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Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/100429

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Author "Becker, Anthony, committee member"

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    Examining listening skills of diplomatic French as foreign language learners: an angle for languages for specific purposes
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Zecher, Eryth, author; Grim, Frédérique, advisor; Nekrasova-Beker, Tatiana, advisor; Becker, Anthony, committee member; Brazile, William, committee member; Vogl, Mary, committee member
    Listening comprehension and vocabulary knowledge are closely intertwined. Vocabulary knowledge (size) has been found to be a strong predictor of successful listening comprehension even when listening is done under adverse conditions. Previous research has focused on advanced proficiency, or native level listeners. This study aims to fill a research gap by studying the improvements to listening comprehension in speech-shaped noise of ten intermediate level French as foreign language learners enrolled at French courses at an American university. This study focuses on whether a 4-hour instruction on diplomatic French vocabulary terms, using a background speech-shaped noise presented at a +5dB signal-to-noise ratio would increase the comprehensibility of unfamiliar accented speech, from nine different speakers in intermediate level learners of French as a foreign language. The results show that intermediate level listeners improved their listening comprehension skills, and that vocabulary training was the most important factor. Findings also show that intermediate-level listeners can adapt to unfamiliar accented speech, and that the listeners can be taught advanced-level vocabulary when it is presented as language for specific purposes and under adverse listening conditions.
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    Second/foreign language writing apprehension and writing identities
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Davis, Leslie A., author; Becker, Anthony, advisor; Grim, Frédérique, advisor; Grim, Frédérique, committee member; Nekrasova-Beker, Tatiana, committee member; Becker, Anthony, committee member; Vogl, Mary, committee member
    Formal academic writing tasks can produce high levels of anxiety or apprehension in students regardless of whether that writing is carried out in their native language or in a second or foreign language. The Colorado State University Writing Center sees 50% of its consultations coming from non-native English students (The Writing Center, n.d.), meaning that this population is over-represented compared to the university as a whole. This over-representation is largely self-motivated because students visit the Writing Center on their own. Given this over-representation, it is necessary to understand why this population of students might be more concerned than others with their academic writing. While much research has focused on the types of anxiety that language students may experience, the possible sources of that anxiety have not been widely discussed. Possible causes include fear of negative evaluation and fear of making mistakes, but the role of the academic discourse community and its influence on writing identities have not yet been explored. This thesis examines writing in a foreign or second language and the possible sources of second language writing apprehension, including students' writing identity and the academic discourse community. Through surveys and individual interviews with students, this study looks at the possible influences on student affect which can in turn impede student progress, such as anxiety, self-doubt, or perceived competence. The study determined that while there is not a strong relationship between writing apprehension and a student's willingness to claim a writing identity, there is a difference between how second and foreign language students experience second language writing.