DSpace Collection:
http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/68
2024-02-05T03:54:06ZInvestigating the effectiveness of the scaffolded extensive reading intervention in enhancing the reading proficiency of weak second language learners of Hong Kong
http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/6047
Title: Investigating the effectiveness of the scaffolded extensive reading intervention in enhancing the reading proficiency of weak second language learners of Hong Kong
Authors: Man, Aman Tszman
Abstract: An Extensive Reading (ER) scheme was adopted by the Hong Kong Education Bureau as a part
of the English curriculum in 1991, yet lower-performing students learning English as a second
language (L2) at numerous lower banding schools seem to have failed to reap many benefits from
this scheme over the past 30 years.
To investigate the problems encountered by these weak and presumably unmotivated L2 learners
during the process of reading for pleasure in their L2, English, the present study adopted a mixed
methods research design, with data being collected from multiple sources, such as semi structured interviews, think-aloud protocols, reading and vocabulary tests. The study included a
scaffolded extensive reading intervention lasting 12 weeks with basic vocabulary knowledge and
reading strategy development as the essential ingredients, with a view to enhancing the reading
proficiency as well as the vocabulary levels of these weak L2 readers.
Seventy students aged 13 to 15 participated in the study. They were divided into three groups:
35 in the experimental group and 35 in the comparison group with another batch of 20 students in
the control group. To explore whether and to what extent the implementation of a scaffolded ER
intervention could improve the reading comprehension as well as the vocabulary power of these
weak L2 readers, pretests and posttests were administered to identify any improvements made.
Statistical analyses of both reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge tests were
conducted and significant results (P<0.05) were obtained, which indicated that both vocabulary
knowledge plus reading skills or strategy development can facilitate the extensive reading and
improve the reading proficiency of weak L2 learners.
Description: PhD Thesis2023-01-01T00:00:00ZSubordination in Chechen with a focus on nominalization
http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/5986
Title: Subordination in Chechen with a focus on nominalization
Authors: Saieva, Elina
Abstract: This thesis investigates subordination in Chechen and proposes a comprehensive description of
the type of subordination known as nominalization, an area currently uninvestigated in
descriptions of Chechen grammar. Certain types of subordination, in particular relative clauses,
have been discussed in the literature (Komen 2007; Good 2003); however, not all types of
subordinate clause have been covered. In this thesis, I aim to give a full account of subordination
strategies in Chechen, including all possible types, as well as offering a description of
nominalizations. This work fills the gaps in the existing literature on subordination in Chechen
and also adds new knowledge in terms of nominalization. As well as contributing to the body
of knowledge on Chechen, this study adds to existing descriptive work on nominalization cross-linguistically.
Description: PhD Thesis2022-01-01T00:00:00ZBeyond ‘Geordierama’: Theatre and Performance in North East England, 2017-18
http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/5969
Title: Beyond ‘Geordierama’: Theatre and Performance in North East England, 2017-18
Authors: Latimer, Andrew John
Abstract: This thesis presents an assessment of the theatrical culture of North East England through an
examination of four theatre productions made in the region between 2017-18: Beyond the
End of the Road (2017) produced by November Club; The Terminal Velocity of Snowflakes
(2017, Live Theatre); Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2018, Darlington Operatic Society); and
HEATON! (2018, the People’s Theatre in association with Shoe Tree Arts). Each
performance analysis is supplemented by interviews with members of the companies and
creative teams involved in their making, and centres on a keyword used by the companies to
describe their work. These keywords – authentic (Beyond), contemporary (Snowflakes),
lavish (Priscilla), and official (HEATON!) – enable ways of thinking differently about the
North East and reveal a complex and diverse regional eco-system of art practices and modes
of theatre industry. These case studies are framed by consideration of the theatrical,
cinematic, and popular representation of the North East between 1964-2018 and the
limitations of previous scholarly engagement with the region’s theatre culture, challenging
external perceptions of the region as culturally barren or theatrically unremarkable. They
engage with discourses of authenticity in relation to rural place-making, site-specificity, and
Northumbrian heritage; the North East’s vexed relationship to the metropolitan centre in
relation to its claim to the contemporary; the politics of pleasure in the production of lavish
theatre; and the ethical and historiographical tensions in staging official history. They also
provide insights into methodological dilemmas which emerge from carrying out research in a
region which is fraught with anxieties regarding its own agency and (mis)representation,
highlighting the importance of attending to self-description in the discussion of artistic works.
In doing so, this thesis also provides a corrective to the North East’s omission from the
national theatre record, shedding light on a heterogenous and multi-layered theatre culture.
Description: PhD Thesis2022-01-01T00:00:00ZRomantic Poet-Critics and the Uses of Genre, 1798-1821
http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/5967
Title: Romantic Poet-Critics and the Uses of Genre, 1798-1821
Authors: O’Hanlon-Alexandra, David Sean
Abstract: This thesis examines literary-critical writings, across a variety of genres, by British Romantic era poets: William Wordsworth’s prefaces (1798-1815), Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s lectures
(1808-19) and Biographia Literaria (1817), Lord Byron’s English Bards and Scotch Reviewers
(1809), James Hogg’s The Poetic Mirror (1816), Thomas Love Peacock’s ‘The Four Ages of
Poetry’ (1820), and Percy Shelley’s ‘A Defence of Poetry’ (1821). I argue that the critical ideas
of Romantic poet-critics are shaped by their authors’ uses, and engagement with the idea, of
genre. These poets were as conscious of genre, and as innovative in their uses of it, in their
critical prose as they were in their poetry. Each chapter focuses on a particular generic form:
prefaces, public lectures, satire, and defences of poetry. Chapter One argues that Wordsworth’s
construction of the perfect critic in his prefaces builds a defensive wall to protect his poems
from reviewers, while Coleridge’s playful use of paratexts ironically undermines his critical
tenets. Chapter Two explores how Coleridge’s lectures map a unique terrain for literary studies
by imitating the popular genre of the scientific lecture. Chapter Three shows that the satires of
Byron and Hogg simultaneously imitate, parody, and mock the periodical giant of the day, the
Edinburgh Review, and its antagonists. In the final chapter, I argue that Peacock’s ‘The Four
Ages’ defends his withdrawal from the classical genre of tragedy in favour of comedy.
Conversely, Shelley’s ‘Defence’ revises his beliefs on poetry in order to negotiate conflicting
philosophical and historicist defences against attacks by Peacock and Plato. In my reading,
poet-critics are not insiders offering a behind-the-scenes view of poetry-writing. They shape
and are shaped by the private and public concerns of their historical moment. In a combative
literary culture, Romantic poet-critics are interested parties in the battle for the relevance and
purpose of poetry.
Description: Ph. D. Thesis.2023-01-01T00:00:00Z