OF THE DISSERTATION:"Teachers' Reactions to Foreign Language Learner Output"BY: Leticia Vicente-RasoamalalaTEXT:A series of theoretical and practical educational studies have suggested that learners need teacher assistance to progress in their learning. Therefore, a considerable amount of language classroom research has been concerned with the study of teacher activities, especially those focusing on their instructional methods.In an attempt to contribute to this research area, the general objective of the dissertation is to develop a better understanding of one recurrent practice in formal FL instruction: how teachers react to FL learner output in classroom oral interactions. To this end, the formal features and phenomena involved in Teacher Reaction Episodes (TREs) are addressed. 'Teacher reactions' refer to any instructional strategies that handle language learner oral productions. In traditional SLA research, this teacher practice has been conceptually examined under the rubric of 'corrective feedback'.This thesis covers multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches related to TREs. Part I (Chapters 1-4) puts in perspective the general conceptual framework that underpins the empirical second part of the thesis. A literature review encompasses: i) general and specific components comprising TREs), ii) the features surrounding these instructional moves, iii) their potential benefits for FL learner acquisition and, iv) the methodological frameworks previously used to examine teacher reactions.We have identified the key questions that SLA research has addressed in relation to "Teacher Reactions to Foreign Language Learner Output" by covering different methods of enquiry such as:1) SLA theories2) Socioculturalism3) FL classroom social interaction studies4) Teacher reaction features in the light of SLA worksPart II (Chapters 5-8) describes microanalysis case studies carried out for observing and identifying the turns of TREs. Video data collected from two Senegalese international bilingual schools illustrate the differential effects of teacher reactions on FL learner uptake. Through corpus-based evidence from three immersion settings, an attempt is made to discover conditions and means for felicitous TREs in acquisitional terms. The term "immersion" refers to the teaching approach in which students receive academic instruction of core content subjects in a language that is not usually their mother tongue (Wesche, 2001).Specifically, 3 language teachers were observed with their students in their FL immersion classrooms in three main differentiated learning settings, which involve different levels and languages: i. Advanced English immersion (Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) at the primary school (Setting 1); ii. Intermediate English immersion (Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) at the primary school (Setting 2); iii. Spanish as L3 immersion (Years 9 and 10) at the secondary school (Setting 3) In order to conduct further research in the area of teacher feedback (Lyster & Mori, 2006; Lyster & Ranta, 1997), this study has focused on teacher reactions to foreign language learner output in such peculiar formal instruction (FI) learning contexts. A total of 14 lessons were observed to this end in each classroom year level.This part of the dissertation has been theoretically and methodologically framed into one hybrid approach covering diverse complementary perspectives. For instance, the SLA social interactionist views, socioculturalism, Conversation Analysis and ethnomethodology. In methodological terms, this study aimed at:1) describing the way(-s) in which learners and teachers verbally and non-verbally engage didactic negotiations during TREs;2) identifying how TREs might be salient for language acquisition in engaging learner noticing of their deviant target language forms; 3) investigating if learners engage after teacher interventions, pay attention to their errors, and if they might fruitfully self-repair; 4) surveying teacher and learner beliefs on TREs.The results seem to reflect certain trends in relation to the error types, the kinds of teacher reactions and the immersion settings, classroom years and levels vis-à-vis learner uptake. Globally, learners receiving metalinguistic feedback appear to generate more uptake than those receiving recasts. / EXTRACTO DE LA TESIS:TÍTULO: Reacciones docentes ante el output de los aprendices de lenguas extranjerasTEXTO: Una serie de estudios teóricos y prácticos que versan sobre aspectos educativos han postulado que el soporte del profesor es necesario para la progresión del aprendizaje de los estudiantes. Por esta razón, un número considerable de trabajos ha indagado sobre las actividades docentes haciendo especial hincapié en los métodos didácticos aplicados con el fin de examinarlas.En un intento de contribuir en esta área de investigación, el objetivo general de esta tesis es profundizar en una práctica docente recurrente en la enseñanza de idiomas. Se trata de las reacciones de los profesores ante el output de los aprendices que tienen lugar durante las interacciones orales en las aulas de lenguas extranjeras. En particular, se pretende examinar los rasgos formales de los "episodios de reacciones docentes" (ERD) y los fenómenos circundantes que se manifiestan en ellos. Las "reacciones docentes" se refieren a la totalidad de estrategias didácticas verbales y no verbales que se despliegan ante las producciones orales de los aprendices de idiomas. Tradicionalmente, el campo de la adquisición de lenguas segundas examina de manera conceptual esta práctica docente como "feedback correctivo".Este trabajo contextualiza los estudios teóricos y metodológicos multidisciplinarios afines con los ERD abarcando: i) los componentes generales y específicos de los episodios de reacciones docentes, ii) las condiciones que rodean estas acciones, iii) los beneficios potenciales para el aprendiz en relación con el "feedback" o la retroalimentación docente en diferentes contextos de adquisición de lenguas y iv) los marcos metodológicos previamente aplicados para examinar las reacciones del profesor o del instructor de lenguas.Los datos recogidos mediante una videocámara en dos escuelas bilingües internacionales privadas de Senegal ilustran los efectos diferenciados de las reacciones docentes sobre las producciones subsiguientes ("uptake") de los aprendices. A través de un corpus basado en datos empíricos extraídos de tres contextos de inmersión, se ha intentado hallar las condiciones y los recursos que podrían posibilitar que las reacciones docentes ante el output de los aprendices de idiomas sean más facilitadoras en términos de adquisición. En el presente estudio, la provisión de feedback metalingüístico pareció generar más "uptake" por parte de los aprendices que en el caso de las reformulaciones.

La investigació té com a escenari els tallers de l'empresa de Manlleu (Barcelona) en què vaig treballar durant més d'una dècada. És un centre de treball d'una empresa multinacional amb un epicentre situat a Barcelona, però amb seu central als Estats Units. El tema central de la tesi són les relacions humanes que es produeixen dins d'una fàbrica de cables, en particular en espais considerats, d'entrada, com secundaris o marginals, com els vestidors o l'espai que se situa al voltant de màquines expenedores de cafè o begudes, allà on es produeixen les micro-activitats que són els fonaments de la construcció de la realitat social quotidiana. La perspectiva que adopta aquest estudi, per tant, és la pròpia de la tradició microsociològica de la qual Erving Goffman seria l'autor més significatiu i conegut. Els objectius del treball realitzat són deliberadament modestos. Es parla d'obrers, de l'empresa on treballen, l'espai de la fàbrica on desenvolupen la seva activitat i de l'organització de la qual formen part. Això implica que la realitat que es descriu i analitza és la pròpia d'allò que encara convindria cridar la classe obrera, de les dinàmiques consubstancials a una estructura productiva i d'un organigrama empresarial dedicat a la indústria metal•lúrgica. / Space, work and social relationships in a group of metalworkers’ special shift. Symbolic interaction in marginal frameworks. The research is staged in the workshops of a company in Manlleu (Barcelona) where I worked for over a decade. It is a workplace of a multinational company with an epicentre located in Barcelona, but with headquarters in the United States. The central themes of the thesis are the human relationships that occur within a cable factory, particularly in areas considered, in principle, as secondary or marginal, as the locker room or the space that is around coffee or drink machines, where occurs those micro-activities that are the foundations of the social construction of everyday reality. The approach adopted by this study, therefore, is typical of the traditional microsociology which Erving Goffman would be the most significant and known author. The objectives of the work are deliberately modest. It talks about workers, the company where they work, the factory space where they operate and the organization of which they are part. This implies that the reality here described and analyzed is the one about the "working class", the consubstantial dynamics to a production structure and a business organization dedicated to the metallurgical industry.

El propòsit d'aquesta tesi es fonamenta en demostrar que el producte és un mitjà de comunicació social del que les persones es serveixen comunicativament -en funció del seu caràcter simbòlic- que permet a l'ésser humà interactuar amb el seu món social, cultural i personal. Aquest treball explica el paper que els productes juguen com a mitjans de comunicació social. La tesi parteix del fet que les pràctiques socials produeixen significat i sentit en la cultura material, partint de la proposició pragmàtica de que cada interpretació necessitat un determinat context que aporti significat i sentit als productes. Mitjançant la definició d'un model d'anàlisi "pragmàtico-etnogràfic" i la seva aplicació al estudi del producte telèfon mòbil, aquest treball mostra com per comprendre el significat d'un producte, cal valorar les pràctiques i accions socials que els signifiquen: posar l'atenció en l'anàlisi de la significació generada per les relacions establertes pel binomi producte i usuari. / The intention of this thesis is to demonstrate that the product is a medium of social communications which people use to communicate -as a function of its symbolic character- which allows human interaction between social, cultural and personal realms. The thesis explains the role that products play in social communication. The thesis shows the fact that social practices provide meaning and sense in the materialistic culture, from the pragmatic proposition that each interpretation needs a certain context which contributes significance and sense to the products. By means of the definition of the analytical model "pragmatic-ethnography" and its application to the study of the mobile telephone, this work confirms that in order to realize the significance of a product one has to evaluate the actions and social practices in which they matter: put the attention of the analysis to the significance generated by the relations established by the binominal product and user.