China’s growing economic power has led to over one hundred million people speaking Chinese world-wide (Chai & Wang, 2017). Although the Chinese language may not replace English as the most popular language worldwide, it is acknowledged that the Chinese language is an indispensable part of the future world (Zhao & Huang, 2010). However, there appears to be a paucity of research into the role self-efficacy and establishing good habits as a language learner play in non-native speaking students experiencing success while learning Chinese. A phenomenological study was conducted to investigate college students who were early Chinese learners in a beginning level preparatory course of a non-academic long-term Chinese language program, their experiences of learning Chinese, and the association, if any, between students’ self-efficacy as learners of Chinese and their demonstration of characteristics of Good Language Learners (GLLs). Data were collected from a survey, questionnaires, and one-on-one interviews. Six research findings were generated from research data and based on early Chinese learners, referred to students in the findings. Research findings from this study are listed as followed. Research Finding 1: Students’ perceptions of their strengths in learning Chinese are the strengths related to language aspects and personality traits. Research Finding 2: Students’ perceptions of their challenges in learning Chinese are language-related challenges, challenges from the teachers, challenges from the curriculum setting, and challenges from the class members. Research Finding 3: Students have at least five characteristics of GLLs (Edge & Garton, 2009) which are Characteristics 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 and partial of Characteristics 8 and 10. More specifically, early Chinese learners have a positive attitude toward Chinese and Chinese speakers (Characteristic 1). They have strong motivations to learn Chinese (Characteristic 2). They are confident in becoming successful learners (Characteristic 3). They actively organize Chinese practices (Characteristic 6). They have ways to express themselves correctly (Characteristic 7). They are willing to engage in Chinese-speaking situations (partial of Characteristic 8). They use strategies to learn Chinese (partial of Characteristic 10). Research Finding 4: Students tend to have Characteristics 4 and 5 and partial of Characteristic 10. To be more specific, early Chinese learners tend to have their minds prepared for making mistakes when using Chinese and to learn from the mistakes (Characteristics 4). They tend to like learning Chinese (Characteristics 5). And they tend to try out new strategies while learning Chinese (partial of Characteristic 10). Research Finding 5: Students lack Characteristic 9 and partial of Characteristic 8. To be more specific, early Chinese learners are not used to working directly in Chinese (Characteristic 9). They are neither ready to use Chinese as frequently as their native languages (partial of Characteristic 8). Research Finding 6: There is no obvious association between students’ efficacy and their demonstration of characteristics of GLLs (Edge & Garton, 2009) while learning Chinese. This study investigated college students who were early Chinese learners in a beginning level preparatory course of a non-academic long-term Chinese language program, their experiences of learning Chinese, and the association, if any, between students’ self-efficacy as learners of Chinese and their demonstration of characteristics of Good Language Learners (GLLs). This study offered recommendations for teachers, administrators, and policy makers, in non-academic long-term Chinese language programs and in the field of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Last but not least, recommendations for further research were provided for researchers in the field of teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

HAVELKOVÁ, L. Culturological aspects in lessons of Russian and German (based on the material regarding Czech, Russian and German lores) : Dissertation thesis. Praha : Univerzita Karlova, 2011. 254 p. Supervisor: PhDr. Hana Žofková, CSc. Key words: communicative competence, comparison of lores, (folk)lores, foreign-language education, language picture of the world, sociolinguistic competence, use of lores in foreing- language teaching Abstract: The dissertation thesis deals with culturological aspects of foreign-language education when concentrating on folklores, their culturological potential, their comparison and the possibility of their use in German and Russian language class work. The thesis is dedicated to the issue that has not been either theoretically or practically developed yet. The main objective was the discovery whether folklores can be used in foreign-language education while shaping communicative competence and eventually how they can be used. The thesis comes out from general relation between a language and culture, from knowledge about national culture and its components and from the analysis of basic modern linguistic didactic principles. The theoretical part explains basic terms and relations towards related disciplines which are crucial for the issue solution as well as the communicative...

Both children and adults have been shown to benefit from the integration of multisensory and sensorimotor enrichment into pedagogy. For example, integrating pictures or gestures into foreign language (L2) vocabulary learning can improve learning outcomes relative to unisensory learning. However, whereas adults seem to benefit to a greater extent from sensorimotor enrichment such as the performance of gestures in contrast to multisensory enrichment with pictures, this is not the case in elementary school children. Here, we compared multisensory- and sensorimotor-enriched learning in an intermediate age group that falls between the age groups tested in previous studies (elementary school children and young adults), in an attempt to determine the developmental time point at which children’s responses to enrichment mature from a child-like pattern into an adult-like pattern. Twelve-year-old and fourteen-year-old German children were trained over 5 consecutive days on auditorily presented, concrete and abstract, Spanish vocabulary. The vocabulary was learned under picture-enriched, gesture-enriched, and non-enriched (auditory-only) conditions. The children performed vocabulary recall and translation tests at 3 days, 2 months, and 6 months post-learning. Both picture and gesture enrichment interventions were found to benefit children’s L2 learning relative to non-enriched learning up to 6 months post-training. Interestingly, gesture-enriched learning was even more beneficial than picture-enriched learning for the 14-year-olds, while the 12-year-olds benefitted equivalently from learning enriched with pictures and gestures. These findings provide evidence for opting to integrate gestures rather than pictures into L2 pedagogy starting at 14 years of age.

Text in Afrikaans / Die doel van hierdie studie is om die gebruik van die kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenaderingswyse in die onderrig van Afrikaans as vreemde taal aan eerstejaar onderwysstudente op tersiere vlak, naamlik die Technikon Noord-Gauteng, te ondersoek. Die ondersoek, in die vorm van 'n beskrywende analise, is op verskillende terreine van die taalonderrigwetenskapsveld gedoen. ie kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenaderingswyse is bestudeer teen die agtergrond van verskeie antler taalonderrigbenaderingswyses wat deur die loop van die afgelope eeu gebruik is, Die verskillende sillabustipes is vergelyk met die kommunikatiewe onderrigbenaderingswyse en uitkomsgebaseerde onderrig ten einde 'n moontlike leerprogram vir die onderrig van Afrikaans as vreemde taal op tersiere vlak saam te ontwikkel. Die nasionale voorgeskrewe sillabus vir onderwysstudente aan technikons, naamlik die onderrig en leer van die taalvaardighede praat, slayf, lees en luister is analities beskryf. Hierdie taalvaardighede is ten slotte vanuit die kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenaderingswyse binne die uitkomsgebaseerde onderrigraamwerk geplaas as 'n voorstel vir die onderrig van onderwysstudente in Afrikaans as vreemde taal op tersiere vlak. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of the communicative language teaching approach in the teaching of Afrikaans as a foreign language to first year education students at tertiary level, namely the Technikon Northern Gauteng .. The study, a descriptive analysis, took a variety of language teaching aspects into account. Communicative language teaching is described against the background of the different language teaching approaches used in the past century. The different types of syllabuses were compared to communicative language teaching and outcomes-based education in order to develop a possible learning programme for the teaching of Afrikaans as foreign language at tertiary level. The national prescribed syllabus for technicon education students, namely the teaching and learning of the language skills speaking, writing, reading and listening is described analytically. These language skills are communicatively described within the outcomes based framework as a suggested learning programme for the teaching of Afrikaans as a foreign language to education students at tertiary level. / Education / M. Ed.

South African learners struggle to achieve in both international and national Mathematics assessments. This has inevitably become a serious concern to many South Africans and people in the education arena. An algebraic word problem holds high preference among the topics and determines success in Mathematics, yet it remains a challenge to learners. Previous studies show there is a connection between learners’ low performance in Mathematics and errors they commit. In addition, others relate this low performance to English language inproficiency. This has encouraged the researcher to investigate the errors Grade 11 learners make when they solve algebraic word problems. The researcher used a sequential explanatory mixed approach to investigate Grade 11 learners from Gauteng, South Africa when they solve algebraic word problems. Accordingly, a convenient sampling helped to select three schools, and purposive sampling to choose the learners. In this study, the researcher employed a quantitative analysis by conducting a test named MSWPT with 150 learners. In addition, the researcher used qualitative analyses by conducting the Newman (1977) interview format with 8 learners to find out areas where errors are made and what kind of errors they are. Findings discovered that 90 learners demonstrated unfitness due to poor linguistic proficiency, while the remaining 60 learners fall into three main categories, namely those who benefitted from researcher unpacking of meaning; those who lack transition skills from arithmetic to algebra; and those who lack comprehension and calculation knowledge. Conclusively, the researcher found linguistic, comprehension, semantic and calculation errors. The reasons learners make these errors are due to (i) a lack of sufficient proficiency in English and algebraic terminology (ii) the gap between arithmetic and algebra. / Institute for Science and Technology Education (ISTE) / M. Sc. (Mathematic Science Education)

Text in Afrikaans / Die doel van hierdie studie is om die gebruik van die kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenaderingswyse in die onderrig van Afrikaans as vreemde taal aan eerstejaar onderwysstudente op tersiere vlak, naamlik die Technikon Noord-Gauteng, te ondersoek. Die ondersoek, in die vorm van 'n beskrywende analise, is op verskillende terreine van die taalonderrigwetenskapsveld gedoen. ie kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenaderingswyse is bestudeer teen die agtergrond van verskeie antler taalonderrigbenaderingswyses wat deur die loop van die afgelope eeu gebruik is, Die verskillende sillabustipes is vergelyk met die kommunikatiewe onderrigbenaderingswyse en uitkomsgebaseerde onderrig ten einde 'n moontlike leerprogram vir die onderrig van Afrikaans as vreemde taal op tersiere vlak saam te ontwikkel. Die nasionale voorgeskrewe sillabus vir onderwysstudente aan technikons, naamlik die onderrig en leer van die taalvaardighede praat, slayf, lees en luister is analities beskryf. Hierdie taalvaardighede is ten slotte vanuit die kommunikatiewe taalonderrigbenaderingswyse binne die uitkomsgebaseerde onderrigraamwerk geplaas as 'n voorstel vir die onderrig van onderwysstudente in Afrikaans as vreemde taal op tersiere vlak. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of the communicative language teaching approach in the teaching of Afrikaans as a foreign language to first year education students at tertiary level, namely the Technikon Northern Gauteng .. The study, a descriptive analysis, took a variety of language teaching aspects into account. Communicative language teaching is described against the background of the different language teaching approaches used in the past century. The different types of syllabuses were compared to communicative language teaching and outcomes-based education in order to develop a possible learning programme for the teaching of Afrikaans as foreign language at tertiary level. The national prescribed syllabus for technicon education students, namely the teaching and learning of the language skills speaking, writing, reading and listening is described analytically. These language skills are communicatively described within the outcomes based framework as a suggested learning programme for the teaching of Afrikaans as a foreign language to education students at tertiary level. / Education / M. Ed.

在這日益競爭的國際化時代，臺灣能否與國際接軌，甚至搶先在國際上佔有一席重要之地即顯得非常重要，而第二外語教育絕對是其重要關鍵之一，關係著國家在世界舞臺上的競爭力。 然而我國高中第二外語教育落實緩慢，遲至1994年才有第二外語課程開設，且高中第二外語教育在現今仍有諸多問題點。鄰近國家之中，韓國第二外語教育發展悠久，也重視第二外語人才培育，因此本研究希望藉由臺韓高中第二外語教育之比較，找出可借鏡韓國之處，給予臺灣高中第二外語教育發展建議，進而提升國家競爭力。 為了達到研究目的，本研究方法採用文件分析法與G.Z.F. Bereday的比較研究法，進行臺灣與韓國高中第二外語教育之比較研究。內文主要探究兩國高中第二外語教育之發展歷程、高中第二外語課程、高中第二外語師資與培育、第二外語於大學入學之採計等四大面向。 研究結果發現過去韓國高中第二外語因長期列為必選修而深植在高中教育，目前第二外語雖與臺灣同樣列為選修科目，但韓國的選修比例仍遠高於臺灣。此外，韓國第二外語科目分化且專精，另有外語高中與國際高中專門培育外語人才，並有教育部主導的線上學習課程，整體第二外語教育規劃比臺灣完善。在師資方面，韓國第二外語師資培育機構遠多於臺灣，第二外語普遍由合格師資教學，也有特色聘用制度解決師資問題，師資狀況較臺灣理想，且韓國的教師在職進修體系也較臺灣完整，第二外語教師進修方式多元，皆值得臺灣參考學習。另外，韓國第二外語為大學考科之一，第二外語的重要性及與大學入學選才的連結程度均較臺灣高。 根據研究結果，本研究針對臺灣高中第二外語教育發展提出以下建議：（一）課綱編制應具有系統性。（二）增設外語高中與國際高中。（三）增加第二外語特色開課方式。（四）開發高中第二外語線上課程。（五）發展高中第二外語課程教材。（六）短期輔導第二外語在職教師取得教師證，長期應增設大學第二外語科系及師資培育機構。（七）加強第二外語教師在職教育。（八）實施巡迴教師制度。（九）短期提高大學採計第二外語的意願，長期應將第二外語納入大學入學考試選擇考科。 / In this era of increased internationalization, it is impossible for Taiwan to keep itself from the international situation. Therefore, it is of great importance to keep up with the international practice and even preemptively occupy an important place in the world. The second foreign language education is absolutely one of the most crucial keys to the country's competitiveness on the world stage. However, the implementation of the second foreign language education in Taiwan’s high schools is slow. The second foreign language course in high schools was not opened until 1994, but it still has many problems nowadays. Among neighboring countries, second foreign language education in South Korea has a long history, and the country also values the importance of cultivating second foreign language talents. Thus, this study hopes to compare the second foreign language education in senior high schools between the two countries, and to find out what Taiwan can learn from the experience of South Korea. Lastly, it is hoped that the paper could shed some light on the development of second foreign language education in Taiwan's high schools so as to enhance the national competitiveness. This study adopted document analysis and G. Z. F. Bereday's comparative method in education to conduct a comparative study of the second foreign language education in Taiwan and South Korea. The paper mainly explores four major aspects — the development of the second foreign language education in high school, the second foreign language curriculum in high school, the second language teachers in high school and teacher education, and the requirement of the second foreign language for university admission. It was found that the second foreign language in South Korea was deeply rooted in high school education by being a required subject in the long-term. Even though the second foreign language in South Korea is currently listed as an elective as in Taiwan, the elective ratio in South Korea is relatively higher than Taiwan. Furthermore, the second foreign language subjects in South Korea are diverse and specialized. It also has foreign language and international high schools to cultivate foreign language talents, together with online learning courses led by the Ministry of Education. On the whole, educational planning of the second foreign language programs in South Korea is more complete than that of in Taiwan. In terms of teachers, there are relatively more teachers training institutions in South Korea than in Taiwan. The second foreign language is generally taught by qualified teachers and also has a special employment system to solve the problem of employment of teachers. As a result, teachers' status is better than Taiwan. Moreover, on-the-job training system of teachers in South Korea is also more complete than that of Taiwan, and the second foreign language teacher has a variety of training methods; all of which are worth learning. In addition, the second foreign language in South Korea is one of the subjects tested in college entrance exams, making the importance of the second foreign language and the degree of connection with university entrance candidates both higher than Taiwan. According to the research results, this study proposed the following suggestions for the development of second foreign language education in high school in Taiwan: (1) The syllabus should compile more systematically. (2) To increase the establishment of foreign language high school and international high school. (3) To increase the second foreign language special start mode. (4) To develop high school online second foreign language courses. (5) To develop high school second foreign language teaching materials. (6) In the short-term, counseling second foreign language in-service teachers to obtain teacher's certificate. In the long term, the university should increase the second foreign language department and teacher training institutions. (7) To strengthen the second foreign language teacher in-service education. (8) To implement floating teacher system. (9) In the short-term, to improve college recognize second foreign language certification. In the long-term, the second foreign language should be included in the college entrance exams as an alternative.

Research on self-efficacy has been a productive field and abundant research has shown that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs influence teachers’ actions and performances and thus affect students’ learning outcomes. However, there is a lack of literature on EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and even less research was set in Chinese EFL contexts. On the one hand, this study was conducted to provide a general picture of the current status of EFL teachers’ perceived English proficiency, self-rated self-efficacy beliefs and self-reported teaching practices in terms of some demographic perspectives; On the other hand, it aimed to explore the correlations among Chinese primary EFL teachers’ perceived English proficiency, self-efficacy beliefs and teaching practices. The quantitative study surveyed 217 in-service primary EFL teachers. The descriptive results showed that: (1) EFL teachers varied in perceived English proficiency in terms of age, years of teaching experience and college major; (2) age and teaching experience did while college major didn’t make a difference for EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs; (3) the surveyed EFL teachers, in general, had a greater preference to communication-oriented language teaching (COLT) than form-oriented language teaching (FOLT). The results from the correlational statistics showed that: (1) perceived English proficiency (PEP), on the whole, had a significant predictive effect on self-efficacy beliefs (SEB). It was striking that among the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) of English language, speaking had the most significant predictive effect on self-efficacy beliefs; (2) EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (SEB) had a predictive effect on COLT practices whereas not on FOLT practices; (3) The mediation model of showing the causal impacts of PEP (through SEB) on COLT was tested. i.e. Chinese primary EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs played a complete mediating role between perceived English proficiency and communication-oriented language teaching. The findings of the present study added on the compelling evidence that self-efficacy beliefs matter in the realm of primary EFL teaching in China. In light of these findings, implications were generated to primary EFL teacher education and in-service EFL teacher training programs, such as courses related to improving English proficiency, especially speaking skills, should be offered for non-English major EFL teachers; training courses related to improving self-efficacy beliefs, especially on classroom management strategies, and the recommended communicative-oriented language teaching practices should be offered to pre-service and inexperienced in-service EFL teachers.

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Summaries in Afrikaans and English / In die studie is daar gepoog om aan te toon waarom die ondervindingsmod~l vir taalleer die aangewese model vir effektiewe tweedetaalleer is. Die kommunikatiewe onderrigbenaderingswyse, onderhandeling in die klaskamer en die belangrikheid van die prosessillabus in tweedetaalverwerwing is bespreek. Die taalonderwyser se rot as fasiliteerder van leer in kommunikatiewe FAfrikaanstaalonderrig in die interaktiewe klaskamer met klem op leerdergesentreerde onderrig is uiteengesit. Daar is verder aangetoon dat daar ten opsigte van die rot van die onderwyser 'n paradigmatiese verskuiwing moet plaasvind, veral noudat beginsels van uitkomsgebaseerde onderrig wat deel van kurrikulum 2005 vorm, in 1998/1999 in aile Suid-Afrikaanse skole ingestel is. Die onderwyser is nou 'n fasiliteerder van kennis, nie 'n oordraer daarvan nie. Belangrike aspekte van leer wat leerders se tweedetaalleer be'invloed, is bespreek, byvoorbeeld klaskamerkommunikasie, fasilitering, suggestopedia, faktore wat begrip van leerstof be'invloed, onderwyser - en leerdergedragswyses, positiewe /eeratmosfeer, behandeling van leerderfoute, Jeerderpersepsies, kommunikatiewe strategiee en evalueringsmetodes. 'n Verskeidenheid taallesse wat op T2-Afrikaans en die T2-taalklaskamer betrekking het, en wat verskillende onderrigteoriee, uitkomsgebaseerde onderrig en die ses taalvaardighede integreer, word in hoofstuk 5 ge'illustreer. / In this study it is shown why the discovery model of language learning is the appropriate model for effective language learning. The communicative teaching approach, classroom-negotiation and the importance of the process syllabus in second language acquisition is discussed. The language teacher's role as facilitator of learning, in communicative L2 - Afrikaans language teaching in the interactive classroom with a learner-centered focus is explained. It is further shown that the role of the teacher must undergo a paradigm shift especially now that principles of outcomes based education which forms part of curriculum 2005 has been introduced into all schools in South Africa in 1998/1999. The teacher is now a facilitator of knowledge and not a transmitter thereof. Important aspects of learning that influence learners' second language learning are discussed, for example classroom communication, facilitation, suggestopedia, factors that influence the understanding of subject matter, teacher and learner behaviours, positive learning atmosphere, treatment of Ieamer errors, learner perceptions, communicative strategies and methods of evaluation. A variety of language lessons which integrate various teaching theories, outcomes based education and the six language learning skills which are related to L 2-Afrikaans and the L 2-classroom are illustrated in Chapter 5. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)