Recently, a new policy of the reformed Saudi educational system with regard to teaching English as a foreign language in the last two years of primary schools has caused ongoing debate among educators. The local media has its share in that debate with the views of both the supporters and the opposition. This research focuses on the parents’ views and their parental choices in having their children introduced to English at an early stage. The research looks at parents who decide to have their children introduced to English at pre-school level; the rationale for parents’ choices at this stage of education is crucial, as this sort of education is not compulsory and therefore the decision is completely parental. Moreover, parents who were involved in the study put their children in a private kindergarten where English is introduced as part of Early Years Learning (EYL) programme. The context of the study is Al-Madinah, one of the most important cities for Muslims around the world; the city has its own history in foreign languages, and the people are used to foreigners. Even though the study adopts a qualitative approach, questionnaires were sent to 13 private kindergartens for both head teachers and English language teachers in order to explore the wide view of the status of English in private kindergartens in Al-Madinah. Data collection went through three stages in which Rowad, a private kindergarten was the case for the study. The study had 19 mothers involved in the first stage. Mothers rationalised their choices with academic-like discussion to emphasise their children’s moral imperative to early years learning; they also highlighted the importance of early exposure to English. Being from an advanced minority group, the decisions mothers made were affected by several social attributes; their cultural capital along with their social capital have had an impact in the way they justify their choices. VIII The study succeeded in investigating the views of some mothers in the city of Al-Madinah about early exposure to English as a foreign language, and helped in providing the views of parents with regard to the issue alongside the existing views of educators and researchers.

Although the role of songs in the primary EFL classroom has attracted the interest of a number of researchers (Newham 1995; McMullen and Saffran 2004; Millington 2011), given the frequency with which songs are being used in English language teaching classrooms, it might have been expected that Cyprus would wish to play a role in extending research findings and applying them to its own educational setting. Yet the lack of research with young learners is particularly acute in the Cypriot Primary School EFL context where pupils have been working for the last 15 years with very outdated textbooks. Evidence of the effectiveness of using songs to learn English has come mainly from studies in other countries mainly with older pupils in middle and high schools, (Adkins 1997; Millington 2011; Fonseca-Mora et al. 2011). My research, therefore, aims to address this gap by attempting to find out whether songs could play an important role in learning a foreign language with Cypriot learners of 9-12, an age range that has not so far been addressed in the literature. In my study, I examine the potential of songs as a valuable pedagogical tool to help young pupils learn English. More specifically, I investigate the role of songs (1) in arousing positive emotions in the primary language classroom and (2) in determining whether and to what extent positive emotions can help to reinforce the grammatical structures being taught and aid vocabulary acquisition. Using an ethnographic case study framework, my study attempted, through the use of quantitative and qualitative methods, to assess the effectiveness of working with songs in the EFL classroom. The findings of this research revealed that the majority of pupils taking part in the study following the normal EFL curriculum which involved two 40-minute EFL lessons a week, showed considerable improvement in language learning after the use of songs. This suggested that the framework of EFL competence in Cyprus might also benefit from the implementation of songs into the current English language curriculum.

The numbers of children in primary education (UK) who have English as a second or additional language is increasing, to the point that in some areas English speaking pupils are in the minority (Guardian 2013). How such children are being taught English language skills became the impetus for the research. The focus of the study is on examining, the effectiveness of differing approaches to the teaching of English as a second language, the role of second language learner support, and the strategies used to communicate effectively with parents. This is a longitudinal study conducted over a three year period, as it follows a cohort of children from reception to year 2. In participation were 5 primary schools, 15 members of staff, around 150 children and 100 parents. The methodology involved the observation of children, and staff; interviews with staff; focus groups with parents; an analysis of national policy and literacy initiatives. The findings revealed that across different schools the common feature was for the class teacher to take overall responsibility for the planning and implementation of strategies for teaching English. The role of support staff varied depending on the cultural make-up of the school. One significant difference was the extent to which creativity was employed in teaching; this was one factor that appeared to have the greatest impact on successful outcomes. The role of adult learner support was inconsistent, as was the opportunity for children to engage in peer tutoring with those who spoke English as their first language. All settings set out to establish strong links with parents, and acted in response to local needs. The major implications of the study are on the need to address issues of cultural awareness, and specific second language teaching as part of both initial and in service training for teachers; the training of bi-lingual support workers needs to be more rigorous. One very clear aspect emerging from the study is the difference between schools and, therefore the educational experiences of children.

It has been suggested that Assessment for Learning (AfL) plays a significant role in enhancing teaching and learning in mainstream educational contexts. However, little empirical evidence can support these claims. As AfL has been shown to be enacted predominantly through interactions in primary classes, there is a need to understand if it is appropriate, whether it can be efficiently used in teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) and how it can facilitate learning in such a context. This emerging research focus gains currency especially in the light of SLA research, which suggests the important role of interactions in foreign language learning. This mixed-method, descriptive and exploratory study aims to investigate how teachers of learners aged 7-11 understand AfL; how they implement it; and the impact that such implementation could have on interactions which occur during lessons. The data were collected through lesson observations, scrutiny of school documents, semi-structured interviews and a focus group interview with teachers. The findings indicate that fitness for purpose guides the implementation of AfL in TEYL classrooms. Significantly, the study has revealed differences in the implementation of AfL between classes of 7-9 and 10-11 year olds within each of the three purposes (setting objectives and expectations; monitoring performance; and checking achievement) identified through the data. Another important finding of this study is the empirical evidence suggesting that the use of AfL could facilitate creating conditions conducive to learning in TEYL classes during collaborative and expert/novice interactions. The findings suggest that teachers’ understanding of AfL is largely aligned with the theoretical frameworks (Black & Wiliam, 2009; Swaffield, 2011) already available. However, they also demonstrate that there are TEYL specific characteristics. This research has important pedagogical implications and indicates a number of areas for further research.

The purpose of this study is to compare the pedagogic efficiency of two methods for teaching listening comprehension: the cognitive strategy-based instruction method (CSBM) and the metacognitive strategy-based instruction method (MetSBM). Both instruction methods are inspired by cognitive linguistics. While CSBM is a traditional and well-established method for teaching listening comprehension in an EFL context, MetSBM is a relatively recent method. Additionally, this study aims to evaluate the way in which three co-variables – vocabulary knowledge, word recognition, and working memory – contribute to individual differences in listening comprehension. The subjects of this study, 44 female students studying on an intensive English programme at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), were placed in two groups and taught a range of listening comprehension strategies, in accordance with the MSBM and the mainstream CSBM. In order to assess the pedagogical value of both methods, a listening comprehension test (LCT) was used as a pre- and post-test. An adapted Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) was additionally used to measure the degree of the participants’ metacognitive awareness in relation to their listening comprehension abilities. As for the co-variables, four pre- and post tests were conducted: the Vocabulary Knowledge Test (VKK1) and (VKK2) to measure the students’ vocabulary knowledge, the Aural Word Recognition (AWR) test to measure the participants’ ability to recognise words in a spoken passage, the Orthographic Word Recognition (OWR) test to gauge the students’ ability in recognising written words, and finally a Working Memory Span (WMS) test to measure the participants’ WM capacities while listening for comprehension. The results of the post LCT suggest that the newer MetSBM approach is more effective for teaching and learning how to listen for comprehension than the traditional CSBM. Similarly, MetSBM had a greater impact in raising metacognitive awareness among the participants of the experimental group in relation to their comprehension abilities. In total, my results show that six variables come into play in the experimental participants’ listening comprehension: Aural Word Recognition (AWR), MALQ Planning/Evaluation, Orthographic Word Recognition (OWR), MALQ Problem-solving, MALQ Directed Attention, and Working Memory (WM). With regard to the control participants, four variables were involved with their listening comprehension: Aural Word Recognition, Working Memory, decrease in MALQ Mental Translation, and MALQ Person Knowledge. In the light of these findings, a number of recommendations to teachers, material developers and researchers are provided. My study contributes to the field of listening comprehension in an Arab context, a setting that has so far received little attention. It reveals how listening comprehension has so far been treated in the English syllabuses directed at UAE learners. In addition, it equips English teachers with feasible ways of teaching listening comprehension more efficiently, thereby improving the learners’ ability to apply both cognitive and metacognitive strategies more easily. In addition, the present study helps material developers to include metacognitive strategies as well as word recognition based activities in their listening comprehension materials. Finally, and importantly, my study addresses some of the pitfalls of previous studies on teaching listening strategies within the framework of cognitive linguistics.

This thesis presents an investigation of the beliefs, personal epistemologies and knowledge held by 8 teachers of primary age pupils in Years 5 and 6 about the teaching of grammar, and whether learning grammar brings about an improvement in writing. The study was divided into three parts. In the first phase the teachers were interviewed about their knowledge and understanding of grammar before being taught an unfamiliar grammar programme to be administered to their classes. They were each filmed teaching a grammar-based lesson. After nine months the teachers were interviewed once more and a further grammar-based lesson was filmed. Fifteen months after the start of the project they were interviewed and filmed for a final time. The semi-structured interviews were designed to elicit their espoused changing attitudes to grammar teaching and to trace any increases in grammar knowledge over the period of the research. The filmed lessons enabled comparisons to be made between the teachers’ claims relating to their changing knowledge and pedagogies and what was actually evidenced in lessons. Interview answers were initially inductively open coded and then subjected to axial coding, leading to the identification of four main themes on which the findings have been based: subject knowledge; personal epistemologies; teacher pedagogies and pupil progress. This study is important as it is concerned with what primary teachers know about, and their epistemological positions relating to, the teaching of grammar at an unprecedented time in English education, when they must all include the teaching of grammar in their curriculum for the first time.

Researchers and teachers have long been interested in the relationship between foreign language anxiety and second language learning and have generally agreed on the negative relationship between the two. Over the last few decades, a considerable amount of research has been dedicated to examining second language learners' experiences with foreign language anxiety. However, it appears it has been forgotten that non-native student teachers are also, in essence, language learners themselves, although of a higher level of target language proficiency. Thus, affective variables such as language anxiety which have been documented to play an important role in the experiences of language learners are also relevant to the experiences of non-native student teachers. However, a review of the literature reveals that very little is known about non-native student teachers' feelings of language anxiety. This thesis argues that non-native student teachers are just as susceptible to feelings of language anxiety as are inexperienced language learners — a claim which carries important implications for not only the EFL classroom, but also non-native student teacher education. To investigate non-native student teachers' feelings of language anxiety, extensive interviews were conducted with four non-native EFL student teachers approaching the end of their second language teacher education program to investigate the potential sources and effects of such feelings. The analysis of the interview data indicates that the language anxiety experienced by these four non-native student teachers adversely affects their performance in the target language and also how they intend to teach the target language in their future classrooms. Based on the findings, the thesis also proposes steps towards helping non-native student teachers cope with, and hopefully eventually overcome their feelings of language anxiety.

Second-language learning issues have been debated extensively over the past three decades. Long-term studies have focused on language-medium policy rather than on oral and reading development. Short-term studies have relied on pupils who can already read. The of-ects that alternative policies may have on the development of reading in children have, so far, only been considered theoretically. The sociology of language learning has received little attention. Consequently, the prevailing local linguistic and social conditions are often ignored in the debate about which language pupils should learn to read first. There are many assumptions about when, and how these children might best learn to read which language. These assumptions need to be examined empirically. This is a study of primary-school pupils who learn two languages, and experience a switch in the medium of instruction while they are still learning to read. In order to shed light on their learning-to-read development, this study examines fundamental questions about language acquisition, language learning, literacy and the reading process. Language-medium issues and a review of relevant second-language studies provide a focus for this examination. In the field-work, 386 Hausa-speaking primary-school pupils in Kaduna State, Nigeria, undertook a series of graded criterion-referenced reading and pre-reading tests. The performance of these pupils in the tests shows that, even after five years' exposure to Hausa and English reading materials and two years of English-medium instruction, as many as 20% of primary six pupils are unable tc read at all, and less than 50% of them are able to read either the English or Hausa language course books recommended for use in classes three and four. The results indicate that transfer of learning between Hausa and English can take place when English is the medium of instruction and that transfer could be in either direction. The results and analysis clearly show how important oral learning is in reading development and that sociological variables have a significant effect upon children's learningto- read development. The assumption that the benefits of learning to read first in the mother tongue is by no means fully supported by the findings of this study.

Extensive research with monolingual children has established the importance of early code-related skills, memory, and oral language for children’s future literacy attainment, but less is known about the development of these skills in children who learn English as an Additional Language (EAL) in school. As there has been a particular lack of longitudinal research with this population spanning development during preschool and into early education, the aim of this thesis was to examine the performance and development of EAL children on measures of phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid automatized naming, verbal memory, and oral language during this time frame. Additionally, once EAL children reached school age, their skills on these measures were compared to those of their monolingual peers, and the role of these cognitive and linguistic abilities in explaining individual differences in literacy skills (reading accuracy, fluency, comprehension, and spelling) was compared across groups. EAL children from diverse linguistic backgrounds (N=96) were first recruited in Nursery (3;7 years), and were reassessed in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2. Monolingual children (N=53) from the same schools were recruited and assessed in Years 1 and 2. Comparisons to both norms and the monolingual groups suggested that although EAL children’s cognitive and linguistic skills in English were very limited during Nursery, these skills showed accelerated development during Nursery to Reception, and their code-related and memory skills were very similar to those of monolingual children by the time they reached Reception or Year 1. However, oral language remained an area of weakness for these children, even at the final testing point. Finally, there were group differences in the contributions of cognitive and linguistic predictors to explaining differences in literacy outcomes. The relevance of these findings for our understanding of bilingual literacy development and the practical implications of this work are discussed.

Although many children become literate within an environment in which different language systems exist, there is still little research on what children know about different writing systems and how they understand and develop them when they are learning more than one alongside each other. Based on sociocultural theory and the concept of emergent literacy, which assume children as active language users in social processes, this research explores how Korean preschool children aged six make use of literacy knowledge and skills, and how they understand two different scripts, the Korean alphabet Hangul and the Roman alphabet used for English, in a foreign language context. 10 Korean EFL preschool children took part in peer teaching sessions, in 5 pairs, with each pair having a tutor child, aged 6, and a pupil, aged, 5. The tutor children taught literacy in both Hangul and English to the tutee children, and they led each teaching session in their own ways as active participants by using their own materials brought from their classrooms or homes as a teaching resource. The tutor children’s communicative interactions around reading and writing, written explanations presented on the paper, their behaviours, comments and responses during the peer teaching were observed and analyzed focusing on the meaning of what each child said, acted and wrote. The findings showed that the children were able to use their literacy knowledge and skills whilst engaged in literacy activities, and those knowledge and skills were shown in both two languages, at different levels: context, texts, sentences, words, syllables, morphemes, and sounds-letters. The findings also showed that they were able not only to find out key orthographic principles which characterise each writing system but also to seek the similarities and differences between two languages from different points of views: shape of letters (block shaped vs. linear), language units (syllables vs. letters), and sound-letter relationship (shallow orthography vs. deep orthography). The findings of this study suggest that young children are able to look for key concepts from different scripts from an early age, with the use of their literacy knowledge and skills in each script as active language learners.