Title page for ETD etd-10192006-115600

Type of Document

Dissertation

Author

Kauffman, Donna Carey

URN

etd-10192006-115600

Title

The effects of a goal-oriented syllabus on college-bound English as a second language (ESL) students

Degree

Doctor of Education

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Shrum, Judith L.	Committee Chair
Volger, Daniel	Committee Chair
Weber, Larry J.	Committee Member
Wildman, Terry M.	Committee Member
Witkowsky, P.	Committee Member

Keywords

English language Study and teaching (Higher) Forei

Date of Defense

1992-09-05

Availability

restricted

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to propose optimal
syllabus component guidelines for college-preparatory
English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. The procedural
problem of this study was to analyze the effects of
specificity of syllabus content on college-bound ESL student
performance. The population of this study consisted of 25
students enrolled in a Low Intermediate writing class at a
mid-sized university's English language institute. Thirteen
students were randomly assigned to an experimental group and
twelve students to a control group. The experimental group
was four males and nine females with the average age of 22.8
years. Nationalities were Japanese (4), Korean (4),
Bolivian (1), Moroccan (1), and Venezuelan (1). In the
control group were two males and ten females with an average
age of 21.81. Nationalities were Japanese (5), Korean (4),
Ecuadorian (1), Jordanian (1), and Panamanian (1).
Students in the experimental group were assigned a
highly-specific CourseBuilding™ syllabus consisting of
course goals, and performance objectives, student
deliverables at the beginning of the Fall term. Students in
the control group were given a non-specific Institute
syllabus consisting of homework assignments and due dates.
In addition to the independent variable of specificity of
syllabus content, as illustrated by the CourseBuilding™
and Institute syllabi, three dependent variables were also
examined. The first was student performance in ESL as
measured by the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) and class grades. The second was student and
instructor perception of necessity and importance of
syllabus components as measured by scores on the researcherdeveloped
Syllabus Analysis Scale (SAS) and by structured
interviews of students and instructors. The third dependent
variable was student satisfaction with the course, as
measured by the SAS and interviews.
The study revealed the following statistically
significant outcomes at the p<.05 level: that students in
the experimental group felt that the course met their needs
better than did the students in the control group; and that
students in the experimental group reported using their
syllabus less often than did the students in the control
group. From non-significant findings and interview and
class observation results, it was concluded that students
desire a high degree of syllabus-component specificity.
Data from the SAS' scale revealed that a combination
CourseBuilding™/Institute syllabus best suited the needs of
the students.

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