Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Mary T. Copple / Using the framework for politeness developed by Brown and Levinson (1987), this research evaluates the production of politeness strategies by sophomore and senior EFL learners in Afghanistan by focusing on the language used in letters of inquiry. Twenty eight letters emailed by Afghan students at Balkh University were surveyed by thirteen native American English speakers. Each letter was surveyed by six different American participants who gave their perspectives about the effectiveness and politeness of the language used in the letters by the students. The American participants’ evaluations of politeness were compared with actual linguistic features employed, including the word choice in the salutation and closing, the use of indirect language, and politeness markers (e.g. thank you or other expressions of appreciation). The results show that a relationship between proficiency and politeness exists, consistent with the findings of Tanaka and Kawade (1982) who found that second language learners acquire both linguistic and pragmatic knowledge as the learning of the target language progresses. In addition, this study describes the linguistic behavior perceived as most polite by the native speakers and reflects on possible instructional implications.

International assessments indicate that Swedish students achieve high results in reading, writing and understanding English. However, this does not mean that the students display oral proficiency, despite an emphasis on functional and communicative language skills in the current English Syllabus. While a previous literature study by this researcher has shown that authentic texts are a way to increase these skills, most of the results shown are from an international viewpoint. Thus an empirical study was conducted within Sweden with the aim to examine the use of authentic texts in the Swedish EFL upper elementary classroom. Twelve teachers have answered a questionnaire on how they use authentic texts in their language teaching, as well as their opinions about these as a teaching tool. Additionally, 37 students have answered a questionnaire on their attitudes about authentic texts. Results indicate that all of the teachers surveyed see authentic texts as an effective way to increase students’ communicative competence and English language skills; however, only a few use them with any frequency in language teaching. Furthermore, this seems to affect the students’ attitudes, since many say that they read authentic texts in their free time, but prefer to learn English out of a textbook at school. These findings are based on a small area of Sweden. Therefore, further research is needed to learn if these opinions hold true for the entire country or vary dependent upon region or other factors not taken into consideration in this study.

The impact of the first language on the second language has long been a vibrant and controversial issue in terms of second language acquisition. The impact or influence happens when learners learn a new language and transfer features from their native language to the new language. This paper investigates to what extent Bengali learners’ native language influences their use of articles in English as a second language and whether there is a difference depending on the language of instruction (Bengali and English, respectively). To do so 20 essays from two schools, one teaching through Bengali and one through English, a total of 40 learner essays were collected and examined. The results show that Bangladeshi English learners are influenced by the noun forms in Bengali and their ability to use English articles hardly differs according to the type of school they attend. / Förstaspråkets inverkan på andraspråket har länge varit en levande och kontroversiell fråga när det gäller språkinlärning. Påverkan eller inflytandet sker när inlärare lär ett nytt språk och överför karaktärsdrag från sitt förstaspråk till det nya språket. Den här uppsatsen undersöker i vilken mån bengaliska elevers modersmål påverkar deras användning av artiklar i engelska som andraspråk och om det är någon skillnad beroende på undervisningsspråk (bengali resp. engelska). Materialet är 20 elevuppsatser vardera från två skolor, skola A (undervisning på bengali) och skola B (undervisning på engelska), dvs totalt 40 uppsatser samlades in och analyserades. Resultaten visar att bengaliska elevers engelska texter visar drag av substantivformerna som används i bengali, och deras förmåga att använda engelska artiklar skiljer sig inte åt i någon större utsträckning beroende på undervisningsspråk.

First outlined by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) continues to thrive (e.g. Lakoff&Johnson 1992, Lakoff, 1993, 1999, 2008), by first challenging the traditional view on metaphor as a matter of language and something extraordinary and poetic. CMT claims that metaphor is pervasive and essential in language and thought. Furthermore, metaphor is considered as the locus for abstract reasoning in this theory.Since its proposal, CMT has triggered plethoric research. However, few empirical studies have examined metaphors in second language (L2) acquisition and the importance of metaphor has not been fully recognized as an indispensable dimension in second language teaching and learning (Littlemore, 2009; Littlemore&Low, 2006b). However, metaphors present a hurdle for L2 learners (Danesi, 1992); L2 learners misinterpret metaphors for cultural reasons (Littlemore, 2003); teaching conceptual metaphor as a learning strategy facilitate language learning (Littlemore&Low, 2006a; Li, 2009).Thus, the current study investigates metaphor in learner language in light of CMT via a corpus-based approach. The study particularly examines how L2 learners of Chinese and English express vertical spatial metaphors in L2 English and L2 Chinese writings and how they differ from learners' target languages and learners' native languages.The findings reveal that L2 language development is a dynamic process and four key factors are found to interplay in learners' acquisition of conceptual metaphors: frequency of the metaphor, L2 proficiency, topic familiarity, and linguistic factors. In particular, the frequency of the metaphor as reflected in the target language has the most important impact on learners' acquisition of conceptual metaphors, overriding the factor whether a metaphor is shared in L1 and L2 or not; secondly, L2 proficiency influences how learners are affected by their first languages: learners with lower proficiency are more affected; thirdly, learners acquire the metaphors associated with a familiar topic; finally, L2 learners are constrained by the main semantic unit in the metaphorical expressions. Overall, the study demonstrates that figurative language development is a dynamic process: learners' metaphoric competence demonstrates a developmental pattern, in particular, a pendulum effect and it eventually emerges over L2 proficiency.

The present study aimed to establish a test development and validation framework of reading-into-writing tests to improve the accountability of using the integrated task type to assess test takers' ability in Academic English. This study applied Weir's (2005) socio-cognitive framework to collect three components of test validity: context validity, cognitive validity and criterion-related validity of two common types of reading-into-writing test tasks (essay task with multiple verbal inputs and essay task with multiple verbal and non-verbal inputs). Through literature review and a series of pilot, a set of contextual and cognitive parameters that are useful to explicitly describe the features of the target academic writing tasks and the cognitive processes required to complete these tasks successfully was defined at the pilot phase of this study. A mixed-method approach was used in the main study to establish the context, cognitive and criterion-related validity of the reading-into-writing test tasks. First of all, for context validity, expert judgement and automated textual analysis were applied to examine the degree of correspondence of the contextual features (overall task setting and input text features) of the reading-into-writing test tasks to those of the target academic writing tasks. For cognitive validity, a cognitive process questionnaire was developed to assist participants to report the processes they employed on the two reading-into-writing test tasks and two real-life academic tasks. A total of 443 questionnaires from 219 participants were collected. The analysis of the cognitive validity included three stands: 1) the cognitive processes involved in real-life academic writing, 2) the extent to which these processes are elicited by the reading-into-writing test tasks, and 3) the underlying structure of the processes elicited by the reading-into-writing test tasks. A range of descriptive, inferential and factor analyses were performed on the questionnaire data. The participants' scores on these real-life academic and reading-into-writing test tasks were collected for correlational analyses to investigate the criterion-related validity of the test tasks. The findings of the study support the context, cognitive and criterion-related validity of the integrated reading-into-writing task type. In terms of context validity, the two reading-into-writing tasks largely resembled the overall task setting, the input text features and the linguistic complexity of the input texts of the real-life tasks in a number of important ways. Regarding cognitive validity, the results revealed 11 cognitive processes involved in 5 phases of real-life academic writing as well as the extent to which these processes were elicited by the test tasks. Both reading-into-writing test tasks were able to elicit from high-achieving and low-achieving participants most of these cognitive processes to a similar extent as the participants employed the processes on the real-life tasks. The medium-achieving participants tended to employ these processes more on the real-life tasks than on the test tasks. The results of explanatory factor analysis showed that both test tasks were largely able to elicit from the participants the same underlying cognitive processes as the real-life tasks did. Lastly, for criterion-related validity, the correlations between the two reading-into-writing test scores and academic performance reported in this study are apparently better than most previously reported figures in the literature. To the best of the researcher's knowledge, this study is the first study to validate two types of reading-into-writing test tasks in terms of three validity components. The results of the study proved with empirical evidence that reading-into-writing tests can successfully operationalise the appropriate contextual features of academic writing tasks and the cognitive processes required in real-life academic writing under test conditions, and the reading-into-writing test scores demonstrated a promising correlation to the target academic performance. The results have important implications for university admissions officers and other stakeholders; in particular they demonstrate that the integrated reading-into-writing task type is a valid option when considering language teaching and testing for academic purposes. The study also puts forward a test framework with explicit contextual and cognitive parameters for language teachers, test developers and future researchers who intend to develop valid reading-into-writing test tasks for assessing academic writing ability and to conduct validity studies in such integrated task type.

This research investigated the relationship between students’ approaches to second language learning and a specific personality variable. The main research instruments were two questionnaires. One was the Language Learning Orientation Questionnaire (LLOQ), which measures two orientations to language learning, Structure Orientation (SO) and Communication Orientation (CO). The other instrument was the Regulatory Focus Theory Questionnaire (RFTQ), which was extensively modified from the USdesigned Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT: Higgins, 1997) for application in the Chinese cultural background, or Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHC), of Taiwan. The study involved 360 students in four high schools in Taiwan. The quantitative data from the questionnaires were supplemented by qualitative data from interviews and non-participant classroom observations. The analysis of LLOQ results demonstrated a clear distinction between SO and CO among the participants. The results of the CHC RFTQ identified three forms of Regulatory Focus: Obligation-Adherence, Social-Security (which are conflated in standard RFT as PRE) and Goal-Achievement (a specific form of PRO). The analysis of the relationship between the LLOQ and RFTQ data indicates there is a correlation between RF and LLO.

This thesis focused on students’ cognitive and affective responses to Arabic (L1) and English (L2) used by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who come from different L1 backgrounds in English (L2) classrooms in an English institute at a university in Saudi Arabia. Consideration of students’ responses to teachers’ use of English was crucial in this study as it helped to shed light on students’ cognitive and affective responses to the Arabic used by teachers. In addition, students’ preferences for EFL teachers in respect of their L1 background (native Arabic speaker teacher, native English speaker teacher and non-native English/Arabic speaker teacher) were examined. In order to be able to investigate the students’ responses and preferences, it was nessesary, firstly, to develop a deeper understanding of what they were responding to, namely the extent to which, and the conditions under which, teachers employ Arabic in the L2 classrooms. In addition, the extent to which teachers’ use of Arabic varies according to their students’ level of proficiency was also explored. Teachers' views on their own use of Arabic were also identified in order to establish the extent to which their views coincided with that of their students. This study adopted a qualitative approach and data were gathered through classroom observations, semi- structured interviews (in form of stimulated recall interviews), and open-ended questionnaires. Classroom observations were used to identify the extent, as well as the functions, of teachers’ L1 use and to examine whether the degree of teachers’ Arabic use varied according to their students’ level of proficiency. In addition, stimulated recall interviews were employed to explore students’ cognitive and affective responses to their teachers’ L1 and L2 use and students’ preferences for their teachers’ L1 background. The open-ended questionnaires were used to understand whether teachers’ and students’ views on the use of L1 by teachers coincided. The findings suggest that the way that Arabic is used by teachers in the Saudi EFL classroom varies according to the teachers’ L1 background in terms of the consistency, frequency, and the functions of the Arabic used by those teachers. Regarding students’ preferences for their EFL teachers, more than one third of the students (37%), the largest group regarding this aspect, preferred to be taught by a competent English teacher irrespective of their nationality or background; this clearly indicates that some students put emphasis on the pedagogy and professional skills of teachers rather than on their native status. The findings also suggest that a number of common cognitive responses are employed by students, mainly comparing English and Arabic grammatical rules, memorising new words, and making connections between Arabic and English. Furthermore, the results indicate that for most students (21 out of 30) Arabic helped to keep the affective filter low, making them feel more comfortable, happy and less anxious, whereas Arabic made the other students uncomfortable and more anxious. Moreover, it was found that the most frequently used strategies when students responded to teachers’ English use were mental translation, use of dictionaries and requesting clarification, while the least frequently used strategies were finding alternative English synonyms or avoidance. Finally, the findings indicate that teachers’ views generally coincide with students’ views about teachers’ use of Arabic. The findings from this study may benefit language teachers and programme designers to help them develop training programmes for teachers that take into account learner preferences regarding the background of their EFL teachers, particularly in the field of teaching EFL in the Saudi context. More importantly, the study suggests that learners should be trained how to use L1 as a successful learning strategy and that teachers should raise students’ awareness, especially those students with low proficiency in English, that Arabic can be used as a cognitive strategy, for example, to compare the similarities and differences between L1 and L2.

Today’s primary school pupils encounter English in a wide variety of ways through the use of various forms of media. This thesis aims to research how the very youngest pupils in the Swedish primary school encounter the English language in their time outside of school and whether or not it has any impact on how they relate to the subject in school. Teachers’ views on their pupils’ habits will also be compared, as well as whether they see encounters outside the classroom as having any visible effects on the pupils. Through the use of interviews with both seven- to eight-year-old pupils and teachers, it was possible to find common forms of extramural English (EE) among the pupils, but little evidence it contributed to their views on English at school. Teachers were largely aware of their pupils’ interests and were positive towards using EE content in class, but did not feel it was possible to do so. / <p>Engelska</p>

In Sweden today, the English language is a part of our everyday lives. This means that from very young ages, children encounter the language in many different ways, media being one of the most common. This thesis aims to research if and how teachers in F-3 include this type of English in their teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). In particular, the focus is to gain knowledge of how music/songs are being used in the classroom, and if the teachers incorporate the music that the pupils listen to in their spare time when working with music/songs. Their attitudes towards doing this is what this thesis is interested in. An empirical study was carried out with the use of interviews as data collecting method. A total of six lower primary school teachers (grades 1-3) spread out geographically in Sweden were interviewed. The results show that teachers report that they are aware of the many places where pupils encounter English, but only one of the teachers incorporate this in teaching EFL. However, the others do seem positive towards working with this and they mention many benefits in doing so. When it comes to music and songs, all teachers work with this in the subject, but once again five out of six do not include the songs that the pupils listen to, except when they in some cases pick something up in the moment. Again, even though some difficulties are mentioned, they seem positive towards this and they believe there is a possibility in including this in their teaching of EFL. However, as seen in the conclusion, time seems to be a big issue for doing so. / <p>Engelska</p>

This thesis investigates issues of intelligibility through the lens and focus of prosody when the Bostonian and Los Angeles-based accents are heard in casually occurring conversation by native and non-native speakers. Over the spring and summer of 2017, six native speakers and 11 non-native speakers of English were interviewed from having listened to two 2.5 minute audio sample clips of speakers who have these accents. Respondents were asked questions such as what was difficult or easy or whether they could summarize the recordings for me. Findings indicate that while the native speakers often had difficulty with vocabulary due to context, non-native English speakers frequently found the same recordings to sound continuous, blended or merged together when the Boston and Los Angeles audios were played to them. Native English speakers, by contrast, did not seem to face the same prosodic challenges of intelligibility as their non-native English-speaking counterparts when these two accents were heard in informal conversation. It has been found that L2 learners have a strong desire to learn English from their teachers through more naturally or informally occurring conversation. The argument is made that the teaching, practice and engagement of informal conversation is woefully inadequate for non-native speakers of English. Within this thesis the core subsets of the perceptions of prosody are analyzed between native and non-native speakers of English. The purpose of doing so is to pedagogically improve learning in EFL and ESL contexts.