Since 1980, the number of people in the United States who speak a language other than English at home has increased by 140% (United States Census Bureau, 2010). Therefore a greater percentage of students now are multilingual. Throughout the world, multilingualism is considered the norm and monolingualism is the exception (Auer & Wei, 2008). In the United States, however, policies regarding instruction in schools are still influenced by monolingual ideology that carries expectations and assumptions of assimilation, loss of mother tongues, and defined hierarchical structures. As classroom populations become socially, ethnically, racially, and linguistically more diverse, it is increasingly important for teachers to have an understanding of how to address diversity in schools and for educators to understand how language use and the teachers' role in the classroom impacts learning. This paper explored the existing language beliefs and linguistic knowledge of preservice teachers as they prepare to enter linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. The increasing prominence of cross-cultural interactions creates a necessity for teachers to develop intercultural competence. Employing a conceptual framework of intercultural communicative competence theory, this qualitative study investigated experiences and knowledge in linguistics that influence teacher speech acts. Research in fields of applied linguistics such as psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics, and educational linguistics revealed basic language knowledge that teachers need before they enter diverse classrooms including knowledge of language acquisition, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, culture, instruction language, and how the brain processes language. The literature from these fields was used to create an instrument that included a demographics questionnaire, beliefs survey, linguistic knowledge assessment, and interview questions. Twenty-three preservice teachers participated in the study to describe their language beliefs and knowledge. Many of the findings in this study reflected key-findings in the literature; however, this study also found several significant findings that extend existing research. The results revealed significant impacts of 1) individual experiences with culture and linguistic contact, 2) the language used in classrooms, specifically languages other than Standard English and the deep and surface structure of language, 3) linguistic knowledge, specifically phonology, 4) meta-cognitive behavior and reflection, and 5) differences between monolingual and multilingual preservice teachers. The data also indicated that the majority of preservice teachers were concerned about preparedness in teaching in diverse classrooms. Implications for teachers working in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms and for teacher preparation programs are discussed.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33-36). Also available in print.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Arlette I. Willis. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-185) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

The post-observation conference offers a potentially fecund context for promoting language teacher learning, but very little research has been conducted into how this actually happens. Taking Vygotskian sociocultural theory as its theoretical framework, this study examined the mediational discourse of a series of post-observation conferences between a mentor and two practicing English language teachers to investigate the nature of the discourse and the relationship between the mediational discourse and the language teachers` learning. Features of mediational discourse identified a priori (such as intersubjectivity, graduated and contingent help, and externalization of reasoning) were present in the data, but were found to be inadequate to lead to insights into the relationship between the language of the mediation and the development of the teachers` ability to think conceptually about language teaching. What emerged from closer analysis of the language was how the mentor`s discourse prompted the teachers to think conceptually about language teaching and modeled conceptual thinking by encapsulating the lived experience of the classroom through different types of verbal, and therefore conceptual, abstraction. Constructed dialogue was also found to be a salient feature of the discourse, and to have a cognitive function within the mediation. In terms of the relationship of the dialogue to the language teachers` learning, a micro-level analysis of single post-observation conferences revealed the dynamic flow of the mediation and instances of uptake of conceptual thinking by the teachers. A more macro-level analysis which followed mediation on a single topic for each teacher found evidence for the development of conceptual thinking in one teacher`s data but less so in the second teacher`s, and reasons for this are suggested. The results of the study also constitute a revealing account of the nature of the mediational discourse, suggesting a possible cognitive function for the different types of conceptualizations in the discourse, which has the potential to increase understanding of how verbal mediation interacts with learning, and to inform how post-observation conferences are conducted with a view to maximizing the development of conceptual thinking. The taxonomy of conceptualization identified within the mediation discourse points towards an understanding of how the idealization of lived experience and subsequent re-concretization reflect the role that language plays in the development of conceptual thinking.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Despite claims that the use of corpus tools can have a major impact in language classrooms (e.g., Conrad, 2000, 2004; Davies, 2004; O'Keefe, McCarthy, & Carter, 2007; Sinclair, 2004b; Tsui, 2004), many language teachers express apparent apathy or even resistance towards adding corpus tools to their repertoire (Cortes, 2013b). This study examines from a teacher cognition perspective (Borg, 2006) how three EAP (English for Academic Purposes) writing teachers identified their most pressing needs and considered possible ways that corpus tools might address those needs. After having an individualized corpus working session, each teacher put into practice one or more corpus tools to address self-identified needs in their writing classes. The teachers reflected on the process across a series of interviews and in a stimulated recall session, which were analyzed using qualitative research methods. Each teacher discussed the degree to which the lesson met her objectives, and considered how she might use such corpus tools in the future, as one component in the development of her teaching beliefs, knowledge base, and practices. Through thematic analysis of the interviews and the individualized corpus working sessions, themes emerged that tell the story of these three teachers as they moved through this process, relating to the issues of time, student engagement, material analysis, selection and design, issues related to corpus tools, language, institutional factors, and collaboration. A new area of specialization on the pedagogical uses of corpus tools is discussed, based on the results of the three cases. Implications for researchers, material designers, corpus tools specialists, teacher educators, administrators and teachers are considered.

No description available.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.