The aim of this study is to explore how outdoor education (OE) can influence foreign language anxiety (FLA) and foreign language enjoyment (FLE) when primary students are learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The design was a pre-post intervention study with two experimental groups of 3rd graders of a Catalan state school that participated in an outdoor English session. The research has followed a mixed-methods approach, consisting of a pre- and post-test, group interviews with the students and individual interviews to their main teachers. Statistical analyses indicated a significant decrease in the FLA levels after the outdoor session, especially in girls. Regarding the FLE levels, even if there was an increase for both boys and girls, the difference was not significant. The statistical power was too low and the lack of a control group makes it difficult to claim that the differences where due to the outdoor setting. The qualitative data revealed positive feelings regarding the outdoor English session. Both students and teachers mentioned numerous benefits such as the increase of motivation, active learning or interaction with nature. However, the teachers pinpointed some challenges that need to be taken into account when applying this method. Even if FLA and FLE have been widely investigated, studies on how the outdoors can influence these emotions, and its effect in primary students are new fields of research. This study has provided an overview on how learning English outdoors can be linked with FLA and FLE levels and the differences presented between genders.

In the technological world that characterizes the 21st century society, new specialized developments are applied immediately to the different social environments and, especially, in education. Language teaching is no stranger to this unstoppable progress, thanks to the widespread implementation of the internet and of the web 2.0 in particular. New technologies help and can sometimes replace the more traditional systems used in foreign language teaching by favoring autonomous learning at any time and in any place. In this doctoral thesis, I review the literature on foreign language learning motivation, styles, and strategies applied to autonomous online platforms. This is done to present and describe the theoretical underpinnings of the COMALAT virtual learning platform, which was designed and created at the University of Alicante as a European Project in cooperation with the University of Siegen in Germany and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Then, I report on a quantitative study that explores the attitudes, learning styles and strategies of 80 A2-B1 level EFL university students that make use of COMALAT. Besides determining the profile of the participants, the study aims to demonstrate the effects of previous training in online language learning strategies. As main conclusions, the following stand out: (a) the students’ use of this platform increases their level of foreign language learning as they can adapt it at their own pace and dedication; (b) the virtual learning environment provides a greater learning effectiveness by combining materials which consider the different learning styles; and (c) the application of the appropriate online learning strategies can help students to solve the different learning problems they may encounter while doing a self-directed online language course.

Increasingly, government and educational institutions are turning to study abroad programs as one of the primary means of providing students with important cross-cultural and linguistic skills. However, because of constraints on time and financial resources most students participate in short term programs lasting approximately two months. Additionally, research regarding students’ linguistic and cultural growth in study abroad shows that some students gain far more from their participation than others. The purpose of this study was to examine the cultural and linguistic learning that takes place in short-term programs and discover some of the factors that predict students’ growth while abroad. This study examined the relationship between important factors such as students’ level of cultural sensitivity, students’ relationship with their host family, motivation to learn the language, the amount of time students’ spent interacting with native speakers, as well as students’ oral language skills during a seven-week study abroad program. Surveys were used to measure each of the variables except for students’ oral language skills. To measure changes in oral skills, the researcher created an innovative instrument in which native speakers rated clips of student speech in the target language from before and after their time abroad. As found in previous research, students varied greatly in the amount of progress made in oral language skills and cultural sensitivity while abroad. However, students generally demonstrated small, but significant improvements in their oral language skills, despite the brief nature of their program. Further, the instrument created to measure growth in oral language skills showed high reliability. Interestingly, students’ level of cultural sensitivity prior to going abroad predicted changes in oral language skills. These results provide support for students’ participation in short-term study abroad programs since students generally experience noticeable improvements in language skills. They also suggest that students who are more culturally sensitive may have an advantage in language learning during study abroad programs. These results could be helpful for administrators in determining who may benefit most from such programs and may suggest that helping students gain cultural sensitivity could also aid students’ language learning. / text

This thesis reports on a study, which investigated the process of early foreign language learning in a classroom context and the functions of multi-word units of language known as formulaic sequences in the oral language production of young foreign language learners. A classroom with 11 students in the age range 9 to 11 years was observed and video recorded for 16 sessions (90 minutes per session). The observations were accompanied by two elicitation tasks. 10 sessions out of the 16 sessions of the collected speech samples were transcribed chronologically. In the next step, formulaic sequences were identified based on pre-established criteria, which were further developed during the analysis. The data was analyzed in order to identify the functions of formulaic sequences in learners’ oral language production in addition to the inter-learner variations in the application of formulaic sequences for different functions. The results revealed evidence of incidental learning of formulaic sequences from input; the language input provided instances for the learners to learn multi-word units. In addition, formulaic sequences played different roles in the language production of the learners. These sequences helped young language learners to overcome their lack of knowledge, to improve their fluency, and to enjoy some language play. Formulaic sequences were used as a strategy to economize effort on processing and also to buy time for processing. The findings of the study suggested that language users might introduce dis-fluency in the production of their sequences in order to buy time for further processing. Moreover, the data provided examples illustrating communicative functions of formulaic sequences where the use of formulaic sequences was affected by the relationship between the speaker and listener. The analysis revealed that although all the learners applied formulaic sequences in their language production, there was a great variation among individual learners in their intention and the extent of the application of formulaic sequences. Some learners used these sequences to be able to extend their utterances and produce more of the language, whereas other learners used them to avoid further language production. In sum, it seemed that individual learners' different personalities, needs or limitations served as explanation for the application of formulaic sequences in different contexts.

Nous définissons les stratégies d'usage de la langue de la façon suivante : il s’agit de stratégies langagières que les élèves appliquent en résolvant des exercices en langue cible (par exemple de DEL 2). Afin d’analyser ces stratégies langagières, nous menons une étude qualitative auprès de 14 écoliers suivant un cursus franco-allemand à Baden-Baden. Nous demandons aux élèves de résoudre des exercices de français tirés des Évaluations nationales des acquis des élèves. Nous appliquons la méthode de la pensée à voix haute. Les élèves choisissent s'ils verbalisent leurs pensées en langue allemande ou française. L'objectif principal de notre étude est d'analyser et d'éliciter les stratégies d'usage de la langue.Environ 1000 stratégies ont été observées et codées avec le logiciel MAXQDA. Les stratégies cognitives sont les stratégies qui ont été appliquées le plus souvent par les élèves testés - en tout presque 350 fois. La langue de base choisie par les élèves pour les protocoles à voix haute était le français et pas l'allemand. / This thesis reports on an empirical study of 3rd and 4th grade students in a German-French bilingual school. The study consisted of research subjects solving exercises by using the thinkaloud method, after which film and transcription analysis allowed for a detailed examination of the strategies used during the exercises. Such strategies have been termed "language usagestrategies" and have been distinguished from learning and communication strategies. This distinction is important because when students use their L2 in this context, their goal is not to learn the language or to communicate, rather, it is to solve the exercise. The students used and combined many cognitive, compensatory, metacognitive, social and affective strategies during the Think aloud Protocols. Also the individual interviews revealed that the students manifested a large number of language usage strategies, suggesting that they are conscious of strategy usage when using their L2.

Estudos na área de Sociolinguística têm mostrado a complexidade da arquitetura do italiano contemporâneo, composta tanto de variedades linguísticas comuns a todas as línguas naturais, relacionadas às dimensões diamésica, diastrática, diafásica e diatópica, quanto de dialetos e interlínguas. Essa intricada realidade, no entanto, parece não chegar até os aprendizes de italiano, sobretudo, fora da Itália, que, frequentemente, têm a impressão de que essa língua é monolítica e estável. Isso, em geral, se reflete em seu desempenho enquanto falantes, pois, uma vez que acreditam que a língua italiana é imutável e única, não serão capazes de reconhecer as variedades e registros linguísticos produzidos por falantes nativos. Tendo em vista a importância do livro didático como fonte de input linguístico em sala de aula e como norteador da atividade docente e discente, selecionamos os dois livros didáticos mais usados no estado de São Paulo para o ensino do italiano no momento em que se iniciou a pesquisa, e analisamos como e em que medida tais obras expõem o aprendiz às variedades linguísticas do italiano para que desenvolvam competência sociolinguística e, portanto, sensibilidade sobretudo receptiva quanto à realidade linguística italiana. Para isso, analisamos os diálogos, os livros do aluno e os guias do professor das coleções didáticas Linea Diretta e Rete! com base em 67 critérios escolhidos por poderem identificar diferentes variedades do italiano. Os resultados relacionados ao livro Linea diretta permitem dizer que essa coleção aborda implicitamente alguns dos fenômenos considerados, mas que não os explora explicitamente. Por outro lado, Rete! praticamente não insere fenômenos marcados sociolinguisticamente em seus diálogos, mas trata as questões fonológicas das variedades regionais. Desse modo, foi possível constatar que o tratamento das variedades sociolinguísticas mostrou-se insuficiente e, em alguns casos, inexistente em ambos os livros didáticos, fazendo-nos concluir que o aprendiz, cujo input linguístico derive de seus conteúdos, dificilmente desenvolverá uma competência sociolinguística que lhe propicie reconhecer e compreender adequadamente enunciados produzidos em diferentes contextos comunicativos. / Studies in Sociolinguistics have shown the complexity of contemporary Italian arquitecture, composed of both linguistic varieties, common to all natural languages and related to diamesic, diastratic, diaphasic and diatopic dimension, and the dialects and interlanguages. Nonetheless, this intricate reality doesn\'t seem to reach learners of Italian, especially outside Italy, which often have the impression that this language is monolithic and that it doesn\'t change. In general, this reflect on their performance as speakers of the language they learn, therefore, since they believe that the Italian language is unique and unchangeable, they will not be able to recognize linguistic varieties produced by native speakers. Considering the importance of the textbook as a source of linguistic input in the classroom and as a guide for teacher\'s and learner\'s activity, we selected, in the period in which our research began, the two most used textbooks for Italian teaching in the State of São Paulo, and analyzed how and to what extent these works expose the learner to linguistic varieties of Italian, in order to develop sociolinguistic competence and mainly receptive sensibility to Italian linguistic reality. We analyzed the dialogues, the student books and teacher\'s guides of the teaching collections Linea Diretta and Rete! based on 67 criteria chosen by selecting phenomena that could identify different varieties of Italian. The results related to the textbook Linea diretta let say that this collection implicitly addresses some of the considered phenomena, but doesn\'t explore them explicitly. On the other side, Rete! practically doesn\'t insert in its dialogues sociolinguistically marked phenomena, but treats phonological issues of regional varieties. So, it was found that the treatment of sociolinguistic varieties proved to be scanty and, in some cases, not existent in both textbooks. This caused the conclusion that learners, whose linguistic input derives from its content, can hardly develop a sociolinguistic competence that can allow them to recognize and understand properly utterances produced in different communicative contexts.

In vielen Staaten unterscheidet sich die Leistung von Schülern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Schüler mit Migrationshintergrund sprechen eine Minderheitensprache sowie die Zielsprache des Wohnlandes, das führt zu einem gewissen Grad der Zweisprachigkeit. Die Zweisprachigkeit ist mit Entwicklungsmustern verbunden, die das Fremdsprachenlernen der bilingualen Schüler positiv beeinflussen können. Diese Dissertation untersucht die Beziehung zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Fremdsprachenlernen. Die erste Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit von Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einen positiven Trend zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Lernerfolg. Dieser Trend unterschied sich deutlich zwischen Gruppen verschiedener Heimatsprachen mit den Kenntnissen der Unterrichtssprache als stärksten Prädiktor. Die zweite Studie betrachtete die Wirkung von Zweisprachigkeit auf die Leistung in Englisch als Fremdsprache von der Grundschule bis zur weiterführenden Schule. Die Analysen zeigen, dass, ein wesentlicher Vorteil der Zweisprachigkeit in der Grundschule vorliegt, dieser aber in der Sekundarstufe I verschwindet. Dies führt zu unterschiedlichem Leistungszuwachs von zweisprachigen und einsprachigen Schülern. Die dritte Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache unter Berücksichtigung der Auswirkungen von Methode und Abfolge des Erlernens der Zweitsprache sowie des Sprachgebrauchs. Die Ergebnisse zeigen Leistungsvorsprünge in der Drittsprache für Zweisprachige, die in ihrer Minderheitensprache unterrichtet werden, beide Sprachen simultan erwerben und häufiger zwischen beiden Sprachen wechseln. Diese Dissertation gibt weitere Hinweise darauf, dass unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen Zweisprachige mit Migrationshintergrund im Vergleich zu einsprachigen Schülern Vorteile im Fremdsprachenlernen haben, obwohl sich dieser Befund im Laufe der Zeit verändert. / There is a large achievement gap between students with immigrant background and their peers. Many students with immigrant backgrounds speak a minority language at home as well as the majority language of the larger society, resulting in some level of bilingualism. Bilingualism is associated with unique patterns of development that may affect their foreign language learning (FLL) in positive ways. This thesis explores the relationship between bilingualism and FLL, focusing on factors that affect this relationship. The first study investigates the effect of immigrant bilingualism on English FLL, examining confounding background variables and the effect of instructional language proficiency. The results showed a general positive trend between bilingualism and FLL. This positive trend differed between bilingual groups with different home languages with the strongest predictor for FLL being instructional language proficiency. This second study considers the effect of bilingualism on the FLL from elementary to secondary school. Although a significant advantage of bilingualism is found in elementary school, it disappeared as students proceed into secondary school, yielding differential gains for the language minority and monolingual groups. The level of exposure to the minority language played an important role for the FLL development. The third study examines the effect of bilingualism on FLL, considering the impact of manner and age of bilingual acquisition as well as language use practices. The results showed higher FLL for bilinguals who received formal instruction in their minority language, had acquired both languages simultaneously, and switched more often between their two languages, when compared to their other bilingual and monolingual peers. The findings of this thesis add to the evidence that under certain conditions, some bilinguals from immigrant communities have advantages in FLL compared to their monolingual peers although this pattern does change over time.

Essa pesquisa tem por objetivos acompanhar e analisar, à luz dos Estudos Interculturais de linha francesa, o processo inicial de adaptação de um grupo de estudantes brasileiros em viagem de estudos à França, bem como discutir a formação suscetível de facilitar o desenvolvimento de uma competência intercultural. Os sujeitos da pesquisa são alunos da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, participantes do Programa de Duplo Diploma com as Grandes Ecoles francesas no período de 2006-2008. A metodologia de trabalho empregada é de caráter qualitativo-descritivo e a interpretação dos dados obtidos por meio de questionários escritos aplicados ao grupo foi realizada segundo a proposta de avaliação do capital de mobilidade de Murphy-Lejeune (2003). Os resultados manifestados sob a forma de reflexões decorrentes de nossa análise visam não apenas tornar mais visível o tema da mobilidade estudantil, ainda tão pouco estudado no Brasil, como também contribuir para a formação de professores e a criação de programas de Língua Estrangeira que preparam grupos de estudantes para experiências de mobilidade no exterior. / The objectives of this study are to use the French line of Intercultural Studies to follow up on and analize the initial adaptation process of a group of Brazilians studying in France, as well as to discuss the formation which will facilitate the development of some intercultural competence. The study subjects are students of the Escola Politécnica of Universidade de São Paulo participating in the Duplo Diploma (Double Diploma) Program in the French Grandes Ecoles from 2006 to 2008. The work metodology used is qualitative-descriptional and the data, acquired by means of questionnaires, was interpreted as per Murphy-Lejeunes evaluation of mobility capital (2003). The results, in the form of reflexions of our analysis, have as objective not only to focus attention into student mobility, a field of study still to be explore, but also to contribute to the formation of facilitators and the formulation of Foreign Language programs, which will prepare groups of students to mobility experience in other countries.

A presente pesquisa pertence à área de conhecimento chamada Lexicografia e trata da inserção de colocações verbais em dicionários bilíngües e bilemáticos de alemão-português. Tendo em vista que a maioria dos livros didáticos de alemão como língua estrangeira não dá um tratamento adequado a elas, é necessário que o aprendiz procure-as nos dicionários, tanto no momento da decodificação, quanto no da codificação de textos. Essa pesquisa levantou certo número de colocações verbais consideradas fundamentais na formação de um vocabulário-base em situações rotineiras de comunicação, verificando em três dicionários se elas ocorrem e como ocorrem, na tentativa de estabelecer até que ponto tais dicionários se constituem numa ajuda efetiva não só na compreensão, como (principalmente) na produção de textos. / This research belongs to the area of knowledge called Lexicography and treats of the insertions of verbal collocations in bilingual and bilemmatical German- Portuguese dictionaries. Considering that the majority of the didactic books of German as foreign language does not treat them properly, it is necessary that the learner looks them up in dictionaries at the moment of the decoding as well as when coding texts. For this research we selected a certain number of verbal collocations considered fundamental to the formation of a basic vocabulary for routine communication situations, checking in three dictionaries if they occur and how they occur, in an attempt to establish how these dictionaries represent an effective help not only for comprehension but also for text production.

RESUMO O objetivo desta dissertação é a análise da disciplina Inglês do projeto de educação a distância Telecurso 2000 produto de um convênio entre a FIESP (Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo) e a FRM (Fundação Roberto Marinho). Esse projeto de educação é largamente utilizado no Brasil e no exterior, nas mais variadas instituições, tais como sindicatos, empresas, igrejas, presídios e até mesmo em instituições oficiais da rede pública de ensino. Esse material se propõe desenvolver a educação para o trabalho e para a cidadania, no sentido do que acreditamos poder chamar de movimento de inclusão social, já que se destina ao público jovem e adulto que não foi à escola na idade considerada apropriada. A disciplina Inglês do projeto Telecurso 2000 se desenvolve nas bases de um discurso que parece defender a inclusão social do aprendiz no que diz respeito ao domínio do idioma inglês, o que o poria em condições de igualdade com aqueles que dominam esse idioma. Nossa hipótese é de que há um processo de exclusão expresso no material. A análise da materialidade de nosso objeto de estudo tem por substrato teórico os pressupostos da AD, os quais complementamos com Kress e Van Leeuwen (1966), que contribuirão com categorias que propiciam a observação de como o elemento não-verbal - a imagem - posiciona o telespectador em relação à língua inglesa na articulação desta com o mundo do trabalho, além da noção gramsciana de um processo hegemônico (GRUPPI, 1980), que contribui para com uma melhor compreensão de como o sistema educacional está a serviço da ideologia dominante, que quer fazer crer que é democrática e, portanto, includente, mas que é estruturalmente excludente. A análise articula, necessariamente, o elemento verbal e o não-verbal por se pautar pela constatação de que esses elementos estão em constante interação, devido à exibição simultânea de ambos e por se deter no material exibido em vídeo. Conclui-se, ao final desta pesquisa, que nossa hipótese é verificada, i.e., o material se pretende incluso, mas traz expressa a exclusão, que está na base do sistema educacional ocidental como um todo. / ABSTRACT The objective of this dissertation is the analysis of the subject English of the Distance Education Project Telecurso 2000, which is a result of an agreement between FIESP (Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo [Federation of the Industries of the State of São Paulo]) and FRM (Fundação Roberto Marinho [Roberto Marinho Foundation]). This education project is largely used in Brazil and abroad by the most different institutions, such as unions, companies, churches, prisons and even by official institutions of the state education system. This material proposes to develop education for work and for citizenship, aiming at what we might perhaps call a movement of social inclusion, since it is aimed at young and adult people who have not attended school at the age considered appropriate. The subject English of the Telecurso 200 project develops on the basis of a discourse that allegedly stands for the social inclusion of the learner, as far as the command of the English language is concerned, which, in turn, would put him/her in a state of equality with those who command the language. Our hypothesis is that there is an exclusion process expressed in the material. For its theoretical basis, the analysis of the materiality of our study object has the concepts of the French Discourse Analysis, which will be complemented with concepts developed by Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996), which will contribute categories that make possible the observation of how the non-verbal element - the image - positions the telespectator in relation to the English language in the articulation of this language with the labour world. This analysis will also count on the gramscian concept of a hegemonic process (GRUPPI, 1980), that will contribute to a better understanding of how the education system is at the service of the dominant ideology, which is shown as democratic and, therefore, inclusive, but is structurally excludent. The analysis leads to the conclusion that our hypothesis is right, i.e., the material claims to be inclusive, but brings along it the exclusion, that is on the basis of the Western education system as a whole.