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Teaching English as a Second Language Masters Thesis Collection

Theses/dissertations from 2020 2020.

Teaching in hagwons in South Korea: a novice English teacher’s autoethnography , Brittany Courser

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

“Racism doesn’t exist anymore, so why are we talking about this?”: An action research proposal of culturally responsive teaching for critical literacy in democratic education , Natalie Marie Giles

Stylistic imitation as an English-teaching technique : pre-service teachers’ responses to training and practice , Min Yi Liang

Telling stories and contextualizing lived experiences in the Cuban heritage language and culture: an autoethnography about transculturation , Tatiana Senechal

“This is the oppressor’s language, yet I need it to talk to you”: a critical examination of translanguaging in Russian speakers at the university level , Nora Vralsted

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Multimodal Approaches to Literacy and Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the University Level , Ghader Alahmadi

Educating Saudi Women through Communicative Language Teaching: A Bi-literacy Narrative and An Autoethnography of a Saudi English Teacher , Eiman Alamri

The value of journaling on multimodal materials: a literacy narrative and autoethnography of an experienced Saudi high school English teacher , Ibrahim Alamri

Strategic Contemplation as One Saudi Mother’s Way Of Reflecting on Her Children’s Learning Only English in the United States: An Autoethnography and Multiple Case Study of Multilingual Writers at the College Level , Razan Alansari

“If you wanted me to speak your language then you should have stayed in your country”: a critical ethnography of linguistic identity and resiliency in the life of an Afghan refugee , Logan M. Amstadter

Comparing literate and oral cultures with a view to improving understanding of students from oral traditions: an autoethnographic approach , Carol Lee Anderson

Practical recommendations for composition instructors based on a review of the literature surrounding ESL and identity , Patrick Cornwall

One size does not fit all: exploring online-language-learning challenges and benefits for advanced English Language Learners , Renee Kenney

Understanding the potential effects of trauma on refugees’ language learning processes , Charis E. Ketcham

Let's enjoy teaching life: an autoethnography of a novice ESL teacher's two years of teaching English in a private girls' secondary school in Japan , Danielle Nozaka

Developing an ESP curriculum on tourism and agribusiness for a rural school in Nicaragua: a retrospective diary , Stan Pichinevskiy

A Literacy Narrative of a Female Saudi English Teacher and A Qualitative Case Study: 12 Multilingual Writers Identify Challenges and Benefits of Daily Writing in a College Composition Class , Ghassoon Rezzig

Proposed: Technical Communicators Collaborating with Educators to Develop a Better EFL Curriculum for Ecuadorian Universities , Daniel Jack Williamson

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

BELL HOOKS’ “ENACTMENT OF NON-DOMINATION” IN THE “PRACTICE OF SPEAKING IN A LOVING AND CARING MANNER”: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF A SAUDI “WIDOW’S SON” , Braik Aldoshan

WHEN SPIRITUALITY AND PEDAGOGY COLLIDE: ACKNOWLEDGING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND VALUES IN THE ESL CLASSROOM , Carli T. Cumpston

HERITAGE LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE: A MEXICAN AMERICAN MOTHER’S SUCCESS WITH RAISING BILINGUAL CHILDREN , Maria E. Estrada-Loehne

TEACHING THE BIOGRAPHY OF PEARL S. BUCK: DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE READING STRATEGIES FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS , Nichole S. La Torre

An Autoethnography of a Novice ESL Teacher: Plato’s Cave and English Language Teaching in Japan , Kevin Lemberger

INQUIRY-BASED PHILOSOPHICAL DIALOGUE FOR ESL COLLEGE COMPOSITION AND FOR CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS , Aiko Nagabuchi

A TRIPLE CASE STUDY OF TWO SAUDI AND ONE ITALIAN LANGUAGE LEARNERS' SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF TARGET LANGUAGE (TL) SPEAKING PROFICIENCY , Jena M. Robinson

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

"I am from Epifania and Tomas": an autoethnography and bi-literacy narrative of a Mexican American orchard workers' daughter , Brenda Lorena Aguilar

Technology use in young English language learners: a survey of Saudi parents studying in the United States , Hamza Aljunaidalsayed

Bilingualism of Arab children in the U.S.: a survey of parents and teachers , Omnia Alofii

College-level ELLs in two English composition courses: the transition from ESL to the mainstream , Andrew J. Copley

Increasing multimedia literacy in composition for multilingual writers: a case study of art analysis , Sony Nicole De Paula

Multilingual writers' unintentional plagiarism: action research in college composition , Jacqueline D. Gullon

Games for vocabulary enrichment: teaching multilingual writers at the college level , Jennifer Hawkins

Identifying as author: exploring the pedagogical basis for assisting diverse students to discover their identities through creatively defined literacy narratives , Amber D. Pullen

Saltine box full of dreams: one Mexican immigrant woman's journey to academic success , Adriana C. Sanchez

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Teaching the biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder: fostering a media literacy approach for multilingual writers , Kelly G. Hansen

Implementing a modified intercultural competency curriculum in an integrated English 101 classroom , Kathryn C. Hedberg

"Don't wake me, my desk is far too comfortable": an autoethnography of a novice ESL teacher's first year of teaching in Japan , Delaney Holland

ESL ABE, VESL, and bell hooks' Democratic education: a case study of four experienced ESL instructors , Michael E. Johnson

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Using Media to Teach Grammar in Context and UNESCO Values: A Case Study of Two English Teachers and Students from Saudi Arabia , Sultan Albalawi

A Double Case Study of Latino College Presidents: What Younger Generations Can Learn From Them , Sara Aymerich Leiva

WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN THE L2 WRITING CLASSROOM , Daniel Ducken

Academic Reading and Writing at the College Level: Action Research in a Classroom of a homogeneous Group of Male Students from Saudi Arabia , Margaret Mount

Reflections on Teaching and Host Mothering Chinese Secondary Students: A Novice ESL Teacher’s Diary Study and Autoethnography , Diane Thames

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Peer editing in composition for multilingual writers at the college level , Benjamin J. Bertrand

Educating Ana: a retrospective diary study of pre-literate refugee students , Renee Black

Social pressure to speak English and the effect of English language learning for ESL composition students in higher education , Trevor Duston

Poetry in translation to teach ESL composition at the college level , Peter M. Lacey

Using media to teach a biography of Lincoln and Douglass: a case study of teaching ESL listening & viewing in college composition , Pui Hong Leung

Learning how to learn: teaching preliterate and nonliterate learners of English , Jennifer L. Semb

Non-cognitive factors in second language acquisition and language variety: a single case study of a Saudi male English for academic purposes student in the United States , Nicholas Stephens

Teaching English in the Philippines: a diary study of a novice ESL teacher , Jeffrey Lee Svoboda

ARABIC RHETORIC: MAIN IDEA, DEVELOPMENT, PARALLELISM, AND WORD REPETITION , Melissa Van De Wege

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Video games and interactive technology in the ESL classroom , Melody Anderson

English as a second language learners and spelling performance in university multilingual writers , Nada Yousef Asiri

The communal diary, "... " (Naljeogi), transformative education, and writing through migrations: a Korean novice ESL teacher's diary and autoethnography , S. (Sangho) Lee

The benefits of intercultural interactions: a position paper on the effects of study abroad and intercultural competence on pre-service and active teachers of ESL , Bergen Lorraine McCurdy

The development and analysis of the Global Citizen Award as a component of Asia University America Program at Eastern Washington University , Matthew Ged Miner

The benefits of art analysis in English 101: multilingual and American writers respond to artwork of their choice , Jennifer M. Ochs

A novice ESL teacher's experience of language learning in France: an autoethnographic study of anomie and the "Vulnerable Self" , Christopher Ryan

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Dissertations for English Language Teaching (ELT)

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• ELT Master's Dissertations Award winners

2021 - 2022 winners

The Master's Dissertation Awards promote achievements of students on UK Master's programmes for work with the best potential for impact on ELT. Find out which dissertations won or received special commendations this year.

2021-2022 Awards

All dissertations are available to read in pdf format below.

Winning Dissertations (joint winners)

Garry Hobbs ,   NILE (University of Chichester) An Investigation into the Impact of Using Take-home Tests as an Assessment for Learning Strategy on Young Learners' English Language Learning Motivation in a Private Thai Language School

Iwarin Suprapas , University of Sheffield Vocabulary acquisition: Gaming as an extramural incidental learning activity for L2-English learners

Special Commendations

Charlotte Elizabeth , Birkbeck University Language teacher agency, emotion labour and emotion rewards in ESOL language programs

Alex Wright , University of Birmingham Measuring Vocabulary Knowledge Growth with a State Rating Task Self-Reporting Instrument

Commendations

Yosuke Umetani , University of Bath The Impact of Washback: The New Japanese National University Entrance Exam & Teachers’ Perspectives

Yuan Zhong , University of Bristol The Professional identities of non-native English speaking private English teachers in China

Zhengqing Luo , University of Cambridge Why do I (no longer) love teaching?’ Investigating (de)motivation of EFL teachers in Chinese middle schools

Darina Grozdanova , University of East Anglia Russian parents’ perspectives on L1 use in the EFL young learners’ classroom

Siyu Wen , University of Edinburgh Gender Stereotypes in Chinese Primary English Textbooks: A Study of a Widely Used 6th Grade Textbook

Van Thang Nguyen , University of Huddersfield The Effects of Using Rhetorical Structure Theory in Facilitating Global Coherence in Written Performance of L2 Writers

Yaoyao Ruan , UCL Institute of Education How does having a good ear and memory matter for successful second language phonological learning and teaching? An experimental study

Ren Jiawei , University of Leeds Enhancing the effectiveness of English-medium instruction (EMI) courses: Chinese university students’ perceptions and experiences

Bashayer Al-Saffar , University of Liverpool Integrating language as a core component of professional development programs for English language teachers at public schools in Qatar

Rachael Boon , University of Manchester Exploring the relationship between EFL teachers’ values relating to sustainability and classroom practice

Jessica Garrity , Manchester Metropolitan University An Education Epidemic?:Investigating teachers’ self-efficacy during emergency online teaching in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impacts on instructional practice

Doan Trang Nguyen , Nottingham Trent University The relationship between guessing from context, frequency of exposure, and vocabulary acquisition: An investigation into Vietnamese English learners’ incidental learning from reading a graded reader

Jennifer Payne-Wheeler , University of Oxford L2 listener attitudes towards speaker intelligibility, comprehensibility, and teaching quality

Mairi Canning , University of St Andrews The Value of Co-teaching in Teacher Agency: A Focus on ESL Teachers in South Korea

Cathy Madden , Ulster University ESL/EFL teachers' perceptions of the reading and writing challenges and teaching strategies for dyslexic students learning English

Research and insight

Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

See our publications, research and insight

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MA TESOL dissertations

• * Examining a Male Teacher's Attention in a Mixed-sex EFL Japanese High School Classroom Based on the Sinclair-Coulthard Model : Mohammad Umar Farooq
• * A Review of the Lexical Content and Its Treatment in Ministry-Approved Level-One EFL Textbooks Usend in Japanese Public Lower-Secondary Schools : Michael Bowles
• Order from Chaos: Using Tasks in an EFL Classroom :   Mike Reda
• * Discourse Approach to Turn-taking from the Perspective of Tone Choice Between Speakers :   Fuyuko Kato
• * Focusing on Lexis in English Classrooms in Japan: Analyses of Textbook Exercises and Proposals for Consciousness-raising Activities : Michiko Kasuya
• Bridging the cross-cultural gap with personal construct repertory grids : Gregory Stuart Hadley 
• Fossilization: A chronic condition or is consciousness-raising the cure?   Paul Butler-Tanaka
• Evaluation of the foreign language high school language programme in South Korea : Yvette Murdoch (Appendices)
• Team teaching: Who should really be in charge?  A look at reverse versus traditional team teaching : Alan Macedo
• * Validation of the test of English conversation proficiency : Timothy Paul Moritoshi
• The application of exchange theory to internet relay chat : Jeffrey Mark Hatter
• * The TOEIC test and communicative competence: Do test score gains correlate with increased competence? A preliminary study : Cynthia R. Cunningham
• * A system for analyzing conversation textbooks : Takashi Miura (Abridged version, rewritten as an article for JALT journal)
• Developing an approach to the management of innovation through in-service teacher training : Christoph Suter 
• * Above and below the clause: a microlinguistic investigation into the context of a television interview :  Andrew Atkins
• A study of English intonation in high school textbooks in Japan : Koichi Kumaki
• * The treatment of key vocabulary learning strategies in current ELT coursebooks : James M. Ranalli
• * What is meant by communicativeness in EFL teaching? : Sean Banville
• * A contrastive analysis of argumentative discourse in English and German : Melanie Girdlestone
• * ENGLISH AND KOREAN SPEAKERS’ CATEGORIZATION OF SPATIAL ACTIONS: A TEST OF THE WHORF HYPOTHESIS David Doms
• *The influence of situation on languages of co-operation: how movie language coding influences audience co-operation in Japan: Theron Muller (note - this has now been published online in the Thesis section of the Asian EFL Journal, with a new Foreword.)
• * A comparison of the effects of two approaches towards pronunciation instruction involving two groups of beginning learners of English as a foreign language : Nilton Varela Hitotuzi
• Evaluating the use of L1 in the English language classroom :  Richard Miles
• Using Learner Education to Increase Students' Expectancy of, and Motivation to Learn English H. Douglas Sewell
• * To What Degree are my Courses Relevant to my Students? A Case-study Using the Principles of Exploratory Practice Jane Rose
• * An Evaluation of Vocabulary Teaching in an Intensive Study Programme Phillip Bennett
• Learner Attitudes Toward Learner-Centered Education and English as a Foreign Language in the Korean University Classroom Zoltan Paul Jambor 
• * Electronic Dictionaries, Printed Dictionaries and No Dictionaries: the Effects on Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension Michael H. Flynn
• * How is a 'Good Teacher' defined in a Communicative, Learner-Centered ELT Classroom? Sandee Thompson
• * Implementing Global Village at the Kyoto British Council School   Varela Wynnpaul
• * Opening a Heavy Door: A Sociocultural Case Study of a Learner's L2 in a One-to-one Learning Environment , Michael Iwane-Salovaara
• * Models for EFL theory and methodology derived from an SIR based pilot study on Japanese cognitive development , Robert Murphy
• * Comparing Perception of Oral Fluency to Objective Measures in the EFL Classroom , D Ashley Stockdale
• * Integrating a Vocabulary Learning Strategies Program into a First-year Medical English Course , Philip Shigeo Brown
• * The Involvement Load Hypothesis Applied to High School Learners in Japan: Measuring the Effects of 'Evaluation' , Matthew Walsh
• * Controlling for Polysemy in Word Association Tests: a Study Exploring the Mental Lexicon of Japanese EFL Learners , Dax Thomas
• * Collocation and textual cohesion: A comparative corpus study between a genre of Written Sports Reports and a large reference corpus , Brett Laybutt
• * From the Classroom to the Bar-room: Expressions of Disagreement by Japanese Speakers of English , Andrew J Lawson
• * Changing Association: the Effect of Direct Vocabulary Instruction on the Word associations of Japanese College Students , Christopher Patrick Wharton
• * A Study of Cognitive strategy Use by Successful and Unsuccessful Learners in Switzerland  Deborah Grossmann
• * How far do ELT coursebooks realise key principles of Communicative Language teaching (CLT) and enable effective teaching-learning? Jonathan Crewe
• Is Humor a Useful Tool to Motivate and Help Young Korean Learners to Remember? Terrence O'Donnell Faulkner 
• Lexical Development and Word Association: Can Japanese L2 language development b e observed through the results of word association tests? Timmy LeRoy Edwards
• * Exploring Film as EFL Coursebook Supplements and Motivational Stimulus: a German Second ary School Study Isabella Seeger
• Investigating the F-move in teacher talk: a South Korean study on teachers' beliefs and classro om practices Sarah Lindsay Jones
• Incidental Learnin g of Vocabulary Through Subtitled Authentic Videos   Paul Raine
• An Analys is of the Subjective Needs of Japanese High School Learners Alex Small
• * The Effects of TOEIC Edu cation in South Korean Universities Stephan Thomson
• The Use of Blogs and Teacher Electronic Response to Enhance the Revision Stage of EFL Stude nts' Writing Processes Elsa Fernanda Gonzalez
• * A Sem iotic Analysis of the Iconic Representation of Women in the Middle Eastern Med ia Sarah Ahmed Adham
• * The Utilization and Efficacy of the Use of Recasts in a Children's English Language Classro om Mario Passalacqua
• The Impact of Media in Education: The Influence of Media in English Language Teachers' Identity and its Implications for Language Education in Japa n Staci-Anne Ali
• *  Analysing Korean Popular Music for Global Audiences: A Social Semiotic Approach Jonas Robertson
• *  Using CLT with Large Classes in University-Level EFL Teaching : A Case Study  Marija Stojkovic
• * Experimenting with NeuroELT Maxims in a Japanese Tertiary CLIL Context   Takashi Uemura
• * Native English Speaking Teachers at Hagwons in South Korea: An Investigation into Their Expectations, Motivations, Beliefs and Realities Michael Craig Alpaugh
• Action Research: Supportive Teacher Talk and Interactional Strategies in an Elementary School EFL Teaching Context in Japan Daniel G.C. Hougham
• *  Student Retention in the Context of Language Schools Paulo Pita
• Reality in the Eye of the Beholder: Representation, Relationship and Composition Patterns on the Coversof Korean Language Textbooks   Anthony Kaschor
• *  A Female Rohingya Refugee's Journey of Integration into Australian Society  Dalia Alkhyari

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > English > Theses and Dissertations

English Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Of Mētis and Cuttlefish: Employing Collective Mētis as a Theoretical Framework for Marginalized Communities , Justiss Wilder Burry

What on earth are we doing (?): A Field-Wide Exploration of Design Courses in TPC , Jessica L. Griffith

Organizations Ensuring Resilience: A Case Study of Cortez, Florida , Karla Ariel Maddox

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Using Movie Clips to Understand Vivid-Phrasal Idioms’ Meanings , Rasha Salem S. Alghamdi

An Exercise in Exceptions: Personhood, Divergency, and Ableism in the STAR TREK Franchise , Jessica A. Blackman

Vulnerable Resistance in Victorian Women’s Writing , Stephanie A. Harper

Curricular Assemblages: Understanding Student Writing Knowledge (Re)circulation Across Genres , Adam Phillips

PAD Beyond the Classroom: Integrating PAD in the Scrum Workplace , Jade S. Weiss

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Social Cues in Animated Pedagogical Agents for Second Language Learners: the Application of The Embodiment Principle in Video Design , Sahar M. Alyahya

A Field-Wide Examination of Cross-Listed Courses in Technical Professional Communication , Carolyn M. Gubala

Labor-Based Grading Contracts in the Multilingual FYC Classroom: Unpacking the Variables , Kara Kristina Larson

Land Goddesses, Divine Pigs, and Royal Tricksters: Subversive Mythologies and Imperialist Land Ownership Dispossession in Twentieth Century Irish and American Literature , Elizabeth Ricketts

Oppression, Resistance, and Empowerment: The Power Dynamics of Naming and Un-naming in African American Literature, 1794 to 2019 , Melissa "Maggie" Romigh

Generic Expectations in First Year Writing: Teaching Metadiscoursal Reflection and Revision Strategies for Increased Generic Uptake of Academic Writing , Kaelah Rose Scheff

Reframing the Gothic: Race, Gender, & Disability in Multiethnic Literature , Ashely B. Tisdale

Intersections of Race and Place in Short Fiction by New Orleans Gens de Couleur Libres , Adrienne D. Vivian

Mental Illness Diagnosis and the Construction of Stigma , Katie Lynn Walkup

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Rhetorical Roundhouse Kicks: Tae Kwon Do Pumsae Practice and Non-Western Embodied Topoi , Spencer Todd Bennington

9/11 Then and Now: How the Performance of Memorial Rhetoric by Presidents Changes to Construct Heroes , Kristen M. Grafton

Kinesthetically Speaking: Human and Animal Communication in British Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century , Dana Jolene Laitinen

Exploring Refugee Students’ Second Language (L2) Motivational Selves through Digital Visual Representations , Nhu Le

Glamour in Contemporary American Cinema , Shauna A. Maragh

Instrumentalization Theory: An Analytical Heuristic for a Heightened Social Awareness of Machine Learning Algorithms in Social Media , Andrew R. Miller

Intercessory Power: A Literary Analysis of Ethics and Care in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon , Alice Walker’s Meridian , and Toni Cade Bambara’s Those Bones Are Not My Child , Kelly Mills

The Power of Non-Compliant Logos: A New Materialist Approach to Comic Studies , Stephanie N. Phillips

Female Identity and Sexuality in Contemporary Indonesian Novels , Zita Rarastesa

"The Fiery Furnaces of Hell": Rhetorical Dynamism in Youngstown, OH , Joshua M. Rea

“We developed solidarity”: Family, Race, Identity, and Space-Time in Recent Multiethnic U.S. American Fiction , Kimber L. Wiggs

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Remembrance of a Wound: Ethical Mourning in the Works of Ana Menéndez, Elías Miguel Muñoz, and Junot Díaz , José Aparicio

Taking an “Ecological Turn” in the Evaluation of Rhetorical Interventions , Peter Cannon

New GTA’s and the Pre-Semester Orientation: The Need for Informed Refinement , Jessica L. Griffith

Reading Rape and Answering with Empathy: A New Approach to Sexual Assault Education for College Students , Brianna Jerman

The Karoo , The Veld , and the Co-Op: The Farm as Microcosm and Place for Change in Schreiner, Lessing, and Head , Elana D. Karshmer

"The weak are meat, and the strong do eat"; Representations of the Slaughterhouse in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature , Stephanie Lance

Language of Carnival: How Language and the Carnivalesque Challenge Hegemony , Yulia O. Nekrashevich

Queer Authority in Old and Middle English Literature , Elan J. Pavlinich

Because My Garmin Told Me To: A New Materialist Study of Agency and Wearable Technology , Michael Repici

No One Wants to Read What You Write: A Contextualized Analysis of Service Course Assignments , Tanya P. Zarlengo

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Beauty and the Beasts: Making Places with Literary Animals of Florida , Haili A. Alcorn

The Medievalizing Process: Religious Medievalism in Romantic and Victorian Literature , Timothy M. Curran

Seeing Trauma: The Known and the Hidden in Nineteenth-Century Literature , Alisa M. DeBorde

Analysis of User Interfaces in the Sharing Economy , Taylor B. Johnson

Border-Crossing Travels Across Literary Worlds: My Shamanic Conscientization , Scott Neumeister

The Spectacle of The Bomb: Rhetorical Analysis of Risk of The Nevada Test Site in Technical Communication, Popular Press, and Pop Culture , Tiffany Wilgar

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Traveling Women and Consuming Place in Eighteenth-Century Travel Letters and Journals , Cassie Patricia Childs

“The Nations of the Field and Wood”: The Uncertain Ontology of Animals in Eighteenth-Century British Literature , J. Kevin Jordan

Modern Mythologies: The Epic Imagination in Contemporary Indian Literature , Sucheta Kanjilal

Science in the Sun: How Science is Performed as a Spatial Practice , Natalie Kass

Body as Text: Physiognomy on the Early English Stage , Curtis Le Van

Tensions Between Democracy and Expertise in the Florida Keys , Elizabeth A. Loyer

Institutional Review Boards and Writing Studies Research: A Justice-Oriented Study , Johanna Phelps-Hillen

The Spirit of Friendship: Girlfriends in Contemporary African American Literature , Tangela La'Chelle Serls

Aphra Behn on the Contemporary Stage: Behn's Feminist Legacy and Woman-Directed Revivals of The Rover , Nicole Elizabeth Stodard

(Age)ncy in Composition Studies , Alaina Tackitt

Constructing Health Narratives: Patient Feedback in Online Communities , Katie Lynn Walkup

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Rupturing the World of Elite Athletics: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of the Suspension of the 2011 IAAF Regulations on Hyperandrogenism , Ella Browning

Shaping Climate Citizenship: The Ethics of Inclusion in Climate Change Communication and Policy , Lauren E. Cagle

Drop, Cover, and Hold On: Analyzing FEMA's Risk Communication through Visual Rhetoric , Samantha Jo Cosgrove

Material Expertise: Applying Object-oriented Rhetoric in Marine Policy , Zachary Parke Dixon

The Non-Identical Anglophone Bildungsroman : From the Categorical to the De-Centering Literary Subject in the Black Atlantic , Jarad Heath Fennell

Instattack: Instagram and Visual Ad Hominem Political Arguments , Sophia Evangeline Gourgiotis

Hospitable Climates: Representations of the West Indies in Eighteenth-Century British Literature , Marisa Carmen Iglesias

Chosen Champions: Medieval and Early Modern Heroes as Postcolonial Reactions to Tensions between England and Europe , Jessica Trant Labossiere

Science, Policy, and Decision Making: A Case Study of Deliberative Rhetoric and Policymaking for Coastal Adaptation in Southeast Florida , Karen Patricia Langbehn

A New Materialist Approach to Visual Rhetoric in PhotoShopBattles , Jonathan Paul Ray

Tracing the Material: Spaces and Objects in British and Irish Modernist Novels , Mary Allison Wise

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Representations of Gatsby: Ninety Years of Retrospective , Christine Anne Auger

Robust, Low Power, Discrete Gate Sizing , Anthony Joseph Casagrande

Wrestling with Angels: Postsecular Contemporary American Poetry , Paul T. Corrigan

#networkedglobe: Making the Connection between Social Media and Intercultural Technical Communication , Laura Anne Ewing

Evidence of Things Not Seen: A Semi-Automated Descriptive Phrase and Frame Analysis of Texts about the Herbicide Agent Orange , Sarah Beth Hopton

'She Shall Not Be Moved': Black Women's Spiritual Practice in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Paradise, and Home , Rondrea Danielle Mathis

Relational Agency, Networked Technology, and the Social Media Aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing , Megan M. Mcintyre

Now, We Hear Through a Voice Darkly: New Media and Narratology in Cinematic Art , James Anthony Ricci

Navigating Collective Activity Systems: An Approach Towards Rhetorical Inquiry , Katherine Jesse Royce

Women's Narratives of Confinement: Domestic Chores as Threads of Resistance and Healing , Jacqueline Marie Smith

Domestic Spaces in Transition: Modern Representations of Dwelling in the Texts of Elizabeth Bowen , Shannon Tivnan

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Paradise Always Already Lost: Myth, Memory, and Matter in English Literature , Elizabeth Stuart Angello

Overcoming the 5th-Century BCE Epistemological Tragedy: A Productive Reading of Protagoras of Abdera , Ryan Alan Blank

Acts of Rebellion: The Rhetoric of Rogue Cinema , Adam Breckenridge

Material and Textual Spaces in the Poetry of Montagu, Leapor, Barbauld, and Robinson , Jessica Lauren Cook

Decolonizing Shakespeare: Race, Gender, and Colonialism in Three Adaptations of Three Plays by William Shakespeare , Angela Eward-Mangione

Risk of Compliance: Tracing Safety and Efficacy in Mef-Lariam's Licensure , Julie Marie Gerdes

Beyond Performance: Rhetoric, Collective Memory, and the Motive of Imprinting Identity , Brenda M. Grau

Subversive Beauty - Victorian Bodies of Expression , Lisa Michelle Hoffman-Reyes

Integrating Reading and Writing For Florida's ESOL Program , George Douglas Mcarthur

Responsibility and Responsiveness in the Novels of Ann Radcliffe and Mary Shelley , Katherine Marie McGee

Ghosts, Orphans, and Outlaws: History, Family, and the Law in Toni Morrison's Fiction , Jessica Mckee

The "Defective" Generation: Disability in Modernist Literature , Deborah Susan Mcleod

Science Fiction/Fantasy and the Representation of Ethnic Futurity , Joy Ann Sanchez-Taylor

Hermes, Technical Communicator of the Gods: The Theory, Design, and Creation of a Persuasive Game for Technical Communication , Eric Walsh

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Rhetorical Spirits: Spirituality as Rhetorical Device in New Age Womanist of Color Texts , Ronisha Witlee Browdy

Disciplinarity, Crisis, and Opportunity in Technical Communication , Jason Robert Carabelli

The Terror of Possibility: A Re-evaluation and Reconception of the Sublime Aesthetic , Kurt Fawver

Unbearable Weight, Unbearable Witness: The (Im)possibility of Witnessing Eating Disorders in Cyberspace , Kristen Nicole Gay

the post- 9/11 aesthetic: repositioning the zombie film in the horror genre , Alan Edward Green, Jr.

An(other) Rhetoric: Rhetoric, Ethics, and the Rhetorical Tradition , Kathleen Sandell Hardesty

Mapping Dissertation Genre Ecology , Kate Lisbeth Pantelides

Dead Man's Switch: Disaster Rhetorics in a Posthuman Age , Daniel Patrick Richards

"Of That Transfigured World" : Realism and Fantasy in Victorian Literature , Benjamin Jude Wright

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This is a selection of some of the more recent theses from the department of Linguistics and English Language.

The material in this collection must be cited in line with the usual academic conventions. These theses are protected under full copyright law. You may download it for your own personal use only.

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Information structure of complex sentences: an empirical investigation into at-issueness , 'ane end of an auld song': macro and micro perspectives on written scots in correspondence during the union of the parliaments debates , intervention, participation, perception: case studies of language activism in catalonia, norway & scotland , aspects of cross-variety dinka tonal phonology , attitudes and perceptions of saudi students towards their non-native emi instructors , explanatory mixed methods approach to the effects of integrating apology strategies: evidence from saudi arabic , multilingualism in later life: natural history & effects of language learning , first language attrition in late bilingualism: lexical, syntactic and prosodic changes in english-italian bilinguals , syntactic change during the anglicisation of scots: insights from the parsed corpus of scottish correspondence , causation is non-eventive , developmental trajectory of grammatical gender: evidence from arabic , copular clauses in malay: synchronic, diachronic, and typological perspectives , sentence processing in first language attrition: the interplay of language, experience and cognitive load , choosing to presuppose: strategic uses of presupposition triggers , mechanisms underlying pre-school children’s syntactic, morphophonological and referential processing during language production , development and processing of non-canonical word orders in mandarin-speaking children , role of transparency in the acquisition of inflectional morphology: experimental studies testing exponence type using artificial language learning , disability and sociophonetic variation among deaf or hard-of-hearing speakers of taiwan mandarin , structural priming in the grammatical network: a study of english argument structure constructions , how language adapts to the environment: an evolutionary, experimental approach .

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'English language teaching, textbook, critical discourse analysis'

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Varga, Kate, and Ronja Cato. "A multimodal critical discourse analysis of Swedish teaching materials for English." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Malmö högskola, Institutionen för kultur, språk och medier (KSM), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-41075.

Mustedanagic, Anita. "Gender in English Language and EFL- Textbooks." Thesis, Halmstad University, School of Teacher Education (LUT), 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-5567.

A textbook is a key component in the arsenal of a teacher of English. For this reason, it is of importance that textbooksused in Swedish schools are compliant with the fundamental values of equality, provided in the LPO 94. I will attempt to discover the extent to which English textbooks present males and females in non-stereotyped ways and as equal. I want to provide an overview to show how they deal with gender issues. In addition, I aim at establish whether there are any connection between learning and gender, and whether it hinders the pupil’s language learning.

My analysis will draw on previous research  and theories presented by prominent figures in the field, such as, Butler (1990), Mills (1995), Renner (1997), Ravitch (2004) and Jones, Kitetu & Jane Sunderland (1997)among others. Thereafter, these theories, and my own research will be compared, to and contrasted with the guidelines from the Swedish National Agency of Education.

This dissertation comprises a qualitative critical discourse analysis of two randomly selected textbooks that have been, or are being used, in Swedish secondary schools. For my study, I have chosen Team 8 (1984) and Wings 8 (2000).

In my analyses, a number of different aspects will be taken into consideration, such as the   gender distribution of narrators, main characters and sub characters, as well as the   description of gender/gender roles, and the representation of gender in illustrations. Further, I will study what kind of language is used: the extent to which it is gendered or de-gendered language.  These aspects will be collected quantitatively.

The findings from the analysis show that the language in Wings 8 gives a broad and non-stereotypic view of gender roles, which is in accordance with the fundamental values of LPO 94. However, the illustrations tend to portray males and females in what can be considered as quite stereotypical.

Team 8 , on the other hand, contains gendered language and male dominance; women were placed in the background or left out completely.  Therefore, Team 8 would not be deemed to be compliant with the requirements set by the Swedish National Agency of Education today.

Key words: Education, teaching material, Wings, Team 8, gender, critical discourse analysis.

Cortez, Nolvia Ana. "Am I in the Book? Imagined Communities and Language Ideologies of English in a Global EFL Textbook." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195553.

Strand, Malin. "Discourses on Lgbtq Topics in the English Language Teaching in Upper Secondary Education in Sweden." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Engelska, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-28777.

Mohamed, Hashim Issa. "Academic writing as social practice: a critical discourse analysis of student writing in higher education in Tanzania." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2006. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&amp.

Choi, Young Mi. "An Investigation of the Cultural Values and Beliefs in English Textbooks in Korea." PDXScholar, 2011. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1715.

SIQUEIRA, Michele. "Os discursos que entrecruzam a sala de aula de língua inglesa: um olhar sobre o livro didático." Universidade Federal de Goiás, 2009. http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tde/2447.

Hicks, Diana. "English language teaching teacher's guides : a critical discourse analysis of three texts." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/a13246cc-dda1-4a94-b061-7c3a415ee82e.

Guerrero-Nieto, Carmen Helena. "National Standards for the Teaching of English in Colombia: A Critical Discourse Analysis." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195935.

Kerr, Ronald George. "Changing discourse, the discourse of change : a critical analysis of discourse in the fields of English language teaching, governance and development." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.418437.

Horvat, Amanda, and Katarina Nilsson. "An Analysis of Swedish EFL Textbooks - Reflections on Cultural Content and English as an International Language." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för lärande och samhälle (LS), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-35524.

Wright, Jennifer Lynne. "The role of discourse in the constitution of radiographic knowledge : a critical realist account /." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2008. http://eprints.ru.ac.za/1532/.

Willman, Josefin. "Gender in the English Language Classroom : A comparative study of gender portrayals in textbooks for the course English 6 in the Swedish upper secondary school." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-100834.

Meadows, Bryan Hall. "NATIONALISM AND LANGUAGE LEARNING AT THE US/MEXICO BORDER: AN ETHNOGRAPHICALLY-SENSITIVE CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE REPRODUCTION OF NATION, POWER, AND PRIVILEGE IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194033.

Hansen, Vanessa, and Maximilian Broberg. ""Reality has an author" : An analysis of how Inner and Outer circle speakers are constituted in English language textbooks in Sweden." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik, didaktik och utbildningsstudier, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-167971.

Harris-Ramsby, Fiona Jane. "The Habermas/Foucault debate: Implications for rhetoric and composition." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2007. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3277.

Ostrowska, Sabina Anna. "Implementing learner independence as an institutional goal : teacher and student interpretations of autonomy in learning English." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/22308.

Macedo, Técio Oliveira. "Análise de livro didático de inglês como língua estrangeira sob o olhar da análise crítica do discurso: a representação do mundo anglofônico." Universidade Católica de Pernambuco, 2016. http://www.unicap.br/tede//tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=1268.

Bori, Pau. "Anàlisi crítica de llibres de text de català per a no catalanoparlants adults en temps de neoliberalisme." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/350798.

Kocatepe, Mehtap. "Troubling essentialised constructions of cultures : an analysis of a critical discourse analysis approach to teaching and learning language and culture /." 2005. http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/1117/1/01front.pdf.

Kramer, Benjamin Paul 1968. "Examining hybrid spaces for newcomer English language learners: a critical discourse analysis of email exchanges with business professionals." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/3308.

Forell, Kristy Leigh Hamm 1977. "Basic writing (un)written : a critical discourse analysis and genealogy of developmental English in Texas." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/18323.

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MA Thesis - English Language Students' Preferences Regarding On/Offline Computer Based Vocabulary Exercises

This study aimed at finding out about the preferences of students at Middle East Technical University-Northern Cyprus Campus-School of Foreign Languages English preparatory classes regarding independent computer based vocabulary exercises. In order to find out about learner preferences, six different types of exercises were prepared for three proficiency levels: pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper-intermediate. Learners were provided with two types of questionnaire: immediate feedback questionnaires where learners would evaluate each exercise type after they tried them out and the final questionnaire where learners could rate each exercise type and compare them. Finally, a limited number of learners were interviewed in order to find out about the reasons behind their choices. The number of learners participating in the study was 119. Data obtained via questionnaires was grouped in three parts: Overall findings, female learner preferences, male learner preferences, pre-intermediate group learner preferences, intermediate group learner preferences and upper-intermediate group learner preferences. The findings and statistics of the study were presented via graphics, tables and text. In order to strengthen reliability and trustworthiness correlation charts of the pilot study were also provided where questionnaire items were checked for correlation. The results of the study revealed that learner preferences showed almost no difference between genders. However, there were slight differences between the preferences among learners in different proficiency levels. Although minor differences were observed regarding the exercise types, according to the overall results learners preferred mostly exercises with rich multimedia support. Exercises with no or limited multimedia and with the least interactivity were not preferred by the learners. They also stated that exercises with rich multimedia and interactivity were more useful for learning and practicing vocabulary.

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Teaching English to young learners like Elementary School students is different from teaching English to adult learners. Teacher is demanded to certain media and various learning activities to make the students interesting in learning English. The media like computer aquipted with LCD can present the teaching materials in interesting way. This reason interest the researchers to conduct research on this topic. In this study the reseacher aims to find out whether the use of computer-based English teaching can improve the students ’ vocabulary mastery or not to the fifth class of SD Kaliboto in the academic year 2012/2013. The population of the research was the fifth fifth class of SD Kaliboto in the academic year 2012/2013. The total number of population is 19 students. The researchers took all students as the sample. The instrument used in the research was vocabulary test which consists of 30 items: 15 completion and 15 multiple choice. The data were analyzed through descriptive anal...

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This study aimed to explore the impact of computer-assisted language learning on Iranian EFL students' vocabulary learning. Participants of the study were 76 students – 29 males and 47 females – learning English as a foreign language in Parto, Sadr, Poyesh and Andishe Institutes in Ahvaz who were selected after taking the Nelson English Language Test as a proficiency test. They were randomly divided into two groups. One group was taken as control and the other as experimental group. Both groups participated in the teacher-made test of vocabulary, Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), and Word-Associates Test (WAT) as pre-test. During class sessions the control group was taught the vocabulary, in the conventional way, through the printed textbook while the experimental group taught by the software version of the same book. Three ANCOVAs were run to compare the performance of experimental and control groups after the treatment period. The results of the ANCOVAs revealed that using vocabulary learning software was more effective than using printed book on vocabulary learning, vocabulary breadth, and vocabulary depth of the participants. The results of the present study could help EFL course book designers, foreign language institutes, educational planners, material developers, teachers, and learners to provide a better context for EFL learning.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Quizlet, an online website, on vocabulary development of Turkish EFL learners enrolled in a preparatory program at a private university in Istanbul, Turkey. The participants were 43 students at the pre-intermediate and intermediate level of proficiency. The study lasted for a whole teaching module consisting of 7 weeks. Within this process, for three weeks students studied and practiced the target words without using the online tool Quizlet. For the last four weeks students were weekly assigned with exercises from the online tool covering the units that they had learnt in those certain weeks. Vocabulary quizzes were administered to the participants before and after the application of the treatment and the results were compared. Classroom observations, interviews and student records were also used so as to identify students’ perceptions of the online tool.The findings of the study will be discussed in relation to vocabulary development in foreign language education.

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1. IntroductionMore than three decades ago, Meara (1980) called for more research on the nature of vocabulary acquisition; since then, there has been a considerable amount of literature devoted to the role of vocabulary in second and foreign language learning and how vocabulary itself can and should be taught. (Bell, 2009; Churchill, 2008; Laufer, 1998; Laufer and Paribakht, 1998; Schmitt, 1998; Webb, 2008; Zheng, 2009). On the other hand, the so-called computer era has revolutionized most of the fields of human endeavor including ELT. This revolution in ELT has another noticeable aspect; the computer facilities and what they can offer to ELT is constantly changing. These changes have their repercussions in ELT and there is a need for revising previous findings and moving toward new theories. This study tried to compare two ways of doing vocabulary instruction; the traditional explicit one which has so far been with us (and most probably will continue to be) and an innovative one wh...

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English Language Dissertation Topics

English students are bright and highly creative. This means they tend to come up with brilliant ideas!

So, coming up with a dissertation topic should be easy, right?

Well, not necessarily.

Coming up with a topic can be stressful so you might try to avoid it. Alternatively, you might have hundreds of great ideas, but not know which one to settle on.

If that’s the case, then don’t worry. This article is here to help you move forward with choosing a topic for your dissertation – so let’s get started!

Sociolinguistics Dissertation Topics

Coming up with a topic, applied linguistics dissertation topics.

• Critical Perspectives for Language Students

Sociolinguistics is one of the most interesting aspects of English studies, especially in our modern, globalised world. Put simply, sociolinguistics is concerned with how social/cultural norms shape language. Since we are becoming increasingly globalised, there is a debate as to whether our culture and language systems are converging or diverging. Of course, there is no straightforward answer to this debate, and there is still much to learn about the link between society, culture, and language. Here are a few dissertation topics in sociolinguistics to get you started.

• Mapping the diachronic development of Disney Princesses: How is language used to portray femininity?
• ‘Well jel’!’ A sociolinguistic analysis of The Only Way is Essex.
• Are accents still being used to create alterity? A review of blockbuster films from 2019-2020. ‘
• Mapping second-generation immigrants’ usage of English within the family: When and Why?
• Politeness and official address (e.g., Sir, Madam, Teacher): A comparison between the UK and China.
• How do employees use and lose power in workplace meetings? A sociolinguistic analysis.
• Do males speak more frequently than females? A review of university seminars.
• Hedges in everyday speech: Why are we so uncertain?
• A sociolinguistic analysis of advertising for vegan products.
• A diachronic sociolinguistic analysis of cosmetics reviews 1950 – 2020.
• Polite participles in everyday speech: Is it a class thing?
• Building rapport via video conferencing: How does it differ from real-life?
• Analysing humour between native and non-native English speakers: How is it manifested?
• The language of love: universal or locally specific?
• A sociolinguistic analysis of comic book villains.
• The diachronic evolution of questioning.

Coming up with your own topic is no easy feat. Above all, it’s important to find a topic that interests you!

If you are an overseas student, you might find it interesting to compare language between the UK and your own country, for example.

So, let’s say you’re from China…

Research from Kaplan (1966) shows that native English speakers prefer to use deductive forms of discourse, whereas Chinese EFL speakers prefer inductive forms of discourse.

However, this research is quite out of date, and since many Chinese people have become English language learners since 1966 (and many now live in the UK), you might question whether this difference still persists…

And there you have it! A curious ‘gap’ in the literature that you can fill with your dissertation.

Need help coming up with a great dissertation topic? Our expert writers are on hand to assist.

The field of language and linguistics is sometimes accused of being a bit ‘abstract’. But, in truth, linguistics can be applied to the real world, and these applications hold a great degree of significance, not only for language learning but for wider society. That said, if you’re a practical and solutions-focused person, you might enjoy working on an applied linguistics dissertation. Here are a few titles to inspire you:

• Children’s adoption of intensifying adverbs: How early should it be encouraged?
• Becoming a non-native teacher of English: Key challenges and opportunities.
• Delivering safety training to non-native English speakers – How to test comprehension?
• Pre-school language formation: Should we actively seek to neutralise gender differences?
• Online language learning during COVID-19: Opportunities and challenges.
• Telling my story: Refugees’ journeys through language learning and resettlement.
• Supporting translators in mental health settings – does more need to be done?
• How to teach syntax? A critical review of the approaches.
• Collaborative writing in the ESL classroom.
• The role of ‘active reflection’ in ESL teaching and learning.

Critical Perspectives for Language Students  

As part of your degree, you have probably come across critical theories such as Feminism, Postcolonialism, and Race Theory. If that’s the case, you could choose to draw upon one or more of these critical theories in your dissertation. Here are just a few titles to consider:

• How is language used to portray Disney heroes and heroines? A feminist perspective.
• Are job adverts fair and equal? A critical race theory perspective.
• English as the lingua Franca: Exploring the effects on indigenous populations.
• ‘Welcome back to my channel’ How are women creating identities and communities on YouTube? A feminist perspective.

Hopefully, this post has given you a bit of inspiration, but if you’re still feeling stuck then don’t worry! Try some of our top tips for coming up a great English dissertation topic:

• Look back over your degree – which assignment scored the highest? Which assignment was most interesting to you? This would be a good place to start!
• Have a brainstorming session with the friends on your course.
• Contact our PhD Writers today and we’ll provide you with some unique and interesting topics to choose from.

• Norwegian website

Communication and language pose challenges for integration in Norwegian schools

How do Norwegian teachers and multilingual parents evaluate the digital communication between them? This is what Hilde Thyness has researched, and on 24 May she is defending her doctoral thesis. 

Hilde Thyness is defending her dissertation 24/05/2024.

Home-school interaction is increasingly digitally mediated in Norway, and the schools hold the overarching responsibility for the inclusion of multilingual parents.

How do language and digital communication affect the inclusion or exclusion in the home-school interaction between immigrants with Norwegian as their second language and teachers in Norwegian schools?

This is one of the main questions Hilde Thyness has aimed to answer in her dissertation at the PhD in Teaching and Teacher Education (PROFF) programme.

In the article-based dissertation, 'Inclusion in parent-teacher relationships. A sociolinguistic approach to language and media practices in multilingual contexts', Thyness has researched how multilingual parents and Norwegian teachers communicate digitally, and how they themselves evaluate this communication.

– A main finding is that digital communication provides good opportunities for inclusion by how both parents and teachers negotiate equal relations by using emojis, punctuation and strategic choices related to the communicational channels, Thyness says to inn.no.

Additionally, the teachers express that they put emphasis on taking care of all parents, and that they consider multilingualism as a resource.

However, Thyness has also found several challenges regarding this effort.

– One of the most central challenges is that the schools to a small extent adapt their language use to the language competence of the parents, and that teachers experience a lack of support from the school management and owner in their work with the homes, she explains.

The study demonstrates that a visual representation of the parents’ linguistic and digital practices, a mediagram, can be used with parents and pupils to challenge the teachers’ monolingual ideologies and shortsightedness towards multilingual parents. 

Here you will find more information about Hilde Thyness’ disputation 24 May 2024.

Main findings in the doctoral research:

• Parents and teachers negotiate equal parent-teacher relations by using several semiotic resources aside from language.
• On a general basis, the teachers are aware of their responsibility regarding the inclusion of parents, and it is expressed that they view multilingualism as a resource.
• However: Norwegian is the main language for communication, and the findings point to the fact that teachers and schools have a monolingual ideology.
• The teachers experience a lack of attention towards and support from the school management and owner in their work with multilingual parents.
• Initiatives for creating awareness, e.g. using a visualisation tool such as mediagram, can be effective in challenging the monolingual ideology and the shortsightedness towards multilingual parents which often goes hand in hand with this ideology.

Contact information:

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What All Teachers Should Know About WIDA’s Test for English Learners

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Schools are required to test the progress of their English learners each year to determine whether they still need language instruction services or can exit out of such programs. In close to 40 states, that test is known as the WIDA ACCESS test .

What is the WIDA ACCESS test used for?

Offered both online and in a paper format, ACCESS tests students’ proficiency in four domains: speaking, reading, listening, and writing in English. The questions are modeled along academic content they would see in regular classes. For instance, reading questions might be about a science topic. The test is checking for language use in academic contexts, not content knowledge nor social language.

Teachers who specialize in English-language instruction say their general education peers play a key role in prepping students to succeed on the ACCESS test. And researchers who study English-language acquisition agree.

This collaboration between general and specialized teachers is even more critical now, researchers say, because new analyses of national ACCESS scores show that average scores continue to trend down since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For general education teachers to better support language acquisition for the English learners in their classrooms, it starts with familiarizing themselves with the test itself and what scores can tell them about their students’ language needs.

“There is a gap between what general education teachers likely know about the WIDA test because they are unable to see it administered,” said Missy Testerman, the 2024 National Teacher of the Year and a K-8 English-as-a-second-language teacher in Rogersville, Tenn. “I feel like it’s a lot more rigorous than most people are aware of in terms of what our English-language learners are asked to do.”

The WIDA ACCESS test covers language use in an academic context

The ACCESS test takes up to four hours to complete, though timing can vary, and is typically split across multiple days in one week.

The 36 states (as well as additional territories and federal agencies) that use the test are part of what’s known as the WIDA consortium—which provides common standards as the measure of English language proficiency. The test builds from those standards in terms of levels of difficulty by grade level. It’s also an adaptive test—in particular, the online test increases or decreases levels of difficulty (known as tiers) as the student progresses, said Mark Chapman, senior innovation researcher at WIDA. For the paper test, administrators set the difficulty level for each student.

States then individually set the scores students need to get across the four domains to demonstrate proficiency in English. Their scores determine if they remain in an English-learner program or if they can exit.

ACCESS is not a test students can study for. However, students who consistently use and are exposed to language in an academic context throughout the school day are better prepared for the test.

“It’s really important to disentangle that everyday social language, that we know many students who were born in the United States and grew up in the United States … tend to be highly proficient in,” Chapman said. (Many English learners were born or grew up in the United States.)

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean you can understand the language needed to describe a science experiment, or you have the language to talk through the solution to a math problem. Those are different types of language development, which we’re trying to assess.”

What is taking WIDA ACCESS like for students?

Both online and paper versions of the test incorporate several visuals that help keep students engaged throughout and serve as additional support for younger English learners and newcomer students still very new to the English language, said Fabiana MacMillan, WIDA’s director of test development.

Students select answers from multiple-choice options, write or type out sentences and paragraphs, click and drag images, and even record themselves responding to prompts.

To loop general education colleagues into her work with English learners, Testerman in past years has taken sample questions and practice tests that are freely available on the WIDA website to general classrooms and led activities with the whole class.

“It’s really very interesting because sometimes the general education teachers are shocked at how many of their [non-English-learner] students in the general education classroom have trouble with those tasks, particularly around the writing piece,” Testerman said.

“I feel like in some cases, it’s given my [English-learner] students more respect, because their teachers and their classmates see the types of things that they’re having to do on the WIDA test,” she added.

What can the results on WIDA ACCESS tests tell teachers about students?

At Volusia County public schools in Florida, Betsy Sotomayor, an English-for-speakers-of-other-languages resource teacher for the district, regularly meets with general education teachers to review ACCESS sample questions and students’ scores and what they mean for their general classroom work.

For instance, a student may score low in the speaking portion of ACCESS but high in reading. The teacher can ask: Is that student getting enough time to practice speaking in academic contexts in the classroom?

Teachers then have a better sense of what language practice is needed in general classrooms, Sotomayor said.

“It’s just the fear of the unknown. But then once [teachers] understand how valuable this assessment is, they’re all in, they’re really all in, and they really appreciate it,” she said.

General education teachers can improve academic language use for all students

For all educators to better support English learners’ language development, they first need the right mindset.

Just because an English learner’s vocabulary may not be as expansive as others, or they write in phrases rather than sentences, doesn’t mean they’re not connecting with academic content, said Leslie Grimm, assistant director of educator learning, research, and practice at WIDA. They may just not be able to express their content knowledge in full in English yet.

“If you go into these contexts thinking 100 percent that you recognize, you affirm, and you respect where they are in their learning trajectory, and what they know and what they can do, I think that you’ll set up a more rigorous classroom environment,” Grimm said. “Because the reality is classroom environments have to be rigorous to meet any standards, whether it’s English-language development standards or content standards.”

Whether it’s preparing English learners for state standardized tests or the ACCESS test, Grimm has one big piece of advice for all teachers: maximize the opportunities for students to engage across language modalities. (Speaking, writing, etc.)

English learners need opportunities to practice talking and writing in class. Grimm suggests setting up group activities that involve turn and talk where, given a topic, a student may say something and then another says something different, but they’re building on that previous idea and expanding on it.

Students should also be given clear directions on what they are doing across modalities. For instance, if a student is asked to describe something that they’re noticing in a science experiment and must write that down, what kind of language would they use? They may name what they are studying but then may use a pronoun to describe it later, rather than restate the name.

If at the end of a social studies unit students must engage in classroom debate, there are specific language features used when speaking in a debate that students should practice using throughout the unit.

Testerman said that promoting formal, language use in general classrooms is something that benefits all students, especially since language learning never stops as language itself evolves. For instance, the word zoom used to mean moving at a fast pace but is now more often used to refer to the virtual meeting platform and the verb of using said platform, she said.

But Testerman also recognizes how busy teachers are. It’s why she advocates for district leaders to facilitate time for general classroom teachers to plan with English-as-a-second-language teachers so they can review language objectives and learning standards together and come up with a plan on how to best promote language development across the school day.

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