly student-centred language instruction. The current application transforms learners from case analysts to case authors…

  20. Listeners feel the beat: entrainment to English and French speech rhythms.

    PubMed

    Lidji, Pascale; Palmer, Caroline; Peretz, Isabelle; Morningstar, Michele

    2011-12-01

    Can listeners entrain to speech rhythms? Monolingual speakers of English and French and balanced English-French bilinguals tapped along with the beat they perceived in sentences spoken in a stress-timed language, English, and a syllable-timed language, French. All groups of participants tapped more regularly to English than to French utterances. Tapping performance was also influenced by the participants' native language: English-speaking participants and bilinguals tapped more regularly and at higher metrical levels than did French-speaking participants, suggesting that long-term linguistic experience with a stress-timed language can differentiate speakers' entrainment to speech rhythm.

  1. The Unchanging American Capacity in Languages Other than English: Speaking and Learning Languages Other than English, 2000-2008

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rivers, William P.; Robinson, John P.

    2012-01-01

    We present results of 2006 and 2008 replications of the 2000 General Social Survey (GSS), which included nine questions on languages other than English (LOEs) spoken (Robinson, Rivers, & Brecht, 2006). In 2000, 26% claimed they could speak another language, with 10% saying they could speak it "very well." In 2000, foreign language…

  2. Closed-Caption Television and Adult Students of English as a Second Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Jennifer J.

    The use of closed-caption television (CCTV) to help teach English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults was studied with a group of adult students in the Arlington, Virginia, Education and Employment Program. Although CCTV is designed for the hearing impaired, its combination of written with spoken English in the visual context of television makes…

  3. Effects of Goal-Setting Skills on Students'academic Performance in English Language in Enugu Nigeria

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abe, Iyabo Idowu; Ilogu, Guy Chibuzoh; Madueke, Ify Louisa

    2014-01-01

    The study investigated the effectiveness of goal-setting skills among Senior Secondary II students' academic performance in English language in Enugu Metropolis, Enugu state, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test control group design was adopted for the study. The initial sample was 147 participants (male and female) Senior Secondary…

  4. A Study of the Motivational Patterns of Learners of English for Academic and Professional Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abrar-ul-Hassan, Shahid

    2014-01-01

    Learner motivation is considered a vital factor in second language instruction. An analysis of motivation types and degrees can reveal learners' expectations and learning objectives. The present study analyzes the motivational patterns of a group of English for academic and professional purposes (EAPP) learners while focusing on types and degrees…

  5. Sub-syllabic processing in young Korean-English bilinguals: semivowel placement differences between Korean and English.

    PubMed

    Baek, Seunghyun

    2014-10-01

    This study investigated the sub-syllabic awareness of two groups of 86 Korean kindergarteners learning English as a foreign language (EFL) or English as a second language (ESL). In addition, it explored the cross-language transfer of sub-syllabic units between Korean and English by taking into account their lexical abilities with respect to the two languages. The participants were assessed in Korean and English based on their sound oddity and similarity judgments with respect to sub-syllabic units in spoken pseudo-syllables containing semivowels (e.g., /j/ and /w/) as well as on a lexical ability test. The results indicate that EFL and ESL children preferred body structure and rime structure, respectively, regardless of the language. These results provide support for the bilingual interactive activation model; that is, bilingual lexicon may be represented in language non-selective access. Further, the differences in semivowel placement between Korean and English may be a possible resource for language-specific sub-syllabic awareness.

  6. Does the Advanced Proficiency Evaluated in Oral-Like Written Text Support Syntactic Parsing in a Written Academic Text among L2 Japanese Learners?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kitajima, Ryu

    2016-01-01

    Corpus linguistics identifies the qualitative difference in the characteristics of spoken discourse vs. written academic discourse. Whereas spoken discourse makes greater use of finite dependent clauses functioning as constituents in other clauses, written academic discourse incorporates noun phrase constituents and complex phrases. This claim can…

  7. International Students' Attitudes Towards Malaysian English Ethnolects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khojastehrad, Shadi; Rafik-Galea, Shameem; Abdullah, Ain Nadzimah

    2015-01-01

    Language attitudes are learned and formed in our social environment through hearing others referring to certain groups or people's languages and cultures, and also by exposure to particular varieties spoken in the context. This might lead to stereotyping English and its native speakers (McKenzie, 2008). In this sense, it is pedagogically…

  8. Cooperative Learning and Second Language Acquisition in First-Year Composition: Opportunities for Authentic Communication among English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mason, Katherine

    2006-01-01

    In an environment, in which English is a second or other language for every student, fear and anxiety affect students' learning and engagement. Yet, in spite of these concerns, students welcomed the chance to practice their spoken English in cooperative structures while learning about and engaging in their composing processes. English language…

  9. Shaping Aspirations, Awareness, Academics, and Action: Outcomes of Summer Enrichment Programs for English-Learning Secondary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matthews, Paul H.; Mellom, Paula J.

    2012-01-01

    Mixed-method evaluation of two iterations of month-long summer enrichment programs for English-learning secondary students investigated impacts on participants' beliefs about school and academic achievement, and on actual course choices, test outcomes, and graduation rates. Students (N = 85) from one ethnically diverse, high-poverty high school in…

  10. SPOKEN-ENGLISH LESSONS FOR SPANISH-SPEAKING MIGRANT FARM WORKERS.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    GOODWIN, SARAH HALL

    PLANS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE TO THE 200,000 SPANISH-SPEAKING FARM WORKERS WHO MOVE IN AND OUT OF SOUTH TEXAS INTO MORE THAN 30 STATES MUST TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE PHYSICAL FACTS OF POVERTY, MOBILITY, AND LIVES DISORDERED BY SEASONAL WORK, AS WELL AS PSYCHOLOGICAL HANDICAPS AND EDUCATIONAL DEFICIENCIES. THE FIRST LARGE…

  11. Second Language Learners' Attitudes towards English Varieties

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Weimin; Hu, Guiling

    2008-01-01

    This pilot project investigates second language (L2) learners' attitudes towards three varieties of English: American (AmE), British (BrE) and Australian (AuE). A 69-word passage spoken by a female speaker of each variety was used. Participants were 30 Chinese students pursuing Masters or Doctoral degrees in the United States, who listened to each…

  12. The English Language of the Nigeria Police

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chinwe, Udo Victoria

    2015-01-01

    In the present day Nigeria, the quality of the English language spoken by Nigerians, is perceived to have been deteriorating and needs urgent attention. The proliferation of books and articles in the recent years can be seen as the native outcrop of its received attention and recognition as a matter of discourse. Evidently, every profession,…

  13. "What They Highlight Is...": The Discourse Functions of Basic "Wh"-Clefts in Lectures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deroey, Katrien L. B.

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports findings from a study on the discourse functions of basic "wh"-clefts such as "what our brains do is complicated information processing" in 160 lectures drawn from the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) corpus. Like much linguistic research on this academic genre, the investigation is motivated by the…

  14. The English-Language and Reading Achievement of a Cohort of Deaf Students Speaking and Signing Standard English: A Preliminary Study.

    PubMed

    Nielsen, Diane Corcoran; Luetke, Barbara; McLean, Meigan; Stryker, Deborah

    2016-01-01

    Research suggests that English-language proficiency is critical if students who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) are to read as their hearing peers. One explanation for the traditionally reported reading achievement plateau when students are D/HH is the inability to hear insalient English morphology. Signing Exact English can provide visual access to these features. The authors investigated the English morphological and syntactic abilities and reading achievement of elementary and middle school students at a school using simultaneously spoken and signed Standard American English facilitated by intentional listening, speech, and language strategies. A developmental trend (and no plateau) in language and reading achievement was detected; most participants demonstrated average or above-average English. Morphological awareness was prerequisite to high test scores; speech was not significantly correlated with achievement; language proficiency, measured by the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 (Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003), predicted reading achievement.

  15. Development and Usability Test of an e-Learning Tool for Engineering Graduates to Develop Academic Writing in English: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Chih-Chung; Liu, Gi-Zen; Wang, Tzong-I

    2017-01-01

    Many non-native English speaking (NNES) graduates are required to write academic papers in English; consequently, recent research in the past decade has been devoted to investigating the usefulness of genre-based Writing Instructions (GBWI) on learners' writing cultivation. There is little specific guidance, however, on how GBWI can be employed in…

  16. Acoustic Analyses and Intelligibility Assessments of Timing Patterns among Chinese English Learners with Different Dialect Backgrounds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Hsueh Chu

    2015-01-01

    This paper includes two interrelated studies. The first production study investigates the timing patterns of English as spoken by Chinese learners with different dialect backgrounds. The second comprehension study explores native and non-native speakers' assessments of the intelligibility of Chinese-accented English, and examines the effects of…

  17. The Role of Secondary-Stressed and Unstressed-Unreduced Syllables in Word Recognition: Acoustic and Perceptual Studies with Russian Learners of English.

    PubMed

    Banzina, Elina; Dilley, Laura C; Hewitt, Lynne E

    2016-08-01

    The importance of secondary-stressed (SS) and unstressed-unreduced (UU) syllable accuracy for spoken word recognition in English is as yet unclear. An acoustic study first investigated Russian learners' of English production of SS and UU syllables. Significant vowel quality and duration reductions in Russian-spoken SS and UU vowels were found, likely due to a transfer of native phonological features. Next, a cross-modal phonological priming technique combined with a lexical decision task assessed the effect of inaccurate SS and UU syllable productions on native American English listeners' speech processing. Inaccurate UU vowels led to significant inhibition of lexical access, while reduced SS vowels revealed less interference. The results have implications for understanding the role of SS and UU syllables for word recognition and English pronunciation instruction.

  18. The Effect of "GoEnglish.Me": A Virtual Learning Website on Lower Intermediate Iranian EFL Learners Speaking Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peyghambarian, Farideh; Ashraf, Hamid; Fatemi, Mohammad Ali

    2014-01-01

    GoEnglish.Me can provide EFL learners with authentic materials in a variety of topics. In addition to authentic materials, the site can offer an opportunity of learning real Spoken English by American Native Speakers. To achieve the purpose of this study, you can probe the effect of GoEnglish.Me on lower-intermediate EFL learners' speaking…

  19. Teaching English Speaking Skills to the Arab Students in the Saudi School in Kuala Lumpur: Problems and Solutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Sobhi, Bandar Mohammad Saeed; Preece, Abdul Shakour

    2018-01-01

    Of the four English language skills, speaking enjoys a superior status. Accordingly, it should be given high priority while teaching. In spite of its importance, teaching English speaking skill to Arab EFL learners has always been an exacting task for Arab teachers of English because it is considered a foreign language, i.e. not widely spoken or…

  20. The Influence of Gujarati and Tamil L1s on Indian English: A Preliminary Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiltshire, Caroline R.; Harnsberger, James D.

    2006-01-01

    English as spoken as a second language in India has developed distinct sound patterns in terms of both segmental and prosodic characteristics. We investigate the differences between two groups varying in native language (Gujarati, Tamil) to evaluate to what extent Indian English (IE) accents are based on a single target phonological-phonetic…

  1. Professionals' Guidance about Spoken Language Multilingualism and Spoken Language Choice for Children with Hearing Loss

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crowe, Kathryn; McLeod, Sharynne

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to investigate factors that influence professionals' guidance of parents of children with hearing loss regarding spoken language multilingualism and spoken language choice. Sixteen professionals who provide services to children and young people with hearing loss completed an online survey, rating the importance of…

  2. An Introduction to Spoken Bolivian Quechua.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bills, Garland D.; And Others

    This text is intended for use in a college-level course in Bolivian Quechua for speakers of English. It is divided into thirty units and is specifically designed for a two-semester academic year of fifteen weeks a semester. The entire text is highly structured, carefully graded, and organized on the principles of the audiolingual approach to…

  3. American Sign Language and Academic English: Factors Influencing the Reading of Bilingual Secondary School Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students.

    PubMed

    Scott, Jessica A; Hoffmeister, Robert J

    2017-01-01

    For many years, researchers have sought to understand the reading development of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Guided by prior research on DHH and hearing students, in this study we investigate the hypothesis that for secondary school DHH students enrolled in American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual schools for the deaf, academic English proficiency would be a significant predictor of reading comprehension alongside ASL proficiency. Using linear regression, we found statistically significant interaction effects between academic English knowledge and word reading fluency in predicting the reading comprehension scores of the participants. However, ASL remained the strongest and most consistent predictor of reading comprehension within the sample. Findings support a model in which socio-demographic factors, ASL proficiency, and word reading fluency are primary predictors of reading comprehension for secondary DHH students. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@.com.

  4. English as "Tyrannosaurus Rex."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swales, John M.

    1997-01-01

    The increasing domination of English as the world's leading medium of international professional communication has begun to impact English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs, specifically the question of whether English is becoming too successful. The article argues that resistance to the "triumphalism" of English is a responsibility of EAP…

  5. Chinese Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Academics' Perceptions about Research in a Transitional Culture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bai, Li; Millwater, Jan; Hudson, Peter

    2012-01-01

    Research capacity building has become a prominent theme in higher education institutions in China and across the world. However, Chinese Teaching English as a Foreign Language academics' research output has been quite limited. In order to build their research capacity, it is necessary to understand their perceptions about research. This case study…

  6. The Impact of Blended e-Learning on Undergraduate Academic Essay Writing in English (L2)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferriman, Nicholas

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes a quasi-experimental study into the impact of a blended e-learning environment on academic writing assignments in English (L2) at a Thai international college. An experimental group of 15 students used an on-line bulletin board, as well as face-to-face (F2F) communication in class, to share information for essay topics they…

  7. Code-switched English Pronunciation Modeling for Swahili Spoken Term Detection (Pub Version, Open Access)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-05-03

    using additional English resources. 2. Background The Babel program1 is an international collaborative effort sponsored by the US Intelligence Advanced...phenomenon is not as well studied for English / African language pairs, but some results are available8,9. 3. Experimental Setup The Swahili analysis...word pronunciations. From the analysis it was concluded that in most cases English words were pronounced using standard English letter-to-sound rules

  8. Linguistic Knowledge Aspects in Academic Reading: Challenges and Deployed Strategies by English-Major Undergraduates at a Jordanian Institution of Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Albashtawi, Abeer H.; Jaganathan, Paramaswari; Singh, Manjet

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate the linguistic knowledge aspect in academic reading, the challenges and the deployed strategies by English major undergraduates at a Jordanian institution of higher education. The importance of the study is attributed to the importance of the academic reading at university which is closely related to the academic…

  9. Why Tweet When You Can Bubble? Students' Perceptions of a Voice Microblog for the Development of Their L2 Spoken Production Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davies, Renaud Jonathan

    2015-01-01

    This study explores the role voice microblogging-based activities play in developing learners' spoken production skills. The study involved 33 low-intermediate level university students majoring in English at a private university in Japan. The voice microblogging application used in the study was Bubbly, a cross-platform social networking…

  10. The Effects of Phonological Awareness of Zulu-Speaking Children Learning to Spell in English: A Study of Cross-Language Transfer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Sousa, Diana Soares; Greenop, Kirston; Fry, Jessica

    2010-01-01

    Background: Emergent bilingual Zulu-English speaking children in South Africa have spoken but no written proficiency in Zulu (L1), yet are required to learn to spell English (L2) via English-only literacy instruction. Little research exists on emergent bilingual's phonological awareness (PA) and spelling development, with no L1 formal literacy…

  11. Socialized Perception and L2 Pronunciation among Spanish-Speaking Learners of English in Puerto Rico

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perez, Marisol Santiago

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to validate the following hypothesis: First, spoken accents have a major influence and can affect listeners' personal attitudes and second, native Puerto Rican speakers will speak English as a second language without wanting to sound like a North American English speaker. This study will contribute to research on the…

  12. Examining the Role of Time and Language Type in Reading Development for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Betts, Joseph; Bolt, Sara; Decker, Dawn; Muyskens, Paul; Marston, Doug

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the development of English reading achievement among English Language Learners (ELLs) and to determine whether the time that an ELL's family was in the United States and the type of native language spoken affected their reading development. Participants were 300 third-grade ELLs from two different native…

  13. Spoken Narrative Assessment: A Supplementary Measure of Children's Creativity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wong, Miranda Kit-Yi; So, Wing Chee

    2016-01-01

    This study developed a spoken narrative (i.e., storytelling) assessment as a supplementary measure of children's creativity. Both spoken and gestural contents of children's spoken narratives were coded to assess their verbal and nonverbal creativity. The psychometric properties of the coding system for the spoken narrative assessment were…

  14. How Elementary Pre-Service Teachers Acquire Pedagogical Language Knowledge for Supporting English Learners' Academic Language Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harmon, Lois

    2017-01-01

    Increasingly large populations of English Learners (ELs) attend public schools within the US and teachers are held accountable for the academic performance of these students. Unfortunately, multiple studies have concluded that teachers graduating from teacher education programs are not equipped with the competencies to clearly identify the…

  15. Established and Evolving Spoken Research Process Genres: Plenary Lecture and Poster Session Discussions at Academic Conferences.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shalom, Celia

    1993-01-01

    Two types of main hall discussions at an ecology conference were studied: plenary lecture discussion as an accepted, established spoken research process genre with its own conventions; and poster session discussion as a fragile, embryonic research process genre struggling for definition. (14 references) (Author/LB)

  16. Conversational Entrainment of Vocal Fry in Young Adult Female American English Speakers.

    PubMed

    Borrie, Stephanie A; Delfino, Christine R

    2017-07-01

    Conversational entrainment, the natural tendency for people to modify their behaviors to more closely match their communication partner, is examined as one possible mechanism modulating the prevalence of vocal fry in the speech of young American women engaged in spoken dialogue. Twenty young adult female American English speakers engaged in two spoken dialogue tasks-one with a young adult female American English conversational partner who exhibited substantial vocal fry and one with a young adult female American English conversational partner who exhibited quantifiably less vocal fry. Dialogues were analyzed for proportion of vocal fry, by speaker, and two measures of communicative success (efficiency and enjoyment). Participants employed significantly more vocal fry when conversing with the partner who exhibited substantial vocal fry than when conversing with the partner who exhibited quantifiably less vocal fry. Further, greater similarity between communication partners in their use of vocal fry tracked with higher scores of communicative efficiency and communicative enjoyment. Conversational entrainment offers a mechanistic framework that may be used to explain, to some degree, the frequency with which vocal fry is employed by young American women engaged in spoken dialogue. Further, young American women who modulated their vocal patterns during dialogue to match those of their conversational partner gained more efficiency and enjoyment from their interactions, demonstrating the cognitive and social benefits of entrainment. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. The Role of the Culture of Japanese Students in Acquisition of Academic English: An Ethnographic Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mertin, Patricia Anne

    2014-01-01

    This ethnographic study examines the role of Japanese students' culture and its effects on the rate of acquisition of academic English. It is based on observation of classes in Japanese schools, both in Japan and Germany, as well as in an international school, together with interviews, questionnaires, student responses and case studies over a…

  18. Conversation Analysis--A Discourse Approach to Teaching Oral English Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Yan

    2013-01-01

    This paper explores a pedagocial approach to teaching oral English---Conversation Analysis. First, features of spoken language is described in comparison to written language. Second, Conversation Analysis theory is elaborated in terms of adjacency pairs, turn-taking, repairs, sequences, openings and closings, and feedback. Third, under the…

  19. Developmental Diversity in the Academic Language-Learning Experiences of Adult English as a Second or Other Language Learners: A Constructive-Developmental Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ouellette-Schramm, Jennifer R.

    2016-01-01

    Academic language is a challenging yet increasingly important skill for Adult Basic Education/English as a Second or Other Language learners. Related to academic language learning is an adult's developmental perspective. Developmental perspectives have been shown to vary in adulthood and shape qualitatively distinct ways of reasoning and learning…

  20. Iranian English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Stakeholders' Attitudes toward Using the Internet in EAP Courses for Civil Engineering Students: Promises and Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Atai, Mahmood Reza; Dashtestani, Reza

    2013-01-01

    English for academic purposes (EAP) has established itself as a considerable part of English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction in Iranian universities. Considering the Internet as a major educational source in EAP reading courses, it is highly important that the stakeholders have positive attitudes toward it and be aware of promises and…

  1. Foreign body aspiration and language spoken at home: 10-year review.

    PubMed

    Choroomi, S; Curotta, J

    2011-07-01

    To review foreign body aspiration cases encountered over a 10-year period in a tertiary paediatric hospital, and to assess correlation between foreign body type and language spoken at home. Retrospective chart review of all children undergoing direct laryngobronchoscopy for foreign body aspiration over a 10-year period. Age, sex, foreign body type, complications, hospital stay and home language were analysed. At direct laryngobronchoscopy, 132 children had foreign body aspiration (male:female ratio 1.31:1; mean age 32 months (2.67 years)). Mean hospital stay was 2.0 days. Foreign bodies most commonly comprised food matter (53/132; 40.1 per cent), followed by non-food matter (44/132; 33.33 per cent), a negative endoscopy (11/132; 8.33 per cent) and unknown composition (24/132; 18.2 per cent). Most parents spoke English (92/132, 69.7 per cent; vs non-English-speaking 40/132, 30.3 per cent), but non-English-speaking patients had disproportionately more food foreign bodies, and significantly more nut aspirations (p = 0.0065). Results constitute level 2b evidence. Patients from non-English speaking backgrounds had a significantly higher incidence of food (particularly nut) aspiration. Awareness-raising and public education is needed in relevant communities to prevent certain foods, particularly nuts, being given to children too young to chew and swallow them adequately.

  2. The Role of Friends in Early Adolescents' Academic Self-Competence and Intrinsic Value for Math and English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bissell-Havran, Joanna M.; Loken, Eric

    2009-01-01

    In a sample of 207 eighth grade students, we examined similarities between students and their friends in achievement motivation and whether friendship support moderated these associations. Academic self-competence and intrinsic value for math and English were assessed using both perceptions of friends and actual friend reports collected through…

  3. A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Study of Rapport-Management Strategies in Chinese and English Academic Upward Request Emails

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhu, Wuhan

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses and compares how Chinese and English postgraduate students manage a harmonious relationship with university instructors by managing rapport and doing relational work in their academic request emails. The rapport-management strategies were explored and then further evaluated in relation to the taxonomies of relational work…

  4. Teaching English as a "Second Language" in Kenya and the United States: Convergences and Divergences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roy-Campbell, Zaline M.

    2015-01-01

    English is spoken in five countries as the native language and in numerous other countries as an official language and the language of instruction. In countries where English is the native language, it is taught to speakers of other languages as an additional language to enable them to participate in all domains of life of that country. In many…

  5. The effect of background noise on the word activation process in nonnative spoken-word recognition.

    PubMed

    Scharenborg, Odette; Coumans, Juul M J; van Hout, Roeland

    2018-02-01

    This article investigates 2 questions: (1) does the presence of background noise lead to a differential increase in the number of simultaneously activated candidate words in native and nonnative listening? And (2) do individual differences in listeners' cognitive and linguistic abilities explain the differential effect of background noise on (non-)native speech recognition? English and Dutch students participated in an English word recognition experiment, in which either a word's onset or offset was masked by noise. The native listeners outperformed the nonnative listeners in all listening conditions. Importantly, however, the effect of noise on the multiple activation process was found to be remarkably similar in native and nonnative listening. The presence of noise increased the set of candidate words considered for recognition in both native and nonnative listening. The results indicate that the observed performance differences between the English and Dutch listeners should not be primarily attributed to a differential effect of noise, but rather to the difference between native and nonnative listening. Additional analyses showed that word-initial information was found to be more important than word-final information during spoken-word recognition. When word-initial information was no longer reliably available word recognition accuracy dropped and word frequency information could no longer be used suggesting that word frequency information is strongly tied to the onset of words and the earliest moments of lexical access. Proficiency and inhibition ability were found to influence nonnative spoken-word recognition in noise, with a higher proficiency in the nonnative language and worse inhibition ability leading to improved recognition performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. Effects of Eclectic Learning Approach on Students' Academic Achievement and Retention in English at Elementary Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suleman, Qaiser; Hussain, Ishtiaq

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of the research paper was to investigate the effect of eclectic learning approach on the academic achievement and retention of students in English at elementary level. A sample of forty students of 8th grade randomly selected from Government Boys High School Khurram District Karak was used. It was an experimental study and that's why…

  7. Integrating Science and English Proficiency for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Okhee; Buxton, Cory A.

    2013-01-01

    Despite the expectation that all students should achieve high academic standards, content area instruction and English for speakers of other languages instruction for English language learners (ELLs) have traditionally been conceptualized as separate domains, resulting in educational inequities for ELLs. This is because effective instruction to…

  8. Influences of spoken word planning on speech recognition.

    PubMed

    Roelofs, Ardi; Ozdemir, Rebecca; Levelt, Willem J M

    2007-09-01

    In 4 chronometric experiments, influences of spoken word planning on speech recognition were examined. Participants were shown pictures while hearing a tone or a spoken word presented shortly after picture onset. When a spoken word was presented, participants indicated whether it contained a prespecified phoneme. When the tone was presented, they indicated whether the picture name contained the phoneme (Experiment 1) or they named the picture (Experiment 2). Phoneme monitoring latencies for the spoken words were shorter when the picture name contained the prespecified phoneme compared with when it did not. Priming of phoneme monitoring was also obtained when the phoneme was part of spoken nonwords (Experiment 3). However, no priming of phoneme monitoring was obtained when the pictures required no response in the experiment, regardless of monitoring latency (Experiment 4). These results provide evidence that an internal phonological pathway runs from spoken word planning to speech recognition and that active phonological encoding is a precondition for engaging the pathway. 2007 APA

  9. Teaching College English and English Education: Reflective Stories.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCracken, H. Thomas, Ed.; Larson, Richard L., Ed.; Entes, Judith, Ed.

    In this collection of 32 narrative essays, scholars and teachers of English and English education share their excitement as they reflect on their professional growth over the last 30 years. The firsthand stories in the collection represent "a study of theory and applied theory, grounded in personal experience and academic study over many…

  10. What's Language Got to Do with It?: A Case Study of Academic Language Instruction in a High School "English Learner Science" Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richardson Bruna, Katherine; Vann, Roberta; Perales Escudero, Moises

    2007-01-01

    This article presents a case study of academic language instruction in a high school "English Learner Science" course. It illustrates how a teacher's understanding of academic language affects her instruction and students' opportunities for learning. We examine a transcript of classroom discourse for the "didactic tension" that exists between this…

  11. Medical Terminology: A Phonological Analysis for Teaching English Pronunciation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jabbour-Lagocki, Judith

    1992-01-01

    A phonological analysis of medical terminology was developed as an answer to pleas from students in medical English courses in Austria. The analysis can serve as a model for other sciences in which a comparable predicament exists: Graeco-Latinate terms are readily understood when written, but not easily recognized when spoken. (JL)

  12. Limited english proficiency, primary language at home, and disparities in children's health care: how language barriers are measured matters.

    PubMed

    Flores, Glenn; Abreu, Milagros; Tomany-Korman, Sandra C

    2005-01-01

    Approximately 3.5 million U.S. schoolchildren are limited in English proficiency (LEP). Disparities in children's health and health care are associated with both LEP and speaking a language other than English at home, but prior research has not examined which of these two measures of language barriers is most useful in examining health care disparities. Our objectives were to compare primary language spoken at home vs. parental LEP and their associations with health status, access to care, and use of health services in children. We surveyed parents at urban community sites in Boston, asking 74 questions on children's health status, access to health care, and use of health services. Some 98% of the 1,100 participating children and families were of non-white race/ethnicity, 72% of parents were LEP, and 13 different primary languages were spoken at home. "Dose-response" relationships were observed between parental English proficiency and several child and parental sociodemographic features, including children's insurance coverage, parental educational attainment, citizenship and employment, and family income. Similar "dose-response" relationships were noted between the primary language spoken at home and many but not all of the same sociodemographic features. In multivariate analyses, LEP parents were associated with triple the odds of a child having fair/poor health status, double the odds of the child spending at least one day in bed for illness in the past year, and significantly greater odds of children not being brought in for needed medical care for six of nine access barriers to care. None of these findings were observed in analyses of the primary language spoken at home. Individual parental LEP categories were associated with different risks of adverse health status and outcomes. Parental LEP is superior to the primary language spoken at home as a measure of the impact of language barriers on children's health and health care. Individual parental LEP

  13. English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language.

    PubMed

    Whiteside, Katie E; Gooch, Debbie; Norbury, Courtenay F

    2017-05-01

    Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) often experience lower academic attainment than monolingual peers. In this study, teachers provided ratings of English language proficiency and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning for 782 children with EAL and 6,485 monolingual children in reception year (ages 4-5). Academic attainment was assessed in reception and Year 2 (ages 6-7). Relative to monolingual peers with comparable English language proficiency, children with EAL displayed fewer social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in reception, were equally likely to meet curriculum targets in reception, and were more likely to meet targets in Year 2. Academic attainment and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in children with EAL are associated with English language proficiency at school entry. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

  14. Position Paper: English Language Curriculum Guidelines for Elementary School English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miele, Anthony

    2007-01-01

    English Language Development (ELD) and Academic English Development (AED) curricula in most public schools lack a communicative method and consist mostly of dry, meaningless grammar lessons devoid of relevance and authentic context. The purpose of this project is to develop guidelines to teach English language to elementary school children…

  15. Using Academic Language to Level the Playing Field for English-Language Learners in Physical Education: Part 1

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Constantinou, Phoebe; Wuest, Deborah A.

    2015-01-01

    With the common core emphasis on English language art and mathematics skills, physical educators are faced with a challenging task. Educators, in general, are expected to identifying the language demands of their discipline and develop academic language skills within each disciplinary area. In other words, educators are expected to prepare…

  16. A New Academic Vocabulary List

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gardner, Dee; Davies, Mark

    2014-01-01

    This article presents our new Academic Vocabulary List (AVL), derived from a 120-million-word academic subcorpus of the 425-million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA; Davies 2012). We first explore reasons why a new academic core list is warranted, and why such a list is still needed in English language education. We also provide…

  17. The comprehension skills of children learning English as an additional language.

    PubMed

    Burgoyne, K; Kelly, J M; Whiteley, H E; Spooner, A

    2009-12-01

    Data from national test results suggests that children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) experience relatively lower levels of educational attainment in comparison to their monolingual, English-speaking peers. The relative underachievement of children who are learning EAL demands that the literacy needs of this group are identified. To this end, this study aimed to explore the reading- and comprehension-related skills of a group of EAL learners. Data are reported from 92 Year 3 pupils, of whom 46 children are learning EAL. Children completed standardized measures of reading accuracy and comprehension, listening comprehension, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Results indicate that many EAL learners experience difficulties in understanding written and spoken text. These comprehension difficulties are not related to decoding problems but are related to significantly lower levels of vocabulary knowledge experienced by this group. Many EAL learners experience significantly lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge which has a significant impact on their ability to understand written and spoken text. Greater emphasis on language development is therefore needed in the school curriculum to attempt to address the limited language skills of children learning EAL.

  18. Gender and Bilingual Education: An Exploratory Study of the Academic Achievement of Latina and Latino English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lapayese, Yvette; Huchting, Karen; Grimalt, Olga

    2014-01-01

    Although biliteracy plays a vital role in academic achievement, there has been little research on the unique needs of female and male English language learners. Becoming biliterate is a complex process, compounded by other variables such as 1st-language background, class, culture, and gender. Among these variables, gender has been the least…

  19. Using Academic Language to Level the Playing Field for English Language Learners in Physical Education: Part 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Constantinou, Phoebe; Wuest, Deborah A.

    2015-01-01

    The common core, with its emphasis on the development of English language art and mathematics skills and literacy, presents challenges for teachers of all subjects. Academic language is expected to be developed within each disciplinary area. In other words, educators are expected to identify the language demands of their discipline and prepare…

  20. The Effect of Inschool Suspension on the Academic Progress of High School Science and English Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silvey, Donald F.

    This paper presents findings of a study that explored the effects of assignment to an inschool suspension (ISS) program on high school students' academic performance. The study compared the before- and after-ISS grades in English and science of 32 ninth- and tenth-grade students who had spent a minimum of 5 days in an ISS program during a 6-week…

  1. Speakeasy. English for Special Purposes Series: Autobody Repair. Vietnamese Translation Manual.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van-Tanh, Phan

    This guide to spoken usage with exercises is designed to enrich the English vocabulary of speakers of Vietnamese. Narrative portions of the text are in Vietnamese. Emphasis is on survival skills and automobile repair skills. Chapters include "Time,""Getting to Know You,""Eating Out,""Opening a Savings…

  2. Speakeasy. English for Special Purposes Series: Autobody Repair. Korean Translation Manual.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, Yong-Ok

    This guide to spoken usage with exercises is designed to enrich the English vocabulary of speakers of Korean. Narrative portions of the text are in Korean. Emphasis is on survival skills and automobile repair skills. Chapters include "Time,""Getting to Know You,""Eating Out,""Opening a Savings…

  3. English for Specific Purposes. ELT Documents.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    British Council, London (England). English-Teaching Information Centre.

    The seven papers in this collection describe projects in English for academic purposes. Analysis of the communication needs of learners is discussed in "English for Academic Purposes: Practice Material for the Listening Comprehension and Writing Needs of Overseas Students," by R.R. Jordon and Alan Matthews. The pedagogic advantages of…

  4. Spoken Language Activation Alters Subsequent Sign Language Activation in L2 Learners of American Sign Language.

    PubMed

    Williams, Joshua T; Newman, Sharlene D

    2017-02-01

    A large body of literature has characterized unimodal monolingual and bilingual lexicons and how neighborhood density affects lexical access; however there have been relatively fewer studies that generalize these findings to bimodal (M2) second language (L2) learners of sign languages. The goal of the current study was to investigate parallel language activation in M2L2 learners of sign language and to characterize the influence of spoken language and sign language neighborhood density on the activation of ASL signs. A priming paradigm was used in which the neighbors of the sign target were activated with a spoken English word and compared the activation of the targets in sparse and dense neighborhoods. Neighborhood density effects in auditory primed lexical decision task were then compared to previous reports of native deaf signers who were only processing sign language. Results indicated reversed neighborhood density effects in M2L2 learners relative to those in deaf signers such that there were inhibitory effects of handshape density and facilitatory effects of location density. Additionally, increased inhibition for signs in dense handshape neighborhoods was greater for high proficiency L2 learners. These findings support recent models of the hearing bimodal bilingual lexicon, which posit lateral links between spoken language and sign language lexical representations.

  5. The Use of General and Specialized Corpora as Reference Sources for Academic English Writing: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Ji-Yeon

    2014-01-01

    Corpora have been suggested as valuable sources for teaching English for academic purposes (EAP). Since previous studies have mainly focused on corpus use in classroom settings, more research is needed to reveal how students react to using corpora on their own and what should be provided to help them become autonomous corpus users, considering…

  6. How Do Raters Judge Spoken Vocabulary?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Hui

    2016-01-01

    The aim of the study was to investigate how raters come to their decisions when judging spoken vocabulary. Segmental rating was introduced to quantify raters' decision-making process. It is hoped that this simulated study brings fresh insight to future methodological considerations with spoken data. Twenty trainee raters assessed five Chinese…

  7. Identifying Academically Gifted English-Language Learners Using Nonverbal Tests: A Comparison of the Raven, NNAT, and CogAT

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lohman, David F.; Korb, Katrina A.; Lakin, Joni M.

    2008-01-01

    In this study, the authors compare the validity of three nonverbal tests for the purpose of identifying academically gifted English-language learners (ELLs). Participants were 1,198 elementary children (approximately 40% ELLs). All were administered the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (Raven), the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT), and…

  8. Academic Self-Concept and Learning Strategies: Direction of Effect on Student Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McInerney, Dennis M.; Cheng, Rebecca Wing-yi; Mok, Magdalena Mo Ching; Lam, Amy Kwok Hap

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the prediction of academic self-concept (English and Mathematics) and learning strategies (deep and surface), and their direction of effect, on academic achievement (English and Mathematics) of 8,354 students from 16 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Two competing models were tested to ascertain the direction of effect: Model A…

  9. Fairness in Assessment of English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abedi, Jamal; Levine, Harold G.

    2013-01-01

    English language learners (ELLs) face a challenging academic future in learning a new language while simultaneously mastering content in the language they may be struggling to learn. Assessment plays an extremely important role in the academic careers of ELL students, perhaps more so than for native speakers of English. Major changes and…

  10. Speakeasy. English for Special Purposes Series: Autobody Repair. Ilocano Translation Manual.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berzabal, Ofelia G.

    This guide to spoken usage with exercises is designed to enrich the English vocabulary of speakers of Ilocano. Narrative portions of the text are in Ilocano. Emphasis is on survival language skills and automobile repair skills. Chapters include "Time,""Getting to Know You,""Eating Out,""Opening a Savings…

  11. Secret Agents and Innocent Patients: The Mysteries of The English Passive Voice and Its Use (and Misuse) in EFL Writing in Japan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mathieson, Paul

    2017-01-01

    Though generally under-utilised in spoken English, the passive voice plays a crucial role in formal, written English (Biber et al., 1999). An understanding of how the passive voice operates in English writing is therefore a vital skill for EFL learners in secondary and higher education so that they may be able to both understand and produce fluent…

  12. English Language Proficiency and Content Assessment Performance: A Comparison of English Learners and Native English Speakers Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miley, Suzi Keller; Farmer, Aarek

    2017-01-01

    As a result of the accountability requirements established in Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act (ESEA) legislation, English Learners (ELs) are expected to make progress in both content area academic achievement and English Language Proficiency (ELP). In Tennessee ELs progress is measured by administering WIDA-Access to…

  13. Web 2.0 Tools and Academic Literacy Development in a US Urban School: A Case Study of a Second-Grade English Language Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shin, Dong-shin

    2014-01-01

    This study explores a second-grade English language learner's literacy development and ability to use blogging for social and academic purposes, in the context of learning academic writing genres in a US urban school. Grounded in sociocultural theories, it conceptualizes learning as appropriation, and language as a dynamic and functional system of…

  14. English for the Academically Talented Student in the Secondary School. 1969 Revision of the Report of the Committee on English Programs for High School Students of Superior Ability of the National Council of Teachers of English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elliott, Virginia A., Ed.; Josephs, Lois S., Ed.

    Introducing the essays in this publication, Virginia A. Elliott and Lois S. Josephs review the problems of teaching English to the academically talented student. Essays are by (1) Michael F. Shugrue, who surveys, from 1958 through 1968, the achievements of conferences, Curriculum Study Centers, and the Dartmouth Seminar; (2) John Simmons, who…

  15. The effects of phonological awareness of Zulu-speaking children learning to spell in English: a study of cross-language transfer.

    PubMed

    De Sousa, Diana Soares; Greenop, Kirston; Fry, Jessica

    2010-12-01

    Emergent bilingual Zulu-English speaking children in South Africa have spoken but no written proficiency in Zulu (L1), yet are required to learn to spell English (L2) via English-only literacy instruction. Little research exists on emergent bilingual's phonological awareness (PA) and spelling development, with no L1 formal literacy instruction. Thus, whether PA in a L1 impacts on literacy acquisition in the L2 remains unclear. Performance on monolingual PA, monolingual and emergent bilingual spelling was compared. In addition, PA and spelling in emergent bilingual Zulu-English speakers was explored to ascertain cross-language transfer relationships. Thirty emergent bilingual Zulu-English and thirty monolingual English children in grade 2 participated. Emergent bilinguals were assessed on Zulu PA, Zulu and English spelling skills. Monolinguals were assessed on English PA and English spelling skills. Emergent bilinguals had more Zulu PA levels related to spelling English tasks than to spelling Zulu tasks, and both Zulu PA and Zulu spelling were positively related to English spelling tasks. Significant differences were found between L1 Zulu and English phoneme and rime PA levels, and L1 English and L2 English spelling tasks. Findings support the language-universal hypothesis that L1 PA is related to spelling across languages in emergent bilinguals. In emergent bilinguals, both Zulu spoken proficiency and English-only literacy instruction influences the underlying repertoire of PA skills used to spell within the L1 and the L2. Rime and phoneme PA and spelling skills in Zulu/English rely on language-specific orthographic knowledge.

  16. An Action Research Study into the Role of Student Negotiation in Enhancing Perceived Student Engagement during English Speaking Classes at University Level in Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uztosun, Mehmet Sercan; Skinner, Nigel; Cadorath, Jill

    2018-01-01

    A major issue in English language teaching in Turkey and other monolingual countries is the teaching of spoken English. This article reports the initial and final stages of an action research study which used student negotiation to enhance student engagement in speaking classes. The research was conducted in the English Language Teaching…

  17. Examining the Concept of Subordination in Spoken L1 and L2 English: The Case of "If"-Clauses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Basterrechea, María; Weinert, Regina

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the applications of research on native spoken language into second language learning in the concept of subordination. Second language (L2) learners' ability to integrate subordinate clauses is considered an indication of higher proficiency (e.g., Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005; Tarone & Swierzbin, 2009). However, the notion…

  18. Borrowing Legitimacy as English Learner (EL) Leaders: Indiana's 14-Year History with English Language Proficiency Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morita-Mullaney, Trish

    2017-01-01

    English language proficiency or English language development (ELP/D) standards guide how content-specific instruction and assessment is practiced by teachers and how English learners (ELs) at varying levels of English proficiency can perform grade-level-specific academic standards in K-12 US schools. With the transition from the state-developed…

  19. Impact of Integrated Science and English Language Arts Literacy Supplemental Instructional Intervention on Science Academic Achievement of Elementary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marks, Jamar Terry

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this quasi-experimental, nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design study was to determine if any differences existed in upper elementary school students' science academic achievement when instructed using an 8-week integrated science and English language arts literacy supplemental instructional intervention in conjunction…

  20. "English Is the Vehicle to Communicate!" International Graduate Students' Perceptions of the Connection between Language Proficiency and Academic Success

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rawjee, Roopa

    2010-01-01

    This case study was conducted at a large four year institution of higher education located in southern California. The purpose was to answer the question, "What are international graduate students' perceptions of the connection between English language proficiency and academic success?" The participants were six international graduate…

  1. Multimodal Evaluation in Academic Discussion Sessions: How Do Presenters Act and React?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Querol-Julian, Mercedes; Fortanet-Gomez, Inmaculada

    2012-01-01

    Evaluation in academic discourse has received considerable attention from researchers. Much of the work on evaluation has focused, however, on written genres, and less attention has been paid to how evaluation unfolds in spoken academic genres. In our present research, we are interested in disclosing how the interpersonal meaning of evaluation is…

  2. Famous talker effects in spoken word recognition.

    PubMed

    Maibauer, Alisa M; Markis, Teresa A; Newell, Jessica; McLennan, Conor T

    2014-01-01

    Previous work has demonstrated that talker-specific representations affect spoken word recognition relatively late during processing. However, participants in these studies were listening to unfamiliar talkers. In the present research, we used a long-term repetition-priming paradigm and a speeded-shadowing task and presented listeners with famous talkers. In Experiment 1, half the words were spoken by Barack Obama, and half by Hillary Clinton. Reaction times (RTs) to repeated words were shorter than those to unprimed words only when repeated by the same talker. However, in Experiment 2, using nonfamous talkers, RTs to repeated words were shorter than those to unprimed words both when repeated by the same talker and when repeated by a different talker. Taken together, the results demonstrate that talker-specific details can affect the perception of spoken words relatively early during processing when words are spoken by famous talkers.

  3. The Effects of Writing to Learn (WTL) on Academic Achievement and Attitude to Lesson in English Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Incirci, Ayhan; Parmaksiz, Ramazan Sükrü

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of applying the writing letter activity of writing to learn strategies on the English Language Academic Achievement and Attitude level of 11th grade students. The research was carried out with 84 students (43 male, 41 female) at one of the state schools in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Mixed…

  4. Intelligibility of American English Vowels and Consonants Spoken by International Students in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jin, Su-Hyun; Liu, Chang

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the intelligibility of English consonants and vowels produced by Chinese-native (CN), and Korean-native (KN) students enrolled in American universities. Method: 16 English-native (EN), 32 CN, and 32 KN speakers participated in this study. The intelligibility of 16 American English consonants and 16…

  5. Subarashii: Encounters in Japanese Spoken Language Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernstein, Jared; Najmi, Amir; Ehsani, Farzad

    1999-01-01

    Describes Subarashii, an experimental computer-based interactive spoken-language education system designed to understand what a student is saying in Japanese and respond in a meaningful way in spoken Japanese. Implementation of a preprototype version of the Subarashii system identified strengths and limitations of continuous speech recognition…

  6. Codeswitching techniques: evidence-based instructional practices for the ASL/English bilingual classroom.

    PubMed

    Andrews, Jean F; Rusher, Melissa

    2010-01-01

    The authors present a perspective on emerging bilingual deaf students who are exposed to, learning, and developing two languages--American Sign Language (ASL) and English (spoken English, manually coded English, and English reading and writing). The authors suggest that though deaf children may lack proficiency or fluency in either language during early language-learning development, they still engage in codeswitching activities, in which they go back and forth between signing and English to communicate. The authors then provide a second meaning of codeswitching--as a purpose-driven instructional technique in which the teacher strategically changes from ASL to English print for purposes of vocabulary and reading comprehension. The results of four studies are examined that suggest that certain codeswitching strategies support English vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. These instructional strategies are couched in a five-pronged approach to furthering the development of bilingual education for deaf students.

  7. Role of the Direct Teaching Method in the Academic Achievement of Students in English at the Secondary Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hussain, Ishtiaq; Inamullah, Hafiz; Naseer-Ud-Din, Muhammad; Hafizatullah, Hafiz

    2009-01-01

    The major objective of this study was to determine the role of the direct teaching method in the academic achievement of students in English at the secondary level. To achieve the said objective, the "Solomon Four-Design pre-test/post-test equivalent group design" was considered to be the most useful design for this study. The pre-test…

  8. Neural organization of linguistic short-term memory is sensory modality-dependent: evidence from signed and spoken language.

    PubMed

    Pa, Judy; Wilson, Stephen M; Pickell, Herbert; Bellugi, Ursula; Hickok, Gregory

    2008-12-01

    Despite decades of research, there is still disagreement regarding the nature of the information that is maintained in linguistic short-term memory (STM). Some authors argue for abstract phonological codes, whereas others argue for more general sensory traces. We assess these possibilities by investigating linguistic STM in two distinct sensory-motor modalities, spoken and signed language. Hearing bilingual participants (native in English and American Sign Language) performed equivalent STM tasks in both languages during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Distinct, sensory-specific activations were seen during the maintenance phase of the task for spoken versus signed language. These regions have been previously shown to respond to nonlinguistic sensory stimulation, suggesting that linguistic STM tasks recruit sensory-specific networks. However, maintenance-phase activations common to the two languages were also observed, implying some form of common process. We conclude that linguistic STM involves sensory-dependent neural networks, but suggest that sensory-independent neural networks may also exist.

  9. Building Spoken Language in the First Plane

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bettmann, Joen

    2016-01-01

    Through a strong Montessori orientation to the parameters of spoken language, Joen Bettmann makes the case for "materializing" spoken knowledge using the stimulation of real objects and real situations that promote mature discussion around the sensorial aspect of the prepared environment. She lists specific materials in the classroom…

  10. Fundamentally Speaking: A Focus on English as a Second Language (ESL).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winfield, Marie Yolette

    The techniques used in teaching spoken and written English must be re-evaluated, and more effort should be directed toward helping individuals develop adequate ways of acquiring language skills. Classroom models that confront students with texts they cannot read effectively, and that compel them to repeat words and sentences in a chorus should be…

  11. "Being an English Major, Being a Humanities Student": Connecting Academic Subject Identity in Literary Studies to Other Social Domains

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chan, Evelyn T. Y.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined students' construction of academic subject identity in a university humanities discipline, English literary studies. In so doing, the study aimed to provide an empirically grounded intervention in current debates on the value of the humanities in higher education. Eight students participated in interviews lasting 15-20 minutes…

  12. Measuring Opportunity to Learn and Academic Language Exposure for English Language Learners in Elementary Science Classrooms. CRESST Report 767

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martinez, Jose Felipe; Bailey, Alison L.; Kerr, Deirdre; Huang, Becky H.; Beauregard, Stacey

    2010-01-01

    The present study piloted a survey-based measure of Opportunity to Learn (OTL) and Academic Language Exposure (ALE) in fourth grade science classrooms that sought to distinguish teacher practices with ELL (English language learner) and non-ELL students. In the survey, participant teachers reported on their instructional practices and the context…

  13. Intercultural and Transnational Negotiation of English Academic Written Discourse: A Few Cases in the USA, South Korea and Russia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pang, Hanzhou

    2017-01-01

    This study attempts to explore the issue of intercultural and transnational negotiation in written English communication. I am interested in the reciprocal development of written discourse across cultural boundaries. My analysis focuses on academic writers' sense of self and their individual ability to reach otherness when they share the roles of…

  14. Meaning Negotiated Through Independently-Written Summaries and Oral Academic Conversations: Enhancing Comprehension of Science Text by Ninth-Grade, English Learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Burke, Edward Charles

    English Learners experience challenges related to comprehension of science text particularly at the high school level. The language of science differs significantly from that of conversation and expository text. Students benefit from collaborative interpretation of readings. Additionally, there appears to be a need to train adolescents in the oral language skills requisite for academic discourse. This study employed a sample of high school physical science students (N = 75) whose first language was Spanish and who were currently developing English language proficiency. It used quasi-experimental methodology with treatment and comparison groups, during the normal operations of the public school classroom. It tested the effect of training with a textbook summarization method and with an academic conversation strategy on the comprehension of state-adopted science textbook readings. Posttest scores of both groups were analyzed using an ANOVA. Posttest scores of treatment group members were analyzed in relation to prior science knowledge, reading level, gender, and level of English proficiency using a factorial ANOVA. Findings suggest that the treatment had a positive impact on the achievement of students who had a low level of English language proficiency. In light of the at-risk nature of this population, given low socioeconomic status and that a high percentage of families are migrant workers, this in encouraging. The basic premise of the treatment appears promising. Evidence collected pertaining to its effect relative to students' general ESOL level, science background knowledge, literacy skills, and gender neither confirmed nor denied the viability of the strategy. The further significance of this study is that it adds to the body of research on strategies to support English Learners.

  15. Older Undergraduate English Majors and Their Self-Described Value of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Price, Joseph W.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this multiple case study was to develop an understanding of what older nontraditional undergraduate English majors voiced as the challenges, attributes, and promises concerning their choice of that academic major. Ten participants took part in this study; these were students enrolled during the Spring 2012 semester as English majors…

  16. Lessons in Learning: Understanding the Academic Trajectories of ESL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Canadian Council on Learning, 2008

    2008-01-01

    Canada depends on a steady flow of immigrants to maintain a viable workforce within an aging population. Without immigration, Canada's dependency ratio--the number of employed versus non-employed individuals--would grow dangerously unbalanced. In recent years, most immigrants have come from countries where the spoken language is not English or…

  17. Intelligibility in Context Scale: Normative and Validation Data for English-Speaking Preschoolers.

    PubMed

    McLeod, Sharynne; Crowe, Kathryn; Shahaeian, Ameneh

    2015-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe normative and validation data on the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS; McLeod, Harrison, & McCormack, 2012c) for English-speaking children. The ICS is a 7-item, parent-report measure of children's speech intelligibility with a range of communicative partners. Data were collected from the parents of 803 Australian English-speaking children ranging in age from 4;0 (years;months) to 5;5 (37.0% were multilingual). The mean ICS score was 4.4 (SD = 0.7) out of a possible total score of 5. Children's speech was reported to be most intelligible to their parents, followed by their immediate family, friends, and teachers; children's speech was least intelligible to strangers. The ICS had high internal consistency (α = .94). Significant differences in scores were identified on the basis of sex and age but not on the basis of socioeconomic status or the number of languages spoken. There were significant differences in scores between children whose parents had concerns about their child's speech (M = 3.9) and those who did not (M = 4.6). A sensitivity of .82 and a specificity of .58 were established as the optimal cutoff. Test-retest reliability and criterion validity were established for 184 children with a speech sound disorder. There was a significant low correlation between the ICS mean score and percentage of phonemes correct (r = .30), percentage of consonants correct (r = .24), and percentage of vowels correct (r = .30) on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (Dodd, Hua, Crosbie, Holm, & Ozanne, 2002). Thirty-one parents completed the ICS related to English and another language spoken by their child with a speech sound disorder. The significant correlations between the scores suggest that the ICS may be robust between languages. This article provides normative ICS data for English-speaking children and additional validation of the psychometric properties of the ICS. The robustness of the ICS was suggested

  18. Phonological awareness of English by Chinese and Korean bilinguals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chung, Hyunjoo; Schmidt, Anna; Cheng, Tse-Hsuan

    2002-05-01

    This study examined non-native speakers phonological awareness of spoken English. Chinese speaking adults, Korean speaking adults, and English speaking adults were tested. The L2 speakers had been in the US for less than 6 months. Chinese and Korean allow no consonant clusters and have limited numbers of consonants allowable in syllable final position, whereas English allows a variety of clusters and various consonants in syllable final position. Subjects participated in eight phonological awareness tasks (4 replacement tasks and 4 deletion tasks) based on English phonology. In addition, digit span was measured. Preliminary analysis indicates that Chinese and Korean speaker errors appear to reflect L1 influences (such as orthography, phonotactic constraints, and phonology). All three groups of speakers showed more difficulty with manipulation of rime than onset, especially with postvocalic nasals. Results will be discussed in terms of syllable structure, L1 influence, and association with short term memory.

  19. Narrowing the Achievement Gap: Factors That Support English Learner and Hispanic Student Academic Achievement in an Urban Intermediate School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flores, Patricia Arleen

    2010-01-01

    A persistent and pervasive disparity in academic achievement exists between ethnic minority and English Learner students and their White and Asian peers. This qualitative single-case study of a high-poverty, high-performing middle school focused on the cultural norms, practices, and programs that were perceived to be contributing to narrowing the…

  20. Walking the Talk: Collaborative Preparation of Bilingual and Special Educators to Serve English Learners Who Need Academic or Behavioral Supports

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robertson, Phyllis M.; García, Shernaz B.; Rodríguez, Haydeé M.

    2016-01-01

    This article describes a Collaborative Intervention Project designed to prepare preservice teachers to develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate interventions for English learners (ELs) in need of academic and/or behavioral supports. Faculty from two departments, one preparing bilingual education (BE) elementary school teachers and the other…

  1. Developing Conceptual Understanding of Sarcasm in L2 English through Explicit Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Jiyun; Lantolf, James P.

    2018-01-01

    This article reports on a pedagogical project aimed at helping second language (L2) learners of English develop the ability to detect and appropriately interpret spoken sarcasm. The study used a pre- and posttest procedure to assess the development of learners' ability to both detect sarcasm and impute appropriate speaker intentions and attitudes…

  2. A Platform for Multilingual Research in Spoken Dialogue Systems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2000-08-01

    UNCLASSIFIED Defense Technical Information Center Compilation Part Notice ADP010384 TITLE: A Platform for Multilingual Research in Spoken Dialogue...Ronald A. Cole*, Ben Serridge§, John-Paul Hosomý, Andrew Cronke, and Ed Kaiser* *Center for Spoken Language Understanding ; University of Colorado...Boulder; Boulder, CO, 80309, USA §Universidad de las Americas; 72820 Santa Catarina Martir; Puebla, Mexico *Center for Spoken Language Understanding (CSLU

  3. Podcasts for Learning English Pronunciation in Igboland: Students' Experiences and Expectations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mbah, Evelyn E.; Mbah, Boniface M.; Iloene, Modesta I.; Iloene, George O.

    2013-01-01

    This paper studies students' experiences and expectations on the use of podcasts in learning English pronunciation in Igboland. The Igboland is made up of five states in Southeastern Nigeria where Igbo is spoken as a mother tongue. The states are Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. The study is a survey research where two universities were…

  4. Identifying Gaps in Academic Writing of ESL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Giridharan, Beena

    2012-01-01

    There is growing evidence that the lack of competence of university ESL (English as a second language) students in academic writing affects their overall academic performance. Olivas and Li (2006) connected low second-language proficiency levels in English to poor academic performance of international students studying at both university and…

  5. United States Changing Demographics - English/Spanish Space Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Leon, R.

    2002-01-01

    Accordingly the United States Census Bureau, the ethnic group adding the largest number of people to the national population is the Hispanic exceeding 12 percent of the population and growing by almost 60 percent between 1990 and 2000. The status of the nation's educational system with respect to Hispanic students is perhaps one of the most influential issues facing the largest economy of the world. The low income, lack of language skills, highest drop-out rate in the nation, are some of the reasons why Hispanics are less likely to receive a university degree than any other ethical group. In short, the government requires to implement compensatory programs and bilingual education to ensure global leadership. Because of ongoing immigration, Spanish persists longer among Hispanics than it did among other immigrant groups. Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world after Mandarin, Hindustani and English. Although not all U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish, almost all U.S. Spanish speakers are Hispanics. This paper is intended to outline the challenging implementation of a bilingual education project affiliated to NASA Johnson Space Center encouraging greater academic success of Hispanics in engineering, math and science. The prospective project covers the overall role of space activities in the development of science and technology, socioeconomic issues and international cooperation. An existent JSC project is the starting stage to keep on developing an interactive video teleconference and web-media technology and produce stimulating learning products in English and Spanish for students and teachers across the nation and around the world.

  6. The Effects of Captions on EFL Learners' Comprehension of English-Language Television Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodgers, Michael P. H.; Webb, Stuart

    2017-01-01

    The Multimedia Principle (Fletcher & Tobias, 2005) states that people learn better and comprehend more when words and pictures are presented together. The potential for English language learners to increase their comprehension of video through the use of captions, which graphically display the same language as the spoken dialogue, has been…

  7. Factors that enhance English-speaking speech-language pathologists' transcription of Cantonese-speaking children's consonants.

    PubMed

    Lockart, Rebekah; McLeod, Sharynne

    2013-08-01

    To investigate speech-language pathology students' ability to identify errors and transcribe typical and atypical speech in Cantonese, a nonnative language. Thirty-three English-speaking speech-language pathology students completed 3 tasks in an experimental within-subjects design. Task 1 (baseline) involved transcribing English words. In Task 2, students transcribed 25 words spoken by a Cantonese adult. An average of 59.1% consonants was transcribed correctly (72.9% when Cantonese-English transfer patterns were allowed). There was higher accuracy on shared English and Cantonese syllable-initial consonants /m,n,f,s,h,j,w,l/ and syllable-final consonants. In Task 3, students identified consonant errors and transcribed 100 words spoken by Cantonese-speaking children under 4 additive conditions: (1) baseline, (2) +adult model, (3) +information about Cantonese phonology, and (4) all variables (2 and 3 were counterbalanced). There was a significant improvement in the students' identification and transcription scores for conditions 2, 3, and 4, with a moderate effect size. Increased skill was not based on listeners' proficiency in speaking another language, perceived transcription skill, musicality, or confidence with multilingual clients. Speech-language pathology students, with no exposure to or specific training in Cantonese, have some skills to identify errors and transcribe Cantonese. Provision of a Cantonese-adult model and information about Cantonese phonology increased students' accuracy in transcribing Cantonese speech.

  8. Orthography Affects Second Language Speech: Double Letters and Geminate Production in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bassetti, Bene

    2017-01-01

    Second languages (L2s) are often learned through spoken and written input, and L2 orthographic forms (spellings) can lead to non-native-like pronunciation. The present study investigated whether orthography can lead experienced learners of English[subscript L2] to make a phonological contrast in their speech production that does not exist in…

  9. Subglottal resonances of adult male and female native speakers of American English.

    PubMed

    Lulich, Steven M; Morton, John R; Arsikere, Harish; Sommers, Mitchell S; Leung, Gary K F; Alwan, Abeer

    2012-10-01

    This paper presents a large-scale study of subglottal resonances (SGRs) (the resonant frequencies of the tracheo-bronchial tree) and their relations to various acoustical and physiological characteristics of speakers. The paper presents data from a corpus of simultaneous microphone and accelerometer recordings of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words embedded in a carrier phrase spoken by 25 male and 25 female native speakers of American English ranging in age from 18 to 24 yr. The corpus contains 17,500 utterances of 14 American English monophthongs, diphthongs, and the rhotic approximant [[inverted r

  10. Promoting Communicative Skills and Cultural Understanding among Saudi EFL Students Joining Summer English Programs at US Universities: A Web-Based Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-wossabi, Sami Ali Nasr

    2016-01-01

    As English is one of the most spoken languages in the globally interconnected world of today, many Saudi universities are enrolling their EFL students in summer intensive English programs at US universities. The main purpose is to enhance their EFL students' oral competencies. This new policy is, in fact, the result of the failure of CLT practices…

  11. NNS Students' Arguments in English: Observations in Formal and Informal Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chandrasegaran, Antonia

    2008-01-01

    The ability to construct supported arguments in English is important for academic success in educational contexts where English is the language of instruction and student assessment is mediated through the academic essay. Starting from the hypothesis that students schooled in an English-medium education system do engage in friendly argument in…

  12. Improving the provision of language services at an academic medical center: ensuring high-quality health communication for limited-English-proficient patients.

    PubMed

    Standiford, Connie J; Nolan, Elizabeth; Harris, Michelle; Bernstein, Steven J

    2009-12-01

    To evaluate and improve the provision of language services at an academic medicine center caring for a diverse population including many limited-English-proficient (LEP) patients. The authors performed a prospective observational study between November 2006 and December 2008 evaluating the provision of language services at the University of Michigan Health System. The primary performance measures were (1) screening patients for their preferred language for health care, (2) assessing the proportion of LEP patients receiving language services from a qualified language services provider, and (3) assessing whether there were any disparities in diabetes care for LEP patients compared with English-speaking patients. The proportion of patients screened for preferred language increased from 59% to 96% with targeted inventions, such as training staff to capture preferred language for health care and correcting prior inaccurate primary language data entry. The proportion of LEP outpatients with a qualified language services provider increased from 19% to 83% through the use of staff and contract interpreters, over-the-phone interpreting and bilingual providers. There were no systematic differences in diabetes quality performance measures between LEP and English-proficient patients. Academic medical centers should measure their provision of language services and compare quality and safety data (e.g., performance measures and adverse events) between LEP and English-speaking patients to identify disparities in care. Leadership support and ongoing training are needed to ensure language-specific services are embedded into clinical care to meet the needs of our diverse patient populations.

  13. Foreign Language Tutoring in Oral Conversations Using Spoken Dialog Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Sungjin; Noh, Hyungjong; Lee, Jonghoon; Lee, Kyusong; Lee, Gary Geunbae

    Although there have been enormous investments into English education all around the world, not many differences have been made to change the English instruction style. Considering the shortcomings for the current teaching-learning methodology, we have been investigating advanced computer-assisted language learning (CALL) systems. This paper aims at summarizing a set of POSTECH approaches including theories, technologies, systems, and field studies and providing relevant pointers. On top of the state-of-the-art technologies of spoken dialog system, a variety of adaptations have been applied to overcome some problems caused by numerous errors and variations naturally produced by non-native speakers. Furthermore, a number of methods have been developed for generating educational feedback that help learners develop to be proficient. Integrating these efforts resulted in intelligent educational robots — Mero and Engkey — and virtual 3D language learning games, Pomy. To verify the effects of our approaches on students' communicative abilities, we have conducted a field study at an elementary school in Korea. The results showed that our CALL approaches can be enjoyable and fruitful activities for students. Although the results of this study bring us a step closer to understanding computer-based education, more studies are needed to consolidate the findings.

  14. Disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English

    PubMed Central

    Rezaeian, Mohsen

    2015-01-01

    OBJECTIVES: English has become the most frequently used language for scientific communication in the biomedical field. Therefore, scholars from all over the world try to publish their findings in English. This trend has a number of advantages, along with several disadvantages. METHODS: In the current article, the most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English are reviewed. RESULTS: The most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers may include: Overlooking, either unintentionally or even deliberately, the most important local health problems; failure to carry out groundbreaking research due to limited medical research budgets; violating generally accepted codes of publication ethics and committing research misconduct and publications in open-access scam/predatory journals rather than prestigious journals. CONCLUSIONS: The above mentioned disadvantages could eventually result in academic establishments becoming irresponsible or, even worse, corrupt. In order to avoid this, scientists, scientific organizations, academic institutions, and scientific associations all over the world should design and implement a wider range of collaborative and comprehensive plans. PMID:25968115

  15. Disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English.

    PubMed

    Rezaeian, Mohsen

    2015-01-01

    English has become the most frequently used language for scientific communication in the biomedical field. Therefore, scholars from all over the world try to publish their findings in English. This trend has a number of advantages, along with several disadvantages. In the current article, the most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English are reviewed. The most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers may include: Overlooking, either unintentionally or even deliberately, the most important local health problems; failure to carry out groundbreaking research due to limited medical research budgets; violating generally accepted codes of publication ethics and committing research misconduct and publications in open-access scam/predatory journals rather than prestigious journals. The above mentioned disadvantages could eventually result in academic establishments becoming irresponsible or, even worse, corrupt. In order to avoid this, scientists, scientific organizations, academic institutions, and scientific associations all over the world should design and implement a wider range of collaborative and comprehensive plans.

  16. Superordinate Precision: An Examination of Academic Writing Among Bilingual Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students.

    PubMed

    Scott, Jessica A; Hoffmeister, Robert J

    2018-04-01

    Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an important role in the reading proficiency of DHH students in middle and high school. The current study expands this research to investigate academic English by examining student proficiency with a sub-skill of academic writing called superordinate precision, the taxonomical categorization of a term. Currently there is no research that examines DHH students' proficiency with superordinate precision. Middle and high school DHH students enrolled in bilingual schools for the deaf were assessed on their ASL proficiency, academic English proficiency, reading comprehension, and use of superordinate precision in definitions writing. Findings indicate that student use of superordinate precision in definitions writing was correlated with ASL proficiency, reading comprehension, and academic English proficiency. It is possible that degree of mastery of superordinate precision may indicate a higher overall level of proficiency with academic English. This may have important implications for assessment of and instruction in academic English literacy.

  17. Revisiting the Canadian English vowel space

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hagiwara, Robert

    2005-04-01

    In order to fill a need for experimental-acoustic baseline measurements of Canadian English vowels, a database is currently being constructed in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The database derives from multiple repetitions of fifteen English vowels (eleven standard monophthongs, syllabic /r/ and three standard diphthongs) in /hVd/ and /hVt/ contexts, as spoken by multiple speakers. Frequencies of the first four formants are taken from three timepoints in every vowel token (25, 50, and 75% of vowel duration). Preliminary results (from five men and five women) confirm some features characteristic of Canadian English, but call others into question. For instance the merger of low back vowels appears to be complete for these speakers, but the result is a lower-mid and probably rounded vowel rather than the low back unround vowel often described. With these data Canadian Raising can be quantified as an average 200 Hz or 1.5 Bark downward shift in the frequency of F1 before voiceless /t/. Analysis of the database will lead to a more accurate picture of the Canadian English vowel system, as well as provide a practical and up-to-date point of reference for further phonetic and sociophonetic comparisons.

  18. Reclassification of English Learner Students in California

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hill, Laura E.; Weston, Margaret; Hayes, Joseph M.

    2014-01-01

    Former English Learner students who have improved their facility with English to such a degree that they have been reclassified by their school districts as fluent in the English language are among the best performing students in the state. Because these Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) students have much better academic outcomes than…

  19. Marking Importance in Lectures: Interactive and Textual Orientation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deroey, Katrien L. B.

    2015-01-01

    This paper provides a comprehensive overview of lexicogrammatical markers of important lecture points and proposes a classification in terms of their interactive and textual orientation. The importance markers were extracted from the British Academic Spoken English corpus using corpus-driven and corpus-based methods. The classification is based on…

  20. Academic Vocabulary in Agriculture Research Articles: A Corpus-Based Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martinez, Iliana A.; Beck, Silvia C.; Panza, Carolina B.

    2009-01-01

    Recent critical views on the usefulness of a general academic vocabulary have heightened the relevance of developing discipline specific academic wordlists to meet the needs of non-native English writers who must read and publish articles in English. Using Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List, we set out to identify the academic words in a corpus…

  1. Using PELA to Predict International Business Students' English Writing Performance with Contextualised English Writing Workshops as Intervention Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wong, Caroline; Delante, Nimrod Lawsin; Wang, Pengji

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the effectiveness of Post-Entry English Language Assessment (PELA) as a predictor of international business students' English writing performance and academic performance. An intervention involving the implementation of contextualised English writing workshops was embedded in a specific business subject targeted at students who…

  2. Syntax and reading comprehension: a meta-analysis of different spoken-syntax assessments.

    PubMed

    Brimo, Danielle; Lund, Emily; Sapp, Alysha

    2018-05-01

    Syntax is a language skill purported to support children's reading comprehension. However, researchers who have examined whether children with average and below-average reading comprehension score significantly different on spoken-syntax assessments report inconsistent results. To determine if differences in how syntax is measured affect whether children with average and below-average reading comprehension score significantly different on spoken-syntax assessments. Studies that included a group comparison design, children with average and below-average reading comprehension, and a spoken-syntax assessment were selected for review. Fourteen articles from a total of 1281 reviewed met the inclusionary criteria. The 14 articles were coded for the age of the children, score on the reading comprehension assessment, type of spoken-syntax assessment, type of syntax construct measured and score on the spoken-syntax assessment. A random-effects model was used to analyze the difference between the effect sizes of the types of spoken-syntax assessments and the difference between the effect sizes of the syntax construct measured. There was a significant difference between children with average and below-average reading comprehension on spoken-syntax assessments. Those with average and below-average reading comprehension scored significantly different on spoken-syntax assessments when norm-referenced and researcher-created assessments were compared. However, when the type of construct was compared, children with average and below-average reading comprehension scored significantly different on assessments that measured knowledge of spoken syntax, but not on assessments that measured awareness of spoken syntax. The results of this meta-analysis confirmed that the type of spoken-syntax assessment, whether norm-referenced or researcher-created, did not explain why some researchers reported that there were no significant differences between children with average and below

  3. The Persistence and Functional Impact of English Language Difficulties Experienced by Children Learning English as an Additional Language and Monolingual Peers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whiteside, Katie E.; Norbury, Courtenay Frazier

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: This study explored whether a monolingual-normed English language battery could identify children with English as an additional language (EAL) who have persistent English language learning difficulties that affect functional academic attainment. Method: Children with EAL (n = 43) and monolingual English-speaking children (n = 46)…

  4. Developing Academic English Language Proficiency Prototypes for 5th Grade Reading: Psychometric and Linguistic Profiles of Tasks. CSE Technical Report 727

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bailey, Alison L.; Huang, Becky H.; Shin, Hye Won; Farnsworth, Tim; Butler, Frances A.

    2007-01-01

    Within an evidentiary framework for operationally defining academic English language proficiency (AELP), linguistic analyses of standards, classroom discourse, and textbooks have led to specifications for assessment of AELP. The test development process described here is novel due to the emphasis on using linguistic profiles to inform the …

  5. Direction Asymmetries in Spoken and Signed Language Interpreting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nicodemus, Brenda; Emmorey, Karen

    2013-01-01

    Spoken language (unimodal) interpreters often prefer to interpret from their non-dominant language (L2) into their native language (L1). Anecdotally, signed language (bimodal) interpreters express the opposite bias, preferring to interpret from L1 (spoken language) into L2 (signed language). We conducted a large survey study ("N" =…

  6. American or British? L2 Speakers' Recognition and Evaluations of Accent Features in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carrie, Erin; McKenzie, Robert M.

    2018-01-01

    Recent language attitude research has attended to the processes involved in identifying and evaluating spoken language varieties. This article investigates the ability of second-language learners of English in Spain (N = 71) to identify Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GenAm) speech and their perceptions of linguistic variation…

  7. Interpersonal Learning Systems for National Speech-Communication.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heinberg, Paul

    A consensus has prevailed among educators that Americans of verying ethnic, social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds who must communicate with each other in social, academic, and occupational situations might achieve a greater degree of rapport if the dialect of the English mutually spoken and the speech mannerisms used were standardized.…

  8. How sensory-motor systems impact the neural organization for language: direct contrasts between spoken and signed language

    PubMed Central

    Emmorey, Karen; McCullough, Stephen; Mehta, Sonya; Grabowski, Thomas J.

    2014-01-01

    To investigate the impact of sensory-motor systems on the neural organization for language, we conducted an H215O-PET study of sign and spoken word production (picture-naming) and an fMRI study of sign and audio-visual spoken language comprehension (detection of a semantically anomalous sentence) with hearing bilinguals who are native users of American Sign Language (ASL) and English. Directly contrasting speech and sign production revealed greater activation in bilateral parietal cortex for signing, while speaking resulted in greater activation in bilateral superior temporal cortex (STC) and right frontal cortex, likely reflecting auditory feedback control. Surprisingly, the language production contrast revealed a relative increase in activation in bilateral occipital cortex for speaking. We speculate that greater activation in visual cortex for speaking may actually reflect cortical attenuation when signing, which functions to distinguish self-produced from externally generated visual input. Directly contrasting speech and sign comprehension revealed greater activation in bilateral STC for speech and greater activation in bilateral occipital-temporal cortex for sign. Sign comprehension, like sign production, engaged bilateral parietal cortex to a greater extent than spoken language. We hypothesize that posterior parietal activation in part reflects processing related to spatial classifier constructions in ASL and that anterior parietal activation may reflect covert imitation that functions as a predictive model during sign comprehension. The conjunction analysis for comprehension revealed that both speech and sign bilaterally engaged the inferior frontal gyrus (with more extensive activation on the left) and the superior temporal sulcus, suggesting an invariant bilateral perisylvian language system. We conclude that surface level differences between sign and spoken languages should not be dismissed and are critical for understanding the neurobiology of language

  9. Spectrotemporal processing drives fast access to memory traces for spoken words.

    PubMed

    Tavano, A; Grimm, S; Costa-Faidella, J; Slabu, L; Schröger, E; Escera, C

    2012-05-01

    The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potentials is generated when a detectable spectrotemporal feature of the incoming sound does not match the sensory model set up by preceding repeated stimuli. MMN is enhanced at frontocentral scalp sites for deviant words when compared to acoustically similar deviant pseudowords, suggesting that automatic access to long-term memory traces for spoken words contributes to MMN generation. Does spectrotemporal feature matching also drive automatic lexical access? To test this, we recorded human auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) to disyllabic spoken words and pseudowords within a passive oddball paradigm. We first aimed at replicating the word-related MMN enhancement effect for Spanish, thereby adding to the available cross-linguistic evidence (e.g., Finnish, English). We then probed its resilience to spectrotemporal perturbation by inserting short (20 ms) and long (120 ms) silent gaps between first and second syllables of deviant and standard stimuli. A significantly enhanced, frontocentrally distributed MMN to deviant words was found for stimuli with no gap. The long gap yielded no deviant word MMN, showing that prior expectations of word form limits in a given language influence deviance detection processes. Crucially, the insertion of a short gap suppressed deviant word MMN enhancement at frontocentral sites. We propose that spectrotemporal point-wise matching constitutes a core mechanism for fast serial computations in audition and language, bridging sensory and long-term memory systems. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Knock-on Effects of Mode Change on Academic Discourse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gardner, Sheena

    2004-01-01

    Factors such as increases in student numbers and technological developments are threatening the luxury of one-on-one tutorials and bringing changes in modes of academic discourse. This small scale exploratory study identifies characteristics of taped oral, compared to written, feedback that are attributable to its spoken nature (longer, less…

  11. English Language Necessity: What It means for Korea and Non-English Speaking Countries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jambor, Paul Z.

    2011-01-01

    It has long been asserted that the English language is imperialist, however, the overwhelming effect it has on Education has long reaching consequences for people worldwide. That is to say, since English language teaching (ELT) is so fundamental for the financial and academic development of individuals on a global scale, it ought to be proposed…

  12. Importing Canagarajah's Global English Theories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shelton, Linda

    2007-01-01

    Should an academic have respect toward cultural differences, including variety in language? A. Suresh Canagarajah has written extensively about global English and its power over vernacular languages, stressing that language learning is not a politically neutral activity. English teachers carry with them the possibility of ideological domination…

  13. On-Line Orthographic Influences on Spoken Language in a Semantic Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pattamadilok, Chotiga; Perre, Laetitia; Dufau, Stephane; Ziegler, Johannes C.

    2009-01-01

    Literacy changes the way the brain processes spoken language. Most psycholinguists believe that orthographic effects on spoken language are either strategic or restricted to meta-phonological tasks. We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to investigate the locus and the time course of orthographic effects on spoken word recognition in a…

  14. Presentation video retrieval using automatically recovered slide and spoken text

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cooper, Matthew

    2013-03-01

    Video is becoming a prevalent medium for e-learning. Lecture videos contain text information in both the presentation slides and lecturer's speech. This paper examines the relative utility of automatically recovered text from these sources for lecture video retrieval. To extract the visual information, we automatically detect slides within the videos and apply optical character recognition to obtain their text. Automatic speech recognition is used similarly to extract spoken text from the recorded audio. We perform controlled experiments with manually created ground truth for both the slide and spoken text from more than 60 hours of lecture video. We compare the automatically extracted slide and spoken text in terms of accuracy relative to ground truth, overlap with one another, and utility for video retrieval. Results reveal that automatically recovered slide text and spoken text contain different content with varying error profiles. Experiments demonstrate that automatically extracted slide text enables higher precision video retrieval than automatically recovered spoken text.

  15. Using Digital Stories to Improve Listening Comprehension with Spanish Young Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Verdugo, Dolores Ramirez; Belmonte, Isabel Alonso

    2007-01-01

    This paper examines the effects that digital stories may have on the understanding of spoken English by a group of 6-year-old Spanish learners. To accomplish this aim, a quasi-experimental research study was launched in six state schools in Madrid. A pre-post test design was used to investigate whether internet-based technology could improve…

  16. Exposing the Dynamic Nature and Potential Role of Student Attribution Processes on English for Academic Purposes Achievement in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Heejin; Windsor, Angela; Helwig, Lindsay

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons that English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students in the Open Access College at the University of Southern Queensland give to explain their success in a course of study. It will examine how students' internal and external attributions change while studying EAP. The data has been gathered through…

  17. The Effectiveness of Electronic Mind Maps in Developing Academic Achievement and the Attitude towards Learning English among Primary School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aljaser, Afaf M.

    2017-01-01

    The present study aimed to identify the effect of using electronic Mind Maps on the academic achievement of the fifth-grade primary female students in the English language curriculum compared to the traditional teaching method adopted in the teacher's guide. It also aimed to indicate the attitudes of the fifth-grade female students towards the use…

  18. Instructional Benefits of Spoken Words: A Review of Cognitive Load Factors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalyuga, Slava

    2012-01-01

    Spoken words have always been an important component of traditional instruction. With the development of modern educational technology tools, spoken text more often replaces or supplements written or on-screen textual representations. However, there could be a cognitive load cost involved in this trend, as spoken words can have both benefits and…

  19. The relationship between mathematics and language: academic implications for children with specific language impairment and English language learners.

    PubMed

    Alt, Mary; Arizmendi, Genesis D; Beal, Carole R

    2014-07-01

    The present study examined the relationship between mathematics and language to better understand the nature of the deficit and the academic implications associated with specific language impairment (SLI) and academic implications for English language learners (ELLs). School-age children (N = 61; 20 SLI, 20 ELL, 21 native monolingual English [NE]) were assessed using a norm-referenced mathematics instrument and 3 experimental computer-based mathematics games that varied in language demands. Group means were compared with analyses of variance. The ELL group was less accurate than the NE group only when tasks were language heavy. In contrast, the group with SLI was less accurate than the groups with NE and ELLs on language-heavy tasks and some language-light tasks. Specifically, the group with SLI was less accurate on tasks that involved comparing numerical symbols and using visual working memory for patterns. However, there were no group differences between children with SLI and peers without SLI on language-light mathematics tasks that involved visual working memory for numerical symbols. Mathematical difficulties of children who are ELLs appear to be related to the language demands of mathematics tasks. In contrast, children with SLI appear to have difficulty with mathematics tasks because of linguistic as well as nonlinguistic processing constraints.

  20. Collaborative Academic Projects on Social Network Sites to Socialize EAP Students into Academic Communities of Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dashtestani, Reza

    2018-01-01

    Learning English for academic purposes (EAP) can help university students promote their academic literacy through socializing them into academic communities of practice. This study examined the impact of the use of collaborative projects on three social network sites on EAP students' attitudes towards EAP and academic content learning. Three…

  1. Understanding Rasch Measurement: Rasch Techniques for Detecting Bias in Performance Assessments: An Example Comparing the Performance of Native and Non-native Speakers on a Test of Academic English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elder, Catherine; McNamara, Tim; Congdon, Peter

    2003-01-01

    Used Rasch analytic procedures to study item bias or differential item functioning in both dichotomous and scalar items on a test of English for academic purposes. Results for 139 college students on a pilot English language test model the approach and illustrate the measurement challenges posed by a diagnostic instrument to measure English…

  2. Dynamic Range for Speech Materials in Korean, English, and Mandarin: A Cross-Language Comparison

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jin, In-Ki; Kates, James M.; Arehart, Kathryn H.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify whether differences in dynamic range (DR) are evident across the spoken languages of Korean, English, and Mandarin. Method: Recorded sentence-level speech materials were used as stimuli. DR was quantified using different definitions of DR (defined as the range in decibels from the highest to the…

  3. English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment among Children Learning English as an Additional Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whiteside, Katie E.; Gooch, Debbie; Norbury, Courtenay F.

    2017-01-01

    Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) often experience lower academic attainment than monolingual peers. In this study, teachers provided ratings of English language proficiency and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning for 782 children with EAL and 6,485 monolingual children in reception year (ages 4-5). Academic…

  4. Orthographic effects in spoken word recognition: Evidence from Chinese.

    PubMed

    Qu, Qingqing; Damian, Markus F

    2017-06-01

    Extensive evidence from alphabetic languages demonstrates a role of orthography in the processing of spoken words. Because alphabetic systems explicitly code speech sounds, such effects are perhaps not surprising. However, it is less clear whether orthographic codes are involuntarily accessed from spoken words in languages with non-alphabetic systems, in which the sound-spelling correspondence is largely arbitrary. We investigated the role of orthography via a semantic relatedness judgment task: native Mandarin speakers judged whether or not spoken word pairs were related in meaning. Word pairs were either semantically related, orthographically related, or unrelated. Results showed that relatedness judgments were made faster for word pairs that were semantically related than for unrelated word pairs. Critically, orthographic overlap on semantically unrelated word pairs induced a significant increase in response latencies. These findings indicate that orthographic information is involuntarily accessed in spoken-word recognition, even in a non-alphabetic language such as Chinese.

  5. "Doing School" Right: How University Students from Diverse Backgrounds Construct Their Academic Literacies and Academic Identities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tudor Sarver, Whitney Ann

    2012-01-01

    This study explores the academic lives of three multilingual undergraduate student writers in order to better understand how they have constructed their academic literacies and academic identities since taking the required English courses at a mid-sized state university. Within the overarching discussions of academic discourse and the idea of…

  6. Social Justice and English Language Learners in the Borderland: A Personal Narrative of a Committed Principal Determined to Take the Steps Necessary for English Language Learners to Achieve and Succeed in Academic Content

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lechuga, Mary Helen

    2009-01-01

    This study embraces the pedagogy that this school's educators believed in and utilized to enhance and expand the academic knowledge of those students who posses a language different from the English language. This research study, represented in a personal narrative, attempts to question the widespread thinking that places all validity on using…

  7. An Analysis of the Most Frequently Occurring Words in Spoken American English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plant, Geoff

    1999-01-01

    A study analyzed frequency of occurrence of consonants, vowels, and diphthongs, syllabic structure of the words, and segmental structure of the 311 monosyllabic words of 500 words that occur most frequently in English. Three mannerisms of articulation accounted for nearly 75 percent of all consonant occurrences: stops, semi-vowels, and nasals.…

  8. Communicative Needs in the Workplace and Curriculum Development of Business English Courses in Hong Kong

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chan, Mable

    2014-01-01

    The pressing need to bridge the gap between workplace communicative needs and curriculum development of business English courses has been documented in the literature. Through a questionnaire survey of 215 working adults, this study examines (a) the spoken and written needs of professionals in the local Hong Kong workplace, (b) the challenges they…

  9. The Effects of the Las Cruces, New Mexico, Bilingual Program on Selected Aspects of English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kingsbury, Ramona Lee Bent

    The study ascertained through standardized tests, if a bilingual educational program had an effect on spoken English proficiency of native Spanish speakers in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The sample consisted of 34 fourth grade children enrolled in the Sustained Primary Program for Bilingual Students in the Las Cruces Public School System. The subjects…

  10. Business as Usual: The Use of English in the Professional World in Hong Kong

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evans, Stephen

    2010-01-01

    This article examines the role of written and spoken English vis-a-vis written Chinese, Cantonese and Putonghua in the four key service industries that have driven Hong Kong's economy in the past decade. The study forms part of a long-standing and continuing investigation into the impact of Hong Kong's transition from British colony to Chinese…

  11. The Impact of Biculturalism on Language and Literacy Development: Teaching Chinese English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palmer, Barbara C.; Chen, Chia-I; Chang, Sara; Leclere, Judith T.

    2006-01-01

    According to the 2000 United States Census, Americans age five and older who speak a language other than English at home grew 47 percent over the preceding decade. This group accounts for slightly less than one in five Americans (17.9%). Among the minority languages spoken in the United States, Asian-language speakers, including Chinese and other…

  12. Solving the Problems of Designing and Teaching a Packed English for Specific Purposes Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ho, Belinda

    2011-01-01

    Background: In an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course offered to a department in a university in Hong Kong preparing the students for their internship, students were expected to learn to write and engage in spoken activities related to a number of documents over a period of 13 weeks. Having to achieve so many learning outcomes within so…

  13. Rhythmic Alternation and the Optional Complementiser in English: New Evidence of Phonological Influence on Grammatical Encoding

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Ming-Wei; Gibbons, Julie

    2007-01-01

    In a recall-based spoken production experiment, native English-speaking participants' variable use of the complementiser "that" to introduce the sentential complement in sentences like "Henry knew (that) Lucy/Louise washed the dishes" was found to be related to whether "that" inclusion/omission resulted in an alternating sequence of stressed and…

  14. "Visual" Cortex Responds to Spoken Language in Blind Children.

    PubMed

    Bedny, Marina; Richardson, Hilary; Saxe, Rebecca

    2015-08-19

    Plasticity in the visual cortex of blind individuals provides a rare window into the mechanisms of cortical specialization. In the absence of visual input, occipital ("visual") brain regions respond to sound and spoken language. Here, we examined the time course and developmental mechanism of this plasticity in blind children. Nineteen blind and 40 sighted children and adolescents (4-17 years old) listened to stories and two auditory control conditions (unfamiliar foreign speech, and music). We find that "visual" cortices of young blind (but not sighted) children respond to sound. Responses to nonlanguage sounds increased between the ages of 4 and 17. By contrast, occipital responses to spoken language were maximal by age 4 and were not related to Braille learning. These findings suggest that occipital plasticity for spoken language is independent of plasticity for Braille and for sound. We conclude that in the absence of visual input, spoken language colonizes the visual system during brain development. Our findings suggest that early in life, human cortex has a remarkably broad computational capacity. The same cortical tissue can take on visual perception and language functions. Studies of plasticity provide key insights into how experience shapes the human brain. The "visual" cortex of adults who are blind from birth responds to touch, sound, and spoken language. To date, all existing studies have been conducted with adults, so little is known about the developmental trajectory of plasticity. We used fMRI to study the emergence of "visual" cortex responses to sound and spoken language in blind children and adolescents. We find that "visual" cortex responses to sound increase between 4 and 17 years of age. By contrast, responses to spoken language are present by 4 years of age and are not related to Braille-learning. These findings suggest that, early in development, human cortex can take on a strikingly wide range of functions. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3511674-08$15.00/0.

  15. Spoken Language and Mathematics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raiker, Andrea

    2002-01-01

    States teachers/learners use spoken language in a three part mathematics lesson advocated by the British National Numeracy Strategy. Recognizes language's importance by emphasizing correct use of mathematical vocabulary in raising standards. Finds pupils and teachers appear to ascribe different meanings to scientific words because of their…

  16. Designing English for Specific Purposes Course for Computer Science Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Irshad, Isra; Anwar, Behzad

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this study was to design English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course for University students enrolled in the Computer Science Department. For this purpose, academic English language needs of the students were analyzed by using a 5 point Likert scale questionnaire. Additionally, interviews were also conducted with four faculty members of…

  17. Motivation and English Language Learning in a Multicultural University Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bensoussan, Marsha

    2015-01-01

    Israeli university students who have difficulty reading academic texts in English are required to take reading comprehension courses in English for academic purposes (EAP) in order to complete their BA degree. Whereas most students pass the courses, some repeatedly fail. Since Israel is a multilingual country, there is also a question about…

  18. Findings of the District English Program Evaluation Committee.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Price, A. Rae; And Others

    In summer 1990, the English Department of the Metropolitan Community College District (MCCD) in Missouri conducted a self-study to determine whether the English program's subject matter, academic standards, and methods of instruction were consistent with objectives. An Evaluation Committee, consisting of three English instructors representing each…

  19. Stress Judgment and Production in English Derivation, and Word Reading in Adult Mandarin-Speaking English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda

    2017-01-01

    For monolingual English-speaking children, judgment and production of stress in derived words, including words with phonologically neutral (e.g., -ness) and non-neutral suffixes (e.g., "-ity"), is important to both academic vocabulary growth and to word reading. For Mandarin-speaking adult English learners (AELs) the challenge of…

  20. Perception of English palatal codas by Korean speakers of English

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yeon, Sang-Hee

    2003-04-01

    This study aimed at looking at perception of English palatal codas by Korean speakers of English to determine if perception problems are the source of production problems. In particular, first, this study looked at the possible first language effect on the perception of English palatal codas. Second, a possible perceptual source of vowel epenthesis after English palatal codas was investigated. In addition, individual factors, such as length of residence, TOEFL score, gender and academic status, were compared to determine if those affected the varying degree of the perception accuracy. Eleven adult Korean speakers of English as well as three native speakers of English participated in the study. Three sets of a perception test including identification of minimally different English pseudo- or real words were carried out. The results showed that, first, the Korean speakers perceived the English codas significantly worse than the Americans. Second, the study supported the idea that Koreans perceived an extra /i/ after the final affricates due to final release. Finally, none of the individual factors explained the varying degree of the perceptional accuracy. In particular, TOEFL scores and the perception test scores did not have any statistically significant association.

  1. The Effectiveness of Reflection in Developing Students' Oracy in English at the Faculties of Tourism and Hospitality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zayed, Jihan El-Sayed Ahmed

    2009-01-01

    This study aimed at determining the effectiveness of using reflection in developing Tourism and Hospitality students' oracy in English. Two modes of reflection (i.e., "active reflection" and "proactive reflection") were used for developing two aspects of oracy: language awareness of some features of spoken language (i.e.,…

  2. The Impact of the Academic Revolution on Faculty Careers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Light, D. W., Jr.; And Others

    In this report a three-strand model for faculty careers is developed. These strands are the disciplinary, the institutional, and the external career of faculty. An attempt is made to determine the outcome of the "academic revolution" spoken of by Jencks and Reisman in their landmark study of that title. Some of the topics covered include faculty…

  3. Did a Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES) Program in a Kansas School District Affect Students' Academic Achievement in English?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schuster, Bernard G.

    2005-01-01

    What happens to English academic achievement when valued class time is devoted to a foreign language in the elementary schools (FLES) program? Is there a reduction in achievement as suggested by a time-on-task hypothesis, or is there some form of compensation, as suggested by additive bilingualism? The school district in this study started a FLES…

  4. Explicitly Teaching English through the Air to Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bennett, Jessica G.; Gardner, Ralph, III; Leighner, Ross; Clancy, Shannon; Garner, Joshua

    2014-01-01

    The Effects of the Language for Learning curriculum (Engelmann & Osborne, 1999) on through-the-air (i.e., signed and/or spoken) English skills for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) were examined by means of a single-subject, concurrent-multiple-probes-across-participants design. Four 11-year-old participants varied in auditory…

  5. African American English and Spelling: How Do Second Graders Spell Dialect-Sensitive Features of Words?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patton-Terry, Nicole; Connor, Carol

    2010-01-01

    This study explored the spelling skills of African American second graders who produced African American English (AAE) features in speech. The children (N = 92), who varied in spoken AAE use and word reading skills, were asked to spell words that contained phonological and morphological dialect-sensitive (DS) features that can vary between AAE and…

  6. Spoken language development in children following cochlear implantation.

    PubMed

    Niparko, John K; Tobey, Emily A; Thal, Donna J; Eisenberg, Laurie S; Wang, Nae-Yuh; Quittner, Alexandra L; Fink, Nancy E

    2010-04-21

    Cochlear implantation is a surgical alternative to traditional amplification (hearing aids) that can facilitate spoken language development in young children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). To prospectively assess spoken language acquisition following cochlear implantation in young children. Prospective, longitudinal, and multidimensional assessment of spoken language development over a 3-year period in children who underwent cochlear implantation before 5 years of age (n = 188) from 6 US centers and hearing children of similar ages (n = 97) from 2 preschools recruited between November 2002 and December 2004. Follow-up completed between November 2005 and May 2008. Performance on measures of spoken language comprehension and expression (Reynell Developmental Language Scales). Children undergoing cochlear implantation showed greater improvement in spoken language performance (10.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 9.6-11.2 points per year in comprehension; 8.4; 95% CI, 7.8-9.0 in expression) than would be predicted by their preimplantation baseline scores (5.4; 95% CI, 4.1-6.7, comprehension; 5.8; 95% CI, 4.6-7.0, expression), although mean scores were not restored to age-appropriate levels after 3 years. Younger age at cochlear implantation was associated with significantly steeper rate increases in comprehension (1.1; 95% CI, 0.5-1.7 points per year younger) and expression (1.0; 95% CI, 0.6-1.5 points per year younger). Similarly, each 1-year shorter history of hearing deficit was associated with steeper rate increases in comprehension (0.8; 95% CI, 0.2-1.2 points per year shorter) and expression (0.6; 95% CI, 0.2-1.0 points per year shorter). In multivariable analyses, greater residual hearing prior to cochlear implantation, higher ratings of parent-child interactions, and higher socioeconomic status were associated with greater rates of improvement in comprehension and expression. The use of cochlear implants in young children was

  7. Spoken Language Development in Children Following Cochlear Implantation

    PubMed Central

    Niparko, John K.; Tobey, Emily A.; Thal, Donna J.; Eisenberg, Laurie S.; Wang, Nae-Yuh; Quittner, Alexandra L.; Fink, Nancy E.

    2010-01-01

    Context Cochlear implantation (CI) is a surgical alternative to traditional amplification (hearing aids) that can facilitate spoken language development in young children with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Objective To prospectively assess spoken language acquisition following CI in young children with adjustment of co-variates. Design, Setting, and Participants Prospective, longitudinal, and multidimensional assessment of spoken language growth over a 3-year period following CI. Prospective cohort study of children who underwent CI before 5 years of age (n=188) from 6 US centers and hearing children of similar ages (n=97) from 2 preschools recruited between November, 2002 and December, 2004. Follow-up completed between November, 2005 and May, 2008. Main Outcome Measures Performance on measures of spoken language comprehension and expression. Results Children undergoing CI showed greater growth in spoken language performance (10.4;[95% confidence interval: 9.6–11.2] points/year in comprehension; 8.4;[7.8–9.0] in expression) than would be predicted by their pre-CI baseline scores (5.4;[4.1–6.7] comprehension; 5.8;[4.6–7.0] expression). Although mean scores were not restored to age-appropriate levels after 3 years, significantly greater annual rates of language acquisition were observed in children who were younger at CI (1.1;[0.5–1.7] points in comprehension per year younger; 1.0;[0.6–1.5] in expression), and in children with shorter histories of hearing deficit (0.8;[0.2,1.2] points in comprehension per year shorter; 0.6;[0.2–1.0] for expression). In multivariable analyses, greater residual hearing prior to CI, higher ratings of parent-child interactions, and higher SES associated with greater rates of growth in comprehension and expression. Conclusions The use of cochlear implants in young children was associated with better spoken language learning than would be predicted from their pre-implantation scores. However

  8. Reclassification of English Learner Students in California. Technical Appendices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hill, Laura E.; Weston, Margaret; Hayes, Joseph M.

    2014-01-01

    Former English Learner students who have improved their facility with English to such a degree that they have been reclassified by their school districts as fluent in the English language are among the best performing students in the state. Because these Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) students have much better academic outcomes than…

  9. Oral English Skills in Classrooms in India: Teachers Reflect.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramanathan, Hema; Bruning, Merribeth

    Eleven teachers of English in a large, private, English-medium school in India reflected on their beliefs, practices, and activities related to teaching English in India. In the survey, respondents freely acknowledged the premier position of English in academics and the world at large and unequivocally stated that their students should learn to…

  10. Effectiveness of Four Instructional Programs Designed to Serve English Language Learners: Variation by Ethnicity and Initial English Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Valentino, Rachel A.; Reardon, Sean F.

    2015-01-01

    This paper investigates the differences in academic achievement trajectories from elementary through middle school among English Learner students in four different instructional programs: English Immersion, Transitional Bilingual, Developmental Bilingual, and Dual Immersion programs. Comparing students with the same parental preferences but who…

  11. An Analysis of Errors Committed by Saudi Non-English Major Students in the English Paragraph Writing: A Study of Comparisons

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nuruzzaman, Mohammed; Islam, A. B. M. Shafiqul; Shuchi, Israt Jahan

    2018-01-01

    The present study investigates the writing errors of ninety Saudi non-English major undergraduate students of different proficiency levels from three faculties, who studied English as a foundation course at the English Language Center in the College of Languages &Translation at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia in the academic year 2016-17.…

  12. A Comprehensive Look into the Instruction of Listening Skill in Academic English Programs: A Case Study of Two State Universities in Iran

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Babaee, Hamidreza

    2017-01-01

    The study reported here thoroughly investigated the instruction of listening skill in academic English programs. This was researched through a semi-structured interview. In this regard, in order to obtain a picture of listening requirements across the academy, data were collected from two different state universities of Iran. To compile the data,…

  13. Novel Spoken Word Learning in Adults with Developmental Dyslexia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conner, Peggy S.

    2013-01-01

    A high percentage of individuals with dyslexia struggle to learn unfamiliar spoken words, creating a significant obstacle to foreign language learning after early childhood. The origin of spoken-word learning difficulties in this population, generally thought to be related to the underlying literacy deficit, is not well defined (e.g., Di Betta…

  14. Double threshold in bi- and multilingual contexts: preconditions for higher academic attainment in English as an additional language

    PubMed Central

    Lechner, Simone; Siemund, Peter

    2014-01-01

    Bi- and multilingualism has been shown to have positive effects on the attainment of third and additional languages. These effects, however, depend on the type of bi- and multilingualism and the status of the languages involved (Cenoz, 2003; Jessner, 2006). In this exploratory trend study, we revisit Cummins' Threshold Hypothesis (1979), claiming that bilingual children must reach certain levels of attainment in order to (a) avoid academic deficits and (b) allow bilingualism to have a positive effect on their cognitive development and academic attainment. To this end, we examine the attainment of English as an academic language of 16-years-old school children from Hamburg (n = 52). Our findings support the existence of thresholds for literacy attainment. We argue that language external factors may override positive effects of bilingualism. In addition, these factors may compensate negative effects attributable to low literacy attainment in German and the heritage languages. We also show that low attainment levels in migrant children's heritage languages preempt high literacy attainment in additional languages. PMID:24926277

  15. Scaffolding for Second Language Writers: Producing an Academic Essay.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cotterall, Sara; Cohen, Robin

    2003-01-01

    Describes how a group of intermediate learners of English were guided through the process of producing their first academic essays in English. The approach applied the concept of scaffolding to the academic writing process by proving flexible support for the learners throughout the writing of their essays. (Author/VWL)

  16. I Get to Use an iPod in School? Using Technology-Based Advance Organizers to Support the Academic Success of English Learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Billings, Elsa S.; Mathison, Carla

    2012-08-01

    This study investigated the impact of technology-based advance organizers (TBAOs) on the academic performance of 240 4th grade English learners (ELs) participating in a science class in School in the Park (SITP), a museum-school collaboration. While SITP provides a rich, hands-on learning environment, ELs face significant linguistic challenges in their ability to access the dense academic language and concepts provided in SITP's English only curriculum, thus negatively impacting ELs' engagement and learning. The TBAOs were designed in response to this issue. The study investigated two forms of treatment: TBAOs viewed on individual handheld mobile devices (HMDs), specifically iPods; and, TBAOs viewed as a whole class on DVD. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative data sources, including a pre- and posttest, hands-on and performance-based assessments, as well as focus interviews. Results showed a significant interaction effect between group assignment, language status and application assessments, indicating ELs performed significantly better in the treatment groups. Students who used the HMD instead of the DVD or no treatment improved their total scores significantly on hands-on, performance-based measurements. Differences between treatment and control groups' performance on pre-/posttests approached significance. Furthermore, students reported TBAOs supported learning by introducing new material, introducing and reviewing daily academic vocabulary, and helping them anticipate behavioral and procedural expectations of hands-on activities. Classroom and museum educators reported an increase in the treatment groups' motivation and engagement. The study provided important implications in the use and power of learner-controlled technology in supporting ELs' linguistic and academic success.

  17. The Effect of Parental Participation on the Academic Achievement of Female English as a Second Language Middle School Students in the Persian Gulf

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baydoun, Nada

    2013-01-01

    This study addressed the problem of underachieving female English as second language students in the Persian Gulf Region. The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the relationship between parental participation, as measured by a middle school parent-participation survey, and students' academic achievement, as measured by parent…

  18. Improving Science and Vocabulary Learning of English Language Learners. CREATE Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    August, Diane; Artzi, Lauren; Mazrum, Julie

    2010-01-01

    This brief reviews previous research related to the development of science knowledge and academic language in English language learners as well as the role of English language proficiency, learning in a second language, and first language knowledge in science learning. It also describes two successful CREATE interventions that build academic and…

  19. "The English Is Not the Same": Challenges in Thesis Writing for Second Language Speakers of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strauss, Pat

    2012-01-01

    In this article I describe my interaction as an English for academic purposes (EAP) practitioner with a supervisor and her two postgraduate international students, both of whom were second language speakers of English (L2). Because of linguistic and relationship issues the supervisory experience for the parties was challenging and frustrating. I…

  20. Superordinate Precision: An Examination of Academic Writing among Bilingual Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, Jessica A.; Hoffmeister, Robert J.

    2018-01-01

    Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an…

  1. Dialect Variation and Phonological Knowledge: Phonological Representations and Metalinguistic Awareness among Beginning Readers who Speak Nonmainstream American English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Terry, Nicole Patton

    2014-01-01

    Children's spoken nonmainstream American English (NMAE) dialect use and their knowledge about phonological representations of word pronunciations were assessed in a sample of 105 children in kindergarten through second grade. Children were given expressive and receptive tasks with dialect-sensitive stimuli. Students who produced many NMAE…

  2. Spoken words can make the invisible visible-Testing the involvement of low-level visual representations in spoken word processing.

    PubMed

    Ostarek, Markus; Huettig, Falk

    2017-03-01

    The notion that processing spoken (object) words involves activation of category-specific representations in visual cortex is a key prediction of modality-specific theories of representation that contrasts with theories assuming dedicated conceptual representational systems abstracted away from sensorimotor systems. In the present study, we investigated whether participants can detect otherwise invisible pictures of objects when they are presented with the corresponding spoken word shortly before the picture appears. Our results showed facilitated detection for congruent ("bottle" → picture of a bottle) versus incongruent ("bottle" → picture of a banana) trials. A second experiment investigated the time-course of the effect by manipulating the timing of picture presentation relative to word onset and revealed that it arises as soon as 200-400 ms after word onset and decays at 600 ms after word onset. Together, these data strongly suggest that spoken words can rapidly activate low-level category-specific visual representations that affect the mere detection of a stimulus, that is, what we see. More generally, our findings fit best with the notion that spoken words activate modality-specific visual representations that are low level enough to provide information related to a given token and at the same time abstract enough to be relevant not only for previously seen tokens but also for generalizing to novel exemplars one has never seen before. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Impact of Integrated Science and English Language Arts Literacy Supplemental Instructional Intervention on Science Academic Achievement of Elementary Students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marks, Jamar Terry

    The purpose of this quasi-experimental, nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design study was to determine if any differences existed in upper elementary school students' science academic achievement when instructed using an 8-week integrated science and English language arts literacy supplemental instructional intervention in conjunction with traditional science classroom instruction as compared to when instructed using solely traditional science classroom instruction. The targeted sample population consisted of fourth-grade students enrolled in a public elementary school located in the southeastern region of the United States. The convenience sample size consisted of 115 fourth-grade students enrolled in science classes. The pretest and posttest academic achievement data collected consisted of the science segment from the Spring 2015, and Spring 2016 state standardized assessments. Pretest and posttest academic achievement data were analyzed using an ANCOVA statistical procedure to test for differences, and the researcher reported the results of the statistical analysis. The results of the study show no significant difference in science academic achievement between treatment and control groups. An interpretation of the results and recommendations for future research were provided by the researcher upon completion of the statistical analysis.

  4. Nurturing Interdisciplinary Competence in Academic Writing Classes: Two Taiwanese TESOL Professionals' Shared Journey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Cheryl Wei-yu; Wang, Hung-chun

    2016-01-01

    This study delineates two Taiwanese TESOL teachers' efforts of combining English writing with entrepreneurship education to cultivate English majors' interdisciplinary competence in academic writing classes. An integrated business-and-writing approach was proposed to foster English majors' academic writing skills and entrepreneurial capacities. In…

  5. Attentional Capture of Objects Referred to by Spoken Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salverda, Anne Pier; Altmann, Gerry T. M.

    2011-01-01

    Participants saw a small number of objects in a visual display and performed a visual detection or visual-discrimination task in the context of task-irrelevant spoken distractors. In each experiment, a visual cue was presented 400 ms after the onset of a spoken word. In experiments 1 and 2, the cue was an isoluminant color change and participants…

  6. Automatic processing of spoken dialogue in the home hemodialysis domain.

    PubMed

    Lacson, Ronilda; Barzilay, Regina

    2005-01-01

    Spoken medical dialogue is a valuable source of information, and it forms a foundation for diagnosis, prevention and therapeutic management. However, understanding even a perfect transcript of spoken dialogue is challenging for humans because of the lack of structure and the verbosity of dialogues. This work presents a first step towards automatic analysis of spoken medical dialogue. The backbone of our approach is an abstraction of a dialogue into a sequence of semantic categories. This abstraction uncovers structure in informal, verbose conversation between a caregiver and a patient, thereby facilitating automatic processing of dialogue content. Our method induces this structure based on a range of linguistic and contextual features that are integrated in a supervised machine-learning framework. Our model has a classification accuracy of 73%, compared to 33% achieved by a majority baseline (p<0.01). This work demonstrates the feasibility of automatically processing spoken medical dialogue.

  7. Building Academic Confidence in English Language Learners in Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vazquez, Alejandra

    2014-01-01

    Non-English speaking students lack the confidence and preparation to be verbally actively engaged in the classroom. Students may frequently display hesitation in learning to speak English, and may also lack a teacher's guidance in becoming proficient English speakers. The purpose of this research is to examine how teachers build academic…

  8. Hip-Hop and a Hybrid Text in a Postsecondary English Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sanchez, Deborah M.

    2010-01-01

    This study explores the epistemology present in hip-hop music and its reflection in the writing of one African American student in a postsecondary transitional English class. An integration of hip-hop and academic literacy practices in the student's essay challenges the supremacy of a "standard" academic English and deficit perspectives about…

  9. Refusal Strategies of Iranian University English as a Foreign Language and Non-English Learners in Native Language: A Comparative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sa'd, Seyyed Hatam Tamimi; Qadermazi, Zohre

    2014-01-01

    This study is an attempt to examine the possible effect that exposure to English has had on the use of refusal strategies in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners compared with those of non-English learners when refusing in their native language, Persian. The sample included 12 EFL learners and 12 learners of other academic majors including…

  10. Lost in Translation? Comparative Education Research and the Production of Academic Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mazenod, Anna

    2018-01-01

    The worth of academic knowledge tends to be tested against global metrics of citations and articles published in high-ranking English language academic journals. This paper examines academic knowledge production in three local fields of research with different national languages (English, Finnish and French). It focuses on knowledge production on…

  11. Grading and Academic Freedom: An English Academic's Angle on Hill's Contentious Triangle

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buglear, John

    2011-01-01

    Following the dismissal of a Canadian professor over disputed grading practices, Hill produced his triangle model of competing interests of academics, administrators and students. In the UK, academic freedom in relation to grading is increasingly constrained reflecting more assertive institutional management supervising over-burdened academic…

  12. Interdisciplinary Connections and Academic Performance in Psychology-English Learning Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grose-Fifer, Jillian; Helmer, Kimberly A.; Zottoli, Tina M.

    2014-01-01

    We investigated whether students in psychology-based learning communities (LCs; i.e., cohorts who took introductory psychology and English together) performed better on psychology tests than those in standard classes. There were two types of LC; in one (connected LC), we created links between English and psychology by using English class readings…

  13. Orthographic Facilitation in Chinese Spoken Word Recognition: An ERP Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zou, Lijuan; Desroches, Amy S.; Liu, Youyi; Xia, Zhichao; Shu, Hua

    2012-01-01

    Orthographic influences in spoken word recognition have been previously examined in alphabetic languages. However, it is unknown whether orthographic information affects spoken word recognition in Chinese, which has a clean dissociation between orthography (O) and phonology (P). The present study investigated orthographic effects using event…

  14. The Present Perfect in World Englishes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yao, Xinyue; Collins, Peter

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports on a comprehensive corpus-based study of regional and stylistic variation in the distribution of the English present perfect. The data represents ten English varieties of both the Inner Circle and Outer Circle, covering four major text types: conversation, news reportage, academic and fictional writing. The results are discussed…

  15. Language Specialists' Views on the Academic Language and Learning Abilities of English as an Additional Language Postgraduate Coursework Students: Towards an Adjunct Tutorial Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fenton-Smith, Ben; Humphreys, Pamela

    2017-01-01

    As in other Anglophone nations, a large percentage of Australia's postgraduate international students come from English as an additional language (EAL) backgrounds, and many require development of their academic language and learning (ALL) capabilities to successfully navigate a higher degree. This paper investigates those capabilities through the…

  16. The Role of Foreign Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong Chinese Children's English and Chinese Skills: A Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dulay, Katrina May; Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine

    2017-01-01

    We investigated the influence of nonparental caregivers, such as foreign domestic helpers (FDH), on the home language spoken to the child and its implications for vocabulary and word reading development in Cantonese- and English-speaking bilingual children. Using data collected from ages 5 to 9, we analyzed Chinese vocabulary, Chinese character…

  17. Inquiring "Tree of Life" at Home: Persian Classic Literature in English Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parsaiyan, Seyyeded Fahimeh; Ghajar, Sue-San Ghahremani; Salahimoghaddam, Soheila; Janahmadi, Fatemeh

    2014-01-01

    The recent decades of English Language Teaching (ELT) appear to be particularly concerned with the marginalisation caused by English linguistic, cultural, and academic colonisation and imperialism. Bold footprints of this academic monopoly can be seen in the wide incorporation of abridged or unabridged British and American literary works in…

  18. The Digitization of Early English Books: A Database Comparison of Internet Archive and Early English Books Online

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brightenburg, Cindy

    2016-01-01

    The use of digital books is diverse, ranging from casual reading to in-depth primary source research. Digitization of early English printed books in particular, has provided greater access to a previously limited resource for academic faculty and researchers. Internet Archive, a free, internet website and Early English Books Online, a subscription…

  19. "Now We Have Spoken."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zimmer, Patricia Moore

    2001-01-01

    Describes the author's experiences directing a play translated and acted in Korean. Notes that she had to get familiar with the sound of the language spoken fluently, to see how an actor's thought is discerned when the verbal language is not understood. Concludes that so much of understanding and communication unfolds in ways other than with…

  20. Contextualizing Instruction for English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Rhonda D.

    2016-01-01

    English language learners (ELLs) with learning disabilities (LD) can find navigating the content areas quite difficult due to challenges involving limitations in English language proficiency, gaps in English academic vocabulary, difficulties with working memory and long-term memory, and limited background knowledge on content area topics. However,…

  1. Latino Immigrant Parents' Financial Stress, Depression, and Academic Involvement Predicting Child Academic Success

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gilbert, Lauren R.; Spears Brown, Christia; Mistry, Rashmita S.

    2017-01-01

    The current study examines Mexican-heritage immigrant parents' financial stress, English language fluency, and depressive symptoms as risk factors for parental academic involvement and child academic outcomes. Participants were 68 Latino immigrant (from Mexico) third and fourth graders and their parents. Results from a structural equation model…

  2. Dual language versus English-only support for bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and hearing aids.

    PubMed

    Bunta, Ferenc; Douglas, Michael; Dickson, Hanna; Cantu, Amy; Wickesberg, Jennifer; Gifford, René H

    2016-07-01

    There is a critical need to understand better speech and language development in bilingual children learning two spoken languages who use cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs). The paucity of knowledge in this area poses a significant barrier to providing maximal communicative outcomes to a growing number of children who have a hearing loss (HL) and are learning multiple spoken languages. In fact, the number of bilingual individuals receiving CIs and HAs is rapidly increasing, and Hispanic children display a higher prevalence of HL than the general population of the United States. In order to serve better bilingual children with CIs and HAs, appropriate and effective therapy approaches need to be designed and tested, based on research findings. This study investigated the effects of supporting both the home language (Spanish) and the language of the majority culture (English) on language outcomes in bilingual children with HL who use CIs and HAs as compared to their bilingual peers who receive English-only support. Retrospective analyses of language measures were completed for two groups of Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children with HL who use CIs and HAs matched on a range of demographic and socio-economic variables: those with dual-language support versus their peers with English-only support. Dependent variables included scores from the English version of the Preschool Language Scales, 4th Edition. Bilingual children who received dual-language support outperformed their peers who received English-only support at statistically significant levels as measured by Total Language and Expressive Communication as raw and language age scores. No statistically significant group differences were found on Auditory Comprehension scores. In addition to providing support in English, encouraging home language use and providing treatment support in the first language may help rather than hinder development of both English and the home language in bilingual

  3. Myths and Realities of "Global" English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillipson, Robert

    2017-01-01

    The expansion of English worldwide tends to be both seen and marketed uncritically, as a universally relevant lingua franca and medium of education. The post-1945 expansion of English was a deliberate policy of the US and UK governments, foreseen in a speech by Churchill. Elsewhere Churchill endorsed university academic freedom and autonomy, which…

  4. Deictic Elements as Means of Text Cohesion and Coherence in Academic Discourse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gafiyatova, Elzara V.; Korovina, Irina V.; Solnyshkina, Marina I.; Yarmakeev, Iskander E.

    2017-01-01

    The article presents the results of the research aimed at analyzing some functions and features of deictic elements in academic discourse in English. The material under analysis covers 20 academic texts written by English-speaking linguists. In the article it is proved that in academic discourse deictic elements can operate only within the fixed…

  5. 34 CFR 300.10 - Core academic subjects.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... DISABILITIES General Definitions Used in This Part § 300.10 Core academic subjects. Core academic subjects means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government...

  6. State Funding Mechanisms for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Millard, Maria

    2015-01-01

    Research is clear that English language learners (ELLs) perform better academically and achieve greater language proficiency when they have high-quality English language instruction.1 Like all supplemental services, these necessary supports require additional funding above the average per-student amount. The federal government provides grant…

  7. The Elements of Nonsexist Usage: A Guide to Inclusive Spoken and Written English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dumond, Val

    This handbook is intended for students, teachers, journalists, executives, and court and government workers who want to eliminate sexism from their English. It offers sound advice on gender-inclusive or gender-neutral language. Among its topics of interest are: the reasons to avoid sexist language; sensible alternatives to offensive terminology;…

  8. Developing Academic English Language Proficiency Prototypes for 5th Grade Reading: Psychometric and Linguistic Profiles of Tasks. An Extended Executive Summary. CSE Report 720

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bailey, Alison L.; Huang, Becky H.; Shin, Hye Won; Farnsworth, Tim; Butler, Frances A.

    2007-01-01

    Within an evidentiary framework for operationally defining academic English language proficiency (AELP), linguistic analyses of standards, classroom discourse, and textbooks have led to specifications for assessment of AELP. The test development process described here is novel due to the emphasis on using linguistic profiles to inform the …

  9. Stuttering in English-Mandarin bilingual speakers: the influence of language dominance on stuttering severity.

    PubMed

    Lim, Valerie P C; Lincoln, Michelle; Chan, Yiong Huak; Onslow, Mark

    2008-12-01

    English and Mandarin are the 2 most spoken languages in the world, yet it is not known how stuttering manifests in English-Mandarin bilinguals. In this research, the authors investigated whether the severity and type of stuttering is different in English and Mandarin in English-Mandarin bilinguals, and whether this difference was influenced by language dominance. Thirty English-Mandarin bilinguals who stutter (BWS), ages 12-44 years, were categorized into 3 groups (15 English-dominant, 4 Mandarin-dominant, and 11 balanced bilinguals) using a self-report classification tool. Three 10-min conversations in English and Mandarin were assessed by 2 English-Mandarin bilingual clinicians for percent syllables stuttered (%SS), perceived stuttering severity (SEV), and types of stuttering behaviors using the Lidcombe Behavioral Data Language (LBDL; Packman & Onslow, 1998; Teesson, Packman, & Onslow, 2003). English-dominant and Mandarin-dominant BWS exhibited higher %SS and SEV scores in their less dominant language, whereas the scores for the balanced bilinguals were similar for both languages. The difference in the percentage of stutters per LBDL category between English and Mandarin was not markedly different for any bilingual group. Language dominance appeared to influence the severity but not the types of stuttering behaviors in BWS. Clinicians working with BWS need to assess language dominance when diagnosing stuttering severity in bilingual clients.

  10. Adolescents' Use of Academic Language in Historical Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shen, Ting

    2011-01-01

    Despite its importance of academic language, research on academic language is often limited to academic vocabulary and focused on the English language learners. Informed by systemic functional linguistics, this study examined adolescents' use of academic language and the relationships between its use and students' reading ability and their writing…

  11. Building a Career in English: Users of English as an Additional Language in Academia in the Arabian Gulf

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buckingham, Louisa

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates how a group of 30 multilingual academics, all users of English as an additional language (EAL) working at a private university in Oman, acquired discourse community membership in their disciplines through publishing in English, and the strategies they use to sustain the level of literacy needed to disseminate their research…

  12. An Investigation into the Effect of English Learners' Dictionaries on International Students' Acquisition of the English Article System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Julia

    2006-01-01

    Learners' dictionaries are a resource which is often overlooked by both students and teachers of English as a Second Language. The wealth of grammatical information contained within them, however, can help students to improve their English language skills and, ipso facto, their academic writing. In this study, four groups of university ESL…

  13. Simultaneous perception of a spoken and a signed language: The brain basis of ASL-English code-blends

    PubMed Central

    Weisberg, Jill; McCullough, Stephen; Emmorey, Karen

    2018-01-01

    Code-blends (simultaneous words and signs) are a unique characteristic of bimodal bilingual communication. Using fMRI, we investigated code-blend comprehension in hearing native ASL-English bilinguals who made a semantic decision (edible?) about signs, audiovisual words, and semantically equivalent code-blends. English and ASL recruited a similar fronto-temporal network with expected modality differences: stronger activation for English in auditory regions of bilateral superior temporal cortex, and stronger activation for ASL in bilateral occipitotemporal visual regions and left parietal cortex. Code-blend comprehension elicited activity in a combination of these regions, and no cognitive control regions were additionally recruited. Furthermore, code-blends elicited reduced activation relative to ASL presented alone in bilateral prefrontal and visual extrastriate cortices, and relative to English alone in auditory association cortex. Consistent with behavioral facilitation observed during semantic decisions, the findings suggest that redundant semantic content induces more efficient neural processing in language and sensory regions during bimodal language integration. PMID:26177161

  14. A Trilingual Teaching Model for Developing Academic Literacy Skills in Classical Arabic (L1), Hebrew (L2) and English (FL) in Southern Israel

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hauptman, Sara; Mansur, Fuaz; Tal, Rachel

    2008-01-01

    Developing academic literacy skills in Classical Arabic (L1), Hebrew (L2) and English (FL) among 10th-grade Bedouin students in Southern Israel is of central importance, in light of the country's policies regarding trilingual education for this sector. This paper presents the findings of research which examined the impact of a teaching model where…

  15. Children's Use of Evaluative Devices in Spoken and Written Narratives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drijbooms, Elise; Groen, Margriet A.; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the development of evaluation in narratives from middle to late childhood, within the context of differentiating between spoken and written modalities. Two parallel forms of a picture story were used to elicit spoken and written narratives from fourth- and sixth-graders. It was expected that, in addition to an increase of…

  16. Immersing the Library in English Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riley, Bobby

    2008-01-01

    The author relates how his school has a very active English Language Learner (ELL) program. ELL students typically have varying levels of social and academic language, but almost always have some English proficiency. Recently, his school established a Newcomer Program that drastically changed the school system. They acquired students lacking any…

  17. Multilingual Faculty across Academic Disciplines: Language Difference in Scholarship

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cavazos, Alyssa G.

    2015-01-01

    Due to the dominance of the English language in scholarship, multilingual academics often encounter challenges in achieving academic biliteracy and identifying successful language negotiation practices in academia. Through personal interviews with self-identified multilingual academics across academic disciplines, this paper explores how they…

  18. Overlap and Uniqueness: Linguistic Componential Traits Contributing to Expressive Skills in English as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pae, Hye K.; O'Brien, Beth

    2018-01-01

    This study identified robust predictors of expressive skills in academic English as a foreign language. The participants were 92 Korean-speaking learners of English. The field test of the Pearson Test of English Academic was used as a secondary data analysis. Four communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and six enabling…

  19. A Study of Arizona's Teachers of English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rios-Aguilar, Cecilia; Gonzalez Canche, Manuel S.; Moll, Luis C.

    2012-01-01

    Background/Context: In September 2007, the Arizona State Board of Education adopted the Structured English Immersion (SEI) model proposed by the Arizona English Language Learner (ELL) Task Force.During the 2008-2009 academic year, it required all school districts to implement the SEI model.The SEI program, best known as the 4-hour English Language…

  20. Academic Biliteracies: Multilingual Repertoires in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palfreyman, David M., Ed.; van der Walt, Christa, Ed.

    2017-01-01

    Research on academic literacy within higher education has focused almost exclusively on the development of academic literacy in English. This book is unique in showing how students use other languages when they engage with written academic content--whether in reading, discussing, or writing--and how increasingly multilingual higher education…

  1. Crossing Thresholds in Academic Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abbott, Rob

    2013-01-01

    This paper looks at the conceptual thresholds in relation to academic reading which might be crossed by undergraduate English Literature students. It is part of a wider study following 16 students through three years of undergraduate study. It uses theoretical ideas from Bakhtin and Foucault to analyse interviews with English lecturers. It…

  2. Spoken Grammar: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, Ronald; McCarthy, Michael

    2017-01-01

    This article synthesises progress made in the description of spoken (especially conversational) grammar over the 20 years since the authors published a paper in this journal arguing for a re-thinking of grammatical description and pedagogy based on spoken corpus evidence. We begin with a glance back at the 16th century and the teaching of Latin…

  3. Terminating Devices in Spoken French.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andrews, Barry J.

    1989-01-01

    A study examines the way in which one group of discourse connectors, terminators, function in contemporary spoken French. Three types of terminators, elements used at the end of an utterance or section to indicate its completion, are investigated, including utterance terminators, interrogative tags, and terminal tags. (Author/MSE)

  4. Automated Scoring of Speaking Tasks in the Test of English-for-Teaching ("TEFT"™). Research Report. ETS RR-15-31

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zechner, Klaus; Chen, Lei; Davis, Larry; Evanini, Keelan; Lee, Chong Min; Leong, Chee Wee; Wang, Xinhao; Yoon, Su-Youn

    2015-01-01

    This research report presents a summary of research and development efforts devoted to creating scoring models for automatically scoring spoken item responses of a pilot administration of the Test of English-for-Teaching ("TEFT"™) within the "ELTeach"™ framework.The test consists of items for all four language modalities:…

  5. "Nobody Told Me They Didn't Speak English!": Teacher Language Views and Student Linguistic Repertoires in Hutterite Colony Schools in Canada

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sterzuk, Andrea; Nelson, Cynthia A.

    2016-01-01

    This article presents a qualitative study of five monolingual teachers' understandings of the linguistic repertoires of their multilingual students. These teachers deliver the Saskatchewan provincial curricula in English to Hutterite colony students who are users of three languages: (a) spoken Hutterisch as a home and community language, (b)…

  6. Embedding international benchmarks of proficiency in English in undergraduate nursing programmes: challenges and strategies in equipping culturally and linguistically diverse students with English as an additional language for nursing in Australia.

    PubMed

    Glew, Paul J

    2013-01-01

    To meet the expected shortfalls in the number of registered nurses throughout the coming decade Australian universities have been recruiting an increasing number of students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds. Given that international and domestic students who use English as an additional language (EAL) complement the number of native English speaking nursing students, they represent a valuable nurse education investment. Although university programmes are in a position to meet the education and learning needs of native English speaking nursing students, they can experience considerable challenges in effectively equipping EAL students with the English and academic language skills for nursing studies and registration in Australia. However, success in a nursing programme and in preparing for nurse registration can require EAL students to achieve substantial literacy skills in English and academic language through their engagement with these tertiary learning contexts. This paper discusses the education implications for nursing programmes and EAL students of developing literacy skills through pre-registration nursing studies to meet the English language skills standard for nurse registration and presents intervention strategies for nursing programmes that aim to build EAL student capacity in using academic English.

  7. Spoken Language Processing Model: Bridging Auditory and Language Processing to Guide Assessment and Intervention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Medwetsky, Larry

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: This article outlines the author's conceptualization of the key mechanisms that are engaged in the processing of spoken language, referred to as the spoken language processing model. The act of processing what is heard is very complex and involves the successful intertwining of auditory, cognitive, and language mechanisms. Spoken language…

  8. Recognizing Spoken Words: The Neighborhood Activation Model

    PubMed Central

    Luce, Paul A.; Pisoni, David B.

    2012-01-01

    Objective A fundamental problem in the study of human spoken word recognition concerns the structural relations among the sound patterns of words in memory and the effects these relations have on spoken word recognition. In the present investigation, computational and experimental methods were employed to address a number of fundamental issues related to the representation and structural organization of spoken words in the mental lexicon and to lay the groundwork for a model of spoken word recognition. Design Using a computerized lexicon consisting of transcriptions of 20,000 words, similarity neighborhoods for each of the transcriptions were computed. Among the variables of interest in the computation of the similarity neighborhoods were: 1) the number of words occurring in a neighborhood, 2) the degree of phonetic similarity among the words, and 3) the frequencies of occurrence of the words in the language. The effects of these variables on auditory word recognition were examined in a series of behavioral experiments employing three experimental paradigms: perceptual identification of words in noise, auditory lexical decision, and auditory word naming. Results The results of each of these experiments demonstrated that the number and nature of words in a similarity neighborhood affect the speed and accuracy of word recognition. A neighborhood probability rule was developed that adequately predicted identification performance. This rule, based on Luce's (1959) choice rule, combines stimulus word intelligibility, neighborhood confusability, and frequency into a single expression. Based on this rule, a model of auditory word recognition, the neighborhood activation model, was proposed. This model describes the effects of similarity neighborhood structure on the process of discriminating among the acoustic-phonetic representations of words in memory. The results of these experiments have important implications for current conceptions of auditory word recognition in

  9. Does Access Equal Retention? The Experiences of Long-Term English Learners in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wonder, Kelly

    2011-01-01

    Through this longitudinal, phenomenological study, I examined the experiences of (H)Mong Long Term English Learners (LTEL) conditionally admitted to Midwest State University through the English for Academic Success Program (EAP). Over the course of six years, I interviewed participants regarding their academic and social experiences during…

  10. Sustained Silent Reading in University Courses in EFL for Academic Purposes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ducy-Perez, Ellen

    This paper summarizes a study conducted to determine whether sustained silent reading (SSR) can contribute to improvement in grammar and reading comprehension in university academic English as a foreign language (EFL) courses. A total of 186 beginning and intermediate students enrolled in the English for Academic Purposes program at the…

  11. Elementary Students' Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary Through Engineering Design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kugelmass, Rachel

    This study examines how STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) inquiry-based learning through a hands-on engineering design can be beneficial in helping students acquire academic vocabulary. This research took place in a second grade dual- language classroom in a public, suburban elementary school. English language learners, students who speak Spanish at home, and native English speakers were evaluated in this study. Each day, students were presented with a general academic vocabulary focus word during an engineering design challenge. Vocabulary pre-tests and post-tests as well as observation field notes were used to evaluate the student's growth in reading and defining the focus academic vocabulary words. A quiz and KSB (knowledge and skill builder) packet were used to evaluate students' knowledge of science and math content and engineering design. The results of this study indicate that engineering design is an effective means for teaching academic vocabulary to students with varying levels of English proficiency.

  12. Sign Language and Spoken Language for Children With Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review.

    PubMed

    Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth M; Hamel, Candyce; Stevens, Adrienne; Pratt, Misty; Moher, David; Doucet, Suzanne P; Neuss, Deirdre; Bernstein, Anita; Na, Eunjung

    2016-01-01

    Permanent hearing loss affects 1 to 3 per 1000 children and interferes with typical communication development. Early detection through newborn hearing screening and hearing technology provide most children with the option of spoken language acquisition. However, no consensus exists on optimal interventions for spoken language development. To conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness of early sign and oral language intervention compared with oral language intervention only for children with permanent hearing loss. An a priori protocol was developed. Electronic databases (eg, Medline, Embase, CINAHL) from 1995 to June 2013 and gray literature sources were searched. Studies in English and French were included. Two reviewers screened potentially relevant articles. Outcomes of interest were measures of auditory, vocabulary, language, and speech production skills. All data collection and risk of bias assessments were completed and then verified by a second person. Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to judge the strength of evidence. Eleven cohort studies met inclusion criteria, of which 8 included only children with severe to profound hearing loss with cochlear implants. Language development was the most frequently reported outcome. Other reported outcomes included speech and speech perception. Several measures and metrics were reported across studies, and descriptions of interventions were sometimes unclear. Very limited, and hence insufficient, high-quality evidence exists to determine whether sign language in combination with oral language is more effective than oral language therapy alone. More research is needed to supplement the evidence base. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  13. Perceptions of Patient-Provider Communication in Breast and Cervical Cancer-Related Care: A Qualitative Study of Low-Income English- and Spanish-Speaking Women

    PubMed Central

    Simon, Melissa A.; Ragas, Daiva M.; Nonzee, Narissa J.; Phisuthikul, Ava M.; Luu, Thanh Ha; Dong, XinQi

    2013-01-01

    To explore patient perceptions of patient-provider communication in breast and cervical cancer-related care among low-income English- and Spanish- speaking women, we examined communication barriers and facilitators reported by patients receiving care at safety net clinics. Participants were interviewed in English or Spanish after receiving an abnormal breast or cervical cancer screening test or cancer diagnosis. Following an inductive approach, interviews were coded and analyzed by the language spoken with providers and patient-provider language concordance status. Of 78 participants, 53% (n = 41) were English-speakers and 47% (n = 37) were Spanish-speakers. All English-speakers were language-concordant with providers. Of Spanish-speakers, 27% (n = 10) were Spanish-concordant; 38% (n = 14) were Spanish-discordant, requiring an interpreter; and 35% (n = 13) were Spanish mixed-concordant, experiencing both types of communication throughout the care continuum. English-speakers focused on communication barriers, and difficulty understanding jargon arose as a theme. Spanish-speakers emphasized communication facilitators related to Spanish language use. Themes among all Spanish-speaking sub-groups included appreciation for language support resources and preference for Spanish-speaking providers. Mixed-concordant participants accounted for the majority of Spanish-speakers who reported communication barriers. Our data suggest that, although perception of patient-provider communication may depend on the language spoken throughout the care continuum, jargon is lost when health information is communicated in Spanish. Further, the respective consistency of language concordance or interpretation may play a role in patient perception of patient-provider communication. PMID:23553683

  14. Spoken language outcomes after hemispherectomy: factoring in etiology.

    PubMed

    Curtiss, S; de Bode, S; Mathern, G W

    2001-12-01

    We analyzed postsurgery linguistic outcomes of 43 hemispherectomy patients operated on at UCLA. We rated spoken language (Spoken Language Rank, SLR) on a scale from 0 (no language) to 6 (mature grammar) and examined the effects of side of resection/damage, age at surgery/seizure onset, seizure control postsurgery, and etiology on language development. Etiology was defined as developmental (cortical dysplasia and prenatal stroke) and acquired pathology (Rasmussen's encephalitis and postnatal stroke). We found that clinical variables were predictive of language outcomes only when they were considered within distinct etiology groups. Specifically, children with developmental etiologies had lower SLRs than those with acquired pathologies (p =.0006); age factors correlated positively with higher SLRs only for children with acquired etiologies (p =.0006); right-sided resections led to higher SLRs only for the acquired group (p =.0008); and postsurgery seizure control correlated positively with SLR only for those with developmental etiologies (p =.0047). We argue that the variables considered are not independent predictors of spoken language outcome posthemispherectomy but should be viewed instead as characteristics of etiology. Copyright 2001 Elsevier Science.

  15. Effect of Direct Teaching Method on the Academic Achievement of High and Low Achievers in the Subject of English at the Secondary Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hussain, Ishtiaq; Hamdani, Syed Nisar Hussain; Quraishi, Uzma; Zeeshan, Muhammad

    2010-01-01

    The major objective of the study was to determine the role of the direct teaching method in the academic achievement of students in English at the secondary level. To achieve the said objective, the Solomon Four-Design pre-test/post-test equivalent group design was considered to be the most useful design for this study. The pre-test was used to…

  16. Spoken Grammar Awareness Raising: Does It Affect the Listening Ability of Iranian EFL Learners?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rashtchi, Mojgan; Afzali, Mahnaz

    2011-01-01

    Advances in spoken corpora analysis have brought about new insights into language pedagogy and have led to an awareness of the characteristics of spoken language. Current findings have shown that grammar of spoken language is different from written language. However, most listening and speaking materials are concocted based on written grammar and…

  17. High School Graduation Rates across English Learner Student Subgroups in Arizona. REL 2017-205

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Min; Haas, Eric; Zhu, Niufeng; Tran, Loan

    2016-01-01

    Recent studies have documented differences in academic achievement between current and former English learner students. These differences validate calls for more focused analyses of achievement across English learner student subgroups. Specifically, there is interest in examining variation in academic success based on the amount of time a student…

  18. The Growth of English for Academic Communication in the Nordic Countries.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brock-Utne, Birgit

    2001-01-01

    Addresses the danger of English in higher education in Norway, stating that if the mother tongue is replaced by English in academia, it does not develop at the highest levels. Discusses five phenomena threatening the Norwegian language, including the increasing use of English words and the recruitment of teachers who do not speak Norwegian.…

  19. Teaching English Language Learners in the Content Areas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Janzen, Joy

    2008-01-01

    This review examines current research on teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) in four content area subjects: History, math, English, and science. The following topics are examined in each content area: The linguistic, cognitive, and sociocultural features of academic literacy and how this literacy can be taught; general investigations of…

  20. Using E-Books to Acquire Foundational Academic Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Love, Matthew L.; Spies, Tracy G.; Morgan, Joseph J.

    2017-01-01

    Secondary students identified as English language learners or with learning disabilities present diverse vocabulary and academic challenges related to their exceptional language needs. Limited academic vocabulary may hinder students in accessing academic content and serve as a barrier to achievement. The literature has documented the use of…

  1. English Language Proficiency Tests and Academic Achievement: A Study on the Malaysian University English Test as a Predictor of Technical Programme Undergraduates Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rahmat, Nurhazlini; Min, Lau Sing; Sungif, Nur Atiqah Md.; Yusup, Farah Nabillah Mior

    2015-01-01

    In the Malaysian education system, English has always played an important role. In acknowledging its importance, Malaysian University English Test (MUET) has been introduced to enable continued emphasis on this role. MUET has been made compulsory for those who wish to pursue a first degree programme in local universities. This study aims to…

  2. Teachers' perceptions of promoting sign language phonological awareness in an ASL/English bilingual program.

    PubMed

    Crume, Peter K

    2013-10-01

    The National Reading Panel emphasizes that spoken language phonological awareness (PA) developed at home and school can lead to improvements in reading performance in young children. However, research indicates that many deaf children are good readers even though they have limited spoken language PA. Is it possible that some deaf students benefit from teachers who promote sign language PA instead? The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine teachers' beliefs and instructional practices related to sign language PA. A thematic analysis is conducted on 10 participant interviews at an ASL/English bilingual school for the deaf to understand their views and instructional practices. The findings reveal that the participants had strong beliefs in developing students' structural knowledge of signs and used a variety of instructional strategies to build students' knowledge of sign structures in order to promote their language and literacy skills.

  3. Scaling laws and model of words organization in spoken and written language

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bian, Chunhua; Lin, Ruokuang; Zhang, Xiaoyu; Ma, Qianli D. Y.; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.

    2016-01-01

    A broad range of complex physical and biological systems exhibits scaling laws. The human language is a complex system of words organization. Studies of written texts have revealed intriguing scaling laws that characterize the frequency of words occurrence, rank of words, and growth in the number of distinct words with text length. While studies have predominantly focused on the language system in its written form, such as books, little attention is given to the structure of spoken language. Here we investigate a database of spoken language transcripts and written texts, and we uncover that words organization in both spoken language and written texts exhibits scaling laws, although with different crossover regimes and scaling exponents. We propose a model that provides insight into words organization in spoken language and written texts, and successfully accounts for all scaling laws empirically observed in both language forms.

  4. Parent-child reading interactions among English and English as a second language speakers in an underserved pediatric clinic in Hawai'i.

    PubMed

    Kitabayashi, Kristyn M; Huang, Gary Y; Linskey, Katy R; Pirga, Jason; Bane-Terakubo, Teresa; Lee, Meta T

    2008-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare reading patterns between English-speaking and English as a Second Language (ESL) families in a health care setting in Hawai'i. A cross-sectional study was performed at an underserved pediatric primary care clinic in Hawai'i. Caregivers of patients between the ages of 6 months to 5 years were asked questions regarding demographics and parent-child reading interactions. Respondents were categorized into English-speaking or ESL groups based on primary language spoken at home. Pearson chi2 tests and Fisher exact tests were performed to compare demographic differences, reading frequency, and reading attitudes between groups. One-hundred three respondents completed the survey Fifty percent were ESL. All ESL respondents were of Asian-Pacific Islander (API) or mixed Asian ethnicity. All Caucasians in the study (n = 9) were in the English-speaking group. Between the English-speaking (n = 52) and ESL (n = 51) groups, there were no significant statistical differences in age or gender of the child, reading attitudes, or parent's educational status. Parents in the ESL group read to their children significantly fewer days per week than their English-speaking counterparts, had significantly fewer books in the home, and lived significantly fewer years in the United States. The findings suggest that API immigrant families share similar attitudes about reading as English-speaking families in Hawai'i but have significantly fewer books in their household and read significantly less frequently Physicians working with API populations should be aware that immigrant children may have fewer reading interactions and should counsel parents on the importance of reading daily.

  5. Chemical education experiences from the English language learner perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Flores, Annette

    2011-12-01

    The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is a region populated by Spanish-speaking immigrants and their descendants producing a large English Language Learner (ELL) student population. ELLs have historically had low literacy rates and achievement levels when compared to their counterparts. In order to address this achievement gap, previous research efforts and curriculum interventions have focused on language acquisition as being the determining factor in ELL education, with little attention given to academic content acquisition. More current research efforts have transitioned into English language acquisition through academic content instruction; this present research study specifically focuses on ELL experiences in chemistry. Participants were high school chemistry students who identified as ELL or had recently exited out of ELL status. Students were interviewed to identify factors that attributed to their experiences in chemistry. Findings indicate code-switching as a key to learning chemistry in English but also the deterrent in English language acquisition.

  6. What Are the Factors Affecting the Use of English Language in English-Only Classrooms: Student's Perspectives in Pakistan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Asif, Sadia; Bashir, Rahat; Zafar, Shabana

    2018-01-01

    English as a medium of instruction and communication is becoming a central pedagogy in various countries in the world. In Pakistan, most of the advanced academic institutions use English as their medium of instruction, however students and teachers have been observed communicating in their first languages, especially Urdu, in the classrooms. This…

  7. Developing Academic and Content Area Literacy: The Thai EFL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Charubusp, Sasima; Chinwonno, Apasara

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of Academic Literacy-Based Intervention (ALI) on 30 undergraduate Thai university students' English reading proficiency. Based on the English reading proficiency test, these students were sub-classified into 2 groups, 15 in the high English reading proficiency group and 15 in the low English reading proficiency…

  8. Tense Marking in the English Narrative Retells of Dual Language Preschoolers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gusewski, Svenja; Rojas, Raul

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: This longitudinal study investigated the emergence of English tense marking in young (Spanish-English) dual language learners (DLLs) over 4 consecutive academic semesters, addressing the need for longitudinal data on typical acquisition trajectories of English in DLL preschoolers. Method: Language sample analysis was conducted on 139…

  9. Rapid modulation of spoken word recognition by visual primes.

    PubMed

    Okano, Kana; Grainger, Jonathan; Holcomb, Phillip J

    2016-02-01

    In a masked cross-modal priming experiment with ERP recordings, spoken Japanese words were primed with words written in one of the two syllabary scripts of Japanese. An early priming effect, peaking at around 200ms after onset of the spoken word target, was seen in left lateral electrode sites for Katakana primes, and later effects were seen for both Hiragana and Katakana primes on the N400 ERP component. The early effect is thought to reflect the efficiency with which words in Katakana script make contact with sublexical phonological representations involved in spoken language comprehension, due to the particular way this script is used by Japanese readers. This demonstrates fast-acting influences of visual primes on the processing of auditory target words, and suggests that briefly presented visual primes can influence sublexical processing of auditory target words. The later N400 priming effects, on the other hand, most likely reflect cross-modal influences on activity at the level of whole-word phonology and semantics.

  10. Rapid modulation of spoken word recognition by visual primes

    PubMed Central

    Okano, Kana; Grainger, Jonathan; Holcomb, Phillip J.

    2015-01-01

    In a masked cross-modal priming experiment with ERP recordings, spoken Japanese words were primed with words written in one of the two syllabary scripts of Japanese. An early priming effect, peaking at around 200ms after onset of the spoken word target, was seen in left lateral electrode sites for Katakana primes, and later effects were seen for both Hiragana and Katakana primes on the N400 ERP component. The early effect is thought to reflect the efficiency with which words in Katakana script make contact with sublexical phonological representations involved in spoken language comprehension, due to the particular way this script is used by Japanese readers. This demonstrates fast-acting influences of visual primes on the processing of auditory target words, and suggests that briefly presented visual primes can influence sublexical processing of auditory target words. The later N400 priming effects, on the other hand, most likely reflect cross-modal influences on activity at the level of whole-word phonology and semantics. PMID:26516296

  11. English Language Immersion and Students' Academic Achievement in English, Chinese and Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, Liying; Li, Miao; Kirby, John R.; Qiang, Haiyan; Wade-Woolley, Lesly

    2010-01-01

    Research has demonstrated that second language immersion is an effective means of facilitating primary school students' second language without undermining competence in their first language. Despite the rapid growth of English immersion (EI) programmes in China, only limited empirical research has been conducted to evaluate students' academic…

  12. Development and preliminary evaluation of a pediatric Spanish-English speech perception task.

    PubMed

    Calandruccio, Lauren; Gomez, Bianca; Buss, Emily; Leibold, Lori J

    2014-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop a task to evaluate children's English and Spanish speech perception abilities in either noise or competing speech maskers. Eight bilingual Spanish-English and 8 age-matched monolingual English children (ages 4.9-16.4 years) were tested. A forced-choice, picture-pointing paradigm was selected for adaptively estimating masked speech reception thresholds. Speech stimuli were spoken by simultaneous bilingual Spanish-English talkers. The target stimuli were 30 disyllabic English and Spanish words, familiar to 5-year-olds and easily illustrated. Competing stimuli included either 2-talker English or 2-talker Spanish speech (corresponding to target language) and spectrally matched noise. For both groups of children, regardless of test language, performance was significantly worse for the 2-talker than for the noise masker condition. No difference in performance was found between bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingual children performed significantly better in English than in Spanish in competing speech. For all listening conditions, performance improved with increasing age. Results indicated that the stimuli and task were appropriate for speech recognition testing in both languages, providing a more conventional measure of speech-in-noise perception as well as a measure of complex listening. Further research is needed to determine performance for Spanish-dominant listeners and to evaluate the feasibility of implementation into routine clinical use.

  13. Development and preliminary evaluation of a pediatric Spanish/English speech perception task

    PubMed Central

    Calandruccio, Lauren; Gomez, Bianca; Buss, Emily; Leibold, Lori J.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose To develop a task to evaluate children’s English and Spanish speech perception abilities in either noise or competing speech maskers. Methods Eight bilingual Spanish/English and eight age matched monolingual English children (ages 4.9 –16.4 years) were tested. A forced-choice, picture-pointing paradigm was selected for adaptively estimating masked speech reception thresholds. Speech stimuli were spoken by simultaneous bilingual Spanish/English talkers. The target stimuli were thirty disyllabic English and Spanish words, familiar to five-year-olds, and easily illustrated. Competing stimuli included either two-talker English or two-talker Spanish speech (corresponding to target language) and spectrally matched noise. Results For both groups of children, regardless of test language, performance was significantly worse for the two-talker than the noise masker. No difference in performance was found between bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingual children performed significantly better in English than in Spanish in competing speech. For all listening conditions, performance improved with increasing age. Conclusions Results indicate that the stimuli and task are appropriate for speech recognition testing in both languages, providing a more conventional measure of speech-in-noise perception as well as a measure of complex listening. Further research is needed to determine performance for Spanish-dominant listeners and to evaluate the feasibility of implementation into routine clinical use. PMID:24686915

  14. Dual language versus English only support for bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and hearing aids

    PubMed Central

    Bunta, Ferenc; Douglas, Michael; Dickson, Hanna; Cantu, Amy; Wickesberg, Jennifer; Gifford, René H.

    2015-01-01

    Background There is a critical need to better understand speech and language development in bilingual children learning two spoken languages who use cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs). The paucity of knowledge in this area poses a significant barrier to providing maximal communicative outcomes to a growing number of children who have a hearing loss and are learning multiple spoken languages. In fact, the number of bilingual individuals receiving CIs and HAs is rapidly increasing, and Hispanic children display a higher prevalence of hearing loss than the general population of the United States (e.g., Mehra, Eavey, & Keamy, 2009). In order to better serve bilingual children with CIs and HAs, appropriate and effective therapy approaches need to be designed and tested, based on research findings. Aims This study investigated the effects of supporting both the home language (Spanish) and the language of the majority culture (English) on language outcomes in bilingual children with hearing loss (HL) who use CIs and HAs as compared to their bilingual peers who receive English only support. Methods and Procedures Retrospective analyses of language measures were completed for two groups of Spanish-and English-speaking bilingual children with HL who use CIs and HAs matched on a range of demographic and socio-economic variables: those with dual language support versus their peers with English only support. Dependent variables included scores from the English version of the Preschool Language Scales, 4th edition. Results Bilingual children who received dual language support outperformed their peers who received English only support at statistically significant levels as measured by Total Language and Expressive Communication as raw and language age scores. No statistically significant group differences were found on Auditory Comprehension scores. Conclusions In addition to providing support in English, encouraging home language use and providing treatment support

  15. Examining English Language Development among English Language Learners with Specific Learning Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Estrada, Karla V.

    2013-01-01

    As the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) continues to grow in schools, so does the concern for their lack of academic progress and the possible inequitable representation of this culturally and linguistically diverse population in special education (Artiles, Rueda, Salazar, & Higareda, 2005; Guiberson, 2009; Mac Swan &…

  16. The Listening and Spoken Language Data Repository: Design and Project Overview

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bradham, Tamala S.; Fonnesbeck, Christopher; Toll, Alice; Hecht, Barbara F.

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of the Listening and Spoken Language Data Repository (LSL-DR) was to address a critical need for a systemwide outcome data-monitoring program for the development of listening and spoken language skills in highly specialized educational programs for children with hearing loss highlighted in Goal 3b of the 2007 Joint Committee…

  17. Evaluating College English as a Second Language (ESL) Instructors of School Support and Preparation for Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahmed, Abdelmonem Saad Abdelhamid

    2013-01-01

    As English language learner (ELL) students are at risk of dropping out of higher education, colleges and universities must make greater efforts to retain them. This study assessed the training quality of English as a second language (ESL) instructors in higher educational institutions in New York City to help ELL students in academics, language…

  18. Infant perceptual development for faces and spoken words: An integrated approach

    PubMed Central

    Watson, Tamara L; Robbins, Rachel A; Best, Catherine T

    2014-01-01

    There are obvious differences between recognizing faces and recognizing spoken words or phonemes that might suggest development of each capability requires different skills. Recognizing faces and perceiving spoken language, however, are in key senses extremely similar endeavors. Both perceptual processes are based on richly variable, yet highly structured input from which the perceiver needs to extract categorically meaningful information. This similarity could be reflected in the perceptual narrowing that occurs within the first year of life in both domains. We take the position that the perceptual and neurocognitive processes by which face and speech recognition develop are based on a set of common principles. One common principle is the importance of systematic variability in the input as a source of information rather than noise. Experience of this variability leads to perceptual tuning to the critical properties that define individual faces or spoken words versus their membership in larger groupings of people and their language communities. We argue that parallels can be drawn directly between the principles responsible for the development of face and spoken language perception. PMID:25132626

  19. Writing academic papers: lost in translation?

    PubMed

    Grant, Maria J

    2011-12-01

    The process of writing for publication is a challenging one. It moves us from the spoken and written word into a realm that requires us to provide supporting evidence to develop an argument in a logical and progressive way. In English language journals, as elsewhere, the quality of the written word is a determining factor in the likelihood of a paper being accepted for publication. By reading past issues of a targeted journal, drawing on the expertise of colleagues and responding positively to feedback, it is possible to significantly enhance your prospects of publication. © 2011 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2011 Health Libraries Group.

  20. Repositioning Ghana Schools as English Language Learner Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Mark

    2016-01-01

    Although English has traditionally been the only language of instruction in Ghana, most young children do not speak English at home. This paper argues that students' academic performance might be improved if their native languages were also used in school. Such an approach offers benefits in areas such as classroom participation, engagement in…

  1. Development and Use of a Corpus Tailored for Legal English Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skier, Jason; Vibulphol, Jutarat

    2016-01-01

    While corpus linguistics has been applied towards many specific academic purposes, reports are few regarding its use to facilitate learning of legal English by non-native English speakers. Specialized corpora are required because legal English often differs significantly from ordinary usage, with words such as bar, motion, and hearing having…

  2. A New Outlook on EAP Literacies: General and Specific English Territories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zohrabi, Mohammad

    2010-01-01

    In designing an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) course it is necessary that we consider several factors: students' objectives, needs, levels and interests, course and institution's goals, and availability of resources. In this paper it is strived to elucidate the differences between EGP (English for General purposes) and ESP (English for…

  3. A Pilot Validation Study of the Early Assessment Program English Examination

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Michael Anthony

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether results on the English Early Assessment Program (EAP) examination predict college-level English success. Previous research indicates a relationship between EAP college-prepared status and academic achievement. The present study is unique, in that student-level community college English grades were…

  4. Bridging English Language Learner Achievement Gaps through Effective Vocabulary Development Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gibson, Charles

    2016-01-01

    Despite a well-documented history of immigration in the United States of America and rise in population of students that speak a language other than English, academic achievement gaps between English Language Learners and their native English language speaking counterparts from Grades Pre-Kindergarten through the college/university level still…

  5. Attempting Arts Integration: Secondary Teachers' Experiences with Spoken Word Poetry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Wendy R.

    2018-01-01

    Spoken word poetry is an art form that involves poetry writing and performance. Past research on spoken word has described the benefits for poets and looked at its use in pre-service teacher education; however, research is needed to understand how to assist in-service teachers in using this art form. During the 2016-2017 school year, 15 teachers…

  6. The Achievement Progress of English Learner Students in Utah. REL 2016-155

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haas, Eric; Huang, Min; Tran, Loan; Yu, Airong

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the cumulative progress of English learner students in Utah in English language proficiency (ELP) and in academic content knowledge in both English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. This study identified students in grades kindergarten, 3, and 6 who were designated as English learner students in 2006/07…

  7. Long-Distance Wh-Movement and Long-Distance Wh-Movement Avoidance in L2 English: Evidence from French and Bulgarian Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slavkov, Nikolay

    2015-01-01

    This article investigates spoken productions of complex questions with long-distance wh-movement in the L2 English of speakers whose first language is (Canadian) French or Bulgarian. Long-distance wh-movement is of interest as it can be argued that it poses difficulty in acquisition due to its syntactic complexity and related high processing load.…

  8. The Most Frequently Used Spoken American English Idioms: A Corpus Analysis and Its Implications

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Dilin

    2003-01-01

    Most teaching and reference materials on English idioms are primarily intuition based. As such, they often include seldom-used idioms and incorrect descriptions of the meaning and use of some idioms, hence limiting their usefulness to ESOL students. This article demonstrates how this problem can be addressed through a corpus-based study of the…

  9. English as a Lingua Franca: Towards Changing Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leichsenring, Andrew; McBride, Paul; Ogane, Ethel; Milliner, Brett

    2015-01-01

    The Center for English as a Lingua Franca (CELF), an initiative of a private university in Tokyo, was founded with serious consideration given to the pedagogical implications of the widespread use of English as a lingua franca (ELF). Such deliberation is not yet prevalent among academics and practitioners who should be most affected by ELF…

  10. Secondary English Learners: Strengthening Their Literacy Skills through Culturally Responsive Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramirez, Pablo C.; Jimenez-Silva, Margarita

    2014-01-01

    In high school English classrooms where English language learners may be at risk of academic failure, Culturally Responsive Teaching can help educators build an inclusive community in which all students can improve their literacy skills.

  11. Teachers' Attitudes toward African American Vernacular English: A Quantitative Correlational Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Daily, Danny L., Jr.

    2017-01-01

    African Americans students, who use African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the academic setting, receive negative misconceptions by English educators. Negative teacher attitudes might cause African American students to lack commitment to learning. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine whether English teachers…

  12. The conversation group: using group psychoanalytic techniques to resolve resistances of recently immigrated Chinese students to learning English in a high school setting.

    PubMed

    Zaretsky, Sheila

    2009-07-01

    Does group psychoanalytic theory and technique have an application in an ordinary high school classroom? In this article, the writer describes a research project in which she attempts to answer this question by applying the techniques with a group of recently immigrated Chinese students who wished to improve their spoken English.

  13. Mapping Students' Spoken Conceptions of Equality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anakin, Megan

    2013-01-01

    This study expands contemporary theorising about students' conceptions of equality. A nationally representative sample of New Zealand students' were asked to provide a spoken numerical response and an explanation as they solved an arithmetic additive missing number problem. Students' responses were conceptualised as acts of communication and…

  14. Student's Perceptions of Online Academic English Tutoring

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, Hsiao-fang

    2015-01-01

    English textbooks are widely used in every discipline in the majority of colleges and universities in Taiwan. To prepare college students for their future careers, it is necessary they be given systematic training and practice in reading these books. However, due to time constraints, most content teachers focus on the delivery of content rather…

  15. How to incorporate academic writing pedagogy in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

    PubMed

    Kostenko, Viktoriia G; Solohor, Iryna M

    2018-01-01

    Introduction: Medical researchers, who are non-native English speakers, are facing now the growing need to publish their research results in international journals switching to an English-only policy, to apply for grants and scholarship, but at the same time this puts many authors whose native language is not English at a disadvantage compared to their English-speaking counterparts. The aim: This paper aims at analysing the existing parameters of academic writing proficiency of medical undergraduate and postgraduate students; elucidating current approaches to develop academic writing competency and to promote academic multi-literacy of junior researchers, and outlining the general recommendations to improve the quality and sophistication of their writing by incorporating the principles and achievements of academic writing pedagogy into the system of medical training. Materials and methods: This study is an empirical applied research of a qualitative type mainly based on data elicited from informants (n=120) of the Ukrainian Medical Stomatological Academy aged from 20 - 35. Results and conclusions: All participants were able to identify personal problem areas, and virtually all they note dissatisfaction with the use of English in their scholarly writing. They stated the obvious difficulties in sentence patterns and keeping tone of scientific narrative format. Writing in genres other than original research articles seems to be quite demanding and is often associated with the lack of self-confidence and language anxiety. Attention to developing academic writing skills should focus on the basic elements of academic writing, characteristics of written genres across the disciplines, providing a framework in which expert and practical knowledge is internally organized.

  16. Masking Release for Igbo and English.

    PubMed

    Ebem, Deborah U; Desloge, Joseph G; Reed, Charlotte M; Braida, Louis D; Uguru, Joy O

    2013-09-01

    In this research, we explored the effect of noise interruption rate on speech intelligibility. Specifically, we used the Hearing In Noise Test (HINT) procedure with the original HINT stimuli (English) and Igbo stimuli to assess speech reception ability in interrupted noise. For a given noise level, the HINT test provides an estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) required for 50%-correct speech intelligibility. The SNR for 50%-correct intelligibility changes depending upon the interruption rate of the noise. This phenomenon (called Masking Release) has been studied extensively in English but not for Igbo - which is an African tonal language spoken predominantly in South Eastern Nigeria. This experiment explored and compared the phenomenon of Masking Release for (i) native English speakers listening to English, (ii) native Igbo speakers listening to English, and (iii) native Igbo speakers listening to Igbo. Since Igbo is a tonal language and English is a non-tonal language, this allowed us to compare Masking Release patterns on native speakers of tonal and non-tonal languages. Our results for native English speakers listening to English HINT show that the SNR and the masking release are orderly and consistent with other English HINT data for English speakers. Our result for Igbo speakers listening to English HINT sentences show that there is greater variability in results across the different Igbo listeners than across the English listeners. This result likely reflects different levels of ability in the English language across the Igbo listeners. The masking release values in dB are less than for English listeners. Our results for Igbo speakers listening to Igbo show that in general, the SNRs for Igbo sentences are lower than for English/English and Igbo/English. This means that the Igbo listeners could understand 50% of the Igbo sentences at SNRs less than those required for English sentences by either native or non-native listeners. This result can be

  17. Incorporating English Language Teaching through Science for K-2 Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shanahan, Therese; Shea, Lauren M.

    2012-01-01

    English learners are faced with the dual challenge of acquiring English while learning academic content through the medium of the new language (Lee et al. in "J Res Sci Teach" 45(6):726-747, 2008; Stoddart et al. in "J Res Sci Teach" 39(8):664-687, 2002) and therefore need specific accommodations to achieve in both English and the content areas.…

  18. Preposition Accuracy on a Sentence Repetition Task in School Age Spanish-English Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taliancich-Klinger, Casey L.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, Elizabeth D.

    2018-01-01

    Preposition knowledge is important for academic success. The goal of this project was to examine how different variables such as English input and output, Spanish preposition score, mother education level, and age of English exposure (AoEE) may have played a role in children's preposition knowledge in English. 148 Spanish-English children between…

  19. Developing Oral Language Skills in Middle School English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy

    2018-01-01

    Oral language development can help English learners develop academic proficiency with the English language. In this investigation, at one middle school, teachers focused on improving oral language skills. Using a formative experiment process, the teachers developed an intervention to accomplish their pedagogical goal and then tracked data to see…

  20. ¿Qué Pasa? Are ELL Students Remaining in English Learning Classes Too Long?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flores, Edward; Painter, Gary; Pachon, Harry

    2009-01-01

    This new study by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) demonstrates that English Language Learners (ELLs) who learn English at school can do better academically than native English speakers, and that the window for mastering the English language is wider than previously thought. Typically ELLs perform at lower levels than their English-fluent…