In the midst of debate over the treatment of culture in foreign language education and the increased exposure to culture in the global economy, the knowledge of other cultures is more significant than ever. In order to improve teaching culture, materials have been examined and revised. The purpose of this exploratory study is to describe how culture is addressed in the fourteen high school EFL reading textbooks in Japan, that were approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) at the time of this study. In previous studies on EFL textbooks in Japan by Kitao (1979, 1988) and Iwata, Ogawa, Wen, Sakamoto, Takarada, Horio, Muto, and Mogi (2001) among others, the findings included the cultural elements categorized by various criteria, defining topics and types of reading texts and illustrations, classifying the student activities regarding culture, the descriptions of societies represented, the unnatural use of the English language that are edited for grammatical correctness, and the lack of elements that are usually present in the natural course of conversations or in the authentic passages. This study of the reading passages and pre- and post-reading activities was guided by several theories and studies: First, the authentic use of a language reflects the writer's culture (Brown, 1987; Byrnes, 1990; Gilmore, 2004; Honeyfield, 1977; Kramsch, 1993; Lamie, 1998; McKay, 1982; Shrum & Glisan, 2005; Swaffar, 1985), and the culture is reflected in the vocabulary (Sapir, 1949). Second, the readers' own cultural knowledge (C1) should be activated in understanding the culture of others (C2), comparing and contrasting C1 and C2 so that the differences and similarities will be more evident (Byrnes, 1990; Kolb, 1984; Kramsch, 1993; National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project [NSFLEP], 2005). The results show 1) that the reading passages were edited mostly by deleting and altering portions of the originals, and thus the culture was not present as in the original passages, and 2) pre-reading and post-reading activities/questions were literal and not designed to foster cultural understanding. / Ed. D.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of authentic materials on the development of grammar knowledge, retention and opinions of ninth grade students as an English language learner, in comparison with traditional materials and textbooks or coursebooks. To compare experimental and control groups in terms of achievement, retention and perceptions about the implementation units, a pretest-posttest control group design was carried out. For the purpose of this study, two authentic material-based grammar units were designed and developed and implemented to experimental group students. Three instruments / tests, opinionnaires and unit feedback forms were used. Seventeen (15 and two) teachers and 54 students at TED Ankara College Foundation High School participated in the study. As for the data analysis, the quantifiable data in the pre, post and retention tests were analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. To indicate the differences between the experimental and control groups in consideration with achievement and retention, independent samples t-test was conducted. Additionally, opinionnaires and unit feedback forms were analysed to obtain information about the students&amp / #8217 / and teachers&amp / #8217 / opinions about grammar teaching in general and according to the treatment. The results indicated that most of the students were more successful in developing and retaining grammar knowledge while using authentic materials in class.

AbstractDaskalos, Konstantinos & Jellum Ling, Jeppe (2005)Authentic texts or adapted texts – That is the question! The use of authentic and adapted texts in the study of English in two Swedish upper secondary schools and a study of student and teacher attitudes towards these texts. Skolutveckling och ledarskap, Lärarutbildningen 60 p, Malmö HögskolaThe aim of this paper is to find out which attitudes teachers and students have towards authentic and adapted texts used in the teaching of English in two Swedish grammar schools. Furthermore, the paper aims to demonstrate the importance of proper text selection in relation to student motivation.To achieve this, a survey was conducted with second year students in two different schools; on top of this, several interviews were conducted with students as well as an interview with a teacher. This was done to demonstrate the different attitudes towards the textbook and authentic texts and to illustrate the importance of choosing topics that students can relate to.The results show that students preferred to read authentic texts. These texts provided them with interesting topics. The teacher also preferred to use authentic texts and agreed that authentic texts usually created an active classroom, but pointed out that to substitute the textbook entirely with authentic material was unrealistic. Therefore, a combination of the two types of text would be preferable.

A ópera lírica pode constituir um excelente material didático a ser trabalhado em todos os níveis da educação linguística, não apenas devido ao seu irrefutável valor cultural, histórico e social, mas, principalmente, por sincretizar as linguagens musical, teatral e literária, transformando-se, assim, em um fecundo instrumento de ensino da língua italiana. A partir dos preceitos semióticos de análise, sobretudo no que concerne aos estudos sobre a Semiótica das Paixões, a ópera lírica pode ser didatizada e apresentada aos alunos no seu formato autêntico, visando à formação e autonomia discente. De fato, o percurso adotado simula a passagem pelos três níveis de análise textuais, partindo dos afetos da música para chegar às ações do enredo. A parte prática deste trabalho é dedicada ao curso Rigoletto: per gli amanti della lingua e della cultura italiana, elaborado especialmente para legitimar a proposta de se trabalhar a ópera lírica nas aulas de italiano LE. Trata-se de uma unidade didática sobre Rigoletto, uma importante produção de Giuseppe Verdi e Francesco Maria Piave, de 1851. Em síntese, neste trabalho, pretendo discorrer sobre as teorias que envolvem a didatização da ópera lírica e ilustrar a sua aplicação a partir das atividades do referido curso. Finalmente, os resultados obtidos durante a fase de avaliação serão utilizados para comprovar a sua eficácia. / Lyrical opera can be an excellent teaching material for use at all levels of language education, not only because of its unquestionable cultural, historical and social value, but mainly for amalgamating musical, theatrical and literary languages, thereby forming a productive tool for teaching the Italian language. Based on the precepts of semiotic analysis, especially with regard to studies of the Semiotics of Passions, lyrical opera can be taught and presented to students in its authentic format, aimed at student training and autonomy. Indeed, the route adopted simulates the passage through the three levels of textual analysis, starting from the musical moods to arrive at the actions of the plot. The practical part of this work is dedicated to the course \"Rigoletto: per gli amanti della lingua e della cultura italiana\", especially designed to legitimize the proposal to employ lyrical opera in Italian lessons for foreign learners. This is a teaching unit about Rigoletto, an important work by Giuseppe Verdi and Francesco Maria Piave, 1851. In summary, in this work I intend to discuss theories involving the teaching use of lyrical opera and illustrate its application based on the activities of that course. Finally, the results obtained during the assessment phase will be used to prove its effectiveness.

A pesquisa aqui apresentada surgiu com o intuito de trazer para a sala de aula a realidade da língua italiana, proporcionando assim aos aprendizes brasileiros um meio para interagir através da comunicação, tanto oral como escrita. A preocupação que deu origem à reflexão proposta baseou-se em dois pontos fundamentais no âmbito do ensino/aprendizagem de língua estrangeira: o que ensinar e como ensinar. Para refletir sobre a primeira questão, foram problematizados os conceitos de material autêntico e de autenticidade, enquanto para a segunda foram tomados como referência os estudos relacionados ao ensino por tarefas. Com base nessas reflexões teóricas, foi realizado um curso experimental de italiano para principiantes, com uma duração de 45 horas, cujas unidades didáticas foram inteiramente elaboradas a partir de material autêntico e cujas atividades foram desenvolvidas tendo como apoio teórico o ensino por tarefas. Paralelamente ao citado curso experimental, aconteceu outro curso, também para principiantes e com a mesma duração, que pertencia aos cursos de extensão universitária da Universidade de São Paulo, para o qual foi utilizado o livro didático adotado. Os participantes dos dois cursos constituíram um grupo experimental e um grupo controle. O objetivo principal foi verificar, comparando os dois grupos, se a utilização de material didático e de atividades significativas produz diferenças não apenas no desempenho linguístico dos dois grupos, mas também em sua atitude em relação à aprendizagem da língua estrangeira. / This research appeared in order to bring to the classroom the \"reality\" of the Italian language, thereby providing to brazilian learners an instrument to interact through both oral and written communication. The concern that is part of the proposed reflection was based on two key points in the teaching/learning of foreign languages: what to teach and how to teach. For the first point, we started from the questioning of authentic material, authenticity and of the concept of task, and for the second one, we took as reference the studies about task based learning and teaching. Based on these theoretical reflections, it was designed an experimental italian course for beginners, with a duration of 45 hours, whose teaching units were created entirely starting from authentic materials and tasks. Together with this experimental course, an italian course level 1 was also realized. In this course the Italian language was studied with a teaching book. The participants of both courses constituted an experimental and a control group. The main objective was to investigate, comparing the two groups, if the utilization of teaching material and meaningful activities produces differences not only in the linguistic performance of the two groups, but also in their attitude related to the foreign language learning.

A pesquisa aqui apresentada surgiu com o intuito de trazer para a sala de aula a realidade da língua italiana, proporcionando assim aos aprendizes brasileiros um meio para interagir através da comunicação, tanto oral como escrita. A preocupação que deu origem à reflexão proposta baseou-se em dois pontos fundamentais no âmbito do ensino/aprendizagem de língua estrangeira: o que ensinar e como ensinar. Para refletir sobre a primeira questão, foram problematizados os conceitos de material autêntico e de autenticidade, enquanto para a segunda foram tomados como referência os estudos relacionados ao ensino por tarefas. Com base nessas reflexões teóricas, foi realizado um curso experimental de italiano para principiantes, com uma duração de 45 horas, cujas unidades didáticas foram inteiramente elaboradas a partir de material autêntico e cujas atividades foram desenvolvidas tendo como apoio teórico o ensino por tarefas. Paralelamente ao citado curso experimental, aconteceu outro curso, também para principiantes e com a mesma duração, que pertencia aos cursos de extensão universitária da Universidade de São Paulo, para o qual foi utilizado o livro didático adotado. Os participantes dos dois cursos constituíram um grupo experimental e um grupo controle. O objetivo principal foi verificar, comparando os dois grupos, se a utilização de material didático e de atividades significativas produz diferenças não apenas no desempenho linguístico dos dois grupos, mas também em sua atitude em relação à aprendizagem da língua estrangeira. / This research appeared in order to bring to the classroom the \"reality\" of the Italian language, thereby providing to brazilian learners an instrument to interact through both oral and written communication. The concern that is part of the proposed reflection was based on two key points in the teaching/learning of foreign languages: what to teach and how to teach. For the first point, we started from the questioning of authentic material, authenticity and of the concept of task, and for the second one, we took as reference the studies about task based learning and teaching. Based on these theoretical reflections, it was designed an experimental italian course for beginners, with a duration of 45 hours, whose teaching units were created entirely starting from authentic materials and tasks. Together with this experimental course, an italian course level 1 was also realized. In this course the Italian language was studied with a teaching book. The participants of both courses constituted an experimental and a control group. The main objective was to investigate, comparing the two groups, if the utilization of teaching material and meaningful activities produces differences not only in the linguistic performance of the two groups, but also in their attitude related to the foreign language learning.

A ópera lírica pode constituir um excelente material didático a ser trabalhado em todos os níveis da educação linguística, não apenas devido ao seu irrefutável valor cultural, histórico e social, mas, principalmente, por sincretizar as linguagens musical, teatral e literária, transformando-se, assim, em um fecundo instrumento de ensino da língua italiana. A partir dos preceitos semióticos de análise, sobretudo no que concerne aos estudos sobre a Semiótica das Paixões, a ópera lírica pode ser didatizada e apresentada aos alunos no seu formato autêntico, visando à formação e autonomia discente. De fato, o percurso adotado simula a passagem pelos três níveis de análise textuais, partindo dos afetos da música para chegar às ações do enredo. A parte prática deste trabalho é dedicada ao curso Rigoletto: per gli amanti della lingua e della cultura italiana, elaborado especialmente para legitimar a proposta de se trabalhar a ópera lírica nas aulas de italiano LE. Trata-se de uma unidade didática sobre Rigoletto, uma importante produção de Giuseppe Verdi e Francesco Maria Piave, de 1851. Em síntese, neste trabalho, pretendo discorrer sobre as teorias que envolvem a didatização da ópera lírica e ilustrar a sua aplicação a partir das atividades do referido curso. Finalmente, os resultados obtidos durante a fase de avaliação serão utilizados para comprovar a sua eficácia. / Lyrical opera can be an excellent teaching material for use at all levels of language education, not only because of its unquestionable cultural, historical and social value, but mainly for amalgamating musical, theatrical and literary languages, thereby forming a productive tool for teaching the Italian language. Based on the precepts of semiotic analysis, especially with regard to studies of the Semiotics of Passions, lyrical opera can be taught and presented to students in its authentic format, aimed at student training and autonomy. Indeed, the route adopted simulates the passage through the three levels of textual analysis, starting from the musical moods to arrive at the actions of the plot. The practical part of this work is dedicated to the course \"Rigoletto: per gli amanti della lingua e della cultura italiana\", especially designed to legitimize the proposal to employ lyrical opera in Italian lessons for foreign learners. This is a teaching unit about Rigoletto, an important work by Giuseppe Verdi and Francesco Maria Piave, 1851. In summary, in this work I intend to discuss theories involving the teaching use of lyrical opera and illustrate its application based on the activities of that course. Finally, the results obtained during the assessment phase will be used to prove its effectiveness.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:46:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elen Del Sole.pdf: 1119476 bytes, checksum: 222fa8bddb42e6cbb98ff7e00436c997 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-10-22 / This study aims at adding some considerations on the development of intercultural competence in teaching English as a foreign language teaching (TEFL). The corpus under analysis has consisted of the observation of a group of adult students linguistical behavior in English as a foreign language classes within a 12 months ́ period of time. The programme content has been elaborated in such a way that dynamic activities should take place and provide the subjects ́ interaction, that is, the researcher and teacher on one side and the students, on the other side, as the participant group. The purpose has been to analyze students intercultural abilities on the basis of research-action methodology. Intercultural pieces of reality from Western countries, as well as the emphasis on multicultural thought, have been presented to the students. The technique adopted to introduce distinct intercultural pieces of reality has used authentic material and the criterion has involved themes related to politics, economics and creative thinking. Observation of the students linguistical behavior has resulted in subcategories such as generalization, which has been analyzed under the parameter of foreign language teaching as the third space. / O presente trabalho visa a contribuir com reflexões sobre o desenvolvimento da competência intercultural no ensino das línguas estrangeiras. O corpus para a análise constituiu-se na observação do comportamento linguístico de um grupo de alunos adultos de aulas de inglês como língua estrangeira (LE) no período de 12 meses. O conteúdo programático foi especialmente elaborado para que ocorressem dinâmicas que propiciassem a interação dos sujeitos envolvidos a saber, a professora como pesquisadora e os alunos enquanto grupo participante, com a finalidade de analisar as habilidades interculturais dos alunos, dentro dos pressupostos da metodologia da pesquisa-ação. Foram apresentadas aos alunos realidades interculturais provenientes de países do Ocidente, além de ênfase no pensamento multicultural. A técnica adotada para a apresentação de realidades interculturais distintas serviu-se de material autêntico, cujo critério de seleção foram temas relaciona dos à política, à economia e ao pensamento criativo. O resultado da observação do comportamento linguístico dos alunos trouxe subcategorias como a generalização, que foi analisada tendo como parâmetro o ensino de língua estrangeira enquanto terceiro espaço de enunciação.