Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 13
-
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
-
ItemThe academic achievements of language centre students at a secondary college( 2001)What are the academic achievements of adolescent new-arrival English as a Second Language (ESL) students at secondary schools in Victoria, Australia? Research on Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) students in Australia has tended to neglect new arrival ESL students. To examine the academic achievements of this important subgroup of NESB students, the current study will highlight the academic achievements of a cohort of Victorian Language Centre students at a Secondary College over six years with interruption to schooling in their first language (L1) as the key variable linked to academic achievement in their second language (L2). Victorian Language Centres provide new-arrival ESL students with the English skills they need to start their secondary educations in L2. The current study examined the academic achievement of two groups of Language Centre students, those who completed their Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and those who left the Secondary College prior to completing VCE. Their academic results were summarised into spreadsheets for quantitative analysis. Subsequent to the quantitative analysis interviews were conducted with four ESL students from the Language Centre currently completing their VCE studies to provide further insight into the factors that enabled them to do their VCE. Results indicate that the academic achievements of this cohort of ESL Language Centre students are poor and that interruption to education in Ll had a major impact on the students' ability to achieve academically at the Secondary College. The study suggests that L1 education is the key variable influencing the student's ability to acquire the academic language skills necessary to meet the academic demands of secondary education, particularly the VCE. Other factors such as support for learning and strong motivation were found to help students overcome difficulties encountered in their secondary education. However, students who were unable to overcome these difficulties left the College prior to completing VCE. It was concluded that the majority of Language Centre students faced uncertain economic futures once they left the Secondary College. The results of the study suggest that Language Centre students need more support and assistance to enable them to complete VCE or to access educational alternatives to the VCE. This study also suggests that more research into the effect of L1 education on L2 education be conducted as this was found to be the key variable in the students' ability to acquire the academic language skills necessary to meet the academic demands of VCE.
-
ItemSeeing you seeing me : constructing the learners and their target language speakers in Korean and Australian textbooks( 2006)To be successful in real-life communication with their target language (TL) speakers, language learners need to develop a sound knowledge of modern-day target language society, and an understanding of the beliefs and values most commonly shared by TL speakers. Such knowledge forms the basis of what Clark (1996) calls 'common ground', and is essential for interlocutors to exchange meanings. Removed from natural settings, textbooks are one of the principal resources for foreign language learners to construct a conception of their TL speakers in relation to themselves. This project examines the constructs of the learners' TL speakers provided in, respectively, a Korean language textbook for Australian beginner learners and an English language textbook for Korean beginner learners. By analysing how each presents the other set of people in terms of the attributes the other group assigns to itself in its own books, this study assesses how well each book assists their local learners to begin constructing sound common ground with their TL speakers. Analysis is made of the verbal and visual texts in each whole book with respect to topic and attributes; as well, using Gee's discourse analysis framework, close analysis and comparison is made of the information about the TL speakers and the learners themselves in the first three chapters of each book in relation to the three major beginner learner topics: Self-introduction, family and school. While there are a number of similarities in representation of the TL speakers by both sides, even this small examination shows glaring omissions and contradictions in the construct of the TL speakers proposed for the learners of each language compared to how their actual TL speakers project themselves. Furthermore, these differences would easily lead to confusion over meanings if used in real life. If such mismatches persisted over years of language learning, it can be predicted that learners would fail to create some elements of 'common ground' essential for them to understand what their TL speakers mean in interaction and be understood themselves.
-
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.
-
ItemThe characteristics of exchange structure patterns of an adult low-level ESL classroom using a genre-based approach to the teaching of writing : a study of classroom discourse( 1994)This study is concerned with the characteristics of exchange structure patterns of an adult low-level English as a second language (ESL) classroom using a genre-based approach to the teaching of writing in an Australian context. To provide an appropriate system of analysis, Ventola's (1987; 1988h) system for analysing conversational structure in service encounter texts has been expanded to suit the characteristics of the data in the current study. Applying the expanded version of Ventola's system, the whole data have been segmented into exchanges. Two major categories of exchange structure patterns have been identified: non-anomalous, which comprises simple and complex exchanges, and anomalous, which comprises elliptical, defective, and broken exchanges. Using this exchange categorisation as a basis, the characteristics of the interactional patterns, the shifts of roles of information supplier, and the variability of language use in a genre-based approach classroom have been identified and explicated. Exchange structure patterns dominant in certain sub-stages vary in accordance with the variation of other factors. In conjunction with the shifts of roles of the information supplier, for example, in Sub-stage 1, in which the students were cast to serve the function of information supplier, B-event exchanges were dominant, Only a small number of A-event exchanges occur in this sub-stage. In contrast, in Sub-stage 2 and Rehearsal where the teacher served the function of information supplier, A-event exchanges were dominant.
-
ItemHuman capital : a case study of the AMEP( 1995)This study is an investigation of the Human Capital Approach to education in Australia. It examines whether or not the Commonwealth Government is steering education towards the incorporation of policies that invest greater emphasis and resources into human beings as contributors to economic productivity than it invests in their cultural and aesthetic value. The study incorporates the philosophies of the Human Capitalists and how successive Commonwealth and State Governments apply these philosophies in education policy formulation - particularly the provision of English language to adult migrants through the Adult Migrant Education Program in Victoria. The methodology used is a questionnaire of closed and open-ended questions distributed to AMEP teachers. The researcher duly followed up the questionnaire with interviews of four AMEP teachers in an endeavour to shed more light on the reasons behind the responses given by teachers in the questionnaire. The researcher undertook an analysis of the responses in order to investigate whether or not the Commonwealth Government gives primacy to economic objectives of the migration program over its social, cultural and linguistic objectives. The findings are that the AMEP teachers surveyed believe that the Commonwealth Government does emphasize economic objectives over all other objectives of the migration program. A Human Capital approach to education, reflected in the application of Economic Rationalism, is apparent in Australia's education system according to AMEP teachers surveyed and that such has been the case since the late 1970s. The literary works of Schultz, Smith, Dawkins, Piore, Crittenden, Benovat, Green, Pusey, Kennedy, Marginson and Grubb are included in this study. These works form the literature review of the Human Capital approach. As well, the Reports chaired by Karmel, Williams, Kirby, Fitzgerald and Campbell, and a variety of Commonwealth Reports and Working Party Papers into various aspects of education in Australia are represented in an investigation of the application of the Human Capital approach to education in Australia's main education policies. The findings of this research are that the Human Capital approach to education is influencing the AMEP and that this has wider implications for the national education system in Australia. Almost all AMEP teachers surveyed believe the AMEP no longer follows its own National Plan, in which it spells out its aims and objectives, but pursues the Commonwealth Government's primary objective of pursuing the economic aims and benefits of the migration program.
-
ItemProvision for longer term residents in the Adult Migrant Education Program : an historical overview from 1947 to 1990( 1991)The aim of this study was to consider the reality of access of longer term resident adult migrants into English language learning opportunities in Australia across the period 1947 - 1990. Chapter 1 describes the background and justification of the research brief and refers to the processes and procedures taken in developing an analytical approach to the consideration of policy development and implementation. Chapter 2 outlines the range of available resource material while Chapter 3 provides a summary of the documentation. This summary is used to analyse the demands and the decisions and actions which impacted on access to the program. A set of basic assumptions is then developed and comments sought from a group of experts. A selection of indicative responses are examined in detail and the reliability of the assumptions is considered. In Chapter 4 the results of the findings are developed into a final statement. In doing so the researcher demonstrates the realities of policy development over a considerable period of time and shows that environmental factors play an important role in shaping the future from past and present experience. The study shows that the Adult Migrant Education Program was originally planned as an initial settlement program and at stages in the last forty years this focus has been restated. The concept of "longer term " residents did not exist in the early years of the program and the issue has emerged as an important factor in the discussions on equity of access to education.
-
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.
-
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.
-
ItemPreservice teacher education for the preparation of secondary teachers of english as a second language in Australia( 2003)English as a Second Language (ESL) education in Australia has undergone tremendous changes in the last thirty years or so. Along with the changes in policy, the roles of the ESL teacher have also changed, reflecting the changing socio-cultural, economic and political climate of the time. Several new roles that have emerged can be seen as being particular only to this group of teachers. Student-teachers need to be effectively prepared for the roles that they will take on upon completion of their teacher education programs. This study investigates the effectiveness of one preservice ESL teacher education program, particularly from the perspectives of student-teachers, in preparing them for their future roles as ESL teachers. The study reveals the varied opinions that student-teachers have regarding different aspects of their course di study and the factors which influence their perceptions. It also discusses suggestions of improvement made for such a teacher education program, from the perspectives of student-teachers, their course lecturers and a sample of trained ESL teachers.