1. SUNG YEON KIM (Ph.D.; Spring 1998)
  2. NOBUKO TRENT (Ph.D.; Fall 1997)
  3. JUDITH E. LISKIN-GASPARRO (Ph.D.; Fall 1993)
  4. SALAH-DINE HAMMOUD (Ph.D., Spring 1982 & M.A., Spring 1978)
  5. MICHELE MORAGNE E SILVA (Ph.D.; Fall 1991)
  6. VILSON JOSÉ LEFFA (Ph.D.; Spring 1984)
  7. DIANA "LYNN" DENTON (MA; Spring 1988)
  8. KASSIM A. SHAABAN (Ph.D.; Fall 1977)
  9. BYUNGMIN LEE (Ph.D., Spring 1995; MA, Spring 1991)
10. JOSEPH W. HAUGLIE (MA; Summer 1994)

1. SUNG YEON KIM (Ph.D.; Spring 1998)

• DISSERTATION TITLE

Affective Experiences of Korean College Students in Different Instructional Contexts: Anxiety and Motivation in Reading and Conversation Courses

• ABSTRACT

        In the field of second language acquisition, anxiety and motivation have enjoyed particular popularity perhaps because of their modifiable nature. This study examined learner anxiety and goal orientation, a new way of conceptualizing motivation. Goal orientation, which refers to the learners' reasons for engaging in academic tasks, has been classified into the following four types: mastery, performance a (ego-social), performance b (utilitarian), and work-avoidant goals. These four types of goal tendencies, as well as anxiety, were investigated in relation to two different classroom contexts: a traditional context (reading courses) and a communicative context (conversation courses). Data for this study consists of responses to a series of questionnaires completed by 59 Korean college students learning English in both contexts. The questionnaires elicited the students' perceptions of general anxiety, foreign language classroom anxiety, and achievement motivation.
        A repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used to test for significant differences between the two learning environments in terms of anxiety and goal orientation. A significant difference for anxiety was found between the contexts. Students in the communicative setting experienced higher levels of anxiety than in the traditional setting. On the other hand, there was no significant difference found for goal orientation. Interestingly, these students displayed a high tendency toward the performance b (utilitarian) goal.
        Correlation analyses found that work avoidance correlated positively with anxiety in the traditional classroom context. By contrast, the mastery goal correlated negatively with anxiety in the communicative setting. Multiple regression analyses were also carried out to see whether a particular type of goal orientation predicted foreign language anxiety. The mastery and work-avoidant goals were predictors of anxiety in the traditional classroom environment, and the mastery and performance a (ego-social) goals were predictors of foreign language anxiety in the communicative classroom setting.
        Furthermore, classroom instruction and context were observed, and a total of 18 students from both settings participated in follow-up interviews. Interview data were open-coded to determine what parts of each learning context were related to the levels of anxiety and the types of goal orientation. Teaching implications for reducing anxiety and enhancing motivation were also suggested.

• RESEARCH INTEREST
  • Foreign/second language learner anxiety, motivation, strategy, and attitudes
  • Language learning context such as computer-supported collaborative learning, online learning/distance education, web-based instruction, etc.
  • Learner anxiety, motivation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and strategy use in computer-assisted language learning contexts
  • Computerized testing, portfolio assessment, oral proficiency assessment, etc.

• CURRENT CAREER INVOLVEMENT

I am taking courses as a graduate student in the IT (Instructional Technology) program. Also, I am working as an assistant instructor in the Department of Asian Studies.

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: sung.fle@mail.utexas.edu
Homepage: http://www.tapr.org/~ird/Kim/home.html
Phone: (512) 474-4505
Address: The University of Texas at Austin
             Graduate Student in Instructional Technology
             Sung Yeon Kim, Assistant Instructor
             Dept. of Asian Studies (G9300)
             Austin, TX 78712-1194

to the TOP

2. NOBUKO TRENT (Ph.D.; Fall 1997)

• DISSERTATION TITLE

Linguistic coding of evidentiality in Japanese spoken discourse and Japanese politeness

• ABSTRACT

        Spoken Japanese is generally considered to be indirect in that utterances are often ambiguous and sound less confident or less assertive than other languages such as English. This study viewed language indirectness from the viewpoint of linguistic evidentiality by analyzing how Japanese speakers linguistically express their degree of commitment to the self-perceived truth value of their statements. Linguistic analysis is based on a corpus of 10,000 utterances from a variety of discourse situations. This analysis focuses on the sentence-ending evidential forms that often express the strongest sentence modality. The data showed that the sentence-ending forms used to express a given type of proposition in a given speech situation was highly consistent among most speakers. The model proposed is based on a modified theory of territory of information. Territory of information is a fundamental psychological concept used by Kamio (e.g. 1994) and others (Labov et al., 1977) to analyze linguistic behavior. This theory states that only certain types of information, to which a speaker has socially authorized primary access, can be expressed by direct sentence endings. However, it is also observed that spoken Japanese sentences are not as syntactically indirect as expected. Semi-direct forms, morphological variants of direct ending-forms, were found to demonstrate the speaker's respect towards the hearer's information territory, and thus produce a shared-information milieu between the speaker and the hearer. For Japanese speakers, expressing respect towards the hearer's knowledge seems to be more important than asserting a proposition's truth value. Therefore, the Japanese evidential system as a whole, which has similarities to the concept of evidentiality in languages such as Kogi, differs from the universal concept of evidentiality.
        This study also argues that the situationally appropriate use of evidentials produces both discernmental and strategic politeness. In particular, the appropriate use of evidentials contributes to "intimate politeness" among insiders. Concepts of "evidentiality implicature" and "relativity of information territory" are proposed in light of relevant cultural information.

• TABLE OF CONTENTS

Grammatical Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Theories of linguistic evidentiality
Chapter 3. Discourse modality in Japanese
Chapter 4. Methodology
Chapter 5. Model of Japanese evidentiality
Chapter 6. Japanese linguistic politeness and evidentiality
Chapter 7. Conclusion

• CURRENT CAREER INVOLVEMENT

I've been teaching the Japanese language at Austin Community College since September 1998.

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: ntrent@austin.cc.tx.us
Phone: 512 (219) 6465
Address: 12400 West Cow Path,
             Austin, TX 78727

to the TOP

3. JUDITH E. LISKIN-GASPARRO (Ph.D.; Fall 1993)

• DISSERTATION TITLE

Talking about the past: An analysis of the discourse of Intermediate High and Advanced level speakers of Spanish

• ABSTRACT

        This dissertation was an exploration of the interaction among oral proficiency level, Discourse type, and discourse features of learners of Spanish when talking about the past. In a post-hoc study, portions of 14 oral proficiency interviews at the Intermediate High level and 22 at the Advanced level were classified into three discourse types (stories, reports, and "other talk" in the past) and analyzed to compare the language of the two groups of speakers based on the following: the structure of stories, morphosyntactic accuracy and appropriateness, and selection of communication strategies. A byproduct of the study was an exploration of the construct validity of the phrase "narrate and describe in past time" of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for the Intermediate High and Advanced levels.
        While both Intermediate High and Advanced speakers produced narratives that can be properly called "stories," the texts produced by the Advanced speakers were longer, contained more narrative detail in the main story line, and achieved greater integration of narrative and descriptive material. The Advanced speakers also had a richer repertoire of evaluative devices to highlight key story propositions.
        The examination of preterite and imperfect verb forms in the data revealed that formal accuracy and syntactic appropriateness develop at different rates, and that there is an interaction between proficiency level, discourse type, and formal accuracy and syntactic appropriateness. Syntactic control in particular develops unevenly across the Intermediate High/Advanced proficiency border.
        Communication (lexical repair) strategies were used by both Intermediate High and Advanced speakers. The principal finding was that Intermediate High speakers tend to use L1-based strategies, while Advanced speakers tend to rely on strategies based in L2.
        While the hierarchy of skills of Intermediate High and Advanced speakers asserted by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines is supported by this study, the development of morphosyntactic and organizational features of discourse is far more complex and uneven than the Guidelines acknowledge. Implications of the findings for Spanish language instruction and for further research on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines are discussed.

• CURRENT CAREER INVOLVEMENT

I am currently in my sixth year as an assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Iowa. (I am up for tenure this semester -- fall 98). I am also Director of the General Education Program in Spanish (i.e., elementary and intermediate courses). I teach FL Methods to the new teaching assistants, graduate courses in pedagogy and second language acquisition, and run the Gen. Ed. program (hire TAs, set curriculum and syllabi, choose books, train and supervise TAs, etc.). I do research in the acquisition of temporal expression by classroom learners of Spanish and language learning during immersion experiences.

• COMMENTS

I am very grateful for everything I learned at UT. My dissertation won a national-level award in 1994 (the Emma Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research, award jointly by ACTFL and the Modern Language Journal), and I attribute my good fortune to the fine teaching and direction I received from my dissertation directors.

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: judith-liskin-gasparro@uiowa.edu
Phone: (319) 335-2248 (phone) (319) 335-2270 (fax)
Address: Judith E. Liskin-Gasparro
             Department of Spanish and Portuguese
             University of Iowa
             111 Phillips Hall
             Iowa City, IA 52242

to the TOP

4. SALAH-DINE HAMMOUD (Ph.D., Spring 1982 & M.A., Spring 1978)

• DISSERTATION TITLE & DESCRIPTION

"Arabicization in Morocco: A Case Study in Language Planning and Language Policy Attitudes"

The study is an analysis of Morocco's attempts in formulating and implementing policy of replacing French by Arabic as the medium of instruction in the public schools. Successes and failures expeienced in over twenty years (of independence) are analyzed and a survey of attitudes of teachers and students provides the basis for discussion of the current situation as seen by the recepients of language policy planning efforts and products.

• THESIS TITLE & DESCRIPTION

"Arabic Literacy: An Analysis of Related problems"

The study deals with the most salient problems encountered by non-literate Arabic speakers in trying to acquire literacy skills in Standard Arabic. Included is also a chapter which presents an assessment of an adult Arabic literacy program in which the author taught and helped administer.

• CURRENT POSITION
  • Associate Professor of Arabic, US Air Force Academy, Colorado.
  • Selected Outstanding Academy Educator for Foreign Languages (1996).
  • Member of Colorado Congress on Foreign Language Teaching, Central States Council on Foriegn Language Teaching, ACTFL, the American Association of Teachers of Arabic(AATA), and Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA).

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: HammoudSD.DFF.USAFA@usafa.af.mil

to the TOP

5. MICHELE MORAGNE E SILVA (Ph.D.; Fall 1991)

• DISSERTATION TITLE

Cognitive, Affective, Social, And Cultural Aspects Of Composing In A First And Second Language: A Case Study Of One Adult Writer (Writing Process, Social Aspects)

• ABSTRACT

        This dissertation examined one adult writer composing in Portuguese, his first language (L1), and English, his second language (L2), in response to a variety of academic and non-academic writing tasks over a fourteen-month time period. The complexity of writing in two Languages was examined within a broad research design combining thinking-aloud protocol analysis, post-composing interviews, and observational descriptive research of the nature and quantity of language input from the environment and the nature and quantity of oral and written language output by the writer. The writing tasks included expository essays, personal letters, letters of application, business memos, and poems. All but the expository essays were authentic writing tasks for the writer, providing an opportunity to examine the effect of familiarity of specific writing experiences on the composing process. A familiar writing task was defined in this study as one that had been practiced in a particular language at least every other month for the past two years. The data were analyzed for evidence of cognitive processes in writing as well as cultural and social influences on the writing process.
        Findings indicated that the writer's overall composing processes in his L1 and L2 across tasks were quite similar in problem representation, goal creation, and planning to achieve high-level goals. Some differences existed in planning and achieving low-level goals. There was also evidence of a complex interaction between the L1 and L2 in composing, depending on the language base of content and structure knowledge used in writing. In addition, findings indicated that familiarity of the specific writing task, whether in the L1 or L2, had the largest effect on the composing process. The writer completed familiar tasks with greater ease and fewer interruptions in the composing process than other tasks, regardless of the language of the tasks.

• CURRENT POSITION

I am teaching writing to both American and international students at St. Edward's University.

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: michelem@admin.stedwards.edu
Phone: Office phone: 448-8653 home: 261-8331
Address: 528 Dragon, Austin, TX 78734

to the TOP

6. VILSON JOSÉ LEFFA (Ph.D.; Spring 1984)

• DISSERTATION TITLE

The Role Of Comprehension Monitoring Skills And Syntactic Competence On Reading Comprehension In A Foreign Language

• ABSTRACT

        The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between comprehension monitoring skills and foreign language syntactic competence on the one hand and foreign language reading comprehension on the other hand. These three constructs were assessed using specifically constructed measurement instruments that were refined following a pilot study involving sixty-two graduate and undergraduate students. The three tests were designed as follows: (1) a comprehension monitoring test to assess the subjects' ability to monitor their comprehension in the native language; (2) a language structure test to assess their syntactic competence in English as a foreign language; and (3) a reading comprehension test to assess their reading comprehension of English passages.
        The main experimental hypothesis was that a significant relationship would exist between the first two variables (comprehension monitoring and syntactic competence) and the criterion variable (reading comprehension). For the final study, ninety-nine graduate and undergraduate Brazilian students enrolled in ESP (English for Specific Purposes) courses participated. Their scores in the three tests were submitted to a multiple regression analysis.
        The main finding of the study was that, although both comprehension monitoring skills and syntactic competence correlated positively with reading comprehension, the contribution of syntactic competence was significantly more important. Comprehension monitoring skills were found to correlate both with reading comprehension and syntactic competence, thus canceling the power of the variable to predict reading comprehension. Other findings indicated that sex and the nature of the course (required versus noncredit) also played small but significant roles in predicting reading comprehension.

• RECENT CAREER INVOLVEMENT
  • Associate Professor at Curso de Mestrado em Letras, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, since May 1995.
  • Associate Professor at Departamento de Línguas Modernas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), from 1978 to 1994.
  • President of the Applied Linguistics Association of Brazil (ALAB) since 1996.
  • Researcher for the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Técnológico (CNPq), having coordinated projects in the following areas:
    • Textual linguistics (Grant number 802492/88-6)
    • Computer Assisted Language Learning (Grant number 000409497)
    • Electronic Glossary (Grant number 400232/91-0)
    • Natural Language Processing (Grant number 520105/93).
      
• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

E-mail: leffa@vortex.ufrgs.br
Homepage: http://atlas.ucpel.tche.br/~leffa/
Phone: Tel/Fax: (+55-51) 485-1380
Address: Vilson J. Leffa
             Caixa Postal 166
             94400-970 - Viamão, RS
             Brasil

to the TOP

7. DIANA "LYNN" DENTON (MA; Spring 1988)

• THESIS TITLE

The Official English Movement in the US

• BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THESIS

Researched the groups and individuals who worked in the 1980s to pass legislation to make English the official language in many states and in the US. Analysis of their reasons for doing this.

• CURRENT POSITION

I'm Director of Communications and Special Health Initiatives of the Texas Department of Health.

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: lynn.denton@tdh.state.tx.us
Phone: 512-458-7434, fax 512-458-7379
Address: Lynn Denton, Director
             Communications and Special Health Initiatives
             Texas Department of Health
             Austin, Texas 78756

to the TOP

8. KASSIM A. SHAABAN (Ph.D.; Fall 1977)

• DISSERTATION TITLE

The Phonology of Omani Arabic

• ABSTRACT

A sociolinguistic/phonological analysis of the Arabic dialect of Oman, a country which was undergoing great social, political, and linguistic changes in the 1970s after a 300 year period of total isolation.

• RESEARCH INTERESTS

Teacher training, language acquisition, and language policy.

• CURRENT POSITION

I am presently the Director of the Center for English Language Research and Teaching (CELRT) at the American University of Beirut. During the last three years, I served as the coordinator of the new English language curriculum (K-12) project in Lebanon, and designed and supervised a large scale, country-wide training program for EFL teachers.

• COMMENTS

I hope you keep in touch with those before you to help them maintain their sense of belongingness and to seek their help in finding employment.

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: shaaban@aub.edu.lb
Phone: 961 3 618603
Address: English Department
             American University of Beirut
             Beirut, LEBANON

to the TOP

9. BYUNGMIN LEE (Ph.D., Spring 1995; MA, Spring 1991)

• DISSERTATION TITLE

Differences in the epistemological beliefs of Korean and American graduate students and their influences on an academic writing task written in Korean and English.

• ABSTRACT

        In this dissertation I investigated and compared three graduate students groups' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning: Korean graduate students in the United States (Group K-A), American graduate students (Group A), and Korean graduate students in Korea (Group K-K). Furthermore, I examined the relationship between their epistemological beliefs and their responses to an academic writing task that prompted them to write an essay based on multiple textual sources.
        An epistemological beliefs questionnaire was first used to elicit the epistemological beliefs of 128 participants. For the two Korean groups, the questionnaire was translated into Korean. Subjects' responses were analyzed and compared in terms of five epistemological dimensions: Omniscient Authority; Simple View of Learning; Certainty of Knowledge; Quick Learning; and Innate Ability. Second, a subset of the 128 participants totaling 86 students wrote an essay on time management using as reference a set of prepared text sources. These essays were analyzed in terms of two coding schemes, one emphasizing writing organizational goals and the other dealing with multiplicity and controversy in the text. A holistic qualitative analysis was also undertaken.
        Third, results from analyses of the writing were examined to see relationships to these students' epistemological beliefs based on the five dimensions. First, results of this study revealed that a significant group effect was found on the epistemological beliefs measure. Korean graduate students, whether studying in the United States or in Korea, have different views of knowledge and learning on the five epistemological dimensions than do American graduate students. Second, graduate students' epistemological beliefs were related to various aspects of their composition activities. Having organizational goals for the writing task that emphasize reproducing textual information was associated with how students viewed epistemological authorities. Further, Korean graduate students' epistemological preference for the certainty of knowledge was related to how they approached diverse and controversial information of the source ideas they were reading in preparing to write.

• TITLE OF REPORT

The learning environment in EFL reading and the characterisitcs of the format of reading texts in Korean secondary school.

• CURRENT POSITION

  Assistant Professor at Department of English Language and Literature at Sookmyung Women's University in Korea.
  Director of SMU-TESOL Program
  Director of SMU Cyber TESOL Program

• COMMENTS

Looking forward to more communication and involvement between the alumni and the current FLE students. In fact, we have so many FLE graduates in Korea and they are the major players in English education and applied linguistics in Korea.

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: bmlee@sookmyung.ac.kr
Homepage: http://sookmyung.ac.kr/~bmlee
Phone: 82-2-710-9761 (work), 82-2-710-9779 (fax)
Address: 53-12 Chungpa-dong 2-Ka Yongsan-Ku
             Seoul, 140-742, South Korea

to the TOP

10. JOSEPH W. HAUGLIE (MA; Summer 1994)

• THESIS TITLE

Making the right connections: generating inferences in second and foreign language reading.

• BBRIEF DISCUSSION OF THESIS

Reviews the research on L2/FL reading and various methods of helping L2 learners become more successful readers. Applies Swaffar et al.'s (1991) model to explore the different types of inferences made by successful/unsuccessful L2 readers.

• CURRENT POSITION

Currently employed at Raytheon Systems Co. as an education & training development coordinator. Also currently a Ph.D. candidate in FLE; proposed dissertation topic is a study of adult L2 learners in the workplace. (Estimated graduation date: spring 1999.)

• EMAIL, PHONE & POSTAL ADDRESS

Email: joeh@ti.com
Phone: office 512-250-6242; home 512-292-4193
Pager: 625-5236 (M AXLEARN)

to the TOP

Compiled by E.G. Kim-Rivera.
Comments to EGKimRivera@mail.utexas.edu