Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemRater consistency and judgment in the direct assessment of second language writing ability within the certificates in spoken and written English( 1998)The introduction of competency-based models of language and literacy education in Australia has, to a large degree, coincided with an increased emphasis on direct assessment as the most common means of evaluating second language writing ability within the Adult Migrant English Program. The key problem in directly assessing writing ability is having two or more raters arrive at a similar judgment or rating for the same piece of writing. While there is a long tradition of research on rater consistency and judgment in the holistic assessment of writing ability, similar research on the direct assessment of second language writing ability within the context of competency-based language and literacy education is almost non-existent. This study aims to determine the degree to which the performance criteria designed to assess second language writing ability within the Certificates in Spoken and Written English can ensure acceptable levels of rater consistency, and to describe the decision-making behaviours and strategies used by raters when reading for the purposes of assessment. The think-aloud verbal reports of six experienced ESL raters assessing three texts written by intermediate level adult ESL learners were transcribed and subjected to a rigorous interpretive analysis. In terms of rater consistency, analysis of raters verbal reports indicated that while there was generally a high degree of rater consistency at the overall performance or text level there was considerably tess agreement at the level of individual performance criteria. Analysis of the data revealed that raters adopted distinctive styles or approaches to reading for the purposes of assessment and that raters interpreted and applied the performance criteria statements in a range of different ways. These findings have significant implications not only for the development of competency-based assessment procedures but also for the training of raters. v11
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ItemAssessing the writing of Chinese as a second language learners( 2005)This thesis is concerned with the assessment of Chinese as a second language in the Language Other Than English (LOTE) program in Victoria schools. In particular, its purpose is to investigate how Victorian secondary Chinese teachers carry out a common assessment of Chinese Second Language (CSL) students and Chinese Second Language Advanced (CSLA) students. The study explores how eight VCE Chinese teachers differentiate their assessment between five CSL students and five CSLA students' performance in a writing test. Teachers adopted the official criteria to assess the written samples, including holistic scales and analytical scales. The results indicate that there is little stable agreement within the teachers of how to differentiate between the two levels. Moreover, lacking a training process prior to assessment, teachers' judgements are mainly based on their own expectations and their interpretations of official criteria are heavily influenced by their various experience and backgrounds.
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ItemThe Problems of verbal interaction for victims of warfare trauma in the ESL classroom( 1995)This thesis identifies and investigates the difficulties surrounding the participation in verbal interaction by victims of warfare trauma in the ESL classroom. The literature reviewed falls into three main categories; The Problems of Refugee Resettlement, Motivation and Anxiety in Language Learning and The Importance of Verbal Interaction in Second Language Learning. Case Study research methodology was chosen as the most appropriate framework on which to base this thesis and three ESL students were chosen as subjects. The findings of the research suggest that the problems associated with resettlement and prior experiences may have been contributing factors in the lack of motivation and high levels of anxiety experienced by each of the case study subjects. This in turn, may have affected their participation in verbal interaction in the classroom and ultimately, their acquisition of English.
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ItemApplications of item response theory to identify and correct for suspect rater data( 2006)This thesis describes a plausible values imputation approach for deriving population estimates on several language proficiency domains. The approach harnessed a multi-dimensional item response analysis combining student responses, rater judgements and student background variables. The target student population was lower grade primary school students enrolled in the Hong Kong schooling system. The raters consisted of local teachers of English employed within the sampled target schools. The primary objective of this research was to impute plausible values where no data was provided or where rater data was deemed suspect. By necessity, a secondary objective of this study was to establish rules for justly excluding particular data on the basis of questionable validity. Surveys such as TIMSS, PISA and NAEP have used such "plausible value" methodologies to account for incomplete test designs and person non-response (Beaton & Johnson, 1990; Yamamoto & Kulick, 2000; Adams & Wu, 2002). The point of difference between this study and other similar studies was the use of item response theory (in particular plausible values imputation) to identify and correct for invalid rater judgements in a large-scale educational survey. An additional research outcome included a derived index of rater data quality based upon imputation scores.
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ItemLearning literacy : a case study of the development of English literacy skills in two adult ESL students( 1997)This minor thesis reports on the findings of a study done of two adult international students of English as a Second Language. The study attempts to outline the issue of difficulties experienced by these students while learning to write in English in preparation for tertiary studies in Australia. The main aim of the study was to attempt to illustrate that international students need to be instructed by their teachers in how to write in the genre required for tertiary study. An attempt was made to measure the language level of the two students to determine how thoroughly prepared they were in the genre they were mainly required to write in their tertiary study. For these two students, this genre was business report writing. It was realised that although the two students had received practice in responding to General English writing tasks, they had not been taught how to write business reports. This conclusion was drawn through the study in which qualitative techniques of research and text analysis were used. Firstly, the students were given a series of reading and writing tasks to perform to determine their levels of English at the start of the study. At the end of the study there was a similar set of tasks for the students to perform. Secondly, the students and two of their teachers were interviewed. The students tried to reveal their perception of what their English Language intensive courses had taught them. The teachers who had taught these students attempted, through their responses to the interview questions, to outline the objectives of the courses they had delivered Thirdly, the students' attempt at writing report genres in their tertiary study was commented upon. At the end a short business report was selected as the target text and this was analysed. Systemic functional grammar was drawn upon to analyse the target text. The analysis of this model text was used to compare the analyses of the responses of the students to business report writing tasks. A summary of the findings is presented in this thesis and comparisons made in order to come to a conclusion that there does exist a need for overseas students intending to go on to further tertiary study to be taught explicitly through deconstruction of model texts by the teacher. The genre of the model text has to be directly related to the tertiary course of study that the students are going to follow. The students need to be provided with close guidance by their teachers, and constant practice of the genre is required.
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ItemLearner access to language research( 2008)This is a study of how my class of learners perceived the relationships between English language learners, teachers, and researchers, during a five week Intensive Academic Preparation ELICOS course at an Australian university. As a starting point, it seizes on the fact that learners, unlike teachers and researchers, are rarely, if ever, encouraged to engage with language research as a potentially valuable resource for language learning. Noting the dearth of literature surrounding this topic specifically, this study focuses on the appropriateness of various practitioner inquiry models for a naturalistic exploration of my own classroom. The approach taken is one of Exploratory Practice, which is a set of guiding principles motivated by a strong ethicality towards learners and teachers. Using everyday pedagogical activities as data collection methods, such as group discussions and summaries as well as individual written pieces, this study reveals three important characteristics of my learners: a sense of pride in their personal knowledge of English language learning, an understanding of themselves as individuals within the language learning process, and a deep concern with the practical aspects of learning English. Meanwhile, my learners generally portray the relationships between learners, teachers, and researchers as hierarchical and unidirectional, with researchers and research on top. Overall, the study suggests that there is some value in providing access for my learners to language research, and in the conclusion to the study I make some recommendations for future research centring around ideas of learner identity, teacher/learner understandings of roles, and the place of the individual language learner within language learning.
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ItemInteractions between literacy in Korean and English in Korean immigrant children in Australia( 2008)Previous research has found that literacy skills, knowledge and strategies transfer across languages, and a strong establishment in one language facilitates development of a second language. This research is ultimately concerned with the interactions between literacy in different language contexts - Korean and English. That is, the research explored how bilingual children's literacy in the first language (Korean) affects the acquisition of a second language (English). To accomplish this objective, this study investigated the strategies that Korean bilingual children use for reading and writing in Korean script and whether these strategies have a positive or negative transfer to English. This research also exposed the reading and writing behaviours, and attitude towards the two languages and how they affect the transfer of literacy skills and strategies. The study was based on the qualitative case-study method with some additional quantitative measures, in search for in-depth understanding about bilingual children's language acquisition and development. The subjects for this project consisted of three Korean immigrant children aged eight to ten for the purposes of comparison. This research asked them to display their literacy experiences in both languages and their attitudes. The main precise method for reading was the running-records technique, which tests contextual reading accuracy and strategy use during which children read the appropriately leveled texts. Whether the texts are appropriate is decided by the error rate that is simply estimated by the number of words read incorrectly to the total number of words read. Reading data was analysed though the running records coding scheme and conventions. A running record was suitable for the research in terms of helping assess children's reading ability, and capture various reading behaviours and strategies use, based on the children's errors and self-corrections. To look into the writing process, think-aloud protocols were employed. This is defined as verbalising thought processes while reading or writing. Children's introspective verbal reports were coded and analysed through Arndt's (1990) modified version of the coding scheme developed by Perl (1981). The method helped the researcher discover the writing processes and interactions between the first and second languages. Discussion centred on the transferable strategies and the relationship between Korean and English reading and writing. The result was that the reading and writing behaviours and strategies that the children displayed were consistent across languages. All in all, this research provided a better understanding of Korean English bilingual children's biliteracy development. The research concluded that a positive transfer of strategies occurred from Korean to English, and accordingly Korean literacy had a positive effect on English literacy development.
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ItemCaught in the middle : teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of the Record of oral language when used with ESL students( 2004)In the present educational context, large-scale literacy reform has been hotly debated in the media by various stakeholders while on the other hand the " voice that has been largely absent from these debates has been that of teachers". This study attempts to correct this imbalance by reporting on a study of teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of the ROL as a testing tool for students learning English as a second language. It was designed to offer the researcher, the participants and other stakeholders great insight into the current complexities that teachers face when assessing the oral competence of students learning English as a second language. Teachers were given the opportunity to critically examine their own assumptions, beliefs and practices about oral language learning and assessment and challenge the current use of the ROL in the Children's Literacy Success Strategy (CLaSS) program. A qualitative case study approach was selected to allow the voices of the participants and the researcher to be heard in a familiar setting. Thirty minute semi-structured interviews were conducted separately so that teachers could speak freely thus enabling the researcher to follow individual trains of thought and obtain in-depth responses. The study concluded that the usefulness of the Record of Oral Language as a testing tool for students from language backgrounds other than English was not the central issue. Research findings instead highlighted the difficulties faced by mainstream teachers expected to effectively assess the oral language skills of students for whom English is a second language without effective Professional Development support. The central issue that has emerged in this study is the place of teacher professional knowledge for these teachers of ESL students. Not only are ESL students disadvantaged in the current educational climate but so are the mainstream teachers. Teachers' responses to this study reaffirm the need for Professional Development in ESL pedagogy as a way to effectively support the Oral Language and Literacy Learning of ESL which was valued pre Literacy Advance.
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ItemAssessing critical reading performance in an EAP classroom( 2003)A widespread perception among EAP teachers and course designers in Australia is that Asian university students need some formal training in text analysis and critical thought. To be more precise, Asian students are often portrayed as victims of Asian education, where students are taught to rote learn and memorise, rather than question and analyse as they might be taught in Australia. EAP classes often rest on generalisations about cultural differences, constructing critical reading tasks on the assumption that the problems students encounter in completing critical reading tasks relates to the way they read rather than how they respond to what they read (that is, their familiarity and ability to reproduce arguments in acceptable and culturally expected ways). While EAP researchers have spent considerable energy on improving critical reading methodologies, there has been very little research on the assessment of critical reading in EAP classes. In particular, very little research has offered any explanation of what might constitute evidence of learning to read and respond at a high level. In this thesis, I develop a criterion-referenced critical reading performance rubric, informed by Ballard and Clanchy's (1984; 1988; 1997) research on critical analysis and Toulmin's (1958; 1972; 1984) theories on reasoning and argumentation, to examine the clarity, evidence and logic (CEL) of students' critical reading responses and the influence of text selection on student reasoning skills. Secondly, I explore with students some factors they perceive as affecting their reading performances including text selection. The findings of this research reveal that there are distinct patterns in critical reading performances characterising low, medium and high level students, and that subject matter may be less significant to students' reading performances than they seem to believe. In discussing critical reading performances with students, they identified several factors such as a lack of subject knowledge, a lack of time and a misunderstanding of their purpose in completing the task which significantly affected their performance. Additionally, students perceived their future performances could be improved by choosing texts with subject matter more closely aligned to their academic field. The findings also reveal that most students feel that critically examining topics relating to Australian social issues are not helpful to the overall development of their critical reading skills.
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ItemA case study of Japanese students: e-mail exchange in English: feedback focusing on communicability( 2007)English education in Japan has been struggling to improve the communicative proficiency of students. Previous studies reveal that low motivation, a lack of confidence in using English and few opportunities to use English for communication are the factors that inhibit the communicative proficiency of Japanese students. Although writing has been gaining significance in communication in English in the era of the Internet, writing has been an area disregarded among the communication skills in classrooms in Japan. This study explores ways to improve Japanese students' motivation and confidence through writing by setting e-mail exchanges for Japanese students with Australian native English speakers. A discrepancy exists between the goal of writing and the feedback provided to students' written work in English classrooms in Japan. Great attention is still paid only to the grammatical accuracy while communication is emphasized as the goal of English learning. Excessive attention to grammatical accuracy is one of the factors inhibiting Japanese students in improving their confidence and motivation for learning English. In order to change that situation, this study compares specific feedback focusing on 'communicability', the intelligibility of writing for readers with the traditional error correction technique. The error correction type feedback has been shown to have a negative influence on students' motivation and confidence, and consequently their attitude towards English learning. On the other hand, the feedback focusing on communicability is found effective in improving students' motivation, confidence in English and attitude towards English learning. E-mail exchange has also been found to be effective in enhancing students' motivation. The study recommends incorporating e-mail writing and the feedback focusing on communicability into English classrooms in Japan. These can be positive means of improving students' communicative proficiency and willingness to communicate in English.