Thesis (M. A. (English Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / This study explores the handling of grammatical structures by the Limpopo Province (LP) English First Additional Language (EFAL) teachers in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase. The problem is that the majority of English language learners’ language proficiency and accuracy are not at an acceptable level. This problem also brings into close scrutiny, the quality of teaching and learning that takes place in English language classrooms, and in particular, the effectiveness of teaching grammar structures in EFAL. The research design was exploratory and the approach was qualitative. A selected number of EFAL FET grammar teachers and English Language Curriculum Advisors (ELCAs) in the LP participated in the study. The study was underpinned by an integration of Behaviourism, Mentalism, Cognitive, and Universal Grammar theories. The study findings indicate some learner language interlanguage and grammar permeability, as well as inadequate handling of grammar knowledge and grammar learning assessment.

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Language teachers’ accounts regarding grammatical assessment have changed over the years. Researchers have presented conflicting approaches, methods and different materials language teachers can use when assessing pupils’ L2 grammar. In addition, different researchers, within the applied linguistic field, have presented and discussed what possibly can affect teachers’ accounts of underlying reasonings for certain practices. This study aims to investigate English teachers’ accounts concerning grammatical assessment and reveal what methods English teachers use, further, what underlying reasonings the teachers have for their choices. To accomplish this investigation, three semi-structured interviews with English teachers from lower secondary schools in Sweden were conducted. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis and table-coding. The results showed that the English teachers relied on four different methods when assessing their pupils L2 grammar. Grammatical assessment methods that emphasized both a traditional- and alternative assessment approach. Furthermore, all of the English teachers had several underlying reasonings for their grammatical assessment methods. The teachers considered learners’ need, personal experiences, school system guidelines and time constraints. This study provides further insight to the grammatical assessment discussion within teaching English as a second language, and contributes with a perspective of how Swedish lower secondary English teachers work with grammatical assessment.

The aim of this thesis was to study English teachers' approaches, methods and beliefs that link to teaching grammar to students in Sweden. The research has revolved around how frequently grammar is taught, what approaches are used and what methods are favored by English teachers in Swedish secondary and upper secondary schools. The respondents were 51 teachers recruited through a convenient sampling in the Facebook group “Nätverk för lärare i engelska”. The study used a mixed method with a survey as the data collection instrument. The results show that English teachers in secondary schools and upper secondary schools in Sweden occasionally use grammar teaching. On a four-grade scale ranging from Very Occasionally to Very Often the mean response was 2.36. In terms of preferred approach, the results indicated that a planned approach was preferred by a small margin. These results are in contradiction to previous research on English grammar teaching in Sweden which shows that teachers prefer an incidental approach to grammar teaching. The present study indicates that teachers favored interactive methods of grammar teaching. The two most favored methods were the Task-Based method where students complete tasks in pairs or groups, and the Communicative Language Teaching where students learn through discussions. Analyzing teachers’ beliefs on grammar teaching, the present study focused on the open-ended questions in the survey. The responses indicated that context to grammar teaching is extremely vital according to the teachers who responded to the survey. As previously mentioned, the present study contradicts previous studies in terms of preferred approach to grammar teaching. However, the present study coincides with previous research in terms of preferred methods both in international research but also in Sweden specifically, which is that teachers prefer interactive methods of grammar teaching that involve inductive learning.

The purpose of the "In Time On Time TESOL" website for Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages (TESOL) is to provide adult-education teachers online access to classroom managing techniques, teaching and learning strategies, and online resources based on constructivism and adult-learning theory. The instructional design and navigation structure is based on Random Access Instruction (RAI) and hypertext theory.

The purpose of this dissertation was to implement a needs analysis and on the basis of the findings come up with a framework consisting of practical stages and processes, for determining the academic reading needs of teacher trainees of English, at Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (hereafter, ISCED-Huíla), a higher teacher training institution in Lubango, in southern Angola. The investigation was initially prompted by the lecturers’ perceptions that the academic reading level of undergraduate teacher trainees in Angola was inadequate for the demands of tertiary level study. A scientific approach to investigating the needs of these students was thus adopted. A needs analysis was undertaken in order to determine, in a systematic manner, the academic literacy levels of the students, their attitudes towards reading, the reading strategies they claimed to use when reading academic texts, their academic reading lacks and needs, and the teacher trainers’ perceptions and opinions on the students’ reading competence in specific reading sub-skills, and on university needs analysis procedures. In all, 45 first-year teacher trainees and 5 teacher trainers were involved in the main study. The teacher trainees were required to answer the Accuplacer test, an academic literacy standardized assessment. Both teacher trainees and teacher trainers completed a corresponding questionnaire survey. The findings showed that, among others, first, teacher trainees’ academic literacy levels were below expected from a tertiary level reader; second, there were certain discrepancies between what teacher trainees and teacher trainers considered to be the needs, skills and lacks of the teacher trainees; and third, academic literacy and academic reading skills should be developed in both L1/Portuguese and L2/English. Therefore, a framework for determining the academic reading needs of teacher trainees, for syllabus and programe development and evaluation is presented. It is hoped that the results of the study will be of assistance to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading professionals and to teacher educators, especially those in developing countries, involved in selecting, adapting and designing teacher training programmes, materials and tasks in order to improve academic literacy levels in their countries, schools and universities where English is taught as a foreign language. / English Studies / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:24:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renata Almeida Martins.pdf: 1453359 bytes, checksum: 8034082e67cead89b15f3a1453d9a0a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-09 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / This research aims at describing and interpreting the phenomenon of participation of public school English teachers in a continuing education course. It is justified by the need to also understand what involves my own participation in many continuing education courses with the purpose of gathering subsidies that provide me directing, coordinating, supervising, and developing courses of this kind. This research is theoretically grounded on studies about pre-service teacher education (Imbernon, 2000, Vianna, 2004; Martins, 2004, Santos and Mendes Sobrinho, 2006; Gómez, 1995; Mizukami, 2002; Brito, 2006, Contreras, 2002; Brazil, 2002) ; continuing teacher education (Marin, 1995; Mizukami, 2002; Destro, 1995; Contreras, 2002; Smyth, 1991); English teachers education (Celani, 2002; Paiva, 2005; Dutra, 2003, Brazil, 2001, Castro, 1999 ; Celani and Collins, 2003) and concepts of reflection (Schön, 1995, 2000). The methodological approach adopted in this study was the hermeneutic-phenomenological one (van Manen, 1990, Freire, 2007). The description and interpretation of the phenomenon in focus was undertaken through textual registers obtained through questionnaires answered by 57 student-teachers enrolled in a three-semester continuing education course offered to public school English teachers. The research results reveal that participation of public school English teachers in that continuing education courses is unique, since it results in a constant search for improvement and also in change related to practice. The results also allow me to say that the research phenomenon was experienced in three different ways because each semester was played by a different group of student-teachers who was in a different period of the course and into a different reflective moment as well / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo descrever e interpretar o fenômeno da participação de professores de inglês da rede pública de ensino em um curso de formação contínua e justifica-se pela necessidade de também entender o que envolve a minha participação em vários cursos de formação contínua com a finalidade de obter subsídios que me proporcionem dirigir, coordenar, supervisionar, bem como elaborar cursos dessa natureza. Fundamentam teoricamente esta pesquisa, estudos sobre: formação inicial (Imbernón, 2000; Vianna, 2004; Martins, 2004; Santos e Mendes Sobrinho, 2006; Gómez, 1995; Mizukami, 2002; Brito, 2006; Contreras, 2002; Brasil, 2002); formação contínua (Marin, 1995; Mizukami, 2002; Destro, 1995; Contreras, 2002); formação de professores de inglês (Celani, 2002; Paiva, 2005; Dutra, 2003; Brasil, 2001; Castro, 1999; Celani e Collins, 2003) e conceitos sobre reflexão (Schön, 1995, 2000) A abordagem metodológica adotada nessa pesquisa foi a hermenêutico-fenomenológica (van Manen, 1990; Freire, 2007). A descrição e interpretação do fenômeno em foco foi feita a partir de registros textuais, obtidos por meio de questionários respondidos por 57 professores-alunos, participantes dos três semestres de um curso de formação contínua oferecido a professores de inglês da rede pública de ensino. Os resultados da pesquisa revelam que a participação de professores de inglês da rede pública de ensino em cursos de formação contínua é único, pois decorre de uma constante busca por aprimoramento e mudança em relação à prática. Os resultados também me permitem afirmar que o fenômeno investigado foi vivenciado de três formas diferentes, pois cada semestre foi vivido por um grupo de professores-alunos que se encontravam em um momento diferente do curso e também em um momento reflexivo diferente

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

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, School of Education, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 159-177. / This thesis examines student identity construction and teacher identity construction in the context of secondary English Years 7-10 classrooms in a comprehensive high school in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The research journey chronicles the teaching and learning experiences of a small group of students and teachers at Heartbreak High. The narrative provides insights into the factors responsible for creating teacher identity(s) and the identities of both engaged and disengaged students. -- Previous studies have tended to focus on the construction of disaffected student identities. In contrast, this case study tells the stories of both engaged and disengaged students and of their teachers utilising a unique framework that adapts and combines a range of theoretical perspectives. These include ethnography as a narrative journey (Atkinson, 1990), Fourth Generation Evaluation (Guba & Lincoln, 1990; Lincoln & Guba, 1989), reflexivity (Jordan & Yeomans, 1995), Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; Sugrue, 1974) and multiple realities (Stake, 1984). -- The classical notion of the student-teacher dynamic is questioned in this inquiry. Students did not present powerless, passive, able-to-be motivated identities; they displayed significant agency in (re) creating 'self(s)' at Heartbreak High based largely on 'desires'. Engaged student identities reflected a teacher's culture and generally exhibited a "desire to know." In contrast, disaffected students exhibited a "desire for ignorance," rejecting the teacher's culture in order to fulfil their desire to belong to peer subculture(s). The capacity for critical reflection and empathy were also key factors in the process of their identity constructions. Disengaged students displayed limited capacity to empathise with, or to critically reflect about, those whom they perceived as "different". In contrast, engaged students exhibited a significant capacity to empathise with others and a desire to critically reflect on their own behaviour, abilities and learning. -- This ethnographic narrative offers an alternate lens with which to view pedagogy from the perspectives that currently dominate educational debate. The findings of this study support a multifaceted model of teacher identity construction that integrates the personal 'self(s)' and the professional 'self(s)' that are underpinned by 'desires'. Current tensions inherent in the composition of teacher identities are portrayed in this thesis and it reveals the teacher self(s) as possessing concepts that are desirous of being efficacious, autonomous and valued but are diminished by disempowerment and fear. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 266 p. ill