A Confirmatory Multivariate Study of the Nature of Second Language Proficiency and Its Relationship to Learner Variables (Acquisition, Covariance, Analysis, Structural Equation Models, Lisrel, Foreign, Teaching English as A Foreign Language, Tefl)

The purpose of this study was to investigate both the nature of second language proficiency and its interrelationships with learner variables using a wide range of language proficiency measures and powerful multivariate statistical techniques. First, competing hypotheses regarding the nature of second language proficiency were tested against each other using confirmatory factor analysis. Second, the relationships between different aspects of language proficiency and selected learner variables were investigated using causal modeling techniques. Regarding the nature of second language proficiency, a correlated traits hypothesis was tested against a second-order hypothesis. As for the relationships between proficiency and learner variables, four hypotheses were tested against each other: (a) background learner variables ('formal learning in home country,' 'home country and family use of English,' and 'formal learning in an English-speaking country') and motivation affect proficiency; (b) background learner variables affect proficiency while the latter affects motivation; (c) background learner variables affect proficiency while proficiency and motivation reciprocally affect each other; and, (d) background learner variables affect proficiency while motivation and proficiency are unrelated.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Fouly, Kamal Abdel-Alim

• Education, Educational Psychology

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8600181

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/69017