PREPARING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Research students at the University are expected to present a research proposal within three
semesters after commencement. The proposal is presented at a seminar attended by fellow
students, supervisors and other assessors. Assessors are selected by the Faculty for their
understanding of the field and the research involved.
The purpose of a research proposal is to set out a plan for conducting the research and writing the
thesis within the available time. It should take account of the availability and guidance of the
supervisor.
The starting point for a research proposal is the topic, which is the field of interest in which the
research is to be carried out. In introducing the topic, the proposal should clarify the field that it
falls into, and the specific part of that field which the research will explore. It should clarify why the
topic area is of interest and importance, and how the proposed research will contribute to the area.
The proposal should clarify the research questions, ensuring that these are specific and answerable.
It is important to show how these questions relate to the topic area, and how they will advance the
student's contribution.
The proposal should detail the research to be carried out, and clarify the research methods, the
timeframe and the reasons for selecting particular methods. Where a period of literature review
should precede any empirical research, this should be factored in as part of the research. The
research activity must usually be approved by the Faculty Research Committee (FRC) in advance.
The research proposal consists of an oral presentation and a written document, covering the above
points. At least three copies will be required by the Faculty, one for each of the assessors.
The oral presentation will be approximately 20-30 minutes in duration, followed by questions and
discussion. You are encouraged to use visual aids in the form of overhead transparencies, hand-outs
photocopied onto paper, or 'Powerpoint' presentations. If you intend to use a computer and data
projector you must ensure that you have booked the necessary equipment, and that it will operate
in situ, in plenty of time for the seminar.
OVERVIEW of RESEARCH RESOURCES
The first step, of course, is developing a topic. This is a continuing process, beginning with the
proposal you must provide when enrolling. You may find that you define and redefine your topic
several times.
The topic you choose and the approach you take to it will be strongly influenced by the purpose of
your research. People may choose topics in TEFL department for the sake of pure knowledge, to
make improvements in particular methods, or to find better ways to improve teaching/learning
environment or to develop better materials. TEFL research, like other areas of social sciences, must
come to terms with its aims because it is embedded in our educational system and our social
values.
Before we can begin to research a topic, we must work out what we need to find out. This is the
stage of developing research questions. These questions will arise out of the topic, and will help to
determine the sort of methods you will need to use. Above all, they must be answerable!
Only after clarifying the topic and purposes of your research, and your research questions, can you
begin to consider the research methods you will use. Once you decide what methods to use, you will
need to learn how to use them well. The resources are designed to give you an overview of some of
the methods which may be available, so you can make an informed choice.
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There is a lot of mystique surrounding research methodology, and of course some of the techniques
you will use are quite technically sophisticated. But research methods are not an end in themselves.
We use them to find out information which will contribute to answering our research questions, and
to develop the reasoned arguments which will sustain our thesis (in both senses of the term!).
Obviously these are the barest overview of the research issues facing postgraduate students. There
is a lot more material in the resources, including further readings, particularly on various research
methods.
The resources on Inference, which cover the use of numbers, statistical and other forms of
generalisation and probablility, are also of great importance. This will be discussed at the end of this
paper.
New or established students wishing to explore these issues further should work through the
resources, attend the seminars, and approach the coordinator and fellow students to discuss further
issues on topics of interest.
Developing a Topic
You would not be entitled to do your research unless you already had some idea of the topic you
want to research.
However, the topic you first consider is very likely to be revised as you keep getting more
information on the field of interest. Topics develop as you get further into them. Apart from
anything else, they get narrower!
It is not surprising that if you have read 2 articles about a topic, it will appear broader than when
you have read 20. That is one way in which topics get narrower: you find out more about the
variables. You have to limit the variables to make you research manageable.
This is a universal experience of students who do a graduate or post graduate research project. If
you have had that experience, you will probably recall having to be ruthless in limiting the size and
scope of your topic. You will also need to limit your topic for a Research Masters.
However, since for a Masters or PhD you have rather more time, you do not need to start slashing
and discarding interesting aspects of your topic immediately. You should start out (at least for two
or three months) by being fairly relaxed about how big the topic might get. You have enough time
to whittle it down when you have a better idea of what is involved.
If you are working towards an MA or PhD, in particular, you need to familiarise yourself with the
broader, theoretical aspects of your topic. What area of TEFL does it fit into? What is the research
attraction in that area? Catch up with the latest theories. If you are working in an interdisciplinary
field you will need to expand your theoretical horizon to include a wider range of writings.
Once you go up to the heights of theory and speculation, you may come down with a new
perspective on the nuts and bolts of your topic.
You will need to come down again in time to present a research proposal, so this gives you a limited
time in the beginning to explore the extent of your topic. If necessary, build in more time to read
and consider theory as part of your substantive research.
Before writing a research proposal, you need to be able to write down your topic. Some of the books
suggest you should be able to write it in one sentence. After all, if you can't write it in one sentence,
maybe you don't really know what it is.
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As Stevens and Asmar write, your topic must, above all, be interesting enough to sustain your
commitment for the months it will take. One aspect of that interest is the purpose for which you
want to do it. We consider that in the next resource.
Purposes & Styles of Research
A lot of university research is carried out simply in order to advance knowledge: to challenge or
support a particular scientific theory, for instance. Other research may be practical or applied:
finding out new or better ways of doing things. Research in TEFL may have elements of both these
purposes.
There are many ways of cutting into the diversity of research approaches. 'Style' is one way;
'purpose' another.
Style
'My colleagues in the social sciences talk a great deal about methodology. I prefer to call it style.'
Freeman J. Dyson, physicist (quoted John Brewer and Albert Hunter. Multimethod Research.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1989.)
Research styles, even in the sciences, may be classified as generalising or specifying. Some
researchers look for underlying laws of nature or, as physicists say these days, 'a general theory of
everything'. Other researchers study detail.
Aristotle identified five ways of thinking to arrive at truth. The 'Athenian' style of scientific
knowledge is 'episteme'; then there is technical skill (techne), practical wisdom or prudence
(phronesis), intelligence or intuition (nous), and wisdom, combining science and intelligence
(sophia).
Relating these categories to the divisions of university research that I began with, it is not hard to
see that pure sciences correspond with episteme, and technical fields like engineering fit, by
definition, techne. What about TEFL? I link it to phronesis, or practical wisdom.
- Aristotle. Ethics. Translated by J. A. K. Thomson ('practical wisdom' substituted as a translation of
'phronesis' here - RM). Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976. pp213-214
Research Questions
Research involves a process of finding out. You would not set out on a research project if you
already knew all the answers.
So the very beginning of the research enterprise is jotting down all the things you need to find out.
These should arise out of your topic and the reasons you want to do it. You may need to read quite
a lot before you even know what you don't know. And you may find that many of your questions
may be answered by further reading. Don't worry about that at this stage. You need to think what
you want to know before you can work out how to find out.
The critical point to remember at this stage is that your questions must be-in principle-answerable.
This means they must
(1) be specific and
(2) refer to something you can look at or find out about.
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In The Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy, comedian Douglas Adams tells of a computer which took
7.5 millions years to calculate that the answer to 'the ultimate question of life, the universe and
everything' was 42. When its operators objected that the answer made no sense, the computer
pointed out that 'once you know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means'.
Reading
Adams, Douglas. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. London: Pan Books, 1979. chapters 27-28
Questions or hypothesis?
People often ask whether research must test a hypothesis. This all depends on the style of research
you are engaged in. A hypothesis is simply a way of generating research questions within the
argument structure of a particular type of inquiry. Other types of inquiry generate their questions
out of other sorts of arguments. We consider two different types of argument/question structures
below.
Why do people test hypotheses? This is usually related to the 'hypothetico-deductive method',
typical of some of the 'pure' sciences. The idea behind this method is that we are trying to improve
a theory of the general laws of nature. From the theory we may deduce that 'x' will happen under
certain circumstances, so that becomes a hypothesis. If 'x' does happen as expected, then we have
disproved the 'null hypothesis' and the theory is strengthened.
However, in TEFL and related research we are less likely to be interested in testing a grand theory.
As discussed in regard to the Purposes of Research, we are more often interested in some
improvement of teaching/learning arrangements, or exploring ways of advancing present methods,
or developing new methods and techniques/strategies.
In this type of research you still need research questions, but you develop them within a different
argument framework. Two of the most difficult sorts of questions are hypotheticals and questions of
quality. We need to discuss these because of their difficulty. They also serve very well to illustrate
two of the ways in which questions typical of TEFL research may fit into the structure of an
argument. Of these, hypotheticals are the most difficult, so I deal with them first.
A hypothetical question asks what ... if...? For instance: If we increase penalties for undone
home assignments, would that increase class participation? Now, unless we actually do it as an
experiment, this question is technically unanswerable.
Questions of quality ask 'how good?' or 'which is better?' These are not so difficult as long as we
know how we are defining 'good' or 'better'. Such questions are typical of evaluation research,
where we need to find out whether a particular program is achieving its aims (or perhaps some
others). Questions of quality are absolutely central to many TEFL fields, and must be very clear
about the criteria they use to determine what is 'better' or 'worse'.
Here again, we are framing our questions within a set of arguments about what is a good method/
technique/program/strategy, or a better one. By clarifying what constitutes 'good' or better' within a
reasoned argument, we can then develop questions which research can answer. For instance, if we
were evaluating EFL achievement in a classroom setting, we may have a number of criteria,
including the listening comprehension. In this case, we could quantify listening comprehension, but
would still need to do more work to find out how the 'comprehension' could be measured. Once we
have worked out a valid measure for these variables, then research questions could be framed in
those terms. Validity and reliability are two very important issues to deal with in this regard.
(Note: 'validity' means measuring what we set out to measure; 'reliability' means that if we
measure the same thing several times, we should get consistent results.)
There is a useful literature on evaluation research, and since it is particularly helpful in framing
questions of quality, it is referred to here.
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Michael Q. Patton has written a comprehensive, sometimes amusing, but not very thought
provoking book on evaluation, Practical Evaluation (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1982).
Yoland Wadsworth has written one of her well illustrated and readable handbooks on evaluation
(Everyday Evaluation on the Run. Melbourne: Action Research Issues Centre, 1991), though hers is
a specific form of self-evaluation, which may not be suited to all research purposes. William Shadish
gives a good overview of the field, telling us of the historical policy context in which it arose, and
relating evaluation research to such everyday and common sense decisions as what sort of car to
buy. Michael Scriven asks what criteria we should use in an evaluation, and goes so far as to
suggest we may be able to look beyond the stated goals of a program to see what other benefits or
disadvantages may come with it ("goal free evaluation").
Readings
Scriven, Michael. “Evaluation ideologies.” Evaluation Studies Review Annual 9 (1984): 49-80.
Shadish, William R. “Sources of Evaluation Practice: Needs, Purposes, Questions, and Technology.”
Evaluation Studies Review Annual 12 (1987): 520-554.
Your questions.
This discussion of hypothetical and evaluative questions is intended to give examples only. You do
not have to use these sorts of questions any more than you have to test hypotheses. But you do
need questions which are specific and answerable, and which will provide data or backing for your
arguments (discussed further in that section).
Organise your questions in hierarchies if necessary. For instance, one unanswerable question may
be broken down into a number of answerable questions, linked by a chain of argument. This
exercise may take several pages, but it is advisable to be inclusive, even if many of the questions
may have self evident answers. Once you can see all your questions, lined up according to their
contribution to your topic and their place in your argument, then you are in a better position to
work out what methods you can use to answer them.
METHODS
Research methods are simply ways of answering research questions. They do not have a life of their
own, but must fit into the structure of topic, purposes, questions and arguments which go to make
up a good thesis.
The first step is to choose what methods you need to use. Methods are only as good as the answers
they give to research questions. So the methods you choose will depend on the questions you want
to answer. In any relevant or practical research it is usually essential to use several types of
research methods, even if one or two finish up taking up the bulk of the research time.
Of course, we may apply any research methods with various different emphases or styles. People
often distinguish between qualitative and quantitative research. The former involves more explicit
judgment or interpretation, while the latter involves more counting and calculating (see Inference).
Other ways of classifying methods may refer to particualr disciplines, such as historical, sociological
or ethnographic research. You should search out courses, books and advisers that may help you do
these bettter.
This page on research methods, like the pages on each of the specific methods, is only an overview
of the possibilities which you need to take into account in designing your research, and choosing
your method. You must become competent in their application before using them. To do this,
consult the further readings, other courses, your supervisor and the postgraduate coordinator.
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There are thousands of books on research methods, most of them focusing on a particular
disciplinary range (eg social research, TEFL research, communications research). Some of these are
considered in the specific research methods pages. I do not know of any book which covers all the
types of research listed here.
Some of the more general books are:
Bell, Judith. Doing Your Research Project. 2nd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press,
1993.
Leedy, Paul D. Practical Research. Planning and Design. Seventh ed. NY: Macmillan, 2001.
Morgan, Gareth. Beyond Method: Strategies for social research. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage
Publications, 1983.
Wadsworth, Yoland. Do It Yourself Social Research. 2nd ed. St Leonard, NSW: Allen &
Unwin, 1997.
The following pieces, in which Morgan reflects on the wide range of methods, is worth thinking
about. Refer to the book, Beyond Method, for more context.
To understand how your research methods fit into your overall thesis, go to Arguments
Reasoned Arguments
The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy defines a 'thesis' as a 'proposition'. It then points out that, 'in
medieval times it became standard university practice that a candidate for a degree would defend
one thesis or several theses in public disputations. From this developed a new sense of the word: a
dissertation (sometimes of considerable length) presented in order to qualify for a degree.' (1997
edition, p 564)
We still use the word in both senses, and so it makes sense to say that a thesis (dissertation)
should present a thesis (one or several propositions). To build up the 'thesis' of a thesis requires
collecting data into defensible propositions, through coherent arguments.
While we use the term 'argument' also in the sense of a disputation, it is not necessarily used in an
adversarial way here. Consider also what is said about the purposes of research, and remember
that in doing research we set out to answer questions. The formulation of arguments can be seen as
one of the tasks involved in writing a thesis. However, since we emphasise clarifying the place of
facts or data in the argument as a way of guiding the research process, it is important to think
about the thesis and the structure of its arguments right from the start.
Stephen Toulmin developed a way of analysing arguments in his influential classic The Uses of
Argument (1958). Trying to get away from the sterile certainties contained in traditional logic,
Toulmin tried to find out what any argument in the real world would have to achieve. He draws on
arguments about aesthetics, morality, matters of fact, and possibilities.
What all arguments have in common is that we find facts (or data) in order to make a plausible
claim.
INFERENCE and NUMBERS
When should you use numbers, or 'quantitative' methods? You need to make this decision on the
basis of the type of arguments you intend to develop. Then you can decide whether you need to
count anything, and if so, what. Numbers have two main uses in research.
Comparison. When comparing two or more different ways of doing things, numbers provide a base
line of comparison. To compare the number of spelling errors in different listening tests, for
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instance, or to compare the result of different methods/techniques, we can count the errors or
scores, and say one is better than another.
Unless we do have comparable numbers, a single measure is often fairly meaningless. If a court
takes a median number 10 spelling errors, is that good or bad? In fact we cannot tell, unless we are
comparing it with other similar spelling error results, collected from another treatment in the same
way. Be wary of using numbers for numbers' sake, or trying to draw conclusions from them without
strict comparisons.
EXERCISE
Select a thesis, or a book which you know to have developed out of a thesis, preferably in your own
research area. In no more than 2,000 words answer the following questions about it:
1. Where is the topic stated? How does the author indicate its relevance and importance? How
successfully?
2. Write the overall 'thesis' or argument of the work in your own words in a single short paragraph.
Has the author done this? Where? If so, do you prefer your statement of the 'thesis' or the author's?
Why?
3. How is the work divided into sections? On what basis? Does this structure help or hinder your
understanding of the overall thesis? Why?
4. How is the conclusion related to the statement of the topic? How effectively does the author
address the issues which made the topic seem important in the introduction?
MA Thesis Abstracts
2005:
A Study of Attitudes towards Grammar Instruction in an Academic English Program
by Liliana Edilyan
The present thesis examines the reasons for the attitudes underlying the expressed need of the IEP
students’ for more grammar. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from the IEP faculty
and students about their attitudes towards grammar instruction. Both quantitative and qualitative
research methods were used to analyze and interpret the data.
The students’ attitudinal survey questionnaire revealed their previous learning experience, their reasons
for wanting to study grammar, their perception about the role of grammar in language learning and their
attitudes towards error correction and grammar instruction. The instructors’ attitudinal survey investigated
how the instructors address the grammar issue and how they interpret the students’ need for grammar.
The results of this study showed the reasons for students’ anxiety over not getting enough grammar in the
IEP and the mismatch in students’ and instructors’ attitudes to grammar instruction in the classroom. To
address these concerns, some recommendations are provided. It is hoped that the results of this study
may serve to improve the Intensive English Program at the American University of Armenia .
Assessing Speaking in Armenian EFL Classrooms
by Nvard Grkikyan
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The purpose of the following study was to develop a rating scale for assessing students’ oral performance
in the fifth grade of Armenian secondary schools and test its usefulness and effectiveness in everyday
classroom use. The research was carried out to investigate whether the assessment of speaking at
secondary school level could be more effective and less subjective if guidelines and criteria were provided
for teachers to assess their students. The data was collected through observations, along with recording of
the lessons, which served as a basis for constructing the rating scale for assessing speaking. The next
stage of the research was the development of the rating scale and its use in classrooms. The last stage of
the study was the interview, which aimed at getting feedback from the two teachers who used the rating
scale in their classrooms. The purpose of the observations and the recording of the lessons was to
establish daily oral tasks and the aspects of language to be included in the rating scale. The effectiveness
of the developed rating scale was tested by using it in classrooms for assessing students’ oral
performance. The purpose of the interview was to get feedback from the two teachers who used the scale
in their classrooms. The steps taken during the research helped ascertain that the use of a rating scale
with guidelines and explanations for each score and category is effective and advantageous in several
ways: it fosters learning, includes students in the assessment process, addresses different aspects of
spoken language and minimizes subjectivity in assessing students. The students were not interviewed;
however, the teachers reported that they liked both the assessment process and the fact that they knew
the basis upon which they were assessed.
Listening Comprehension testing Methods and Their Impact on Student Performance
By Liana Sukiasyan
This study is designed to investigate the effects of testing methods on testing L2 listening comprehension.
The study sets out to investigate the impact of audio versus video testing methods on the performance of
Armenian students. The investigation is conducted at the European University in Yerevan, Armenia.
The quantitative method of data analysis is used for analyzing the data gained from 30 Armenian students
with an intermediate level of L2 proficiency aged between 16 to 17 years. The materials used in this
investigation are a listening comprehension section from a TOEFL test (a Test of English as a Foreign
Language) and attitude questionnaires. The data gained from the listening comprehension test are
analyzed on the basis of both a paired t-test and an independent t-test. The data gained from the attitude
questionnaires are analyzed through the calculation of the frequency of the students’ responses.
Findings of this study provide strong evidence that both the audio and the video testing methods have the
same impact on the examinees’ performance. The results gained from the questionnaires reveal that the
majority of the students consider video testing more motivating and interesting compared to that of audio
testing. In this regard, the study supports the idea that visual stimuli may be helpful in interpreting the
provided message through adding motivation and raising interest towards the provided oral input.
Maximizing Learning Opportunities and Teaching Potential: A Case Study
By Varsenik Hovhannisyan
Maximizing learning opportunities that spontaneously arise in the process of classroom interaction is an
important skill in second/foreign language teaching that requires ongoing reflection based on the literature
and classroom-based research by practicing teachers. However, the concept of a learning opportunity and
the circumstances of their utilization have undergone relatively little exploration. This study determines,
through a review of the literature, the status of spontaneous learning opportunities in the complex
teaching/learning process and the pedagogical benefits of utilizing such opportunities as they arise. The
analysis of the data collected by the teacher-researcher during her classes and subsequent reflections on
the issue reveal what situations are perceived by her as learning opportunities and what techniques she
uses to maximize them. In addition, the paper reflects on how, for the purposes of ongoing research, she
developed an economical procedure for data collection and discovered how the range of learning
opportunities and types of on-the-spot instruction can be continuously widened, including the conversion
of unfavorable classroom situations into learning opportunities.
Speaking Task Types and Their Influence on Learner Motivation
By Irina Ghazazyan
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This paper reports on research into the influence of learner-centred tasks such as individual presentations
and group discussions on upper-intermediate students’ motivation. An exploratory case study was
conducted in a naturalistic setting; the research used both quantitative and qualitative techniques for data
collection/analysis and focused on the relationship and impact of such speaking tasks as individual
presentations/group discussions on learner motivation. Acknowledging the approach suggested by van Lier
(1996, p.102) that “actions are judged as motivated on the basis of a combination of factors...” the study
set out to investigate the effect of various tasks and task characteristics on Armenian upper-intermediate
learners’ motivation. The research involved video recording of the course lessons during which students
made presentations or had group discussions, and each student was asked to complete a questionnaire
after both tasks. The researcher was the English language instructor of the subjects involved in this study.
The findings revealed that there is a strong relationship between the speaking tasks implemented in this
study and learner motivation. The results obtained through qualitative/quantitative methods suggest that
because of such factors as the task focus and the level of personal responsibility required for the
completion of the tasks implemented in this study there is a difference in impact between such learnercentred activities as individual presentations and group discussions .
Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of Language Assessment in Armenian Schools
By Naira Smbatyan
The aim of this thesis was to investigate language teachers’ and students’ perceptions of assessment
procedures currently used in Armenian schools as well as to understand to what extent Armenian teachers
and students comprehend the concept of assessment. The participants involved in this study were 20
English teachers and 60 English language students at the high school level from different schools
throughout Armenia. Two questionnaires - a student questionnaire and a teacher questionnaire - served
as instruments for the study, and they were analyzed using a descriptive method.
A major finding of this study is that though all teachers use assessment during their teaching process,
many teachers are unaware of the concept of assessment. From the responses of the participants, it
became clear that Armenian teachers and students are not aware of the different possible purposes of
assessment. Each teacher and each student who provided an answer reported just one purpose of
assessment: for some participants motivation is the only purpose of assessment while for other
participants, diagnosis is the only purpose of assessment. From the responses of both teachers and
students, it also became clear that some Armenian teachers use low grades and assessment procedures
as a means for punishment.
From the teachers’ responses, it became clear that the majority of teachers have had no training in
language assessment. Data analysis showed that the majority of teachers, who were not fully aware of the
concept of assessment, had not been trained in assessment. Moreover, those teachers who had training in
language assessment responded more fully and with greater understanding of assessment and
assessment procedures.
Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of Scoring Rubrics for Speaking Skills
By Narine Avtandilyan,
In the recent shift in educational theory from transmission of knowledge towards transformation of
knowledge, and to integration of knowledge with existing personal constructs and meanings, assessment
has taken on new affective goals in which the personal growth of the learner is becoming increasingly
important. In this context, the role of evaluation is to inform learners about their learning achievements,
so that they can make informed plans for future study.
This paper investigates scoring rubrics for speaking skills and teachers’ and students’ perception of the
rubrics. For this purpose, scoring rubrics for speaking skills and teachers’ and students’ perception of the
rubrics are investigated by means of a student and a teacher questionnaire, as well as a teacher interview.
The research was conducted in the Intensive English Program (IEP) of the Department of English
Programs at the American University of Armenia. Forty-eight students and nine teachers participated in
the study. Students were provided with a scoring rubric checklist and after doing an oral presentation for
their class, they completed a survey on their use and perceptions of the rubrics. Students also used the
rubrics to self-assess and peer evaluate their presentation. Nine teachers completed a questionnaire and
four of them participated in the interviews.
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The data analyses resulting from student and teacher questionnaires, and the teacher interviews,
confirmed students’ and teachers’ positive attitudes towards the use of scoring rubrics.
The Role of Different Types of Activities and Ways of Class Organization in Promoting
Classroom Interaction through Negotiation of Meaning
By Ruzan Danielyan
The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of interaction through negotiation of meaning in
an EFL classroom and to identify the most effective types of class organization as well as task types to
promote effective communication. The study was also designed to reveal students’ perception of
successful interaction, the most productive tasks and best types of class organization.
The research was conducted in a natural classroom setting. To find out which ways of class organization
and which types of class activities created more opportunities for negotiation of meaning in the setting in
which I teach, the number of interactional moves in students’ production was calculated. Nine close-ended
questionnaires based upon issues identified in the students’ current textbook and one open-ended
questionnaire aimed to elicit students’ perceptions and comments on effectiveness of interaction during
the class were used. The percentage of students choosing each particular answer on a Likert scale was
calculated to determine the students’ opinions about the productiveness of different ways of class
organization as well as effectiveness of different tasks to promote interaction.
The study revealed that learners agreed on the advantages of being involved in information gap and
imagination gap. Information gap, opinion gap, and imagination gap activities were best realized through
group work and pair work, while reasoning gap was more productive in a discussion. Accepting the
usefulness of pair work and discussions in the language classroom, the majority of learners agreed that
pair work and discussion activities were appropriate for promoting communication in the classroom.
The Role of Gender in Teacher-Learner Interaction through Dialogue Journal Writing
By Karine Harutyunyan
This study sets out to investigate if gender plays a role in teacher-learner interaction through dialogue
journal writing (DJW) in the Armenian environment. The research was carried out at the European
Regional Academy of the Caucasus within an eight-week period. The subjects were twenty-four first-year
students (6 females and 18 males). The language level of the subjects was elementary. Students’ dialogue
journal entries, teacher responses, the teacher’s observations and questionnaires were used to elicit
language data. Term test results were also considered as additional information for the research. The
samples were analyzed in a variety of ways to determine similarities and differences between the female
and male interaction in the DJW. Results indicate that female and male students display characteristic
features typical of their gender. However, results also show that DJWs had a positive effect on both the
female and male students. All the subjects demonstrated a substantial increase in writing proficiency as
well as improved speaking and thinking skills. The subjects also demonstrated improvements in their
entries. The teacher’s observations showed that the learning environment became friendlier over time.
The questionnaire results showed that both the female and male students were positive about journal
writing and recognized the benefits of the activity.
Acknowledging the benefits of DJWs, the majority of both the female and male students wanted to
continue writing the journals.
2004:
A Study of Learners' Perceptions of the Learning Resource and its Role in the Promotion of
Autonomous Learning
By Gayane Shiroyan
The research was conducted at the Intensive English Program (IEP) of the Department of English
Programs (DEP) at the American University of Armenia (AUA). The DEP is the only English department in
Armenia that operates an English language Learning Resource Center (LRC). For effective language
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learning and teaching, learner needs, preferences and perceptions should be given due attention. Using a
combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the current study attempts to investigate
the IEP students’ perceptions of the usefulness of the LRC resources, which LRC resources they used, and
the extent of peer or tutor influence on the selection of the LRC resources and activities. In addition, it
investigates the students’ perceptions of autonomous learning, their learning preferences, the students’
need for an LRC instructor and their perceptions of the role of the LRC in the improvement of their
language skills. Findings strongly indicate a highly positive attitude towards learning autonomously and
that the use of the LRC helps the learners become more autonomous in foreign language learning. This
research has revealed that many learners have been able to benefit from the LRC, and it is worthwhile to
offer the LRC as one of the alternatives in many possible ways of learning a foreign language.
Based on the findings, recommendations for future research are offered.
Students' Perceptions of Small Group Program of the American University of Armenia
By Armine Khanzatyan
Small group instruction has been extensively implemented in the Intensive English Program of the
American University of Armenia to prepare students for the university content courses where cooperative
small group learning is widely used. This study investigated IEP students’ perceptions of this instructional
format to determine how it affects students’ learning and what problems they see in regard to it in order
for the faculty to respond to students’ concerns.
The issues addressed were how students conceptualize the purpose of small group learning, their learning
style preferences, the most successful small group tasks, and the usefulness of small group learning for
the enhancement of students’ social skills, higher order thinking, psychological wellbeing and learning
English.
The results of the study showed that the students valued small group learning as an instructional format
and considered their group experience to be positive. Some difficulties were perceived with regard to the
social aspect of small group learning, and a few minor problems were mentioned in relation to its effect on
language learning. To address these concerns, some recommendations were provided, aimed at the
enhancement of this instructional format.
The Positive Impact of a Learner-Centered Approach on Learner Motivation in the EFL
Classroom
By Magdalina Arzakanyan
National Reform in education in Armenia has targeted innovative teaching approaches and methodologies
as an educational need that must be met to satisfy the new societal needs of the country. One of the
requirements of the new national curriculum is a major shift in the classroom context with notable focus
on the affective domain of the learner. Fully acknowledging the impact of affective factors on learning, the
researcher attempts to show that motivation as an element of the affective domain has a strong positive
influence on learning process and it may be enhanced in classroom contexts where learner-centered
principles of teaching are practiced.
The study is designed as a case study. It is conducted in one of the classes at the Extension Program of
the American University of Armenia (EP AUA), which offers students a one-year intensive English language
program. Each proficiency level of the overall course, from the beginner to advanced, lasts nine weeks.
The subjects of the study, all of whom are students at the AUA Extension Program, included 15 learners of
English as a foreign language. They are students at the advanced proficiency level.
The data analyses resulting from class observations, student, the course instructor interviews, and
questionnaires confirmed the benefits of learner-centered approach to TEFL, which creates a positive
context for increasing and sustaining learner motivation.
2003:
Questions and Questioning Techniques in the EFL Classroom
11
By Armine Sukiasyan
Enhancing active learning is an important objective in contemporary education. One of the most powerful
teaching/learning devices that can engage students actively in the learning process is questioning.
Questioning helps to train students’ critical, analytical and creative thinking and it should be especially
encouraged and promoted in transition classrooms where the focus changes from the teacher to the
learner.
This paper presents an action research project conducted in an Armenian EFL classroom. The action
research aimed to find whether student questioning would be positively impacted by several factors:
modeling questions at different cognitive levels, making students aware of different types of questions,
using effective questioning techniques, and tasks, such as oral presentations, case studies and role-plays.
The study was carried out with 37 intermediate/advanced students in a Business English class at the
Agribusiness Teaching Center . The date analysis indicated improvements in student questioning: the
number of student-student questions increased and changes were also observed in the types of questions
posed by the students. The study showed that improvements in student questioning could be attributed to
the above-mentioned factors.
2001:
A Study of the Current Status of the Teaching of Professional English at Universities in Armenia
and Attitudes Towards it
By Ruzan Topchyan
The current study examines the English for Non-English Language Major (ENELM) courses in Armenia
(which resembles both CBI and ESP in some aspects) to locate them in the scheme of ESP as it is taught
around the world. It also surveys the existing attitudes towards this specialized English instruction among
80 students and 8 instructors in three American Universities: the Yerevan State Medical University , the
Yerevan State Engineering University and the Yerevan State University . The questionnaire survey was
designed to reveal attitudes towards the following: the importance of PE; the target needs of students in
PE; the quality of PE course materials; students’ needs in each of the four language skills; students
awareness of their PE course objectives; student participation in the discussing of the PE course
objectives; and the influence of such participation on student learning. In addition instructor interviews
were conducted. In order to get the necessary information to describe ENELM both in Soviet Armenia and
in independent Armenia , as well as to explain the findings of the quantitative research.
Student Self-Assessment and Strategy Use As a Means of Promoting Student's Autonomous
Learning
By Rubina Gasparian and Nellie Harutyunyan
This paper investigates the extent to which student self-assessment and learning strategy use may
promote autonomous learning. For this purpose, the student self-assessment and language learning
strategy use are investigated by means of a self-assessment questionnaire. The research was conducted
in the Intensive English Program of the Department of English Programs at the American University of
Armenia . Sixty-eight students participated in the study. The answers to the questions in the selfassessment questionnaire are compared with the answers to a guided letter writing task which was used
to investigate the students’ readiness for autonomous learning. The validity of the student self-assessment
is established through determining the relationships between the student self-assessments on the one
hand and the exit TOEFL and the midterm test on the other hand.
The study shows that self-assessment and learning strategy use have an impact on the students’
understanding of the concept of autonomous learning. Further research may provide more conclusive
evidence.
This thesis is the result of a collaborative effort by the two authors, Nellie Harutyunyan and Rubina
Gasparyan. The definition of the research questions, the review of literature, the preparation of the
questionnaire and the guided letter forms, the discussion of the limitations of the study and the conclusion
with recommendations were shared equally by the authors.
12
Nellie Harutyunyan had primary responsibility for analyzing part one of the self-assessment questionnaire
and the discussion of the relation of self-assessment to readiness for autonomous learning (Part one of the
discussion).
Rubina Gasparyan had primary responsibility for analyzing part two of the self-assessment questionnaire
and the discussion of the role of learning strategy use in readiness to undertake autonomous learning
(Part two of the discussion).
The responsibility for analyzing part three of the self-assessment questionnaire and the guided letter
writing was shared by both of the authors.
The Effects of Dialog Journal Writing on Teacher-Student Interactions in an Armenian ContentBased Classroom
By Christina Sargsyan
With the start of the democratization process of Armenian society the educational goals of the country
have also undergone some drastic changes. One of the priorities of Armenian educational curricula is the
democratization of the classrooms, which is officially stated in the 7 educational standards provided by the
Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education, 2000). This study will show how the adoption of an
innovative, learner-centered approach to teaching may assist to this process, especially in ESP (English for
Specific Purposes) and CB (Content-Based) classrooms, since authoritative methodologies are more rooted
there.
The study has been conducted as an action research to find whether a certain activity, namely, Dialog
Journal Writing (DJW) can affect teacher-student interactions in a specific CB classroom at one of the
higher educational institutions in Armenia, the French University in Armenia (UFA). Given the nature of the
activity, (a free-writing exercise guided by the teacher, but ensuring student-centeredness through
engaging students in authentic and meaningful communication), it was hypothesized that the activity
would allow a gradual transition from a teacher-centered classroom to a morelearner-centered one by
establishing more democratic interactions between the teacher and students.
The study carried out with 8 mid/high intermediate students at UFA showed that DJW did improve
significantly the use of certain language functions, namely, expressing opinions, agreeing/disagreeing, and
criticizing. Critical thinking was also enhanced, which first was demonstrated by the use of the abovementioned functions, and secondly, by almost all students providing clarifications and elaboration on the
topics.
Some of the limitations of the present study concern the limited number of the participants, student
gender and teacher personality issues. However, since this is an action research, and the results are not
meant for generalization, the question of the validity of the findings appears to be answered.
1999:
Relationships Between Reading in English and the L1 and L2 (Armenian and/or Russian)
Language Proficiencies
By Karine Badal Muradyan
This study investigated the potential of the relationship between the English reading proficiency of the
Intensive English Program (IEP) students at the American University of Armenia (AUA) as measured by
their reading comprehension scores in their Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) results and
their L1 and/or L2 (Armenian and/or Russian) overall proficiency as measured by their final marks in
Armenian and Russian at the secondary school. Participants were 88 students of the IEP at AUA, Yerevan,
Armenia. This study was an ex post facto design. To get the statistical description of the variables in terms
of their mean, mode, median, standard deviation, and range, the University Procedure was employed. To
investigate the existence of any statically significant relationship between the variables, that is, to be able
to answer the research question, General Linear Models Procedure, the multivariate or multifactor
analysis, with an alpha level of .05 was used. The two analyses conducted with the purpose of answering
the research question yielded the following results. In the first analysis when the participants of the study
were grouped with 0.5 difference in the knowledge of Armenian and Russian, there appeared to be no
13
relationship between the two variables. Given the sample size, this seems to suggest that the 0.5 increase
in Armenian and Russian (L1 and/or L2) proficiency might be insufficient to reveal the increase in L2
(English) reading ability. The results of the second analysis, when proficient or competent in L1 and L2
participants were compared to the weak in their L1 and L2 students, namely, when only “5”s in both
Armenian and Russian languages and Literatures were contrasted with “4”s and “3”, showed that there is
statistically significant relationship between the knowledge of the participants in Armenian and Russian as
measured by their school marks and their TOEFL reading scores.
Thus, while the results of the first analysis failed to show any statistically significant difference between
the mentioned variables, the results of the second analysis which is less problematic showed a significant
pattern of dependence: the level of the L1 and/or L2 proficiency did have effect on the TOEFL reading
score, F=3.37, p>0.0399. As no conclusive statement can be made regarding the issue, a follow-up study
seems a must.
Publication Thesis Title
Year
Author Name
2002
An EFL Needs Analysis of a University
Library Staff: A Case Study.
Sahar Mahmoud Sobeih
Beliefs of Egyptian Teachers and
Learners about Learning English as a
Foreign Language.
Ihab Moussa Abdalla Taha
The Effects of Prior Knowledge and
Repetition on EFL Listening
Comprehension.
Marwa Hussein Moussa
The Influence of Pre-Task Planning Time Hala Sayed Ayoub
on the Speech Production of AccuracyOriented and Fluency-Oriented EFL
Learners.
2001
An Exploration of the EFL Needs of
Refugee Students: A Case Study.
Fergus Hann
Factors Affecting Using Computers in an Rehab Ghazal
EFL/EAP Setting.
Foreign Language Reading Anxiety and
its Relationship to Reading
Comprehension.
Cori Ann Yochim
Teachers' Perceptions and Practices in
Yosr Mohamed Wagih Kotb
14
Feedback and Assessment of EFL
Writing.
2000
Strategic Competence Training in the L2 Amy Widger
Classroom: An Investigation into the
Teachability of Communication
Strategies.
The Effectiveness of the Consciousness- Randa Anwar Halim
Raising Technique in Promoting
Pragmatic Competence: An Investigation
in an EFL Setting.
1999
EFL Reading Comprehension Strategies Gehan Osman
of Egyptian and Non-Egyptian Arab
Students: An Exploratory Study.
Factors Influencing NNES Students' Acts Amy O. Benson
of Plagiarism.
1998
The Effect of Instruction on EFL
Argumentative Writing
Hala Abdel-Moneim Abdallah
The Pronunciation of English Vowels by
Native Arabic Speakers: The
Relationship Between Age of Learning,
Perception and Production.
Joel Ramez Atallah
Instructional Factors Contributing to
Good L2 Writing: The Learners'
Perspective.
Jennifer A. Cate
Students Writing Across the Disciplines:
Professors' Expectations and Reactions
According to Discipline Type.
Elizabeth Arrigoni
Subject Matter Instructors' Evaluation of
Learners' Errors in an EAP Setting:
Toward Establishing a Hierarchy of L2
Error Gravity.
Karen Park
The Effects of Media on Vocabulary
Eric Van Bourgondien
Acquisition in a Web-based Environment.
The Teaching of English as a Foreign
Language in Egyptian Kindergartens: A
Survey of Teacher Characteristics and
Instructional Practices.
Heather Browne
1997
A Cross-Cultural Study of Irish and
Egyptian Expressions of Sympathy with
Reference to Gender.
Anne Abdel Moneim Hassan
1995
Mode of Corrective Feedback: A Study in James Thomas Ward
Feedback and Errors of
Overgeneralization.
1994
The Power of the Rational C-Test in
Measuring Knowledge of English
Derivational Morphemes.
Karima Helmy Ammar
An Investigation of Semantic Lexical
Hanan Ali Fares
15
Errors in the Written Compositions of
Egyptian EFL Learners.
1993
Apologies: Directness, Politeness, and
Language Proficiency.
Mona Moustafa Osman
English for Academic Purposes:
Students' Planning Strategies for an
Authentic Reading Task.
Natalie Novak
Schema Theory and Vocabulary
Acquisition in Culturally Familiar and
Unfamiliar Contexts.
Zohaa El Gamal
Coordination and Subordination of
Clauses in the English Writing of Native
Arabic-Speaking EFL Students.
John MacLean
Order of Acquisition of Prepositions by
Adult L2 Learners.
Sophie Mahmoud Mohamed Farag
Requesting Strategies in American
English, Egyptian Arabic and English as
Spoken by Egyptian Second Language
Learners.
Amany Abd El Moneem El Shazly
Vocabulary Acquisition: Lexical Storage. Fotna Nagwa Fayek Kassabgy
1992
Accommodation in Inter-Ethnic BackChanneling: An Egyptian-American
Investigation.
Larry Ciccarelli
Language Identity of Egyptian University Nahla Ibrahim Abdel Rahman El Fawal
Students Majoring in English Education.
Sex Differences in Complimenting
Behavior: A Contrastive Analysis
Between Egyptian Arabic and American
English.
1991
Emad El Din Aly Morsy
Backchannels: A Study of Egyptian
Mervat Karzoun
Arabic and American English Interaction.
Is Background Knowledge Really that
Important? A New Perspective on the
Schema-Theoretic View of Reading.
Elizabeth Assaad Boustagui
Language Program Development: Needs Loren Lybarger
Assessment and Refugee EFL.
1990
1989
A Comparison of Analytic and Holistic
Scales for ESL Essay Evaluation
Melissa Espinosa
Field Independence and ESL
Achievement
Janet Theresa Daly
Thanking in American English and
Egyptian Arabic: A Cross-Linguistic
Cross-Cultural Study
Ahmed Hosny Gabr
Apology in American English and
Egyptian Arabic: A Cross-Linguistic
Cross-Cultural Study.
Nabila Fouad Andrawis
16
Factors Affecting Essay Scores of ESL
Students.
Laila Makhlouf
Semantic and Syntactic Representation
in Fluent Arabic-English Bilinguals.
Amina Ghanem
Sex Differences in Attitudes and
Motivation of Egyptian Students in an
Intensive EFL program.
Amani Shawki H. Demian
The Acquisition of Arabic and English
Conditionals with Reference to
Markedness Theory.
Yasmin Aly Salah El-Din
The Acquisition of English Relative
Clauses by Native Speakers of Arabic.
Susan Adly Hassan El-Esnawy
The Effects of Semantic and Keyword
Patricia Barnes
Strategies on Recall and Recognition of
an English Foreign Language Vocabulary
1988
Long-Term Retention in Relation to
Semantic and Keyword Methods of
Vocabulary Instruction.
Thomas S. Brown
Needs Assessment of Career Certificate Deena Ali Borai
English Program of DPS.
1987
The Effect of Photographs and Line
Drawings on Text Comprehension and
Recall.
Sanaa Makhlouf
Pauses and Hesitations in American
English and the English of Speakers of
Egyptian Colloquial Arabic: A Cross
Linguistic Study.
Connie Hope Miller
The Effect of Cultural Background on
Reading Comprehension.
Hoda Rizkallah Mikhail
The Effect of Topic Familiarity on
Maissa M. Abou Youssef
Reading Comprehension of College NonSpecialist English as a Second
Language Students.
1986
An Approach to Second Language
Learning through Community Language
Learning.
Mona Grant Nashed
Meaningful Materials for Teaching
Specific English Tenses to Adult
Egyptian Students.
Adel M. Salama
Simulation Via Communicative English:
The Model United Nations (MUN) in the
Classroom.
Noha Hamed Abdel Kerim
Teaching Writing: The Effect of an
Intensive Writing Course on Language
Acquisition Among DPS Students in the
Initial Stage.
Mariam Khalil Thabet
17
1985
The Effect of Translation on Raising
Students' Proficiency Level in Writing.
Samia Medhat Serag El Din
The Effectiveness of Total Physical
Response as a Comprehension-Based
Approach to Teaching English to Adult
Egyptian Beginners.
Ahmed A. Mursy
An Error Analysis of Possession
Expressions in the Written Performance
of Egyptian Students Learning English
and Russian as Foreign Languages.
Somaia M. Afifi
An Error Analysis of the Present Perfect
with Reference to Errors Made by
Egyptian Learners of English.
Nagla Aboul Fetouh
Aspects of Nonverbal Behaviour of
Egyptians in Cairo: Description and
Relevance for Cross-Cultural
Communication and in the ESL
Classroom.
Djenane Kamil Sirry
Interference Phenomena in the Use of
Some Cohesive Devices: A Cross
Linguistic Study.
Amal Gobran El Shammah
The Effect of Roughly Tuned Video
Clinton H. Smith
Tape-recordings as Opposed to
Syntactically Graded Audio Taperecordings on Listening Comprehension.
1984
The Effectiveness of a Dialogue-Based
Program for Developing the Speaking
Skill of ESL Students.
Safiya Mostafa Al Ghazzawi
A Contrastive Analysis of Directives in
Educated Spoken Cairene Arabic and
Spoken Cairene English.
Nadia A. Shalaby
Communicative Writing: A Technique of
Teaching Composition to Intermediate
Level Students in DPS
Zenab Rabie
Cross Cultural Item Bias in Measuring
Native and Non-Native English
Proficiency.
Samia Iskander
Helping EFL Students Use Outside the
Classroom Input Sources: A Practical
Course.
Dorry Mann Kenyon
Introducing Culture into the EFL
Classroom: Analysis of Address Forms
and Preparation of Teaching Materials
for Somali EFL Students.
Saida Dirie Herzi
Testing Weiner's Attributional Model in
an EFL context.
Sophia M. Khalifa
The Contribution of Role Play to Second Fathy M. Ashour
18
Language Acquisition.
The Effectiveness of Productive Writing Edith d'Olive Dimond
as Subject Matter in Teaching Advanced
Level English.
1983
Towards the Development of
Multicultural TEFL Materials Aimed at
Enhancing the Motivation and Attitudes
of Learners in Muslim Societies: A
Conceptual Basis and Guidelines for
Implementation.
Stephen Casewit
An Approach to Second Language
Learning Through Songs and Jazz
Chants.
Samira Hegazi
Computer-Assisted Spelling Instruction
Deirdre Mitchell
versus Programmed Workbooks: A Study
of Achievement and Affective Factors in
EFL Learners.
Deductive vs. Inductive Strategies for
Teaching Verbs to Adult EFL Students.
Laila Ghali
Developing an EFL Oral Proficiency Test Alberta Raphael
for Adult Egyptian Students.
Factors Affecting ESL Achievement at
the Primary Stage.
Ruth Henning
Perceived Control and its Association
Amina Makhlouf
with Students' Performance in the CACE
English Language Program.
Sentence Combining Exercises and TUnit Analysis in Advanced EFL
Composition.
Jeffrey Kravis
The Effect of a Listening
Barbara Kelberer
Comprehension-Based Communicative
Syllabus on Communicative Performance
at the Advanced EFL Level.
The Effectiveness of the Discovery
Method as a Technique for Teaching
Reading Comprehension to Students of
EFL.
Maha Fathy
The Effects of Extensive Reading on
Advanced EFL Students in Relation to
their Cognitive Styles of Learning.
Aida Erian
The Interlingual Errors in the Written
English of Arabic Speaking Students:
Quantification, Analysis and Classroom
Exploitation.
Abdel Moneim Mohamed
Using the Cloze Procedure and Error
Susan Haddad
Analysis to Assess Developmental
Stages of Second Language Acquisition.
19
1982
A Psychological and Methodological
Hoda Grant Nashed
Approach to Second Language Learning
Through Drama.
Comprehension-Based Methods and the Mary Schleppegrell
Functional Syllabus in ESP Curriculum
Design: English for Economists.
Errors of Egyptian Learners of English
Hala K. El Shawarby
with Reference to the Expression of
Modality in Standard English and Written
Arabic.
Language Attitudes and Motivations of
Egyptian University Students in an
Intensive EFL Program: MultitraitMultimethod and Correlational Analyses
of Direct and Indirect Measurement
Techniques.
Russanne Hozayin
Some Aspects of Futurity in English with Aida Soliman Nawar
Special Reference to their Presentation
to Egyptian Students.
The Attitudes of Egyptian, Adult, NonGeorge Fouad Ajamian
Degree Learners of English Towards the
Language Laboratory.
1981
A Comparative Analysis of Seven
Listening Comprehension Tests for Use
in Fayoum College of Education.
Omnia El Komos
A Survey Analysis of AUC English
Language Target Behaviors.
J.P. Van Der Wolk
Development of Error Identification as a
Teaching Aid for Composition Writing.
Penelope Farag
Teaching a Cultural Component in an
EFL program.
Ann Zwicker Kerr
1980
The Effectiveness of Native ESL
Shaker Taky El Din Rizk
Cassette Supplemental Instruction with a
Decoding Based Methodology Compared
to the Same Methodology Used without
the Supplemental Cassette Instruction.
1979
A Comparison of Errors Made by
Monolingual vs Bilingual Egyptian
Students Learning an Additional
Language.
Aida A. Boulos
A Contrastive Analysis of English and
Colloquial Egyptian Comparatives: A
Study Made on a Sample of Egyptian
Adult Learners.
Mariam Ghaleb Osman
A Study of the Acquisition of Broken
Plurals in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic.
Marie Therese Barsoum
A Study of the Acquisition of English
Mary El Dafashy
20
Complements by Egyptian Students
Learning English as a Second Language.
An Analysis of Dictation Errors: An
American Speaker vs an Egyptian
Speaker to Egyptian Students.
Kamila Helmy
An Investigation of the Effectiveness of
Extensive Listening and Reading
Practice on Students' Ability to Read
English.
Nermin Shaaban Fahmy
Attitudinal and Language Proficiency
Screening: An Alternative Selection
Procedure for University Admission.
Nabila Louis Nakhla
Evaluation of Concepts Through a
Suad Gobrial
Semantic Differential by Arabic Speakers
Responding in Arabic and English.
Language Interference of Kuwaiti
Speakers and Egyptian Speakers
Pronouncing English.
Zahia Al Awadi
Language Motivation and Language
Wafaa Sami El Mancabadi
Needs of Secretarial Studies Students: A
Study Made on a Sample of the Public
School Graduates Studying in the
Secretarial Studies Program at the
American University in Cairo.
The Transfer of Velarization into the
Pronunciation of English by Native
Speakers of Colloquial Egyptian Arabic.
1978
Victor De Cozar
A Developmental Study of Relative
Salwa Farag
Clause Acquisition by Native Speakers of
Arabic Learning English as a Second
Language
A Study of the Difference Between First Faiza M. Hassan
and Subsequent Drafts of Free
Compositions of Students at the English
Section, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams
University.
A Survey of Undergraduate Student
Attitudes Towards a Curriculum for
Preparing English Language Teachers.
Hamid M. Hawas
An Inquiry into the Language of Wallace
Stevens'
Engy Mohamed Arafa
Developing Teaching Materials for Deck
Officers.
Soad Mohamed Said Hashem
Difficulties Encountered in Acquiring the
Present Tense in English by Arabic
Speaking Adults: An Empirical Study.
Mohsen Gabr
Evaluation of Textbooks in the General
Saleh Demetry
21
Secondary Schools in Egypt
Formal and Informal Register as Related Shahira Zaki
to Phrasal Verbs.
Interaction Analysis in ESL Classes in
the Division of Public Service, American
University in Cairo.
Shadia Farag El Komos
Memory Span Test as a Measure of EFL Ferial R. Hassan
Proficiency.
Metaphor Interpretation: A Comparison
Between Native and Non-Native
Speakers of English.
Barbara S. Sayers
Objective/Essay Literature Testing.
Guirguis Y. Mansour
Some Aspects of Cloze Testing for Adult Mohamed I. Ibrahim
Arabic-Speaking Students.
1977
The Effect of Formal Tests on English
Language Learning in Egypt.
Nabila Ahmed Saleh
A Study of the Stability of Alternate
Deletion Patterns in Cloze Tests.
Amal A. Mahmoud
An Analysis and Evaluation of an
Integrative Grammar Test.
Mona Zaklama
Articles in the English Language.
Fawzia Daniel Boutros
Attitudes Towards Learning and
Samy Ali Hassan El-Faras
Teaching English for Special Purposes in
University Faculties and Higher
Institutes.
Linguistic Redundancy as a Factor in
Comprehension.
Abdel-Messih Assad Rizk
Solving Problems in Deductive
Reasoning: A Study of the Performance
of Egyptian Second Language Learners
of English.
Mohga Anwar Hafez
The Effect of Cairene Colloquial Arabic
Negation and Interrogation on the
Acquisition of English Negation and
Interrogation.
Bertha Alfred Khalil
The Morpho-Phonemic Patternings in the Huda Ghali
Speech of Two Native Arabic Speaking
Children.
1976
The Relation Between Cultural
Assumptions and the Study of Foreign
Language and Literature with Special
Reference to Some Egyptian College
Students of English.
Mahmoud Afifi Bekheet
A Study of Relative Clauses in English
and Colloquial Egyptian Arabic.
Ahmed Gomaa
A Study of the Literature Component in
Nabila El Taher Makhlouf
22
the English Language Curriculum.
An Investigation of Some Factors
Affecting English Language Teaching in
Egyptian Public Schools.
Nawal El Badry
Students' Composition Errors in Relation Aida Zaher
to Levels of Proficiency on the AUC
English Entrance Examination.
1974
Analysis of Grammatical Errors of
Jordanian Third Preparatory Pupils in
English Composition.
Saad Kuleib Al Musa
1973
An Historical Analysis of Language
Policy in Egypt.
Latifa Fahmy
Psychological Correlates of the American Linda Cheryl Cansler
English Sound System, for Native and
Non-Native Speakers of English.
1972
An Experiment in the Use of Cloze Tests Phyllis Ann Abdel Al
to Measure the English Language
Proficiency of Non-Native Speakers.
1971
A Study of Sentence Embedding in
English by Native Arabic Speakers.
Jan Demming
1970
Word Association Patterns of Arab
Students Learning English As a Foreign
Language.
Susan El-Shamy
1969
Contrastive Study of the Consonant
Blending Features of Cairene Egyptian
Arabic and Standard American English.
Barbara J. Gadalla
Perception and Articulation Difficulties of Margaret Heis Moustafa
Cairene Arabs Learning English
Segmental Phonemes: An Exploratory
Study.
The Effect of Transformation Load on
Madeline Haggan
Short-Term Memory for English
Sentences by Native Speakers of Arabic.
LINGUISTICS
2002 A Study of Code-Switching Among Educated
Lebanese as Reflected in Television Talk Shows.
Mona El Sayed El Samaty
2001 An Exploration of the EFL Needs of Refugee
Students: A Case Study.
Fergus Hann
Foreign Language Reading Anxiety and its
Relationship to Reading Comprehension.
Cori Ann Yochim
Incidental Second Language Vocabulary
Acquisition: The Effectiveness of L1 and L2
Glosses in a CALL Environment.
Shorouk Nour El-Din Ahmed Hanafy
2000 Strategic Competence Training in the L2
Amy Widger
23
Classroom: An Investigation into the Teachability of
Communication Strategies.
1999 EFL Reading Comprehension Strategies of
Egyptian and Non-Egyptian Arab Students: An
Exploratory Study.
Gehan Osman
1998 Students Writing Across the Disciplines: Professors' Elizabeth Arrigoni
Expectations and Reactions According to Discipline
Type.
1997 A Cross-Cultural Study of Irish and Egyptian
Expressions of Sympathy with Reference to
Gender.
Anne Abdel Moneim Hassan
Lexical Organization in Trilinguals: Investigating the Christine Laliberte
Foreign Store Hypothesis.
1995 The Power of the Rational C-Test in Measuring
Knowledge of English Derivational Morphemes.
Karima Helmy Ammar
1994 Apologies: Directness, Politeness, and Language
Proficiency.
Mona Moustafa Osman
Schema Theory and Vocabulary Acquisition in
Culturally Familiar and Unfamiliar Contexts.
1993 Syntactic Markedness in SLA: The Acquisition of
the Dative Alternation.
Vocabulary Acquisition: Lexical Storage.
Zohaa El Gamal
Mohammad Atef Sallam
Fotna Nagwa Fayek Kassabgy
1992 A Study in Gender Schema Theory: Effect of Voice Jenny Hopkins
and Topic on Listening Comprehension and
Memory.
Language Attitudes in Education: Egyptian
Teachers' Subjective Responses to Regional
Dialects of Colloquial Arabic.
Millicent Bentley
The Structural Dimensions of Language Attrition:
Case Studies of L1 Mabang Attrition.
Mahamat Ousman
1991 Backchannels: A Study of Egyptian Arabic and
American English Interaction.
Mervat Karzoun
Code-Switching in the Written Mode: A Case Study. Elisabeth Anne Yoder
Is Background Knowledge Really that Important? A Elizabeth Assaad Boustagui
New Perspective on the Schema-Theoretic View of
Reading.
1990 Thanking in American English and Egyptian Arabic: Ahmed Hosny Gabr
A Cross-Linguistic Cross-Cultural Study
1989 Semantic and Syntactic Representation in Fluent
Arabic-English Bilinguals.
Amina Ghanem
The Acquisition of Arabic and English Conditionals
with Reference to Markedness Theory.
Yasmin Aly Salah El-Din
The Effect of Content Schemata on EFL Reading
Comprehension of Textually Explicit Information.
Safinaz Abd El Rahim El-Antably
1988 Long-Term Retention in Relation to Semantic and
Thomas S. Brown
24
Keyword Methods of Vocabulary Instruction.
The Effect of the Visual Clue on Listening
Comprehension.
Essam El Sayed
1987 Concurrent Listening and Reading Comprehension Noha Salah Khafagi
at the Beginning Stages at DPS.
The Effect of Cultural Background on Reading
Comprehension.
Hoda Rizkallah Mikhail
The Effect of Topic Familiarity on Reading
Comprehension of College Non-Specialist English
as a Second Language Students.
Maissa M. Abou Youssef
1986 Female/Male Ratings of Female/Male Authors: A
Written Matched-Guise Analysis of Students at
Three Egyptian Universities
Barbara Jean McQueen
Teaching Writing: The Effect of an Intensive Writing Mariam Khalil Thabet
Course on Language Acquisition Among DPS
Students in the Initial Stage.
The Effect of Translation on Raising Students'
Proficiency Level in Writing.
Samia Medhat Serag El Din
The Functions of Code-Switching in Dialogues
between Two Bilingual Children.
Kerima Hassan Nashat
1985 An Error Analysis of Possession Expressions in the Somaia M. Afifi
Written Performance of Egyptian Students Learning
English and Russian as Foreign Languages.
Aspects of Nonverbal Behaviour of Egyptians in
Djenane Kamil Sirry
Cairo: Description and Relevance for CrossCultural Communication and in the ESL Classroom.
Greetings and Farewells in Cairene Egyptian
Society.
Nagwa T. EL Zeini
Interference Phenomena in the Use of Some
Cohesive Devices: A Cross Linguistic Study.
Amal Gobran El Shammah
Presupposition and Markedness in Determining
Selection of Terms of Address in Structured
Discourse.
Nahwat El Arousy
The Effect of Selecting Material of Interest in the
Ahmed Hassan Al-Imam
Decoding-based Approach on Early Stage
Secondary School Pupils' Reading Comprehension.
1984 The Effect of Video Applications in the Foreign
Language Classroom.
Nazly Labib Badrawi
1983 The Effect of a Listening Comprehension-Based
Communicative Syllabus on Communicative
Performance at the Advanced EFL Level.
Barbara Kelberer
The Effectiveness of the Discovery Method as a
Maha Fathy
Technique for Teaching Reading Comprehension to
Students of EFL.
Using the Cloze Procedure and Error Analysis to
Assess Developmental Stages of Second
Susan Haddad
25
Language Acquisition.
1982 An Exploratory Study of the Relationship between
Knowledge of Roots and Derivational System and
Reading Comprehension and General Proficiency
in Classical Arabic.
James Slater
1981 A Comparative Analysis of Seven Listening
Comprehension Tests for Use in Fayoum College
of Education.
Omnia El Komos
Brain Lateralization for Reading in Arabic-English
Bilinguals: A Tachistoscopic Study.
Lucia Carol Coulter
1980 Development of an Integrative Listening Test.
Robert Douglas Monro
1979 Development of the Predictive Listening Format as
a Test of Listening Comprehension.
Peter John Wiese
Language Contact and Word Order Change in
Nobiin Nubian.
1978 A New Method of Teaching Simultaneous
Interpretation.
An Inquiry into the Language of Wallace Stevens'
Nahed El Adly
Magda EL Mofty
Engy Mohamed Arafa
Formal and Informal Register as Related to Phrasal Shahira Zaki
Verbs.
Metaphor Interpretation: A Comparison Between
Native and Non-Native Speakers of English.
Barbara S. Sayers
Some Aspects of Cloze Testing for Adult ArabicSpeaking Students.
Mohamed I. Ibrahim
1977 A Study of the Stability of Alternate Deletion
Patterns in Cloze Tests.
Amal A. Mahmoud
An Analysis and Evaluation of an Integrative
Grammar Test.
Mona Zaklama
Linguistic Redundancy as a Factor in
Comprehension.
Abdel-Messih Assad Rizk
The Acquisition of Temporal Concepts and Related Stanley Otto
Linguistic Forms in Egyptian Children Between the
Ages of 2.4 and 4.11.
1974 Analysis of Grammatical Errors of Jordanian Third
Preparatory Pupils in English Composition.
Development of Jordanian Students' English
Vocabulary
1973 Psychological Correlates of the American English
Sound System, for Native and Non-Native
Speakers of English.
Reactions of Egyptian Students to Five Language
Varieties Encountered in Egypt.
Saad Kuleib Al Musa
Taisir Duwaik
Linda Cheryl Cansler
Linda El Dash
1972 An Experiment in the Use of Cloze Tests to
Phyllis Ann Abdel Al
Measure the English Language Proficiency of NonNative Speakers.
26
Symbolic Interactionism: An Alternative Basis for
the Teaching of Second Languages.
Audrey Hamblett Kennedy
1970 Word Association Patterns of Arab Students
Learning English As a Foreign Language.
Susan El-Shamy
1969 Contrastive Study of the Consonant Blending
Features of Cairene Egyptian Arabic and Standard
American English.
Barbara J. Gadalla
Perception and Articulation Difficulties of Cairene
Arabs Learning English Segmental Phonemes: An
Exploratory Study.
Margaret Heis Moustafa
The Effect of Transformation Load on Short-Term Madeline Haggan
Memory for English Sentences by Native Speakers
of Arabic.
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