Данное диссертационное исследование посвящено изучению технологии развития критического мышления при обучении лексической стороне письменной речи студентов языковых направлений подготовки. Базой исследования стала кафедра лингвистики и профессиональной коммуникации на иностранных языках (ЛиПКИЯ). В период с ноября 2021 г. по декабрь 2021 г. был проведен эксперимент среди студентов 4 курса. В опытно-экспериментальном обучении приняли участие 15 студентов. В первой части освещается теория вопроса об аспектах формирования лексической компетенции на основе технологии развития критического мышления (ТРКМ). Обусловлена значимость коммуникативного подхода в обучении языку, при котором критическое мышление рассматривается как дидактический феномен, как средство повышения эффективности усвоения лексического материала, формирующее черты вторичной языковой личности. Особое внимание уделяется теоретическому обоснованию и описанию способов совершенствования лексической стороны речи на основе ТРКМ. Во второй части описаны результаты анкетирования, проведенного среди выпускников бакалавриата и магистратуры языковых направлений подготовки с целью самодиагностики уровня сформированности лексической компетентности. Определяются дефициты в компонентах лексической компетентности письменной речи на основе анализа деловых писем студентов, моделируются приемы ТРКМ при обучении деловому письму, а также приводятся результаты опытного обучения студентов-лингвистов. В работе предложены занятия с применением приемов ТРКМ для совершенствования лексической компетенции в рамках делового письма. Результаты работы могут быть использованы в разработке новых и совершенствования существующих подходов в обучении лексической стороне письменной речи с применением технологии развития критического мышления. В приложении приводятся вопросы анкеты для сбора информации, направленной на анализ дефицитов при формировании различных компонентов лексической компетенции, также примеры деловых писем в предэкспериментальный и постэкспериментальный срез. / This dissertation research is devoted to the critical thinking technology in teaching the lexical part of the written speech to students of language studies. The base of the research was the Department of Linguistics and Professional Communication in Foreign Languages. In the period from November 2021 to December 2021, an experiment was conducted among 4th year students. 15 students took part in experimental training. The first part highlights the aspects of the lexical competence formation based on the critical thinking technology. The significance of the communicative approach in teaching a language is determined. Critical thinking is considered as a didactic phenomenon and as a means of increasing the efficiency of learning vocabulary. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical description of improving the vocabulary due to critical thinking technology. The second part describes the results of a survey conducted among bachelor's and master's degree graduates in order to diagnose the lexical competence level. Deficiencies in the lexical competence components are determined due to the students' business letters analysis. Techniques of critical thinking technology are modeled when teaching business writing, and the results of experimental training are also presented. The study offers classes using critical thinking techniques to improve lexical competence in business writing. The results of the study can be used in the development and improvement of existing approaches in teaching the language when using the critical thinking technology. The appendix contains a questionnaire for collecting information and analyzing lexical competence formation, as well as examples of business letters in the pre-experimental and post-experimental section.

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L2 listening research has moved toward a focus on understanding the process of listening. However, there are still few detailed studies of L2 listening that reveal learners’ comprehension processes when listening to scripted and unscripted listening texts. Studies in which such processing has been discussed have lacked detailed diagnoses of how bottom-up and top-down processing interactively affect listeners’ comprehension. This study was designed to show how listeners’ process and comprehend texts, with a focus on how their bottom-up and top-down processing either assist or impede their comprehension. In this study, a group of 30 L1 Japanese university English language learners’ listening abilities were diagnosed. The 30 participants were at three listening proficiency levels—high, mid, and low—based on TOEIC listening proficiency scores. The diagnostic procedure involved participants listening to two scripted and two unscripted listening texts and then reporting what they comprehended through three tasks—L1 oral recalls, L2 repetitions, and verbal reports. Other data was also collected in the study to relate the comprehension of listening texts to other important listening-related variables including listening proficiency, lexical knowledge, listening anxiety, study abroad experience, short-term phonological memory, and working memory. The main finding of the study was that miscomprehension of listening texts was invariably multi-causal, with a combination of both bottom-up and top-down factors leading to comprehension difficulty. Although not a new finding, the study offered more detail than current research about how bottom-up and top-down processing occur interactively. Regarding the overall difficulty of the listening texts, unscripted texts were more difficult to comprehend than scripted texts, and high-proficiency participants had fewer listening difficulties overall than mid- and low-proficiency participants. Quantitative and qualitative results revealed common processing difficulties among all participants due to L1-related phonological decoding issues (e.g., /l/ vs. /r/), connected speech, unknown lexis, and a lack of familiarity with unscripted speech hesitation phenomena (e.g., um, like). Qualitative transcript examples showed how top-down knowledge influenced misinterpretations of words and phrases interactively with bottom-up information, making inaccurate understandings of listening difficult to overcome. In addition to revealing participants’ difficulties and the severity of their comprehension difficulties, the diagnostic procedure showed common strengths—key words and phrases understood well by participants. High-frequency vocabulary and shorter utterances were both shown to be comprehended well. Finally, quantitative results in the study revealed relationships of participants’ listening comprehension with other important listening related variables. Listening proficiency and listening anxiety had strong relationships with listening comprehension of the listening texts. Working memory and short-term phonological memory had no relationship with listening text comprehension. Finally, study abroad experience showed a relationship with comprehension, but with many caveats, and listening vocabulary knowledge was not related with comprehension, but again, with numerous caveats to consider. Based on the results, theoretical and pedagogical implications were posed. Theoretical implications from the study relate to the understanding of four concerns in L2 listening research. Mainly, data in the study will aid researchers’ understanding of how L2 English listeners process speech interactively (i.e., with bottom-up and top-down information) for comprehension, how L2 English listeners experience connected speech, how L2 listeners deal with unknown lexis, and how L2 listeners experience difficulties with features of unscripted speech. Pedagogical implications of the study include the need for increased teacher and learner awareness of the complexity of L2 listening, the need to have learners to track their own listening development, and the need for teachers to expose learners to unscripted listening texts and make them familiar with features of unscripted speech. Finally, suggestions for further research are posed, including conducting diagnostics assessments of L2 listening with listeners of different L1s and with more varied proficiency levels, using different diagnostic procedures to examine L2 listening comprehension, and using more instruments to understand listening-related variables’ relationships with L2 listening comprehension. / Teaching & Learning

This study was an examination of the effects of explicit form-focused instruction on the English development of Japanese university students during a seven-week intervention. Speaking proficiency development is a continuous challenge for most EFL learners who have limited exposure to the target language outside the classroom. Within the communicative language teaching paradigm, task-based language learning (TBLT) has been considered an effective approach for developing students’ speaking proficiency. However, while TBLT has been increasingly implemented in English language classrooms, investigations in which explicit form-focused instruction has been integrated into task based speaking tasks are limited. This longitudinal classroom-based study had five purposes. The first purpose was to examine the development of speaking proficiency in terms of syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency. The second purpose was to examine the development of speaking proficiency by comparing learners who received form-focused instruction with those who did not receive form-focused instruction by examining differences in their syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency development. The third purpose was to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the week-to-week trajectory of changes in speaking proficiency development. The fourth purpose was to examine learner affective variables. The final purpose was to examine the participants’ perceptions concerning the development of speaking proficiency based on their self-assessments. The participants were 104 first-year students enrolled in a Japanese university. All of the participants narrated a different four-picture cartoon in English once a week for nine weeks. The participants were divided into one comparison group and two intervention groups: form-focused instruction (FFI) and form-focused instruction and peer feedback (FFI + PF). The form-focused instruction intervention included ten minutes of grammar instruction focused on three past tense forms: simple past, past continuous, and past perfect, as well as ten minutes of peer feedback. Between the pretest and posttest, the FFI and FFI + PF participants received seven weeks of instruction before their weekly cartoon narration. Participants in the comparison group did not receive any weekly interventions. The pretest and posttest narration data of all participants were transcribed and analyzed using six CAF measurements: mean length of T-unit, clause/T-unit ratio, percentage of error-free T-units, percentage of accurate past tense usage, speech rate, and self-repair. Moreover, the pretest and posttest narrations recorded by all of the participants were analytically rated by three raters. From the sample of 104 participants, nine participants (three representatives from each group) were chosen for a week-to-week trajectory analysis in which their six CAF performances were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. All of the participants completed two questionnaires after taking the pretest and posttest. I developed both questionnaires based on previous literature related to second language speaking proficiency development. The English Speaking Learner Affect Questionnaire was used to examine differences in participants’ classroom English speaking anxiety, English speaking self-efficacy, and desire to speak English. The Self-Assessment of Speaking Task Questionnaire was used to examine changes in the participants’ self-assessment of their own performances in terms of syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency. The results indicated that form-focused instruction was effective at improving the participants’ global syntactic accuracy and their accurate use of the simple past tense. However, form-focused instruction did not lead to improvements in syntactic complexity or oral fluency. However, explicit form-focused instruction did not lead to detrimental effects on syntactic complexity or oral fluency; thus, form-focused instruction did not appear to stimulate trade-off effects between syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency. The analytical ratings provided by the raters indicated that form-focused instruction did not lead to significant improvements in terms of syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, or oral fluency. The results also indicated that the form-focused instruction intervention was effective at quickly improving syntactic accuracy because participants who received both form-focused instruction and peer feedback improved more quickly in the simple past compared to the participants who only received form-focused instruction. However, the participants who improved syntactic accuracy quickly might have experienced trade-offs with oral fluency ability, as improvements in speed fluency were not noted until their syntactic accuracy reached a ceiling effect where their global accuracy and accurate use of simple past tense stopped to improve. The results indicated that form-focused instruction did not influence classroom English speaking anxiety, as there was no significant difference seen between participants who received form-focused instruction and participants who did not. However, an excessive amount of form-focused instruction might have negative impacts on speaking anxiety because the participants who received both form-focused instruction and peer feedback showed an increase in their classroom English speaking anxiety. On the other hand, form-focused instruction had no impact on English speaking self-efficacy and it had positive effects on the desire to speak English because the participants who received both form-focused instruction and peer feedback exhibited a significant increase in their desire to speak English compared to the participants who did not receive form-focused instruction and the participants who received only form-focused instruction. Finally, based on the learners’ self-assessment, form-focused instruction had no effects on speaking proficiency development as there was no difference in self-assessed syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency between the participants in the three groups. Participants who received form-focused instruction interventions did not assess themselves to having higher syntactic accuracy despite their improvements on the CAF measures. / Teaching & Learning

Second language (L2) reading fluency has not received sufficient attention in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) and applied linguistics, especially regarding the types of treatments that promote reading fluency (Grabe, 2009). Hence, this study was a longitudinal, quasi-experimental investigation of the effects of timed reading, repeated oral reading, and extensive reading on the development of reading fluency among Japanese university students. The eight purposes of this study were to: (a) better understand how timed reading, repeated oral reading, and extensive reading treatments contribute to reading fluency in terms of reading rate and comprehension over one academic year; (b) distinguish how extensive reading, timed reading, and repeated oral reading treatments differentially promote reading fluency; (c) elucidate on how timed reading, repeated oral reading, and extensive reading treatments affect the automatization of word recognition sub-processes over time; (d) investigate differences between the reading fluency treatment groups in terms of their word recognition sub-processes; (e) further understand how reading fluency treatments contribute to oral reading fluency; (f) examine differences in oral reading fluency between the reading fluency treatment groups; (g) determine how reading fluency training affects learners’ perception of their L2 reading self-efficacy; and (h) shed light on differences in L2 reading self-efficacy between reading fluency treatment groups. This study was conducted in a private university in western Japan. The participants (N = 101) were first- and second-year Japanese university students. These participants formed four quasi-experimental groups: (a) Group 1, labeled as the oral reading group, received a reading fluency treatment consisting of extensive reading, timed reading, and repeated oral reading; (b) Group 2, the timed reading group, participated in extensive reading and timed reading; (c) Group 3, the extensive reading group, did extensive reading only; and (d) Group 4, the comparison group, practiced speaking and communication activities. Data for this study were obtained using the following instruments: a vocabulary size test, timed reading tests, timed reading practice passages used throughout the treatment period, an extensive reading test, a lexical decision task, an antonym semantic decision task, a pseudoword homophone judgment task, an oral reading task, and an L2 reading self-efficacy questionnaire, a utility of the reading fluency treatments questionnaire, as well as individual interviews with 20 of the participants. Excluding the vocabulary size test, the timed reading treatment passages, the utility of the reading fluency treatments questionnaire, and the interviews, the other measures were administered three times over the course of one academic year—once prior, once in the middle, and once at the end of the reading fluency treatment period. Prior to conducting quantitative analyses on the data gathered with the instruments mentioned above, the L2 reading self-efficacy questionnaire data were analyzed using the Rasch rating-scale model in order to confirm the validity and reliability of the instrument as well as to transform the raw scores into equal interval measures. In addition, the Rasch model was used to check for interrater reliability and rater severity of the scores of the oral reading task. Data cleaning procedures were also applied to the reaction time and reading rate data. The data were then analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVAs and MAN(C)OVAs in order to ascertain differences in within-subjects and between-subjects measures. The results showed that the three reading fluency treatment groups made significant within-subjects increases in their reading fluency with the oral reading group making the most reading rate gains, followed by the timed reading group, and the extensive reading group. Moreover, the oral reading group generally outperformed the other groups on reading rate measures. However, the extensive reading group did not significantly outperform the comparison group. In addition, while the timed reading group had the fastest word recognition reaction times, the oral reading group made the most gains in orthographic, semantic, and phonological processing. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between the groups on orthographic processing, but the oral reading group, timed reading group had significantly faster semantic and phonological processing reaction times compared to the comparison group. With regards to oral reading fluency, the oral reading group made the most gains and achieved the highest scores, but the timed reading group also made significant gains. Finally, the oral reading groups’ L2 reading self-efficacy increased the most. The results of the study underscore the importance of using a multifaceted approach of extensive reading, timed reading, and repeated oral reading in the development of L2 reading fluency. Through this reading fluency training, the learners not only became more proficient readers in both silent and oral modes, but they also became more self-efficacious in L2 reading tasks. Ultimately, these learners became more empowered to achieve success in their L2 learning endeavors. / Teaching & Learning

In an attempt to investigate the impact of planning on second language (L2) oral production, an experimental study that contrasted the effects of two types of pre-task planning (strategic planning vs. rehearsal) on the L2 oral task performance of 64 Japanese university EFL learners under different modality (aural vs. written) and language (L1 vs. L2) conditions of pre-task input was conducted. The main aim was to determine whether strategic planning (i.e., silent preparation) and rehearsal (i.e., active practice) before L2 oral tasks differentially impact performance in terms of fluency, complexity, and accuracy. An additional aim was to examine the effects on performance of providing pre-task input to assist planning. Furthermore, I elicited the learners’ perceptions of the value of the pre-task input toward assisting their oral task performance via 5-point Likert scale post-task questionnaires. No difference was found between strategic planning and rehearsal in their effects on L2 oral task performance regarding fluency, complexity, or accuracy. This result suggests that, when it comes to pre-task planning, L2 teachers can generally have their learners engage in either strategic planning or rehearsal without differentially impacting their task performance. Concerning the provision of pre-task input, the L1 and L2 input induced commensurate levels of fluency and complexity. However, the L2 input led to significantly greater accuracy of oral production than did the L1 input. This finding is important as it suggests that L2 learners can possibly acquire something from the input provided to them in the course of pre-task planning. Moreover, the post-task questionnaire results corroborated this finding as the participants indicated that the L2 input significantly enhanced their accuracy and also helped them use a wider range of vocabulary during the tasks. Thus, if the aim of a teaching or testing situation is oriented toward fluency, the results indicate that it makes no difference whether pre-task input is in learners’ L1 or L2. In contrast, if the aim is oriented toward accuracy, then teachers and testers should provide L2 input in order to facilitate optimal performance. / Language Arts

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis aims to make a contribution to the field of literature study in foreign language teaching. It investigates the practical implications of theories such as Michael Dobstadt‟s Didaktik der Literarizität and Claire Kramsch‟s symbolic competence. It specifically looks at how these approaches to literature can be implemented in the elementary levels (A1 and A2) of foreign language teaching. Furthermore, the range of possibilities that mobile phones offer for the foreign language learning environment are explored. Suggestions are proffered as to how the inclusion of mobile phones, as educational tools, can support the successful implementation of Dobstadt and Kramsch‟s theories in the foreign language classroom. On the basis of the theory, two sets of lesson plans are developed for high school beginner level German classes in South Africa; the lesson plans serve as examples of how the theories of Dobstadt and Kramsch can, on beginner level and in conjunction with the use of mobile phones, be implemented in practice. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis poog om ʼn bydrae te maak tot die literatuur van vreemdetaal-onderrig. Die praktiese implikasies van teorieë soos dié van Michael Dobstadt se Didaktik der Literarizität en Claire Kramsch se symbolic competence word ondersoek. Daar word spesifiek gekyk na hoe sulke benaderings tot literatuur op beginnervlak (A1 en A2) van vreemdetaal-onderrig geïmplementeer kan word. Verder word die trefwydte van moontlikhede wat selfone vir vreemdetaal-onderrig bied, ondersoek. Voorstelle word gemaak oor hoe die gebruik va n selfone, as opvoedkundige hulpmiddels, die implementering van Dobstadt en Kramsch se teorieë in die vreemdetaal-klaskamer kan ondersteun. Vanuit „n teoretiese uitgangspunt word twee stelle lesplanne vir Duitse klasse op hoërskool-beginnervlak in Suid-Afrika ontwikkel as voorbeelde van hoe die teorieë van Dobstadt en Kramsch, op beginnervlak en in samewerking met die gebruik van selfone, in die praktyk geïmplementeer kan word.

The thesis deals with the possibilities of the use of translation in education of the Czech language for francophone speakers. The thesis aims to analyse the use of translation in the textbooks of Czech for francophone speakers, in particular, to examine the types and representation of translation exercises in selected textbooks and to observe the use of communication-oriented translation exercises. Based on the analysis, the thesis formulates didactic recommendations that could contribute to more adequate use of translation in foreign language teaching, or rather in teaching Czech as a foreign language. The partial objective is to monitor the attitude of students to translation in teaching Czech as a foreign language through a questionnaire survey.

Recent surveys of international business professionals indicate that foreign language abilities and cultural sensitivity are important competitive advantages in today's globalized economy. The current study interviewed 71 practicing global professionals currently working in cross border transactions in diverse fields. Biographic, demographic and second language data were collected, including information on experiences and opinions on the use and importance of foreign language and cultural awareness abilities in the professional world. Research questions include: (1) Who are the global professionals applying L2 abilities at work? (2) How do they apply these abilities? (3) What are the profiles of advanced and non-advanced proficiency users? (4) How important are linguistic abilities and how much of a competitive advantage do they represent? (5) What language strategies and communication strategies are used? (6) What are the most common beliefs on the role of foreign languages and culture awareness in business? (7) How well do intercultural communication models explain the culture views and experiences reported by working professionals? Results indicate that learners with self-reported advanced proficiency regularly apply the four language abilities (listening, reading, speaking and writing) at work, albeit in varying degrees, depending on the level of complexity of the task (phone, email, face-to-face meeting, etc.). For the majority of informants, foreign language and culture abilities are considered important for professional effectiveness. For those who reported advanced foreign language abilities, they also exhibited a greater appreciation for increased exposure to foreign language learning, had received more foreign language instruction, and had more experience working and living abroad. Those advanced in foreign language abilities were also more likely to be non-native speakers of English, have earned a university degree while using an L2, had family or community connections to the target language, have emigrated, or have a spouse with a different L1. The study also ranks and identifies the informants' strategies used to deal with language and culture issues. Participants' anecdotes were analyzed in light of current cultural analysis models applied in International Business Communications. Suggestions are presented for curricula changes to improve foreign language proficiency in professional settings. / text

El objetivo de esta tesina es investigar qué lenguas se usan en la enseñanza de español como lengua extranjera en unos institutos en Suecia, basándonos en la teoría de translanguaging. Teniendo en cuenta el gran número de alumnos con otras lenguas maternas distintas del sueco, pretendemos averiguar qué lenguas son usadas en la clase de ELE, qué conocimientos tienen los profesores sobre las competencias lingüísticas de sus alumnos y cuáles son las opiniones sobre el uso de diferentes lenguas en la enseñanza, según los profesores. Con la finalidad de obtener una mejor comprensión de lo investigado hacemos una triangulación con una encuesta con 28 participantes, entrevistas con tres profesoras y además observamos una clase de cada profesora antes de realizar las entrevistas. Los hallazgos principales son: que el sueco es la lengua más usada después del español, que muchas veces los profesores están inseguros de los conocimientos lingüísticos de sus alumnos y que raramente los recursos lingüísticos son usados en el aprendizaje. Por último, se ha demostrado que la mayoría de los participantes están de acuerdo con que el uso de otras lenguas en la enseñanza de ELE resulta beneficioso para el aprendizaje. No obstante, las lenguas señaladas por las profesoras entrevistadas en la definición de otras lenguas fueron el sueco y el inglés, por lo quellegamos a la conclusión de que el sueco y el inglés pueden ser la norma en relación con los recursos lingüísticos y de que el contraste lingüístico entre el sueco o el inglés parece ser injusto para todos los alumnos que no tienen el sueco como lengua materna.