Les recherches qui se sont intéressées à l’étude des événements de mouvement ont démontré que, pour les coder, les langues utilisent des stratégies de lexicalisation différentes. Selon la proposition de Talmy (1985), les langues romanes correspondent au type ‘verb-framed’(VF), tandis que les langues germaniques sont considérées ‘satellite-framed’(SF). Cette classification qui permet d’identifier des distinctions intéressantes au niveau macro-typologique, mais sa rigidité ne consent pas d’observer la variabilité inter- et intra-typologiques. La thèse étude les événements de mouvement de deux perspectives complémentaires. D’un côté, du point de vue de la typologie, on observe les différences existantes entre les langues appartenant au même groupes typologique et à la même famille génétique. De l’autre côté, du point de vue acquisitionnel, on analyse l’impact des facteurs typologiques sur l’acquisition du français L2 chez apprenants italophones. Dans ce but, on a été construit un corpus de productions sur la base d’un support qui montre des mouvements volontaires et provoqués soumis auprès quatre groupes d’informateurs: deux groupes de natifs (francophones et italophones) et deux groupes d’italophones apprenant le français L2 de deux niveaux de compétence. Les résultats montrent qu’il y a des différences intratypologiques entre les langues génétiquement proches, comme l’italien et le français. De même, ces mêmes différences intratypologiques engendrent des transfert en influençant la restructuration du penser pour parler. / Recent research is interested in studying motion events in different languages by showing that, they follow different lexicalization strategies to code motion events. In light of Talmy’s proposal (1985), romance languages are classified as ‘verb-framed’ (VF), while the Germanic ones are considered as ‘satellite-framed’ (SF). The Talmy’s classification legitimated a large number of studies that confirm the validity of this dichotomy, which is the identification of interesting distinctions on a macro-typological level. Nevertheless its rigidity does not allow to observe the inter- and intra-typological variability. The study investigates motion events from two complementary perspectives. On the one hand, the differences within languages of the same typological group and the same genetic family are observed from the point of view of the semantic type On the other hand, the impact of typological factors on French acquisition as L2 by Italian speakers is analyzed from the acquisitional point of view. For this purpose, a corpus of productions was collected in a controlled situation on the basis of a support containing voluntary and caused movements submitted to four groups of informants: two groups of native (French and Italian speakers) and two groups of Italian learners of French L2 of two different skill levels. The results show that there are differences between intra-typological languages which are genetically very close, such as Italian and French. Similarly, these same intra-typological languages generate some transfer that influences the restructuring of thinking for speaking. / Le recenti ricerche in psicolinguistica e in linguistica cognitiva si sono interessate allo studiodegli eventi di movimento in diverse lingue del mondo dimostrando che, per codificare glieventi di movimento, le lingue seguono strategie di lessicalizzazione differenti. Alla luce dellaproposta di Talmy (1985, 2000), le lingue romanze sono classificate nel tipo ‘verb-framed’(VF), ovvero a quadro verbale, mentre le lingue germaniche sono considerate ‘satelliteframed’(SF), ossia lingue a quadro satellitare. I due tipi si differenziano essenzialmente per ildiverso locus di codifica delle componenti semantiche: le lingue a quadro verbale, come ilfrancese e l’italiano, tendono a lessicalizzare l’informazione semantica della Traiettoria nelverbo principale, mentre la Maniera è omessa o espressa in una proposizione subordinata.Invece, le lingue a quadro satellitare come l’inglese, esprimono la Maniera nella radiceverbale e la Traiettoria mediante dei satelliti, ovvero degli elementi associati al verbo(avverbi, prefissi, particelle, etc). La classificazione di Talmy ha giustificato un gran numerodi studi che hanno confermato la validità di questa dicotomia, che permette di individuaredelle interessanti distinzioni a livello macro-tipologico, ma la sua rigidità non consente diosservare la variabilità inter- e intratipologica (Ibarretxe-Antuñano, 2004b,d, 2009a; Slobin,2004). La variabilità tipologica che le lingue mostrano nella concettualizzazione degli eventidi movimento, condiziona il modo in cui i locutori selezionano le informazioni semantiche(Traiettoria e Maniera) e, di conseguenza, il modo in cui un apprendente esprime lecomponenti di un evento di movimento in L2. La tesi studia gli eventi di movimento da dueprospettive complementari. Da un lato, dal punto di vista della tipologia semantica, siosservano le differenze esistenti tra le lingue appartenenti allo stesso gruppo tipologico e allastessa famiglia genetica. Dall’altro lato, dal punto di vista acquisizionale, si analizza l’impattodei fattori tipologici sull’acquisizione del francese L2 di apprendenti italofoni. A questoscopo, è stato costruito un corpus di produzioni raccolte in una situazione controllata sullabase di un supporto che mostra dei movimenti volontari e provocati sottoposti a quattrogruppi di informatori: due gruppi di informatori nativi (francofoni e italofoni) e due gruppi diapprendenti italofoni di francese L2 di due livelli di competenza (intermedio e avanzato).I risultati mostrano che vi sono delle differenze intratipologiche tra lingue geneticamentemolto vicine, come l’italiano e il francese. Analogamente, queste stesse differenze intratipologiche generano dei transfert influenzando la ristrutturazione del pensare perparlare.

The purpose of this study has been to examine how Swedish teachers of English encourage the development of students’ oral proficiency in the English language. By interviewing six Swedish teachers of English at upper secondary school, the study addresses which methods are mostly used by the teachers in order to encourage the improvement of students’ oral proficiency. The results of the study indicate that all the teachers tried in different manners to encourage students’ self-confidence, which would help them develop their oral proficiency. Furthermore, it was possible to conclude that the teachers shared the notion that insecurity is detrimental to the development of students’ oral proficiency. Another method that was used by the teachers was allowing students to work in either pair or groups. Even though most teachers used this method, they did point out different things that were important to think about in terms of group work. For the teachers, it was important that the students had fun during oral exercises, and thus, most teachers used different games when conducting oral activities in order to inspire a more relaxed or comfortable environment. The last concept that the teachers talked about was the usage of the target language in the classroom. Here the teachers’ ideas were not in alignment with each other. Some thought that it was good to force the students to use the target language throughout the lessons when communicating, whereas others only believed that students had to communicate orally in the target language during speaking activities. If students were insecure, it did not, according to these teachers, help the students to force them to speak English throughout the lessons. Most of the concepts that were introduced by the teachers were similar to those found in previous studies on Swedish teachers of English. Furthermore, the results of this paper could also be tied to previous research concerning oral development for L2 learners. / Syftet med denna studie har varit att studera hur svenska engelskalärare främjar utvecklingen av elevers muntliga färdigheter i engelska. Genom att intervjua sex svenska engelskalärare på gymnasieskolan undersöker studien vilka metoder som används mest av lärarna för att utveckla elevernas muntliga färdigheter. Resultaten av studien visar att de flesta lärare som intervjuades på olika sätt uppmuntrar elevernas självförtroende, vilket i sin tur hjälper dem att utveckla deras muntliga färdighet. Tanken om att osäkerhet är skadligt för elevers utveckling av muntlig färdighet delades av alla lärare som intervjuades. En annan metod som användes av lärarna var att tillåta elever att arbeta i par eller grupper. Även om de flesta lärare använde den här metoden pekade de på olika saker som var viktiga att tänka på när det gällde grupp- och pararbeten. Nästa metod som lärarna använde berörde inspirerandet av en mer avslappnad eller bekväm miljö som möjliggör utvecklingen av elevers muntliga färdigheter. För lärarna var det viktigt att eleverna hade kul under muntliga övningar, och sålunda använde de flesta lärare olika spel när de utförde muntliga aktiviteter. Det sista konceptet som lärarna talade om var användningen av målspråket i klassrummet. Här var lärarens idéer inte i linje med varandra. Vissa trodde att det var bra att tvinga eleverna att använda målspråket under hela lektionen medan andra inte trodde det hjälpte elevernas utveckling av sitt muntliga språk. Om en student var osäker, hjälpte det inte, enligt dessa lärare, att tvinga studenten att tala engelska under lektionerna. De påpekade dock att eleverna var tvungna att under talaktiviteter och muntliga presentationer interagera på målspråket. De flesta av de koncept som lärarna introducerade liknade dem som hittades i tidigare studier om svenska engelskalärare. Dessutom kan resultaten av denna uppsats kopplas till tidigare forskning kring oral development for L2 learners.

As the English language holds the status of a Lingua Franca, being able to master it has become necessary in our globalised society. In Sweden, the English subject has been assigned a place along with Swedish and Mathematics as a core subject. However, of these three subjects, only English does not have specified knowledge requirements at the end of third grade. This has led to the start of English instruction varying around the nation. This thesis investigates the factors involved in the decision-making processes regarding the start of English instruction and what attitudes lower primary school teachers have regarding the age at which the English instruction should start. An empirical study was carried out by interviewing a few stakeholders in the context of schools and sending out questionnaires to lower primary school teachers. The results indicate that a large majority of the participants were in favour for early English instruction, as according to many of them, an early start results almost exclusively in advantages for the young children. However, the results also imply that the English subject, in some cases, might be less prioritised, due to the lack of specified knowledge requirements. Based on these results, further research on how different schools interpret these non-specified knowledge requirements is suggested. / <p>Engelska</p>

<p>The present study examines the effects of immersion education on the English of two groups of advanced Swedish learners at upper secondary school. In immersion education, or CLIL, subject content is taught through a second language as a means of enhancing target language competence. In this study, language proficiency was measured in terms of the ratio of low frequency vocabulary (LFV) and the ratio of motivated tense shift (MTSh) in the learners’ free written production in English. An additional aim was to see whether the results were related to the students’ motivation as reported in a questionnaire.</p><p>This longitudinal study was based on three sets of narratives, written by 86 students, half of them enrolled at the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) where English is the medium of instruction, and the other half at national programmes (NP), where English is studied as a foreign language. At the outset, the IB and NP groups had similar results on a general diagnostic test, which was the basis for the formation of three subgroups: I, II and III, with above average, average and below average scores respectively. Mean LFV and MTSh ratios as well as different kinds of motivation were compared, both overall and in the subgroups.</p><p>The IB students overall, and those in subgroup III in particular, showed the best results. As to the overall results, the IB students used significantly higher mean ratios of LFV and MTSh than the NP students in the final set of compositions. There were also a number of motivational factors that were stronger in the IB students.</p><p>As to the subgroups, the most interesting results were found in subgroups I and III. While the IB students in subgroup I had high mean ratios already in the first composition, and retained them over time, their use of MTSh tended to grow subtler. The NP students had lower mean results initially, and while their mean MTSh ratio increased and ended up on a level similar to that of the IB students, their mean LFV ratio remained low.</p><p>In subgroup III the results of the IB and NP students diverged over time. While the IB students progressed as reflected in their mean LFV and MTSh ratios, the NP students tended to regress. The difference in mean LFV ratios was statistically significant. The IB students were also better motivated than their NP peers. In all, this study suggests that immersion education has positive target language effects, especially on less proficient but motivated students.</p>

The present study examines the effects of immersion education on the English of two groups of advanced Swedish learners at upper secondary school. In immersion education, or CLIL, subject content is taught through a second language as a means of enhancing target language competence. In this study, language proficiency was measured in terms of the ratio of low frequency vocabulary (LFV) and the ratio of motivated tense shift (MTSh) in the learners’ free written production in English. An additional aim was to see whether the results were related to the students’ motivation as reported in a questionnaire. This longitudinal study was based on three sets of narratives, written by 86 students, half of them enrolled at the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) where English is the medium of instruction, and the other half at national programmes (NP), where English is studied as a foreign language. At the outset, the IB and NP groups had similar results on a general diagnostic test, which was the basis for the formation of three subgroups: I, II and III, with above average, average and below average scores respectively. Mean LFV and MTSh ratios as well as different kinds of motivation were compared, both overall and in the subgroups. The IB students overall, and those in subgroup III in particular, showed the best results. As to the overall results, the IB students used significantly higher mean ratios of LFV and MTSh than the NP students in the final set of compositions. There were also a number of motivational factors that were stronger in the IB students. As to the subgroups, the most interesting results were found in subgroups I and III. While the IB students in subgroup I had high mean ratios already in the first composition, and retained them over time, their use of MTSh tended to grow subtler. The NP students had lower mean results initially, and while their mean MTSh ratio increased and ended up on a level similar to that of the IB students, their mean LFV ratio remained low. In subgroup III the results of the IB and NP students diverged over time. While the IB students progressed as reflected in their mean LFV and MTSh ratios, the NP students tended to regress. The difference in mean LFV ratios was statistically significant. The IB students were also better motivated than their NP peers. In all, this study suggests that immersion education has positive target language effects, especially on less proficient but motivated students.

SILVA, Ana Cristina Cunha da. O uso de redes neurais auto-organizáveis na análise da transferência de conhecimentos prosódico em aprendizes brasileiros de língua inglesa. 2010, 201f. Tese (Doutorado em Linguística) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Letras Vernáculas, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística, Fortaleza-CE, 2010. / Submitted by nazareno mesquita (nazagon36@yahoo.com.br) on 2012-06-28T13:08:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010_tese_ACCSilva.pdf: 2172197 bytes, checksum: 036ba2cdc331410f0516a0ba2abe520d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2013-10-10T13:22:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2010_tese_ACCSilva.pdf: 2172197 bytes, checksum: 036ba2cdc331410f0516a0ba2abe520d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-10-10T13:22:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010_tese_ACCSilva.pdf: 2172197 bytes, checksum: 036ba2cdc331410f0516a0ba2abe520d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / The objective of this dissertation was to investigate how the prosodic knowledge is organized in an early stage of L2 acquisition in Brazilian learners of English with the help of a connectionist neural network. The approach proposed in this research is first, to quantify the utterances of L2 learners in the form of LPC coefficients and other linguistic/phonetics features that can represent the phenomenon studied here (Transfer of the prosodic knowledge from Portuguese to English). This process is called speech feature extraction, an important step in the connectionist approach to speech processing. Second, since certain features of the lexical item or sentence produced by each learner are determined, these data are entered into the neural network to analyze the statistical properties (regularities) of the set of speakers as a whole. Third, visualization tools are used to analyze how the network organizes speakers and what information is most relevant to this process of group formation (e.g. proficiency level, a certain characteristic or property of speech, among others). The network is known as Self-Organizing Map (Self-Organizing Map, SOM). The SOM organizes speakers for similarity degree in well-defined groups (clusters). Application of SOM in this context is therefore innovative. The SOM network is implemented in Matlab environment using the SOMtoolbox package, which is a set of programming routines developed by the research group in Finland, also the inventors of the SOM. The simulation results indicate that SOM might be used more frequently to assess the degree of distance that a group of learners is to the group of native speakers. Thus, a neural network might be used as a tool in the context of determining the level of foreign language proficiency. / O objetivo desta tese foi investigar como o conhecimento prosódico está organizado em um estágio inicial de aquisição de L2 em aprendizes brasileiros de inglês com a ajuda de uma rede neural conexionista. A abordagem proposta neste trabalho consiste primeiramente em "quantificar" as elocuções dos aprendizes de L2 na forma de coeficientes LPC e outras características linguísticas/fonéticas que possam representar o fenômeno aqui estudado (Transferência do Conhecimento Prosódico do Português para o inglês). A este processo dá-se o nome de "extração de características" da fala (feature extraction), uma importante etapa na abordagem conexionista do processamento da fala. Em segundo lugar, uma vez determinadas as características do item lexical ou da frase produzida por cada aprendiz, são inseridos esses dados na rede neural a fim de analisar as propriedades (regularidades) estatísticas do conjunto de falantes como um todo. Em terceiro, utiliza-se ferramentas de visualização para analisar como a rede organiza os falantes e quais informações são mais relevantes para este processo de formação de grupos (e.g. nível de proficiência, uma certa característica ou propriedade da fala, entre outros). A rede utilizada é conhecida como Mapa Auto-Organizável (Self-Organizing Map, SOM). A rede SOM organiza os falantes por grau de similaridade em grupos bem definidos (clusters). A aplicação da rede SOM neste contexto é, portanto, inovadora. A rede SOM é implementada no ambiente Matlab usando o pacote Som toolbox, que é um conjunto de rotinas de programação desenvolvidas pelo grupo de pesquisa da Finlândia, também inventores da rede SOM. Os resultados das simulações apontam que a rede SOM pode vir a ser usada mais frequentemente para avaliar o grau de distância a que um grupo de aprendizes está do grupo de falantes nativos. Dessa forma, uma rede neural pode vir a ser aplicada como ferramenta no contexto de determinação de nível de proficiência em língua estrangeira.

This paper presents an explorative ‘pilot’ study made of oral picture descriptions in the nativetongue as well as in the target language of an intermediate Dutch L1 learner of Swedish (L2).Three Swedish L1 native controls were also recorded describing the same pictures. Therecordings were transcribed, coded and quantitatively analysed for the following aspects ofinformation structure: 1) referent introduction and 2) referent maintenance per type, 3)constituents in the prefield (i.e. clause-initial position) and 4) occurrences ofspatial/existential constructions of referent introduction. The research questions were: DoDutch L1 and Swedish L1 differ in their patterns of information structure in the area ofreferent introduction and maintenance, concerning prefield constituents in picturedescriptions? Does the L2 learner adhere to the target language (Swedish) patterns, thepatterns of his mother tongue (Dutch) or does the interlanguage exhibit different patterns?Differences in frequency emerged, where the Dutch L1 data had substantially higher rates ofsubjects in the prefield than Swedish L1 and where the perspective taken for referentintroduction was largely existential. On the other hand, Swedish L1 showed a greatervariation in the prefield and a pattern of referent introduction that was both spatial andexistential. The learner followed the patterns of his native tongue, in his L2 Swedish, wherethe patterns differed from those of Swedish L1. Transfer was found to be a likely cause ofthis, even though other explanations are not excluded by the results. The strict dichotomy ofspatial/existential perspective of referent introduction proposed by e.g. Carroll et al. (2000)was found to exclude many cases of referent introduction. The main problem with the presentstudy was the small quantity of data, as well as the lack of comparable studies; it is thereforerecommended to repeat this study using a larger amount of data.

Learning a second language is different from learning our first one. A lot of rules from the first language, concerning e.g. grammar, intonation and phonology, are so firmly rooted within learners that they will transfer them to the new language regardless of whether they are correct or not. Studies show that the way we are tuned in to the sounds of our first language can make it difficult for us to perceive the phonemes of a new language correctly. In order to study the relationship between Swedish speakers’ faulty production of English vowels and their perception of them, ten subjects participated in a perception test to find out how well they could distinguish between minimal pairs containing phonemes that Swedes often have problems pronouncing correctly. They were also recorded while reading sentences containing the same minimal pairs. The results from the perception test were compared to graphs showing how consistent the subjects were in their pronunciation of these phonemes. The study shows that although some phonemes proved to be more difficult for the subjects to perceive a difference between, a faulty production of these sounds cannot be explained by misperception alone.

Cette recherche relève du domaine de la didactique du FLE et de l'usage de la communication médiée par ordinateur [CMO], plus particulièrement du clavardage, outil de communication synchrone à base textuelle. Notre recherche se place dans une perspective interactionnelle et acquisitionnelle en L2 en mettant l'accent sur la construction des discussions entre participants lors de séances de clavardage. Le public étudié est composé d'étudiants de nationalités variées en master ou doctorat dans des universités en France, et qui souhaitent améliorer la langue qu'ils doivent utiliser en milieu académique. Notre analyse du « discours-en-interaction par clavardage » a pour but d'étudier les interactions en tenant compte des spécificités de l'outil et du contexte de la discussion. En premier lieu, nous examinons la structure des énoncés en L2 au niveau de l'utilisation du lexique, des structures complexes et des marques transcodiques. En deuxième lieu, nous analysons l'utilisation des topogrammes dans un contexte académique et leurs diverses fonctions. Cette analyse montre la manière dont les apprenants se focalisent à la fois sur l'objet thématique de la discussion et sur la résolution des obstacles linguistiques ou discursifs auxquels ils sont confrontés lors des échanges. En dernier lieu, nous étudions la manière dont les apprenants construisent et co-construisent les discussions par clavardage. Les énoncés que l'apprenant construit à partir des discours de ses différents interlocuteurs lui permettent, tout en alimentant ses compétences pragmatiques, d'approfondir le sujet en discussion. Nous examinons également comment les savoirs sur les pratiques académiques naissent et se transforment au fil des interactions. Nous cherchons à montrer à la fois le bénéfice de l'utilisation du clavardage pour la recherche sur la langue d'apprenants avancés et son intérêt comme outil po! ur favoriser l'appropriation d'une L2. / This is a research in the teaching and learning of French as a foreign language and the use of CMC [computer mediated communication] using synchronous text-based CMC [computer mediated communication], viz chat. We analyze the construction of discussions between foreign students with an interactional and acquisitional perspective in order to discover its specificities. The target audience is enrolled in a French university at advanced levels [Master, Ph D…] and needs to improve their French as used in an academic context. In a « discourse analysis in chat interactions », we focus on specificities of this communication tool and of the discussion context. We first show the structure of learners' utterances, their use of lexical items and complex structures, and the influence of their other languages on their productions in French. Then, we analyze the use of « topogrammes » in an academic context and their different functions. We thus sho! w how learners focus on the thematic object of the discussion and the solving of linguistic or discourse obstacles they were faced with during the exchanges. We also study the way in which the learners construct and co-construct the discussions. The messages that they construct from their interlocutors' discourses allow them to develop the theme into a discussion and to improve his pragmatic competences. Finally, we examine how knowledge about academic practices appears and evolves during the interactions. Our work shows the benefits of the use of the chat for linguistic research about advanced learners and its interest as a communication tool in L2 acquisition.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Este estudio analiza las percepciones de mejoría en el español y de conocimiento cultural de los participantes en un programa de ayudantes de inglés, Auxiliares de Conversación, mientras trabajaron en escuelas primarias y secundarias en varias regiones de España. Los participantes provenían de varios países anglófonos, entre ellos los Estados Unidos, el Reino Unido, Canadá, Nueva Zelanda, Australia. Varios participantes rellenaron encuestas a través de internet para evaluar su crecimiento lingüístico y cultural durante el programa, experiencia en los centros educativos y alojamiento. Además, plantearon varias sugerencias para el programa para futuros auxiliares y profesores. Seis auxiliares fueron entrevistados sobre los mismos temas en mayor profundidad.