The aims of English language teaching (ELT) have observed a fundamental reconsideration during the past two decades, resulting in a shift in emphasis from linguistic competence over communicative competence to intercultural competence. The growing emphasis on cultural issues, which is called for by research and international curricular documents, places new demands on language teachers. The general aim of this study is to deepen the knowledge about teachers’ perception at the Bahraini government secondary schools towards the treatment of culture in English language teaching. The research questions are: 1. How do English language teachers understand and define the concept “Culture” and Intercultural Competence in ELT? 2. To what extent do the teachers see Intercultural Competence as an objective in language classroom? 3. How do they approach the teaching of Intercultural Competence in their classrooms? 4. What preparation/training have they had (pre-service), or wish to have (in-service), for including Intercultural Competence in their teaching? This interpretive and exploratory study is placed within a socio-cultural framework and can also be a contribution to teacher cognition research. The empirical data consists of semi-structured interviews with 17 English language senior teachers and a questionnaire with 197 English language teachers. The findings are presented according to three pedagogies: within the pedagogy of information; within the pedagogy of preparation; and within the pedagogy of Encounter. The minority of the participants represent the third perspective, which is the one that can be characterized as truly intercultural. My study indicates that many teachers feel unsure about how to teach culture in an appropriate and up-to-date manner. This is attributed to, among other things, lack of teacher insight, lack of time, and inadequate pre- or in-service training courses concerning teaching culture. The thesis ends with a set of recommendations as to how ELT could be developed in a more intercultural direction.

This study aims to investigate Korean teachers’ beliefs and their practice with respect to classroom-based English language assessment; thus it examines the teachers’ current working principles of assessment and their practices. This study also sets out to uncover, and to gain an in-depth understanding of further issues which emerged from the dissonance between the teachers’ beliefs and their practice. Following a discussion of the English teaching and assessment context, the first part of the study examines mainstream theories of language testing or assessment; it then considers how closely classroom-based assessment in Korean primary schools conforms to these theoretical principles. The second part of the study presents a small-scale research project. Four stages in teachers’ classroom-based assessment were examined; planning, implementation, monitoring, and recording and dissemination. A questionnaire was developed reflecting these stages; its findings were analyzed statically and qualitatively. Further qualitative data was also collected and analyzed through interviews with volunteer participants. This is based on an analysis of teachers’ firsthand experience and their opinions of the assessment of English as a foreign language. The results of the study revealed that generally the teachers hold and exercise their own firm beliefs regarding classroom-based assessment, and have a good knowledge of assessment or testing principles; thus they carried out their assessment using appropriate procedures taking into account the context of English teaching and assessment in which they operate. However, there were a number of issues which emerged from their assessment beliefs and their practice. It became clear that they did not put some of their principles into practice; a number of important factors, which are normally outside the teachers’ control, were found to be responsible for this, these include: overcrowded classrooms, heavy teaching loads, the central bureaucracy of the education system which controls primary education, and a shortage of funding for foreign language teaching. Teachers were also affected by the rather complex relationship with other teachers, head teachers, and even the parents of the students. However, it is evident that the teachers are constantly developing their skills and knowledge regarding assessment in order to address any possible challenges or tasks given to them. In addition, certain areas needing further investigation were identified. Based on the literature review and the findings of the research, tentative implications and recommendations for the development of classroom-based language assessment are discussed.

This paper aimed to investigate how English teachers in junior high school help and motivate high-ability students to develop their potentials in mixed-ability English classrooms. Five junior high school English teachers from two different schools in Southern Sweden participated in this study. The method used to carry out the investigation was qualitative, with in–depth, semi-structured interviews. Results showed that the participants found that it was difficult to focus their attention on high-ability students in a mixed-ability setting. However, the participants have been positive to have high-ability students in a classroom because they serve as good role models to inspire their classmates. In addition, it was found that teachers prepare various materials with different levels of difficulty to suit to the differing needs of their students. Although the term differentiated instruction was not used by the participants of the study, it was, in fact, the approach they used to motivate their students. It is not possible to recommend best practices for dealing with high-ability students because what works with one student does not automatically work with other students. Furthermore, teachers reported that many high-ability students do not want to have differentiated instruction. This appears to be one of the hindrances to helping high-ability students develop their potentials.

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A presente dissertação trata das crenças e representações de alunos e professores de língua estrangeira como fatores que interferem no processo de ensino/aprendizagem. O trabalho resulta de uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo na qual foram utilizadas como base teórica as noções de crença e de reprodução cultural, de Bourdieu, e o conceito de representação, de Chartier. O enfoque do tema também considerou as contribuições teóricas em aquisição e aprendizagem de línguas. Foi empregada na pesquisa a metodologia etnográfica, incluindo observação participante e elaboração de notas de campo. A análise do material produzido durante as atividades da pesquisa aponta para a importância da explicitação das crenças e representações em jogo no processo de ensino/aprendizagem de língua estrangeira, como mais um recurso para o professor no processo de reflexão sobre sua prática e solução de problemas didáticos. / The present dissertation discusses beliefs and representations of foreign language students and teachers as factors which interfere with teaching and learning processes. The work stems from a qualitative research project in which Bourdieu´s notions of belief and cultural reproduction, as well as Chartier´s concept of representation, were used as theoretical bases. The theme focus has also taken into account theoretical contributions related to language acquisition and learning. Ethnographic methodology was employed, which included in-class participative observation and elaboration of field notes. Analysis of material produced during research activities points out the importance of explicitness of those beliefs and representations in play at foreign language teaching and learning processes, as they constitute one more set of resources to teachers within their reflection process about practices and solutions to didactical issues.

Thesis (M.ED.) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / This study was intended to investigate how teacher discourse moves influence comprehensibility of language content by the English First Additional Language (EFAL) learner and promote active participation by the learner in classroom interaction. The research is a Case Study which was conducted at a primary school in the Greater Sekhukhune District in Limpopo Province The Qualitative research approach was applied in the Case Study since the research is concerned with experience as it is lived ‘or felt’ or ‘undergone’ by participants. the key concern of this research is understanding the phenomenon of interest, from the participants’ perspectives, not the researcher’s. The situation in most Black schools is that first of all, teachers who teach English First Additional Language (EFAL) are not first speakers of English themselves. Secondly, learners have a problem of acquiring information through English as an additional language hence the question of comprehensibility of English language content. Teachers and especially learners are de-motivated as they lose interest in what goes on in Englishclassroom interaction due to the comprehensibility of English First Additional Language content As participant observer the researcher in this study concludes that the use of discourse moves by the teacher in classroom interaction enables the learner to comprehend the language content. Also that the teacher’s code-switching and code-mixing into the learners’ home language develops not only comprehensibility of EFAL language content but most of all promotes active learner participation in classroom interaction. This in turn helps the teacher to achieve the desired learning outcomes.

[pt] A dissertação Percorrendo espaços de aprendizagem com mapas mentais: dois casos de aprendizes de inglês como língua estrangeira objetiva analisar os efeitos, em termos de aprendizagem, da inserção de mapas mentais no contexto do ensino de inglês como língua estrangeira em aulas individuais. A partir das opiniões expressas pelos aprendizes por meio de questionário, journals e entrevista, procuramos identificar a relevância e utilidade, para seus processos de aprendizagem, percebidas nos mapas por eles. Para tal, organizamos o discurso dos participantes em macro-blocos temáticos que observam a forma como eles concebem sua aprendizagem, as suas próprias práticas com mapas mentais e também, as da professora. Os aprendizes demonstram estar conscientes do valor de um ensino fomentador de autonomia e ambos enxergam os mapas mentais como uma ferramenta de ensino e uma estratégia de aprendizagem, com considerável potencial de auxílio à criação de um ensino mais personalizado e atento às suas características individuais de aprendizagem. A pesquisa traz contribuições para um universo já bastante explorado, isto é, o ensino e aprendizagem de língua estrangeira, porém com o intuito de estimular inovações metodológicas aliadas a uma postura crítica. / [en] This dissertation analyses the effects of the introduction of mind maps in the context of teaching English as a foreign language in individual classes. Based on the responses of the students in questionnaires, journals and interviews, I seek to identify the relevance and usefulness of mind maps for their learning processes, as perceived by the learners themselves. In order to do this, I have organized the participants’ responses into thematic macro-blocks which show the way they conceive their learning, their own practices with mind maps, as well as the teacher’s practices. The learners show some awareness of the value of ‘autonomy friendly’ teaching and see the mind maps as both a teaching tool and a learning strategy, with reasonable potential to assist with the building of more personalized learner based teaching, which takes account of individual characteristics of the learner. The contributions of this study are within a context that has already been widely explored: the teaching and learning of foreign languages. However, the particular intention of this study is to encourage methodological innovations via a critical approach.

This study examines trends over the past decade in the learning of foreign languages in schools, tertiary institutions, adult classes and ethnic schools in the A.C.T. It reports results of a survey of the attitudes towards learning foreign languages of secondary language teachers and samples of students and parents from two high schools and two secondary colleges in Canberra. The introduction of the new system of education in Canberra in 1976 has had an impact on foreign language learning in schools. This is examined. Reasons are offered for the trends observed and future directions for language teaching in the A.C.T. are suggested.

The never ending argument among linguists and teachers about whether reading difficulties of the non native speakers of English are a reading problem or a language problem is an interesting study to start with. This was one of the questions examined in the study leading to the development of an ESP syllabus for undergraduate students at Bogor Agricultural University (IPB). Chapter One outlines the current English course at IPB where the focus of language teaching is on teaching grammar and reading. Chapter Two looks at the theoretical background and the development of ESP as well as the role of the ESP teachers which is different from the role of General English teachers. Since reading is the only target skill students need to acquire, Chapter Three looks at the theory of reading, outlines necessary reading skills and examines a 'good1 reading teacher. Chapter Four consists of a study and its analysis into whether difficulties in reading is a reading problem or a language problem. These findings are expected to give a clearer idea to the teachers of reading about the problems encountered by the students in reading English texts so they can decide whether the focus of the course should be on grammar development or reading development. Chapter Five discusses several types of syllabus as well as relating to the importance of needs analysis in designing a course, and suggests an outline syllabus for the IPB students i.e. the proportional syllabus including the profile of communication needs, aims and objectives of the course, language content, and the syllabus content.

The present study is an attempt to give a description of how temporal and modal meanings are expressed in Vietnamese, and to relate the description to English by way of translation correspondence. The study is, therefore, a contrastive work on Time and Modality in Vietnamese and English. It is hoped that Vietnamese students might find in this work some kind of help that may facilitate their study of English grammar as regards time and mood. In chapter 1, the author presents a brief history of foreign language teaching in Vietnam, and the role of English as a foreign language in the country at present. He also discusses problems confronting Vietnamese teachers and students in teaching and learning English and states the aims of the study. Next, the structure of the Vietnamese verb-phrase is discussed, with a view to giving the reader some idea of how auxiliaries operate in Vietnamese. In chapter 2, a description of temporal expression in Vietnamese is presented, with emphasis on the uses of the so-called "time auxiliaries". Also, time adverbs, time clauses and questions with time in Vietnamese are discussed. Chapter 3 deals with modal expression in Vietnamese. In this chapter special attention is given to the uses of the modal auxiliaries. Attempts are then made to describe the so-called "attitudinal disjuncts" and conditional sentences in Vietnamese. In chapter 4, implications for teaching time and modality in English to Vietnamese students are given. The author suggests some teaching points, which, through the present contrastive work, are likely to be some of the most difficult areas for Vietnamese speakers and therefore should be given the most particular attention.