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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

8-2017

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

English: Teaching English as a Second Language: M.A.

Department

English

College

College of Liberal Arts

First Advisor

Edward Sadrai

Second Advisor

Ettien Koffi

Third Advisor

Carol Mohrbacher

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Keywords and Subject Headings

English as a Second Language, TESL, Forms of Address, Formality, Confidence, Proficiency

Abstract

This thesis studies the effectiveness of teaching regarding forms of address in the Intensive English Center at Saint Cloud State University. By using quantitative and qualitative surveys, this project observes and analyzes English learners’ proficiency at using forms of address based on social context, as well as inquires upon students’ confidence level at using these forms. This project looks at how forms of address are taught and if the current pedagogy is effective. The results of the project show that students’ proficiency and confidence regarding forms of address is lower than the team of English language teachers expected. 80% of students were expected to pass the cutoff score, but only 32% actually passed. Even the most proficient group of students only had half of their students pass. Though the current pedagogy of the Intensive English Center does not focus on forms of address, the teachers feel confident in their ability to teach them and report to have taught the forms in their time at the Intensive English Center. The students, in fact, have a high level of trust in their teachers and mostly consider them better than their teachers from previous institutions. The results show that minor changes are necessary to Intensive English Center practices to better prepare students for using and understanding forms of address.

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