11. DAVID J. EDWARDS (MA; May 1985)
12. TSUNG-YUAN HSIAO (Ph.D.; Spring 1995)
13. CHRISTOPHER P. MCCORMICK (Ph.D.; Summer 1998)
14. MARGARET (PEGGY) BEAUVOIS (Ph.D.; Spring 1992)
15. SOO-WOONG AHN (Ph.D.; May 1987)
16. NEIL J. ANDERSON (Ph.D.; Spring 1989)
17. JERI HENSON DIES (Ph.D.; Spring 1994)
18. MARY PIHLAK (Ph.D.; Spring 1993)
19. BARBARA G. PINO (Ph.D)
20. MARK MCTAGUE (Ph.D.; Fall 1990)

11. DAVID J. EDWARDS (MA; May 1985)

Affect Optimization in the Foriegn Language Classroom

Director, Intensive English Program, Pratt Institute

Website: www.pratt.edu
Phone: 718/399-4462, Fax: 718/636-3573
Address: 200 Willoughby Avenue, DEK 3rd FLr.
             Brooklyn, New York 11205

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12. TSUNG-YUAN HSIAO (Ph.D.; Spring 1995)

A Factor Analytic and Regressional Study of Language Learning Strategies Used by University Students of Chinese, French, German, and Spanish

        This survey study explores factors underlying strategy use, as measured by the SILL, of 911 students learning beginning level Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish at The University of Texas at Austin. This study also investigates the possibility of predicting strategy factors from learner-related variables.
        Preliminary analyses based on correlations, means, standard deviations, MANOVA, ANOVA, Tukey's HSD, and factor congruence necessitate separate analyses by language groups. Preliminary analyses also indicate that the five correlation matrices are significantly different from identity matrices. However, the Russian group, with a low overall MSA, was dropped from further analyses.
        Five factors are suggested to represent each of the language groups, based on scree test, Kaiser's rule, Bartlett's chi-square, residual correlations, and interpretability of factors. These orthogonally transformed factors are interpreted as: (1) cognitive (CF1), communication-oriented (CF2), social (CF3), affective-metacognitive (CF4), and memory-metacognitive (CF5) strategies for the Chinese group, (2) general (FF1), metacognitive (FF2), social (FF3), memory (FF4), and compensatory (FF5) strategies for the French group, (3) functional-metacognitive (GF1), formal practice (GF2), planning and repetition (GF3), social (GF4), and memory-affective (GF5) strategies for the German group, and (4) functional (SF1), metacognitive (SF2), organizational (SF3), input-elicitation (SF4), and memory (SF5) strategies for the Spanish group.
        These results question, though partially, the SILL as a measure of language learning strategies in terms of its utility to provide an unambiguous interpretation of strategies based on its six subscales. Findings from regression analysis involving model selection, diagnostic procedures, and cross-validation indicate that ambiguity tolerance is a significant and positive predictor of SF1, but a negative predictor of CF3 and SF3; language anxiety, a negative predictor of CF2 and FF1; majors in social sciences, a positive predictor of SF1; amount of contact with native speakers, a positive predictor of FF1, FF3, GF4, and SF1; course status, a positive predictor of FF3, but a negative predictor of GF3 and SF1; hours per week spent in studying the language, a positive predictor of FF2, FF3, GF3, and SF3; motivation in the classroom, a positive predictor of GF3 and SF3; motivation outside the classroom, a positive predictor of CF2, FF1, and SF1; prior language experience, a positive predictor of CF2; self-perceived proficiency, a positive predictor of FF1 and FF2; and gender, a positive predictor of FF1 and FF2, but a negative predictor of SF3, GF3, and GF4.

I'm currely teaching College-level EFL at National Taiwan Ocean University.

Email: tyhsiao@ntou66.ntou.edu.tw (or tyhsiao@ind.ntou.edu.tw)
Phone: 886-2-28129889 (phone), 886-2-28129891 (fax)
Address: 4F, 1, Lane 197, Sec. 5, Yenping N. Rd.
             Taipei, Taiwan 111, R. O. C.

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13. CHRISTOPHER P. MCCORMICK (Ph.D.; Summer 1998)

A Case Study of Student Protocols in Development of Foreign Language Learning Software

N/A

Academic Director, EF Multimedia. Responsible for the development and operations of EF Englishtown http://www.englishtown.com and the EF Internet English School as well as the development of CD-ROM titles for English learning.

Phone: (617) 619-1000, Fax: (617) 619-1001
Adress:  EF Multimedia
               EF Center Boston
               One Education Street
               Cambridge, MA 02141

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14. MARGARET (PEGGY) BEAUVOIS (Ph.D.; Spring 1992)

Computer-Assisted Classroom Discussion in French Using Networked Computers

        This dissertation study examined the interaction of intermediate French students using a Local Area Network (LAN) for synchronous classroom discussion in French. The LAN was a real-time network in which students at individual terminals typed written messages concurrently to one another and to their teacher. The messages appeared immediately on all the individual computer monitors and students were then able to read and respond at will. This study included four such computer-assisted discussions in which the resulting written conversations were examined for patterns of discourse as well as for the quantity and quality of student messages. The objective of the study was to examine the nature of classroom discussion in a foreign language on a LAN. The research methodology was descriptive, with findings based on analyses of the researcher's field notes, on the activities and discourse in the regular classroom sections of two third semester French classes, on the printed transcript of four computer lab sessions conducted on the LAN, on student journals, attitude questionnaires, and follow-up, audio-taped interviews with student participants.
        The findings of these analyses revealed that this student-initiated and student-driven written conversation in French fulfilled many of the criteria for sound language learning pedagogy. The quantity and quality of discourse was found to be very high. The instances of code switching (speaking English as opposed to negotiating for meaning in the target language) were few. The need for teacher intervention to stimulate conversation was low, and student response to communicating on the network was unanimously positive. In sum: there seems to be much to be gained in terms of second language acquisition through the use of a synchronous, real-time local area network to encourage student written discussion in the target language. The LAN provided a motivating medium for student production of meaningful discourse in French, and as such could be an essential part of a curriculum whose goal it is to promote communicative competence in a foreign language.

I am currently in Monterrey, Mexico working in ESL and technology (Fulbright Grant).

      1. Referred articles   

"Conversations in Slow Motion Revisited." Canadian Modern Language Review, 54::2, Jan. 1998
"High-Tech, High-Touch: From Discussion to Composition in the Networked Classroom" CALL - An International Journal Vol. 10 (1997) pp. 57 - 69
"E-Talk: Empowering Students in the Foreign Language Classroom." The Ram's Horn - Dartmouth College: 40-47. August 1993
"E-Talk: Attitudes and Motivation in Computer-Assisted Classroom Discussion." Computers and the Humanities 28, 3:177-190 (1994)
"Computer-Assisted" Discussion in the Foreign Language Classroom: Conversation in Slow Motion." Foreign Language Annals 25, No. 5: 455-464 (1992)

      2. Textbooks

Schumas -- A Strategic Reader in French, Beauvois, Young, & Wolf, 1996

      3. Chapters in books

"E-Talk: Computer-Assisted Classroom Attitudes and Motivation" in Language Learning On-Line Eds. Swaffer, Romano, Markely, and Arens. Labyrinth Publications, Austin TX, 1998 pp 120-140.
Computer-Mediated Communication: Reducing Anxiety and Building Community in Affect in Second Language Learning: A Practical Guide to Creating a Low-Anxiety Classroom Atmosphere, Dolly J. Young, Ed. (forthcoming ).
"Write to Speak: The Effects of Electronic Communication on the Oral Achievement of Fourth Semester French Students." in New Ways of Learning and Teaching - AAUSC Volume--Issues in Language Program Direction, Judith Muyskens, Ed. pp. 93 - 115 Heinle & Heinle, 1998
"Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC): A Link to Improved Communication and Oral Skills in Second Language Learning" in The ACTFL Volume on Technology , Ed. Michael Bush- National Textbook Company 1997 (pp. 165-184)

      4. Co-authored articles

Beauvois, M. H. and Elledge, J. 1996 "Personality Types and Megabytes: Student Attitudes Toward Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in the Language Classroom." CALICO Journal 13, 2 (27-49)

Email: beauvois@utk.edu
Address: Dept. of Modern Languages
                 UTK
                 601 McClung Tower
                 Knoxville, TN 37996

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15. SOO-WOONG AHN (Ph.D.; May 1987)

Sandhi-Variation and Affective Factors as Input Filters to Comprehension of Spoken English Among Korean Learners

        This study examined the influence of sandhi-variation and affective factors on listening comprehension of spoken English in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) settings. Comprehension of speech involves constructing meaning out of the sound stream by the listener's knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. In foreign language learning, it is common for learners to fail to comprehend speech even with sufficient knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. One explanation offered is that the incoming information is blocked by filters in the processing channel. Several filtering factors have been supposed in processing language: affective factors, sandhi-variation, syntactic complexity, semantic familiarity, and cultural connotations. As it is supposed that affective factors and sandhi-variation are the two initial barriers to comprehension of speech, this study focuses on them. Sandhi-variation is a characteristic phenomenon of fluent speech in which sound segments undergo phonological changes such as contraction, reduction, assimilation, dissimilation, etc. To those who learned English through formal instruction in EFL settings, sandhi has often been thought as a major cause of difficulty in comprehending speech. This study proposed that sandhi is a major obstacle to the comprehension of speech in EFL settings. The study also proposed that in the EFL situation, affective factors will not significantly affect listening comprehension. One hundred forty-three Korean university students learning English in Korea were tested with a sandhi-variation test constructed by the experimenter and an attitude/motivation questionnaire adopted from Gardner and Lambert (1972). Also fifteen native speakers and twelve Korean graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin were tested to check the validity of the sandhi-variation test.
        The main findings were as follows: (1) Sandhi-variation significantly hampered listening comprehension regardless of learners' positive attitudes and strong motivation in EFL settings. The sandhi-condition created significant difficulties in identifying words in fluent speech. (2) Generally, attitudes and motivation as affective factors did not significantly affect listening comprehension in EFL settings, especially in the sandhi-present condition. That is, those groups with high ratings in the attitude/motivation variables did not score significantly higher than groups with low ratings. In brief, these findings show that linguistic factors such as phonological variations of fluent speech are
more of a barrier to comprehension than the learner's psychological factors. Teachers of English ss a foreign language are well advised to present examples of sandhi with authentic listening material in EFL classrooms to improve listening comprehension.

Professor, Department of English, Pukyong National University, South Korea
President of Youngnam English Teachers Association

Email: swahn@pine.pknu.ac.kr
Phone: (Office) 82-51-620-1802    (Home) 82-51-744-1771     Fax: 82-51-621-2821
Address: (Office) Department of English       
                               Pukyong National University            
                               100 Yongdangdong, Namgu            
                               Pusan 608-739                                  
                              South Korea
                (Home) 1388 Woo1dong
                              Daewoo Marina Apt. #109-901
                               Haeundaegu
                               Pusan 612-021

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16. NEIL J. ANDERSON (Ph.D.; Spring 1989)

Reading Comprehension Tests versus Academic Reading: What Are Second Language Readers Doing?

I compare test taking strategies and reading comprehension strategies. No major differences. Learners need to have a wide range of strategies and then learn to successfully orchestrate those strategies.

        This study identifies the strategies that second language readers use while taking a standardized reading comprehension test and while engaging in an academic reading task. Models of the reading process have changed our thinking about how the printed word is understood, yet methods of assessing reading comprehension have not changed.
        Results of a test are often used to characterize readers yet they do not provide any insight into the processes these readers have used to arrive at a given answer. The participants of this study consisted of 28 native speakers of Spanish studying at the Texas Intensive English Program in Austin, Texas. Each participant took three measures of reading comprehension. First, each took a form of the Descriptive Test of Language Skills-Reading Comprehension subtest under standard test conditions. Next, the Textbook Reading Profile, a measure designed to reveal how individuals read selections that more closely approximate college level textbook prose, was administered. Following the administration of this reading task the participants provided a retrospective think-aloud protocol to describe the strategies they had used while reading the textbook material and answering the comprehension questions. Finally, each participant took a second form of the standardized reading comprehension test and provided think-aloud protocols. Thus, both process and product data were collected. The data were categorized into a list of 47 processing strategies. A description of the strategies used by the readers in these two reading contexts is provided. Results indicated that strategy use differed on seven of the 47 strategies on the two reading measures. The data also illustrate differences in strategy use by level of language proficiency. Results of a regression analysis provide a listing of strategies that contribute to success on either reading task. However, the amount of contribution of any one strategy is small, therefore suggesting that it is not the use of any particular strategy that distinguishes readers but the manner in which each reader orchestrates the use of strategies to get meaning from text. This is explored in more detail in the case studies. Discussion of the results include theoretical implications as well as implications for future research in second language reading and testing.

I taught at Ohio Univeristy in Athens, Ohio for 8 years. I accepted a position at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah in September 1997. I have a book coming out later this year with Heinle & Heinle publishers as part of the TeacherSource series edited by Donald Freeman entitled, Exploring Second Language Reading: Issues and Strategies. I am currently working on the second edition of an intermediate reading text, Real Contexts, also with Heinle & Heinle. I am doing research in research, multiple intelligences, learning styles and strategies. I have also been active in TESOL, currently serving on the Board of Directors.

Email: Neil_Anderson@byu.edu
Phone: 801-378-5353     Fax: 801-378-8295
Address: Associate Professor
                 3184 JKHB, P.O. Box 26262
                 Department of Linguistics
                 Brigham Young University
                Provo, Utah 84602-6262

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17. JERI HENSON DIES (Ph.D.; Spring 1994)

An Assessment and Examination of Learner-Regulated Variables in Language Learning

        This study investigated language learners' actions, motivations, orientations, and strategies for language learning. An instrument, the Foreign Language Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (FLLASSI), was developed and used to assess ten variables related to foreign language learning. In addition, this study attempted to determine if relationships existed among the FLLASSI Sub-scales, the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT), and multiple indicators of achievement (Final Exam Grade, Final Course Grade, and Instructor's Rating of Oral Proficiency) for students studying Spanish as a foreign language. Bivariate correlations among FLLASSI Sub-scales, the MLAT, and the indicators of achievement indicated that the variables assessed by the FLLASSI were not highly related to foreign language aptitude as assessed by the MLAT. Several of the FLLASSI Sub-scales had significant moderate correlations with the indicators of achievement. In addition, Alpha coefficients were calculated in order to provide preliminary evidence of the internal consistency of each of the FLLASSI Sub-scales.
        FLLASSI Sub-scale Alpha coefficients indicated relatively good internal consistency (r's ranged from.56 to.89). Test/re-test reliability after three weeks had significant, moderate to strong correlations with the original FLLASSI administration (r's ranged from.60 to.89). Intercorrelations among the individual FLLASSI Sub-scales ranged from.17 to.87. Finally, logistic regression models indicated significant relationships among the FLLASSI Sub-scales of Personal Goals for Language Learning, Self-concept and Self-efficacy Beliefs, and Study Skills, and subjects' Final Exam Grade. The same FLLASSI Sub-scales were significantly related to subjects' Final Course Grade. In addition to the Personal Goals for Language Learning, the Self-concept and Self-efficacy Beliefs, and the Study Skills Sub-scales, the FLLASSI Sub-scales of Motivation and Academic Time Management were significantly related to the Instructor's Rating of Oral Proficiency. Findings suggest that several of the FLLASSI Sub-scales provide useful information about foreign language learning and the variables that contribute to successful foreign language achievement. Further research is needed to replicate these findings with other languages and in different educational settings.      

I am currently an Assistant Professor of Modern Foreign Languages at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia 31061. My duties include TA Supervision, Director of the Language Laboratory, and Head of the Spanish Section.

Learner variables and technology for language learning and teaching

Email: jdies@mail.gcsu.edu
Homepage: http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~jdies/
Phone: 912-445-0964   Fax: 912-445-0873
Address: Modern Foreign Languages
                Campus Box 046
                Georgia College & State University
                Milledgeville, GA 31061

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18. MARY PIHLAK (Ph.D.; Spring 1993)

A Criteria-Based Analysis of Textbooks and Audiotape Programs in Conversational Medical Spanish

        This study examines nationally marketed conversational medical Spanish textbooks, workbooks, and cassette tape programs for health professionals. The corpus of works represents a variety of materials ranging from beginning to advanced levels. Programs for teacher-taught courses, as well as independent learners, are considered.
        The author gives a narrative summary of each title. Each program is analyzed in terms of types of learning activities, grammar and usage, dialectal variations, visual aids, and culture, as well as terminology germane to illnesses, procedures, and vocabulary needed to communicate in clinical settings. A criteria checklist describes characteristics of materials, addressing how titles cover areas relevant to general language learning, as well as basic and complex terminology used in various health care specialists. The author suggests ways for improving course design and selecting clinically-based instructional materials for conversational medical Spanish.

Associate Professor of Nursing, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, Texas

Home: (512) 836-2647
Home Address: 1002 Colony North Drive, Austin, Texas 78758
Email: mpihlak@umhb.edu

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19. BARBARA G. PINO (Ph.D)

Since my dissertation is nearly 30 years old, I won't include anything about it.

Associate professor, Divisions of Foreign Languages and Education, University of Texas at San Antonio, where I coordinate the lower-level Spanish program, train language teachers at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and teach other courses in Spanish and Education. I have been here since 1974.

Divisions of Foreign Languages and Education
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio TX 78249
(Phone) 210-458-5224
(Email) bgpino@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu

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20. MARK MCTAGUE (Ph.D.; Fall 1990)

A Scoiolinguistic Description of Attitudes to and Usages of English by Adult Korean Employees of Major Korean Corporations in Seoul

        While English as a Foreign Language has been a required subject in the Korean public schools since 1945, few Koreans attain fluency. Furthermore, although English is taught for six years in the public schools, and for one to four years in university, it remains an instrumental language, with domains restricted largely to business and international communications. Yet the use of English in Korea is not limited solely to these domains.
        In fact, adult Korean attitudes to and evaluations of loanwords and code switching, loanword use in the media, in advertising, and on consumer products, and adult Korean self-reported usage outside occupational contexts are all complex and contradictory. This may indicate motivations for and functions of English use beyond the purely instrumental. These functions and motivations raise questions about the
spread of English in Korea. This descriptive research is based on multiple questionnaires from a survey population of over seven hundred adult Korean white collar workers of major Korean corporations. By describing the outlines of these attitudes and this usage, this research further defines the profile of English in Korea and, perhaps, adds to the
understanding of English as an international language.

Teaching ESL to international students at English Language Center, Towson University

PHONE: 410-830-2552 (work)
EMAIL: mmctague@saber.towson.edu
POSTAL ADDRESS: 605 Cranbrook Road, Apt. C (good only until 4-30-99)
                                       Cockeysville, MD 21030

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