Abstract not available.

Students are human beings; they, like all of us, make mistakes. In the language classroom, these mistakes may be written, spoken, and even thought. How, if, when, under what conditions and to what degree these errors are treated is of current concern in research regarding language acquisition. In their metaanalysis of interactional feedback, Mackey and Goo (2007) report that the utilization of feedback is beneficial and find evidence that feedback within the context of a focus on form environment is also facilitative of acquisition, echoing Norris and Ortega’s (2000) positive findings regarding focus on form research. Thus, the role of feedback has found a somewhat limited, very informative and equally persuasive niche in current theory building and research. There is lack of research specifically addressing the role and effects of forms of feedback, other than recasts, namely prompts, in the second language classroom where the focus in on language use as a means of communication rather than the objectification of it. This context employs focus on form, a brief pedagogical intervention that momentarily shifts the focus of the class from meaning to linguistic form (See Long, 1991). Because prompts withhold correct forms (Lyster, 2004; Lyster & Saito, 2010), encourage students to simultaneously notice and self-correct (Lyster & Ranta, 1997), and push modified, student-generated output (de Bot, 1996; Lyster & Izquierdo, 2009; Lyster & Saito, 2010; Swain & Lapkin, 1995), they may be theoretically more appropriate for a focus on form context. This study examines this role in its function and efficacy comparing an implicit prompt, the clarification request, with an explicit prompt, metalinguistic feedback on students’ spoken errors in the use of a very complex target structure, the subjunctive in nominal clauses in Spanish. Efficacy of the feedback is measured through successful student uptake, that is, whether or not students are able to self-repair as a result of the intervention and then through development operationalized as mean gains in a pre-test/post-test design. Statistical significance is shown for uptake with metalinguistic feedback only, however no development is shown as a result of any feedback due to the target structure’s acquisition complexity.

This dissertation examines the four novels published to date by Milton Hatoum, a contemporary Lebanese-Brazilian author from the Amazon region. There are a great number of critical readings of his work that foreground the postmodern dissolution and fragmentation of the self, of human relationships, and also of national identity. In contrast to such approaches, I propose what I call a reading of hope. I argue that Hatoum is at the forefront of a shift in sensibility in Brazilian literature, one that simultaneously demonstrates certain aspects of postmodernism, but also breaks with other elements of it. In order to illustrate this issue, I analyze how Hatoum’s characters forge personal identities, utilizing the mythological symbol of the uroboro (the snake that bites its own tail) as the organizing structure of my analysis. The uroboro has historically been used to represent circularity in the cycles of nature, communal and personal renewal, the return to origins, and self-reflection. In addition to circularity, the symbol has also been visually depicted as half black and half white, creating a duality that stresses interdependence rather than binary logic. With the above characteristics of circularity and duality in mind, the postmodern aspect that I analyze in Hatoum’s work is its break with binary logic. First, I identify a variety of dualities extant in the novels, from language and silence to myth and reality, that instead of canceling each other out complement one another and emphasize identity’s inherent ambiguity. Next, I analyze the rupture with postmodernism, which comes with Hatoum’s characters’ perpetual search for a more meaningful relationship with others, the environment, and themselves. As a consequence, the postmodern rootless and unstable characters give way to individuals that express more humane concerns (the recovery of the past as a value, self-reflection, and the search for familial bonds as well as for a connection with beauty and aesthetic pleasure through the arts). The symbol of the uroboro thus provides a graphic means of metaphorically representing not only the characters’ identity as ambiguous and self-reflective, but also Hatoum’s novels as simultaneously working within and breaking with postmodernism.

This study analyzed how six Heritage language learners at the university level gained conscious awareness and control of the concept of modality as revealed in student verbalizations (Vygotsky, 1998) throughout five different written communicative events. This work took place in the only course designed for Heritage language learners at a large public suburban university in the Northeast part of the United States. Grammatical simplification in bilingual speakers is due to incomplete acquisition of Spanish, attrition or loss of an underused linguistic system (Lynch, 1999; Martínez Mira, 2009a, 2009b; Mikulski, 2010b; Montrul, 2007; Ocampo, 1990; Silva-Corvalán, 1990, 1994a, 1994b, 2003; Studerus, 1995). The result of the process of simplification is reduction or loss of forms and/or meanings. In this work, I investigated in which ways Gal'perin's (1989) systemic-theoretical organized instruction promoted awareness, control and internalization of the concept of modality in three sets of data: definition, discourse and verbalization (Negueruela, 2003). In addition, I examined how the concept of modality emerged and proceeded. By focusing students' attention in Negueruela's (2003) Concept of Mood in Spanish orienting chart in a top down fashion, students were able to strengthen their theoretical understanding in practical activity while still accessing empirical knowledge, and eventually generalizing its use in new contexts across nominal, adjectival and adverbial clauses. At the definition level, Gal'perin's Systemic-theoretical instruction promoted emergence and progress of their conceptual understanding from perceptual to semantic. At the discourse level, students' theoretically based semantic understanding had a positive impact as revealed in student's discourse progress throughout tasks. At the verbalization level, semantic, abstract and systematic verbalizations showed students' emergence of awareness of the interrelated categories of modality. The conceptual category of anticipation was appropriately verbalized and contextualized 68% of the time. The absence of quality verbalizations referring to a specific conceptual category in some students lead me to conclude that students did not fully understand the meaning of some conceptual categories. On the contrary, their presence in any of the tasks showed emergence of conceptual meaning(s) in appropriate contexts, further appropriate recontextualization may provide full awareness and control.

Over the years, the University of Cape Town (UCT) has been and is still offering French language, through its French Section. Those enrolling in the named French language programme are undergraduate students of different faculties of the University of Cape Town including the faculty of law. The variety of French that these students acquire is the variety known as general French. This study analyses the law students' needs in French language. A questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data about students' needs, objectives and expectations. The conclusion can be drawn that the University of Cape Town law students needs are to work for international organizations of Human Rights and that they need some linguistic skills not only in general French but also the mastery of French referred to the professional discipline known as French for specific purposes.

En 2010, le gouvernement lesothan a démarré le projet pilote sur l'introduction du français dans les onze établissements secondaires. Notamment, cette étude vise à promouvoir l'enseignement et l'apprentissage de français dans les écoles secondaires au Lesotho. Elle cherche également à trouver les raisons pour lesquelles le gouvernement lesothan a choisi le français parmi d'autre langue du monde. De plus, cette recherche consiste en une évaluation du projet pilote sur l'introduction du français dans le curriculum des écoles secondaires du pays. Est-ce que l'introduction de la langue française dans les écoles secondaires au Lesotho peut-elle aider le pays à améliorer son économie, surtout l'employabilité des candidats lesothans au marché de l'emploi local et international ? Pour mener à bien cette étude, l'approche qualitative et quantitative sont employées. Huit entretiens semi-guidé ont été élaborés pour récolter les données qualitative auprès des personnes ressources au seine du Ministère de l'Education lesothan alors que les questionnaires ont été administrés auprès les sept professeurs de français qui ont participé dans cette enquête. Les résultats montrent qu'en 2015, il y avait 4396 apprenants de français dans les écoles qui pilotent son enseignement et son apprentissage. Ensuite, ce même projet a crée plus de 30 poste de travail pour les professeurs de français au Lesotho. Cela révèle l'importance du français pour le développement économique du Lesotho. D'ailleurs, les effectifs des apprenants de français dans les établissements secondaires décèlent que la langue française a un nouveau basin au Lesotho. Pour conclure, les répondants préconisent l'introduction de la langue française dans d'autres établissements qui ne font pas partie des écoles pilotes et cela contribuera à la promotion de l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage de français au Lesotho ainsi qu'à l'augmentation de la population qui apprend le français en Afrique Australe et dans le monde entier.

This study aims to develop a French curriculum that is responsive to the specific needs of South African Heads of Mission. Firstly, the context highlights the role of Heads of Mission in the implementation of South Africa's foreign policy against the backdrop of the history of diplomacy and South Africa's international relations under the auspices of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). Taking into account South Africa's representation in a total of 31 French-speaking countries, the importance of having knowledge of the French language is highlighted. The subsequent theoretical framework outlines issues related to the teaching of French (including teaching French as a Foreign Language – TFFL), the notion of French for Specific Purposes (FSP), as well as the methodology that inform the practical aspect of this project. The final section presents the results of the needs analysis, the data collection, and the development of teaching material from the collected data. These steps culminate in the development of a curriculum that addresses the needs of South African Heads of Mission. Two lesson plans and an evaluation activity based on the curriculum are also suggested.

The aim of our study is to expose the obstacles that impede oral expression in the French as a foreign language classroom in the context of the courses taught at the University of Cape Town (UCT). To achieve this aim, we questioned the first year students of French who constituted the main thrust of our research. After carrying out some investigations, we realised that there are four main obstacles hindering oral expression at UCT: pedagogical obstacles, linguistic, psychological and sociocultural ones. From these results, we tried to make suggestions and to formulate recommendations. In the formulation of these recommendations, we have tried to adhere as closely as possible to the students’s suggestions.

This research and development dissertation researches the oral expression of adults of levels B1, B2 and C1 attending conversation classes at the French Alliance of Johannesburg; it aims to identify obstacles in oral expression and to propose remediation tools. The students were questioned on their expectations, needs and difficulties, and teachers on their needs and course techniques, through questionnaires. Pedagogical worksheets were developed for the teachers, and were implemented in the researcher's own conversation classes, after which learners' satisfaction was evaluated. The pedagogical worksheets presented in this study attempt as far as possible to meet the expectations, needs and difficulties expressed by the learners, and to provide practical assistance to the teachers of conversation classes.

Our study aims to review the state of the teaching/learning of FLE in Zimbabwe and draw up the profile the FLE teacher to lead to the creation of an association for French studies in the interest not only 'professionalising' the craft of the FLE teacher in Zimbabwe but also to ensure the sustainability of the offer of French language instruction in all schools in the country. The association would serve as a platform for exchange and professional development for current and future teachers of FLE. It would work to build professional, educational, language and cultural skills for teachers or refresh these skills so as to ensure the increased quality of teaching French in the country. In the face of new and diverse audiences and challenges, the teacher of FLE Zimbabwe needs to continuously keep abreast with these evolutions. It is therefore imperative to develop the right set of skills in order to better handle new professional situations both at the individual and group level.