Browsing by Subject "Foreign language learning"

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Anxiety and beliefs about language learning : a study of Korean university students learning English
(1995) Truitt, Susan Narceille, 1966-; Horwitz, Elaine Kolker, 1950-
This study investigated the foreign language anxiety and beliefs about language learning of university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in Korea. The relationships among the students' anxiety levels and beliefs were also studied. A total of 204 students enrolled in undergraduate English courses in Seoul, Korea, participated in the study. A questionnaire consisting of the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI, Horwitz, 1983a, 1987), the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS, Horwitz, 1983b), and a background questionnaire was translated into Korean and administered to the subjects. This study found that the Korean subjects in this study had different beliefs about language learning from those of American foreign language students (Horwitz, 1988), ESL students in the United States (Horwitz, 1987), EFL students in Taiwan (Yang, 1992), and even another group of EFL students in Korea (Park, 1995). In addition, the beliefs about language learning of the subjects in this study were related to background factors such as major and experience living in an English-speaking country. These findings provide evidence that learners' beliefs about language learning can vary based on their cultural backgrounds and previous experiences (Horwitz, 1987). Secondly, the Korean subjects in this study had higher levels of foreign language anxiety based on their FLCAS scores than the subjects in previous studies (Horwitz et al., 1986; Aida, 1994). These findings suggest that Korean EFL learners do indeed experience foreign language anxiety, and that learners from certain cultures may have higher levels of foreign language anxiety than those from other cultures. Thirdly, two belief factors were found to be significantly correlated with foreign language anxiety: self-efficacy/confidence in speaking (r = -.604) and beliefs about the ease of learning English (r = -.231). These results suggest that beliefs about language learning, particularly low self-efficacy/confidence in speaking and beliefs about the difficulty of language learning, may be a source of foreign language anxiety
The effect of implementing an interactive reading project on reading comprehension in the third-semester Russian language class
(2011-05) Zachoval, Filip; Garza, Thomas J.; Arens, Katherine; Liu, Min; Kolsti, John; Pichova, Hana
In recent years, a number of empirical and conceptual studies about Project-Based Learning (PBL) have presented consistent arguments rationalizing this approach to language learning and teaching. The most common benefits attributed to project work in the second- and foreign-language settings have been located and described in recent research. However, only a few empirical studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of project work on language learning, and even fewer on specific language skills. This dissertation presents the results of a quasi-experimental research study that investigates the effect of incorporating a semester-long reading project into a third-semester Russian classroom and reports the measured effects of this experimental treatment on students’ reading comprehension, their reading habits and beliefs, perceived reading skills, and overall language proficiency. The dissertation provides data on a semester-long project allowing students to research a topic of their interest through a set of readings (which substituted for the textbook texts) with an ultimate goal of reporting their findings in the form of a newsletter article. The project entailed interconnected sets of sequenced tasks during which students are actively engaged in information gathering, processing, and reporting, with the ultimate goal of increased content knowledge and language mastery. The context for this project was primarily text-based (extensive readings served as a base for all activities and assignments), task-driven (creating an end-product in written form), collaborative, technology-enhanced (extensive use of the Internet), and individualized (students researched topics they were interested in). The results of the study demonstrate that students’ reading comprehension increased by using an integrated methodology where reading was taught through maximizing students’ previous knowledge of a subject matter of their interest and following the procedural model for interactive reading. Additionally, the results suggest that the project implementation had a positive effect on some reading habits and beliefs regarding foreign language (FL) learning, while no significant shifts were found in students’ perceived reading skills, or their overall language proficiency.
Identity, belonging, and the transmigrant experiences of adult ESL learners enrolled in an intensive English program
(2011-05) Giroir, Shannon Marie; Schallert, Diane L.; Horwitz, Elaine K.; Palmer, Deborah; Plakans, Lia; Urrieta, Luis
This dissertation reports on the narrated experiences of nine adult ESL learners enrolled in an Intensive English Program (IEP) as they negotiated a sense of belonging to new linguistic communities of practice outside of their home countries. In this qualitative multiple-case study, I analyzed first-person accounts of the language socialization process by which the learners’ participation in new social communities resulted in shifts in their social positionings and changes in their self-concept. In my analysis, I drew upon theoretical frameworks that view learning as a situated social practice in which individuals form new identities as a result of their (non)participation in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). In order to investigate the research problem, I conducted ethnographic forms of data collection over a six-month period. I became a participant observer in an advanced level Listening and Speaking course during one semester and conducted regular formal classroom observations. In addition to observations, I conducted individual in-depth interviews with the learners, and they participated in a photo-narrative assignment in which they documented their experiences through photography. This camera project culminated in a formal, narrative presentation to the class, which was recorded and used for analysis. The five women and four men who became the focal participants of the study were diverse in age, academic and professional ambitions, and cultural and linguistic background. The findings of the study presented in this dissertation represent my interpretive analysis of the participants’ narratives of departing their home countries and negotiating a meaningful sense of self vis-à-vis the host community as well as the various transmigrant communities that were important to them. The findings show that, through the process of L2 learning and transmigration, the participants constructed migrant identities (Block, 2007), and these identities could be both expansive and restrictive. Additionally, the findings show the ways in which these language learners were agentic in accessing L2 communities and forging attachments within them, and how these moves were designed as “answers” to how they were discursively positioned within the worlds that were important to them.
Speaking of culture : the tango of cultural sensitivity and language learning in a study abroad context
(2007-05) Martinsen, Rob Alan; Moore, Zena
Increasingly, government and educational institutions are turning to study abroad programs as one of the primary means of providing students with important cross-cultural and linguistic skills. However, because of constraints on time and financial resources most students participate in short term programs lasting approximately two months. Additionally, research regarding students’ linguistic and cultural growth in study abroad shows that some students gain far more from their participation than others. The purpose of this study was to examine the cultural and linguistic learning that takes place in short-term programs and discover some of the factors that predict students’ growth while abroad. This study examined the relationship between important factors such as students’ level of cultural sensitivity, students’ relationship with their host family, motivation to learn the language, the amount of time students’ spent interacting with native speakers, as well as students’ oral language skills during a seven-week study abroad program. Surveys were used to measure each of the variables except for students’ oral language skills. To measure changes in oral skills, the researcher created an innovative instrument in which native speakers rated clips of student speech in the target language from before and after their time abroad. As found in previous research, students varied greatly in the amount of progress made in oral language skills and cultural sensitivity while abroad. However, students generally demonstrated small, but significant improvements in their oral language skills, despite the brief nature of their program. Further, the instrument created to measure growth in oral language skills showed high reliability. Interestingly, students’ level of cultural sensitivity prior to going abroad predicted changes in oral language skills. These results provide support for students’ participation in short-term study abroad programs since students generally experience noticeable improvements in language skills. They also suggest that students who are more culturally sensitive may have an advantage in language learning during study abroad programs. These results could be helpful for administrators in determining who may benefit most from such programs and may suggest that helping students gain cultural sensitivity could also aid students’ language learning.
Using the Dictogloss in the high school foreign language classroom : noticing and learning new grammar
(2010-05) Hornby Uribe, Amy Jean; Abrams, Zsuzsanna; Blyth, Carl; Horwitz, Elaine; Salaberry, Rafael; Schallert, Diane
The purpose of this classroom-based study was to create a variation of the Dictogloss that is successful in teaching target grammar within a meaningful context in beginning level secondary foreign language classrooms. Specifically, the study aimed to find out if there were differences in the amount of target grammar (demonstrative adjectives and the imperfect tense) noticed, learned and used by students in the three treatment groups: Treatment Group 1 completed a traditional Dictogloss with the last phase being a self-reflection activity, Group 2 was the same as Group 1, except the learners saw a written version of the text during the first reading in addition to hearing the text. Both the written text and a whole class discussion during the last stage of the Dictogloss were added to the lessons completed by Group 3. Differing from traditional DG studies that tend to examine Language Related Episodes, quantitative data was collected via pre, immediate post and delayed post-tests which consisted of multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. Although there were significant within-group differences for all three groups, indicating that the participants in all groups noticed and began learning the target grammar, there were no significant between-groups differences, suggesting that the addition of the written text and class discussion did not increase the amount of target grammar learned by the students. While the test scores showed that the participants’ knowledge of the TG did improve, the fact that many participants never scored above chance level shows that the Dictogloss is not an effective stand-alone activity for teaching TG. Qualitative data was also collected via student surveys and the written metatalk produced during self-reflection activities. The participants were asked what they liked, did not like and what they learned during the Dictogloss lesson. The data was analyzed using Content Analysis which revealed three themes: organization and administration of the Dictogloss based on the theoretical framework of the Dictogloss, issues regarding the texts and the Dictogloss and learning. The collaborating classroom teacher was interviewed two times in order to further analyze the effectiveness of using the variations of the Dictogloss with beginning Spanish FL learners.