Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-08-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:15:49Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 ferrao_maf_me_sjrp.pdf: 3763351 bytes, checksum: d1fb3cb28d750c82768ddd592b6b987e (MD5) / This research study aimed at investigating how the Multiple Intelligences theory (MI), proposed by Howard Gardner, can help de design and implementation of teaching practices in English language teaching in public schools. An important aspect of this proposal is to consider the students' different skills and capacities, and their many manifestations as valuable products in the students' context. An action-research project was conducted with a first-year class of a state high school in Brazil, for two semesters. Didactic activities were adapted, on the basis of the MI theory, and used in that context. Data were collected by means of an inventory of intelligences, questionnaires, diaries and observations made by the teacher-researcher, and lessons were recorded. The theoretical bases of the MI theory and of the Communicative Approach, followed during the lessons, are presented here, as well as the research methodology, examples of the class activities, the results of the study and a reflection about the data. In the context investigated, this study focuses on possible solutions for the problems faced in the teacher's work and, by promoting reflection and discussion about pedagogical practices, expects to create conditions for better teaching conditions and the development of new and better strategies for the teaching of foreign languages.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:25:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3669.pdf: 4877003 bytes, checksum: a67404caf65bb11f261ea4fb3c8c785a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-31 / The present work describes a qualitative research on the training of teachers of English Language (henceforth EL) who deals with the Elementary School I. Initially, we intend to develop a historical background on the Postmodern Society on multicultural context. For this, there will be a brief history on the socio-cultural context of the child that is inserted in this society. After that, we will point to the importance of teaching foreign language for Children (hereinafter LEC), ie, the current reasons that have led to increasing numbers of children learning a foreign language (FL). Moreover, will be explicit the literacy teacher's LEC, in which the focus will be turned to the professional who teaches English classes in early grades. This route will remain to the desired skills that are expected from educators. Results of previous studies (Rocha, 2006; Santos, 2005) about teaching English to children point to the need to investigate more closely the skills of this professional, licensed by Modern Languages and Literatures programs. However, despite a degree in English during the graduation, the teacher receives the training to work only with elementary school students II. Moreover, the professionals of Education - enabled to work with children of elementary school I - are not trained in their graduation to teach foreign languages. Thus, both professionals - educated in Modern Languages and Literatures and Pedagogy - appear to be defective as regards their competence to teach English Language to children from 1st to 5th year. Thus, it was deemed important to monitor the work of three professors of LEC (English) in order to 1) identify the profile of the teacher who works with the teaching of English in the early grades, and, 2) investigate the process of teaching learning of Foreign Languages in Elementary School regarding the approach of the teacher who acts in this area. For data collection were selected two schools, one of the municipal and the other a private school had in it program the teaching of English for children from 1st to 5th year. In these schools, were investigated the work of three teachers, one educator and two graduates of Arts - Portuguese / English. Four instruments were used for data collection: observation of tuition through video recordings and audio, quizzes (with teachers) and interviews (with the coordinator and the teachers), to obtain data regarding the preparation of educators, as well as the goal pursued by the school to implement the teaching of English. Furthermore, were recorded daily research, aiming for better monitoring and observation of classes. Later there was a triangulation of data, which related to the literature, form the basis for the delivery of research. / O presente trabalho relata uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo sobre a formação do professor de Língua Inglesa (doravante LI) que atua junto ao Ensino Fundamental I. Inicialmente, pretende-se desenvolver uma trajetória histórica sobre a Sociedade Pós- Moderna no contexto Multicultural. Para isso, será realizado um breve histórico do contexto sócio-cultural da criança inserida nessa sociedade. Em seguida, será apontada a importância do ensino de Língua Estrangeira para Criança (doravante LEC), ou seja, as atuais razões que têm levado ao aumento do número de crianças aprendendo uma língua estrangeira (LE). Além disso, será explicitado o letramento desenvolvido pelo professor de LEC e as práticas pedagógicas implementadas junto aos alunos nas séries iniciais, em que o foco será voltado para o sujeito que leciona inglês nas séries iniciais da Educação Infantil. Resultados de estudos anteriores (Rocha, 2006; Santos, 2005) sobre o ensino de inglês para crianças apontam para a necessidade de se investigar mais atentamente as competências desse profissional, egresso do curso de Letras. No entanto, apesar de licenciado em língua inglesa, durante a graduação, esse professor recebe a formação para trabalhar somente com alunos do Ensino Fundamental II. Por outro lado, os profissionais da área de Pedagogia - habilitados para o trabalho com crianças do Ensino Fundamental I - não são capacitados, em sua formação, para o ensino de línguas estrangeiras. Desse modo, ambos os profissionais o de Letras e o de Pedagogia - parecem apresentar lacunas no que se refere a sua formação para ensinar Língua Inglesa a crianças do 1º ao 5º anos. Assim, julgou-se relevante acompanhar o trabalho de três professoras de LEC (inglês) com o intuito de: 1) investigar o perfil do professor que atua no ensino de inglês nas séries iniciais; e, 2) investigar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem de Línguas Estrangeiras no Ensino Fundamental I, no que se refere à abordagem utilizada pelo professor prática do professor que atua nessa área. Para a coleta de dados foram selecionadas duas escolas, sendo uma da rede municipal e a outra de ensino particular, que possuíam em sua grade o ensino da língua inglesa para crianças nas séries iniciais. Nessas escolas, acompanhou-se o trabalho de três professoras, uma pedagoga e duas licenciadas em Letras Português/Inglês. Foram utilizados quatro instrumentos para coleta dos dados: observação de aula por meio de gravações em vídeo e áudio, questionários (com as professoras) e entrevistas (com a coordenadora e as professoras), para a obtenção de dados a respeito da formação do educador, assim como o objetivo visado pela escola ao implantar o ensino da língua inglesa. Além disso, foram registrados diários de pesquisa, visando a um melhor acompanhamento e observação das aulas. Posteriormente houve uma triangulação dos dados obtidos, que, relacionados com o levantamento bibliográfico, servirão de base para o encaminhamento da pesquisa.

O presente trabalho analisa as taxas de transferência da regra de vocalização da lateral em posição pós-vocálica para o inglês por falantes de língua portuguesa como língua materna em diferentes estágios do processo de aprendizagem. Para tanto, fizemos duas coletas de dados em diferentes situações. A primeira coleta foi feita em Dublin, Irlanda com cinco aprendizes de inglês em níveis pré-intermediário e intermediário em situação de aquisição de segunda língua. Essa coleta foi realizada em dois momentos do aprendizado dos informantes, uma próxima à data de sua chegada na Irlanda e outra após três meses de sua estada no país. A segunda coleta foi realizada em Canoas, na região metropolitana de Porto Alegre – RS, com seis informantes detentores de diferentes certificados da Universidade de Cambridge (FCE – First Certificate in English e CPE – Certificate of Proficiency in English). Para que pudéssemos fazer essa análise, encontrando os fatores lingüísticos e extralingüísticos que estavam agindo na aplicação, ou não, da regra variável aqui testada, submetemos os dados coletados ao programa computacional GOLDVARB2001. As coletas foram analisadas separadamente e em conjunto. Os grupos de fatores testados foram: acento, posição na palavra, contexto precedente, contexto seguinte, nível de inglês, tipo de gravação e informante. As variáveis posição na palavra, contexto precedente e nível de inglês foram as selecionadas pelo programa quando todos os dados foram testados. As variáveis contexto seguinte e tipo de gravação mostraram-se não atuantes na transferência da regra de vocalização. Das variáveis extralingüísticas, a variável nível de inglês foi a que mais se mostrou atuante, uma vez que foi selecionada em todas as rodadas, assim como a variável lingüística posição na palavra. / This study analyses the transference rates of vocalization rules of the lateral in post-vocalic position into English by speakers of Portuguese as mother language in different stages of the learning process. In order to do that, two data collection were made in different situations. The first collection was made in Dublin, Ireland, with 5 learners of English as a second language in pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. This collection took place in two moments of their learning process, one close to the date of their arrival in Ireland and another one three months later. The second collection was made in Canoas, in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre – RS, with 6 informants who have different certificates from Cambridge University (FCE – First Certificate in English e CPE – Certificate of Proficiency in English). In order to make this analysis, finding the linguistic and extralinguistic factors which were influencing the application or non-application of the variable rules tested here, the collected data were submitted to the computational program GoldVarb2001. The collections were first analysed separately and, afterwards, the results were compared in only one run with all the collected data. The groups of factors tested were: stress, word position, preceding context, following context, English level, type of recording and informant. The variables word position, preceding context and English level were selected by the program when all data were tested. The variables following context and type of recording were shown as non acting in the transference of the vocalization rule. From the extralinguistic variables, the variable English level was the one which most acted since it was selected in all the runs as well as the linguistic variable word position.

Em resposta ao Decreto n° 5.154/04 e à Lei n° 11892/08, os Institutos Federais de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia (IFs), resgataram a opção de ofertar cursos de Ensino Médio Integrado à Educação Profissional Técnica (EMIEPT). Partindo da hipótese de que a proposta de integração circunscrita a essa forma de articulação entre EM e EPT devia implicar de alguma forma em uma constituição idiossincrática das dimensões do ensino de seus componentes curriculares, recorre-se à história, aos construtos teóricos e às políticas curriculares com vistas a apreender como o que é historicizado, almejado e prescrito (deveria) impacta(r) a materialização desse conjunto na elaboração da dimensão do planejamento curricular dos cursos de EMIEPT e do planejamento de ensino do Componente Curricular Língua Estrangeira-Inglês (CCLEI). Para tanto, este estudo se caracteriza como exploratório e descritivo (GIL, 1996) e faz uso das pesquisas bibliográfica e documental (CELLARD, 2008). No total, são analisados, quali-quantitavamente (FLICK, 2009), sessenta e duas matrizes curriculares, vinte e dois planos de cursos e quatorze ementários, os quais foram catalogados nos sítios eletrônicos de IFs. Os resultados da análise bibliográfica evidenciam que o EMIEPT 1) se singulariza pelos fundamentos filosóficos, epistemológicos e pedagógicos oriundos da concepção de educação omnilateral e politécnica e de escola unitária baseada no programa de educação de Marx (e Engels) e de Gramsci, pelos fundamentos de currículo integrado e pela missão de escamotear a dualidade de classes brasileira via superação da dualidade histórica entre formação geral e formação profissional; 2) tem seus fundamentos hibridizados no âmbito das recentes políticas curriculares de modo que o horizonte da politecnia acaba ficando a cargo das próprias instituições que o adota(re)m e 3) e o CCLEI podem se sincronizarem caso os objetivos linguísticos e instrumentais se conjuguem com os objetivos educacionais (específicos) o que pode ser feito à luz da abordagem de letramento crítico (BRASIL, 2006) integrada (ou não) às outras abordagens de ensino de línguas hegemônicas no Brasil. Já os resultados da análise documental mostram que o que é almejado e prescrito tanto para o EMIEPT quanto para o CCLEI não está sendo incorporado pelos planejamentos curricular e de ensino, respectivamente. No que tange ao planejamento curricular, vê-se que a maioria dos planos de cursos investigados não delimitou objetivos e organização curriculares que apontem para a politecnia por meio da integração entre formação geral e formação profissional. Já os planejamentos de ensino do CCLEI se furtam, majoritariamente, do compromisso com os objetivos educacionais de formação humana integral bem como da integração de seus conhecimentos com os outros de formação geral e com os de formação técnica. Esses documentos foram de fato influenciados por variáveis relacionadas às, também duais, tradições de ensino de línguas estrangeiras no Brasil, quais sejam, as abordagens estrutural, comunicativa e instrumental. Conclui-se enfatizando o papel da adesão das comunidades escolares no que tange ao necessário aprofundamento nos construtos subjacentes ao EMIEPT de modo a poder materializar nas dimensões de ensino o que é almejado e prescrito com vistas a romper ao que foi historicizado. / In response to the Decree 5.154/04 and to the Law 11.892/08, the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology (IFs), rescued the option of offering courses to High School Integrated to the Technical Education (HSITE). Assuming that the proposed integration restricted to this form of relationship between HS and TE should result in a somewhat idiosyncratic constitution of the teaching dimensions of its curriculum components, it is resorted to history, to the theoretical constructs and to the curriculum policies in order to grasp how what it is historicized, desired and required (should) impact the materialization of this set in the drafting of the HSITE curricular planning and the teaching planning of one Curriculum Component-English as a Foreign Language English (CCEFL) . Therefore, this study is characterized as exploratory and descriptive (GIL, 1996) and makes use of bibliographical and documentary researches (CELLARD, 2008). In total, sixty-two grade sheet, twenty-two courses´ plans and fourteen syllabi are analyzed qualitative and quantitatively (FLICK, 2009), which came from the websites of the IFs. The results of the literature review showed that the HSITE 1) distinguishes itself by its epistemological, pedagogical and philosophical foundations on the omnilateral and polytechnic education and on the unitary school based on the education program of Marx (and Engels) and Gramsci, on the grounds of the integrated curriculum and by its mission of concealing the Brazilian duality of classes via overcoming the historical duality between general education and vocational training, 2) has its foundations hybridized within the recent curriculum policies so that the horizon of the polytechnic is left to the institutions which adopt it 3) and CCEFL can be synchronized if the linguistic and instrumental goals are combined with the educational goals (specific) what can be done in the light of the critical literacy approach (BRAZIL, 2006) integrated (or not) to other hegemonic approaches in language education in Brazil. The results of the documentary analysis showed that what is both desired and required by the HSITE and by the CCEFL are not being incorporated by the curriculum and teaching plannings, respectively. With regard to the curriculum planning, it is seen that most of the surveyed courses´ plans are not delimited objectives and curricular organizations which point to the polytechnic through the integration between general education and vocational training. Yet, most teaching CCEFL´s plannings is not commitment to the educational objectives of integral human formation as well as to integrating its knowledge to others from general education and from the technical training. These documents were in fact influenced by variables related to the, also dual, traditions of foreign language teaching in Brazil, namely, structural, communicative and instrumental approaches. It is concluded by emphasizing the role of the accession of school communities regarding to the need to deepen the constructs underlying the HSITE in order to materialize the dimensions of teaching to what is desired and required in order to disrupt what has been historicized.

O presente trabalho visa a contribuir com o avanço das pesquisas na área de multimodalidade, mais especificamente na área aplicada ao contexto de ensino de língua estrangeira. Analisa-se uma amostra de textos multimodais em um livro didático produzido e utilizado no Brasil como ferramenta para o ensino de inglês como língua estrangeira para alunos adultos iniciantes em um curso livre. Tendo em vista a preocupação, apontada no próprio material didático, em atender às necessidades e expectativas desses alunos, objetiva-se, através desta investigação: verificar como se dá a interação entre o verbal e o visual no livro didático selecionado; verificar como essa interação contribui para atingir os objetivos pedagógicos propostos pelo material; e, por fim, contribuir, de alguma maneira, para o letramento multimodal de alunos em língua estrangeira. Tais objetivos determinam a natureza híbrida desta pesquisa que, além da sua dimensão analítico-descritiva, apresenta também uma dimensão pedagógica, que visa a apresentar propostas de trabalho multimodal com algumas das atividades selecionadas para análise. A seleção dos textos multimodais para a composição do corpus desta pesquisa foi baseada na observação da recorrência de imagens com determinados personagens ao longo do livro. Tal recorrência provocou questionamentos que só poderiam ser respondidos a partir da análise desses personagens representados em situações de (inter)ação, o que deu lugar à seleção das representações narrativas que os incluíssem. Os personagens em questão são desenhos criados para os fins pedagógicos do material e são representados em situações sociais muito limitadas: a maior parte dessas representações parece formar uma sequência narrativa cuja interação acontece em uma festa; entre as outras representações, que não representam a referida festa como contexto, incluem-se interações no escritório, no restaurante, no parque e ao telefone. Uma análise da representação visual desses atores sociais revelou que, apesar da inclusão de uma negra entre os personagens, e a consequente suposta visão multicultural transmitida com essa inclusão, os participantes representam um grupo homogêneo, pertencentes ao mesmo segmento social, que só interagem entre eles mesmos em situações sociais limitadas, não sendo, portanto, representativos da diversidade étnica, social e cultural do Brasil, ou dos países em que o inglês é falado. Após a análise da representação dos atores sociais, analisam-se, com vistas a atingir os objetivos deste trabalho, os padrões de representação e de interação nos textos multimodais selecionados, segundo categorias do quadro da multimodalidade de van Leeuwen (1996). Verifica-se, a partir de tais análises, que o verbal e o visual nem sempre apresentam uma relação direta, e que, quando apresentam, tal relação não é explorada pelo material, tornando o visual um elemento meramente decorativo que, na maioria das vezes, em nada contribui para o desenvolvimento das unidades. Por essa razão, e por se tratar de uma pesquisa centrada no contexto pedagógico, propõem-se, ao final das análises, atividades de exploração de alguns dos textos multimodais analisados, visando à formação multimodal do aluno em língua estrangeira / This study aims at contributing to the advancement of research in the area of multimodality, within the context of foreign language teaching. A sample of multimodal texts in a coursebook produced and used in Brazil as a tool for teaching English as a foreign language to adult beginner students in a free language course is analyzed. Given the concerns pointed out in the teaching materials themselves, in meeting the needs and expectations of these students, the objectives of this research are: to investigate the interaction between the verbal and the visual semiotic modes in the corpus; to examine how this interaction contributes to achieving the educational objectives proposed by the material; and, finally, to contribute in some way to the multimodal literacy of foreign language students. Such objectives account for the hybrid nature of this research which, apart from its descriptive-analytic dimension, also features a pedagogical dimension, aimed at presenting proposals for multimodal work with some of the activities selected for analysis. The starting point for the selection of the multimodal texts for the corpus of this research was the observation that certain characters were consistently depicted throughout the coursebook. Such recurrence motivated questions that could only be answered through the analysis of the visual elements in the representation of these characters, particularly when depicted in situations of (inter)action, which led to the selection of narrative representations that included them. The characters concerned are drawings created for the educational purposes of the material and are depicted in very limited social situations: most of these representations seem to form a narrative sequence with interactions taking place at a party, in the office, at a restaurant, in a park, and on the phone. An analysis of the visual representation of these characters showed that, despite the inclusion of a black woman among the characters, which would supposedly convey a multicultural vision, the participants represent a homogeneous group pertaining to the same social segment, who only interact in limited social situations and are not therefore representative of the ethnic, social and cultural diversity of Brazil, or of countries where English is spoken. The analysis of the visual representation of the characters was followed by investigation of the patterns of representation and interaction in the multimodal texts selected, drawing on categories from the framework for the study of multimodality by van Leeuwen (1996). These analyses suggest that the verbal and the visual are not always in a direct relationship, and that, when they are, such relationship is not exploited by the material, making the visual element a purely decorative one, in most cases, contributing very little to the development of the pedagogical objectives of the units. For this reason, some exploration activities of the multimodal texts analyzed are suggested, aiming at the multimodal literacy of foreign language students

This dissertation study explored the practices that foster teacher development in a community of practice (Wenger, 1998, 2010) of teachers of English as an Additional Language in a large federal university in the south of Brazil. The community is part of a big internationalization effort in Brazilian universities, named Languages without Borders (LwB). In summary, the goal of the program is to teach additional languages for university students, faculty and staff. For that, the local LwB center has fifteen student teachers, from sophomore to senior year, who are pursuing a teaching certification in English as an Additional Language. Although the community has teaching as its end goal, and not teacher development, teacher development has emerged as an epiphenomenon, for student teachers need to learn how to teach in order for the community’s goals to be attained. The objective of this study was to observe, describe and analyze the practices that foster professional development for these student teachers in order to understand in what ways (and if) the experiences in their everyday life of the community become professional learning. While previous research has shown that communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) can be sites of learning, and has explored communities among teachers and students in a variety of contexts, there is a scarcity of studies about community among these additional language teachers (Costa, 2013; Merril, 2016) With the theoretical framework of Practice Theory (Wenger, 1998; Young, 2009; Ortner, 1983), this interpretative study (Erickson, 1990) examined history-in-person interviews with focal participants as well as intensive participant observation – recorded in the form of field notes, audio recordings and photographs – and collection of artifacts. The research participants consist of fifteen student teachers, two former student teachers, three Fulbright English Teaching Assistants, and two of the three coordinators of the program at this university. Out of these, five student teachers were chosen for the interviews. Results revealed that this community has both formal and informal practices that cultivate teacher development. The formal practices are planned by the coordinator and enacted in weekly pedagogical meetings, and include practices such as microteaching, workshops and lectures. The informal practices emerge from teachers’ everyday interactions in the teachers’ room, and include practices such as sharing materials, requesting help, sharing classroom stories, sharing specialized concepts and literature in the field of AL teaching, and planning classes together. In conclusion, the landscape of practices that student teachers experience throughout their trajectory in the program helps them develop as teachers through the profession (Nóvoa, 1992) and integrate both technical and practical aspects of the job.

Este trabalho é fruto de uma pesquisa qualitativa-interpretativa, de cunho etnográfico, que visou compreender as relações entre letramentos escolares e letramentos sociais entre alunos de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA). A coleta de dados ocorreu em duas comunidades escolares, localizadas na cidade de São Paulo, com suas respectivas professoras, por meio da observação de aulas, entrevistas formais e informais e questionários. Para compreender as relações entre letramentos escolares e sociais no contexto investigado, baseamos nossas análises nos estudos de letramentos novos letramentos, multiletramentos, letramento crítico (KALANTZIS e COPE, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2013; GEE, 2004; KRESS 2003, 2011; LANKSHEAR e KNOBEL, 2007, 2011; LEMKE 2010; MONTE MÓR, 2006, 2007, 2013; MENEZES DE SOUZA, 2011) que levam em conta os efeitos educacionais das mudanças sociais, culturais, econômicas e políticas advindas da globalização e da cultura midiática e digital. As análises apontaram, neste contexto de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA), marcadamente sensível a questões de marginalização social dos sujeitos por ela atendidos, para tanto distanciamentos e quanto aproximações entre ambos os tipos de letramento, evidenciando as relações conflituosas entre as concepções e as práticas pedagógicas observadas. / This qualitative-interpretative research, with ethnographic elements, aimed at investigating the relations between school literacies and social literacies in Adult Education . Its data was collected in two school communities, in the city of São Paulo, with their respective teachers, through class observation, formal and informal interviews and questionnaires. In order to understand such relations in the targeted context, we based our analyses in the literacies studies new literacies, multiliteracies, critical literacies (KALANTZIS e COPE, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2013; GEE, 2004; KRESS 2003, 2011; LANKSHEAR e KNOBEL, 2007, 2011; LEMKE 2010; MONTE MÓR, 2006, 2007, 2013; MENEZES DE SOUZA, 2011), which take into consideration educational effects towards the social, cultural, economic and political changes resulting from globalization and media and digital culture. Our analysis pointed that, especially in the context of Adult Education, markedly sensitive to issues of social marginalization of the subjects it serves, there are both distance and approximation of the two types of literacies, highlighting conflicted relations between pedagogical concepts and practices which were observed.

Today English is a world language; it is spoken by millions both as first and second language almost all over the world. The varieties best known to Swedish pupils are the varieties British and American English. Another variety of English, which is spoken by both native and non-native speakers, is a mixture of British English and American English called Mid-Atlantic English. As long as the English language has been a part of the Swedish curriculum, the leading variety taught has been British English, but lately American English has influenced Swedish teenagers because of its prominent status in media. Since both British English and American English are used in Swedish schools, different attitudes can be perceived among pupils and teachers towards these two varieties. The aim of this paper is to determine if Swedish pupils are using British or American English or if they mix these two varieties. Attitudes and prejudice amongst pupils and their teachers towards these two varieties are looked into as well as whether the pupils speak the variety of English they claim they speak. The question of why the pupils speak the variety they do is also investigated. The results show that most pupils mix British and American English and that American English features predominate in the mix. According to this investigation, teachers and pupils find British English to be a bit “snobbish” while American English can sound a bit “cocky” to them. This investigation concludes that the two major influences on the pupils are their teachers and different kind of media.

This ethnographically informed, qualitative study aims to investigate English teacher candidates’ attitudes towards multilingualism and translanguaging in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms and in the school environment. More specifically, the study intends to identify potential contributing factors to the formation of said attitudes, such as the influence of policy documents and of the teacher training program on the perception of the future working environment. The data was collected with semi-structured interviews; the participants were four teacher candidates, two females and two males, enrolled in the teacher education program in a Swedish university. In addition, at the time of data collection, all participants had completed most of the teacher education program, an aspect that increased the relevance of their responses, since they would soon be active teachers in the Swedish school system. Overall, the participants expressed positive attitudes towards multilingualism and translanguaging in a school environment. However, some hesitation in their answers was detected when they are asked how they would work with multilingual students in their future practice. These findings suggest that, if teacher candidates receive adequate education to approach their future working environment with confidence they would be better equipped to provide adequate pedagogical support to students whose L1 is other than Swedish. This would foster positive attitudes towards multilingualism and translanguaging and would, consequently, lead to an improvement in the academic results of multilingual students. The teacher candidates’ increased awareness of the benefits and challenges of multilingualism and their ability to put into practice the general principles they learn at university would benefit from changes in the teacher training program, in the curriculum compiled by the National Agency of Education, and in the national pedagogical approach to language learning.

This study focuses on ‘trouble spots’ that occur in the English as a Foreign Language classroom. A trouble spot is an umbrella term for all types of language problems that arise. This means that it covers the trouble sources of repairs, corrections as well as problematising activities in the classroom. Ten different instances of trouble spots are identified and documented in the study. These are grouped into four different categories depending on how the trouble spot occurred, who initiated it and how it was resolved. To investigate the classroom interaction Conversation Analysis was chosen as a method and two different English lessons in two different Swedish upper-secondary schools were filmed. In order to investigate the trouble spots the following research questions are addressed What types of trouble spots arise in the English language classroom and how are they signalled as trouble? How are the trouble spots dealt with by teachers and students? The results confirm that most trouble spots are identified and handled by the speakers themselves and that the second-most involved person is the teacher. This is expected as there is a preference for self-initiated self-repair in ordinary conversation. However, in classroom interaction the preference organisation is not always similar to that of ordinary conversation. Correction in the classroom is often other-initiated without it being face-threatening. Furthermore, the context of the task at hand is very important when it comes to how trouble spots are resolved.