In a globalized world, teaching English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) requires mastery of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Deploying ICC has many benefits, especially with teaching and learning English, because it is a preeminent necessity for intercultural communication today. In ESL and EFL contexts at college and university levels, learners and instructors interface with other learners and instructors who have various languages and cultures, so there is a need for implementing ICC, because it encourages instructors and learners to communicate effectively with others using both their native and target languages, as well as their native and target cultures. Hence, there is a need for ICC, mediational tools, such as translanguaging pedagogy, as well as use of a peer-coaching process. Also, there is a need to evaluate ICC use through various kinds of assessment, such as self-assessment (which includes self-reflection), identity assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment. In order to find the validity of various aspects of ICC, the mediational tools, the peer-coaching process, various kinds of assessment, and self-reflection, the researcher used a mixed-method study that contained quantitative and qualitative data. The study was conducted over the summer of 2016, and the participants were graduate students in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). This thesis validates aspects of ICC, mediational tools, and assessments, as well as the importance of self-reflection in evaluating and improving individuals’ ICC.

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Submitted by Glauber Assunção Moreira (glauber.a.moreira@gmail.com) on 2018-08-21T13:23:53Z No. of bitstreams: 2 TESE - TATIANY PERTEL SABAINI DALBEN.pdf: 9755637 bytes, checksum: 91dacf87742b594c84690281f352409a (MD5) ficha catalográfica.doc: 240640 bytes, checksum: e252111a859608a785f0f2167f06959a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Setor de Periódicos (per_macedocosta@ufba.br) on 2018-08-21T13:58:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 TESE - TATIANY PERTEL SABAINI DALBEN.pdf: 9755637 bytes, checksum: 91dacf87742b594c84690281f352409a (MD5) ficha catalográfica.doc: 240640 bytes, checksum: e252111a859608a785f0f2167f06959a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T13:58:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 TESE - TATIANY PERTEL SABAINI DALBEN.pdf: 9755637 bytes, checksum: 91dacf87742b594c84690281f352409a (MD5) ficha catalográfica.doc: 240640 bytes, checksum: e252111a859608a785f0f2167f06959a (MD5) / RESUMO Até recentemente, a tradução parece ter sido ignorada no campo da Linguística Aplicada (LA). Nas últimas décadas, porém, começaram a surgir alguns estudos e publicações que enfatizam a necessidade de repensá-la como atividade importante para o processo de ensino/aprendizagem de língua estrangeira (LE) (COOK, 2010). Mesmo assim, poucas pesquisas têm investigado o uso da tradução na formação inicial de professores de LE no Brasil. Dessa forma, este estudo em nível de doutorado tem como principal objetivo verificar e discutir a contribuição da tradução para a formação inicial de professores de língua inglesa (LI) em um curso de graduação em Letras, principalmente com relação ao desenvolvimento da competência linguístico-comunicativa (CLC), da competência comunicativa intercultural (CCI), do processo de conscientização sobre verdades e realidades e da responsabilidade ética do futuro docente. Ao buscar cumprir tal objetivo, esta pesquisa também está i) preenchendo a lacuna existente na literatura das áreas da LA e dos Estudos de Tradução; ii) promovendo discussão em torno da desconstrução de crenças e mitos sobre o uso da tradução em sala de aula de LI; e iii) problematizando a política de ensino com relação ao uso da tradução nesse contexto. Para tanto, esta pesquisa qualitativa, interpretativista, utiliza o método etnográfico para realizar um estudo ocorrido nos dois primeiros semestres do Curso de Letras/Inglês da Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC) em Ilhéus, Bahia, em 2014. As descrições das análises exibem os resultados coletados a partir de 4 (quatro) tipos de instrumentos: a) 2 (dois) questionários – 1 (um) para os 31 (trinta e um) professores de LI em formação (PLIF) e 2 (dois) para os 2 (dois) professores formadores (PF); b) 8 (oito) atividades de tradução realizadas pelos PLIF; c) registros etnográficos coletados durante a observação da aplicação de tais atividades em sala de aula; d) 4 (quatro) entrevistas semi-estruturadas – 2 (duas) para os 2 (dois) PF e 2 (duas) para os PLIF. Para o desenvolvimento deste estudo, respaldo-me na perspectiva desconstrutivista (DERRIDA, 1967/1971, 1967/2011; ARROJO, 1986/2002, 1992/2003; OTTONI, 2005), através da qual se pode considerar a tradução uma prática de leitura, de interpretação, um processo produtor e transformador de significados que ocorre a partir de um jogo marcado pela ausência de um centro ou de uma ‘origem’, um movimento de suplementariedade do qual fazem parte aspectos diversos que compõem a escritura (écriture). As análises demonstraram que, através da tradução, os PLIF desenvolveram aspectos da CLC (ALMEIDA FILHO, 1993/2002, 2014), pois adquiriram conhecimento sobre a estrutura da LI e demonstraram saber usá-la para construir seus textos traduzidos. Além disso, os professores em formação desenvolveram habilidades, atitudes e conhecimentos que compõem a CCI (KRAMSCH, 1993; BYRAM, 1989, 1997; BYRAM et al., 2002), como, por exemplo, a elaboração de conhecimentos plurais sobre línguas, culturas e sociedades; a superação de preconceitos linguísticos e culturais; a abertura para aceitação das diferenças; a ampliação dos conceitos de língua e cultura, dentre outros. Por fim, as análises também indicaram que a prática da tradução favoreceu o processo de conscientização sobre verdades e realidades (FREIRE, 1979, 2002) dos PLIF, os quais, ao fim e ao cabo, se revelaram sujeitos crítico-reflexivos, curiosos e questionadores das verdades absolutas, além de terem desenvolvido a percepção sobre a sua responsabilidade ética (FREIRE, 1996/2013) que deve permear sua prática educativo-crítica. / ABSTRACT Until recently, translation seems to have been ignored in the field of Applied Linguistics (AL). However, in the last decades, it has become a theme of some researches and publications which claim it must be ‘reintroduced’ within the foreign language (FL) teaching classroom (COOK, 2010). All the same, little investigation has yet been done on the implications of its use for undergraduate English language (EL) students pursuing their certification in Brazil. In this line of thought, this PhD research proposes to verify and discuss the contribution of translation as a practice for the professional preparation of pre-service EL teachers in the undergraduate course of Letras, especially concerning the development of the linguistic-communicative competence (LCC), the intercultural communicative competence (ICC), the process of consciousness about truths and realities and ethical responsibility. In pursuit of such an objective, this work also: i) bridges the gap in the literature in the areas of AL and Translation Studies; ii) promotes discussions on the deconstruction of beliefs and myths about the use of translation within the FL classroom; and iii) problematizes teaching politics regarding the use of translation in this context. Therefore, this qualitative, interpretative research used ethnographic methods to carry out a study in the first and second semesters of an undergraduate group of EL students in the State University of Santa Cruz (UESC) in Ilhéus, Bahia, in 2014. Through the analysis, I searched to understand and describe the results collected from 4 (four) types of instruments: a) 2 (two) questionnaires – 1 (one) for the 31 (thirty) students and another for the 2 (two) professors); b) 8 (eight) translation and reflective activities undertaken by the students in the classroom; c) ethnographic notes collected from class observations; d) and 4 (four) semi-structured interviews – 2 (two) for the 2 (two) professors and 2 (two) for the students. As for the interpretation of data and the development of the study, I relied on the deconstructive perspective (DERRIDA, 1967/1971, 1967/2011; ARROJO, 1986/2002, 1992/2003; OTTONI, 2005), which views translation as a reading and interpretative practice, a process of meanings production and transformation, that occurs as a play within language characterized by the absence of a center or origin, a move of supplementarity formed by various aspects that compose the writing (écriture). The results show that through the use of translation in EL classrooms, Letras undergraduate students are able to develop aspects of the LCC (ALMEIDA FILHO, 1993/2002, 2014), once they acquired knowledge about the structure of the EL and demonstrated to know how to use it to communicate through their translated texts. Moreover, the results also indicated that through the practice of translation, these students could develop ICC abilities, attitudes and knowledge (KRAMSCH, 1993; BYRAM, 1989, 1997; BYRAM et al., 2002), such as plural knowledge about languages, cultures and societies; overcoming linguistic and cultural prejudice; improvement of the concepts of language and culture, among others. Finally, the analysis also showed that translation can favor the process of consciousness about truths, realities and practices (FREIRE, 1979, 2002), since the undergraduate EL students became more curious and inquisitive about pre-established and absolute truths. It has promoted a critical-reflexive attitude towards various aspects and contributed to the development of the perception of their ethical responsibility (FREIRE, 1979, 2002, 1996/2013) and, as such, pervade their critical practice in education.

This study explores the implementation of the communicative approach (CA) to English second language progress testing in an African secondary school which falls under the Eastern Cape Department of Education. The goal of the research is to establish how teachers access, conceptualise, and apply the CA to language testing in their specific working conditions. The report of the findings of the research reveals that teachers' understanding of the CA to testing differs from that of the linguists, curriculum designers, innovators, and syllabus writers. This is caused by a combination of factors including teachers' poor working conditions, the lack of focused pre-service training and effective in-service structures for their empowennent as the agents of innovation, coupled with the poor circulation and a lack of clarity in official documents on the CA to language testing. These constraints made it impossible for teachers to implement the CA to language testing. In order to carry on with their work, however, teachers developed coping strategies by drawing, probably unconsciously, on a mixture of structuralist, sociolinguistic-psycholinguistic, communicative and any other testing practices they may have acquired during their years of service. Although based only on one school, the findings of this study indicate that for fundamental innovations such as the CA to take root, there is a need for the adoption of more dedicated, reflective implementation strategies involving proper planning and monitoring, as well as evaluation and re-evaluation of the entire process. This necessarily slow process must go hand-in-hand with a dedicated pre-service and in-service empowerment program based on consultative communication between innovator and agent; and a persuasive education/re-education approach which will encourage teachers to change their entrenched practices.

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

<p>The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the implications and challenges of intercultural communication. An in-depth study was performed of the perspectives from people who work within an international organization. How they experience cultural differences and how they handle them, in particular when it comes to communication. Also, their perceptions of communicative competence were explored. The study was carried out at Svalorna India Bangladesh, at the Swedish office in Lund. Svalorna’s staff was interviewed on their experiences of intercultural communication. Both employees at the Swedish office and employees on location in India and Bangladesh were interviewed. The method used in the study was qualitative interviews where the interviewees could expand their answers fully as the interview developed. The main theory used was Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, presented in the thesis and considered in the study. It was concluded that being aware of cultural differences and having knowledge of other cultures but also your own is important for understanding the so-called non-verbal communication in an intercultural situation. There are also differences in to what extent a certain culture uses non-verbal communication. Both India and Bangladesh, according to the interviewees, are high context cultures whereas Sweden has a low context culture. All the interviewees had similar experiences when it comes to intercultural communication. A cultural difference in the perception of time is an example of when verbal communication can be inadequate, if one is not aware of cultural differences. Both India and Bangladesh use polychronic time whereas in Sweden monochromic time is used. This is indeed confirmed by all interviewees. Many of Hofstede’s cultural dimension theories are found to be coherent with the results of this study, for example the Individualism.</p>

In the last few decades, Internet mediated intercultural competence has received a great attention in the field of applied linguistics and foreign language (FL) education especially with the evolution of web 2.0 technologies and social networking sites that facilitate interaction and communication between different cultural communities and individuals. Research in the field of Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE) is extremely varied and researchers have focused their attention on various aspects of OIE such as promoting intercultural communicative competence (Belz, 2002; O'Dowd, 2003; Schenker, 2011; Muller Hartman, 2000), facilitating online relationship building (Ware, 2005; Thorne, 2003, Jin & Erben, 2007) and improving writing skills (Ware, 2005; O'Dowd, 2003), developing pragmatic competence (Kinginger & Belz, 2005). Despite the plethora of research in this area, gaps in the literature still exist. First, literature lacks studies on language learners of less commonly taught languages (e.g. Arabic), (Thorne, 2006) and more importantly most of the studies are based on western contexts mainly in Europe and the USA. Second, few studies have explored the potentials of social networking sites on OIE projects in promoting intercultural learning (Aoki, 2009; Jin, 2015). In an effort to fill the gaps in the research, this study links English language learners (Saudis) with Arabic language learners (Americans) to investigate to what extent OIE on Facebook between these two groups of learners contributes to their intercultural communicative competence (ICC), specifically, exploring how and what are the components of Byram's model (ICC) manifested in the OIE project. Furthermore, it examined the affordances of Facebook in the OIE project according to students' use, practice and perception. Informed by a sociocultural framework, this study took a constructivist mixed methods approach to analysis of data from learners' online discourse on Facebook, the researcher's journal and observations, pre-survey, semi-structured interviews, and a questionnaire. Data analysis and interpretation revealed that when students' participation were mutually compatible, the students were able to build meaningful relationships, used a range of various questioning techniques, and engaged in genuine dialogue, OIE has a great potential for developing students' intercultural competence, as many objectives of Byram's ICC model were manifested. Findings also revealed that the project has strengthened Saudi students' cultural identity as they found the space to present their culture and country beyond the stereotypical image that dominates the media. As with regard to Facebook affordances, findings showed that the semiotic design and various semiotic resources of Facebook (e.g. multimodal posts, sharing, notification, friending, semi-automated features, etc.) afford students' engagement in intercultural discussion, students' collaboration, and students' interpersonal relationship building. The study also identified some of Facebook's constraints that limited students' participation due to technological, cultural and social factors. In sum this study illuminates the nature of online intercultural communication between Arabic and English language learners, contributing to the scarce research on this population. It also uncovers the unique affordances as well as constraints of Facebook on an OIE project. Based on this study, several pedagogical implications and suggestions are made for future research in the field of online intercultural exchanges.

The purpose of this study is to examine pupils’ and teachers’ perspectives and use of language strategies when speaking English. Questions that will try to be answered are: What are the teachers’ thoughts about language strategies? In the subject English, which strategies do the pupils in 6th grade use? Which strategies to communicate are used most frequently by 6th graders when speaking English unprepared? To answer these questions, interviews with teachers were held. The pupils answered a survey and were observed while talking English. Earlier studies have showed that language learning strategies are an efficient tool for people learning a second language while overcoming their language skills shortcomings that might arise while communicating in a second language. This study concludes that language learning strategies have a significant part to play in the development of a communicative competence. The teachers emphasized the importance of a good learning environment, interaction and pupils’ awareness about the language learning process. The pupils reported that they used strategies such as paraphrasing and body language, which the observation later confirmed.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Douglas Benson / The principal objective of this paper is to provide a thematic teaching unit that explores the Aztec, Incan and Mayan cultures of Latin America, designed for a level II Spanish course. It contains theoretical underpinnings for teaching language, culture and literature while incorporating concepts related to the development of communicative competence; processing instruction; the use of scaffolding in the zone of proximal development; target language instruction; and the inclusion of authentic materials and language in the classroom. The classroom management strategies explained and used throughout the unit include pre, during and post-reading activities; small group activities that help to develop communicative competence through negotiation of meaning and interactional feedback; focused tasks and collaborative output tasks; the use of structured input, structured output and information exchange; the PACE approach to grammar teaching; and the incorporation of authentic aural and written texts. Lesson plans for an eighteen day unit consisting of 40 minute classes are outlined; the lesson objective, necessary materials, time needed for each activity, and expected results of each lesson are included. Each lesson activity is made clear through a description of the activity and instructions for the teacher. The daily lesson plans contain authentic and teacher-created materials that can be found in the appendices section. At the end of the thematic unit, students complete cumulative activities that relate indigenous cultures to present-day life in Latin America through investigating the influence of Aztec words on the Spanish and English languages, analyzing a poem about Peru, and reading an article about discrimination against Mayan descendants in Central America, Mexico and the U.S.