The key postulation of the research is: learning an additional language should go together with learning its culture. Through personal experience as an EAL learner and EFL teacher, the researcher examines the interconnected system of the learner’s motivations, premising that language cognition could engage a meta-cognitive search for L, as a symbol of the researcher’s inner world, and arising from L such concepts as Language, Learning, Life, Love, and Led Zeppelin. Quest and examination of those concepts analyze sense-data, the researcher’s short literary works written in Russian and translated into English. The canvas of the author’s writing is presented in a symbolic form of literary and musical Islands with which she creates her arts-informed research of new learning-teaching interactions with the learning component as dominating in this interaction. The researcher looks for new perspectives on education as a lifelong process that takes place between I-world and They-world through internalization-externalization. / May 2008

The key postulation of the research is: learning an additional language should go together with learning its culture. Through personal experience as an EAL learner and EFL teacher, the researcher examines the interconnected system of the learner’s motivations, premising that language cognition could engage a meta-cognitive search for L, as a symbol of the researcher’s inner world, and arising from L such concepts as Language, Learning, Life, Love, and Led Zeppelin. Quest and examination of those concepts analyze sense-data, the researcher’s short literary works written in Russian and translated into English. The canvas of the author’s writing is presented in a symbolic form of literary and musical Islands with which she creates her arts-informed research of new learning-teaching interactions with the learning component as dominating in this interaction. The researcher looks for new perspectives on education as a lifelong process that takes place between I-world and They-world through internalization-externalization.

The key postulation of the research is: learning an additional language should go together with learning its culture. Through personal experience as an EAL learner and EFL teacher, the researcher examines the interconnected system of the learner’s motivations, premising that language cognition could engage a meta-cognitive search for L, as a symbol of the researcher’s inner world, and arising from L such concepts as Language, Learning, Life, Love, and Led Zeppelin. Quest and examination of those concepts analyze sense-data, the researcher’s short literary works written in Russian and translated into English. The canvas of the author’s writing is presented in a symbolic form of literary and musical Islands with which she creates her arts-informed research of new learning-teaching interactions with the learning component as dominating in this interaction. The researcher looks for new perspectives on education as a lifelong process that takes place between I-world and They-world through internalization-externalization.

O foco deste trabalho é a realização de estágio supervisionado em grupos na formação inicial de professores. A pesquisa acompanhou quatro equipes, formadas por dois a quatro estagiários, em duas situações: nas aulas da disciplina Metodologia do Ensino de Inglês, do curso de Licenciatura da Faculdade de Educação da USP, e nas aulas no estágio supervisionado dessas equipes nos minicursos de inglês, nessa mesma instituição. Os dados apresentados aqui foram coletados em 2006 por meio do contato prolongado com os sujeitos da pesquisa, utilizando instrumentos tais como observações de aulas, conversas informais, entrevistas semi-estruturadas e questionários, dentre outros. Buscou-se assim delinear uma descrição qualitativa e detalhada dos sujeitos e de sua experiência de estágio, tendo como interesse principal aspectos relacionados ao próprio trabalho em grupo. Foram observadas quatro principais dimensões do estágio em equipe. A primeira dizia respeito à escolha dos parceiros para formar o grupo. O contato prévio com os colegas e também a conveniência de horários foram identificados como sendo os principais fatores considerados nessa decisão. O segundo aspecto observado na pesquisa foi o da organização das equipes para a preparação das aulas. Como tal atividade não era prevista na grade curricular, devendo ser realizada pelos estagiários em suas horas livres, eles geralmente articulavam a preparação dos materiais a distância, por telefone e e-mail. A terceira característica do trabalho em grupo nos minicursos estava relacionada ao ensino em equipe nas aulas propriamente ditas. Nessa situação, a ansiedade ao ser observado pelos pares foi notada, assim como a dinâmica dos grupos no que se refere à divisão de papéis em sala de aula. A última dimensão do trabalho em grupo analisada na pesquisa foi a existência de líderes informais nas equipes. Mostrou-se que a emergência de líderes não poderia ser explicada por apenas uma única motivação, como maior experiência profissional ou maior conhecimento do conteúdo, estando, em vez disso, inter-relacionada com características do líder propriamente dito, dos demais integrantes do grupo e do contexto como um todo. / The focus of this study is group work in the teaching practicum in initial teacher education. The research observed four groups, made up of two to four student-teachers, in two situations: during classes in the discipline English Teaching Methodology, which is part of the Teaching License course of FEUSP (School of Education of the University of São Paulo), and during the practicum classes of these groups in the English minicourses, in that same institution. The data presented here were collected in 2006 by means of extended contact with the research subjects, using tools such as class observations, informal conversations, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, among others. The aim was to make a qualitative and detailed description of the subjects and their experience in the teaching practicum, the main interest lying on aspects related to group work. Four main dimensions of group work were observed in the practicum. The first was related to the choice of partners to form a group. It was observed that previous contact with colleagues and also schedule constraints were the main factors taken into account in this decision. The second aspect observed in the research was the organization of the teams to prepare classes. The student-teachers had to use their free time for this activity, since it was not included in the regular class timetable. For this reason, they usually arranged the preparation of materials by phone or e-mail. The third characteristic of group work in the minicourses was connected to team teaching in the classrooms. In this situation, feelings of anxiety for being observed by one\'s peers were detected and the group dynamics regarding the alternation of roles in the classroom were also analyzed. The last dimension of group work investigated in the research was the existence of informal leaders in the teams. It was shown that the emergence of leaders could not be explained by a single motivation (such as greater professional experience or greater knowledge of the content); instead, it was interrelated with characteristics of the leaders themselves, of the other group members and of the context as a whole.

O foco deste trabalho é a realização de estágio supervisionado em grupos na formação inicial de professores. A pesquisa acompanhou quatro equipes, formadas por dois a quatro estagiários, em duas situações: nas aulas da disciplina Metodologia do Ensino de Inglês, do curso de Licenciatura da Faculdade de Educação da USP, e nas aulas no estágio supervisionado dessas equipes nos minicursos de inglês, nessa mesma instituição. Os dados apresentados aqui foram coletados em 2006 por meio do contato prolongado com os sujeitos da pesquisa, utilizando instrumentos tais como observações de aulas, conversas informais, entrevistas semi-estruturadas e questionários, dentre outros. Buscou-se assim delinear uma descrição qualitativa e detalhada dos sujeitos e de sua experiência de estágio, tendo como interesse principal aspectos relacionados ao próprio trabalho em grupo. Foram observadas quatro principais dimensões do estágio em equipe. A primeira dizia respeito à escolha dos parceiros para formar o grupo. O contato prévio com os colegas e também a conveniência de horários foram identificados como sendo os principais fatores considerados nessa decisão. O segundo aspecto observado na pesquisa foi o da organização das equipes para a preparação das aulas. Como tal atividade não era prevista na grade curricular, devendo ser realizada pelos estagiários em suas horas livres, eles geralmente articulavam a preparação dos materiais a distância, por telefone e e-mail. A terceira característica do trabalho em grupo nos minicursos estava relacionada ao ensino em equipe nas aulas propriamente ditas. Nessa situação, a ansiedade ao ser observado pelos pares foi notada, assim como a dinâmica dos grupos no que se refere à divisão de papéis em sala de aula. A última dimensão do trabalho em grupo analisada na pesquisa foi a existência de líderes informais nas equipes. Mostrou-se que a emergência de líderes não poderia ser explicada por apenas uma única motivação, como maior experiência profissional ou maior conhecimento do conteúdo, estando, em vez disso, inter-relacionada com características do líder propriamente dito, dos demais integrantes do grupo e do contexto como um todo. / The focus of this study is group work in the teaching practicum in initial teacher education. The research observed four groups, made up of two to four student-teachers, in two situations: during classes in the discipline English Teaching Methodology, which is part of the Teaching License course of FEUSP (School of Education of the University of São Paulo), and during the practicum classes of these groups in the English minicourses, in that same institution. The data presented here were collected in 2006 by means of extended contact with the research subjects, using tools such as class observations, informal conversations, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, among others. The aim was to make a qualitative and detailed description of the subjects and their experience in the teaching practicum, the main interest lying on aspects related to group work. Four main dimensions of group work were observed in the practicum. The first was related to the choice of partners to form a group. It was observed that previous contact with colleagues and also schedule constraints were the main factors taken into account in this decision. The second aspect observed in the research was the organization of the teams to prepare classes. The student-teachers had to use their free time for this activity, since it was not included in the regular class timetable. For this reason, they usually arranged the preparation of materials by phone or e-mail. The third characteristic of group work in the minicourses was connected to team teaching in the classrooms. In this situation, feelings of anxiety for being observed by one\'s peers were detected and the group dynamics regarding the alternation of roles in the classroom were also analyzed. The last dimension of group work investigated in the research was the existence of informal leaders in the teams. It was shown that the emergence of leaders could not be explained by a single motivation (such as greater professional experience or greater knowledge of the content); instead, it was interrelated with characteristics of the leaders themselves, of the other group members and of the context as a whole.

This study aims to investigate the attitudes to English homework held by teachers of primary school (Grades 4-6) in Mainland China, through an online survey. After obtaining 112 responses and analysing them by utilising both qualitative and quantitative methods, the results found that English teachers in China have a unified positive attitude towards homework and its effect. English homework is most commonly assigned once a day. Repetition or Exercise is the most popular type of assigned homework, and it is overwhelmingly preferred by the teachers, followed by Preparation and Reading. The respondents stress that homework has an indispensable connection with the scheduled school teaching. Through assigning the correct volume of homework, students can develop positive habits with regards to self-study, and therefore students can improve their academic performance in examinations. A combination of both oral and written feedback is utixlised the most. Follow-up of homework usually appears to be two-dimensional; material stimuli such as penalty copy and self-correction, and immaterial stimuli such as encouragement and criticism. All of the evidence shows that China’s particular education system reflects Skinner’s behaviourist theories of learning, meaning that students’ behaviour with regards to acquiring knowledge can be shaped by frequent and random reinforcement, and this behaviour will eventually persist in the long-term even in the absence of reinforcements.