In light of the 2010 recommendation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages that teachers use the target language (TL) "as exclusively as possible," teachers face the necessity of promoting target language use and assessing how their language choices influence their students. The purpose of this study was to analyze teachers' perspectives and practices of whether to use students' first language or the target language. Data from over 100 foreign language teachers, predominantly those in the K-12 sector, were collected through a survey in order to measure how teachers manage the phenomenon of language choice. The findings were analyzed descriptively, categorically, and inferentially to find relationships among teachers in general, as well as within subgroups of participants. Findings indicate that teachers felt using the target language was more of a challenge for academic purposes because of their belief that they should be conducted in the TL. Academic tasks were also reported involving a greater quantity of speech functions, which made them more difficult to complete in the target language. Additional findings showed that teachers in general were most often influenced by student attitudes, motivation, and proficiency as well as their own attitudes, motivation, and proficiency. For certain subgroups, however, when teachers focused more on their own proficiency, motivation, training and experience they were more likely to reach 90% TL use or more. Furthermore, it was found that promoting the target language effectively equated with incorporating many strategies that supported TL goals. The most prevalent techniques found for promoting TL use were preparing for making input comprehensible, giving praise and recognition, and explaining its importance at the beginning of the year. Recommendations for increasing the ability of teachers to face the challenges of TL use are to simplify and increase the academic, social, and managerial purposes for which it can be used, prioritize and focus on the most influential factors of language choice (LC) within teachers' control, and form and promote a plan for TL use built upon a foundation of most effective techniques and practices for optimizing language choices.

This thesis is a comparative sociolinguistic study which describes and compares language choice among people with Hungarian background in Sweden and Finland and studies their views on the importance of the Hungarian language and Hungarian cultural heritage for identity. The future prospects of language maintenance and language shift and differences between the Swedish-Hungarians and the Finnish-Hungarians are discussed. A survey was completed among 50 Swedish-Hungarian informants and 38 Finnish-Hungarian informants during 2006. The survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 informants during 2007. The majority language, either Swedish or Finnish, is much more active in the second-generation Hungarians’ lives than Hungarian is. Hungarian is mostly used in the domain of family relations. The language choices made today are dependent on the informant’s situation during childhood, particularly the parents’ usage of the language and the ability to learn and use Hungarian, chiefly gained through contact with the parents’ mother country and other Hungarian speakers. For some informants, having Hungarian roots forms the sole foundation for belonging, while for others it is this heritage combined with the culture, the ability to use the language or specific character traits. The Hungarian background is most often seen as a treasure offering diversity in life. Finnish-Hungarians are generally more positive about their Hungarian background, have better competence in the language and a greater awareness of the culture than Swedish-Hungarians. The Hungarian language plays a central though often symbolic role. The most important conditions for minority language preservation are language competence together with the desire and opportunity to use it; whereof the largest deficit among second-generation Hungarians is knowledge of the Hungarian language. Only one-fourth of the informants have all of the conditions necessary to be able to maintain the language, which means that Hungarian is an endangered minority language in Sweden and Finland.

This thesis is a comparative sociolinguistic study which describes and compares language choice among people with Hungarian background in Sweden and Finland and studies their views on the importance of the Hungarian language and Hungarian cultural heritage for identity. The future prospects of language maintenance and language shift and differences between the Swedish-Hungarians and the Finnish-Hungarians are discussed. A survey was completed among 50 Swedish-Hungarian informants and 38 Finnish-Hungarian informants during 2006. The survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 informants during 2007. The majority language, either Swedish or Finnish, is much more active in the second-generation Hungarians’ lives than Hungarian is. Hungarian is mostly used in the domain of family relations. The language choices made today are dependent on the informant’s situation during childhood, particularly the parents’ usage of the language and the ability to learn and use Hungarian, chiefly gained through contact with the parents’ mother country and other Hungarian speakers. For some informants, having Hungarian roots forms the sole foundation for belonging, while for others it is this heritage combined with the culture, the ability to use the language or specific character traits. The Hungarian background is most often seen as a treasure offering diversity in life. Finnish-Hungarians are generally more positive about their Hungarian background, have better competence in the language and a greater awareness of the culture than Swedish-Hungarians. The Hungarian language plays a central though often symbolic role. The most important conditions for minority language preservation are language competence together with the desire and opportunity to use it; whereof the largest deficit among second-generation Hungarians is knowledge of the Hungarian language. Only one-fourth of the informants have all of the conditions necessary to be able to maintain the language, which means that Hungarian is an endangered minority language in Sweden and Finland.

Abstract In my thesis, I have studied Tampere as a Swedish language island from a sociolinguistic perspective with Bernard Spolsky’s approach to language sociology as the theoretical framework. By language policy I mean language planning efforts and various forms of both conscious and unconscious linguistic practices which become visible as practices in everyday life on different levels of society. Of all the approximately twenty Swedish clubs, associations and institutions in Tampere, I have focused on two important spaces, namely the institutions Svenska samskolan i Tammerfors (the Swedish school) and Tammerfors svenska församling (the Swedish congregation). The aim of the study is to find out what kinds of practices, processes and choices are negotiated in these language island communities. I examine the communities both on an institutional and an individual level. My goal is to describe the kind of a language policy the institutions and individuals create and apply in their daily activities. The study is descriptive and aims to illustrate the sociocultural reality of the Swedish language on both the macro and micro levels in a Finnish-speaking majority context. In the study, I have applied triangulation on the levels of both method and material. I have used various types of data such as questionnaires, field notes, documents, written works, webpages and thematic interviews due to the varying types of the institutions and focus groups. The different materials studied required the application of both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis. In the case of open questions and thematic interviews I have applied content analysis, leading to a process of abstraction. The results of the study show that the Swedish institutions Svenska samskolan i Tammerfors and Tammerfors svenska församling have over the course of time gone through a change in language policy. This has led to the application of varied linguistic practices in everyday life. Characteristic for the language policy in the Swedish school in the 2010s is language awareness and openness. Characteristic for both institutions studied is interaction between language maintenance efforts and continuous accommodation between Swedish and Finnish in various communicative practices. / Tiivistelmä Väitöskirjassani olen tutkinut Tamperetta ruotsalaisena kielisaarekkeena kielisosiologisesta perspektiivistä käyttämällä teoreettisena viitekehyksenä Bernard Spolskyn kolmea kielipoliittista komponenttia. Kielipolitiikalla tarkoitan tietoisia kielen suunnitteluun liittyviä panostuksia sekä erilaisia tietoisia ja tiedostamattomia kielellisiä toimintoja, jotka näyttäytyvät erilaisina arjen käytäntöinä yhteiskunnan eri tasoilla. Runsaasta kahdestakymmenestä ruotsinkielisestä kerhosta, yhdistyksestä ja instituutiosta olen tarkastellut kahta merkittävää ruotsinkielistä tilaa, nimittäin Tampereen ruotsalaista koulua (Svenska samskolan i Tammerfors) ja Tampereen ruotsalaista seurakuntaa (Tammerfors svenska församling). Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, millaisia kielellisiä käytänteitä, prosesseja ja valintoja näissä kielisaarekeyhteisöissä muodostuu. Tarkastelen yhteisöjä instituution ja yksilön tasolla. Kiinnostukseni kohteena on se, millaista kielipolitiikkaa sekä instituutiot että yksilöt luovat ja soveltavat päivittäisessä toiminnassaan. Tutkimus on deskriptiivinen ja sen tarkoituksena on kuvailla ruotsinkielistä sosiokulttuurista todellisuutta makro- ja mikrotasolla suomenkielisessä enemmistökontekstissa. Olen soveltanut tutkimuksessa sekä menetelmä- että aineistotriangulaatiota. Tutkimuskohteiden erilaisuudesta johtuen olen käyttänyt tutkimusaineistoina kyselylomakkeita, kenttämuistiinpanoja, asiakirjoja, kirjallisia teoksia, verkkosivuja ja teemahaastatteluja. Aineistot edellyttivät sekä kvantitatiivisten että kvalitatiivisten analyysimenetelmien käyttöä. Avoimiin kysymyksiin sekä teemahaastatteluihin olen soveltanut sisällönanalyysiä ja abstrahointia. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että ruotsalaiset instituutiot Svenska samskolan i Tammerfors ja Tammerfors svenska församling ovat kielipolitiikan näkökulmasta tarkasteltuina muuttuneet aikojen saatossa. Tämä on johtanut vaihteleviin kielellisiin käytänteihin, joita arjessa sovelletaan. Kielitietoisuus ja avoimuus ovat ominaisia piirteitä Svenska samskolanin kielipolitiikalle 2010-luvulla. Tunnusomaista molemmille instituutioille on vuorovaikutus, joka vallitsee yhtäältä kielen säilyttämiseen liittyvien panostusten ja toisaalta erilaisissa viestinnällisissä tilanteissa tapahtuvan ruotsin ja suomen kielen akkommodaation välillä. / Abstrakt I denna avhandling har jag granskat Tammerfors som svensk språkö i ett språksociologiskt perspektiv enligt Bernard Spolskys tre komponenter av språkpolicy som teoretisk referensram. Med språkpolicy avser jag medvetna språkplaneringsinsatser och olika former av både medvetna och omedvetna språkliga handlingar som avtecknas som praktiker i vardagen på olika nivåer i samhället. Av de ett drygt tjugotal svenska klubbar, föreningar och institutioner har jag lagt fokus på två betydande svenska rum, nämligen institutionerna Svenska samskolan i Tammerfors och Tammerfors svenska församling. Mitt syfte är att utreda vad som är kännetecknande för de språkliga praktiker, processer och val som konstrueras i dessa språkögemenskaper. Dels studerar jag gemenskaperna som institutioner och dels individerna. Jag är intresserad av hurdan språkpolicy institutionerna och individerna skapar och tillämpar i sin dagliga verksamhet. Forskningen är deskriptiv och syftar således till att beskriva den sociokulturella verkligheten gällande svenska språket på makro- och mikronivå i en finskspråkig majoritetskontext. I undersökningen har jag tillämpat både metod- och materialtriangulering. På grund av institutionernas och fokusgruppernas olika karaktär har jag använt mig av olika delmaterial som frågeformulär, fältanteckningar, handlingar, skriftliga verk, webbsidor och temaintervjuer. Det varierande materialet gav upphov till tillämpning av både kvantitativa och kvalitativa analysmetoder. På de öppna frågorna har jag tillämpat innehållsanalys som jag också använt i analysen av temaintervjuerna där jag tillämpat abstrahering. Undersökningsresultaten visar att de svenska institutionerna, Svenska samskolan i Tammerfors och Tammerfors svenska församling har förändrats genom tiderna i fråga om språkpolicy som lett till varierande språkliga praktiker som tillämpas i verksamheten. Svenska samskolans språkpolicy på 2010-talet präglas av språkmedvetenhet och öppenhet. Kännetecknande för båda institutionerna är ett samspel mellan å ena sidan språkbevarande insatser och å andra sidan ackommodation mellan finska och svenska i olika kommunikativa praktiker.

The aim of this thesis is to determine how English-language teaching in Sweden influences the subject-based communicative competence and language development in Swedish of upper secondary students. The focus is thus on the students’ mother tongue, i.e. the language which gets limited in the teaching practice within so-called content- and language-integrated learning (CLIL). Data was primarily collected by participatory observation in two science program classes, one taught in English and one in Swedish, during their three years in upper secondary school. Additional data was collected through interviews, questionnaires, audio taping of classroom interaction and writing tasks. This created conditions for a comprehensive and nuanced description and interpretation of the linguistic behaviour of teachers and students in the CLIL practice, as well as of the experiences and perceptions they report. Studies were carried out on classroom practice, student texts, and teacher and student experiences of CLIL instruction. These were linked to activity analysis, systemic-functional linguistics and ethnography of communication, i.e. research areas that emphasise the interplay between language, communication and social situation. The general conclusions are: (1) CLIL students use less relevant subject-based language in speech and writing than do control students. This holds for all subjects except Swedish, where both CLIL and control students share linguistic conditions; (2) Swedish is a prerequisite for the students’ own active, subject-based participation in classroom interaction. There is almost no interaction when the language of instruction is English; (3) English is an obstacle, and is also considered as such. The students avoid using English, and the teachers consistently use code-switching strategies in response to the policy that “language should not be an obstacle”. The results suggest that the CLIL environment is less conducive to learning, given current learning theories that focus on active participation. In the already teacher-dominated classroom, the linguistic and interactional demands that come with CLIL teaching seem to add to the challenge of assimilating advanced subject instruction.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This research focuses on the language repertoire, patterns of language use and language preferences of learners from Afrikaans homes, who are registered in the English first language classes in a particular Western Cape High School. Out interest is in how a profile of the linguistic resources of such learners and the context in which their linguistic identity develops may contribute to a perceived process of language shift in the bilingual/multilingual community where they learn and live. SCHOOL A is multi-racial and multi-lingual, with a large component of "coloured" learners living in a nearby predominantly-Afrikaans community. The thesis investigates the linguistic preferences and patterns of language choice and language use of the selected group of learners across various domains, notably at home, with relatives, at school, with peers and in their religious communities. Data from various sources is presented and discussed in detail to illustrate the variety of language skills of English L1 learners between the ages of 15 and 17 in Grades 10 and 11. This will give an impression of how multilingual a given section of the local high school population is. The profile tests whether home language or academic language has a greater influence on the later language choice of learners whose parents use Afrikaans as home language and who have English as LOLT, meaning that these learners possibly possess considerable skills in at least two languages. The data was collected by means of limited access to school records, questionnaires filled out by learners, interviews with a number of learners and a couple of parents of such learners. This gives a very good impression of which languages learners know, which they used most, which they prefer where the choice is between English/Afrikaans bilingualism, English only, Afrikaans only, or codemixed Afrikaans/English). The thesis reports on the linguistic repertoire and preferences, and also on reasons given by learners and parents for their selection of one or more of the various community languages in the different domains. Consideration is given to the possible accommodation of these learners as first language users of English which is largely a second language in the community, by other community members and institutions such as school and church. The critical interest of this thesis is to determine the nature and extent of perceived language shift in this selected community of learners at a particular Western Cape high school, and to consider whether such a shift is indicative of a more extensive process of marginalization of Afrikaans in a community that historically had a strong Afrikaans identity.

The master's thesis is a theoretical and empirical study about the interpreter's notes in consecutive interpreting. The study mainly deals with the note-taking language and the effect of the interpreter's experience on the choice of note-taking language. In literature, many authors have already thoroughly studied note-taking. In the second half of the 20th century, three traditional interpreting schools emerged. Several authors created their own note-taking systems. Since then, there hasn't been a consensus among experts on the choice of the note-taking language. Some recommend using the source language, some prefer the target language and many experts are in favor of using both. Main approaches to note-taking and reasons why to use either the source language or the target language are listed in the theoretical part. The theoretical part also covers empirical research on the choice of note-taking language. Compared to the high amount of theoretical publications on note-taking, only few empirical studies were carried out, studying the choice of note-taking language. Despite its small scale, the thesis thus seeks to follow in the footsteps of previous empirical researchers and verify, by the means of an experiment, claimings of theoreticians. The experiment studying the effect of the interpreter's...

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The focus of this study is an investigation of the language policy and language policy implementation in the Department of Correctional Services of South Africa. Language usage is a right of all the citizens of South Africa as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) which is the supreme law of the country. It is imperative that language policy makers in the Department of Correctional Services should adhere to the provisions of the constitution. It also aims at establishing whether the Department of Correctional Services’ policy is aligned to the national language policy framework as well as provincial language policy framework that provide for the use of the eleven (11) official languages in general and in particular. In this research study, background information serves to give an overview of how language policy of South Africa since 1994 has been perceived by various scholars and the historical overview of the language policies during the apartheid era. The African languages were given a low status as the language diversity of South Africa was not acknowledged by the government of that day. The evaluation of the contents of language policies that were used previously and currently in the Department of Correctional Services shed light to the issues of language attitude, language choice and language use in this department. During the apartheid era there were working languages set for prisoners as well as staff regarding communication either verbally or in writing in the Department of Correctional Services. The official languages were English and Afrikaans of which the latter was dominant. The question of whose language, for what purpose and how was it received was also investigated. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

The focus of this study is an investigation of the language policy and language policy implementation in the Department of Correctional Services of South Africa. Language usage is a right of all the citizens of South Africa as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) which is the supreme law of the country. It is imperative that language policy makers in the Department of Correctional Services should adhere to the provisions of the constitution. It also aims at establishing whether the Department of Correctional Services’ policy is aligned to the national language policy framework as well as provincial language policy framework that provide for the use of the eleven (11) official languages in general and in particular. In this research study, background information serves to give an overview of how language policy of South Africa since 1994 has been perceived by various scholars and the historical overview of the language policies during the apartheid era. The African languages were given a low status as the language diversity of South Africa was not acknowledged by the government of that day. The evaluation of the contents of language policies that were used previously and currently in the Department of Correctional Services shed light to the issues of language attitude, language choice and language use in this department. During the apartheid era there were working languages set for prisoners as well as staff regarding communication either verbally or in writing in the Department of Correctional Services. The official languages were English and Afrikaans of which the latter was dominant. The question of whose language, for what purpose and how was it received was also investigated. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)