In some instances, first-time native English speaking teachers embarking on one-year contracts in South Korea have little or no experience with either teaching, or with the English as a Second Language (ESL) context. Further, research on the knowledge base of first-time teachers and how this knowledge base links to their experiences in the classroom is relatively limited. This thesis argues that there are certain patterns and coping mechanisms that first-time native English speaking teachers use in the preschool classroom in order to complete their first year of ESL teaching. It proposes that these teachers are faced, not only with teaching dilemmas, but with external issues relating to ‘culture shock,’ which influence their practices in the classroom. This mixed methods case-study examines four first-time native English speaking North American ESL teachers employed at a private preschool (hagwon) in South Korea over the first 12 weeks of their year-long contracts. The data derive from interviews, journal entries and classroom observations collected in Korea in 2010-2011. Findings, which were coded and evaluated using the software programs atlas.ti and SPSS, suggest that the use of ‘practical knowledge’ (experiences or reflections teachers have based on past experiences) in the classroom is necessary, as little direction is given by the staff and training is unavailable. Moreover, teacher enthusiasm and motivation in the classroom and with administrative tasks is quickly muted due to various cultural differences. Main differences include the disparity between levels of support expected and those offered by Korean staff, a language barrier between Korean and English and difficulties when coping with some external issues specific to life in Korea. Further, findings related to some of the discipline techniques in the classroom suggest that consistency in the classroom is an issue when dealing with instances of ‘specific misbehaviour’ and strategies employed by first-time English teachers are often ineffective in the classroom as a result. Based on these findings it is questionable as to whether native English speaking teachers are the best option for private preschools in Korea.

This study aims to explore the affordances offered by online role-playing games like RuneScape in learning English vocabulary and developing reading skills, and to examine whether there is any relationship between playing RuneScape and Korean children's vocabulary and reading skills. I sampled five elementary students (1 female and 4 males, aged 10-11), who played RuneScape for 30 minutes per session for 9 to 14 sessions in a private English institute in South Korea. I collected the text data through retrieving the text from the recordings of participants’ game-plays using a screen recorder. The observation data was attained by observing them playing games through participant observation, observation framework and field notes. I analysed the English text learners would encounter when playing Runescape, and using observation, attempted to describe the vocabulary and reading strategies they tend to use whilst playing. The findings showed that participants encountered the seven categories of vocabulary whilst playing: generally-used vocabulary, fixed phrases, RuneScape vernacular, lexis specific to computer games, chat speak (acronyms and abbreviations), emoticons and reduplication. From the observation data, I found that participants used the following vocabulary strategies: looking up in a dictionary, verbalising vocabulary and guessing meanings verbally. Reading strategies were: clicking, verbalising, reading texts aloud, translating and typing. The findings suggest that there is relationship between playing RuneScape and vocabulary and reading skills. However, Korean children do not get sufficient practice in their use of vocabulary and reading skills for pragmatic purposes in their English classrooms, due to time limitations and large classes. Children tend to lack instrumental motivation for learning English, so the fun and interest of playing games might help engage them in learning English. I would argue therefore that online role-playing games have the potential for Korean children as a useful supplementary tool for developing vocabulary and reading skills.

No description available.

This study investigates the teaching methods for EFL speaking in developed secondary schools for females in Saudi Arabia. The research methodology employed in this study was a qualitative case study, in which the main data collection techniques are classroom observations and interviewing. The study aims to understand and evaluate the teaching methods of EFL speaking by determining the extent in which the teaching methods of EFL speaking address the different aspects of speaking, based on the theoretical conceptualisation presented in the thesis, namely accuracy versus fluency, speaking functions, speaking as a skill versus knowledge of the language, communication routines, negotiation skills, speaking strategies, and conversation features. The study also examines the use of mother tongue in the classroom by the teachers as well as the students and its purpose. The findings of classroom observation reveal that the teachers mostly implement a traditional method of teaching, where instruction is led by the teachers and the roles are rigidly defined. However, the communicative approach is employed to some extent by the teachers, where group work is sometimes used. The classroom interaction is led and dominated by the teachers, where students’ contribution to classroom talk is limited. In addition, the various aspects of EFL speaking were not taught explicitly to the students. Hence, there is not any guarantee that all students will acquire the desired skills of EFL speaking. It is found also that the English language is largely employed by the teachers in the classrooms, where their use of the mother tongue is limited. However, the students use Arabic most of the time. In addition, the study provides an understanding of the teachers’ and students’ opinions about EFL learning, their EFL speaking knowledge, the nature of EFL speaking and its value, and the current EFL speaking teaching methods. The interview data reveals that the teachers and students generally have a positive attitude towards English language learning and show a desire to develop their English language speaking. However, the teachers and students have an undeveloped understanding about the nature of EFL speaking and its related aspects. The teachers believe that the current teaching methods are a good way to teach EFL speaking. However, they believe the speaking skill does not receive enough emphasis in the textbook. The students, on the other hand, are not satisfied with the teaching strategies they experience, and most of them declare that these strategies need to be modified, as they believe that they don’t have enough opportunities to practice the language in the classroom. The thesis provided detailed description of how EFL speaking is taught inside the developed secondary schools for females in Saudi Arabia and proposed recommendations to improve it.

An international school (BES) in Greece, overwhelmingly attended by Greek origin children, has adopted, as its language policy, English as the ‘official’ medium of interaction, including in the Reception classroom, the target of this research. That is, through its language policy, the school aims to promote the learning and use of English throughout school. At the same time, the school has adopted ‘free interaction’ in designated play areas as its pedagogical approach. The aim of this approach is to promote learners’ autonomy and, in the particular case, it could be interpreted as including the possibility of using Greek. Thus, a conflicting situation has developed: how to reconcile the school’s English monolingual language policy and the pedagogical approach in the play areas? Reception educators are expected to police the use of English in the kids’ play areas without however undermining children’s autonomy and/or disrupting their ‘free interaction’. The feelings and views expressed by educators show that they are seriously concerned about how this conflicting situation can be approached. The aim of this thesis is to respond to this issue of concern by providing a detailed description of how the school’s conflicting policies are actually lived in the educators’ and pupils’ language choice practices in the play areas of their classroom. By adopting the Applied Conversation Analytic perspective of “description-informed action” (Richards 2005), a perspective whereby practitioners are made aware of their own practices and are left to “make (their own) decisions regarding the continuation or modification” of their own policies and practices (Heap, 1990: 47), the aim is to raise BES stakeholders’ awareness about the possible advantages, possibilities and limitations of their policies and practices in Reception, and thus pave the way to more informed language policy making and practice in the school. The data consists of audio-recorded naturally occurring child-child and childadult interactions in the school’s play areas. The analytic framework draws on Spolsky (2004), for whom “the real language policy of a community” resides in its language practices (hence the notion of ‘practiced language policy’), and on conversation analytic methodologies applied to language choice (Auer 1984, Gafaranga 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007a, 2009). The key finding is that, adult school members and children respond to the school’s conflicting policy demands in different ways, i.e. by orienting to different ‘practiced language policies’. On the one hand, as the adults’ ‘medium request’ (Gafaranga 2010) practices in the kids’ play areas demonstrate, from the adult perspective, at all times, participants need to attend to a language preference that is ‘institutionally-assigned’, i.e. adults orient to a ‘practiced language policy’ that is in line with the “declared” (Shohamy 2006) English monolingual language policy of the school. This shows that they have responded to the school’s conflicting policy demands by prioritising the school’s language policy (use of English) at the expense of the pedagogical approach (learners’ autonomy). On the other hand, children approach the conflicting situation differently. Children seem to have developed an alternative ‘practiced language policy’ according to which language choice during peer group interaction is not organised around the school’s “declared” (ibid) language policy but around their interlocutor’s “linguistic identity” (Gafaranga 2001). This alternative language policy allows the kids to attend to the pedagogical approach (learner autonomy and free interaction).

This thesis presents the rationale, design and outcomes of an action research study carried out in Northeast Brazil on the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers of English as a second language (ESL). Municipal ESL teachers in Northeast Brazil are faced with problems such as the scarcity or lack of resources; lack of opportunities for CPD courses; lack of attention to English on the part of the government; and classes which are too large. In my action research a CPD course was designed and delivered to 20 in-service municipal ESL teachers. The course has had the purpose of providing those teachers with an opportunity to improve their own linguistic skills and confidence as teachers of English writing, and of equipping them to find longer term solutions for the challenges they encounter in their practice. It was based on reflective practice and related professional development theory (Dewey, 1933; Freire, 1972, 1974; Mann and Walsh, 2013; Schön, 1983; Allwright, 2003; Guskey, 2000; Jay and Johnson, 2002), with a focus on writing and creativity (Harmer, 2007; Hyland, 2003; Zemach and Rumisek, 2005; Raimes, 1983a, 1983b, 2002, Moon, 2008; Pavlenko, 2002). The study was guided by the key research question: “How can a continuing professional development course grounded in reflective practice with a focus on writing impact Northeast Brazil ESL teachers’ attitudes and planning?” The tools utilised to address the key question and other related sub- questions were in-class pieces of writing, and workshops carried out in the course for design of teaching materials, as well as focus groups, interviews, and class discussions. Results show that even though teachers are faced with scarcity of resources in their teaching, they could respond to opportunities for professional reflection, and were also willing to plan more engaging, creative and meaningful activities. However, some found it hard to leave behind traditional practices involving the teaching of fragmented language, with no opportunity for contextualized writing. The analysed results show encouraging signs that teachers working in difficult circumstances can benefit from the opportunity to share ideas and together design teaching materials applicable in their context, and that dialogical intervention in the CPD course is the right path to foster teachers’ professional development in unfavourable settings.

Vocabulary is well acknowledged as playing a critical role in language and reading development for young children, particularly for children learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in school (Scarborough, 2001; Stahl & Nagy, 2005). However, most previous research on vocabulary has focused on measuring individual words and failed to examine knowledge of multi-word phrases, despite corpus evidence that these items are common in the English lexicon (Erman & Warren, 2000). The nature of multi-word vocabulary knowledge and its possible contribution to literacy skills among children remains underexplored, possibly due to a lack of available suitable measures. The current thesis details the development and administration of an original multi-word phrase task containing transparent, semi-transparent and non-transparent verb + object phrases to 108 British monolingual English speakers and learners with EAL in school years 3, 4 and 5. Results showed a strong effect of item transparency, even greater than frequency. Year 4 monolingual English speakers had significantly higher scores than year 3 monolingual learners on non-transparent items, while among learners with EAL year 3 and 4 performances were similar and year 5 learners’ scores were significantly higher. The second phase of the study explored the contribution of multi-word phrase knowledge to reading among 40 year 4 monolingual English speaking children and Bengali speakers with EAL. Multiple regression analysis showed that multi-word task performance accounted for a significant amount of variance in reading scores, when controlling for non-verbal intelligence, receptive and expressive single word vocabulary and language background. These findings are of import for increasing our understanding of vocabulary development among young learners and provide insight into the particular needs of learners with EAL.

Στην παρούσα εργασία καταγράφονται, διερευνώνται και αποτιμώνται οι απόψεις των εκπαιδευτικών-στελεχών Πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης Περιφέρειας Δυτικής Ελλάδας σε σχέση με την εφαρμογή της εισαγωγής της δεύτερης ξένης γλώσσας στο ελληνικό δημοτικό σχολείο. Στο Πρώτο Μέρος της εργασίας παρουσιάζεται το Θεωρητικό Πλαίσιο της εργασίας, για τη διαμόρφωση του οποίου αξιοποιήθηκε η νέο-θεσμική θεωρία του Scott, η οποία και αποτέλεσε τη βάση για την ανάλυση του υπό διερεύνηση ζητήματος. Αναφέρονται οι τρεις άξονες ανάλυσης τους οποίους εισηγείται ο Scott για τη διερεύνηση αλλαγών σε θεσμικό επίπεδο εκπαιδευτικών ιδρυμάτων, δηλαδή των σχολικών μονάδων. Για την πλήρη θεωρητική, εμπειρική και ποιοτική κάλυψη του ζητήματος της εισαγωγής της δεύτερης ξένης γλώσσας στο Ελληνικό Δημοτικό Σχολείο, με βάση την κοινή Ευρωπαϊκή τάση για την προώθηση της γλωσσομάθειας, γίνεται εκτενής αναφορά στο σχετικό Ευρωπαϊκό ρηματικό λόγο. Επίσης παρουσιάζονται οι βασικοί άξονες και το περιεχόμενο των αντίστοιχων ΔΕΠΠΣ και ΑΠΣ για το Δημοτικό Σχολείο στη βάσει των οποίων έχει εκπονηθεί το ανάλογο εκπαιδευτικό υλικό, έντυπο και ηλεκτρονικό. Στο Δεύτερο Μέρος της εργασίας περιγράφεται η μεθοδολογία Διεξαγωγής της Εμπειρικής Έρευνας η οποία πραγματοποιήθηκε σε 230 6/θέσια και άνω Δημοτικά σχολεία της Περιφέρειας Δυτικής Ελλάδας. Στην έρευνα υιοθετούνται συμπληρωματικές τεχνικές συλλογής και ανάλυσης των δεδομένων, αυτές της ημι-δομημένης συνέντευξης και του ειδικά διαμορφωμένου ερωτηματολογίου. Ακολουθεί η παρουσίαση των Αποτελεσμάτων της έρευνας, η συζήτηση των Ευρημάτων και η παρουσίαση των Συμπερασμάτων. Η εργασία ολοκληρώνεται με τη διατύπωση Προτάσεων για περαιτέρω έρευνα. / -

The aim of this thesis was to better understand English as second language Nigerian children’s reading comprehension attainment, the first such study to be conducted in Nigeria. In the thesis three studies were conducted to investigate the influence of cognitive and decoding/reading skills on the children’s reading comprehension attainment, namely the preliminary study (Chapter-3) with one primary school in Nigeria, the main study (Chapter-4) with 13 state-run primary schools, and the control study (Chapter-5) including four primary schools in London, respectively. It was found that English as second language children’s reading comprehension performance is significantly influenced by cognitive, decoding and chronological age. The development of cognitive skills which is necessary for success in reading comprehension development is also dependent upon chronological age. That is, age-related increase in cognitive skills brings about increased engagement and more efficient reading comprehension attainment in the children. The normal cognitive development of the children had a positive role also on the children’s performance on language tests necessary for text comprehension. The study found that school socioeconomic background played a significant impact in the performance of Nigerian English as second language children – the better the socioeconomic background of the school the higher the reading comprehension attainment of the children. Furthermore gender was not a factor in the performance and development of reading comprehension by English as Second Language Nigerian children. This implies that parents, teachers and schools motivate and support children irrespective of being boys or girls to realise their full potentials without any discrimination. Having reviewed few theories of reading acquisition/development, the Simple view of reading (SVR) was found to be more appropriate for adoption in this study of Nigerian English as second language children’s reading comprehension attainment. The theory postulates that text comprehension is achieved when children have decoding skills and linguistic comprehension knowledge. The results obtained in Chapters 3 and 4 were in line with the Simple view of reading’s assertion – text comprehension depends on decoding and cognitive skills.

The thesis examines the concept of normalisation of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), i.e. complete, effective integration of technology, in the context of primary Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in England. While normalisation research is conducted predominantly in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, understanding normalisation in the primary mainstream education in England is important due to the contrast between teachers’ lack of readiness to deliver languages as part of the National Curriculum, and technology penetration in the classrooms. This thesis therefore, taking a sociocultural perspective of Activity Theory, attempts to redefine normalisation to include context specific characteristics, identify what factors contribute to and impede normalisation, and assess where primary CALL is on route to normalisation. An ethnographic approach was deemed to be most suitable to gain deep understanding of normalisation. Prolonged immersion in a primary school and the thematic analysis of observations, interviews, field notes and audio recordings revealed that factors impeding normalisation of primary CALL revolve around the following areas: attitudes, logistics, training and support and pedagogy. The issues related to the subject itself, e.g. negative attitudes toward the subject, lack of skills, impact on the achievement of normalisation to larger extent than issues related to technology. Hence in the primary context, normalisation needs to be considered from the point of view of normalisation of MFL and then the technology that is embedded into MFL. The analysis of the data allowed the researcher to create a model which serves as a form of audit of factors that need to be considered when thinking of successful technology integration into languages. Such guidance is needed for the primary MFL context having reoccurring issues, but is also relevant to primary EFL contexts in Europe where similar problems related to teaching of the subject are reported.