This research examined the relationships between the Big Five human personality traits, favorable social conditions, and foreign language classroom speaking confidence. Four research questions were investigated concerning the validity of the Big Five for a Japanese university sample, the composition of Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, the degree to which the Big Five influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, and the degree to which perceptions of classroom climate affect Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence. The first stage of the research involved three pilot studies that led to the revision of the Big Five Factor Marker questionnaire and the creation of a new instrument for measuring foreign language classroom speaking confidence that included both cognitive and social factors as theorized in mainstream social anxiety research. The second stage of the research involved the collection and analysis of data from 1,081 participants studying English in 12 universities throughout Japan. Data were analyzed using a triangulation of Rasch analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to verify the construct validity of the eleven hypothesized constructs. Following validation of the measurement model, the latent variables were placed into a structural regression model, which was tested by using half of the data set as a calibration sample and confirmed by using the second half of the data set as a validation sample. The results of the study indicated the following: (a) four of the five hypothesized Big Five personality traits were valid for the Japanese sample; (b) Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence comprised three measurement variables, Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Anxiety, Perceived Foreign Language Speaking Self-Competence, and Desire to Speak English; (c) Emotional Stability and Imagination directly influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, and; (d) Current English Classroom Perception and Perceived Social Value of Speaking English directly influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence. The findings thus demonstrated a link between personality, positive classroom atmosphere, and foreign language classroom speaking confidence. The implications of the findings included the possibility that foreign language anxiety is not situation-specific as theorized, and that improved social relations within the foreign language classroom might help reduce speaking anxiety. / CITE/Language Arts

This study reports on the impact of the Authorial Empathy Scale (AES), a tool designed to measure responses to literature that balance attention both to authors’ aesthetic choices and to empathetic engagement with the narrative world, on teachers’ instructional practices and students’ written and spoken responses. The research is guided by the following research questions: (1) In what ways, if any, does a literary unit intervention designed to foster readings of authorial empathy shape the teaching practice of two secondary ELA teachers? (2) In what ways, if any, does a literary unit intervention designed to foster readings of authorial empathy shape secondary students’ responses to texts? Data consist of stimulated-recall interviews and discussion transcripts of teachers and students that were analyzed for the goals, tools, and sources of their decisions. The major findings are the use of the AES seemed to facilitate a common approach among teachers and students for generating more balanced responses to texts. However, sustaining the balanced responses faced challenges in the form of institutional rubrics, IRE discussion patterns, and the specific demands of writing tasks. Students who evidenced greater mastery of the conventions of academic writing tended to generate more authorially empathetic responses to texts. During the Authorial Empathy unit, students tended to engage in more extensive and collaborative talk turns during discussion. The results make clear the importance for teachers to select texts, tasks, and tools that support the use of the AES in guiding students to respond with authorial empathy. / Literacy & Learners

This study was an investigation of the effect of English Learning in the Elementary School (ELES) on both English language skills and affective variables. The participants were 145 public junior high school students in Grades 7 and 8; 72 participants received English language instruction once a week in the local public elementary schools in tokku (special educational district), while the remaining 73 participants had not received any English language instruction in their local public elementary schools. Three research questions were investigated: (a) To what degree do the ELES Experienced students and the Non- Experienced students differ in terms of their English listening, speaking, reading, vocabulary, and grammar skills?; (b) To what degree do the ELES Experienced students and the Non- Experienced students differ on the motivational and attitudinal variables?; (c) To what degree do the affective differences between the Grade 7 and Grade 8 results converge or diverge? The Experienced group outperformed the Non-experienced group to a statistically significant degree on the listening test in Grades 7 and 8, on the speaking test in both Grades 7 and 8, except for the Grade 8 story-telling task. The Experienced group outperformed the Non-experienced group on vocabulary/grammar and reading tests, but the results did not reach statistical significance in part because of a lack of statistical power caused by the modest N-size. Unlike previous research findings, no statistically significant differences were found between the Experienced and Non-experienced students for the four motivational and attitudinal variables of Attitudes Toward Intercultural Communication, Attitudes Toward English Learning, Respect for Self and Others, and Reasons for Studying English. Although the conversion or diversion of English skills could not be obtained because different tests were administered to measure the Grade 7 and Grade 8 participants' English skills, the above affective variables did not converge or diverge from Grade 7 to Grade 8. / CITE/Language Arts

The goal of this case study of a mindful literacy teacher in a middle school social studies class was to describe the nature of one teacher's differentiated text choices in one seven week unit. The participant was nominated by an administrator, a district supervisor, a university professor, and the researcher based on characteristics of mindful literacy instruction. Classroom observations and teacher interviews described four differentiated text events: an historical fiction novel unit; primary source oral histories; expository non-fiction articles; and picture books, magazines, and an anthology set. Interview transcripts were coded using constant comparative analysis and revealed the teacher's belief in stories, student choice, her resistance to standardized testing, and her own teaching confidence and activist spirit. The discussion addresses the teacher's effectiveness in the areas of collaboration with students, the assignment of varied and plentiful texts, the expectation of high achievement for herself and students; and her effective management of the differentiated texts in the classroom. The researcher also concluded that this teacher did not have the expertise to diagnose or remediate basic reading deficits but her disposition in seeing herself as a reading teacher, challenging mandated curricula, and working to offer appropriate choices for all of her students supported her decision to offer differentiated text choices. / Ph. D.

The study examined three Japanese junior high-school English teachers’ initial years of full-time employment. It investigated the type of pedagogical puzzles these teachers experienced, how their practice developed over 18 months, and my role as a Teacher of Teachers (TOT). Drawing on linguistic ethnography, this study took an ethnographic approach to understanding the teachers’ social context and used techniques from discourse analysis to consider how they interpreted their puzzles and constructed their practice. These techniques were also used to analyze my working relationship with the teachers. The purpose of this endeavor was to contribute to the understanding of novice teacher development in an ‘expanding circle’ country. Over the course of the study, I observed the teachers’ classes and interviewed them once or twice a month. Using the coding of interview transcripts and class fieldnotes, I identified Critical Incidents that represented the teachers’ pedagogical puzzles and typical practice, as well as my role as a TOT. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory(CHAT), I analyzed how elements of the social context brought about the teachers’ pedagogical puzzles and affected their capacity to address them. Coding of the interviews and a microanalysis of the interactions showed my role as a TOT. Overall, the CIs gave an emic portrait of each teacher’s experience and my efforts to support them. The pedagogical puzzles the teachers faced were a result of their personal histories and school conditions. These puzzles did not change, which indicates that teachers will face complex issues that cannot be resolved. Understanding them, however, can promote teacher development. Applying CHAT, I could identify the conditions that helped determine the types of pedagogy in which teachers engaged. I tried to fulfill my role as a TOT by conducting a form of reflective practice (RP). An examination of the RP I conducted with the teachers challenged the notion that it involves the sequential steps of identifying issues, attempting to resolve them, and reflecting on one’s efforts. This dissertation concludes with a discussion about the contributions it has made toward the field of English teacher development: using CHAT to understand the English teaching experiences, the development of an understanding of RP as it can be carried out in the field, an understanding of novice teachers in expanding circle countries, and the value of linguistic ethnography for researching novice teachers.

This paper aims at investigating how upper secondary school teachers of English in Malmö, Sweden abide by the curriculum criteria of having their learners develop correctness in speech, as well as what support English teachers receive with regard to pronunciation teaching from official steering documents. Furthermore, this paper attempts to critically evaluate and discuss potential options for pronunciation models or standards in education which hold sway in contemporary research. Through qualitative interviews with four upper secondary school teachers of English, the findings of this study indicate a discrepancy between the participants’ views on how ‘correctness’ should be interpreted as well as their methods for teaching and assessing pronunciation. In addition, none of the participants explicitly expressed a subscription to any particular pronunciation model or standard, but rather that they focused on intelligibility over native speaker accent accuracy. Through personal communications with the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) and a university professor of English at a teacher education programme, tendencies are observable of attempts at shifting responsibility for interpreting, understanding, and applying the syllabi, ultimately leaving individual teachers to uphold the demand of an equitable education through subjective interpretations of pronunciation teaching.  The implications of this study suggest that the field of pronunciation teaching in both Swedish and international context is still underdeveloped and in desperate need of further research. Whilst this study may have limited reach or impact on the field as such, it may serve as an indicator for the problem at large for teachers, researchers and educational agencies as well as promoting an awareness of issues in the equitability of pronunciation teaching. This paper may also serve as a basis for discussion in teacher teams or other educational opportunities for teachers on the development of coherent pronunciation constructs.

No description available.

Föreliggande studie har undersökt hur elever i årskurs 4 och 5 i den svenska grundskolan upplever användandet av svenska i undervisningen av engelska, samt hur användandet av svenska relaterar till eventuell foreign language anxietyhos eleverna. De forskningsfrågor som har besvarats är: 1) Hur upplever elever användandet av svenska i engelskundervisningen, utifrån deras nivå av behärskning av målspråket? samt 2) Hur relaterar användandet av svenska i engelskundervisningen till elevernas foreign language anxiety, utifrån deras nivå av behärskning av målspråket?Empiriskt material samlades in genom fokusgruppsintervjuer med 18 elever i årskurs 4 och 5. Eleverna från varje klass grupperades i tre grupper med tre elever i varje grupp efter deras nivå av behärskning av engelska. Sociokulturell teori om lärande och barndomssociologi har utgjort de teoretiska grunderna för studien. Det insamlade materialet analyserades med tematisk analys, där centrala teman i elevernas intervjusvar analyserades. De viktigaste resultaten från undersökningen kretsar kring elevernas uppfattningar om det svenska språkets roll i undervisningen för deras förståelse och delaktighet, där den största delen av de intervjuade eleverna uppger hur de anser användandet av svenska är en förutsättning för både förståelse och delaktighet. De uppgav även att en undervisning som exkluderar svenska bidrar till svårigheter med att förstå lektionsinnehållet, vilket hindrar ett aktivt deltagande och en oro för att andra ska döma dem för deras svårigheter med att förstå. En mindre grupp elever med god behärskning skildrade emellertid hur de betraktar användandet av svenska som ett hinder för förståelse och deltagande, och att behovet av att ibland uttrycka sin förståelse på svenska kan utgöra en källa till oro. Implikationerna av resultatet kretsar kring vikten av att lärare är medvetna om konsekvenserna av sina didaktiska val, och de svårigheter som finns med att tillgodose individuella behov hos en elevgrupp när elevernas olika behov står i motsats till varandra. / The current study examines how pupils in the years 4 and 5 in Swedish compulsory school view the use of Swedish in the teaching of English, as well as how it relates to experiences of foreign language anxiety. The research questions we have aimed to answer are: 1) How do pupils experience the use of Swedish in the teaching of English, with regard to their proficiency in the target language? and 2) How does the use of Swedish in the teaching of English relate to foreign language anxiety with the students, with regard to their proficiency in the target language? Empirical data was collected with semi-structured focus group interviews with 18 pupils in the years 4 and 5 of the Swedish compulsory school. The respondents from each class were grouped in three groups of three pupils in each group, with regards to their proficiency in English. With socio-cultural theory of learning and sociology of childhood as the theoretical foundation, a thematic analysis was implemented on the collected empirical material, where central themes from the interviews were highlighted and analyzed. Important results from our study include how a large part of the interviewed pupils expressed a view of Swedish as a necessity for both their understanding and their active participation during classes. They also expressed how an education of English which excludes Swedish hinders their understanding of the lesson content, which in turn creates a barrier for participation and a risk of being negatively judged by others. A small group of pupils with greater proficiency did, however, express a view of how the use of Swedish could act as a hindrance for participation, and how the need to at times express their understanding in Swedish could be a source of anxiety. The implications of our results focus on the need for teachers to be mindful of the consequences of their didactical choices, and on the difficulties which can arise when trying to fulfill the individual needs of a group of pupils when their needs at times are incompatible.

No description available.

科学研究費補助金 研究種目:基盤研究(B)(1) 課題番号:14310120 研究代表者:大塚 豊 研究期間:2002-2003年度