This thesis reports on a study conducted in English secondary schools investigating choices made regarding the teaching and learning of modern foreign languages. Data was collected from head teachers (n = 70) and heads of modern languages departments (n = 119) as well as from students in Year 10 (n = 666) to examine not only the decisions made by schools and students, but also the impact of these choices on students’ self-determined motivation. Whilst there are many studies investigating students’ motivation in schools, many investigating foreign language learning motivation and many using self-determination theory (SDT) this study is unique in bringing them together and linking motivation to choice. The study collects data on the languages taught in schools, which is well-documented, but goes further in examining both the reasons reported by schools for these choices and the factors and stakeholder views which schools take into account when making their decisions. The primary data collection method used was questionnaires, completed principally online. In addition, interviews were conducted with head teachers and students. Echoing previous work in SDT, findings suggest that students’ motivation is linked to having a choice, and that providing a free choice is significantly more motivating than ‘guiding’ students onto particular pathways (often done by ability). It was also found that decisions in schools tended to be made by looking inward at language learning in the school itself, focusing on the views of stakeholders closest to the process such as head teachers, heads of department and students rather than those beyond the school gates, and in an operational, rather than strategic way, focusing again on internal factors such as staffing. Students also made their decisions by looking inward at themselves, and did not report being influenced by the views of others. In line with previous work considering the importance of languages, students’ view of the usefulness of a language to them personally was the key factor in deciding whether or not to take a language. On the basis of this new area of study for MFL, recommendations for practice are made, namely that schools provide a free choice to all students or make languages compulsory in order to increase motivation, and that schools carefully consider the ways students view the usefulness of a language in designing their curriculum.

With Modern Languages in the Primary School (MLPS) to be a compulsory element of the curriculum in England from 2011, MLPS has enjoyed a recent renaissance nationally 1. Policy makers hope that by providing a positive Modern Language (ML) learning experience in the primary school, these attitudes will be carried forward by pupils to secondary school where numbers studying MLs have fallen dramatically in recent years since the removal of its compulsory subject status. However, as the MLPS initiative as a whole is still in its infancy and provision is varied, it remains to be seen how these developments will impact upon pupils' attitudes to MLs in the secondary school. This study attempts to go some way to address this question within the context of an English secondary school by surveying 181 pupils at the start of Year 7 following their MLPS experience. The aim of this research is to map out the MLPS landscape in the 70 feeder primary schools as experienced by pupils and to determine the associated attitudes to ML learning. English MLPS policy is examined as is previous research and writing on MLPS models, its impact upon pupils and potential issues. A case study approach is adopted with a mixed methodology incorporating a questionnaire administered to all pupils as well as focus groups conducted by MLPS provision type. Data is analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Triangulation is achieved through interviews with MLPS teachers and managers and secondary ML teachers and managers, and observations of MLPS lessons. It was found that pupils generally possess very positive attitudes to ML learning at the start of Year 7 and that no one particular MLPS model proved to be more effective in promoting positive attitudes. Elements of provision were drawn out that pupils found to be particularly enjoyable and although the results are specific to this case, the findings may especially be of interest to those managing or establishing an MLPS programme.

Pwrpas yr ymchwil hwn oedd mesur dealltwriaeth plant dwyieithog rhwng 7;7 a 11;9 mlwydd oed o’r system ateb yn y Gymraeg. Mae nifer o ymchwilwyr wedi adnabod pwysigrwydd amlygiad ieithyddol digonol i’r broses o gaffael iaith ac o gaffael strwythurau cymhleth yn enwedig (e.e., Gathercole a Thomas, 2005). Gobeithir y bydd y gwaith hwn yn cyfrannu at ein dealltwriaeth o bwysigrwydd amlygiad digonol wrth gaffael dwy iaith ac y bydd yn cyfrannu at y drafodaeth sy’n edrych ar lunio strategaethau addysgol priodol fyddai’n cynorthwyo plant wrth geisio dysgu systemau cymhleth. Mae i’r system ateb amryw o nodweddion gwahanol sy’n cynnwys elfennau adlesiol lle adleisir y ferf gryno (e.e., Wyt ti’n hoffi coffi? Bod.2U.PRES lle ymatebir gyda’r ffurf Ydw Bod.1U.PRES), yn ogystal â ffurfiau di-adlais lle mae’n bosib i ffurf gystrawennol y frawddeg fod yn giw (e.e., Ai ti bia’r bêl yne? lle yr ymatebir gyda’r ffurf ymatebol Ie). Er fod yr amrywiadau hyn yn awgrymu fod y system yn un cymhleth ar yr olwg gyntaf, mae iddi hefyd nifer o reolau cyson (neu giwiau). Crëwyd 3 o dasgau newydd i 134 o blant o dri chefndir ieithyddol gwahanol: Un ai Cymraeg, Saesneg neu Gymraeg a Saesneg yn y cartref. Roedd y profion hyn yn cynnwys prawf barnu ar lafar a phrofion cynhyrchu ar lafar ac yn ysgrifenedig. Awgryma’r canlyniadau fod amlder y mewnbwn a thryloywder unrhyw eitem phenodol yn hollbwysig, gyda’r plant o gartrefi Cymraeg yn sgorio’n uwch na’r grwpiau eraill ar bron bob eitem ar gyfartaledd. Cyfranna’r ymchwil hwn at ein dealltwriaeth o bwysigrwydd amlder y mewnbwn, ciwiau cystrawennol, a’r angen i adnabod rheolau wrth gaffael strwythurau penodol. Yn unol â’r datganiad hwn, mae i’r canlyniadau yma oblygiadau tu hwnt i’r system hon, ac thu hwnt i’r iaith Gymraeg, a trafodir goblygiadau addysgol posib y canlyniadau a’r ystyriaeth sydd angen ei roi i ymchwil pellach.

This research study was undertaken to address questions and concerns about the language teaching textbook as regards to its role in input, feedback, and production of learner output. Specifically, it investigates whether literature-based reading texts generate different interactions than traditional language teaching texts and whether the differences can be related to the development of academic L2 literacy. Six grade five classes (163 students) were selected, three that use a traditional English language teaching textbook and three that use a course intended as reading instruction textbook for native English-speaking children. A standardized non-verbal reasoning test was administered at the beginning of the study to determine similarity of intellectual ability of the groups. Two fifty-minute class periods were videotaped in each class, once during the fall term and once during the spring term, and a total of 30 minutes of each class observation were transcribed. Samples of the textbooks were selected for analysis, and all students were administered a reading comprehension test toward the end of the academic year. Data analysis comprised both quantitative and qualitative approaches. A total of 1158 teacher utterances and 544 student utterances were coded and frequency data collected. The frequency data were analyzed using Chi-square tests, and data from standardized tests were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). The transcribed utterances were further analyzed using a qualitative approach in order to identify categories of interaction exchanges. Findings indicate that interactions differ in classrooms using the two types of textbooks. Significant differences were found in teacher questions, student communication, and teacher feedback. Qualitative differences in classroom discourse were identified that can be related to the textbook type. The two groups differed significantly in general and specific subject-matter reading comprehension. Based on the findings, a model showing the complexity of classroom language learning is suggested for further investigation.

Second-language (L2) users frequently demonstrate a strong interest in developing, establishing and maintaining social relations with other L2 users through the medium of the second language and I argue in this thesis that this is often achieved through a variety of supportive and creative ways as interactants jointly construct interpersonal talk. My main aim in this thesis is to explore the workings of L2-L2 interpersonal language use and, as a secondary aim, to propose pedagogic intervention that will help the L2 learner to interact supportively and creatively in the target language. To develop this argument, I will build on the work on Aston and his description of how successful social relations in the target language are negotiated through supportiveness and solidarity and his use of the terms some and any (taken from Sacks, 1970-1971, and Schenkein, 1978) to examine how the L2 user can participate as a distinct individual in L2- L2 talk as opposed to interacting as an anonymous language user. Second-language interpersonal talk is problematic because the language user seeks to conform with others but, at the same time, wants to interact in creative ways. In discussing creative language use, I build on the work of Mead and his distinction between the creative I and the socially-conforming me and argue that L2-L2 creative language use is jointly constructed between second-language users as they seek to develop successful social relations. I aim to analyse the problematic nature of L2 interpersonal language by examining data collected on second-language users engaged in L2-L2 small talk in a target-language context and through interviews with such users. While building on Aston's description of solidarity and supportiveness in L2 interpersonal discourse, I also explore how creative language use allows the second-language user to achieve successful social relations and, at the same time, helps her to interact in her own distinctive way.

No description available.

An examination of the motivational and attitudinal aspects of Greek supplementary school attendance in London provided data for a test of the Fishbein/Ajzen model of reasoned action. The study had two basic aims. First, to obtain urgently needed empirical data on the motivational and attitudinal aspects of supplementary school attendance and, second, to probe into the utility of the theory of reasoned action in explaining the attitudes and behaviour of pupils attending these schools. In achieving the first aim a questionnaire was administered to pupils attending Greek supplementary schools which provided information on the basis of which three issues were examined: The relevance of and pupils' preference for the activities provided by the school; the role and application of the integrative and instrumental orientations in determining pupils' attitudes and behaviour in learning their mother tongue; the implication of the contrasting conceptions of Greek School teachers and mainstream English school teachers for motivation and attainment. In achieving the second aim a series of observations provided essential indices of attitudes toward the Greek School and the Greek School teachers all leading to a quantification of a general Attitude to Greek School Attendance. Scales were also devised to determine subjective norms from ethnic identification, acculturation, and integrative motivation. The resulting LISREL analysis supported the fit of the model to the data and demonstrated the powerful predictive value of social norms in determining positive behaviour to these schools. The study is set against the background of current issues in attitudinal and motivational studies as well as issues related with multicultural education, which provide the framework for interpretation of the findings.

There are many advantages to learning a foreign language, such as a better understanding of another culture, a better chance of employment, as well as metalinguistic and cognitive benefits. Unfortunately, language learning can be a long and difficult process, partly because of the amount of words necessary to achieve fluency in a language. However, informal exposure to languages can help language learning. The aim of this thesis was to explore the impact of informal exposure on the incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary with complete beginners in a foreign language. This was investigated in the context of multi-modal situations including verbal (auditory and written) and pictorial information. The first study investigated the acquisition of foreign language vocabulary through watching a film with subtitles, as well as the processing of subtitles using eye-tracking. In the second study, a simpler multi-modal situation (one spoken and written foreign language word form along with a line drawing depicting the meaning of the word) was used to investigate incidental vocabulary acquisition. In addition, this study investigated the use of a potentially more sensitive measure of early vocabulary learning based on the savings paradigm. The third study reported in this thesis explored the number of exposures to multi-modal stimuli necessary for incidental learning to occur. The fourth study, explored the type of connections resulting from the multi-modal incidental learning situation in the context of the current models of FL word learning. Finally, in the fifth study, the allocation of attention to the verbal and pictorial elements of the multi-modal situation were investigated using eye-tracking, as well as the impact of attention on vocabulary acquisition. The results of the studies presented in this thesis showed that incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary happens rapidly during a simple multi-modal situation, and that the pictorial information plays an important role. Furthermore, this type of situation was shown to be effective even with complete beginners in a foreign language and therefore could be exploited to promote informal language learning.

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate teachers’ beliefs about a fundamental aspect of foreign language teaching: grammar. Whilst progressively reinstated in the national curriculum and consistently sustained by foreign languages teachers’ practices, grammar’s perceived irrelevance for assessment criteria of the nationally adopted method of assessment - the General Certificate of Secondary Education – kept it caught in conflicting discourses of policy, linguistic research and teaching practices. Whilst foreign languages policy and practice kept converging towards increasing focus on forms in language education along correspondences with linguistic research, the assessment has remained focused on generic communicative, skill-focused criteria. My small-scale research aimed to find how foreign languages teachers translated grammar teaching policy and possible theoretical guidelines in their teaching practices, by collecting data through interviews, observations and think-alouds. The findings revealed disparate educational contexts, approaches, as well as interpretations of grammar teaching. It led me to realise the necessity to probe further into a much more thorough theoretical and methodological underpinning of foreign languages education. As this study concludes, the secondary foreign languages curriculum has become disapplied, and schools and teachers have been left to devise their idiosyncratic foreign language learning strategies and rationales. As foreign languages teaching becomes anchored in the primary education curricular provision, this research hopes to document the need to frame theoretical and methodological guidelines, a consistent foreign languages education rationale, leading to a consistent and convincing education and provision of future foreign language teachers.

While research provides evidence for the educational and social value of bilingual children using and learning their home language, it also suggests approaches which support such additive bilingualism are not a common feature of English primary schools. This study sheds light on practitioner perspectives with regard to their bilingual pupils’ learning and use of their home language, the repertoires they employ when discussing their bilingual pupils’, and the extent to which practitioner talk promotes or undermines additive bilingualism. The study is based on a multi-method collection and analysis of data, consisting of a review of practitioner talk in existing literature, practitioner survey and discussion groups, and pupil survey and discussion groups to explore pupils’ perceptions of teacher perspectives. The study identifies key repertoires which represent positions both for and against additive bilingualism, and also describes how particular repertoires can support or undermine additive bilingualism depending on the starting point of the conversation. Quantitative analysis indicated differences in perspectives in relation to practitioners’ stage of career and the key stage they worked in. Structuration theory was drawn on to explain resistance to suggestions to change in practice, and make links between practitioner discourses and those in society more broadly.