The growth of the adult immigrant population in the U.S. necessitates adult English language teachers who can meet the academic needs of diverse learners in the multilingual ESL classroom. The purpose of this interpretivist study is to discover what teaching practices adult non-native English language teachers utilize in the teaching and learning…

Universals in natural language have long been a focus of the generative syntactic and typological literature. However, the source of these universals is not clear. Within Chomskyan generative syntactic literature, it is assumed that children are endowed with innate knowledge of language structure (see for example, Lightfoot 1999). However,…

In Saudi Arabian colleges, mixed ability classrooms, comprised of students with different abilities, learning styles, and preferences, is the dominant approach (Ansari, 2013). This study examines teachers' and students' perceptions about the English mixed-ability teaching approach implemented at one university in Saudi Arabia. The goals of this…

This is a longitudinal case study of two groups of students (24 students in total) from the Foreign Languages Department of the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. This research deals with the acquisition of the French adverbial pronouns "en" and "y" through two different teaching approaches, the implicit-inductive teaching…

The field of game-mediated L2 learning has grown exponentially, and much has been discovered about the potentials of game-mediated interactions for L2 development, yet the fine-grained dynamics of player-game interactions and how they come to facilitate and afford L2 development are still largely underexplored. To address this gap in the…

The blended learning model, which combines the traditional face-to-face learning method with an online application such as a learning management system (LMS), became popular and more practical for both teachers and learners in foreign and second language education because of its effective methodology for course delivery and socialization…

Earlier research examining the problems faced by Saudi students studying in different cultures led to the development of strategies that motivated them and helped them to succeed. Some of these strategies are time management, study skills, study groups, and tenacity. The principal aim of this qualitative phenomenological study was to evaluate the…

Dynamic assessment (DA) is based on Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural theory and his Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). ZPD is the range of abilities bordered by the learner's assisted and independent performances. Previous studies showed promising results for DA in tutoring settings. However, they did not use proficiency-based rubrics to measure…

This dissertation will focus on the processing and learning of abstract, phrasal argument structure constructions. Chapter 1 provides the theoretical framework for abstract constructions, and illustrates the importance of such representations in speakers' linguistic knowledge. Chapter 2 reviews the evidence for meaning being associated with…

This study investigated the relationship between adult learner attitudes toward technology and learning style. A sample of community college Spanish students in a Midwestern city in the United States was surveyed to determine (a) an attitude score toward Spanish e-instruction based on the Lukow ATUTS (Attitudes toward Using Technology Survey) and…

Student diversity has become a typical phenomenon in American public schools. The impact of increasing diversity on literacy instruction is unchallenged. Teachers reinforce this message by often citing ESL student diversity as a barrier for literacy teaching. In order to better understand the complexity of diversity issues, I explored two ESL…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the impact of Web multimodality plus dialogical interactions in the acquisition and retention of novel lexical items among EFL students under a social constructionist framework. The lexical acquisition of 107 1st-year English majors at the University of Costa Rica was analyzed through…

This study is designed to gather information concerning a possible relationship between how dental students prefer to take in and communicate new information and how they prefer to be assessed. Though there are numerous references in the literature regarding the learning styles of students there are also references to the inaccuracy of such…

Prompting students to self-explain during problem solving has proven to be an effective instructional strategy across many domains. However, despite being called "domain general", very little work has been done in areas outside of math and science. In this dissertation, I investigate whether the self-explanation effect holds when applied…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore and comprehend the role of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (MI) in foreign language learning by analyzing the perspectives of college students in a German immersion program at a liberal arts college in the Midwest. Data collection included 10 in-depth student…